Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was my first, breathtaking step into the dark and dangerous world inhabited by the Belmont clan. I’d always been drawn to the series, much due to the haunting character art by Ayami Kojima. As a completionist, though, I’d struggled with a point of entry to the franchise. I wanted to start from the very beginning, and in a way Lords of Shadow afforded me this opportunity.

MercurySteam made one of the most beautiful games of this generation in Lords of Shadow, appealing immediately to the designer in me. That, coupled with the compelling array of weapons and accessories Gabriele wields, had me itching to recreate his ensemble. Easy enough – add an “LE” and enter Gabrielle Belmont.

This costume is the most ambitious and demanding design I’ve ever tackled, challenging me to combine many of the skills I’ve learned over the past eight years – leather working, armor fabrication, molding and casting, and more. As such, you’re in for a long read should you be interested in the entirety of how it came together. If you’re here for insight on a specific part of this build, however, I’ve made subheads to help you skip around to whatever piques your interest!

The Gauntlets  (Worbla)

I started with what I considered the least stressful part of the costume – the gauntlets. Having polished off a pair of Witchblade costumes in the past, as well as a gauntlet for my Princess of Persia ensemble, I wasn’t too intimidated by the thought of making a few more stabby hand accessories.

Gabrielle’s standard gauntlet was pretty easy – comprised of tiered plates of armor and simple articulated fingers. I patterned out everything in paper, transferred the pieces to Worbla, and then shaped them around various sized bottles for a slightly tapered look. I then attached the pieces to a long gardening glove with a leather hole punch and brads. Brads are great for temporarily holding items in place, although I recommend switching to rivets for extra security when you’re sure everything is where desired.

The fingertips were the most complicated, and resulted in a few burns due to the admittedly unsafe way I went about it. I started by cutting out square pieces of Worbla, sized to cover up to the first joint on each finger. I then heated it and folded the excess towards the pad of the finger, leaving the most visible area nice and clean looking. Next I heated the fingertips while on my hand and rolled the excess material against a clean, hard surface to smooth it out. After repeating this step several times, it was very difficult to see where the Worbla originally overlapped, resulting in smooth, round tips.

The Dark Gauntlet was much, much more complicated and took several weekends to polish off.  As before, I started by patterning on paper before moving to Worbla. I mostly used single sheets of Worbla on this gauntlet, although I did layer craft foam between the three outermost tiers to space them out a bit.

I created a support structure out of Worbla for the claws, layering Magic Sculpt over the top. The two-part epoxy clay is quite heavy, but resulted in a much sturdier and full looking shape than I would have gotten with Worbla alone.

The Dark Gauntlet is very ornate, and I used a combination of puff paint, rolled Worbla, and small stenciled Worbla pieces to replicate the patterns. With these touches finished off the gauntlets were complete, save for distressing and painting, which I would do in bulk at a later date.

At this point I’d spent several weekends working at Keith and Abby’s place (known as Keabtium collectively), taking advantage of their generous offer to make a massive mess in their garage. Keith regularly casts items for their costumed capers, and inspired me to give it a try again – something I hadn’t attempted in years.

Skull & Daggers (Resin Casts)

I decided to cast the skull on Gabrielle’s chest so I could pour it in a lighter and more malleable material. Under Keith’s supervision I started by replicating the original in Sculpey. Once done and baked, Keith showed me how to make a box mold out of foam core and hot glue – a very efficient and quick process.

We’d picked up a slew of materials from Douglas and Sturgess earlier in the day, and Keith recommended Smooth-On’s OOMOO 25 for the mold due to its easy mix properties and cheaper initial investment.

He next had me use a thin layer of warm clay along the bottom of the skull to create a tight seal between it and the box floor before pouring the silicone. Next, Keith had me pour a “vanity layer” of silicone over the original – a very, very thin coat drizzled from 8-10 inches high, lessening the chance of bubbles forming in the mold. Because the coat was so thin, I was able to pop any remaining bubbles with an air can before they cured. After the vanity coat dried a bit, the remainder was poured in, resulting in a nearly flawless negative.

