I’ve been inexcusably slow to finish this write-up, as the task of putting this experience to paper has been daunting. Our Claymore build was the most complex costume I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on. It was also the most rewarding. Hang in there; you’re in for one long blog.

Stage 1: Assembling the Team
So how did this beautiful relationship begin? I’d met Linda Le, also known as VampyBitMe, just prior to my big move across the country last year. I really enjoyed the limited time I spent with her, and when I learned I’d be living less than 20 minutes away, a collaborative costume was a no-brainer. It became even more ideal when we were both invited to be cosplay guests at the same convention – Katsucon – in February of 2012. We just had to narrow down the theme.

About the same time my boyfriend had started and finished a Claymore marathon in a single sitting. The ambient music and dialogue from the other room had me instantly intrigued. I sat down the next weekend and did the same, falling in love with the characters, costume design, and overall narrative of Claymore. In a moment of serendipity the next day, Linda posted a progress photo of her own Claymore costume to Facebook – the first stages of wig and bodysuit for Teresa of the Faint Smile. The madness began soon after.

We both wanted the cosplay to be one of the most impressive of our portfolios, so some large amount of time was spent ideating techniques for the swords and armor – Linda is an expert seamstress, so we didn’t sweat that aspect at first. I work primarily in Wonderflex and craft foam, but knew they wouldn’t cut it this time around.

Part of the discovery phase involved chatting up a friend from work – Michael Poon – who offered some great advice and put us in contact with a friend who runs a fabrication shop up in Sacramento. We met the owners (Zack and his wife Kris) a week or so later and immediately hit it off over debates about Star Wars, Gundams, and gaming. With that, our team began to assemble.

The best part of collaborating with a big group is the unique skills we each brought to the table. Michael, Zack, and Kris specialize in engineering and machining, while Linda and I offered up the more creative and aesthetic angle. In total, Linda and I made the drive up to Sacramento for five long weekends during the build, taking advantage of the massive shop and picking the brains of our newfound friends. Specifics on each aspect of the project below!

The Sword: Claymores
To be totally honest, Zack got a bit excited about the project, and had our first sword nearly complete by the time Linda and I arrived up in Sacramento the kickoff weekend. Thanks Zack! After freaking out about how amazing the blank blade looked, we sat down and chatted about how to polish it off and replicating a second.

Despite the first blade being nearly done, Zack made sure to run us through the process so we could wrap our heads around the fabrication. After plotting out the sword in SolidWorks, a CNC (computer numerical controlled) machine milled the blade out of solid aluminum. We considered at one point welding sheet metal together to hollow out the blade and make it lighter, but the milled approach resulted in a much higher quality and was worth the extra few pounds.

In regards to the hilt of the sword, the pommel and cross-guard pieces were also mapped out in SolidWorks by Zack, and then lathed/milled, respectively. The grip is spun carbon fiber fixed with colored epoxy – red for my blade and blue for Linda. Zack was even able to cut our respective symbols from the swords – another perk of the blade being solid. The pommel and guard were then painted with high-quality gold automotive paint.

My sword was the first out of the metaphorical oven, and after comparing it to our statures we scaled Linda’s down to be a bit more proportional. To acknowledge the obvious – yes, the blade is taller than in the show or manga. Without realizing the discrepancy, we scaled the Claymore off the PVC MegaHouse figure of Clare, which showcases the sword at a much larger size. After investing so much work into them we weren’t going to start over. Also, there is no such thing as making a sword too big.

At that point, the swords were mostly done, except for a large amount of sanding required, and dulling down the edges for convention safety. They were sharp enough to murder watermelons for this video, and to be honest; they didn’t dull down a noticeable amount. I’m surprised they weren’t confiscated at Katsucon! The swords easily weigh over fifteen pounds, but were worth the exhaustion from carting them around.

Claymore WIP – Sword

Armor: Pauldrons & Sword Sheath
The shoulder pauldrons were by far the most challenging part of the build, and a big learning experience for everyone involved. The most difficult aspect wasn’t the fabrication, but rather engineering how everything would stay in place and where to position the points of attachment, as well as scaling them for two vastly different stature individuals.

We looked at using traditional mould setups and plastic composites, but ended up using carbon fiber as the most lightweight and durable option available. Yes, I’m fully aware that we were spoiled on this project.

