Hi folks,
I'm interested in getting a sense of the history of the adoption and use of certain materials in costumes/prop making - particularly in the cosplay community....Naturally many techniques/materials that were taken up in cosplay may have ordinated in film, television, theater, and other sorts of creative industries prior to the development of cosplay as we now know it. A note on that last point. Cosplay proper (if you want to call it that) can be said to have originated in 1939 in the US at the first WorldCon (there were pop culture-themed costumed events prior to this, but stick with me)....SO I'm trying to determine what archaeologists call the terminus post quem (earliest a thing could have happened) and the terminus ante quem (just the opposite) for various tools and materials used in fan costuming, prop making, and cosplay.
Pepakura:
^The 3D software application Pepakura Designer was released by Tama Software Ltd. in 2004. Obviously, paper craft existed well before this, so any costumes/props/etc. made out of paper that was probably hardened in some way.
EVA-Foam:
Likewise, things like spray foams (invented in the 50s, commercial popularized in the 60s) pre-existed (as best I can tell) EVA foam. Earliest costume/prop use saw or
made using this material
Thermoplastics (particularly Worlba, WonderFlex, TerraFlex): Same question...earliest known usage.
Vacuum Forming: Same question with regards to
Mold Making: Obviously mold making is a 6,000 + year old human practice.....but what about in the application for props/costumes in cosplay
3D Printing (a caveat, see below)
As I understand it....although additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping have been used in industrial design since the mid 1980s (perhaps even before, correct me if
I'm wrong here), it wasn’t until around 2010 that 3D printing began to reach general consumers. In 2008, the Dutch-founded and New York-based company
Shapeways, a 3D printing service provider and online marketplace, launched its printing services. The following year, the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing
process patent expired and as a result, prices for FDM printers dropped from $10,000 to about $1,000 per unit. This lead companies like MakerBot, Ultimaker, and
Formlabs to release the first wave of affordable consumer targeted 3D printers. From 2010 onward, the number of personal 3D printers on the market increased rapidly,
prices plummeted, print accuracy improved, and machines became more user-friendly and thus, readily available/used in cosplaying/replica prop making and so forth.
I'm a professor who researches and writes about fandom and material culture. I'm trying to piece together the history of the material culture of cosplay/costuming.
Any info you can provide will help me on an article I'm working on at the moment.
Best
I'm interested in getting a sense of the history of the adoption and use of certain materials in costumes/prop making - particularly in the cosplay community....Naturally many techniques/materials that were taken up in cosplay may have ordinated in film, television, theater, and other sorts of creative industries prior to the development of cosplay as we now know it. A note on that last point. Cosplay proper (if you want to call it that) can be said to have originated in 1939 in the US at the first WorldCon (there were pop culture-themed costumed events prior to this, but stick with me)....SO I'm trying to determine what archaeologists call the terminus post quem (earliest a thing could have happened) and the terminus ante quem (just the opposite) for various tools and materials used in fan costuming, prop making, and cosplay.
Pepakura:
^The 3D software application Pepakura Designer was released by Tama Software Ltd. in 2004. Obviously, paper craft existed well before this, so any costumes/props/etc. made out of paper that was probably hardened in some way.
EVA-Foam:
Likewise, things like spray foams (invented in the 50s, commercial popularized in the 60s) pre-existed (as best I can tell) EVA foam. Earliest costume/prop use saw or
made using this material
Thermoplastics (particularly Worlba, WonderFlex, TerraFlex): Same question...earliest known usage.
Vacuum Forming: Same question with regards to
Mold Making: Obviously mold making is a 6,000 + year old human practice.....but what about in the application for props/costumes in cosplay
3D Printing (a caveat, see below)
As I understand it....although additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping have been used in industrial design since the mid 1980s (perhaps even before, correct me if
I'm wrong here), it wasn’t until around 2010 that 3D printing began to reach general consumers. In 2008, the Dutch-founded and New York-based company
Shapeways, a 3D printing service provider and online marketplace, launched its printing services. The following year, the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing
process patent expired and as a result, prices for FDM printers dropped from $10,000 to about $1,000 per unit. This lead companies like MakerBot, Ultimaker, and
Formlabs to release the first wave of affordable consumer targeted 3D printers. From 2010 onward, the number of personal 3D printers on the market increased rapidly,
prices plummeted, print accuracy improved, and machines became more user-friendly and thus, readily available/used in cosplaying/replica prop making and so forth.
I'm a professor who researches and writes about fandom and material culture. I'm trying to piece together the history of the material culture of cosplay/costuming.
Any info you can provide will help me on an article I'm working on at the moment.
Best
