CHANGE OF PLANS, TENNO
(Disfusional Studios’ Lotus Amaga Cosplay Fabrication Dossier)
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10 YEAR CELEBRATION
Come together with fellow Tenno from all over the world and help us celebrate 10 phenomenal years of Warframe during TennoCon 2023! This year marks our long-awaited return to in-person celebrations in London, Ontario for an all-day event showcasing the very best of the Origin System. Tenno who join us at TennoCon 2023 can also expect an exciting and in-depth look at the wonders yet to come.
TennoCon 2023 Physical Tickets are available to purchase now! Get yours today and stay tuned for more information on TennoCon 2023, including this year’s full schedule & charity partner.
After compiling a never ending list, multiple conversations on Twitch, an Instagram, and Twitter Poll - I have finally decided to try my hand at making Lotus Amaga Skin for Tennocon, this August 2023.
Original concept art was done by fellow Tenno, and Warframe Concept Artist, Linger.
Watch Disfusional build her Lotus Amaga Cosplay LIVE on Twitch.
Submissions need to be received by August 6th for review.
COSPLAY CONTEST
Want to see your hard work on the big screen or the main stage to celebrate 10 years of Warframe and possibly compete for $10,000? Pre-register for the TennoCon 2023 Cosplay Contest in the Competitive category and you could win! This year we will also have a Non-competitive category featuring some great in-game digital prizing.
You must be attending the event in order to be eligible.
REFERENCE IMAGES
With each large cosplay fabrication, I sit down with some ‘old school’ paper and pencil and start sketching out my selected character from different view points. By having to draw each element of the character over and over again; this let’s me pick out details and design shapes. Which elements need to be fabricated first to make sure that ‘top’ elements fit and are sized correctly.
BODYSUIT:
Fabrication will start with the construction of a body suit. The Amaga Lotus skin has a ceramic-kintsugi aesthetic, that I plan to exquisite using various 4-way stretch spandex. After a trip to my local fabric store, I knew I would have to look for a body suit material online. This would also mean that I would need to order fabric swatches (another first), before ordering yards of pricy textile goodness.
Spandex World Inc. was recommended by another craftsmanship cosplayer. Their large selection of fabrics provided me with a handful of teals and gold swatches. With the fabric swatches in hand; I was able to stretch, paint, fold, etc - each option. This made my selection process easy.
I used a mixture of ‘Rit Dye More’ to dye my white fabric a Gray-Teal. This process took three-rounds of dying, washing, and drying until my fabric was my ideal color. I took this moment to also dye elastic and Velcro, for possible future use.
I used Yaya Han’s bodysuit pattern from McCall as my base. Due to the thickness of fabric I did have to alter my pattern in the legs and arms. I installed an invisible zipper; making sure my seams lines up the entire time.
I used some of the elastic I dyed at the beginning of this project for stirrups and thumb-holes. Hoping to hold down my pant legs and sleeves when placing my hand into gloves. We hate it when things ride up.
Cutting into the bodysuit was one of the scariest parts of this project. However, with a lot of pins and some hand stitch; running each ‘hole’ through the sewing machine proved to be easier with the correct preparations.
The joy of unboxing new fabric was one I had not experienced before. Huge thank you to Spandex World for the quick shipping -
Making sure I selected a material that would not stretch and become see-through was important. To make sure that there would be no issues; I purchased Capezio Women's Ultra Soft Body Tights. Besides creating a seamless visual; this will also assist with putting my suit on in the warmer months.
LEFT - ARM
I used nylon 4-way stretch fabric for my black-glove. It was going to be thin and lightweight. Easy to sew and glue EVA foal ‘bones’ to.
FEET
The first pattern did not fit - ops.
After my soles arrived; I had to mock up a second pattern. The ‘teal-shoe’ hem is lower. With the ‘black-shoe’ having a higher cuff; I new reinforcement would be needed. I wanted to retain the stretch and make sure things still stayed light. I used two layers of horse-hair-braid to make sure things stayed upright.
RIGHT - RIBS
Pattern Pieces have been Drafted.
Work-In-Progress Photos Coming Soon.
