Dirty, Dirty Dirt

Howdy ladies and gents!!!

Be shocked and amazed two article in one month!!!! Been a busy first part of the month getting ready for TXA (Trek Trax Atlanta on April 20-22) and getting my Klingon on. Took a break from my Klingon costuming to work a little bit on the plague banner. I looked around at hobby lobby and such and realized that sand and mold pre-made tends to cost you a bit if you buy it. If you go to any hobby store and look for flocking like you use in a model it will cost you a bit. I was sitting around one day and wondered if i could make my own mold and dirt that would stick to my props and not suck my wallet dry. So after a little experimenting I ended up with this:

Inside

 

in sun

I posted a few of these pics on a costuming group I am part of and the main comment I got was that it looked to shiny and bright. So after a little experimenting here is what I came up with you will need the following ingredients:

• Modge Podge Matte glue ( you can get at any hobby store or here)
• Fine craft sand  (got 1 1/2 pounds at Hobby Lobby for $2.49)
• Paints (depends on what color you what your dirt or mold to be)

So lets get started this is what I use to make mine:

The paint colors I use are:

• Thrall Flesh
• Blighted Gold
• Dheneb Stone

 Now go get yourself a small container you dont mind using and something to stir with unless you dont mind using your fingers (I use mine). Pour yourself out a small pile of the sand ( the amount depends on how much you wanna make or how thick you want it to be:

 Now add in your glue I suggest starting out with a small amount and build up:

If you add to much glue then add some more sand to it, don't worry you can add more sand or glue if you get it to thick. Now is the time to add your paint (remember paint will add a little liquid to the mix so be prepared to add in a little sand). Give it all a good stirring to make sure the paint is mixed in. ****Now that you have added paint it will stain the same color as the paint so be careful.**** If you want to make a mix with out the paint then it will dry the color of the sand.

without paint

Paint added to mix

If you decided not to use any paint the mix will dry clear and a little bit shiny. the thicker you make the mix the easier it will be to make small hills or dips that can soak up paint.

 One thing here is that you can make this as thick or thin as you like. The mix will take a few hours to dry and then you need to spray it with some type of sealant or the sand will flake off as you touch it. With a little  paint and some washes you can end up with some pretty dirty dirt

Klingon Bracers..... The Next Generation

Hello all!!!!

Sorry I haven't written a post in a bit we have been really busy the last few weeks gearing up for a few local conventions in our area and also for our wedding in May. Before I get into today's blog let me do a little promoting for the local convention we are attending this month:

  This is a new Trek convention here in the GA area, it is also its second year running. It is a small convention that is also a great social convention. make sure you come by in April and check it out!

OK so on to today's topic wayyyyyy back in January I posted a blog about my $1.00 Klingon Bracers and promised to keep you guys updated on them. Well after a trip to Goodwill my $1.00 bracers have increased in price they are no a whopping........ wait for it...... $3.00 Klingon bracers! The trip to Goodwill was supposed to be a Nerf hunt but turned into a treasure hunt. I found a pair of children's shin guards that fit my arm just perfect and they only cost me $2.00 to grab:

The biggest changes that had to be made to them was to take the cloth padding out of the inside and a small amount on cutting to make them fit the original bracers

 To get the plastic original bracers to fit the shin guards I heated them with a household blow dryer ( yes I'm to cheap to buy a heat gun) and laid them on top of the shin guard and held them down with a few rubber bands pulled tight to hold them till they cooled down. After they cooled off I glued them down with hot glue and a small amount of Goop.

After they cooled down I decided to to continue the paint job on the plastic bracers onto the shin guards to tie them together:

If you look at a lot of pictures of the Klingon costume you see  claws on the gloves, I decided to take the idea and add the claws to the bracers. So off to Hobby Lobby I go, they sale in their leather working section a small bag of plastic claws for $3.00. I didn't add the cost of the claws into the bracers because I can use the left overs in another costume. So a little work with my Dremel and a lot of hot glue (now i think back I should have used epoxy) I got the claws attached to the bracers:

Tops

Bottoms

side view

The funny thing with the side view picture is you can see part of the crafting room and up in the top corner is a view at my idea/reference board for the plague preacher. Well right now the only thing to do to the bracers is shorten the Velcro strap so that it fits my arm without having a foot extra to tuck away:

Stay tuned for pics from Trek Trax Atlanta of the gauntlets in action!!!