Holster (Posted 11th May 2012)

So the belt, trousers and base for the holster are all done now, leaving me plenty of time for the rest.
The holster is all one peice of sythetic leather, which I'll build the gun housing on top of. Basically, the shape of the holster that Helga wears would not fit a Mauser C96 properly at all (go Disney!) so there is a lot of adjustment needed to make it fit. My plan is currently to make the holster to look like Helga's (basically a big pouch), ignoring the securing flap as that wouldn't close and accepting that the handle won't be fully enclosed.
Since the gun will not fit flushly into the holster I have also decided to take some liberties with the pouch by fitting in a hidden pouch within it. It's a basic rectangular pouch of cotton leftover from a skirt I was making, designed to fit my make-up for helga perfectly, with a access gap in the back of the holster so I won't need to take the gun out to dig around for my lipgloss.
I do also plan to make a pouch for my phone to wear on the back of the belt so I won't need another bag.
With any luck I'll be done with Helga in the next week so I can work on the Blue Fairy without distraction.

Gun progress (Posted 4th May 2012)

Just sculpted some air dry clay onto the outside of the gun on one side. When I've finished the entire gun I'll sand it down for a smooth finish so it'll look metallic. For once I'm not using lightweight clay, as the weight will help the cardboard base feel more realistically balanced.
I really love the way this is turning out.

Gun (Posted 19th April 2012)

So after a bit of research I decided to make the gun which she uses for the majority of the film, rather than the flare gun she has.
It's based on the Mauser C96 broomhandle pistol, which was a semi-automatic used by the German army in WW1. The illustration in the film is more or less a simplified version of the real pistol, and so a lot of the details are the same (exept the non-metallic section of the handle and the hammer, for which they seemed to ignore original detail). So for the construction of this, I used a photograph of an original C96 and sketched out a blockier version using the same proportions, taking the lines from a movie still as inspiration for where to simplify the design.
The image on this journal is what I came up with, using stencils of my simpler design to cut out cardboard plates, and using craft foam to cover curved edges. The barrel is rolled cardstock and foam, wrapped in parcel tape till it behaved. Eventually I'll sculpt a top layer onto the gun and sand it off to get an even surface to paint.

Wig Trial (Posted 10th March 2012)

Just thought I'd give the wig a trial to see how easy I could shape the bangs and braid, and so far things are going well.
I've actually been wearing the style of make-up for quite a while now since I bought LimeCrime's carousel gloss (so pretty I don't want to ever not wear it), so it's sort of a make-up trial too (no rediculous eyebrows or lashes yet).