Kitana Fan Tutorial

Time for another picture heavy tutorial!

This costume is seriously taking forever.  You never realise how much work you can get done on a Saturday until you don't get Saturdays anymore! But at least I can take my costume stuff to the office and work on it there. Just no fun to haul supplies back and forth.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out.   And they only took about three revisions, which has to be some sort of record! The first thing I did was find a good, high quality pic of the fans and then isolate one of the blades with photo editing software.  I enlarged it to the size I wanted my blades to be and printed it for a template.

After I had the template, it was a simple matter of cutting ten blades out of foamcore and then beveling the edge with an exacto knife.  You need a VERY SHARP blade to do this-I couldn't find my good blade and this knife was dull; I actually ended up using a wood chisel to finish them.

I sanded the edges with fine grit sandpaper and finished them with an emery board, and then sealed all the cut edges with Elmer's glue.

For the indented design on her blades, I used the heat from an empty glue gun. I poked a small hole first for each indent and then pressed the glue gun into each one to melt the foam core.  I wasn't actually sure if this would work, but it seemed like a scientifically sound reasoning.  And it worked perfectly!! *pats self on back* Then I painted them with metallic silver paint.

I had a hard time deciding how to make the hilts of the blades but ended up after several bad ideas using half a clothespin. They were just the right length and had a nice taper built in.

I wrapped each with some stretchy leather-like material I had left over from my pirate corset and then added silver wire to each.

I was planing on some sort of screw system to hold them together, both for ease of storage and added stability.  But I ended up just glueing them together.  They're not as sturdy as I'd like, but not as fragile as I was worried about either.

I decided the easiest way to get the pattern onto the fans would be to stamp them.  So I printed the pattern, traced it onto foam, and then cut it out and used spray adhesive to stick it to the bottom of a clearish plate (so I could see where I was placing the stamp.)

I laid the fan blades onto posterboard and traced in the arc for the fan.  Then I painted it metallic blue and cut it out, then cut the arc into the four sections for the fan.

Each section was then stamped (I went back and filled in the stamps with a small paintbrush so that the design was solid) and then each section was fan-folded three times.

All that was left was to glue each section to the back of the blades.

They turned out way better than I had hoped! I've made plenty of costumes but this was my first time actually making a prop and I'm pretty pleased with the results.  I also added an elastic strap both for hanging them to store and also to hook them to my wrists in case I don't want to hold them the entire time at con. Looking forward to getting Kitana finished so I can start on Gamora!

Cosplay boot covers!

Yeah, it's been a while! My life sorta went nuts over the past several months. But enough about that! Today I'm going to share with you how to make those awesome match-y boots that you always see on cosplayers. You know, the ones that seem to be made out of the exact same material as the costume and you've never been able to figure out how they do it?

Apologies for the poor quality of this pic.  There's very little light in my bedroom! As you can see, there's still a LONG way to go before this costume is complete, but I'll keep you updated.

Turns out it's pretty easy! I had to learn how to do it for my Kitana costume. I've always loved Kitana and there was no way I was going to half-ass it with spray painted boots, no sir! So, I did a lot of research and put together the best parts (for me) of several very good cosplay boot tutorials. 

First, finding shoes for the boot base.  You'll want something smooth, with no holes or laces or buckles or straps. (I was a little sad about covering these, to be honest!) Since you're covering them, any color will do, and it doesn't matter if they're a little scuffed or beat up.  Only the shape matters.

Next the fun begins! (By "fun", I actually mean "sweaty gross leg".) Put that shoe on and wrap it and your leg in Saran wrap. Since Kitana has really high boots, I wrapped almost all the way up my thigh.

Next, wrap that sucker with tape.  It helps to have someone else do this unless you're freakishly flexible. Start by running a long piece down the front and back of your leg and shoe.

Here is my extremely helpful and patient boyfriend wrapping and wrapping and wrapping.

Sweaty leg tape cast complete! Next it's time to cut it off.  I started from the front.....I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING THAT! As I learned very quickly, there's no give along your shin bone, and constantly snipping your skin with scissors is no fun at all. Have your helper cut down the back of your leg instead. Draw some seam lines to guide your cutting.  This is where you'll be sewing your boot, so draw wherever you'll need a seam.  I did one down the front, one down the back, and one around the sole of the shoe.  I didn't cover the heel as I wanted it sticking out of the finished product.

Here's the three pieces of my boot pattern.  Press them as flat as possible...where there's curves and it won't lay flat (like around the toe and heel),  just cut a little snip and press it flat. When you transfer these to your fabric, just draw around the snips to make one continuous line.

Here I've transferred my tape cast pattern to newspaper.  You could just use the cast as a pattern, but I find it much cleaner and easier to work with newsprint.

And trace your pattern....

...and cut it out and pin it. All that's left at this point is to sew it up and shove the shoe in! I highly, highly recommend using FOUR-WAY STRETCH fabric to do this.  Theoretically any fabric would work, but four-way stretch is very forgiving if your measurements aren't exactly right, and doesn't require that you mess with seam allowances or add any zippers or the like.

As you can see, the sole is now covered.  I have not yet but I will definitely be putting some sort of rubber grippy shoe bottom thingy on this.  Because safety.

Ta-da!  A tall shiny blue Kitana boot!!

In addition to these type of boots looking great, matching perfectly, and being entirely customizable, they also STORE REALLY WELL. My Harley boots and Emma Frost boots take up an entire garment bag all by their onsies. These, however, fold up neatly into a regular shoebox! Which is awesome when you're trying to store fifteen or twenty costumes and all their attendant pieces.

I'll be working on Kitana more in the near future, so watch for her progress!