A Sidetracked Sort of Progress

I had good intentions for making a test mask for making test eye holes yesterday. In fact, I made two test masks–one red, one black. But what I mainly learned from making them is that the nice and simple mask pattern that I’ve been using is simple for a simple reason: it sucks. I might as well get a thick pair of red pantyhose and tug them over my head.

 

Actually, the second of the two masks I made was an attempt at modifying the mask pattern somewhat, as in, giving it a little more room around the middle of the head and face (to avoid nose-squishing) and less room around the neck (to avoid bagginess), and that was mildly successful, but it’s just not a good design for the mask overall.

That led me along an alternate path–a sidetrack, if you will (there we go, I worked in the title of the post)–that I had started down before: I could try to tease out the head portion of the bodysuit template I purchased from Gun Head Design to make a standalone mask.

It occurred to me that not only would this lead to a better design for the mask that is likely to end up in the eventual homemade 5 piece costume, it would also be a more accurate practice mask for testing the addition of the eye holes and serve as practice for sewing the actual professionally printed fabric when the time comes.

So, I made a copy of my Gun Head Design template file, cropped it down to the relevant area, and traced some basic lines around the mask-ish portions. I exported those into a smaller file to work with in the software I prefer for smaller, simpler files (PAINT.net, which sounds like a website, but is actually open source graphics software), and did a bit of tweaking.

I got a smidge hesitant at that point. I was pretty sure how the pieces were supposed to go together, but not 100% sure. I am starting to get much more careful about my initial designs the further I go in this whole adventure, because what seem like relatively small expenses (i.e. getting fabric) at first can start to add up fast!

Then I remembered the male muscle base package that I had originally acquired from another template design site, 4 Neo Designs. Now, both Gun Head and 4 Neo have their pros and cons, but one nice little addition to the file package you get from 4 Neo are the sewing guide files. The basic templates are pretty similar (I assume cosplayer designers have settled on somewhat of an “ideal” for bodysuit sewing templates), so I was able to take the tracing I had already done from the Gun Head template mask-ish portions and use the mask sewing guide portion of the 4 Neo file package to create a template/sewing guide for the proposed new mask.

Here is a cropped image of the final result. Understand that I am not being stingy when I include these cropped images of the templates; I am just trying to respect the creators of these designs, who would likely not appreciate people giving away the stuff they sell:

So, you can see the basic idea. This design takes a more sophisticated approach to wrapping around the noggin. In the parts you can’t see, it basically reaches down to where the neck meets the shoulders, and should hug the contours pretty well.

Also note the seam markings in the middle of the neck area of the front part. By sewing that area together, you get a better chin-hugging look. I had played around with this idea in the red mask attempt above, which you can probably see if you look close enough. But I understand if you don’t want to linger too much on that disturbing image of my pantyhose-squished face.

Where that does leave me? It leaves me with a plan, and not enough remaining fabric to do anything about it. And I have resolved not to spend anymore on this project until payday. Plus, I would like to save any further sewing for the new machine. I need to get used to it before I start on the professionally printed fabric.

I do want to make special mention of a fellow Spider-Man aficionado I heard from last night. He actually undertook a quest very similar to mine, probably before I ever thought of it, and created a classic Ditko-style Spider-Man costume from scratch. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me sharing the link, because he’s understandably proud of his work.(Plus, he already shared the link in a publicly visible comment. :]  )

Check out his suit at his DeviantArt page!

This also seems like a good time to point out the truly amazing and kinda heartwarming nature of certain Internet communities–both formal and informal–that make projects like this possible for people like me. There are true innovators out there. I am not one of them. I merely partake of the fruit and try to share when I can (and respect intellectual property as appropriate, of course). Thank you Internets!

Up Next: I have no idea! But it’ll be somethin’