Sailor Moon Neo Queen Serenity Cosplay (Sakura-Con 2014)

[JuJuBean]

Hi everyone,

I'm building a manga-style Neo Queen Serenity-inspired costume, but I will also be drawing from the anime version of Princess Serenity for some of the details:




Here's what I have made and purchased so far:

White angel/butterfly wings (medium A-style feathered wings by Mother Plucker Feather Company)


Corset: Ivory Satin Overbust Corset with gold detailing from Corset Story
*I'll be using this corset to form the bodice of dress. My plan is to make a long ivory satin circle skirt with a layered sheer tulle overlay to go with it.


Wig (Amazon.com Blonde Pigtail wig by Taobaopit)
*This company makes pretty high quality costume wigs for the price. For this wig, I will need to figure out how to shape the base of each pigtail into Serenity's signature "odango" buns.

Here's the product image:


Trying on the wig with and without detachable pigtails (you can see that the color is actually a bit more of a golden blonde than the lighter blonde from the product image):


Shoes (Nine West Rocha Pump in White)
*These are sort of a cream-white color and are coated with white glitter. I've been wearing them around a little bit to break them in and they are quite comfortable for the heel height.



Earrings (handmade with gold wire, faux pearls and E6000 glue):



The crowning (har har) achievement so far: custom tiara
*I used a cheap plastic girl's comb-tiara that I bought at a local fabric/craft store as a base, sanded it down, removed the gems, clipped off a few of the loops of plastic with wire cutters, painted it with primer and then silver and silver glitter paint (the original metallic silver paint job was really cheap-looking), and finally hot glued on pearls and Swavorski crystals on to the tiara to create the final crown in the last two pictures below.

The inspiration:


The process:





I will keep at it and will post more as I build this costume! I plan to make a staff as well using a PVC pipe and clay.

Thanks for reading!

- JuJuBean

 

[JuJuBean]

For Serenity's tall crescent wand/staff, I am planning to follow the Sailor Moon prop-building instructions from this webpage:
ainobethie: Prop Help Hotline

The only change I'm making is to use a plastic 3D star ornament as the central star nested in the crescent moon. Would anyone recommend something else instead of clay balls for the top part? I'm worried that they won't look perfectly round as they will be hand-shaped if I use clay. Other ideas? Styrofoam balls, maybe?

Will post pics soon! Let me know if you have any ideas/suggestions about the staff or anything else. Thanks so much!

 

[The Portugeek]

so glad to see this, my wife and I are planning on making Princess Serenity and Prince Darien costumes.

 

[JuJuBean]

That's awesome! Are you planning to do the armor for Prince Darien?

My boyfriend and I are actually doing couples costumes for this too - he's thinking of doing Tuxedo Mask at this point, but he was also considering the armored Prince Darien. We haven't done much for his costume yet since he's been really focused on trying to get two Spidey costumes + a "Hush"-style Batman finished and ready for the Emerald City Comicon (I'm also frantically finishing up my costumes for the ECCC, but I'm trying to plan ahead since my idea for Serenity is going to be time consuming). I would love to hear more about your Serenity/Darien costume plans!

 

[MsRae]

Wow, this is fantastic. I've always wanted to do a Sailor Moon cosplay. Can't wait to see more photos!

 

[JuJuBean]

Hi MsRae! Thanks, I will keep adding to this thread as I complete new pieces of the costume.

I think I'll be tackling the giant crescent moon staff next. *gulp* Don't have any experience with prop-making, but hopefully this will be a fun first project!

 

[The Portugeek]

Definitely going to do the armored Darien. We haven't started either yet so I'm keeping an eye on yours lol. Most likely i'll make the armor out of worbla.

That's awesome! Are you planning to do the armor for Prince Darien?

My boyfriend and I are actually doing couples costumes for this too - he's thinking of doing Tuxedo Mask at this point, but he was also considering the armored Prince Darien. We haven't done much for his costume yet since he's been really focused on trying to get two Spidey costumes + a "Hush"-style Batman finished and ready for the Emerald City Comicon (I'm also frantically finishing up my costumes for the ECCC, but I'm trying to plan ahead since my idea for Serenity is going to be time consuming). I would love to hear more about your Serenity/Darien costume plans!

 

[JuJuBean]

Nice! I haven't worked with Worbla yet, but it seems like it would a great material to use for the armor. I will add more to this thread as I work on my costume and I will be sure to throw in some Darien pics too and let you know what he ends up doing.

 

[JuJuBean]

Sunkistshark - turn out my guy is actually doing King Endymion instead of Tuxedo Mask. He found a really nice looking light purple tuxedo Endymion costume on Etsy and was able to have it custom sized and rush shipped. He'll be making the scepter/staff and he's using a white leather mask with it. Will post pics as we get everything put together!

