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Let’s talk about trimming wigs!  For such a common task there are lots of ways to go about it, and here technique is everything.  Below the cut I’ll go over three of my favorite methods of cutting and trimming wigs for cosplay.

Before Beginning: What is a “blunt cut” and why is it bad?

“Blunt cut” is how I refer to a trim job where all of the hair is exactly even.  This creates pieces that look almost rectangular in nature and just looks very “blunt.”  While this looks just fine on human hair, with wigs it looks quite odd because of the sheer amount of fiber you have in a wig - that much hair on the very tips of the wig tends to stack against itself, causing the weird rectangular bunching.  This can happen with long and short straight wigs, or even “spiked” wigs where the tips have not been appropriately feathered down.

This is a “blunt cut” - there are very few wig styles where this is appropriate.

Recently, I wrapped up work on my boots for a cosplay (Lillet from Grim Grimoire) and I got a few questions about how I made them, after posting photos of the first of the pair. So, while making the second, I took pictures and notes along the way. 

Long Hooded Cloak Pattern {FREE}

This long hooded cloak pattern is easy to follow and is perfectly priced at free! It’s easy to sew up ( honestly the longest part is assembling the pattern).  It has a couple of different lengths and is sure to add a little drama to any costume.  

Hello everyone!

This is a tutorial to make a detached collar and (faux) French cuffs. I intended this to be for Playboy Bunny-style costumes, and that’s a good use for them, but I can see people wanting to make these for fashion purposes or other costumes, as well. 

The collar is functional and buttons at the neck, and the cuffs are functional but use a snap on the inside and decorative buttons sewn to the outside to imitate the look of cufflinks. This makes them easier to deal with during a con day and makes it easier to either make custom “cufflinks” or to use what you have in your sewing stash rather than buying or attempting to make actual cufflinks.

ATTENTION COSPLAYERS:

I would like to make the paint brand “Angelus” known. It is a special paint that is for leather, faux leather, rubber, and similar surfaces.

This is literally the best paint you can buy if you love a pair of shoes, but they aren’t in the right color for your character.

This stuff coats VERY well AND the coats of paint bend with your shoes. This means no cracking!!

In the photos above I took black rain boots and painted them with Angelus Turquoise. As you can see, they don’t look black any more! It’s so good!

I managed to paint two boots with a little one ounce bottle of the paint, and I still have a third of the bottle left over!

The paint dries very fast, so you can put layer on top of layer on top of layer without it streaking.

You can get the paint on Amazon and it comes in every color!

Ooh, I love this question.

So first up:

Trampoline shoots.

You will want a fairly large trampoline in an open space, and you will want it positioned in a place where you can (more or less) shoot against the sky. Unless you want your neighbours’ houses or trees as the background, an open sky is the best because you can fake supreme heights by just removing the few little distractions that squeak in and photoshopping in some clouds or some land below or something.

You will absolutely need a photographer. I don’t think tripods really matter because you’re going to be moving around so much that the freedom of movement is much better for the photographer if they can move swiftly, too.

You want to pick a day that has nice lighting. Overcast is great because you don’t end up with harsh shadows on your face and whatnot, but it can also make pictures a little grey. No problem, you have post-production to fix that. Also pick a day where you’re not going to sweat your ass off; we did our first trampoline shoot in 40ºC weather, and afterwards, I could practically wring the sweat from my skirt where the belt had pressed it against my skin. (Beautiful mental image, I know. I’m just trying to spare you the Gross.)

Any heeled or unsafe shoes for trampolines are a no-no. Jumping around in my sock-boots with thin, flat soles for Supergirl is great, but I’d never jump in heels, both to protect my own ankles and protect the trampoline. Likewise with heavy boots. You don’t want to injure yourself or damage your trampoline (or your friend’s trampoline, or whoever’s) just for cosplay pictures. Is your footwear crucial? Wear coloured socks or make alternate shoes that are “lightweight/flat” editions of your regular shoes. You don’t need heels for height when you’re being flung through the air!

The biggest trick to actually doing these photoshoots is controlling where the cape goes. If you just bounce around and let it go wherever it pleases, you are going to end up with it going over your head, wrapping around your body, getting caught between your legs, etc. You need a cape that is long enough for you to hold onto the edges. Ideally, you are going to hold onto it to guide it as you go up, and let go juuust when you start descent. This way you aren’t holding your cape, but you have it spread out beautifully and your hands are wide and “joyous”.

Stop periodically to review the pictures with your photographer. Figure out what is working, what isn’t, and what you need to try again to see if you can time it better/get luckier. If you need to change how you’re working and start calling out timing or make suggestions, do it: communication will make it easier.

However, I also want to note that not all costumes really “work” with trampoline pictures. Josh and I did a shoot once with me in my DCAU/Danvers “white t-shirt” Supergirl costume, with the short cape and the tight-fitting miniskirt, and we found it just ended up looking awkward. In fact, we didn’t get a single picture out of it. We got better pictures out of casual clothes. Trampolines make for very weird shoots; if you only have a little cape flying around you, one you can’t really control, then it often just ends up going wherever it wants. I’ve seen Ms. Marvels pull it off with the sash as the moving fabric or even without, but short capes just tend to be like “hey, did you want me around your head? Done.” I think the “flight” illusion gets a lot of help from loose skirts and whatnot, too. Basically, the more moving fabric you have, the more “dynamic” the picture’s going to end up being. Flying and rushing fabric shows motion. By all means, put whoever you want up in the air, but the more fabric you have, the easier it is. (Unless you’re in a ball gown. Then I don’t know what to tell you.)

