Malon Costume

It's September, so you know what that mean... it's almost Autumn! That means it's almost my birthday which happens to be one of the coolest holidays! That would be the day before El Dia de los Muertos. Halloween! Three years ago I put together an ensemble I've always wanted to do (I have a list of costumes I must wear before I die including Harpo Marx, Weird Al, Dana Scully, and a Rubik's Cube). This is pretty much the best costume I've ever worn even though I've seen better versions of this, and I could have done better myself with more cash and time. I was still pretty satisfied with the result. What is it, you ask? Malon, the minor character from Lon Lon Ranch in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (I love inserting links for Link-related stuff). I love red hair, so I relished the opportunity to play a redhead for a day. Here is what she looks like in the game:

The first thing I worked on was the apron she wore.

I bought some brown canvas cloth and sewed the raw edges closed.

Then I free handed the design with pencil and painted over it with acrylic paint.

Here it is pinned to a purple skirt I found on ebay. I tried to find something the right color without having to buy fabric, buy a pattern, and sew a skirt... It has embellishments, but is more or less the right color.

I also had quite the time trying to find a ribbon color that was a matching shade (rather than indigo or navy or bright-arse neon purple) in order to make the design on her skirt. I pinned the ribbon in place and sewed it on. Unfortunately, I made the ribbon a little too tight and it tightened the size of the skirt.

I bought a plain white t-shirt at Target and used fabric paint to add the design. Above is a close-up of the design.

You may have noticed that the original Malon wears a Bowser brooch on her shawl/handkerchief. I used polymer clay and sculpted one of my own, then painted over it with metallic acrylic paint. The handkerchief was just some yellow fabric sewn in a V-shape to stay around my shoulders.

The Triforce belt buckle was made with the same materials as the Bowser brooch, in silver. I just made a superficial outline, then bought cloth belt material.

I dyed it dark brown from white, and sewed on snaps. Then I used a hot glue gun to add the Triforce to the uppermost flap.

Myself and my little sister (who was dressed as a butterfly whose wings were pulled off).
Below: The only full-body pic I have.

The wig was actually the closest thing I could find that wasn't $100. I was working on a very tight budget with the aid of my husband (who was my boyfriend of one year at the time). He just enjoyed seeing my handiwork enough to be my patron. The occasion was my birthday, so these were some of the pics taken from the party. I made a special cake for the occasion, and will post more on that later.

So, all in all the details are pretty accurate, but the colors/proportions are a little wonky. Malon wore her skirt much higher than mine, but since mine was much shorter I didn't want to wear it any higher! It's an "adaptation" from the concept of the video game, it's not supposed to be 100% accurate, right?
Coming soon: Another costume I helped make for my date. Hint: He's a mad scientist with excellent pipes.

Wallace & Gromit - closing chapter on ceramics

Since my last three posts were fresh material, I'm going to revisit my final ceramics project. At times I look at its flaws and think I would do so much better now, but we will never know. The closest thing I will ever get to ceramics after this point (January 2001) is modeling with polymer clay- something I will probably experiment with again sometime.

Before I get to the pictures, let me make this disclaimer- I was rushed into entering this into the "Youth Fair" that didn't think this was worth an honorable mention. I regret that because I was left with the loose characters and needed it to be one piece, forcing me to seek an alternative from my original design. I wanted to design their living room with tacky wallpaper, side table with cheese and tea, pictures on the wall, a rug on the floor, a lampshade, and all- something like this (not exactly):

The decision I was left with at the tender age of 16 was that I was to either enter the fair with a molded platform resembling a squashed barrel, or to not enter the fair and have a work of art. I chose the former, thinking I would inevitably make another, more superior version. I didn't. This is what I entered:

