I recently did my very first Cosplay Fashion Show catwalk at The Curvy Fashionista Style Expo! After the illustrious writer, cosplayer, and womanist TaLynn Kel invited me, I got a chance to see who else was on the roster. There are so many talented folks, I had to up my level to be in the same room.
The Original
Not saying that it is a bad costume or anything. Heck, I even got a commission of it from Marcus Williams.
I just wanted to make more stuff for it. Some things are going to stay the same since they are so durable. So, here is my collection of tutorials I used and more that helped with the upgrade.
Now for the Upgrades
For the Hair
Some time ago, I started getting my hair cut into a frohawk and that proved to create an issue with the flower and horn clips. Since I don’t have much hair at the sides of my head, there isn’t much to catch but they still worked.
- Cantu Edge Control
- Polymer Clay Horns Tutorial by Elaine Robitaille
- Flower clips
For the Face
As an unspoken rule, I don’t do makeup as a regular routine. The time needed to make it not look like facepaint takes away from my sleep schedule and that is a no-no. But, for cosplay, I’m willing to put in some effort.
- MaryKay Makeup (I’m a consultant, I know, shocker!)
- Blue contacts (Because they have my prescription)
- Someone to do my makeup, because mistakes were made
For the Pants
These were made years ago and are a bit smaller now. So, I had to add a pair of cutoff shorts. Didn’t need to have any accidents.
- DIY Wrap Pants Tutorial
- Yellow Chiffon from Joann
- Red & Black Bias Tape for edges
- Best fitting pants for the basic pattern
For the Jewelry
Polymer clay is one of my favorite mediums. It is so relaxing and easy to work with. The focus required to handle such small pieces clears my head of lots of clutter in the process.
- Piranha Plant earing tutorial by El Arte de PAU
For the Belt
This was just a trial and error process with lots of found fabrics and pieces. I might have to make a tutorial for the next one.
- Yaya Han Gunmetal and Black Fabric
- Scrap fabrics from the thrift store
- Purse hoops
- Old belly dance belt
For the Backpack
I like the idea of making a choker to hold the Bowser shell. Since I needed to have something to hold my cosplay emergency kit, I opted to make it an attachment to the TMNT backpack I already had. It did create some issues with measurements and supply amounts, but I think it still worked out.
- Bowser Shell Tutorial by Kipatsu Cosplay
- TMNT Backpack
- Dragon tail tutorial by Jessica Kelly
- Yellow chiffon for the little tail
The Result!
It did take a lot of work, but it was all in fun. What do you think?