CosBlog # 67: Velvet By Kalisheedra

by Meagan Marie on Oct 13, 2011 at 06:58 AM

Odin Sphere plays host to many amazing character designs, including fan-favorite Velvet. Cosplayer Kalisheedra pulls off the simple but chic costume with style, and has inspired me to start the hunt for an equally impressive Gwendolyn costume. But for now, enjoy!

Who: The Character
The character is Velvet from the game Odin Sphere. She's a princess of a destroyed kingdom and lives with a heavy burden on her shoulders.

Why: The Decision
I was browsing for nice character designs and stumbled upon Odin Sphere and Velvet. I immediately loved her design because red and black are my favorite colors and I loved the whole gypsy look. I wasn't that drawn to the game at first because the 2D seemed really boring to me but I made myself play it. The story is my favorite aspect of the game and Velvet's story was the clincher. She has a skimpy outfit but she's not really a sexy character per se, she's very mature and selfless. I did take into consideration the fact that she wears very little clothing but I thought I could pull it off nicely (even though I still think I should have worked out more).

What: The Process
The costume took about 2 months because I'm really lazy. I used red stretch velvet because I couldn't find a nice red velvet and, well, because her name's Velvet. The costume is lined with the exception of the top and veil. The hood has boning in it so it stays pointy, I stressed over it for so many days to get it to stay that way. The stars are plastic sheeting that I spray painted gold and glued onto the fabric. The wig was an old one that I restored to its previous self and added the pearl scrunchies. I bought violet contact lenses that I'm extremely happy about because I have dark brown eyes and they completely cover my natural eye color. I think they add a nice touch because much of Velvet's design is centered on her head. I'm not entirely pleased with my psypher (her weapon) because it was a rush job and it didn't turn out as I had wanted. The crystals are again plastic sheeting spray painted red and glued with hot glue. The chain was bought and the dome things are water bottle tops spray-painted black. It's pretty much destroyed now so I'll have to remake it sooner or later. In the end the whole thing wasn't really expensive because I already had many of the materials from previous costumes.

Where and When: The Debut
I debuted my costume in an event here in Portugal called Anicomics to participate in the Eurocosplay preliminaries but unfortunately I wasn't able to enter (time issues). This photoshoot was my friend Sara's idea. I suggested a forest because the character lives in a forest and she suggested a beach because the color of the sand would go great with the colors of the costume. In the end we got pictures in both places. The beach is called Praia do Guincho and is know for being a great beach for windsurfing, meaning that it's a very windy place. We went to an area with enormous dunes and it was pretty much deserted. And we ate a lot of sand.

Links: The Cosplayer
You can find me on my deviantArt page and on Cosplay.com. I'm also on the editorial team of a Portuguese online magazine called Cosplayer and it features many of my photos as well so you should check it out.

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