brickchick1
New Member
Alright I'm starting this thread with a picture of my end product. If you like how this looks, keep reading! (I am probably going to ramble a lot in this sorry)
As soon as TFA came out and I watched it, I threw out all my plans for my cosplays for my upcoming local con. I knew I HAD to do Kylo Ren, but I only had two months. So I got BUSY! Let's go through this step by step. I started searching for an accurate fabric, using many many MANY reference pictures as a guide. I thought, "a simple basket weave fabric. How hard could that be to find?" OH COULD I HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG. So after days and days and days of searching, I settled on monks cloth. It was the closest I could find for under a billion dollars a yard. (Alright maybe I'm exaggerating but they were expensive) So, through online fabrics, I ordered I think 5 or 6 yards of black monks cloth. The order sent, it was supposed to be here by middle of January, that was enough time, I moved on and focused on the helmet. After about a week I realized I hadn't received a "your order has been shipped" email. So, I went and dug through my inbox, and saw an email that I had only just received the day before. That email said that the monks cloth had been BACKORDERED and I wouldn't be getting it until the first week of FEBRURARY! (A week before the con) Now I knew that was DEFINITELY not enough time, so I began frantically searching for a replacement. Ever other website and store I could find either did not carry monks cloth or also had it on backorder. So, I got desperate. I began searching for tablecloths, curtains, literally anything that I could sew with. And I succeeded! I found these amazing curtains online (online only, sadly) at Home Depot. I ordered a bunch of them in every size (I ended up using the largest size for basically everything) and they arrived within 3 weeks. Still cutting it close, but it gave me much more time than any other option. They honestly ended up looking way better than the monks cloth! The weave was the right size, it had a coating already so I didn't have to deal with it myself, and it had amazing movement. The drape wasn't great, but monks cloth would have probably been worse.
Alright, moving onto the helmet. I really dislike buying major items in cosplays, so I knew immediately I was not going to buy it. So, I followed this video tutorial and used his patterns from his blog: http://youtu.be/AZ4uO8q3PT0 HOWEVER, I must say upfront: I did regret this in the end. Once I had finished the base and had coated it in paper mache, I realized how innaccurate his patterns are. In the end it worked out, but if I ever do this helmet again I will definitely take the time to draft my own patterns to achieve a more accurate shape. I did end up drafting my own chrome peice pattern, because his is honestly completely wrong. Here are a couple pictures of the process, I'm sorry I didn't take more. I was in a bit of a hurry (I ONLY HAD TWO MONTHS GUYS THAT IS LIKE 3 SECONDS IN COSPLAY TIME) Anyways, so like I said the first layer was cardboard and masking tape. I didn't bother gluing anything, because I knew the paper mache would hold everything in place. After putting the patterns all together, I tried to shape it more accurate to the film. I cut the samurai back part at much more of a curve, I edited the front mask portion, and several other minor changes throughout. Honestly, this part is mostly up to you. Just hold the helmet next to your reference picture and fix whatever you don't like. The more of a perfectionist you are, the longer this step will take. (It took me a while.) Next, I covered the entire thing inside and out in paper mache. Now, make sure you only use ONE LAYER on the inside. Any more than that and it won't fit you anymore. This happened to me, but luckily instead of being too small for my head, it was now too small for my head and my hair. I was originally going to tuck my hair up into the helmet instead of down my tunic so that it would be more comfortable for me. The helmet still fit I was just unable to do this, and I went with just shoving my hair into my hood. You couldn't see it so it worked out fine. (I didn't realize until later that you could see my hair in the pictures I had taken. For the con itself I made sure my hair was completely hidden) Also, as I paper mached the outside, I built up certain spots to try and get a rounder shape. It worked pretty well, but it wasn't perfect. Next, I coated the whole outer layer in the dry powder version of Plaster of Paris wall plaster. You can get quit quite a lot of this for only about 6 bucks at Lowes. I ignored the mixture instructions on it, because I knew it was meant for flat walls. Since I wanted to coat something round, I new I would need a different consistency. I really just kept adding a little but of water and then a little bit of powder and stirring until I got a consistency I could paint on with a wall paintbrush but not thin enough that it would drop at all. I did get a lot of streaks, but those sand out very easily once it dried. Speaking of dried, this stuff was the bane of my existence while I used it. It says it dries in about 6 minutes, but when I used it it set up in about 45 SECONDS. On my first try, it dried so fast that I wasted a pretty big amount, my paintbrush turned into a rock, and the bowl I had mixed it up in was completely ruined. So, for the next hour, I proceeded to mix up just a tiny bit in a disposable Dixie cup, brush it on a fast as I could, then run to the sink to wash off the paintbrush before it hardened. In the end though, it looked pretty