When Bowsette first came out, and I started seeing all the art for them, I was like "Meh, okay." But then art started coming out for other "ette"s and I immediately fell in love with the design for Chompette. I love the ball gown design, but the prison pants are what really hooked me. I also thought this would be a great cosplay to start off my 12 Cosplays of the Year builds, being a relatively easy cosplay.
Starting off, I wasn't really sure I actually wanted to cosplay as Chompette, but there was a vendor at Anime Senpai that 3D printed the crowns. I talked to them and they were more than happy to print the crown with the base that I wanted. I always want to make most of my cosplays myself, so I had them basically just hand me the crown fresh off the printer. The crown and ball were a grey base and the poof was black. In the artwork, the crown is still pink, but I just felt the silver and black just makes it better. I made sure to break the internal printing before sanding.
I also made sure that the crown wasn't constructed to make it easier to sand. I started off with 80 grit, then 100, and finally, smoothed everything with 120 grit sandpaper. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get it completely smooth, as the items are of course, really bumpy. I then painted each piece individually with acrylic paint, then sealed it with Mod Podge. I believe I used 2 coats of paint for everything, just to make sure it covered just fine. After the paint and Mod Podge dried, I used E6000 to glue the pieces together. Masking tape went around the pieces to make sure they stayed together and there was no slippage. After the glue dried, My dumb self decided to model it on and I heckin' dropped it and broke a piece off. Luckily, E6000 is a god-send, so I just glued that bad boy and left it.
I added two barrettes to the bottom of the crown facing back to clip into my wig later.
(Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the process as I usually do, so I only have the finished pictures)
Up next is of course the wig. I bought it from Arda (as usual) in a Jeannie Classic in Black. It's the detached ponytail version and I also went crazy and bought myself some actual wig scissors and yet another wig head. Honestly, if all my cosplay friends bought me wig heads, I probably still wouldn't have enough for all the wigs I own or plan on owning.
I started out by putting the wig on the head and strapping it down, then brushed out the main part of the of wig. I went through it with Mane and Tail and figured out where I wanted the side burns to be versus the bangs. I pinned the side burns back, then cut the v bangs, and trimmed the side burns. I then cut the ponytail into a stub and coated the ends with silicone caulking. This is really important to relieve some of the weight from the wig, making it easier to wear longer.
Finally, I clipped the secondary ponytail onto the stub, making sure to cover the caulk. I then brushed out the ponytail, again using Mane and Tail and my detangler brush (Both can be found at Sally's for less than $5 each.) I cut off about 5 inches, and picked a few spots to turn into flips. I took a curling iron to the bits and held it in the curl for a minute and then took Tacky Glue to the ends to keep them flipped. And to top it all off, I glued the ends of the ponytail to make it the beautiful finished edge to match the drawing.
For the eye balls, I just cut out little circles of white, 2mm foam and painted black circles on them, then sealed with Mod Podge. To attach them to the wig, I attached a clip to each eye and clipped them into the wig.
Next up, I made the bodysuit. This was actually pretty fun as I haven't done this in a hot minute, and nothing ever strapless. As always, I made a quick sketch in my sketchbook, then took to the fabric. I only bought a yard, so I had to make sure I didn't mess up. I bought a yard of black 4-way stretch fabric for the body suit. I made sure to double layer the fabric, since it was really thin and I didn't want anything showing through either. I did have to bring it in a bit, which for future reference, you take your measurements and subtract 2 inches from the sides, but only for stretchy fabrics. I sewed both sides, and once I made sure it fit, I sewed the crotch and sewed the two layers around the bust. After flipping the garment, I rolled the leggy holes and hemmed those as well.
The sleeves were really easy. I took what little fabric I had left, and made little tubes, then hemmed them. Then I took out the needle and thread, and pulled the sleeves in a cinch. And finally stitched them onto the body suit. The little chest broach was made out of 6mm foam and painted with acrylic paint and sealed with Mod Podge. I attached it with E6000 onto the front of the bodysuit.
Next up, I wanted to make the chains for her cuffs, neck, and ankle ball. I bought the 16 oz bag of Instamorph plastic. This was my first time working with the plastic and I was pleasantly surprised to have it be so easy. I did burn my hands to hell, but it was worth it. The beads turn clear and malleable in a little over a minute, so be smart. Take the beads out with a fork or spoon and then pull off a section. You can start molding it, but you do have to work quickly as it does cool relatively fast, but if something isn't just right, just pop it back into the hot water for a second and then mold it how you need.
I made about 15 chains for the cuffs. Luckily, I was able to find two cuffs at JoAnn's that were black and perfect for this project. They only cost about $2 each, plus I had coupons, so it was even cheaper. I started by molding a clip that would hold the chain links onto the cuffs, and then made 4 chains for my dominant hand (so if I wanted to use my phone, they wouldn't get in the way), and 11 on my weak hand. After they cooled entirely, I painted them with acrylic paint, then sealed with mod podge.
For the Neck, I took 6mm black foam, then heat molded it around my neck, and glued velcro onto it. I then molded a piece of Instamorph to put my chain links on. Then I made the chain links. Quickly painted the pieces, and moved onto the ball and chain. This was the most fun part of the chain process, and honestly probably took the longest. The ball itself was made of styrofoam, I got this one at Walmart, but you can get it at JoAnn's, Michael's, or Hobby Lobby. I started off by covering the ball with Mod Podge to seal the styrofoam in and keep the paint as a real layer instead of just sinking into the chippable (not a real word, I know) foam and causing me to paint more and more layers. After the Mod Podge was dry, I painted it black and sealed again with even more Mod Podge. Then I E6000'd the connector piece for the chain to my ankle cuff, which had quite a few chain links. I made it the same way as the neck piece, but obviously smaller.
The pants were the quickest part of this cosplay. Again, as will almost all of my pants for cosplay, I take a pair of my own pants and cut the fabric into the four pieces. I sewed those together, then hemmed both the cuffs to make tubes for the elastic, to make sure they stayed up while I wear them. I did the same for the belt line, and inserted a 1" piece of elastic, 2 inches smaller than my waist. I sewed the ends and finished the cuffs. After I was done with that, I created a tube of fabric from a 10" by 60" piece of the stretch fabric and flipped it. I was so blessed that it was a 4 way stretch knit, so it made it really easy to turn the fabric. I sewed about 3" in the back on the wrong side of the fabric in order to house the "sleeves" of the prison suit, and voila! Pants were finished. That process took me about an hour in total, so I was really happy.
For the shoes, I just went with a pair of black flats. You can find them just about anywhere. Then came time to put everything on! I have some earlier pictures of me with most of it, but didn't have a chance to to put it on before the shoot.
Photo credits to the amazing Mouzycat Cosplay Photography
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