Ana (Overwatch) Work-log 3 FINAL

Hi everyone! I’m back with the final construction post for my Ana Amari cosplay from Overwatch!! If you follow me on social media or read my last post you’ll know I finished this cosplay over three weeks ago but I’m only getting round to completing my work logs now.. Whoops!

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I started on the Biotic grenades, at first I wasn’t sure how I’d make the the middle sphere but remember we had a bunch of old Christmas decoration left over in a box to be binned and after rummaging through there I found two baubles which were the perfect size. They had some sort of silk covering on them but this was super easy to remove with the help of my craft knife.

Next I made four tubes which were capped at the top. This was my first time using contact cement and I was still getting used to waiting for it to ‘dry’ before adhering it to its self. This made things difficult as I kept trying to adhere the glue to itself while it was still wet, failing miserably. I did get there in the end!

They looked a little something like this when done!

Next I started on Ana’s shoes

WHAT ARE THOSE ?!?!
I decided to simplify the design down a bit because at this point I had a week to make this costume and time was running out!
I bought a pair of skuffs from Primark for £3.

Which I painted black all over, not including the soles.

I then painted the sides of them brown.
I then patterned the top grey piece and glued that on with contact cement and my feet were good to to! The shoe pattern was really simple and curved over the band perfectly, the inner curves of the dremeled inwards to give a slanted look to them. You can see that in the following pictures.

The below pic was taken after con so they look a little battle worn..!

Next was Ana’s knee pads. When I first looked at these I thought I was going to mess them up so bad.

I started by wrapping my knee in plastic wrap and duct tape and drawing the design/shape on. I cut this out and made a few adjustments like evening things out and making things smoother. As I had only patterned half the kneee pad I put the plastic wrap/tape pattern on a piece of paper folded and cut the pattern out.

I tested it as a mock up and the size and shape was great so I went ahead and cut it from 5mm foam and dremeled the tops of each piece at and angle. I then glued the two pieces together cut some smaller detail pieces out from 2mm foam and glued those on and it was done! After painting of course.

I really love how these came out! They look very accurate when worn and the shape and size is just perfect!

The shoulder armour was a pain to make, I tried to make them twice before I was successful on the third time.
The first time I was using a yoga mat as a base, this was before I switched over to the dense foam from CosplayShop. The yoga mat was just too thin and was damaged easily because there was nothing to it. I literally found I couldn’t firmly hold it or my fingerprints would imprint on the foam…

They looked terrible!!! But to be fair my pattern wasn’t the best.
The second Attempt was made from CosplayShop foam with a slightly altered previous pattern. I mostly made them larger but kept the split (fold) the same.

I did end up painting them but I just hated them, they were too big and the shape was all wrong again. These got binned and I started on my third and final attempt.

I don’t have progress photos of the third build I think at this point I had three days before con so it was rushed! I have included a photo of what the foam shapes look like as it can be a little difficult to see with paint covering seams.

I made a stencil to help with painting the Overwatch logo on by printing out a picture scaled to size. I then cut the interior of the OW log out, pinned it to the foam in the position I wanted it and used a paint pen to trace the design onto the foam. From there I painted it a light grey.

I used industrial velcro on the underside of the shoulder piece just at the top and then along the top seam line connecting the sleeve to the coat.

The Nano Boost was pretty simple to make.

I decided the easiest way to build it would be starting with the vial and the building up around it. The ‘vial’ is another broom handle the same featured in my Biotic Rifle construction log from B&Q.
Again this was a week before con crunch going on so I only have worn photos and a finished photo.

Nothing was dremeled for this prop just glued directly onto the broom handle. I did shape the black pieces to be curved before gluing them on but I ended up gluing elastic to each end which curved them anyway. the darker blue piece was clipped to curve the way it does which you can totally see! No gap filler at all… And the silver piece was slapped on top of that. What about the needle I hear you asking? That was made with the end of a paint brush

It was hot glued into place, contact cement didn’t like it for some reason. Its not in the above picture because it slowly became extremely loose during the con (ITS ACTUALLY SO IMPRACTICAL THOUGH, I HAD TO BE SUPER CARFUL MOVING MY HAND NOT TO KNOCK IT). It did stay on all day, I honestly expected it to come off without me realising and I’d loose it but that didn’t happen. I ended up taking it off on the tube home for safe keeping.
It looked good in photos though!

That was my first official full test I was so happy!

The shoulder bag was really simple too!
I drew up a simple rectangular box pattern Similar to this one! I didn’t use the tabs instead going for pinched seams. Tabs are for wussies.

I cut the pattern out of my dark brown cotton fabric and pinch seam sewed it together with whip stitches. I found immediately that it wouldn’t hold its shape and collapsed. Using the template again I cut interfacing for it and send it together using the same technique. I then sewed this into the bag with whip stitches and it finally held its own shape. The interfacing it used was quite think and more on the ‘heavy’ scale of interfacing but if I did it again I’d use curtain interfacing, its like the industrial velcro of interfacing. Amazing.

I then sewed two tabs onto the lip of the bag these snapped down with domed creating a closure. But I was going to be keeping my phone and money in here so for extra security measures I sewed some velcro onto the inside of the lip as well. But I only had the adhesive kind of velcro left over so THAT was a pain in the ass to sew by hand. (I hand sewed it because it wasn’t adhering that well to the cotton) I know you not suppose to sew adhesive velcro but damn the glue they use it thick. If you are in this position and have to use that velcro make sure the needle your using isn’t a nice one. because I had to throw mine out it was covered in that much gunk…

The strap for the bag was also super easy to make and you’ll notice the Biotic grenades attach onto it as well, seamlessly.
Time of poor MS Paint drawings!

I feel like I have to make a key for this one its not one of my regular masterpieces. The blue lines at the end mean thats where one end is sewn to another so thats the bag being sewn to the other end of the strap which creates a loop to go over you body and will hold in place. For the main strap (light brown) I cut two pieces of fabric out in that shape, I then sewed these pieces together along the top and bottom leaving the ends open. This was so I could flip it inside out and poke the middle chunk out. I then ironed it flat. The four red dots represent where I sewed domes onto the fabric the dome pair was then glued onto the Biotic Grenades which allowed them to to be attached and un attached. This was super helpful for trading as I didn’t want them getting squished.
Heres a close up of the domes I did post this earlier but this will make it a little bit more understandable.

