Cosplaying 101- Step 5: Making Your Cosplay

Oh we are halfway there now! Welcome back to the Cosplaying 101 series (a beginner's guide to cosplay, see the full list of steps below). Today I present step 5, Making Your Cosplay. Fun stuff, fun sometimes frustrating stuff. So let's get into it.

Now I can't tell you exactly how to make your specific cosplay, well I mean, I could probably give you some suggestions if you asked (you can post it to my Facebook page here), but you get my picture. What I can do is give you a list of advice and tips that I would have found useful when I was first started cosplaying (see picture below of my first home-made cosplay, well I call it a cosplay. It was for a Lady Gaga party about 7 years ago, just before I met my future hubby-bug, and yes, that is a disco stick in my hand).

So helpful tips...Sorry if this is all over the place, I want to give you the most helpful information possible. I have broken down the tips into 3 categories; Helpful Tutorials for your cosplay, Materials I like to use, and a Things I've Learned Over Time, basically miscellaneous :

Helpful Tutotrials:

YouTube is your friend, my friend. YouTube it, and it will be revealed to you. See my list below for awesome YouTubers who can get you started:
Sachie

Axceleration

MangoSirene

Punished Props

Evil Ted Smith

AWE me (go to their playlist and look at DIY Prop Shop and DIY Cosplay Shop)

Google search it. Again, google is your friend. You can search for tutorials on the whole costume, but you may have more success looking for tutorials on the pieces of your costume (i.e- how to make wings, how to make boots, how to make leggings, etc.)

Materials:

Base Materials These are like the cells of the cosplay world (get it? Because cells are often called the building blocks of life). These are the materials that I use most often to form the base of my costume:
Craft foam, I cannot tell you how much I use craft foam. I use it on basically every single cosplay. If you have a problem, craft foam will solve it. You can buy craft foam in various colors and thicknesses at craft stores like Hobby Lobby and Michael's. The brand is usually Foamies or Silly Winks.

Fabric, this is pretty straight forward, but yeah I use a lot of fabric in my cosplays, otherwise I'd be naked. My favorite fabric to work with is knit. It is difficult to sew, but if you mess them up, which I often do, it hides your mistakes.

Primers, I use primers so that I can paint my craft foam. Craft foam is porous, so when you spray paint it, it will absorb the paint and not give you a very smooth finish. In most cases, you will want to use primers to combat this problem. Primers will seal up those little holes and give you a smooth surface to paint on. I have not found a primer that I particuraliy like, but these are the primers that I do like to use:
Wood glue will give you a very smooth surface to work on, but it is not flexible meaning that it will crack if you try to flex or bend the craft foam (the layer of glue will crack, not the object, possibly messing up your paint and the overall appearance of your piece), especially over time. Make sure you store whatever you prime in wood glue carefully, because if you just throw it into a box and take it out several months later and try it on, it will form 50 bagillion cracks and the paint will probably flake off. Can you tell that I speak from experience?
Mod Podge will also give you a nice smooth surface to paint on. It also has the same issue as wood glue in that it is not flexible. Additionally, if you prime two objects in Mod Podge and they are touching one another, they can stick together and cause damage to each other. This problem is more likely to occur in warmer temperatures. So again, be careful how you store and transport items which were primed with Mod Podge.
Glues can be difficult. They can be one of the most important parts of our costumes because when they fail, it is a catasrophe. There are lots of different glues out there that have very specific purposes. Here are the glues that I like to use:
Mod Podge is wunderbar. You can use it to prime (see above), as a top coat (see warning above as well), and to attach fabric to craft foam. A lot of times when you put craft foam directly on your skin, it will cause your skin to sweat. So I use Mod Podge to glue fabric to the skin side of my craft foam so that my skin can breath. I paint on a layer of glue on the craft foam, then lay the fabric down on it, then coat of edges of the fabric in Mod Podge.
Contact Cement will form a permanent bond between two pieces of craft foam or EVA foam. You can use it to construct helmets and armor. However, there are quite a few drawbacks of using contact cement. You need to use it in a well-ventilated area. You need to be absolutely sure that you want the pieces to stick together before you glue them because you will probably ruin your piece trying to pry it apart. Also, you should only place it where you want it to go, because it dries the color of pee and it will leave a residue.
Hot glue is cool to use as well. It is pretty cheap and has many uses. However I would not use hot glue to attach fasteners to craft foam. Hot glue has a tendency to peel up from foam).
Cutting Tools are similar to glues in that you have to find the right one for whatever material you are using. Here are the cutting tools I use most often:
Scissors, there are many types of scissors. Just be careful to use them for their intended purpose. So only use fabric scissors to cut fabric. Also never use scissors on things that are metal (for example, do not use your scissors like they are pliers when you are trying to remove stick pins from something you accidentally glued them to. Does this sound like another true story? That's because it is...unfortunately) otherwise you will need a new pair of scissors.

