Elsa, plans being tested and they work :)

Elsa, plans being tested and they work 🙂

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Just a super short test using a test pattern.

That is the Shimmer Sheetz cut in to 10mm squares. The test cutting patterns also do rounded rectangles 🙂 The smaller the shapes the more glassy they look 🙂 So I’ll see if I can test the three materials tomorrow 🙂 And yep as that small they are hard to scratch 🙂

 

Also thanks to Chikkijet of cosplay.com I have a Disney store Elsa. And she is just sitting her reminding me. Judging me.

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Another sequin source :)

Sadly they don’t have an opaque aqua or subtle turquoise but look:

http://www.josyrose.com/sc-sequin_film-1307.aspx

I hadn’t really understood the site the first time I visited so only saw the sequin waste but they do indeed have narrow sequin strips (83X5000mm) which are just wide enough to go through stamping and cutting machines and to be hand cut and have the backs sanded for grit etc.

So I have the pale blue on the way and I’m going to attempt to overdye the stuff. I have had sequins and pearls dye before, but I am not sure if the coating played a part. I think if I can just get a green tint to the laminated clear layer then I will be happy.

I’m also going to see if I can punch tiny tiny holes for sewing (my main issue with all the sequins I have found- rounded or square- has been the size of the holes) I will go ahead and sew the thing. But my concern is finding a punch that tiny that doesn’t tear.

This is where woven and non woven materials differ! In woven materials you want to push aside the fibres so when sewing or putting in eyelets you want to cut as few threads as possible. For me this means setting eyelets in corsets is a nightmare but they stay put forever and never wear out.

For plastic and latex etc you want a clear sharp cut through all layers and with no snags. A tear will tear forever so a cut needs to have a nice fully round hole punch out of the end.

I found this to be really true for my Shaak Ti tooth headdress. I used a heavy needle on my grunty sewing machine to carefully push a hole through for each tooth. But it has caused stress cracks that caused at least one or two to be lost during the process.

So I’m just waiting for the plastic to arrive before overdying anything else 🙂

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Hah! laundrey detergent back in the positive!

In other words I made my Elsa cape purple again. Luckily before I resorted to buying blue acrylic ink (as it does tint very well- though it needs to adhere and the risk of streaks is high when you use water and the risk of flame too great when using alcohol) I decided to use one kettle of not quite boiled water and more than a cup of laundry detergent.

So a small trek back… My poor white and silver Silly Spanish frock was ruined by the cat peeing and the laundry detergent staining. The cat pee washed out but as laundry detergent uses a bluing agent my fabric was ruined. I then soaked the whole shebang in detergent and it mostly worked. But I still had to remove the trim. All 3kg of it so far (about 6 1/2 pounds).

You can see the bluing agent as grain like nodules in the powder- you can buy without but this is more common here. The detergent I used on the Silly Spanish frock was only a warm blue. This current detergent? It’s a mix of cool blue and green. Yes green.

THIS IS AMAZING!

Anyway. So having turned my fabric purple (again) I decided to at least try a super concentrated wash. The water and powder mix was a lovely china blue. Once I put the fabric in it went purple. Which means excess dye is coming out. And now. Well in the green bucket it reads as electric blue. So this is good as it will be worn next to cool blue so if it doesn’t read as purple against very definitely green I am already winning.

So photos of the progress soon. At the moment it’s a bucket full of suds with a wee bitty of fabric poking through.

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Oh dear… my worlds are coliding!

Ummm.. I’m looking at Elsa’s snowflakes and seeing b cells presenting antibodies… IgM is a pentamer but still, I see immunoglobulin polymers even if they don’t exist!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody

Would anyone notice if I snuck an IgM in there? Pretty sure that’s from a discworld novel- a non six sided snowflake just to see… Discworld Jack Frost is a bit of a grumpy bear really….

‘I resent the implication that I am solely fern fixated,’ said Jack Frost. ‘I can also do a very nice 

paisley pattern.’

