Germia - gaming world

Vayne - League of Legends

my first costume

1) Why I chose to make this costume:

I chose Vayne to be my first costume because of different reasons. I was catched criticising a cosplay and challenged to do my own instead of saying clever things about something i cannot do - so I was actually challenged to show my skill. Second and main reason was to promote my team in a new and original way, but was only one of few to accomplish that wish.

ORIGINAL CHARACTER:

2) How I made this costume:

1) Bodysuit

I needed a fitting bodysuit in the dark blue color ideally. I've seen a lot of Vayne cosplayers wearing black or vivid blue bodysuits, that didn't really look as good as I wanted it to look. I think if the bodysuit is only one colored, there is no need for sewing it. At the end, I've found it in thermowear shop in our city. It's dark blue and has a beautiful pattern, that could be seen from close range.

2) Coat and the collar

The problem with the coat is, that on every picture of Vayne, there is some other color of it - the model is red and the splasharrt is brown. So I decided to follow the splashart look. The splashart is renewed now, I used the older one.

The coat and the collar were made from two genuine leather jackets with similar brown color bought in second hand shop. One of the coats server as a base for the collar, that I customised to be much higher and pointy. For the inner part I used a red velvet from a skirt I bought in second hand shop too. For the collar to hold shape, I decided to reinforce the collar with a moosgummi layer (craftfoam). The opening of the collar is made in the front side from filigree buckle i bought in haberdashery. The shoulder marks are decorated with silver ribbon and vintage
buttons. On the back part, there are silver vintage buttons to hold the back armor on the place. On the front, there are three straps with 6 spikes used for holding the small silver arrows They hold in place because of drawing-pins and are detachable. Every part of collar and coat is decorated with silver ribbon. The coat is made out of 9 pieces of red velvet for the inner side and 9 pieces of brown leather for the outside. Then it's sewn together layer after layer. It's quite heavy and it holds on it's place with velcro on the soulders and blue string by the neck. The bottom part of the coat is decorated with silver fabric color like on the splashart.

3) Boots

The boots are black leather long boots covered in brown leather creeling, that holds on it's place with rubber on the shoe sole and with velcro on the back side. The shoe is decorated with moosgummi armoring on the heel and on the front. It's glued and sewn on the leather. The upper part is decorated with silver ribbon, where the hooks used for bra closing are placed. That holds up on the boot and the whole creeling don't slip down. There are two decorating belts made out of leather and golden ribbon and bronze spikes on each shoe. There are two straps on each shoe for the arrows.

4) Minicrossbow

I had to improvise a lot by making crossbow. I had no reference pictures for it and I worked only with splashart picture.
The crossbow is made out of cardboard and several moosgummi layers and I made it harder by covering it in resin. Then I decorated it with antislipping latext for socks and wooden chips, that look like rivets. The arrow part is made out of toilet paper roll covered in moosgummi and decorated with czech glass cabochon. The whole thing holds on the bracer with velcro.

5) Bracers

Bracers are made from mossgummi, decorated with wooden chips and closed like a corset. They're really fragile and start to tear on some places now. When I'm doing bracers now, I'm using EVA foam (stronger foam) and underglue it with fabric.

6) Accessories - glasses, gloves, hair

It was really hard to find solid red glasses and I had luck I could buy these glasses for bikers with red mirrored glasses really cheap.
The gloves are long silver ball gown gloves I bought in haberdashery.
The hair is mine and it has to be backcombed and reinforced with wire and molitan to look good. There is a gold decorating ribbon for a better look. For my next appearance, I've bought a black 150 cm long wig, because the hair preparation takes about an hour prior photoshooting or action.

7) Belt

The belt is made out of brown leather and red velvet on the inside, decorated with golden ribbon and it holds together because of blue corset-like straps on the end,
Two bottles are made out of real plastic bottles used for soldering rosin, that is decorated with moosgummi and metal filigree buckle, painted with acrylics.

8) Back armor

The back armor is not seen very often on Vayne cosplays, but it´s really there!
What model did I took?
I´ve decided to combine the in-game model with splashart picture of Vayne together. I´ve got the back armor from in-game model and simple epaulets from splash art.
How could the crossbow hold on the back?
In game Vayne puts her big crossbow on the back and it fits on the big round thing with crystal inside. I´ve made the crossbow to fit on my back armor too. There are 4 strong magnets on the armor, that fits to magnets built in the crossbow. And through the big hole in the crossbow you can see the red crystal from the armor underneath.
How it´s made?
The whole back piece is made out of moosgummi layers and as I didn´t really like poor decoration on the in- game model back piece, i´ve decided to make it more decorative. So after I made the shapes out of moosgummi, fixed magnets and crystals inside and decorated th e whole piece with latex, i´ve reinforced small round moosgummi pieces with leather leftovers from the inside and cut holes in there. This procedure I´ve taken because I didn´t wanted to destroy the leather handsewn collar. I´ve sewn only 6 small silver vintage buttons in the collar, that holds the whole moosgummi back armor construction. It could be removed anytime. It ´s painted with acrylic colors with my sponge-tapping technique.

9) Kneepads, shoulderpads and arrows

The kneepads are made out of a wide leather strap with moosgummi and hooks for closing are glued to it. The main part is bigger, it has two moosgummi layers and one molitan layer, to make it look bigger.
The souhlder pads is just moosgummi heated to make rounder shape with hooks for closing and a special glue type, that makes this 3D effect when dry painted with acrylics.
The arrows are made from paper covered in resin for hardening (would definitely use cheaper papermache now) decorated with anti-slipping latex for socks and painted with acrylics. There are used 6 small arrows on the collar, 1 big arrow for minicrossbow and 4 big arrows on the boots.

10) Collar

The collar is made out of two layers of moosgummi and decorated with anti-slipping shoe latex, then painted with black acrylic color and silver acrylic tapped on with sponge. The crystal is a bought one czech glass cabochon. The skull thing is made out of several moosgummi layers too. It holds on place because of a strap, that could be holded in place because of the holes on each side of the collar.

11) Crossbow

It´s made out of cardboard paper hardened with acrylic cement, paper mache and wooden sticks from ice cream. The the montage foam was applied and cut into desired shape. The I've covered some parts in paper mache and I´ve used papermaché mash from mixed toilet paper, wood glue, flour and water. Added glued the gems on, painted with acrylic colors - black and golden, sprayed with acrylic laque.

I have to say, I don't recommend this method - it was a long and hard job with not so smooth outcome. If I would do this once more, I would use a hard extruded polystyren (the grey one) to cut the shape of. Then I wouldn't need to make a paper mache mash, that didn't hold so well on the polystyren, because extruded polystyren is smooth when cut with sharp knife. The grey polystyren could be additionally smoothened with acrylic cement or paper mache and sand paper.

12) Crystals

Tools & materials:
1x paper gift bag with shiny or metallic surface (like this: http://www.eshop-rychlo.sk/www-hlaspatrapia-sk/eshop/2-1-Darcekove-predmety/2-2-Darcekove-tasky/5/865-Darcekova-taska-tvrdy-leskly-papier-27x23cm)
1x superglue
1-more (the amount depends on how many you need) glass magnyfying cabochons sold on e-bay (for example here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clear-Glass-Cabochon-Dome-Flat-Back-PICK-/321512514719?pt=Craft_Beads&var&hash=item4adba3a49f)
1x scissors or exacto knife
Find a piece of the bag, where you like the shiny pattern or structure and put the glass cabochon on it to try how it will look. I´ve bought a bag with a star pattern, so I wanted to have the middle of the star alligned to the middle of the cabochon. Then put a little more of the glue on the spot you´ve chosen before. Glue the cabochon on the paperbag. Try to push real hard on ot to push all the air bubbles out. Let it dry for a longer time (1 day) and then cut out from the paper bag with scissors or exacto knife. Then it´s ready to use! Please, fasten your cabochon with a little bezel on sides made from a moosgummi or worbla to make it more durable!

3) Advanatages and disadvantages of this costume:

Advantages:

- With only a little armor, it's quite good for transportation and storing.
- It's quite popular character, because it' s one of the best ADC's in the game
- It's not so much cosplayed
- I don't need any wig, because my hair is black and long.

- It's not showing skin, but is still quite sexy

Disadvantages:

- It's not very comfortable to wear although it does seem like comfortable
- There is a lot of time spent in adjusting my hair before wearing this costume.
- The gun is too big for normal transportation.

And if you like my work, I would be honored if you're interested in my other work too and like me on my facebook page HERE.
Yours
Germia

Několik událostí v poslední době mne motivovalo k napsání série článků věnující se ženským hráčkám a zodpovědět takové otázky jako proč je jich tak málo, proč nedosahují mužské výkonnosti, nebo jak se k nim vlastně chovat.

A nyní už k tomu, co mě motivovalo napsat tyto články:

1) Článek o ženských hráčkách, který tvrdil, že ženy nemohou dosáhnout takových výkonů v e-sportu, protože mají "jiný mozek".
2) Odchod mé dlouholeté spoluhráčky kRAViCky z eSuba.ladies a negativní i pozitivní reakce lidí na tuto skutečnost.
3) Probíhající "nábor" na zaplnění chybějícího místa v našem týmu eSuba.ladies CS:GO a pozorovaný růst domácí ženské scény.
4) Zpráva na mé fb page s žádostí o podporu ženských hráček v hraní samotném, při kterém se setkávají se šikanou ze strany mužských hráčů.
5) Absence jakýchkoliv turnajů, offline i online, pro ženskou CS:GO scénu, a to zahraniční i domácí.

3) Domácí (a i zahraniční) ženská CS:GO scéna

Existuje cca 40 aktivních ženských týmů ve hře CS:GO na celém světě. To je velmi málo na celou naší zeměkouli, nemyslíte? Možná je to proto, že tyhle "diamanty herní scény", jak jsem si dovolila sama kompetetivní hráčky označit v minulém článku, postrádají tu podporu, která by je postrčila dál.

Když jsme přešly z CoD4 na CS:GO, pořádaly se nightcupy pro ženské hráče na ESL, celkem pravidelně se objevovaly turnaje a nejrůznější kvalifikace a čas od času i offline turnaj. Výběr toho, co hrát, byl obrovský. Poskytoval ženským hráčkám nejen častou šanci na úspěch, ale určité zúročení jejich snah, možnost srovnat se s ostatními ženskými týmy a tedy možnost evaluace, získání pozornosti a motivaci pro další hraní.
Nyní nejsou žádné cupy, žádné turnaje, žádné kvalifikace. Poslední dvě snahy o to, uspořádat něco pro ženské týmy, ztroskotaly na špatné organizaci a nejasných pravidlech (i o tom existuje článek), nebo na neschopných pořadatelích a adminech. A týmů tedy důsledkem toho opravdu nepřibývá. Pokud se objeví nový, tak spolu dlouho nevydrží. Přeci jen, čistě z pohledu běžného sportovce - kdo by se snažil poctivě chodit na tréninky, kdyby co je rok dlouhý nemohl to, co natrénoval, uplatnit v zápase? Jakou motivaci pak má ke svému snažení? A upřímně - jak jsem zmínila již výše - v nynější době zatím ženské týmy nemají velké šance uspět ve smíšených ligách a turnajích - je to opravdu jako jít s (přinejlepším) prvoligovým týmem hrát extraligu. Bohužel. Na to je nás stále velmi málo.
Abych to shrnula - ženská scéna zakrňuje a menší se - hráček je víc, protože je e-sport více vidět, ale podpory je méně a hráčky nemají motivaci "být dobré" - prostě se nemají kde uplatnit.

Co se týče domácí ženské scény, ta početně roste také, ale podporou už dávno zakrněla. Pamatuji si doby CoD4, pořádaly se CZ/SK turnaje pro dívky, valentýnské cupy pro smíšené týmy, bylo toho celkem dost. Hodně se na tom podílela Lena z tehdejšího týmu Insenia - hledala talenty, motivovala je k hraní, podílela se na organizaci cupů. (Tímto skládám poklonu tvému úsilí, kterého si jen málokdo všiml) No, nebylo by to super i v dnešní době v CS:GO?
Myslím, že podobné cupy by pomohly formovat CZ/SK scénu plnou nadějných a mladých hráček, pomohl by i třeba vylepšit vzájemné vztahy, zabránil by rozpadu týmů, které se opravdu dosud (kromě eSuba.ladies) jen skládaly a rozpadaly, i když potenciál měly třeba i dobrý. Pomohly by jistě i hráčkám, které jsem poznala díky náboru do našeho týmu, aby nebyly demotivované a vyzkoušely si svou hru v cupu pro ženy, ve kterém bude možnost dosáhnout na úspěch a nějakou pěknou cenu opravdu reálná. Pokud bude zájem, něco se dá vymyslet, ženy! ;)

A pokud tento článek čte nějaký potencionální pořadatel female cupu, prosím o přečtení mého kompletního článku zde, nebo přinejmenším respektování následujících bodů:
1) Poučte se z minulých cupů a soutěží - je důvod, proč byly pořádány tak, jak byly pořádány.
2) Dejte si na pořádání zvládnutelný termín, není kam spěchat.
3) Pravidla musí být v psané podobě a musí dávat smysl. Viz bod 1.
4) Zohledňujte speciální pravidla pro ženské turnaje, do kterých patří například voicecheck na společném TS (s jedním adminem stále přítomným nebo nahodile navštěvujícím hrající týmy), STEAM-ID musí odpovídat dané hráčce a některé portály vyžadují opravdovou fotografii v profilu.
5) Komentátoři musí být (stejně jako admini) neutrální a měli by hovořit buď v anglickém jazyce, nebo v jazyce alespoň jednoho z týmů. Měli by se chovat slušně a profesionálně.
6) Tým adminů musí být přítomen po celou dobu trvání turnaje a musí být k dispozici a provádět voicecheck. Neměli by na místě domýšlet pravidla a měli by být nestranní.
7) Dejte o svém turnaji pořádně vědět, nikam nespěchejte (bod 2), informace musí být jasné a srozumitelné, a to včetně základního infa, času (trvání, datum, délka matche), zdroje informací (internetové stránky s aktualizacemi, admini), psaných pravidel, informací o výhrách či postupu do jiného turnaje.

V dalším článku se budu věnovat chování hráčů k hráčkám v online-světě. Tedy s jakým chováním a reakcemi se ženy-hráčky mohou při hraní setkat a jak se s tím vyrovnat :)
Vaše germia!

Speciální dík/zdroje:
http://nerdybutflirty.com/

https://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/comments/224hsj/if_we_exclude_people_who_are_exclusively_mobile/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7796482.stm

http://usabilitynews.org/video-games-males-prefer-violence-while-females-prefer-social/

http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/19/gender-inequality/2/

http://explosm.net/¨

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/06/women-and-sports-world-cup-soccer/395231/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/3377q3/apparently_its_sexist_to_say_women_are_worse_at/

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110106061657AAMJAaH

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annanorth/7-sports-in-which-women-have-beaten-men#.qwVDMxdGd
https://www.flickr.com/photos/radekvebr/
https://justinsoup.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/strong.jpg
http://www.americanhealthandbeauty.com/articles/3276/men-are-naturally-stronger-than-women
http://images.ientrymail.com/webpronews/notinthekitchen.jpg
http://www.migranttales.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/yes-we-can.jpg
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/mortalengines/images/8/8e/Rip.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140807221244
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/WaiYenTang/20130208/186335/Reactions_to_a_womans_voice_in_an_FPS_game.php

I've seen a lot of pictures and comments lately, that emerged on social media supporting the "nohate" and "cospositiveness" by cosplayers. It says cosplay has no rules, just fun. I don't want to say I don't agree with that idea, BUT I cannot agree with everything, that has been said, because there actually ARE some rules of cosplay:

What is cosplay?
Just looking at some definition of cosplay, the word combines "costume" and "play" in its name and involves someone dressed as a character from games, anime, movies, sci-fi, fantasy, that carries similiarities in appearance (clothes, hair, props) and in behaviour (known as roleplay).

"Cosplay is for fun, let everyone cosplay whatever they want."

