World of Warcraft Cosplay

[Etrina]

Oh I totally understand!
I'm sorry that she's without internet

Those ears are just amazing perfect and I'd love some for Sylvanas if she's able.
I'd even be willing to pay one of you to ship them to me from her (If she's uncomfortable giving out her number)

[Tonksie]

Does anyone have any good learn to leatherwork book suggestions? I sort of have no clue where to start, so figured a book might be a nice way to go.

oh! and I'm headed to Tandy leather tomorrow in orange county! I had a dream last night that they announced Blizzcon was this next weekend, and I hadn't started my costume yet! I know it's probably upwards of 8 months away, but better to get started soon, since I have to learn a new skill for it!

yes, apparently I dream about costuming >.<

[Sicel1304]

Originally Posted by Tonksie

Does anyone have any good learn to leatherwork book suggestions? I sort of have no clue where to start, so figured a book might be a nice way to go.

oh! and I'm headed to Tandy leather tomorrow in orange county! I had a dream last night that they announced Blizzcon was this next weekend, and I hadn't started my costume yet! I know it's probably upwards of 8 months away, but better to get started soon, since I have to learn a new skill for it!

yes, apparently I dream about costuming >.<

Start with this! http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=2108

[Etrina]

lol ive totally dreamt about costuming too xD

I got in touch with Permafroste and she's all set to make my ears /cheer!
I'm so excited. It's my first pieces of Sylvanas, it's really real now!

[that_one_guy]

So, anyone in the Midwest do WoW cosplays? it's hard to find you guys if your here! i have only seen one other wow cosplayer in person! where are you guys?

[Etrina]

I WAS in the Chicago area until very recently. I will probably be coming back at some point for ACen (dunno if I'll bring WoW cosplay or not but its possible)

Now I'm near Raleigh in North Carolina

[Amalaa]

Originally Posted by that_one_guy

So, anyone in the Midwest do WoW cosplays? it's hard to find you guys if your here! i have only seen one other wow cosplayer in person! where are you guys?

A group of us are in Cali and then there are some in Florida.... I think Theinfamousbug in in Illinois, if I recall correctly..... other than that.. idk

[Etrina]

I had a moment of OMG AAAAAAAHHHH today.
I was just thinking about various construction materials for the various bits of armor that Sylvanas wears.

My first thoughts were to use Wonderflex + Friendly Plastic (or something similar) and then carve in the designs and paint over etc.
Then I was just reading back through the thread thinking for various ideas etc when I came across the suggestion of Tandy Leather for leather supplies etc. So on a whim I decided to see if theres one in my area and -holy crap- there is!

I would absolutely LOVE to make Sylvanas in leather - it just seems like it would work a lot better and just *fit*

So... I think I'm completely set on leather. It would be super awesome if any of you ladies that have actually worked with it could give some hints as far as where to start (a book maybe to read?)
Once I get paid I'll probably drive out to the shop and talk to some of the associates that work there about various questions I have.

I'm completely terrified to buy the leather and screw it up though.
So I'll pose my questions here first and hope that one of you will answer:

As a reference I'm mainly going from this http://www.wowwiki.com/File:Sylvanas_Windrunner.jpg artwork.
Right at the moment I'm just thinking the purple parts in leather. I'm not entirely sure about those brown legging things as of yet.

First: With leather - would you pattern things as one piece (for example the breastplate) and then say, wrap it around or is it done as a few pieces and then put together.

Which brings me to my next question: When you have multiple pieces of leather HOW do you put them together. Is there leather glue? or is it sewn? or..how?

As far as tooling goes, is it generally just carve into the leather with a specific tool? what is the specific tool? how far do you go?

What weight of leather would one suggest for armor pieces. Especially the shoulders where those skulls have to be attached.

What do you use to color the leather. Specific leather paint? Dye?

In order to mold the leather obviously you have to make it pliable somehow - is there a specific liquid you use? Or is it just warm water (although to me this sounds like a huge no because it would ruin the leather)

I think thats all the questions I had for now. I'm obviously planning on starting with something small just for practice before I start in on Sylvanas' armor
I'm a little intimidated though /cringe

[Tonksie]

Etrina, we're going to have to meet up and take some pictures together! I'm going as Vereesa Windrunner- Sylvanas's sister- and also making my costume from leather (hopefully). I'm a leather noob too- are you in so cal (can't remember)? If so, we should go to Tandy Leather and see if they can answer a bunch of questions for us

From what I've read online, it seems like you make stuff similar to the way you would with any other fabric, depending on how thick it is. You can sew it, but you apparently need a thicker "leather" needle, and if it's too thick, you need to sew it by hand.

