Cosplay Tidbits

[Kaymyth]

So, among other things, I am a cosplayer.  I'm quite mad as a box of frogs, too, as I've learned entirely new skills solely for the sake of making a good costume.  That's how I picked up chainmail; I made a Legend of Zelda costume (I took Zelda and recast her in the hero's role, making her Zelda: Warrior Princess) and kind of hated the fake chainmail that I'd knitted out of silver rattail.  Not wholly bad, really, but it wasn't realistic enough.

 

So I spent a year of off-and-on chainmail working to make the tunic in aluminum.  I threw in the Hylian crest on the front just for fun.  The shield is made out of craft foam, single-layer cardboard, fabric, heavy-gauge wire, three different types of glue, sculpey, and, of course, paint.  The sword is bought, but I repainted it to match the new Zelda color scheme, and wrapped the handle in leather-look duct tape.

 

 

Here's the back of the shield.  What looks like wood grain is actually crinkle fabric painted over with brown fabric paint.  The handle is a plastic cabinet handle wrapped in the same fabric and paint mix.

 

 

Fun fact:  The year I wore this at Dragon*Con, I had no fewer than 3 different Navis run up to me and shout, "HEY!  LISTEN!"  Good times.  One of them actually wanted a picture with me pretending to try to kill her.

 

 

This wizard's staff is more recent; my husband wanted to be a wizard for Halloween last year, and wanted a really cool staff.  We couldn't find a really cool staff, so we decided to make one.  The wood piece was bought, but the rest we put together.  He did the wiring bits and served as an extra pair of hands while I was busy burning mine with the hot glue gun.

 

Underneath the "nest" is actually two pieces of PVC threaded joint.  The bottom is screwed into the top of the wood, while the top has a selenite crystal hot glued into it.  Husband rewired a color-change LED candle bulb to a thumbswitch, which I nestled in the moss.  The selenite really picks up the LED glow; pictures can't really do it justice.  The sticks are a couple of grapevine wreaths I took apart and affixed in various places to the outside.  There are also three quartz crystals glued around in the moss, but those aren't so easy to see in the photo.

 

 

And you can't see it in the photo, but I also wrapped the bottom of the staff in cloth and leather to keep it from scratching anybody's floors.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Kaymyth

[Voidus]

Please kindly take all of my upvotes and know that you are extremely awesome.

[Kaymyth]

Please kindly take all of my upvotes and know that you are extremely awesome.

 

Thank you!  Compliments are a cosplayer's lifeblood.

 

I have a few more pieces that I haven't unpacked yet from the move that deserve to be shared, and I'll probably add replies to the thread as I make new things.  I fully admit and affirm that I might be a madwoman for some of the things I have planned.

[Curious Anamaximder]

AWESOME!!!!! AWESOME!!!! AWESOME!!!!! UPVOTES!!!!!!!!

[Voidus]

Any chance of some Sanderson related cosplay in future? (Also known as cosmere cosplay or cos-cosplay )

[Kaymyth]

Any chance of some Sanderson related cosplay in future? (Also known as cosmere cosplay or cos-cosplay )

 

Eventually, yes.  So I'm working on an AoL-era fic that is rapidly approaching novel-length right?  The seed for the whole shebang was germinated out of two ideas:  1)  Scadrial needs airships, and 2)  I need a Mistborn cosplay that doesn't require me wearing a wig.

 

So Eva, my main character, has my coloring specifically so that I can eventually cosplay her.  (And even for people who don't wind up reading my fic, she should be relatively identifiable as a Twinborn.) 

 

My priorities are weird.

[Kaymyth]

I am resurrecting my thread to add this wee little thing:

 

 

Totally wore Princess Leia cinnabon hair to the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy tonight. 

[Young Bard]

This looks awesome. You must be extremely dedicated to your craft.

Edited February 16, 2016 by The Young Bard

[Kaymyth]

Work in Progress:  my armored D&D-esque Jean Grey costume.

 

The front part of the scalemail as soon as the Phoenix emblem was complete:

 

 

The scale is all aluminum.  It's much lighter and easier to work than steel, and is available in anodized colors.

 

And sewing the completed piece onto the corset:

 

 

To the top of the corset will be gold scale that goes up over my chest and shoulders, securing at my back.  I also have a piece of green scale to cover the corset lacings.  There will also be scale pieces hanging down from the corset to cover my hips and rear, but loose enough that they can be moved out of the way when I sit.  Comfort is important when one is planning on wearing this stuff all day at a convention.

