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There has been some talk on the boards of people's costumes, the wearing of them and how they change things and what people are working on. So I'd like to throw open the question, What is your costume? It can be any approach. Are you working on one now? Are you a fan who appreciates them but doesn't make them? Do you have a favorite costume? Do you have favorite memories of one? Do you like realism, or abstraction, history, sci fi, or fantasy? Does costuming connect to your gaming or other hobbies? When and where do you wear costumes? Are you making something for another person? Or for a doll maybe? What's your favorite one you've seen? What would you make if you had the materials and time? *** I'll start. I have a reproduction late-eighteenth century dress in a big floral print in shades of red and blue on white, complete with undergarments, big pockets, mitts, a ruffled cap, and cocked hat that I had been wearing to our neighborhood's annual Fourth of July parade. But I've been feeling weirder about it in the last few years since late eighteenth century dress has become political in a direction I am not. So I've found myself turning towards the struggles of the Suffragists a century ago. I've been reading old mail order catalogues from the First World War and checking out the eminently practical suits women wore at the time -- big pockets everywhere! At this point I have plans for nearly everything except a suit. I have undergear and petticoats, a blouse, nearly acceptable shoes, hats to be modified, a good pattern for spats, and a pageant-style banner edged with green and purple ribbon* ready to be painted front and back with "Votes for Women". At this point it would be nice to make a historically accurate suit, but looking at what I have, I think it would be a fairly convincing impression with any reasonably matched jacket and calf-length skirt. *Those are the colors of the English suffragists, not the US ones, but I'm okay with that.

Some of you know I help run a convention call MarCon here in Columbus, Ohio Marcon is held Mother's Day weekend in Columbus Ohio in the same hotel that Origins uses. This year we have a few guests, some you might recognize. Still working on media guests, but this is the group we have so far. Marcon.org for more info.. Author Guest of Honor: F. Paul Wilson Young Adult Author Guest of Honor: Cinda Williams Chima Music Guest of Honor: Dandelion Wine Legendary Artist Guest of Honor: Larry Elmore Artist Guest of Honor: David Lee Pancake Cosplay Guest of Honor: Alexa Heart Cosplay Guest of Honor: Mogchelle Cosplay Guest of Honor: Charles Xavier Conley (Ebony Warrior Cosplay) Fan Guest of Honor: Todd Cameron Hamilton Miniatures Guest of Honor: Shoshie Bauer Featured Author: Walter Jon Williams Featured Author: Eric Flint Featured Author: Walter Hunt Featured Artist: Andy Hopp Featured Cosplay Guest: Nerd Girl Cosplay Featured Cosplay Guest: Brit Bliss

If you had to make a costume from components that you had in your wardrobe and house right now, what would it be?

Hey all! There has been a bit of talk on the cosplay thread about moving the WIP's, so I decided, since my daughter and I have been contributing, to start a new thread. So, show us your costumes! The start of your costumes! The concept art of your.... You get the Idea! 8) George ps: This will let us know each other in a couple of Octobers!

So, we have about two months right now to prepare our cosplay options. I thought it might be useful to have a thread where we discuss our ideas and perhaps seek suggestions. Myself, I'm basically at the ground state on my costume. I have some accessories I can put to the purpose, but no overall idea, except for the Con's Western theme. Assets: Broad-brimmed black leather hat, somewhat cowboyish. Black safari vest, replete with pockets for storing assorted items. Two TA-57 Soviet Field Telephones. Assorted souvinirs from Afghanistan Hats in various styles Khaffiyeh and Aqal, here modeled by a tonberry, and various knives Two feline assistants The obvious costume would be something Lawrence-of-Arabia-like, maybe buying a dishdasha. However, that doesn't fit in with the convention's western theme. I do have some westernish hats, but I don't have much to make a western costume stand out. I could perhaps try to convert the field telephones into something more steampunkish, and go from there. Any thoughts?

I was wondering if anyone is going to Dragon Con. If so, stop by the CMON booth in the Amerismart building during the day (9:30 to 5:30) as I will be there demoing games.

http://www.hodderscape.co.uk/11-majestic-handmade-dune-sandworms/ I just noticed the second one is actually a worm sign. Augh.

With all the cosplay ideas running in the ReaperCon forum and elsewhere on the Reaper boards and the few SCA folks, I thought I would share this KS. $47K on a $10K goal, so well funded. And just under $3K for the $50K stretch goal,with 44hours left. Right now there manuals are unlocked and a fourth will be at $50K. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1831014280/the-modern-maker-pattern-manual-1580-1640

Here is Darkspace Iron Chef, aka “Solid Chef†or “Solid Snack†for Relic Knights. In the Relic Knights lore, occasionally versions of characters from alternate dimensions show up in the Last Galaxy. In this case, Iron Chef (who normally fights for the Star Nebula Corsairs [space pirates]) instead works as a special operative for Black Diamond [space mercenaries]. For scale, Solid Chef sits on a 50mm base. The primary colors are various shades of grey, matching the rest of my Black Diamond rank and file. In order of darkest to lighest: VMC German Grey, RMS Armor Grey (there's not much of this), VMC Basalt Grey, RMS Rainy Grey. The primary component of his fur is RMS Chestnut Gold. I’m very happy with how the carrots came out, but I am most proud of his eyes. They are fairly large and I was able to get dks eyes going on and he doesn’t look too walleyed. I used the same matte vanish as on my Black Dragons but didn’t spray from so far away, which has eliminated most of the graininess.

This morning when I dropped off the kids at school, one of the parent-volunteer greeters was dressed in a natty suit and overcoat with a bowler hat, carrying a picture frame in front of him with a green apple suspended in the middle. What cool / neat / creative Halloween costumes have other folks seen?

So my youngest (who is almost taller than I am) would like to be Joel from Mystery Science Theater 3000 for Halloween. That's this guy, the one behind the two robot puppets. We were fortunate enough to find a nice unlined red cotton coverall at a decent price, way better than I could sew myself in the time we've got. Has anyone got thoughts about the patch on his left breast? I'm thinking yellow duct tape and maybe black-and-white checkered duct tape if I can find it. Alternatively it could be some sort of printed plastic or paper or cloth. I'd like it removable for laundering, but I'm willing to baste things together if need be. In one or two shots Joel is wearing a yellow hard hat with a big "G" on the front. I'd like to try something like that, but the toy hats I found won't fit anyone older than a toddler. Youngest is not wedded to the idea, but an adult-fitting yellow prop hard hat would be a nice touch. We even have a Tom-appropriate gumball machine, although Youngest has wisely reckoned that lugging it around will be impractical.

Next year's Reapercon will have a retro sci fi theme. I thought I'd start a thread to gather helpful and useful tips and hints for costuming ideas. Here's something (mildly edited) I posted on the 2014 Reapercon Cosplay thread: I was in Jo-Ann fabrics earlier today and found something cool and sci fi looking. It's metallic-look flexible mesh tubing, about 8mm in diameter, intended for flower arranging (I gather you loop it around, or something, with the flowers). It's super flexible and super lightweight and comes in 20 yard packages for about five bucks. It comes in various metallic colors and iridescent white, although I gravitated towards straight silver. I imagine it snaking all over a retro astronaut outfit. It's more delicate, and more showy, than the flexible plastic tubing I found at the hardware store (which is meant to hold multiple computer cords together and also looks pretty cool and astronauty).

Wow! Check out this guy's incredible Warhammer 40K space marine costume from last weekend.