Sand Sirens Cosplay

Sand Sirens Cosplay The Sand Sirens are:

[modmojo]

Friday at Phoenix Comic Con, thanks @aliuribe for the hellish pizza-neon photos

[sandsirens]

Final gems for our upcoming Steven Universe cosplay. 

 Can you name all of them? 

 We’ve been radio silent for a while now, but trust us, lots of progress is being made. We’ll be updating more regularly now leading up to SDCC 2015.

[1000percentweird]

These are so pretty!! What did you do to make them?

[sandsirens]

Hi! To answer your question: we used pre-colored oven bake clay from Michael's over aluminum foil. Specifically, about a quarter inch of clay over some weird lumps of foil.

 The quarter inch of clay will bake more evenly than a solid lump, and making the core foil makes them light, since solid fimo or sculpy is pretty heavy and harder to keep glued on all day. Opal and Sugilite's chest gems were pressed in a mold to get even facets and then smoothed out, the rest were made by hand-sculpting the clay and smoothing them out with a damp paper towel.

 A note about sizing your gems - check them against your real live body! You don’t want to be gluing these things over any kind of hair, and it will feel and look better if you make sure the gem really fits you! I even gently pressed Peridot’s gem against our Peridot’s forehead before we baked the gems to make sure the back arched with their head. After the gems were baked we sanded them a little where there were lumps, bumps, etc..

Then painted details on some of them. The chest gems took a lot of work, since they were faceted and we were trying to mimic the show’s character reference sheets to a certain degree. Pearl and Lapis, however, didn’t take any extra painting at all. We could have given them highlights like Peridot’s, but that’s all a matter of personal preference and what you think looks good. When you’re painting, keep the coats thin and light and take your time. It’ll keep your gem much smoother. Then to finish, we used a couple coats of floor wax to make 'em real shiny. 

So as a plain old materials list that’s: aluminum foil, fimo or sculpy in the gems colors (1 packet each for forehead gems, 2 packets each for chest and back gems), craft paints in the detail colors, and some kind of high gloss finish like floor wax, clear nail polish, or a paint varnish.

Paint varnish will keep your colors pretty forever, floor wax gives a super glossy coat with a tiny hint of iridescent shine and will make it okay if your gem falls off, and nail polish is dirt cheap and gets the job done but might get a lil yellow after a while. 

[sandsirens]

Opal is near....

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You know it's con season when your dining table looks like this. Here's some progress on Sugilite and Opal wigs.

[sandsirens]

What'cha thinkin' about?

[sandsirens]

Also here are some of the great cosplays we saw at Phoenix Comicon this year!

bythewaycosplaycreations make up a portion of the Rat Queens cosplayers and maedaecosplay is Opal from Steven Universe, but that’s all we know. 

If you wanna be tagged in this post, let us know!

Edit: emprexes and undecidedfangirl are Pearl and Garnet!

[sandsirens]

Final gems for our upcoming Steven Universe cosplay. 

 Can you name all of them? 

 We've been radio silent for a while now, but trust us, lots of progress is being made. We'll be updating more regularly now leading up to SDCC 2015.

[mangosirene]

What are some small things that can be done to make your cosplay look better that a lot of people don't think about? (For make up, wigs, props, that actual costume, etc.) One that I hear a lot is "press your seams/hems" but is there anything else? (I love your cosplays btw!)

You hear “press your seams” a lot because it’s very true! That’s one of the most important things to do when sewing and it makes a huge difference.

A few other bits of advice that may help:

Iron/steam your costume before you put it on. After being crumpled up in a suitcase, your fabric will be creased and wrinkled. Hang it in the bathroom while people are showering so the steam can help ease some of the wrinkles out, then iron it before wearing. It’ll make the costume look much less “frumpy”!

Learn what interfacing is and use it.

Use fabric dye to dye your wigs. The age of Sharpies and FW Ink is behind us (thank the cosplay gods).

Learn how to properly paint fabric. Different designs/looks require different painting techniques. There’s so much more to do than just grabbing a brush and slappin’ some Jacquard on your fabric!

There are more ways to create props and armor than Worbla. Worbla is wonderful for tons of different things, but it’s not the be-all-end-all of prop creation!

How to remove makeup stains from fabric.

How to use horsehair braid.

Create your own dressform. This way it’s accurately-shaped to your body which will end in a much better result than using a generic dressform!

Learn how to add seamless trim.

Makeup technique for “flawless skin.”

Use googly eyes for rivets. One of my absolute favorite tricks that I used on my Automail build last year!

