Garuda from Final Fantasy XIV, photo by Cloud Foto
The work of Egg Sisters Cosplay, the Egg Sisters being Dana and Courtney, has come across my desk multiple times. They’re responsible for a massive Overwatch Reinhardt costume and also costumes that include materials such as LEDs, body makeup, and prosthetics. In short, their skills are numerous and diverse. I asked them about materials they favor for armor builds, their tips for applying body paint, and more.
Adafruit: I read you both grew up enjoying conventions and cosplay. How long have each of you been cosplaying and what inspired you to start?
Egg Sisters Cosplay: I think we started cosplay like a lot of kids did. We grew up watching anime and playing video games. We began going to conventions and would attempt group cosplay of our favorite shows, games, or even bands. When we just started, our costumes were mostly modified versions of things we purchased. We didn’t really get serious about it until Final Fantasy FanFest in 2014. Our Garuda Costume was the beginning of Egg Sisters for sure!
Sith Juggernaut from Star Wars: The Old Republic, photo by Cloud Foto
Adafruit: Do you both have similar skill sets or do you have strengths that complement each other – and if so, what are they?
Egg Sisters Cosplay: We certainly have our own skills sets although we end up overlapping our work often. Dana started honing her skills in fine art from an early age. She excels in sculpting, painting, choosing materials and overall quality control. Her artist eye very much guides the aesthetic of every costume.
Courtney handles a lot of the technical side of the projects such as, drawing templates, lighting, electronics and sewing.
In the end we both dabble in all of these skill sets, in addition to all the grunt work such as sanding, mold making, gluing, cutting, painting etc.
When one of us hits a wall the other is always there to pick us up. It is so easy to get frustrated with a project. We are good at motivating each other and problem solving together.
Undead Rogue from World of Warcraft, photo by Egg Sisters Cosplay
Adafruit: Some of your costumes involve body paint or prosthetics. What have you learned about makeup and sculpting from cosplay? Do you have any tips for someone trying body paint for the first time?
Egg Sisters Cosplay: We have learned a lot about makeup and prosthetics since we started cosplay. Even though we researched a lot online, we still had many failures and ended up experimenting with a lot of products before finding what worked best for us. While impressive, makeup and prosthetics are very time consuming to apply. So far it has taken us about 5 hours on average to get fully in costume when makeup is involved.
For body paint, you want a product that can last throughout the day. We have found that a base of PAX paint works best. PAX paint is a mixture of acrylic paint and Pros-Aide prosthetic adhesive. The downside to PAX paint is that is stays too well! It requires Pros-Aide Remover spray and a lot of patience to completely remove it from your skin.
Reinhardt from Overwatch, photo by Egg Sisters Cosplay
Adafruit: You’ve also tackled some massive armor. What material have you found to be the best for creating mega armor pieces?
Egg Sisters Cosplay: Each project certainly calls for its own approach. EVA foam is great for large pieces because it is lightweight, relatively cheap, flexible and can handle some abuse. Pink insulation foam is also a great base material for large pieces. However, it is very fragile on its own so it needs to be covered in something to strengthen it. You can strengthen foam with many different foam coat products or by using Worbla thermoplastic. Worbla is a bit pricey for large projects but its nice and sturdy and you can sculpt it into just about any shape.
Adafruit: What costumes do you both have on your to-make wish lists?
Egg Sisters Cosplay: Oh man. Our wish lists are constantly evolving for sure. We love to do creatures and creepy-type characters. We would really like to make “The Stalk” from the SAGA comic book series. She is a half woman half spider with eight red eyes. We have also always loved the style of the Warhammer universe. We would also love to do our namesake Argonian from Skyrim.
Keep with Dana’s and Courtney’s latest projects by following Egg Sisters Cosplay on Facebook or Instagram.
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