|
I decided to challenge myself to build a prop within 3 days. Fully finished, including painting and details. I picked Ash's chainsaw arm from Evil Dead, and here's the result!   I think I did pretty okay! Blade needs to be a bit longer, and I'm missing one or two minor details, but for a quicky build, it's alright. In the meantime, I can get back to working on these babies. 
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2012 12:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 23:20 |
|
|
I did this over the weekend at AUSA. Final Fantasy IX Represent!
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2012 04:55
|
|
|
THIZZFACE KILLA posted:I did this over the weekend at AUSA. Final Fantasy IX Represent! DUDE. I loving love Beatrix and I loving love you! How did you get so cool? Costume looks A-MAZE-ING.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2012 06:10
|
|
|
 Holy hell, that costume is fantastic. Love the big swirls in the hair and the oversized belt, it's about as close as you'll get to FF9 stylization in real life. Excellent work.Mecha Neko, your dragon is really cool! Thanks for the step-by-step post, I might have to try that scale technique sometime.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2012 07:52
|
|
|
Holy crap best Beatrice I have seen, hands down.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2012 16:29
|
|
|
LadyRavenWaves posted:Holy crap best Beatrice I have seen, hands down. Gotta Echo this, way to pick an awesome character, THIZZFACE, and just knock it out of the park.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2012 04:24
|
|
|
Thanks guys :3 Beatrix is my favorite, too, so it was a no brainer. I was actually lucky enough to be part of an AMAZING FFIX group, but those photos haven't been posted yet. Everyone looked so authentic to their characters, it was scary. Do people have any more con plans this year or is everyone's costuming pretty much done for a while? My next convention isn't until February, so I am naturally way overexerting myself and committing to like 6 new costumes!!
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2012 17:45
|
|
|
My next one is AnimeCentral in May. I really wish there was something else in between but I'm working on my Nightmare Moon armor and we're also trying to build a 2x3 vacuum former this winter so it's not like there's nothing to do, haha.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2012 17:47
|
|
|
I don't have any con plans in the foreseeable future, except for the dim and useless hope of getting SDCC or BlizzCon tickets. I've been trying for BlizzCon for five years and SDCC for three. I'm a lovely ticket-getter.  But if I can finally pull it off I'll wear a different BSG costume every day at SDCC. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2012 21:11
|
|
|
I won't have plans till Allcon in Dallas in like May. Still trying to clean out the costumes I have already started that way I can then put even more money into costumes with friends. Though at Akon I am excited to have a group for the Triforce Goddess's. Lot's of repairs to do to Black Gold Saw. So I should be busy either way lol.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2012 21:27
|
|
|
I decided to do Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones for Halloween this year and was really happy with how it turned out. Ended up using craft foam heat'n'bonded to a wool backing for the faux-leather girdle thing.  
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2012 04:33
|
|
|
Objurium posted:I decided to do Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones for Halloween this year and was really happy with how it turned out. Ended up using craft foam heat'n'bonded to a wool backing for the faux-leather girdle thing. That fake leather came out great! I'm looking to do the same thing with my Night Watch costume. Here's the video that I'll be following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IZSr2CZRp4 Any hints??
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2012 04:37
|
|
|
Any goon advice for doing a full mascot costume? I go on work hiatus in January and I've been fooling around with the idea of making a full on Ice King costume from Adventure Time to keep me from going stir-crazy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2012 00:47
|
|
|
Starting planning out an Axton from Borderlands 2 cosplay today. It's mostly simple military gear, a green backpack, paint up a NERF gun, etc. Wondering if anybody had any advice on making the little shoulder computer pictured below. I mean if nothing else, I can make that out of cardboard, but ideally I'd like to have a bit more bulk to it or I get the feeling that a stiff breeze would make it fly down the street.  Not sure where to start on heavier materials for that, though. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2012 16:38
|
|
|
Mucktron posted:Any goon advice for doing a full mascot costume? I go on work hiatus in January and I've been fooling around with the idea of making a full on Ice King costume from Adventure Time to keep me from going stir-crazy. There are couple of good blogs that are run by furries. They have good step by step instructions. That could start you on some ideas.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2012 16:49
|
|
|
Mucktron posted:Any goon advice for doing a full mascot costume? I go on work hiatus in January and I've been fooling around with the idea of making a full on Ice King costume from Adventure Time to keep me from going stir-crazy. I would say you're best to follow funhilde's advice. Though I am interested to see your idea for mascot style Ice King be sure to keep us in the loop during the build.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2012 18:14
|
|
|
I'm a sane person, I swear! (Collection so far for my Supernatural trunk)
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2012 15:27
|
|
|
WELP, it turns out Soul Calibur cosplay is like Pringles, you can't stop at just one. I'll be making Viola for Katsucon in February, and (most likely) Pyrrha for my roommate, who has never cosplayed or been to a con before (or even watches anime) but really wants to come dress up with me after hearing me talk about it all the time and seeing my pictures. Yes, yes, let the nerd flow through you...
