Steampunk Harley Quinn V 1 and 2

Here is my original Harley Quinn. The original design was from NoFlutter. I just pretty much bought all the pieces. I did make the tiny hat but that was pretty much it. I wore this for Halloween back in... 2014? This was way before I knew cosplay was even a thing. I don't have decent photos of it because I was wearing this to go get drunk in not photograph in.

The 2nd version is what appeared at C2E2 in 2016. This is what started it all for me. I loved this costume so much but I can see now looking at it in photos it still needs work for me to be happy with it. I want to actually make a corset myself as well as the skirt. I sewed together two skirts and added tulle to make it puffy. I also sewed together the jackets and added the ruffle edges. The corset was easy to take two and put together because it just tied. I added gold embellishment to it but I don't like how that turned out. Overall I think it looked good but again just not happy with the overall look. I did make the hammer and talk about how I did it in another post. I will do this costume justice and remake the whole thing to my liking. I also realized in these photos I am not quite as thin as I thought I was or used to be. This also got me started down my hardcore workout and diet plan for BlizzCon.

I decided to have this costume photographed professionally along with my Dreamfinder Cosplay. I hired Eddie B Photography for the shoot. This was my first ever photoshoot! I will go into more detail about that on another post. The images below are the ones I personally like the best. I was really happy with how many images came out well. It really highlights the hard work I put into making this costume. I don't think it came out bad for my "first" real cosplay. I also want to note that the first picture is before I started dieting and the photos after are when I lost 15lbs!!! It makes such a difference. 

 

I am always looking for constructive criticism. If you have feedback for my costumes or my attempts at modeling please let me know!

Thanks!!

- Basic B

Harley's Hammer: How to make a huge hammer in less than half a day

Here is a how to guide on how I made this pretty awesome hammer. What it lacks in novice build work it makes up for in sheer size. It was incredibly light and easy to carry around the whole day at a con. I build this over 2 days but combined only took about 8 hours of actual build time to make. You could easily make this in a day if you had the whole day to do it. I finished it at 2:00am the day before I wanted to use it. Luckily the paint dried.

Materials:
The biggest wooden dowel rod I could find at Home Depot
The biggest concrete tube I could find at Home Depot
Floor Mat foam (L200) from amazon
Hot Glue (No like a whole bag of it)
Contact Adhesive DAP brand
A weird little plumbing piece to hold the dowel rod and concrete tube together
hole saw
drywall saw
wood burning kit
wood pattern printed from online
exact o knife
spray paint primer
brown spray paint in 2 shades
brown and black acrylic paint in 4 shades
paint brushes
foam brushes
craft foam
googly eyes
heat gun
zip ties
some belts to hold things together because I ran out of everything else

I don't have step by step pictures but some in progress pics.

I started by deciding how big I wanted the hammer to be. I cut the cement tube exactly in half with a drywall saw. This stuff was surprisingly hard to cut and needed a serrated blade. I then used a hole saw the same size as my dowel rod and cut 2 holes directly in the middle of the cement tube. I made sure the one on top was larger to accommodate the plumbing part I used to hold the dowel rod to the cement tube. The fit wasn't perfect so I used a shit ton of hot glue to make up the difference. I also hot glued the plumbing part to the tube, and the wood dowel rod to the bottom portion. This makes my hammer one piece that won't be able to disassemble. That is as far as I got on day 1. Here is the picture of it at this point. This only took about an hour and a half.

The next part was to attach the L200 floor mat foam to the cement tube. I had to use a bunch of sheets because I bought floor tiles because they were cheap. They are 1/2" thickness. I measured out what I needed and glued them all together in one big sheet. I also cut circles for the ends I made sure to cut my holes for the dowel rod to fit through. Next step I used a wood burner to burn a wood grain pattern into the foam. I thought my pattern turned out awesome for never having done it before. This is one aspect of the hammer I was really happy with. 

