regan scone you guys are one of my
favorite subsets of the cosplay
community you are the family that cause
plays together yes yes all right so tell
me about these amazing costumes clearly
you've been doing this for a long time
and I want to get into that but let's
start with the costumes so my costume is
an original design that I did as much to
sewing because I that's my primary focus
so I have like little needles and beads
and this is this is all hand done so
this was white and I painted it match
it's so I mean it looks just like your
had a blast
just I did I'm sieving it and putting it
together relaxing is when you hand so
you can sit on the couch and put on
Netflix and then this bodice here is as
a 3d printed or is it okay sure and I
see the needle themes and the buttons
that would make sense and then you've
got your lace on here as well and then
these sleeves tell me about this does
this is like the most complicated sleeve
design I've ever seen this is a Canadian
smacking which is like an heirloom
technique like most grandma let's know
how to do it they'll do it for like
their little christening gowns and stuff
and then so I smocked all the fabric and
then applied it to a sleeve pattern and
then hands did all the details on it the
beads and the sequins so I've never
heard of smoking do you spend time like
looking up esoteric sewing oh yeah my
favorite thing to do is to sit on
YouTube and like look up like very and
it's always like an older lady and she's
like filming it on a potato you know a
lot of times they're like English and
she's just like here's how you do it you
barely see it cuz it's like hard
darkroom well it's my gonna come back in
the community I've seen a lot of people
do it you know getting smoked now it's
fun it's fun just a lot of cosplayers
are looking for like old stuff yeah sort
of bringing it back into oh I'm making
it popular again no but it's fun to look
back at what people have been doing
absolutely think people want more detail
in their costumes yeah and so they're
looking for that and like this is a
great way to add that kind of thing and
so that's why I think we're seeing it
more and I remember I was researching
aragorn's costume from Lord of the Rings
and in his jacket he's got this very
specific type of attachment that's super
elaborate and really complicated and
labor-intensive it the fans who've gone
and done it I mean it there's nothing
that looks quite right except for that
oh the Daenerys dresses have a ton of
smoky
oh really yeah yeah she's like the most
popular it's a specific pattern called
dragon stills smocking
and the fashion designer the lady who
did the costumes actually like put it
all on her blog with like the exact
pattern oh my goodness how she did the
like embroidery around the smocking
pattern so people will cheat sometimes
but you can absolutely tell if somebody
actually did the smacking what's it's
bad putting the instructions on like
that is like so nice because that's why
you see it so much Yeah right
because if someone says well I love that
but I don't know how to do it it's
really difficult but like that's that's
a lot of what we really like as well and
what like a lot of the people we hang
out with do is we trial and error we
fail a whole bunch and then when we
figure out how to do it here's the
instructions so you two can put it into
your cosplay that's amazing okay
Regan this gigantic construction you are
wearing I can't believe it you can
support it all it's very balanced is it
really very balanced see who you is some
of this being supported on your shoulder
no no these are all just bustles oh so
like if you've ever seen a hoop skirt
more like a Rococo gown where the the
bustle is more like a panttiere out to
the side yeah same concept so it's just
boning and so it's very very lightweight
these are actually probably lighter than
the helmet Wow
okay whoa who is this costume so the
costume is from tree of Savior it's a
Korean MMORPG and like we we cosplay
lots of different stuff like I cosplay
characters I love will makeup designs
for characters we love but I'll also
cosplay just costumes I love and I saw
this design and I said
that one that crown is truly
mind-blowing
oh yeah get on in there got in here I
can see appliqués I can see like you
laser cut phone perhaps um so uh that is
like the one tool we don't have we don't
have a laser cutter really yes yet we've
got a lot of other stuff but so this one
actually we used a Cricut machine uh and
cut out foam vinyl that I then applied
to thermoplastic it's beautiful and you
know the detail on these horns is also
incredible they're super lightweight
they're all those ones are also foam
those ones are foam the part of the
reason I also picked this outfit is
because like we've been doing it for
we've been doing cosplay for like a
pretty long time and one of the things
that makes it so fun for us is it's like
all learning all the time right like
we've been doing it for like almost 20
years but every single costume I see
something and I'm like I want to do that
I want to learn how to do that technique
so I want to learn how to make on a
