Psylocke Part One

Wow, long time no blog. Hurhurhur

Anyways, I'll just hop right into it. It's summer time...ish. Or it supposedly will be soon. And as I work with the Kids Heroes Foundation, you can imagine we're going to be doing a lot of outdoor events soon.

And as much as I love standing out in the heat in a full black body suit as Batgirl, I don't.

It took me a long time to decide on what cosplay would be good for hot days. The problem is there's very few recognizable female super heroes. And we already have most of them claimed (lucky thing I got batgirl early haha)

So I have to go with something lesser known. I'm sacrificing for the heat. I'd rather only very few people know who I was and be less uncomfortable then continue on as Batgirl in the heat.

Without further adieu, here's my plan for Psylocke - Part one!

WIG-

I bought a wig off a friend for like $5 that's decent, so I'm set. I'd like a better wig eventually, but I need to put my money elsewhere.

BUT THIS. I WOULD CHOOSE THIS.

It's curly, but that shouldn't be hard to straighten.

AND IT'S CHEAP.

The thing is, I'm an Arda fangirl.

However, this new site has come to my attention called Wig Is Fashion.

I bought one of their wigs on sale...and I thought it would be cheap.

Although shiny, and smell, a few rounds of fabric softener later and I'm in love. 

Honestly, love them. And they're cheap. 

Also, if you wanna go the Arda route, you're out of luck.

I would have gone the Eowyn, or even Buttercup route. But they don't have a single color that would work for Psylocke. Period. Even the super long wigs don't have the color you'd need. 

Bummer.

Next up, FACE PAINT

I found a few forum posts that have some suggestions, here's what one person (claiming to be a body painter professional, who knows) had to say:

"Kryolan (cake & Airbrust) - worldwide a top choice - best colors, soft and most easy to come off. Airbrush new colors regularly, very durable.

Mehron's Paradise AQ (cake) and their new LUX - Also now a worldwide product - (cake) colors not as vibrant as some, medium durability. (airbrush) great colors, good durability

Wolfe Face Art and FX (airbrush) - Body painters swear by their black and white as the #1 choice. Vibrant colors, greater learning curve"

My thoughts?

Ben Nye, - easy to use, they have water based and cakes. The water based works well for full body, and the cakes worked well for face.

So take that for what you will....

 I have a local costume store that I got my previous stuff from. They were extremely helpful, so if you're unfamiliar I'd recommend checking out your local stores for suggestions. 

Keep in mind, she doesn't always have the red streak in the comics. Just depends on what you read and like. 

BODY SUIT:

This part is unfair. I'm making it myself with the help of a friend.

Normally, I have no problem buying. In fact, I totally would if I could find a BLUE leotard that fit the way hers does. The best I found was a black one on Amazon

So my plan is to take apart a leotard I already have, trace the pattern on to the fabric I bought, and just reconstruct it. 

GLOVES:

So this is a bit easier. Just take whatever fabric you're using, and cut it into strips for the arms and legs! And sew the ends together, obv. 

For my own gloves, I honestly went and bought a cheap pair from the costume shop, and ripped the seams. Laying them flat, I just used them as a pattern and sewed them back up. It wasn't easy, because the material was lycra, but I went REALLY slow, and had to tuck them in here and there, but it worked in the end.

If you want to make them fingerless for ease, do the same as above, only cut them to a point rather than sewing fingers.

For the fingered gloves I'll refer to a tutorial I've posted before. Found on IMGUR

BOOTS - 

You can just do the same thing with the strips, measure them around your leg, sew 'em together. Easy as pie.

Since these boots go above the knee, I'll leave out the short boot tutorials.

This one is from Pokemon Master Kimba.

And this is from Aleksandra Chernova. 

Part One Finished - Watch Out for Part Two Son (Accessories)

Black Bat

So I think it's time for a breakdown of my current project.


I have a lot of cosplays I'm juggling but the one on my top top priority list is the Black Bat. She is just...so cool. Her character design is amazing.

Now let's take a look at her character design - or a version of it. Whatever. This is the version I'm picking don't be an elitist.

So, it's actually not a complicated cosplay. I need something easily recognizable for doing charity type events, and Black Bat could be easily adjusted for a Batgirl.

