★Impa- Hyrule Warriors Progress Dump : Armor Edition★

Impa - Hyrule Warriors aka Boss Ass Bitch

So I decided to make Impa from Hyrule Warriors almost as soon as I saw her. I fell in LOVE with her new design, and she looks like she just will eff yo shit up, which she does. She is so strong, in more than just physical strength. I also have a thing for White hair and Red eyes, so it's a win. 

So I am here to share with you, more in depth, of how I am making this costume because it's a blog, I feel like if I write a bunch on Instagram people will get frustrated, just wanting to see the next post in their feed! *grrrr* And FaceBook is fun just to create albums, I never really explain just how I do things on either of these, unless someone asks me. So here we go!! 

So I started out with patterning out all the armor pieces, and like many a cosplayer when it comes to armor, I used Kamui's method. Which if you are a fan of her work, if not go check her out she is a Worbla Goddess, is very simple, though you might be uncomfortable for a little while, is a damn near perfect way to get the correct size and shape of armor pieces, just sometimes you need little tweaking. You start off by wrapping the desired area in plastic wrap, like the kind you would use to cover food, then you wrap that in either duct tape or painters tape, though you might look like you are plotting to kill or kidnap someone while buying these items >.<! If you need raised armor, then you can wrap bubble wrap around then tape. Then just draw out the pattern with a Sharpie Marker, cut out then transfer to paper or foam directly! 

So after I transfered my patterns to paper and craft foam I went and started transferring them to my delicious Worbla!! Since Worbla is pricey, you want to make the most of your space, especially if you  are tall like me! I am 5'10"so I tend to use up Worbla sheets fast! You can either use the "Sandwich Method" or the "Fold-Over Method" The Sandwich method is when you make a Worbla sandwich with foam being in the center, while the fold-over method you only use one piece of worbla and fold it over the edge of the foam. For duriblity reasons I prefer the sandwich method. 

So here is all my pieces for Impa, except the belt, which I will make last, because I am working out I don't want to make the belt too big! So after all your 
foam is cut out you are ready to fire up your heat gun and make some armor!!!

The best advice I can give you is do NOT over heat up your Worbla, it can cause burns, air bubbles, and the material gets super fexible and it can distort the shape you originally wanted. So play around with a small piece of it, make a small arm bracer or pick an armor light cosplay first before you attempt the big ones! Also try to make your identical pieces at the same time, or at least in the same day. If you have asymmetrical armor then you can ignore this, but it is wiser to just take the time to complete your 2 matching bracers, then to take a long break then come back not being able to recreate the same piece. Also 

KEEP HOLD OF YOU PATTERNS!   

YOU'LL never know when something will go wrong or you might need to adjust it, you misplace your foam pieces! Feel free to doodle designs, or where you want to position everything, like your "pop up / dimensional / 3D" Layers of your armor. 

Here is one of the 2 of my bracers I have done so far. It took about 1 1/2 hours to construct, I have yet to add details or make my leg armor, but I got my bracers done!!