The eye patch was another really simple part of the costume.

The light grey is 2mm foam with a large hole cut from the centre of it but leaving enough space for the top black piece to be glued on top. The black piece was made from 5mm foam and had holes dreamed into it, they’re not that well aligned I know! This was mostly covered by her fringe so its okay! One corner was painted blue. The strap is 1cm faux leather vinyl which was painted black and contact cemented into place. It actually stayed on really well, I did plan on using spirt gum to glue it to my face but as it was really hot and from a short distance the slight gap between my eye and the eye patch wasn’t noticeable. For my shoot with this costume I will use spirt gum.

 

Also while you can see it in the above photos, I remade the collar. I used the same pattern I jut made it a little wider in places and put curtain interfacing in it. I also sewed down the top of it to make it curve over and it worked out pretty well. I’m not 100% satisfied with it but its such an improvement on the last tiny, flat one.

And while we’re looking at this photo lets talk about the little ‘armour’? pieces on her coat.
What are they? What purpose do they serve? We will never know.
The smaller ones (shape like fat squished coffins) were just 2mm foam layered. The centre back on was made from two layers of 5mm foam the top layer had the centre cut out where a smaller shape was glue in place. These were held in place with you guessed it industrial velcro.

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Wig and makeup

The wig I used is Amber Classic Pure White (Arda Wigs). Which does have waves though it. I would have bought Buttercup Silky Pure White (Arda Wigs) but it was out of stock at the time and the restock wouldn’t happen in time. Buttercup is a straight wig.

For her Eye of Horus tattoo I used FM Anime Ana Temporary Tattoo I ordered five of these and I was sent six! If you do buy from FM Anime please order in advance, these took three weeks to get to me causing some stress! They are fantastic and are a perfect size, I can’t fault them at all!

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And thats everything, I think! If I have missed anything I’ll edit it in later. I was planning a pattern post but as I’ve already found people have taken photos from my blog and re posted them without credit I’m not too keen now 😦 Also the amount of questions/comments I get sent asking about or for something when its clearly stated in either the post they comment on or a related post is getting on my nerves. I don’t spend hours typing this all up just to repeat myself in the comments, if I haven’t explained something as best I could or somethings missing them I’m more than happy to help and answer questions and update my post with that info.
Please read my posts 🙂

I will have another blog post up with photos from MCM at some point so look out for those! I have another convention coming up this month with a new costume for that as for other costumes this we’ll just see what gets done! I’m moving to London in September and starting my course at the end of the month so making things in between then could get hectic. I am slowly making the undergarments for my 1860’s ballgown but I don’t think that will get done before I move… Sorry mum! And because its mid year I’m starting to think about next years projects which doesn’t help with this years projects motivation!

Weekly posts have failed again this year but maybe next year I will complete my dream of running a consistent blog.
I’ll see you guys in the next one~

Thank you for reading
-Nivera

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Ana Amari Biotic Rifle:Construction

My first ever gun prop was a success! This was made roughly over a two week period using,
EVA Foam (5mm and 2mm) from CosplayShop.
Contact Cement (glue) also from CosplayShop.
Rubber Tubing from B&Q
Blue Clear File Not exact item (example)

I am so happy with how this prop has turned out and its defiantly my best one yet! I’ve learnt a lot through making this and whats really stuck with me is how useful blueprints are in cosplay. I will be using them for every prop I make from on!

Biggest thank you to Cosplay Amino user Beariore for sending me their blue print they made for their Ana cosplay!
I discussed with Beariore and they’re happy for me to give out the final blueprint that they altered from an Original Blueprint made by u/babomazer by adding line-work, scaling it and converting it to PDF.
Below is the blueprint unscaled.
If you would like the scaled PDF blueprint that I made/used for my cosplay then please contact me via direct message on either Instagram, Twitter or my Facebook page. You can find me @NiverasWings on all of those sites!
The PDF version I used is scaled to best suit my heigh, I’m 5’5. Another important thing to note is that its made for A4 paper as opposed to American letter paper, please keep that in mind before contacting me. I’m very busy at the moment and don’t have time to custom scale this blueprint on request.
Besides! I have a tutorial for doing exactly that using the Biotic rifle as an example, so Check it out!

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Construction

I started by scaling and printing out my blueprinted and then taping it together. I taped it using masking tape on the back as it was stronger and not transparent and then for the front I used cello tape as it was transparent and wouldn’t effect any of the lines.
This was then cut up into separate pieces based on how I had decided to construct it. I did this by laying the full pattern out and with a pencil I drew how many layers I’d need for each piece and then divided up the patterns into manageable sizes that would work and fit together well.
I’ve seen the combination of patterns and their sizes done differently from other cosplayers I looked at for reference but this is how I did mine. The red outlines represent the large patterns I cut out first, these we traced to foam and then cut into smaller patterns for internal details.

The layering ranged from one to five layers depending on the area and pattern. For example the cover over the top barrel is just one later of 5mm foam while the butt of the gun is five layers of 5mm foam with an additional two layers of 5mm foam detailing the top triangle.
I’m currently painting the gun but once thats complete I’ll try and add an image here that shows how many layers each section was as well as foam thickness. And if I’m feeling extra kind I’ll outline all of the details I put in too which helped me simplify the design.

I then traced my patterns out onto the foam and cut everything out gluing them together with the contact cement. This was my first time using the contact cement and boy dose it have a strong smell to it!
Work in a well ventilated area or open some windows!! The trick with contact cement is to apply a thin even coat on the contact points (marking these out does help), leave it to dry for two or so minutes and then bind it together. If the glue is slippery and the contact points aren’t sticking you haven’t left it to dry long enough!
And soon enough the base gun was there.

This was when I laid out my mop handles which would form my barrels for the gun later on. This was a huge boost of confidence and gave me an idea of the scale I was working with.
I then drew out an outline of what I wanted dremeled, this was only 0.5cm and I marked along the outside of the foam with a pen to give me an indication of when to stop dremeling. You can vaguely see these markings in the below picture.

