Looks like another great year for Dragon*Con attendees. The 2008 convention in Atlanta, GA ended yesterday and tons of photos are appearing online.
You can browse Dragon*Con photo galleries Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here.
I imagine most people have come home exhausted and are still trying to organize their photos. We’ll post more about Dragon*Con soon!
Someone named Simon has an incredible gift for making costumes out of Legos. We’re talking about a full body suit, how amazing!
He also made a very impressive Lego Darth Vader costume:
Head on over to gizmodo.com to read the full story and see the rest of the photos. Great job, Simon!
Cosplaying is interesting. It’s one thing to dress up as a character you like, but cosplaying generally involves having to act like the character as well. Cosplayers pride themselves on having the most accurate, authentic costume possible, and when cosplayers start making up their own characters, things start getting a little crazy.
One interesting phenomenon I’ve noticed is something I’m going to call crossover cosplaying (this is not to be confused with crossplaying, which is crossdressing cosplaying). It’s when a cosplayer, usually for a humorous effect, combines two characters from two different canons. Sometimes a character from one canon is simply placed into a different canon, without being combined with another character.
Obviously, this type of cosplaying veers away from the canon image that is so highly respected in cosplaying, which is why this is done more for fun and laughs. It also requires more creativity in designing the costume than normal cosplay, because the cosplayer first must decide which characters to combine, and then figure out how to make a costume which represents both of these characters in the way the cosplayer desires.
This isn’t a very popular trend yet—in fact, crossover cosplayers are kind of considered the oddballs of the groups! Some cosplayers feel that crossover cosplayers are just mocking the cosplaying phenomenon, but I think they’re just trying to have fun with costume design and characters they love.
Let us know about some crazy crossover cosplays you’ve seen!
We’re continuing with our Star Wars theme this week. I thought it would be fun to show some Youtube clips of great costumes and creativity.
Star Wars (Sweded): A Cardboard Hope
We’ve talked about Sweding before. This video was made for the popular BeKindReWind’s sweding competition, and it’s very well done.
You know, George Lucas invented the lightsaber over 30 years ago. It’s rather hard to believe that our top scientists haven’t been able to make one for real. What’s up with that?
This is the third and final part of the history of my personal costuming experience.
Part Three: Post-College
These days, I try not to be too serious about costuming. I’m good enough of a seamstress now that I don’t stress about irreparably screwing it up and wasting a lot of money. If a situation pops up where I need a costume (I have a friend who is fond of throwing costume parties, for example), my strategy is to glance at my wardrobe and what costume pieces I have on hand, and just piece something together. I’ll make new pieces or buy them if I feel it’s necessary to complete the costume. That’s exactly what I did last year for Halloween, and I think my Little Red Riding Hood costume turned out very well. Even better is that I didn’t spend a lot of time, effort, and money on it!
But that’s not all I do with costuming. I’ve always been fascinated with historical fashion, and these days I do a lot of sewing to make garb. It seems more practical to me than costumes, although I’m not sure how I’ve convinced myself of that, because it’s not like I go to Renaissance fairs any more often than other costuming events. But I did get to go to one this spring! I ended up making medieval clothes for almost my whole family, so that we could look awesome at the Ren Faire. (And we definitely did look awesome.) Maybe I’ll end up selling garb at a Ren Faire someday.
It’s not all fun and games, either. My penchant for costuming has not escaped the notice of my friends, and now I’ve been asked to design and create the wardrobe for a feature-length independent film which my friends will be shooting this summer. For the film, I’m only making one costume from scratch, but it’s pretty exciting.
I’m definitely doing a lot more costuming now than ever before in my life. And I’m enjoying it a lot more than ever before too! The experience I’ve gained in sewing makes designing and constructing the costumes a lot more easy and enjoyable for me, while I can still challenge myself by trying styles and methods I haven’t done before. In the meantime I’ve come across more reasons to costume, just for the fun of it. Maybe my next birthday party will be a costume party!
I suppose the moral of the story is, if you like costuming, don’t let the lack of events stop you. Just keep on making costumes. I’ve had several events recently where I was really glad I had a costume stash, so that I could lend them to people and quickly come up with costumes for parties and other things. If you like doing it, do it! And if you’re really desperate for reasons to wear your costumes, I know we have entries addressing that matter in our archives.
Most importantly, have fun with it!
This is a fun video made by costume guru Shada. She’s working on a Sith costume and is documenting her progress with a video camera!
Here’s Part One of her costume journey:
Great work! Very fun to watch.
Having been deemed as the writer with the most costuming experience, I am here to share with you–
A Short History of My Own Costuming Experience.
Part Two: College
The next few years saw a little improvement in my costume-making skills. Of the sewing I did at this time, my creation efforts were mostly redirected to making normal clothing, and I only made three real costumes during my years of college. One was a cosplay of Victoria Everglot from Corpse Bride, one was a Queen of Spades costume, and the other was a new, more awesome pirate costume.
