January 11, 2014

I am a self taught seamstress and leatherworker. I have only been seriously cosplaying since the end of 2012, but I have always had a love for crafting. I got into cosplaying after I went to Dragon Con in 2011 with some friends. After that, I really wanted to make something spectacular.

I decided to cosplay Natsu for a bunch of reasons; I loved her concept art, I wanted to make some armor that wasn't too crazy and I wanted to do a fighting character because I am a martial artist and I thought the poses would be fun. Natsu was my first attempt at leatherworking and I was given a lot of advice and help from some of my leatherworking friends.

The corset, tassets, chest strap, shin guards, gauntlets, shoulder piece and hairpiece were all made from leather. I cut out and hand tooled 56 feathers. The ones on the upper layers are riveted and the ones on the bottom row are glued with a leather glue. The corset was wet formed on a mannequin and the shin guards were two pieces sewn together and then wet formed. I did some slight wet forming on all the pieces, but not much. Instead of cutting a curved strap, the chest strap was a straight piece that was curved slightly by wetting it and then bending it into place. I used leather dye for the browns and blacks and acrylic paints for the grays, pinks and golds. I also hand dyed with fabric dye the feathers on the back of the costume.

The bodysuit and tabi were modified from zentai outfit I bought to save on time. I am glad I did this, it worked really well. I hand sewed the fishnet neck which I destroyed a pair of stockings for.

The swords and sheaths are those plastic kids katanas you can buy anywhere. The grip and sheath were wrapped in leather and painted with acrylics. The hilt is molded from sculpey and details were added with pieces of foam sheets. The blade was spray painted with a metallic silver. The wig was commissioned from Red-cluster Cosplay.

I have a lot of fun cosplaying Nastu because even though she isn't a very popular character, people seem to really enjoy the costume and the poses. I feel like cosplay has really pushed my skills and help me focus my abilities. I hope to continue working hard at this hobby because I love the feeling of accomplishment I get when I finish a piece and the friends I have made at conventions.

Cosplayer: Pink Justice Cosplay

Seong Mi-na Seung Mina Soul Calibur III

Taki Soul Calibur IV

Ivy Valentine Soul Calibur IV

Talim Soul Calibur

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