The tool for carving is something called a swivel knife I believe?

They have colored leather, but apparently leather can be dyed easily as well- not sure if it takes a specific dye or if you can just use Rit.

I think for my shoulders, I"m going to make a wonderflex (I have a ton leftover, lol) base and cover them with leather, that way, I don't have to use a super thick leather to hold the shape. Thankfully, my shoulders are pretty simple.

I picked up some scraps from Michael's for like, 7 bucks. I'm gonna play around with those to try to get some idea of how it works.

[Etrina]

Tonksie
I so wish I lived in Cali now it'd be great to have a buddy to head into Tandy Leather with.
Seems like I'm probably just going to have to take my reference picture and a list of any questions I have with me and just hit the shop.
They're going to hate me by the time I leave. Lol

I'm assuming that my poor old machine isn't going to sew through leather, even with a special needle. It would die.....and cry at me.

I've been reading a bit this evening - there are several tools involved, and a swivel knife is one of them!

I'll probably go out to Tandy Leather later in the week (Wednesday maybe) with my list of questions. I will let you know how that goes and give you any information I get.

And we TOTALLY have to do a sisters shoot for sure! I told my boyfriend, and even he got excited about it (and hes so not into this whole costume thing haha)

[Ayabi]

First: With leather - would you pattern things as one piece (for example the breastplate) and then say, wrap it around or is it done as a few pieces and then put together.
More pieces for a better fit. Leather is NOT cloth.

Which brings me to my next question: When you have multiple pieces of leather HOW do you put them together. Is there leather glue? or is it sewn? or..how?
Sewing, gluing, lacing, snaping, buckling, or my favorite--riveting.

As far as tooling goes, is it generally just carve into the leather with a specific tool? what is the specific tool? how far do you go?
Swivel knife for your main design. "How far" is arbitrary. Don't push through the leather and you're fine.

What weight of leather would one suggest for armor pieces. Especially the shoulders where those skulls have to be attached.
6-9oz leather.

What do you use to color the leather. Specific leather paint? Dye?
Eco-flo dye or all-in-one. Some people use acrylic paint. I only use paint for metallics.

In order to mold the leather obviously you have to make it pliable somehow - is there a specific liquid you use? Or is it just warm water (although to me this sounds like a huge no because it would ruin the leather)
Water doesn't ruin leather. Water allows it to become more pliable when wet. When it dries, leather becomes more rigid. There is not a "softening" liquid to mold leather. You use water. There are conditioners available to soften the leather and keep it nice, but you don't need them for molding.

My advice is to start small. Don't cut out a huge breastplate design from leather and expect it to fit. Use patterns.

[Shaylyn]

Originally Posted by Ayabi

My advice is to start small. Don't cut out a huge breastplate design from leather and expect it to fit. Use patterns.

You are so helpful! This makes me want to work with leather now...

[Etrina]

Yay! Thank you so much Ayabi
This totally makes me feel a little less intimidated to start

I will definitely do a couple of practice pieces though before I even think about patterning Sylvanas.

[Reformed Tomboy]

Horn 1 is finally completely shaped to my liking.

The question is, does size matter?

http://imagesocket.com/view/largea31.jpg
~or~
http://imagesocket.com/view/notaslarge8d7.jpg

http://imagesocket.com/view/hornec6.jpg

Basically, 24 or 18 inches?

I ended up finding a little shop in the mall that sells pretty cheap platform shoes that I could mod fairly easily. The biggest they had was 5 inches. So I'd be 6' even, with the horns 8' verses 7' 6".

Also, does anyone here have experience making facial hair prosthetics using wig hair? Or advice on where to find crepe wool hair in non-natural hair colors? Im not really sure where to look or begin with in either of these instances.

Thanks for the leather info people have been posting. I am planning on having some leather accessories to get an introductory feel into whether I think it's something I can do in the future, and it'll deinfitely help me out when I get to it.

[Musiclvr2673]

AHH! The thread I've been looking for ;D!

I plan on cosplaying either Gothik the Harvester or Heigan the Unclean /giggle
but I don't know D:
since I haven't found any WoW cosplayers out east...except for this one boomkin at connecticon... D:

I wish i lived near you people haha. (I hope to go to blizzcon 2010! if it doesnt get sold out in 2 seconds D