Sector 6 Laboratories

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How do you make black widow gauntlets

You need a bullet belt and black paint. The belt is the base shape. You can buy these kinds of belts at stores like Hot Topic or keep an eye out at local thrift stores or check online. They were popular with punk kids in the late 90s/early 2000s. We already owned a couple of old ones so I'm not sure if you can still find them anywhere.

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Last night's mini project...reclaiming a too small tshirt by turning it into a tank top! This was a gift from a friend who knew how much I love Star Trek but envisioned me much smaller than I really am, so it was always too small in the bust area. By cutting into the arm hole to release the strain over my chest, it actually fits now. Edges finished with some wide fold over elastic because it's quick and easy!

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Okay, so it’s not nerdy, but I totally made myself a swimsuit! And took it with me on vacation to Dominican Republic last month. I thought sewing a swimsuit would be hard, but it really wasn’t. And now that I’ve made one with fabrics I basically already had on hand, I can’t stop thinking about ways to make it super nerdy. Like an Iron Man themed bikini in shiny red and gold. Or Captain America themed in navy blue and white with red and white straps. See where I’m going here?

This pattern is from Papercut Patterns in New Zealand. I wanted to purchase a pattern because I wasn’t really sure what I was doing at first and I had a bit of a deadline and didn’t want to waste time messing around with drafting something I’ve never done before. Now that I’ve made one of these, though, I know I can probably go to my pattern drafting book by Helen Joseph-Armstrong and draft my own. This design is super cute.

I had the cherry print lycra from several years ago when I went to the garment district in NYC and then got home and didn’t know what to do with it. It’s lined with power mesh, and I sewed some pre-formed swim cups into the bust.

What I would do differently next time is forget about the power mesh in the cups. Totally useless. I’d rather use cut and sew swim foam from Bra Maker’s Supply in Hamilton, and line the front band and bridge with self fabric, and use power mesh only on the back band. It would not only reduce cost, but increase stretchiness. I had a difficult time struggling in and out of the top because it’s a pullover style. I might even lower the curve of the back band to allow for a plastic bikini hook for easier use.

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Childrenswear illustration and design was actually so much fun. The fabric is hand stencilled with Cybermen and Daleks on the shirt, and TARDIS’es on the shorts! I love the idea of poofy shorts on a little kid. So cute.

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We also do some accessory design at Sector 6 Labs! Here’s a look at two adorable handmade tote bags. The Star Trek inspired bag was a gift for a friend, it’s made from vintage fabric and upcycled leather from a thrifted jacket and hand stenciled and painted. 

The bag on the right was made from printed cotton designed by Ann Kelle. It features a pleated design and interior pockets, including a zippered pocket. 

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Finally a picture of the biggest costume project of the last few months. This is a Lord of the Rings elves inspired evening wear gown. 

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For cosplayers! There is this app that works both on iPhone and Android Devices that allows you to plan your cosplays and keep track of what you have finished and how much, budget, and when you want it finished by! I recommend it! I’ve been using it recently! http://cosplanner.catokusanagi.com/

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This app is amazing! I just downloaded it today. I hate seeing how much I'm spending but in the end it's a good thing

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The next step is to fill the sealed pep with gypsum. We bought Ultracal 30 at Sculpture Supply Canada. It comes in a heavy 50lb bag, and you scoop it out and mix it with water to make cement stuff.

We used some strips of duct tape and clay supports to create retaining walls around the edges. At first, Liam poured the gypsum in and left the pieces on a table to set. This was a bad idea. The weight of the stone in the piece, and the flat surface of the table resulted in flat, misshapen peps. We had an unused memory foam cushion left over from the Wreck it Ralph costume, so that became the pouring surface. The foam has just enough give to allow the pep to sit securely, but not flat. 

Since these are back armor pieces, they need to be curved. We placed scraps of wood and cardboard under the corners to maintain the curved shape and poured the gypsum in sections. We later discovered it's actually a better idea to slush the gypsum around for the first layer, until it sets up a bit in a solid, smooth top layer, and then carefully fill the rest in sections afterward.

This makes the next part easier. Once the gypsum is all set (each batch we mixed took about 30-60 minutes to cure), it can be gently pried out of the resin+paper mold. Then it has to be sanded and filled with more gypsum until it's smooth and shaped the way we want.

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This is the new method we're going with. Pepakura is still done in cardstock, but then it is propped up and supported with some random dowels if necessary, and the outside is sprayed with a coat of lacquer. We're using Rustoleum Appliance Epoxy to be exact. This is a thick aerosol spray you find in the spray paint section. The trick is to spray a light coat about 2-3 times, let it dry, then get a good thick layer on 2-3 times as well. It dries really thick and plastic-like, and seals the paper.