Now I needed to glue these sheets to the actual hammer. I used a ton of contact cement. I ended up buying it in a pint sized can and using a disposable paint brush to apply it. It just took way too long to use the little bottles they sell at most hardware stores. I did get overzealous and apply it way too thick because it took forever to dry and because I was in a rush I applied it to the cement tube too soon. I used stretchy belts and zip ties to hold it all together for about 2 hours to dry. I did all this in my garage and make sure you have adequate ventilation. Contact cement stinks. This is an aspect of the project I feel could have gone better. I wasn't happy with my seams. If I do this again, I will buy a large sheet of foam to minimize the seam lines. 


After it dried I had to use some hot glue to keep it from moving. I made a hot glue ring around the outsides of the circles to make sure they were adequately attached. The whole hammer is hollow so I was afraid of it being delicate. I added craft foam to make the bands around the hammer. The googly eyes are the rivets on the bands. After you paint you would never know what they are. 

Now was time to prime and paint! I painted every 20 - 30 minutes to keep the process moving. I started painting by about 9 pm. I applied 1 coat of primer, 2 coats of brown, and a 3rd coat of a different brown in a splotchy pattern. I wanted it to look like real wood so I switched to acrylic paint after this and applied 4 different browns and black in alternating patterns mimicking the organic lines of the woodgrain. I just kind of had at it. I threw paint all over the thing. I am surprised how good it looks and accurate to real wood. I am not a painter by any means so I have no techniques to give you advice on this part. I then used black to paint the bands and dry brushed black along the bands to make the wood look worn in those areas. This took until about 2 am. I let it dry over night and it was dry by 9 am the next day. It still stunk like paint but otherwise looked great. 

Here is the finished piece with my costume!

For my first prop I made with foam I am pretty happy with it. Again, always room for improvement but not bad for a first attempt. The things I liked the most were the wood grain and paint. The things I like the least are how bad my seams are in areas. This was a really light prop and really stood out at the con because of it's size. Overall I give myself an 8/10. Let me know your thoughts! I will answer any questions you have relating to this build to the best of my abilities. 

- Basic B

Going to a Comic Convention Alone:JFDI (Just F**king do it)

So this past week I had the opportunity to go to Wizard World Comic Con  Chicago. A friend had planned to go with me but at the last minute had to work. I was pretty bummed out as this would be my 2nd convention ever. I was incredibly  nervous to go alone but decided why the hell not. I planned to dress as Dreamfinder and wouldn't really be recognizable anyway. So I decided to write a quick reflection piece on my experience of going to a convention alone as a noob.

I went on Friday so I figured it wouldn't be quite as busy and I hopefully wouldn't feel quite as alienated and well, alone. I dressed in as little of my costume as possible since I would be driving myself there. I have driven in full costumes before... not fun. I arrived at the convention parking lot and preceded to get dressed in the parking garage. I got at least 4 different people to stop and stare at me for a few seconds because I am standing in a garage with no shoes on and putting on quite an elaborate costume. My car is not large enough to even try to have gotten dressed in my car. It felt a bit awkward but I didn't really have access to a bathroom nearby that would have been convenient for changing. 

I got all ready and started working my way to the convention. The garage had a nice walkway to the convention center so I didn't have to go outside and walk by a bunch of people who weren't part of the convention. At first glance I felt that almost no one else had dressed up. I felt slightly uncomfortable but decided I needed to just get over it. As I got the the main hall after what seemed like a mile walk I started to see much more cosplay and felt a little better. I got my ticket and started by going into one of the two vendor areas. I wasn't quite sure what to do and the panels I wanted to attend weren't until a few hours later. This is probably when I felt the most alienated and began to question why I even went in the first place. I didn't have anyone to talk to and wasn't meeting up with anyone. I decided to just start walking around and looking at vendors. I had no intention of buying anything because I was a bit strapped for cash that day. I started in the artist alley and just slowly started weaving my way from aisle to aisle. I tried to focus on looking at art and other people's works and creations to get my mind off of going to the convention alone. 

This was pretty successful. I started to dive more into taking in the event its self as opposed to being so concerned with interacting with people. Very slowly people started to ask me about my costume. Most people had no idea who I was and I did my best to explain I was Dreamfinder from Disney's Epcot resort. Figment was my pal. It was a very old and obscure Disney character that had recently been made into a Marvel Comic. Some people would remember and others just appreciated the detail and work I put into the costume. 

