Where I Go to Get Crafting Supplies

One of my newest hobbies has been crafting costumes and props for events such as the Penny Arcade Expo, the Portland Pirate Festival, Steamcon, and Halloween. Over the past couple months I have amassed a collection of favorite shops in the greater Bellevue/Redmond, WA area to look for tools, parts, cloth, and materials. Here is a list of those shops:

Hobbytown USA

http://www.hobbytown.com/

Address: Cleveland Street Square

16421-A Cleveland Street

Redmond, WA 98052

Phone: (425) 558-0312

Tap Plastics

http://www.tapplastics.com/

12021 NE Northup Way

Bellevue, WA 98005

Mon-Fri 8:30 to 6, Sat 9 to 5

Phone: 425.861.0940

The guys here are super friendly and they are right across the street from Lowe's.

Vetco Electronics

http://www.vetco.net/

12718 Northup Way # 100

Bellevue, WA 98005

(425) 641-7275

Pacific Fabric

http://www.pacificfabrics.com/

1645 140th Ave NE

Bellevue, WA‎

(425) 747-3551‎

Be sure to check what they have in their "remainders" pile. It is th ends of rolls of cloth and are sold at a discount.

Hardware:

Lowe's

11959 Northup Way

Bellevue, WA 98005-1919

(425) 646-9031

Harbor Freight Tools

http://www.harborfreight.com/

14506 NE 20th St

Bellevue, WA 98007-3764

(425) 746-1303

This is THE place to get cheap tools.

Crafts:

Ben Franklin Crafts

http://www.craftsandframes.com/

15756 Redmond Way

Redmond, WA 98052-3830

(425) 883-2050

Michael's

http://www.michaels.com

15600 NE 8th St # D4

Bellevue, WA 98008-3927

(425) 747-1221

Thrift Stores:

Goodwill

14515 NE 20th St

Bellevue, WA?

(425) 649-2080

Value Village

16771 Redmond Way

Redmond, WA 98052-4472

(425) 883-2049

I hope this isn't my only 15 minutes...

It looks like we got a little recognition from the folks over at G4 for our PAX 2009 Team Fortress 2 costumes. We also made it into a piece Kotaku did on the cosplay at PAX.

G4
Kotaku

September and the Portland Pirate Festival

September has been a crazy busy month. Work has been a madhouse, we have all been pulling some long hours, hence, no blog post in a couple weeks. This past weekend, however, was the Portland Pirate Festival. Each year around this time our gang puts on our best pirate garb and heads down to PDX for merriment and fun... dressed as pirates!

This is an extremely memorable event as last year I took the opportunity to propose to my now-fiance Brittany.

We also went to the Chinese Gardens in Portland, of course I took a bunch of photos. You can see a couple of them on my flickr photo stream.

Completed Rocket Launcher and PAX 2009

After many long nights and hard work, I completed my Team Fortress 2 rocket launcher. We also made props for the medic, engineer, sniper, scout, and spy. Our gang put in a lot of long ours to get it done for the Penny Arcade Expo and it was well worth the effort.

We were not the only TF2 cosplayers at PAX by a long shot, but we were among the best. All day we were asked for photos of our gang, it was quite a celebrity moment.

For some studio shots of the costumes, check out my flickr page.

Team Fortress 2 Rocket Launcher

Over the last week I have been puting a lot of time into the rocket launcher for my Team Fortress 2 soldier costume. A good reference of the rocket launcher in-game can be found at TF2wiki.net. Here is my progress:

This is the removeable nose-cap. It is designed to pop out so I can put things in the body of the rocket launcher while I walk around PAX. The cap is made out of a piece of styrofoam that was carved to shape then finished with Bondo all-purpose putty.

This is the flanged tail end of the launcher, also carved out of styrofoam, epoxied to the main body piece of PVC pipe, then slathered in Bondo. Here you can see it before and after being covered in Bondo and adding the two rings to the back end.

Here is the sanded flanged end with the two rings and the cone-shaped part on the back end of the launcher. The cone is a funnel that I picked up at an auto parts store. The ring at the end of the cone is cardboard that has been expoxied to the cone then covered in Bondo.

PAX Costume: Team Fortress 2

The Penny-Arcade Expo is less than 2 weeks away so our gang is putting together our costumes! We've decided to go as the blue Team Fortress 2 characters. I will be going as the soldier. So far, I bought a WWII helmet, some combat boots, pouches, and materials to make my rocket launcher. Over the next week I will have more updates on the status of the rocket launcher. The main body of it is a 3" diameter PVC pipe.

Britt is going as the sniper, so she needs a rifle!

Hurricane Hill Hike

Me, Britt, Mike, and Erin spent the weekend camping and hiking in the wilds south of Port Angeles, WA near Lake Mills. The hike up Hurricane Hill was a real challenge, but Mike and Erin pushed us to get to the top. I am extremely glad that we made it to the top, we were rewarded witha breathtaking view of the lake and valley far below us. Along with some photos, I shot made a time-lapse by putting together 120 photos that were shot every 5 seconds.

Flickr photostream

High atop Hurricane Hill from William Doran on Vimeo.