I had this impulse to make something big for Fanime 09. I wanted to attempt something harder than my Lina the last year.

After a month and a half of work, my first real armor cosplay is done. There is still a number of things that were rushed, but over all I am happy with the end result.

After being asked quite a few times about the process in person, I've decided I should flush this description out just in case people viewing here would like more info.

For those who have asked, Everything is homemade.

The majority of the armor is thermo-plastic with a few pieces made of craft foam.

I patterned each piece of the armor out, transfered the paper pieces to plastic, and used my scroll saw to cut the pieces out. I used a dremel to refine the shapes and sanded every edge on every piece to give the pieces a smooth, slight bevel. Ooooh the sunburn! I was out there for days, but power tools are part of what is so fun! Sanding, not as much.

The smaller pieces were shaped in a pot of boiling water and the large with a heat gun.

The plastic was primed, sanded again, and sprayed with the silver, and then a clear coat.

I used thick craft foam for a few pieces that due to time constraints, I could not get working out of sintra in time. I'm not so happy with the texture on the center piece, which was rushed too much in the prep time, but over all the foam doesn't stand out too much.


Excalibur is made of Balsa sheets and rods sanded down with some wood putty and was made in large part by MaxArcher <3 The details were painted on the night before I wore this at fanime w/o reference in the hotel room...Hence they are a bit crude. (That's my bad- not his)

I've had a a couple people ask bout the dress, so in regards to it, I wish I had a pattern to give, but I had to draft this one myself. The shoulders are very unique so I don't think there was any way around that.
The shoulders are held up with very thick interfacing. The trim is a stretch vinyl. I'm using the backside. The blue is a polyester blend from britex that's so soft to the touch, and has a nice sheen, but I'm not sure what to call it. It has a very light stretch. The skirt....oh lord, more hotel room work. A couple of hours of scalloping in the hotel room on Friday night.
I have a cheap, flower girl's petticoat on to keep the skirt shape. It's lumpy. I blame ebay LOL I need to replace it in the future

I'm happiest with how the wig came out because I've never done any real styling on my own to a wig before.