My Taigong Wang Cosplay Diary/Manual

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My Taigong Wang Cosplay Diary/Manual; How I did/am doing this cosplay
Topic Started: Feb 25 2009, 09:05 PM (1,126 Views)
wildcard	Feb 25 2009, 09:05 PM Post #1
The one... the amazing... the powerful... ME! Posts: 301 Group: Members Member #20,437 Joined: January 17, 2009 Gender Female	Well, since Taigong Wang has not been cosplayed often and I am doing the cosplay, I thought I'd list up how I'm doing my cosplay and put up pictures of the progress, so it might help future Taigang-Cosplayer out. First things first thought. For reference material I've been using the 5 databook scans from Koei Warriors => http://koeiwarriors.co.uk/moms-databookscans.php From these I've additionally made the pattern for the purple talisman http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/6739/talismanxs6.jpg and the golden pattern on the shoes http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9145/legpattern2nn0.jpg For the talisman I used: - 1 purple plate of foam rubber - a plastic film, that is self-sticking - like the one used on books, to keep them longer in a better shape (I'm afraid I'm unable to find the correct english word) - gold spray for plastic - fimo (plasticide that becomes hard in the oven) This is the result: http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/1624/bild004my3.jpg and to get the colors better across: http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6546/bild007ux7.jpg For the shoes I used: - latex socks - a plastic film - golden spray for plastic - a tube of golden outline-color that can be used like a pencil - you just have to press a bit on the tube to get the color out of the tiny hole Result (I had to sit down on the table to take this shoot, so my feet look a bit... broad): http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4026/bild009vt2.jpg It looks the same on the back. Aside from that I've finished the talisman-like thing dangling from his middle: http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2459/bild006nj1.jpg Material used: 1 m long, thin, purple cord fimo for the silver top, golden middle and tourquise end 1 purple tassel gold & sivler spray for plastic a clear, transparent varnish spray 2 wooden, big pearls I'm also proud to show of the earings - which I choose to take from the artwork, not from the actual model, because I like them better: http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/9472/bild008zp6.jpg And at least I've started working on the wig. It's harder than expected and I kind felt guilty for cutting of two long strands of the long, beautiful, white hair... Well, it had to be done. Front: http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/6184/bild013ge6.jpg Back: http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9582/bild003iz0.jpg I made a real knot with the long hair, and boy, am I kind of regretting it. The back is really heavy with all that hair. If it doesn't work out, I might take a spikey short wig and put a styropor ball in the fabric and somehow fix it on the hair. Oh well, with the ponytail tied up like that, I can always switch to letting it down, as he has in an alternate outfit. The basic white robe is almost done as well, I just have to shorten it, as I automatically made it ankle-long and I need to put the sleves on the main cloth. The ornament on his side I've traced out as well. I just have to decide wether to make it out of fabric or if I'm going to spray it on. Either way won't be easy, as I've been unable to find a black-purple fabric or spray. Well, I'm back in Austria next weekend and I plan to give my favourite fabric store a longer visit. Considering material I've organised everything for the clothes themselves except for the ornament but including fitting buttons. I've also started research for the rod and was lucky while visiting the local building center. As base I've choosen a thin tube originally used for isolating! It was cheap (0,80 EUR), flexible and in perfect lenght and thickness. I don't think I'll be getting any trouble with the weapon checkpoints in germany with this kind of material Well, for now that's it. There is still a lot to do, but I'm looking forward to spending a few more weekends on this project. And yes, I also intend to make the ball Taigong 'fishes out' for his attacks. Thought instead of making it original-size as I've intended, it will probably only be half as big, to make it more convinent in carrying around. I might make an original sized one some time soon anyway just for fun - and good pictures ;P
	*HanbeiCute?Or evil?* I'm a proud fan of BOTH, Samurai Warriors AND Sengoku Basara. Bashing either at own risk.


kuni_izumi	Feb 25 2009, 09:24 PM Post #2
Breaker of Destined Fate Posts: 573 Group: Members Member #12,299 Joined: December 30, 2007	Great details! Your costume looks like it's coming along really well, especially the talismans and earrings look great! I'm really excited to see how the weapon comes out for you! Good luck with the robe and thanks for sharing with everyone!
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Kacela	Feb 25 2009, 09:29 PM Post #3
Elite Soldier Posts: 43 Group: Members Member #19,594 Joined: November 17, 2008 Gender Female	Wow looking amazing! cant wait to see it finished ^^



