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At long last... photos!! :o
This is a project I worked on for several months leading up to Burning Man last week: a wearable phoenix head and 12' wings, both outlined with "EL" (electroluminescent) wire, a kind of thin phosphor-coated wire that glows when a current is run through it. :D This project took countless hours, between the wings (not pictured here - I need to get some better shots of them in a park or something) and the head... I'm guessing maybe something along the lines of 80+ hours in total. Which is... a long ass time. x_x But! I'm very happy with the result and others seemed to be too, especially at night!
Let's see... materials used. Three kinds of foam, plastic mesh, acrylic paint (mostly black and UV-reactive red), fake fur, gold and silver lame', nylon thread, and a bunch of kinds of fabric. And of course, around 30' of red, orange, yellow and white ELwire, three inverters, and many AA batteries.
These photos were taken at Burning Man by my boyfriend. He was using his fisheye lens, so the pictures are somewhat distorted, but in a good way! Again, I need to take some pictures of the full costume. Soon, hopefully... poor thing had to be squashed to fit in the car for the ride home, and is now dusty as hell. Foam's pretty resilient, though.
This is a project I worked on for several months leading up to Burning Man last week: a wearable phoenix head and 12' wings, both outlined with "EL" (electroluminescent) wire, a kind of thin phosphor-coated wire that glows when a current is run through it. :D This project took countless hours, between the wings (not pictured here - I need to get some better shots of them in a park or something) and the head... I'm guessing maybe something along the lines of 80+ hours in total. Which is... a long ass time. x_x But! I'm very happy with the result and others seemed to be too, especially at night!
Let's see... materials used. Three kinds of foam, plastic mesh, acrylic paint (mostly black and UV-reactive red), fake fur, gold and silver lame', nylon thread, and a bunch of kinds of fabric. And of course, around 30' of red, orange, yellow and white ELwire, three inverters, and many AA batteries.
These photos were taken at Burning Man by my boyfriend. He was using his fisheye lens, so the pictures are somewhat distorted, but in a good way! Again, I need to take some pictures of the full costume. Soon, hopefully... poor thing had to be squashed to fit in the car for the ride home, and is now dusty as hell. Foam's pretty resilient, though.
Category Artwork (Traditional) / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 640 x 470px
File Size 188 kB
I myself am almost always disappointed by avian-fursuit heads... I've seen a mask or two that was appealing, but they were usually abstracted stand-alone masks and not something that amends "bird" onto your own head. Thank you, I was certain I could go above and beyond, I'm glad the results are noticable. <3 (The combined work hours may actually be well over 100, now that I've thought about it more...)
Search google for "electroluminescent wire" and take your pick. ;) I've bought from at least 3 different major ELwire retailers online, and all have had roughly the same price/quality of wire/parts.
Ebay is also a pretty good place to find precut lengths of wire for cheaper, if I remember right... great if you don't know what you want to do with it yet, just want your hands on some. |)
Ebay is also a pretty good place to find precut lengths of wire for cheaper, if I remember right... great if you don't know what you want to do with it yet, just want your hands on some. |)
It probably won't be a problem since you're only using it in short bursts, but EL stuff dims substancially over time when used heavily. So just don't plug it in to an adapter and leave it on 24/7, not that you probably would anyways. :)
Oh, a pack of larger batteries (C or D cells) would probably last a looong time...but be heavier, possibly a consideration.
Oh, a pack of larger batteries (C or D cells) would probably last a looong time...but be heavier, possibly a consideration.
You managed to combine the awesomeness of burning man with furry with the results actually looking GREAT, and for this you are my hero. <3
Most furry costumes that I have encountered kinda look like they rode the short bus to get there. This goes triple for furry costumes that are not at furry specific events, and is further exacerbated with avians. So yeah. El wire is awesome and so are you. Looking forward to the full pics when you get a chance to take some. :3
Most furry costumes that I have encountered kinda look like they rode the short bus to get there. This goes triple for furry costumes that are not at furry specific events, and is further exacerbated with avians. So yeah. El wire is awesome and so are you. Looking forward to the full pics when you get a chance to take some. :3
It costs, but it's not TOO expensive... about $2/foot for the thick stuff. Plus inverters and power sources. I think I'm using four distinct battery-cage / power sources for the phoenix at present... the thing that will really get you in the end is buying all the AA batteries. XD Everything else was moderately priced for what it is. I spent maybe $20 on foam, already had the paint, and bought $25-$35 in fabric and other materials. All in all not too expensive, but tons of labor and individual pieces fitting together just right were required in the making...
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