good. I really really should have done another coat, but I would have rather jumped off my roof then go through that process again. Anyways, once the entire helmet was covered, I went back and with wet fingers I smoothed out any major bumps or streaks. The next day, I sands it down by hand to get a pretty smooth surface. I then used a knife to carve the lines he has in the top and the back. They weren't perfectly straight, but I thought they looked cool so I didn't really care. For the chrome peice, I cut it out on gift box cardboard, like you get from Nordstroms or whatever. This cardboard seemed just a bit ore sturdy than cereal box cardboard, which is what I wanted. I spray painted it and then glued it on. I ended up using a combination of hot glue and thus stuff called "goop". Goop did not dry as fast, which allowed me to place it accurately. I had already coated the helmet in about 4 coats of black spray paint. Also, I forgot to mention that with the front mouth peice I carved out the details and then I did not paper mache it, so that they would be visible. I chose to not glue the mask portion on permanently so that I could take it off while wearing the helmet for fresh air if I needed it. It's hard to describe, but I basically glued on those little stick Legos onto the mask part and then the connected part on the helmet so that they slid together. I know that's really confusing, but it's optional anyways. For the eyes, I went to Walmart and just picked out some black sheer fabrics. I held them up to my eyes, saw that I could see through it, and bought it. I recommend not using tights because the stretch will make everything more difficult. I'm sorry I don't have a name for the fabric I used, but I threw away the sticker without thinking about it. Here are some pictures of the finished product! (These photos were taken after the con, and you can see that my helmet did get a bit beat up throughout the day)
Whew that was a long explanation. Here on out it's much shorter, I promise! On to the belt! Now the belt is not accurate, I know. I didn't have time to add the border details. I think it ended up pretty good though! I went to Hobby Lobby and went to their leather aisle. They had several bags of scrap leather filled with several different colors, sizes, and thicknesses. One bag happened to have peice of leather exactly the right size in thickness, length, and height! Only problem: it was brown. I got the bag anyways, it was just too perfect to pass up. So, I decided to dye it. I went to my local ranch and home and bought some black leather dye, and I bought the highest quality one they had. At this point in the costume, I was not about to risk everything on skimping on the belt dye. It needed to be the perfect color, or it would completely stand out. So I dyed the belt. Now it was black, yes, but it also was covered in streaks. I tried to buff them out to no avail. So, k bought some black leather polish. After buffing the belt with this, the streaks were much less visible. You could still see them, but much less. With only 3 days until the con, I counted that as a win and moved on. For buckle, I actually 3D printed it! I found an STL file for it already made online, and I went to my local community college to have it printed. Since I am a part time student there they let me print it for free! It turned out really really cool and with into a quick coat of spray paint it looked amazing. It doesn't actually function though, so u had to figure out how to latch my belt. What I ended up doing was using the goop glue to firml attach three strips of Velcro. I let them dry overnight with a weight on top and they were really strong when I finished. I decided the best way to cover the seam was to fasten it in me with about half an in of Velcro still showing. I then glued a strip of Velcro into the back of my belt buckle, and stuck it in place. The velcro was completely hidden and so was the seam. Perfect!
The three things I did buy was the pants, gloves and boots. I just wore some black jeans, some black pleather gloves, and some tall black boots from Macys that were on clearance. None of them are perfectly accurate, but since they are just accenting the main parts of the costume I didn't really care.
For the actual tunic, hood, and cape, I'm not going to go into too much detail. I found a basic V neck dress pattern, then added slits up the front, back, and sides. For the shirt (I know it's the wrong fabric, I didn't realize how off it was until I had finished and I was not going to do it again) I used black knit jersey. I just pleated and sewed and pleated and sewed and pleated and sewed. You get the picture. For the hood I put some thick paper inside it so that it would maintain its shape, and added snaps so that it would attach to the tunic. The scarf and cape are once peice, and they are pretty much a long rectangle. I added a bunch of snaps to them wherever I felt like to get the drape I wanted. I sewed a gather at both shoulders to help with the front draping. I also sewed a zig zag stitch along all sides and then frayed the rest, so that it would look like his. The end product looked pretty good!
So that's the end of my two month Kylo Ren costume! (Also, if you couldn't already tell, this is a gender bent version. I guess. I'm a girl but I didn't really change anything other than making the belt tighter, and that was actually an accident) I hope you liked it and please asks any questions you may have! I'm happy to answer them! (Sorry a bunch of these pictures are sideways! I don't know why they are like that so I don't know how to fix it. Hope it isn't too annoying!)
