Building Things Better – Custom cosplay and props
When I was at San Diego Comic Con, I got interviewed by the SyFy Channel for about 20 minutes while in my Sirius Black cosplay. They’ve been snipping up those interviews into little video vignettes on their YouTube channel. So far I’m in 3 of the 12 that are up there, but in latest one, not only am I in the video thumbnail, but I get to talk about my cosplay quite a bit!
Make sure to check out all of the videos and keep checking back as they are slowly rolling them out!
Here is my currently planned line-up for this weekend! As always, things happen and plans change, but for now this is it! Old Man Keith, Jessica Jones, and Sirius Black! I may do a cosplay change on Saturday, but I’m not sure yet. Keep an eye on social media!
I’m also going to be on two panels at RCCC. The first one is “From Screen to Cosplay: Making Fantasy Into Reality.” It is on Saturday at 5pm in Panel Room 7. The fabulous and talented Downen Creative Studios, Harbeastie, and VivSai Cosplay will be joining me.
The second panels is “The Art of Family Cosplay: Survival Tips from the Experts.” It is on Sunday at 3:30 pm in Panel Room 8, and I’ll be joined by the wonderful Queen Bee Cosplay, Avalyn Cosplay, BH Cosplay, and AJ Cosplay.
I will also be at the Harry Potter meetup on Sunday at noon in the lobby (there’s a map on the event page with the exact location and details.)
Are you coming to RCCC? Please say hello if you see me! Not only do I not bite, but I’m a hugger, so you can even get a hug if you’d like.
It’s time to start thinking about Halloween! My availability is filling up fast so if you, your kids, or someone you know want to order a custom prop make sure to contact me soon! My four-year-old finally decided on a costume for himself and his little sister, and they’re going to be adorable. I can’t wait to share the full thing, but for now here’s a sliver. Any guesses?
September is the MONTH OF CONS. I will be attending a con almost every weekend this month, and I can’t wait! I’m participating in a lot of cosplay related events, especially those that match my biggest interests–cosplaying as a family and translating on screen and animated objects into real life.
PAX West : 9/1-9/4
From this Friday to Monday I’ll be attending PAX West for the fourth year in a row. I’m looking forward, as always, to seeing old friends, meeting new friends, and playing games. This year I’m also privileged to participate in a few exciting cosplay events that are open to the public. If you’re in Seattle, I hope to see you there!
The following weekend I’ll be in Portland for Rose City Comic Con. I’ll be moderating two exciting panels at the Con:
The next weekend it’s right through to RenCon. I’m excited to return to this convention for its second year, especially since last year I won their costume contest with my Ashitaka! I’ll be participating at a lot of events at this con, so hopefully you’ll be able to find me there. The final schedule is still TBD but keep an eye on my site and social media for final details.
I get a one weekend break and then it’s GeekGirlCon 9/30-10/1. I’ll be on one panel there, 3D Printing Nitty Gritty! A primer for designing for and creating with 3D printers on Saturday from 1 to 2pm. And I’ll also be unveiling a brand new father-daughter cosplay (our first)!
Finally, I wanted to announce some exciting new additions to my shop–the Ring of Lucii from Final Fantasy XV and a new Version 2.0 Bayard from Voltron: Legendary Defender. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Contact me about a custom order!
I’ll sign off with a sneak peek of an upcoming project, look for it to be available in the store next month!
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In case you missed it, I now have a bunch of BTB logo gear up in my shop! T-shirts, tank tops, and hats in tons of colors, sizes, and both unisex and women’s cuts!
If you’re a maker or cosplayer that also has swag, I’d love to swap with you! I like wearing shirts from other makers in photos and videos. Just leave a comment or email me or ping me on social media.
If you don’t have your own gear, I highly recommend checking out Printful. I found them through my friend Eric (at Coregeek Creations) and they are great! They make it easy to setup and while you don’t even have to have your own storefront, they integrate with a lot of existing storefronts, like StoreEnvy.
PAX West is only a couple of weeks away! I am still figuring out my exact cosplans for the weekend, but I did want to share some of the events I’ll be at that I know about so far!
First of all, Key Tech Labs is doing another Cosplay, Tech, & Beyond event that is ongoing all weekend! Not only will I be one of the Cosplay Heroes as part of the Instagram Scavenger Hunt, but there will also be all kinds of cool stuff going on around the convention center and at the Hello–a green screen for awesome cosplay photos, a cosplay repair station, live podcasts with local hosts, and workshops with some of the local Cosplay Heroes.
Secondly, GeekDad and GeekMom will be hosting our GeekDad and GeekMom: Raising Generation Geek 2.0 panel in the Sandworm Theater on Friday at 1:30pm. Come by and chat with us about gaming with your kids! We might just have a few prizes to give away as well!
And last, but certainly not least, I’m one of the guest judges at the NW Nerd Podcast After Party and Cosplay Contest at Raygun Lounge on Saturday at 7:30pm! Come hang out, play some games, drink some beverages, and enjoy the cosplay!
I’ve also updated my appearances page with all of the events and panels I know of so far for my next three cons as well. Are you coming to PAX West, Rose City Comic Con, RenCon, or Geek Girl Con? Hope to see you there!