This was all glued together with contact cement, I applied it everywhere there might be contact for these pieces as I wanted no chance of it falling to bits.
Next I started adding details on top of this with the 2mm foam and some 5mm foam in places. I used the blueprint as a guide for this.
Next up I added another small layer to the gun extending the pattern down slightly because I trimmed too much earlier in the build. You can see this gap in earlier pictures. I had to use a little bit of hot glue in the gap just to firmly hold things in place and also ‘fill’ the gap in where it was exposed on the edge.

I also swapped out the foam I planed on using as the pipe for some rubber tubing. Which I think is such an improvement!

Next up I made the canister thing as the bottom of the gun. I used the blue print patterns for this but just made the sides ever so slightly wider so they could be glued at the seams without shrinking in size too much.

There’s air trapped inside it with the smallest hole in the seam so when you squeeze it it makes a hissing sound, I find it wayyyy too entertaining.
This was followed by another ‘mop-up’ (see what I did there mop-up instead of mock-up, I’m hilarious)

This made me so happy!! There was light at the end of the tunnel yet!
I also fixed up the lower barrel mop end with some clay as it broke a little when I stomped on it to free it from the mop…

And somehow it came together and looked pretty damn great!

Next was putting the gun together, because I knew id have to take the gun on the tube I wanted it to be detachable so that I could take it apart to travel on the tube.
Originally I had wanted the gun to assemble with magnets inlaid into the foam for a seamless and sturdy finish. Unfortunately with the con only being two weeks away at this point and me not being able to find magnets in sizes that would fit/strong enough/reasonable price this changed to a good old friend of mine.

No magnets? Industrial velcro it is.

So heres how I attached everything with velcro,
I’ve used coloured outlines which will match the opposite sides of the velcro to each other, hopefully this makes understanding how it was put together easier.

I had a strip of velcro (toothed side) running along the top of the rifle (red). This is where the barrel would connect to.
There was a patch (toothed side) just below that (blue) which is where the cover folds over and connects to.
Then below that on the front of the gun is a circular patch (toothed side) (green) where the lower barrel would attach to.
A close up of the two lower velcro placements can be seen below.

To put it together I would first get the lower barrel and stick it to the main rifle piece using the green velcro patches. The lower barrel piece also has two support beams(? I have no idea what to call them) which can been seen in pink and yellow (both soft side).

When connected through the velcro in green the gun now looks like this.

The next piece is the cover, this is the blue piece that literally just covers part of the barrel which is saw as a great opportunity to use as a weight to keep the barrel in place.
The light blue velcro (soft side) will attach onto the barrel.
The dark blue velcro (soft side) seen previously, will watch onto the base of the gun.
The pink and yellow velcro (toothed side) Which is actually just one strip attach onto the ‘support beams’ mentioned earlier.

Below is a better picture of how it all attaches before being put together.
Watch was my drawing quality takes a turn for the worse.

Are we still following?
Ignore the pink line line with the light blue at the bottom it was a mistake. Basically the cover just folds over connecting with the velcro along the way. The light pink line of velcro (toothed side) on top of the barrel is where the scope will attach later on. Theres a line of velcro (soft side) along the bottom of the barrel which attaches to the line of velcro on the base gun, this is seen in red.

The scope then attaches to the top of the barrel seen as the light pink lie in the previous picture.

Which looks like this! Yay!

And you’re all done!

Finish it off with a shoddy paint job and you’re good to go!

But in all seriousness I love this prop so much its defiantly my favourite to date!
If you want to know how to draw your own prop blueprints (with no fancy photoshop) I have a tutorial all about that Which you can read here!  And if you want to know how to scale and print those blueprints I have a another tutorial for that here!

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I haven’t posted in a month and I am so sorry about that, it was such a rush to get all this done then I was away at the con wearing Ana and now work is super crazy every night!

I plan on having the last construction post for Ana to be up for next week maybe earlier and then I can start talking about new projects which I been saying I would do for months .. Ha ha.

Anyway back on board with regular posting! I love you all and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!

Thank you for reading
-Nivera

Nightingale Armour Remake 2017 Part 1

And so my hobby of cosplaying from Skyrim comes in a full circle.

I think it was mid way though 2015 where I played with the idea of re-making my Nightingale armour set from Skyrim. The armour is by far my favourite set from the game. I am very pleased with my first make of the set, it was my first self made cosplay and was very ambitious considering I hated textiles at school at the time.

That selfie remains to be the best photo of me ever taken. I was 15 then, now 18…
I think whats so appealing about the Nightingale Armour is just how badass it looks. You’re a medieval ninja, whats not to love!!
I wanted to do it better, more details, see how I’ve improved as a costume maker and get some more in character photos.

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I’m so happy with the accuracy of the remake so far, it’s already taking a better shape and is more form fitting.

I think something that’s really important to note about the Nightingale armour is that’s you’re far better off referencing source material rather than other cosplayers. There are many details that go into the main pieces and everyone interprets them differently. There’s nothing wrong with using other cosplayers material to guid you however! I referenced Dewbunch a lot when it came to patterning my set.

The main two reference images I used were,

This image from the official Skyrim art book. (Also available in the Man, Mer, Beasts Book)

And this amazing picture which shows the set front and back without the cape!

 

Worklog!

I started by wrapping myself in plastic wrap and painters tape covering the areas I wanted to pattern. I then cut myself out, put it on my dressform and taped it back up again and began drawing my patterns.


I focused on just patterning the ‘breastplate’ portion this time round. Earlier in the year I had attempted to pattern both the breastplate and the belt portion of the armour in one go, this didn’t work as they layered to closely together making for a very tight fit. I also patterned everything far too small on that attempt!

I then cut these pattern out and numbered them all making a note of what number corresponds with which patterns.
I was happy with the shape and moved onto making a mockup. I just used regular old printing paper in an A3 size.

It was still sitting the way I wanted it to do I tapped it all together for a try on!

It fit perfectly!!
I only made one alteration and that was lowering the neckline by about 1.5cm, it was cutting into my neck a little bit and there needed to be at least 0.5cm for the standing collar.