Here are some amazing costumes made from duct tape! And yes, we’ve blogged about duct tape costumes before.
These particular costumes are modeled after the characters Mal and Kaylee from the TV show Firefly. In one of the episodes, Mal and Kaylee go to a fancy shindig all dressed up. It’s remarkable that a costume made from duct tape could look so similar.
The costumes’ creator posts about his efforts on Fireflyfans.net.
I decided to enter the “Stuck at Prom” contest sponsored by the company that makes Duck Tape. In this contest, high school students from all over the country create prom outfits using duct tape. Ten finalists are selected from all of the entries, and online voting determines the winner. To demonstrate my devotion to Firefly, I created my duct tape ensemble inspired by Mal’s tux and Kaylee’s dress from Shindig. These outfits made it into the top ten.
I used over 20 rolls of duct tape, and had to overcome laws of physics (all those ruffles are heavy!) as well as wear the outfit in Phoenix summer temperatures exceeding 107 degrees.
Wow, great job! I hope you win.
You can see all of the Top Ten finalists at stuckatprom.com.
UPDATE: Watch the video HERE.
Remember these guys from Sesame Street? Yip yip yip yip…
Well, thanks to Instructables.com, you can learn how to make your own Yip Yip alien costume! They offer a step by step guide using fleece, sponges and mesh. Looks great!
BugsandFishes is a top-notch maker who blogs daily about her crafts and creations.
She’s just published some photos of her new felt masks and disguises. They look great!
Having been deemed as the writer with the most costuming experience, I am here to share with you–
A Short History of My Own Costuming Experience.
Part One: High School
It was in high school that I started making costumes for reasons that didn’t involve Halloween or theater productions. In fact, it was at this time that I started making costumes at all—previously, all my costumes had been purchased or made by my mother.
I made five costumes in my high school career.
Does anyone remember The Greatest American Hero? It was on TV in the early 1980’s. Man, I LOVED, LOVED that show as a kid. I wanted my own suit in the worst way. Thankfully, now that the show is on DVD, I get to watch it all over again. There’s also rumors flying that a GAH movie will be made!
I want to talk a bit about the show, the spinoff pilot that never got picked up, and then take a look at some great fan-made costumes.
Do you want an original costume that can’t be purchased, but you don’t know how to sew? Or perhaps you need a crazy prop for your costume and you just can’t find anything like it in stores. I went to CONduit in Salt Lake City on Saturday, and there I attended a panel that was all about turning ordinary, random things into costume items, to create items that no one else has!
There are two basic tricks to making a costume item out of something else:
The first is to break down the idea of your finished product into components. You won’t be able to find the exact thing you need, but you will be able to find various things that you can put together to make what you need. Your costume is a puzzle, and you’re looking for the pieces.
I had a great time last weekend at CONduit, the annual sci fi/fantasy convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. The event, which ran from May 23-25, is a great way for fans of the genre to come together to discuss and share ideas about all things sci fi/fantasy.
CONduit features professional authors, artists, actors, game designers, singers…and of course, COSTUMES!
So now that you’re all aware of how awesome steampunk is, you’re thinking, “But it’s so awesome! How can I possibly design my own steampunk costume that will be as awesome as everyone else’s?” Never fear, dear readers; I am here to tell you all about the world of steampunk and how understanding it will help you design your very own, very awesome steampunk costume!
The basic premise of the world of steampunk boils down to one simple principle: It is a world in which Newtonian physics are king. Imagine if no one ever bothered to learn about atoms, if Einstein had never come along with his theory of relativity, if the threat of world-wide destruction via atomic bombs had never been made possible.
That is the world of steampunk. It is very science-oriented, but with gears and cogs; pure mechanics. Nothing is digital, nothing is atomic, there is no quantum theory. Perhaps it’s so popular because it can be considered the layman’s science.
What makes steampunk different from most science fiction is the synthesis of science with fantasy—using science to create a fantasy world. Steampunk basically says, “Anything that can be done with magic can be done with science, and we’re the ones to do it!”
Indy Mogul has a wonderful demonstration of how to make a giant sandwich costume. It looks great and it was made on a $40 budget.
Check out THEIR ARTICLE and watch the video below.
Very fun and impressive!
This is probably the best fan-made costume I’ve ever seen! Custom molded and painted, this looks EXACTLY like the Iron Man suit in the movie. You can read more about the creation of this costume on the Replica Prop Forum.
All the armor parts are fanmade out of glassfiber with strong and sharp details, then carefully painted in rich red and gold colour. The midsection armor and neckseal is made from flexible plastic, painted in rich red colours. The gloves are made of foam rubber. The helmet comes with see through eye lenses. The lenses reflect light and does not allow anyone to see your eyes.
SIZE RANGE:
The armor is made to fit a person approx. size 6 -6.4 foot tall with from 32 - 38 inch waistline. Ideal size: 6.2 tall, 35 inch waistline, approx. 220 lbs.
