Charizard Cosplay: Full Costume Reveal!

Salt Lake Comic Con starts on Thursday and we are just about ready!!!

I've had a bunch of people asking me to take pictures of me wearing the full costume, so here it is! I'm still fine tuning a couple of details, but this gives you a pretty good idea of what the final product is going to look like...

I'm almost done with the Alpha Geek's Pokemon Trainer Red costume too - the Pokeballs are for his costume ;) I'm looking forward to seeing fellow cosplayers at the con so feel free to say hi!

Charizard Cosplay: It's the details that make the difference

SLC Comic Con is next week! Fortunately, I'm almost done with my Charizard gijinka cosplay so I had some time this weekend to work on the details:

Shoes - After looking at the whole thing together I decided I didn't like the blue on the shoes so I decided to use basic acrylic paint in Antique Gold to make the shoes match the feel of the rest of the costume.

Taking it to the next level - I got some air dry clay, sculpted claws, sanded them with a nail file, and painted them with a 1:1 mixture of white acrylic paint and modge podge. I glued them to the shoes with super glue and you can kind of see that I went up the side of the claws a little bit to secure them more and to look like cuticles. 

Scale Test - I wanted to treat the pants so they weren't so plain. Even though this is a anthropomorphized Charizard, I want to make sure every element of the costume looks intentional. I'm not just wearing an orange outfit - Every piece is influenced by the dragon subject.  I'm going to do this scale effect on the thighs and calfs so it has a slimming effect as well  as adding cool texture.

Stay tuned for the makeup/hair test and full costume reveal!

Flame on! Charizard Cosplay Progress: Tail

Almost done! Last night I edged my fabric and bustled this sucker up by hand. I'm so glad I took the time to make that duct tape dress form because that made the process sooooo much easier! I just pinned the fabric to the bodice, pinned up where I wanted to bustle it, and sewed a couple of stitches at each pin up. I gathered the tip of the tail and just secured it with a rubber band for now:

Next, I grabbed the EL Wire I got from the SLC Comic Con Cosplay class and threaded it through the bustling of the tail so it came out the tip. I coiled it around the tip of the tail and secured again with rubber bands. I wrapped some sparkly red, yellow, and orange tulle and wrapped it haphazardly around the wire. I secured again with rubber bands so I could check the effect of the lighting before I secure everything. You can't really tell in the picture because There is too much light coming in my window, but the tip of the tail is actually in shadow and the orange glow coming from the center of the "flame" actually looks really cool! 

Tonight I'll attach the tail to the bodice and secure the tip. I still have a couple of details I want to touch up, but as soonas the tail is attached to the bodice I will actually have the whole costume in a wearable state to try on! Yay! 

It's go time! Charizard Cosplay Progress

I realized this week that there are just 3 weeks left until SLC Comic Con! It is still a work in progress, but this week I got the teal added to the wings, made a frame for them out of metal rods, and mounted them to a cardboard base. The cardboard will ultimately be attached to a sweet orange backpack, but the metal rods go around all of the edges so it is sturdy enough to support itself. I also decided this week to make the yellow part of Charizard's tummy a corset/wide belt and braided teal ribbon to use as the ties - I thought the teal would accent the wings nicely. I re-styled the wig a bit so the tips of the horns flare out and look more flame like and I bought orange hair ties so they would blend in better. I left a bunch of hair out in the front because I am still deciding if I want to braid it back or trim bangs... I figure I can decide that once I do my hair/makeup test. I bought some orange eye-shadow and lipstick this week so I hope to do my makeup test this weekend.

Up Next: 
- Attach wing frame to backpack & cover ugly cardboard w/orange fabric.
- Clean up and seal fabric edges of wings.
- Add copper scale detailing to pants.
- Sew tail, attach to corset, and set up light effects for flame.
- Hair/makeup test.
- If time - sculpt claws & attach to shoes
- Sew vest for Pokemon Trainer
- Paint pokeballs & attach to belt for Pokemon Trainer

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! ***

Duct Tape Shenanigans and Charizard Cosplay Progress

I decided last week that I need a dress form if I am to be a proper cosplayer, but rather than spend the $100-$200 to get a plus size dress form (yes, I'm still a bit "curvy"... read: fat) I decided to try something I found on Pinterest and make my own out of duct tape. I realized at the final stage that I should have been taking process pictures, but it is a rather awkward experience so I suppose it was for the best. 

The process is fairly simple: Put on a shirt and pair of pants/shorts that you are willing to sacrifice to the cause, get 2-5 rolls of duct tape depending on your size, and find someone you trust a whole lot to wrap you in duct tape. Here is the tutorial that I used and found the most useful: http://offbeatbride.com/2010/11/duct-tape-dress-form 

And here is my result: 

It looks like a creepy, purple amputee and I still need to smooth out the form in a few places and seal the neck, but overall it worked pretty well. It probably won't be sturdy enough to build my wings on, but it will definitely make pattern-making a lot easier and more effective. I will be using this to create the tail piece for my Charizard gijinka cosplay. Speaking of which, I found the perfect shoes! 

Thank you little boys' dept of Walmart for trying to bring back the 80's! I also bought some polymer clay to sculpt claws that I will attach to the shoes with E600 adhesive. 

Last week I got the second wing wire structure shaped and covered with foam, so fabric comes next! I figured out the shape of the wings in the last post so I will get them cut out tonight and begin the process of attaching the fabric to the structure. I am going to use a hot glue gun to wrap the orange fabric around the frame and heat bond adhesive interfacing to attach the teal fabric to the inside of the wing. 

*** Stay tuned for more cosplay fun! ***

Sat Lake Comic Con Fan Experience 2014!