Next was time to transfer everything to foam!

I used Cosplay Shop EVA Foam in the 0.5cm size.
THIS FOAM IS AMAZING
This is the foam Kamui Cosplay is currently using (endorsing) for all of her cosplays. It’s not expensive, I bought three 0.5cm sheets and a 0.2cm sheet all for £35 including shipping.
When I’ve completed this cosplay I’ll make a full review!
Because I will be covering this in stretch faux leather I wasn’t too worried about damaging the foam so I pinned my patterns to the foam before tracing and then cutting out.

It’s cuts so well too!!! None of that raw edge fraying foam you get with yoga mats. It’s so dense and doesn’t rip unless you put a lot of force on it.
This foam is actually the love of my life
Next I tapped all of my pieces together and tried it on again, happy to find it still worked perfectly!!!

I then patterned the belt and skirting which I don’t have patterning photos of but here’s the finished belt with paper patterns for the skirting

I did another fit test using tape to connect the belt pieces and was once again really happy with the fit and how everything sat.

At this stage I had gone through the two rolls of foam I first ordered and had to wait for my next order to arrive. this time ordering three 5mm rolls and one 2mm roll. When they arrived I transferred the patterns to foam and did a mock fit test.

These picture make me so happy!!! The accuracy is great and I’m so happy to see how I’ve improved as a costume maker in three years!
I’m currently cutting out raised details from the 2mm foam which will boarder some of the edges of the armour pieces to give it some extra texture and more depth making it look layered in areas.

My stretch faux leather sample should be arriving in the post over the next few days and if I’m happy with it I’ll order enough to cover the whole set. This will be glued down with contact cement, I haven’t used it yet but I hope it lives up to its ‘I’ll stick anything together’ reputation!

I’ve also drawn up a blueprint for the Nightingale Bow, you can see how I did that in My previous post.

I’m yet to scale and print it but I’m very happy with how it looks!

I’ll be reusing my cape, bodysuit and boots from my original Nightingale Armour set which means I won’t have to do any sewing for this cosplay, save it all for my ball gown.

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Next month I’ll be attending MCM Comic Con in London where I will be wearing my Ana Amari Cosplay, so I’m busy working on that now to get it all finished in time. Jamilla will be Widow Maker and I’m so excited to get a shoot together and meet each other finally!

Ana updates coming but my next post will be about the fabrics I have got for my 1860’s ball gown which I’m so happy with!

 

Thank you for reading
-Nivera

Ana (Overwatch) Work-log 2

Its been just over a moth since I last updated on my Ana cosplay and I think I’ve covered a lot since than and would say that the base costume is now complete! Yay!

After completing the coat I made a start on the jacket thats worn beneath it. I unfortunately don’t have many photos of its construction as I completed the base in one day but it was pretty simple. (loose threads I know)

It’s essentially a large ‘vest’ pattern with an diagonal opening on the front. I purposely made it extra large so it would look baggy. I also satin stitched the faux leather on to trim the zipper and around the edge of the collar. The collar is lined with interfacing and then padded with one layer of quilt batting to thicken it out, the middle portion of the collar is sewn with faux leather to add some more depth. In the above picture its only pinned so it does appear bulky.
On the collar you’ll spot a little triangle emblem.

This was sewn on with top stitching thread and I guess you could call it embroidery ? Maybe, its my first time doing anything of the sort. My grandmother was excited to see me trying this technique out but had some constructive criticism for me in the future.

The zipper I used was a chunky 18″ black zipper I dry brushed silver to give a worn look, it only needed the one coat. Even after frequently using the zipper I haven’t noticed and paint chipping or loss of colour.

The hood was again pretty simple, I traced a previously used hood pattern and made it a little larger (I wish I had made it bigger now) with the details cut from faux leather, ironed on with heat n bond and satin stitched down to create that bordered edge I love so much.
I think I’m obsessed with satin stitch, but it just looks so nice.

I also made her pants. I used Simplicity 8134, the crotch was really low for some reason
(I honestly don’t know why, I didn’t change the pattern at all and I did not get the patterns around the wrong way so that was a little confusing) so I had to bring the crotch up a little not too much as I did want some baggy-ness going on.
And I’m actually really pleased with the result.

I also sewed little belt loops onto it and added cuffs to the bottom of the legs so they would sit close to my knee. I made a belt as well from left over brown fabric I had in my collection  the colour was different to the others I had used which I like, I think it makes a nice contrast.

This photo leads us onto her pack which hangs off the belt. And boy did I make this hard for myself. I basically didn’t think about layering what so ever and ended up with six hours of hand sewing to pay for it. Ugh.

I drew up the pattern for it on A3 measuring as I went and I was pretty happy with the size and shape of it. Excuse the paint, its what I used to eventually paint the real thing .
I used faux leather vinyl (you know the seriously thick stuff that’s like sewing rubber) for the top (facing side) and then black heavy weight cotton (possibly canvas, I can’t remember) for everything else.
Please don’t sew vinyl by hand, you will destroy your hands.
For the top details (I have no idea what they are!) I used vinyl backed with the cotton, this gave it enough thickness to spring away from the base layer giving it a 3D effect.
I then just used normal (thin) faux leather for the loops below that.
All sewn by hand, Haha ha…

The paint job isn’t finished just yet but its the right size and shape and for that I’m really happy with it. I wanted the paint to match the blue fabric I used elsewhere on the costume as much as possible and was lucky to find one of my tubes (without any mixing) was an exact match.

It’s pretty well perfect!! I usually hate mixing paint so this saved me a lot of time.
To get the lines perfect I use painters tape along the lines I drew to ensure there would be no leaking. Though there was little it’s easy enough to remove.

I also sewed little loops onto the top of the pack so the belt could be threaded through them which would hold it up.

I’ve also made a start on her rifle which I made using the blueprint from my previous post.
I’m just waiting on some contact cement (glue) before I can put it together. The parts that have been cut out are what I consider to be ‘main pieces’ and once those are together I’ll build on it with the smaller details.

I got to use my Dremel for the first time on this so that was exciting and a bit of a learning experience. I messed up a few times but the holes and gashes I made can be fixed easily with Apoxie Sculpt later.

