Welcome to Tips Q&A!

For all those interested in cosplaying, fursuiting, and performing.

*I'll gladly answer your questions to the best of my knowledge. *I would like to display your Tips and Hints too for others in the cosplay fellowship to enjoy and learn from. *Tell me what you have used. I will post your responses and answer questions. *If you have a funny story to share, I would love to post them. Listed and Explained here are my tools and actions involved in creating various costumes. There are some costumes I have never made but can tell you exactly how to make them. This includes animatronic ideas, etc.

My Most Useful Tools: Cutting Tools - electric cutting knife, sharp fabric scissors, detailing scissors, exacto blades, Fiskars non-stick 6-9" scissors Securing Tools - duct tape, Goop glue, sewing machine, portable repair kit, 3M Super 77 spray glue, Hot glue gun Molding Tools - chicken wire, paper mache', liquid latex, sculpee, cardboard, foam, wire, easter eggs Coloring Tools - spray paint (type will differ depending on project piece) - latex, vinyl, matte, enamel, metallic, etc.

Making the Costume: Most anime costumes never had and never will have a pattern to sew from. You can frankenstein some patterns together which works or just go on instinct. I self taught myself to sew and make clothes by simply tracing my own clothes for patterns and then resizing the cosplay fabric pieces over and over again. I've actually become very adept with this way of sewing and measuring. I only require reference via my 3D drawings to build the costume from. I would suggest learning how to read a pattern, however, if you don't have time, find a non-stretch shirt and jeans and make a pattern from it allowing an extra 2 inches all around for you to resize it and fix drawing mistakes. If you know how to work with patterns, then you can buy a pattern(s) for an outfit with the basics shapes you need and then just add on to it with pieces from another pattern or from your size and need estimates. I've done costumes like this. It's good for when you aren't quite sure if the detail you need will come out in a pattern you make from your own clothes. Make Patterns with - poster board, brown paper grocery bags

Character Notes: I made my first cosplay costume this way. See my Shampoo costume (capri pants and mandarin top). I had a lot of difficulty trying to figure out how to do the mandarin collar of the shirt so it's sloppy to the back -but who cares- the wig was long enough to fix that mistake. Explanation of construction: As far as Ryoko goes -she went through 2 years of planning. I came up with many ideas on how to do the hair. The dress was another issue. The first hair prototype I wore to Anime Expo 98'. It was simply sofa-like foam scissor-cut into spikes which were then individually wired with one thick wire up their center for support and for shaping and then all were glued and duct taped to a foam block which I had scooped out to fit my head and then carved outside to look like a bowl. I had marked where I wanted each spike to go with a marker and when first attaching the spikes, I had left a bit of wire available at each base which I could stick through the foam bowl and bend under. I waited 2 weeks for it to dry and then sprayed it with some funky color which I ran out of so as well as the store so then continued with another darker one. Fortunately, I figured that might happen so I sprayed the surfaces with the lighter color -not the depths in-between the spikes, so the darker color I had to use later became simply my shading color. That whole deal took 5 weeks - not including the costume. I lost a lot of money before I figured out how to get the dress and jacket and tights/shoes right.

Jewelry & Accessories: Buying - 99 cent stores are brilliant for this. Hoard lots of stuff from them. If the jewelry you need is something this world will never sell, you must resort to making it yourself. See my Celcia costume (necklace). Explanation of construction: I used sculpee for the first time to bake myself my necklace and elf ears* (see below). I made a small paper pattern for it to cut the clay out evenly and I used gold spray paint to color it. I used Goop glue to attach the pieces onto a chain and then attach a gem to the center. I altered the chain with plyers to get it the right length around my neck.

Shoes: Buying - You can buy smooth material shoes in basic shapes anywhere. Try thrift stores first because you can find a good pair that's already broken in to a comforming shape, and then just add a new inside cushion so you can walk around comfortably at conventions. Spray your shoes a different color with latex-based spray paint. Other paint will not stretch and will flake off. Start with a primer first though to make sure your latex-based spray paint will permanently stick.Celcia costume (necklace). Rain/work boots are good for that smooth shape and are usually easy to cut

Elf Ears & Liquid Latex: The impossible elf ears of Lodoss Wars, Those Who Hunt Elves, and just about every anime elf. Well if you have connections to get these made that's awesome. If not, back to the local makeup or Halloween store to buy sculpee and liquid latex. This is of course one way to make them. You can make the ears out of sculpee and then brush latex over them until they dry. Then peel the latex off using a Qtip with Vaseline on the tip of it. See Celcia's ears.   ** You can also Order these from me. See my costumes "For Sale" area (under Accessories) for pricing.

Coming Soon: Hard shell ARMOR! (shoulder pads, greaves, helmets, etc.) Quick tip to hold you - Use a primer first before spraying any armor to get the spray paint color to stay on. You can use enamel-based spray for shiny armor or use matt color, using two colors for a dirty or worn look or one color just for solidity. Fursuits

That's all for now! Come hang out with me at Anime Expo, Ani-Magic, and Sakura-Con!

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