Fire Shade	Feb 25 2009, 09:33 PM Post #4
I was the disembosied "chick" in the Hotel Pool XD Posts: 416 Group: Members Member #12,482 Joined: January 6, 2008 Gender Female	wow! that looks great! cant wait to see the finished product!
	My deviantArt \| Regional Banner


Simihe	Feb 25 2009, 10:44 PM Post #5
General Posts: 294 Group: Members Member #4,157 Joined: November 11, 2006	looking great so far



One-Eyed-Dragon	Feb 26 2009, 10:06 AM Post #6
Prodigy Of Chaos Posts: 32 Group: Members Member #19,799 Joined: December 1, 2008 Gender Male	Good luck with the TGW project.
	Uses True Musou "Imbeciles! Know Your Place!"


Naoto Shirogane	Feb 26 2009, 01:38 PM Post #7
Won't be on KW for a while, I'm gonna miss everyone!! Posts: 499 Group: Members Member #9,796 Joined: September 19, 2007 Gender Female	Your progress is wonderful! It'll positively turn out great
	Once a Koei fan, always a Koei fan!


Sera	Feb 27 2009, 12:29 PM Post #8
Commander Posts: 935 Group: Members Member #9,616 Joined: September 11, 2007	Go go go, serene_ai ^_^b! I really like especially what you did with Taigong's bun and earrings, good luck with the rest of your cosplay!



Doughnut	Mar 1 2009, 01:21 PM Post #9
Soldier Posts: 6 Group: Members Member #20,751 Joined: February 13, 2009 Gender Male	I wonder, how will you do the wooden scroll hanging on Taigong Wang's back?



kuni_izumi	Mar 1 2009, 03:23 PM Post #10
Breaker of Destined Fate Posts: 573 Group: Members Member #12,299 Joined: December 30, 2007	That's not too hard. Search for wooden/bamboo place mats either in home or craft stores, or online. I have like...five of them for just the purpose of making things like the Speed Scroll from SW1. Then you can paint it and change the color of the string keeping it together to whatever you need. Taigong's looks like it's varnished, so you might want to seal it afterward to get that glossy look/protect it from oils/fingerprints. http://fr.fotolia.com/id/4450212 <--example of what I'm talking about.
	Listings - War of the Gifted - Gifted RP Character Listing - OOC Page


wildcard	Mar 1 2009, 07:12 PM Post #11
The one... the amazing... the powerful... ME! Posts: 301 Group: Members Member #20,437 Joined: January 17, 2009 Gender Female	Doughnut Mar 1 2009, 01:21 PM I wonder, how will you do the wooden scroll hanging on Taigong Wang's back? I was planning on making it just like kuni_izumi said, however I was VERY VERY VERY lucky and stumbled over an item used to hold chopsticks or something like it in it and it has just the perfect form for it. I'll make a snapshoot of it on Tuesday or Wednesday before I head of for vacation and a con back home in Austria I also plan to show off the first progress on the robe by then. My tip to get it round: If you have those paper tissues in the kitchen that are on a roll, use an empty roll as stabilizer for the bamboo place mat. I planned on putting the bamboo mat around it, to see the exact size and cut it that was, then put glue on the carton roll and wrap the bamboo mat around it. If you do not have the time/patience to hold it until it's dry, use clothes pins to hold it in place. From the rest of the bamboo ma you can make top and bottom EDIT: As you can see I didn't get around putting up photos yet. I made a few snapshots and will try to put them up this week-end. Unless my plans are twisted over (again). This time I'll show of the scroll-holder on the back and the robe so far. And hopefully I'll get around finishing the wig. Edited by wildcard, Mar 12 2009, 05:29 PM.
	*HanbeiCute?Or evil?* I'm a proud fan of BOTH, Samurai Warriors AND Sengoku Basara. Bashing either at own risk.


YURAN	Mar 2 2009, 04:19 PM Post #12
Soldier Posts: 7 Group: Members Member #19,346 Joined: November 1, 2008 Gender Female	Hi!! serene,Tanks for your comment of my Taigong Wang's cosplay. And I received your mail.Sorry for not writing you sooner. About purple-talsiman-like,I am not expressible well in English.X-( I upload the my costume's pic. I hope you find it informative.