And that’s it for now!
My next goals are her armour, eye patch and gloved sleeves. With those done the cosplay will be finished with only her rifle left to make. I’ll buy the wig the next time I get paid. I still need to hem and weather the coat but that can wait for now.

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More updates coming soon , I’ve half written a fabric/pattern haul post so that will be out in the next few days too.

Thank you for reading
-Nivera

Tutorial, Scaling/Printing Blueprints (Posterazor)

Hi! If you’re here looking for how to make Ana’s Biotic Rifle check out this construction post! This blog post just covers how to scale/print blueprints using the Biotic Rifle as an example!
Thank you for checking out my blog!!!

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Today’s tutorial is all about using the program ‘Posterazor’ to scale and print your blueprints for cosplay. If you’re like me an photoshop isn’t your thing then this program is perfect for doing the work for you with little maths involved!

So what is Posterazor?

Posterazor is a free program available for download (Click Here) that was originally made so that you could make posters at home by uploading and image to the program, choosing the size by spreading it over (x) pages and then printing it.

More recently cosplayers have found a use for the program by using it to print their blueprints for props. It’s made extremely easy as the scale is just based on printing paper size. So you can lay paper out in your printing formation before printing to check your scale or just referencing the programs display.

It’s super easy!

Tutorial Time!

Things you will need:

•A PC or laptop that can run the program

•A Printer

•Printing paper (depending on how many times you need to run prints this may be more or less)

•A PDF program (I used PDF suite 2013)

•A blueprint or reference image you want scaled

•Craft knife or scissors for cutting out the printed design

•Sellotape(clear) and painters tape (any thick tape will do) for taping the cut pieces together again.

For this tutorial I’ll be making Ana’s Biotic Rifle from Overwatch. Thought of course this tutorial can be used for any blueprint!

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Biggest thank you to Cosplay Amino user Beariore for sending me their blue print they made for their Ana cosplay!
I discussed with Beariore and they’re happy for me to give out the final blueprint that they altered from an Original Blueprint made by u/babomazer by adding line-work, scaling it and converting it to PDF.
Below is the blueprint unscaled.

If you would like the scaled PDF blueprint that I made/used for my cosplay then please contact me via direct message on either Instagram, Twitter or my Facebook page. You can find me @NiverasWings.
The PDF version I used is scaled to best suit my heigh, I’m 5’7. Another important thing to note is that its made for A4 paper as opposed to American letter paper, please keep that in mind before contacting me. I’m very busy at the moment and don’t have time to custom scale this blueprint on request.
Besides! If you read further down this blog post you’ll find the information on how to do that yourself! 🙂

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(Optional)

The first thing I did was download the PDF files Beariore sent me.

I decided to run a test print at this stage to test the size of the original blue print.

Sox my cat for scale.

I decided it was too small and wasn’t thick enough at the base of the gun and some added length wouldn’t hurt.

(Main Tutorial)

I fired up old MS Paint and pasted all of the portions into it (in order so they lined up) and then scaled the page down (the white around the gun) so that it was as close to the gun as possible. This is so that when the image is used in Posterazor there won’t be too much white and the blueprint will fill the pages better.

Less waste, save the planet
This was as small as I could make the image without cutting into the blueprint.

The little black lines around the outside are from the crop on paint. Don’t worry about those!
Next you want to open up Posterazor, there is a tutorial for using it on the site but I’m aiming to make it more clear.

Now you want to click ‘Input Image’ the file icon. Go through your files and find where you’ve saved your blueprint and open it into the program.

It’ll look like this once it’s uploaded.

Click next and it’ll go though printer formats. I personally don’t change anything on this page I’ve never needed to.

Click next again and it’ll come to image over lapping settings. Again I don’t change anything for this setting either as it makes lining your blueprint up once printed so much easier. There’s some trimming involved but I really do recommend leaving it this way.

Next is the easy part! Deciding on final size.

A grid format will appear over your image, using the width and height boxes you can change how many pages the image will be printed over.

Height refers to the amount of pages going up in the grid as indicated by the height arrow.

Width refers to the amount of pages going lengthways across the grid as indicated by the width arrow.

I was printing in portrait view but it will be similar using the landscape option too.

As the original print I tested with was only 4 pages in highly I thought 5 would be a good test. And as I wanted it to be wider I added another column (grid) of pages to increase the width.

Once you’re happy with the final size you can click next and then you’ll be brought to this page.

Click on the tick box ‘Launch PDF application after the poster is saved’.

And then save your scaled blueprint.

Your PDF application will then be launched with the blue print spread over the amount of pages you selected in the program.

I just made sure to check everything was okay and nothing was blurred or looked wrong.

Then you can hit print!

Before cutting anything out lay your pages out in order (ignore the overlap you just need to get an idea of size). Take a step back and check that this is the size you want. If it’s too big or small, go back into Posterazor and edit and repeat. If it the right size then celebrate and get rest to cut that thing out!

Here’s a size comparison of the original PDF size Beariore sent me (top) and then my newly rescaled blueprint (lower)

I really like the new size!

Cutting your blueprint out

I used a rotary cutting tool to cut my rifle out but ideally a craft knife would be better (I’m always loosing them). Or scissors.

Once everything is cut out you can start taping it back together. I used transparent tape for the printed side and then backed that with painters tape on the other side to give some extra support.

If you decided to go with the overlap option, trip the border edge (0.5cm) and then line up the over lap and tape it down. Because the overlap is printed it make it so much easier to line up.

Once you’ve finished taping you’re all done! And you’ll have a neat little blueprint ready for prop making!

Here is my finished Biotic Rifle.

And you’re all done! Get out there and make some blueprints and props! If you use this tutorial tell me what you’re making! Or what do you want to make? I’d love to hear!