To start the pauldrons we again took advantage of the CNC machine. Zack had the moulds drawn up and milled by the time we arrived the next weekend, leaving the actual fabrication to Linda and I once we settled in. After demoing the technique to us, Linda and I laid out sheets of carbon fiber, cut them into thin strips, and wove them back and forth in the concave aluminum shapes. After five or so layers, we covered the entire form in heat-resistant cloth, created plastic vacuum seal bags, and sucked out all the air to compress the carbon fiber. Each shoulder piece has two tiers, so in total we repeated the process eight times, consuming the majority of a single weekend even with the help of the rest of the team.

After baking the pauldrons in an industrial oven, the carbon fiber shapes were set, albeit very rough. Then came repeated fittings and shaping, which again took the better part of a day. Linda and I struggled with the exact size and shape to cut them to (we baked them considerably larger then needed so we could custom fit them to our shoulders) as each reference image looked different. We printed hundreds of stills from the anime, and constantly consulted the manga, but it came in little aid. Eventually we settled on a shape somewhere between the perfect oval and dramatic point the armor seemed to swap between.

Early designs done in SolidWorks

Marking out our final patterns in a silver sharpie, we cut away the excess materials and started the process of sealing the forms with Bondo and sanding. And sanding again. And again. And again. We then used a piece of foam to bolster the tiers of pauldrons on each shoulder and give them the accurate angle and degree of separation.

What we referred to as the “backpack” was created in a very similar way – aluminum mould, woven carbon fiber, baking, Bondo, and sanding. In the anime the form is used to sheath the giant Claymores, but we quickly learned that our arms could not feasibly extend far enough to actually draw a sword from that angle, so form took priority over function.

Returning for another weekend, assembly became the biggest focus for us, and it took dozens of attempts to get it right. A full day of fittings unfolded as we learned that animators don’t necessarily consider real-life engineering issues when creating entertainment. We could find no points of attachment on the armor, aside from the more intricate metal designs along the breastbone (these shapes were drafted in SolidWorks and cut with the water jet).

At some point we gave up trying to hide hardware and permanently attached the pauldrons to the backpack and front pieces with locking nuts and bolts. Even at this stage we were adjusting the armor constantly to form it properly to our chest and shoulders. The final result was a bit back heavy, but we were able to mitigate that at a later stage.

Claymore WIP – Pauldrons

Armor: The “Petals
Weird nicknames aside, these pieces shouldn’t have been overly complicated but again ended up being a nightmare. Early on we came to the agreement that using a urethane blend would be the best approach for them. Finding that perfect blend was extremely difficult, however. Zack and Kris tried dozens of mixtures to ensure it wasn’t too heavy or brittle, and malleable enough to conform to our bodies. Michael proposed a perfect solution in embedding wire mesh to provide extra staying power for shaping. We put the wire mesh into our CNC milled moulds and spent another weekend mixing, pouring, and drying the urethane pieces once Zack found the appropriate ratio of parts. Each took two hours to dry, and both Linda and I needed nine pieces, so the process ate up most of another weekend. The petals cured well, but required some Bondo here and there to fill pockmarks from escaping air. Much more sanding followed.

With the petals finished, Linda and I shifted our attention to the harness, to ensure they would sit correctly before we shaped them to our hips and thighs. After much thought, we decided for a fairly rudimentary approach by attaching each petal to an elastic band that sat at our natural waist. Sewing them into the tunic itself wouldn’t have been seamless enough, but the curve of our waists would help to disguise the thickness of the petals. We drilled holes in each petal top and hand sewed them into the interior of the band, using a bit of felt to protect our skin from the urethane. The exact positioning and attachment methods again took some trial and error, but after a day or so we had them mostly finished.

Then came the baking. We put the entire skirt piece in the oven for two or so minutes, and shaped each petal one at a time so they lay flush with our lower half. After cooling, we took every thing – petals, pauldrons, and other assorted shapes, to the shop for painting. Again, we used high-quality automotive paint to ensure it was thick and chip resistant.

Claymore WIP – Skirt

Bodysuits, Capes, and Cowls
While away from Sacramento, Linda nabbed some not-so-cheap triple ply fabric from downtown San Francisco, which worked perfectly for the Claymore bodysuits. I was nervous about donning a white body suit in public, but the fabric was thick enough that there was no transparency to it.

Linda whipped out both bodysuits in a weekend, and then we met up for fittings and alterations. Eyeballing the deep neckline and concave tunic shape, we cut and finished all the edges by hand in our moments of downtime in Sacramento. The capes were cut from the remaining fabric in a single piece, giving careful consideration to the shape so that they would drape and move appropriately.

