Maria - Silent Hill 2
Complete
Information
| It's an old game now, but Silent Hill 2 is still one of my all-time favourites. And I loved Maria, despite all that she was. Worn at: London MCM Expo October 2011 (Friday and late Saturday afternoon). FushiCon 2011 (Saturday) Prices on the shopping list include postage. About Maria: Maria is a 'creature' of Silent Hill, existing as a representation of James's guilt and torment over the murder of his terminally-ill wife, Mary. She resembles Mary in voice and features, but her flirtatious personality and dress sense differ greatly from the 'homely' Mary. As James's subconciously self-imposed punishment, she is repeatedly slain by the 'red pyramid thing' (Pyramid Head'); suffering for his sins, just as Mary once did. |
To-Do List
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Choker - complete
This took somewhere between six and seven hours to complete (seriously, I was sewing all day ¬¬). Handsewn, made from pink leopard print faux fur fabric and black crepe cotton fabric. It closes with velcro at the back.
The coin looks photoshoppe don but I swear it's actually attached to the choker! >.<
Choker progress
I was working on this from about 2pm until 8pm today X_X. Ironed interfacing to the back of black crepe cotton fabric, took apart the bag that I took the leopard print fabric from, cut the fabric to size, then sewed it to the cotton with the edges of the cotton folded over, sewed another piece of cotton to the back to even it up, and I have started to sew the velcro onto the back. I will add the coin once it is all finished.
Right hand rings
Onyx ring made by Frederica_la_Noir, silver ring bought from Claire's Accessories, as part of a set.
Love the onyx ring! It is a perfect fit too. I was worried that it wouldn't fit, because my fingers have been quite swollen lately for some unexplained reason (look at the finger the silver ring is on...you can tell that it is tight...when I bought it, it was loose on that finger).
Gold ring
Bought from Claire's Accessories. It was originally a double-layered 'spring'-type ring. It was a little on the small side (my fingers seem to have swollen lately :/) so I sawed it in half, filed the sharpened edges down, spray painted it gold and here we have it :). It is not 100% accurate, but it is the closest I could get on my current budget and time frame.
Onyx ring (and more progress!)
Made by Frederica_la_Noir. She did an awesome job - even added detail I hadn't noticed myself >.<.
I'm still trying to source the stacker rings that Maria wears. No such luck - all the ones I can find online are mega expensive. So, I'm just going to see if I can find something similar in Claire's. I did buy a set of plain thin silver rings (using one for the solitary silver ring) but sadly they won't fit onto the correct finger for the stacker rings.
I also have the undershirt! No pics yet; I'm in the process of altering it. Still waiting for black fabric for the choker, which is the only main part of the costume that still needs doing - will order some more tattoo transfer paper soon too.
80% done!
Ignore ze face. It was about 4:30am when I took this >.<.
The belt is now done, I found the tights and I attached the belt to the skirt to help keep it where it should be.
I may need to take the skirt in a little more at the sides. Didn't believe it when people told me I've lost weight - looks like they were right, because as you can see in the pic, there is a lot more give around the legs than there once was.
The cardigan is a little longer than it looks here...it was riding up in the dash to make it in front of the camera before the self-timer went off XD. need to find a suitable undershirt too.
The wig may also need a little more pink dye on the front on the left hand side. Also going to try and straighten it a little more to flatten it.
Belt painting
Spray-painting the belt and coins (they were originally bronze) now.
Can't help but think that the coins are a little too small, but they are the biggest I could find! I think there were bigger sizes in the set I originally bought, but that got lost in the mail, sadly.
Paint is still wet in the picture, hence uber-shininess. I know that the clip isn't completely smooth but I gave up trying to get it that way lol. It looks kinda worn though, and from the amount of times Maria died, I'm going to say it's in keeping with the character >.<.
What remains to be done:
* Print out tattoo and test (after resizing).
* Find tights (I bought them...they went walkabout).
* Make choker.
* Correct stitching on cardigan.
* Find gold stacker rings or ones that could be used as such.
* Attempt to straighten one side of wig a little more.
