Light Fury Transformation

Post #6: Finishing the Armor

Hi Everyone!
This week my plan was to get all of the armor finished and out of the way so that I can move on and finish other important parts of the costume! I find that armor building takes up the most time and being able to get that part of the project complete will be vital to completing the rest. Katsucon is approaching swiftly and I want to make sure I stay on track!

My first order of business was to finish creating all of the Glow-in-the-Dark pieces of the armor. The last pieces I needed to create were the cone-shaped bits that sit on the shoulderpads and the shinguards. To create these, I bought acrylic ring holders and filled them with the glow-in-the-dark paint from before. This took about 2 days to dry completely, but totally worth the wait, because they look GREAT on the armor! Since they are acrylic, all you have to do is throw some heat of them, and heat up the Thibra and they stick together so well. They feel super sturdy on the shoulderpads and shinguards.

Next, I needed to figure out what I was doing with the belt and small waist pieces. I changed the sewing design and wanted to make sure everything looked okay, armor-wise. I put all of my armor on my mannequin to gauge the proportions and weight of the entire costume. I noticed that the armor was VERY top heavy (design wise, not literally) and there was a lot going on around the neck, shoulders, and bust area. In order to balance the design a bit more, I added small pieces of hip armor that the gems will be attached to. This adds a bit more bulkiness and weight around the hips and will hopefully balance out the costume a tad more.

Something I discovered that was EXTREMELY helpful for dangling gems are these Dog Collar Rings. They are basically mini key rings and if you link a handful of them together you can create chains. I prefer this over jump-rings because the jump-rings can open or snag on things and potentially fall off of your costume. These types of rings are more secure and can take more stress! I have been sandwiching these rings between the Thibra in different parts of my costume. Doing so, I can later attach chain or dangling gems to them - no glue required!!!

UNFORTUNATELY….. I ran out of foam, and couldn’t finish a couple pieces of armor. :( BUT, I ordered more and in the meantime, I have been priming the armor that is done to save some time.

Here are some photos of the majority of my costume on my “way-too-skinny” mannequin. You can see how top heavy it is, but the little bits of armor and detailing at the hip really help with the balance of the design! I’m starting to really see some good progress and a finish line to this project and I am SO EXCITED to wear this!

I hope everyone else’s projects are going swimmingly and can’t wait to see everyone next month at Katsucon! :)