My Foray
Into Cosplay

As I mentioned in my post I love (making) films, I am a massive film geek. So here’s where you find out how much of a geek I really am…YES I attend comic cons and YES, I put massive amounts of effort into creating cosplay outfits and props. “Why?!” some of you may ask. Well, because it’s fun and I just love making stuff, especially when it involves my favourite films and tv shows. And why wouldn’t you sometimes like to pretend that you can successfully fight robots, aliens and world-ending disasters? Playing is not just for children, it is so important to keep that spirit alive as an adult. Also it makes you feel pretty baddass. For those of you who would like to delve more into this passion of mine, here I will talk through the process I used to put together the items and props for my various cosplay outfits.

Rey

This was my first go at cosplay as well as attending a comic con back in 2016, so it was definitely the most exciting. Putting together the outfit was pretty straightforward, I found a number of cheap options for the harem style pants, t-shirt and shoes on ebay which I adapted slightly for the look using my painting and sewing skills. The arm bandages I created out of cut-up old vests dipped in tea to give them that desert-worn effect, and I bought some indian chunni fabric for the drapes over the body. Making Rey’s staff was my favourite part and was so much fun. I am one of those people who like to hoard a lot of random objects in case I might need them for ‘something important’. Well it turns out that old curtain rail and discarded plumbing I kept aside finally came in useful! By some stroke of luck, they all pretty much fit together, and where they didn’t I added a few strategic cuts and licks of paint. I then used the same material from my arm bandages to wrap around the staff. The absolute cherry on top though, was I had kept this old handbag, the strap of which hooked perfectly onto the staff, thus completing the whole look.

Ripley

Alien is one of my favourite films of all time, just the perfect space horror and it never gets old. So Ripley’s character was an obvious candidate for cosplay, being such an iconic, badass female hero. I was lucky enough to have similar boiler suit style clothing in the form of my art studio overalls. All I needed to do was adapt them to make the leg cuffs more fitted and sew on some custom made badges I purchased from ebay. The weapon she uses was a little bit more complex. I watched a few video tutorials from other makers who had put one together and realised nerf guns bore the closest resemblance to the gun she uses in the film. So after another scour of ebay, I found one for £8. Getting myself some matt black spray paint, I painted the entire thing and it all came together perfectly.

The 13th Doctor

My husband has been a massive Doctor Who fan since childhood, so by association, eventually I got really into it too. I mean who wouldn’t, it is an excellent scifi series. It was so exciting to finally have a female doctor played by Jodie Whittaker, so that was what inspired my next cosplay outfit. This one was probably the easiest to put together as it didn’t require much making, just a lot of clever ebay trawling. Using this method, I managed to get the wig, coat, t-shirt, trousers and braces for around £40 altogether. The t-shirt I had to adapt a little to include the rainbow design, so I used some old rug threads and embroidered them on to create the effect. On attending that particular comic con back in 2019, I didn’t have the correct sonic screwdriver for that particular doctor, but I can assure you, I did have it upon leaving, amongst various other bits of delightfully geeky paraphernalia.

Coming soon!

Watch this space for my next outfit as Pris, Daryl Hannah’s character in Blade Runner.

As I mentioned in my post I love (making) films, I am a massive film geek. So here’s where you find out how much of a geek I really am…YES I attend comic cons and YES, I put massive amounts of effort into creating cosplay outfits and props. “Why?!” some of you may ask. Well, because it’s fun and I just love making stuff, especially when it involves my favourite films and tv shows. And why wouldn’t you sometimes like to pretend that you can successfully fight robots, aliens and world-ending disasters? Playing is not just for children, it is so important to keep that spirit alive as an adult. Also it makes you feel pretty baddass. For those of you who would like to delve more into this passion of mine, here I will talk through the process I used to put together the items and props for my various cosplay outfits.

Rey

 

Above – me as Rey in Force Awakens with a close-up of the staff I made.

This was my first go at cosplay as well as attending a comic con back in 2016, so it was definitely the most exciting. Putting together the outfit was pretty straightforward, I found a number of cheap options for the harem style pants, t-shirt and shoes on ebay which I adapted slightly for the look using my painting and sewing skills. The arm bandages I created out of cut-up old vests dipped in tea to give them that desert-worn effect, and I bought some indian chunni fabric for the drapes over the body. Making Rey’s staff was my favourite part and was so much fun. I am one of those people who like to hoard a lot of random objects in case I might need them for ‘something important’. Well it turns out that old curtain rail and discarded plumbing I kept aside finally came in useful! By some stroke of luck, they all pretty much fit together, and where they didn’t I added a few strategic cuts and licks of paint. I then used the same material from my arm bandages to wrap around the staff. The absolute cherry on top though, was I had kept this old handbag, the strap of which hooked perfectly onto the staff, thus completing the whole look.

Ripley

 

Above – my husband and I at comic con with me dressed as Ripley from Alien with a close-up of Ripley’s gun which I made.

Alien is one of my favourite films of all time, just the perfect space horror and it never gets old. So Ripley’s character was an obvious candidate for cosplay, being such an iconic, badass female hero. I was lucky enough to have similar boiler suit style clothing in the form of my art studio overalls. All I needed to do was adapt them to make the leg cuffs more fitted and sew on some custom made badges I purchased from ebay. The weapon she uses was a little bit more complex. I watched a few video tutorials from other makers who had put one together and realised nerf guns bore the closest resemblance to the gun she uses in the film. So after another scour of ebay, I found one for £8. Getting myself some matt black spray paint, I painted the entire thing and it all came together perfectly.

The 13th Doctor

 

Above – me in my 13th Doctor outfit

My husband has been a massive Doctor Who fan since childhood, so by association, eventually I got really into it too. I mean who wouldn’t, it is an excellent scifi series. It was so exciting to finally have a female doctor played by Jodie Whittaker, so that was what inspired my next cosplay outfit. This one was probably the easiest to put together as it didn’t require much making, just a lot of clever ebay trawling. Using this method, I managed to get the wig, coat, t-shirt, trousers and braces for around £40 altogether. The t-shirt I had to adapt a little to include the rainbow design, so I used some old rug threads and embroidered them on to create the effect. On attending that particular comic con back in 2019, I didn’t have the correct sonic screwdriver for that particular doctor, but I can assure you, I did have it upon leaving, amongst various other bits of delightfully geeky paraphernalia.

Coming soon!

Watch this space for my next outfit as Pris, Daryl Hannah’s character in Blade Runner.

Above – me as Rey in Force Awakens with a close-up of the staff I made

Above – my husband and I at comic con with me dressed as Ripley from Alien with a close-up of Ripley’s gun which I made

Above – me in my 13th Doctor outfit