Cosplays to look forward to…

I will be uploading blogs for the following works SOON! Thank you for waiting patiently. I have been on vacation!

• Poison Ivy – cloak, shirt ideas, etc.
• Shiratorizawa Academy uniform from Haikyuu
• Aobajosai High uniform from Haikyuu
• Karasuno GIRLS uniform from Haikyuu
• Fukurodani Academy uniform from Haikyuu
• Date Tech High uniform from Haikyuu
• Nekoma High uniform from Haikyuu
• Queen Amidala – skirt/dress illusion, cloak
• Sylveon Cosplay Construct from Pokemon

I am also taking cosplay commissions at this time! Message me if you are interested!

Queen Amidala, Stage I: the headpiece

In order to make it you will need the following:

• Styrofoam Ball
• Knife
• Paint brush – any size
• Red acrylic paint
• Gold puff paint
• Red and gold sticker jewels
• Hair clip
• Hot glue

Step One: Cut the Styrofoam ball in half. I found this more difficult than I assumed it would be and it took a lot more cutting than I thought it would. If you have something high powered that can cut it (such as a chainsaw), then you will save some time. I do not have one so I suffered through cutting it with a knife. Prepare yourself and BE CAREFUL!

Step Two: Paint each respective half with the red acrylic paint. You will need two coats. I also found that painting in a circular motion helped because of all of the bumps and cracks in the Styrofoam. Wait for it to dry. Luckily, acrylic paint dries quickly.

Step Four: Slowly squeeze the gold puff paint out in random lines across the headpiece. This is based on how much gold you want. I like a balance of the red and gold which you can see in my creation. If you like more of one color then determine that before you start putting the gold on. Do not brush the puff paint. If you do this then it will dry flat. Leave it as it is. It takes almost an hour and a half for puff paint to dry!

Step Five: Wait twenty minutes and then start adding the jewels. Be careful because the puff paint will still be wet. I spaced the jewels evenly over the headpiece and used an equal amount of red and gold. Once again this is up to your discretion. Personally, I thought Queen Amidala would have quite a bit of jewels but that may not be your take on it! Do what you wish!

Step Six: ONCE THE PUFF PAINT IS COMPLETELY DRY, flip the headpiece over and hot glue the hair clip to the back of the Styrofoam ball. The type of hair clip I used is pictured below. You do not have to use that type of hair clip. I have very thick hair and that is the only type that will keep the headpiece in place with my hair type.

Queen Amidala – Beginning the Headpiece

I have started to make the Queen Amidala headpiece! I bought a styrofoam ball (the ones we used to make the planets models in the second grade), cut it in half, painted it red, and then used gold puff paint to make the lines.

 

Karasuno Uniform DIY

Karasuno Uniform DIY

Hello! I have been making Karasuno Uniform orders all week and I would like to share my process with you.

What you will need:

• Hanes Men’s CoolDri Performance Polo – Black (Link) (If you are making number four’s jersey, his will need to be orange, in which case you can buy the white one and dye it orange)
• Orange Jersey Fabric (polyester, lycra, jersey) (If you are making number four’s jersey you will need Black Jersey Fabric)
• White Ribbon 7/8 in x 5 yd (2.2 cm x 4.5 m)
• Fabric Scissors
• Black, White, and Orange Thread
• Sewing machine (Optional, this is something than can be hand sewn)
• Seam ripper
• Iron-On Number – player of choice
• Printer with the Iron-On Fabric Paper
• Premade design to print on to the Iron-On Paper of the Karasuno High symbols on the front left and right of the jersey
• Performance shorts the same color as the base jersey you bought

Effie Trinket @ A-kon 27

1,300 feathers, 100 butterflies, a lot of hot glue, and a million tears later I brought Effie Trinket to A-kon 27.

Things I want to fix

• I want to put a huge zipper all the way up the back of the dress. The Velcro wasn’t as effective as I hoped it would be.
• I want to put more feathers and butterflies on the back of the dress.
• I need to make her hat.
• I want a wig that has more volume and is a little bit longer.
• Find a better adhesive for the butterflies. The hot glue was not doing its job.

Things that were perfect

• The front of the dress
• The shoes were comfortable and the exact style they needed to be
• The gloves – comfortable and perfect
• The make-up, it stayed on all day and looked awesome
• The feathers, not a single one of the 1300 fell off!

