This is a mascot that I made for a local skate park (sorry the pics are a bit fuzzy).

The head and feet were carved out of foam with scissors and an electric knife. I used fur from Distinctive Fabric for most of it, but some fleece was used on the face because it helps give the head a cartoony look. This one was constructed much better than my last costume because I handsewed every seam instead of glueing it down. It was impossible to get a picture of it, but there is also a fan installed in the muzzle.

~Rachael

Video here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADCf2oBgewE

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Alrighty, the head is basically done:

And the hand paws have been cut and just need to be sewn together.

And the feet are assembled, just need to be covered in fur.

Alrighty, here are my sketches for the costume:

This is what a Luxray actually looks like, and I’m taking some artistic liberties with it. I wanted to base it off a character of some sort so I can use it in a costume contest at various anime conventions (otherwise I wouldn’t get much use out of it). I altered the face shape quite a bit so it looks more cat-like and made the spikes on his head much smaller. Also going to be giving him yellow paw pads and blue claws, when in the anime he has black paw pads and white claws. There are some other differences too – I want him to look more stylized than anything. Also giving him whiskers to add to the kitty-ness. ;D

And here is my progress thus far. The head is completely constructed out of foam, and I’m working on putting the fur on. I shaved it down around the face with a utility knife blade and scissors. Still going to shave it down some more.

As a note, the masking tape is there because that’s what I use to make a pattern for the fur. I’ve tried just randomly pinning fabric down, but that didn’t work too well.

~Rachael

Goals/Objectives

A. Conceptual

1. Explore the relationship between children’s illustration and the often dark storylines of fairy tales, creating a body of work that on the surface appears innocent but has violent and creepy undertones.

2. Alter the traditional concept of good versus evil in fairy tales so that the boundaries between the two are blurred.

3. Modify stereotypical behaviors associated with specific animals (i.e. goat as vicious, wolf as kind), so that their actions are no longer entirely predictable and are instead influenced by events or current situations – much like human behavior.

B. Materials and Processes

1. The traditional illustration mediums of acrylic paint and ink will be used to build a base for my imagery.

2. Freemotion sewing will be used extensively on every page to build texture, color, highlights, and shadows.

3. All pages will be finished with a satin stitch and hand sewn together.

4. The books will be approximately 12 x 12 inches so they are similar to the size of a typical children’s book.

Got the first book done. @_@

Examples of the new text:

Page 1:

Page 2: (text shows up muuuuch better in person)

Page 3:

Page 4:

Page 3 & 4 spread:

Page 5: (text is much better in person on this one…I have a closeup below)

Page 6:

Page 7:

Page 8:

Page 9:

Blank page to the right of page 9:

Back page:

Just wanted to update real quick with an example of the new lettering. I printed the text with a thermofax and sewed on top of it.

Here is what I have so far, the pages should be in order (click on the picture to see a much bigger version!). The text is probably hard to read in the sketches, so I have written out the story at the bottom.

Pages 1 & 2:

Pages 3 & 4:

Page 5:

Page 6:

detail:

Page 7:

Page 8:

Page 9:

Ignore the text in the pieces that are already sewn, I’m planning on changing it shortly so it’s much easier to read. Here is the text that is on the pages:

1) Once upon a time, a goat lived with her seven little kids. Everyday she would leave to find food & lock the door…

2) …but the kids were very naughty and would sneak out of the house to cause trouble.

3) The kids found their neighbors the wolf cubs, whom they disliked because of their sweet nature. One kid bullied the cubs into a jumping challenge.

4) Sadly, both cubs & the kid missed the jump & were swept away by the river.

5) The mother wolf found that her two cubs had drowned & was so distraught that her sweet nature was replaced with anger. She threatened to eat the surviving kid for revenge.

6) To save his life, the kid told the wolf to eat his brothers and sisters instead. He coated the wolf’s feet in flour and had her swallow chalk.

7) The kids were fooled by the wolf’s white feet and soft voice, and let her in. She swallowed every goat except for the one who had betrayed his family.

8 ) The lone kid told his mother what had happened when she returned. The goat was frantic and tracked down the wolf and cut upon her gut. She pulled her kids to safety and filled the wolf with rocks.

9) When the wolf awoke, she went to the river to get a drink. The rocks were so heavy that the wolf fell in & drowned, suffering the same fate as her children.

Also, this is the kind of paint I’m using…the fabric medium stuff works really well. O.o

~Rachael

CONCEPTUAL

1. Explore the relationship between children’s illustration and the often dark storylines of fairy tales, creating a body of work that on the surface appears innocent.

2. Alter the traditional concept of good versus evil in fairy tales so that the boundaries between the two are blurred.

3. Alter stereotypical behaviors associated with specific animals (i.e. goat as vicious, wolf as kind), so that their actions are no longer entirely predictable and are instead influenced by their current predicament – much like human behavior.

MATERIALS AND PROCESSES

1. The traditional illustration mediums of acrylic paint and ink will be used to build a base for my imagery.

2. Freemotion sewing will be used extensively on every page to build texture, color, highlights, and shadows.

3. All pages will be finished with a satin stitch and hand sewn together.

4. The books will be approximately 12 x 12 inches so they are similar to the size of a typical children’s book.

Progress pictures will be uploaded shortly~

I’m pretty much done! Here are some more pics:

This was the paintings for the spices and last goat before I attached them.

Piccy of the back before I sewed on the yellow, I really liked the way it looked.

Done! The back is just solid yellow, I had to hand sew all the way around the edge because it was too thick to go through the machine. @_@ I also had to tac it down all over because the freemotion made it puff out in places I didn’t want it to. It’s still puffy, but it’s better than it was.