Calm Befor the Storm

Costume Construction:

The bodysuit it made from a custom pattern drafted by myself. The suit has a combination of modified princess seams and angled hip darts to shape the suit and belly window. The bodysuit is made from black and white metallic spandex. The bodysuit has built in leggings for the sake of 'modesty' and comfort.

The boots are boot-covers created over a pair of combat boots. I used wet look purple spandex for the base of the boot and ribbed a section under the knee for detailing and to help keep the boot up. The strapping and lower shoe guard are made from purple vinyl. The knee pads are highly modified children's knee guards which I ripped apart, rebuilt and then coated in a semi gloss glaze.

The belts and pouches are made from the same purple vinyl. I created my own pattern for the pouches and engineered my own design for the belts. My belt buckle is made from resin marbled in black and gold.

My arm guards are altered children shin guards which I've heat formed, painted and altered to fit my arms. My cape clasps are resin casted and painted with a metallic gold. The cape is made from a lightweight poly-satin and the same metallic white spandex used on the suit. The bottom of the cape is heat sealed to allow the cape to flow in the wind.

The mask is made from craft foam, heat & bond and purple wet look spandex. I also sewed elastic onto the temples of the mask to hold it on.
I created a paper mock-up of my face to get the spacing of the eyes, nose and jaw correct. Then I used the paper pattern to create a craftfoam mock-up to see how the heat forming would fit my face and to make sure craftfoam was the right material to use. I followed this up with cutting out a final copy of the mask from craftfoam, sewing on the elastic and applying heat and bond to the surface. I attached the wet look spandex to the heat and bond, then I cut off the excess fabric around the mask. I then heated the mask and molded it to my face.

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Photo by: Joseph Chi Lin