JZYL

When you're home sick with the flu, initial thought is "oh great, more time to work on the costume!" Then you remember.. you're home sick... with the FLU.

I love that Leia is climbing so hi, I love that name Actually before Star Wars I've always known Ray/Rey as a boy's name. I wonder how many of those "Jedi" are first name or middle names...

Nice @justjoseph63! Idly, why 2014?

So my parents are currently in town from Taiwan (family friend's kid's wedding), so I will have to take a week hiatus (everything into the closet! armor, personality, orientation, self-respect!) I only have to finish the shins, attach them to the knees, and do the forearms. So this speed build will be done for Halloween... and then I will slowly upgrade it. I'm also trying to decide if I should purchase the FemTK and black!Fem7 while Kevin's sale is on. On an amusing note, my dad already found the helmet while moving stuff around. He is impressed. Impressed by my level of crazy. And dedication. But still thinks I'm crazy. And not impressed by my attempt to hide everything. Oh well....

So I did end up going to Santa Clara City Library Comic Con and it was a blast. Big thanks to the peeps from the Golden Gate Garrison who were super willing to listen to me complain and explain helmet padding, gluing, etc. Special shout out to the two TK's who let me take pictures of their hand pieces to see how they had attached (one velcro to the glove, one on an elastic band) So per usual I'm great at plans, terrible at sticking to them, and have been terrible at documenting. But wanted to give everyone a progress report: Corset + butt done chest: done'ish, but need to attach teh shoulder straps. Also, I think I need to curve the shoulder pieces more but hot water dosen't seem to work very well thighs: done, but considering how easy it is to slip on adn off, consdering removing the velcro and just gluing it into solid pieces. Also, constantly adjusting the elastic cuz it keeps slipping biceps: done forearms: almost done, need to glue the greeblies on, but all my magnets are on the shins bucket: assembled, brow and neck lines attached. The neck was a little short, and I made the opening on the front cuz I plan on painting the vodocoder facelens has been applied, but the bottom is a little detached, and I'm trying to decide how to attach it also, working on teh decals

Like, when you call her name, do people recognize it as a Star Wars character, or do they just think it's a pretty/unique name?

Not been doing a good job documenting because the past two weekends have been ridiculously busy for me. First had a friend visiting from Texas, then a friend from NY, and I was playing endless tour guide. Luckily though, New York helped me fit the chest plate. However, I noticed that due to my epic vertical challenges, the chest plate is a smiiiidge longer than I need, but I think it can be fixed by curving the shoulder straps a bit more. A little scared of using hot water or a heat gun, considering how klutzy I am. I also shaped and fitted my bicep armor and forearm armor. I did, however, decide to play with the ABS paste and used that to join the seams. Unfortunately I found that there seems to have been bubbles in the paste, as when I sanded they were revealed I think after Halloween I will want to learn more about bondo or something, for now it's passable. I also worked on my bucket the past few days... gluing was a breeze, but cutting the face shield was not. It's currently setting right now, hoping I won't have to adjust it because it was a royal pain. Trying to get as much done this week since I'm going to try and attend the Santa Clara City Library Comic Con that @shashachu invited me to, but I'm just a smidgey worried about transportation and time constraints. Next weekend my parental units are going to be in a town, so eeeeeeverything has to go into the closet: armor, personality, individuality, orientation.... oh hey maybe that's what the Stormtrooper program is like!

that's different! Does it get recognized?

great thread! he's adorable!

I TOTALLY forgot about having Benjamin as a possibility. Come on everyone, I KNOW there are a lot more Luke's out there. I was a teacher, I have taught 3 Hermione's, and that fandom has not been around nearly as long!

How old is he, and is there going to be a Leia?

