The Making of Solaire, Part 2

While I was making the Solaire's helmet, I had also begun work on the tabard.  For all intents and purposes this wasn't a complicated piece, but it was absolutely one of the most important.

I luckily had a mannequin that was just about my size at my disposal, which made my life a lot easier.  Being able to drape the pattern let me cut out the rough shape of the tabard pretty quickly.  Once I stitched it together, the painting could begin!

I used textile paints to create the sun design on the front.  Once I had blocked out the shape of the sun in a feint yellow, I went back over it with the red and black.  The face in particular was a challenge, I only really had the one shot to get it right.  Again I blocked out the proportions with the yellow before going in with the black.  Once I had it prepped the only thing left was to... go for it!  In the end I was very satisfied with how it came out.

Here's the tabard at various stages alongside the helmet.  And of course, the obligatory Praise the Sun!

It wasn't done yet though!  There still remained the shoulder piece: Solaire's mossy, ragged green cowl.  It consisted of three staggered layers of cloth, which were each cut and weathered with sandpaper individually. After it was stitched together, it was ready for dying.

The final product looked like this!  Save for a few touches of dirt and mud, Solaire's tabard was complete.  I was so happy with the the final product I couldn't help but wear it around the house once it was finally done.

With the helmet and tabard finished, I was ready to get started on some of the smaller pieces.  Next up will be the armor and props, so stay tuned!