Author: Ryithos

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Overwatch – Genji throwing stars

I have been obsessed with the upcoming game Overwatch from Blizzard Entertainment for the last few months. It’s fresh, bright, and amazingly well polished for still being in a beta environment.  The game is fun and exciting and manages to be different every round no matter how many hours you sink into it.

So, I wanted to show some appreciation to the amazing team that is building this fantastic game with a project that only cosplayers and prop-makers would think of.  After a quick question to a friend who works on the game I found out that they use cork boards primarily around the office.  (I wanted to make sure these would be useful, after all!) Now, I had seen the cheap version of normal ninja star pins available on Amazon, but I wanted to make these straight from the game.

Thanks to the Overwatch reference kits, I was able to get a perfect image to work from.

Continue reading →

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Starcraft Medic Shield Commision

Back in the start of 2011 a friend asked up to help her out with a fan art inspired Terran medic.

I took on the project even though we were knee deep in the Kerrigan build at the time. I have love of prop weapons and accessories making it very hard to turn down the opportunity to make a something as cool as a 4foot shield!! Continue reading →

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Foam Latex bake oven

If you’re going to work with foam latex, then you will need something to cure or “bake” it in. You can not use an oven you bake food in, because of chemicals put off by the baking process of the foam latex that would make any food cooked in it, toxic.  The design that we used is a slightly modified version of one we found online. The key difference is we doubled the dimensions which ended up increasing the volume of the oven by a factor of five!!  This may not sound like much but the more air there is in the box, the long your heating will take and more power you will need to maintain the heat.

I would love to tell you have a set of plans that I could link or that I could build another should I need it, but if you have followed the progress of this costume then you know we did a lot of this from intuition and a couple good guesses. Continue reading →

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Resin and Pepakura : A simple guide to the safe use of fiberglass resin

There are lots of tutorials on “How to fiberglass” and ” How to create Pepakura” but there these seem to skip the steps between building the Pepakura pattern and laying the fiberglass. Marine Helm from Halo: Combat Evolved (File from Halo costuming Wiki).

This Tutorial will help walk you through the handling, set up and mixing of fiberglass resins along with a bit on how to coat your project to get full penetration of the resin in to the paper. Continue reading →

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Sizing your Cosplay props

Achieving that perfect look for props can be very tough. But even if all the details are in place, should the item be too small it will still look wrong.

Proper prop size is key to any successful cosplay. From a set of swords, Keyblades, armor, or outlandish props like full wings or even oversize vegetables and signs.

I start with a good reference photo of the image. In this case I am working on set of World of Warcraft daggers for a commission. This technique will work for any costume or prop assuming the character in question is vaguely human in size and proportions.

I did basic human anatomy and used the waist as a half way in total height. The weapons are for a female cosplayer but WoW has some gender issue and sizes the weapons very strangely depending on who holds them. I feel that the male human is as close to “real life” as you can get, so that’s the template I use.

Here is the same process repeated for a very well known character
Link from the “Legend of Zelda” seriesAfter I got done with this sizing chart, I decided to reference the real items that are for sale and I found that I was within an inch on both the sword and shield.

Hylian Shield
Master Sword

I hope this helps all you cosplayers out there. A little research and time spent pouring over reference pictures will go along way in creating that perfect cosplay.

Good Crafting
Mario “Ryithos”

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How to: Make a helm from fiberglass (Char version)

A good friend of Alice’s asked if we would take on a commission for a rather unique and truly identifiable helmet.

Char Aznable from the Gundam Universe.

Finish product before shipping!!  I am aware that there are a few flaws in the helm that have far more to do with my inexperience, then any thing with my process. The following tutorial will show both how I made this helmet and a few tips to avoid a few mistakes I made along the way. Continue reading →

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Axe Cop cosplay commission

A friend of ours wanted to rock an “Axe Cop” cosplay to Wondercon 2011 here in San Francisco. Although he is new to cosplay he does have a good eye for costume creation.

The one thing he lacked was a garage and some pink foam to make an axe, after all an Axe Cop with no axe is just a…… cop?

Ok, on to the crafting. If you have read a few of my other tutorials you know I love this stuff (pink foam, of course!). Because we only had a comic book to work off, I free handed one side of the axe blade and used a stencil to reverse it to the other side to ensure an even look.

Continue reading →

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Your guide to adhesives for cosplaying

If you build costumes then at some time or another you have had to stick one thing to another thing.  The options for adhesives available to the cosplayer are very diverse, but it’s also important to know the best one for the job.

As cosplayers, a few of the materials we may work with will vary from plastics to cloths, foam, wood, and even metal.

The following list is a short compilation of things that stick stuff to other stuff. Always choose the right adhesive for the job. Reading the directions is very important, and proper safety equipment or well ventilated areas should be used as per directions. Continue reading →