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Sunday, March 02, 2014

Back to the Future - Doc Brown Doll

My last post was about my recent Back to the Future art doll project, specifically the Marty McFly doll I made! This doll was actually one of a set, the second being of the iconic Dr. Emmett Lathrop "Doc" Brown.
Doc Brown is a hilarious character and I figured his hair would be a fabulous way to infuse some silliness in the doll. I used a wool blend yarn and unspun it, making sure to get it fluffy so it would look more realistic. His face was done in the same way as Marty, eye marks painted on, french knots for the whites, and then embroidery stitches for the brows, nose, and mouth.

The outfit I chose to make for him was the radiation suit that is so recognizable. Made out of white twill, I used butcher's paper to create the orange marks and the symbol on his back. The gloves I created out of yellow wet look spandex, which was not the most fun to sew this small with but worked out :)
I decided to make a few of his accessories so his chest pocket wouldn't look empty! He has a yellow card inside the pocket and a type of time card that is clipped to the front, which I created by hand. He also has pens or markers in his pocket which were an interesting process to make! To make a pen, I cut off the swabs of a Q-tip and then trimming the rolled paper handle until it was the desired pen height. I painted this with acrylic paint. Once it was dried, I created a pen clip out of a paper clip that I had clipped to the correct size and worked one end down inside the Q-tip so it was deep enough.
I think they both turned out pretty good! Definitely an interesting project, I think I'd like to try my hand at dolls again some time :)

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Back to the Future - Marty McFly Doll

A new project to show! I recently created a set of Back to the Future art dolls for a friend - Marty McFly, which I'll talk a bit about here, and Doc Brown, which I will do a separate post on later.

I've never sewn a doll before (since I was double-digits at least) so I thought this would be an interesting challenge. Working in miniature in a different kind of process, that is for sure! The outfit I chose to do Marty in was his iconic puffy vest, plaid, and denim combo. Classic!


Marty's main theatrical outfit includes a both denim jeans and denim jacket. Denim was going to be too thick for the pieces here so I went with linen from my stash for both, and an upcycled cotton plaid for his "shirt." His eyes are a combination of painted circles done with butcher's paper, and a french knot. Brows, nose, and mouth were all done with embroidery stitches.

His puffy vest I created using twill and Poly-Fill for the puffiness factor (mind you, it couldn't be too puffy or it wouldn't stay wrapped around the body properly!). 
I couldn't overlook his sneakers, they are an iconic element of the outfit as well! Sewing the small Nike check wasn't going to work so I decided to make a butcher's paper check icon and paint the marks manually with red fabric paint.
 
I'll be doing a post on my Doc Brown doll later! Be prepared for crazy hair :)

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Adipose Needle Book

It's been a while since I posted! I haven't had any costume adventures since my last post for SDCC and took a little break from crafting but I have started back up again - hopefully will be able to post lots of new projects with more frequency :)


Today's project is an original needle book. I had some left over Adipose fabric I had screened a quite a while ago for a Doctor Who travel wallet and thought it would work great for this kind of project. Plus, can't really beat a functional stash buster project :) The needle book has an inside pocket running the width of the booklet and four felt pages to store all kinds of needles and sharp objects. It was fun to make, especially getting to add the DH reference!

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Ghoulia Yelps Comic Book Club Cosplay - SDCC 2013

In honor of San Diego Comic-Con 2013 being on right now, I thought it would be fitting for Ghoulia Yelps to get to enjoy her love for Dead Fast in her Comic Book Club outfit! I hope everyone who is attending got to check out the amazing Monster High panel today and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of all the Monster High cosplayers :)

All the costumes pieces I created myself, including digitally illustrating the artwork for the full-size comic cover so I could create a real-life version, and the t-shirt graphics and intestine print on the skirt which I also silk-screened. Ghoulia really has fabulous style! 


All images © 2013 A.L., all rights reserved

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Duela Dent Cosplay - Ame-Comi Version

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.
This was my third costume premiere at SDCC 2012. In 2011 I was lucky enough to find an Ame-Comi version of Duela Dent designed by the lovely Jim Fletcher of DC Entertainment while on my first trip to SDCC. After seeing her in person, I *knew* I had to cosplay her. How could I not? She was designed with so many wonderful small details in her outfit construction and clearly present is the steampunk theme, which I also love!

Below I have described my construction process, but as this was such a lengthy process I have only listed a selection of what I did. Follow the link for this and more images!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Monster High - Cosplay Teaser

Something I've been working on. This garment piece is entirely finished.. Can't wait to wear it! I may be premiering this cosplay at SDCC this year ;)
All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Ikea Rast Hack - New Dressers / Nightstands

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

For my second Ikea Hack project, I used the Ikea Rast. Basically it is a very plain looking untreated pine set of 3 drawers. In our original hunt for something (ANYTHING!), we found the availability of bedside tables that actually have functional storage is pathetically low (and pretty ugly haha) so this was definitely a great solution! The Rast is fairly low and isn't too deep, so I thought they would work great as bedside drawer sets / nightstands. Plus, they were on sale for 39.99 which was great, so we picked up two. 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Bye Bye Google Reader

I'm sure that those of you that use Google Reader to follow me and everyone else on your blogroll have heard the unfortunate news that Google will be retiring the service as of July 1, 2013. The details are all here on their official blog..

I figured it was a good time to try out another alternative before I lost access, so I did my research and have now transitioned over to Bloglovin. So far I'm happy with how easy it was to transfer my reader list over and haven't run into any issues as of yet. If you'd like to follow my blog on Bloglovin you can find me by clicking the cool icon below, or the button on the top right column of my blog :)

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Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Ikea Beddinge Hack - Upcycled Floor Cushions

Recently, we got a pretty new sofa bed and had two solutions to come up with. The first was how to break down the old Ikea Beddinge futon bed which we were *finally* getting rid of, and the second was we now needed some type of footrests to have in front of the new sofa.

I love to upcycle and came up with a plan! I decided that the best option was instead of making or buying an Ottoman, I would use the foam from the Beddinge mattresses and create stackable floor cushions. This way, whomever was using them could decide on the staking height, and they could also be used as single cushions if we wanted to sit on the ground with them. The foam was still in very good condition and had enough firmness for this project.

I started with the inner structure of something like this:

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Rochelle Goyle Cosplay - Sponsored by Monster High x Mattel

Late Fall 2012, I was approached by Monster High x Mattel about doing an amazing collaboration. They wanted me to choose one of the newer characters from Monster High and create a cosplay for myself, recording all my process work and doing a final series of images of fully dressed up in the cosplay. My work would then be showcased on all their social media websites around Halloween. What an honor! I love Monster High and the talented minds behind it so it was a no brainer to say yes. I was even provided with a small amount of funding to cover some of the materials, for which I was very grateful. If you are a cosplayer or have seen my Toralei costume blog, you will know that cosplaying can be a very expensive endeavor.