Wow 2 years later and I'm finally finishing this costume! I missed the Halloween deadline so now I'm aiming for PopExpo in December. Here's a shot of the dress with the chainmail overlay:
I cheated and used a chainmail-like fabric that was essentially a large knit.
It started out grey, then I spray painted the inside black to give it depth, then the outside stainless silver, and finally gave the bottom-up a light black paint job to make it look weathered. The effect is pretty nice although I do not like the way the fabric pulls at the seams. It's so heavy that it stretches. I'm sure I'll be trimming the hem as the day goes on.
The cuirass vest was actually easier than I thought it would be. After researching tons of tutorials on corset making (and after a test run) I applied what I learned to the vest. It's one piece like in the movie and yes, I need two people to help put it on! It's all lined, boned with a super nice, soft faux leather that I found in Montreal. In hindsight it should have had way more panels to make it more form fitting but it's still looks great on and anyways, with all the hair, you can only see about 2 inches of it on the bottom!
Now the crown has proven much more of a challenge. I swear I've spent more time on this part of the costume than all of the others combined. I wanted it to be as screen-accurate as possible so I started with a ton of screenshots and then traced them into a 2D version that I could print and use as a template. A metal skeleton was created from the template that could be bent and manipulated to suit what I wanted. I covered that with paper mache to give it some lightweight bulk and then finally it was all covered with wall plaster and then sanded. The result is more of a work of art than a headpiece! lol I still have to paint it but I'm hoping that will be the easy part. I still cannot figure out how to affix it to my head solidly. I have two hair combs attached underneath which keeps it on but it still shifts side to side. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know!
view full sizeI still have to cut a sword out of MDF and figure out how to make her wand. If anyone has a line on the full size WETA replica, please let me know.