 

And the piece I just finished, the scale pieces of the gauntlets.  These will eventually be attached to green faux leather strips with grommets in them to secure onto my arms, and probably some chainmail covering the elbows.

 

 

So the next steps are going to be to start working with the faux leather.  I need to do upper and lower leg armor pieces, as well as pauldrons to cover my shoulders and upper arms.  I'm planning to back the pieces with craft foam to give them the appearance of thickness and strength without adding too much weight.

 

Current completion goal:  ready for a dry run at JordanCon, then make any adjustments needed before taking it into competition at Costume Con.

[Sunbird]

I am jealous of your mad skills. All this stuff is storming awesome!!

[Kaymyth]

I am jealous of your mad skills. All this stuff is storming awesome!!

 

Thank you! 

 

It's a strange, obsessive little hobby that eats many hours of work, but I enjoy making things.

[Murasaki]

omg.  the scales.  wow!

[Ookla the Absent]

BoM Spoilers:

So, Scadrial has airships now...

[Kaymyth]

BoM Spoilers:

So, Scadrial has airships now...

 

I know!  Which is cool.  But also frustrating, because I have to move a few pieces around.  The entire build project is going to have to be moved from Elendel out to the Roughs, so that my prototype airship doesn't get widely known until later.  And man, Milla is going to be so pissed when she finds out how much cooler the Southern airships are than hers. 

[Kaymyth]

Update!  These are the professional pics I had taken at Costume Con.

 

First:  the Jean Grey armor. 

 

Can I just say, ugh?  Yeah, I'm still not happy with this.  It's getting better, but it needs lots of improvement before WorldCon.  I think I need to drop the faux leather and learn to do worbla.  (Also, he totally tried to get me to look like I'm flying, and it sorta almost worked.  I think maybe it'd have worked better with the greenscreen cloth draped over a chair so I could actually angle my lower foot down more.  I don't even know what's going on with the fire being green, though.)

 

On the bright side, at least I DO genuinely look like I'm about to ruin someone's day.

 

Second:  Full sorceress outfit.

 

(Hee.  They used visual effects to try to make my crystal glow.  It actually DOES glow, but it doesn't show up well in pictures.)

 

Third:  A different Sorceress pose.  I like this one so much it's now my Facebook pic.

 

Edited June 10, 2016 by Kaymyth

[Sunbird]

You look utterly badchull and fabulous, Kaymyth!!

[Kaymyth]

Adding new pictures!  (Yes, I already put these into the Random Stuff thread.  I know.  But not everyone follows that labyrinthine rabbit hole of a thread.)  Plus I'm adding a few that weren't in the other post, so there.  I mean, how else are you all going to see the foundation garments?

For those of you who don't know the background:  this is the costume that I took into the Masquerade competition at WorldCon on Friday: Victorian Twilight Sparkle.  @ThirdGen was kind enough to provide the narration for my audio; the presentation was done in the style of one of those 50s-era training videos.  We even found the perfect cheesy music to set it all to.  "Hello, and welcome to part twelve of our series Time Travel in the Human World: How Everypony Can Learn to Study Alien Cultures!"  It just got sillier from there, and the audience absolutely ate it up.  I wound up winning the Best Performance award in the Novice class; this is major and bumped me up to Journeyman level in costuming from here on out.  I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have won a Best in Class award at an International Costumers' Guild level Masquerade.  This was huge for me.

The rest of the Kansas City Guild did really well, too.  A friend* who was competing as a Journeyman won the Best Workmanship award for her level, which bumps her up to Master (and means I don't have to compete against her yet, hah!).  Our Master-class folks banded together and won a Workmanship award as well.

* In fact, she created a costume based on Kinuko Craft's Cinderella artwork, and Craft was the artist GoH at the convention.  She was back in the green room with us.  There's this amazing picture out there of my friend with Craft hugging her and looking like the happiest artist on the planet.

 

And now, without further ado, the pictures!

Corset and chemise.  The chemise was a monster of a pattern.  You'd think it would be simple, but noooo.  The corset came out better (though I overdid the roll pinning and wound up with some really weird wrinkles).  Also, I learned during the contest that the Laughing Moon Silverado pattern is definitely too long for my torso.  Problem is that I couldn't really *tell* that till I'd had the corset on for an hour or so and the bones started digging into my hips.  I either need to shorten the pattern or frankenpattern it to the Dore.  Dore has a good hipspring for me, but I really like the bust gores in the Silverado.  Or I guess I could just go crazy and actually try and draft a corset pattern myself.  Ulp.

 

Adding the petticoat.  Petticoats get a lot of mockery, but they really are important for getting the right shape down.  The ruffles on the bottom provide a fluffy base for the main skirt to spread over.  It keeps things from hanging down awkwardly.

