Homework - Katherine Hannaford

Planning where the muscles are going on top of photographs of the foam mannequin. Challenge is working out which muscles are important and which will have to slide over others. I also realised that there are areas on the arms and lower legs of the mannequin that I will need to shave down in order to make the limbs more realistic in tone without having to add more foam to bulk the shape out. 

Week 2:
Even though the live class is held during the middle of the night here in Australia, I was so excited after the lesson that I just kept going and started covering the muscles but I also got a head start on week 3 and made a custom spandex unitard for this muscle suit!

I ended up using the patterns that shaped the black shorts of the puppet and the upper body, extended the legs and adapted a sleeve shape from a shirt pattern I had in my sewing supplies. I even added a zipper on the back of the suit because that is what the human sized suits have!


Next it was time to start covering the muscles that I have ready at the moment- the shoulders, triceps, and chest. I used my normal sewing machine with a zig zag stitch and for the shoulders- I made a custom pattern and hand sewed the underside to the top side as Ted had shown us.


During Q&A with Ted, it was suggested I should try heat forming the EVA foam ribs so that they curve around the body. I used a heat gun to gently reduce all the shavings on the front and then heat the back side so that I could shape the piece. It ended up working really nicely! I also decided to keep the ribs running under the back muscles rather that stopping them under the arm after my discussion with Ted.

I am really happy with how the muscle suit has turned out! I ended up using a ladder stitch when covering the muscles in spandex as it gave a neater appearance.

I used cotton tape to attach the pectoral muscles as a substitute for webbing since this suit is scaled down to puppet size. I didn't use elastic as the stretch and return of the spandex pulled the pectoral muscles back into place when the arms came back to a neutral pose.




The lower edges of the rib cage, pectoral muscles and buttocks where not sewn down so that the muscles could slide over each other as the puppet moves.

I did end up using a disc of sandpaper attached to a Dremel to sand down the calf and flexor muscles to get the transitions and shapes I was looking for.

I did end up removing a muscle group from the hips as it made the form too femine. This is what the whole suit looked like before I removed the hip muscles.


I ended up deciding on covering the muscle suit with a skin suit made of fleece because I could hide the seams better but I have also been following a cosplay build on the replica prop forum where the an artist used fleece coated with foam latex to create a very effective skin suit over a muscle suit for an orc. My thinking is that I could do something similar in the future perhaps using silicone. http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=251849&page=6&s=739176f76991fc830e9f51b706ed3f9f

Covering the muscle suit


https://youtu.be/_zfMpaSj9N0

Making the Head of Anubis
The head of the puppet was sculpted in an oil based children's modelling clay called plasticene here in Australia. From the full size sculpture, tin foil and masking tape patterns were taken and used to construct a foam head using reticulated foam. The eyes were inset behind eyelids made of bevelled foam and I have started draping and ladder stitching the black fleece onto the head. The head is attached to the body using a piece of spandex that covers the whole chest under the muscle suit.

Here is the fully covered Anubis! Just have to make his kilt and jewelry now!