Our final weekend in Sacramento was the most stressful, as we planned a photoshoot for that Sunday. Linda and I were up working on the cowl pieces for hours just prior to the shoot. As all cosplayers know, good intentions and careful planning only help so much when it comes to finishing costumes early. Somehow it always comes down to the last minute and a lot of industrial strength velcro.

The Final Touches
The final touches resulted constant scrambling the week before the shoot, as we had to purchase white cloves, silver contacts, and add various snaps and Velcro bits all over the costume to ensure everything stayed in place. Linda also had to cut and style the wigs. Last minute, we even decided to whip together a young Clare costume for Zack and Kris’ daughter, who was a super trooper for participating and looked totally adorable. Our initial photoshoot with James Ellerker proved to be a much-needed test run for the costumes, although the images turned out quite well despite the stress. After the shoot, I removed one of the arms from my tunic and whipped up a Quicksword arm, assembling it from some faux leather and some belts I nabbed at Target.

Finishing Touches Gallery

Claymore – Finishing Touches

Katsucon
After all the pressure of coming down to the wire subsided, Katsucon was a blast and the costumes were received incredibly well. I owe the convention administrators a huge thank you for being such fantastic hosts, and throwing a wonderful show. The highlight of the convention was our shoot with my good friend Ljinto, who does the majority of my cosplay photography. He scouted the perfect location just outside our hotel, boasting an amazing statue called “The Awakening.” Linda and I transformed it into a giant Yoma emerging from the sand, waiting to be slain by a pair of vengeful Claymore. The day was overcast and gloomy, setting a somber tone for the shoot. It was perfect.

Claymore Portfolio

Final Thoughts
I usually make costumes alone in my apartment in the midst of a movie marathon. Having never collaborated with a group before, this build was an incredible experience, and inherently much more fun than sitting by myself making a mess on my floor. In fact, we all got along so well that a builders group was born from our cosplay collaboration – Mantium Industries. You can read more about our group and goals here. Essentially, we just want to make cool shit.

With all the unique skills we each brought to the table, everyone involved walked away having learned something new. Despite all the false starts and occasional frustrations, we can’t wait to collaborate again.

Phew! That was a mouthful! Want to get even geekier about the build? Read our interview in Composites World Magazine for even more tech specs!

Mantium Team Credits: Zack & Kristine Spencer, Michael Poon, Linda Le, Meagan Marie, Scott Trauthen, Robert Maurer, and growing!

I loved making this costume despite the bruises, blisters, and blood. It seems I say this after completing every project, but this is hands-down my favorite cosplay to date.

Early Anya Concept Art

Let’s start with the motive! Gears of War is one of my favorite game franchises. Not only do I love the games, but I’ve read all the novels and comics so to stay caught up on cannon. My fandom landed me a spot on the Game Informer/Gears of War 3 cover story team, and that particular trip is when it was first hinted at that the women of the Gears universe would be taking up COG armor. Our suspicions were confirmed when the final cover art arrived at the office, showcasing Anya in full combat regalia.

My 2010 costume roster for San Diego Comic Con was already full, but as always, I had begun to plan the subsequent year. The difficulty of the costume was a huge selling point, as I wanted to continue challenging myself and learning new skills. The fact that I hate sewing and prefer to work on armor and props helped with the decision, too.

Despite my hatred of sitting at a sewing machine, I made a pact that I would create the entire costume from scratch. I wanted to take full ownership of final product so I could proudly say that I made everything myself. Online tutorials and advice from friends were pivotal to finishing the costume, however, and I’m thankful to everyone who lent a hand.

I started the costume about seven months ago, although I mulled over its construction for more than a year. One of my Minnesota friends – Rachel Dangerfield – aided me in fabricating the corset and pants. Finding fabric was tough, as I was going off very early concept art and couldn’t tell at the time if her armor was leather or canvas. The color was suspect too – sometimes appearing tan, and others a warm grey. I had to dye some of the fabric to get the right tone.

Rachel worked on a second corset and set of pants in tandem to mine for a Sam Bryne costume also slated to debut at SDCC. For a handful of weekends we worked side by side, making it much easier for me to wrap my head around the complex task. When finished sewing I added dozens and dozens of dark grey brads around the lighter patches on the pants, and did the same in vertical lines across the corset. My fingers were raw by the time I was done.