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I’ve been really awful at documenting (taking photos of) my progress for Ana recently so here’s a tutorial for Posterazor which I originally threw together for Cosplay Amino.
I have got another project on the go at the moment being the Deathbrand Armour from Skyrim (Dragonborn DLC) and patterned it all, cut the foam base for it and got to the worbla stage and… lost interest. I have a few other projects in mind at the moment of what I want to move onto next starting with my 1860’s ballgown which IS happening. But I’m conflicted as to what I want to make as a cosplay. I’m heading to Hertfordshire on Monday and will go to some fabric stores there so I’m hoping that out of the cosplays I have in my head one will have all of the required fabric there and I’ll make that one! Maybe? It’s probably the worst way to decided on something but I really don’t know or feel overly inspired by anything right now.
Red? Blue? or Yellow?
The red tribunal robes is something overly detailed I want to make and suffer though, blue is Sombra who’s a very fun character and with my blue obsession I have right now the cyber skin is perfect and then the Ancient One who easily makes my list of favourite characters of 2016.

I could easily change my mind in the next few days but a new fabric haul is on its way. I will make up of the weeks I haven’t posted! I recently got a new laptop so I’m still setting that up, why is the file system on mac so weird?

AND I’ll have a post/vent about my university applications and acceptances!

That’s all for now, thank you for reading
-Nivera

Ana (Overwatch) Work-log 1

Progress, Progress, Progress!!

I had actually finished making the mock up for this cosplay at the time of posting my fabric haul for it but decided that I had so little content for it (and I ended up changing the final patterns anyway) that it wasn’t worth including in that post or making a solo post for it either.

The mock up

I decided it would be best to make the main coat up of four patterns in total. Front (2) and back (2).
I started off by flat pattern drafting my pattern. This was my first time using the technique and actually went pretty well!

I’ve been using all of the packing paper from when we moved as patterning paper, it’s really durable and something to hold onto
I then cut these patterns out of my mock up fabric which was an old sheet.

Once they were cut out I threw them under my nifty new sewing machine connecting all the seams. I marked were to stop, as these were the slits in her coat.
I doesn’t look like much nut the silhouette was pretty similar and that made me really happy! From the mock up at this point I realized that I needed to make the back seam larger as it pulled ever so slightly across my shoulders.
Next I moved onto patterning the sleeve, which I professionally stole from a sweater I had on my wardrobe.

I then made it a little larger around the arm opening and sewed it onto the coat.
The cuff needed to be rolled up as it was far too long, I later shortened it and added a cuff to the end.
A few days after completing the mock up mum and I went to Exeter and bought fabrics (seen in my previous post).

The Cosplay

The I begin the real cosplay, I added (really I took off) some more shape to the patterns by slanting them off at an angle. Which emphasized the slits in her coat. I also drew on the coloured details onto these base patterns.

Then using cooking paper I traced these details and numbered them, making a list of what pattern went where, size and color.

Cooking paper works great for tracing as its semi transparent and firmer than standard printing paper meaning it won’t tear and also doesn’t ‘bleed’ when markers are used on it.

I then cut these numbered patterns out (using a rotary cutting tool, which was so easy!), the patterns were then pinned onto fabric and cut out. Then I had to use those patterns once again to cut out heat n bond interfacing which took forever.

Once this was done (and it took hours) I was able to begin ironing on the pattern pieces.
Starting with the front pieces.
Then the back! I decided to pin them in place (as seen in the pictures) because I didn’t want the patterns to shift places and they were placed according to my drawn out patterns and measured to fit.

When everything was ironed on I pined everything together and tried it on.

I then unpinned everything and began satin stitching the edges of the coat details.
This took hours.

But I think it looks fantastic and I’m really happy I took the time to do it!

I ran out of blue thread half way through the third panel I was doing but was lucky enough to find it stocked at a small craft store in my town. It saved my life.
I then sewed the front and back pieces together and the shoulder seams.
This meant it was time for the sleeves!
I returned to my botched sleeve pattern and ended up taking about an inch and a half off which would later be made up with a sleeve cuff.
I cut out the fabric for both sleeves and the sleeve cuffs. I seed the sleeve seam and then used a gathering stitch on the end of the sleeve which I gathered down to the size of the cuff. The cuff was then sewn to form a loop.

I then seed the cuff into the sleeve and it was ready to be sewn onto the coat.

The first one went on perfectly but as I was working late that night (1am) I sewed the second on on inside out, I decided it was bedtime at that point! And sewed it on the next morning.

Then came the collar which was also pretty botched.

It worked! But I’ve now decided I want to make it more accurate which will only take an hour or two but I want to move on from the coat at this point.

And that’s the coat finished!
Next I’ll be making her shirt (or is it a jacket?) which I’ve almost finished patterning.

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Thank you for reading
-Nivera

Ana Amari, Overwatch Hero (Fabric haul)

One of the first hurdles I struck when planing this cosplay was deciding where I was going to buy  my fabric. Now normally back in New Zealand that wouldn’t have been a problem with my small town having two fabric stores and Nelson (The closest city) having a Spotlight which is a large arts and crafts store. But unfortunately in Barnstaple  (A town at least three times the size of my old home town) there are no fabric stores, nope not a single one. This meany I had to really search for stores nearby and luckily found “The Exetre Fabrics Center” which is a large shop with a variety of fabrics scattered about the store.
I was very pleased upon entering the store to find it stocked a wide range of fabrics and not just quilters fabrics!! We had already visited two stores that listed that they sold fabric only to find it was just a quilters store. I didn’t get any photos of inside the store but it really was packed with rolls and bolts of fabric. This did make it a little difficult to find what I was looking for because the fabric were so closely packed often hiding other rolls or bolts. I wouldn’t have found some of the fabric I bought unless I had cleared some of the space.

For those who aren’t aware I was buying fabric for one costume this time round. The character is Ana Amari for the game Overwatch.

The first image is a concept for her character while the second on is an in game image. As you can see there’s a colour variation between the two designs, because of this I decided to shop for lighter fabrics as seen in the second picture which I can darken if I feel necessary later on.

So after a long look around the store I found myself back at the cottons sections for the store and began my search for fabrics.

For her base cape I bought some medium weight cotton in a very light grey (almost tan) colour. Or if you want to be fancy we’ll call it ‘mushroom white’.

The weight of the fabric is really nice and I think it’ll drape really well.

For her pants (or trousers, I have been corrected so many times since moving to England ) the lower half, knee below. I bought some super bland black spandex.