My day really started to turn around. I found someone dressed in an official Pikachu mascot costume and I remembered that I have a camera on my phone... Duh. I am really bad at taking pictures when I am doing things so I decided to start taking pictures with other cosplayers. 

Now that my mood had brightened I was able to walk around with more confidence. I really think it showed because more and more people would stop to talk to me, ask me about my character, and ask to take pictures. I really feel confidence is key to portraying your character. It may have taken me a few hours to feel comfortable but once I just let go I started having as much fun as I did at the last convention I went to. 

My convention highlight was being asked by Terry and Oliver Holler of ToTheFuture.org to take pictures with their recreated movie accurate DeLorean from Back to the Future. They really appreciated my costume and wanted to feature me on their website to promote the Fox Foundation which they were collecting donations for. The pictures turned out absolutely amazing and I really enjoyed meeting them. I didn't remember until after I was home that they were also featured in the documentary I had watched titled "Back in Time" I felt like a moron for not remembering that. 

After walking the whole convention floor, I decided to go to a few panels. I really wanted to learn about thermoplastics so I sat in on a thermoplastics panel with Mogchelle. I actually ended up winning a piece of worbla for knowing that EVA stood for ethylene vinyl acetate... Yea go 3 years of chemistry in college FTW. Glad it was good for something. I also sat in on a photography panel because I am starting to get to a point that I want to start having professional photos taken to feature on this blog as well as potentially building a portfolio of prints to sell in the future. I am not looking to make cosplay my day job but being able to recoup some of the cost associated with this very expensive hobby would be nice. 

Other than walking the floor and attending panels I also sat and talked at length with a few people. It felt really good to be able to go to an event alone and still end up making friends with common interests and viewpoints. I was really refreshed and rejuvenated after this convention. I started off the day feeling pessimistic and anxious but ended the day with a post con euphoria. I stayed until almost 9 pm well after the floor had closed. I was very pleased to have closed my 2nd convention on such a high note. 

My experience may not be typical but I highly recommend attending conventions even if you are alone. You may feel uneasy at first but if you open yourself up and put yourself out there you could have a really great time and meet some cool people. I will probably attend quite a few more cons alone until I start making more friends that travel to cons as I would like to. 

**Also side note: If you are driving yourself always bring sweats and comfy shoes to change into before you go home. Nothing feels worse then having to drive home in a corset and stiletto shoes after walking in them 8 hours. 

Hope you enjoyed this insight into my experiences at this con!!

- Basic B

The B behind the cosplay

7/18/16

WTF kind of rabbit hole did you go down to end up here?

Hi Friends! (scroll to bottom for TLDR)

My name is Erin, the creative personality behind Basic B Cosplay. I am brand spanking new to the cosplay scene. I have always enjoyed making costumes and becoming my favorite characters from pop culture, movies, video games, and comics. I just recently discovered the amazing world of cosplay when I attended C2E2 in Chicago, IL this past March (2016). I debuted my very first cosplay of NoFlutter's Steampunk Harley Quinn. Although I feel like I could have done some things differently, and probably will update this costume to wear again, I really enjoyed the entire con experience. Using this new found momentum and passion I decided to take on a massive costume build for BlizzCon 2016 in November. I am working in collaboration with another creative individual to bring this character to life. In the mean time I plan to film, blog, and possibly live stream my journey from the creation of this first cosplay to jumping in head first to a massive full foam build. While this character is not going to be released until after BlizzCon, I want to update the rest of my cosplay portfolio. As of right now, I do not feel like I have any costumes that are worthy of professional photos with the exception of Harley Quinn. I plan to make a full appearance in 2017 with a full arsenal of cosplays and travel to about 8 different cons in the US. I am looking forward to joining this amazing community of creative and supportive individuals. See you all in the fall!

If you want to know more about me keep reading. If not that's cool too, I wouldn't want to read about me either.

