Four things I realized while testing out options for Bowie tribute cosplay makeup options last night:
1. I need an actual contouring kit. The bronzer, various pale concealers and neutral eye shadows aren't going to cut it. I don't need darker shades, just better more bendable textures.
2. The 'Golden disc' look (not fully drawn on in photo) also needs the red 'rabbit' cheeks and gold lips(?). Must also find a new true red blush like Manic Panic used to make.
3. Not quite done with the wig trimming (it's a smidgen high on top).
4. covering eyebrows, even already medium blond ones, is a 'queen bitch'. I'll likely be bleaching my eyebrows anyway for Dragon Con because of another cosplay, so that will make things easier.
More practice with that glue stick; I'm not going as far as David did and shaving them off!
XOXO
After having a difficult time finding the right fabric to make Cyrinda's yellow jacket from, I found a faux leather version that might work well for the time being.
With that said, I decided to move forward with my Ziggy Stardust/Bowie tribute cosplay.
This will also be a tribute of sorts to the designer that created the original worn on stage by David, Kansai Yamamoto.
I have begun the hand painted design on what will be the front of the white satin crane tunic.
The kimono-like blouson sleeves have been cut out and are waiting to be sewn up, as well as the simple matching sash belt from the same fabric. I might just make this zip up the back, as I'm not sure what form of closure the original had.
Unable to do a copy exactly like the original, I've decided to do my own thing with some of the design elements; namely the two cranes. I made them slightly larger and the one above has his wing extended slightly. This is my first time painting in this style, and it's been a while since I've painted anything (let alone onto satin).
Hopefully I can make up, and stencil the kanji onto, the accompanying tear-away cape in time for Dragon Con, too!
Next on the agenda is the wig, in that signature Ziggy red rooster cut.
I started on this yesterday evening, and I still need to do a little more layering on the sides, but it's nearly there. You can see the comparison from what it looked like on Ebay, and after I was 3/4 of the way done with it! My only gripe is that I wish the hair on top was a little thicker.
It has a little too much flip at the longer areas, so I'll need to gently relax those with wax paper wrapped around a low-temperature flatiron.
He's just helping Ronson play his guitar...really! Hehe...
Throughout my life as a creative individual, the complete work of David Bowie (I mean pretty much everything I could dig up from childhood onward) had a huge impact on my life.
My earliest visual and musical memory of Bowie was by way of MTV. It was either the video for "Let's Dance" or "China Girl", and at age 6 I was an instant fan. Not just crushing on this handsome androgynous man in exquisite suits, but the music also got its hooks in me and wouldn't let go. After a short quiet period, by age 8 or 9 I was once again thrust into the shining dawn that is Bowie, thanks to the film Labyrinth.
The crush reached epic proportions. I just had to find more of his music, and let my Jareth fangirl flag fly.
By age 13, Bowie was competing for bedroom wall space with Adam Ant (his early incarnation, which I re-discovered thanks to his early 1990's comeback).
As I reached sweet 16, David Bowie was God, Adam Ant was Jesus, and I was a teenager who shunned 98% of the popular music the mainstream was trying to shove down my throat at the time.
Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane and Kings of the Wild Frontier were my bibles, with a hefty dose of Goth thrown in.
The first song I ever played on the tape deck of my first car during my first drive alone, was Bowie's 'Queen Bitch'.
The second song, was 'Jean Genie'.
The volume was well past 11.
After learning of David Bowie's passing mere hours after it happened; well, let's just say it's difficult to describe kind of devastation I was experiencing. Still not quite used to him being gone, I'll have a fleeting notion that he's still around; that he will offer up some new album or artist collaboration, or even a tour. And then my heart drops into my stomach.
Like a long-distance family member you used to talk with often enough, that when they pass away you only remember they are gone until after you've actually picked up the phone to call them.
That is what Bowie was and is to so many of us. Through our lives sometimes he was in the front of our consciousness, other times in the background, yet always solidly *there*.
He was there to 'talk to' when you needed him.
His presence was there when we needed that epic artistic and innovative inspiration.
The thing we all need to remember, is that won't change. We can still look to him and his entire, vast body of work, and be inspired to do amazing things.
It's also fun to ponder; what inspired Bowie?
There is so much; the vastness of the universe kind of covers it. Other obvious influences include Asian art and Kabuki theater, glamour over the ages, the human ego, fluid sexuality, fashion and playing with gender roles. I can't even begin to remotely complete the list here, Bowie was an incredibly dynamic individual and the list is just too long.
But there are the muses; men and women of earth, both already famous and others not at all, that Bowie engaged with on many levels. Artistically, emotionally, physically, musically, they inspired this beautiful Starman.
