Grid Cosplay

Here’s ‘Aurora Bespelled’ - a design that mashes up some of my fave things, midcentury design, sleeping beauty, and medieval fashion. also mcfreakin’ love how the purse came out (it glows!) - i’ve gotten really into making themed wristlets for my looks.

1. If your wig is way too tight, don’t use it. Get something with a bigger cap. tbh I often wear slightly too big wigs to reduce the pressure! Find out what brands and sellers sell wigs that are comfy on your head and prioritize buying wigs from them! I made a big master list of cosplay wig sellers a while back so here’s a few you might not have known about. Arda (and its Canadian and European sites) sells by far the biggest wigs, but I personally find Classe the most comfortable for my specific head. It’s all very YMMV and it’s totally possible for a wig to not actually be too small but fit your head in an uncomfortable way (Blue Beard on taobao does this to me every time), so just don’t buy from suppliers that do that. Also consider resizing wigs to be larger! For wig clients with extra large heads I like to nip the edge of the wig right behind the ear where your ear and hair from above will cover it and add in a little godet of elastic.

2. Reduce weight! A heavy wig will make head pain much more likely, so here’s a few tips on wig weight reduction!

A) if your wig doesn’t need a ton of volume and is already very dense, rip out some wefts in the bottom half. Anything on the part of your head from the ridge where your head starts going in towards your neck won’t really show unless your wig is very short and it’ll obviously reduce weight instantly! You can replace any missing volume with light crimping or light heat and tease, or leave the wig as is for a natural and silky look without the unnatural volume of a cosplay wig.

B) if you need more volume in your wig, instead of going straight to adding wefts for more volume, see first if combining crimping with heat and tease at the roots will give you the extra volume you need! Crimping or heat and tease adds volume and if you straight up destroy the fiber in the first two inches from the scalp by doing both repeatedly, it’ll add huge volume without you needing to add extra hair! When I do this I like to heat the fiber near the roots, tease it, let it cool, crimp the teased part, let THAT cool, and then brush it out. You can flat out double the perceived volume in the back of the wig this way!

C) if your character has a high ponytail or high pigtails, consider using clip on ponytails that you can easily remove if you need the weight off your head right the fuck now. here’s two tutorials I swear by for making a short wig + clip on combination look more natural! They’re in Japanese but easily comprehensible if you use machine translation thanks to the clear photography. They also help with spreading out the weight on the wig itself, and if your hair is long enough, using a clip on with a fishnet wig cap and clipping through the wig and into your real hair will also he lp make it more secure and distribute weight more evenly.

if your character has high pigtails

if your character has a high ponytail

D) when you need extra wefts, opt for sewing in wefts rather than gluing whenever possible. Glue doesn’t seem heavy but enough of it can make a wig get real heavy REAL fast.

E) redirecting the weight to your entire head and not just the front hairline will feel lighter and give you less forehead tension, which is one of the biggest causes of wig headache. Toupee clips sewn evenly around the edges and a Wig Fix https://therenatural.com (the name brand one, the knockoffs genuinely don’t work half as well) can help with doing this. A Wig Fix will also let you use fewer pins to keep your wig on, which is another cause of wig headache. Can’t suggest trying those enough. There are also some velvet wig grips out there but I find those don’t work quite as well, but they’re by far better than nothing.

3) make sure your wig is easy to remove. A lot of characters have horns or veils or other head things on top of the wig so make sure those can easily come off if you need a wig break! I’m a big proponent of using wig glue or double stick tape to glue strands (face framing layers etc) to your face for a more natural and more flattering look, but if you get headaches from wigs, keep that glue or tape in your bag so if you have to de-wig for a bit, you can get it back on!

4) take the ibuprofen or whatever BEFORE you put the wig on, and not when your wig is already making your head miserable! It’s like taking the ibuprofen before you wear the horrible shoes for a special event; it’s more effective in advance.

5) what are your normal headache triggers? Make sure you’re doing the work to EXTRA avoid them before wearing a cosplay wig. Stay hydrated. Keep up with your electrolytes. If you have any food triggers, make sure you’re managing them properly.

6) try multiple types of wig cap before deciding which ones to use! I’m a big fan of the fishnet kind because I’m in agony every time I try to use the stocking kind. Some people find relief in doing pin curls under their cap, and @/battleangelgif on twitter suggested doing this with damp hair the night before you wear the wig. There are tons of methods! Stretching out fishnet caps can be done more effectively when they’re slightly damp and that’ll make them pinch less. Experiment with what you like best to keep your irl hair in place and once you find a method you like, go for it! Make that your go-to!

7) always remember: wearing a short wig is less miserable than wearing a wig to your ankles. consider very carefully whether or not you can actually handle that wig that’s as long as you are tall. sometimes you just can’t and that’s okay! reduce the length of any super long haired character to hip length and it’ll be FINE. I swear. It’ll still read as super long and it won’t be as terrible.

8) always remember you can just. take the entire wig and cosplay off if you’re in agony. it’s not worth it. don’t do that to yourself. If the migraine hits anyway, just take it off.

I've been busy doing some machine embroidery samples for Oscar from Rose of Versailles! I think I've gotten the color and look to a place that I'm happy with as a substitute for hand goldwork embroidery.

This has long been a dream build for me and I love researching costume history which I've been pouring into this project. I have a stories highlight on my IG with my historical research reasoning/process for those who are interested! Second pic is the museum piece I'm referencing from Musée de l'Armee in Paris.

OBSESSED with this Klimt-inspired styling (the hair! the jewelry!) for dwarven princess Disa from the upcoming Lord of the Rings series (i maybe wish she had a lil' beard action going on but I'll let it go because i'm going to be thinking of this for like the next 1000 years - the gold dust accents on her fingertips and hair! the nod to fortuny's delphos dresses! i'm frothing at the mouth!!!!)

Hello there!

This depends a lot on what you are painting onto the vinyl and how the vinyl is being used.

If you are working with vinyl fabric and want a complete color change: you are probably out of luck, but you can experiment with dyes for synthetic fabrics. I know these will dye clear vinyl and some pleathers, so it might be worth a shot.

If you are painting designs that need to be painted or are changing the color of shoes: Angelus leather paint is the go-to brand for this. 

If you are painting shoes that don’t flex too much (so more shoes than boots): You might have luck with Design Master Colortool spray. This is a spray paint meant for both real and faux florals, so it is soft, and can be used on fabrics. Some cosplayers have had luck using this on shoes, though I don’t know if I would test my luck on something that bends a lot/is floppy like boots.

If you need large, geometric designs or anything else with hard edges and a single color: heat transfer vinyl will be your friend! Be sure to be VERY careful with the heat and use a press cloth. You don’t need a fancy die-cutting machine to use it, either, if you just need a one-off design and have good control with scissors and/or a craft knife. If doing multiples of a design or a very delicate design, you may need a machine (or to borrow a friend’s).

Good luck! I hope that helps :]

Caption: [Okay, so this is my Wooloo cosplay from 2019. Umm. I don't know if y'all can see the back. I made everything, even the resin pieces, the little clay hearts. I knitted those bows. Crocheted the headpiece and my bonnet.