1) Accurancy of cosplay

If you' re cosplay positive, you can agree everyone can cosplay whatever they want.
But if you want to cosplay Wonder Woman, wear glasses because you don't bother to buy lenses or survive without glasses for a while, don't bother to buy a black wig, beacuse you're proud of your blonde curls, don't wear blue skirt, because the local store had only green, don't bother to make headress, because you have both hands left - then you're not doing cosplay, because the level of similarity with Wonder Woman is very low.
This is only one example, that inspired me by looking at the first picture. If you look at the last picture of this article, there is a woman on the fifth one, that wanted to look like iron man apparently, but the level of similarity with iron man is so low, that I'm not sure if it could be called cosplay.
If I take the first picture as inspiration for my next thought, even if you're on a wheelchair, you can use your disability to your advantage and make some epic costumes without interfiering with accurancy and faithfullness of the character just by using your brain and phantasy. Look at the pictures HERE. But simply wonder woman in a wheelchair without an actual idea for the wheelchair itself is already interfiering with the character.
Let's take it from perspective of the definition of cosplay. You have to carry similarities in appearance with the character - this is one of the main RULES of cosplay - Yes, it seems cosplaying has rules after all.
Let's take it from perspective of cosplay contests - the accurancy and dedication to the artwork/character is one of the main things considered by granting points. So of course, you can make your cosplay your way, use your creativity (sometimes there are awesome results!), but you can't expect people recognizing your character, calling your costume "cosplay" or admiring your work in masses. And you have to understand people disappointed with your costume, if you are changing their beloved character too much...
And the changes can envolve "sexying" the costume to show more naked body, simplifying the costume because of inabilities or lack of funds, or just using too much phantasy (but as I said - phantasy can turn things in awesome new creations or on the other side - destory the character completely).

2) Body of a cosplayer

If you' re cosplay positive, you can agree everyone can cosplay whatever they want.

First you have to think about if you can transform into the character, if you can achieve the first rule - to be similar, to look the same. And if your skin tone is white and you want to cosplay Lucian from League of Legends or Black Panther, you'll need a good makeup, or you will never be so convincing and so similar like the the cosplayers with natural black skin. The same works for your eyes, hair, weight, body type, height, ...
If you want to have a nice cosplay and want to look like a character, you have to choose your cosplay wisely, think of your body weaknesses or adjustments, that would be necessary. You just have to choose the cosplay to ideally look (and behave) like you, to suit you.
For example, I'm quite high for a girl, i have black eyes, black long hair and "curvy-muscular" body. I am a serious person and love dark and strong willed chars. What character should I choose? Vayne from LoL or Lux from LoL? Yes, whatever I want - but for Lux i would have to buy blond wig, blue lenses, adjust my behaviour to a laughing naive girl and still - because of my rather strong and high body i wouldn't look convincing as Lux. So Vayne it is.

Second reason, why to wisely choose the cosplay corresponding to you and your body type, is just the decency. You have to be aware of your weak spots and hide them and to know your strong spots and show them. These are the rules, that apply the same on the real life and that should be held in cosplay.
For example - you are very curvy/have more kilograms than average/are fat and you are in the choosing of the character - what would you choose - the closefitting half naked cosplay showing your orange skin on the thighs and three tires on your belly, or your proud big breasts in a fitting cleavage and the rest of the body hidden in a sophisticated dress? Simply, if you have more kilos here and there, it's not necessary to show everyone. And the same can be applied on other people too - you don't have to show more (hair, skin, fat, ...) than is necessary, especially if it is not regarded as desirable for your character.

I didn't really wanted to post some example pictures, but if you look at the worldcosplay page of Matsu Sotome, she's really the kind of curvy cosplayer, that can choose a fitting costume and knows how to wear it, showing only her strong spots! (On the picture as Ursula from The Little Mermaid)

3) Cosplay borders

The cosplay has no borders like your imagination.
Yes, but there are some borders between cosplay and bodypaint and halloween costume, ...
As you can see on the picture, the first on is a body painted model holding a helmet. I wouldn't look into if it is or isn't a cosplay, but I doubt she would spend a day on a con as a cosplayer, take part in a cosplay competition, or she would be let to go on some lectures with smaller children. But I consider it a piece of art and if someone calls it a cosplay, I wouldn't argue with him over that matter.
The second and third picture are halloween costumes. I think the cosplay and the halloween costume can merge together in some points, but they have a lot of own specifications, that split them. Halloween costume is often bought, dosn't cling to a level of accurancy, represents not only known but unknown characters and is weared only on Halloween. The cosplay on the other side is often made by the wearers, it should resemble or carry similarities with the character, represents only known characters (and their modifications) and is weared on different occasions like cons, gaming events, showcases, but definitely not to some kind of party.
The fourth picture is a example of a money, effort, sweat and tears invested in a great cosplay, fifth picture is already mentioned on the start of this article and the sixth costume should represent the "oversexying" of cosplays I've mentioned before, but it is actually a spot-on cosplay of Ironette - a hostess of Tony Stark. So it seems the one, who made this apparently cosplay-positive picture was the real jerk after all...

And why I've written this? I don't mind people having fun by cosplaying, i love the idea of cosplay positiveness, but if you don't follow the things I've mentioned in this article, you cannot be then offended by people critisising your cosplay, pointing at you at cons or saing they don't like your work. You have to count with it. If you're showing unnecessarly lot of skin, making someone's favourite character slutty, if you' re not decent or your cosplay doesn't resemble the character, don't be surprised, that the reactions on your work are not positive.

There are cosplayers, that are working hard to lose a weight to be able to cosplay something, that are undergoing a lot of uncomfortable things to be as much as similar to the character as they can, just to be proud of their costume and pay a tribute to their favourite character.
Be decent, choose your cosplay wisely and try to make it as good as you possibly can - then you can be really proud of it and enjoy the most of fun!

And to be sure everything was understood well, I support invence by cosplayers, I support cosplayers making statements, breaking borders... I just hate these silly cosplay positive pictures, that distort the reality of cosplaying and are saying, that even your poop can be a great cosplay (only if it is Mr. Hankey!)

Have a nice day, cosplayers!

Yours GERMIA

Headhunter Caitlyn from League of Legends

1) Why I chose to make this costume:

I love predator movies and I was admiring these Headhunter designs from League of Legends for a long time. Caitlyn is the kind of jungly-futuristic character, dressed black, silver, red, with badass weapon and armor and a lot of red lights, She's sexy, but is not showing a lot of skin. And when I was asked by my friend to do Headhunter skins together as a group with my Headhunter Caitlyn, I agreed immediatelly.
She's the kind of the challenge I was looking for - opening weapon and work with proper electronics (I kinda bypassed electronics in my past costumes with using done lights in a clever way before) and leather, wig styling.

ORIGINAL CHARACTER:

2) How I made this costume:

1) Helmet and hair

I've bought this afroamerican wig and looked like Whoopi Goldberg - so it had to be braided. I've made some dreadlocks, but it didn't look good, so i've decided to braid the wig in medium braids (classical - from three hair straps) and i think it looks more like dreadlocks than real dreadlocks, lol! It took me a whole day to braid it. Then i made the helmet from EVA foam, cut the wig in straps and sewed it inside the helmet. So the hair is portable now!

The helmet was made from 0,5 thick EVA foam, the patterns I drew on paper first and tried on myself. The sides of the helmet are hollow, it's once again just EVA foam glued from three pieces I designed on paper first. Then I glued them on small foam parts and sewed to a black plastic headband. I made holes with my dremmel tool into the headband and it holds the side parts on their place. Then it's painted with acrylic black and silver color with my sponge technique. It holds on my head with the help of bobbypins hidden in the hair.

2) Goggles

I've thought long about how the goggles should look. They look different on the in-game model and on the concept art, so I've decided to draw my own version, that has features from both designs. The in-game model looks like the goggles are on the elastic band and the concept art looks really mechanical. I've decided to choose the more practical version with elastic band, that I sewed and glued into goggles. The glasses are made out of red plastic folder book (foil). The goggles are made out of 0,5 EVA foam and decorated with moosgummi. On the right side, there's a "focusing lens", that shines. I made this once more from EVA foam, led light with wires, electric switch, battery and battery holder. The inside surface is a red shiny gift bag under red folder book foil, that is sanded to difuse the light and some whote stuff, that difuses the light too. The whole thing is mounted on a rivet and EVA foam base. It could be moved thanks to a metalrivet inside.

3) Skirt

The skirt is made out of a dark red (wine) velvet shirt I bought in a second hand store. I cut the shirt in 2 stripes, that I sewn together. A made the borders uneven to look like a teared piece of clothing and I sealed the borders with lighter. Than I made holes in the seam with awl and sealed them again with lighter, then I put a natural fibre string into it. On the top of the skirt, there is a velcro and metal closing mechanism, the skirt is convolutional (CZ: zavinovací).

4) Skull

It's made out of ceramic self-hardening clay shaped on foam base, painted with acrylic colors. And as I know i can't achieve a smooth clean colored skull without airbrush, I've decided to paint it like nature would paint an old skull - i painted it with yellow, brown and black acrylic color and then polished with wet napkin, that uncovered lighter color on places standing out.
The result looks old and dirty. on the bottom part, there are four holes for the skull to be fastened to a belt.

5) Bracers

The bracers are made out of EVA foam 0,5 cm thick - I made first the patterns from paper and I transfered it onto foam. I made a big window on both bracers, but only in one window, I installed electronics, because only one bracer of the model desing is shining. I've used a red moosgummi as a highlight for the non-shining bracer. For the shining bracer, I've used a red LED diod with 3V battery and switch installed in the bracer. It could be changed from the inside. I've used a red shiny gift bag as a base for the whole window, than I covered it in red foil and glued to the place. The bracers are painted with black and silver acrylic colors. They can be opened and closed on the inside side with velcro stripes.

6) Vest

The vest is made out of brown solid leather, that I used from old jacket I bought in the second hand store. I adjusted and sewn it to fit my tightly and fitter in some velcro and buttons to hold in place. The decorated shoulderpieces are made out of old brown leather belt, that I divided in thwo parts and sewn into place.

The whole armor on top of that is made out of EVA foam - 1 cm for breast armor heated to shape right, 0,5 cm EVA foam for the rest and decorations - everything dremmeled for smooth appearance. The EVA is underglued with black fabric, glued to the jacket and is fastened with velcros. I've made a gemstone to the middle of the jacket - I used a red glass decoration for flower pots, I made a bezel for it from moosgummi and I glued it to the button in the middle of the jacket.

7) Belly and back armor

I've made two part armor from craftfoam (2mm) underglued with black fabric, the muscle decorations are made out of 0,5 EVA foam. The amor holds it place because of velcros and elastic band. On the back side there are velcros to fasten to the jacket, on the front side there is one velcro to wrap around the middle of my bra and two velcros to hold onto a jacket. The elastic bands goes in the crotch area and connects on both sides of the armor. It is then painted with black and silver acrylics.

8) Back armor with light

The back armor was made out of 0,5 EVA foam, glued to the jacket. The electronics are made with the same steps like bracer armor, but the battery could not be removed from the inner part - i didn't want to cut a hole into the jacket, so I made this from two parts connected with velcro. Every velcro is swen into the foam and the seams are covered with craftfoam.

9) Shoes
The shoes are the same black leather shoes on hig heels I've used for my Vayne cosplay. I made a pattern out of paper tape and aluminium foil, transfered it on black fabric and black craftfoam, glued together. Than I made the back part from craftfoam with underglued fabric too, glued to one side, but pur a velcro from the other side to allow it open. The I decorated the opening back part with moosgummi/craftfoam. The front tip of the boot is made out of craftfoam too and the leaves decorating the whole boot are glued to the craftfaom creeling and made out of 0,5 EVA foam. On the bottom, there is a velcro fastening too. Everything is painted with black and silver acrylic color.

10) Tights

The tights are made out of net catsuit I bought on e-bay as a sexy lingerie, black leggings with shiny dotted pattern and a skin-toned t-shirt I bought in a second hand store. I decided to use a skin-toned colored fabric for the inner part of my legs, because I wanted to feel safe wearing this cosplay and don't attract too much attention with a very short skirt and nothing hifing my crotch area. The second reason of using this were the tights itself, because I think without this part it would not hold in place. I used short black shorts and I sewed it on myself, because I don't have anyone to sew it on, or a sewing dummy. On the blacks shorts I connected the skin toned fabric and leggings and on one leg the net catsuit leg.

11) Net bodysuit

Caitlyn has the net bodysuit even on her body, so I cut a part of the bodysuit and sewn an elastic band in the area of shoulders and crotch to hold on it's place.

12) Biceps armor with tooth

Caitlyn has a tooth on some brown bands fastened to her right hand. I decided to pimp it up a little and I used some scraps from the net bodysuit and leggings and made this predator-like thing holding the tooth, that I made from self-drying ceramic clay. The tooth has a hole inside and a place for the natural fibre lining to go. The rest is made out of brown leather with velcro. As an addition I had to make a small strap from leather connecting to the jacket, because of the weight it didn't hold in it's place.

13) Collar

I didn't really knew how the collar looks like, because there is no way how to see that on the model, splashart or concept art. I knew it is metal and pointed, so I decided to make my own design out of EVA foam, that is connected with velcro on the back, decorated wit EVA foam and craftfoam, painted with acrylic colors.

14) Necklace

The bead necklace is made from polymer clay (different kinds of Cernit).
It took me some time to decide how to do the beads, because the beads on concept, model and art differ in color and shape, so I've made them like this - lot of different decoration made with needle and salt in colors matching to the costume. The salt is making the surface rough and it could be washed after baking.

15) Claws

I bought a black ball glove from e-bay, made claw patterns from paper, cut the from craftfoam (2mm) and glued them with chemoprene glue to the glove. No priming, no base color - the foam was black, so I shaded it only into silver with silver acrylic color. It is bendable and comfortable to wear, but it takes a lot of damage and it needs to be repainted after every attended event. If you want to have a solid claw, I would recommend using EVA foam with primer, or silicone cement or worbla.

16) Belt and belt armor

The belt is a thick black leather belt I bought in the second hand store and decorated with brown leather on the front, with small moosgummi amor painted with silver acrylics on the right side and with the setting big shining armor with skull, bronw leather and feathers on the left part. The armor is made out of 1 cm EVA foam decorated with moosgummi, the electronics are made the same as on the bracer, the battery could be removed from the inner side. The armor is underglued with black fabric and has brown leather eyelets sewn into that. The skull holds on it's place because of holes in the armor where the natural fibre lining, that goes through the skull too, could be fastened. I' ve used red goose feathers for the feathers, that I bought on e-bay - the feathers are in the leather eyelits and could be removed. It could be fitted on the belt and the belt is closed with 4 bra hooks, that are sewn into the black thick leather belt.

17) Gun

The base of the gun is made out of cardboard and polystyren sheets glued together (I would use some harder material for the next project - after first even I had to repair the handle part of the gun with worbla, because it breaked). Shaped woth exacto knife and hardened with papermache. Other parts are made out of thick extruded polystyren with a decent structure, that I cut out and shaped woth exacto knife and dremel and covered with papermache too.

I have to say I wanted the gun to open itself, so I tried to make an opening mechanism for it from old umbrella, hotglue, wires and paperroll, that is inside the whole gun, but I discovered in the process of making, that the shoulder of the gun - the three points are too heavy for such delicate mechanism. The thought was good, but I didn't count with somuch weight at start. So I glued the shoulders of the gun to the body of the gun with the help of foam wedge blocks and it looks pretty neat.
So the gun is covered in the papermache and I decorated the details of the gun with moosgummi, and EVA foam (1cm and 0,5cm). Then painted with black and silver acrylics. Everything is glied with chemoprene glue. BE careful, chemoprene glue cannot touch the polystyrene, it will melt it.
I drilled the hole for the drum part of the gun, that is on the bottom part of the gun and with the help od cradboard block fastened it into the gun. I drilled the holes for the lights in the drum part and round middle part, where the small red LED balloon lights could be inserted - so there was no electric wiring needed for the gun. The holes are cover with moosgummi or EVA foam, the drum part is holding with elastic band in place.

The main light in the middle of the shoulders, that looks like a small lightsaber or crystal on the splashart and model is made out of plastic packing for vanilla husk. I inserted in this plastic shape a red foil and the top of the red LED balloon light. I've used a screw from the umbrella to attach it in the mechanism of the gun - so it could be screwed of the gun. To hold on it's place and don't flap arounf I made from hotglue a little saucer around the screw. The light is switched on by screwing too.

