Cosplaying Is The Only Thing I'm Good At

Just a ferret loving cosplayer.

[kiserinn]

Hey guys! I promised a tutorial so here’s a little one.

I’m just going to explain overall what I did and not go into anything too detailed. Feel free to throw me a question if something is left too unclear!

gif made by

My wings are articulated and they’re not attached to my hands in any ways (Though I’m planning to change that by adding a string connected to my hand because my original way of pulling them up didn’t work, they’re too heavy with the feathers).

Here are some pictures of the base:

The idea of articulated wings is that the whole structure moves when you lift/move one part.

As you can see from the picture there are 3 longer and 2 shorter pieces. They’re made out of plywood but I’ve heard that balsa wood is a better option.

There are a total of 7 (14) joints at the points where the pieces of wood overlap. Each wing is attached to the back with a hinge so that I can fold them behind me (Useful in crowds and when walking through doors).

Then there are the feathers, aka the reason I never want to touch scissors again

I used 7m (23 feet) of white felt. I soaked the whole amount of fabric (in pieces) in a mixture made out of glue and water to harden them. It takes at least one or two days for them to dry completely. I forgot to flip some of them around at least once so they got stuck on the floor, dont do that. Cover your floors! I used some big trash bags I found lying around.

I also glued some sticks to the longest feathers after cutting them out to give them more support and to make them look more feathery–like. I made probably 400–500 feathers. I recommend getting your friends to help cutting them if you don’t want to lose your mind :’D

Getting the feathers attached was a tricky part. You can’t just glue them to the base or they’ll be sticking into odd directions when opening/closing the wings.

They need to move around freely so basically I just sticked a loop of wire to each feather. Then I put another piece of wire through it and secured it into place by twisting the two ends together. After that I glued the thing to the frames.

So beautiful! But hey, they aren’t supposed to show. Hot glue is gonna be your best friend at this point.

The biggest feathers are all attached to one big ”ring” made out of thicker wire. Big mess and the backside of the wings.

The feathers are in 3 layers, each layer overlapping the previous feathers:

The primaries and secondaries (1st layer) are painted from both front- and backside. The 2nd and 3rd layers cover the framework so you’re gonna need a lot of feathers over them. Note that wings don’t look the same from both sides!

I used the same technique for attaching the 2nd layer as for the 1st (wire-thingy) but I glued 3 feathers into each other to save time.

The 3rd layer is just glued to the top because will face the right way even if you do so.

When I had attached the feathers they were just hanging straight down (gotta love gravity). I had to do something to get them to lift up when I open the wings so I sewed them together. There goes a thread in the middle of each feather giving the wings also a maximum opening point (which is pretty big). I made some knots that the thread doesn’t slip away.

You won’t be able to do anything with these if you can’t get them on. I made a harness that you put on like a backbag through a hole in the shirt.

And woop, there it is! A pair of hella big articulated wings.

A picture of them closed

…aaand open.

–––––––––––––––––––––––

Some notes!

– This is kind of obvious but making wings like this is expensive and time consuming. I used probably around 100€ for the materials and the hours I’ve spent on this project are also close to a hundred (2 weeks of working from 10AM to 8PM or more, ugh)

– If you decide to do something like this please be careful not to strain yourself too much! I was crouching on the floor for many days in a row and my back and knees hurt like hell in the evenings. Also my right hand still hurts from bending all the wire although it’s been a week already.

– You’re gonna need space. No, not a small corner with a little table, I mean a huge amount of space. For the most of the time you need to work with the wings open (on a floor unless you have an enormous table), and mine are twice the size of me! tho I’m a 16–year–old short girl The wingspan is around 4+ meters, so, yeah. Of course you could always make smaller ones which I really do recommend.

– Surprise, this is also really messy! Especially the feathers make a big mess and you’re gonna get little pieces of felt stuck everywhere.

– This requires some sort of knowledge of using different tools. And skill. Feel free to challenge yourself but this isn’t the easiest sort of thing to do. It was hard even for me although I’ve made a pair of (still) wings before.

– These were surprisingly easy to wear around the convention even though the place was small. They are pretty heavy but not too much to not be able to wear them for 2 days straight.