* Full outfit/makeup test.
Wig progress 2
It still needs some trimming and styling, but it is dyed. I need to darken the roots, but have no idea how I am going to do that yet lol.
I also need to try and flatten the top...the wig is lovely and thick but sadly Maria's hair is not! I was actually contemplating removing some wefts but I just know that will fail terribly.
It has taken all day to do this so far (in intervals!) and I am too exhausted to do more progress now. It is a shame that the pink didn't come out darker, but it is a light wig so this was expected.
I only sprayed the lower layers, because it appears that this is how Maria's is dyed.
I bought the dye from Katie Bar's website (it is Raspberry Pink) because I did not want to attempt making my own dye.
Wig beginnings
I love this wig - it is so thick and feels so gorgeous...it's nicer than my natural hair!! It is also a shade darker than my natural hair, which is good :).
I trimmed the wig in this picture (it is a Namine wig XD) but it needs more styling, I was just waiting until it was dyed before I do that. I have dyed it now, I'm just waiting for it to dry. It may need more dye since I just sprayed a small amount of hair to be safe, but I tested the dye on some strands that I cut off and the colour was pretty good :).
The wig was bought from cosplaywig and I would recommend them to anyone - fabulous wig and fast postage.
Excuse the horrible no-makeup face XD
Belt progress
First off, I am aware that it is bright yellow >.< - it will be painted!!
I have finished adding the links (although may need to add one or two more) and have fashioned the straight clip from Milliput. It is a little wonky, but it's my best effort! Photo is pre-sanding. I will probably attach the belt to the skirt to keep it in position.
Hopefully the coins will arrive soon...they were supposed to be redelivered today but haven't turned up with the rest of my redeliveries T_T.
Apologies for the state of my mirror also...it's desperately in need of a clean >.<.
Tattoo progress
Insomnia can be pretty useful sometimes :).
I basically drew the outline by hand, photographed it (because I couldn't use the scanner at that time of night >.<) and then coloured it using GIMP. It would have been a lot easier using Photoshop, but my disk is still AWOL.
Needs some more work but I'm rather pleased with it for now :).
If anyone wants to use this, I will probably upload a larger version to DeviantArt (link on my profile) once it is finished.
Boots
I removed the straps and coloured in the sole of one of the boots with a red Sharpie. However, it doesn't show too well on the heel, obviously, so I have ordered some paint to paint the inside of the heel and the arch of the boot.
I love how the boots appear either dark brown or black depending on the light...just like Maria's :).
Cardigan - 90% complete
I wish that I had taken a 'before' picture to show how much work actually went into this!
The original cardigan was bought from the Land's End online sale.
It had this strange triple-seam thing going on around the neck and down the front so I removed the buttons, unpicked the seams, and sewed it all back up, creating my own seams to match the ones on Maria's cardigan. I then reattached three of the buttons (luckily they were white so I didn't have to buy new ones) and created new buttonholes. Then I took the cardigan up and removed the excess fabric. I also had to take it in a little at the sides beacuse whilst it was baggy like Maria's it looked a little too baggy.
And all of this was done by hand, no machine ^_^;. It took days. The seams aren't the neatest but it was the best that I could do.
It looks the correct colour in the picture, but it is actually a lot brighter (it only looks dark in this picture for some reason :/)...it is more the colour of Lisa's cardigan. So, I am going to dye it. I also need to move down the third button. It won't be alligned with the buttonhole but that's okay since Maria only closes the top two buttons (and you can't really see the buttonhole in photos anyway). It also needs taking in a little more at one of the sides.
Belt progress
I found another Maria cosplayer who had made the belt from scratch using foam to make the individual links and it looked pretty awesome so I decided to try the same technique since I couldn't find a suitable chain.
I did initially try to do it on top of an existing chain, but decided to do it on top of the beading cord instead so that it is a little more flexible :).