 

Side back view of the petticoat.  There's a bunch of tulle underneath in the back to give a solid foundation for the bustling effect.

 

Mirror selfies are always terrible, but this really does give you a great view of the fittedness of the bodice.  I got a few compliments on how well fitted the dress is.  My secret:  lace up the corset and take measurements of the waist, bust, and hips.  Then strap it onto a couple of pillows and tighten to the same level.  Voila!  Instant perfect torso shape.  I then pinned the dart seams by fitting the bodice to the corseted pillowform.

But see how the skirt spreads out nicely at the bottom, even before it gets to the ruffle?  That's the petticoat at work.

 

Two slightly different angled side views.  What you can't see in pictures is how insanely sparkly that white trim is.  There are three different kinds of white trim on that dress, by the way.  The Victorians never met an embellishment they didn't like.  (I'm likely to add more lace appliques and beading to the dress before I wear it again; I will almost certainly be taking this to JordanCon next year.  I'll probably also add a hat.)

 

Wings closed and open, with a very nice view of the bustling in back.  Yes, the bustle piece is the two contrast stripe colors from Twilight Sparkle's mane and tail.  The wing opening effect looked super-cool, and was really easy to create.  There's fishing line running through boning channels down the wing shafts, into the dress, and snapping onto the sides of my corset for stability.  I pull on those, and the wings open right up.  When I did this during the Masquerade competition, the crowd actually cheered.  I was so happy!

[Quiver]

On 24/08/2016 at 5:46 AM, Kaymyth said:

Adding new pictures!  (Yes, I already put these into the Random Stuff thread.  I know.  But not everyone follows that labyrinthine rabbit hole of a thread.)  Plus I'm adding a few that weren't in the other post, so there.  I mean, how else are you all going to see the foundation garments?

For those of you who don't know the background:  this is the costume that I took into the Masquerade competition at WorldCon on Friday: Victorian Twilight Sparkle.  @ThirdGen was kind enough to provide the narration for my audio; the presentation was done in the style of one of those 50s-era training videos.  We even found the perfect cheesy music to set it all to.  "Hello, and welcome to part twelve of our series Time Travel in the Human World: How Everypony Can Learn to Study Alien Cultures!"  It just got sillier from there, and the audience absolutely ate it up.  I wound up winning the Best Performance award in the Novice class; this is major and bumped me up to Journeyman level in costuming from here on out.  I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have won a Best in Class award at an International Costumers' Guild level Masquerade.  This was huge for me.

The rest of the Kansas City Guild did really well, too.  A friend* who was competing as a Journeyman won the Best Workmanship award for her level, which bumps her up to Master (and means I don't have to compete against her yet, hah!).  Our Master-class folks banded together and won a Workmanship award as well.

* In fact, she created a costume based on Kinuko Craft's Cinderella artwork, and Craft was the artist GoH at the convention.  She was back in the green room with us.  There's this amazing picture out there of my friend with Craft hugging her and looking like the happiest artist on the planet.

 

And now, without further ado, the pictures!

 

  Hide contents

 

Corset and chemise.  The chemise was a monster of a pattern.  You'd think it would be simple, but noooo.  The corset came out better (though I overdid the roll pinning and wound up with some really weird wrinkles).  Also, I learned during the contest that the Laughing Moon Silverado pattern is definitely too long for my torso.  Problem is that I couldn't really *tell* that till I'd had the corset on for an hour or so and the bones started digging into my hips.  I either need to shorten the pattern or frankenpattern it to the Dore.  Dore has a good hipspring for me, but I really like the bust gores in the Silverado.  Or I guess I could just go crazy and actually try and draft a corset pattern myself.  Ulp.

 

Adding the petticoat.  Petticoats get a lot of mockery, but they really are important for getting the right shape down.  The ruffles on the bottom provide a fluffy base for the main skirt to spread over.  It keeps things from hanging down awkwardly.

 

Side back view of the petticoat.  There's a bunch of tulle underneath in the back to give a solid foundation for the bustling effect.

 

Mirror selfies are always terrible, but this really does give you a great view of the fittedness of the bodice.  I got a few compliments on how well fitted the dress is.  My secret:  lace up the corset and take measurements of the waist, bust, and hips.  Then strap it onto a couple of pillows and tighten to the same level.  Voila!  Instant perfect torso shape.  I then pinned the dart seams by fitting the bodice to the corseted pillowform.

But see how the skirt spreads out nicely at the bottom, even before it gets to the ruffle?  That's the petticoat at work.

