Sticky tape, cardboard and felt. © Makery
Japan Expo has just ended and people still came in civilian clothes, sad like the faceless Miyazaki. Intimidated by the cosplayers and their imaginative costumes? Their aptitude for DiY is an invitation to action. Makery delivers their ABC for you with pictures.
Nearly 250,000 people visited Japan Expo this year that was held from the 2nd until the 5th of July at the Parc des Expositions in Paris. For those who were not fully focused on video games, mangas or the display cases of collector figurines, the show was in the aisles. The cosplayers, who wear the most exuberant outfits taking after their favourite game or manga hero, gave us a few tips.
The devil is in the detail
Humans are like Sims (Will Wright’s life simulation game). Sims are like humans. Except for one detail: the green prism they have on their heads. Cut out paper, coloured felt pens, a spring or an iron rod and welcome to the cosplayer’s family (cheaply).
Recycle one’s creations
Gaëtan had made a tree costume for a play with thermo-formed mats and warm glue. With his triumphant attitude at Japan Expo, everyone took him for Groot, the forest extraterrestrial of Guardians of the Galaxy. Unless it was an Ent from The Lord of the Rings.
Relying on the group effect
Spartans are nearly naked, minimum investment here again. They carry large copper shields but since life is stern, these are bin tops nicely repainted. As for the Roman sandals, a pair of flip-flops for two will do the trick, the group effect doing the rest.
The bigger it is, the better it works!
Stilts are nice but if you have not been to the Cirque du soleil (dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment) school, better remain still. Turned-over recipients under one’s feet, gardening wire mesh, wood battens, cardboard and papier mâché for the head. Anyway, equipped with a three meter rapier, no one will ask you questions. The reference to find is Pyramid Head from the video game Silent Hill.
Accessorise!
You are Pyro from Team Fortress and you don’t have a flame thrower… You surely have a flower pot, two PVC tubes, sticky tape and a canoe chamber? Thank you to the “dreadful” from the En Quarantaine team, a community of creative gamers, for having revealed his recipe.
Revise one’s classics
Thor, a young woman in the latest comics from Marvel, created her ornaments made of thermo-formed foam paper with an iron. Captain America downloaded a template from Internet to make his cardboard helmet.
The nicer it is, the more Worbla
You recognise a cosplayer on the roof of the world when he assures without as much as batting an eyelid that his costume is in Worbla. You agree without truly understanding, facing his magnificence. But it is time to enquire: after papier mâché, in a class of its own, the mat, the foam paper and the French Créamousse, Worbla is the ultimate working foam.
(Text et pictures Nicolas Barrial)