But all that aside, I think the hardest part of the shoot is just how much you have to control for. It’s HARD to really nail the shots because not only do you need the camera to be focused and fast enough to catch you when you’re moving all over the place, but you also need to be in control of so much. Your expression needs to be right, so you have to “act” while you’re bouncing yourself through the air. You have to watch how you position your feet and legs. You have to be aware of what you’re doing with your hands, how you’re positioning your body, where your hair is –– it’s maddening work, and while you’re doing it, you have to wrangle a cape and/or make sure your skirt isn’t flipping up. (I have no idea how many shots have been ruined because of that, so I’m going to throw in “get yourself some cute hot pants” as advice.)

And I really want you to be prepared for an insane payoff-to-shot ratio. With us, we usually get about 5-8 useable pictures for every 200 shots we take. If you’re experienced with photoshoots you probably know that lots of pictures end up scrapped in ANY photoshoot, but given the nature of trampolines, you’re just more likely to run into the “shame you’re making a fucking weird face in this shot” problem. Or “oops your cape flipped over your shoulder.” Or “PAAAANTY SHOOOOOTTTTT.”

————————————————-

Flying shots without trampolines.

It can be done, but I honestly don’t have much advice for it, because I largely find it’s unsuccessful. Here’s the thing: when you’re on a trampoline, you’re going to be “up” again in a second, and the elastic nature of it is going to soften the blow of impact. When you’re not, you’re climbing to the top of whatever fool thing you’re jumping off of, and then trying to land on what is probably a hard, unforgiving surface.

As such, it is extremely, extremely hard to do a convincing flying shot by jumping off ledges or stairs or whatever. You will be 90% focused on balancing yourself and not wiping out your ankles or going to your knees upon landing that you won’t even think about where your cape is going. “Jumping off a ledge” gives you “falling” shots, and they don’t even make good landing shots. Also, the distinct lack of height means it’s very hard to get a clear sky/good background that doesn’t look like you’re “falling down in front of this building” or “about to plunge off these stairs.”

It’s also exhausting.

So instead, focus on the going “up”, and have your photographer shoot from a low angle to get a more dynamic view.

The key to this is long straight jumps. You’re much more likely to get a good shot if you’re going parallel to the ground, instead of towards it. Take a good running step and leap as though you’re a ballerina or a martial artist or something.

This is semi-successful, but I didn’t push it enough:

Bend one knee and bring it forward so you’re not a flying stick, and do it dramatically enough that you look like you have forward momentum. That’s how we got shots like the Supergirl vs Powergirl one. They aren’t necessarily as dynamic as trampoline ones, but I think they are better than the “I’m about to wipe out on this concrete, aren’t I?” falling ones.

And if you’re doing fighting poses, make sure your swinging arm is up and away, so you don’t block your body/face with your own arm.

———————

Landing shots and simple cape movement pictures.

These are a lot easier than they look, though just as trial-and-error to get the right effect. What you basically need to watch out for is speed.

Think about it this way: when you move fast, your cape is going to rush, and then it’s going to hit you as you stop because it wants to keep going. If you’re moving fast, you’re also making timing more difficult for the photographer.

What you really want to do here is keep your movements “short”. Start from a standing position and then move forward as if you’re doing an aerobics “lunge” move, dropping down to one knee. Hold the edges of your cape as you start forward and release at the mid-way point. You ideally want your photographer to snap the picture just before your knee hits the ground, when your forward leg is at the knee at about a 90º angle. If you can do this motion slow and smooth, your cape will “glide” with you and your photographer has a better chance at grabbing the picture at the right time, in focus and all that jazz.

Want to just get a “standing” shot where your cape is in motion? Instead of turning in full circles (which gets you shots like this) or running to get your cape moving, try a quarter-turn. That’s how Elemental and I got the awesome shot in front of the grey brick wall. Start with your left side to the photographer, holding the right side of your cape with your right hand. When your photographer is ready, swing your right leg to turn yourself to face the photographer and let the cape fan out. The quarter-turn gets just enough motion running through your cape (and skirt) that you get movement going on without going so far that a) the photographer loses you or b) your skirt flips up. The quarter-turn also means you can be facing your photographer the whole time, instead of trying to look at them while spinning in circles.