Doughnut	Mar 4 2009, 02:41 PM Post #13
Soldier Posts: 6 Group: Members Member #20,751 Joined: February 13, 2009 Gender Male	serene_ai Mar 1 2009, 07:12 PM My tip to get it round: If you have those paper tissues in the kitchen that are on a roll, use an empty roll as stabilizer for the bamboo place mat. I planned on putting the bamboo mat around it, to see the exact size and cut it that was, then put glue on the carton roll and wrap the bamboo mat around it. If you do not have the time/patience to hold it until it's dry, use clothes pins to hold it in place. From the rest of the bamboo ma you can make top and bottom wow! you have a brilliant Idea! tnx, Serene_ai!



Qing Long	Mar 5 2009, 01:46 AM Post #14
青龙 Posts: 1,704 Group: Moderators Member #6,080 Joined: March 15, 2007	Good luck in making your Taigong Wang Cosplay serene_ai, also thanks for writing your cosplay diary here ^^ Nice pictures! Also, great pics of your Taigong Wang Cosplay, YURAN, you've done good work! ^^
	☆ o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-\| Sorry for my bad English (English isn't my first language), forgive my mistakes, please, thank you ~ Family o Gallery o KW Addict o KW France o SOTW #43 o WO Avatar


wildcard	Mar 15 2009, 10:44 AM Post #15
The one... the amazing... the powerful... ME! Posts: 301 Group: Members Member #20,437 Joined: January 17, 2009 Gender Female	So now here is the second series of pictures and description how I did it. I've started on the robe at least, using a chinese-top pattern as base to create it. I left the entire right side "open" as on the reference pictures it is shown that he has buttons aaaaaaaaaall the way from top to bottom. First I grabbed my reference pictures and zoomed in very close on the ornament, while at the same time I opened it again and let it stay in the normal zoom, so I wouldn't get confused by all those pixels. I drew it on the back side of some cheap bonding sheet I bought, before copying it mirror inverted on another piece. Then I carefully cut out the parts I wanted to paint later on. This is a lot of detail work, so I suggest you really plan about 2-4 hours of time to work on this. If you are in a hurry you might want to do something else instead. So once you have all your pieces assembled, grab the robe, lay it out on the floor - make certain it is clean and put old newspaper underneat it. Then take your time to put all the pieces in the correct order. To make certain the ornament looks alike always keep up your reference pictures and if you can try to put the two sides of the robe next to each other as shown in the following picturs: The robe as a whole A close-up of the ornament You can't really see much on it yet, BUT the work pays off if done properly Once everything sticked in place, I laid it out normaly in the floor - again making sure there was newspaper beneath it. The work right now is pretty easy. Simply grab your purple fabric-color and paint over the pattern. The only thing you need to watch for is not to take to much color and not to accidentally 'loosen' one of the 'stickers' you put so much efford in creating. Once you are done, simply let it air-dry. An hour or two later you'll see how the color turned out. In my case the darkest purple I was able to find was - as expected - not dark enough. Thus I grabbed a texture color spray of black and put a few layers over it. Be careful if you are forced to do the same, it can quickly become rather black then purple. Again the robe as a whole and in detail As you can see, I had no hesitation to paint over the bonding sheet itself. Once my black layer was dry as well, I slowly and carefully pulled the bonding sheet pieces off it. The finished pattern! - Neat, ne? Then I grabbed two larger pieces of backing paper, my ironing board and of course my flat iron. One of the backing paper went on top of the board, then the part of the robe with the ornament was put on it, before the second layer of backing paper was put on top of it. You might need a second person or something heavy to put on the rest of the robe, so it's weight will not pull it down. Set your flat iron on a setting according to the fabric (in my case synthetic, since I chose satin as texture for the robe) and then 'iron the color in'. This is to keep it in the fabric when you wash your outfit and also to keep it from smearing should you encounter rain. Now an entirely different matter. I started on the rod. It's not much, only the base, but I thought I might as well show it off. Materials: 1 insulation tube foam a roll of some sort of broad duct tape (it's not really duct tape, but usally can be found in the area) I simply put the tube on the foam, rolled it around once, before cutting the estimated proper lenght out, then I put the tube on the cut-out piece and fixed it on top and bottom wit the tape. Like this As the foam resisted as I tried to wrap the duct tape from top to bottom I fixed it in several places. As shown here Now I slowly worked the tape all around it from top to bottom. Click her for the finished result so far Due to this the base is still pretty flexible, yet it is soft to touch and will hopefully allow me to take the rod into the conventions. (Most large weapons aren't allowed in larger cons in europe unless they are made like LARP weapons => Soft) I'm sorry some of the pictures are such a bad quality, but as I mentioned before, I only got my mobile to take pictures with ^^� More should follow sometime soon. If you got specific questions, go ahead and ask
	*HanbeiCute?Or evil?* I'm a proud fan of BOTH, Samurai Warriors AND Sengoku Basara. Bashing either at own risk.