I grew up playing video games and have always enjoyed the "nerdier" side of life. My first console was the Super Nintendo followed by the Sega Genesis. My favorite games on those consoles are obviously Mario, and Sonic. I also really enjoyed playing tabletop PacMan with my dad. It is one of my favorite things to do with him still. A few years later, I got a PlayStation and became obsessed with Crash Bandicoot. I also enjoyed casual PC games like the Sims. I had more fun building houses with the rosebud cheat and killing my characters than actually letting them live out their lives. I also only played SimCity so I could send the monster though the city. I have a thing for explosion, death, and destruction. There is just something so satisfying about destroying an 8-bit city.

Then there was Pokemon. I became OBSESSED with Pokemon. I had to watch the cartoon every Saturday, collect all the cards, play all the gameboy games, I had to collect them ALL. I was fortunate to have  pen pal from Japan that would send me all kinds of awesome Pokemon loot. We would trade all the time through mail. I can sing the Jigglypuff song haha. I don't like to break that out unless I've been drinking. I remember begging my mom to go to Burger King so I could get the gold plated cards that came in the pokeballs. The Pokemon movie was the first time I cried seeing a film. I still love Pokemon and they have some of the cutest new Pokemon like Dedenne and Cinccino. My favorite will probably still be Oddish. I have no idea why I love that Pokemon so much but I just do. Pikachu is also a favorite but it is so popular I like to have other favorites.

Fast forward to high school were I was first introduced to Blizzard games through Diablo II. I spent an entire summer playing that game. My favorite class was the druid because manimal man. I love animals so any character that has pets, animal companions, or is an animal I am going to pick them.

College was my first introduction to FPS games which I am absolutely horrible at. COD and Halo were pretty much what all of my guy friends played so that is what I played. It wasn't until I discovered Castle Crashers that I really became enamored with games again. I played that game from start to finish at least 3 times. Red knight was boss but pink knight is still my favorite. I like the game so much I made the red and pink knight. After that game I purchased an Xbox 360 and played a few different games, mostly from the arcade because I wasn't about to pay $60 for every new game on the market. I really enjoyed Bastion. I have downloaded Transistor but haven't had the chance to play it. Big name games I really enjoyed were Skyrim, GTA 5, pretty much any adventure game.

I have since journeyed into PC gaming. I customized my Dell XPS 8500 by gutting everything but the MOBO and processor. I play Heroes of the Storm regularly. I also have Steam and play most of my games on there now just because I can get them so much cheaper than console games and my computer renders them amazingly. I would like to try LOL just because of how popular it has become but it seems really similar to HOTS.

Which brings me to present day! I have almost no free time except on weekends which is when I do 99% of my cosplay builds and play games. I work a full time job and commute to and from the city everyday as well as travel. I also try to stay in shape because if I am going to do cosplay I don't want to be uncomfortable with my costumes because of how they fit me. I think this meme describes me perfectly.

That being said you can see my transformation from what I was when I started this journey to where I am now. I do not plan to try and make cosplay my career but a very intense hobby. I really have no other hobbies than hanging out with my dogs and playing video games. I like to have a creative outlet and the opportunity to travel and meet fun and exciting people who share the same interests as me!!

Other nerd things I like, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Sherlock, Marvel movies, (never really got into comics :/) , esports.

Now, why the name Basic B? Well, because I am basic as fuck. If you looked at me from off the street I am an undercover nerd. I wear typical corporate attire to and from work. I wear my subtle nerd attire on casual Fridays and occasionally rock my converse at work. I spend my whole train ride playing mobile games and searching new cosplays on my tablet. I also am a white, blonde, Starbucks loving basic bitch. I could keep that place in business on my own. Instead of fighting the stereotype I find myself in, I decided to embrace it and make it part of who I am. Why is it not ok to be "basic" and also a nerd? I don't see why I can't be labeled as both or not labeled at all. I am a bit rebellious and break the mold of what a woman should be. I can be sugar and spice and everything nice but I can also be the baddest bitch of them all.

TLDR: Hi, I'm Erin, a basic bitch gamer and cosplayer! I like Pokemon and Blizzard Games. Follow me on Facebook at Basic B Cosplay!

- Basic B