I made some red decorations from shiny red giftbags covered in red foil and I made the optic sights from red foil too. And to insert a crosshair there, I've used a whit packaging stuff, that I glued with hot glue on the place. The sights are hotglued in place too.

18) Other

You'll need a red bodypaint or makeup to make her ornament on the left biceps and her eye makeup. I used dark red lip liner to draw it and i think it's much better than any bodypaint.
Caitlyn has different eye color on every material I've used, so you'll not fail to use blue, purple or red color for the eyes. I've used red mysefl, because I think it fits her the most, but I would recommend using blue color, because that is the color of her eyes in the game model.
I recommend looking in my contact lenses guide for that.
On top of that, don't forget to have bobbypins for fastening the wig nad helmet to your hair. If you don't have dark brown or black hair, I recommend hiding it under the wig, if you have the right color, braid it and stick your hair out, because Caitlyn has one dreadlock longer than the others.
And as it is with all other shining cosplays, bring a lot of batteries with you :)

MATERIALS:

Red goose feathers for the belt armor
Polymer clay Cernit for the beads
Jute cord for necklace, skull and skirt
Red led light bulbs, batteries, battery holders, wires, on/off switches and transistors for bracers, belt armor, helmet, back armor and gun
Fishnet lingerie
Black gloves for claws

This is a small tutorial how to make moving and shining fire prop for your cosplay skit really CHEAP :)

And if you want a better version, you can addd programmed light, smoke generator, or bigger fan.

You need:

1) small fan - I've used one with 4 AA batteries, but you can also use a stronger wired one.
2) LED flashlight
3) red, orange, yellow plastic foil sheet for flame borders and
4) Carboard box
5) Cord
6) Transparent red, orange and yellow paper
7) Knife, scissors, bodkin (or something, that makes holes)
8) newspaper
9) Adhesive tape and ducktape
10) Watercolors and acrylic colors
11) Hotglue and paper glue

Step-by-step:

1) cut small pieces from red/orange/yellow foil and tape it to your flashlight to change the color of the shine.
2) Tape your flashlight to the fan. Careful not to block the movement of the fan arms.

3) Cut a circle big enough to fit the construction of flashlight and fan in from cardboard
4) Cut a border of the circle from cardboard and glue it to the circle about 4 cm higher then the construction of fan and flashlight.
5) Glue the construction of fan and light into your new cardboard box.
6) Make holes in the box to be able to turn on/off your devices and make a lot holes in the cardboard for the air to go in. 7) Make small holes on the top of the box and interlace your cord there. Glue it with hotglue on the place.
8) Tear your transparent red, orange and yellow paper into small flames and glue it with paper glue onto the cord. Use yellow in the middle and red for the borders.
9) Color the whole box red, black, and yellow with acrylics or water paint.
10) Cut flames out of foil and glue them with hot glue to the top of the box to hide the cord borderd.
11) Crumple newspaper and cover it in adhesive tape and paint it black, grey, brown (silver) with acrylic color to make stones.
12) Glue the stones with hotglue to the sides of the box. Be careful to let the places with on/off switches accessible.
13) Finish the paint and you're ready to go.

I've used it for my skit on Animefest 2016 and it looked good, I would use only a stronger fan next time!

The recording of my skit is here: https://youtu.be/ltv7AcuNaTM?t=30933

And please, follow me on my FACEBOOK PAGE for more!

First photo: Radek Vebr

Haven Paladin from Might & Magic Heroes VII

Photo by Photo Czarny

1) Why I chose to make this costume:

I admire nordic mythology, especially Valkyrias, winged female creatures choosing the souls of fallen brave soldiers for Valhalla. I wanted to do an epic Valkyria for a long time, but I wasn't succesfull in finding the right model or design for me. I dont' like naked designs and I searched for a badass armor.
As soon as I laid my eyes upon the female might hero from Heroes, I fell in love and I had to bring the design to live. It was the challenging project I was looking for and a form to pay tribute to a game, that isn't cosplayed very often, even the desings of the heroes are so epic.

ORIGINAL CHARACTER:

2) How I made this costume:

1) Helmet

I made the headcast of my head following this youtube tutorial, covered it in food foil and adhesive tape. On the tape i drew the shape of the top of the helmet, cut it into pieces and transfered on 0,5 cm thick EVA foam. How to transfer a pattern onto a foam is great to see in this tutorial.
When the top of the helmet was done, I added the bottom part from 0,5 foam. For a better firmness I reinforced the top part of the helmet with a cotton fabric and woodluge covered than in latex cement - it's hard as worbla when finished.
The front decoration was made from 0,5 foam two pieces, that came together at an oblique angle with a fixed wire inside for better firmness. Then it was covered in brown worbla, covered in latex cement for smooth surface and decorated with blue handmade fussing glass cabochon in a moosgummi bezel (decorated with turquoise pearlescent nail polish and sticked on the blue moosgummi on the bottom part and black moosgummi on the sides) and EVA foam "wings". Other decoration were made from mossgummi and EVA foam in worbla and they reinforced the helmet some more. On the bottom of the helmet's sight-hole I added a small corset reinforcement to hold the sides of the helmet close together.

Then I made the big wings on the back. First I made the base from moosgummi-worbla sandwich. The I drew the shape of the feathers and made them out of black worbla sandwich on back side and out of moosgummi on the front (only in the middle - because of weight and because it already holded it's shape really well, so there was no need for more worbla). It holds on the helmet thanks to two rivets made out of worbla leftovers, that go through the back on the helmet and thanks to chemoprene glue (barge).
The whole thing was painted with black, silver and gold color with my painting technique (more info about it by bracers).

2) Pauldrons

The pauldrons are made from 1cm thick EVA foam with one strap arounf the shoulder, one strap connecting behind the necj to each other, one strap holding the biceps armor and one strap, that goes through breastplate. Everytime I try to fasten something to EVA, I underglue it with fabric first, because foam is easy to tear. I also added some padding from yogga mat to make the pauldrons appear higher and to make them better sit on my shoulders.
Then I drew the feathers and sandwiched them from mossgummi and black worbla
The small mini feathers are made from dremmeled EVA foam 0,5 cm thick covered in black worbla. It's painted with silver, gold and black acrylic colors.

3) Breastplate
I wanted to make the breatplate really firm to hold it's shape, so I've chosen regular worbla to do this job. I covered moosgummi from one side with brown worbla and the breasts are made from pattern from an acrylic ball. The pattern was divided into 4 circles and I hoped it will make the cricle structure like on the game design. But after painting in, I've realized I had to make the circles stand out a little more, so I did it first only with acrylic colors and then remade it with moosgummi and colors (second picture). The worbla is primed with latex cement and decoratd with EVA foam (0,5 cm), moosgummi and blue fussing glass in moosgummi bezel. The breastplate could be laced up like a corset on the back.

4) Biceps armor

This armor is made out of EVA foam and the golden borders from moogummi. It holds with velcro on the top to the pauldrons, and one velcro around the arm. The wings are 0,5 cm EVA foam dremmelede in the shape of the wings, then covered in black worbla, primed with latex cement and painted with acrylic colors.

5) Corset

It's made out of black leather reinforced with sew-through corset reinforcements. I made the pattern from paper and tried it on myself. I sctually made it too short first (see picture with boob armor), so I had to add a layer on top of the corset to look good. The scales are made out of leather too, then glued to the leather with chemoprene glue (contact cement, barge). Then the scales are painted with silver acrylic colors.
There are two velcros on each side of the corset, that hold hip armor and one velcro on each side, that hold the knee armor. In the middle there is one more velcro sewn from the inside, that holds the skirt and one from the outside, that holds the belt buckle.

6) Knee armor

For better mobility the parts are fastened with elastic bands, that stretch when the knee is bent. I've used some rivets to hold the parts together - you can see them from the side.
It's made out of black craft foam (moosgummi) fro the borders and Eva foam underglued with black fabric for better durability. The scales are made out of black leather, hand-sewn, painted with acrylic colors.

7) Gauntlets

The gauntlets are made from black satin gloves i bought on e-bay. I made them from moosgummi and black worbla sandwitch and glued them with hotglue onto the gloves. Then I made the upper part from EVA foam 0,5 cm thick, primed the fingers with latex cement and painted it black and silver with acrylic colors.

8) Bracers

The base of the bracers is made out of 0,5 cm EVA foam and decorations are from moosgummi and acrylic rivets. From the inner side there is a velcro, that connects it around the arm. It is painted with acrylic colors and how I did it you can see in following video tutorial I made:

9) Ellbow armor

A little insight in how I think about each part of cosplay can be seen on the picture - what materials to use and how to connect the pieces to hold on their place and allow me to move. This is one of the hardest parts of cosplaying - how to make something irl and make it function, look good and be still true to the original design.
For this elbow armor I've designed a three part construction from EVA foam, moosgummi and fabric connected with elastic bands to allow me to bend my arm. It could be opened and closed with velcros. Thanks to the three part design it allows me to have great mobility.

10) Shin armor

The shin armor was made the same like biceps armor - EVA foam for the base, moosgummi for the decorations and borders and black worbla with dremmeled EVA inside for the wings. Two velcros then connect it on the back side.
After making it, I enhanced it with foam padding, that shaped my leg better, because I have really slim calfs.

11) Boots

I bought black boots from fake leather. I've searched some, that are not on high heels, but not flat - so the heel looked feminime, but was not overly sexy, I guess.
The boots were a little wide on the top, so I had to sew it to fit thight on my leg. I hid the sewed joint with black leather.
Then I made the pattern from food foil and adhesive tape, drew the pattern on it and then transfered it on 0,5 EVA foam. Then I glued the construction on the boot and decorated it woth moosgummi. I painted it with acrylic colors.

12) Biceps padding/gambison

I've bought a jacket for kids in a second hand store made out of quilted black fabric and I used it for the sleeves of my cosplay.
I sewn it in hand and use faux leather for the borders. It holds on its place by one velcro, that connects onto velcro on the biceps armor.

13) Hips armor

Hips amor is made out of 0,5 EVA foam, dremmeled on the sides (I dremel every piece od foam and every piece of moosgummi just to have round edges). Even the feathers are made out of foam, border decoration is made out of moosgummi.
From the jacket I used for the gambison sleeves I've used the pockets to make some place for money and necessary stuff on the inner side of the armor.
The whole armor holds on its place thanks to velcros, that connect to the corset.

14) Skirt

For the skirt and cape I bought a woolen fabric in the red-orange brick color, but when it arrived I realized it's too orange, so I had to dye it some shades more red. I spent the whole day dying this heavy fabric. I cut the shape of the skirt from it and since it's from two colors, I had to dye one layer a little darker (red-brown)- I dyed it with spray-on color for fabric. I handsewn the whole thing and decorated it with golden ribbon. It holds with velcro on the corset.

15) Cape

The cape is made out of woolen fabric, that I had to dye to be more red. I measured it and cut to fit me. It holds with two opening hooks, that hook into breastplate. I handsewn the whole thing and decorated it with golden ribbon. The cross on the back was visible only in the game, so I had problems to make it accurate.

And to make sure my cape will be always spread wide with the cross visible and not just a crumpled piece of fabric on my back.
A small hole in my pauldrons and two bra hooks on each side of my cape hold the shape of my cape just fine.

16) Belt

The middle part is made out of black moosgummi and EVA foam 0,5 cm and hand made fussing glass cabochon. The feathers form EVA-black worbla sandwich. Then it's primed with latex cement, painted black, silver, gold and shaded with black acrylic paint, underglued with fabric and moosgummi with black velcro.

The belt is made out of wool fabric in brick red color, painted with textile colors, embroided with gold ribbon, decorated with gold rivets and gold paint. The buckle holds on the belt thanks to keychain rings and worbla strap and because worbla sticks to itself.

17) Sword

1) - Shape of the sword cut from plywood (0,5 cm)
2) - 4 layers of Starlon polystyren glued with Duvilax wood glue (But I would totally use the grey extruded polystyren for my next projects!)
3) - 3D shape cut from Starlon using exacto knife
4) - Lot of papiermaché layers for harder surface
5) - Black acrylic paint to make the bulky surface easier to see
- Electronics, that make the sword shine
6) - Latex cement for smooth surface
7) - Red leather glued to the handle with chemoprene glue (barge)
- EVA foam (0,5cm) and Moosgummi (0,2 cm) added for the whole decoration and wings part
- Blue glass cabochons added and runes in the blade engraved using engraving tool
8) - Painted the whole sword black as a base color
- Used different shades of silver, gold, black and brown colors to achieve the final look.

18) Accesories

Paladin Ymoril has a greenish eye color and I have brown, so I had to use contact lenses. I recommend looking in my contact lenses guide for that.

She has red short hair with two braids coming back, so I had to buy a longer red wig (I wanted the wig to look natural, so if you're buying wig on e-bay, try to buy the wig with real-looking pictures and not stock pictures). I then cut the red wig to be shorter and the remains I used for the four braids. I've glued and sewn the braids into the wig. Keep in mind, that if you're wearing wig, you have to make a larger helmet. One more thing to add is to choose the right makeup - paint your eyebrows with red lipliner to look good with the wig and choose the right make-up color to your look (bronze colors, natural lipstick).
On top of that, don't forget to have bobbypins for fastening the wig to your hair.
And as it is with all other shining cosplays, bring a lot of batteries with you :)

MATERIALS:

Led light: http://www.ebay.com/itm/182050867647?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Battery bezel: http://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-CR2025-CR2032-Button-Coin-Cell-Battery-Socket-Holder-Case-Black-for-Arduin-/121299198835?hash=item1c3dfee373:g:TxIAAOSwe7BWxA7K
Battery: http://www.ebay.com/itm/5PCS-for-Watch-Toys-Remote-CR2032-DL2032-LM2032-3V-Button-Cell-Coin-Battery-HS-/371336774348?hash=item56756582cc:g:69oAAOSwv0tVZWQX
Switch: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DZ203-Mini-Slide-Switch-SPDT-2-0mm-Pitch-2-Tap-Position-3Pin-20pcs-/131319659615?hash=item1e9342fc5f:g:JrgAAOSw8cNUOUMA
Wig: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Crell-Sutcliff-Cosplay-100CM-Long-Wine-Red-Synthetic-Hair-Lolita-Party-full-Wigs-/131765681257?hash=item1eadd8bc69:g:9LQAAOSwI3RW-i8H
Lenses: https://www.vasecocky.cz/colourvue-fusion.html
Gloves: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fashion-Satin-long-finger-gloves-opera-wedding-party-dress-costume-Gloves-/301350310976?var=&hash=item4629e0d440:m:mMcxfh84NL1euTHOiPHbEoA

And there are some pictures of my done cosplay :)
And if you like it, please follow me on my FACEBOOK PAGE for my new work, please!

Photographer: Photo Czarny

Photographer: Radek Vebr

As I am a member of facebook groups for selling cosplay stuff and asking cosplay advices, I come across a lot of questions regarding buying wigs and caring for them.
I decided to devote one article to how I buy and care for my wigs and I hope it will help someon in future.
I have to admit I'm no wig expert or hair expert, just a cosplayer and the things I write originate from my experience and my budget options.

BUYING WIGS

If you're a normal poor :D cosplayer like me and you don't have a budget to buy a wig for more then 20-30 Euro, I'm here for you with my advices, how to choose a cheap wig on e-bay, that looks good and will suit your needs. If you don't follow my advices, you could buy a wig, that could have following flaws:

- the wig is too thin,
- the wig cape could be seen on some places through the hair,
- the hair will look unnatural and too shiny,
- the hair is not heat-resistant,
- the wig is shorter than on the picture,
- the wig is cut differently than on the picture,
- the wig has a different color than on the picture.
And I want to say, there is never 100% chance you'll buy a bad wig when not following the things I write below, but your chance to buy something bad is getting higher. And this applies vice-versa as well.

1) Picture

1) Original picture

Don't buy a wig with a picture used by 150 other sellers on e-bay. I can assure you the wig you'll receive won't look like the wig on the picture in most cases. Keep in mind, that the more original pictures the product has, the better chance you'll receive the wig, that is on the actual picture.

If you want to avoid these fails, buy only wigs, that have actual original picture, that couldn't be seen by any other seller.

