Ten years of Terra
Hello!
I wanted to pour out some thoughts related to making of Terra V2. It's not too many posts ago where this blog saw the V1, but time-wise it has been a decade. So, here are some comparisons, musings on the techniques used and an hopefully I find the answer to the question: "Was it worth the time and neck pain to spend whole Summer cramped inside crafting a costume this elaborate?"
(Spoiler: I think I prefer a less detailed costumes overall 😂 but for the best girl! )
The start
I wrote at the end of the old post ten years ago:
"One day, I'll buy the green wig, tons of beads and other embellishments and go crazy with another version..."
Well, now was the time. Nevara agreed/wanted to make Celes from the game, and since my cosplay hobby seems to be all about group cosplays now, a plan was born. To make Terra, Celes and to seek out a competition to fit the women. We decided on references, somewhat, and on a cold, fucken wimdy day travelled to Estonia's craft store haven to buy lots of gold and bling.
bling from Estonia
Nevara's costume was going to be closer to the game reference, mine was going to be some sort of Sakizou-frankenstein of various designs. The most important thing being the mint-green wig. Green haired Terra has been burning at the back of my mind ever since I first saw her as a kiddo and for me that is THE hair color of this mage lady.
The middle
This costume was made over a looong period of time. At start I was struggling with patterning, as I partly couldn't decide on how to make something, and partly because I couldn't decide what to make. Usually I am very pedantic about making my cosplays (especially competition costumes) reference-accurate, but this time I was partially winging it. Which, in truth, was both liberating and hard. I loved to mix and match my materials, especially beadwork and embellishments. Usually the nitpicky reference usage results in stress over not finding exactly correct materials. Having the freedom to use what I had was very freeing.
I will list parts and give a little pro&con-list for myself of the things compared to my old costume. This isn't to bash the old me, but to see how my skill and eye for details has evolved in ten years.
The dress
The dress was the part with most freedom taken in the design. I didn't want to use any existing Sakizou-design as I didn't want a white front, but I wanted something more grande than Terra's original tube dress. And I am still not sure if I like my desicions... The white boob-part ended up a bit weird, I used way too many pattern pieces for velvet and the fit isn't 100%. If I could remake something, it would be the dress. I really liked the embroidery though, so re-making that really wasn't an option with this schedule. I would probably make the dress a fitted "tube dress" over the corset I made, to get that snatched waist.
Embroidering the dress. I first designed some patterns based on various embroidery patterns I found online, old and new
Goldwork embroidery was pretty fun! We ordered our supplies from a Swedish store Tamme craft
Comparison
New one
Pros: Velvet 💗 Embroidery💗 The embellishment at bottom is fun!
Cons: The fit isn't 100% and I regret the white bust 😂
Old one
Pros: The paintings came out pretty!
Cons: Fit, absolutely horrible! Might've looked okay at some point but the mallorca cotton tends to stretch in use, making it droop even more.
Booties
The boots. I started from the boots, but they were like the last thing to get completed, as I was stressing my ass off because of the glueing-part. Especially with the gold lycra, glueing them into place was a point of no return, since the glue strips the shine from the fabric. I spent so long thinking about the contruction and patterning and I think it paid off! They came out niiiiiice~
The clasps were formed from golden cord, sewn into shape and attached to the boots. Pearls were added for decoration.
The golden flower details were pieces cut from lace trim, edges were sealed with a soldering iron and the patches were dyed with yellow and red alcohol markers.
Comparison
New one
Pros: They fit the shoes! The overall look is pretty great and cohesive.
Cons: I used pleather for the internal structure and well.. I fear they might not be very long-lasting as it is disintegrating already, as you can see... NEVER again pleather anywhere. Also I glued the golden tips slightly too tight so that the underlying seam allowance shows. But, after glueing it wasn't possible to fix this.
Old one
Pros: I think the shape of the top came out nicer in the old ones as it flares out!
