Kyle – Page 4 – An Unorthodox Halloween

Happy Easter.

Kyle’s Armor is coming along, but not a lot of new pics.

Got the top mostly finished.

From 2011 buildup

The pants, well, they needed suspenders, and since they are hard to find on the cheap, I kinda sorta made a pair out of burlap covered in latex. They are just getting dry.

Alec is done making skulls till the first sell day is over, we’ll color the little ones up next weekend. I’m still a little pensive about how to color the big ones.

So, it’s time for a little spring break.

Happy Easter everyone.

From 2011 buildup

“Garbage”.

It’s been a weekend of garbage.

Kyle’s armor had hit a snag:

How to make the chain mail?

Mostly needed to attach the different plates, but also to look proper. The initial plans were to find some fabric at the stores to look the part.

The problems with this approach were two fold. First, nothing looked right at the fabric store. Second…it meant I needed to sew. Which is a laughable assertion.

I got some suggestions to try a sweater, which would have certainly solved the Hauberk (shirt) situation…and left the legs.

Finally, I got a suggestion to utilize thermals.

A stroke of genius really. If I could find them. In the spring. Even the local thrift stores were coming up dry, when one told me to check their garbage. They’d thrown a bunch out for the year.

And, with that, the armor is swiftly moving forward. The left arm is a little behind schedule due to a rework on it’s plates, and I’ve added the bottom of the hauberk to the breastplate since the picture.

From 2011 buildup

The thermals:

From 2011 buildup

The secret to all the plates: Good ol’ velcro.

From 2011 buildup

Along with that, the wood donations are continuing to flow.

From 2011 buildup

In fact, I even put some of that wood to use already. Doubling the floor space and tripling the shelf space in our shed.

From 2011 buildup

Deja-Vu

Several years ago, Kyle come home with this rather annoying project: Build something to sell in school for phony money. At the time, our house was all about skulls, with a goal of ‘100 skulls’ for the yard (which somehow turned into over 300…), and so Kyle wanted to make some for school as well. That project spawned our first tutorial on how to make molds.

From Molds

And Talia was such a wee one at the time…

From Molds

Well, that project has cropped up again. Where Kyle decided to make skulls because that’s what was going on in the house at the time, Alec wants to make them because Kyle’s business was so successful, bringing home all kinds of loot from the auction…

From Molds

So, our house is once again turned into a skull factory. With any luck, Alec will prove once again, Halloween items hold their own even in the spring.

It also seems this environment of skulls has gotten into Talia’s blood, as she made me “a scary Bob monster!” (Bob, of course, is our paper mache skeleton, since creating, ALL skeletons are ‘Bob’ in Talia’s eyes)

Just think…we’ll probably be making MORE skulls in a few years…

Death of a Unicorn, and other news.

I think this about sums up my week.

From 2011 buildup

Another pinata down, and I’m still having trouble finding the level of sturdiness appropriate for them. THIS pinata was a little TOO tough for the girls…(and was probably the weakest yet)

Still, it served it’s purpose.

From 2011 buildup

With that done, I managed to get a bit of work done on another special project in Kyle’s Armor.

From 2011 buildup

All of the individual pieces have the clay on, just wondering how best to make the ‘chain mail’ portions now.

From 2011 buildup

By best, I mean simplest…

Assorted Project run-down.

So, just to recap…

We have the armor project ongoing. Not a lot of new stuff to show there, just lots of boring technical stuff. Chest and shoulders done, both legs are getting close, had to start over on the arms, so only one is close. We just bought some nice buttons to attach the shoulder pieces, and will have some nice visual improvements in the next week or so.

Meanwhile, Talia’s pinata is all but done in construction. It’s stuffed with prizes, and the final coat (covering the hole and adding the string and legs) is drying now. One really crappy unicorn will need some paint soon.