Hello!
Here is the Build Log about Riftwalker (Heroes of Newerth). It's a cosplay I made for my first participation in the SCC (Swedish Cosplay Championships) in 2014. I chose to make Riftwalker mostly because I liked the design and it incorporated a lot of different techniques. I'll be honest with not really playing HoN or being into it, but in my opinion that shouldn't be a required thing for liking a character or their design.
In any case, I have a moderate amount of photos for this post. This is also the cosplay that had the staff that broke mid-performance. I sold it about a year or two ago, and it's not a character that I consider remaking. During the time of making it I had a very low paying job so my choice of materials had to be very cheap. I used liner fabric for everything in fabric (the super cheap fabrics used to line insides of things... not really supposed to make actual clothes out of). I did use Worbla, and it was about my second time working with it for a costume.
In any case let's begin!
I have a tendency of starting my cosplays with the shoes, and this one is no exception. I went and bought a pair with a matching heel to what I wanted, decorated and painted them.
Testing the shoes on, and then later when I had painted the heel. I covered them by making a shoe cover in a stretchy lycra fabric and glued it down around the edges close to the heel.
I made all patterns myself for all parts of this costume. Albeit a bit sloppily.
For the dress I picked out a bra with removable straps to incorporate into it, and then I got to work. I pinned the fabric around me until I got a fit I liked.
I then cut the lower edge of the dress.
Then I went home and tried the fit without any additional clothes like my tank top and shorts underneath. When I was happy with it, I started painting the details in. All the details in turqoise are freehand painted with acrylic paint.
Testing the fit and then painting
I didn't bother with the middle seam being ugly since I would later be covering it up with the "armour" bits in 2mm eva foam.
After taking out the remaining fabric parts, namely the sleeves and hood/cape, I sewed them together and painted.
Hood placed onto my wigstand with wig underneath, and one of the sleeves in the beginning of being painted.
Bottom edges of the cape and edges of the sleeves being painted. I later on added vliseline into the middle of the cape pieces to give them some stability.
Trying out the cape thingie and adding the light crystal in the front
That's mostly all I have regarding images for the fabric work. So let's move on to the Worbla! I used Worbla for the arm-armour, details on the belt, top part of the boots, bottom decoration of the dress and covering the staff.
Arm things finished, and testing them on
I also later on added the edges to the arm thingies using 2mm eva foam.
Dress decorations and "scrolls" being sculpted
Top of the boots and additional belt decorations
Adding the bottom bits to the dress, and painting the transparent plastic for the lantern.
The lantern has a tiny flaslight in the bottom, the same type that you have on a headband to wear. I used thin transparent plastic, similar to the one you use to laminate papers to make the "glass". The top and bottom are made of Worbla and have aluminum foil on the insides to reflect the light nicely. The red strings at the bottom is cheap red liner fabric just glued to the bottom.
For all the LED's except the lantern I used the same type of cap LED as I did for Ysera, the Clas Ohlson LED caps. I didn't have the time or energy to learn how to solder, so it was a simple and cheap solution to keep doing that. I made the sculpts and cast all the gems myself also using the same technique as for Ysera with the powder silicone mixed with water, and then a cheap resin. That turned the crystals very bubbly this time around too, but I didn't have the time to sand them down.
The crystal that went into the top of the staff and the one that went into the front of the cape before painting
For the staff I used expanding foam, and didn't put a core in because I was very certain that it would hold up anyways. I was wrong about that, because all the worbla added a lot of unexpected weight and stress on the top part. I did add a core later on after the competition however.
Spraying the base expanding foam for the basic shape and the horns
Starting the carving work and adding fiberglass to the thin part
More carving, and then taping the whole thing up and doing the rest of the fiberglass coverage. I also used Plasticréte on this to some extent.
Covering the whole thing in Worbla, with added crystal in the top
That's about all the photos, so here comes the text for the rest!
I didn't prime any of the Worbla on any part of this. I didn't really have time and also I didn't really consider the surface to look "that bad". I did add elastic ribbons to the arm worbla bits, and then glued the large sleeves into it. The cape is attached through "invisible" plastic bra straps, and has a layer of vliseline in the triangle back part for added stability. The belts are made with faux leather and painted with acrylics, and has velcro as closures. The boots stay up using double sided tape and then pulling them up and smushing them slick on my legs. For extra security of the hood I had a safety pin pinned through the hood and wig so they stuck together.
I think that's about it!
Here's a photo backstage before the competition back in 2014
The full album of this cosplay is featured here !
As usual if you'd like to know more about something or just have questions in general feel free to write to me!