Laios was my introduction both to using xps for armour and to making chainmail. 

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​While I found various patterns for xps armour online, Laios has a very specific design and so I ended up making my own pattern by building up cling wrap and tape on my sewing mannequin. For the gorget, pauldrons, and poleyns, I made patterns out of paper and taped them into their final shape to ensure they would fit well. I cut the various pieces from 3mm and 5mm thick xps foam and glued them together with contact cement. I sanded back edges where necessary with a rotary tool, sealed the foam with a heat gun, and filled in any cracks with a flexible wall filler. Once assembled, the pieces were coated with multiple layers of flexbond. I intended to airbrush them with a really nice airbrush paint I got specifically for the job but I ran out of time (before the convention) and so used spray paint to get the job done in time. I would like to go back and redo it if I have the opportunity.

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I used aluminum links to make the chainmail, and ended up buying three different sizes till I settled on one I was happy with. Rather than making an entire shirt which would be time consuming and uncomfortable to wear for a long convention day, I made a large panel that attached to the inside of my breastplate. 

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I hand coloured in the wig to add some natural variation and modelled the make up from the voice actors facial structure (as this is an animated character). 

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One day I hope to learn blacksmithing so I can make a proper metal set of his armour. 

My Claude cosplay is my biggest venture into sewing. The shirt, vest, cape, scarf, and skirt piece were all either patterned from scratch or made from patterns I heavily modified. I aimed to get the finish as nice as I could, adding quilting to the front and back of the vest, boning to the capelet's collar, additional detailing to the skirt piece, and applique for the scarf. 

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My intention was to make full armour from xps foam, but with time restraints, pivoted to 3d printing. This resulted in slightly inaccurate armour, so I hope to replace them in the future. I also found that the 3d printed armour didn't move well against itself, restricting my leg movement, so next time I'd definitely opt for foam, or specifically sand the pieces in places to encourage better movement. 

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The character originally has sideburns, for which I tried to employ a trick I'd used on a wig before, cutting lace pieces from a wig I no longer needed and hand dying the hair fibres with marker, to avoid colouring the lace. What I didn't account for was that the spirit gum I used to adhere them to my face would reactivate the alcohol and the colour would go everywhere. So I abandoned the sideburns and have made a note to learn hair punching. 

Strahd's tabard was recycled from a coat. The blue panels were appliqued on and with the gold lining carefully applied between. The fasteners on the front are purely decorative, and close magnetically. I hope to add boning to the collar and bottom front in the future. 

The pauldron was made of xps foam (though I didn't know what I was doing at the time and I will remake it if I ever wear it again). The fur was just an awesome fabric I found, though I'd like to add some padding below it for volume. The wig was originally very curly, but I restyled it with hot water, and plucked the hair line to create Strahd's widows peak.  

This is a redsign of Angel Dust's traditional outfit. The original features a pink and white striped blazer. At the time, I didn't believe my sewing abilities could effectively make the piece in a way that didn't detract from his thin, cartoony design, so I developed this outfit to still be identifiable as the character, while bringing forward his qualities in a way that aligned with my abilities. 

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The primary piece here is his fluffy chest. I made this by teasing and flat-ironing tufts of wool in different shades of pink and attaching them to the undershirt in a gradient. This took a really long time, but I'm quite happy with how it looks.

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The little vest is just a modified blazer with hand-made shoulder pads. The rest is primarily assmbled; gloves, corset, bow tie, shorts, socks, heels, and wig. The last to note is the makeup, which I really enjoy doing, but definitely think I could push to be more dramatic if I did it now. 

Wirt is my go-to cosplay cause it's super comfy to wear, and is from a property I love very much. Most is assembled, bar the cloak, wig, and hat.

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The cloak was made from a pattern I modified, making it longer, the collar higher, and adjusting the clasp. The hat was made by cutting the brim from a cheap pirates hat, sewing the cone from velvet, and putting the two together, with stuffing in-between. The wig I took some liberties in styling as the original character has straight hair, but I liked the look of the curls with the hat.

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I have an alternate version of this cosplay (that I haven't worn fully assembled and so don't have any photos of), where Wirt is slowly being taken over by Edelwood. The branches/horns are made from wire, aluminum foil, tape, and hot glue, all attached to a headband and painted. The claw in made from a glove, halloween witches fingers, craft foam and hot glue. I'd ideally want to cast this and make it from something like silicone, but I have neither the funds nor the space, so I have settled for only having one functioning hand. 

I took a few liberties with Magic Man's design here; adding lots of dirt and grime to his clothes and changing his hair colour. I've seen previous cosplays of him with just torn clothes and felt that adding grime would make him feel a little more grounded, and typically his red hair is hidden under his hat completely and I felt showing it would interfere visually, so I opted to make his hair match his skin colour to help maintain his cartoony design. 

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The clothes featured were all modified, primarily with scissors and sandpaper, and the arm-socks were made from a t-shirt. I clearly need to take them in a bit from the visible wrinkles. 

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I want to note that I really like how his makeup turned out! I like how pronounced to contouring is.

Calypso is mostly an assembled cosplay, made of various thrifted pieces, though the top was modified to have the corset lacing at the front. Her pendant was sculpted from monster clay and cast in silicon, then resin, as it has a specific design I wanted to recreate. The horns are made from wire and aluminum foil, wrapped with wool and painted.