After polishing off the pants and corset I moved onto a acquiring a few easier items to give myself a mental break. Tracking down a set of official COG tags was easy. The blonde wig was a bit tougher, as the cut from the concept art is quite unique. Next I ordered a grey athletic tank and ironed STROUD over the left breast, as I wasn’t sure what would be visible under the armor at that point in time. I also ordered a crimson omen patch from eBay, and altered it with fabric markers to fit the color scheme. At this stage, I began looking at footwear. I zeroed in on motorcycle boots before further narrowing the focus to motocross apparel, hoping to find something appropriately oversized and exaggerated like in the game. I eventually settled on a pair of THOR boots. As far as other purchased items are concerned, the gloves came from the sports section of Target.

At this point I was certain the costume would come together and started talking to Cliff Bleszinski about the project. He was amazingly helpful and provided me with additional reference material to ensure the armor was accurate.

At first I wasn’t sure which approach to building the armor would work best, although I had researched several options. The most accurate option would be to use the male pepakura template and scale it down for the female form. For those of you not familiar with pepakura, it’s the resource used to make many amazing Gears of War, Halo, and other armor-heavy costumes. Essentially you print a template on standard paper, fold and tape it together, and then coat it in various primers and paint to harden it. After seeing a WIP build of Marcus’ armor in person, however, I realized the design was too different from the female armor to use. As there was no female COG pepakura template yet, I went back to the drawing board.

Anya Without Armor

I’ve worked with Wonderflex many, many times, and it was the next method I strongly considered. I voted against it in the end, as Wonderflex alone is quite thin and wouldn’t look durable. I came to the conclusion that a hybrid of materials was needed. I revisited the world of motocross and acquired zip-up torso armor as a starting point for the COG gear. After weeks and weeks of searching online, I found a set that was similar in shape to what I needed and ordered it online.

I deconstructed the armor entirely the day it arrived at my house. After removing the netting that held the chest, back, shoulder, and wrist/elbow pieces together, I started to re-appropriate everything for a new use. The shoulder pieces worked perfectly for kneepads, and I removed all the ridged plastic from the front of the armor to use on the back – but more on that later. The forearm/wrist guards were kept as is for the most part.

To build up the chest piece, I lined the back with Wonderflex to strengthen it and form it to the specific shape I was looking for. I then began to pattern out basic shapes from the reference material using paper – folding the paper in half before cutting to ensure each side was symmetrical. After establishing the right patterns and layers, I transferred them to craft foam and attached the pieces with glue. I actually have no idea what the large circle pieces on the chest are, but I think they’re somehow associated with toilets as I found them in the plumbing department of my local hardware store.

Properly securing everything in place became the next priority. I used both a drill and a leather punch to make holes for the various nuts/bolts that hold together the layers. When all was said and done, the inside of the chest piece was riddled with pointy metal that needed to be filed down for comfort sake. That came much later, after I borrowed a tool tough enough to cut the hardware flush. Until then, trying on the piece was very uncomfortable.

I cut up an old backpack and used the straps to join the front and back pieces of the armor via the shoulders, reinforcing it with Wonderflex at a later time. I moved onto the back of the armor before attempting the LED shoulders pieces. The back is a hodge-podge of pieces that I removed from the chest place, as mentioned. I also used some sort of vent for a dryer, and tubing from a vacuum. Again, lots of hardware was needed to keep everything in place.

Anya Action Figure Prototype

The shoulder pieces were the biggest challenge, and something I was working on two hours prior to leaving for San Diego. Having just moved to California, I couldn’t rely on my dad to help me figure out the tricky wiring needed for a proper LED setup. That didn’t keep me from attempting that particular approach, but I wasn’t able to get it working as needed. In the end, I used two gum tins from Starbucks to house the lights, cutting holes in the lids with tin snips. Not able to find the right color blue LEDS, I instead cut up a transparent bottle of laundry detergent that was the appropriate blue color. Then I lined the inside with tin foil to optimize reflection, and positioned two clip lights from Fry’s Electronics at the top of the structure. The batteries and buttons are hidden under the shoulder wraps.

By comparison, the rest of the armor was simple. Again, I patterned out each piece on paper before moving to foam. This is how I built up the forearm guards, the belt, the kneepads, and the boots. The boots were challenging, but the ornate belt was a nightmare. It’s probably my favorite part of the costume now that everything is said and done, however.