 

Two slightly different angled side views.  What you can't see in pictures is how insanely sparkly that white trim is.  There are three different kinds of white trim on that dress, by the way.  The Victorians never met an embellishment they didn't like.  (I'm likely to add more lace appliques and beading to the dress before I wear it again; I will almost certainly be taking this to JordanCon next year.  I'll probably also add a hat.)

 

Wings closed and open, with a very nice view of the bustling in back.  Yes, the bustle piece is the two contrast stripe colors from Twilight Sparkle's mane and tail.  The wing opening effect looked super-cool, and was really easy to create.  There's fishing line running through boning channels down the wing shafts, into the dress, and snapping onto the sides of my corset for stability.  I pull on those, and the wings open right up.  When I did this during the Masquerade competition, the crowd actually cheered.  I was so happy!

 

 

...huh. Can't figure out why I never replied to this.

Anyhow. I must confess to being annoyed.

You used a "Learning about humans" skit and didn't involve Lyra Heartstrings? Besides the shame of ignoring Best Pony, that's the kind of fanon she's known for. Tsk tsk, disappointment is maximum.

Snark aside... I must admit, my eyes glazed over slightly. I have no idea what the difference between a chemise and a petticoat is, despite semi-planning a fantasy story based around clothing. Fashion Horse would be disappointed in me, and you should be too.

The costume itself though? It looks neat, and makes me kind of curious. I figure adapting human characters is somewhat easy; the Doctor has set fashions for each incarnation, for example, so you know what you're aiming for, design wise.

How did you settle on this look for Kaymyth Sparkle though? Obviously, Twilight doesn't wear clothes often on the show, and your Kaymyth design doesn't seem to match any of the dresses she does wear. Is it just a case of designing something similar to the character?

[Kaymyth]

On 10/1/2016 at 8:54 AM, Quiver said:

...huh. Can't figure out why I never replied to this.

Anyhow. I must confess to being annoyed.

You used a "Learning about humans" skit and didn't involve Lyra Heartstrings? Besides the shame of ignoring Best Pony, that's the kind of fanon she's known for. Tsk tsk, disappointment is maximum.

Snark aside... I must admit, my eyes glazed over slightly. I have no idea what the difference between a chemise and a petticoat is, despite semi-planning a fantasy story based around clothing. Fashion Horse would be disappointed in me, and you should be too.

The costume itself though? It looks neat, and makes me kind of curious. I figure adapting human characters is somewhat easy; the Doctor has set fashions for each incarnation, for example, so you know what you're aiming for, design wise.

How did you settle on this look for Kaymyth Sparkle though? Obviously, Twilight doesn't wear clothes often on the show, and your Kaymyth design doesn't seem to match any of the dresses she does wear. Is it just a case of designing something similar to the character?

You do know that I don't really read MLP fanfic, right?  I have no idea about any of this fanon.

A chemise is a long shirt, more of a shift - it's the piece underneath everything that keeps the corset off of my skin.  Corsets are hard to wash, and you really don't want skin oils getting on them.  A petticoat is a type of underskirt, usually there to create a shape for the overskirt to lie upon.  The one I made has netting in the back to make a bit of a bustling effect and give the outfit the correct shape.  They're also often used over hoop skirts, with layers of ruffles designed to soften the lines of the steel hoops so that it creates smooth silhouette.

And yes, I designed the dress to look like the character.  The underclothes are her body color.  The main outfit is her primary mane color, and the two back stripes on the bustle mirror her minor mane stripes.  And, of course, the cutie marks are on the hips.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart]

There's a cosplay thread?! Why did no one tell me about this?  

If you haven't guessed, I love to cosplay as Frozen characters. I have both Elsa's ice dress and a blonde wig and Anna's winter dress with a orange wig. I will post some photos when I dig through my computer camera roll later today XD

 

I have tried to make Moana and Maui's costume, but I have no artistic talent XD, Still, it's fun

Edited May 16, 2017 by Queen Elsa Steelheart

[Kaymyth]

3 hours ago, Queen Elsa Steelheart said:

There's a cosplay thread?! Why did no one tell me about this?  

If you haven't guessed, I love to cosplay as Frozen characters. I have both Elsa's ice dress and a blonde wig and Anna's winter dress with a orange wig. I will post some photos when I dig through my computer camera roll later today XD

 

I have tried to make Moana and Maui's costume, but I have no artistic talent XD, Still, it's fun

Hee. This is just a place where I've been gratuitously posting my costume creations for a while now.  People discover it either at random or when I've shamelessly plugged a new addition.