DIY: elbow patches

Oh bugger, I don't like this new Blogger layout :(

About 5 years ago, I bought a blue/white striped sweater in a second hand store. It's been used and loved, but lately it's been looking so... dull. So I decided to liven it up with elbow patches! Yes, I'm a sucker for elbow patches, haha.

 

What you'll need;

1. Sweater of choice
2. Elbow patches (these can be bought pre-made in different colours - fairly cheap too)
3. Iron
4. Sewing needle
5. Thread

First, find out where you want to place it, and iron it in place - follow the instructions on the elbow patch package!

When you've made sure they don't peel off, you can leave it like that - or secure them by sewing them in place.

 

I decided on a darker thread colour.

And then you're done! A brand "new" sweater, ready to wear ♥


 (Alternative title; Astrid's Inner Hipster)

horn tutorial v.0.2

V.0.2 of the ram horns for my Aradia Megido cosplay!
(I forgot to put this up yesterday, I'm sorry)

These horns are easier to make than the previous ones, and weights nothing at all - this means, that I was able to just stick them through my wig, and hold them together with a ribbon! They don't give you a headache, and are easy to deal with.

Let's get started!

For these horns, you'll be using:
Wire mesh
Wire
Paint tape (optional)
Papier-mache
Wood glue (for indoors)
Ribbon (anything will do)
Acrylic paint (color of your own choice)

1. This is the wire mesh I used - I cut it out in pieces, and put them together with wire. You can see the finished form on the right in the picture - it took a while to get the shape right, so be prepared for trial and error!

2. This is basically the forms I used for a single horn - notice that I have cut a lot into every piece, to make it able to shape as I wanted it to.

3. Wrap it up in paint tape - NOTE, this is optional!

4. Cover them in papier-mache, and do the textures with papier-mache too.

5. For this, I cut a small hole on both sides of each horn, and put a ribbon through - like this, I could hang them up, so it was easier to even out the glue!
I gave them three layers of glue - you have to wait for each layer to dry, before applying the next one.
This makes the horns hard to bend out of shape, but they're still soft to the touch!

NOTE, remember to fit them for your head, and adjust the shape often!

6. Paint them in the desired colors! I still need to paint these properly and give them a layer of shine.

DONE! I didn't get a picture of how I put them in the wig, but basically, I cut a hole where I wanted them to be, and stuck them through - the ribbon hold them together, so they don't fall out of the wig or fall out of place!

Don't hesitate to questions!

DIY: dying clothes

These days I spend too much time watching TV shows - but in between I get a little creative. Well, the most creative I can be right now!

The past few days I've had a little project going, and some of you might find it useful.

Do you ever feel like you have nothing to wear, and you clothes just seem dull?

Fear not!

You can dye your clothes, and it will feel like new!

I, myself, had a pair of blue jeans, a baby pink top, a blue dress and a washed black t-shirt.
On a daily basis I wear a lot of black and I haven't really got many bright colors in my wardrobe; so the top and the dress have just been lying around for ages, not being used - on the contrary, I've used the t-shirt so much that the color had faded quite a lot.

For the dying I used Admiral - a danish fabric color brand, that can be used in the washing machine, which is the easies way to dye clothes.

This is how it looked before and after,

NOTE: when dying clothes, you have to make sure how much it weights, as a higher weight gives a lighter color!
NOTE 2: when dying jeans it's best to use the jeans-color for the best result; but as I didn't want the blue jeans to be completely black, I went for the basic color.
NOTE 3: The fabric-color usually can't dye the thread used for sewing - this can be seen on my dress, which still has a slightly visible blue thread.

As you can see in the image, the top and the dress has gotten a washed-black color, due to the weight from the jeans.
This was easy to solve, as I had another pair of jeans - an old pair that have been used so much that they have haded to a bluish-black - that I needed to dye too.
For these, I used the jeans-color, and put the top and the dress in the washer together with the jeans, so now they are completely black too.

This is a really cheap (Admiral cost 59Dkkr) way to renew your wardrobe, and make the washed-out clothes seem new again!

horn tutorial

I promised a few people to take progress-pictures of the horns I made for my Homestuck Aradia Cosplay!
First of all, there's two tutorials here. I wasn't satisfied with the first pair, so I made a new one - they still aren't perfect, so I'm making yet a new set, to make them more ram-like.
Though, these tutorials might be useful to those who want to make larger horns - the progress can easily be fitted to the kind of horns you want to make!
I find ram horns quite difficult to make, as the shape easily bends..
The first set is more time consuming than the second set.
I won't show how I got them to sit on my head, as the method I used is retarded and requires two people to get it on, haha.
But let's get started!

For the first set, you'll be using:
Hard wire // Paper form
Expanding foam
Tape
Papier-mache
Plaster // Polyfilla
Sandpaper
Paint

1. First you make the desired shape out of the wire. You can use a paper-form if you have to make a straight horn.

2. Fill them out with expanding foam - don't use too much, it expands like hell! With the wire base I made, the cutting was to be careful. It took a while, so that I wouldn't hit the wire and cute off too much.

3. If you happen to cut off too much at places, take some of the cut off foam and tape it to the form, to fill out the spaces!

4. Coat them with papier-mache.

5. Coat them with plaster or Polyfilla (using plaster you have to be quick, as it hardens very fast).

6. Sand them so they get a smoother surface.

7. Lastly, you paint them with the desired colors!

For the second set, you'll be using:
Pipe cleaners // wire
Tin foil
Masking tape
Polyfilla
Sandpaper
Paint

1.First, make your desired shape out of pipe cleaners or wire, and form them with tin foil. Use the tin foil to get to the desired thickness.

2. Cover them in masking tape.
NOTE! Here would be a good place to coat them with papier-mache, but I was too lazy to do it - papier-mache let's the Polyfilla bind easier.

3. Coat them in Polyfilla and sand them.

4. Paint them in the desired colors!
Here you can also see the difference in the two pairs I made; the first pair ended up being too large, and bend out of shape.

I hope this was useful! If you have any questions about the process, don't hesitate to ask :D