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 07:06
|
|
|
I have a friend like that. She knows poo poo about anime or video games or sci-fi (we're working on that), but she's totally game for dressing up.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 07:41
|
|
|
I'm going to get myself into something I can't handle, aren't I? Here goes.  I've attended A-Kon for the past 2 years and have always cosplayed, but only really simple stuff... I've never really made something unique. Well, I've decided I desperately need to do a full-fledged League of Legends cosplay. There's over 100 champions, so there's plenty to choose from. I've decided my #1 would be Syndra, an evil bitch whose immense magical potential leads her to want to beat the poo poo out of people every day, now and forever! LoL isn't famous for its well-written lore. Regardless, I love playing her, and I've yet to see many out there. A lot of the other female characters have plenty of solid cosplayers already. If I do this, I'm putting myself in a tough position. I'm going into my senior capstone next semester, which ends in early May. A-Kon starts at the beginning of June. That leaves me with precious few weeks over the next 6 months to put it together without interfering with my portfolio work. My main skills are beginning sewing, design, drawing, and MacGyver-style craft projects (taking what I can find and makin' it work, fast). My mom is an experienced tailor on retirement, who loves to hear about and help with my nerdy pastimes whenever I swing into town. Aside from that, I've got Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, and art supplies all over my house. All that said, does anyone have tips for a beginning-ish cosplayer looking to use cheap/non-fancy crafting materials for this outfit? There's a lot of yellow-gold metallic pieces, and I think the only way for me to pull it off is carving foam and painting it all. I know there's loads of tutorials to look at, but I was hoping to get some goon guidance. I trust you guys before I trust the rest of the internet (maybe I'm misguided... naaah). For example, the helmet/mask horrifies me. I don't even know where to start! Feel free to tell me to just check out tutorials. I just thought I'd run it by you guys. Thanks for posting all those neat pictures, too. It's been fabulous checking out all the work you guys have done. I can only describe it as  Official splash art:  Some quick snapshots I took of her model in action: 
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 09:23
|
|
|
broken pixel posted:Official splash art: Well hey there fellow A-kon goer. Can't wait to see this on ya. Now as for advice. There are probably a million ways to go about this outfit. My personal opinion is as follows. Craft foam and a heat gun, heat gun if you don't already have will run you around $20 but will be a great investment for future costumes. I finally grabbed one once my old super hot hair dryer died and my new hairdryer couldn't form foam. http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Power-...=I2CRS6AMAZJCJ3 From there buy craftfoam in mass. They sell big sheets of it at Joann's and you can use coupons to get them even cheaper. from here form the foam there are tutorials online i will send a few your way at the bottom. Once your foam is the way you want it seal it with regular Elmers glue though not the washable one. After that paint then seal you can seal with a bunch of different stuff. I would say on the cheap end seal with modpodge on the high end seal with resin. Will have tutorials of this at bottom as well. For the mask I personally would get some insulation foam a sheet will run you about 15 bucks and you will have a ton left over for weapons and what have you. Cut out the basic design then sand the details in. Seal with gesso, paint seal with modge podge, resin, or styro spray. Those are in order from cheap to pricey. If you need anymore explanation feel free to ask. Tutorials http://entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html http://firelilycosplay.deviantart.com/art/Vinyl-and-Craft-Foam-Armor-Tutorial-286252988 http://www.firelilycosplay.com/craftfoam.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENJuLaeVC9U Put a variety incase you saw something else you liked.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 16:44
|
|
|
Craft foam and insulation foam are awesome materials. A few extra notes: -Use a respirator if you're carving/sanding pink foam, the particulate is bad for you -A lot of people seal craft foam with a material called Plastidip that you can buy at any hardware store, I get the impression it cracks/creases less than glue or modge podge for sealing -This body form tutorial is awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x--8bbDFR3U It's really useful to have a custom-fitted form to work with when you're making something like a breastplate.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 16:50
|
|
|
McPantserton posted:Craft foam and insulation foam are awesome materials. A few extra notes: Yes listen to MCPantserton she is smarter and thinks about warnings that I just know and don't think to explain. As for me I am going to push my limits a little as well for my Allcon/Akon cosplay. Going to be making Squigly one of the DLC characters for Skullgirls. Fell in love with her after I saw her full design and read her back story.    So my plans are to alter some prosthetic pieces. Not making ribs as they are covered by dress and would mess up the costume shape if I wore it but I will have the eye, back, and skeletal arm. So yay mass prosthetic and body paint. Also something I am currently trying to figure out is Leviathan the giant bone worm, I want him to actually move like he does in the game not just pose-able wiggle either but through the head. So I am working on installing a channel through the back of the wig for him to tunnel through. I have also thought about making his tail piece detachable so that he can come out of my head/wig. Though that will be something further down the line because I need to get his movement figured out first. Basically going absolutely nuts on this one. Hopefully it comes out as well as it seems in my mind.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 17:05