– I bet that there are a lot better ways to do some parts and I’m fixing them & updating this tutorial when I can figure out better alternatives. (Also if you can think of something before me, send me a message!)

I hope that this was at least somewhat useful although it’s not really detailed. If you do make something inspired by this I’d love to see the results. Also it would be great to put a link to this so that other people can also get help making a pair uvu

Edit: Check out also my “davesprite cosplay” tag at my blog for more information!

[elisescostumes]

Machine smocking tutorial

While working on my Eleanor Guthrie cosplay, I researched how to do smocking with a sewing machine (rather than by hand) I’m quite pleased how it turned out, and I thought I’d share a little tutorial. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out! 

What you’ll need:

Sewing machine with decorative stitches

Embroidery thread (I used Gütermann Sulky Cotton Multicolor in grey/beige tones)

A ruler or measuring tape

Chalk or disappearing marker

1.  First, you must decide on your ratio (how much fabric you will gather), and mark your gathering stitches lines. I went for a 1:3 ratio and marked lines 18cm long. My desired final gathered length is 6cm. My lines are 1.5cm apart, but you can experiment with lines closer or wider apart for a different effect.

2.  After sewing a long gathering stitch on each line that you marked in step 1, gather your fabric down to the length you decided in the first step (in my case, 6cm). Press your fabric to set the pleats.

3.  Go back to your sewing machine and sew decorative stitches _between _each gathering line. This will permanently set the pleats. Note: smocking isn’t elastic like shirring is, don’t confuse them! They kinda look the same and they both reduce the width of your garment by gathering fabric, but they have very different in behavior: shirring keeps its elasticity by using elastic thread as the bobbin thread, while smocking is permanent. I see smocking as something more decorative rather than functional, like shirring is.

4.  Remove all your gathering stitches (the most tedious task of them all!), give your fabric another good press with steam, and there you go! Admire your beautiful smocked piece!

And done!

There are many other methods, including smocking by hand, but I hope this short tutorial will have inspired you to give it a try! Smocking is not difficult and the final result is sure to make a statement on your costume! 

Liked this tutorial? Don’t hesitate to share it! Sharing is caring! ♥

[1000125]

Stuart Semple made Glow-in-the-dark paint that’s bright enough to glow in normal light and can be charged by both light AND heat and it’s real fuckin good y’all. Note that this is only the powder and you need to buy the acrylic base(also sold on the site) to mix it in for it to stick to surfaces. [shop]

INFORMATION (from the website):

This is Lit! The most powerful light emitting pigment on the planet!

This creation by Stuart Semple blends some of the planet’s finest light emitting pigments and rare earth activators to provide all artists* with the ultimate light emitting paint.

What does it do?

Unlike other glowing things, Lit can be recharged an unlimited number of times

It’s super high luminescence will often glow brighter than the ambient light around it

Can be charged with light or heat

After super-bright initial glow, will afterglow for up to 12 hours (depending on your mix)

Has been specially formulated to mix with superbase to create a super pigmented, mega glow paint that will stick to almost anything.

Non toxic - contains no hazardous or radioactive substances.

[rooksandravens]

*Especially Anish Kapoor. If you are Anish Kapoor, can prove you are associated with Anish Kapoor or to the best of your knowledge information and belief this substance is going to make it’s way into the hands of Anish Kapoor, your order will be free! We want you to know how lovely it feels to #shareTheLight

[ivorivet]

how do you organize and store your cosplays?

For garments, I try put stuff on hangers if at all possible so I can store things in the closet in my sewing room.  It’s also where I store my lolita stuff so there’s a ton of junk in there.  For shoes, I’ve got an over-the-door shoe rack and also a shoe cubby at the bottom of the closet.  Boots or other footwear that doesn’t fit the shoe rack or the cubby get stored in another location.

For pieces of clothing that are a bit weird to hang like pants or strapless dresses, I’ll safety pin them to hangers or sew in hanging straps.  One trick I learned a few years ago is that if you have a really nice pair of dress pants that you don’t want to put a crease in by folding it in half over the bottom of a hanger, you can use two safety pins to pin the pants legs together and then hang the safety pins off the hanger (I sometimes have to use hair elastics to make them fit).  The pants will hang upside down with the waist band towards the ground, and this method preserves the pressed crease down the front of the legs so you don’t have to iron the pants when they come off the hanger.

