cosplay

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Arcanite Reapers and you. Part 1

From Dec 21 – Jan 21 www.epicweapons.com ran a WOW weapon smithing contest.  I knew I had to enter, but couldn’t decide on which fantastic weapon to make.

At first I wanted to go big, Zin’Rokh

Alice kind of toned me down so I scaled back to Kalimdor’s Revenge

But alas even this was a bit to grand of a project for a limited budget after a great Christmas. A good friend Jenny who runs Fiendle.com wanted to make an Arcanite Reaper for an upcoming costume.  I asked if i could make it for her as both a free commission and an entry in to the weapon smithing contest. Continue reading →

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Upcoming tutorials!

I know we’ve been really quiet lately, but we took a nice break after Blizzcon (after constantly crafting for months and months) for the holidays, and while it was wonderful, we’re itching to get back to crafting. So, here are a few tutorials we plan on making soon (within the next few months)

How to:

Make a weapon from WoW (likely a sword, dagger or ax)

Fully dye a wig (I just did wefts before)

Make a simple lady Link (or regular Link) costume

Make your own prosthetics

Apply prosthetics

 

That might be it for now, we have one costume that’s under secret construction (usually I hate when cosplayers do that, but since we aren’t 100% that we can pull this costume off, and since we hate when someone says they’re going to do something then never does, we’re going to wait to announce who/what the costume is (it’s for Blizzcon), so expect to see pictures/info closer to the date, whenever that’s going to be).

If you’re a cosplayer and you’re interested in putting a tutorial up on our blog, feel free to email us at tripleacosplay@gmail.com with your information, and what type of tutorial you’d like to do :) We’ll put anything up, as long as it’s well written, and has good information.

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Blizzcon 2010 Impressions

So, yes, we are a bit late to get our Blizzcon review up, but come on- we didn’t have a computer for the entire week we were out there, haha. Slightly our problem, we got rid of the laptop we had before due to problems to build a desktop, and had plans on getting  at least a mini laptop before Blizzcon, but we got so busy we didn’t even think about it, and to be honest, we were too busy to blog anyway.

On October 22-23, Mario and I attended Blizzcon 2010 in Anaheim, California.

For the first day, we were both in full body paint, wearing huge masks and it was honestly hard to see much of the convention. We were up at four in the morning, painting each other, and had two other people helping us- my painting took the longest because I had white designs on my legs and stomach that needed to be painted in and then carefully painted around.

We got outside right around 9:30 and were bombarded with people taking our pictures. It was really hard to move much, and we need to walk around to find some friends, but it took a little bit of time, haha.

Really quickly we want to thank everybody who helped us throughout the weekend. Pocket was awesome with helping me with the designs on my legs, it would have been impossible to draw them myself, and the Deeters were amazing as well- they all helped us by carrying around tissues, getting us water, helping with costumes and costume fixes, making sure we ate, and helping me when I needed someone to hold my staff (it was really heavy, and hard to balance with my left arm). They also helped us immensely backstage, and helped to keep me calm when I was honestly about to just drop out of the contest due to nerves. Thank you all! It was also awesome meeting all of the other cosplayers there, Jenny, Leslie, Jen, Christina, and anybody else whose name I have forgotten (I’m really sorry, terrible at names!).

Right before the opening ceremonies, we were asked by a Blizzard employee to come upstairs for some photos and a photoshoot, which was pretty awesome. We haven’t seen the pictures from it yet, though, but neither have our friends who were interviewed as well.

For the opening ceremonies, we were actually backstage, watching the screen, because Mario needed to fix his wig really quickly, and then right when we walked back out we were asked by Direct TV to be interviewed about our views for the opening ceremony, which hadn’t even ended yet, haha.

We weren’t too impressed with it, to be honest. Last year, there seemed to be a ton more excitement, and a ton more announcements. There were all the excitement about Cataclysm, about being able to fly in old world, about all the new guild stuff that’s going on. This year, it seemed like it was just ‘Hey, happy to be here, we’re awesome’ and then the (awesome, yes) ‘Geek is’ presentation by Chris Metzen.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Z_uAbmka5Ko?fs=1&hl=en_US

The last Diablo 3 class was also announced, the Demon Hunter. It looks like a fun, ranged class to play (though I’ll be playing around with every class until I find the one I love) and the costume looks pretty fun too, though I doubt I’d be making it since they had a model walking around wearing it, and they’ll probably be walking around wearing it in upcoming Blizzcons as well.

