(Part 2) Best products from r/cosplayers

For the space helmet:

> For most costumes involving dome helmets, measure how large your head is and try to consider how large you would like your helmet to sit. Typically, you’re going to want something 14-18 inches in diameter.

> Here are 3 spheres you can purchase off of amazon [(1) (2) (3)], all are large enough for helmets and have pre-cut openings, although you can always make them larger if you need them to.
Make sure you add holes so you can breathe! This is super important!

> Here is a tutorial for a Captain Olimar (from Pikmin) cosplay which guides you through adding holes, adding neck support, and any other backing or details you want to add to it.

From source

Edit for the glasses:

Here is a tutorial showing how to use transparent vinyl to make custom costume glasses. I'd just use round lenses, which you can get for cheap at Value Village, ebay, etc. Alternatively you could use a method like this and create the cat-eye shape by painting the lenses, rather than using cut-out vinyl shapes.

Here is a tutorial for making cosplay goggles, rather than glasses.

There are a lot of cat-eye shaped frames available on ebay and Amazon, too.

For pants you are going to need navy cargo pants which can be picked up from amazon or your local army surplus store. Your best bet for the shirt would be under armor or similar compression shirt. Unless you're willing to settle for black, the shoulder holster is going to be tricky. This is what I could find on amazon Brown Black. Leg holster Gloves.
A rock climbing harness can be expensive and now look like you want it to, I would suggest leaving it out (you will be more comfortable walking around, trust me) or getting some nylon webbing and making your own. Good luck with your gender bent Leon!

Eep! A week and no response, so you're down to two weeks!

Why not just buy the hakama online? There are other shops available, a quick Google search will turn them up. If you are confident that you can sew your hakama yourself in two weeks, I found a pattern for one. You can even modify the Kataginu pattern for your haori. If not, a plain white under kimono (or even a cotton, non-terrycloth bathrobe) can be painted on with fabric paint.

For that visor? Find similarly shaped plastic sunglasses/protective goggles, preferably in a light color, and spray paint them. Go easy on the lenses so you can see through them...unless you don't mind being blinded.

Here's a wig that will work, though it will need styling. Wig styling is not my area of expertise, so I can't help you there. I can't really see the boots in the arrancar picture, but in the captain picture, they just look like plain white boots.

Best of luck to you, this seems like a pretty tough project to get done in so short a time frame, but this is totally doable.

[EDIT]: I should amend this.

It's totally doable...if you can afford it. With cosplay, things take time and money. Now, you can substitute some time for some money, and some money for some time, but the less time you have the more money you'll need to spend. And you'll never be able to completely be rid of one or the other - every costume will take at least some time and some money.

About the jacket... if you're modifying a karate gi, can't you cut the excess in a way that gives you a collar like the one you need? Maybe find a tailor to help you out with that. And the logo is as easy as getting you're hands on some iron transfer paper and printing the logo you want.

For the googles, since the character doesn't actually wear them, might as well get a generic plastic headband and construct them with some red foam and yellow clear plastic.

As for the bandages, any white fabric that doesn't frill in the edges will do, but make sure to dye the edges in light gray with markers so you see a clear definition between one and another.


EDIT: Oh, and about the hair, definitely get the right wig. Cosplays look a 1000 times better with one.

Looks cool but the things that stand out to me are, 1. The review that says it's single use rolls 2. The amount on the rolls. The 1" tape gets you ~1/3rd of a square foot of coverage with no overlap for $6 ($21.6/sqft), the 2" tape gets you ~2/3rd sq ft for $8 ($11.5/sqft), and the 4" tape gets you 1.7 sq ft of coverage ($6/sqft). Seems pricey, even more so if I have to toss out any partially used rolls. I might still try it because new materials intrigue me but it seems about as good as laying fiberglass over a plaster guaze cast or just wrapping in fiberglass and resin. Surface finish will be a factor because hours saved sanding are valuable hours indeed.

EDIT: math

EDIT2: For comparison, the fiberglass kit gets 8 sqft of cloth and 32oz of resin. I'd expect it to get me 4-8 coats on 8 sqft (never had a project that used the whole 8 sqft of cloth at once but I'm estimating about 4-6 oz of resin per coat and that 1st one always takes a bit more). Throw in a 50 cent chip brush for each of 4 coats and the price is about $25 or $3.1/sqft with the added bonus of being able to save the resin left over for your next project.