I try to store everything that goes with a particular cosplay on a single hanger if possible, so that when I grab it from the closet I’ll automatically have everything I need.  If there are any tiny accessories that go with the cosplay like gloves, neckties, pins, belts, etc. I’ll try to pin or attach those to the hanger as well.  I have seen some of my hangers get really distorted because of how much weight I put on them, so getting a few heavy-duty hangers is probably a good idea if you’re going to load them with lots of stuff.

Everything else that can’t be hung gets stored in boxes that are labeled.  I store my petticoats for lolita purposely wadded up so they won’t lose their poof by getting hung, and I have a few catch-all boxes for things like gloves, glasses, underwear (binders, hosiery, stuff like that), and other things.

I don’t have a really good way to store my big wigs, so for now I’ve got them boxed up and labeled too.  There’s also Novelty Purse Land and the divide between my lolita stuff and cosplay stuff (lolita shit is taking up more than half my closet right now because I really need to downsize).

I don’t think mine’s the prettiest system ever but boy howdy there is very little unused space in my closet, and the system seems to work for me!

[rah-bop]

Bird Costume Tutorial Masterpost

Here are a collection of tutorials explaining how I made my Kenku Costume. If you have more questions please check my Kenku Costume FAQ!

Eyes and Articulated Eyelids

Clawed Gloves

Craft Foam Feathers

Wings and Tail

Bird Feet

This costume is my Dungeons and Dragons character, Rue, who is a Kenku (bird person.) The Kenku are a monster race that became playable in 5th edition.

The photos in this post were taken by D. Davalos (flickr, twitter, instagram) at PAX West 2016. Saheeli Rai cosplayer (who is touching my head) is @ladymakeupsiren.

[ciaranstrange-deactivated202503]

Beard Tutorial. Because not everyone wants to, or can go on T! (Or maybe you’re just waiting for your ‘stache to arrive and it’s taking it’s sweet time getting to the party!)

[princessesfanarts]

By furafura

[mee-shellmabelle-cosplay]

Hey friends! Long time no post to this blog! Real life’s been kickin me in the pants lately so cosplaying has become a rare occurance for me, but since I had a little time to post this small tutorial to my IG, I figured I’d also post it here too!

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I did my Widowmaker arms (bc yknow fuck body paint lol) so here’s a mini compilation of the process ✨ 🕷I started off with some seamless nylon gloves from eBay. They’re about $11-15ish depending on seller and come in white, black, and nude. They’re teeny tiny (see mini Deadpool hand lol), but amazingly they stretch? like A LOT??? Lol 🕷Not shown is the dyeing process, but it’s pretty straightforward. I used RIT DyeMore in royal purple and super diluted it until it gave me a pale purple color that matched my face paint. 🕷After they dried, I put on the right glove and lightly marked out where and how large I wanted my tattoo. 🕷I found a large enough image of Widow’s tattoo online and printed it out to the size of my arm, taped it in a tube, and stuffed the tube with extra fabric I had laying around. 🕷CAREFULLY stretch the glove over the tube and arrange it so your marks line up with the template and secure each side with rubber bands. 🕷Paint over those tedious-ass designs until you feel death come for you. I used Jacquard to avoid texture and the shiny look, but any fabric paint should do. 🕷Let the paint dry and then carefully peel the glove free from your paper template. 🕷Et voilà! Purple arms! If you wanna be really extra like me, paint some fake nails and glue them into the fingers for that natural dead goth spider-lady look lol

[technoranma]

The boobs you made for your cosplay. What material are they made out of ?

MATERIALS:- Regular Craft Foam - Masking Tape- Pen- scissors1. Cut out a generic LARGE tear drop shape. You’re going to have to make numerous DARTS in the foam to get the cup shape tocover your own boobs. Cut one (1) slit and position the craft foam so that the ends overlap eachother then temporarily tape it down using some masking tape. Do this a couple times with more slits of various lengths until you get arudimentary curved looking 3D foam shape.

You can mark off with a pen or pencil where you should cut out thedarts, then take off all the tape and cut the pieces.

