Worn to:
Con-G 2014 (Guelph, ON)
Cost to make: $4
I designed and made this entire costume over the course of two weeks! OMG I can't believe I did that!
There was a huge advantage to making this costume. I had all of the fabric and foam, I had the boots, all left from other projects. The only thing I technically had to buy was the velcro!
The first things I made for the cosplay was the armour. All of my armour is made out of layered pieces of craft foam. Even the 3D details on some of said pieces are foam secured with Mod Podge. The toe and heel pieces of the boots are hot glued directly onto the boots, and are covered with two layers of spackle to help make them waterproof - so finally I have armour that will be able to take snow and slush! WOOHOO!
The strap pieces over the foot and the leg pieces of the boot armour are attached to the boots with velcro so that I can easily take the boots on and off. These pieces also have stretch pleather secured to the back so that it blends with the boots better. The velcro is secured on with contact cement. These are the most comfortable armoured boots I have ever made - and are also the easiest to walk in!
The pauldrons were interesting. As... well, I'd never made pauldrons before. I used two pieces of craft foam to make the basic shape and used a ton of scotch tape to put them together. After they were secured I used several layers of spackle to make the final shape. These are quite solid and will be able to take a bit of a hit. I put another piece of foam inside each one to help strengthen the weaker parts of the armour. The inside is covered in tan suede, and the straps are secured on with hot glue.
The bracers and secondary pieces of armour for my arms were also foam, 2 layers thick and backed with suede. All pieces of armour are hand painted with craft paint from the dollar store, and the weathering/aging is done with brown paint I had on hand.
Okay, enough about armour xD It took one week to make all that and a lot of frustration went into them! But it's the sturdiest and best looking armour I have ever made!
Anyway. The shirt is made of Katherine soft touch that I bought in 2011/2012 originally intended for use on Kuja. It ended up used for other projects including Bardroy's apron for my friend CosplayCanada. I used Simplicity pattern 2566's shirt pattern and just left out the cuffs as I wanted the sleeves to billow at the end a bit. This got rid of all of the Katherine soft touch!
I also used up some of my white faux fur that I bought in 2012 for Spitfire's collar. I managed to be able to use some of it for making one of my hip pouches. Said pouch is all one piece and secures onto my belt with straps made of brown suede. It closes with a snap fastener and is big enough to hold my cell phone, wallet and card case. And possibly my reading glasses should I choose to carry them on me. The other pouch is made of the same brown suede as the belt and the straps on the other bag. This one was made to be a drawstring bag and has grommets hammered in to allow a cord to go through. The bottom is hand sewing on, and it was made to hold my "potion" bottles.
The belt was fun to do. I just made a wide strap and top stitched the edges so that they'd lie flat. I made D-Rings out of left over Sculpey from making grubs (I can always buy more). These D-Rings were custom made to fit the belt so the belt is how I want it to be. I have a feather attached with the bags as an extra detail, and the beads on it are made of Sculpey.
The cape is made of remaining fabric from my Neo-Organization XIII coat that I made in 2012. It's half the width of the fabric, and is lined with canvas. The design on the back of the cape is my own custom design, taking the Summoner's wings and the Taurus symbol and putting them together. The wings are all hand painted, and the edges and Taurus symbol are embroidered with brown embroidery floss and gold thread. The clasps are made of sculpey with the Taurus symbol carved into them, and have chain hot glued to them, and then they're hot glued onto the cape, with snap fasteners on the underside of the cape that attach to the vest.
The vest is made of heritage knit that I had left over from my Steampunk Earth Faery (made in 2012), and pattern is custom made. There are 131 beads on the vest for the design at the bottom, which is meant to reflect the Prospit dreamer pajamas. The pants are made out of remaining fabric from a bulk buy in 2011. They're modified from the men's pants pattern that I have, making them to fit me and match what I had in the design.