See the awful barrel thing? Ugh, I don't know what it's even supposed to be. At any rate, this old thing is riddled with errors, and I think ceramic clay is not the best for making cartoony clay characters like these- Wallace's sweater looks droopy, and his head kept tilting back (it was a balancing act trying to pose him with the soft clay) The end result looks like they are looking in two different directions. I assembled them in pieces (that's the key to making the whole thing look like what you want- there has to be a structure. For example, make the shape of the head, add the mouth, ears, nose; dimple the brow, add the eyes, etc.) Here are some pictures of the back:

Wallace's fingers fell off at some point and I had to struggle to get them to stay. All in all, for a project I finished 10 years ago- I was always quite proud of this, as I am with my quilt. There's a couple of other things that I enjoyed the end result of, so stay tuned for more of that. With the backside of W&G, I close the chapter on ceramics in this blog. It's like they're waving goodbye.

Vivi - A ceramic figure from 2002

When I was in my homeschooling enrichment ceramics class, my younger brother Andre was shilling Final Fantasy to me. He made me play Final Fantasy 9, and I didn't want to initially because I thought it looked like too much of a kid's game.  Let's just say I enjoyed it enough to be inspired to create another character (see this post for the moogle) in my beloved ceramics class. His name is Vivi, but the black mage is a recurring character type in Final Fantasy games. They have different powers than say, a summoner or a knight. Nerd stuff. Look it up.
 This is what he looks like in the game:

He is a cute little ghost boy, although the characters' costumes in this game are a little weird. I created two of him, and I don't have pictures of the sculpting in progress, but this is after they were fired and before they were painted:

 

The painting was probably the most fun part. I love how adding the right colors can make this nondescript character into a specific character with a specific costume:

 

 

 

He was fun to make, even if it is a little wonky around the edges. It looks like he's got a big brother-little brother thing going on.

Ceramics - the beginnings

I decided that my first few posts are going to document some of my extinct hobbies, like ceramics. It's not extinct by my choice. As a matter of fact, I had more fun taking classes in ceramics than I ever had with any art medium before that.  I believe the years I took this class were 2000 - 2002. I was 15 - 17 years old when I made the sculptures you'll see on this blog. I made tremendous progress in that time, and am convinced that I never reached my peak. I've never considered myself a true artist, but among my many dream jobs, I could envision myself spending all hours of the day creating tedious claymation figures like Wallace and Gromit. I knew there was no real future in that, but what can I say? I've always been a dreamer. I actually had been to class with my grandmother a couple times before this, but I was a wee lass then, and probably got some help. I tried to duplicate her style with this:

 

She's kind of a paperweight, and has no class whatsoever. I mean, she's clearly a faceless albino with blond dreads! How dare she masquerade in a turquoise sundress! She was glazed, which means the paint was made of crushed glass powder that melts into a glassy finish in the kiln.

Somewhere down the line, I got here: random outdoor objects that I painted in acrylics, and were abused & broken and glued back together. Not quite "The Well and the Lighthouse", they are a well and a windmill. I could have totally done a lighthouse.

 

The windmill doesn't really serve any purpose, but the well is a nice holder for stuff. I mean, objects, not food or ashes or candles or anything flammable- it is made out of flammable paint. If you want to make something to hold a candle in, it needs to be glazed. I now recall other things I made that were broken... one of them being a candle plate with delicate roses on its perimeter that promptly chipped.

 The next item I will share today is a small castle, based solely on my love for L. M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle:

The castle was poorly done, and mind you- I had the limitations of the class period to complete these. The weight of the clay sunk the top in a little.
The last exhibit of today will be the failed Moogle from Final Fantasy 9 I created. It was supposed to look like the character you visit each time you want to save- it opens up the book and lays in front of it. This one looks more like it got sloshed and fell asleep face first. Actually, where is it reading from?! Its eyes are looking over the book, not at it! Like I mentioned earlier, this type of clay can be tricky to work with- it sags under its own weight. It reminds me of this AFP baby.

I thought it could have been kinda cute, but it doesn't look that good on the shelf. It's hardly recognizable. Anyway, goodnight folks!