Nogaro, ensemble monastique, ancienne abbatiale et salle capitulaire encore visibles. Portail Nord, Christ bénissant dans une mandorle

*image found HERE Three of Diamonds If you must cut me, cut me in three. My childish heart – free of aconitum, then. My pomegranate belly – the pretties flower in the garden, then. My w…

Alicia Ross, Artist, Fiber, Embroidery

This is Berk by Liv-is-alive on deviantART People have been asking about detailed descriptions of my Astrid cosplay, so I put this together to try and explain my process. It will be updated after Japan Expo after I've added new details. !!!! NOW UPDATED !!! When I went to London I bought most of my fabrics, since their selection is bigger. So unfortunately I cannot give you sites for furs etc. I always make a drawing to get all the details mapped out and make a time line. I started molding the spikes and skulls as the first thing, since I thought it would be the longest process - which it was, so start this stage early. I used SuperSculpey since it's easy to mold, it doesn't dry up after you've worked with it for a long time and you can put it in the oven to quick-dry when all the details are done. To smooth it our we also applied a bit of water. Which is why my fingers are wrinkly hahaha. We built boxes to make the casts in. And poured the plaster in those. I made hooks to put inside the spikes, so that they would be better secured in the skirt. It was a very hard wire, which was necessary for the hold. The finished casts. And my work on the pouch. I made a paper model of the shoulder armour and numbered the parts, so I would never be confused. Then I used the worbla sandwich method with a foam core. Molded as I went along. And then I did some math and figured out where the flat "spikes" should be placed. Which I got slightly wrong the first time as you can see by the failed placement of X. Dudududududuuu. Then came weathering and black paint before I dry-brushed over it with silver. I used faux suede for the armwarmers. I made the inside furry so it became naturally bigger than my actual arm. I then added the stitches along both sides by hand and figured out the pattern for the leather straps - which I gotta tell you, will never look like the movie. The front looks on point, but they added some straps on the backside in animation, that would never be able to naturally be there - at least not if you only used 1 long strap of leather, as I did, since I thought that to be more realistic. The armband is also just 1 long strap of leather - since it's real leather it sits pretty securely on the skin. The skirt's strips were made out of pleather. As you can see the wire I had cast inside the spikes were inserted. I made the skirt fully wash-able, since it's fur and will 100 % make me sweat. So I used velcro - also on each side of the zipper, which was therefore hidden. I cut the fur with a scalpel from the back to avoid too much excess hair being cut, as you do with scissors. I found some jeans for 25 kr (5 USD) and sewed in some folds + applied the pleather knee caps. The boots are boot covers, 2-layered with fabric inside to make them humongous. Here with the added leather details and shoes inside. Since the shoes are so big I was able to but my mini-shoes completely inside, and I therefore have a pleather sole on the covers. The chest piece was made of the 2-layered cape (fur and fake suede), the fake suede hood with fur inside. As you can see on the fur-picture it was originally a long fur, which I cut down (and I used the cut-off fur inside my boot covers!) I then added the small casted skulls and attached velcro to my shirt, chest piece and armour. My room is always such a mess hahah! Everything together, with added worbla-ring and leather straps. Plus a bonus cat inside my stage prop. I made the dragon out of a core of wire before adding newspaper with paint tape. I hot-glued the additional bones in the wings, but the wings primary wire and legs were intersected securely because of newspaper around it. I then went over the head with a heavy cloth-paper mache. Only the head though, since most of that would be out in the open. I added eyes and smaller details with paper mache and made everything smooth and nice. Then I covered the body in a base cloth and the the entire body in scaled fabric. I added spikes, claws, wing hooks and horns made of worbla. And then I painted the whole thing! It was my first time making something like this and I must admit it was easier than I had imagined it would be. The head did end up too big because of my novelty to the animal-crafting, since I hadn't thought of the enlargement the many layers of thick paper mache would mean. My wig was the last thing I did, since I love styling wigs. Saving the best for last... The wig was originally curly, so I straightened it with hot water. It was probably around 75 cm long when straight, and if possible I would have liked an extra 5 cm - my wig's length is actually pretty perfect I think, but I would have liked more volume at the end of the braid. I will probably add some hair to compensate for that before wearing Astrid again. Update!!: I made the axe with expanding foam and a cardboard core. First time trying it! Gosh it was a mess! I also made my sheep heads with this method. Then came painter's tape and paper mache x2! And paaaaint. I had to make it in three pieces since I had to transport it. I decided to elongate the fur over the shoulders, since I had now watched the film and knew for sure that it was in fact longer. And then I dyed the furs! This is ONLY do-able because the fur isn't real. I used diluted acrylic paint and brushed it on with a horse-hair brush, blowing at the hairs with a hair dryer to make the colour set - all the while brushing, brushing. You can really see the difference on the grey fur and the dip-dye on the hood is super pretty! More painting! Nice friends helping out too. I painted the shirt to make it more nuanced and then embroidered it. More tiny details C: You can also see the velcro, where the hood attached - the same things goes for the shoulder pauldrons. The black sheep is worth the most points! by Liv-is-alive on deviantART I hope this was useful to anybody.