Lal Mirch - War torn

Deviation titles are waaaay too short ;^; And I *will* resist urges to spam more of this costume Dx

As soon as I saw Lal, I think my first thought was 'ZOMGMUSTCOSPLAY'. She's so awesome and cool and kickass after having been through so much - she just keeps on trucking.

In some ways, she was really different from alot of the other characters that I've made (wtfshortshorts?!) as most of the detail in her was in really miniscule things that I didn't even pick up on at first glance.

Cloak: First time making any sort of cloak, which is kinda surprising as I've *always* wanted an epic cloak...I think I might've gotten that. Drafted 2-3 times out of calico before realising that what was going to make it keep it's form is the collar which I re-inforced with chickenwire and interfacing and held closed with a clasp and magnet. The flame pattern had to be drawn on to the pieces after they were traced out. The flames were then all cut out, had bits of Vliesofix applied to them, had over hanging bits of Vliesofix trimmed off, Vliesofix backing removed, lined up the flame/Vliesofix'd material with the made body of the cloak, before very carefully ironing it all into place to avoid any wrinkling ...all of which probably makes no sense xD But the first tier took about 9 hours, and being something stupid like a 1 1/2 circle cloak, the second tier took even longer - I lost track x_x Fun fact! The bottom of the cloak is over 10m long

(Gorilla) Shoulder guard: Essentially sculped from balsa wood - having good (scaled) reference pictures has never been so useful! We (my father and I) started by making a shape that fitted over my shoulder, which was then built up with extra pieces of balsa which were then cut and sanded down to match ref pics. Painted with a combination of spray and acrylic paints.

Wig: Cut by my lovely ~nek and ink dyed + styled by me.

Goggles: After going through 5 drafts and 4 mockups, I still haven't managed to create something that I'm satisfied with which is why they aren't here, but they shall be done for future shoots! *victory pose*

Tank top: Not too difficult to make + work the stitch lines into, but nowhere in Melbourne stocks plum cotton lycra! So the material spent a grand total of 10.5 hours/630 minutes in 7 various dye baths made up of 4 different dyes, which was done over 2 weeks. I finally got a colour that I was happy with, and I definitely feel alot more confident with dying fabrics now =3

Short shorts: First time wearing/making/parading around in short shorts...EVAR. And I'm pretty sure there's some precise art out there to making them. Hemmed using Vliesofix to avoid stitch lines.

Box weapons: Close up can be seen at [link] Made out of card reinforced with foamcore and decorated with foam, they were alot of fun to make. The designs on the faces were yoinked from anime stills, and the opening is actually open xD Unfortunately, I forgot to work the teeth into the cornice design which resulted in cutting out, painting and sticking down 240 of them. Despite being incredibly fiddly, I think I do like it more this way.

Shooter: The main body was scaled to my forearm and sculpted out of left over balsa with the hand attatchment being made out of foam. The tubing is a combination of corrugated conduite and sponge rubber as it was the only stuff that would bend and hold such an acute angle.

Rings: Despite originally wanting to commission Lal's rings, under time + funding restaints, I bowed in and bought some of the official merch with intentions to cast them. However, upon receiving them I was really impressed and realised there was no way I was going to be able to make something better. However, her pinky ring still had to be made, and all rings needed Mammon chains wrapped around them x_x

Shoes: Was really lucky and found something with the heel + sole that I needed which were cleaned + painted to the right colour, and then covered.

Pacifier: Made on a whim for procrastination, I'm so glad I did. It really bought alot to my insight of her character. And tracing her corrupted symbol onto it wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be.

Centipede: Not seen here, LEGOLESS the centipede was used in my skit and is about 1 1/2 metres long and fully articulated and collapsible.

TL;DR again! OTL

Won First Place in the Melbourne Preliminary Round of the Madman National Cosplay Competition.
More photos here: [link]
Photo credit to [link]
Photo editting by and
Lal Mirch:

Lal Mirch is from Katekyo Hitman REBORN! which belongs to Amano Akira