The rest of the day was honestly a blur to me, we were running around a lot and went back to the hotel room several times to fix wigs/masks/eat something. Before we knew it, it was 4:00 and we needed to head to backstage for the costume contest.

I feel like it was more organized that I heard it was in past years, though it was my first year entering so I really don’t know. They did have seats for people to sit in, and bottles of water for everyone, which was nice.

I was so, so very nervous going into the contest. I was nauseous while standing in line, and it all felt very rushed to me. I did feel like they didn’t spend much time judging costumes, they walked around with a clipboard and asked us our number for the contest, and then silently looked at us and moved on. I think it would have been nice if they at least asked a few questions about the costumes first.

However, I did get to the top five! I’m pretty excited about that, and the girl who won first place (Christina) did an absolutely phenomenal job, she hand tooled all of her leather on her costume herself, and the details were amazing. For those of you who haven’t seen her:

Simply gorgeous.

It was pretty exciting, because apparently after I was pulled away to get in line to go on stage again for top five, Mario was approached by one of the guys who worked on the Diablo 3 concept art for the Witch Doctors, and he thanked us for doing such an awesome job on the costumes. Woot!

We didn’t attend any panels or go to any booths on the first day, and barely made it past the first 20 feet of the convention center.

On the second day, we dressed as Kalecgos and Tyrigosa:

I was pretty happy because I got to get a manicure in the hotel spa that morning! My nails were torn up from wearing the long fake nails the day before, and definitely needed it.

We actually didn’t do much second day, we wandered and checked out some booths, got some stuff from the Blizzard store, and got our picture taken on the Frozen Throne.

What could be more awesome than that, you ask? Well…

Mario proposed on the Frozen Throne! (of course I said yes!) Best. Geeky. Proposal. Ever. I mean, not just for the Frozen Throne, but add that in with it being AT Blizzcon (where we first met, by the way) and us being in costume as Kalecgos as Tyrigosa, who are betrothed in the lore.

Oh, and because I’m proud of my boots (even though I didn’t wear them for longer than a few hours, I forgot to wrap my feet) here’s a quick picture of those:

Woot. I ended up keeping on the leg pieces and putting on tennis shoes… Tyri’s going to the gym! Just remember, people, if your shoes or boots aren’t completely tight/rub when you walk on your feet, then wrap them/get something to cover the rub points. Because it hurts.

We found the photobooth, but we were pretty upset that we didn’t see it on the first day. Boo.

So then we all met up with our friends, and sat and waited for Tenacious D.

The first few songs were pretty awesome, but to be honest, we weren’t too impressed. It seemed more of a show than a concert, I guess, and though they were entertaining, they just didn’t seem to please the crowd quite as much as Ozzy did last year. Last year, every person was on their feet, cheering, singing along, and this year… it was only maybe 1/3 of the people who stood up, there wasn’t much cheering and screaming, or singing along. While it was amusing, it just doesn’t hold the same amount of interest for us as last year, and we ended up walking around and going to some booths we weren’t able to before because of the lines.

It was amusing that they had the Lich King fight the Metal, and then they became friends. That was pretty awesome.

So, I guess that’s it for our roundup about Blizzcon. This was pretty much from a cosplayer’s point of view, and so that’s why I didn’t cover the panels or many announcements. Next up, a review on the official, unofficial Blizzcon after party, and a quick review of the Hilton.

 

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Cosplay Makeup tutorials!

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I decided I wanted to do some cosplay makeup tutorials on here. Step by step, complete with pictures and a product list (mostly drugstore makeup, so that everyone can afford it, but for the more expensive items I’ll list similar products as well) so that anyone can pull off a perfect face for whatever cosplay they’re doing.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I’ll do one of body painting- though I already have some videos up here– so that I can explain a bit more in depth the steps. I’ll gladly take requests for certain character looks!

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Things to do before going to a convention in Cosplay

This weekend, Mario and I had a photoshoot for our costumes for Blizzcon, mostly because I wanted to put together business cards for the convention, but more importantly because we needed to do a trial run. It’s always important to put on everything for your costume, including body paint, tattoos, makeup, wig, whatever is going to be in the final product, at least a few weeks before the convention that you’re going to. That way, if it’s an elaborate costume with lots of pieces, you’ll know how long it’ll take you to get ready, and even if it’s not, it’s good to practice walking around, being in character, posing, and seeing how the costume moves. Then if you’re going to run into any malfunctions with the costume, it will happen in your trial run, instead of while you’re at the convention or on stage for a masquerade, and you’ll have plenty of time to fix it.

