Cosplay: Tools for Extravagance

Published February 18, 2014
Category: Features

Tools for Extravagance by Ruth Cohen (aka making those wicked awesome armour Cosplays).

Welcome back again for another Cosplay Blog! Now that Mel and I have covered the basics on what Cosplay is and why it is fun to do, I thought I’d get right into the ‘cool stuff’ and talk about how you can make that awesome looking armour at home! Now don’t be too worried if it doesn’t look flawless the first time… remember that every amazing armour Cosplay has 10 dead brothers or sisters lying in garbage dump somewhere.

Lightening Empress Armour

[Zhel as Erza Scarlet ‘Lightening Empress Armour’ with photographer Dennis “Shoti” Li]

So what do these creative Cosplayers use for their extravagant Cosplays? Well let’s just say I didn’t use the word ‘creative’ for no reason… I’ve put together a list for you of the more common armour materials: worbla, cardboard, yoga mats, craft foam, latex, and fibreglass. Now these are just core elements remember… when creating good armour you’ll also need bits and bobs like: duct tape, string, glue, and patience!

So worbla is a thermoplastic, which means it is activated by heat and moulds really easily once heated up. This makes it a good material to mould over things or create details on something. The best way to use worbla is to stencil your shape first with pencil or sharpie, cut it out, and then activate with a heat gun (woohoo! Bunnings shopping!). You can head here for some quick tutorials or brilliant gallery shots.

Middle Earth Barbie with heat gun

[Middle Earth Barbie with heat gun and Janna armour]

Yoga mats and craft foam are good things to use as a guide to put worbla or cardboard over. They can give you a guide for shape and make your Cosplay more padded and comfortable to wear. You can stencil out your shape with sharpies and use scissors or a stanley knife to score out the shape.

Fibreglass will give your cardboard armour a smooth and professional finish, not to mention make it easier to paint. But I’m not going to pretend it’s easy for an amateur props maker to pick up how to fibreglass in a week. Push your Cosplay boundaries, but know your limits… you WANT to succeed.

Latex is a great way to add small detail to your armour without getting into the hassle of worbla sheets. It is also a good solution to wanting more moveable armour for those Conventions you’ll want to actually sit down at. I’m not going to profess to be an expert, but there are tutorials online by those who are!

Finally, cardboard, I bet you thought I’d forgotten it! Well worry no more; I have a special segment for cardboard armour from some of the most resourceful kids out there.

The Beer Legion

This gang have to be my all time favourite armour-toting Cosplayers. They’ve come up with these characters themselves and have graciously agreed to do a mini-interview for this armour segment!

They won Best Supanova Skit at both Brisbane and Gold Coast advanced category from 2012 to 2013, Special Creativity Mention at AICON comp and Cosplay Guest at flippish.com segment ‘mt.fuji’ in the Philippines 2013.

You can find the Beer Legion here.