But we'll move to that later.

For now, let's take it apart from top to bottom.


First step: Hair!

I'm contemplating cutting my hair since it's already dyed black atm. BUT that will cut into some other cosplays I like to do and it requires more frequent haircuts to maintain. (Keep in mind my last haircut was probably 5 months ago...)

So here are a few of my options. Considering I"m planning on a Domino from Xmen, and a female Hawke from Dragon Age, getting a short black wig is probably my best bet. If I have to sacrifice a bit of accuracy for $30-$50 a pop I will. It saves space and if the wig looks good I think it is fine.

I'm an Arda Wig fangirl, so here are the ones I would go with. Keep in mind, personally I don't think they take the best pictures of their wigs hahhaa but I own three and I love them all. Beautiful quality. They run a bit big though, so I usually have to alter mine unless they're long wigs.

The first wig on the left is Magnum in black - Personally I think that this is the best match for Black Bat. Also - I had this hairstyle in high school so I'm quite fond of the look hahaha

Jaguar in black - This is shorter in the back and longer in the front. I like how wild this could look, and Black Bat definitely has some fly-away hair.

Inigo in black - This would be good if you don't mind styling it a bit. Maybe flip it out a little here or there...I don't know. It wouldn't be my first choice but it is still really cute. They didn't have a picture of it in black....so you get green.

Let's take a look at her mask next. 

Black Bat's mask is slightly different then most generic superhero masks. Mostly because it has those huge wings.

So taking another mask and modifying it really won't look that good. Your best bet is to probably start from scratch.


There are a lot of good tutorials. I haven't tried any of them yet, so here they are. Let me know what you like best! I've left some off, because I don't have the money to make a leather mask or anything fancy....but visit these sites for some good ideas.

To save myself money and hopefully time, I'm most likely going to go

with the whole, thin craft foam and heat gun method....This post here is probably what I'm going to try -->

So let's move on to what's next...
Black Bat's cowl and cape!

Now this might prove some issues. For me. Because I'm not a seamstress. But - she's got the neck cowl that's basically just a bunch of material wrapped around her neck. I could probably even do that on my own lol.

If you can sew the material around the neck, you could probably just put it on top of a regular cape. But make sure to get the ends right. Black Bat's cape is shredded at the end, and that makes a big difference.





Now that we skipped that, we've got the suit to worry about.

As I said, I'm not a seamstress. When I did my Rogue cosplay, I had my extremely talented friend Laurie make the suit for me out of scratch because she loves a challenge hahaha. But the nice thing about the Black Bat, is if you can't sew your own bodysuit, a plain black one is not hard to find.

Ebay. Is. My. Cosplay. Friend.

Or Amazon. Or ever Etsy. But Etsy can be expensive because they're very talented people taking a lot of time and love on the crafts they sell.

Anyways, my husband is all for the shiny pleather or latex superhero suit. Which totally makes sense, because it really does look better. But, I LOVE this costume. And you know what I want? To wear it all the time without being too uncomfortable.

So I found this vendor on Ebay, Nawty Fox, that sells some dancewear - like leotards and stuff. This is the one I'm going to be buying. 

Make sure to know your measurements!

I have a strange body type, so form fitting or one size fits all things don't work. BUT I know enough about sewing to be able to adjust the size. Which is my plan. I can't make it from scratch but I can modify it!




Now that we have the suit - we need to get that bat symbol on there!


The thing with Black Bat, is that I've seen several different styles of bat symbol used.
Personally my favorite of all time for her is the outlined bat symbol. My favorite artwork of her has that.

BUT I'm doubling this for a Barbara Gordan Batgirl, so I'll be doing a traditional stymbol.

So here is a tutorial I found on sewing an applique on your stretchy suit. It is fairly complicated for a girl like me with few tools and not much experience. I will be calling upon the powers of my friends to help make sure I can do it right hahaha. Lucky me ^_^

 Great, so, if that works let's keep moving down - and do the easy thing first. The arm wraps. 

I've seen people do a lot of different things. Just buying gauze at the store, or ace bandage wraps or things. Or trying different materials. The thing is, in my mind, the wraps are used, and frayed, and I think they should be more course, thick material.

