c/budget-cosplay-builds

13

markl75•4h ago

Thrift store blazer for a Matrix cosplay got me laughed at by a pro cosplayer at a con last month

Spent under $15 on the whole outfit from Goodwill and a craft store, but he said real cosplayers don't use cheap costume fabrics and now I wonder if budget builds are just looked down on or if I should have just bought the expensive vest, anyone else get flak for going the thrift route?

9

mark_nguyen95•20h ago

A random thrift store find changed my whole approach to armor builds

I grabbed a $4 yoga mat at Goodwill in Portland last month and it worked better than EVA foam for my Halo shoulder pieces. The foam was thin enough to heat-form easily but held its shape without backing. Has anyone else tried weird materials from thrift stores for costume parts?

23

dakota_fox•22h ago

I finally stopped using hot glue for everything after it ruined my Mandalorian chest plate

Used to think hot glue was the budget builder's best friend for attaching EVA foam details. Then last month at the Dallas Comic Con, my chest plate started shedding pieces in the parking lot because the glue melted in the Texas heat. Saw another cosplayer using contact cement and they convinced me it holds way better for like $4 more a bottle. Anyone else had their costume fall apart because of bad adhesive choices?

22

nancy_green•2d ago

That moment my EVA foam armor started melting at the convention

I was at Anime Expo in LA last July and my homemade Mandalorian chest piece literally started drooping in the 95 degree heat. I panicked and ducked into the bathroom, grabbed some duct tape from my emergency kit and reinforced the backside structure. It looked a little janky but held together for the rest of the day. Has anyone else had to MacGyver a fix on their costume mid-convention?

14

leeknight•2d ago

Shoutout to goodwill for my $3 shield prop

I spent last Thursday wandering around the goodwill on 5th street looking for fabric scraps and found a beat up plastic serving tray for $3. Took some silver spray paint I already had and a hot glue gun to attach some cardboard details from an old box. By Sunday night I had a solid Captain America style shield that cost me basically nothing. Anyone else find random household stuff that turned into a great cosplay piece?

20

sams25•3d ago

Overheard a kid say cosplay has to be store bought to look good

I was at a con last month in Austin and heard a teenager tell his friend that if you don't buy your cosplay from a shop it won't look right. Made me think back to 2015 when I built my first Vash the Stampede coat from a thrift store trench coat and some red paint. Cost me maybe $12 total and I got more compliments than any bought costume I've seen since. That kid missed the whole point of making something your own with what you have. Has anyone else run into people who think budget builds can't compete with store bought ones?

19

harris.vera•4d ago

Foam vs Worbla for armor pieces - my experience with both

I spent about 6 months making armor out of EVA foam for my first cosplay. It looked okay but it was HEAVY and took forever to sand smooth. Then I tried Worbla on a small vambrace project last month and the difference was night and day. The Worbla heated up in under 2 minutes with my heat gun and shaped perfectly around my arm. I spent $35 on a single sheet of Worbla versus $20 for a big pack of foam mats. But the time I saved was worth every penny since I finished that piece in one evening. Has anyone else switched materials and found one way easier for certain parts?

26

sams25•4d ago

Finally ditched expensive EVA foam for $3 floor mats from Ollie's

For years I was buying craft foam sheets at $8 a pop for armor pieces, then last month I grabbed a 4-pack of interlocking gym mats for $12 and cut them down - same result for a fraction of the cost. Has anyone else tried using those cheap puzzle mats for bigger builds or is there a catch I'm missing?

13

thompson.finley•5d ago

Thought foam clay was a waste of money until I made a full Iron Man helmet for $8

I always figured foam clay would just crack and look terrible, but after 3 tries with paper mache that kept flopping, I grabbed a $4 pack from the craft store and sculpted a wearable helmet that actually held its shape. Has anyone else found a random material that totally saved a build?

