You can see Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
In Part 2, I riveted a handle and arm strap on to the sled, so I could hold it with my left arm.
I still needed to address the whole sewing obstacle and paint the sled.
I was quickly beginning to feel the pressure of time as the date loomed closer and closer to Halloween.
A good friend of mine from my convention-going and online antics let me know that she was going to be in town for the week to visit, but had to work remotely during the day. I realized that she was needed to be the one to help me with the sewing. I put a huge guilt trip on her to convince her to work remotely from my place during the day and help me with my costume during the downtime she had during the day. I was not proud of it, but it was a successful tactic and it was a fun day anyway. That day, however, was still about several days away and I needed to be painting the shield by the time she got here.
Now, Captain America will occassionally strap his shield onto his back when its not needed. I, too, needed this. While it will be on my arm for part of the night, its going to be very difficult to hold the shield in one hand, a tasty beverage in the other, and try to do anything else at all.
I did not have enough strapping left from my anime bag for one shoulder, nevermind two. I spent an entire evening walking around Home Depot and then Target looking for some sort of cheap bag or strapping that would make this work. As I was about to head home in defeat, I passed the aerobics section of Target and saw something even better than what I was looking for. This was a six foot yoga strap. It was a nice vibrant blue color which would match my shirt and it was also rather soft so it would not damage the shirt either.
When I brought it home I realized there was a adjustable buckle as well. This buckle got my mind working. It would be infinitely better to have adjustable shoulder straps. By the time I figured out how I could rig them onto the shield with the rivets, it was too late to go back to Target and get a second yoga strap. I did not expect to use the full length of the strap until I realized I could make the straps adjustable. I had to wait another day to buy another strap. Once I had both straps, I went about the riveting process once again. I will spare you the details of that since it was virtually the same thing I did on the hand and arm straps.
Very soon after the last strap had been riveted on, I set to work on the painting. First thing was first, I needed to put a coat of blue down on the center circle. Since I had been measuring the spots for the arm straps on the front of the shield, it turned out to be right handed on the back. The only thing determining what side of the shield was up, was the star on the front. To alleviate this, I painted the blue right over the star and would worry about redrawing that later.
Next came the white:
I will stop here, so I can pick up with the last days leading up to the completion of the outfit.
Tune in next time for more painting, sewing and last minute scrambling!
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