Cons: Everything else compared to the new ones. These really show how much more carefully I plan and carry out cosplay crafting ten years later.
Cloak
The cloak... I was pondering about making a whisk collar for this on honor of the Sakizou designs, but decided in the end that the original hood fits the design better and it doesn't restrict movement. The cloak was also one piece where I really wanted to redeem myself over V1.
I was thinking about going the route of natural fabrics, but after I visited Wennström factory shop and saw the silk dye samples... My destiny was sealed. I wanted to make it out of silk. Purchase was made of two meters of their 43g crepe de chine, alongside all the missing dyeing materials I required.
The dyeing
Dyeing is always tricky. Dyeing pastels is tricky. Dyeing nice gradients is tricky. So of course, after having done this many times before I totally botched the cloak dyeing by making it too dark. I think it is because I used for the first time glauber's salt instead of regular food grade salt, so the color actually correctly took onto the fabric. What a realization, that following instructions works. I swear the instructions I got ten years ago with my dyes said whatever salt.
I mean, the crepe de chine looked absolutely amazing when dyed, but the tones were way too dark and bright! I mused over my problem and tried to let it go, but if I have learned something during past two competition builds, it's that I really need to remake things I'm not happy with. New fabric was ordered, this time 28g silk pongee, as it was 1) cheaper 2) lighter. The 43g fabric wasn't quite as see-through as I wanted.
And yes, I think I managed to nail the second dye nicely. I used a dropper to measure the colors this time. I first dyed the pink, then removed the cloak and added purple to the water, before dyeing the purple. After pink and purple I washed out the excess color and let the cloak dry, before tying it onto the support pipe the other way around. I used Semitone reactive colors that also work on silk.
Silk painting
I wanted to try silk painting for the flowers, and got few different shades and mixing white. The cloak hem was stretched very carefully on the wooden frame I made for the dress embroidery, and I painted the flowers very loosely in three parts. I did get the outline solution too, but based on the reference this watercoloury look felt very fitting. I still would like to embellish the cloak more by adding silk flowers or maybe colorful strasses.
Comparison
Pros: Everything ♥️ it's flowy, gradient is smooth and the paintings look ethereal
Cons: tiny gripe: Due to the fabric being so thin, the hood doesn't really hold its shape
Old one
Pros: gradient came out okay!
Cons: the cold dyed flowers didn't stick at all. The linen isn't very royal as a material. No flow.
Wig
The one who has invented that glue and thin plastic strips belong together can burn in hell. I'm just happy that I got it done and it looks quite neat! Making the quick Terra helmet wig last year definitely served as a practise piece on what to not do. Any thicker felt padding as a core makes my head look way too big, and crimping those wefts definitely helps with the adhesion. Then it was just many nights of cursing the glue. Silicone baking mat did help a ton, and I did get a new wig head and tried to shape it as close to my own noggin as possible. For the ponytail I used a soda bottle cap and the part where cap attaches, and a ton of hot glue.
Instead of felt, I used some bandage to strenghten the base, and it served as a nice base for glue to grip onto.
Comparison
New one
Pros: everything compared to last one. Color, sleekness, bangs
Cons: even after making the new wig head, there is still mysterious extra space in the wig which causes it to sit bit tad too far at the front. Which causes the lace not to fit propely and it wrinkles a bit...
Old one
Pros and cons: eh, it looks like a wig but doesn't really serve anything.
Tiara
Several little things were 3d-modeled by me, like the tiara, cabochon backings and wrist bangles (which I forgot from both photos and judging). My skills are limited to making very simple architectural shapes in Fusion, but luckily 3d prints can be heat shaped. Making the tiara durable and neat on any other medium would've been quite challenging.
Dagger
I love my new dagger and scabbard, even if it's very small part in the big picture. I did also make the handle three times.
First version was made out of EVA foam, but I didn't finish the surface well enough so Rubbercomp showed the texture though.