4

hayes.elliot•5d ago

Dollar store foam mats saved my Mandalorian armor build

So I finally decided to tackle a full Mandalorian cosplay after wanting to do it for like 2 years. Last month I priced out the foam at craft stores and nearly had a heart attack, $30 for a single sheet of the good stuff. Then I was at the dollar store buying snacks and spotted these interlocking foam floor mats for $4 a pack, 4 squares each. I grabbed 6 packs and used my hot knife to cut out all the armor pieces, chest plate, shoulder bells, the whole thing. The foam is a bit thinner than the craft store stuff but it actually bends easier for curved pieces. I sealed it with some cheap PVA glue mixed with water and it took spray paint perfectly. Has anyone else had luck with these mats for armor or props? I'm wondering if they'll hold up at a convention all day.

-1

shane_perry29•6d ago

Fabric paint versus dye for a cheap Spider-Verse Miles Morales suit - what's your pick?

I tried using $3 fabric paint from Michaels on an old hoodie for a Miles Morales cosplay last month and the paint cracked after one wear, looked terrible. My buddy swears by RIT dye for the same look but that can run you $8 a bottle and needs hot water and salt. Has anyone else dealt with paint cracking on stretchy fabrics, or is dye the way to go for like under $20?

1

angelacooper•8d ago

Half my EVA foam armor delaminated at a con in Atlanta last May

I was at MomoCon and my chest piece started peeling apart during a photo shoot. Had to emergency glue it back together in the bathroom with super glue I borrowed from a vendor. Anyone else had hot weather ruin their foam pieces mid-con?

18

rowan_hunt8•8d ago

Saw a guy at Fan Expo Dallas last weekend spend $80 on a 3D printed helmet that looked worse than my $15 foam build

I was walking through the vendor hall at Fan Expo Dallas on Saturday and noticed a booth selling 3D printed armor pieces for ridiculous prices, like $80 for a Mando helmet with visible layer lines. Meanwhile I made my own version using EVA foam, plastidip, and some spray paint from the hardware store for maybe $15 total and it turned out way smoother. Am I missing something about the appeal of 3D printed props when foam can look just as good for a fraction of the cost?

15

nelson.gavin•10d ago

PSA: Hot glue is NOT a substitute for EVA foam contact cement

I was building a Mandalorian chest plate for a con next month and ran out of contact cement halfway through. Thought I'd save $12 and just use hot glue since I had a bunch of sticks lying around. Figured it'd hold fine for a costume that just sits on me, right? Wrong. After 6 hours of gluing all the foam pieces together, I picked it up to test the fit and the whole chest piece literally fell apart in my hands. The hot glue just peeled right off the foam edges, no grip at all. Ended up having to start over completely, wasted an entire evening and a good sheet of foam. Took me 4 extra days to finish because I had to wait for new contact cement to arrive. Has anyone else tried a cheap shortcut like this and learned the hard way?

24

the_lisa•10d ago

Unpopular opinion: thrift store finds beat fabric store sales most of the time

I was at Anime Expo in LA last June and saw two separate Star Lord cosplays. One guy spent like $80 on new fabric and patterns. The other girl found an old leather jacket at Goodwill for $12 and modified it. Her jacket actually looked more screen accurate. Now I'm stuck wondering if I should keep hitting up thrift stores or stick with sales at Joann. What's your take does hunting through racks of used clothes save enough cash to make up for the extra time? Has anyone else had better luck with one method over the other at a big con?

12

lucas63•11d ago

Rant: Hot glue is NOT the best budget option for armor.

I kept seeing everyone say hot glue for EVA foam armor. Cheap and easy. Finally checked my total cost after 3 builds. Hot glue sticks were $18 for the big pack. Contact cement was $12 for a quart. And it lasted through 5 costumes. Hot glue popped off at a con in Austin. Had to fix pieces in the bathroom. Anyone else ditch hot glue for contact cement?

28

evaperez•11d ago

I was wrong about thrift store bedsheets for cosplay fabric

For years I thought using old bedsheets for a costume was just a cop out. Then last winter I tried making a Ghostbusters jumpsuit from a pair of blue king-size sheets I found at Goodwill for $8. The cotton was soft enough to sew easily on my machine and the color matched perfectly after a quick dye job with RIT. Total cost was under $15 versus $40 for new fabric at Joann's. Has anyone else found surprising uses for thrifted linens in their builds?

