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My newest obsession: an Ezio costume!
I'm actually thinking about having it made instead of making it myself sweatdrop

I got a quote from the very nice people at verymerryseamstress.com
the total ended up at $2,515+ (I put the + because the belt was given the price "over $$")

Let's break it down:

$700+ Leather belt
$350 Leather boot spats
$450 Leather pauldron (the piece the cape is attached to)
$250 Suede cape
$040 Brown faux suede pants
$175 Blouse w/ collar, lace cuffs and embroidery
$250 Embroidered jerkin w/ red lining and embroidered collar
$300 Doublet w/ red lining, red trim and hood

I know most people make the shirt just one piece, but it honestly looks like crap that way sweatdrop

I am going to save up my money to get at least the leather pieces done as I have only worked with the stuff once (I made some simple arm/hand guard thingies for my Kenshin cosplay) and it was a royal pain in the a**. Even with using my grandfathers old leather-working kit!

I am also working on drawing up the plans for the hidden blade. The only real problem is figuring out how to activate it without using the other hand.

I found someone on YouTube who used a collapsible Tai Chi sword and it looked much better than the ones made with drawer slides. But, just like with the slides, you have to manually retract the blade.

Then I found this!

Unfortunately you have to sign up to see it, but basically it's a ton of information on 'automatic' knives and blades. The DA OTF (double action out the front) knife is what caught my eye.

They have a very nice breakdown of the mechanics in several of those knifes (they're all basically the same, just a couple of slight design variations) and all I have to do is scale it up and figure out how to activate it without the use of the other arm and I'll have myself a fully functional hidden blade!

Because I can't seem to figure out exactly how the switch works to activate the knife, I bought one (it should be in sometime this week) and am going to tear it apart to study.. then give it to my brother as a gift when I'm done (they go back together easily from the looks of it)

He is going to love that knife! He went crazy over a single action spring assisted knife (that is it opens with the push of a button, but you have to manually close it).. This thing is ten times better! xd

I have some blades I think might work for it, but I'd have to cut them down quite a bit. They came from one of those two-in-one swords (it looks like a short staff, then pulls apart into two swords) that was a complete piece of China-made crap.

Seriously, I pulled it apart to show my brother when I got home and one of the blades literally fell out! My brother wrapped the bottoms (where it was supposed to be attached to the handles) with a red cord and hot-glued it on so they're usable. And he only sharpened one because he didn't have the patience to sit there another three hours sharpening the other. You know those sharpeners you use for kitchen knives? He used one like that, but it was made to sharpen larger blades. That thing sharpened my katana in no time, but took forever on that piece of s**t that's only a third it's length.

sweatdrop sorry, don't mean to rant.

My knife came in this morning! heart

I tried to play with it the moment it came out of the box.
I flipped the switch - nothing happened
so, I tried again and the blade popped out all pretty and sharp (not really, it's pretty dull) heart

I flipped the switch again to pull the blade back in - nothing happened
I had to tilt it so gravity pulled the blade back in most of the way, I had to push the tip back in

I tried the switch a few more times and all it did was pop the tip of the blade out, then I had to push it back in.

I found the problem when I took it apart - all of the insides are rusted. eek

So now it's going back to be exchanged and I'm going to have to wait another week or two for the new one gonk



But, on a happier note - I've started sculpting the model for the metal pieces on bracer
I have the main piece done (the one one that looks like the assassin symbol) and have started on the piece attached to the top of it.

But there's a problem - I have no idea what that thing is that's carved into the little square piece above the jewel.