Next up I prepared the resin for the first cast. Keith recommended Smooth-Cast 325 resin to ensure the final skull had a little bit of flexibility and so that I could color tint it easier. He had me grab some metal powder to mix in with the resin – a process called cold casting – making the final object look like real metal through and through. I was really happy with the first pull from the mold, and the success empowered me to try casting on a larger scale.

I decided to cast copies of Gabrielle’s daggers, guaranteeing all four would match perfectly. I started by sculpting the hilt of the dagger around a wooden dowel, switching to Magic Sculpt over Sculpey as it’s my preferred medium now. Bits and bobs from my scrapbook collection were added as accent pieces to make the dagger more ornate. I used Worbla for the blade to give it a crisper edge.

With the original dagger done, I went about repeating the process above, this time using Mold Star 15, which we chose for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I was on a time crunch to get the mold done and cast the daggers, and secondly, because Mold Star silicones are more durable and are great for repeated casting without the risk of tearing the mold.

Once the mold was made, casting the daggers only took a single night, each curing in about 30 minutes. Working over at Abby and Keith’s place again, I used a power sander to smooth out the blades and a Dremel tool to clean up the accent areas. This was a pretty lengthy process, but I’m elated with how they turned out. They are light and durable, too.

Combat Cross (PVC, Magic Sculpt, & Worbla)

At this point, I was doing everything in my power to avoid starting Gabrielle’s coat/jacket thingy, being totally terrified of sewing something so extravagant. I distracted myself with Gabrielle’s Combat Cross next.

I determined fairly quickly that the best way to make the base of the Combat Cross would be with PVC plumping pieces. I cut up a long PVC pipe and attached the pieces to each end of a slip cross to form the structure. I purchased a length of plastic chain from the hardware store to keep the final prop as light as possible, and attached it to the inside of cap that fit snugly on the bottom. I actually had to scrap my first attempt – which was built using 1” PVC pipe – because it wasn’t wide enough to house more than a foot of chain. I upgraded to 1.5” tube, which accommodated enough length for epic action shots.

After building up the base of the cross, I began to flesh out the shape and style. I used Magic Sculpt for the stake at the bottom of the cross, as well as the slightly less-intimidating spikes on each side. The accent pieces at the top and center are built out of pieces of Worbla with craft foam sandwiched between them.

Not going to lie – this prop was a massive pain in the butt to make. It took me two full weekends to finish, and I had several false starts trying out patterns and techniques that didn’t work early on. I’m super happy with the result, though, especially since I was able to hide nearly four feet of chain inside.

Coat (Leather & Marine Vinyl)

Unable to delay any longer, I had to start making progress on Gabrielle’s garments. I was appropriately petrified of the coat, having only sewn very simple garments in the past. While I felt more comfortable working with leather than with other materials, patterning is something I’d never tried before, and as such I decided to look for external help. Baby steps! Catherine of God Save the Queen Fashions was a lifesaver in agreeing to help me translate the design to paper. I sent along my measurements and a slew of reference material, and she returned something I was able to take to a large format printer – and during her pre-Dragon*Con crunch nonetheless. I can’t thank her enough for the help! It will be a while still before I’m able to look at a garment and deconstruct it.

Keeping in mind that I mostly make armor and props, it was overwhelming but also immensely satisfying to draft up the garment in scraps of fabric. Once wearable, I spent the evening dancing around the living room, proud of my meager accomplishment. The design didn’t require much in the way of alternations, thankfully, other than a few nips and tucks that were intuitive enough for me to make myself.

When it came time to move from mockup to the real-deal, I called on my friend Thomas Ignatius so that I could work under his supervision and use his industrial sewing machine. I had a nearly a full hide left of red leather from my Warrior Wonder Woman costume, which was thankfully the perfect color for Gabrielle.

