Monthly Archives: May 2015

FIRE! Making Small Costume Flames

DIY, , , ,

Safety Note: This tutorial uses open flames to heat plastic. This should be done in a well-ventillated area by adults only! Kids, ask an adult for assistance! Test the material you’re going to be heating first and have water on hand for flare-ups as a precaution. 

People at conventions are understandably cranky about actual live fire/open flames. And while your costume genuinely may call for fire, in enclosed spaces with other people, it’s really frowned upon.

So, what can you do to get a look of flames without setting anything on fire? When I needed flames for the end of Tim the Enchanter‘s staff, I wanted orange cellophane. Cello is crunchy, reflective, and if you bunch it up just right, can look really fiery. Alas, no place we looked had any orange cellophane. Party City had semi-transparent orange treat bags, but they were a softer (less “crunchy”) material and I didn’t think I could make it work.

We ended up with some clear-and-red striped bags from Michael’s that were still not as rigid as I wanted, but I thought I could make work.

celo-bag

First thing, I cut off the bottom, and slit open the side. I used my Sharpie® markers in orange and yellow to get more color out of the red/clear bag since I couldn’t get the orange I wanted initially.

open-bag

colored-bag
I added some red into the wide clear panels to break up all the orange.

Once I was satisfied with the color (it doesn’t have to be perfect, or solid), I cut some V-shaped notches in the strip, taking care not to get them too narrow for what came next: actual fire.

bag-wedges

Light a small candle, something that doesn’t put out a lot of heat. The plastic is going to melt fast enough without having a lot of heat that is hard to control. Holding the “lobes” over the candle, warp the plastic, letting it stretch a little but not burn through — this will take some practice, but even if you mess up, it’s not a catastrophe. While the plastic is still malleable, bunch it in your hand to crinkle it lengthwise. That will give it some stability to stand up and look like shooting flames. Continue this with the other lobes on the bag until you’re done. Now you can roll the whole strip up and insert it into the weapon or around the end of the staff that’s shooting fire.

bag-candle1 bag-candle2

staff-fire
Close-up of the flames at the end of Tim’s staff.
Tim
So as not to damage the hiking stick, the flames were simply taped on with clear tape. The stick is lacquered, so it will peel right off.

Here’s a video I did of the candle/heating process. This should make a little more sense:

Cosplay: Tim the Enchanter, P7 (done!)

Costuming, Sewing, , , ,

This is a long time coming, and Free Comic Book Day has come and gone, and I forgot to get the post up with the accessories I made for Tim’s final look. (Sorry!) Here’s what we ended up with:

  • a plastic bone (found at a costume shop)
  • a skeletal hand (found online)
  • a metal sand dollar (found at Joann’s, painted white)
  • a scroll case (sewn with leather-look ultrasuede)
  • a “leather” pouch (sewn with the same stuff as the scroll case)

I used a combination of black cotton cord, hemp cord, and jute twine as the stringing materials. The sand dollar was the only real mystery thing. I couldn’t get a decent enough view of what the round white thing was around his neck. In the end, I decided, what the hell — it’s a sand dollar, why not?

scroll-case pouch

The scroll case is a simple tube with one end “capped.” I finished the raw open edge, and used a zigzag stitch to attach the black cord so it could be worn. The scroll is simply an 8.5×11″ sheet of paper rolled up along the long edge and slipped inside. The paper is all that holds the tube’s shape. If you want one that’s more rigid, you could use interfacing.

The pouch was even simpler, I didn’t finish the top edge and the holes for the drawstring are just slits in the material. It took me longer to put the drawstrings in than it did to sew it. Remember to put something in the bag so it has some weight to it. I put lemon cough drops in that one.

accessories
There’s also a random stick in there with all that stuff he’s wearing, so I tied one to the jute on the bone’s cording.
There are some who call him... Tim?
His beard isn’t typically that long. It came from the costume shop, too.

Tim’s an enchanter, but I didn’t have the hollow staff full of “petrol” like Cleese did in the film. (Gasoline and comic books seemed like a bad idea…) I really wanted to convey the idea of fire, so I went on a fruitless hunt for orange cellophane. What I ended up with was a red-striped clear bag (from Michael’s) that I altered with Sharpies®. It worked pretty well, and I’m happy with the results. I’ll do another post on how I got the flame-y look, in case you need fire for something you’re working on.

I’m very happy with how the end result all came together. Our local library had a costume contest on FCBD, and he won first place with his, so that was pretty gratifying.

Did you miss any of the previous Tim posts?
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6