Hi all! It’s been a long time!
Life has certainly–well, life has happened. Changes of residence and relationship status, other projects and goals, work busyness… Oh, and that whole Covid thing.
Let’s get a shameless plug out of the way: I am trying to get some attention for my writing so please check out my stuff and see if you are interested! You can:
- Buy my novels or comics at Amazon for a steal!
- Borrow my novel The Prosthetic Vampire from Wake County Public Libraries if you live in the RDU area of North Carolina.
- Follow my new blog: https://prostheticvampire.com/blog/
- Preview the early parts of my DJCS comic for free: https://djinnjailers.com/
Okay, with that out of the way…
I think I might have posted before about a sidetrack of my costume work but still holding out hope for a hand-sewn costume. I have actually had two costumes made by The RPC Studio: one of their existing designs and one from a custom template that has brought my Ditko design to life!
My Ditko Design as created by The RPC Studio
I’m very happy with how this turned out! I still need to add some soles to the feet. I had them included on the other costume from RPC and they turned out to be problematic. (See below.)
I also chose the mask to be separately removable. This will definitely be more convenient than the attached mask style on the other costume, which requires pulling the mask forward and hanging it down the front to free the face.
On both costumes, I elected to have the lenses attached rather than paying for the separate faceplate and magnetic lenses. Not only is it cheaper, I think it looks better.
The Existing Edge of Time Design from The RPC Studio
I really do like this Edge of Time design. It evokes the unmistakable classic look but incorporates some edgy (sorry) twists with the webbing pattern.
The costume itself is well-made, though I did find it to be a bit scary getting in and out of it. It’s tight! I wonder if I shouldn’t pad my measurements a bit? But initially a big issue was the built-in “kung fu shoes.” They were clever, being house shoes separated out so that the soles were on the bottoms of the feet and glued through the fabric to the top parts of the shoes inside the socks. This provided structure and protection for the toes.
But the shoes were (A) a bit small (again, should have padded my size?) and (B) the gluing seemed to take up a lot of give in the fabric, giving less stretch in the upper legs and torso. That made it really hard to get on and off, and pretty uncomfortable in the feet once I did so.
I managed to find some pre-made Spider-Man boots that look–well, close enough. You can see in the photo that they don’t match, but not too terrible. I had to cut off the feet of the costume itself to make it work and will just wear the boots to complete the look comfortably. I wore it for Halloween at work one year and more recently to a kids’ birthday party and no one appeared to notice or care!
What’s Next?
Before moving to the professional costumes to use for more immediate Halloween and cosplay needs, I had actually created parts of a multi-piece costume based on my Ditko design, including the shirt.
When I have the time and a new sewing machine (I gave away my old one for reasons when I moved) I want to finish up the other parts. And the best part is I can use the mask and lenses from the above Ditko costume! They are the hardest part to make and are already done!
I’m not sure when I will get to this, as I really am focused on getting traction with my writing and illustration work, but it is still a project I plan to revisit, even after all this time.
Thanks to all who followed me on this journey as it happened and even after the fact! I am happy to see this blog still gets visitors!
Spider-Man Mashup Cosplay Costume: 