For my project, I would like to create a character costume which applies EL wire and related electronics to enhance its design.
for this project to be as cost effective as possible, I preemptively purchased several different vinyl (leather-like) fabrics and materials. All were purchased based on their cost and availability before arriving back on campus for this term. These include:
- 1 yard Dark red vinyl
- 1 yard Deep red vinyl
- 1.5 feet Goldenrod vinyl
- .5 yard Thin yellow lining
- Sound sensitive EL wire pack
- Red base jacket and pants
The total cost is estimated to be: ~= 28 $ fabric + 30$ suit = 58$
So when choosing characters for the costume, I had to make sure the choices would be close enough to the chosen color scheme first. This narrowed down the search significantly. Then, after searching through tons of artwork, and comic book material, I chose to make my costume after the Flash.
Specifically, my plan is to use the EL wire and related sensors, to make the lightning designs around the suit illuminate in reaction to sound and/or speed (as shown above).
Choosing this particular character is a good choice, since in the past, there have been no recorded costumes at comic conventions at this level, other than the flash tv show replicas sold online.
my suit will be of much higher quality than anything seen before, and will be 100% unique in its design. It will also showcase elements from several of the character’s previous designs. having been around since 1940, the flash has seen tons of faces, designs, and incarnations over the past 75 years.
My current design is shown bellow, and pays tribute to several of these designs, while keeping in mind the limits of the EL wire and other hardware needed.
These designs are not final, but I hope to begin work on the suit very soon, and can not wait to show you all more!