I was finally able to have an awesome photoshoot for my Aela the Huntress costume! It was at Horse Pens 40 in Alabama, which is probably the most accessible Skyrim-like place in the south east. I’ll post the pics in a gallery when they are ready.
I first wore this costume to Momocon 2013 (and won Best Master in the craftsmanship contest, woo!). I made several updates to it for the photoshoot, so here is what I did! Pics below.
Wig: My wig is an Arda Matilda in dark copper red that I cut short. In order to improve it I ordered a pumpkin and light copper red sample from Arda and added those into the lacefront. I think it makes it look more natural, like the sun bleached the hairs lighter (at least thats the area that my hair turns lightest in the sun.)
Shoes and gloves: The gloves were too light so I darkened them with a dark brown dye. I took apart my shoes and added the linen to the same dye bath. I think it looks more naturally weathered and dirty now.
Dagger: Aela carries a Skyforge Steel Dagger around when she’s not using her bow, so for some reason I just HAD to make it for the shoot. I made it super fast in 5 days. Its not extremely accurate, but I think its decent enough. I used my plastic crappy toy sword as a base and wrapped foam and Wonderflex around it. Due to its shape I couldn’t get the dimensions exactly right, but I didn’t care so much since it was just for the shoot. I gesso’ed it a bunch and sanded it down. Then the bad stuff happened. Atlanta was having the worst rainy and humid weather that week, so of course my paint job was just awful. The primer I used cracked really really bad. I sanded it and tried to make up for it with extra metallic paint, but it just looked blobby and dulled the details. Then after I did the weathering it peeled off, so I had to do it again! The result is the worst paint job I’ve done yet, but whatever. The scabbard turned out ok, but also not accurate since it had to be a quick version. Whatever, at least it was a good prop for pics!