technique and then you find it yeah yes
so this is what I tell people you've got
to find something that you must have
that requires that technique yes so I'll
be like oh these prosthetics looks so
cool I want to learn how to make a
prosthetic chest out of silicon I want
to learn how to do 3d printing for the
first time I want to learn how to do
resin casting I want to learn how to do
foam work and so like this costume in
particular I got to combine a lot a lot
a lot of those techniques and learn new
ones and like I think sometimes you see
a design that it's like really hard to
imagine how that would come into reality
because it just looks so weird yeah and
I think combining different techniques
is part of what can like really help you
do that especially with really weird
kind of things like this but I also love
this process when you start it when you
look at something that on first glance
like a picture of this we'd be like I
have no idea where you begin yeah and
then you start you make your lists so it
like break it down to give me parts and
pieces and then there's a certain point
at which the costume just enters your
head and like you've got it in there now
and even though you stuff to solve all
these problems I that moment when the
whole thing sort of coalesce is at least
know what materials you need the best
part a point like this
tell me about these shoulders those are
really a minute just in terms of having
to do a different material to get it to
look correct right this one drove me
nuts
and by nuts I mean I loved it because
like this shape I was like well I can't
make that with my hands I need to 3d
print that right but this thing is clear
I need to resin cast this but these
things are kind of very organic that
needs to be thermoplastic and so when
you want to get your fingers into all of
these different techniques as a
cosplayer like cosplay is anything and
can be anything so you can combine all
that stuff you're not like shoehorned
into one but you end up with that really
tricky business I'm trying to make the
same color on multiple different
materials that's why each material is a
different color can you tell me about
your guys early early cosplay like what
cut you into it in the beginning I got
her into it yeah you were the gateway
drug
I was the gateway drug well I was my
gateway drug was I think my first
convention was 1998
Wow so I was like 16 and we had to drive
eight hours because that was the closest
con back then and me and my friend said
well we're gonna go big or go home
we should cosplay and like newbs
we picked the hardest cosplay it was a
beautiful art book rendition of a
character called Umi from magic knight
rayearth which is an old manga I already
gave the 1998 so it's fine and so we
said let's do that even though we had no
business doing it none of us knew how to
make anything even though we were kind
of artsy but we made it together we
enlisted the help of a friend of ours
who he didn't make costumes or anything
but he knew how to use chicken wire and
he had like good ideas for using paper
mache and my mom had a friend who knew
how to sew and we figured out where to
buy the wigs from and to be honest it's
pretty good you're proud of the work
looks pretty darn good
especially for 1998 and I think it's
because I got everyone to help me which
is kind of still our shtick which is
like I love this hobby because of making
things but I also love this hobby
because of the community it takes a
village and then I made my own costume
the next year now I think there's this
funny thing that happens like when you
make a first foray into a thing and you
look at it a couple years later it's
terrible but then many years later you
look and you see no it's actually really
no no that's still the case this one
just happens to be weirdly good that's
awesome
do you don't pick you you document every
costume I do um I think I have one photo
somewhere
yes just go and tell me about your first
cosplay Oh God
so I was always like one of those
Halloween was like hardcore Halloween
yeah yeah yeah so she was like well
we're doing this convention in Baltimore
so come and you can wear a costume and I
was like a costume I'm sold no um so she
wanted me to be a character in this
other klump manga that hadn't actually
shown up in the manga yet so she was
like I'll just draw you a picture of
what I think it's going to look like
seeds of this nonsense and so I went to
Walmart and got dollar yard fabric yeah
and then a pattern that was a men's
pattern that was for like a 44 inch size
man oh yeah large made it work somehow
on my stepmother sewing machine and she
was just like at some point walked by
and looked at it and there's gonna be
too much to get involved um no wig no
contacts sneakers it was 2004 it was
fine how did it feel to put on the coat
was great it was so much fun it was like
I showed up and I was like I don't know
what I'm doing and everybody was like
yay we can all wear costumes all the
time if there's a moment after you when
you throw a party and you say to
everyone show up at 8:00 and like 8:30