|
|
|
LadyRavenWaves posted:Yes listen to MCPantserton she is smarter and thinks about warnings that I just know and don't think to explain. Use the dragon puppet tutorial from Mecha Neko. Her dragon isn't too different to that bone worm.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 17:48
|
|
|
The internal design is very similar to what I have planed. Though instead of stuffed coke cans I will be using cut pieces of insulation foam sanded into the bone shape. That way it is light but looks like the bone pieces shown. Thanks for the heads up though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 18:31
|
|
|
RE: sealing craft foam, the only things I use anymore are Rosco Flexbond and Plasti-Dip. I couldn't deal with 10-12 coats of elmer's glue, which would still crack if you bent it, or mod podge, which still required about 6-8 coats and wasn't a smooth finish. Here is a crash course on these two materials, since it seems no one but me has used them here  Flexbond: a white fabric glue that is designed for sealing theatrical backdrops but works on everything. It's like a super strong, super flexible Elmer's glue, and seals foam in one coat. It's about $36 a gallon, but the bottle lasts forever. Seriously, I bought it for my 2 Yoshimitsu armor builds this summer, which were almost entirely made of foam, and I still have more than half a bottle left. The method I followed was: layer of flexbond, paint, 2nd layer of flexbond, final lacquer spray coat (to cut down on residual stickiness). Following this method will give you foam that is essentially indestructible and impossible to scratch. However, on Beatrix, I got lazy and just did one layer to seal the foam, then painted it, and it's still extremely strong and durable. Did I mention this poo poo retains 100% flexibility? It's miraculous. I am obsessed with it. You can also use it as glue, I guess. You know, if you're into that kind of thing. Pros: flexible, strong, durable, no streaky finish, needs only 1-2 coats max Cons: expensive, only found online, only comes in gallon size, slightly sticky when dry Plasti-Dip: an aerosol rubberizer that is used for creating grips on metal tools and making your hubcaps look like rubber, which I guess is a thing. Comes in two forms, a spray bottle and a big can for dipping things into. I haven't used the can version, so I can only speak to the spray. You can find this stuff in hardware stores and it's about $5 a can. The great thing about Plasti-Dip is how easy it is to use, being a spray exactly like a spray paint, but probably worse for you to inhale. It dries very quickly, which is good, because it still requires a lot of coats to actually seal anything. I am extremely impatient, so I usually top out at 3-5 coats. 3 doesn't do much for you, but 5 should be sufficient to make your foam not feel or look like foam anymore. If you do enough coats of Plasti-dip, you can get a smooth, even finish, suitable for armor. This probably takes more coats than you would expect, though. A couple of coats does give the foam an interesting, leather-like finish, which can be useful in some respects. Plasti-Dip keeps your pieces flexible, and makes them somewhat stronger, but they still scratch relatively easily. There might also be some creases that form if the pieces bend a lot, so it's better to form your poo poo first before you seal it. Pros: cheap, easily available, easy to use, dries fast, flexible + durable Cons: must be done outside, requires many coats for a smooth finish, still susceptible to creasing/scratching I hope this helps someone!
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 23:29
|
|
|
Thanks to everyone! Sweet advice on the foam and sealants, especially... Lots of options out there. LadyRavenWaves, don't expect a whole lot out of me. If this semester turns out to be even harder than expected, I'm going to show up in my last ditch cosplay. Regardless, I'd love to meet up and chat! That goes for any A-Kon goons that come through here. EDIT: In http://www.firelilycosplay.com/craftfoam.html it says, "...you can also iron the foam to seal the surface without coating it in glue!" Has anyone tried this or heard this? If it's true, that'd be a dream come true. I have a feeling it'd only work for small things, though... broken pixel fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Dec 4, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 00:40
|
|
|
THIZZFACE KILLA - You rock, I will check those out as I am about to do a bit of foam armoring. Love to try new materials when I can. broken pixel - Never fear in the worst case senario we can get you in something even if I have to bring one of my millions of old costumes that just sit in my closet.  Have not tried it yet but I have a lot of spare I will try it out tonight and report my findings.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:36
|
|
|
broken pixel posted:Thanks to everyone! I'm pretty sure ironing helps the foam not absorb gallons of paint, but in my experience craft foam is pretty delicate and prone to tears and gouging without a harder coating. After my last costume (Hilde from Soul Calibur IV), literally the only things that needed repair after one wear was the shoes, which needed another coat of paint, and the craft foam belt, which... needs to be totally remade.  It's not as big a deal for items that doesn't have to flex onto you--my husband's Yoshimitsu breastplate, for example, didn't take that much damage. But it still had tears dings and whatnot.I've never used Flexbond myself but I'm totally going to now, it sounds awesome. e. Here's a progress shot from tonight's costuming efforts! I'm way farther along now but I was too lazy to take more pictures after a few hours of work. I'm really happy with how the wonderflex detailing are coming together, they're so pretty (and a heinous pain in the rear end to cut!)! 