I'll start... I don't have any kids or pets, but I do know 2 One is a coworker of mine named Luke. When I jokingly asked him if he had a sister named Leia, he responded that instead he had a brother named Han and a brother named George. After that, his mom told his dad "no more attempts for a Leia". Another was when I was a kindergarten teacher back in Taiwan. I had a set of Happa (half white) Dragon Phoenix twins in one of my classes. Due to Chinese beliefs regarding Dragon Phoenix twins (boy girl set of twins), and traditional naming conventions for siblings, I already had some preconceived notions what the kids' Chinese names would be. I figured their English names would be more Americanized, since their mom was White and American. Boy's English name was Luke, girl was named Emma. Ok. Then I found out that while the boy's Chinese name was Lei Chun... the gir's name was Lei Ya. Mom didn't even notice until one day I called for Emma by her given Chinese name instead of her English name or full Chinese name. Oh she instantly thwapped the dad, he started hooting. Good on ya for slipping it past her, and he even made Lei the root/sibling character to hide it!

All right, 'fess up time... How many of you have kids named Luke or Leia (or any other Star Wars characters)? Or know anyone named specifically after Star Wars characters?

So I spent the day on the Ladies of the Legion FB group talking to everyone, and I decided to shim pieces of my abdominal armor under the kidney plate. This way the abdominal plate will slide over the shim, covering any gaps. Also, it looks like the butt plate and belt will hide the weird gaps that result on the bottom. Also, I got a little zealous again and cut off the edges of the lower thigh that were poking me, but Ladies Legion said that I should actually line up the outer part of the thigh, and then trim the inside. Whoops. Reattaching those too. While I was waiting for people to get online and give me some ideas, I spent the day using my rotary tool and sanding smooth the edges of the thighs, biceps, and forearms. Also spent some time trying to decide how to attach the butt plate. I also attached snaps to elastic... but when I tried to test them together, not all of them fit. I'm confused.

So I decided against trying to add in white elastic, I just think it looks really sloppy. I'm going to add shims on the kidney plate so that the abdominal plate can slide over them. I also set some snaps into elastic for once the shims set, so then I can add those on. Jumping ahead to thighs because I think I want to work on stuff that's not so visible while I build my confidence back up. Tried to fit the thigh today, and realized that it seems to go in a lot Learning from last time, fit the front over the back I think I need to trim the bottom of the front so it lines up Also, do people usually keep this as a solid piece and slide up their leg, or do they velcro the hell out of this? I'm like, really low in confidence now.

Hm. So I'm a bit upset with myself. Last night I somehow thought that the seams would line up perfectly, I think because I had read the threads of some really experienced builders. Also, the cutting process where I tried to use the rotary tool at first and then switched to scissors, meant that I also lost some material from teh sanding. But today while I was looking at it, I realized that it looked really bad with the black showing underneath I was thinking about exploring reattaching the old pieces back, but... 1 it would be a lot of work 2 some of those pieces don't fit right, because of sanding and whatnot I thought about shimming the spare pieces on, but they're really thick and I am really against trying to use the hot water or heat gun trick, I just really think I'm going to mess it up. So my newest idea, is instead of using the large black elastic I had purchased, I'm going to use the white elastic I had bought to join the pieces I'm still kind of upset and now paranoid, so I want to know what do you guys think if I did this (with snaps instead of tape, of course \ *sigh* I also for some odd reason smoothed out the ends of things because I didn't want stuff to snag my clothing. But I think that'll be okay because the butt plate goes over the kidney, and it should also cover the little cap between the abdomen and kidney plates

I forgot to document this last night, but I finally sucked it up and made cuts. Thanks to @shashachu for being my personal cheerleader on FB Messenger, FB, and here. Seriously ShaSha Shifu is the best. Aaaaand once again she was correct, didn't need to use the rotary tool. In fact, it was a bit of a detriment than anything. I was terrified using the cutting wheel (which actually wasn't that hard to use, I forgot that I have some tool experience thanks to Papa JZYL). Lower speeds didn't cut very well and the wheel would slip, higher speeds the plastic actually melted as it was being cut (ugh the smell). So the other 3 cuts I just used kitchen sheers (as klutzy as I am, I am surprisingly very steady with knives) Then I got a little eager beaver and started gluing down the elastic directly to the kidney plate. When I read @Chopper857's comment, I got a little concerned about the ability to adjust for the future. I also realized that for storage, it'll be a pain if the whole corset sticks together. Luckily I had been using E6000, so I pried the elastic off this morning. So the glued elastic still has glue on it, but I think I'll try to pry it off when I get home. I brought more elastic to work so I can use the hole puncher we have here, and I'm going to ask the packaging team if I can borrow it for the weekend. Also, I could not get the elastic to melt well to prevent fraying. It smells terrible (worse than the glue, though I actually didn't think it was that bad). I might just stitch it down and hot glue the edges I think. Yuck the thing smells. I'll properly lay this out later when I get home.