Interfacing really sounds like it will be useful for you if you want that extra detail for each character. [This] (https://www.amazon.com/Thermoweb-Medium-Weight-Fusible-Interfacing-White/dp/B001C205PA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478473632&sr=8-1&keywords=interfacing+iron+on) would allow you to iron on other fabrics ontop of your sections. For Garrus, blue 2x2 with a gold strip on it maybe? You could even cut out the archangel logo and iron it on there. Same with N7. It's real easy to use. Wrex could be a red 2x2 with some black on it, you could even do it in the shape of his facial scars or some such, Samara's headband thing as well? Cerberus logo etc etc. You'd just iron the interfacing onto the fabric, flip it over, draw on your pattern, cut it out then remove the interfacing on the fabric, apply to your 2x2 square and iron it on.

If you don't want to shell out for custom fabrics for Tali & Miranda you could use [this] (https://ohicosplay.tumblr.com/post/143060238480/fabric-painting-on-costumes-part-four) as a guide. It shouldn't be too hard. You could even use this method for adding detail to the other sections. (Zaeed's tattoo?)


I think you'll be hard pressed to find say a selection of cotton fabrics which can represent each character without some customisation.


Wholeheartedly suggest getting assistance from your Grandma :) Mine helped me make my first cosplay costumes and is eager to sculpt a turian head for a mask once I've gotten confident enough with EVA foam to make the armour. They always have good advice!

This is a good idea! Some considerations:

• if you have the purple reflective fabric on the inside of your collar, then green reflecting off of purple may have a strange result. Purple and green light don't mix well. Consider silver on the inside or some foil to reflect the green light.
  
• Amazon sells these packs of tiny lights that come in many colors. I have the pink and it's BRIGHT!
  Example
  
• The battery pack will need to go somewhere. Like at your waist or pocket. You may need to splice in a longer wire.
  
• You might consider sewing a layer of tulle or mesh or something to keep the LEDs and wire from rubbing on your skin. Depends on the collar.
  
• Pictures are required. ;)
  
  GOOD LUCK!

I've tried an electric knife, but that didn't have the control I'd hoped, although it was fast. With more patience, you might have better luck than me. Also, don't buy the one I linked, instead find one at a thrift store.

I tried to build a hot-wire cutter from toaster parts, but it didn't get hot enough, so I gave up on it.

In the end, I ended up just free-hand sanding and cutting away the foam. In other words, I'd spring for a second ball. :( Check your local Dollar Store. They have a small selection of foam, and while their spheres are probably too small, it does end up being a good place to get a 4" cube

One last hint: A mandolin slicer is really good for taking thin slices off a foam sphere. I used it to flatten the backs of eyeballs, and it worked really well.

I would get blue tights for the legs instead of painting them, it will save time and money. As for the face, I'm a big fan of mehron paradise aq makeup for body paint. Here is a very basic cardigan on amazon. You would probably have good luck at thrift stores for that sweater as well.

You might be able to avoid the soldering if you go with a preassembled kit like this or that which is already wired up to a battery case.

Just search online for "el wire kit" or "el tape kit." Also, if you have a month or more before production, you can save some dollars by ordering the kits from China at electronics sites like bangood.com gearbest.com or others. Just be sure you can allow a good 3-4 weeks for delivery plus time to hack it into your Sting prop.

Good luck.

Success!

Thank you so so so so much. Wow. I wanted to wait to try it out to see how well it might work. It went through two layers of leather without any difficulty and it made sewing incredibly fast and easy. I was able to finish tailoring in less than 30 minutes. Thank you so much.

If anyone is wondering: I bought Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl 120. I bought one of the slight more expensive "new" ones, and therefore didn't need to break $25.

I've done a leotard-esque suit and sewed EL wire onto it. Just gotta have somewhere to attach the battery pack. I bought Sam's disc from ToysRUs (it has a switch where it will light up every few seconds and with the press of a button lights up more and makes noise) and just held on to it/wore it around my arm when I was in costume.

I think for Flynn's coat you would want to go with EL tape for the sake of being true to film. You could probably tape or glue the back of it to the inside of a hooded cloak. I've not used the tape, but the EL wire works fantastically, I've worn the suit twice in two years to long parties and have yet to replace the batteries. The wires don't get hot and can take a lot of strain too! Best of luck to you.

Thanks! That Power Fist is sweet.

To get clean cuts, you just need a really sharp knife. I prefer an exteding utility knife/box cutter like this one. Then once it starts to get dull I sharpen it with this sharpener (along with some wd-40 for lubrication). Any cuts that aren't ideal can always be cleaned up with a dremel/rotary tool though.

Yes! I thought my utility knife was still sharp, but after using the Kershaw sharpener Ted recommends, my foam cuts came out so much cleaner.