Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Xianghua Cosplay

I have always liked the character designs for the game Soul Calibur, so two of my friends and I decided that would be our next costumes to wear at Katsucon 2011. I chose Xianghua from Soul Calibur IV because I loved all the patterns and dye effects on the jacket and shirt. 

Dying was definitely the hardest part of the costume, I had to lay out the coat and sponge paint the dye on the edges and back without getting any on the white part. If you ever try spot dying like this remember that patience is the key. I was very impatient and ended up having to use a little bleach a few times. Once the dying was completed I screen printed the pattern on the back and along the scalloped edges.

This is the first time I have ever cut and styled a wig. I bought a fairly long wig, despite the character's short hair, because of the long strands in the front. After cutting it to the length I wanted I used hair gel to  shape it into the flipped out spikes. I coated it with a considerable amount of hairspray but the hair tips didn't want to stay together so I fixed this with a little elmer's glue.




Weeping Angel Cosplay

What is awesome and scary and from Doctor Who? The weeping angels of course! That is why my friend Katie and I decided we would create these costumes to wear at Dragon*con 2010. It was only my second con ever and was way more up my ally than the previous anime convention I had gone to. I am a long time sci-fi geek and a recent Whovian so Dragon*con was the perfect convention for me. I really hope I will be able to make it back in 2011!

For those who do not know the weeping angels are a type of monster from Doctor Who that first appeared in an amazing episode titled "Blink" that was written by the awesome Stephen Moffat. They at first appear as stone angel statues covering their faces but the minute you look away, the second you blink, they will get you! 

For those interested in the process you can look at a detailed tutorial with photographs on Katie's blog. weeping angel tutorial here Basically the wig-hats are made out of paper mache covered in model magic. and the masks are made from rigid wrap covered in model magic. The wings have a skeleton made from PVC pipe and chicken wire, sandwiched between two layers of feathers cut from 1/4 EVA foam (like yoga mats). The wings attach to a harness by sliding into two larger pieces of PVC pipe. We cut and sewed fingers into pantyhose for the arms and glued on fake fingernails. After we made everything and the dress was sewn together we covered it in latex house paint, adding highlights and lowlights in order to give it a stone effect. Also a hula hoop is used to keep the bottom of the dress round to create the statue base.

Here are some awesome pictures mostly taken by photographer the_wendy_bird. The first picture is of me and the others are of Katie and I.