She-Ra

While I am waiting for some material to arrive to finish my poison Ivy Costume, I thought I would keep myself busy with my She-Ra costume. I’ve always wanted to be She-Ra. She was my favorite cartoon character from the 80’s. I guess it was that female power thing that caught my attention when I was younger. Anyhow, I have just about everything I need for this costume except for the longline bra that I ordered. I cannot find anything to fit me in the regular stores because they very rarely carry my size and when they do, it’s very expensive. So I started on the “Gold” pieces of the costume. The headdress, the arm bracers, the collar first. All made from various thicknesses of Fun Foam or somtimes known as “Foamies”. You can find them in any craft/Fabric store pretty cheap. Sheets run anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar depending on how big it is or it’s thickness. I’m using two thicknesses for the costume. One is the very thin stuff, layered to created the headpiece wig portion. The other is 1/8 inch soft EVA foam. This is being heat molded using a heat gun for the arm bracers and neck collar.

The arm bracers are pretty much done except for putting on the velcro straps. I used an existing pattern that My boyfriend made for the N7 Mass Effect armor. I cut it, had him sand it with the dremel to give it clean lines and then I used a 50/50 mix of Elmers fabric and Craft glue to seal the foam.

Heres’ the bracers after heat forming and coating with three coats of my glue primer

Bracers Formed, sanded, primed, ready to paint

 If you do not seal it, the paint will soak in and you could be painting it forever and not get a solid paint job. 2-3 coats of the 50/50 mix. Let it dry thoroughly. Takes a few hours. Then I painted it with Creamcoat craft paint in Gold. I could not find the more antique gold that I wanted but I found a good solution that actually gave me the result I wanted. After 3 coats of paint, let dry completely. I let mine sit overnight, did touch ups in the morning and they were ready for the final applications by the evening. I decided to use a tube of Rub n buff from the craft store. Typically it’s used on raised areas to give an antique look. But what I wanted was a more metal look., simulating gold. I used a tiny bit and rubbed in with my fingers and then buffed with a towel. The result is nice and metallic and it toned down the more yellow look of the paint which to me looked too fake. After the rub and buff, I put a light layer of Varnish on it and let it dry. One area on one of the bracers got a bit messed up from sitting outside drying (varnish stinks). So I may have to go back over that area. But overall I am pleased with the way they came out.

Glue Primer I used is Elmer’s Fabric and craft glue.

Craft Glue used for paint primer on foam 50/50 Ratio water to Glue

After painting with the cream coat, I used Rub’n’buff.  Found in most craft stores where they keep the gold leafing supplies.

Paint and Rub n buff .

 Here is the finished bracer. Pretty simple, no embellishments. 3 layers of paint, rub’n buff and a coat of varnish. Need to add the velcro straps.

Finished Arm Bracer for She-Ra

The headpiece is cut out, glued with E6000 glue. that stuff will bond to anything. David sanded them down for me and now they are ready to shape and paint. all the other foam pieces are cut out and awaiting for me to finish. I picked up some plastic jewels today for embellishment on the metal pieces and the dress.

 Here’s the cut out and glues headform. After sanding and painting I’ll attach it to the headband.

The dress pattern is based off of a simplicity special occasion dress which I believe is now out of print. I will need to alter it a bit. I normally wear a size 6/8 in the bewb area but a 4 everywhere else. The dress has Princess lines that are easy to adjust and are flattering to the figure, so no big deal. I got some bridal type satin (matte, not super shiny) for the dress. It was on the remnant table, so I lucked out in getting a 10 dollar a yard fabric for 3 dollars a yard…bargain for nice thick bridal satin! Still looking for nice flowy cape material that doesn’t look cheesy but doesn’t cost a fortune. Joann’s did not have what I was looking for, so I will make a trip to Hancock Fabrics this week to see what they have.

The Boots are gonna be the tough part. I could paint some pleather boots that I have but I really like the boots for winter and painting them would ruin them and make them unwearable most of the time. So I’m either hunting for Gold Boots or I could do the She-Ra late 90’s version of the suede boots with the embellishments on top. That would require more work, but I think they may be more comfy for wearing at conventions all day. Wig…already got a nice one that will work.  The only bad thing about wearing costumes is…no pockets!! where do I put my stuff!!

More updates later on all my costumes. I am also working on a Venture Bros costume….guess which one?

Jane