RIGHT - INDEX ‘CLAW’
Using the same pattern from the previous glove. I proceeded to cut out and stitch my ‘void’ area. This will be the area my talon attaches to,
Using 4mm EVA foam I mocked up a pattern and crafted a claw. I will attach the flinger to my glove after paint and a poly-caot.
POTTERY SHOULDER
Text Here
CHEST
Lotus’ breast plate is more of just ‘under breast support’. It took a couple tires. My base patter was coated in Worbla’s Thermoplastic prior to EVA foam details being added. Bead cups were created using Black-Worbla scraps.
WAIST
The lotus ‘corset’ had to creating a full size corset pattern only to lower the top hem and shorted the waist. Even after sewing everything together I still ended up cropping the top and bottom a little bit more to better fit my in-game reference(S).
TABARDS
The fabric that hangs off from the waist and bust line were made with multiple layers of fabric.
After all my pattern pieces had been created it was time to start cutting fabric(s).
Hand drawn/cut patterns.
Hand dying fabric is always a process.
I chose to hand sew my gold bias tape around the perimeter of my patterns. It turned out super clean and I was able to make sure that the fabric was not getting stretched or ripping.
High Density EVA foam was used to created the base for all my accessories. Some will be covered in Thermoplastics, others will be kept light weight and finished as is.
SLEEVES
Pattern Pieces have been Drafted. Time to start getting to work.
After hand dying enough red-brown fabric for my sleeves was also something I was concerned about. I hand cut out my pattern, drew it out on my fabric with water-soluble marker, and proceeded to cut my top applique out for hours. Linin is a super thin fabric. Ever layer either had to get Heat-n-Bond applied to it or a layer of light-weight inter facing. This not only kept things stable, but also stopped everything from fraying - prior to being run through my serger.
Large appliques were stitched down. Silhouettes are something that I try to think strongly about, during fabrication. At this point my layers were too thick for my sewing machine and all bias tape had to be sewn by hand. To keep the peak in the back of the sleeves and the over all drape; I added horsehair braid to the inside arm holes. My lining is reinforced with a second row of stitches.
Quick-release buckles will be installed to make walking around easier.
My Upper-Arm bands connect to my sleeves with a button. This will stop both pieces of attire from sliding around, in an unwanted fashion. The process used on the sleeve pattern was transposed onto my background material. I did my best to follow both in-game and original concept art to the best of my abilities.
Once the layering game was over with the sleeve linens, it was time to start working on the large sleeve ornaments. High Density EVA Foam in multiple layers of 10mm, 6mm, 4,, and 2mm were used. 19 inch wooden dowels are sunken into the length of many pieces for a light weigh reinforcment.
Priming and wet sanding
HELMET
Finished Head Sock.
Another invisible zipper to match the one in the body suit. Hopefully this will be able to cover all my hair, without the need for a wig sock.
It took less time destroying my masker sculpt; than it took to build it up.
Time for paint… until you forget the little ‘nub’ and have to go back a couple steps.
MASK
Cooty-Catcher Coming Soon.
Lotus Amaga Cosplay TIPS
Become apart of my Lotus Amaga Cosplay!
$10.00 Tips:
What to have Disfusional give you a shout out Thank you, during her Lotus Amaga time-lapse video?
$20.00 + Tips:
Would you like to have your Warframe username embroidered into the hem of Disfusional’s Tennocon 2023 cosplay?
(Please, make sure to provide in-game Username)
Thank you for tipping towards my Lotus Amaga cosplay build. Any Tenno who tipped $20+ will have their Warframe username embroidered onto this cosplay.
Thank You Tenno:
• MATTY FATTS
• Lakapelly
• Fdge
• Joemonk3y
• Joubolei
• YourLuckyClover
• Dr__Evil_
• Telulah
• Disfusional (I want to have my username embroidered onto the Lotus too)
Thank You!
I cannot thank our Studio community enough.
Without your support and motivation, I would still be trying to decided which NPC to craft.
We thank you for your continued support. Are you interested in following along with current and future projects?
Please, check out our social media(s): Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube (Art), Youtube (Gaming), Reddit
Until next time; I’m Ashlee Kalthoff of Disfusional Studios – don’t forget to ‘Creatively, unfold your imagination’. Bye!