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Elsa nightmare mode indeed

The colour of her cape is impossible to get. And harder to dye. I have had electric purple, sea green, dark indigo. And lavender. The lavender is the last go. It’s warm blue during the day.

Now to decide if the nylon percentage will grab a nice pure blue or if it will go more purple or to green which will muddy the tone…

The wall decal also seems a little washed out- her eyes are quite grey on my monitor so it may be a case of hunting out some printed artwork somewhere because this digital matching is not working. There are three distinct colours however so any artwork that doesn’t show this is automatically on the suspected over processing horizon 😉

I am taking in to account lighting- the final scene is perfect as we go from grey washed out white light to yellow daylight. It is very close to how my sequinned fabric behaves, though mine is too dark really.

Sigh. Turquoise idye poly anyone? Bueller? Bueller? I just need to shift this blue slightly in from the purple tone it has. Just slightly. Ever so slightly. Basically it looks great in daylight but under eco-bulbs it is really lavender. The weight of the fabric is perfect though. And so soft. So soft. I maaaaaay be able to use the last sachet of dye enhancer to bring it over the line. I’ll have to test though. Test and test and test.

Yeah, I have it next to some of the power net that went too dark and too green (all the net needs to be warm blue and the solid fabric cool) and it is a little too pale and too purple. Meanwhile the power net, that is the perfect transition colour between the mauve and aqua of her sleeves in daylight, looks like over washed white- that hint of blue from laundry powder and grey from washing with other garments.

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Making sequins/spangles

(Hello people coming here from tumblr! Just as an update- I am waiting on an order of similar width sequin film to test for durability and ease of use. I keep having on and off issues with being able to scratch the Shimmer Sheetz however the colour is so perfect.. So I’m also going to attempt to tone the sequin film. )

I also have an updated list of all sequins I tested:
http://www.arrayedindreams.com/costume-portfolio/fantasy/frozen-elsa/frozen-elsa-sequins/
The methods will be the same though I need a new paper trimmer as the blade has escaped and I am short sighted enough to not be able to find the inch wide bright orange piece of plastic it is attached to! I hope that the heavier density of the sequin film will allow me to sand the corners smooth as well.

Elsa is semi on hold while I work out my Maleficent DragonsDemons Daydreams but I’ll update methods here regularly, including any new glues.

http://www.arrayedindreams.com/2014/03/28/my-josyrose_tweet-sequin-film-arrived/

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So very similar but a little more durable.

 

No, not hard core stamped metal but I finally got cutting of my Shimmer Sheetz:

Shimmer Sheetz are produced by Elizabeth Crafts.

I have just ordered Turquoise as well because I think the two together will give a good gradient to the bodice. Here they are in action:

I was really worried the blue iris was too flat in colour but I also suspected that once cut the effect would be greater. And it was.  These tests didn’t even use all of the three strips I made from one sheet. Each strip is 1cm wide then cut to about 1.5-2cm with a few irregulars. I have five packets of three sheets so I should have more than enough 🙂

I’m gluing to net as I can increase sticky from underneath if need be.

The process to make them is as follows:

I scuffed the Sheetz on the reverse, this is to ensure the glue adheres. Not only is the iridescent layer laminated and so prone to pulling away but the surface is shiny. This means even the best glue it not going to grip unless it welds through- and that will lead to warping.

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Then I cut the sheet in to 1cm wide strips with a handy line cutter. I am going to invest in a better one, but this was enough to get a feel for how it will cut.

Then each strip was cut into shorter pieces. Preferred length is 2cm so this gives 180 larger sequins per sheet. So 540 per pack.

At this stage I will sand the edges into rounded shapes. Not only because the artwork shows this but also to eliminate any potential extra snagging.

In the below with flash is on the left, without on the right.

sm_DSC_2722 sm_DSC_2718

I glued the pieces to two different kinds of net (the net of the sequin fabric and the old net for the cape). I tried irregular overlapping and I tried an open pattern. I prefer the open pattern, the shine really kicks through and the outlines of the background show up.