How to do winged eyeliner.

Clear nail polish can be used instead of FrayCheck for half the price. You can also use it to make ahoge (like I did for my Tutu wig).

Use wax paper when sewing vinyl.

If you have glitter on your costume at all, use unscented hairspray to keep it from shedding.

You’ve been using your seam ripper wrong.

I hope some of those tricks help!

[sandsirens]

Bring references on an electronic device to the fabric store. Don’t assume your brain remembers the colors of a character, even if you’re good at that sort of thing. One color in your costume being off with make the others look wrong too. Your fabrics have to go together, even if they are off from the visual reference. It’s like changing key in a song; if you change one part, the rest has to change too. If you can’t find the right color, remember you can dye it. Rit dyes (in liquid and powder) for cotton and faintly on cotton blends. iDye-Poly for synthetic fabrics (use a pot you don’t love anymore).

SEAL YOUR MAKEUP! Ben Nye Final Seal is what our group uses, but Nyx and e.l.f. sealers work as well, are cheaper, and also less harsh-smelling. 

Do makeup tests and dress rehearsals weeks before the con. This is a must because it will help improve your prep speed for the actual day and also, you don’t realize how long it takes until you do it.

If you’re painting your skin a different color, contour your face with a lighter tint and darker shade of that same color for a theatrical quality. 

Makeup first, seal, dry, and then put on your wig.

Don’t paint yourself a different ethnicity. Just don’t do it. Don’t. Do not do it. No.

If you’re genderbending a character and you have breasts, do not bind your chest with ACE Bandages. You could cut off your circulation and do serious damage to yourself. 

Tips on how to hide your dick if you're wearing a spandex suit. Also, how to tuck.

Always consider how you will be able to pee. Always, always. Even if it means you have to peel your costume from your shoulders down to your knees, you have to be prepared to do that. If you have big props, maybe bring a spotter in with you to watch/hold all your stuff. Ideally, you think about this while sewing to make sure the top is separate from the bottom, there’s a zip/flap/leafed fabric to make sure you can pee, etc. If you are a person with a vagina, consider a “female” urination device. They even have disposable ones now.

That’s all I can think of at this point.

-Ali

[sandsirens]

A photo of us as The Misfits we forgot to post from last year’s Phoenix Comicon, courtesy of dtjaaaam.

[sandsirens]

SDCC 2015 badges have been purchased. 

The Sirens are working on a new Steven Universe group cosplay. 

Gettin' excited.

[alicooneyuribearchive]

Tucson Comic-Con wrap-up!

Took a much-needed break to sleep and deaden my nerves from all the weekend’s excitement with Mass Effect.

Now I’m back with the TCC wrap-up. Did well, met lots of people, and had fun. Not bad for our first booth ever. We had consistent commission work and traffic. At an intersection, we also got to see amazing cosplays like these Queen and Princess Serenity cosplayers.

[sandsirens]

THIS WEEKEND!

The Sand Sirens will be at Tucson Comic-Con booths B16 and B17. We’ll be selling our artwork, peddling our wares, and maybe even doing a few commissions. 

If you’re in town, or already going, come by the booth and say hi. Tickets to the event are $10 Saturday or Sunday, or $15 for a full weekend pass.

Art by cesya, alicooneyuribe, moddraws, and drgart. 

[sandsirens]

LATE POST: After an extensive search (and procrastination) to find other people's photos of us as Klokateers, we came up with nothing other than our own images and Mod photobombing other people's cosplays entirely, which is good enough for us tbh.

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Phoenix Comic-Con 2014: Saturday - CFO and Klokateers (Metalocalypse)

Klokateers- aliuribe, baby-werewolf, tamagotchya, madamsketch

CFO - modmojo

We visited Dethklok character designer and producer/director Jon Schnepp at his booth on Saturday.  I brought my (fully-functioning and ringtone-accurate!) Dethphone with me, but it was a little less than durable—he asked me if he could take a photo with it, and I have never seen anyone handle such a brutal object so delicately.  - Modjeska

[sandsirens]

Due to technical difficulties and timing issues, we ended up not cosplaying at this year's SDCC. So instead, here's a compilation of the great cosplayers we met while we were there!

[sandsirens]

HENCH INTENSIFIES

[sandsirens]

baby-werewolf is showing signs of cosplay madness and would like to be buried now.

[sandsirens]

That point where you only have one day left to finish cosplay before SDCC so you all put on Shrek:The Musical and pull an all-nighter.