Then I dremeled whole handle down and covered it with Super sculpey. Surface was nice, but I thought that with the blade the handle looked too big.
Third time I modeled the base of the handle out of foil and then covered it with Sculpey. Lots of sanding, some paint and it was done. The blade was quickly modeled in Fusion and printed. It wasn't visible so I just went with something blade shaped.
The scabbard was just two pieces of 5mm EVA foam covered with a very embellished sock. Some belt loops were sewn to the backside. The belt was gold lace and satin ribbon sandwiched together.
Comparison
New one
Pros: it is so pretty ♥️ and since my V1 dagger got almost lost on the way to convention, I made a small strap to hold it in place
Cons: had to remake million times
Old one
Pros and cons: I made it?
Stockings
I was stuck in an analysis paralysis for an eternity trying to decide what I want to do with the stockings. Sakizou designs are so so very yummy, but trying to find stretchy trims and pretty laces is near impossible. I ended up deciding that the thigh high style would shorten my already short stature too much, and went with the original design.
The silk flowers were half an accident. I was searching YouTube for silk painting tutorials and bumped into silk flower making. There was some leftover silk from the cape, so I wanted to try to make the stocking decorations 3d, as I had seen some people do online.
The white lace stockings I bought were way too see-though so I sewed some white lycra leggings undereath. The flowers were sewn only to the lace. It was interesting moment of both me and Nevara sewing flowers onto my legs while I was wearing the stockings.
New one
Pros: happy accidents! They came out fun. Simple but elegant enough
Cons: hazard to snatch onto things if not careful
Old one
Pros: quite reference accurate, were easy to make
Cons: boring
Other fabric parts etc
There are so many details! The sashes were made more according to Sakizou design than the official. My attachments for these were way better than in V1. For the purple sash the buckle was hidden inside the ribbon. The little dangly bits are attached by small keyrings. Overall I tried to make things detachable where possible, for easier storing.
Sword
Sword model was by bought from Dangerous ladies. It is a very challenging model to print, since the blade is so unbelievably thin. 3d prints are more durable in layer-direction than printing direction, as the layers snap off from each other before the filament breaks, so I printed the blade horizontally. And since it's not completely straight, there has to be supports, and few edges were bound to look ugly no matter what.
Assembly, welding
The blade pieces were connected by small printed parts as the blade was too thin and curvy for any support rod. To try to increase the durability and to mask the huge gaps, I used soldering iron to melt same filament between the edges, hoping that it fuses the seam into one. So far it seems to work, the blade can take a little bending! After that I used dremel to smooth the seam. The goal was to use as little spackle in the seam as possible, as that stuff doesn't bend.
Painting
The sword was then layered with spray filler and sanded multiple times. The blade was finished with silver gilding wax, the handle was airbrushed with dark purple, metallic purple and a mix or metallic purple and red.
New one
Pros: it came out very sleek
Cons: bought model, no emotional attachment
Old one
Pros: I made it!
Cons: it was so ugly I must've thrown it to trash immediately, as I didn't even have recollection of making it before I read about it in this blog.
The end
Terra V2 was a yet another learning experience on this long road of cosplay crafting experiences. I did new things, focused on making the best quality I can and also tried a new way of costume crafting where reference isn't a 100% guide on how the costume should look like.
For sure I am not looking to start another as complex build in any near future. It is time to hone the skills I have on some comfort costume with less moving parts. Even if I am really happy with Terra, there are still parts I wish I would've done different and know that I could've done better. But isn't it like that with cosplay often? We always find some things to improve upon. In the end though, it's more rewarding to get things done than perfect.
For me, the biggest realization is that I do have the patience to make something the best I can, if I want. Old me would've been unable to remake parts I'm not happy with as I didn't have the will. And competing with someone is always nice!
I like the new me, even if my wallet doesn't 😂 Now, onwards to future challenges!
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