To glue I picked up each piece with angled tweezers and swept the underside over the end of an open tube of Shoe Goo (Same for E6000 or Goop) then laid and pressed the back in to the net. I used a sheet of styrene inderneath (would prefer waxed paper or sheet silicon to prevent sticking but also to allow the piece to lay flat during curing. I’d also like a roller to press the glue evenly.

So I tried from other angles and with and without flash to capture the effect.

sm_DSC_2721 sm_DSC_2720   sm_DSC_2717 sm_DSC_2716

Below are samples of the Sheetz with clear AB pale blue sequins and the base sequinned fabric.

Lined up vertical and horizontal to see which way works best.

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All the fabrics before any alterations.

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And finally just the intersection of cape, shirt and bodice and why I wanted power net and rounded edged sequins! There is a lot of friction there!

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Why it is important to view images in multiple environments:

compare

I checked this image in PS and in Win8 Photogallery. My monitor has the wrong profile assigned so all my images in the view look warm toned (on the right). As the screen cap looks the same in PS and in my browsers, my older program and in thumbnails… It is clear the Photo Gallery colour is wrong.

http://www.sevenforums.com/music-pictures-video/8081-windows-photo-viewer-background-yellow-color-fix.html

And now I can be happy knowing all my programs show true to color (as I can) as I have an amazing monitor and graphics card 😉

Other sites gave some fairly off information, this is bang on. And clearly an issue not addressed in further Win7 updates and not even in Win8- luckily a super easy fix. I have calibrated and also altered my monitor- calibrations via the OS and the buttons on my monitor. I actually aim for slightly cool tones so you can imagine how annoying this issue has actually been.

Win8 shows the thumbnails the correct colour but there was like an fffff1 mask over the top.

My netbook has V.Lux and even during the day colours are warmer. And our TV definitely tone stowards the cooler- and specifically to make true white look slightly cool purple. I’m mostly using my phone as I can get immediate feedback about how real life looks and then I can compare and adjust my monitor.

Anyway I’m not even going to go too far in to why I think red and blue are particularly troublesome for graphics (I’ve know for at least 15 years this was an issue with digital cameras (I worked for a car magazine and the swears I heard when trying to get a blue car to look right on screen and on film and at the printers…..) It’s a bit of a degree level thing to really study but here, have a spoonflower quick explanation as it is nicely and easily understood:

http://help.spoonflower.com/customer/portal/articles/993494-more-color-for-the-advanced-user

Basically RBG (Red, green Blue) vc CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) clashing I think is most at fault. Blue and Cyan and Red and Magenta being substituted or not properly able to be expressed between colour spaces. It may explain the blue-> Cyan and red-> magenta shifts when using flash and “auto” on most entry level cameras.

Anyway, I need a nap (read 24 hours sleep- it’s thing, yay monoclonal antibody therapy!) but my next batch of fabric is already in Honolulu and I won’t be surprised if it lands here tomorrow. Anticipating arrival soon anyway. Tomorrow I may have new buckets to store all my fabrics and projects in (fingers crossed) as I really do like having access to everything. Also multipurpose storage is for the win.

But I am sorely tempted to get the decal.

 

And hey, working for a magazine meant I got dropped in the deep end of colour theory as it applies to digital media really fast. I was Editorial Assistant at a time when there were both digital and physical copies of.. copy 😉 So it’s a bug to me when people use ultimate colour terms. Now I may just have to see the movie again at yet another cinema because the two screening have shown her dress to be heavily in the green tones. And the same as the short tv shots show on my monitor.

That said I had the same argument over the Slave Leia skirt. It is a warm violet in reality, which is why it looks even warmer on print and old yellowed photos but looks very violet in flash (from exhibits and in the barge scene) but everyone remembers it as a dark wine. My skirt behaves exactly the same under those various media and lighting situations. But in person people think it’s wrong.

They do get an ear ful of colour theory I have to admit 😉 I think people forget I am trained as an artist as well as scientist. And quite widely in both.

 

Oh geez, now for bed. There are mashmallows and I am giggling every time I nom one.

