#crafting tips

Hello there! @el-draco-bizarro here, and I like to make things. Because of @squeemcsquee here, that has started moving in a cosplay direction. She does love her conventions :) Anyway, I have a few projects I'm working on that I may detail into specific posts, but I thought I might write up a generalized list of do's and don’ts of crafting for anyone out there looking into making something, whether it's for the first time or the 800th. We can always, always learn from others no matter how seasoned you may be at making' stuff, but this will focus on the extreme basics for a beginner.

Do Your Research

This should be obvious, but before I start anything, I almost always hit up the internet to see if anyone else has made what I want to make before. Tutorials are great and YouTube videos are awesome for this, but even if someone has simply posted a photograph of their project with no instructions, that can still be great for inspiration. Unless it's something complicated or specific (like electronics for example), I almost never end up following instructions to the letter-don't despair if you can't find an EXACT layout of what you are specifically trying to make. Read more than one process, and pick out the bits that will work best for you and your abilities! There's usually many ways of making a certain type of thing, and experienced crafters will always have their favorite methods that they will stick to-that won't mean it's the best for you. You may like the material they suggest using, but have a better idea for how you want to assemble it. Or you may not have access to the material or tools they use, but after seeing what they do, you've thought of something similar and more available that you can use to accomplish a similar result. Fantastic! Trying new things is how you grow and if you come up with a great process that you didn't see anywhere else, now you get to be the expert and can share your method with the rest of us so the next person searching has even more options.

 Ask For Help

 Inevitably, you will encounter a Thing You Want To Do, but won't have the foggiest where to start or what you might need to get there. Or you know what you need but can't afford to buy the tools or materials you 100% need and can't substitute. Reach out! Check with your friends; if it's a small or simple job ("I just need three pieces of this thing cut to x length, but I need a specific saw to do it effectively") see if your friends know of anyone with the tool, and if it won't be a great inconvenience of time or money, see if you can ask them to do it for you. For more difficult or time consuming things, you'll want to know the person already and offer compensation. My rule of thumb is, if it would require the person to follow a short list of simple instructions ("cut this thing into three equal lengths", "sew this thing to this other thing in straight line") that's an ok favor to ask. If it's more complicated than that ("take this sheet of plywood and turn it into these 8 specifically measured shapes") that's not a favor anymore, that's a job and you either need to find someone to pay to handle it, or figure it out yourself with possibly a less complex option (can you sub cardboard for plywood?).

Sometimes you might just need someone to bounce ideas off of though. Talk to a friend; "I want to make this thing...how would you do that?" Many times, they'll have a few great ideas where to start (or bad ones....those are ok too though :) ) and suggestions you may not have thought of on your own. They may be able to suggest a simple solution to a portion you thought would be complex or even insurmountable. Use your people!

Use The Right Tool For The Job

Some stuff just isn't equipped to do other stuff. And that sucks because you may only have the wrong stuff. You need the right scissors to cut cloth, kiddie craft scissors won't work. You need the right kind of saw to cut metal, the right needle to sew leather, the right glue for what you're connecting, and so on. Sometimes the right tool is cheap and easy to get. Sometimes it's neither of those things. It's fine to improvise, but you HAVE to be aware of safety if you decide to deliberately use a tool unsuited to the job you want to do. At best, you can end up with a rough, imprecise version of what you were aiming for. At worst, you will hurt yourself. Know the limitations of what you have. I chose to cut insulation foam with a flat kitchen knife today, knowing that a serrated blade would be better and a hot cutter would be best. I stabbed myself in the hand within a minute and I was even paying attention. It was a result I knew could happen, accepted as a minor issue, and was prepared to deal with when I inevitably bled. The flat kitchen knife tore the heck out of the foam as well; for my project, this is ok and will not hurt the final result but if I needed flat geometric edges, my project would have been severely compromised. Take extra precautions if you're gonna wing it. Understand how your process may affect your materials, especially if those materials are expensive or hard to get. Test things on a small insignificant piece first. Ask someone who is more familiar with those materials or tools if you can. Never try something that could potentially become dangerous while alone if at all; I would say this includes anything to do with fire, electronics, or blades especially. Google will be your friend here to minimize risk...try variations of "can I do x thing with y tool/material" until you find something. If every message board says no, maybe don't risk it. Frequently, advice forums and things will include substitute options if they say it can't be done though so those are a great resource.  