Some of these fellow souls he kept near because he enjoyed their vivacious nature, intellect and bright personalities. Others inspired him to write songs and/or captured their image in his works.
One memorable muse of this nature, was Cyrinda Foxe. Otherwise recognized as the pin-up style blonde bombshell pictured on the Jean Genie album single, and in the music video.
It may seem somewhat odd that I would choose her as a Bowie tribute cosplay, but this would also be just one a part of a story. David Bowie was a unique force of nature all his own, to be sure. But so much of his overall thematic image was also created with the help of those artists and personalities he surrounded himself with. Naturally, Cyrinda's look caught my eye, and it's one that I immediately related to. She's this interesting mix of 1950s pin up, 1970s glam rock and early punk, all while channeling the spirit of Marilyn Monroe.
Ina book by Aurther Kane; I, Doll: Life and Death with the New York Dolls, Arthur describes Cyrinda Foxe as being..."bright, very magnetic," and having "an effervescence about her." And that "she was very much a character of her own creation." That was an understatement.
When David Bowie met her in 1972, "he was so bowled over by Cyrinda that he cast her in his Jean Genie video. She always said what she wanted, and she carried herself with class."
Far beyond groupie, Cyrinda was also a well known member of The Factory; Andy Warhol's studios and creative community in New York City. She is best known for her role in Warhol's 1977 film, Bad.
After growing up Kathleen Victoria Hetzekian in Santa Monica, CA to an Armenian family and graduating high school, her travels took her to Texas for a spell, then eventually New York City. She quickly landed a job as an assistant to Greta Garbo, changed her name and frequented Max's Kansas City. She became an actress soon after, which led to her role in Bad.
Cyrinda suffered a mild stroke in 2001. Suddenly unable to work and nearly homeless, Myra Freidman organized a benefit at CBGB to raise money for Cyrinda's medical and living expenses. Ex husband, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and old flame, David Bowie both donated signed guitars that were auctioned off to help out.
on August 28, 2002, she married musician Keith Waa.
A little over a week later, Cyrinda died from an inoperable brain tumor on September 7, 2002.
She was taken from this world much too early.
Below is the jacket and shoes I found on Ebay. Not an exact match, but they will do for now until I can find the right glazed nylon fabric to make the jacket up myself. The shoes will get painted gold with gold glitter-covered platform soles. I'm still on the hunt for the right leopard print fabric to make her halter top. Interestingly, the shoes she has on in the video street scenes are different than the glittery ones in the bar photo; the street shoes have a closed toe and may be a slingback.
The next tribute costume I have planned for this 'story', is the white & red satin stylized kimono and cape by Kansai Yamamoto for David Bowie's 1973 Ziggy Stardust Tour. While I'd like to also do the makeup, the hair will be my own design while still reflecting a similar edge.
This is also a costume of his that had played a part in the inspiration for one of my burlesque costumes a few years ago.
Here are just a few quick progress photos as Dragon Con 2015 rushes ever closer. My Logan's Run/Jessica 6 costume is complete!
Below is a photo of the dress before I put the narrow hem on the bottom edge. Not as annoying a process as I thought it was going to be, but since it's silk it was much easier to work with, unlike slippery synthetic versions.
I was also able to find the perfect bra and boy shorts, that match my skin tone for that nude look, to wear underneath the very minimal ensemble. This is probably my most comfortable cosplay. Ever.
The Wilma Deering costume from Buck Rogers (Episode, "Space Vampire") is coming together quite easily. The piping proved to be a bit fussy to get nicely around the corners, but I made it work.
Tonight I may even be able to finish the matching pants, and be done with it!
The small laser pistol is also coming along, and with my fiancee's help, we made a mold of the original Match-O-Matic base to create a lighter weight version. All it needs is the trigger guard, a short clear acrylic rod for the 'barrel' and some silver paint.
Laser blaster resin mold setting up, and the piping in process for the top.
Stay tuned for a few more posts. I'll see what I can fit in between now and the last few days before the event.
XOXO
Here are just a few shots of the accessories I have finished, and what I am building during the in-between time.
My finished Wilma Deering boots for our Buck Rogers 'Space Vampire' cosplay.
The boots themselves were a pair of low cut black leather ankle boots I found on Ebay, then painted a bone ivory with leather paint. I found a cheap pair of similarly colored 1980s leather pants, and used the material to build the 'spats', then painted those with the same leather spray color. 3 ribbons of elastic, stitched on with a zigzag stitch, help to create the ruching at the front of the boot as it was on the originals.
I may top stitch the edge of the boot opening, but for now they look appropriately disco/1980s.
The holster and belt went together last night, too.