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Elsa colours

Sigh I have been having issues with working out what colour scheme to go for. At the cinemas her gown is seriously green. However the promo artwork has been tweaked cooler to the point her sleeves look purple.

So I am aiming for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssVnSg2jwUw

Note how her cape clashes with her dress? Awesome. I am going to go whole hog and try for that. It hurts my brain!!! Warm tone and cool tones should not mix! but well I really like how it does clash and hurt my eyes a bit.

It’s kind of like whole tone scales. It’s weird. But it works if you Let It Go… mwahahahaha.

 

Also, my second piece of fabric is already heading here 🙂 Hoping like mad I got it right and that my shipping worked out. But yes. 3 yards including fedex was cheaper than two meters of similar but not as good fabric from Spotlight. That said, Spotlight clearance warehouse.. I want to be there tomorrow.. pout pout cry. They may have some furniture….

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Elsa graphics

Net dyed: slightly greener than aqua. Power net dyed: slightly too dark. All okay, I can get more net 🙂 And more dye to deeper the net and barely tint the power net.

And now I have seven snowflakes as line art on my computer. Close enough that I can use them to print and use as stencils, not good enough to share. Once I’ve got the proportions sorted I’ll make them available- and learn illustration while I’m at it…. Hopefully none are bigger than a letter or A4 sheet of paper, but I don’t know yet as I haven’t put them on my template!

snowflakewip
Okay so I have brute made 5 and two are duplicates, shhhh

Ahhhh! Splicing placeholders over my actual pattern shows how much fuller we are making aour capes. But I do think it makes for better flow. Pattern and actual cape. The cape is about 2.4m long from shoulder blades to hem in the artwork (for my height) and I had about 2.58 and I have even more of the new net .

Untitled-Captured-08

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Elsa painting!! ZOMGZOMGZOMG!!!

I get chased by a bee at nearly 2mins. Just saying if you want to hear me get very squealy, that’s your cue.

 

 

I have to share I don’t care if anyone uses these techniques and “pips” me to the post, this is too too too fun! And I’ll be using this on the cape and shoes. Read on for more info 🙂

So Resolene is the most amazing awesome finisher ever. The fact that it will bind to leather even under a wax polish? That makes it a bit special. But I wasn’t sure if it would work on sequins as they are plastic with a plastic coating. Leather is porous. Sequins are not.

Materials:

Pearl Ex (interference green and duo tone blue/green)

Resolene, matte.

Technique:

You just mix the pigments straight in to the Resolene and that is it.

 

Okay, you’ll want to work out what the best mix ratio is.

Resolene is very runny- it’s like skim milk/no fat milk in colour and viscositys. It also isn’t sticky until it starts to dry. It does however smell of ammonia so you will need to work in a ventilated area. But this is true of spray paint 😉 And if you have used acrylic paint from a tube it’s pretty much that… but more so. Not sure why some acrylics smell like ammonia and others don’t. Liquiset and PA don’t after all.

I patted the brush on the sequins after sweeping-brushing caused more pigment to build up under the sequins (which acted as mini scrapers). So I think airbrushing will be the best option. I need a new brush and a compressor. I have two cans of air but they may or may not last so will be set aside for make up.

I wouldn’t recommend a sponge as the Resolene will be sucked in to that too much as it is so liquid.

 

So for her shoes I’ll use my left over Russet (vege tanned, unfinished leather for craftwork) and dye them.. hmmm.. possibly a mix of the black and yellow dyes I have. But Feibing also does a white acrylic “dye” (it’s opaque but should work well) so I’ll go over with that as well.

And then use the Resolene/Pearl Ex mix over that with a brush to shade.

 

For her cape I’ll airbrush with stencils as well as use heat set crystals to make the designs pop. I may be airbrushing first and then deciding how many crystals I’ll need. But I won’t be setting them butting each other rather with regular spaces between.

 

So I’m back to photoshop to make the dozen special snowflakes and layout. Kinda liking working with paths again but it was frustrating trying to get my cape pattern to properly scale. I tweaked it a bit.

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