Next time you find yourself needing a cosplay fix, look no further than Gladzy Kei’s YouTube channel. Packed with time-lapse videos and exquisite costume results, this channel is a treasure trove of tips and methods. She doesn’t come out and explain every single tiny step she takes, but I did learn quite a bit just by watching how she put things together.
Moana seems like a simple enough costume to piece together, but what about that necklace? Watch as Gladzy creates it from scratch! Instead of going out and hunting for a cabochon that happens to look similar enough, she sculpts what she wants out of hot glue and worbla thermoplastics.
Worbla is pretty amazing stuff. I was mesmerized watching how Gladzy shaped it to create this Wonder Woman breast plate. The weathering and painting is really convincing as well. Gladzy does take a bit more time to explain things in this video, but it pays off with that incredible detail. She points out that having a helpful friend is pretty important.
Wonder Woman is more than just a breastplate, need to cover those shins and forearms too!
The shapes she pulls off with foam and worbla are pretty crazy. However, it was the use of nail polish as paint that really struck me. What a tip!
Calling it a “Cosplay Speedrun” is of course a callback to the gaming videos where people rush through the game as fast as possible. It is also, I think, an entirely accurate way to describe this style of DIY video and I am totally going to start using it.
Turns out that Gladzy is not just talented at creating these costumes but also a fantastic painter and drummer!
Go check out her channel! There is a lot more stuff I just did not have the space to link to. I also suspect that there is still plenty of cool stuff already on the way!
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