Notes on BLACK CAT costume: This was one of my first suits and went through several adjustments and upgrades. Eventually I decided I hated it and sold it. In the spring of 2010, I had received a commission project to make just the

black suit part for someone else’s Black Cat. There’s such a huge improvement in the suit I made for a customer compared with the one I had made for myself. Part of that is because I had made mine out of wet look spandex (Cire) which I really loved in other people’s costumes but it just doesn’t look as good on me as the milliskin tricot spandex.

These are old blog notes and pictures of the construction and various “final” versions.

Entry 4/9/2007

I’m only 4 hours into the creation of my Black Cat costume. I wrote to a company about getting a mask but haven’t heard back. The bodysuit is almost done. I have to put in zippers and sleeves. Then I have to shop for fur, velcro, gloves, and hair extensions or wig.

Entry 4/17/2007

My mask & wig have not yet arrived but I have the bodysuit and my furry accessories completed.
This is what I’ll be wearing on May 5th in Comic Fusion (Flemington, NJ) for Free Comic Book Day!

Entry 5/21/2007

Jason Reese, my buddy from Smooth-On, is going to be giving me tips on how to properly clean and store my Black Cat mask. And if I’ve damaged it at all, he’ll be able to repair or replace it. He said silicone would have been better than foam latex. What do I know? I just saw what I needed at Xtreme FX and clicked to order. The mask is really beautiful and since I’m not actually climbing the buildings of New York City, I think it will last a while. Black Cat just happens to have a rather thin mask so I’ve been worried that it will break.

Entry 6/3/2009 – sold

This is loosely based on Mark Brooks’ rendition of Black Cat. It was only the second suit I ever made and far from the best. I’m being honest. The $75 price is basically covering the Dragonskin mask which was made by a friend of mine.

	This is the completed look of the original version I made for myself. I had the calf fur as toppers to my boots rather than sewn into the suit. They were awful and never stayed in place.
	Neckline
	Close up of collar with hook closures. I had the collar attached rather than as an actual collar. Originally I didn't have any way of getting my head through other than stretching it so at some point I added these hooks.
	I had a 6" zipper up the back but that hadn't solved the weird collar problem I created for myself.
	The only long black gloves I could find at the time were these crushed velvet style. I opened up the long exterior seam and tried to sew in craft fur. I hated the fur. It was really stiff and didn't look organic at all.
	The best part of the costume was the part I had nothing to do with creating. The mask came from XtremeDesignsFX.
	When I upgraded my wig to a pure white straight style (originally all I found was a light platinum), I took the old wig and replaced the old craft fur with the old wig hair. I attempted to stitch chunks of the wig hair into the calves. I couldn't figure out how to get it secure even with zig zag stitches. Again, I hated it.
	The back of the costume after the "upgrade" of adding wig hair to the calves. Plus showing the new straight wig.
	The front of the suit after the last of my attempts to tweak it with the wig hair.
	BLACK CAT COMMISSION: This is me doing a fitting of the commission I took on in spring 2010. I had consultant my client thoroughly on how I didn't like the wet look spandex and he agreed that to the milliskin tricot instead. The measurements were for a person much taller than me but I still needed to do a fitting on myself to test the neckline.
	I put on my wig and mask just to have an idea of what the finished suit would actually look like. The order was for just the plain black suit without any of the fur. This is what I came up with and I liked it worlds above the suit I had originally made for myself.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.