After that's done, we coat both the inside and outside with a couple coats of resin to completely seal and harden it for molding. The resin we use is polyester automotive resin, and you can find it anywhere that sells things for fixing cars and boats.

SAFETY NOTE: Don't do this indoors, kids! Aerosols shouldn't be used indoors anyway, because we all know they're fume-y. Resin is ESPECIALLY fume-y. Wear a mask if you can, protect your hands with latex gloves, and only do it outdoors. We moved a car out of the garage in order to do all this.

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It's not Tuesday, Sarah!

That's right, it's Wednesday. I know, I had set myself a goal to update on Tuesdays. Well, I also missed several Tuesdays because things got a bit hectic with my birthday last month, and then convention season totally snuck up on us. We devoted quite a lot of time to planning and running two conventions on consecutive weekends this year, which set us back on making shit.

Photo posts are coming soon! But first....some notes.

When you cosplay, it doesn't matter how many years of experience you have under your belt. Something ALWAYS comes up. You learn something new, and new challenges kick you in the face. In this case, we had never attempted vacuforming before, so the ENTIRE process became a learning experience. Ho boy, was it ever.

After filling the pepakura helmet with expanding foam and smoothing it out with the Monster Clay, we realized it would never work. Expanding foam has too many air bubbles, which means it would likely compress, crack, and squish flat under the intense pressure of a vacuum. Then, the clay is heat sensitive, and would probably melt under hot plastic. More on vacuforming in a later post, though.

In the end, the helmet has been scrapped for now. Much to Liam's sadness because he spent so much time on it. 

One thing I can always count on is the awesome members over at The RPF. I went to them with our questions and woes, and got a ton of feedback on what we were doing wrong and how to correct it. After that, things have gone much more smoothly.

Current status of the Pacific Rim drivesuits:

Several back pieces on both costumes have been successfully vacuformed (yay!)

Two pieces have even been painted!

We have a locked down method and system for making our pieces

Liam started casting custom detail pieces (which we will post a tutorial for at a later date)

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Pepakura is a program that can take a 3D model and flatten it out into printable 2D pattern pieces. This is how we cut our Pepakura...with a Silhouette Cameo digital cutting machine! This shaves HOURS off our build time since we don't have to cut the paper, and it perforates all the fold lines for you.

Here’s the helmet and chest nearly ready! Liam marked out the cut lines in sharpie to take the helmet apart. It will be vacformed in 5 parts. After strengthening with carpenter’s glue, we sprayfoamed the inside for some stability and Liam got to work correcting the shape and smoothness of the outside with Monster Clay.

Monster Clay is an oil-based clay, so it’s reusable, and cost effective. Lots of modelers and sculptors use this kind of clay for costumes and special effects. Rather than keeping it wet, the trick is to warm it up to make it malleable, then allow it to cool in order to harden. If you stick it to other things and want to reclaim it afterward, you just heat it up until it’s liquid and strain out the particulates. We chose this because we heard others had used their Monster Clay for up to 20 years after buying it!

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Let’s start this blog with our WIP of this summer’s costume build. After the success of our gender swapped Avengers group in 2012, we took a step back last year and chose something simpler when we did Wreck it Ralph. This year, we are back with a vengeance on an ambitious project…

PACIFIC RIM!

We just loved this movie so much, especially the pilot drivesuits of the main characters, Raleigh and Mako. It’s so futuristic, high tech, and I loved the sleek design.

Our plan of attack is more complicated than the Iron Man suit. (You can read about that here) The Iron Man suit was completely constructed in EVA craft foam, which was quick, but not ideal for the finished look. This time we’ve built a vacuforming machine, and will be constructing and sculpting bucks to mold styrene plastic for all the armor parts.

So far we have several pieces constructed in cardstock from Pepakura files we found on The RPF and we’re ready to prepare them for the vacuform process.

  Resources http://www.therpf.com/f24/jaeger-pilot-suit-pacific-rim-192227/?highlight=pacific+rim

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Welcome to the Sector 6 Labs blog! We are a costuming team from Toronto, Ontario. For photos of our past costumes, visit and like our Facebook page. You can also follow us on Twitter (@Sector6Labs)

Sarah Wong, Designer

Sarah has been costuming for 9 years, since her first full weekend pass to Anime North in 2005.

She is currently studying for a Bachelor of Design in Fashion Design at Ryerson University. Her skills include sewing, flat pattern drafting, pattern draping, textile design, fashion illustration, and Google-fu. She is also the administrator for all Sector 6 Labs social media.

Chat with me on The RPF (charades) and Cosplay.com (dizzymonochrome)

Liam Rogers, Electronics and Fabrication

Liam is currently finishing a degree in Experimental Physics at the University of Guelph. He has a knack for problem solving and a hard on for blinky lights and anything Boba Fett.