Naoto Shirogane	Mar 15 2009, 11:08 AM Post #16
Won't be on KW for a while, I'm gonna miss everyone!! Posts: 499 Group: Members Member #9,796 Joined: September 19, 2007 Gender Female	Oooohhh, I'm getting more excited to see the result after you've finished everything Good luck with the rod!
	Once a Koei fan, always a Koei fan!


Hyota	Mar 15 2009, 06:30 PM Post #17
Sergeant Posts: 18 Group: Members Member #21,085 Joined: March 5, 2009 Gender Male	Great job (I love the rod) !! Taigong Wang is my favorite character in "Soul Hunter" But i havn't played to Warriors orochi 2... Foam is Good ! Good luck for your cosplay !



chousokabemotochika	Mar 16 2009, 11:05 PM Post #18
Officer Posts: 76 Group: Members Member #12,541 Joined: January 8, 2008	Your costume is looking wonderful so far and I am so looking forward to seeing the finished cosplay. Thank you for posting this thread as I am sure it will be very helpful and inspiring to other costume makers.



wildcard	May 25 2009, 11:02 AM Post #19
The one... the amazing... the powerful... ME! Posts: 301 Group: Members Member #20,437 Joined: January 17, 2009 Gender Female	Just a side note. I have made some progress with the robe and will soon load up the new pictures. I definitly plan to make the fishing rod AND the golden ball our beloved Taigong Wang fishes out. Just recently I got the base for it - someone threw out a globe out of cardboard. Needless to say I grabbed it after checking if it doesn't have any strange stains and is stable It will be smaller than the original, but I if I want to take it inside, That might actually be better anyway. New pictures and continuing of the tutorial will happen tonight. Edited by wildcard, Jun 18 2009, 12:17 PM.
	*HanbeiCute?Or evil?* I'm a proud fan of BOTH, Samurai Warriors AND Sengoku Basara. Bashing either at own risk.