Don't buy:
1) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Anime-Tokyo-Ghoul-Wig-Cosplay-Short-Straight-Heat-Resistant-Synthetic-Hair-Wig-/201552332554?var=&hash=item2eed74870a:m:mvOnTsUq-hBygDosf6WAFkg

2) http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-16-Colors-Fashion-Short-Straight-Man-Wig-Cosplay-Party-Wigs-gift-/171690964230?var=&hash=item27f9943506:m:mAUStVU-jHgM0dlnbzJzOyw

3) http://www.ebay.com/itm/80cm-Full-Wig-Long-Straight-Wig-Cosplay-Party-Costume-Anime-Hair-Fashion-/322018455952?var=&hash=item4af9cbb190:m:m5LiaucxN5t7ulM_buFfvRw

My experience:
I wanted to buy short wine red wig reaching to a shoulder, but totally shorter red wig in red (not wine red) color came. I bought it from a seller, that had same photos like hundreds other sellers on e-bay. It was a mistake. But even the final wig wasn't too bad, it was too short for me and my cosplay.

2) Human hair picture

Don't buy a wig with a picture of actual human hair - it will never look like actual human hair and surely not like the hair of the actual woman on the picture!

Don't buy:
1) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fashion-Women-wig-Heat-Resistant-Long-Curly-Hair-Cosplay-Costume-Brown-Full-Wigs-/201396405285?hash=item2ee4294425:g:v50AAOSwjVVVt~s6
2) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wigs-Fashion-Women-Sexy-Party-Short-Curly-Brown-Mixed-Cosplay-Synthetic-Full-Wig-/262419316986?hash=item3d196900fa:g:yH8AAOSwiYFXKWJZ
3) http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-sexy-Womens-ladies-short-Mix-Natural-Hair-full-wigs-wig-cap-/251787214840?hash=item3a9faffff8:g:jUUAAOSw8d9UsEgR
4) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fashion-Sexy-Ladies-Short-dark-red-Cosplay-Party-Curly-Wigs-Free-Wig-Cap-/271851535550?hash=item3f4b9d3cbe:g:tKgAAOSwEeFVPXDd

3) Missleading picture

Don't buy a wig with different-looking wig on each included picture. This means, that the seller didn't took even 1 of the presented pictures and your wig won't look like on the picture.

Don't buy:
1) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Womens-Straight-Medium-Cosplay-Synthetic-Hair-Costumes-Short-Anime-Black-Wigs-/401047738670

4) Bad resolution picture

If you're taking your own pictures of the wig as a seller, it is only logical you will have a good resolution of your own photos. So if a wig has a bad resolution photo included, it is not an actual picture of a wig you'll receive.

Don't buy:
1) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Anime-Black-Butler-Grell-Sutcliff-Cosplay-Deep-red-wig-Gift-Glasses-/261876507449?hash=item3cf90e6339:g:BBgAAOSwHnFV4E9A

2) Other advices

- Keep in mind, that the polystyrene and manequin heads are smaller than human head, so the wigs appear longer than they actually are. So buy always a longer wig and style and cut it rather than risking buying a shorter wig.

- Choose a seller, that has good feedback score, read his feedback before buying anything,

- If a wig looks shiny and unnatural on the picture, it will definitelly look awful in real life too,

- If a wig is crepped with hair crepper, it is done to achieve a better volume of the wig. This is done most likely because the wig is too thin in real life.

- Most wigs are heat-resistant - so even you need a curly wig, you can buy a straight wig and curl it with curling iron - count then, that the wig will be shorter after curling.
- If you're a character in an open helmet and you'll know you'll never take your helmet off, but you need to have wig, you can sew or glue the wig into your helmet for easier use. See my article about my cosplay of Headhunter Caitlyn for more!

- A wig with bangs is always better for you, because it covers your natural hairline - it's hard to cover your natural hairlina without bangs - then you often need an expensive lace-front wig.

My experience:

I wanted to buy a long grey beard for Odin cosplay and I have to admit, even on e-bay are these wizard beards and wizard wigs prices pretty damn high! :D So I've done something, that was against all my rules and advices I've written about and I bought this wizard wig and beard. You can see the picture is photoshopped and if you look closely, the wig is crepped to add volume to it. So I've risked a lot. A shiny beard and badly fitting wig came, the overall volume of the beard was bad. So I've decided to cut the wig in pieces and use it for adding volume to the beard. And here's the result - thick beard, that I could braid in three thick braids and I'm really satisfied with it. It's still shiny, but I like it - Odin is a God, so it kinda fits. But if you want to get rid of shine from your wig, you can try to bath it in fabric softener mixed with water (1:2) (and talc powder) for a few days.

3) Good examples

Buy wigs, that look real wigs, are photographed on a polystyren or manequine head from different angles (so there are more photos) in good resolution, are well described and the seller has good feedback (98% and higher).

Buy:
1) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cosplay-Party-Long-Natural-Straight-Anime-Wigs-Full-Black-Hair-Wig-Ponytail-/361463036622?hash=item5428e03ace:g:EtEAAOSw5dNWjUEX
2) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fashion-wig-New-sexy-Womens-Black-Cosplay-Straight-Hair-Full-Natural-Wigs-/141815408371?hash=item2104db66f3:g:KPIAAOSwQJ5UUOri

4) Special kinds of wigs

If you're looking for a special kind of wig like a combed-back wig or ponytail wig or braided wig, dreaded wig or very large wig (Tangled fairy-tale, Merida wig, Jinx wig), some advices, I've written, can be applied even on these wigs, but in most cases, you have to either invest in a high quality expensive wig from good seller or take your risk.

FRONT LACE WIG

Front-lace wigs are wigs, that have a very natural hairline if you comb them back because of the lace in front. The lace you'll then cut to fit your forehead. These wigs are needed for characters with hair combed back like Geralt fromo Witcher or Elsa from Frozen.

Expensive option:
High quality wig from respective seller. The best cosplay wigs can you buy on Arda wigs, that is on of the best wig manufacturers for cosplay. They offer front-lace wigs for about 70 dollars.

Example:

https://arda-wigs.com/shop/virginia-classic/

Cheaper option:
Buing a combed-back wig from e-bay without a front lace. The hairline doesn't look natural, but it does it's job in most cases

Examples:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Womens-Long-Straight-No-Bangs-Silvery-Silver-Cosplay-Anime-Costume-Full-Wig-/111430127924?hash=item19f1c0d134:g:xaQAAOSwRLZT5AAL

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Princess-Snow-Queen-Elsa-Wig-for-Cosplay-Blonde-Braided-Synthetic-Hair-Wigs-Long-/321338430981?var=&hash=item4ad1435605:m:mMuHMvphV1vOXN1D_WptGvA
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hobbit-female-wizard-Ta-Ruier-Elf-Captain-Widow-s-peak-COSPLAY-wig-anime-wig-W037/32323829052.html

Example of LOW and HIGH quality wigs:
I found 4 pictures of Geralt cosplay from Witcher. On the first picture, you can see a wig, that is too short, too shiny, too silver, has an unnatural hairline and is styled wrong. It doesn't look like his hair (source: pinterest). On the second picture, there is a cosplayer Kuromaru with natural white, good styled wig, that looks like front lace (but I'm not sure about it) and totally look like Geralts natural hair (photo: Skiu). On the third picture there is an unknown cosplayer, that used gluing technique for doing a natural hairline. but it went kinda wrong with a lot of teeth and a lot of glue to be seen. But in comparison with the first wig, there is a styling included and it has better color (source: pinterest). On the fourth picture, there is Maul cosplay with his front-lace wig, good styled, very natural hairline. The only thing I can say about this, that it is maybe too white on this picture (source: FB-Maul cosplay).
So on these examples, there could be seen, that the lace-front wig could be really important, if you want to look natural and stay true to the character. Sometimes it pays-off to pay more and buy front-lace.

BRAIDED WIG and DREADED WIG

In the next article, I'll talk about all my cosplay wigs I have - where I bought them and how I styled them. There will be 3 types of braided or dreaded wigs, so keep tuned for my next article about wigs.

PONYTAIL WIG

Ponytail wigs deserve an article for themselves too ;)

VERY LARGE WIG

SouBeat cosplay with her high quality wigs

There are characters, that need a very huge wig like Princess from Tangled or princess Merida or Jinx from League of Legends. You can spare yourself a lot of problems, if you search fro these characters directly on e-bay, because some sellers make wigs fitting for a lot of famous characters including these three.
If you buy them cheap (but they are not as cheap as some shorter wigs), you have to count with them not being so bushy and volumous as you would need. So the best solution for that is to sew more wigs together (I'll speak about styling and caring for wigs in my next article).
But if you need it only for cheering up the kids or some random screwing around, then these cheap wigs are just for you (be careful, these wigs don't fit into my advices about buying wigs):
Merida:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brave-Merida-Curly-Wavy-Costume-Wigs-Orange-Hair-Fashion-Cosplay-Party-Long-Wig-/381285902057?hash=item58c66926e9:g:ZVEAAOSwZd1VcmwQ
Rapunzel:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/60-inch-150cm-Tangled-Straight-613-blonde-Supper-Long-cosplay-wigs-ZY50J-party-wig/1721778022.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.10.zXEXNR&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_8,searchweb201602_5_10017_10021_507_10022_10020_10009_10008_10018_10019_101,searchweb201603_1&btsid=3d62069a-4d5a-40cf-93b4-3c7636d6ad04
Jinx:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2015-hot-sell-LOL-New-Hero-Jinx-100cm-Long-Blue-Braid-Cosplay-Party-Hair-Wig-/191619282872?hash=item2c9d6637b8:g:cEgAAOSwMmBVlTgx

I hope my guide helps you by buying the right wig for your cosplay :) Next time I'll show you what wigs I own, how I styled them and where I bought them ;)

Please follow me on my facebook page for more!

https://www.facebook.com/DATgermia

I've decided to write an article about my cosplay wigs - I own now 8 wigs I wear for different cosplays and occations:

1) DIANA/STREAM

100 cm white wig with no bangs and middle parting

I bought this wig, because I wanted to cosplay Diana from League of Legends and I searched for white long wig. I was totally unexperienced and bought a 100 cm long very nice snowy white wig with parting in the middle. And as I got more and more experience in cosplaying, I realized this wig is totally not suitable for combed back Diana's hair. Eventually I decided not to cosplay Diana, but I keep my wig for streaming or maybe for some future cosplay, because I always wanted to cosplay white haired character.
I bought this on e-bay, but it's now about 2 years ago, I actually had to bid on it and it cost me around 430 Kč = 17 Euro. But the auction showed real pictures of this wig and the quality of the wig is pretty damn high - the fibers are silky, snowy white and it feels like human hair.

2) STREAM

80 cm blonde curly wig with bangs

I bought this blonde wig on e-bay for my stream and for my funny review of graphic card I did. I needed it really fast and I didn't really care about quality, since it is not for cosplay purposes. It's about 80 cm long, it has bangs, it is kinda thin and the wig cap can be seen through the hair on some places, but I don't care because the color is good (bright blonde) and looks naturally blonde and not yellowish and it serves me well. I bought it from a seller, that had stock pictures like other 1000 other sellers, but i bought it quite cheap - around 230 Kč = 9 Euro.

3) LEBLANC

Mint green/white short wig with bangs

I wanted to buy a wig for my Ravenborn LeBlanc cosplay and stay true to both splashart (white hair) and in-game model (green hair), so I've bought a wig, that was white with slight greenish tint from e-bay, that I curled wet with curling iron. I found a seller with real pictures and quite a good price, but it was evident the wig would need to be curled. It cost me around 320 Kč = 12 Euro (but unfortunatelly the wig auction doesn't exist anymore).

4) PALADIN

Red 100 cm long wig with bangs

I've bought two short wigs, that were too short for my cosplay (appeared longer on the picture of the seller, but were shorter in real life - read my article about cheap wigs to avoid fails like this). I needed a wig with hair up to shoulders long and two braids on each side of the wig. I thought I can buy a cheaper short wig and two braided hair extensions - it was a bad idea - the color didn't match and short wig are often shorter than they appear on the picture. So my third try was actually a really long wig, that I cut short and used the rest of the long hair to make four braids. I cut and styled it to match my paladin Ymoril character and sewn and glued the braids into the wig. I was also surprised, that the color of the wig is really really natural - the fibers color ranges from light red-orange to dark red and it looks pretty damn good. The wig was cheap - it cost around 270 Kč = 11 Euro and I followed all my advices from the tutorial about buying cheap wigs from e-bay and it was totally worth it.

5) CAITLYN

Rasta wig 60 cm long

I've bough this afroamerican wig and looked like Whoopi Goldberg - so it had to be braided. I've made some dreadlocks, but it didn't look good, so i've decided to braid the wig in medium braids (classical - from three hair straps) and i think it looks more like dreadlocks than real dreadlocks, lol! It took me a whole day to braid it. Then i made the helmet from EVA foam, cut the wig in straps and sewed it inside the helmet. So the hair is portable now!
I have to admit the wig was really weird. Imagine a headcap from a fabric and the hair straps were sewn only on the borders of the wig and on the parting of the wig. I don't know how much it actually cost me, but i think it was around 400 Kč = 16 Euro.

6) PHARAH

60 cm black straight wig with bangs

I've learned from my experience buying a red wig for my cosplay of Paladin, so I have decided to buy rather a longer wig, that could be styled and cut to fit Pharah. And as you can see, I've bought a 60 cm long wig, that is much more than I actually needed, because Pharah's hair is reaching up to shoulders. But I liked the bangs, the seller, the color and the pictures, so I decided to rather style and cut it myself. I cut the wig and took two straps of hair right next to the bangs and braided them and then I glued my beads made out of black polymer clay and silver acrylics to them. I kinda thinned my wig this way - because I took a lot of hair from my wig and used them for the braids, but the wig is really nice and can handle it. I bought it for around 250 Kč = 9 Euro.

7) ODIN

Grey wizard wig with middle parting and beard

I wanted to buy a long grey beard for Odin cosplay and I have to admit, even on e-bay are these wizard beards and wizard wigs prices pretty damn high! :D So I've done something, that was against all my rules and advices I've written about and I bought a wizard wig and beard, with photoshopped picture and if you look closely, the wig is crepped to add volume to it. So I've risked a lot. A shiny beard and badly fitting wig came, the overall volume of the beard was bad. So I've decided to cut the wig in pieces and use it for adding volume to the beard. And here's the result - thick beard, that I could braid in three thick braids and I'm really satisfied with it. It's still shiny, but I like it - Odin is a God, so it kinda fits. But if you want to get rid of shine from your wig, you can try to bath it in fabric softener mixed with water (1:2) (and talc powder) for a few days. It cost around 250 Kč = 9 Euro.

8) VAYNE

150 cm long black wig with bangs

I bought this from a fellow cosplayer, because I was really tired styling my own hair before wearing my cosplay of Vayne and I felt I needed longer hair for her than my own are. So I bought this wig for 500 Kč = 19 Euro and tried to style it. Vayne has a long and gib ponytail and even I tried a lot, the wig is really heavy on my head and it slips from my head down. I'm also not quite satisfied with the styling yet. So it needs a little care :)

I hope my guide helps you by buying the right wig for your cosplay :) Next time I'll show you what wigs I own, how I styled them and where I bought them ;)

Please follow me on my facebook page for more!

https://www.facebook.com/DATgermia

Art: Johnson ting

Making an armor is not just cutting out foam and gluing parts together. The first thing you have to do
is to make a pattern for your armor from paper, that could be traced onto foam. And to make your pattern in the right proportions, you need to measure it in game and count the measurements like hell.

And as I invested a lot of time and work into counting the right measurements of both weapon and wings and traced all the shapes on my computer to fit my body, I've decided to share with you the documents, that you just print out, glue together and voilà - you can be sure you have the right length and width and your armor proportions will be just right!

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And here's how I counted:

In the cosplay reference manual for Pharah, there is written, that she measures 180 cm (wow, that's exactly like me!), so I counted the length of the gun and wings according to her height. And if Paharah is 180 cm tall, the wings should be somewhere around 120 cm long and the gun somewhere above 75 cm. The wings for Anubis Pharah look the same as the default armor (they're just black-gold), so I could use them.
Keep in mind, that it's good to cosplay Pharah if you're as tall as her. If you're 150 cm high, it's pretty hard to do the armor proportions right not to look ridiculous on you. That's why all the pdf files I uploaded for you are suitable for girls around 175-185 cm for the proportions to be just right.