It’s not an exciting fabric and I’ve worked with it many times before, it’s reliable for close fitting costumes without being uncomfortable. Nothing more to say!

For her chest strapped bag I bought some medium/heavy cotton in dark brown.

This is going to be perfect for putting my phone in at conventions and means I won’t have to carry a proper bag!

For her headscarf (there is a proper name for it but I just can’t remember right now!) I bought a light/medium cotton in this lovely vibrant blue colour.

This fabric will also be used for the blue details on the cape.

For the hood/collar/shirt and possibly sleeves I bought a medium/heavy cotton in a dark grey almost black colour.

I was going to use faux leather for this but decided that because I’m already detailing the hood and parts of the cape with faux leather I was best not to as there’s such as thing as using too much leather in my opinion and it wouldn’t look right.

And finally I bought some light weight cotton in a few shades darker than that of the cape for the cape details.

I decided to get a shade that was similar rather than too dark because it complimented the rest of the costume much better and evened the colour scheme out.

I’ve drafted all of the patterns for this cosplay and only failed at making the pants/trousers. So I decided to buy a pattern.

This is Simplicity 2061 and I’ll be making view B but altering it so it sits just above the knee and adding some volume to the legs.

Last but not least I bought some thread.

Unfortunately upon getting home I realized that I had forgotten to buy some ‘heat n bond’ fusible interfacing for the coat details which I’ll then sew on using a satin stitch. I’m going to call the store tomorrow and ask if they have any or can tell me where I can buy it as I can’t find it anywhere for a decent price!
I also need a large zipper for her shirt and various buttons which I forgot but I’m sure I can get those after finishing up the base construction and adding them later.

Photographing dark fabrics is difficult depending on the lighting (I had some poor lighting taking these sample shots) but the fabric pile photo does give the true fabric colours justice with minor variation

I also made an edit of the original concept design with my fabric selection so maybe that will help with seeing what goes where!

I just have to alter my drafted patterns tomorrow and then I can get started on this project!
I have to say as an overall review of that fabric store its one of the best I have been to. The staff are very helpful and are knowledgeable on fabric properties. I will be coming back again some time in the future!
I may have also added to my list of things to make while in the store but I’m not going to even think about them until I have this and another project complete!

And that’s all for this post! It’s great to be back updating weekly again!
Thank you for reading,

-Nivera

Originally posted to Cosplay Amino (NiverasWings) but altered to fit my WordPress blog 🙂

Nightingale Armour Skyrim (Full costume log 2014)

Way back in August of last year I made a brief post about my Nightingale Cosplay from The Elder Scrolls Skyrim.  That post can be found here.
The post basically acknowledged that I had made the costume but had no intention of updating on it to this blog. Nearly a year later I have changed my mind and will do a full post documenting the process. Luckily a lot of the process was documented on my Twitter account so it was easy finding these old images!
Nightingale Armour: The Elder Scrolls Skyrim

Before I get started I’d like to say that I followed the lovely Beebichu’s cosplay tutorial for this and that blog post can be found here. 

This was the first cosplay I made and it was a really fun experience and what lead me to pressue costume making as some sort of carer because I enjoyed it so much.
Once again Spotlight proves how useless it is and only had brown faux leather available when I wanted black. I think I bought 4 meters of this. As well as 3 meters of black medium weight cotton for the cape. And 1 meter of black vinyl.

I used simplicity 2355 as the base bodice. Pattern A.

As for the cape I used Simplicity 5794. Pattern C.

I started off by making the corset which is the base for the bodice which the scales are sewn into. Because of this costume I now own a walking foot for my sewing machine as a normal foot wouldn’t sew the leather without eating it. 

The pattern for the corset was adapted so that the opening was at the back instead of the front. A zipper was then sewn in. No boning was used in the corset as I knew the whole costume would be very close fitting without them and they just weren’t necessary. I don’t have pictures of me wearing the corset but in the above picture you can see it with the scales below it.

The faux leather looked awful when pinned and I was a little concerned but once it was sewn down as you can see in the second picture it flattened out really well with no puckering at all.

It looked just as good when worn! I think the shape and style would have been quite fun to just wear on its own but alas I had a costume to finish.

Next the side scales were sewn on which can vaguely be seen in the left picture but a drew up a reasonably accurate design of what it looked like laid out flat. The collar was also sewn together but not attached to the bodice at this point. Seen in the red on the right.

The collar also needed the Nightingale emblem on it which was patterned on paper and cut from black vinyl. This was sewn on by hand.

The straps attached to the collar were then sewn to the main bodice. The collar is circular as show in the right picture. With the triangular flap that comes down over the bodice and the straps which are sewn to the bodice. The gape between the inner most circle and middle circle is to represent the standing collar which had a hook and eye set at the very top. The gap is represented by the red line which goes through the circular collar and the standing collar. The circular collar clips together with domes.

The ‘skirting’ was made up of three different pentagon shapes which were sewn to a home made belt. Home made because all of the belts in stores were far too think for me to sew the skirting pieces onto unless I hand sewed it. So I bought a belt buckle and used some grommet pliers and made myself a belt.

And finally it was all coming together!

My Bodysuit arrived around this time and couldn’t resist taking some pictures. I also got the mask made. The bodysuit I bought was from RiversEdge Dancewear in “Liquid Leather” which has a small collar too. Unfortunately RiversEdge is now out of business. But I am so very happy with my purchase and will and have used it for many cosplays since purchasing.

This was my first attempt and was made from the black vinyl, which hurt to wear after a while (and made my nose red) so it was later re-made with some black spandex I had laying around.


I finished up the cape as well which I shortened to drape to just below my knee length.
After this my cosplay was complete!!
The brown faux leather was initially painted black with acrylic paint. This was really unsuccessful and the painted chipped or came off when manner-less children pushed past me in the halls at the convention.  But after a re-touched it for a shoot last year I “dyed” it black with liquid Kiwi shoe polish.

I recommend doing this rather than painting!!! The faux leather will take it much better than the paint. And it gives it a really nice sheen.

2015 Photo shoot

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And I think that has covered everything! If I have missed anything I’m sure Beebichu’s tutorial will fill in any blanks.

