Excalibur and Supplies

I didn't get as much done as I had planned on Excalibur because I got it in my head that the house needs to be re-arranged again so I can have a makeshift closet in the bedroom. Our house has no closets so we're just hanging some of those brackets on the wall that can hold a closet rod. We'd like it in the bedroom but to do that we'll have to move the dog crate, to move the dog crate something in the rest of the house has to be moved. It's like a sliding puzzle. I knew all those hours of Professor Layton would pay off! My computer will end up being moved to my art desk in the craft room and my computer desk will go to charity along with the filing cabinet. Instant floor space!

I did get the base of the blade cut to fit the curve of the cross guard and I also went ahead and glued the rod in between the two halves of the blade. That took longer than anticipated to dry completely but it's cured and ready for shaping this weekend. With any luck I won't screw it up.

I bought some sheet styrene in a variety of thicknesses to use for the raised gold detail on the base of the blade. I also snagged some clear polyester sheeting for experimentation purposes. I got a pair of Gingher serrated dressmaker's shears off Ebay for a very good price. They'll come in handy when I start cutting the silk organza for the lace and I figure they're a good thing to have around in general. I got a jar of masking fluid thanks to a tip on MLP Arena. It never occurred to me to use that to cover symbols and eyes when airbrushing a pony. It could also have its uses in prop work. I started to top my spending spree off with some pearl airbrush paint for the lace design, but I think I'll hold off on that until I can test it with regular paint- I may not even need the pearl paint. I've got some pearl powder that I can mix in with the paint if it looks like it needs some sparkle. Guess I'll worry about that once I have the dress constructed and ready for the lace.

Excalibur, Inkscape

So, Excalibur. Since my last post I routed out the slots for the rod to sit in and planed the 3/4" boards down to 1/2" thick. That's about it so far. This weekend I hope to get the blade shape cut out and plane the slope in down to the point of the blade.

I recently discovered vector graphics (yes, I'm being perfectly serious). All those hours of frustration in Photoshop trying to get perfect "coloring book" lines and failing...ugh. Anyway, I ran across a free program called Inkscape and downloaded it with the intent of using it to make full-size plans for props. I've played around with it but have by no means mastered it. My graphics tablet is actually getting some use now!

I hope to be launching my new site design soon. I have most of the main pages converted over but I'm missing a lot of the sub-pages like the individual costume pages and such.