Daddy! Look! I Caught Some Fireflies!

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Sat Lake Comic Con Fan Experience 2014!

The Alpha Geek and I had many great adventures at Comic Con this weekend that I will take the time to write about later, but here is a taste of the awesomeness:

 Yup, Nathan signed our official Malcolm Renold's prop replica gun!

Firefly Cosplay: Kaylee's Jumpsuit

I got the flight suit from a local army surplus store and I bought the patches from ebay (I referenced Maggie's Costume Site for pictures and links). I just used fabric glue to attach them due to lack of time, but I'll go back and sew them later. I used a seam ripper to take the sleeves off (which was more difficult than it sounds because the military makes things to last!) and used scissors to clean up the edges. I didn't re-sew the hem because I don't think Kaylee would have gone to the trouble to do so. Fortunately, since the flight suit was army surplus it was already a bit distressed, but it didn't have any of the engine grease smears that are characteristic of Kaylee. I actually put the suit on, dunked my hands in a mixture of black acrylic paint and water, and wiped my hands on my hips and legs where it felt natural. I also smeared some around my waist and knee as if I leaned up against or knelt in something greasy. I have the perfect shirt to complete the ensemble, but you have to wait a little longer for pictures of the whole thing ;)

Firefly Cosplay: Captain Reynolds is almost done!

Ta daa!!! I have a couple of final details to attend to before Comic Con next Thursday, but it is just about finished. I will be styling his hair a bit different, but overall I'd say he looks ready to misbehave ;)

Stay Shiny!

Firefly Cosplay: Malcolm Reynold's Boots continued

Hey there friends! 

Last week was a bit crazy, but I finally worked on Mal's boots a bit more and they are almost done! Last time I left off after lining the main body of the boot and we were about ready to sew...

Picture #1 below shows the top piece of the boot. In a perfect world it would have the pleather on both sides, but I am short on time so I just rolled the top hem. 

Picture #2 shows the boot cover after I sewed the top pieces to the body and the right and left sides of the body together. The color of the cover and shoe look a lot different than they do in real life because the pleather of the boot cover seems to reflect the light differently. I turned the flash off for the third image and it gives a better idea of what the two pieces actually look like together. 

Picture #3 you can see that I added a zipper on the inside of the calf like Mal's boots and so the Alpha Geek can actually get the things on! To attach the boot covers to the shoes I had the Alpha Geek actually put them on and then I pulled the front and back edges of the cover down and used fabric glue to secure them. Fabric glue dries pretty quickly so I just held the edges down while it dried. I then had him take the boots off carefully, applied more glue, and used pins to hold everything in place while it dried. The pleather fabric had a bit of stretch so I was able to get the cover to lay pretty nicely. I also added 2 more panels to the front of the shoe since the original Madden shoes used for the show had 5 panels and the ones we got from Ross only had 3. I rolled the curved edge and sewed by hand to get the same raised look of the other panels.

In Pictures #4-5 you can see the trim I added around the seam where the cover meets the shoe. This just covers up any glue that leaked and makes it look more finished. All I did was take about a 1.5 inch by 12 inch strip of the pleather, folded it on itself in thirds lengthwise, and sewed a straight line down the center. I glued the trim on and used pins again to hold it. I left everything to dry overnight and touched up a few places this morning. After work I'll have the Alpha Geek try them on and we'll see how they look with the full costume :)

Side note: In image #4 you can see the light shoelaces peaking out between the zipper. At this point the laces are accessible so the Alpha Geek will still be able to tighten them comfortably. 

*** So, what do you think? Any suggestions? I will try to get pictures 

of the full Mal costume and my Kaylee costume up soon! ***

It's True! Nathan Fillion is coming to the Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Experience!!!!

Click on the picture below to see the press release confirming that my wildest dreams have come true! I posted a comment back when they announced Adam Baldwin was coming to see if they could try to get Nathan Fillion to come to Salt Lake and they actually did it!

The Alpha Geek and I are so excited and geeking out all over the place!!!! I hope Captain Reynolds enjoys our Mal and Kaylee cosplays :)

If you want to join Captain Hammer, the Alpha Geek, and I at The Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Experience it is at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 17-19, 2014. Fillion will only be there on Friday the 18th. You can buy tickets here. We got VIP tickets so we can get in the Express lines for celebrity guests and panels. VIP tickets are expected to sell out this week so buy them ASAP if you want them. Have fun and stay Shiny friends!

Not sure if serious, or just April Fools...

Soapbox time! I seriously cannot stand April Fool's Day! I enjoy a good prank as much as anyone else, but it seems like the internet takes the "holiday" as an excuse to be inordinately cruel. For example, the guys at Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Experience posted either the single greatest news I've ever heard or the meanest joke ever yesterday: 

Don't toy with my emotions like this!

Seriously, is there a statute of limitations for April Fool's Day? It is now April 2nd and the Fillion is still listed on the Master Guest list so I want to believe it is true, but there is no way to be sure without an official announcement. If I let myself get excited and it was all a prank it would cast a shadow on the whole convention. If it isn't a prank, then I am being denied my happy dance because I'm still not certain. Curse you April Fool's Day! 

Firefly Cosplay: Mal's Boots

My wonderful geek husband has been encouraging me to get back into my costuming and crafting hobbies for a while now but it is difficult to find the time an energy when I work full time. Fortunately, I have found a project to motivate me! Salt Lake City Comic Con is hosting a Fan Experience event in April and the Alpha Geek and I decided we really ought to dress up since we didn't in August. As Adam Baldwin will be there, we decided we should finally do the Firefly Cosplay we have been thinking about. I will be cosplaying as Kaylee and my geek will be cosplaying Captain Malcolm Reynolds.

I got the Alpha Geek a prop replica of Mal's gun and dog tags from ThinkGeek for his birthday and our anniversary last year and we ordered the coat, pants, shirt, and suspenders from CosplaySky. While I could have made these items myself, it was actually cheaper to order them when you account for material cost. Instead, I decided to focus my creative efforts on Mal's boots. As it turns out, there really is no accurate replica of them anywhere. Motorcowboy has made some decent replicas out of real leather, but they aren't quite right. If you look closely (and troll fan pages) you can see that his boots are actually made using a Steve Madden shoe for the base with leather boot tops added:

Unfortunately, the Steve Madden shoes are no longer being produced so I had to get creative. I got a pair of brown leather Sketcher's shoes from Ross that have ribbing on the toe:

I also got some brown pleather, black adhesive interfacing, and two 14 inch brown zippers from JoAnne's. I traced around a pair of calf high boots I already own on a brown paper bag to make my pattern. 

Based on the image above I did an outer panel and 2 inside panels with seam allowance for the zipper for each boot cover. Then I cut out the pleather and pinned it to the interfacing.

For the elusive ridges on the side I had to get creative again. I cut out strips of cardboard and used fabric glue to attach the cardboard to the wrong side of the pleather like so.











Next, I pinned the adhesive interfacing over the cardboard to sandwich the strips in between. 

Then, I just followed the instructions on the interfacing to adhere the pieces together.

Tadaa!!! Time to start sewing :)





I'll be posting more pictures of the boots as well as the other costume pieces soon!

Happy Birthday Captain Tight-Pants!

Wish the Fillion a Happy Birthday and 

win a chance to have lunch with him by donating to charity :) 

Thanks and stay Shiny!