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

[P4r4dox86]

Modge Podge should work just as well as a sealing agent for the EVA as well as the styrofoam if you want to save yourself some cash. I haven't used it, but I know that others here have used it interchangably with PVA in the past as, as far as I'm aware, is a very similar product. If you check out the link to the Iron Patriot costume in my signature, that was all made entirely from foam. I sealed it with PVA and then added an automotive body deadener (bascially similar to plastidip) but that is an uneeded step in your case as your staff won't need to bend or change shape like suits of armour etc do.

Do a good 2-4 coats of Modge Podge/PVA taking care to minimise brush strokes. If you get runs or drips etc you can use water (at least in the case of PVA, not as certain that Modge Podge is water soluble as I've never used it, but I THINK it is) to smooth out the surface. I've had good results using one of those foam brushes you get from craft stores and a little water to smooth it out a bit, but you could use a rag or cloth or something just as easily. Then just paint with whatever you want. Rattle cans, acrylics, water colours, finger paints...whatever .

 

[JuJuBean]

Thanks for all the advice! After reading your post, I will definitely try the mod podge first as a sealant and I already have some foam brushes so I'll apply it with those. I'm going to guess that the styrofoam balls will need a ton of coats to smooth out the bumpiness. Glad I still have a bit of time left for this build since I need to get back to the dress too!

Your Iron Patriot foam armor looks amazing! Thanks for sharing - I will probably be referring back to it as a guide in the future as I'd really like to try to make some armor for one of my next projects.

 

[Diegator]

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?

I'll be there all three days. Tickets are for three days, so you should go all of them!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[JuJuBean]

I'll be there all three days. Tickets are for three days, so you should go all of them!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Cool, thanks for the tip!

 

[JuJuBean]

Alright! Sakura-Con is next weekend and I still have a few things to finish up, but here are a few shots of the bodice, skirt, and wings at this point:



I made the skirt in two pieces - one is a circle skirt that I made out of a king sized flat sheet. This was pretty easy since there was enough fabric to just cut it into a giant circle and cut out a smaller circle in the middle for my waist. Finishing the edges took a while since it was so much fabric, but I liked that it allowed for lots of folds, which reminded me of Serenity's dress. The top layer of the skirt is an ivory tulle. I made this piece by following the instructions from this very helpful instructional youtube video (I just used less fabric):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYBWgTI-R00&index=3&list=FLcFeKmoW64pwZGPiQ-9Nd9g

To do: I'll be adding gold rings along the top of the corset bodice piece and I still have to make the puffy sleeve/armband things which will cover up the connection ties of the wings in the front (hopefully!).

 

[JuJuBean]

Update: I made the shoulder pieces and glued the gold rings to the bodice today:


For the gold rings - I just spray painted plastic craft rings with gold glitter and hot glued them directly on. For the feathered shoulder pieces - lots and lots of feathers stuck on to a shoulder pad and tulle base with many sticks of hot glue. I burned my fingers a couple of times, but I'm happy with the result! I'm thinking of making a wire swirl of pearl beads to overlay on top of the feathers on these shoulder pieces. Other than that, I think the costume itself is done and I only need to finish painting the staff. Hooray!

 

[The Portugeek]

Great progress! That last attachment isn't working though

 

[JuJuBean]

Great progress! That last attachment isn't working though

Thank you, and thanks for the heads up about the image in the last post. I just re-attached it, so it should be working now!

 

[JuJuBean]

Decided to change the spiral part of the earrings from thin wire to painted sculpy clay to make them a bit bigger:

 

[JuJuBean]

More pictures! (dress, wings, shoulder pieces, staff, crown):




Any last minute thoughts/suggestions? I am still adding coats of paint to the staff... not sure if I will go with all white or use gold glitter paint for the moon piece. Also, I'll be attaching the star to the staff today. I am going to try to work with the wig to make it actually stay on my head with the odango pig-tails attached - they are so heavy that they pull the wig down!

 

[JuJuBean]

Wig/make-up test:


For the anime-style eyes, I found this Lady Gaga make-up tutorial to be really helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHVOxhEpjp0&index=35&list=WLcFeKmoW64pwZGPiQ-9Nd9g
The crescent moon forehead gem is just made out of gold sculpy clay and I painted over it with a bit of gold glitter acrylic paint.

 

[Alpha Proto]

So far, so good! Looks rad!

 

[The Portugeek]

amazing! Have to show this to my wife!!

 

[JuJuBean]

Thanks guys!

Here are some photos from today showing the whole costume:

 

[P4r4dox86]

Wow this came out great! You look awesome

 

[Alpha Proto]

Woah, you make a beautiful Queen Serenity! All that work on the costume paid off!

 

[JuJuBean]

Thank you so much! It was really fun and has been my favorite costume that I've made so far. It was totally a dream come true for me to dress up as my childhood heroine!

Here are a few more photos from the con:

© 2014 Cospix.Net Photography, Vincent E Milum. All rights reserved.

With other Sailor Moon characters:

 

[JuJuBean]

With King Endymion:



Sakura Con 2014: Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion from Sailor Moon
© 2014 CosplayPNW Photography. All rights reserved.
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