21st October 2008: Tweaking and Guns Having neatened up everything I'd already made I'm now well into making all the new additions; including her gun :D
I've used 5mm and 3mm foamboard glued in layers to make the 3D shape and sanded it down smooth. Everything is covered in foam dust! *cough*
1st October 2008: There are a lot of little differences between the art work and the game model for Maria, so I went with a mix of the convenient parts of each. My old friend funky foam was used for the hand armour and covered in suede for the belt (with giant buttons!), pleather for the chest piece and holster band and I turned to foamboard to build up the gun. Finding the chunky zip for the dress was probably the hardest part.
Because I knew I'd be stuck inside helping on the cosplay desk I kept this to as few layers as possible. This meant the chest armour only went round the front and attached at the dress side seams under the jacket. This hid under the jacket quite nicely, but I felt if I did the lower armour plates it would be really clear they didn't go all the way round and would be difficult to keep flat (as well as being warmer), so I left that off.