Building Things Better – Custom cosplay and props
Here is my currently planned line-up for next week! As always, things happen and plans change, but for now this is it! Casual Voltron, Keith, my secret cosplay, Pirate Kanan, and Ashitaka!
I just revealed my secret cosplay to my Patreon backers earlier today. Want to find out early and get lots of behind the scene, work in progress, secret photos plus a ton more, head over to my Patreon!
Today I’m kicking off a brand new Billythebrick giveaway! Why? To celebrate! What am I celebrating? A whole bunch of things!
First up, I’m celebrating the launch of my awesome new BTB logo and BTB gear courtesy of the very talented Zillabean (seriously not only does she do awesome logo and branding work, but she’s also a kick butt Voltron artist! Check her out on Instagram, Twitter, or DeviantArt.)
July is also host to two special events–SDCC and my birthday! That’s right, I’m giving you something to celebrate MY birthday and to also celebrate the biggest convention I’m going to attend. (If you are going to SDCC, let me know. I love taking meeting people and taking photos at cons!)
Lastly, I’m both celebrating and trying to hit some really cool milestones. Fans, patrons, and customers are vitality important to me and being able to continue making cool things. I recently passed 500 followers on Facebook, and am almost to 800 on Instagram and 900 on Twitter!
So what am I giving away? Well this time, there isn’t a single winner, but three winners! The two runner-up winners will get their choice of a shirt or hat from my new BTB Gear! And the grand prize winner will get a hat and shirt of their choice along with their choice of either a Guardians of the Galaxy badge SET (both the Guardians and Ravager badges) OR a limited edition all-black Voltron bayard!
So what are you waiting for? The giveaway winner will be chosen on July 31st! Good luck!
Several months ago, a customer asked if I could make Ezra’s slingshot. I immediately jumped at the chance to add to my Star Wars: Rebels collection of goodies. (In case you’ve not heard me say it before, Rebels is my favorite Star Wars. See Kanan posts).
Continue reading “Star Wars: Rebels – Ezra Bridger Gauntlet and Slingshot – Phase One”
A quick update about what’s going on!
Last weekend I was at SFGE, and while I was there to be the Tabletop Gaming Coordinator, I’ve also made it my mission to bump up the cosplay and prop making presence. In addition to having four awesome cosplay guests, we also had a costume contest, and I got to be a judge for the first time! Immediately following the convention, I got hooked up with RenCon to be one of the pre-judging judges (channeling Eric Jones from Coregeek Creations who was a pre-judge last year when I was in the contest).
RenCon, as well as the rest of my con schedule for 2017, is now up on my site on it’s own page, so check it out if you want to know where to find me. I’ll be adding panels, photoshoots, appearances, etc. for each panel as we get closer, but if you want me to be on a panel, moderate a panel, or meetup for a photoshoot, let me know!
After seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and seeing this cool design for a promotional pin, I decided I needed to make both it and Yondu’s Ravager badge in real life.
I popped open Fusion 360 and modeled out the badges (including spending a good chunk of time searching for the perfect font). The 3D models can be purchased in my shop to print your own!
I did my initial test prints on my Dremel Idea Builder using Matterhackers PRO PLA. 3D Kits of each badge can be purchased from my shop that are just like these. But I didn’t want to stop there, I also wanted smooth, metallic versions.
And here is the mold box and master for the Ravager Badge as well as the finished mold. I used Mold Star 16 FAST for the silicone molds. The mold box itself is just cut up foam core.
The finished products are made of Smooth Cast 325 resin, mixed with a tiny drop of black SO-Strong tint and brass Powder. The process is very similar to how I made my Voltron Challenge Coins (video below). Final cold cast versions are now also up in my shop! They come both with and without a pinback depending on how you intend on using them.
For more details, more videos, and more tutorials, you can keep an eye out here or even support me on Patreon. My patrons get early access to my videos and tutorials along with behind the scenes work-in-progress photos, polls to vote on what I’ll do next and, at some levels, special handmade goodies. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel to get notified whenever a new video goes up!
After seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and seeing this cool design for a promotional pin, I decided I needed to make this into a badge!
I popped open Fusion 360 and modeled out the badge (including spending a good chunk of time searching for the perfect font). The 3D model can be purchased in my shop to print your own!
I did my initial test print on my Dremel Idea Builder using Matterhackers PRO PLA. A 3D Kit can be purchased from my shop that’s just like this one. But I didn’t want to stop there, I also wanted a nicer, metallic version.
As a test, I threw a little Rub n Buff on the test print and thought it look great.
Because I wanted to make a mold, and I wanted to try to conserve time and effort, I paid for a 3D Resin print through 3D Hubs to save myself some sanding and filling time.
Into the mold box it goes! I used Mold Star 16 FAST for the silicone mold. The mold box itself is just cut up foam core.
The finished product is Smooth Cast 325 resin, mixed with a tiny drop of black SO-Strong tint and brass Powder. The process is very similar to how I made my Voltron Challenge Coins. Final cold cast versions are now also up in my shop!
So a friend of mine messaged me while I was at work yesterday and asked, “What do you think about me doing a pirate Hera, cosplay?”
My mind immediately started thinking of pirate Kanan because of course it did. As soon as I got home, I quickly made up Kanan eye patch version 1.0, did a quick make-up test, and voila!
Now we’re talking about doing a Star Wars: Rebels pirate group at Emerald City Comicon next year. Want to join us?
My son also wanted an eye patch so I had to make one for him too.
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Just wanted to drop some amazing photos from Downen Creative Studios on here. He did such a great job of capturing Keith! Also some great photos of my bayards and Keith’s sword (both available in my Etsy shop!) Enjoy!
The bayard was made using Smooth Cast from Smooth-On and the sword blade was all 3D printed using Matterhackers PRO PLA! I have a full write-up of the sword build coming soon! (Even sooner for Patreon supporters).
It’s down to the wire to get Kanan finished, but here is my current plan for my cosplay this weekend at Emerald City Comicon. Please say hi (and take a pic) if you see me! And don’t forget to come to my panels!