McPantserton fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Dec 4, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 02:58
|
|
|
I shaped my crown for Mera over a candle and it got hotter in some places and I noticed it seemed to "seal up" a bit in those spots, but it was still very weak. I sealed it it with some glue before painting so I don't know about not needing more paint or not but it definitely needed support. Something I actually did test for a Mass Effect costume was fiberglass resin (just the resin not the fiberglass fibers). Made it super rigid, didn't melt it (that was my biggest fear), and left a nice shiny top coat. Works great when the craft foam is already in the color you want and you want a super glossy finish.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 05:27
|
|
|
More costume updates! Bracers are coming along nicely.  This detailing sucks really, really hard to do because I made the details so small.  Nobody to blame but myself! I got the printing done for my skirt thing, too! I wanted to do borders at first but they lined up really badly:  It was driving me nuts so I redid the artwork without it. I'm much happier with the new print!   Love that blingin' foil.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2012 03:20
|
|
|
That's so cool looking! I can't wait for my finals to be over so I can immediately fail at my first cosplay attempt. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2012 07:25
|
|
|
So update on the foam situation. I ironed a spare piece and left one plain (craft foam). One thing I did notice is that when you iron it without a form to put it on it wrinkles a bit. I was on medium heat and just lightly ran over it twice. This does make it super flexible and bendy for shapes so if you don't have a heat gun or money to spare it's a decent alternative. As for the results paint wise I did both an acrylic brush on and a spray test left is ironed right is without any treatment. Something that doesn't show up very well is that the ironed piece is smoother to the touch and also a tad shiny. I have photos but imgur is being a butt so I will try again when I get home tonight.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2012 19:49
|
|
|
Pantserton that looks amazing! I had to use a scissors for wonderflex so I can't imagine how annoying it must be to cut out those tiny shapes with (I assume) an Xacto.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2012 22:13
|
|
|
I mostly used a scissors, actually, then shaved it down/mooshed it into shape when warm with the xacto. I cut the straight borders separately from the frilly stuff, then blended the seams together while it was all hot. It's still really goddamn hard not to tear that poo poo when it's hot, ugh.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2012 22:23
|
|
|
I had good luck working with the Wonderflex for fine details on my crown at a slightly lower temperature. My heat gun was getting it hot enough that it was totally limp. I popped it in the oven at the lowest setting (170 on my oven) and left the door cracked, and it made the plastic just slightly soft. Might be worth a try? Also, I've never tried it with Wonderflex, but my mom used to do a lot of stuff with Friendly Plastic, which is pretty similar, and we used to just use hot water to shape it. Working underwater put less stress on the hot plastic and made it easier to avoid tearing. Not sure if Wonderflex has a higher working temp, though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2012 13:35
|
|
|
My new technique is for the super fine details, heat the base bracer first and stick the detail on while it's rigid, then heat the whole thing again to get it positioned just right. That didn't work well with the larger detail pieces, but with the pieces that are prone to tearing, it works decently and reduces some of the risk of ruining everything forever. I should just get some friendly plastic in general, I hear it adheres to wonderflex pretty well. Seems like it'd be nice for filling in seams and whatnot.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2012 15:43
|
|
|
You can also buy Friendly Plastic in bead form and melt it completely, and spread it out like putty. I had terrible luck working with it like that, but I've seen people use it much more successfully than I did.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2012 16:23
|
|
|
The bead form is the only kind I've ever seen, what is the alternative form you can buy it in? I also just learned about another method of sealing foam using primer + 4 coats of SmoothCast, but that seems like the absolutely most expensive possible method  The guy uses it for prop weapons though and says it's a less toxic version of covering a prop in fiberglass resin, so it can be done inside. Part of me wants to try it, and part of me is horrified at the cost of a gallon of Smoothcast.
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2012 00:53
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 23:20 |
|
|
You can buy it in little colored strips. They're popular for jewelry making, and my mom actually sold earrings and brooches made from it for a while.
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2012 07:45
|
|