MATERIALS:

- Rubber Cement (orcontact cement)- Hot Glue

2. After that I usedrubber cement (you can find it at any stationary/craft store) to cement thedarts. It’s still kind of fragile that way, so I took my hot glue gun andsmeared hot glue along the seams on the INSIDE to make them hold better.

3. Try the finishedcraft foam cups on and see that they cover your full breast (sides and all). Also,if the cleavage type you need is different, the shape I made is not necessary.You might make the top a bit different shape. The reason I chose to cutthe fake boobs this way is because I needed a v-neck plunge, so the tops ofmine are pointy.

MATERIALS:- Yellow Upholstery Foam- Hot Glue4. After you have those craft foam pieces, you need to use yellow upholsteryfoam. This type of foam is important because I tried to use softer stuff and itcollapses so easily. Get this foam (usually comes in 1/2” thickness) fromstores that have an upholstery or drapery section.

(Photo from spana298 original Japanese tutorial. Also see crunchyroll link here)

5. Stretch thefoam onto the shape. DO NOT rip it or cut darts. Foam is pliable so see howAltiera spana used clips to hold it on?? You can do the same, I just used hairclips.

Once it’s stretchedout a bit (give it a couple minutes), you can use glue to just glue it on. Hotglue will warp craft foam though, and hot glue stays hot for a long time onyellow foam, so be VERY careful not to burn yourself if you use hot glue!

6. Trim and shave yourfoam down at the EDGES so you have a nice smooth shape (not blocky).

MATERIALS:- stretch knit fabric

7. Find a stretch knitfabric. I found a beige stretch knit in the activewear/lycra section ofFabricland. I generally prefer stretch knit to 100% synthetic spandex or lycrabecause it takes to hot glue really well, whereas the other stuff just seems todry flaky.

8. Stretch the fabricover and use some pins or clips to hold it in place (careful to not rip yourfoam). Hot glue the fabric edges to the inside of the cups.

Once that is done, you get to this stage:

MATERIALS:- Liquid Latex (flesh tone)- Popsicle sticks- Baby powder

9. To make the breatsmore realistic, you can add liquid latex (flesh tone). I used BEN NYE brandfrom an 8oz container. This stuff goes a long way, so you won’t need the entire8oz (you can probably use 4oz as more than enough). I first did a test on ascrap piece of knit fabric to see how many layers I needed before I got askin-like texture.

I got a bag ofPopsicle sticks and dipped one in the liquid latex then used the stick tosmooth it onto the fabric. One layer soaked up a lot so it became very roughlooking. Once it dried, I brushed on a layer of baby powder. Liquidlatex needs to be brushed with powder after every coat. I added a second coatof liquid latex using the popsicle sticks. (Throw out the popsicle sticks afterevery use, and use lots. If latex dries on it, it won’t spread smoothly, sojust use more. It gets smoother than a sponge and is much cheaper than brushes).

For the THIRD coat (Ihad tested on a small patch previously and figured 3 coats would look good), Idid NOT use popsicle sticks. I set the boob on a paint bottle to prop it UP andAWAY from the table. I then lightly POURED liquid latex directly from thebottle onto the boob and manipulated the boob around so that the entire thing gotcoated this way. I let the excess DRIP off and onto the work board underneath.

If a few air bubblesget in it that’s ok, it actually helps to add realistic look to the ‘skin’.Once it’s dry, brush with baby powder. Do both boobs this way.

10. Trim offany dried drips of liquid latex that collected on the edges of your boobs.

11. To match perfectlyyour skin tone, I AIRBRUSHED my false boobs using an Airbrush and Airbrushpaints. SEE THIS VIDEO OF MY PAINTING HERE.

You can probably usemake-up to paint the latex as an alternative to airbrushing. There are plentyof latex painting tutorials on the web!

12. To add straps, youcan simply sew some on to the excess fabric that was glued into the inside ofthe boob cups. Reinforce your sewing stitches with hot glue. You can add asmall piece of fabric in between the breasts as well to help hold them together.

That’s it!!

