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Cobras

COBRAS

Each of the seven cobra heads is 3D printed. I found existing 3D models of full-body cobras and modified them in Meshmixer, a relatively simple modeling program. The largest of the heads had to be sliced into 4 pieces per half in order to fit on the print bed. The two shoulder snakes took roughly 8 ours each to print. Each half of each side snake took roughly 11 hours, and the large head prints took a combined total of nearly 65 hours to print. 

The pieces were all sanded, primed, painted, sealed, then attached to the hood. They have low infill density and so remained fairly light and do not present a significant weight/balance issue. 

Snake Collar

SNAKE COLLAR

The snake collar has a twill fabric base overlaid with a pleather top layer. The base has a seam down the center front for fit, while the pleather layer is solid. The pleather layer was cut slightly too small and then stretched to attach it to the base. 

Each shoulder snake has a length of crinoline steel, bent to shape, that extends from the chest up behind the cobra head. This provides semi-flexible yet strong support for these lightweight elements. The bodies of the shoulder snakes are lightly padded with a layer of baby flannel to produce a slightly more dimensional effect. 

Foundations

FOUNDATION

The foundation for this entire costume is the sheer corset and the inner layer of the large cobra hood.

The hood is a double layer of utility fabric reinforced with horizontal lengths of curved crinoline steel and supported vertically by two aluminum bars that are bent to the curvature of the back and waist. The inner layer of the hood stops where it meets the top edge of the corset, while the outer layer continues the full length and lays over top of the lacing to conceal the back of the cor

FIRST FITTING

The initial fitting of the mock-up of this costume was ultimately the only fitting prior to finishing. Minor adjustments were made to the pants, some excess was removed from the corset and collar, and the shaping of the top of the large hood ended up changing to accommodate the shape of the 3D printed head.

The 'mock-up' of the hood base ended up being the base for the final hood, and the overall proportion did not change. 

The sleeve drape was not present for this fitting as I was still refining the design concept and pattern of that particular element. The sleeve drape was the most challenging portion of the costume to nail down.

First Fitting
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