Hope that helps :)

Truthfully, everything you buy from just about everywhere is being bought for pennies on the dollar. I used to work for a fabric store, and Christine currently works in purchasing. We know exactly what those companies charge, and I can tell you for a fact that a quilting cotton sold for $22/m was purchased for something like $1.13/m. Scissors they sell for $10? Five cents. A yard of fusible web for $14? Thirty cents. That’s just the long and short of it. Once you know that, it’s all in mark-up. What are you comfortable paying in mark-up? These companies have to pay for freight and employees and rent and taxes and all these things, but when they are companies that pay their employees barely over minimum wage (if over at all) sometimes it can get a little dicey to think about how much money they rake in. I’m comfortable paying $3/yard for broadcloth from a family-owned fabric store even if it cost them far less to produce/bring in, but I’d balk at paying $5/yard for the same stuff at some soulless corporate chain. (I’ll use the 50% discount, though.)

It also depends on where you’re shopping. I generally treat online fabric shopping as a last resort because it is, surprise surprise, very difficult to find something as tactile and colourful as fabric when shopping over the internet. But if you live in an area where you have minimal choice in fabric selection, you’re probably going to have to settle for higher prices. (And I’d say, the vast majority of the time, higher prices are worth it to be able to know what you’re buying firsthand.) If you live in an area with lots of competing fabric stores, like Queen West in Toronto, then odds are you’re going to have lower prices, a close relationship with store owners (which translates into off-the-cuff discounts) and the ability to haggle/price match.

My general rule is something like this, all prices in CND, but you might find your numbers more (or less) depending on what kind of area you live in and what you have access to. These are prices I’ve come to expect at Queen West:

Anything from Joann’s/Hancock’s/Fabricland: 50% off is generally my minimum unless impossible to avoid, 75% off or less is ideal. Full price is a rip-off but is sometimes a necessary evil if what you reaaaally want or need is only available or easiest to acquire at full price.

Broadcloth: $3/yard

Satins: $11-14/yard

Zippers: $1 or less for regular, $2 for specialty, $10 for super rare/special kinds

Twills: $8-10/yard

Linings: $3-5/yard

Interfacings: $3-5/yard

Pleathers: $15-18/yard

Linens: $15-20/yard

Cottons: $8-10/yard

Custom printed fabrics: $20+/yard

Spandexes: $10-15/yard, up to $18/yard for specialty/football grade/etc

Trims: $1/yard at absolute most for poly. I get my fancy-schmancy gold pleather tapes for $2/yard when at bulk, so fuck the rest!

Faux wools/suitings: $8-10/yard

But again, that’s just a guideline of what I usually pay in downtown Toronto.

Sometimes fabric gets expensive. Hell, a lot of the time it gets expensive. I think our average for material costs these days runs about $100-150 in fabric per costume, sometimes lower ($85 on Grandmaster), but also sometimes higher ($300 on Lissa). But we also do like a dozen costumes a year, and that’s usually on at least half a dozen people each footing the bill for their own costume, so I don’t mind shelling out for nice fabrics at reasonable prices if I’m only going to be doing one or two costumes a year for myself. 

If you’re the kind of person who needs a new costume for every day of a convention and goes to a lot of conventions, well, fabrics get very expensive very fast. (Ugh!)

Sewing:  DIY Piping

Have you ever had a project to work on and needed to make the piping yourself?  Better still - have you been as LAZY as me and not wanted to drive to your local fabric store? 

Enter - Clothesline.

NO JOKE! 

I bought this pack of clothesline rope for approximately $0.16 a yard.  That’s right folks - tis cheap :).  

You start out by cutting a two inch by necessary length strip of your fabric and the same length of your clothesline.

Fold your fabric in half and wrap the cord inside. Use your zipper foot to sew as closely to the cord as possible.

When you are done you will have perfect piping.  The best part is that you will have it in the exact fabric you wanted!

i’m definitely gonna sound like a salesman but i need to give this new company a signal boost. i’ve never seen anything like this on the con floor and it’s such an obvious idea once i saw it.

there’s a company called Cut/Sew and they specialize in making patterns. but their real goal is getting newbies to try using patterns! ok ok let me elaborate: the big pattern companies like Simplicity, McCall’s, etc etc. are fine, but they can be super intimidating to someone who’s never used a pattern before. like sure, patterns are basically a tutorial on how to make a garment, but where’s the tutorial on how to correctly interpret the pattern?  that’s where these guys come in!

they include very clear instructions, lists for everything you’ll need, and even a QR code you can scan and input your measurements to get a custom fit for your garment!!

and sure, the big companies also include what you’ll need, but frankly it’s laid out very poorly and newbies probably won’t know to look for it on the pattern.  Cut/Sew has everything laid out very clearly and very friendly for beginners (or honestly, for any skill level! I think everyone would want clear pattern instructions, not just beginners).

and look how cute the packaging is omg!!

this is the back of their card that i got at megacon, as well as the frickin adorable packaging for the seifuku pattern i bought from them.  they have a bunch of patterns available for purchase and a lot of them are for hard-to-find things, like flight suits and high-waisted puff pants.

**HERE IS THEIR WEBSITE**

This is part 2 of 3 of my worbla painting tutorial! Part 2 is about spray paint! I tried 4 different spray paint lines here! I’m not too experienced with worbla yet, but over the past month or so i extensively tested a lot of primers, paints and topcoats so I figured I would share my results!

If you are a cosplayer and have any personal experiences related to the Cosplay is Not Consent movement (in any way, shape, or form) please PM me.