As soon as TFA came out and I watched it, I threw out all my plans for my cosplays for my upcoming local con. I knew I HAD to do Kylo Ren, but I only had two months. So I got BUSY! Let's go through this step by step. I started searching for an accurate fabric, using many many MANY reference pictures as a guide. I thought, "a simple basket weave fabric. How hard could that be to find?" OH COULD I HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG. So after days and days and days of searching, I settled on monks cloth. It was the closest I could find for under a billion dollars a yard. (Alright maybe I'm exaggerating but they were expensive) So, through online fabrics, I ordered I think 5 or 6 yards of black monks cloth. The order sent, it was supposed to be here by middle of January, that was enough time, I moved on and focused on the helmet. After about a week I realized I hadn't received a "your order has been shipped" email. So, I went and dug through my inbox, and saw an email that I had only just received the day before. That email said that the monks cloth had been BACKORDERED and I wouldn't be getting it until the first week of FEBRURARY! (A week before the con) Now I knew that was DEFINITELY not enough time, so I began frantically searching for a replacement. Ever other website and store I could find either did not carry monks cloth or also had it on backorder. So, I got desperate. I began searching for tablecloths, curtains, literally anything that I could sew with. And I succeeded! I found these amazing curtains online (online only, sadly) at Home Depot. I ordered a bunch of them in every size (I ended up using the largest size for basically everything) and they arrived within 3 weeks. Still cutting it close, but it gave me much more time than any other option. They honestly ended up looking way better than the monks cloth! The weave was the right size, it had a coating already so I didn't have to deal with it myself, and it had amazing movement. The drape wasn't great, but monks cloth would have probably been worse.
Alright, moving onto the helmet. I really dislike buying major items in cosplays, so I knew immediately I was not going to buy it. So, I followed this video tutorial and used his patterns from his blog: http://youtu.be/AZ4uO8q3PT0 HOWEVER, I must say upfront: I did regret this in the end. Once I had finished the base and had coated it in paper mache, I realized how innaccurate his patterns are. In the end it worked out, but if I ever do this helmet again I will definitely take the time to draft my own patterns to achieve a more accurate shape. I did end up drafting my own chrome peice pattern, because his is honestly completely wrong. Here are a couple pictures of the process, I'm sorry I didn't take more. I was in a bit of a hurry (I ONLY HAD TWO MONTHS GUYS THAT IS LIKE 3 SECONDS IN COSPLAY TIME) Anyways, so like I said the first layer was cardboard and masking tape. I didn't bother gluing anything, because I knew the paper mache would hold everything in place. After putting the patterns all together, I tried to shape it more accurate to the film. I cut the samurai back part at much more of a curve, I edited the front mask portion, and several other minor changes throughout. Honestly, this part is mostly up to you. Just hold the helmet next to your reference picture and fix whatever you don't like. The more of a perfectionist you are, the longer this step will take. (It took me a while.) Next, I covered the entire thing inside and out in paper mache. Now, make sure you only use ONE LAYER on the inside. Any more than that and it won't fit you anymore. This happened to me, but luckily instead of being too small for my head, it was now too small for my head and my hair. I was originally going to tuck my hair up into the helmet instead of down my tunic so that it would be more comfortable for me. The helmet still fit I was just unable to do this, and I went with just shoving my hair into my hood. You couldn't see it so it worked out fine. (I didn't realize until later that you could see my hair in the pictures I had taken. For the con itself I made sure my hair was completely hidden) Also, as I paper mached the outside, I built up certain spots to try and get a rounder shape. It worked pretty well, but it wasn't perfect. Next, I coated the whole outer layer in the dry powder version of Plaster of Paris wall plaster. You can get quit quite a lot of this for only about 6 bucks at Lowes. I ignored the mixture instructions on it, because I knew it was meant for flat walls. Since I wanted to coat something round, I new I would need a different consistency. I really just kept adding a little but of water and then a little bit of powder and stirring until I got a consistency I could paint on with a wall paintbrush but not thin enough that it would drop at all. I did get a lot of streaks, but those sand out very easily once it dried. Speaking of dried, this stuff was the bane of my existence while I used it. It says it dries in about 6 minutes, but when I used it it set up in about 45 SECONDS. On my first try, it dried so fast that I wasted a pretty big amount, my paintbrush turned into a rock, and the bowl I had mixed it up in was completely ruined. So, for the next hour, I proceeded to mix up just a tiny bit in a disposable Dixie cup, brush it on a fast as I could, then run to the sink to wash off the paintbrush before it hardened. In the end though, it looked pretty good. I really really should have done another coat, but I would have rather jumped off my