Female Winter Soldier Cosplay / Groot Progress

Hello all,

I thought I'd quickly share a completed Hydra project, as well as an ongoing project so you can see I'm human and all these projects aren't always quick and easy.

I had a great time at this year's C4 Con! I had originally planned to debut Winter Soldier at Wondercon this year, but once I got to the con I realized that several pieces of it were broken, and I had to completely redo the arm with fabric instead of foam.
I needed accessories and didn't have much extra money at the time. I assembled what I had on hand and surfed the YouTube trying to Frankenstein my way into some smoke grenade canisters. (Mainly because I love me some Red Skull toxin.)

Project 1 (Quick & Easy) This project will literally be done in the blink of an eye. The longest part of this is waiting for the paint to dry.

I needed accessories for my Winter Soldier Cosplay and didn't have much extra money at the time. I assembled what I had on hand and surfed the YouTube trying to Frankenstein my way into some smoke grenade canisters.

Hydra Red Skull Gas Grenade Canister

Things you will need:

Toilet Paper Roll
Printed design of your choice to wrap around the toilet paper roll ( I just used a word document where I cropped a hydra logo and posted a few text boxes)
Mod Podge and Paint
Craft Foam
Ruler
Pencil
Hot Glue & Gun
Key Ring
Bobby Pin
Newspaper for stuffing

 Step 1:  Cutting out your foam pieces
Draw 5 circles for each grenade (The diameter of the hole of your t.p. roll)
Draw 2 3 1/2 inch rectangles for the handle for each grenade
Draw 3 3/4 inch rectangles for the top of the handle for each grenade.
Draw 5 1 1/4 inch odd shapes for each grenade for the top of the grenade where the pin goes through. In the photo below it is the slanted rectangle, the right side of which has a concave.

The reason you need multiples of each is because craft foam is thin, and you want a grenade that won't smoosh. Yes, that's a technical term.

 Step 2: Gluing
Once you have cut them out, glue 3 of the circles together for the top, and the two remaining ones to each other for the bottom.

Glue all five slanted rectangles together, three 3/4 rectangles together, and two of the long rectangles together with the top circles as seen below.

Top sections, bottom circles, and hydra design

Step 3: Glue the bottom circles in the toilet paper roll, and stuff them full of newspaper to ensure they don't "smoosh" in the middle. Then, slide he top piece in with glue.

If you have any excess pieces anywhere that aren't smooth, trim and smooth with hot glue.

 Step 4 Paint!!! Paint everything silver, and dry. Wrap your printed design around it, glue it into place.

Step 5: Details
Make a hole using a small screwdriver or dremel. Slide your keyring onto your bobby pin, and push the booby pin through the hole (see picture below)  and then hail Hydra!

Now for my ongoing Groot cosplay progress. I have been sitting and texturing bark pieces for-ev-er. What do I have to show for it? Just a pair of shoes.

My gnarled and twisty roots, complete with moss!

These puppies took forever, mainly because I couldn't figure out how to do it until my AHA! moment.

I used aluminum foil to construct the shapes, and heavily taped them onto the base shoe.

I then heated a sheet of craft foam and laid it over the shoe, pulling and pressing it to take the shape of the aluminum roots. I found that I could shape it better when I hot glued the middle in to place and kept heating up each "toe" with a hair dryer and shaping, then gluing in to place. The longer you take on this step, the better they will look.

Bottom of shoe. I later on painted these brown, just in case.

After you add mod podge they become shiny like the leather of the shoe. It also creates an easier canvas to paint on.

In that picture of the final shoe you can see bark detail, veins, etc. All of that was done with paint, puff paint, grooves in the original foam.

I hope you liked this post. If you have any questions (because I am sure I didn't list every minute detail) just comment below!

Custom Disney Ears (DIY Style)

A while back I had an inspired idea to make some mickey mouse ears in the style of characters my friends and I loved for when we eventually can get our group butt to Disneyland.

I had no clue what I was getting in to, because other than a headband I didn't know how to do anything remotely close to mickey ears.

I had an excess of ribbon spools from a bridal shower I had worked on, so I thought "excellent" in that creepy voice and forged on using those as the supports for my ears.

My Little Mermaid ears with a Flounder inspired bow!

What you will need:

Headband

Hot glue

Craft foam

Empty ribbon spools

Anything you want to decorate with (Ribbon, Paint, Glitter, Etc.)

How I did it:

 I traced the two circles plus a strap in between (the width will depend on how wide your headband is, I needed about an inch-inch and a half) so I could secure each ribbon spool to the headband. You'll need one of these for each ear, so make two while you have both ribbon spools to trace around.

Detail for a Rocket Raccoon inspired set.

I highly recommend adding your designs (and letting them dry) before you attach your ears to the band. Same goes for anything you may want to put on the headband, just be sure to leave the sections bare for the ears!

 Next step is to glue all the pieces together one side to the ribbon spool, wrap the other under the band to secure/glue it to the back of the ribbon spool as in the pictures below.

Ariel!

So here was a slightly more complicated set of my favorite fur ball Rocket. For the fur I just brushed yarn until fuzzy, and hot glued it on. Then I trimmed it into the right shape.

After glue, needs a trim

 Alternatively, you could most certainly use plushie raccoon ears, because that would be 100 times easier and probably look more "raccoon" like.

Rocket Raccoon ears all trimmed up WITH A TAIL!

 Tail....I just used a yarn tail tutorial straight from pinterest. Basically its a braid of yarn (I braided mine around a wire to be able to shape it) and then tied on strands of yarn. A lot of yarn, a lot of brushing, a lot of straightening.

Side detail

 And there you have it...Disney ears for any character!