@themaninthesuitcase very sharp point! Sometimes I forget that even 'common' knowledge should be explicitly stated, so it's definitively known. I'm pretty good about the sharp knives thing too, so that's another one forgotten to state. I'm kicking myself a little bit because I'm normally a pretty paranoid person about this kind of stuff. My dad loved building things and always had me be his spotter when I was a kid (our version of daddy daughter bonding time). Plus I started university pretty deep set in Biology, so I did a ton of lab work. Luckily it was all tiny little nicks (like, I didn't notice until I went to take a shower and was like "huh, why is there blood?"). They're so tiny, I'm pretty sure the only reason why I was bleeding is because blood doesn't coagulate as well when someone is menstruating so I really should take care!

Also! Want to remind everyone safety safety safety! Whenever using sharp cutting tools or power tools, and even when you're snapping plastic, remember to wear protection! That means safety glasses, no-cut gloves, and appropriate clothing. What is appropriate clothing? Remember back to your science lab days... cover as much of your body as possible, do not expose your skin. That means long sleeves, long pants. If you're working standing up, close toed shoes. When necessary, wear a fumigator or heavy duty face mask to minimize fumes and dust. Make sure it properly adheres to your skin, depending on the size. That means for the smaller ones, no makeup and no facial hair. I made the mistake of wearing a t-shirt while sanding, and now I have a bunch of little nicks on my arm and on my cleavage. So attractive, a nicked decollete. Think I'll pick up anyone this weekend?

So Mama JZYL's anti-swelling technique worked quite well, so decided to head back to building! I took some time to mull over my plan of attack, and rethought it out. I edited previous entries to reflect this. III. Assemble Armor A. Rough trim pieces B. Corset [torso has to fit over this, so this is core of build] C. Torso [possible put off until after legs?] D. Legs [so if I goof up while learning, it's not front and center] E. Arms [need to figure out attachment] Overview: B. Corset 1. Fitting 2. trimming 3. attach fixed joining 4. attach opening joining But I was still concerned with the whole "how am I going to fit this by myself?" Then I had an Aha Eureka moment... I covered my floor length mirror with tape, and also attached it to the abdomen plate. When I put it on, I would smooth down the tape on the plate, and then use the other tape pieces to put it together. The first time I did this, I realized the tape was coming up, because I didn't trim the sides of the abdomen and kidney plates, which were slightly turned up. Quick fix, and tried again. Then it turns out I had huge overlap on my right (dominant), but very little on my left (non-dominant). So I tried again, but this time I put tape on the kidney plate first, and then put it centerized on my back. Yes I'm wearing house slippers. I am Asian. Then I put the abdomen plate on, and it was much better. These pictures were from my first attempt, which turned out to be slightly lopsided. Also, I realized that I might have a little overzealous in castrating the Violater, I don't think it quite comes down far enough. But I don't want to reattach it lol. Then I lightly penciled where they overlapped, and then took the blunt end of my knife and carefully cut the tape right on the line. This way I could put it back together where it was. After I reassembled the pieces, I took my ruler and marked roughly the center of the crossover. I think the theory is that the non-dominant side is fixed, usually with wide elastic. The dominant side usually has snaps. But you have to cut between the overlap to do so. AND NOW I'M SKURRED. HALP.

