Trials of Costume Making

[tuesdayDrama]

I know that no one wants to reveal their secrets, or most don’t, but I’m considering keeping a video log of my progress while I make my Edward Elric costume. If anything else, it would be a guide to myself incase something ever happens, and I want to recreate the outfit. Of course, I’ll have to clean out the spare room that I want to use as my sewing area, as well as obtain the fabrics I need. But, I’m rather partial to the idea, and it would be a great way for people to see me prior to any cons. This is a big “want to” at this point because right now, my digital camera’s sound doesn’t pick up on my Vista desktop, and I have no tripod. I can use my old 8mm cassette tape camera, but again no tripod and perhaps no blank tape. ^^;

I’m finding that creating this costume is making me think creative and functional, which many times makes the project itself frustrating. I’m trying to figure out how I will be able to properly sew together vinyl for the automail arm (I doubt I’ll purchase another yard to do the leg at this time) as well as how I’ll get it to stay on after it’s made. I’m thinking Halloween makeup adhesive or putty—I can’t remember what it is called. But, that gunk may or may not stick to underside of the vinyl as I want. If that ends up being the case, I’m considering using double stick tape. Good thing I have Halloween first to try this costume out.

I did find a great wig shop (originally through eBay, where I bought my wig that I’m going to use). Although, it is just my personal opinion. It’s called WFP-Wigs. The wig shipped from Maine, and I got it on the third day after I’d ordered and paid. I was blown away by the speed of it. If you’re in a desperate need for a wig in little time, I’d suggest giving the site a look. www.wigs-us.com/index.php Heck, I’d suggest this site anyway because I adore the wig I got. Sure it’s a little too light for Ed’s hair (although the more I see it, the darker and more right it seems), but it’s an amazing wig! It has many different shades of synthetic hair in the wig, to give a realistic appearance, and the one I have takes pictures beautifully (it actually looks the golden blonde that I want for Ed, so it’s hard to show a picture of how light it really is in photograph).

Then, again, I’ve never bought wigs before, aside from a purple one— for a Gaz costume—at Johnnie Brocks (and, I loved that wig, too. It wasn’t that shiny, Barbie doll fake type of hair like many wigs). The link I’d pick is “Dare You to Wear.” The cosplay wigs are really just standard Halloween costume wigs. Gandalf, Mullet, Elvis, etcetera, etcetera—there are some good wigs mixed in through the pages, if you want to take the time to scan through all 11 pages, like a really cute Suzi Westbay wig on page 10. You can get most wigs for under $40 before shipping and handling fees, which mine was about $3.50 buying from her on eBay. Of course, there are much more expensive wigs, Tressallure and Revlon brand wigs are about 90 bucks each. XP
Here's my wig before I cut the front (again, it takes with a golden tint. Sorry it's a little large)

Here's one where you can see the lightness of the wig after I cut it, btw(taken in low light) And, my own hair escaped the wig cap.


I’m realizing how annoying Ed’s boots are going to be. If I can’t find a secondhand pair in the thrift shops, I’m going to have to take a pair for shoes that stop at the ankle and construct the boot portion. That means, I’ll have to buy a close matching vinyl to make the boot tops, and glue them to the shoe in the appearance of Ed’s (thank you for the Manga because Arakawa draws a lot of panels of Ed’s shoes). This is also why I won’t pay more than maybe 5 bucks for a secondhand pair of shoes—I’m going to terrorize them. I’m just hoping I can find a pair boots that will suit my perfectionist tendencies in this matter.

I probably won’t try and get a watch this time around because I do plan to wear the costume again (and, it seems the watch in the Manga is gold, not silver…) but I am going to try and get colored contacts (I have to have a brand that is capable of being prescription because I’m terribly nearsighted). I found a pair that would be the right color, thanks to a page that compared actual photos of golden lenses on real people and not artwork of the lenses (all because of the Twilight hype, which is the only thing I’m grateful to that hype over).

It’s frustrating, but the thought of finally having the finished product and wearing it has me on cloud nine. I’m going to have to have a tripod and take as many pictures as possible.

Now that I’ve blabbed, anyone else want to share a past story about their frustrations of costume making (again, without revealing your secrets)?

[ryosukerex7]

It be a bit more of a hassle for the automail, but I remember this type of plastic that you could shape if you soaked it in hot water for a while.

It's been about a year since I've seen it cause I was wanting to make the Paladin outfit from Ragnarok Online, and wanted something that looked fairly close to metal but still being light enough to wear all day long.

I'll edit this post after I find the name of the stuff again.

Edit: Found it. It's called Wonderflex. And here's a picture of someone that used it to make the automail too.

[tuesdayDrama]

Thanks. I had remembered hearing about Wonderflex from a post on one of these forums. I'm afraid that I'm not skilled enough to get the plastic to take shape. Although, I didn't know that it could be done by soaking it in hot water. I'll keep that in mind because I have a feeling that I'll go back and redo pieces of the costume after the first go around. Also, if I have money to buy enoughWonderflex, I've read that it goes about $25 to $30 a yard.

It does look cool, though. And, thanks for the picture, by the way.

[ryosukerex7]

Another plus about that stuff is if you have lot of little pieces left over, you can mold them togther, and not waste alot of material.

I'm looking forward to messing with that stuff sometime in the future.

[tuesdayDrama]

That is, as you say, a plus! I may have to try it sometime, and hope I don't accidentally burn myself in the process. XD

[Mokirin]

Wonderflex... I'll have to remember that for whenever I do an armored cosplay...
I've been wanting to go as my Dervish from Guild Wars, but I didn't know how I'd go about making the metal pieces of it. I don't even know that I'll ever go as her, but even still... might wanna go as someone with armor in the future... this helps