roof then go through that process again. Anyways, once the entire helmet was covered, I went back and with wet fingers I smoothed out any major bumps or streaks. The next day, I sands it down by hand to get a pretty smooth surface. I then used a knife to carve the lines he has in the top and the back. They weren't perfectly straight, but I thought they looked cool so I didn't really care. For the chrome peice, I cut it out on gift box cardboard, like you get from Nordstroms or whatever. This cardboard seemed just a bit ore sturdy than cereal box cardboard, which is what I wanted. I spray painted it and then glued it on. I ended up using a combination of hot glue and thus stuff called "goop". Goop did not dry as fast, which allowed me to place it accurately. I had already coated the helmet in about 4 coats of black spray paint. Also, I forgot to mention that with the front mouth peice I carved out the details and then I did not paper mache it, so that they would be visible. I chose to not glue the mask portion on permanently so that I could take it off while wearing the helmet for fresh air if I needed it. It's hard to describe, but I basically glued on those little stick Legos onto the mask part and then the connected part on the helmet so that they slid together. I know that's really confusing, but it's optional anyways. For the eyes, I went to Walmart and just picked out some black sheer fabrics. I held them up to my eyes, saw that I could see through it, and bought it. I recommend not using tights because the stretch will make everything more difficult. I'm sorry I don't have a name for the fabric I used, but I threw away the sticker without thinking about it. Here are some pictures of the finished product! (These photos were taken after the con, and you can see that my helmet did get a bit beat up throughout the day)
Whew that was a long explanation. Here on out it's much shorter, I promise! On to the belt! Now the belt is not accurate, I know. I didn't have time to add the border details. I think it ended up pretty good though! I went to Hobby Lobby and went to their leather aisle. They had several bags of scrap leather filled with several different colors, sizes, and thicknesses. One bag happened to have peice of leather exactly the right size in thickness, length, and height! Only problem: it was brown. I got the bag anyways, it was just too perfect to pass up. So, I decided to dye it. I went to my local ranch and home and bought some black leather dye, and I bought the highest quality one they had. At this point in the costume, I was not about to risk everything on skimping on the belt dye. It needed to be the perfect color, or it would completely stand out. So I dyed the belt. Now it was black, yes, but it also was covered in streaks. I tried to buff them out to no avail. So, k bought some black leather polish. After buffing the belt with this, the streaks were much less visible. You could still see them, but much less. With only 3 days until the con, I counted that as a win and moved on. For buckle, I actually 3D printed it! I found an STL file for it already made online, and I went to my local community college to have it printed. Since I am a part time student there they let me print it for free! It turned out really really cool and with into a quick coat of spray paint it looked amazing. It doesn't actually function though, so u had to figure out how to latch my belt. What I ended up doing was using the goop glue to firml attach three strips of Velcro. I let them dry overnight with a weight on top and they were really strong when I finished. I decided the best way to cover the seam was to fasten it in me with about half an in of Velcro still showing. I then glued a strip of Velcro into the back of my belt buckle, and stuck it in place. The velcro was completely hidden and so was the seam. Perfect!
The three things I did buy was the pants, gloves and boots. I just wore some black jeans, some black pleather gloves, and some tall black boots from Macys that were on clearance. None of them are perfectly accurate, but since they are just accenting the main parts of the costume I didn't really care.
For the actual tunic, hood, and cape, I'm not going to go into too much detail. I found a basic V neck dress pattern, then added slits up the front, back, and sides. For the shirt (I know it's the wrong fabric, I didn't realize how off it was until I had finished and I was not going to do it again) I used black knit jersey. I just pleated and sewed and pleated and sewed and pleated and sewed. You get the picture. For the hood I put some thick paper inside it so that it would maintain its shape, and added snaps so that it would attach to the tunic. The scarf and cape are once peice, and they are pretty much a long rectangle. I added a bunch of snaps to them wherever I felt like to get the drape I wanted. I sewed a gather at both shoulders to help with the front draping. I also sewed a zig zag stitch along all sides and then frayed the rest, so that it would look like his. The end product looked pretty good!
So that's the end of my two month Kylo Ren costume! (Also, if you couldn't already tell, this is a gender bent version. I guess. I'm a girl but I didn't really change anything other than making the belt tighter, and that was actually an accident) I hope you liked it and please asks any questions you may have! I'm happy to answer them! (Sorry a bunch of these pictures are sideways! I don't know why they are like that so I don't know how to fix it. Hope it isn't too annoying!)
