Using Chrome Vinyl Automobile Wrap For Cosplay Armor

Using Chrome Vinyl automobile wrap for Cosplay Armor

It’s called Chrome Vinyl, and it’s a metallic wrap used for automobiles.  

There’s a cosplayer who’s already made a basic tutorial for what it is and how to use it here: http://calgarycosplay.deviantart.com/art/Cosplay-Metallics-SOLVED-FOREVER-464151191

…though she’s not the first one to figure it out.  Chrome wrapping is actually a really popular method used in Asia for covering armored costumes, it just hasn’t really taken hold in western cosplay yet.  

You can look up youtube tutorials for how to apply the vinyl (all the demonstrations will be on cars) to get you started.  

To add to Calgary’s tutorial, I would say that if you buy a cheaper, no-brand-name vinyl wrap, it’s not going to give you the same results as buying a known brand of vinyl wrap.  I have a sample of generic wrap I bought off of eBay, and then a sample of Avery chrome vinyl wrap, that’s advertised to have a nice bit of stretch to it, and the Avery definitely works better because the stretchiness helps go around those curves.  Generic brands tend to be less stretchy, the adhesive less sticky, and more prone to dents and wrinkles when you apply heat.  As with all things, you get what you pay for.

Generic 

Avery

In addition, whether you’re using foam or worbla-coated foam, or wonderflex… it’s a good idea to stiffen it up a bit before applying the vinyl so that it can retain its shape.  Applying heat to the vinyl helps it stick and stretch, and you don’t want the heat un-shaping the foam/worbla/wonderflex underneath.  I find that using a few light coats of wood glue helps a considerable amount (don’t worry, you don’t need to go get yourself a gallon of epsilon or anything).  At the same time, don’t use your most powerful heat gun when applying your vinyl.  A hairdryer works fine, and the lighter heat will also contribute to keeping the shape of the foam/thermoplastic you’re wrapping.  

And of course, the more time you put in, the better the results.  Go slow, experiment on scraps first… if you’re using worbla or wonderflex, I do actually recommend smoothing it out a little bit first.  Stretchier chrome vinyls will hug a little bit to the grooves of the rough exterior.  For the smoothest possible finish, take that wood glue or wood filler or gesso to your worbla and just apply 2-3 coats to help even it out.  Not as much as you would need to if you were painting it, but just enough to give the vinyl a helping hand.  

If the adhesive seems to be losing its stickiness or just isn’t holding well enough (and you’d be learning this through your test scraps that I know you’re taking the time to do), I’ve been using contact cement.  

You can find this and various other brands at Home Depot or Lowe’s, etc… I find that using contact cement also reduces air bubbles and creases, especially as you wrap the vinyl around the edges so you get a nice cleeeeean finish.  

If you don’t know how to use contact cement, google is your friend.  

Obviously armor has a lot of pieces, and the unfortunate bit about vinyl wrapping is that you have to do it with every individual piece BEFORE assembly, as opposed to painting, where you can assemble everything first and then paint.  

The back of Kuvira’s armor has 10 pieces, and I need to wrap each of the ten plates before I can attach the plates.  The inside tends not to look very pretty, but nobody’s looking there anyway.

Worbla scraps are GREAT for assembling those wrapped vinyl pieces btw.  

…aaaaand that’s what I have to share about what I’ve learned in using chrome vinyl to make my shiny Kuvira armor!  Look forward to pictures of the complete armor and cosplay, and hope this helps!

We must tell girls their voices are important

Malala Yousafzai (via truthfuls)

Arguing about BB-8

Me: How dare you, BB-8 is a delight!

Fiancé, distractedly: ............BB-8's a DeLorean?

Me: Oh yeah, you get him rolling at 88 MPH and next thing you know it's a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Getting Your Tumblr Posts on a Facebook Page Timeline

After a long time of having this option disabled (or simply not available) we can now send our Tumblr posts to a Facebook Page once again (We talk about Pages here, Not Profiles).

Go To Blog Settings >> Check Share posts on your Timeline

After you log in to Facebook you will see a message that says: Tumblr would also like permission to: Manage your pages Tumblr may login as any of your X Pages, including: (A list with your Pages). Click on Allow.