After finishing the armor, I used a soldering iron to burn in battle damage and make it look worn and weathered. I learned from my Mad Moxxi costume that clean and crisp isn’t the way to best represent a post-apocalyptic world, and wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

After adding a bit of character to each piece, I sprayed everything a matte grey color to prime it. From there, I coated each item with black and silver paint where appropriate. When the paint was fully dry, I sanded it down with a block to make it appear dull and worn. I also stippled a warm brown on top of each piece to make it look dirty. Red and yellow were used in various locations for accent, which I again sanded down appropriately. In terms of paint, I polished off the look with little flecks of a rust color near any damaged pieces. Everything was then coated with a clear (satin) coat, and again sanded down so that only a few areas looked reminiscent of once-polished armor. The whole process took a week to finish when taking into account drying time.

As far as props are concerned, wandering the halls of the hardware store resulted in securing sprinklers that worked perfect for grenades. A bit of foam and a similarly distressed paint job achieved the aesthetic I was looking for.

The last piece to the project was the complicated belt/gun harness that Anya wears. Constructing it took the final three days I had free prior to Comic-Con. I made the “saddlebags” (as I call them) from scratch, patterning and stuffing them before sewing them shut and adding the accent cording. These were attached to a traditional black leather belt. The back piece was leftover from the motocross armor, which I again built up with craft foam and a crimson omen buckle I found online. I used Velcro to adhere the delicate front piece to the belt, so that I could remove it and still access the buckle to take the entire getup on and off.

The drop-leg holster is made out of cardboard inserted into a pouch I made – again accented with the thick leather cording around the edges. I used the same method to construct the canteen – cardboard, foam, fabric, and paint.

The last bit of polish the costume needed was the Lancer, and Cliff was nice enough to lend me one for SDCC. At that point, I’d put $1000 into the costume and was tight on funds, so the gesture was a godsend. The team at Epic must have enjoyed the costume, however, as I was gifted the Lancer after the convention concluded. I was quite happy, as evidenced by the picture below!

<3 <3 <3

As for the convention itself, I was approached a few weeks prior to SDCC by CNN with an offer to highlight the art of cosplaying via a video feature. I was very, very excited about the opportunity, and it is part of the reason my costume turned out so well. The idea of debuting a mediocre costume on CNN pushed me to work extremely hard on it.

My boyfriend and I drove down to San Diego a few days early so we could record the feature, and I had a blast. As with every SDCC, I had my magic makeup artist Hydred Makabali on hand to help with beauty makeup, blood, and battle scars. She did a fantastic job making everything look dirty and distressed. Note – if you’re thinking of mussing up some clothing for a similar look, real dirt and mud doesn’t work as well as you might think. It eventually dries up and crumbles off. Instead, we used brown and black hairspray and it worked like a charm. You can check out the video from CNN here.

My favorite photographer Leonard Lee (Ljinto) also came down a few days early so we could take advantage of the perfect setting for a photoshoot. I’d been planning the costume long enough to have taken note of the U.S.S. Midway near the convention center the previous Comic-Con. At that time, the clips I’d seen of the game took place on a battleship, and I figured an aircraft carrier would do nicely as a setting for a shoot. The location worked perfectly and the staff was extremely helpful. They let us run around like we owned the place.

I ended up wearing Anya both Thursday and Friday at SDCC – a first for me as I’ve never worn the same costume to a convention more than once. Highlights from the show include attending the Gears of War 3 panel and taking photos with fans, chilling with the Epic/Microsoft crew at the Gears of War 3/American Chopper reveal, and attending the Microsoft event later that night.

The Epic Games Crew

I was also stopped by Entertainment Weekly and taken to the top of the Hard Rock Hotel for some professional photos. Additionally, Destructoid was nice enough to feature Anya, as well as The Chive and Kotaku. I couldn’t be happier with how the week went. I’m excited to put Anya back on later this fall.

Compared to costumes requiring high heels and restrictive fabric, Anya’s getup wasn’t particularly painful. That being said, I constructed the chest piece a tad too tight and I couldn’t fully expand my ribcage for the duration of wearing it, making it a breath of fresh air (literally) to take it off. I’m not entirely sure how long I’d last wearing it in a wartime setting, as my mobility was severely limited, but there is something to be said for looking intimidating, right?

Hope the above tips and tricks help if you’re looking to construct any of your own COG armor! Feel free to ask for clarification below, and take a gander at my WIP gallery for a better look at constructing the costume.

WIP Gallery

Anya Stround Portfolio

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