Cosplay.com - Workshop Photos + Notes for Riku

Riku w/ Way to the Dawn keyblade

Kingdom Hearts II

Workshop Photos + Notes for Riku

Posted by Yui on 12-08-2008 - 12:24 AM

Some of my in-progress photos can be seen here =
http://flickr.com/photos/ensui/tags/inprogressriku/

Materials

Jacket = mostly heavy cotton + one of our giant zips (trimmed then spray-painted from white to grey)
Jeans = medium-weight fashion denim
Shoes = highly modified Lugz sneakers
Belt = modified pre-existing belt (back studs were removed to match design)
Wig = cut, colored and styled by hand (will be replacing this wig at some future point)
Keyblade = thermoform foam, thin foamie sheets, plastic sheeting, acrylic lens, metal chain - all hand-painted

Construction Notes

This was the first time I used masking tape to figure out all the crazy seams needed on the jacket - depending on the fabric, this is sometimes better than using chalk lines or pins since it helps measures straight lines on double seams very quickly and allows me to visually adjust placement on the fly.
The pattern for the keyblade was drafted first on the computer, based off of screenshots. Since the camera in the game distorts objects close up, the perspective was tweaked in PhotoShop, and then the image was converted to color-coded outlines which were then imported into In-Design. I made a template of the actual proportions compared to me, scaled up the image, and print-tiled my new pattern.

Comments

This entry has 5 total comments.

dunkmeinariver posted on 02-18-2009 at 07:45 PM:

wow, that is really amazing! i tried making Way to the Dawn around a year ago out of that pink insulation foam stuff, but it snapped about halfway thru and i kinda gave up after that. You're method looks a lot better, and it looks more sturdy. What is that foam stuff anyway? i'm unfamiliar with that thermo-foam thingy lol.

Yui posted on 02-18-2009 at 10:58 PM:

My keyblade has actually fallen from the top of our van *twice* into oncoming traffic, and it's still (bizarrely) just fine, even the paintwork. O_o I'm working to get more info, but here's what I currently know about the "magical foam" = http://warp-snipe.blogspot.com/2007/07/what-is-your-armor-made-out-of.html

dunkmeinariver posted on 02-19-2009 at 01:04 AM:

Ah, i see. Thanks, i understand a little better now lol. So, is this magical foam available is stores like lowes or home depot?

Yui posted on 02-19-2009 at 01:30 AM:

I've never seen it at normal hardware stores. The only place I've ever found it readily was AS&S (and after years of me buying it up, the blue and the grey kind finally were discontinued. ^_^; They do still have the dark green one on their site tho.) Also, I would check Wal-mart's outdoor/camping section...apparently it's a foam that is often used as a sleeping mat.