Con-G 2014 (Guelph, ON)
Cost to make: $4
I designed and made this entire costume over the course of two weeks! OMG I can't believe I did that!
There was a huge advantage to making this costume. I had all of the fabric and foam, I had the boots, all left from other projects. The only thing I technically had to buy was the velcro!
The first things I made for the cosplay was the armour. All of my armour is made out of layered pieces of craft foam. Even the 3D details on some of said pieces are foam secured with Mod Podge. The toe and heel pieces of the boots are hot glued directly onto the boots, and are covered with two layers of spackle to help make them waterproof - so finally I have armour that will be able to take snow and slush! WOOHOO!
The strap pieces over the foot and the leg pieces of the boot armour are attached to the boots with velcro so that I can easily take the boots on and off. These pieces also have stretch pleather secured to the back so that it blends with the boots better. The velcro is secured on with contact cement. These are the most comfortable armoured boots I have ever made - and are also the easiest to walk in!
The pauldrons were interesting. As... well, I'd never made pauldrons before. I used two pieces of craft foam to make the basic shape and used a ton of scotch tape to put them together. After they were secured I used several layers of spackle to make the final shape. These are quite solid and will be able to take a bit of a hit. I put another piece of foam inside each one to help strengthen the weaker parts of the armour. The inside is covered in tan suede, and the straps are secured on with hot glue.
The bracers and secondary pieces of armour for my arms were also foam, 2 layers thick and backed with suede. All pieces of armour are hand painted with craft paint from the dollar store, and the weathering/aging is done with brown paint I had on hand.
Okay, enough about armour xD It took one week to make all that and a lot of frustration went into them! But it's the sturdiest and best looking armour I have ever made!
Anyway. The shirt is made of Katherine soft touch that I bought in 2011/2012 originally intended for use on Kuja. It ended up used for other projects including Bardroy's apron for my friend CosplayCanada. I used Simplicity pattern 2566's shirt pattern and just left out the cuffs as I wanted the sleeves to billow at the end a bit. This got rid of all of the Katherine soft touch!
I also used up some of my white faux fur that I bought in 2012 for Spitfire's collar. I managed to be able to use some of it for making one of my hip pouches. Said pouch is all one piece and secures onto my belt with straps made of brown suede. It closes with a snap fastener and is big enough to hold my cell phone, wallet and card case. And possibly my reading glasses should I choose to carry them on me. The other pouch is made of the same brown suede as the belt and the straps on the other bag. This one was made to be a drawstring bag and has grommets hammered in to allow a cord to go through. The bottom is hand sewing on, and it was made to hold my "potion" bottles.
The belt was fun to do. I just made a wide strap and top stitched the edges so that they'd lie flat. I made D-Rings out of left over Sculpey from making grubs (I can always buy more). These D-Rings were custom made to fit the belt so the belt is how I want it to be. I have a feather attached with the bags as an extra detail, and the beads on it are made of Sculpey.
The cape is made of remaining fabric from my Neo-Organization XIII coat that I made in 2012. It's half the width of the fabric, and is lined with canvas. The design on the back of the cape is my own custom design, taking the Summoner's wings and the Taurus symbol and putting them together. The wings are all hand painted, and the edges and Taurus symbol are embroidered with brown embroidery floss and gold thread. The clasps are made of sculpey with the Taurus symbol carved into them, and have chain hot glued to them, and then they're hot glued onto the cape, with snap fasteners on the underside of the cape that attach to the vest.
The vest is made of heritage knit that I had left over from my Steampunk Earth Faery (made in 2012), and pattern is custom made. There are 131 beads on the vest for the design at the bottom, which is meant to reflect the Prospit dreamer pajamas. The pants are made out of remaining fabric from a bulk buy in 2011. They're modified from the men's pants pattern that I have, making them to fit me and match what I had in the design.
To see larger versions of these images, please visit my deviantART at Midnight-Dance-Angel, Cosplay.com at MDA, or Facebook at MDA Cosplay.