Baby Steps

What I mean here is, have realistic expectations about what you can achieve with what you have, experience included. You won't go from 0 to a full set of Spartan armor in a week (although if you do please show me lol). But don't be afraid to fail forward! Every time something doesn't turn out how you expected it to, you've learned what not to do. If what you have is duct tape and cardboard, then that's where you start. Look up what others have done with those things, take the bits you like, discard the advice you don't agree with, and go for it. And sometimes the advice you disagreed with will turn out to have been good advice after all, and you do that next time xD. I'm one of those people that tends to not believe something won't work until I've tried it myself, and sometimes it stings to learn, but at least you learned it and that's one more thing that will make your next project better. For example, cardboard is not great to make masks out of. It's fragile, impossible to repair, and HOT. Trust me. But if you have had an idea to make a mask out of cardboard and think you know how to make it work for you, ignore me and go for it, and maybe let us all know how it went along the way! You may do something that makes it all work that none of the rest of us thought of before. Other people's advice is useful but ultimately, most of it is optional. ((Caveat: not safety advice. ALWAYS take heed of safety advice, otherwise You Will Bleed))

Fake It ‘Til You Make It

Bouncing off the above advice, many times you can do what you know with what you have even if you don't end up with a "professional" result. All cosplay is valid! Your papier-mâché mask may be lumpy. Your weapon prop may be a dowel rod covered with colored duct tape. It may not look as great as the costume made by the professional tailor with an expensive sewing machine and access to a machine shop for props. Less experience is not bad, it's a stepping stone. You know what you don't like about what you made last time, and you may have an idea how to improve on it for next time. And next time. And next time. And before you know it you're running a blog specifically about how you get such great looking results out of cardboard and duct tape that blow other people away. Make it work for you and strut your stuff! In my experience, you can do so, so much with just basic materials that other "better" crafters may not have even thought of to try because they're so used to their ways. As a good example, look at the cosplay tag on this blog and check out the Glow Cloud. We got so many compliments on that thing at the con. Lots of people stopped us to say how cool it was and to marvel that they could never have come up with such a great result. You want to know what that's made out of? That's a clear umbrella with three (3) battery-powered strings of colored Christmas lights taped to it. We then spray-glued a boatload of Poly-Fil to it, and found a fluffy light up jacket on Wish to go with it. It was not complicated or even that time-consuming, and I felt like a cheater any time someone said it was special. But honestly? While I COULD have rigged all my own electronics on a hand-made structure etc, it would have take a LOT more time, expertise, and probably money than I had and it still wouldn't have looked any different than a 12 dollar umbrella and some Christmas lights. Never make from scratch what it just as easy and cheap to get premade unless you have specific requirements that the premade can't deliver or can't be altered to include. And never let anyone tell you your cosplay isn't as good because you didn't personally make it from scratch! That's BS elitist advice. Ever hear that dieting advice "Eat whatever you want, and if anyone tells you otherwise, eat them too?" That applies here. There will be those who say you can NEVER make something out of duct tape because that's not good crafting. Or professional. Or any other bogus reason just because they look down on it. Eat them and make your duct tape thing. Simple and cheap is fine and is way less stressful than trying to pursue something complex and expensive. Make what you can, but you don't have to have a big flashy costume to cosplay. Paint a question mark on a t-shirt and call it good. Maybe get a cheap wig and some tights and spend the day comfy instead of lugging around a heavy complicated-and/or-expensive prop. If you're not having fun what's the point? And above all -

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE GOOD AT CRAFTS TO BE GREAT AT COSPLAY