It's really hard to see how the holster attached to her belt (no photos yet), so for now I just added a loop and snap combo that still looks good enough until I can make improvements later. Truthfully from what I can make out, it almost looks like one of those large binder clips with one handle removed, and the other attaching to the holster. The 'laser pistol' will be made after taking a mold off of the below pictured Match-O-Matic lighter.
Yep, that is indeed a bottle of whiskey....used for medicinal purposes...and as a pattern weight, etc.
So far, so good on the Logan's Run front. I'm making quick progress of my Jessica 6 dress, and the collar made for me by Creative Thinking Studio is on it's way to me now. All it needs is the Ankh pendant I finished this past weekend, molded from Fimo clay and painted a shiny silver. I'll add more photos of the collar and Ankh once it's all put together.
I also received the large link chain belt in the mail yesterday (yay, more super disco items!), that will wrap around the upper rib cage and through the dress front panel. It was a super yellow gold, so I toned it down with a light dusting of metallic silver spray paint.
I was able to track down a low profile nude bra to wear under this sheer little number, and to mount the chain belt to. Still on the hunt for the right shade of nude hotpants/boyshorts. They are all either super pink/pale or super dark, or have really noticable trimmings or seams at the sides.
Sunday was a day of dyeing, sanding and painting.
I was able to get a good chunk of work done on some otherwise time-consuming tasks on my journey to complete at least three different costumes.
Surprisingly, I was able to get my Wilma Deering spandex dyed the perfect color on what I'd consider one dip! Fortunately I didn't need to constantly adjust my dye bath a billion times before I got the color I wanted, and only had to do two swatch tests before finally submerging my fabric. Of course in the below photo, it looks crazy dark and bright, but after the rinse and drying, it's a perfect flamingo coral color.
This color; it's not just pink. I call this 'Pank!'
Erin Gray as Colonel Wilma Deering
With that success, I knew it would be short lived.
I needed to also dye some of the bright white spandex a pale ivory shade, for the neckline and belt loop piping trim that matches her belt & boots. I had purchased some acid dye in 'Ivory Cream' from Dharma Trading Co. This is the same stuff as all the other dyes used on my fabrics so far with success.
Not this time.
Instead of a nice creamy ivory on my swatch test, it came out a pale butter yellow color. No matter how many times I diluted it to get a paler shade, it came out super yellow each time; not what I wanted at all. So, I turned to a trusty dye source for getting a pale ivory beige; black tea.
Since Nylon is a synthetic I was wary if it would take at all to this fabric, since tea is not an acid dye or like others made for synthetics. Then I remembered that I had tea stained a pair of satin slippers a warm ivory shade, and those were covered in a synthetic satin. So I thought to at least give this a shot, considering how colorfast this Nylon jumbo spandex fabric was proving itself to be.
So I brewed up a big sauce pot of very dark black tea on the stove, turned off the heat after it reached a simmer, then dropped in my 1/4 yard of white Nylon spandex.
After about 10 minutes of letting it sit and stirring occasionally, it turned the perfect shade of creamy bone ivory I wanted. Not too dull and still bright, but without the weird yellow tone. And still colorfast; it didn't completely wash out when rinsing, which is a big plus.
From stark white, to butter yellow and finally the bone ivory I wanted (top swatch).
Both fabrics, finally dry and ready to be turned into a costume.
I'm not showing full photos yet of one other project, since it's one I'm keeping it top secret for now. I will say that I had fun painting the prop a shiny metallic silver, then applying a frosty acrylic paint in raised areas. Onto this I dusted a iridescent white/blue glitter. This was done to make the object appear to have frosted over in some spots.
Here's a cropped sneak peek:
Aside from that, the progress on my Jessica 6 costume from Logan's Run is coming along nicely.
I was able to get the pale aqua blue metallic woven silk Georgette dyed the perfect cool pistachio green.
Using the same dye brand and process as before, I just added a smidgen of the Sunflower Yellow to very warm water, and stirred my silk in it for 5 minutes.
The silver threaded silk Georgette dried post dye bath; perfect!
I have an artist via Etsy working with me now, to create the wide silver tone collar that I can add the ankh pendant to myself. I'll probably make the pendant from Fimo and paint it metallic silver. If it doesn't match the metal of the collar, it's ok. The ankh pendant in the film didn't match either, and was likely made of painted resin or something similar, too. The film-worn neck collar it was attached to, however: was made by Cartier.
I've also figured out that I can take photos to document my process as I
go, then write and post about it on my breaks at work during the week.
This saves me valuable sewing/building time, not spent at the computer at home. We'll see how that goes as the time ticks away toward go time.
XOXO
Because I'm attending Dragon Con in hot and steamy Atlanta, I've been trying to add more than a few "lightweight" costumes to my repertoire. This means whatever I can comfortably, and in some cases comically, get away with!
