In an effort to back up my stuff from tumblr, I'm going to be reuploading my cospaly pics from over the years and reminiscing, from the oldest ones to the ones currently in my lineup!
Now we get to one of the BIG ONES. Ever since I started toying with the idea of cosplaying girl characters, Nephenee from Fire Emblem was at the top of my dream cosplay list. From the day I first had the thought "maybe I could cosplay girl characters" I had this one in mind! I wanted to make sure I had enough skill in foamsmithing and prop making to do the outfit justice, and I'm still thrilled with how it turned out, even if I've gotten even better since then!
I had to get creative with some parts of it: the shield is built off of a cake tray, with foam pieces added on top for the pattern, and a leather strap on the back to hold it from. The helmet was built off of a ballcap with the brim cut off to give it structure, although I made an error there: I sized the hat for my head without the wig, so with both the wig and helmet on, it got pretty tight. As for the armor, after cutting the pieces to shape - total cheap 99 cent craft foam sheets, mind you - I hot glued modeling wire to the back to make sure it held its shape! This is a technique I still use today!
(also, fun fact, I debuted this cosplay at a small convention-type event at a semi-local high school, and I got in the newspaper for it!)
Ooooh! I love this! Nephenee has been one of my favorite character designs for like most of my life at this point (I even used to name all my characters Neph after her) and it's so cool to see her brought to life like this! 🥰