Eggs for Easter? 30.03.2017

I should update this blog a lot more and write longer texts, but I’m easily distracted because games are awesome. Despite my obvious pains in the right arm. Which is nothing new to say the least. I can only my blame my lack of proper arm training earlier in life and aimless gaming. However now that that is said and done, on to the topic of costume props.

I have a lovely friend and aprentist whom is also a girl. She decided to craft Caliburn from the Nasuverse. The sword of Saber, a really complicated project with a lot of odds and ends. But in the end it will look fantastic. For the most part it will be constructed with plywood, foam and worbla. Despite my expertise in making objects and welding tools, cutting straight lines with a jug saw is tricky. The idea is to emulate the way blacksmiths assemble their blades, only with less forging and more cutting.

My second project is trying to get access to a more permanent blacksmith forge and a solid iron anvil. Luckily my old man left a half finished structure behind. Hopefully the big compressor can be used to fuel the fire with air. Raising the temperature high enough. Working in metal is awesome and quite fun indeed. 

Aside from that, my third project which I’m done with for now, is the magical beast eggs. By now there is no secret that I am a larper and as such, I like to build my own special effects. In this case I got an order of several eggs, intended for on of the sorcery classes. One egg is intended to be open, like something has escaped. So naturally I had to build myself a quite squishy and organic looking egg pod. Roughly based on the fantastic Alien franchise. All of these eggs are made from balloons. My intention was to buy Easter eggs and pimp the hell out of them. However none was on sale. Therefor I made a papermache mixture instead. Nabbed some newspaper from my neighbours overflowing mailbox. Which got shredded into a box of water and wallpaper glue. This wet mix will for the most part stay on the surface of the balloon when it dries up. Though I went a bit overboard with the water. Prolonging the drying process. That did however not deter me from smother it in latex sealant and beach sand, mixed with paint. The side pods are made from foam coated in liquid latex, which gives it a very rubbery texture. 

The same process holds true for the other ones as well. However the redish one is covered in seashells as well and some moss.

Green, brown and covered is one of them as well. That is simply pants glued onto the surface to give it a forest fairly feel. Whilst the blue one is simply coated in sand.

Eventually I will make a full sized Alien egg in clay

Stay tuned and be awesome!

Zaceron

#Aleins #easteregg #eggpod #magicalbeast #zaceron

Blacksmith!

The last few days I’ve been quite busy, expanding my repertoire. First of I’ve been playing a lot of Conan exiles, with a brutal twist. Every time I die, I do five push ups on my cheap webcam. It’s a good burn and a terrific exorcise. That being said, I have the most brutal spawn point in the game. It’s in front of a cave of infinite spawning spiders. On the right hand side, there is a camp of humans. Under my floorboards spawns mangy mutt hyenas, that now can attack through walls. They spawn in waves of five. I also started to build a mighty castle of sorts, which will be the foundation for a fantastic town and a social justice rhino zoo. Did I mention that rock noses and rhinos also spawn next to my camp? For a while I had one stuck in a pillar, I called him Francis. The vicious wildlife really tear into me and can truly make my life a living hell. On the flip side it works fantastic when streaming. The next day was spent on learning the basics of blacksmithing, at a lovely crafted forge, situated in a fantastic neighborhood. After a lot of experimentation, I ended up making a hook to have in my belt. Made from a long thing iron bar. After all it was my first piece ever. Had my fantastic friend take a lot of pictures as well.

 http://www.photo.yngvehegreberg.com/Archive/Misc-Events/Peders-Smie

Shell Shocked! 09.03.2017

It’s time time pick up some stream, my ever so dainty costume of death, decay and an infinite stream of shotguns. Is coming along quite nicely. Among other things the greaves is starting to look, work and feel like they have a purpose and solidity to them. Instead of being of being spongy plastic. I’ve also picked up some gloves at the local every thing and their mother store. They are simple black and has some green on them. Most of that I just peeled off, in order to make it less intrusive. After clearing the space I took a piece of masking tape on top, which I drew out the pattern, which became the basis for my foam cut outs. Which I naturally trimmed, pruned and glued on to the fabric. Naturally I also prepared some screws as well. In many ways I’m employing much of the same techniques as armor smiths does. The belt straps and the ordinance has been redesigned as well. In stead of using a chromed dome of two stacked foam, I used some Christmas baubles instead. With the help of a glue gun I could actually prevent my balls from falling into the hole. Which did occur at several occasions. Though that leaves me with a puzzling conundrum. What can I do with the 2 mm thick edge surrounding the mantle. If nothing else it looks splendid from afar.

https://www.twitch.tv/zaceron

Reaper rant 01.03.217

Reaper rant 01.03.217

I’m a bit biased and rightly so, the same holds true for anyone judging a competition. The other day I was participating, in order to entertain, win and spread the word. Be yourself try cosplay, however that idea was shot down rather rudely by the most cringe worthy statement I’ve heard. “If anime was a real characters, she is that person”. Apparently she looked enough like an anime doll to win. Which is fair enough if not for the overly focus on body type and being a look alike. To me, hair color, body shape and skin tone should have no bearing on a fair judgment.

“Judge not a person by the color of his skin, but the content of his character” Martin Luther King.

That being said I’m quite certain I had the best performance on stage, copying the animations and the mannerism of Reaper. Despite my very hammy and successful effort, the girl with the giant scythe won. Yes using a giant implement like that is impressive and I know for a fact it is heavy. Since I’m the one whom made most of the thing. While the Lovely participant did the paint job.

However I have a sneaking suspicion that the judges liked her the most due to being an anime character, they had some familiarity with. Unlike my perfectly sensible Reaper performance.

Other than this little rant of mine. I had a great time and have been having two good consecutive days of streaming, where I have been spending a lot of time screwing straps and working out more sensible ways to attach armor pieces. On top of that I made three grenades, I converted from cinnamon bottles. Which I added a handle to, at a later point I will consider painting it as well. The bandolier on the left side is quite tricky indeed. Since I now have to add another belt to the side, which the graphics artist decided to add several studs to, amongst other details. To keep the ordinance in place, I employed several layers of plastic, covered in duct tape and held in place with glue and screws.

A rather rude and nasty troll did drop by. But as usual I made a mockery of him and reported the fool.

https://www.twitch.tv/zaceron

Zaceron