The wings:

I cut out the wing shape from the reference manual, traced the borders in Gimp (freeware Photoshop) cut them into pieces, that were as big as an A4 page. These pieces are then transfered into DOCX file and are ready to print out. Be careful, because all the pieces overlap slightly, so it's up to you to glue them properly! But the completed wing should look like this and measure around 120 cm:

DOWNLOAD/PRINT
THE PDF HERE

P.S. Be careful by tracing the wings! Pharah's wings are actually two big wings from 2 parts (4 parts together), so you have to trace the wing 4 times (each part having just one pointy part and one jet exhaust) to make it right, just look on the picture here:

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The rocket launcher:

I worked my way through the reference pictures from the official manual and unfotunately, there are no proper side pictures of the gun - it always slightly leans on the side, so I had to work with both in-game pictures and a gun concept by Nick Russel.
On the picture on the right, you can see the default weapon, but if you compare it to Anubis Pharah weapon skin, you can notice, Anubis skin has a small golden wing on the side and more decorations on the top, so I transfered them from the game onto the gun and made them slightly transparent for the cosplayers, who doesn't want to make Anubis/Jackal skin and doesn't want to include the wing and decoration. And the completed rcoket launcher should look like this and measure around 75-80 cm:

DOWNLOAD/PRINT
THE PDF HERE

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I hope these data-sheets will be useful for someone and if yes, you can follow my work on Anubis Pharah (and other stuff) on my FACEBOOK PAGE.
and if you like this stuff I do, you can support my work by donating on my TWITCH CHANNEL.

Yours
Germia

For my latest photoshoot with Karolina Ryvolova I've decided to make an evil queen crown to add some epicness to the pictures.
I kinda like the crown of Ravenna from Snowwhite and the huntsman movie, so I've searched for some reference pictures and found a tutorial by esellecrafts (link and video below). I really like what she did, but I decided to take it to another level and remade the pattern of hers a little bit. You can download the pattern below, print it out and make it out of hard paper or foam.

I did my crown from 0,5 thick EVA foam. First I measured my head for the right fitting of the base piece (please, keep that in mind when using my pattern - it fits on my head, but you have to adjust it a little to fit on your head). Then I transfered all the patterns I made from paper (and tried to assemble a crown from them before - because measuring 3 times makes the 4th time perfect) on the foam.

I cut the shapes out of the foam (scissors or exacto blades). If you use scissors, the borders would be uneven and you have to send it a little with dremmel tool, Also sand the borders down even when you want to have the crown smooth and pretty.
Then I've used exacto blades to make two small cuts next to each other on the markings of each pointy part (you have to transfer the markings from the pattern onto the foam) and ripped of the inner foam between the two small cuts - I made the space for the base of the crown. Then there is a line in the middle of each pointy part. You have to take the exacto blade and from the backside of each pointy part make two cuts in 45 degree angle against each other and so make a small V cut in the middle. Then put a contact glue/barge/chemopren glue inside the V cut, wait for the glue to be dry and connect the cut together. This will make you achieve the two-sided look of each pointy part. Then assemble the pieces as written on each pattern. Begin with the point 1 in the front, put point 6 in the back, the put points 5 and 2 from each side of 6 and 1 and continue like that. When you're satisfied with the look, make markings on the foam where the point will be and glue them onto place. Then use black acrylic color as base color. Put a silver color on a sponge and tap it all around your crown for the base silver color. Then mix the silver color with white and tap on the points and higher places for highlights. Then take black color and make the corners and dents darker and blend the color as best as you can. for a painting tutorial, check out my videos HERE.

And the pattern for DOWNLOAD IS HERE.

I hope this pattern will be useful for someone and if yes, you can follow my work on cosplay (and other stuff) on my FACEBOOK PAGE.
and if you like this stuff I do, you can support my work by donating on my TWITCH CHANNEL.

Yours
Germia

This pattern is inspired by the work of Esselle Crafts:

My friend Filel is a big fan of Hellboy movies and Ron Pearlman and he kinda looks like him, so we always teased him to make a cosplay of Hellboy. And he always said he will in future, so I decided to surprise him and made him a prop of Hellboy's hand.

And as I wanted to make a movie-like prop, I searched for some referrence pictures:

http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/03/hellboy-2004-11-g-100028310-large.jpg
http://www.toynerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/rhd3.jpg

I took a really cheap leather-fabric working glove and sewn and glued the middle finger and the ring finger together, because the hand of Hellboy has only 4 fingers - so I needed to get rid of one finger and this was the best solution I had.
Then I made a cylinder (much wider than my arm, but not longer than my forearm) from 1mm thick EVA foam, made some adjustments for the glove to fit (more foam layers) and glued it with hot glue inside (3rd picture). Then I put some more foam inside (on the end of the hand) not to make the hand wiggle.
Then I decorated the top of the glove with 1cm and 0,5 cm thick EVA foam pieces and try to make it as similar with hellboy hand as possible. But it was really hard, because Hellboy has hell of a long fingers :D

I used both hotgule and contact cement and when done I took my soldering iron and I burned the circle runes in the foam. Then I took my dremmel with small sanding adapter and made the stone marks and cracks with it. With a bigger round adapter I made some uneven places on and rounder deffects to simulate the surface of a rock.

The painting was quite easy - the base color is black acrylic and then I took a makeup sponge and used brick red and blood red acrylics and tapped the sponge onto the surface of the glove. Then I took black once again and made some minor shading aaand it is done! :)

And how to use the sponge for the surface can be seen in my youtube tutorial - just use different red colors instead of silver :)

I hope this tutorial will be useful for someone and if yes, you can follow my work on cosplay (and other stuff) on my FACEBOOK PAGE.
and if you like this stuff I do, you can support my work by donating on my TWITCH CHANNEL.

Yours
Germia

Pharah rocker reference

Props that move, shoot, shine, smoke or do any other effect are alway a nice addition to a cosplay, especially if you plan to make an appearance in a cosplay contest. It is quite normal to have a shining prop for your cosplay and basic work with LED's can you learn from tutorials and books by Kamui cosplay. So count on it, other contestans will have LED lights as well, so you have to add something more.

I decided to make my rocket launcher prop for my Pharah cosplay fully operational - that means it can shoot rockets, it can shine on 3 different places and it has a built-in kill counter.

Art by nick Russell

The first thing you need to do is to find a reference picture and measure the right proportions of your costume. For this purpouse you can use the Pharah referrence guide on official Overwatch page HERE or this 3D model by Nick Russell. According to wiki page Pharah should measure about 180 cm, so from this information you can extract info about the measurements of the gun. I counted it and it should measure something above 75 cm. The in-game model is a good referrence too. I made a pattern for you to use in this post of mine :)

And let's dive into what I've used for this rocket launcher. Two most important parts were a plumbing pipe and a small nerf gun MEGA for big foam darts. I cut the holes according to the pictures on the top for the reload mechanism and for a small led light, I cut the hole for the handle of the nerf gun, cut it to the right lenght and made small holes for led strip on the front and batteries on the bottom. I also cut a window for the kill counter.

I also painted the whole nerf gun black. Then I made the LED lights - warm white LED strip for the front one smaller yellow light on the top of the pipe on the front and one yellow led light for the back, that should be kinda hidden inside of the pipe and led the wires into a hole in the middle of the pipe on the bottom, where the batteries should be hidden (in a deattachable handle). I've used a 9V battery for the LED strip and 1 3V battery for both smaller lights and the lights are connected to a small swith on the bottom of the gun. All these things are basic electronics, that I've already described on my facebook page in my Paladin cosplay prop sword pictures. I carefully attached the wires to the inner side of the pipe with ducktape.The I covered the lights in the yellow document foil, that could be slightly formed by heating.

To better difuse the lights, I've used the white packaging stuff, which I glued together with hotglue. Careful, hot glue doesn't stick well to the plumbing pipe - you have to use chemoprene glue on most places.

To protect the electronics, I decided to insert a big toilet paper roll inside - it will protect the wires from flying rockets. So I took a big paper roll, cut it accordingly and reinforced the end with worbla. I also used the paper roll for reload mechanism. Because the nerf gun I bought should be reloaded from the front, I heated up the rests from the plumbing pipe and formed a small slide, that I glued and sewn to a fabric and to the paper roll. From the bottom I sewn into the paper roll a small black elastic band. If I want to reload the weapon, I lie the rocket on the slide, press the slide down, so the elastic band stresses and I insert the rocket into the nerf gun. Then the elastic band moves the slide up, so the gun can be shot.

I bought a click counter for the kill counter, cut the plastic case to fit into my gun and spraypainted it black. Then I glued it on the right position on the paper roll and inserted the paper roll (painted black) inside the pipe. Then I glued the toilet paper roll inside, fixed it with EVA foam on the from from the sides and glued also the nerf gun inside. Then I wrapped the whole gun in black moosgummi/craftfoam.

Then it is just the decorating with EVA foam and worbla with your skill and good patterning work (I try to scan all the patterns I have and post them online if I find them :D).

I alwas make a pattern from paper and then I cut it from foam and dremmel for smooth edges or better shape. Here are some pictures from my progress with foam. I used worbla only for a small part next to the back LED light, Everything is EVA foam and mossgummi. The shiny lines are made from golden PVC fabric, cut and heated and glued with chemoprene glue. Every piece of foam is glued with chemoprene glue too ;)

I also made a golden wing part for this gun, that is specific only for the Anubis nad Jackal skin. I've used an engraving machine for small detailwork like different lines and arrows, that are on the gun. The magazine is made out of foam, transparent rubber bands and small paper roll. The foam rockets are fastened to a paper roll with small transparent rubber bands and a worbla piece with velcro is holding the magazine on it's place. Tha magazine could be tilted and opened and the rockets disassembled when needed.
Rockets are made out of rolled paper, hardened with papermache, decorated with craftfoam and the tip part is made out of dremmeled EVA foam. The details are engraved with engraving tool, everything is dremmeled into the right shapes and painted with different shades of acrylic colors.

The batteries are covered by a handle, that I for better sturdiness covered in black worbla.and decorated with moosgummi.The handle could be attached to the gun with velcros.

I painted the whole gun black and the golden parts are painted with rich golden acrylic color and shaded it with black and brown acrylic color. Silver is a combinated of both pebeo and koh-i-noor colors. I use koh-i-noor for the basic silver and I paint it with a small make-up sponge. Then I've used bright silver pebeo color for highlights. For the metallic surface of the black color I used custom made colors - shiny black and metallic black from czech company Art-e-miss.

There was a big challenge for me to make the carbon handles for the gun. I thought it could be made from carbon car foil (left picture), that self sticks to most surfaces and can be slightly formed by heating, but it doesn't stick very well to foam and you can't use it for complex surfaces (like the handle in the middle), it's good just on flat or slightly curved surfaces. The handle on the picture was the best result I could achieve.

So I had to think about other option - I painted the handles light silver and then paintbrushed (or you can spraypaint) it black through meshed fabric or in my case big cullender and that's it, Then I only highlighted the screws with silver color.

I don't use any primer for my work and I also son't use any finish.

Now you have a rocket launcher!

I hope this tutorial will be useful for someone and if yes, you can follow my work on cosplay (and other stuff) on my FACEBOOK PAGE.
and if you like this stuff I do, you can support my work by donating on my TWITCH CHANNEL.

Yours
Germia

https://glemda.com/overwatch/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/KBzdzhQ-700x292.png

Good prop can make your cosplay performance much more interesting and get you a much better score in a cosplay contest. So even it is true you can do a good performance even without any prop, don't underestimate their effect!

I decided to make two blue spectral dragons as props for my cosplay performance on Eurocosplay contest 2016 in London. Even the didn't make it to the stage due to some problems in backstage #nodragons, I still thought this small tutorial can be useful for you in making light shining spectral-like effects for your cosplay or an idea how to make a prop like this.

I started with a big paper, where I drew the simplified shapes of my dragons, that I've tried to make a little similar like the ultimate dragon shapes in game. I transfered the outline of the dragon heads onto a big hardened XPS polystyrene sheet (the grey one), that was about 2,5 cm thick and I cut the shapes out. For the cutting, you can use an exacto knife or a saw, but a little easier is to use the polystyrene cutting tool with hot edge, that actually burns the polystyrene. I did'n cut out the shapes of the teeth and tongue - these small parts could break.
As I had a polystyrene sheet with some kind of pattern on it, I sanded the pattern out to have a smooth surface.

Then I drew on the paper simple shapes of the dragon's head parts and I cut them out of craftfoam and EVA foam, dremmeled the foam to have smooth edges and I glued it to polystyrene with hotglue - be careful to use the right temperature, because if the hotglue is too hot, it will burn the polystyrene, if it is too cold, it wouldn't be sticky. Or you can use polystyrene glue. Then I made a hole in the eye are for my small flashlights to fit in just right.

I spraypainted the whole thing with white acrylic paint in 4 coats and then I tried to paintbrush the thing with different shades of blue - I've used darker colors in the chinks and lower based places and I've used lighter colors in the higher based places or middle parts of the foam.

Then I cut the white packaging stuff and a blue document foil and I put this into the cover of the flashlight to difuse the light just right. Then I took different shades of blue and blue-white organza, cut it in straps and made teeth in the straps for better volume and shape and glued them randomly to the back of the dragon's head. A tiny flashlight was glued from the back of the dragon head too and this flashlight doesn't need to be difused.

I've included all the patterns in following PDF DOCUMENT and this picture as a guide for you:

Wings in cosplay bring to your costume a big wow effect, - wings, no matter the quality of crafting - impress people just by their pure existence and can be a big feature, that could help in any cosplay contest, trust me :)
Next level in cosplay wings are moving wings or articulated moving wings. If you can controll the movement of your wings, it is something unique and very hard to achieve.

Construction of harness

There are many ways how to fasten your wings to your body, but the easiest way is to make a backpack-like harness. There are really a lot of ways, some people make a harness from pvc, but I've used a simple black old backpack. I've just cut the front part of the backpack out and used only the polstered backside, that lies on your back with shoulder straps. I've added two straps in front to connect shoulder straps in the front too - it connects them between th neck and the breasts and the second added strap should be connected under the breasts.

I bought a solid piece of wood, that I cut in 3 parts - the biggest part would be connected to the backpack and the two smaller parts were fastened to the bigger part with metal connectors and establish the angle between the wings.
Here you can find some tutorials for wing harnesses:

1) PVC pipes and flag holders
2) Mini backpack harness
3) Articulated wing framework
4) Custom wing shell

Wings - materials and process of making

First, there was a struggle with shape and size, that I already described in my article about patterns for Pharah. You can download the wings pattern from there!

I was wondering how to make the wings strong, but light, and I thought about a lot of materials including thin balsa wood or plywood, but I couldn't find a good balance between strong-light-cheap-big enough material. And as I wondered through a hobby store, I thought about using the see through material used for greenhouses made from two plastic sheets, that are hollow inside. Simply a material, that would be totally suitable for flying, because it has similar structure as bird bones. The material is strong, big-enough for four wings, it's kinda more flexible that I need (it makes my wings a little wibbly-wobbly sometimes) and it's really really light. It makes the core of my wings and then the wings are covered in 0,5 cm thick EVA foam from one side and a craftfoam from the other side. The edges are covered in craftfoam too and they're dremmeled for a better, smoother shape.

And as the wings are not only 2D, I've used a polyystyrene to make a base for the jet engine 3D shape.I've cut stripes of 2cm thick XPS hardened polystyrene and tried to follow the engine shape on my paper pattern. I connected the XPS pieces together with hot glue and then I glued it also to the foam of the wings. The I sanded it till it was even. And this served then as a base for the 3D jet exhausts on the wings. I equiped the end of the polystyrene pieces with velcro, beause I wanted to insert the led lights inside of the exhaust later and you have to be able to open the exhaust and exchange batteries when needed.