Choker beginnings
I found a small bag on eBay that looked to be a good match for the skirt. It worked out a lot cheaper than it would have if I had bought another skirt. Well, the bag arrived, and it's a perfect match! And the best thing is that the spots down the middle are smaller, so would work perfectly if I use a bit of that part for the choker. It's also long enough too (it's basically a folded piece of material that has been sewn up the sides and along the top, so I can take a continuous piece. It almost seems like a shame to cut it, since it would be a perfect little bag to carry my essentials in.
Since I only need a small bit of black fabric for the choker, I am going to source some material for Saeko's skirt and use the remains for this. Alternatively, the lining of the bag is black so I may see if I can use that for the backing.
Back of skirt
The zip in the back of the skirt wasn't bothering me at first, but the more I think about it, the more it is niggling.
I am trying to think about what I can do about it - if I remove it, I will still need to put in a smaller zip because of the fabric, which means that I will have to unpick everything that I have already sewn (plus, a smaller zip would be a lot weaker. And I can't put a zip into the side of the skirt because then I'd have problems with the belt clips. *sigh*
I bought a bag on eBay (still waiting for it to be delivered) that looks to be a similar match to the skirt fabric for the choker, and if the colour matches, I may use the leftovers to try and make a strip to conceal the zip a little better, but I don't think that will make much difference to be honest :/.
Practically, I honestly can't think of much that I can do about it so if anyone has any ideas, let me know!
Ignore the luminous quality of the fabric in the photo - the flash on my camera is very bright ¬¬.
Skirt
I was originally going to make the skirt myself, but I couldn't find a fabric that was a close enough match. And then I found this skirt on eBay :). It is a fur-type fabric - depending on the light it can look either matte or shiny and the same can be said for Maria's skirt, so it is a perfect match!
I bought a size bigger than I usually wear so that it wouldn't be too tight around the waist, and then I took it in and shaped it a little.
The only difference is that it has a zip down the back where Maria's skirt doesn't, but it's not a huge detail. The zip actually helps with the fitting, because the fabric doesn't have much stretch so I could shape it to my legs and it is still easy to get in and out of.
The teal/turquoise band is suede (faux?) beading cord, 3mm wide. I sewed it in place with infrequent stitches so that it doesn't slip out of position.
Belt clip
I had some leftover mixed millput after I'd finished with Luna's wand and made sort of a prototype for the circular clip on Maria's belt. It's not bad for a first try I guess, but I realised that I didn't actually have any clips to attach a little too late. So I will remake it again once I get the rest of the materials for the belt and I can attach it to the clip and to the chain.
Yes, crappy picture is crappy. You can't really see, but the rectangle isn't carved into it, it sort of protrudes outwards. It needs a little work but it's a start ^_^;
Red soles
I tried using a red Sharpie on the soles of the boots, and it works! I've only done a little squiggle, but it doesn't just rub off so it may hold, and it is bright enough.
The soles are real leather so I was thinking about trying to dye them with leather dye; the only problem being that the soles are already scuffed and the dye probably won't stick to the scuffed areas. Not only that, but it may be difficult to get the red as bright as I'd like it to be.
However, the heel is just plain wood and the colour comes out a little darker than the sole, so I may paint that part with just ordinary acrylic, since it won't be coming into contact with the ground so hopefully shouldn't scuff.
So, Sharpie it is :).
Comments
yes yes yes.. and yes some more!!
sweeet
Awesome, I'm really looking forward to seeing your Maria =D And thanks for the advice on James' jacket, I will have another look to see what I can find. If you'll be wearing this to October's Expo then I'd be more than happy to bring my James along to it if you'd like to do a SH2 photoshoot :) ( I always re-wear my cosplays to different events anyway because I like to get the most out of them )
Ah, a photoshoot would be awesome :). Spesh if we could find a pyramid head somewhere haha. Poor Maria :(.
In october last year there where 3 REALLY amazing pyramid heads so i'd watch it =D Hahah, love silent hill and like Marias character~ Your going to suit this so much. I shall be on the hunt for you when October comes around :D
Aww, thank you :3. I hope I do suit her ^_^. Haha, yeah I saw a pyramid head in October. Was going to get a pic of him but pretty much by the time I'd turned round again he'd disappeared. Even at Expo, how the frick do you lose a pyramid head?!