wildcard	Jun 19 2009, 07:53 PM Post #20
The one... the amazing... the powerful... ME! Posts: 301 Group: Members Member #20,437 Joined: January 17, 2009 Gender Female	So, after being absent a long time, I finally continued. First things first. The thing with the rod - scratch it. It doesn't work out as I hoped. I cut the foam off again and did something else, which seems promising. I'll give details after the sewing stuff ROBE & other clothes-stuff So last time I showed how to make the purple-like pattern. This time I completed the clouds on the lower edge. I used "Colorstop" from Marabu TextilDesign to draw the lines where I DIDN'T want the black color. It's a small tube that you hold like a pen and squeeze to get the clear liquid out. It might cause a cramp in your hand if you work for several minutes without taking a break. I pre-drew the lines with calk by the way, but made certain not to draw directly on the lines, because I wasn't sure if I could was out the calk with the stuff on it. Once the liquid was dry, I once again started sticking newspaper all around to make certain neither those parts white and meant to be white, nor the floor nor the purple robe parts actually got some color sticking to them. Here you can see what it looked liked after I had started. Robe pattern 1 Robe pattern 2 Because it was already late by the time I was done, I let it dry for almost a whole day. If you do not have that time or do not want to wait that long, check what the description on the colortype of your choice says on drying time. So I checked if it was dry by carefully fingering a spot - just to make certain and then I started peeling off the "wrappings" Perfect lines! I was so glad I went through all that trouble... Robe pattern 3 Robe pattern 4 This was especially important to me with the purple pattern If you wonder "where are the lines?" where I put the color stop, I can reassure you. They are there. I just needed to wash it. I made the little cloud on the chest the same way, except that I didn't use newspaper to protect the surrounding areas. In this case I directly drew with color and pencil on the fabric (I pre-lined it of course) instead of using a spray like before. I grew to like and prefer the normal colors by the way. It seems I'll get much more area colored with it, then with the sprays... After the robe was done, I choose to re-do the golden pattern on the shoes. Unfortuantly my original plan didn't hold. For one convention or two close after one other, they probably will be enough thought. For those wanting something for a longer period I suggest stancing the pattern into e.g. a plastic sheet like used for modeling. Shoe pattern I used to much color on the first one, which makes it look slightly messed, up, but I guessed that much. (it's the right one) So if you want it too look good, take little color and apply a few layers, while waiting in between for the layers to be completly dry. Also, when you take the pattern off, make sure to check the backside and wash if necessary. Wouldn't want to get any nasty stains on the cloth, ne? Shoe pattern closeup Next I went for the single black sleeve. I made a picture of the parts and numbered them where they were put together, except for 4. That is where I'll attatch the green cloth and purple talisman and thus connect the two black parts Sleeve preparations Once done, I grabbed my chalk again and did my best to line out the pattern on both sides of the sleeve. Then i grabbed a tissue and a silver textil marker (T-Shirt Color - for dark fabrics) and carefully rubbed at the orange chalk markings until they were just barelly visible and then did the lines with the marker. I worked slowly, and only always cleared a little part of the chalk. Sleeve pre-pattern I also added the little cloud on the back of the sleeve, thought in that case I relied mainly on my creativity and steady hand, making it without any pre-lines. I'd recommend pre-lining to anyone else thought, if you area afraid of messing up. You can also always use that colorstop-thing I mentioned at the beginning, to make certain you don't accidentally over-color those parts meant to remain black. If you do mess up, just wait until it's dry and then re-draw the lines with black By the way, this is what the robe looked like a while ago, without the silver linings yet. Robe progress June By now I've also colored the ends of the sleeves black. I plan on applying the golden edges and the yin-yang symbol soon, then I'll have to think of how to add the rest of the patterns all over the robe... A few ides, but in this case I'll test them first on a few left over pieces of fabric ^^� I don't want to mess up all of my work on the last stage. That's it for clothes. For now. Next up is the weapon. So now you only got that isolation tube, right? Well, i was lucky when taking down the waste paper and found a little "treasure" standing on one of the bins. A globe. As the owner threw it away, I didn't hesitate to take it out of it's holding and took it up with me. Here you can see it together with the flip-flop shoes I already gave some work... Globe & Shoes First I made a second hole next to one, before using some wire to create a little loope and securing it. I plan on wrapping it in pappmasche to cover it up nicely. Ball ring Next I made certain to have lot's of time on my hands - trust me, you'll need it. I prepared the glue also used for wallpapers and let it rest for 15 minutes as described. While that happened, I ripped old newspaper into small pieces - I only used real newspaper, not the advertisments with the shining paper, it soaks up the glue better. Then the long procedur of smearing glue on a spot and putting paper on it, before covering it with glue again followed. For the whole globe, it took me an hour and a half. Yes i was using small pieces, as i was recommended - especially when making round things. I repeated the process with slightly larger pieces on the isolation tube. Took me a quarter to finish. The weather was nice, so I put both out in the sun to dry up faster. I read some people do not recommend doing so, as the paper tends to well up, if one accidentally used to much glue. I was lucky and it didn't happen to me. Rod & Ball base I took them inside in the evening and was pleased to find them completly dry. Again it was late, so I simply set them aside for the next day. This time I used already use-ready pappmasche which had to prepared by adding a certain amount of water and letting it rest for 3 hours (in the case of the type I bought). After this time had passed, I started working on the rod from top to bottom, forming the details. Once done, I used a small needle to add the finer lines to my work. This took me about 2 hours. Then I was done and just set it aside. The type of pappmasche I used, recommended I let it rest at least 2-3 days. To make sure I let it rest 4 days. Rode as a whole A close up to some details I also attempted to make the dragon-head like end, but failed with two different materials. Right now I consider forming and foldening it out of paper or carton and then giving it a sheet of pappmasche or a good dose of glue and newspaper ;P That's it for now. But I'll make photos once there is more visible progress
	*HanbeiCute?Or evil?* I'm a proud fan of BOTH, Samurai Warriors AND Sengoku Basara. Bashing either at own risk.


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