AnimeBonzai is done

At long last the massive Assassins' Creed costumes are done.  This will mostly be a glut of pictures as I don't have much more to add except to thank Hoggar for making the hidden blade vambraces for the kids.  Hoggar also used the pattern and ideas developed by assassinscostume.com with various modifications by both of us.

Detail of Altair's hood

Assassin apprentice Tori

 Tori as the apprentice.  The black detail work is 1 7/8" bias tape.  I didn't get the top corners to align properly.  I'm afraid I was in a bit of a hurry and not paying attention.

back of apprentice costume

Front of apprentice

The front detail aligned up a little better but still not as crisp as I'd like it to be.

bottom of apprentice tunic

Hood detail

side of apprentice tunic.

Christopher as Altair.

 Christopher as Altair was a rather plain costume to put together.

Altair hood

A better side view of Altair's hood

Altair; back view

detail of hood and tunic embroidery

When I was working on Altair's costume the sewing machine started giving me grief.  It kept skipping stitches and breaking threads.  Eventually I figured out I had the wrong type of needle for the fabric I was using but I didn't have time to pick out the stitches and redo them so I'm not happy with the machine embroidery detailing.   In general I'd rather had embroider than machine embroider any time.

Etzio complete

Etzio complete closer view

Back view of Etzio all three layers.

Assasins moving out for a photo shoot in the early morning light

My assasins

Cosplay pose

Altair and me

 The kids said they were asked many times to pose for pictures and they had a great time at Bonzai and are already thinking up ideas for next year.

Etzio is done!

I've been furiously working for the past month on costumes for AnimeBonzai.

 My kids and nephew decided they wanted to cosplay characters from the video game Assassin's Creed so I had my son get me pictures and still shots from the game to see if I could create these costumes.  My nephew also gave me an Etzio action figure to try to draft a pattern from.  Then a light came out of the interwebs and I found this website http://www.assassinscostume.com/home/ Thank goodness!  This lovely young man makes and sells Assassin's Creed costumes and he has also posted patterns and tutorials on his website.
It was a good thing I found the pattern web site because I was starting to get frustrated with my desire to make an historically correct Venetian gentleman's outfit instead of a cosplay costume.  The two don't necessarily mix well.  The following pics are my nephew in his poofy shirt and under tunic for Etzio.  If I could figure out how to rotate the long shots I would but I can't so you'll just have to tilt your head or if you're reading this on FaceBook I'll have the pictures posted on my costume's album.  I know how to turn them right side up there.

detail of sleeve pleating.

bottom of undertunic close up

embroidery detail undertunic

embroidery on undertunic sleeve.

The next batch of pictures are of the overtunic and hood.

embroidery on back of over tunic

I still need to make a cape with leather shoulder pauldrin but that accessory is going to have to wait while I get the Altair and Apprentice costumes put together.  Bonzai is in two weeks and time is short.

And done

Thursday no work tonight

A final goal has been set.  I must drop this scroll off on Friday at 1:30.  Thank goodness I don't have to work tonight and can really push through the rest of the painting and outlining

Thursday was a bad day for my hands.  I could hardly hold the paint brush but I plowed through taking frequent breaks and surprise,  the beer I had with dinner seemed to relax my shoulders enough that after dinner I had less trouble with numbness.  I'll have to remember that for another time.

 

I quit for the night around 11pm with only two gryphon heads and the purple and yellow interlace needing to be outlined 

Wednesday apparently dot day

Wednesday I got a lot accomplished.  Interlace traced along the sides and top and some painting done as well as a surprising amount of dots showing up. 

In Celtic style illumination there are a ton of little red dots outlining everything; important words, as filler for an illuminated initial, just because the monks had been chewing on their paint brushes again.  My three main sources of inspiration for this style of work are The Book of Kells (of course), The Book of Durrow, and The Lindisfarne Gospels.  There are dots everywhere in all three. 

Nothing too surprising happened today.  I was kinda thinking about leaving it black and white with only the dots for color but Hoggar said no.   

Tuesdays Progress

Tuesday I didn't get as far as I'd have liked.  I slept through my alarm and didn't get up until The Bug got home from school and when I finally got moving my hands were giving me trouble.  I have a couple repetitive stress injuries in my shoulders and upper back that cause carpel tunnel syndrome like symptoms:  numbness, pins and needles, weak grasping ability.  Some days are symptom free and some days I can't hold a glass of water in one had.  Tuesday was a moderate day.  Holding a pen and paint brush were uncomfortable but not impossible.

Tuesdays goal was to get text down and interlace designed and traced into place.  I'm happy to say that despite a late start I managed to get text down and the interlace designed and inked.  I just didn't get it onto the scroll itself. 

Again a few things changed up while working on this.  The angular capitals opening word was just going to be an illuminated initial rather than taking up the whole top row.  I would have filled the top space with something else but UNTO felt it needed to be separate from the rest of the text. 

The interlace design that will go on the right and left sides started out as just a blanket interlace, then I put in a couple blocking lines breaking up the middle a little bit.  I got almost finished with the design when I decide to back track and add the empty space at either end.  Don't ask me why I don't know but there it is and I like it.