How I made the Leshen from The Witcher 3
So, I only very recently (July 2014) decided to jump into costume making. I had always known what cosplay was, but didn't really understand how seriously awesome it could be. I honestly have the cast of Heroes of Cosplay to thank for inspiring me so much that I just couldn't NOT be making costumes.
I've previously made a Dr. Beverly Crusher outfit (that really only involved sewing a shirt and jacket and making a badge out of sculpey) and then my Ajani Goldmane costume, which was my first stab at thermoplatic armor and weapon construction, plus more sewing. That accounts for all of my experience in fabrication.
Everything I've learned has been from the internet, and the people that have made their experiences public for others to share. Specifically, I'd like to thank the lovely people at Smooth-On for having SUCH A FREAKING WONDERFUL website full of videos and information. Without them, there would have been no way I could have pulled off this costume. No way in hell. Also I want to thank Bill Doran of Punished Props and Holly Conrad of Crabcat Industries for also having a crazy helpful web presence and also being inspiring and awesome and positive people. Love you. So much.
I had heard of The Witcher 3 Cosplay Contest and decided I just HAD to participate. After I saw the Leshen creature in some of the released game art, I was sold. I needed to bring that to life. I just had to. That thing was just way too cool to not exist for real.
First I got to work on the antlers. I didn't want to strap real antlers to my head (heavy!) and didn't want hard resin replicas either. If I was going to have giant pointy things attached to me, I wanted them to be soft. Especially in a convention atmosphere where I'd most likely be bumping into tons of people, I didn't want to have the fear of poking someone's eye out. So I decided to cast them in FlexFoam-iT 17 from Smooth-On. It was bendable and light, but rigid enough that an armature wire slipped inside was all the support it would need. And it also wouldn't take chunks out of door frames or people's faces.
I'd never molded or cast anything. Ever. Luckily there's a bunch of info about how to mold antlers using different techniques. I liked this one the most: http://www.smooth-on.com/gallery.php?galleryid=285
So using Mold Max Stroke brushable silicone and Plasti-Paste (both from Smooth-On) I got my antlers molded. After slicing them down the middle, inserting wire, gluing them shut again, and painting, they were ready to be strapped to my head.
I found an inexpensive plastic deer skull at my local hunting store and bolted it and the antlers to a modified bike helmet. That bike helmet isn't made to support any sort of weight, so the straps had to be tailored to my head for a tighter fit, as well as a torso harness that connected to either side of the helmet at the shoulder. This way, when I leaned my head sideways, the weight of the helmet would be pulling on my opposite shoulder instead of just sliding off my head completely. This also helped remove weight from the strap under my throat, which wasn't comfortable at all. Luckily all this could be hidden under the Leshen's hood.
The torso harness also had shoulder padding attached, to create the illusion of an elongated torso, making the proper silhouette for the Leshen since he's significantly taller than I am.
The tree bark was made by pressing Equinox 35 onto a tree, then pouring very thin layers of FlexFoam-iT X into the molds. This resulted in a very flexible, soft, bark textured foam sheet that I could easily paint and sew onto a custom made body suit to achieve the tree skin.
This process was also used to cover the gloves and boots. The claws and vines were made of backer rod, which I shaped on a bench grinder, then painted.
Progress shot, no paint. Plus the all-important thumb hole for texting and selfies.
I learned SO much from this build and the costume is incredibly fun to wear. I want to thank my family for being supportive while I made a mess of their house and my friends for encouraging me when things got frustrating. Love you guys!
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