After seeing a random clip from the 1970s sci-fi film Logan's Run the other night, and being a Logan's Run fan for years, I've decided to recreate the Jessica 6 costume from her first scene with Logan.
It's shimmery and green, light and airy, perfect for hot humid weather. Although there seems to be a fair amount of fabric covering all the needed areas, it's still barely there.
But why, with the other costumes I need to finish am I adding this one? Because it will literally take me one evening to make the dress, and I nearly have all the other bits and pieces already. As I was entertaining the thought of doing this costume, I stumbled upon an amazingly nice wig at a great deal on Ebay. I was actually stunned by the quality when I received it in the mail the other day. Rarely is an Ebay wig nicer than the photo.
I may trim it a bit shorter, but it's almost exactly the hairstyle and color as Jessica's.
Achieving a natural looking hairstyle that is worlds away from your own cut and color, is often the most difficult and time consuming part to a cosplay. Add to that the often endless searching of wig shops and online sources for something that works. Finding a perfect wig right away cut out 90% of the time it will take to make the Jessica 6 cosplay, and I think it was a big deciding factor to just go for it.
A large gold link chain belt was found on Etsy, and I'll be using some silk Georgette I already have on-hand that has silver threads woven in. It was originally going to be the overlay on a skirt for my Queen Elsa cosplay, before I found an alternate that was better.
Currently the fabric is a pale aqua blue. So, I'll be using a pinch of Sunflower Yellow acid dye from Dharma Trading co. to get that perfect pale pistachio green. I tested a swatch yesterday afternoon, and it turned out a perfect match.
Haha! Well, let's just get right to it, shall we? Oh the 1970s...
The revealing nature of this Jessica 6 dress is all in the cut and type of fabric, with one side of the sheer frock fully open.
There may be some magic involved in either making a nude colored high cut leotard for underneath, or tracking down some great matching flesh tone microfiber (and nearly invisible) boy shorts to wear.
I'll also be adding built-in flesh tone bra cups too.
Maybe even engineering some kind of slingshot bikini? We'll see.
Also including the easiest costume ever; the Sandman caftan. One giant rectangle with grey edging that overlaps like a bathrobe in front and closes with front ties.
Yep. This is happening...because it's Atlanta, and it's a whole other level of humid and hot.
Of all the projects I'm currently trying to finish, I may be posting very few updates between now and the zero hour before Dragon Con. it all depends on how fast I can move on these projects, and what my extra online time looks like.
I will, however; be taking photos as I go, and will likely wait until everything is done and back from DC before making detailed posts about each project.
xoxo
I found this great video of Erin Gray from last June, doing an interview at the Supanova Expo in Perth.
Lot's of awesome subjects discussed (a new Buck Rogers series PLEASE!!!), and it turns out her favorite episode is still "Space Vampire", the one that inspired me to do a Wilma Deering costume for Dragon Con this year!
Hearing about her experience with T'ai Chi and acupuncture has given me even more reason to try both.
I've been on the fence about it, but given some old injuries that trigger new daily pain, it's good to hear that it does indeed make a difference.
Well...as I embark on my adventure in building a costume worn by Wilma Deering (Erin Gray) on the late 1970s/early 1980s TV show, Buck Rogers, I'm taking on the adventure of dyeing Nylon spandex.
I know it can be done and know what type of dye to use, I had just hoped I wouldn't need to. At least this way I can get the exact color I need; a pretty medium, warm pink. Almost a coral. I'm having more trouble with the wig that will go with this particular project, and I can already tell it may be more work than the costume itself.
I'm still wig hunting for this costume and I'm having a hell of a time finding a wig, that will give me Wilma's 1970s/80s color combo and style, that won't ruin me financially. I'm also tempted to just do this to my own pale blonde hair. Maybe not nearly as dark in back as Erin Gray had on the show, but a warm golden chestnut and the lighter golden highlights blending from the top front. My revisit to brunette tresses two years ago with temp color was really fun, and I must say I look damn good with darker hair, too ;-) The only thing really stopping me, is that ***a wig will keep it's style in Atlanta*** My own hair, probably not so much.
This is a great description of the popular, crazy and campy Buck Rogers episode that inspired me to go with Wilma Deering's pink costume. CULT TV FLASHBACK # 72: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: "Space Vampire" (1980) Now if I can just get my friend Anders to be the Vorvon, muwahah!This costume Isn't as insanely specific as some might think. Google Wilma Deering and it pops up right next to the more often seen purple or blue spandex ensembles, and the white flight suit. Stay tuned to follow the progress of this, and a few other Si-Fi related cosplays I'll be putting together for Dragon Con 2015!
Under the spell of the Vorvon...I can't stop giggling at this gif.