and no one's shown up yet and you're
like there's a moment after I put on a
costume before I've hit the floor I'm
like maybe this is crazy and then you
hit the floor and people you get that
response it's always it's nice it's
always amazing it's feel very weird
going to a convention not
cosplay like I I did it once and I was
just like this is we are never again and
I've never done it every Wow
cuz you I can't even I mean Sunday maybe
maybe as like a the last day end of the
Concord usually it's a casual thing
obviously okay so we've covered a huge
number of parts of this but I'm curious
about this this is also a foam work yes
so the so the I love details and I love
textures so any way I can like worm or
that nonsense in there yeah so these are
basically hollow foam shapes patterned
it out with probably newspaper and tape
um to get the shape that I wanted and
then I cut them apart so that I had a
foam hollow pattern for this is six
pieces
mm-hmm assembled that and then I dug the
the lower level in here with a with a
hot knife okay yeah so that you get some
of the grooves and then the upper level
this is foam clay actually which if you
have not played with foam like amazing I
have not yet played how's gonna play
with it it is so much fun I do love it
it's my new favorite either awesome oh
yeah yeah you can squeeze a little it is
very hollow so so you get the upper
additional texture with that and then
this is actually duct tape ah I thought
like that looks pretty darn Ono masking
tape is Matthew I thought this looked
pretty good so I slapped it on a painted
it totally right you're totally right
and now like I'm looking at details like
this down here with the color variants
this is all done by you right yes so
this is this is a technique called
tambour embroidery these are all just
like different individual beads and you
string them on in a chain stitch oh my
gosh and that's how you can get like the
nice looking back to it as well just
because this unfortunately we know it's
transparent and so that's kind of the
advantage is this another one of like
binging Netflix while you're sitting
there slowly
your work is weirdly fun it's very
weirdly fun wouldn't think it no no I
look TV I'm all about the tedium I
remember once coming upon a room full of
old women all doing a lace workshop like
making lace
so bad it was over somebody to tea if
anybody out there wants to teach me how
to make lace it was intoxicating to see
a room of 25 old women all like hand
making lace in this well this is an
example she's gonna find an outfit I put
that I didn't you already find an outfit
to put the lace on I'm probably gonna
make lace for more yeah yeah what kind
of workshop do you guys have in the
house so actually it's funny we bought a
house a couple years ago and the realtor
was like what do you want you know what
a big kitchen righteous I don't care
about like at the location that much but
we really need like a big space that's
separate from the living space so we can
have a craft room and he was like okay
he was a good sport about it so we
bought our condo because it has a big
bright room that we painted into the
craft room amazing on the back of the
crown I see this lovely compass detail
with jewels and yeah it actually does a
thing oh my gosh I can't believe I just
stumbled upon this great I would have
forgotten Wow so you've got a motor
driving night yes
Iowa I was lazy I really didn't want to
put a servo in there so I just put a
gear motor okay I just hook up to some
batteries that are tucked into the
Bolero and it actually has lights as
well but we thought it might interfere
with the lighting in here it is gorgeous
how did you build that is that also
phone um sounds 3d printed yeah I really
like to use I love to use the different
materials depending on what it looks
like so like organic stuff I really
still want to use my hands and do foam
and worbla but something very geometric
like the arrow like that is perfect for
3d printing in my opinion yeah so those
guys are 3d printed the gems are
actually like a clear type of
thermoplastic mm-hmm and then the gear
motor is just kind of attached to the
very back oh yeah also the gems are like
a friendly plastic yes yeah it's like a
clear friendly plastic oh I didn't know
they were making it in jewel colors
called worbla we colored that
yeah the world looks sharpy there's no
shame in it
no no when I'm when I there there's a
costume I finished early finished it
like three weeks before the con and it
was really it's the alien space sort of
super old and weathered so I come in
every morning before work with a cup of
coffee and I just like throw a little
coffee oven doesn't go to work and
slowly beat it up oh my god you guys are
so inspiring I love the fact that you've
also are playing with a gamut from
original to Canon with the different
materials and you're clearly super
obsessed and you feed each other's
obsessions yeah this is this is a
dangerous combination you are playing at
such a high level and it is super
inspiring absolutely I can't wait to see
what you do next year I we already have
plans so