I brought my mockup to Tom’s place for him to look over. Once he approved it I cut everything apart and created new patterns from the slightly-altered pieces. Thus began a painful seven-hour marathon of bending over a table measuring and cutting leather and gold marine vinyl for the appliqué. Thank God for sharp rotary blades.

Once everything was cut out, Thomas showed me how to top-stich the marine vinyl onto the leather –  he helped out with more than a few of the panels before I was brave enough to try it on my own. It’s pretty easy to tell what he did versus my sad attempts – most of my lines look like I had a few glasses of wine prior to manning the machine. I’m still pretty proud that I managed to attach them without any major mess-ups, though.

By far, the shoulder pieces were the hardest part, as they required top-stitching on really narrow surfaces with lots of 90 degree angles. Again, not perfect, but I’m feeling much more comfortable with the thought of sewing complex garments in the future. Massive thank you to Tom for ensuring I didn’t run all that expensive leather!

I used lots of snaps and rivets to hold everything in place. The grey hood was made out of a remnant I found at the fabric store, and the skulls on the sides of the shoulders were crafted out of foam and Worbla.

Belt (Leather)

At this point it was getting down to the wire, and I still had a considerable amount of work to do on the costume despite giving myself two months lead time. I felt pretty comfortable with the belt, having patterned, cut, dyed, and finished leather several times in the past. Each piece was topstitched to look a bit more finished, and hardware was secured in place with rivets.

The belt has a slew of stuff on it, making it quite bulky and obscuring my natural waistline more than I would have liked, but the tradeoff (being a BAMF) is worth it, in my opinion. I picked up holy water bottles online (yes, they are really for holy water), and filled them with mouthwash to get the nice blue-green hue. Minty fresh! I made the fairy jar in an hour or two out of EVA foam, PVC pipe, and Worbla, with an ornate candle toper at the apex. I’m likely going to remake it as a transparent jar so I can have a green glow emanating from inside.

Cyclone Boots (Worbla)

With three days until I left for Dragon*Con I’d barely started my Cyclone Boots. What followed was a 16-hour crafting marathon, ending at 5AM on a Monday morning only hours prior to leaving for a full work day.

It’s difficult to describe the complex construction process for these boots, but it involved a ton of patterning on paper and frequently trying the boots on while assembling them to ensure I maintained mobility.

I started with the back, layering successively smaller pieces of Worbla on to an old pair of leather boots, attaching them with brads to allow for movement as I walked. I used a similar treatment in the front even though I knew that most of it would be covered by the more ornate feather accents. I heated and bonded the multi-layered feather accents flat to each other, attaching them to a base of Worbla and craft foam. I then heated the entire thing on to a large PVC pipe to give it a perfectly cylindrical shape, before tapering it slightly by hand as it cooled.

The toe of the boot took quite a bit of time and repeated heating to round off properly, as I had to dart the Worbla to get the right fit. Everything again was attached with rivets or brads, depending on if I was able to reach far enough into the boot to use an anvil and hammer the pieces together. The very top of the boot is a cheap foam kneepad. I heated the Worbla directly over the pad, shaping and smoothing away the excess slowly.

The above is a sad explanation of something that took me so long to complete, but the WIP gallery shows much more of the process that what I’m capable of conveying with words.

Painting & Distressing

With the boots done it was time to distress and paint the props, my favorite part of costume construction. I started as I always do by burning in battle damage with a soldering iron, paying extra attention to high-friction areas such as the kneepads and the toes of the boots. I followed up with a similar treatment, this time using a rough metal file for a slightly different texture of damage.

I moved directly on to paint as I don’t bother with a primer when working on such heavily distressed items. When I do use primer, I alternate between wood glue and gesso, as endorsed by many other cosplayers.