That’s it for today’s post, thank you for reading
-Nivera

Dark Brotherhood Armour Progress: Part 4 / Completed Costume

Costume Status: COMPLETE
Below are links to each individual post in order.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The long awaited final post of this progress log.

In my last post which was way back in September of 2015 I was yet to make the hood, mask, boot covers, gauntlets and possibly a weapon.

Boot Covers
These were relatively easy to make, simple craft foam covered in fabric which was hot glued into place on the other side.

I started off by making the pattern which I made by wrapping my boots in plastic wrap and painters tape and then drawing on the shape of the cover which looked sort of like an upside down bottle.

I left about half an inch of allowance on the fabric so I would have enough room to turn it over where it was glued down with hot glue. The base is black craft foam. I’m still surprised at how clean they look with little to no puckering or creases.

I also decided I wanted the foot covers as well so I patterned them in the same way that I made the top half of the covers wrapping plastic wrap an painters tape yet again.
And they looked good.. in the patterning stage.

I thought everything was going so well, they fitted so nicely and looked perfect. I think my mistake here was using the craft foam as a base, if I had used just the fabric I think they would have sat so much nicer.

Comparison.
I would have liked to have an O ring between the two covered joining them like the in game model but it was just to difficult with very little time.Both the top and bottom covers were attached with elastic. Unfortunately the foot covers didn’t make it to the convention as they slipped all over the place and I was scared of loosing them in the halls.

Hood and mask
For the hood I think I traced the hood off my dressing gown which was semi close fitting or I used the hood pattern from Simplicity 1771. I can’t remember! Either way I hemmed all the raw edges and sewed small black domes in five places along the bottom edge of the hood. Two at the very front, two in the middle and then one at the back. I then sewed opposite domes onto the body suit to correspondent with the ones on the hood creating a detachable hood. I would also like to mention that I had to use some left over black medium weight cotton for the hood as I didn’t have enough black spandex left over. This annoyed me as my black fabrics didn’t match!
The mask was made in the exact same way as the one for my Nightingale cosplay. I literally traced that pattern onto my red cotton, hemmed it and sewed the elastic and hook and eye set on and it was finished. Again this was a dumb move as the cotton didn’t stretch and it hurt to wear as it pressed on my nose after a short amount of time.

Gauntlets
I didn’t make these in the end as I ran out of time (night before con crunch). I was going to wrap craft foam with my red fabric again but wasn’t sure how it would close so I gave up…

Weapons
I did make the Blade of Woe, I even stated up until 12 the night before the con completing it. However, it got crushed in my luggage on the way to Auckland. Here’s a progress pic!

This has to be the worst Pepakura file I have had to use. The there were numbers to match on the file and it was literally a guessing game using the red line system on the program. I don’t know where the blade ended up after the convention hopefully somewhere never to be seen again.

November 2015 Photo Shoot
I forgot the belts when we did the shoot but oh well, maybe I’ll re make this cosplay next year.

Notes and things I would change if I made it again

• Top sewing a non stretch fabric (cotton) over a stretch fabric (spandex) prevents the stretch fabric from doing its thing and stretching, restricting movement.
  I should have foreseen this but unfortunately didn’t but hey I’m learning from mistakes!
• Pepakura is a really slow process when it comes to making weapons and armour. However, it is very accurate if you get your files from reputable designers. I do want to challenge myself more and am trying more EVA foam based weapons.
• Find a new way of making face masks/make them more comfortable to wear. I’m getting very tired of wearing my mask for half an hour, taking it off and being left with a red face because it was so tight.
• I really should have done something more with my hair in the photos even if it was something simple like a braid.
• Heavy interfacing instead of craft foam would have made a better base as there would be more flexibility.
• I would have liked to put more detail into the bodysuit. There are a lot more seams in the body suit which really add to the style and overall look.
• Another thing I would have liked to have added is the use of faux leather. More so in the strapping belt system.
• Overall I think more detail would be a lot better on the costume.

 

And that is my Dark Brotherhood Armour Cosplay!
If anyone has any questions about any parts of this cosplay then ask away! I have no doubt forgotten to write about some things!

Thank you for reading and there will be more posts in the week
-Nivera

Demongaze Armour Part 5

No update or any blog posts last week and I’m so sorry!

I hit a wall with Demongaze when trying to pattern the under armour (Its just another layer under the breastplate to cover what its not already covering). This of course made me really frustrated because I had being doing so well without mistakes and so I gave up for the rest of the weekend.
Which brings us to this weekend.

This weekend I wanted to make the breastplate wearable as it would (surprisingly) help when making the under armour to get the shape/size right. I decided first of all that two clips on either shoulder was a good number which meant sewing four clips in total. To make the most of the tape I hand sewed it together so that I wouldn’t have much excess. I then left about two inches of tape the other side of the clip. To stop the tape from fraying I whip stitched the frayed edges down on the loop side and then burnt the edges on the ‘tail’ side.
Alternatively If I had thought this through I would have burnt both edges and then sewn the loop side down but The Bright Unforgiving Nivera who enjoys making things hard for herself decided to to it that way.

I then pinned them to my dress form making sure to get the placement right.

I then put the breastplate over top of the clips adjusting them where I needed to and then marked the center point of the clip with a white paint pen on the shoulder seams.

I then started gluing the clips in place with a hot glue gun. I drew the outline of where the clips would go first with the white paint pen. I made sure that the clips would line up with the center marks I made earlier on the seams.

You can just see the outlines I made on both the front and back pieces. The first clip on the right side was glued first.
Once finished both pieces looked like this.

And of course I had to try it on!

I’m holding it flat in these pictures to best replicate the way it will sit when I have the under armour made. I’ll have industrial Velcro attached to the inside of the breastplate (About one inch and a half) and then about one inch of Velcro on the edge of under armour. This way the two will connect bringing in the breastplate and back plate (which sits out a little also) shaping properly.
IN THEORY AT LEAST

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And that’s it for this post!
I will have a Very lengthy post Wednesday night about my Elizabethan (I’m calling it that form now on and that is final!) dress if I don’t have an overload of homework. But more about that then!

Thank you for reading
-Nivera