[kieraplease]

I didn’t get my purple Raven wig yet so don’t clown me too hard, but i wanted to costest this outfit out // when i get it im going to re-do this. so hopefully it looks more put together 🖤

[sammyscosplay-blog]

Cosplay (and general sewing) life hack- easy pleats with a fork! For all those school girl uniform cosplays and more :) 

[cosplaytutorial]

BotW Link Cosplay: The Bracer

It’s worbla time! That’s right, I decided to make Link’s bracer out of worbla. I wasn’t originally planning to due to budget issues, but Arda wigs suddenly stocked new sheets of black worbla, including size small, so I could afford to buy a sheet. This was my first time using the material, and I was excited. Overall, it was a total blast! Here’s what I did:

Tutorial by:  penandneedlecosplay Tutorial Link: https://jennyjackprose.wordpress.com/2016/07/11/botw-link-cosplay-the-bracer/#more-728

[cosplaytutorial]

Cosplay Photography Tutorial 2

Tutorial by Risachantag Tutorial Link: https://risachantag.deviantart.com/art/Cosplay-Photography-Tutorial-2-197531037

[ohicosplay]

Building the Machine: Part 4, The Shoulders and Torso

Part 1, Collecting References 

Part 2, Breaking Down the Parts, Picking Materials

Part 3, The Head

While it looks simple, the shoulders ended up being the hardest part because curved forms are a pain to make, it needed to be lightweight but strong enough to hold the head, and connect to the torso without breaking.

We decided to go with XPS foam, commonly found in home improvement stores as insulation foam board.

Important note: There are two types of foam used for insulation foam board: XPS and EPS. XPS is extruded polystyrene foam and has a higher density and a smoother appearance. EPS is expanded polystyrene and is little round polystyrene beads shoved together (EPS is also commonly what people think of as “styrofoam”). The small beads makes sanding EPS to smooth finish very difficult. Go with XPS for all prop needs.

 XPS foam usually comes in 4′x8′ sheets in various thicknesses, but we found 2′x2′ squares with a thickness of 1 inch at Home Depot. It’s cheaper buying full sheets, but if you don’t have an easy way of transporting and storing the sheets, go with smaller squares. We bought 6 squares and used 5.

What you need:

XPS foam

A hot wire cutter or retractable utility knife

Extra wire or utility knife blades

Gorilla Glue and/or hot glue

Masking or painter’s tape

Bondo (optional)

Orbital power sander (Optional, but see the note below)

8-10mm EVA foam (for the torso)

You can cut XPS foam with a retractable utility knife, but a hot wire cutter made the process faster and easier. If you want to work with XPS foam, this is a valuable investment to make. This is the hot wire cutter we have. You’ll also need extra wire because the wire will break. As long as you get the right size, you can buy the wire in spools for a cheaper cost.

Gorilla glue is our adhesive of choice. While hot glue works, we went with gorilla glue for durability and ease of application. CA glue, E6000, and contact cement will melt XPS foam.

An orbital power sander is not required, but because we used bondo and gorilla glue for filling and sealing, it made it faster and easier. If you skip bondo and sealing with gorilla glue, sanding with sand paper and files/rasps is fine.

Note: Picture intensive tutorial

Keep reading

[feytaline]

Aw snap it’s time for another round of Cosplay Basics, or, Stuff You Probably Already Know! I am not particularly good at wigs.  There’s something about them that seems to have a personal vendetta against me.  Although I styled almost all of my own wigs in the past few years, I’ve gone back to commissioning simply for ease.  There’s no point in getting stressed out over something I don’t like doing, and don’t feel like I have a talent for! But even if you’re not getting into any major wig styling, there are a few basic things that you should have on hand! 1) The first thing you’ll need is a wig brush, or comb.  Everyone has their preferences, my favorite is a wire wig brush like the one pictured.  You can actually get this kind in the dog care section.  Mine’s lasted years and I have no complaints about it.  Combs are something a lot of people prefer, and I use for small touch ups like fixing bangs.  The only thing you want to avoid are soft plastic or bristled brushes.  They create a lot of static, and that’s a major cause of tangles. 2) Not pictured is a foam wig head.  These are crucial for detangling as well as styling any parts that you can’t do while wearing the wig.  However, they are smaller than the average head, so it’s recommended to not do any tight styling on this. To hold your wig in place while you work, quilter’s pins are great.  They don’t have any edges for the wig to tangle on, they’re long, and they’re colorful so you don’t accidentally leave any in your wig when you take it off the foam head.  Not that I have ever… done that… I hear it’s really painful….