Then I took a paper and traced the needed parts to cover the polystyrene cants, I cut them from foam and covered the sides with it. Then I transfered also the pattern of the cover of the exhaust, that I had printed out, on the foam, cut it out, equipped the ends of the foam cover with velcros. Everything is dremmeled to be smooth and round :)

I've used an engraving machine for the whole decorative lines - by that I followed the printed pattern. I also made a lof of small decoration on the end of the exhaust and on the cover of the exhaust from 2mm thick craftfoam and rivets.
I also made a cover from 1cm thick EVa foam for the bottom of the wings, where I cut a hole for the screw holding the wings on it's place. Then I made small covers from EVA foam and craftfoam, that are fastened to the wings with velcros again and cover the top and the end of the screw.

Everything was painted with black base color and black metallic color, shaded with silver and black color. Golden details are made with golden acrylic color and shaded with black and brown. The last thing to do was to insert LED lights inside the wing. It is the simliest electronic work described already in my Paladin cosplay article.

Propulsion

I saw a lot of movement in cosplay propelled by servos and for this project I would have needed two huge servos, that would be really expensive and there would be no way I could hide them on the sides of the wings. Servos are the most common way how to propell wings - they're compact, small and strong and somewhat affordable.
But even servos are affordable, I would need servos so big and strong, that it would cost me a lot of money and as I'm always trying to go the cheapest way possible, I wanted to think about a better solution. Also, servos attached right to the wings would be too obvious - I needed to get them into the backpack. I made a big paper with a lot of drawings of how the wings could be propelled, even my friends thought about some solutions, but I want to describe the chosen solution, that luckily worked for this build.
Just for fun, I'm sharing 2 solutions, that weren't brought to real life:

I knew I would also have to programm a lot to make the wings move up and down and there was no way to adjust the speed of them. So I've thought: what is affordable, has batteries and a turning motor? And I thought about an aku drill.

An aku drill has a button, that controls the direction of turning, and the intensity of turning (speed). It even has a position, that functions as safety-pin.

This drill can turn a big screw with a female screw on it, that would go up and down depending on the turning direction.

I've bought an old drill with two akus and thought immediately, that the aku is really really big, But I eventually installed it into the hood compartment on the backpack. I removed the motor and the multifunctioning button, noted the right wiring and cut them apart. I bought strong wires and built the button from the drill into one of the backpack straps and covered it with foam. The wires went from the straps right into the battery on the top of the backpack and into the drill motor. The I bought some metal reinforcements, from which I made a construction in a U shape. I had to drill holes in them and fasten them to the screw nut. I reinforced the construction with worbla scraps and later I reinforced it more with black worbla for better strength.

Please, don't mind the rails on the sides of the wing construction. I removed them eventually, they wasn't necessary and they sometimes obstructed the movements instead of smoothing it out.

I drilled holes on the sides of the wings and throught the holds ran a cord, that was fastened to the U construction with a keychain circle. I had luck buying a cord, that could be burned and I could easily make a small discs (stoppers) from burnt material on the end of the cords.

I destroyed the ends of the big middle screw not to lose the important screw nut from it. Yeah, and I bought the screw HERE. I fastened it into drill motor and the drill motor I fastened to the wooden base. It it REALLY important to fasten it good, because if the motor or the screw will move, the wings could open unevenly or not at all. So I glued the motor to the base, I fastened it with glued foam, Metal reinforcements and I screwed small screws into the motor (careful - screw only in plastic not to destroy the insides from the motor).

For the battery to be replacable, I made a little case for it from foam, black worbla and strong rubber bands connected with velcro. As a B plan, I always carry a 9V battery inside my backpack, that could be connected instead of the big battery to propell the wings for a few times (the drill motor needs 13,5 V).

And for the smoothest opening, remember, that the main screws have to have two brass washers.

Backpack

The backpack is just for covering the wing construction and is there just for the looks. I made the base piece from toliet paper roll, I covered it in foam. Basically all the pieces are just EVA foam (1cm for the base, 0,5 cm for the smaller pieces) and craftfoam (for the smallest details - recognize it by black color). The exhaust base coveres the screw and the end of the screw ends in the round piece made out of foam and decorated with soldering iron. The hardest part were the pipes. The pipes have real piping ending parts from PVC (white) and I failed to insert real tubing into them, because it wasn't flexible enough. So I glued 2 1cm foam pieces together and dremmeled them into a rounded shape, glued to the piping endings, and then just painted with acrylic colors.

The backpack is assembled from two pieces. This bigger piece is covering the drill construction and can be diassembled. The upper part, that covers the battery is glued to the wooden base and wing cosntruction and is connected to this backpack piece with velcros. I also used velcros to connect the backpack on the side to the wood.

Summary

Oh, I know, even I did all I could to explain all the pieces, that went together to make the wings move, it still seems kinda too hard to get. So I made this to help you out, guys :)
This is me disassembling the wings after wearing them showing all the pieces, that go together and how they go together ;)

I hope this will help you on your future projects and if yes, you can follow my work on cosplay (and other stuff) on my FACEBOOK PAGE.

and if you like this stuff I do, you can support my work by donating on my TWITCH CHANNEL.

Yours
Germia <3

Dreamhack Witer 2016 win
photo: eSuba

Don't be confused by the title - this is not meant to be a pure motivational post.
It's a post about my experience from taking part in cosplay contests and how long it took for me to be now where I am.
And I've written this article as a summary for me (because it's normal to write summaries at the end of the year), as something, that could help other people overcome crisis (because I had to overcome it too), or get better in what they do (I've written steps, that can actually help).

All it needs is:
1) Never give up on what you like to do
- don't make stuff you don't like and don't use materials, that don't suit you. Always go your way, because doing what you like brings the best results.
2) Work hard
- pay attention to detail, try to improve with each and every new project you do, think of new ways and new use of materials.
3) Promote yourself

First contest - Pragoffest 2015
photo: Pragoffest

- pay good attention to social sites and understand their mechanism, make a lot of good pictures/videos of your work with talented photographers, attend cons and cosplay contests - be present and seen.
4) Give back
- give back to people who support you, make tutorials, giveaways, communicate, learn to say thanks, try to meet their wishes.

So, I'll now start wiht my summary:

When I first started to make cosplays it was something new for me and I never expected to take part in any contests, I actually didn't even know, that contests in cosplay existed. I was just a gamer making her chosen character come to live.

First cosplay, first contest

First cosplay - Vayne from League of Legends
photo: Petr Liška

And when I finished my first costume, I thought I can show it on some event, just to know the reactions of the people around. I took part in an fast improvised contest, just as #yolo thing, you know, try my best and show others what I can do when there's nothing to lose. I said to myself, that this is something I really enjoed doing and that the competing was for me the best appreciation of my work - so I decided to make another cosplay, very challenging for a newbie like me and I planned to take part in a bigger, more prestigious contest with it.

Second cosplay, bigger contests

Second cosplay - Demon Hunter
photo: private archive

I decided to make a very challenging armored cosplay - Demon Hunter from Diablo 3 with collapsible crossbow and led lights. It took me a lot of time, I tried to figure everything myself, thought of new techniques (sponge painting) and materials (instead of EVA foam, I've used craftfoam with thick felt), and I tried to use realistic looking fabrics (real leather, luxury black velvet).
And when I finished it, I was really proud of myself, because it didn't look bad, it was kinda really good and I got a lot of positive feedback from people around me.
I decided I would like to try bigger contests like czech qualificating contests for Eurocosplay and World Cosplay Masters. And I have to admit after discovering the czech cosplay community, I realised the big importance of Eurocosplay contest in my country - every czech cosplayer rooted for the contestans in that contest and every winner of the qualification became instantly a big name on the cosplay scene. I instantly realised, that my next dream is to qualificate and take a good placement on Eurocosplay contest.
Unfortunately I had my state exam on university and I wasn't able to take part that year. I was really sad, but school and work go always first, that's the reality.
The next chance for me was the qualification for World Cosplay Master - pretty new contest for czech cosplayers, but a chance to represent my country in what I love to do. I took part, made a pretty good work as my first time making a real performace and ended second. It wasn't bad, but it was somewhat disappointing. Only the first one gets to represent the country.

Next try

My next chance to take part in a bigger contest was Road to Blizzcon in Prague. I had high hopes for this contest, because just the name "Blizzcon" sounds just great, doesn't it? The first prize was a 3D printer - something, that can push a cosplay project to another level. So I entered.

Interview with Marcella de Bie as Demon Hunter on RtB Prague 2015
photo: RtB

I have to admit, the contest was only instagram based - I haven't had an instagram account then, so I just said to myself #yolo once again, made a new account and posts on my facebook wall. A great and really unexpected support came, a lot of my friends just rooted in a big way for me and for two day it seemed like I actually can win this contest. And in the last moments of the contest, I got an update from ogranisers, that comments count too (even not specified before) and another cosplayer jumped right on the first place immediately in very last moments of the contest and I've lost. I just can't describe the feeling of this, after the invested work of my friends and so many hopes, it just didn't happen for me.
But I have to admit, second prize was also very good and I gave the stuff I got to my friends to cheer them up and I'm still using some of the material for cosplay I got. But the problem is, history asks only about winners.

And next try

Headhunter Caitlyn in Katowice
photo: Jeroen Weimar

I started working on next project, that was actually heavy lighted and (even it doesn't seem like it on the first sight) pretty complex costume - Headhunter Caitlyn with handmade dreaded wig, new materials (foam and my first proper electronics) and pretty complex sewing work of the net and weird fabrics. I planned to compete with it in Katowice. I knew there is a cosplay contest and I knew it was opened for LoL cosplayers. So I applied and got an invite for final round on IEM Katowice 2016. I was really happy and looked forward to this chance (and I was also in a real need of PC upgrade - the first prize, gaming PC, would be a great enhancement of my streaming activities).
In Katowice, I found out, that there were A LOT of contests. I entered three, two with qualification. First one was something, that I really don't want to speak about. Just plain using cosplayers for prodcut promotion. I entered the second and third, tried to be as awesome as I could, made a roleplay on the stage and I didn't even place in any of them. I didn't mind the first one, but the second had proper and well known judges, that understand cosplaye really well, so the disappointment was really big...

Last try?

After so many contests with placement dropping tendency, I was really wondering, if competing is for me, if I really should invest so much time and effort and I thought to myself, that I don't really have skill and talent to be so good, that I could accomplish my dream to be successful at such a contest like Eurocosplay. I was really having a bad time of my life struggling to finish my Master thesis in time, get a decent job and I had a lot of problems in personal life too. And when you are feeling, that you're failing in most of the part of your life, the mood isn't just good.

Paladin on Animefest 2016
photo: Radek Vebr

Eurocosplay qualification

But I'm a fighter and I really wanted to try if I can make something epic to compete against a new strong generation of czech cosplayers, that defeated me so many times before. I worked really hard to make my dream cosplay - Valkyria like armor with golden details, I finished it in time just to invest more time in my performance and props. The cosplay I made really made an impact, when I entered the event, everyone was blown away by my work and I was really surprised it got so much attention. I entered the Animefest contest and I actually won it. I couldn't believe, that my trip to Eurocosplay is real.. It was the best feeling in the world. Suddenly my work made much more sense.
But it was not the win, but the things people said to me, that counted. Win was a dream come true, but appreciation of my work counted more.

Eurocosplay, Dreamhack, now

Anubis Pharah on MCM London 2016
photo: private archive

From that time I have much bigger trust in my work, I won Eurocosplay and my whole country was proud. I won Dreamhack a month after and I really had too look behind me and thank to the people who supported me the whole time, thank to them all, that they put a lot of trust in me and I didn't quit doing what I love to do in the times I wasn't that successful.
And what my next plans are, you ask? The things I want to do in my career are attending and competing on Blizzcon, Gamescom and representing my country in Cosplay World Masters. I hope I can accomplish some of my next dreams.

Paladin on Dreamhack Winter 2016
photo: Dreamhack

And why I've written this TLDR post? Just to say, don't give up on what you love, guys!

¨

For english part, search for italic text!

Pro kostým Anny Valerious z Van Helsinga jsem sháněla (dioptrické) kontaktní čočky, které by mé tmavě hnědé oči efektivně zabarvily do zelena, a přitom vypadaly přirozeně a měly dobré vlastnosti.

English:
I needed a green lens for my costume of Anna Valerious from Van Helsing and since I have dark brown eyes, it won't be an easy task! Let's have a look at lenses I've chosen to try!

Kde nakoupit?

Navázala jsem tedy spolupráci s portálem VASECOCKY.CZ, ze kterého již nakupuji čočky několik let, a to kvůli:
1) širokému výběru i dioptrických čoček, což většinou bohužel u portálů, kde se prodávají čočky na masky, cosplay a párty, nenajdete.
2) Stejně tak jsem se zařadila do věrnostního programu, kdy při každém nákupu čoček v podstatě člověk nasbírá dostatek věrnostních bodů, aby si pořídil menší roztok, kapky do očí, nebo pouzdro, což se mi zdá celkem fajn a my cosplayeři pouzdra zrovna docela potřebujeme ;)
3) Poslední výhodou shopu jsou reálné fotky lidí, kteří mají čočky na sobě, což my všichni, kdo jsme kupovali čočky víme, jak čočky vůbec nevypadají v reálu jako na ilustračních fotkách výrobce, takže jakékoliv reálné fotky jsou přímo darem z nebes.
4) P.S. Všechny ostatní ohledy shopu jako například rychlé dodání a reálné skladové zásoby produktů beru už jako samozřejmost ;)

Můj výběr

Vybrala jsem si 3 druhy zelených čoček, všechny dioptrické, protože my slepýši prostě nemůžeme chodit bez brýlí nebo dioptrických čoček. Všechny vybrané čočky jsou čtvrtletní, protože mi vyhovují naprosto nejvíce.

1) ColorVUE Glamour Green

Tyto čočky jsem vybrala, protože mám výbornou zkušenost s jejich odstínem Violet, který používám na svůj kostým LeBlanc. Jejich barvy působí přirozeně a přesto dobře oko překryjí, a to hlavně kvůli tomu, že je kolem čočky vždy zařazena hnědá barva, a to u všech odstínů (což je výhoda, pokud nosíte čočky běžně mezi lidi, může to být však nevýhoda, pokud chcete docílit opravdu sytého odstínu fialové/zelené). Musím dodat, že fotka od výrobce vůbec neodpovídá vzhledu čočky.

Po nasazení na mé oči musím konstatovat, že kryjí výborně, ale jejich zabarvení je na mých očích spíše do žluta. Možná je to způsobeno již zmíněnými hnědými pruhy barvy, které se nachází ve středu čočky. Tmavý okraj čočky pak dodává oku jiskru a opticky oko zvětšuje. Pokud však sháníte zelené čočky, nebo dokonce velmi sytě zelené čočky, tak tyto jsou spíše do okrova až žluta. Kdo však urputně shání žluté čočky, které budou vypadat přirozeně, jsou pro něj tyto čočky výborná volba. Jsou velmi pohodlné a oko opravdu krásně zabarví. Jejich velkou výhodou oproti čočkám je i to, že zabarvení čočky se nebojí jít až do středu čočky, vaše přirozená barva tak středem čočky nevyukuje ven, jak je to u některých barevných čoček zvykem.

Na obrázku máte srovnání mé přirozené tmavě hnědé barvy s okem s nasazenou čočkou.

ENGLISH:
These lenses really look natural and the black circle makes the eye stand out. Unfortunatelly if you search for a green lens, this green tends to be more yellow than green and since I own a purple lens from the same series (Glamout), I can say the manufacturers use a lot of light brown color in the middle of the lens for more natural look, but it then deformes the green lens into a yellow lens and even my purple lens look not very purple from a greater distance. The advantage is the maximal cover power of the lens - the manufacturers "had balls" to color even the middle part of the lens, so the natural color of the eye cannot be seen under it. I really recommend these lenses for people searching for natural looking yellow lenses ;)

2)ColorVUE 3 Tones Green

Tyto čočky jsem vybrala, protože podle reálných fotografií vypadá vzhled oka velmi přirozeně a jedná se tedy spíše o tónovací čočky. Byla jsem velmi zvědavá na to, jestli dokážou přebarvit mou supertmavou duhovku alespoň trochu do zelena, protože co si budeme nalhávat, oči Anny Valerious nejsou zelené jako jarní tráva. Bohužel musím konstatovat, že při vytváření obrázku pro tuto recenzi jsem zjistila, že se vlastně výrobce ani neobtěžoval dodat nový obrázek zelené barvy těchto čoček a tedy ilustrační foto vypadá naprosto stejně jako u čoček Glamour.

