Monday, July 11, 2016

How to Add Details To Worbla (Without Using More Worbla)

Please refer to this video on some basics on Worbla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZl65FRUZnw

She makes adding the detail seem so easy...unless you're like me and suck with molding materials like clay.

Here I will tell you how I achieved the ridges/trim on the edges (and this could be applied to any kind of worbla detail) without using extra worbla.

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So you'll notice in the video she actually tells you to use a double layer of worbla to make the trim, but thats a lot of worbla! So instead lets use craft foam, its way cheaper!

Materials:
-Craft foam (I'm using 4mm thick) ~ $0.90 per  12in (30.48cm) x 18in (45.72cm) sheet
-Thermal Plastic (I'm using black worbla) ~ $86 per 39.25in (100cm) x 59in (150cm) sheet
-Sharp X-acto or Utility Knife
-Contact Cement
-Heat Gun

Step 1: Cut out your base shape as well as the trim detail


NOTE: KEEP THE CUT OUT SECTION!


Piece that came out of detail

Step 2: (carefully) glue the detail to the base piece
Apply glue
Place detail onto base

Step 3: Cover with Worbla and apply heat until it sags over the foam and is moldable



Step 4: Pushes edges down to get that embossed detail

Use a tool, your fingers, or a piece of soft material (I use a piece of scrap foam) to push the outer edges down.

Now this is when you put that cut-out piece to work. It just so happens to fit exactly into the empty space! (Not exactly though, don't force it too much) What this also helps is avoids those harsh push marks from something like your nails or a credit card because the foam will slowly mold into a round shape.

You should get something like...

Beautiful isn't it?
Step 5: Trim off the excess worbla, according to the video above

Step 6: Use the heat gun again to mold the shape you want.

And you'll notice it maintains that beautiful detail you masterfully placed!

This doesn't only apply to line trims, here you can see I cut in little circular details with the same method

Of course you can stack it as high as you want, this will require you to stretch the worbla more though, so a little more might be safer. Just be mindful that its a flat piece of foam though, so you might want to modify some of the edges flush to the design you want. This can be achieved with cutting bevels or sanding.

If you have any questions, leave a comment below. Hope this helps!



Monday, June 20, 2016

Colossalcon 2016

Hi guys! It's been awhile, but we're here to share our awesome trip to Colossalcon 2016 in Sandusky, Ohio!

Last year when we went to Colossalcon everything was so new to us... we didn't even know how to get to the pool!! This year we definitely had a better idea of our surroundings. We probably also consumed about triple the amount of Blue Rhinos we drank last year ^-^; This time around we stayed quite far from the Kalahari resort where the convention is held. We stayed in a cute cabin at Cedar Point with a dozen of our friends. Even though it was a bit of a drive, it was a lot of fun being a little "family" for the weekend! We had a lot of fun cosplays for this con that we can't wait to share with everyone, so keep on reading!

We set out for Ohio super early on Thursday (3 am!) and arrived at Cedar Point somewhere around 11 am. We spent the afternoon in Cedar Point and rode roller coasters all day! It was definitely worth heading out so early. Afterwards, we settled into our cabin and had dinner at Danny Boy's, our fave Italian restaurant in Sandusky! Of course we had some cosplay crunching to do that night, but it was well worth it.

Friday was the day we wore our Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (Hai to Gensou no Grimgar) cosplays! We steadily worked on these outfits and weapons for about a month. With school and work going on for us, we really had to squeeze some cosplay into every free moment we had. Kuritare was Haruhiro, Lilitare was Shihoru, and Rintare was Yume. They were our favorite characters and we felt that they fit us pretty well! Kuritare worked hard on all of our weapons and his hard work definitely showed! All of us felt super proud of what we made because we could see a big visual improvement over time. Our friend Andrew (aka RUDEBOY) was nice enough to be our photographer for the whole weekend, and he got some awesome shots!





