COSTUMES AND PROPS
Creating and wearing costumes was one of my first forays into making, dating all the way back to my preteen years. Over 20 years on, I still have a deep love for the challenge and skill involved with recreating a fictional character in the real world in a wearable way.
I’ve never gotten completely entrenched in the cosplay or costuming worlds, but over the course of two decades I have taught myself a huge range of skills in the name of making costumes; everything from sewing to leather working to thermoplastics and even mould making. I’ve dressed up as heroes from video games and villains from comic books and everything in between. The only requirement was ever a tickle in my brain that told me that this particular look would be an exciting challenge.
I think as long as I’m making, I’ll be making and wearing costumes.
Life Size Terrako Prop (from Legend of Zelda Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity)
I had always secretly dreamed of doing a Princess Zelda costume at some point, but I would have never thought I’d get the chance to embody the clever elf in such a public way as to be included in the 2022 Reinvented Princesses with Power Tools calendar. We agreed that Zelda was a good fit for me as a maker, inventor, and relentlessly stubborn creative, but to me it felt like something was missing.
This was my opportunity to make one of Zelda’s best creations myself; the tiny time travelling robot Terrako from the game Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Time was painfully short before the calendar deadline, meaning I didn’t have time to design the Terrako model from scratch and instead used this incredible model made by the talented Shigeryu.
I printed the entire body out of Polymaker PolyTerra PLA filament on my heavily modified Creality CR-10S Pro V2 before finishing the entire (enormous!) piece by hand. This involved countless days of sanding, filling and priming before eventually painting the whole piece by hand with acrylic paint.
The final piece weighs in at close to 2kg and is not articulated but can be disassembled for storage and travel. I’ve left room to be able to re-approach it later to add in electronics for lights or movement, just in case I feel like it!
Pokémon Trainer Klara (from Pokémon Sword)
What started out as a sort of silly off the cuff costume idea has turned into something considerably more involved than I would have expected, if perhaps for no other reason than my own desire to constantly level up.
Klara’s base costume was completed in September 2022 and unveiled at Dragon Con 2022! However, I have plans to add some unique props to this costume, so I don’t consider it finished just yet.
Parts of Klara have been store bought (for once, I have not made my life harder by doing everything from scratch), but others have been painstakingly put together to a standard not entirely commensurate to the seriousness of the initial idea!
To date, I have hand dyed two unique (and completely different) thigh high stockings, extensively explored different kinds of TPU (a flexible 3D printing material) for the bracelet, and transformed a boring wig into a bouffant cartoon cotton candy hairstyle. I have also designed and built her giant moth shaped bow entirely from EVA foam.
Additionally, three of these pieces have their own accompanying video, as I have been using this costume as an opportunity to explore creatively and wanted to share the process.
Stay tuned for more additions to this costume!
Hange Zoë (from Attack on Titan: Season One)
Hange is a costume that started life many years ago as another Attack on Titan character, only to be revived and restored more recently as the overly enthusiastic science officer. Due to the costs of time and moving house, certain pieces of the costume ended out being made and remade more than once, but it was worth it in the end to get to don the glasses and bring this unusual character to life.
For this costume I wanted to create a more real world, realistic looking jacket and cloak than I had often seen being used, and as such sought out rather heavy and robust cotton canvas instead of something lighter and easier to work with. I took advantage of a combination of sewing and leather craft skills to create the harness wrap.
The wig ended out being a successful experiment in transforming a cheap wig with inexpensive materials, and I documented the whole process in a video, which can be viewed below.
I also decided to give this costume an official ‘unveiling’ video when it was complete, a process so fun that I will likely be reviving it for future costumes.
This costume will be getting it’s first public outing at Dragon Con 2022, so keep an eye out for new photos in the future.
