New Project: Star-Lord!

    It's been aaaages since I posted here, but I'm far from inactive! I've recently re-discovered my absolute love for all things Guardians of the Galaxy. Peter Quill is a costume I've long lusted after and I finally decided to just go for it!

     The process of gathering materials for this costume has been intense. Everything is either custom-made for the film or obsolete/super expensive or both. Also he wears like 10,000 different jackets. Seriously, the man has a closet somewhere of just red leather jackets so he can wear a different one every single day. What the actual, dude.

    Many many hours of scouring eBay later, I came up with a quick solution that could arrive in time to wear to the theater for opening week of GotG vol2. I snagged a red pleather jacket in my size (amazing!), a pair of cheap headphones, a set of orange headphone pads, and a used/nonfunctional Panasonic cassette recorder (stand-in walkman) as well as a pair of shoes that could be easily converted to some crazy space cowboy boots. All for under $90 including shipping! Score! I also chopped my hair, but that was half for cosplay and half because it's heading into summer in the hot and muggy swampland I live in, and my hair is thick like a wool hat.

    When the jacket arrived, to my dismay, it was already disintegrating. Pleather does that (which is why I typically do not buy it). My beautiful jacket was already ruined before I even got to wear it! This is the solution I came up with. It is a temporary solution, but a fun one! I pulled out my leather, my deadly e6000 glue, some rivets, and leather dye, and went to town.
   

     I think it turned out really well.
   

Ravager style!

    The edges are still falling to pieces, but at least it slowed the decay for a while. I'm still considering turning this into a Peter-holding-the-infinity-stone cosplay someday. I only wish I could wear contacts because how cool would it be to go to a con with glowy purple eyes?

    Anyway, here's the result so far.

    I still have a long way to go on my hair, and I need to get some makeup because I'm gonna do the beard. Also I do have the guns, gonna paint them. Need to make the earpiece for the mask (I have the mask but...not gonna wear that to a con). Need to make the spats for the boots, holsters for the guns, and paint the Panasonic to look like a Walkman (and maybe mod it to play music?)

    It's a work in progress, but I already love it!

Oops

Adventures in cosplay: It turns out that the belt I ordered was a size too small. I ended up ordering another one. So glad I caught that before it was too late!

Also, here's a look at one of the Widow Bites after yet another coat of Mod Podge...

The hard coat is actually hardening, so I think it should work. I had an interesting idea for how to make my Bites unique, but I have to wait for another package to get here before I can try it! Also, the gloves accidentally got ordered from China, so they may not get here until just before the con (hopefully sooner though, if I'm lucky!)

I found a pair of chunky heeled combat boots in my wardrobe (I know it sounds weird, but it's true) that I may use instead of my Loki boots...I haven't decided yet, I still need to get some test photos!

I located my nylon webbing, so that I can make the utility belt, now it's just a matter of waiting for packages and time...

Widow Bites

I will begin by saying please don't read this blog thinking this is a tutorial. If you want to know how things work out, read ahead before trying anything. For example, I attempted to glue the bullets to the links with Krazy Glue, but that didn't work at all, so I ended up re-gluing them all with my trusty E6000, which seems to hold them a lot better.

I also sized them up a couple of bullets so that I could slip them on and off without having to remove bullets every time. Once the glue was dried and the bullets and links were assembled into two "bite" bracelets, I started painting.

 And clearcoating...

And painting...

 And clearcoating...

I'm using this stuff for the clearcoat, since I can't use spray paint.

It isn't turning out to be as "hard" a coat as I would like. I'm hoping that it can withstand the stress of a convention.

Black Widow Begins

Bullet belt and patches arrived today!

As I am starting/well into a new costume, I thought I'd start blogging about my adventures. I still consider myself a new cosplayer, as I have only been "officially" attending conventions for a couple of years. I've been making my own costumes and props for much longer, out of whatever was available to me. I also apprenticed with a replica prop resin casting shop for a summer. Every costume I try seems to teach me something new! My projects tend to be a mix of found, crafted, and bought-from-another-artist items. 

My facebook page can be found here, with photos of my previous cosplays and lots of character shenanigans. Acting is half the fun! The other half is creating! 

 I have been ordering most of my Black Widow accessories from a variety of places. I found a custom-fitted suit on Amazon that is quite frankly, amazing. It's shocking to me that I could get something to fit my 5' curvy figure for that cheap, and have it arrive looking so good! I also lucked out on an eBay wig

I'm nowhere close to a natural redhead, and I've never wigged before. I'm pretty happy that this (unstyled at the moment) wig turned out looking so good!

Also, I am not buying boots for her this time around, as I can use my Loki boots pretty easily.

Today's packages included my drop holsters (which turned out to be tight fitting, but I think I can make them work) and rubber training guns (very cool!), as well as SHIELD patches and a very fake looking bullet belt.

I have plans for these bullets. I've heard that other Black Widow cosplayers have used them before, but had problems with them falling apart. I decided to try gluing the links in before painting them.

Hopefully, with the center ring glued, they won't be as likely to fall apart. I can still attach them together, but the bullets won't be loose in the links.

     If this works, the next step will be painting them. This is going to be interesting. I want the paint to be durable enough to wear well at con, but I can't spray paint (roommate agreement, no aerosols allowed).

Also left to do: Sew the patches on. Make the "Widow" belt. Make the utility belt. Hope the gloves arrive in time to mod them before the con (I accidentally ordered them from China). Do something with the wig so that it isn't so frizzy. Learn to do Natasha's makeup. Practice poses. Learn to speak Russian (ok maybe not, but how cool would that be?).

This is probably the most "storebought" costume I've done, and it's still a ton of work! I'm excited to see it come together though!