Well done, sir. You are a costume master!
Oh man, oh man, oh man! The Maker Faire is upon us very soon and we have every reason to latch on like a fly to his favorite flourescent. Infos have been peeping out the Interpipes for at least a few days now and we’re getting a better grasp of what to expect. In fact, a schedule has been whipped up courtesy the Maker site that will tickle your geek fancy:
[via Makerfaire.com]
Boiler Bar Stage
Jon Sarriugarte’s Boiler Bar Theater Presents
Craft Demos
• Soft Circuit Embroidery • How to Make Your Own Shoes…the Easy Way! • Make Your Own Free Range Mini-Monsters • Finger Puppets Who Wish To Not Die • Making Jewelry • Felt Faux Fruit • Create Ribbon Straw Flowers on Vintage Flower Looms • The DIY Bride: Quick & Easy Wedding Projects for Any Budget • Fashioning Technology: DIY Style • Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone • Guerilla Pattern Drafting • Create Your Own Photo Flip Book • Photojojo DIY Photo Blocks
Festival Stage
• EepyBird
Lion Brand Booth
• Lion Brand Yarn Unique ActivitiesClick through to see more!
I’m officially going to get a bit unofficial right now.
I believe that everyone needs to live a Polaroid lifestyle. What does that mean? It means that on a nearly daily basis you should be doing something that’s worthy of at least a Polaroid shot. Life is, afterall, such a heavy grind and it takes real effort to make sure you do something memorable and fun on a daily basis. And well, if life is a grind, then my weekend was industrial sized.
So, it came as a huge surprise then when I was sitting at a friends apartment for a visit and Lord Vader came to the door. Yeah, that’s no joke. The man/Jedi loomed over standing at about 6′5″ (yeah I’m short). It definitely warmed my heart. Sadly, no camera was present and I couldn’t get a shot.
The guy who came by just wanted to show off his creation. It was a totally homespun version and looked pretty amazing. Costume fans seem to lurk everywhere and every once in awhile you find one with the chops to share it and not feel funny. Props to our Sith lord friend for making a public appearance.
It then got to me, it sure would be fun to try to get people to take various pictures wearing their favorite costumes in strange public places.
Right place, right time, right hobby. Sorry for no picture!
You might catch yourself in a public place wearing a costume that may not be deemed as “normal”. So what, right?
…well… you may want to go in numbers. As cool as it is to be socially offbeat, costume fans need to be supplied with reinforcements whenever possible.
A lot of costume fans find that they would have fun getting dressed up, but don’t know where or when to do it. Unless you’re holding a sign on a street corner to advertise business, you’re going to get funny looks.
So, as a generous task, we’re providing you with a solid list of people and places to find other costume fans to fraternize with.
The first place to look for a community is online. This will help you find out who is where, and what they participate in.
Forums - Forums exists all over the net, and for about every niche group possible. Cosplay, steampunk, general costumes, collectors, you name it and you’ll find it. Forums are a great place to ask questions that only a true fan would know.
DIY Web Sites - The great thing about DIY sites is that there are so many types of people there. You can be into any type of costume, and DIYers are all over it. Also, they’re extremely involved in the creation process, putting them in the know for all good resources on a particular subject or idea.
Digg, and other Social News Sites - Why Digg? Well, Digg is a haven for all the crazy stuff you will find on the web. How many ideas or articles have we found via social news? Well, lets pretend they’re all original things I see in person, mmkay?
The good news is that there is nearly always something going on for a costume fan to take part in, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get involved and make some friends, right?
Conventions - Cons are big in a very big way these days. They come in all shapes and sizes and attract everyone you could imagine. If you’re a fan of something like comics or anime, there are cons all the time for you. Find a costume, make a reason, and go dress up. People love to see their peers show their pride. Some cons are getting more well known for their costumes alone… sound like fun?
Release Events - Harry Potter movie, new Halo game, Star Trek release, on and on and on… if your costume is specific, and you’re in good company, you have all the reason to get decked out.
Fan Festivals - Fan festivals are akin to Conventions, but are usually surrounding a certain product or IP. The gaming industry is big on these. Fans of Blizzard Games, Sony Games, or Square Enix games can all find Fan Fests happening almost annually. It’s worth it to get in some garb and go to at least one.
The Right City - Tokyo is great for Cosplayers. New York has all kinds of dress up events, cultural mashups, and groups of enthusiasts. Los Angeles is home to the Hollywood hills, and the entertainment capital of the world. It doesn’t stop there, as most big cities have something unique to boast. Celebrate the city you love.
Cultural Celebrations - We’ve already covered Carnival and Oktoberfest. It doesn’t end there. If you want to immerse yourself in a really cool side of costuming, find a way to travel and get into some traditional threads. It’s always more acceptable and fun to blend into another lifestyle.
Well, not sure you got enough? We can think of many more. Check out our post on 79 Days, Reasons and Events made for Costumes. Search around for the ideas we’ve found and add some of your own.
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