I'm using this picture for reference - you can see a lot more detail in the book



but here are some other pictures I've found:

rolleyes seeing as all my fabric and patterns are at the other house, I'm using some scraps I found to make Namari a navy blue version of the costume.

and he does not want to cooperate.. he keeps trying to dance every time I want him to stand up stressed

I have the doublet done, save for the embroidery, collar and lining
and the jerkin is still in it's rough stages

unfortunately, the only red fabrics I have are sheer/flowery and a dark burgundy

So I have to wait until my next doctor's appointment to go back and get the fabric and patterns and crap gonk

Oh! forgot:

Brother was unable to fix the PS3 crying

but, he's already ordered a new one and it should be in by now 3nodding
as should my new knife 4laugh

hopefully it won't be all rusted like the first one sweatdrop

I found the patterns I needed, but not the fabric stare
I found the brown suede for the pants & cape (which is what I thought I'd have trouble finding) and the white for the blouse, but not the gray or red (for lining)

The only 'gray' they had was either a kakki or green-ish color.. then I found an actual gray.. it was way too dark.

and the only reds they had were either too bright or too dark. The only one that was the right shade was a crappy almost plastic-like fabric like what those crappy dollar-store costumes are made of.

GYA! This sucks! My head feels like someone's pounding on it with a sledgehammer! stressed and laying down only makes it worse.. crying

Here it is! The diagram for the hidden blade!



pic #1: the outside casing (what's seen from the bottom side of the arm/bracer)
NOTE: This does not show the tabs the string/cord is tied through to hold it to the arm - please look at the pic in the first post and you can see these tabs and some gromits (sp?) that are in the leather next to it under tha main/decorative piece of leather (the one with the buckles)

pic #2: The case has been removed and we can now see the blade with a small spring-stop to hold it in place.

On the blade we can see the center from the round piece on the case. This is going to be used as a sort of safety switch. Push it down and it popes into a hole in the blade to keep it from releasing.

The other round piece just above it catches on the end of the spring to 1- keep the blade from flying out and 2-puts tension on the spring so is can propel itself back in.

The distance between the end of the spring and the small spring-stop is about 1mm shorter than the distance between where the two catch on the blade (the round catch and the back edge of the blade for when it's open and the back edge and the notch in the side of the blade when it's closed)

pic #3: The blade has been removed so we can see both of the spring-stops and the spring itself.

NOTE: there is also a thin case that goes over the spring to keep it in place, but I was too lazy to draw it

pic #4: removed the next layer and we can now see the slider bar that is attached to the switch (in this case a loop that I'm planing to attach some kind of string to that will be sewn into a glove to activate it -- that small bar sticking out at the top/side will have one string looped over it to cause it to pull the switch back down)

pic #5: a cross-section- The blade sits on top (again, I was too lazy to draw it)
We can see the spring (notice the ends stick up to catch on the blade)
the spring-stops with their small 4 coil springs and rounded bottoms to make it a bit easier to activate (in theory)
there's the barrier/casing between the spring and the slider bar
and the slider bar


It's such a simple design that when you finally see it and figure it out you're just like *palmface* DUH!
lol


Well, we're heading back home here in just a bit. I have the interfacing and the fabric I need (except, stupid me grabbed a cream fabric instead of gray stare maybe I can die it..)
Seriously, I can not find any gray fabric that isn't too dark or a greenish color! It SUCKS!

sweatdrop ah.. no go with the dressform.. he's already almost home (3 hours from here to Houston).. maybe next weekend if there are any more deliveries to be made..?


Oh! also found this:


Thought it was interesting.. kind of the same idea I had for the operation of mine, except in a glove because I wouldn't know how to make it retract without having the strings painfully visible rolleyes

well, the idea is to have one string attached to a finger (doesn't matter which one) so when the hand is pulled back it releases the blade. Then another string goes over the base of the thumb and over to the index finger (this will give it more pull than if it went just to the thumb or just to the index finger) so when the hand is tilted to the side it will retract the blade (this is the string that goes down over the small bar in the diagram)



and I just noticed something about that picture: His little finger is where his ring finger should be! There's no space for his missing finger! eek

Dyed the fabric and it came out perfect
I'm currently working on the red stripes on the doublet..
so far there's two in one shoulder (2 more to go)
It actually isn't ribbon or any other form of extra fabric, it's slits in the outer fabric so the lining shoes through... much harder to do, but it will look nicer.

Next I have to add the hood, then I can finish up this piece.

Unfortunately, I can't make the jerkin until I do the embroidery. I can't do the embroidery because 1: doing it by hand would take way too long and 2: the disk to work the embroidery feature on my sewing machine is scratched and refuses to load the program.

a new disk is $200! For 1 CD! gonk