Posting craze! About rifles and scarfs this time~

I don't think I have ever been as active of a blogger as I am at the moment. But I'm super excited about Sinon and this entire project so you'll just have to deal with it haha. But I shall try not to ramble very much as I usually do in my posts, so I'll stop beating around the bush and show you what masterpieces I have created this time around.
     Kicking off with a fancy scarf that I made yesterday in a couple of hours. The design is really simple, and I chose to make the scarf like a tube sort of thing for more thickness, since Sinons scarf does look very big. I chose fleece for the material because hey, it's a scarf, so that works, and because it gives an accurate look to the overall piece. 

The whole thing measures 2,5 meters, which is a pretty damn long scarf. I made applique for the first time ever as well for the symbol on there, and it turned out pretty damn good if I may say so myself. It was a bit tricky since the symbol is fairly small, but it worked out since I did it nice and slow.

     And now for, at least according to me, more exciting stuff! The monster and most important piece of this cosplay, her rifle. I have never made something like this before, so it's really all trial and error. But I like it, I definately enjoy making it more than I thought I would. Which is great since it takes forever to make. I've used cardboard as my main material, with a side of camping mat and craft foam. That cocktail of materials may seem a bit so-so for something that is supposed to look like metal, but I find that with enough patience, gesso and sandpaper, most things can become really nice and smooth. I have yet to finish the rifle, so I'll make a part 2 about its making later on. But I really do feel like I want to share what I've made so far right now, and I welcome all feedback, both positive and negative, so that I can fix anything that doesn't look quite right, and maybe polish something that looks awesome even futher. So please, if you have time, it'd be nice if you left some feedback so I can make this prop look awesome :3.

     I've decided making it completely non-functional, the barrel doesn't move or anything, because I want to mainly focus on the aesthetics of it. 

I started out with printing a life-size reference picture for myself, just so I'll get the scale of the parts done right. I also made it the same size as the real life rifle model Sinons rifle is based on (PGM Hecate II). So everything is correct and to scale. As you can see I started with a simple base and started building onto it.

As you could see from my previous post I had already pretty much finished the handle and magazine part asides from paint and the trigger, and in the top picture you can see how it looks paired up with the other part. And as illustrated in the picture below, everything was endlessly covered in gesso and sanded and repeat.

Further detail was added as you can see in the pictures. I added the end piece on the barrel and those things where the barrel connects to the body of the gun. I have no idea what function those fill, but hey, they look cool. In the lower left picture you can see the scope coming together, but it's still far from done.

I then started working on the stock. The inside is cardboard, and then I glued on layers of camping mat that I shaped into the right shape with a hobby knife. Then I had to do something I just really don't like, paper maché. It just never works for me, but there was no way around it, I had to do it. And thus my stock is currently looking like a newspaper blob with a toilet paper roll on it. Absolutely beautiful. But that will of course change, I just have to wait for the god damn paper maché to dry. That's totally not why I'm writing this post, to waste time until it dries. 

And finally, a shot of the rifle in the state it is in right now. I just attached the barrel handle whatever and added some detail. I'm soon going to get the whole magazine and handle and all that on there, so that should be really exciting. Hopefully it all sticks together and doesn't fall apart.

UPDATE/EDIT:

     I figured it'd be cool to put the parts next to each other. Except for the scope which is still covered in wet gesso. Also the stock is going to be closer to everything else, but because wet gesso I couldn't put it in its proper spot so now it's derping there next to the rifle.

     That's all I've got for now, I hope you enjoyed and maybe even learned something. I'm realizing I've definately underestimated cardboard as a material, it's quite cool to work with really. But yeah, bye for now, I will post a part 2 about this rifle project later on, so stay tuned~

/Amanda