I WILL be hunting you down for pics ;) Maria and Heather make SH gorgeous and sexy at the same time, she was the only thing keeping me from dropping my contoller when playing the game lol, may end up throwing Jame's lines at you though lol youve been warned :)
Haha, hunt away! There should hopefully be a Heather and a James for photos too ^_^. I was actually thinking about trying to get a Silent Hill group together nearer the time; you should come along! Hehe, I'll probably come right back with an "I'm not your Mary" or "All you care about is that dead wife of yours!" XD. Man I love SH2.
Ooo, I hope to see this at october expo! :D Silent Hill 2 is just amazing! You'll look awesome I'm sure. :D
Can't wait to see more progress!
Nice choice on the skirt, the colour and pattern looks a pretty close match ^^
The skirt is perfect!
You've put so much thought into the little details on this! Good find on the skirt, it's brilliant!
Nice start - skirt looks spot on. For what its worth I would leave the straps on the boots as they are, they are too nice to change and they suit the cosplay as is. :)
Glad everyone likes the skirt - I'm a little bit in love with it ^_^. Ranma 1-2 - Oh geez, I love the boots. It's breaking my heart to remove the buckles but as I learned from my Jill cosplay I get a bit nit-picky over details, heh. I'd be tugging at them all day then trying to saw through them with my keys if I left them on X_X. I'm going to leave it until last to do though, just in case.
See! :D thats why I wouldnt change them. ..only another Maria cosplayer might notice the extra buckles anyway. ;) If you did remove them though I guess you could glue them back on after the cosplay using Impact adhesive, if you cut them off cleanly..
Heh, I never actually thought about reattaching them [/blonde]. The leather is quite soft so it shouldn't be too difficult to cut them quite cleanly.
Looks awesome so far! Can't wait to see this finished! Your attention to detail is amazing! The skirt is just perfect!! <3
Thank you ^_^. I'm so excited about this it's unreal :).
Ooh, the belt links are looking good and the shapes are just like those in the ref. pics. Good luck with it! Btw I spotted a cardigan in Oasis a while ago that might be useful for modifying if you can't find anything that's closer: http://www.oasis-stores.com/70s-V-Neck-Cardigan/Cardigans/oasis/fcp-product/3630075133 It's a little on the pricey side, though.
Ooh, that looks great, thanks for sharing! The cardigan is being a real pain to find :(. I have my eye on a cheap one on eBay but I think it may be too thin *sigh*. The belt is a pain too haha so I'm glad that you think the links are looking good...I know that her belt is an omega/snake chain but I just can't find one wide enough and long enough and I'm not ready to give up and settle just yet haha.
The cardigan is looking excellent, well done for having the patience to hand-stitch it all!
Spot on girl :! cardigan look awesome, cant wait to see this all complete, really excited about it :D
YOU JUST MADE ME WANT TO RE-PLAY SILENT HILL 2 TEN THOUSAND TIMES MORE THAN I ALREADY DO!!!!!!!!!!!! WELL DONE =]
awmygawd i LOVE it !! awsome cosplay !! :D
Your going all out of detail here missy. I love it! really brilliant and perfect
You make a great Maria - the skirt is spot on!!!
This is so brilliant! Actually love you for doing this! Not seen many SH2 cosplays of her in ages. :D
This looks amazing...love the pictures too
You make such a good Maria, you really look like her in the face too!
Hehe, yes the grabby hands pictures were funny, it looks a bit like Silent Hill meets Resi =P I loved your Maria cosplay, thanks so much for letting me get pictures with you ^^ And I like how on the camera used for these photos you can see background scenery in the " meeting Maria " shots.
Your costume looked great. Well done!
Wow, you look fantastic. Much SH love. :)
Really loved this cosplay! Wig looks brilliant and the tattoo looked so real! Really love the photos!
Thank you :). This is definitely one of my favourite costumes to wear.
Great Maria Cosplay!!
Superb cosplay from one of my favourite games.
Just popping past your Maria again!! Did you see my James??? anyway, do you have any more Maria pictures?