As you may have seen, my secret cosplay that I debuted at SDCC 2017 was none other than Sirius Black from Harry Potter!
I’ve been planning to do Sirius for several months but didn’t actually plan on being ready for SDCC. And then, two weeks ago, with my wife’s help and urging on sourcing some of the clothing, I decided to go for it!
For this first version of Sirius, none of the clothing is made. It’s either stuff I already had (the pants, shirt, pocket watch, and shoes) or stuff I bought (the vest and jacket). I figured that as long as it had the Sirius style and flavor, being an exact match for one of his movie costumes wasn’t critical for a first attempt (though I do plan on an updated version with more movie accurate clothing in the future).
Obviously, I had the hair and beard down already which only left two things to sell the look – a wand and tattoos.
For tattoos, I went with Freehand Ink from Inkbox. This stuff is amazing! It comes in a little bottle with a steel tip and the temporary tattoos last about a week or two (depending on how well you moisturize it and how much you wash it). I printed out a full-sized version of Sirius’ chest tattoo, taped it to my bathroom mirror and then freehanded it in the mirror. Once you let the Freehand Ink dry, you wash it off and there is no trace of your tattoo! It takes about a day for it to fully “develop.” I have to admit to being quite anxious while waiting to see how it came out, but thats also why I did a test a week ahead of time. I reapplied the tattoo the Tuesday before con to make sure it wasn’t too faded or coming off by the time I actually wore Sirius.
As for the wand, I decided to do my second Apoxie Sculpt project (the first being the Sword Art Online laser sword I made recently). I used a length of armature wire, rolled it into some Apoxie Sculpt and then spent awhile molding it to the correct shape. I took a stab at carving the runes and details while it was still soft, but I kept deforming the overall wand shape so instead waited for it to fully cure and then carved them out using several files and carving tools. Once I had everything carved out, I did a wash of black to get down into all of the runes, followed by several dry brush coats of multiple shades of brown to give it a wood texture look. Not bad for a wand I made in 24 hours!
Sirius was a huge hit at SDCC, almost even bringing one girl to tears. Apparently not many people do Sirius cosplay and seeing one is fairly rare (though I did find two others). I even found a large Potter group based in SoCal that was in need of a Sirius. Too bad I don’t live closer! I’ll close out this post with a gallery of myself as Sirius with folks at con!
Here is my currently planned line-up for next week! As always, things happen and plans change, but for now this is it! Casual Voltron, Keith, my secret cosplay, Pirate Kanan, and Ashitaka!
I just revealed my secret cosplay to my Patreon backers earlier today. Want to find out early and get lots of behind the scene, work in progress, secret photos plus a ton more, head over to my Patreon!
Today I’m kicking off a brand new Billythebrick giveaway! Why? To celebrate! What am I celebrating? A whole bunch of things!
First up, I’m celebrating the launch of my awesome new BTB logo and BTB gear courtesy of the very talented Zillabean (seriously not only does she do awesome logo and branding work, but she’s also a kick butt Voltron artist! Check her out on Instagram, Twitter, or DeviantArt.)
July is also host to two special events–SDCC and my birthday! That’s right, I’m giving you something to celebrate MY birthday and to also celebrate the biggest convention I’m going to attend. (If you are going to SDCC, let me know. I love taking meeting people and taking photos at cons!)
Lastly, I’m both celebrating and trying to hit some really cool milestones. Fans, patrons, and customers are vitality important to me and being able to continue making cool things. I recently passed 500 followers on Facebook, and am almost to 800 on Instagram and 900 on Twitter!
So what am I giving away? Well this time, there isn’t a single winner, but three winners! The two runner-up winners will get their choice of a shirt or hat from my new BTB Gear! And the grand prize winner will get a hat and shirt of their choice along with their choice of either a Guardians of the Galaxy badge SET (both the Guardians and Ravager badges) OR a limited edition all-black Voltron bayard!
So what are you waiting for? The giveaway winner will be chosen on July 31st! Good luck!
Several months ago, a customer asked if I could make Ezra’s slingshot. I immediately jumped at the chance to add to my Star Wars: Rebels collection of goodies. (In case you’ve not heard me say it before, Rebels is my favorite Star Wars. See Kanan posts).
Continue reading “Star Wars: Rebels – Ezra Bridger Gauntlet and Slingshot – Phase One”
A quick update about what’s going on!
Last weekend I was at SFGE, and while I was there to be the Tabletop Gaming Coordinator, I’ve also made it my mission to bump up the cosplay and prop making presence. In addition to having four awesome cosplay guests, we also had a costume contest, and I got to be a judge for the first time! Immediately following the convention, I got hooked up with RenCon to be one of the pre-judging judges (channeling Eric Jones from Coregeek Creations who was a pre-judge last year when I was in the contest).
RenCon, as well as the rest of my con schedule for 2017, is now up on my site on it’s own page, so check it out if you want to know where to find me. I’ll be adding panels, photoshoots, appearances, etc. for each panel as we get closer, but if you want me to be on a panel, moderate a panel, or meetup for a photoshoot, let me know!