Charizard Cosplay Update: Styling the Wig and Covering the Wings

If there is one thing I've learned from studying costume and makeup design in college it is that 
DETAILS MATTER!!! 

In this case, I decided to take my cosplay to the next level by getting an orange wig to match the feel of the character. Since I am doing a humanized interpretation of the character as opposed to a fur suit style costume, I thought it would be really cool to make Charizard's horns out of the hair of the wig. I was inspired by this awesome design:

http://tarnished-sanity.tumblr.com/post/63619720635/pokemon-gijinka

The wig was thinner and had shorter layers than I would have liked, so I couldn't do the fishtail style lke in the above picture and I had to get creative to get the right thickness to the horns. First, I brushed out the wig, sprayed some water on it, and gave it a good blow dry with some texturizing and volumizing sprays. 

*** A note on styling synthetic wigs: Most cosplay wigs are synthetic which means that the hair fibers are actually plastic. Be VERY careful with heat styling! Make sure you blow dry on a mid to low setting and NEVER use a curling iron and/or straightener or you will melt the fibers of the wig. If anyone is interested I can do a more detailed post on styling wigs later.***

Cosplay is a game of "use what you have to make what you want." Example: I actually used the cardboard from a Hamburger Helper box to make two cylinders to form the structure for the horns. Then, I put the wig on my styrofoam head form and positioned them on the head and cut the bottoms at the correct angle to match Charizard's horns.

See? They sweep back from the front of the head.

I used straight sewing pins to secure the wig and horns to the form to make styling easier - I styled around the pins holding the horns in place and carefully removed them once the style could hold on its own. 

First, I pulled the hair around the horns up to cover the cardboard and pinned in place. I added hair bands for support and because I liked the texture it gave. To give added texture like the inspiration picture, I began braiding sections of hair around the base of the horn horns and wrapped it up around the horn and around the base. Once I had something I liked I added a strip of the same orange fabric I am using for the wings to the top of the horn to hide some extra pins and just because I thought it would look cool.

Here is a picture of one of the horns "finished" and the other one in progress:

I say "finished" because I may add more ribbon or braids...

I also made some more progress on the wings this week:

I cut the scalloped bottom for both wings together and left the top alone. Since this is satin it started to fray where I cut it so I sealed the bottom edge with nail polish so I wouldn't have to sew. Then, I folded down the top over the structure of the wing, hot glued it and pinned it in place, and trimmed the excess fabric. I will glue that last piece of fabric down once I get the wire frame in place - I left it open so it would be easier and I would be less likely to catch the wire on the fabric and rip it. 

Next steps: cut out adhesive interfacing and teal fabric for the inside of the wing and iron in place. Then I get to figure out how to do the wire frame to mount the wings to the sweet orange backpack I got. 

*** Let me know if you like what you see or if you have any suggestions. Thanks friends! ***