8

eva243•11d ago

TIL foam clay can take 3 days to dry instead of the 2 hours the package says...

I was making a prop for my Hollow Knight cosplay, the little dream nail thing, using this foam clay from Michaels. The box said it air dries in 2 hours so I slathered it on thick thinking I'd be done that night. Yeah no, it was still squishy after 12 hours and took about 3 full days near my heater to finally harden. Has anyone else gotten tricked by drying times on budget materials like this?

5

troy977•12d ago

Spent 4 hours trying to make EVA foam look like leather when paint alone would've worked fine

I know everyone says you gotta heat seal and plastidip and do all these layers to get that smooth finish on foam armor. But I spent a whole Sunday up in my garage with a heat gun and a wood grain tool trying to texture some bracers for my post-apocalypse build. After 4 hours of messing around I finally just hit it with a couple coats of flat black spray paint from the hardware store and it looked fine. Better than fine actually. The texture from the foam itself kind of reads as worn leather once you add some dry brushing and a matte clear coat. I get why people do the full process if you're entering a competition but for a con or a photoshoot I think we overcomplicate this stuff. Has anyone else just skipped a step and gotten better results than expected?

13

jamesrivera•12d ago

Fight brewing over whether to buy fabrics online or in person for cheap cosplay

My buddy Mike told me I was wasting my time buying fabric from Joann's sales and that I should just order everything off Amazon for half the price. So I tried it for my last build, a Star Wars Jedi robe. Ordered the fabric online, paid $12 instead of $25, and it showed up looking like a totally different color than the listing. The texture was rough and stiff too, not the soft drape I needed. I ended up spending another $15 to fix it with stuff from the local store. Now I'm wondering if the savings are even real with shipping costs and returns being a pain. Has anyone else had a bad experience chasing online deals for costume fabrics?

29

luna_jackson28•13d ago

Can we talk about the difference a year makes on a cheap foam shield?

Tbh I painted my first budget Captain America shield back in March with just craft store foam and acrylics, and it looked fine. Fast forward to yesterday after 8 wears to cons, that thing is cracked, discolored, and basically a crime scene - guess I should have sealed it better. Anybody else have a prop that lasted way shorter than you thought?

26

dakota_fox•14d ago

Got told my EVA foam edges were too ragged and it fixed my whole build

At a con last month, a random cosplayer pointed out my armor had these fuzzy seam lines I never noticed before, and she showed me how to sand at a 45 degree angle. I went home and tried it on my WIP Mandalorian helmet and the difference was night and day, like actual prop quality. Has anyone else had a stranger give them a tip that totally upgraded their budget build game?

24

lilymurphy•15d ago

Just realized thrift store bedsheets are underrated for cosplay...

I was at a Goodwill in Portland last weekend looking for fabric for a medieval dress and I grabbed a set of queen size sheets for $6.50. The fabric was way softer than the cheap stuff at Joann's and there was like 4 yards of it easy. I used it to make a cloak and the drape looked so much better than stiff costume satin. Now I check the bedding aisle before I even look at clothes or curtains. Has anyone else found good cosplay fabric in weird places like that?

2

hannah_price79•18d ago

Fabric paint instead of expensive vinyl saved my armor build

I was trying to make a Mandalorian chest plate for under $30 and got stuck on the detailing. Real vinyl sheets were like $15 a pop at Joann's. Then I grabbed a $2 bottle of metallic fabric paint from Walmart and painted right over craft foam. It cracked a bit after 3 wears but honestly looked better than the shiny plastic stuff. Has anyone else hacked a material swap like this and gotten decent results?

21

lucas63•20d ago

Used to laugh at thrift store cosplay wigs until I found a perfect Medusa one for $4

I figured cheap wigs would look fake and tangled but last month at Goodwill in Portland I spotted a dark green curly wig that cleaned up great with some fabric softener. Has anyone else had luck with secondhand wigs or am I just lucky?