After some thinking, I decided I really don't want to lose days simply because I'm bloating. So plan of attack during the day was to use Mama JZYL's tried and true anti-swelling techniques, which worked out great. I always go on this regimen whenever I finish one of those USA-Asia plane rides, since I swell like crazy after those 14 hour plane rides. This post is skipable since it's only semi-build related. If anyone's curious, there's food you eat, food you cut out, and lots and lots of ginger tea. Basically encourages your body to lose water. Foods that reduce bloat are typically of"cold chi" or Yin energy, and the easiest ones I think to grab are ginger, tomatoes, carrots, and leafy veggies. Don't eat or severely reduce carbs, salt, sugar, or preservatives (so no rice... that's really rough for us NE Asians). I blanch my veggies with no salt, which is fine because yuchoi and bok choi have great flavor without any seasoning. I'll also do a stir fry (with very, very, very little oil) of sliced cherry/grape tomatoes or Japanese radish, ginger, and a little bit of garlic to taste (go sparing on the garlic since it's "hot chi" or Yang energy, which is the opposite of what you want). To drink, I make a boiled lemon tea that I let cool. Wash the lemon really well with dish soap (and if you're in the USA, scrub the hell out of it because citrus fruits are allowed to be coated with morpholine). Then, cut it into slices, and add to a pot of cold water. Bring it to a boil for a few minutes, and then turn off the heat and let it sit with the lid on. The water will be brown and somewhat bitter as it draws not only the juice, but the actual oils out of the peal. Drink that, and if it's way too bitter you can dilute with more water, or add a little bit of honey. If it seems too extreme to you, drink regular cucumber or lemon water. For my dinner, I pealed and diced carrots, and threw that into a boiling pot, with some leafy greens. For flavor I threw in seaweed. Another great root to substitute would be Japanese radish. Note though, Japanese radish smells terrible while cooking, and the smell the next day is terrible too. Warning though, you will urinate A LOT as your body rids itself of the excess water. That's why it's also so important to replace the water as well. If you're menstruating, be sparing with some of this, because increased yin energy may cause cramping. Ok back to your normal programming, while I give myself another pat on the back for talking about menstrual cramping and Chinese medicine in another episode of random JZYL thoughts.

Also, added initial laying out of the inventory in a previous post

So after some planning yesterday, started trimming, and some snarky mental commentary while doing so. Today I finished rough trimming everything today (woot!), take a look and tell me what you think I wasn't very clean on the joins of the legs and arms, because I think it'll probably all get cut off anyway And I'm going to need to sand either on the weekend or a day I come home relatively early. [original thought process] III. Assemble Armor A. order of attack 1. corset 2. torso 3. legs 4. arms B. Trim armor C. Fit pieces D. glue/attachments [New plan of attack] III. Assemble Armor A. Rough trim pieces B. Corset [torso has to fit over this, so this is core of build] C. Torso [possible put off until after legs?] D. Legs [so if I goof up while learning, it's not front and center] E. Arms [need to figure out attachment] Images: 1. Corset 2. Torso 3. Legs 4. Arms 5. Others but I have 2 new problems! 1 is a lady body problem, the other is a 2 is a living somewhat alone problem So to squick all the boys in the room, my period just started! Why does this matter? Like many ladies, I bloat/swell on my cycle... that means places that have lots of fatty tissue (tummy, chest, butt), and places where there are lots of capillaries but very few lymphatic veins (hands, feet, face) are bigger than usual. That means I'm veeeery loath to try to fit the corset pieces, since it might not fit right later. I'm also going to use that as the excuse for why it looks like the butt piece doesn't need trimming. Not because I have a big butt. Nope nope blame the menstrual cycle. Also, when I tried to fit the corset piece on, I couldn't figure out how to tape it so I could mark and see it. Living alone problems.... So anyhow, my landroomie will be back on the weekend, and hopefully by then the bloating will have gone down enough that I will be able to ask her to help me fit the corset pieces. In the meantime, I think I'll tackle none swelled areas, such as shoulders, biceps, and the backplate with detonater. YES! I made a post about periods in this forum!

*hugs* as a Taiwanese American dual citizen, keeping one eye on the whole thing

Thoughts had while trimming: Geeze, this was designed for a big boobed lady. *holds against chest* no wonder the Ladies of the Legion claim they can put water bottles here. ooooh I can put food. I think I have enough room for two pringles cans.... Omg the body is so huge, I'm going to be working my butt off slimming this down. Yay for being skinny, boo for more work. I think the corset is trying to impregnate me. *cuts off The Violater* Oh it looks the booty piece doesn't need to slimmed down...dammit. Does that mean I have a huge butt? Is this right or left? I think its left. No, it's right. No wait, I don't think there is a difference. Or is there? This bucket looks really big. *puts on bucket* oh dammit this is really small.