Cosplay wrap-up: Odysseus
Photographer (above and cover): moogleshot
Hello friends, as expected I am being incredibly sporadic with the blog posts! Today I wanted to do a quick reflection over my last one, have a look at whether I stuck to my plans, how much it helped, and just see how things change during the building process.
Materials wise I was basically bang on. I love working with both linen and leather, so that was a bit of a no brainer, stick with what I know. The one change I did make was to use painted leather rather than metal plates, which save me both time and cost. It also meant I could make the shoulder armour out of leather as well, then paint everything together so it matched.
Pattern wise everything went well, with minimal alterations. one of the harder things was actually the cloak, purely with trying to get the drape correct while doing minimal seams. The leather belt also had some complications with the curve, it ended up being two pieces laced together on one side, then closed with velcro. Underneath sits a standard belt, which all the pouches hang off, giving the tunic shape and them support without having to rely on complicated rigging. Unlike the shoulder/cloak attachment which is definitely still a work in progress, it currently consists of D-rings, a large safety pin and ribbon. Messy as anything but hey it works.
The foam stamping worked BRILLIANTLY. Better than I ever expected. I used peel and stick foam for ease, on a cardboard base. It did have a bit more of a faded appearance, so I brightened certain areas, but overall perfect for the look I wanted.
My absolutely silly detail was having something on all of the scrolls that was relevant, I went absolutely ham and it brought me so much joy. We have Epic the musical lyrics, Hades 2 quotes in the style of a report, excerpts of the Odyssey with notes, trojan horse diagrams, maps, and of course beloved Penelope. These are closed simply with clear elastic hair ties, and are one of my favourite props I’ve ever made.
On the opposite end, to do the headband I simply painted a narrow fabric one gold and called it a day. Work smarter.
Overall a relatively straightforward build, where things fell into place more easily than I expected. It would be nice if they were all like this, but that’s definitely asking too much. I have a couple of big builds planned this year, so hopefully I’ll write about those soon!
At this point the sacrificial bethesda tee has become a tradition.