Now, Go Back to your TUMBLR and go to Blog Settings >> Scroll Down and, from the dropdown menu (that was not there before) choose which page (or profile) you will send your posts to.

Source: Send Tumblr Posts to Facebook Pages.

George Takei educating the ignorant

When I was a freshman, my sister was in eighth grade. There was a boy in two of her periods who would ask her out every single day. (Third and seventh period, if I remember correctly.) All day during third and seventh she would repeatedly tell him no. She didn’t beat around the bush, she didn’t lie and say she was taken—she just said no. One day, in third period, after being rejected several times, he said; “I have a gun in my locker. If you don’t say yes, I am going to shoot you in seventh.” [[MORE]] She refused again, but right after class she went to the principal’s office and told them what happened. They searched his locker and there was a gun in his backpack. When he was arrested, some of my sister’s friends (some female, even) told her that she was selfish for saying no so many times. That because of her, the entire school was in jeopardy. That it wouldn’t have killed her to say yes and give it a try, but because she was so mean to him, he lost his temper. Many of her male friends said it was “girls like her” that made all women seem like cockteases. Wouldn’t have killed her to say yes? If a man is willing to shoot someone for saying no, what happens to the poor soul who says yes? What happens the first time they disagree? What happens the first time she says she doesn’t want to have sex? That she isn’t in the mood? When they break up? Years later, when I was a senior, I was the only girl in my Criminal Justice class. The teacher, who used to be a sergeant in the police force, told us a story of something that had happened to a girl he knew when she was in high school. There was a guy who obviously had a crush on her and he made her uncomfortable. One day he finally gathered up the courage to ask her out, and she said no. The next day, during an assembly, he pulled a gun on her in front of everyone and threatened to kill her if she didn’t date him. He was tackled to the ground and the gun was taken from him. When my teacher asked the class who was at fault for the crime, I was the only person who said the boy was. All the other kids in the class (who were all boys) said that the girl was, that if she had said yes he would’ve never lost it and brought a gun and tried to kill her. When my teacher said that they were wrong and that this is what is wrong with society, that whenever a white boy commits a crime it’s someone else’s fault (music, television, video games, the victim) one boy raised his hand and literally said; “But if someone were to punch me and I punched him back, who is at fault for the fight? He is, not me. It’s self-defence. She started it, so anything that happens to her is in reaction to her actions .It’s simple cause and effect.” Even though he spent the rest of the calss period ripping into the boys and saying that you are always responsible for your own actions, and that women are allowed to say no and do not have to date them, they left class laughing about how idiotic he was and that he clearly had no idea how much it hurt to be rejected. So now we have a new school shooting, based solely on the fact some guy couldn’t get laid, and I see men, boys, applaudin him, or if they’re not applauding him, they’re laying blame on women as a whole. Just like my sister’s friends did. Just like the boys in my Criminal Justice class did. This isn’t something that’s rare. This isn’t something that never happens, or that a select group of men feel as if they are so entitled to women that saying no is not only the worst possible thing a woman can do, but is considered a form of “defence” when they commit a crime upon them (whether it be rape or murder-as-a-reaction-towards-rejection). Girls are being killed for saying no to prom invites. Girls are being killed for saying no to men. They are creating an atmosphere where women are too scared to say no, and the worst part is? They are doing it intentionally. They want society to be that way, they want women to say yes entirely out of fear. Even the boys and men who aren’t showing up to schools with guns are saying; “Well, you know, I wouldn’t do that, but you have to admit that if she had just said yes …” If you are a man and you defend this guys’ actions or try to find an excuse for it, or you denounce what really happened, or in any way lay blame on women, every girl you know, every woman you love, has just now thought to themselves that you might lose your shit and kill them someday for saying no. You have just lost their trust. And you know what? You deserve to lose it.

cry laugh feel love peace panic:  

“Wouldn’t have killed her to say yes? If a man is willing to shoot someone for saying no, what happens to the poor soul who says yes? What happens the first time they disagree? What happens the first time she says she doesn’t want to have sex? That she isn’t in the mood? When they break up?” -vampmissedith.tumblr.com

THIS IS MANDATORY READING!

(via feminist-space)