Po vyzkoušení těchto čoček musím říci, že nejsou tak pohodlné jako čočky předchozí, ale je možné, že jsem z toho zkoušení všech čoček měla již podrážděné oči. Čočky již po rozbalení vypadají spíše jako tónovací, jsou průhledné a oko pouze po obvodu duhovky jemně přibarvují do zelena. Dobarvení je však velmi přirozené. Pro cosplayery tyto čočky ale nepovažuji za atraktivní, jelikož je jejich zabarvení velmi mdlé a změna odstínu barvy oka téměř nerozpoznatelná. Pokud vám však jde o pouhé dotónování barvy oka, jsou tyto čočky ideální volbou. Pro můj cosplay Anny Valerious jsou však příliš málo zelené.

Na obrázku máte srovnání mé přirozené tmavě hnědé barvy s okem s nasazenou čočkou.

ENGLISH:
These lenses are rather toning lenses - you can tell it right after you unpack them, because they look much more transparent than the other lenses I tried. The advantage is, that they look really natural on the eye, they are just toning the natural color of the eye into slight green. I don't think they're suitable for cosplayers, they are much more better for enhancing the normal look of your eye. For my purpuose, they is too few of green.

3) ColorVUE Big Eyes - Enchanter Green

Tyto čočky používám už nějakou dobu, na recenzi jsem je původně nedostala, ale jsem s nimi velmi spokojena, co se týče pohodlnosti nošení, Již z názvu vypovídá, že se jedná o čočky, které opticky zvětšují oko. Docílí toho tím, že je na okraji čočky černý okraj, který duhovku jemně zvětší a obkrouží a kontrast s bělmem oka pak dodá oku "jiskru". Řekla bych, že jsou tyto čočky vhodné i na Anime kostýmy, kde je potřeba docílit vzhledu větší duhovky, a přesto se dají nosit běžně mezi lidi a ohlasy jsou velmi pozitivní: "Paní učitelko, Vy máte krásné oči."

Stejně jako u předchozích produktů, výrobce se neobtěžoval ilustrační foto změnit - je to ta samé zelená jako u předchozích produktů, pouze je u ní ve photoshopu dokreslena černá kontura u kraje čočky.

Po nasazení čočky je barva mého oka znatelně zabarvena do zelena a barva je sytá a přesto velmi přirozená. Oko je navíc díky tmavému okraji a velikosti samotné čočky opticky zvětšeno a jak já říkám, má jiskru a oči velmi oživí. Jedná se podle mého názoru o ten nejlepší typ čoček pro cosplayery právě kvůli styosti barev a mne vyhovují pi proto, že se dají nosit i zcela běžně (oproti jiným pro masky a cosplay určeným čočkám) a nevyvolávají pocit nepřirozených očí. Nevýhodou těchto čoček je asi to, že jejich zabarvení nesahá až ke středu čočky jako napříkald u čoček Glamour (1), u středu oka tedy jemně vykukuje přirozená barva oka. Tyto čočky jsou dle mého názoru na cosplay Anny Valerious nejvhodnější.

Na obrázku máte srovnání mé přirozené tmavě hnědé barvy s okem s nasazenou čočkou.

ENGLISH:
These lenses are the most green from all of the tried lenses. They are really vivid, but still look very natural. The eyes look bigger and shinier thanks to tbe big black circle around the lens and I think these lenses are the best for portraying Anna Valerious. They are best for cosplayers, even for Anime cosplayers and they represent a compromise between a cosplay-lens and normal-wearing-lens. The only disadvantage is, that the coloring of the lens doesn't reach in the middle of the lens, where your natural color (in my case brown) pops out from under the lens.

Shrnutí

Každá z těchto čoček má své výhody a nevýhody - Pro mé oko, aby bylo zabarvení znatelné, je pravděpodobně nejvhodnější čočka s nejsytější barvou a největší kryvostí - tedy 3). Pro ty, co nemají tak tmavé oko jako já, bych doporučovala i čočky Glamour 1), které oko pěkně přirozeně zabarví a dobře na oku drží. Tónovací čočky 2) pak asi nebudou zcela vhodnou volbou pro cosplay, doporučila bych je spíše někomu, kdo má třeba oříškové nebo modré oči a stačil by mu jemný nádech do zelena na běžné nošení.

P.S. Moc doporučuji i pouzdro, ve kterém jsou čočky foceny, jedná se o cool zvířátkové pouzdro a musím říct, že je to super změna oproti normálním nudným pouzdrům :) Aneb MMM HROŠÍK!

I love my hippo lens case!

Moc děkuji portálu Vašečočky.cz za poskytnuté produkty (na posledním obrázku vlevo nahoře).

My friend is a big fan of Skyrim and he always wanted a helmet of Dovahkiin, the Dragonborn. gift (The helmet is still waiting for him :P) and thought it would be an easy task, since there are a lot of these helmets made all over the internet, so I'll just find a referrence picture, I'll use someone's pattern for it and it will be done in a day. I was wrong.
I've promised to make it for him as a
There is a lot of slightly different designs of the helmet, so I just took one and had to stay true to this design for the whole build. So don't be scared the helmet I've done doesn't look the same as the helmet on the first picture of this article, or some other helmets you can find on the internet. Even the main idea of the helmet stays the same, there are details, that differ.
Also, I didn't find any proper foam pattern for it, so I was forced to make one myself, I can't understand it, since there are a lot of Dovahkiin helmets all over the world already.

Patterning

I had to make a new helmet pattern, I thought I can use a pepakura file I found on the internet, but the truth is, pepakura has more seams than foamsmiths actually want on their props. The only way how to use pepakura file for this build is to build it from paper and make the foam patterns out of it later. But if you're interested in pepakura, here is the PDF file for you to download and here is the PDO file to download.

I started to make pattern with the help of my polystyrene head. I adjusted the head to be a little bigger than my head (if it is a gift, you have to make the helmet bigger to fit everyone, also a helmet for you needs to be bigger, since you wear often awig under it too and it adds volume to your head) and wrapped it in aluminium foil that I reinforced with ducktape. I've written a desired shape onto it, cut
it in pieces and transfered it on the foam. The pattern had 4 similar parts.

Working with foam

I cut the 5mm EVA foam from poly-props with sharp exacto knife. Then I glued it together with contact cement. Then I had the cranial part of the helmet done.

Next step was to make a facial part of the helmet - I cut two triangular pieces and glued them to the rest of the helmet. For the parts on the back, there are two layers of foam glued to the back of the cranial part.

I decorated the helmet on the fron with moosgummi stripes and borders. I cut the rivets out of moosgummi wit simple round grommet pushed on the moosgummi. I carved EVA foam with dremmel to the desired shape and glued it onto the front nasal part of the helmet.

For the horn holders I've used 1cm EVA foam and dremmeled the edges to fit onto the helmet. Before I glued them to the helmet, I inserted the done and painted horns inside and glued them inside with a hot glue gun in the right direction.

XPS styrofoam/polystyrene

Making the horns

I've bought a layer of XPS polystyrene (XPS polystyrene is much more dense than normal EPS polystyrene - you can find it in gray or green color in hobby markets like Hornbach or Baumax or Obi) and in order to have the horns thick enough was forced to glue 3 layers together. For the gluing I've used polystyrene glue, but hot glue would also do the job if you're careful and don't overheat the glue (glue with really high temperature consumes the polystyrene).
I carved the basice shape with carpet knife and used dremel with thick sanding paper to perfect it's shape. Then I took conical dremel and made all the wrinkles and imperfections in the horns with this tool. Since the surface wasňt so perfect as horns, that you model with clay and cast, you can wrap it in worbla for better surface and sturdiness. For a cheaper variant, I've used gesso (acrylic primer for painting) to make the surface smoother and the horns sturdier - use several layers. When it was dry, I've applied woodglue for additioinal studriness and shinier surface. (This variant can maybe look time consuming, but by using worbla, you would need to do all the details once again and press the worbla hard onto the horn + you won't get away without priming worbla - so in terms of time consuming, both variants are similar).

makeup sponges

poly-props seal

Priming, painting and finishing

After the horns were done with dremel, they were primed with gesso and woodglue and I've decided to use acrylic color for painting. I've painted the whole horn with makeup brush with dark brown color and when it was dry I put a little of color on a makeup sponge and dabbed it all over the horn. Thanks to this technique, the color got only on higher based places and didn't reach into the lower based places and crinckles. This way I build up to the lightest light brown and the horns were done. I glued them then inside the horns holders with hotglue, which were later glued to the whole helmet with contact cement.

Then I took the helmet and made battle damage all over the place with cylindrical adapter. Be careful by doing battledamage, that the damaged places should be on the probable spots of impact. Don't make battle damage on unaccessible places, where it doesn't make sense.(This step is optional, but it adds a feel of reality into the helmet)

I primed it then with polyprops-seal primer, which leaves on the surface rubber like film and makes the helmet much sturdier and much more durable even by bending. It also makes the foam sealed so it doesn't drink so much paint. Then I painted it with black acrylic color everywhere except the horns. When it was dry, I took makeup sponge, put a little drop of high quality silver acrylic color on it and made small strokes with it all over the whole helmet, so it looked worn and not so shiny. If you want a new shiny helmet, you can dab the sponge evenly on the helmet as I showed already in my tutorial HERE or HERE.

I added also a rust effect on some places - try to mix orange, brown, black, and red for the best effect, for bestresults use acrylic medium for a uneven look.

Hra Resident Evil je již nějakou dobu venku, já měla šanci si ji také zahrát a rozhodla jsem se vám sepsat svých pár postřehů k ní a třeba právě díky mé skromné recenzi se na hraní této hry vrhnete i vy ;)

Jinak zakoupit si ji můžete třeba tady v tomto odkazua koupí mne můžete i trochu podpořit ;)

JO A PAMATUJTE SI: (slight) SPOILER ALERT!

A než se začne vůbec s hodnocením gameplaye samotného, pojďme hru vzít a srovnat ji s předchozími díly:

Oproti předchozím dílům hrajeme REVII z pohledu první osoby, což je dost vítaná změna. Pamatuji si jak jsem nějaký pátek zpátky s nadšením zapnula pátý díl série a přes svou postavu často vůbec neviděla při střelbě, interakci s věcmi a to se stalo časem tak otravné, že jsem hru zase rychle vypnula. To se tady nestalo a musím přiznat s odstupem času, že byl začátek hry asi tou její nejlepší částí, což hru sice šlechtí, ale klesající zábava při hraní může i některé hráče odradit - zábava by se při hře měla až do finiše stupňovat, nebo ne?

Ale vraťme se zpátky k samotnému hraní- jak je už snad u všech her zvykem, přivítá nás dlouhé - PŘEdlouhé - intro (a já se občas ptám: Nemůžete nás nechat hned hrát a příběh vysvětlovat postupně? Nebo udělat intro interaktivní? Prosím!) a zasadí nás do příběhu, kdy zase zachraňujeme princeznu ze strašidelného zámku. No - eh - princeznu - už od začátku se úplně animace hlavní hrdinky Miy moc nepovedla, a i z toho důvodu si slečna mé sympatie nezískala... Jen se na ni TADY podívejte!!!
I přesto, že je všem jasné, co se stane, náš hrdina Ethan sedne do plechového koně a jede ji zachraňovat. *FACEPALM* Takže všichni tušíme, co se stane...
Jedna z prvních věcí, která mne na hře zamrzela (ale nepřekvapila, jelikož to bývá asi u všech podobných titulů...), byly jasně naskriptované události a nemožnost volného pohybu. Tedy prostě cesta je vždy jen jedna, z cesty se nelze dostat a lze tedy jít pouze dopředu, nebo se vrátit - to je u hororovek celkem standard, ale možná jsem čekala víc:

Pochvalu si určitě zaslouží atmosféra, kterou vykreslují hlavně povedené zvuky a celkem vydařená světla. Co ve hře úplně nevychytali, jsou zvuky vlastních kroků, které mne ve hře děsily od začátku až do konce...

Uložit si hru nemůžete vždy, když chcete, což přispívá k napětí v samotné hře a strachu, který ve vás vyvolává. Ukládat hru lze na přehrávače, které jsou umístěny na různých místech hry a na jejichž objevování jste ze začátku závislí a postupem času je máte k dispozici stále častěji, což činí hru méně náročnou a tak nějak se člověk méně bojí.

Co se ale opravdu hře povedlo jsou flashbacky, které nacházíte uložené na VHS kazetách. Jsou to v podstatě kazety natočené jiným člověkem, které můžete vy sami hrát a ne pouze nečinně sledovat jako v jiných hrách. Dokonce vám někdy flashbacky pomohou řešit situace ve hře samotné a pomohou prostě "nezemřít". Například v této části hry se ve flashbacku dozvíme o tajném průchodu, který nám v podstatě ukáže cestu dál: Palec nahoru!

Palec dolů je za již zmíněné nascriptované akce, které bývají často dost předvídatelné a člověk pak v průběhu hry spíše hádá, kdy se něco stane, místo aby byl stále napjatý a v nejistotě. Jukněte třeba na tuto mou akci "ve vodě".

Miu docela rychle najdeme a vydáme se za ní, jenže, aby toho nebylo málo, tak je ještě nakažená a stává se z ní docela pěkná potvora, což ve mně zanechalo asi ten nejsilnější zážitek z celé hry, jen se podívejte:

A nejhorší na tom asi je to, že na celém tomto začátku nemáte k dispozici zbraň a získáte ji až při tomto střetu s Miou. A jak už to znáte třeba i z Outlastu, nebo Alien Isolation, absence zbraně nebo držení zbraně, která nefunguje, je něco, co vám dokáže z běžného herního zážitku udělat zážitek hororový... My si tohoto pocitu ale příliš neužijeme, protože zbraně, jež jsou celkem dobře účinné, získáme celkem brzy ve hře :(

Zjistíme, že jsme se ocitli v domě rodiny, která je stejně nemocná a nebezpečná jako Mia ve své podobě potvory a v průběhu hry se musíme prokousat přes všechny členy této rodiny a porazit je jako jednotlivé bossy. No, nejsou sladcí? Velmi brzy se tak z celkem slibné hororové hry stane spíše hra akční s prvky adventury - získáváme klíče, odemykáme nové cesty a sestavujeme puzzle, abychom se dostali dál a přitom vraždíme příšerky a občas se i trochu bojíme a schováváme.

Asi bych teď skončila s vyprávěním příběhu - prozradím vám pouze to, že vás čeká jedno rozhodnutí, které velmi silně ovlivní to, jak hra dopadne, což je na jednu stranu hodně super, ale je to rozhodnutí celkem průhledné, takže se asi každý dokáže rozhodnout "správně".
Dále bych se asi věnovala spíše výrazným plusům a mínusům samotné hry, které vám pomohou lépe se rozhodnout, jestli do hry jít, nebo ne:

Plusy:

1) Atmosféra hry je naprosto dokonalá a ve spoustě případů hra dostojí přízvisku "hororová"

Příklad najdete v druhém videu

2) Příběh má nečekané rozuzlení, které může hráče překvapit a některé oldschoolery potěšit!
3) Příběh není závislý na ostatních dílech z franchisu Resident Evil, takže si ho můžete v klidu vychutnat i bez předchozích zkušeností.
4) Hráč musí zapojit mozek, aby na některé záludnosti hry přišel (často se učí smrtí), aby objevil určitě předměty, nebo přišel na to, jak porazit své protivníky. To může být výhodou pro hráče, co rádi výzvy, nevýhodou pro ty, kteří si chtějí u hry spíše oddychnout a "jen se bát".

Mínusy:

1) Používání předmětů (nejen) z inventáře je často zdlouhavé a o to více frustruje ve stresových situacích.

PŘÍKLAD ZDE - otevření poklopu trvá tak dlouho, že to vypadá, že nás dřív nepřítel odhalí.

2) Boss fighty bývají často nepřehledné a bývá velmi obtížné přijít na to, jak bosse zneškodnit. Hra vám v těchto případech nijak nenapovídá, a to v některých situacích herními enjoymentu nedodá.

PŘÍKLAD ZDE - první z boss fightů, kde člověk musí najít všechny předměty a ještě přijít na to, co přesně dělat.
NEBO ZDE - příšerné trápení v boss fightu, kdy pomocí stálého umírání zjišťujete, co asi máte nebo nemáte vlastně proti bossovi dělat.