I opted for hammered metal paint in silver for the base coat, as I’ve found it looks the most realistic and ages well. It took nearly five cans to get the right amount of coverage.

With the primary coat done, I used a charcoal grey acrylic paint to darken edges around accent pieces and make them pop. I also brushed a light silver paint into damaged areas, making the metal look raw like an open wound. The next step had me using a fine grain sanding block to dull down some of the natural shine from the metallic spay paint.

Nearly finished, I used a combination of diluted brown and black acrylic paint to stipple on dirt and grime with an old sea sponge, giving a unique texture to the finished pieces. Again, I paid special attention to areas that would have seen more use – the feet of my boots are almost entirely obscured with dirt and dust. Lastly, I sprayed select pieces with fake blood, letting it dribble and dry as if spilled long ago.

I repeated a very similar process with the coat, using a scissors to tatter the bottom edges, and then a metal file to add additional wear and tear. Instead of spray paint, I used black and brown hairspray to sully the jacket, doing my best to make it look like it had seen a battle or two. Also, more fake blood. Added bonus – my horrible topstitching is now less visible! My cosplay mantra is like that one Portlandia skit “Put a Bird on It.” Except my motto is “Throw some blood on it.”

I only vaguely remember finishing this costume and packing it up, as I was mostly brain dead from days of inhaling spray paint fumes. Luckily, everything made it out to Dragon*Con safely in my hard shell luggage.

I had the amazing fortune of shooting with several fantastic photographers at the convention, all of whom have a unique flavor in their shooting styles.

A special shout out goes to Darrell of BGZ Studios, though, who went above and beyond in his preparation by renting out Rhodes Hall for our pre-Dragon*Con photoshoot. The location looked straight out of Castlevania, complete with lanterns on the walls, stained glass, an epic spiral staircase, and a massive claw-foot chair. The photos are wonderfully moody.

Additional thanks go to Anna Cosplay Photography, Benny Lee Photography, Jason Chau Photography, and Joseph Chi Lin Photography for taking time out to shoot with me!

And thank you to Acksonl for featuring Gabrielle in the cosplay video below – twice!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Enjoy the photos, and please let me know if you’ve got any questions! Also – keep an eye out for Lords of Shadow 2 – it’s looking incredible!

Gabrielle Belmont WIP

Gabrielle Belmont Portfolio

I can honestly say this was never a costume I intended to make. Crossplay (gender-bending cosplay) hasn’t been a priority on my list, and in reality I was interested in dressing up as Elika from Ubisoft’s recent Prince game rather than the Prince himself. However, one night while out with my friend Ashley, we came up with the idea of putting together a group for San Diego Comic Con featuring female versions of male video game heroes.

I tossed around the idea of taking on several different characters including Gordon Freeman, Dante, and Altair before settling on the Prince. The stunning art direction of the game was a major influence on my decision, but the Prince’s gauntlet pushed the idea over the edge for me. Having lots of practice making gauntlets for my Witchblade costume (and last year’s Witchblade group) I thought it would be fun to try a slightly more elaborate design.

Redesigning the Prince to be more feminine wasn’t hard. I decided to leave the shirt open as per the original design, but wear a bra underneath for modesty sake. I also made the pants significantly tighter and opted for long hair spilling out from underneath the turban.
I
I started the costume back in January to make sure I had enough time to perfect it. The first step was securing the long coat. I spent hours and hours sifting through eBay results and hitting up thrift stores looking for something that would work.

After a few weeks of searching, I came across a leather duster with crochet accents that would work perfectly. I didn’t plan on keeping any of the needlework on the jacket, but by removing the ones partitioning the pieces at the bottom, it would mimic the worn and torn look of the Prince’s own jacket.