I was looking for fabric to make little togas for some Hogwarts house elves, and found a really good cloth. I used the extra to cut into strips and I love them.



Let's take the next step, which aside from sewing on the bat symbol, I think is the hardest: The Utility Belt

So there are a lot of options with the belt. One of the problems with Black Bat's belt, is that the pockets go all of the way around lol. Or at least they seem to. She does wear a long cape, so you could always cheat.

Now, there are a lot of options if you don't care about them being functional. You can make them out of craft foam, and just carve in fake details and paint over. You could make little boxes out of cardboard and cover them in fabric and make it look like they open when they don't. You could make full leather pockets, you could make full fabric ones etc etc etc.

It's mostly just personal preference. So find something you like, and imitate it.




Here is a great video which talks about some ways to make the belt itself, as well as the pouches.

And then there is this tutorial for a Huntress belt. This is easily convertible to anything you'd like to make. 

And we've got this Captain America belt tutorial, but if you're

ambitious it's definitely possible to modify and use for other projects

We're on to the last part now - Boots!

Boots are fun. I love boots. So much. I have a boot buying problem. In that I want all the boots.

But realistically finding one good pair of boots to use across your cosplays is a solid idea. you buy a good enough pair, all you have to do is make yourself boot covers and slip them over if you do it right.

The other option I've seen most people do is buy a pair of throwaway shoes and make boots covers specifically for them.
Such as on this tutorial.

There's one here as well. 

And this one too.


Honestly, I'm just using a generic pair of flat heeled knee high boots. I got them for the express purpose of cosplaying and covering them with boot covers.

I'm short, and not wearing heeled boots make me look stubby. But again, I'm going for comfort on this so I'll deal with being a bit stumpy.



Well, this is what I'm up to! This is more for me than you, so I apologize for the lack of useful things that you might need. :P

Cosplay

ComicCon is coming to Salt Lake!!! YEAH BUDDY!!!!!!

Anyways, my mom is helping me out with my Rogue cosplay, so this is basically just a post to help her with references for the boots.

I'll be dying my hair brown and doing the streak to save on money. I need to dye my hair anyways, and buying two wigs on TOP of dying my hair a different color is expensive. So...one wig for my HarleyQuinn, and dye for Rogue. I think it'll work out.

Love this pic! I should really post sources...but...meeeeeeeh I'm at work so I'm not doing much research

super clean cosplay righ there. I'm assuming she straight up MADE that jacket. 

Hardcore, man.

I'm liking those boots

These are a more simple boot - not as accurate but I'll probably go 

with something like this to save effort...

Not a big fan of what's going on here, but good reference idea

Probably one of my favorite cosplay, and the boots look decent. 

I'm hoping to pull off something like this, but we'll see.

Sweet artwork of the oldschool look. 

I love it when they modernize her.

Good sideview, I think

Another simpler style of boot

Ok, I hope these are enough references for the people helping me out...

I'M SO STOKED!!!

Thanksgiving

Uhhhh Happy late Thanksgiving

My husband got food poisoning Wednesday so we pretty much hung out in bed for our 4 day weekend. Which was totally fine by me.

This is sort off what it's like to love cats.

So...this happens...

I just love the money tucked in their suits

I still don't know how legit this is but it's pretty

hilarious no matter how you *see* it

*snicker*

Uhhhh

Man...bad blogger! BAD!

I'm so lazy. Here's just one more picture. I'll get to posting more again soon, promise.

HILARIOUS

Batman...don't mean to be cliche...but why so serious???

Also here's a cool pic from "The Losers"

Only watched the movie but I really wanna pick up the comic. The movie was fun.

DC Dictionary

DC apparently made a book to help kids learn words. 

It        is       RIDICULOUS

It is so good to know that Robin can please the joker in his dungeon

GO BACK TO YOUR TOAD FRIENDS TOAD NO ONE LIKES YOU

Stupid kid. Don't you know how much he likes his Black Canary paintings???

I hope that wasn't my garden. I sure do love my beets.

BEWARE THE PIES

I'm sorry but WUT!?!?