The Alpha Geek and I had many great adventures at Comic Con this weekend that I will take the time to write about later, but here is a taste of the awesomeness:

 Yup, Nathan signed our official Malcolm Renold's prop replica gun!

Firefly Cosplay: Kaylee and the Captain together!

Posting live from Salt Lake City Comic Con Fan Expo :)

Firefly Cosplay: Kaylee!

So my hair isn't done, but you get the idea ;) We will be taking better pictures tomorrow at Comic Con!

Firefly Cosplay: Kaylee's Jumpsuit

I got the flight suit from a local army surplus store and I bought the patches from ebay (I referenced Maggie's Costume Site for pictures and links). I just used fabric glue to attach them due to lack of time, but I'll go back and sew them later. I used a seam ripper to take the sleeves off (which was more difficult than it sounds because the military makes things to last!) and used scissors to clean up the edges. I didn't re-sew the hem because I don't think Kaylee would have gone to the trouble to do so. Fortunately, since the flight suit was army surplus it was already a bit distressed, but it didn't have any of the engine grease smears that are characteristic of Kaylee. I actually put the suit on, dunked my hands in a mixture of black acrylic paint and water, and wiped my hands on my hips and legs where it felt natural. I also smeared some around my waist and knee as if I leaned up against or knelt in something greasy. I have the perfect shirt to complete the ensemble, but you have to wait a little longer for pictures of the whole thing ;)

Firefly Cosplay: Captain Reynolds is almost done!

Ta daa!!! I have a couple of final details to attend to before Comic Con next Thursday, but it is just about finished. I will be styling his hair a bit different, but overall I'd say he looks ready to misbehave ;)

Stay Shiny!

Firefly Cosplay: Malcolm Reynold's Boots continued

Hey there friends! 

Last week was a bit crazy, but I finally worked on Mal's boots a bit more and they are almost done! Last time I left off after lining the main body of the boot and we were about ready to sew...

Picture #1 below shows the top piece of the boot. In a perfect world it would have the pleather on both sides, but I am short on time so I just rolled the top hem. 

Picture #2 shows the boot cover after I sewed the top pieces to the body and the right and left sides of the body together. The color of the cover and shoe look a lot different than they do in real life because the pleather of the boot cover seems to reflect the light differently. I turned the flash off for the third image and it gives a better idea of what the two pieces actually look like together. 

Picture #3 you can see that I added a zipper on the inside of the calf like Mal's boots and so the Alpha Geek can actually get the things on! To attach the boot covers to the shoes I had the Alpha Geek actually put them on and then I pulled the front and back edges of the cover down and used fabric glue to secure them. Fabric glue dries pretty quickly so I just held the edges down while it dried. I then had him take the boots off carefully, applied more glue, and used pins to hold everything in place while it dried. The pleather fabric had a bit of stretch so I was able to get the cover to lay pretty nicely. I also added 2 more panels to the front of the shoe since the original Madden shoes used for the show had 5 panels and the ones we got from Ross only had 3. I rolled the curved edge and sewed by hand to get the same raised look of the other panels.

In Pictures #4-5 you can see the trim I added around the seam where the cover meets the shoe. This just covers up any glue that leaked and makes it look more finished. All I did was take about a 1.5 inch by 12 inch strip of the pleather, folded it on itself in thirds lengthwise, and sewed a straight line down the center. I glued the trim on and used pins again to hold it. I left everything to dry overnight and touched up a few places this morning. After work I'll have the Alpha Geek try them on and we'll see how they look with the full costume :)

Side note: In image #4 you can see the light shoelaces peaking out between the zipper. At this point the laces are accessible so the Alpha Geek will still be able to tighten them comfortably. 

*** So, what do you think? Any suggestions? I will try to get pictures 

of the full Mal costume and my Kaylee costume up soon! ***

It's True! Nathan Fillion is coming to the Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Experience!!!!

Click on the picture below to see the press release confirming that my wildest dreams have come true! I posted a comment back when they announced Adam Baldwin was coming to see if they could try to get Nathan Fillion to come to Salt Lake and they actually did it!

The Alpha Geek and I are so excited and geeking out all over the place!!!! I hope Captain Reynolds enjoys our Mal and Kaylee cosplays :)

If you want to join Captain Hammer, the Alpha Geek, and I at The Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Experience it is at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 17-19, 2014. Fillion will only be there on Friday the 18th. You can buy tickets here. We got VIP tickets so we can get in the Express lines for celebrity guests and panels. VIP tickets are expected to sell out this week so buy them ASAP if you want them. Have fun and stay Shiny friends!

Not sure if serious, or just April Fools...

Soapbox time! I seriously cannot stand April Fool's Day! I enjoy a good prank as much as anyone else, but it seems like the internet takes the "holiday" as an excuse to be inordinately cruel. For example, the guys at Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Experience posted either the single greatest news I've ever heard or the meanest joke ever yesterday: 

Don't toy with my emotions like this!

Seriously, is there a statute of limitations for April Fool's Day? It is now April 2nd and the Fillion is still listed on the Master Guest list so I want to believe it is true, but there is no way to be sure without an official announcement. If I let myself get excited and it was all a prank it would cast a shadow on the whole convention. If it isn't a prank, then I am being denied my happy dance because I'm still not certain. Curse you April Fool's Day! 

Vote for Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Xperience Guests!

Hey there fellow geeks and nerds! 

If you haven't heard, the Salt Lake Comic Con was the biggest first year Comic Con ever - it was so big they are doing an additional event in April! If you live close enough you should definitely try to attend. They are constantly trying to improve their roster (we had Stan Lee and William Shatner among others last year) so they are giving the fans a chance to vote on who they should try to get to come. If you have Facebook (and let's be honest: you do), follow the link below to vote. You can vote for more than one and if you are really cool you will use one vote for Nathan Fillion!!!!!! 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1458410211052586/