 

Effie Trinket was a lot of fun to walk around in. She had a lot of positive reviews and people were astonished that I hand painted all of the feathers and butterflies on the dress. I think that once I fix the items listed above I will submit her in to a cosplay contest.

10/10 WILL do again.

Effie Trinket Design

People have asked me how I decide where to put each feather on the Effie Trinket Design. I created a video to better explain my creative process (which I will link below), but I also wanted to explain it. I usually have a large concept in mind but within that large concept I find what looks the most aesthetically pleasing as I hot glue/sew the feathers on to the dress. I find that my brain works creativily “on the fly.” If I have too much of an idea in mind then it limits my creative process!

Here is the link to the video ———->  Click Here

Comment below with any questions!

What is Cosplay?

I’ve been asked by friends, family, and strangers the following question: “What is cosplay?”

My first answer is something along the lines of “the most worthwhile circle of Hell.”

My second answer is the textbook definition from dictionary.com:

noun

1.the art or practice of wearing costumes to portray characters from fiction, especially from manga, animation, and science fiction.

2.a skit featuring these costumed characters.

verb (used with object)

3.to portray (a fictional character) by dressing in costume.

verb (used without object)

4.to take part in cosplay:
He cosplayed as a Jedi from Star Wars.

         My third answer is usually the most accurate, which is simply this “cosplay is when you fall in love with a character so much that you feel the need to make a costume, wear it, and parade around a convention acting like that character.” Cosplay is not just a costume. Most cosplayers either make their cosplay by hand or they pay someone (me!) to make it by hand, because cosplay is not simply an exact replica of the character but instead an interpretation of the character from a movie, anime, manga, book, cartoon, TV Show, etc. Cosplay is a different facet of creativity and costume design.

          The cool thing about costume design is coming up with your own characters which is not cosplay. The cool thing about cosplay is thinking of original ways to replicate the designs of the character, especially an animated character. How do I make that pattern on XYZ’s dress? Do I embroider it? Paint it? Make it out of a different material? Cry? Each person is going to capitalize on their own talent too, so one person may paint it because they are more comfortable with paints and another may embroider it… which one is better? Neither. It will look different but it will have the same concept. Likewise, it will show different personality types.

          In conclusion, cosplay is a facet of the art form Costume Design.

          Let me know if you guys would like to know more about it or if you have any other questions. Maybe I will make a separate post about it if I have enough to say on the subject!

Picture Credits:

Poison Ivy: Me, Ashly Blake, costume designed by me

Batman: Unknown. It was a guy at Ikkicon in Austin that I took a picture with.

Catwoman: Linda Guthery, costume designed by Linda

Harley Quinn: Sarah Young, costume designed by Sarah

Blue haired Guy: Unknown, he ended up in the picture at Ikkicon in Austin as well

Painting the Feathers Orange!

Here is a video of me painting the feathers orange!

Painting the feathers orange!

800 Feathers Down…

I am currently making a cosplay of Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games, played by Elizabeth Banks. I’ve added some pictures below. You will notice when looking at the pictures that there are A LOT of feathers. I have hand painted each of these feathers and then hot glued and/or sewn the feathers on to a base, plain black dress that I bought at a thrift store. The process to make these feathers is long and time consuming, so I posted it below in case anybody wanted to make an Effie Trinket cosplay using feathers!

1. Buy these white, synthetic goose feathers from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/CrazyDeal-beautiful-feather-inches-charming/dp/B00RB95HF6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00)

2. Spray the feathers with Krylon UV-Resistant Clear Acrylic Coating, wait until it dries (about 15 minutes) – can be bought at Michaels Craft Store

3. Paint with Cadmium Orange Acrylic paint (I used the Fine Touch brand from Hobby Lobby), wait until it dries (about 10 minutes)

4. Paint monarch design with Black Acrylic paint (same brand as the orange), I used a very small paint brush to paint the design (to be specific I used a Royal & Langnickel MSGE250-20/0), wait until it dries (about 10 minutes)

5. Paint dot design on the feather in White and Yellow (there should be more white than yellow). I used a toothpick to make the dots very small. Wait until it dries (about 5 minutes)

6. Hot glue/sew the feathers to a base black dress

7. Spray again with the Krylon UV-Resistant Clear Acrylic Coating

8. Repeat 800 times.