Hikaru's headset!

For my blog I wish to talk about my experiences in costume making and attending conventions. For my first post I wish to share the progress of one of the funnest, challenging and exciting costumes I have ever made!

Back when I was in school I have began to watch an anime called Angelic Layer. Sadly it was before I have discovered MyAnimeList considering I have only gotten into anime at the time I sort of lost track where I was and didnt get the time to get back to it. Funny enough, my local anime society shown the entire anime a year ago and reminded me why I enjoyed it back then. In fact I enjoyed it more as an adult than I did when I was a teenager. My love of the series drove me to cosplay the doll the lead character, Misaki, had created.

I love working with spandex and stretch fabrics so thats some guarantee that I will enjoy making some parts of it but it is also required for me to learn to use Worbla (a thermoplastic that is manipulated by heat) and PVC if I wanted to do a good job of the costume. For this post I will just talk about the headset.

Yaaaaay selfie time!

The first step was research! It seems that Worbla would be really promising for this so I just jumped on the bandwagon as its a really popular material at the moment! I brought a large sheet on CosCraft and while waiting for it I made a simple paper pattern. I have also got myself a cheap headband to make sure it keeps it's structure!

Once I was happy with the design I have drafted the pattern onto the Worbla and used some simple scissors to cut it out. When heated not only does it start taking shape, but one of the sides gets sticky so you can layer it. Due to the bold colours, I just shaped everything for now and painted it all before glueing it together. There is also some craft foam sandwiched in to add a little thickness in some places. Like Worbla, craft foam can be thermoformed.

I found that acrylic paint works by far the best on Worbla. The white was painted used some wallpaper paint as I couldnt find any >< turned out ghetto but thankfully the worst of it was covered by the lush red layers X'D hehehe

I have used 3 different kinds of glue:

• Poundland super-glue-Agh! Hate using that stuff as it clings to my fingers for days but it does the job well.
• PVA glue-Perfect for varnishing!
• Uhu glue-Does not work as fast as super glue and gets stringy but if used right the stuff is excellent.

I have also got some Loctite glue on hand for emergency repairs. My favourite glue as it can be used for alot of things and thanks to the nozzle I can use it without worrying about making a mess.

Feel free to use this as a simple guide!