After receiving the jacket, the next step was to dye it, making sure not to stir it once fully saturated so that it would have a slightly uneven look to it. The Prince has a slightly mismatched and disjointed ensemble, and I wanted to mimic this. After dying and drying the jacket, I removed the sleeves (which I saved for later) and snipped out the crochet pieces holding the bottom of the jacket together. Next, I recruited some help to tailor the jacket so it fit tight around the waist. Lastly, I added a fringed trim around the arms and down the length of the coat to make it a bit more ornate.

Original Purchase

I nabbed the shirt at Goodwill – a lucky find since I was very specifically looking for something with embellished buttons. Not much needed to be done with it, other than cutting off the sleeves and taking it in a bit. I already owned the perfect brown bra, and simply added some of the same trim from the jacket to it to make it match.

I had no luck finding orange leggings, so I purchased white cotton ones and dyed them – again not stirring the dye bath to give it a textured look. Moving further down the leg, the sleeves from the jacket came into play. Instead of creating something from scratch, I used the sleeves as boot covers, attaching snaps to the leggings to hold them in place. Additionally, I used some brown fabric and silver buckles for extra detail. For the shoes, I opted for studded brown gladiator sandals.

The Finished Belt

Aside from the gauntlet, the belt was the hardest part. I sewed the entire thing from scratch with several different types of cording on the edges and in the center. I used a patterned felt for the diamond shapes that hang from the belt. To make the jacket fit slightly better, I attached a pair of hooks and eyes on the jacket/belt so that everything stayed in place. Lastly, I found orange and blue fabric and sewed it together in long, thin strips for the head piece, taking a second to fray the edges of both colors.

With the bulk of the costume done, all I had left was the gauntlet. I started with a leather gardening glove that was the appropriate color, and made it longer with Wonderflex covered in the same brown fabric as the belt. Next, I used paper to pattern out the pieces for the claw, then traced them on the Wonderflex and cut them out.

Glove Template

I made a point to cut and position the pieces so that the fingers would still articulate.  From there I heated each piece up and molded it to my hand, which was quite difficult considering one hand had to be in the glove. Once all the pieces were molded, I used Puff Paint to add the texture and patterns. Once finished, I sprayed them bright silver and then used paper towels to dampen the color with a less lustrous metal paint.

Before adding the pieces onto the glove, I sewed some chain on to the tips of the fingers and wove it in and out of the material. I then used hot glue to attach the pieces to the glove and added accents (metal fasteners and circular beads) to mimic the very detailed design from the concept art. Once everything was in place, I finished it off with a bit more paint – using darker colors on the joints of the glove.

I finished the gauntlet just one day before SDCC, so I didn’t get to see the entire ensemble together till I put it on the day of the convention. Just as with Velocity, my friend/makeup artist Hydred Makabali helped with my makeup the day of the show and did a phenomenal job. I asked her to make everything look slightly messy to give the impression that I’d been out in the elements. The best part, hands down, was the scar. Hydred painted it on using a special product that physically puckers your skin, and most people thought it was real. Hydred’s assistant Nesreen helped me tie my turban correctly – something I had been struggling with at home, despite lots of practice.

Makeup Prep

I am very happy with how the costume came out and even happier with how the group came together. All in all we had eight girls participate: Raychul Moore as Kratos, Ashley Hay as Starkiller, Christa Browning as Link, Emily Husley as Mario, Andrea Fries as Wario, and Candace Miller as Altiar. Also joining us was Jessika Malic as Elika from the Prince of Persia
<br><br>

<br><br>

<br><br>

Right before we made our way to the show floor we snapped some group photos with our friend and photographer Chanh Tang, and then peppered in some individual shots as well. Check out the gallery below to see how everything pulled together.
<br><br>

<br><br>
After walking the show floor as a group (and by walking, I mean standing in one place), Jessika and I met up with cosplay photographer LJinto for a more structured photoshoot. It turns out that the pool of our hotel – complete with waterfalls and a grotto – was a perfect location to snap photos. Jessika and I took solo and group shots, and the resulting images are some of my favorite cosplay photos ever.

Enjoy the gallery below!
<br><br>