Ewok Upgrades!
The beautiful thing about my projects is that I get to decided when they're "complete." Sometimes I let a project be a forever work in progress that I can continue to add on to! This is one of those projects <3
Ewok is a cosplay that I made in April of 2020. It was the first thing I made after recovering from COVID, and is important to me because of that. I made it for May 4th, aka "Star Wars Day" aka "May the 4th be with you." (Read the Build Log Here)
However, because it is a "pandemic project" I didn't get to take it to any conventions for 2 years after I made it. So when I was invited by Shadowcat Sophie (Instagram Link) to perform in Cirque du Multivers at CONvergence, I jumped at the chance to perform in my Ewok cosplay! But… I wanted to give it a few more Yub-Nubby details first.
I decided that I needed a spear to make it really recognizable. I started with a spare dowel rod that was hanging out in our basement from a project long abandoned. This became the shaft of the spear. To make the spear head I started with a foam core made from scrap foam I had around my craft room. I cut it into a general spear head shape, and then glued a couple of bits of coarsely cut foam in different areas to give it a less smooth and more "rocky" texture. I covered this foam in Worbla's Black art, and attached it to the dowel rod. Then I spent a lot of time shaping and scraping it into something that looked a little more organic. Once I was happy with the shape of the spear head, I painted it grey, called it done, and went to bed for the night. However, when I looked at it again the next morning, I realized that the flat grey paint was not going to look very interesting from stage. So I looked up some painting tutorials on how to add shading and started painting again. I ended up painting anything that was a grove or a dip in the a black or dark grey. Anything that was up higher I painted white or light grey. I continued doing this over the entire spearhead until I was satisfied with my highlights and shading. I blended these with the original grey to try and make it look a little less obvious. But for my first paint job like this, I was happy enough with the shale-like look for the spear head!
I then grabbed some leather scraps that were left over from when I made the belt (RIP green leather skirt). I wanted the matching leather to help the prop tie-in with the cosplay more. I wrapped the scraps in 3 different places: where the spear head connected to the dowel rod, in the middle where I'm most likely to hold it, and at the very end of the rod. I glued the wraps in place with hot glue, but I folded in the ends so that it looked a little less "glued-on." To add a little more texture, I wrapped a couple of brown leather cord scraps around the green leather. The cord was also where I planned add additional decoration.
Then I focused on decorating the spear with beading similar to what I used on the cosplay. My plan for these beaded drapes was to have them support a weighted silk veil I had purchased to perform with at CONvergence. I wanted the beaded drapes because they would roll off the silk and not cause it to snag when I removed it. I had a small handful of the original beads left over, so I started with those. I added a few more wooden or "natural-looking" beads that were not part of any matching bead sets. When I strung the beads I attempted to avoid making a pattern, similar to what I did with the bead drapes on the cosplay. I attached the drapes in 2 loops, one at the base of the spear head and one at the middle grip. The base of the spear looked pretty empty after that, so I threw together a spare chain, a piece of a broken coin earring, and a little piece of the leather cord to create a unique tassel.
When I draped the silk prop in the spear for the first time I realized it was not going to hold very well, because the weighted end slipped through the top loop and could pull the whole prop out! I fixed that by frantically looking around my office for anything I had made in the past that might help (the convention was the next day…). I found a crochet flower hairclip that I was confident would not harm the silk! I removed the beaded loop from the spearhead, tied the leather cord around the hair clip, and then attached the beads so they dangled from the button in the middle of the crochet flower. This was a lot more secure, and it was very easy to unclip the silk from the hairclip and pull it away from the spear when I was ready to dance with the weighted silk veil.
One final upgrade I made to the cosplay was adding Elastic to the inside of my leg warmers. I did this using a method I learned from Mao Murakami from Sparkly Belly. First I sized the elastic to just under my knee. I sewed the ends together to make it a circle. Then I attached the circle in 4 places to the legwarmer; front, back, left, and right. The reason to only attach it in 4 places is so that the fabric won't wrinkle. Making a fabric casing, or stretching the elastic and sewing it directly to the fabric would make it obvious the leg warmers where held up with elastic.
Then I enjoyed my convention on Friday and Saturday! I spent most of Sunday helping with the performance, getting the equipment set up for the areal performers, and making sure I knew where I needed to be at call time. Then I got dressed, ran through my choreography one last time, and headed back stage to perform!
I made one more improvement to this cosplay about 6 months after CONvergence. I planned to take Ewok to C2E2 2023 as a comfortable Friday cosplay. However… Ewok is designed for performance. The top is just a fluffy bra and it was going to be very cold at C2E2! Thankfully while making a different cosplay for C2E2 (A Casual Kyoshi Warrior), I had cut a floor length knitted dress in half. So I had this scrap knitted skirt that I thought would work perfectly as a shawl for my Ewok. I bound the cut edge with a soft black yarn I had in my stash. I threaded the last bits of this yarn back through the crocheted edge so I could control the size of the opening, and added wooden beads to the end so that it would look a little more cohesive and keep the yarn-tie from disappearing into the bound edge. It worked perfectly to keep me from freezing my shoulders off on the con floor!
I still have scrap material from this cosplay…I wonder what I'm going to add to it next!