Continue reading →

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How to make horns for Cosplay

Horns are a pain in the butt.  You have only a few good options when you need them for your cosplay. You can buy real horns…. but that’s pricey, or you can make your own but that can be messy….. or is it!!

Quick background on this project. I needed a set of 4 horns for a shield. These needed to be over 12 inches long and pretty thin. I got lucky on this and had a form I could use, but these could easily be done free hand as well.

Materials:Expanding foam and wire mesh, that is all you will need.

Total cost $9.00 on the mesh (enough for 2 big horns)
$4.99 on the foam (still haven’t used it all up)
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Cost per horn…. about $4.00 dollars for me. Price will vary a bit but this is much much cheeper then other methods and the end product is strong and able to take some abuse.

How to do it:
Start with a general idea of how you want this horn to look
Is it wide at the bottom?
Long and Narrow?
Short and thin?

I used a form from another horn I had

I split the mesh in half lengthwise and used it to wrap the horn.

Once its wrapped and you’re happy with the over all look, I recommend a few dobs of hotglue to help it hold its shape. The mesh is very bendable but it will always have a bit of spring to it.

Horn copy is almost done,
You should be asking your self “Where is the spray foam” or at least wondering why you purchased it at this point. This wire form is a great way get the look of a horn but is not very tough.  I have seen many tutorials out there where people start to cover the horn at this point with paper mache or even fiberglass.

Time to fill the form with the spray foam, I left the end open so I could get the nozzle of the spray foam down in to it to help fill the horn.  There are also a few small holes cut in the mesh just to make sure I can get the whole thing filled.

I have also mounted them on a wooden dowel because that’s how my costume needs them :)

I failed to take any good pictures of the process of filling them with foam, but its not really something you should need help with.  Put the can together, stick the straw in to the horn, and fill full of foam.  If some squirts out of the mesh that’s fine. You can wipe it off once you’re done filling it full.

Here are all 4 of the horns I did drying.  The foam will take 8 hours to cure to full strength and will expand through the mesh and look a bit like an alien egg…. or something..

Next day and the foam is dry. Using a sharp knife, cut away the extra foam and don’t worry about being very gentle, the mesh will keep you from cutting too deep and ruining your hard work.

Total weight of the 4 horns and dowel is under 2 pounds.

Prep your horn with a good sanding of 80-120 grit sand paper and finish with your method of choosing.  Paper mache will work very well to help keep it light.

Hope this helps and best of luck with all your cosplay work!

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What we’re working on

You may have noticed that our posts have been very few and far between lately. Mario has the next two weeks off work, and pretty much every spare moment we have has gone towards finishing our Blizzcon costumes before October 1st so that we can do a photoshoot and get business cards printed out in time.

What are we wearing to Blizzcon? Well, for the first day, Mario will be the male witchdoctor from Diablo 3 concept art, and I will be the female witchdoctor. Now, we don’t want to put out pictures of finished pieces or the finished costume before Blizzcon- we don’t mind people seeing what we’re doing, but we don’t want to get rid of that ‘wow’ factor that you’ll get with seeing the completed costumes/pieces for the first time. So, here are some pictures up close of some of the pieces that are finished, and some that we’re working on:

(These are, from the left: male witchdoctor wig (is up into a bun for storage), female witchdoctor wig, Kalecgos wig and Tyrigosa wig.)And for good measure, a few pieces of our Tyri and Kalecgos costumes (which we don’t mind showing finished progress of)

Both our Kalecgos and Tyri costumes are about 90% done, male and female witchdoctors at about 85%.

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Tyrigosa wig styling tutorial

Just yesterday I finally finished my Tyrigosa wig. Woo! So I thought I’d show you how I made it!

This is the lady I’m cosplaying, so her hair is what I’m going for:

I decided not to make the pigtails so much longer than the hair itself, I may cut the back of the wig so that it’s a little shorter than the pigtails but over all I’m pretty happy with the length I’ve got. Continue reading →

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Shoulder Armor tutorial Part:1

Costume shoulder armor tends to a stumbling point for many  people. It seems scary and over the top for anyone to attempt to make.  The following method was created from both a need for low cost and high durability.

We start off with an idea of what we want to make. In this case it’s a commission for a World of Warcraft armor set.  Priest Tier 10 Sanctified Crimson Acolyte’s Regalia.

I started out by finding good source reference for the shoulder.  I used WoW Model Viewer to get the best photos I could.  For some of you, you may be working off a single image and that’s ok too. Continue reading →