Galley- Battle Angel Alita a

Fall 2006 – June 2007

I am making the arms of the character for my friend Monica who has been helping with other various projects.

The thing I learned from working on these was making something that looks gritty and dirty and they have to fit close enough to the skin so they don’t make the arms look over sized. Yes I know at this point I should’ve started exploring rubber latex of some sort, but I really want to see how far I can go with the PVC plastic. And it is cheaper to work with.

I added grommets to a spandex-ish ballet outfit in order for it to be put on and held onto the body. Even though they have held up to wear and tear so far, I feel like they should be reinforced with strapping like traditional armor. At least around the neck area.

This is another construction that has to be very organic. Some pieces have to be seamless or at least the impression of the design to keep the seams covered while covered pieces look intentional. I also had to boil vacuum cleaner hose to make the hose pieces that cover the closing bend on the elbow. I had to sew that rubber onto the costume. That was no small task.

Every time I do armor for the shoulder I have to constantly redesign it. The shoulders like the head and the breasts are perfectly spherical, so it makes it easy for bends and folds to occur in the plastic. You don’t want that. So shoulders … always a major choir. I think next time some strapping will also help.
(At this time I'm taking a limited number of commissions on armor and accessories.)