By request (from my followers on my other blog rofl), some poorly-photographed Gale WIP. Belt is a placeholder but it's got the right vibes at least!

making stupid patterns in the name of BG3

I got wrapped 😂

Roughing in some pattern lines and then I’m gonna do a first mockup, probably in craft foam to keep it cheap and easy!

I am so impressed by your cosplays, you are really brilliant at what you do!!

where do you get your materials from? you talk about using natural leathers and wools a lot so I was wondering about how you acquire them and the kind of price they may be.

Thank you so much!

So my #1 choice for finding natural materials like wool and leather is actually thrifting! My Loki original design is mostly thrifted leather from old coats, skirts, and pants. Quite often too I’ll find stashes of fabric from when someone cleaned out grandma’s attic and donated all her fabric, and I’ve gotten good at telling the fiber content just from touch (and sometimes smell). Now, I’m fortunate to have a lot of secondhand stores in my area, and I know that may not be the case for everyone, but it’s worth a look!

If thrifting doesn’t help, I also have some other go-to places (keeping in mind I’m US based):

For leather, if I need something super specific or large pieces I’ll either browse Etsy or go direct to Tandy Leather. Some hides can be pricey, but Tandy especially has some amazing sales (Black Friday one is the best) I will always choose genuine leather these days over “vegan” plastic leather; the latter will disintegrate so quickly and you’ll end up having to remake stuff anyway! Better to make something that lasts.

Wools can actually be trickier and more expensive (easily anywhere from $20/yd-$60/yd or more). I’m lucky to have some smaller local independent fabric stores that carry cheap deadstock fabrics (basically end of runs from other places that will never be restocked). But one of my fave online shops is Fabric Mart, which also carries deadstock inventory and has incredible sales. You gotta jump on them pretty fast and you can’t get swatches, but if you keep an eye on them you can snag some fabulous wools, silks, and leather hides too!

At the end of the day, higher quality materials are gonna cost you more, so you kind of have to factor that in and make decisions about your priorities. For me, I’m happier making fewer costumes with better materials—so the expense is one of the reasons I don’t bust out 10 cosplays a year. Other folks are less concerned about fiber content or fabric quality and would rather have more projects , and that’s their prerogative! (I will say though that in a world where fast fashion is such a problem, I would rather be an advocate for slow making with materials that will last. End rant there xD)

What do you mean I never posted this photo here on its own?? One of my all time Loki pics!

wip tag | more of this costume

Costume by me/photo by @sennedjem

“𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢

𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙚.”

I took a whirlwind trip to NYC last weekend for non cosplay reasons, but being there always makes me think of this Loki excursion to one of the Avengers shooting locations! I super want to go back now that I have the actual Avengers armour instead of Dark World 👀

just want to say, it’s so nice to see love for one of the og Loki costumes that’s lesser known, especially over a decade after the film! I remember being part of the cosplay hype when TDW came out—making the first iteration of this costume—and that time was so special to me. Glad to feel it again!

quick prison Loki updates—getting there!

It’a fine this is FINE I definitely needed another insane leather project 🤣

This is about your design sketches post:

Do you ever feel like you're bogged down in that step, especially for original designs?

I do arguably too many sketches and interations of a single design/idea and I get frozen thinking about possibilities and trying to decide on a single direction. Your work turns out phenomenally, and it always helps seeing the process.

Oh boy, absolutely! The possibilities are so endless with original designs and I have spent absurd amounts of time just musing on them (my Loki OD took like... a year to design because I kept poking at it xD) If you're looking for ways to streamline the process a bit, I'd suggest making a list of your priorities for a design: elements or materials that you know you want to have, and get those settled first. Then you can kind of see what other ideas work best with those! The other important thing to remember is that because this is your design, you are beholden to no one but yourself! You can change things later! You can decide on a whim that you like this new fabric that you found, or you saw a cool element online and you can say 'ooh I need to incorporate that!' (My Vax design did not originally have a hood or a mask, and then I saw some fanart that jumpstarted additional ideas!) I also recommend doing little materials tests--whether it's seeing what fabrics look nice together, or what textures and colours you might use when you're painting, etc. Sometimes the thing in your head doesn't translate as well as you thought, and sometimes you'll find a new idea in the process that you never would have come up with without physical tests.

One of the most essential parts of my costume process: design sketches!

Even if I’m only copying a design and not inventing my own, it is absolutely invaluable for me to sketch out the different layers and pieces. Reference photos are important, but our eyes can’t see everything at once, so the physical action of drawing out these costumes forces me to acknowledge every detail and seam!

I usually do back and front at minimum; sometimes I also do side views or separate accessories if I need to be more purposeful in how I’m thinking about a piece. I used to do these sketches only on paper, but now I have a kind of hybrid method where I do some digitally as well (this is especially useful for inventing designs elements because I can play with ideas more readily without a lot or erasing and redrawing).

If you struggle with visualising a costume, I highly encourage sketches! You can easily download design templates if it helps to have a base to work from, and I promise it will help when layers are overwhelming! (And frankly you don’t need to be an incredible artist—the point is communicate to yourself how the costume will be made, so as long as you understand what the lines mean, that what matters ☺️)

It’s been a hot minute since I posted my LOTRO OC! The game has so many beautiful cosmetics and it was super fun to combine them into a real-life look!

Photo by @sennedjem

inspired by boop day, reblog this post if its ok for people to send you random asks and interact on your posts with no judgement. i want to talk to people.

Forgot to share here - I got a cameo from Morfydd Clark (because she’s raising money for a Palestinian family to get out of Gaza!) and I asked her what her favourite RoP costume was and she said she was a fan of ME and had followed my work on the Lindon gown?? So I’ll be riding that high for a while..!

And she said she couldn’t really pick one costume but it was really cool to wear something so old (the antique assuit fabric) and how heavy it was!

I have been sadly neglecting my ice castles photos!! This shoot was so fun and one couldn’t ask for a better setting for Jotun Loki!

wip tag | more of this costume

Photo by @sennedjem

every day that goes by I feel myself slipping closer to cosplaying Astarion in the drow armour

I wasn't gonna cosplay him at all and then I kept thinking about it and then I was like okay but wearing something else not another complex leather project but it IS my fave in the game...!

Happy Tolkien reading day!! Tolkien is one of my longest fandom loves and I am so grateful that we have both the beauty of the films and the beauty of Rings of Power. I adore both Galadriels and I shall never choose between them! (though Morfydd Clark does have more costumes which I love)

Costumes made by me!

Photos by Sennedjem Cosplay and Alexandra Lee Studios