3) Nalézání předmětů je ve hře pouze jako "side quest" - může to tedy dopadnout tak, že hru procházíte bez důležitého vylepšení a obtížnost se stane téměř nezvladatelnou aniž by vám hra jakkoliv napověděla, že jste něco přešli...

PŘÍKLAD ZDE - předlouhé mazání se se zmutovanými příšerami a neustálé umírání jen proto, že člověk nemá tu správnou zbraň...

4) Jumscary jsou často předvídatelné a nascriptované. Je důležité úmyslně nevyužívat veškerých vhodných příležitostí k vyděšení hráče. Když člověk dělá nějaký úkon často bez problémů, tak ho jakákoliv změna překvapí. Pokud se něco “nepředvídatelného” stane pokaždé, když daný úkon děláme, jump scary již nejsou tak děsivé.

PŘÍKLAD TADY.

Mé závěrečné hodnocení hry je: 66 %
Hra mne hlavně ze začátku příjemně překvapila svou atmosférou, postupem času se z ní stala spíše akční puzzle hra, jejíž prvky se někdy mohly zdát hráči až frustrující. Celkově však hra pobaví a splní svůj účel.

A na celý gameplay Resident Evilu se můžete juknout TADY!
Vaše
Germia

P.S. Speciální dík patří ALZA.CZ

Beacause I messed up badly few times by buying foam and didn't know about the importance of DENSITY, I decided to make a tutorial/test for you.
It is supposed to show you what happens with your foam if you stress it in different ways and which foam is the best for your project.

I'm now using mostly the 45/kg/m3 craftfoam from poly-props.com and even it is not the most dense foam on the market, it is really durable and easy to work with, can withstand a lot of stress and it is (most importantly for us cosplayers) cheap. If you buy your foam in other shops, that I have no experience with, keep in mind to ask about density or at least have a sample to make your own test before buying a lot of it. Or you'll end up with tons of sleeping mat quality or seemingly good foam with lower density, that will ruin your cosplay.

When I started cosplaying, I was watching tutorials to learn how to make epic armor and all the cosplayers were using "EVA foam" everywhere. The main reasons why the authors of the tutorials chose EVA foam for their build was, that it is cheap and practical for cosplay.

So I started searching for this material and wasn't really succesfull finding it. I know there are shops selling those EVA foam puzzles in USA and there are some similar products sold for example in Germany, but here in Czech Republic? NOTHING!

45kg/m3 craftfoam on the left,
<40kg/m3 craftfoam on the right (disassembled)
both after one wearing

So I thought to myself - they are using foam and it kinda looks like a sleeping pads for camping (karimatka). I went to our local sports shop and bought two sleeping pads, that I tried to use for my build of Demon Hunter - look at the pictures - I really used it for the cosplay and I can't believe it now :D The surface was so badly bulky, the inside structure was bubbly and it didn't hold it's shape, it couldn't be primed and it teared when stressed. Even me as a beginner knew, that something wasn't right...

So I've searched EVA all over the internet and found a sleeping mat from this material. And bought around 6 of them :D Oh my God, I shouldn't have done that! Guys, don't use sleeping mats for your projects! Sleeping mats should be comfortable and soft for sleeping, not sturdy and hard as we cosplayers need!
You cannot believe how soft the foam II bought is - it cannot be used for anything else than padding - it tears so much and doesn't hold it's shape...

Even the sleeping mat I bought IS FROM EVA FOAM, it's main features are determined by it's density! So if you have a sleeping mat, it is not so dense to be comfortable for people to sleep on. Even some manufacturers offering EVA foam as walking mats use much lower density than we cosplayers need! Be careful about that and always ask manufacturers or sellers about thedensity of the foam!

I prepared a small showcase of lower and higher density foam materials for you, just to show you how different density foam behaves and why you have to buy higher density foam for your build. For my comparison, I'm using foam from poly-props.com, because I'm really satisfied with their products and as I've tried several other foam products, this one is the one I'm most satisfied with.

1) BLUE EVA SLEEPING MAT - the lowest density (less than 30 kg/m3 I guess), 0,7 cm thick
- don't use!
2) LOWER DENSITY EVA FOAM - (less than 40 kg/m3 I guess), 0,5 cm thick
- don't use!
3) EVA CRAFT FOAM from Poly-props.com - (45 kg/m3), 0,5 cm thick
- used for most of my armor builds - in my opinion best quality/price ratio
4) EVA CF65 FOAM from Poly-props.com - (65kg/m3), 0,5 cm thick
- used for the builds, that need to be much sturdier
5) EVA CF100 FOAM from Poly-props.com - (100kg/m3)
- used by proffesional prop makers for guns and other sturdy props

First, let's come to PRESSURE TEST
a.k.a. how does the foam withstand other stuff pushing onto it? It is really painful to have your armor pressed in the suitcase and damaged as hell after you take it out. Or what happened to me was, that I accidentally went over my armor with my heavy gaming chair and made creases in it. One way to avoid that is to use higher density foam fo your cosplay, just take a look:

Second in line is the ABRASION TEST
a.k.a. how does the foam withstands contact with other stuff? I actually had to remake my knee armor for my Auriel cosplay, because it was soooo worn out from touching each other (the knee armor touches with my every step), that there were no edges left, just a reminiscent dull rest of the original sharp pointy shape. One way to never let this happen again is to use higher density foam fo your cosplay, just take a look:

Third in line is the TENSION TEST
a.k.a. how does the foam withstand pulling or tearing motion, does it stay in one piece? almost all the time, you need your armor to withstand stress for the cosplayer to rely on it, not to tear on the first day of wearing, not to change it's shape a lot and destroy the paintjob. One way to make sure your armor is sturdy and heavy-duty is to use higher density foam fo your cosplay, just take a look:

I hope this will help you on your future projects and if yes, you can follow my work on cosplay (and other stuff) on my FACEBOOK PAGE.

and if you like this stuff I do, you can support my work by donating on my

PATREON

Yours
Germia <3

Photo by Karolina Ryvolova photography

1) Why I chose to make this costume:

I admire nordic mythology, as I said already in my article about my Haven Paladin cosplay from MMH7. And during the process of making my Paladin cosplay, my dad said to me, that he wants a matching cosplay to mine, some epic badass armor, that will suit him. I immediately thought about Odin and Smite was the first thing, that came to my mind. Odin from Smite is as big as my dad, he is badass, he has big armor and he inspires awe.
Eventually I made this costume really fast, because he wanted to wear it for the wedding anniversary of him and my mom. It's made to fit him, but in fact it could be worn by any big guy or even me (I'm pretty tall).

ORIGINAL CHARACTER:

2) How I made this costume:

1) Helmet

I traced the helmet on the cast of my head, that was slightly adjusted to be bigger as the head of my dad. I covered it in food foil and taped the food foil with adhesive tape. Then I drew the lines of the patterns on the tape form. I cut the shapes, transfered them onto craftfoam (moosgummi) and covered it in worbla to hold the shape.
Then I made the horns out of foam taped in adhesive tape, glued them to the helmet and covered it in papermache out of newspapers and woodglue. Then I primed it with latex cement and made the details out of EVA foam, used the fussing glass cabochons for decoration in front and back and painted it all black. Then I used my sponge-painting technique for painting the golden parts and try to make shades on the horns just with a normal brush and acrylic colors. The shading with acrylics could be much better when using anti-drying fluid. Then I used shiny acrylic structure gel to make the surface of the horns shinier.

2) Beard

I have to say, that buying a long grey beard isn't an easy thing to do. I have to admit, even on e-bay are these wizard beards and wizard wigs prices pretty damn high! :D So I've done something, that was against all my rules and advices I've written aboutand I bought a wizard wig and beard, with photoshopped picture and if you look closely, the wig is crepped to add volume to it. So I've risked a lot. A shiny beard and badly fitting wig came, the overall volume of the beard was bad. So I've decided to cut the wig in pieces and use it for adding volume to the beard. And here's the result - thick beard, that I could braid in three thick braids and I'm really satisfied with it. It's still shiny, but I like it - Odin is a God, so it kinda fits. But if you want to get rid of shine from your wig, you can try to bath it in fabric softener mixed with water (1:2) (and talc powder) for a few days. It cost around 250 Kč = 9 Euro. Oh and the bottom parts of the braids are then decorated with foam pieces. And to hold them on their place, I glued hair clips inside of them :)

3) Eye-patch

The eye-pathc was one of the simplest parts of the costume. I just traced the shape of the eye onto a paper and made bulky shaped pattern (because the person wearing it has it's own eye in there and when you make a space for the eye inside, it will be much more comfortable for him to move the eye.) The I traced the pattern onto a foam, cut it with exacto knife and glued it together. Then I cut stripes from moosgummi and made an eye shape on the patch. I painted it whole black and used my spinge-tapping technique to make it gold. Then I glued small rubber bands from both sides to hold on the head.

4) Boots

As I looked on the boots of Odin, it reminded me of snowboots. Fortunately, my father owns snowboots with camouflage, that made a fitting base for Odin's boots. I traced the shapes on paper and transfered them on the foam. From the backside, there are two elastic bands to allow small movements for the foam cover. A small vecro could be fastened to the boot lace from the bottom side of the foam. I decorated the foam with moosgummi and painted it with acrylics. I sewn two fluffy cylinder shapes from old hairy coat, that could be opened and closed with velcros on the back side. The cylinders are then glued to the foam on the bottom, and pinned to the boot on the top.

5) Shoulder armor, collar

Shoulder armor are just rectangle pieces of 1cm foam with moosgummi border decorations and soldered ornaments, that are curved around the shoulder and connected with velcros on top to the collar and around the armpit.
Collar was made also out of EVA foam, it was decorated with moosgummi and soldering too and wrapped around the neck - it is hold on it's place by the other parts like shoulder armor and cape parts and it can be connected with velcros in the front (the connection is covered with beard).
To the collar I glued the back cape and the fur piece, that was really easy to make, since I took a collar from fur coat, tweaked it a little and glued it to the foam collar and that's it!

As you can see on the picture, the soldered pattern is not even and I thought it would be much more realistic when it is not even, so I didn't tried to make the pattern superperfect ;)

6) Skirt

The skirt is actually made from three layers - there is a long brown skirt with golden details, shorter two-layered skirt right under the belt and blue part right in the middle of it all.

The biggest skirt I made from old leather coat - So it is just the bottom part of the coat, that I cut and sewn into it a space for a lace, that is laced in thw fron of the body and the whole skirt is mainly on the back of the body. The I took golden lurex ribbons and glued them onto the leather since the leather was too strong to sew into. The skirt is on the 2 pictures in left corner. And because the skirt was really heavy, it holds in it's place not only becaus of the lace, but also because of the braces (3rd pic).
Second skirt looked leathery like the first one, but I hadn't any more good quality leather, so I decided to make this part from moosgummi. And how to make moosgummi look like leather? Look at the two pics in the bottom middle part of the collage - You just take dark moosgummi, put a wrinkled aluminium foil onto it and you iron the aluminium on the moosgummi. And it makes in the moosgummi perfet leather pattern for you to use. I've just put brown acrylic paint onto it and tried to mix different shades to match the real leather used fro the other skirt. Then I covered it in shiny acrylic medium gel to make the surface shiny and match again the other skirt. The front skirt needed then much more love because of the amount of decorations I had to put on it - there are a lot of 2mm and 0,5 foam decorations painted with golden acrylic paint.
Then I had to make the third skirt part and it was a blue fabric skirt - I chose the same dark blue velvet fabric, sewn it into desired shape, decorated it with differen golden and silver ribbons that match the ingame model and glued it to the second skirt with hot glue gun. As you can see, I struggled to find the right way how to decorate it - fabric color really didn't look good on velvet, so the ribbons were much better way how to decorate it ;)

7) Cape

The cape was made similarly as the third skirt part - it is just three different rectangle parts made out of dark blue velvet fabric and decorated with ribbons. Two parts are attached to the shoulder pad and arms go through them - to be honest - it looks great, it is the same like on the game model and it covers the bracers that hold the leather skirt!
The back part is the biggest rectangle piece, that i glued under the collar.

Look at the picture to se how all the parts go together:

8) Belt

Belt is made entirely from 0,5 cm foam, there are on the inner parts decorations from 2mm craftfoam/moosgummi and 0,5 cm foam borders. The ends are underglued with unvowen black fabric and I put two grommets on each end to lace the belt in desired length - I counted with changing body shape of my father, so I tried to make everything either laced or velcro connected.
The middle part is made mainly from 1cm thick EVA foam, but I tried to make the blue parts inside look like a glass, so I filled it with glass colors and it looked like a vitrage!

9) Gloves

Gloves are just long leather working gloves that I painted with brown acrylic color, cut off the fingers, because Odin's gloves are fingerless, decorated them with 2mm craftfoam (moosgummi) on the fist and with 1cm EVA foam stripe with a filling of softer foam, that made the border. And as wioth other parts, I made the nordic pattern in the border with soldering iron.

10) Gambeson

Gambeson is a part of a (not-only) medieval soldier/knight, that was worn under and armor. It was a thick, mostly quilted torzo cover, sometimes used even without an armor. I wasn't very succesfull finding the right brown quilted material with the right rhombus shape on it. And then I found a huge jacket in a second hand shop with the perfect lining inside. So I've actually used lining for the gambeson :D

I've sewn the borders, I've made a holes to be worn as a corset and I've decorated the whole thing with plastic rivets in silver finish. So the whole thing is actually worn backwards, I just adapted it to be comfortable, made borders and it is closed with corset lacing. I added some velcros, that hold other armor parts on the place.

11) Knee pads

The base of the knee pads is made from 1cm thick foam, that is glued onto an unvowen fabric. On the ends of the fabric, there is a velcro with elastic band that holds the knee pad on it's place and the elastc bands allows for free movement.
I decorated then the piece with 2mm moosgummi and 0,5 cm foam for the borders and painted it with acrylic colors.

12) Spear

The spear was made out of looooong wooden pole used for making brooms. It is heavily decorated with different sizes of foam - mainly 2mm thick moosgummi with soldered and paintbrushed details, and 0,5mm foam for upper and bottom parts. I've also glued a soft foam on the places, where Odin holds the spear in glued a bast cord around the foam and painted it with different shades of brown. It really feels good int he hand!
One of the hardest parts was dividing the spear into two different pieces, since the spear itself measures around 2,5-3 meters. I cut the pole in two pieces (mind the place of cutting since it has to be hidden somehow) and I drilled a bigger hole into the bottom part in order to put inside a long metal nut (female srew) and glued it into it with two parts epoxy glue. The same I did on the other part. I just glue a male screw into it - keep in mind that your male screw should be headless so you don't have to make an unnecessary bigger hole. Next thing to keep in mind - you have to tryto screw the pieces together before gluing and be sure that it works well. Also - the angle of the drilled holes should be straight - if you drill the holes a little off, your spear can end up crooked - I made the holes myself and I managed to pull it off, but if you are not sure if you can make it yourself, ask (for example in the shop where you bought the pole) if some expert with the right tools can make it for you. Then I wrapped worbla around the connection to make it more sturdy and solid and decorated it with foam.
But this is not all - I had to make a lot of decorations - I made them out of 0,5 EVA foam and glued them to the spear on several places. I thought about making them from worbla, but with good quality dense foam you can make it nice and sturdy without using worbla.
The top part is made out of XPS polystyrene, that was shaped with exacto knife and dremmel, smoothened with acrylic cement, decorated with blue glass color, small foam pieces and hand made glass cabochons and painted with acrylic colors and paintbrush. Then I mounted the top part on the pole and glued it into place with hot glue.
The bottom part had to be really hard and sturdy and withstand a lot of stress, since I assumed my father would like to lean on the spear sometimes or use it sometimes as a walking stick. So I made it from 1cm foam and covered it all in worbla thermoplastic.

13) Back decorations

Some of you may notice, that on the ingame model, Odin has some kind of big armor parts on his back. In order to simplify wearing the costume for my dad, I decided not to make this part of the costume, since my father is not used to wear complicated costumes and it is really exhausting for him to wear the costume even without the big backpack structure.

And if you see someone being this happy about wearing the costume, you know you did your job right:

Also, look at other pics I made together with talented Milos Mlady:

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Yours

Germia