 

[P4r4dox86]

Awesome Princess Serenity is my fiancee's 'dream' costume that she wants to do. I have promised that, when she's ready and feels comfortable to do it, I will make up the armour to accompany her as Darien. Good luck with your build, seems you're well on your way .

As for the staff, there's no reason you couldn't use Styrofoam balls for the base of the staff head, just be aware they will need to be sealed/coated before painting if you're using spray paint as a lot of rattle can paint has a nasty habit of eating styrofoam. Easiest way to do this would be with PVA or similar. A few quick coats so you dont miss any parts, this will also allow you to smooth out the styrofoam balls a bit so they don't have that little bumpy pattern on them you tend to get. Good thing about PVA is that it's water soluble, so if you get any runs or whatever you can smooth them out with a damp cloth . Depending on how 3D you want the crescent shape, that could be made with thick EVA craft foam, or foam matting. If you want to you could sand or dremel or cut away on the inside of the foam moon to allow for a sharper point rather than it looking blocky. It would make the staff lighter and less top heavy. Again the foam would need to be sealed before painting.

 

[JuJuBean]

Thank you so much for all of the tips! I made a crescent moon out of clay already, but it really is too heavy for the staff. I love the idea of cutting the moon shape out of foam instead and I'm going to give that a try along with sealing styrofoam balls for the base. Thanks again for your help!

I hope you and your fiancée get a chance to cosplay Darien and Serenity soon too!

 

[Diegator]

Will be looking for the finished piece at sakura con! What days do you plan on wearing it?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[JuJuBean]

I think we'll be there on Saturday only, but not sure yet. This is my first time going - have you gone before? If you only plan on going one day, is it best to just buy your tickets at the con or to try to pre-register?

 

[P4r4dox86]

Thank you so much for all of the tips! I made a crescent moon out of clay already, but it really is too heavy for the staff. I love the idea of cutting the moon shape out of foam instead and I'm going to give that a try along with sealing styrofoam balls for the base. Thanks again for your help!

I hope you and your fiancée get a chance to cosplay Darien and Serenity soon too!

Thanks I'm sure it will happen one day lol. And no worries, good luck using them

 

[HothGirl]

Yay! I love Sailor Moon. Eventually I plan on creating Sailor Pluto again. I made a costume many moons ago ( :facepalm - sorry couldn't help it!) that wasn't so great but it was just as I was starting out costuming. Hopefully I can put it together and maybe I can convince my daughter to do a Chibi Usa costume when she gets older (she's seven months right now. lol).

Anyway...everything looks awesome! Can't wait to see the finished product and I think you're wig will work really, really well!

 

[JuJuBean]

Thanks HothGirl! I'm a fan of Stargate too and I loved seeing your costumes on your profile - nice work!

 

[Alpha Proto]

It looks like you have a good idea where you want to go with this costume.
See if you can get bigger wings. That would really impress people.

 

[MsRae]

Yay! I love Sailor Moon. Eventually I plan on creating Sailor Pluto again. I made a costume many moons ago ( :facepalm - sorry couldn't help it!)

Bahahaha!!

- - - Updated - - -

Hi MsRae! Thanks, I will keep adding to this thread as I complete new pieces of the costume.

I think I'll be tackling the giant crescent moon staff next. *gulp* Don't have any experience with prop-making, but hopefully this will be a fun first project!

Yes! I love seeing this stuff and it also gives me ideas/tips for future cosplays! I've always been afraid of making my own stuff, but I'm getting more familiar with certain types of materials/patterns and such, so I want to attempt it one day soon. I'm okay with it being all about trial and error. I also plan on taking sewing classes soon (my mom has an extra sewing machine) so I can make my own.

 

[JuJuBean]

I'm trying to pick up some different techniques too! The RPF has been really helpful and I've been watching some youtube videos as well for inspiration. I've had a sewing machine for years but now it's finally getting used with trying to build costumes.

 

[JuJuBean]

Update on Serenity staff:


Well, it doesn't look like much yet, but I took 6' of 3/4" diameter PVC pipe and glued on an end-cap with caulking. After that dried, I sprayed the whole thing with a couple of coats of primer and now I'm doing coats of glossy white paint. I made the crescent top-piece out of 2 pieces of EVA mat foam. I sandwiched some thick copper wire in between the two cut-out crescents and hot glued them together and finished the edges first by hand with an exacto blade and then with a dremel tool. I'll also be threading two styrofoam balls through the wire and then I'll use caulking and hot glue to attach the whole thing with the wire ending up through the middle of the PVC pipe.

The next challenge will be sealing the EVA crescent moon and the two styrofoam balls so that they can take paint. I've read on threads here about people using mod podge to seal EVA foam and then painting over the sealed foam with acrylics. I already have mod podge, so I might try that. Anyone have experience with sealing and painting foam? Recommendations? I'm going to try P4r4dox86's suggestion about the PVA to seal the styrofoam balls if I can find it at the craft store.