On Saturday, Lilitare and Rintare split up from Kuritare. Lili and Rin were invited to be part of a couple Love Live groups, so Kuri decided to take on a Alibaba Djinn equipped cosplay from Magi! In the AM, Lili and Rin were part of a Love Live mermaid group. We had a blast shooting pictures on the beach at Cedar point even though there were some decaying fish on the shore... at least the sand and water made for some good shots! Everyone in the group was super nice and we had a lot of fun together. The sun burns were well worth it!! A special thank you to Aprile for being the mom of the group who put it all together. It couldn't have happened without you! Our precious Kyo senpai was also our second photographer for this shoot. Thank you gorgeous senpai ♥! Lilitare and Rintare were also fortunate enough to be part of another Love Live group! In the afternoon, they joined a few other girls for a small Love Live marine group. Lili and Rin adore that costume very much! It's just so cute :') We were glad to see old friends make so many new friends through Love Live cosplays! Kuri's Alibaba cosplay also turned out great! It was our first time working with the thermal plastic, Thibra. It was a fun challenge that yielded some nice results! Kuri used it for his shin guards and bracers. At night we played in the game room for...too long and then got home to pack up to leave early-ish on Sunday.





For Sunday, we decided to do some Fire Emblem Summer Scramble DLC cosplays to sort of preface some future Fire Emblem Fates cosplays we wanted to do! Lilitare decided to be Sakura. Rintare and Kuritare chose to be Hana and Tsubaki as her retainers! It was a cute and quick cosplay. We were glad we did it and it was easy to change out of to head home. 




The drive home was long, but we made it back safely. Shout out to our fun cabin family for hanging out and having a blast with us during the weekend! We love you!

Now we just have to somehow get over this lingering con depression!


Thursday, February 18, 2016

Katsucon 2016

Hey everyone!! Tare is back after a long period of being busy with our personal lives...sorry for the lack of posts, but we're glad you guys stuck around! Also, hello to all of our new friends!
Katsucon was a lot of fun for us as usual, but we did have some ups and downs along the way :( !!
All three of us worked extra hard on our new Fire Emblem Awakening cosplays and we really dropped the ball on sharing our progress pictures, but we'll get to sharing posts about our cosplays individually, soon!
All of us were pretty stressed out leading up to the con. We even dropped one of our cosplans because we just didn't have enough time :'( Unfortunately, Lilitare had a family emergency right before the con and couldn't make it, but she still worked really hard on her cosplay and hopes to share it with everyone as soon as she can! Katsu felt incomplete without her ;___;
Friday we arrived at the con at about 10am and got in line for our passes. We checked out the artist alley and dealer's room briefly and then moved all of our crap from the car to the room. We did a thorough sweep through of the dealer's room and kept tabs on things we wanted to buy! We actually went back to buy things on Saturday, but nothing we wanted was left!! (I wanted a shiba and banana plushie!!! -R). We checked out the maid cafe. Our maid was Meiko and she made Rintare's first maid cafe experience magical~~~ Kuritare was unfortunately done for the day at around 5pm after an encounter with his best friend, alcohol. On Friday night our fabulous Kyo senpai treated us to a homemade Korean food feast ( ´ ▽ ` )ノ Good times with good friends!

Met up with Aozora and other Love Live friends!


     

Saturday was a big day for us, the debut of our Fire Emblem Awakening cosplays! It took us soo long to get ready x_x We woke up at 8 and weren't out of the room until 11! A huge thanks to our friend Same-san for taking our pictures with his fancy new camera! We can't wait for you guys to see all of our pictures! This was of course the fire alarm day and we spent most of our time in costume outside in the freezing cold!! Rintare had a hard time walking around with the knee armor and Kuritare had a fun time doing his sword hand motion to people. We missed the Fire Emblem meet up too :(( At night, we did some BakaProof work and interviewed our good friend Terumi. She gave us all Boo (the pomeranian) valentines, so sweet!


On Sunday we winded down a little and got into much more comfortable love live tracksuit + skirt combo. We mostly spent the day with friends, finalizing purchases in dealers and artists' alley. Kuritare realized he was having too much fun and needed more footage for his video so he split off with Same-San to get more for a while. We were able to watch μnite's performance, after missing their debut at AUSA! They did a great job and we can't wait to see more from them! We ended the day by going to a cheap Chinese restaurant with our friends from far away. We can't wait for our next con and we hope that we can have all three Tares together again!





With Risa Chan!

A big shout out to all of our friends who hung out with us, old and new!

Check out our friend Kimeeji and her awesome buster swords group!