Slides from the panel at J-popcon 2015 in Denmark. Questions? Comments? Find us: http://facebook.com/MajoCosplay http://facebook.com/ElinaCosplay

1. HOW TO MAKE YOUR
PROPS MORE GOOD-ER
Majo & Elina

2. WHO WE ARE
Majo
ECC 2010, WCS 2012
Nitpicking enthusiast
Could sand things forever
Will sand things forever if
not stopped
Elina
ECC 2014, WCS 2012
Nitpicking padawan
Mostly here to do the
talking
…and for the Faxe Kondi

3. WHY WE’RE HERE
 To tell you WHY you should spend extra time finishing your props
 spoiler: because it just looks nicer
 … and makes everything look more authentic
 To tell you HOW to finish your props so well everyone on the internet
will worship you as the next cosplay god
 We’ll get to that in a minute, keep your pants on

4. MATERIALS
Worbla/other thermoplastics
PROS:
 Fast and easy to use once you get the hang of it
 Everyone uses it, so help/tutorials are easy to find
 Durable
CONS:
 Needs a lot of extra work if you want it to look like
something other than Worbla/etc.
 Easy to mess up and hard to fix

5. MATERIALS
 For changing the surface
texture
 Sanding
 Gesso
 Different structure pastes
 Wood glue
 Others
Worbla on craft
foam, sanded
Gesso + sanding
Wood glue
Paint +
weathering

6. MATERIALS
Foam (craft foam, etc.)
PROS:
 Easily available and affordable
 Excellent for simple shapes
 Versatile and flexible
CONS:
 Not very durable
 Hard to make more complex shapes

7. MATERIALS
 Foams NEED to be primed
 Extra durability
 Less foamy surface texture
Unpainted &
unprimed
Craft foam
Gesso
Paint

8. MATERIALS
Clays and other sculpting materials
PROS:
 Excellent for small details
 And some bigger ones as well
 Any shape possible
CONS:
 Frail
 Require a ton of work (also a pro, at least
if you ask Majo)

9. MATERIALS
 Sanding
 Sanding
 Sanding
 Also sanding
 Gesso, structure paste, glue,
anything really
Unsanded paperclay

11. PAINTING
 Spray paint or the bottled stuff?
 Spray paint for large even surfaces
 The bottled stuff for detailing: smooth,
even surfaces harder to achieve
 To weather or not to weather?
 Consider the source material: would whatever it is you’re
making look weather-worn or would it be shiny and pristine?
 Check your reference pictures and use common sense
 What material would your prop be IRL?
 How would that material age? Not everything can be “weathered”
by splashing black paint all over
 Weathering = more than paint: scratches, battle-damage, tears
Paperclay
Carved
Sanded
Painted (black,
silver,
green, dark gold)

12. PAINTING
Elina’s Super Easy Guide Weathering
Metallic Things
1. Paint your thing black and let it dry
2. Take your accent colour
(green/brown/whatever suits you) and add
a few dashes of it on top of the black paint.
3. Rub with tissue paper.
4. Add metallic paint & rub it in with tissue
paper.
5. Repeat ad infinitum.

14. Questions? Comments?
If not, THANK YOU. ♥
facebook.com/MajoCosplay
Facebook.com/ElinaCosplay