This is the final Sister Paula cosplay tutorial! You have the armor, and the corset piece. Now, all you need are her wicked blades. As always, get yourself a bunch of reference pictures. Try not to use other cosplayers, because they may be doing an artistic take on the character, and you don’t want to copy that. Or, if you do, ignore that last sentence. Anyway. There is a tutorial, if you have photoshop, on how to take a picture and resize it and then print it out to use as a template. I have photoshop elements, therefore, it does not work for me. But, here is the tutorial, in case it will work for you.
Materials:
- foam core board (like what kids use for the science fair)
- exacto knife
- sand paper
- dremel
- fast mache or paper clay
- masking tape
- plastidip
- paint
- lots and lots of patience!!!
First, take your foam board and trace out your template, or free hand it like I did. Now, Her blades curve outward, but I chose to curve mine in for numerous reasons. One, curved out wouldn’t have enough room on my foam, and two, I felt it would be easier to contain at a convention (less likely to catch on things). After tracing, cut it out (use a mat! Mine’s not in the picture, but I have one.)
The handles need to be thicker, so trace just the handle part onto the foam and cut out. You can do one on each side, if you’d like. It felt too bulky to me, so I just did one side.
Repeat for the other blade. Then, add the edge to the blade portion. Just carve at it with your exacto knife at an angle to get the desired curve.
Hot glue the handles together for both blades.
Gently sand off an rough edges and torn paper. Next, wrap the entire thing in masking tape. Repeat with other blade.
This is to give a base for your fast mache to stick to. Fast mache is kind of a pain to work with. I did a short video on what I found to be the best way to work with it. Click here to watch (sorry it’s sideways! I’m new to the video thing). Cover once side of each blade with fast mache. Let dry until hardened, then do the other side. Allow to completely dry (follow instructions on the box).
Next, have some patience and sand. I didn’t, so my sanding is half assed and you can totally tell in pictures. However, I already have plans to remake them, as I’m not super fond of this technique for larger items. Therefore, I didn’t care if they were lumpy. Once you have yours sanded nice and smooth, prime with plastidip (I used white, cause I was out of black). No picture, sorry. I took one, but my computer ate it? It disappeared somehow. Then, do a solid black coat. You can spray paint or hand paint. Just make sure you get all the nooks and crannies.
Now, do a coat of silver. I wanted mine to be nice and dark, so I did a gun metal gray with a slight metallic sheen. I chose to not paint the handles silver, but leave them black. I liked how it looked. Hers are solid silver, though, so do what you wish with that.
Now, it looks very 2 dimensional and blah at this point. Using black paint and a dry brush technique, age the silver bits, paying attention to the blade portion.
Now, using the silver paint, use a dry brush technique on the black handles.
Finished! And now, the finished product:
Hope yours turned out just as great!
Until next time, keep cosplaying! Any questions, comments, or request, leave them below!
Anna Stasia Cosplay 