Construction Details:

This costume had an absurd amount of methods used, so I'm gonna break it down into a few categories... xD

Armor: Believe it or not, the armor was almost entirely made of craft foam! I started by applying a dragonscale texture to each of the pieces, which I drew directly onto the foam with a black ball point pen; I just traced over and over it until it left a nice hard crease in the foam. Then for the raised edging I cut the foam strips in the shape I wanted, cut a shallow score line with an exacto in the “wrong” side of the foam, then creased the foam as hard as I could just using my fingers ~ super glue to base, profit! I super glued most of the pieces to a wonderflex base as well, to help give them a more permanent, sturdy shape (with the exception of the gauntlets and bikini bottom, which are wonderflex-less xD). I then coated each of the pieces in 1-2 coats of cast n' craft resin, which made them even more sturdy and helps to protect the foam from getting creased or punctured. Then it was just painting for daaaaaaaays and days, all by hand. I wanted the pieces to have kind of a grungy, battle-worn look so this was a fun process!

Shoulders: The bulk of the shoulders is layers of the extra-thick craft foam glued on top of one another, attached to a hallowed out styrofoam ball that sits on my shoulder. The curve of the ball helped to keep all the craftfoam curved in place, which worked out nicely! I used clear plastic tubing + a sturdy copper wire to create the shapes for the vines; by using the tubing, I was able to run the wires for LED lights through the vines as well. The rest of the shape of the shoulder was built up using this paper mache clay stuff I found at Michaels; it's basically like paperclay you make by mixing a powder with water. Once dry, I sanded and hand painted with acrylics. The orbs are clear plastic ornaments I painted by squirting a bunch of acrylic paint inside, swishing it around, and letting it dry upside down in a styrofoam cup so all the extra paint would drip out ~ they're not perfectly even, but it's the best I could get em after 10 or so attempts and they do the job! The shoulders are held on by a piece of wire that connects the two together in the back, which doubles as a spot to hang my cape!

Misc: The horns I carved from expanding foam and covered in masking tape, applied a layer of paper mache clay, sanded, and painted with acrylics. They are attached to a headband under my wig via two wooden dowel "stumps." I used organza for the cape and "fin scrunchie," and burned the edges with a heat knife to prevent fraying... which had the dual purpose of looking awesome! Hrm, what else... bootcovers were made from moleskin that I gradient "dyed" with spraypaint, the ears were bought (well, actually borrowed from my sister xD;;) and "painted" with makeup. The body paint is Kryolan aquacolor.

Personal Thoughts:

I couldn't have finished this costume without the help of many wonderful friends, so I'd like to give a few shout outs :3!! First off thanks so much to Maryssa, who not only helped to inspire me to make this costume in the first place with her fabulous Alexstrasza, she helped teach me the ways of craft foam armor and even let me borrow her own armor set for reference! Sumikins gave me the brilliant idea of using resin to give the craftfoam added support, which helped it to survive a 14 hour run at Blizzcon with pretty much no wear and tear ~ there's no way it could have survived without it, so thank you! Darkain put together the LED light bundles for my shoulders, which really added that extra WoW factor to the costume (pun intended!), especially in the dimly lit convention hall! I vow to learn the magic of LED lights myself one day, but having his help was very much appreciated, especially given the time crunch before Blizzcon. And of course, thanks to my hubby Firien who stepped in at the 11th hour to help me finish up many vital parts of the costume, and who was also the best darn costume handler a girl could ask for!!

Styling Notes

This was actually two wigs of the same style. One was used for the base, with the top swooped back, bangs trimmed, and back trimmed short, and the second was used as a ponytail clip.

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