Saber Alter Cosplay

So! It has been a while since I have written anything, and advance warning, this one may be a little long. Because, you know, all my blog posts are just studies in brevity.

Anyways. This is about my cosplay of Saber Alter. Those of you who know me may remember my previous Fate/Stay Night cosplay of Saber herself, but what can I say. I adore this anime and Saber in all her outfits is my favourite. Now, this was an even more ambitious cosplay than Saber, because Saber Alter has an awful lot more armour and it's all full of spiky death spikes.

First, materials. The over dress is a dark indigo wool suiting material, and the underdress is plain black polycotton. I chose these because the suiting material is amazing for draping elegantly and being swirly when I spin. It also has an undeniable look of quality to it. The underdress, on the other hand, just needed to be comfortable and, as usual, cheap. Polycotton is great for lining things or for part of a cosplay of which very little is on display

One of my biggest problems with the dress is that I was 100% unable to find any pictures of Saber Alter without her armour. So I had to kinda imagine it, based on the other Saber outfits, and what you can see of it. I knew that the armour might fail, or simply be uncomfortable for a whole day, so I wanted to be able to go armourless if necessary. Particularly because I had done such a botch job with the original Saber dress and had been forced to wear armour all day.

Photo taken by Manga Girl Photography

If I had more time and money, I would have lined the whole dress (wool suiting is pretty but can be a tad itchy - also, lined outfits just look better) and would have made sure the sleeves were more pointy. They were a lesson in frustration and almost made me give up the project entirely at one point! In the end, I use a fabric stiffening spray to help them stay up. But I think when I rework the outfit, I will put something, like card, inside to stiffen them, in the same what that collars are stiffened. Also, the neckline wasn't 100% perfect and needed some tidying up that I unfortunately failed to do in time.

Now for the armour! One day I will have the money for a full worbla set of armour. But for now, I am still sadly bereft of such funds, and so am forced to make do with my trusty craft foam method. I actually really like working with craft foam, and while the pieces have a ridiculously childlike look until painted, the colour coding of different sides of the piece can be incredibly helpful

Shown here almost all the armour including armour for Saber Lily

The bracers made me feel somewhat like a childish dragon warrior!

This is the tutorial I always use for armour making, so do check them out. The one thing I tend to do differently is the 'sealing' of the piece. I use a 1:2 mix of PVA glue and water, and the number of coats depends on the piece. The large pieces, like the tassets (the skirt armour) got about eight coats in order to ensure they would stay shaped and would be safe from dents and all that. The smaller, fiddly bits like the gauntlets and the bracers only got about four. Partly because time was running short, but truthfully, four was enough. The bracers were made separate to the gauntlets, but in such a way that when worn together you can hardly see a join. For the gauntlets I sacrificed a cheap pair of leather gloves and gluegunned the pieces directly onto them. The pieces were all very much trial and error, but one day I may do a walkthrough of them.

Top view of gauntlets

Showing full articulation of gauntlets

First, the thing that looks like a bend in the foam on the thumb is just shadow. Annoyingly I didn't notice on the photo at the time. The white dot is 3D fabric paint which is AMAZING for rivets, line-based detailing etc. Just remember to leave it for a LONG time to dry fully. Overnight at least. The gauntlets were basically my favourite part of the whole costume - they were articulated enough that I could do anything normally possible with gloves. While also being spiky doom armour.

In the first picture (sorry that's the only one I have that shows them) you can see my boots. There were just normal (unfortunately brown) boots of the right height, with covers made for them. They would need a little tweaking to be reworn, but were super cool, and slotted easily onto the boots, with the help of elastic and velcro

Breastplate, painted

The breastplate was the most difficult piece of armour. I tried really hard to make it big enough, but I learnt a valuable lesson with fitted breastplates - always make them bigger than you think you need. Particularly when you're going to wear multiple layers underneath. It wasn't bad for a first attempt though. It attached at the side via velcro - next time I will use a corset lacing system for more security. The pieces all have scraps of spare polycotton between them, to give the two levels needed, and to make it a bit more flexible. The spare material around the bottom has velcro on for the tassets to attach to

As you can see, not quite all the foam was painted - we were rushing towards the end and some of the edges got missed. Still looks cool though, right?

Finally, the black face stuff. I was super happy with this. It's a sports balaclava, which I wore while my boyfriend drew the outline on, then took off and we cut to size. The thin pointy bits are kept in shape by being stick with tiny bits of spirit gum to my face. Not the most elegant solution, but it looks super dramatic, was exactly what was needed, and made the unarmoured version look a tad cooler too. (also, please forgive the tiny bits of my blue hair you can see trying to break for freedom at the front - the wig is too small for my head and I had no wig cap)

IN CONCLUSION:

Things I liked about the cosplay:

• Gauntlets/bracers. Those things were awesome
• The face thingy
• How cool it looked even unarmoured
• I succeeded in an armour cosplay! My most ambitious project to date and it looked amazing!
• The wonderful sword made for my by my incredible boyfriend

Things I will change for the next outing of this cosplay:

• Better breastplate, with corset lacing at the sides
• Pointier shoulders
• Fix that neckline!
• A wig that fits and doesnt give me a headache
• Actual black boots so they blend with the boot caps better

And finally, here's a couple of photos of me and Askaluna, my amazing cosplay partner, as Saber Alter and Saber Lily

Both armoured! That didn't last for long though...

Back to back poses are the coolest thing still, am I right?

Dark Saber likes hugs just like everyone else!