3) The third thing is probably the best invention ever.  It’s a razor comb!  Razor combs are phenomenal for getting a nice edge on your wig, rather than the blunt cut scissors can give unless you know how to use them properly.  It’s also almost impossible to hurt yourself while combing.  All you have to do is comb, and the razor slices the hair off!  They’re great for bangs in particular. While you can get disposable combs at places like Sally’s Beauty Supply, they’re a tad expensive and go dull fast. However, a razor comb with replaceable blades, like this, only ran me $3 for the comb itself, and $10.00 for 100 blades (4) , on ebay. 5) Use big clips to hold the hair out of the way while you style. 6) And finally, we have a wig stand for foam heads.  This fits on the edge of a table or shelf (you screw it in to tighten it.)   However, I much prefer to use a free stand–I found that my dressform’s stand works wonderfully.  That way, you don’t have to worry about bumping against the table or shelf while you’re working! So maybe you learned something, maybe you didn’t.  Feel free to add any of your own advice in reblogs!

[pandercosplay]

Alice ‘Late But Lucky’ Bow Tutorial

A quick tutorial on how I made the bow for my Alice cosplay.

Materials -  

Faux Fur

Stuffing

Interfacing

Clay

Cotton

Hot Glue

Patterns

To start with I created the patterns for the rabbit portion of the bow. Of course, this will vary depending on how big or small you want your particular bow to be, but for reference here are the sizes that I used (including seam allowance).  

Rabbit Section

After you have your desired patterns trace the designs onto your faux fur. Each rabbit foot should have two pieces each, but you will only need one for the tail.  

Once they have been cut out, pin them wrong sides together and sew. Turn the feet right sides out and stuff until they are as full as you would like.

Remember to gently pull some of the fur from the seams to hide them a little bit.

For the tail do a running stitch along the perimeter of the tail and gather it. Once it has been gathered stuff the tail similar to the way you did the feet. Sew up the hole of the tail and while the thread is still attached to the tail, sew on the feet. This part is much easier with a curved needle, but a straight one will work just as well.

Once you have that done you can start to work on the claws. I used fimo clay for my claws but you can use anything you want as long as it is lightweight and will harden. My clay was orange, so I had to paint them black afterwards, however if you have black or a dark grey that will work just as well.

Once the clay has hardened (or the paint has dried) you can attach them to the feet. Hot glue worked really well for this and the bond is very strong. As I was attaching them I pushed them into the foot so the fabric would be slightly covering the edge of the claw. This made it look more like they were coming out of the foot rather than just glued on.

Main Bow

This section is relatively easy as it is just rectangles sewn together. I applied interfacing to one side of my pale pink cotton, in hindsight I would apply it to both pieces but that is entirely up to you.  

After pinning the pieces together, I sewed along the long sides of both rectangles.  

Turn them right side out and press. Fold the raw edges of the short ends to the inside and press again. Topstitch along the edges of both rectangles.  

Find the centre of the larger rectangle and start to gather the fabric down the centre line of the large rectangle. Hold or sew into place.

Take the smaller rectangle (again in hindsight I would make this piece smaller) and wrap it around the centre of the bow. Sew into place.

Finishing the Bow

You can either sew the rabbit portion onto the bow or you can glue it down. I opted to glue it down as I was having a hard time attaching the bow section to the rabbit section without a curved needle. Both will work just as well. It’s really a matter of preference.  

Depending on how you want to the bow to attach to the rest of the costume you can sew a pin onto the back of the bow or leave it as is and attach directly on to the main costume.

If you have any questions or if there is something you don’t understand feel free to contact me and I’ll do my best to help.

[aicosu]

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My HeatNBond tutorial!! 🤗 This is how I made the gold parts in my Goddess Mercy cosplay! Its also how I made my Emily scarf, and tons of other cosplay stuff. Hope this helps!! And let me know if you want me to do more videos like this! . . #cosplay #cosplaytutorial #cosplaytips #cosplayvideo #cosplayguide #heatnbond #cosplaysewing #tutorial #cosplaydiy #diy #mercycosplay #overwatchcosplay