X-acto knife, can be used to cut thin pieces of craft foam, but my favorite way to use an x-acto knife is to cut detail lines into thicker pieces of craft foam and EVA foam.

Box cutter is the best way I have found to neatly cut thicker pieces of craft foam and EVA foam. Just make sure you get a whetstone so that you can sharpen it every couple of cuts (foam dulls knives really quickly)
Fasteners are the things that help us get into and out of our cosplays. With fasteners you will have to consider if you want the fastener to be visible or hidden. If it is visible, how will you make it look like it belongs with the costume. Here are the types of fasteners I use most often
Velcro is one of the more hidden fasteners I like to use. Just make sure you glue your velcro, even if it is sticky back velcro, because trust me, sticky back velcro will fail. Every place I used sticky back velcro, it fell off after about 2 hours ( I used it on 2 different costumes).
Make- Your- Own fasteners. I used jump rings and ribbon to make my fasteners for my Poison Ivy armor. In the end you laced up the armor like you would lace up a shoe or a corset. It looked really cool, but was a nightmare everytime I had to go to the bathroom.
Pizzazle and Details are the extra materials you can add to your costume to make it unique, eye-catching, and even better than it already is. I also include paints in this category.
Spray paint, if done correctly (which I rarely do), leaves you with a smooth finish, no brush strokes. Again this is one of those things I use in basically every cosplay. Just be sure to use it in a well ventilated area, protect your surrounding surfaces, and to use a respirator. Also I like to use a spray paint grip, because I do a lot of spray painting.

Acrylic paint has a variety of colors. If there is a specific color you are looking for, use acrylic paint. I also use black and/or brown acrylic paint to weather my items to make them look less new, and factory made.
Silver enamel paint can also be used for weathering. You can lightly paint it on the edges of items that are supposed to be metalic to make it look like the paint has been scratched off in that area
Tulle, it is basically cheap sparkly fabric that you can use to cover bras and pretend it is a top (see Princess Jasmine below, her top is a blue bra covered with tulle and sequin). Tulle can also be used to make big skirts.

Random List of Things I Have Learned:

Allow yourself enough time. When you start rushing stuff, you don't have time to fix obvious problems and you don't have time to test drive your cosplay and catch potential problems. Also, you won't be able to do your very best work. It feels a lot better when you cosplay wearing your very best work.

Get the basics done first. So start by making your character's clothing first. So if you are cosplaying Poison Ivy start out by coming up with a plan for the green leotard. If you are cosplaying Batman, get your Batman suit done first.This isn't necessary, but I find that it gives me a starting point and it also ensures that I have something to wear when I cosplay, even if it is not the complete costume. Once you have clothing for your character you can begin to focus adding more details, adding extra pieces, adding props, and all that jazz.

An organized work space will save your life someday (and so can hamboning). You would be amazed how much faster you can get things done, when you know where everything is. Any who, I wont go into too much detail here, but organize your work space. Put objects that are used in similar ways together and make sure every object in your work space has a specific spot that it belongs (I call that space it's home, and every object in your room has to have a home). Oh and make sure you clean up said work space as much as you can when you are done for the day (i.e.- return every object to its home).

Knowing your character's iconic colors could help you a great deal. For some characters (i.e.- Joker, Harley Quinn, Mario, all Disney characters) just wearing the correct colors will help people identify you, even if your costume looks nothing like theirs. See examples below:

Compasses allows you to make a circle exactly the size you need it. If you have a lot of circles to do in your cosplay, or you tend to do a lot of cosplays with circles (cough cough, X-Men, cough cough) then it may be a great idea to get a compass.