Hello! I'm Banshee Rose! I'm also known as Iron Rose Cosplay and have been cosplaying since 2017. I make a lot of other cosplays that are not Halo related, so I'm going to be posting the progress for those projects here so I can get additional feedback and ideas on my non-Halo cosplays. Also, posting my progress as it occurs without having to plan posting times, hashtags, or captions like I do on Instagram helps keep me motivated. I'm hoping to learn some new things or help teach others throughout the use of this thread. Right now I am working on the Saint Seiros shield from Fire Emblem Three Houses as an addition to my Lady Rhea cosplay. I have been working on it for three days and today I'm getting to the priming and painting steps. I also need it done by Saturday for a mini con, so fingers crossed. It is all made of EVA foam, with floormat foam as the base (floor mat foam is my favorite because it is affordable and easier on my hands in terms of cutting). The detail foam is from Michael's Craft Store. I will be priming with Plasti dip and the covering with a layer of white spray paint before hand painting the gold accents.
So, the shield is finished. I luckily finished it a day early so I have today to clean and prepare for tomorrow. I am not the best at painting, but I tried to color match to my Lady Rhea head piece. It's not an exact match but it is the closest I could get since I don't remember the exact brand of spray paints I used last time. I used Krylon spray paints in the colors gold and rose gold for the base and used acrylics for the detailing and the center white circle. Spray paints and acrylics will still crack unlike latex paint, but it does the job and will be alright as long as I'm treating my props well. If available, I recommend Liquitex acrylic paint since it is more flexible than the cheaper alternatives. They are way more expensive, but depending on the prop, it may be worth it. Because of a time crunch and the glitter included on the center detail, I used a light layer of hair spray to seal the glitter and paint. It is not as long lasting but, again if the prop is treated well and stored correctly, you'll still get plenty of use out if it. Normally, I would have sealed the paint job before applying the glitter then sealed the glitter with hair spray, but I just didn't have time. Always store your props in a climate controlled area since most materials for prop making will react negatively to the elements. I also included lights for this project because I happened to come across a string of lights I've been holding onto forever. I try to use any materials I have to give them use before buying new ones. The string of lights I used came from the dollar tree and is powered by two AA batteries. I just poked holes where I wanted the lights to show and shoved them into each hole until they were flush with the surface of the shield. To hide the lights, I found that these flowers that do well at distributing the light a bit while not being too large to distract from the rest of the build. I really enjoyed making this prop and I am surprised I was able to make it as quickly as I did, that means I may be able to achieve other builds within certain time constraints for upcoming events I want to attend with specific cosplays and props.
So, I repaired and repainted some bits of my Lady Rhea headpiece before the convention and it looks so much better! This headpiece is one of the cosplay items I am most proud of, it took a lot of concentration to get each piece to match well with its counterparts. I remade a lot of pieces as I went and it just turned out so amazing. The white paint was chipping off a bit so I had to repaint those and it brightened it up a lot. I'm so happy I choose to cosplay Lady Rhea, she's in my top 3 favorite cosplays of all time! Also, I love glitter and include it in almost all of my cosplay builds.
So, I broke my hiatus to do a bit of sewing before I commit myself to nearly solely working on my upcoming grunt cosplay and along with my sewing project I finally got to utilize some skills I learned from one of my former jobs and alter a pair of shoes. I am very happy with how they turned out and I was able to use some materials I had on hand (which I'm getting better about since materials are expensive and using what I already have is more sustainable). I still spend a little to get some specific things but I'm also better at not buying in excess so I have less materials for a specific project left over. I'm excited to debut this new look at Fan Expo Portland.
