.Hack //GU
Infected |Azure| Kite
I actually started this cosplay a year ago this June. I had tried to get it done in time for the event in Paris but failed to so the progress was stuffed into a bag and ignored for a year - I took it out about a month ago and decided to try and finish it in time for May this year. Someone had told me it would be the coldest May on record so I figured I'd be ok - turns out it was the hottest May instead and I literally boiled alive on the day.
I picked up where I had left it - two half sewn sleeves and three out of four pants panels. The character is covered in stitching - During my research I found some cosplayers had actually stitched thick white thread - overlaid materials etc to create the effect. I decided to use white felt - a it doesn't fray and a black pen to emphasise the stitching. I hadn't seen anyone else do this and it always seemed to look like the costume was lacking in detail. I'm pleased with how it came out and had several compliments on my detailing effect =]
The belts were all handmade from soft black pleather which was cut into strips and hemmed both sides to fit into the buckles I had bought specifically - including the large chest belt. I finished the trousers pattern then sewed them together and took them in slightly round the waist area for a better fit.
The belt piece had always troubled me originally when I first started the costume - but it ended up being reasonably simple when I finally got round to it. I used a coat hanger and bent the metal into the triangle shapes to support the side belts. I used foam to pad the shoe and glove cuffs.
The hat took 5 attempts to get right - during my research I had seen many styles of hats for this cosplay - ones that were to small, to puffy, to large, out of shape etc so I kept attempting it until I was finally happy with the end result. It is fully lined inside and stuffed. The ear flaps have pipe cleaners sewn in so they have a flexible shape.
The undershirt was made from curtain material to get the unique print required - it also meant it was very thick which didn't help me much on the day as it was around 28 degrees. The gauntlets were made from real leather and I had leather look leggings on underneath the trousers - and a binder under the entire thing to flatten my chest.
I had a friend cut out the wood for the two blades - he glued the inital head peices together and then covered them in a layer of primer before handing them over with some extra supplies. I spent two days painting and detailing all 4 sides - I then used spray paint to add the red gradient to the blade tips, added googly eyes and nailed the handle into place. I then covered the handle piece in strips of white leather and black thread.
On the day as it was already hot I opted to not use a base greyish tone on my face as I figured it would mostly rub off on the costume as I only had the cheap kind of facepaints and that it would probably sweat off way before the day was over. Instead I used an orangey red face paint to make the triangle markings on the cheeks and did very little styling on the wig as his hair practically covers his face.
I also did some more body painting - again redoing the blue body tattoo but also doing a very complex one for my boyfriends costume. Like before the Kamina tattoo took around 2 hours - slightly sped up as I had someone helping me this time round.
For my boyfriends body tattoo we used biro ink and then covered the entire thing in a layer of prosaide. It took 4 hours to complete - I worked with a friend each of us working on one side and joining on the back.
She worked on the left and I took the right.
We didn't focus as much attention to the back as the character has long hair and the references were scarce.
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