PHILIPPA EILHART | MAIN SET OF FEBRUARY

Hi, my sweethearts! <3

Today I want to present to you my brand-new Witcher cosplay of Philippa Eilhart from the second game!

This Main Set of February is available from “My Gardener” tier and full set with extras you could get on “My King” tier till the end of month! Remember – extra pics are yours only in the month the set is published.

Why this costume?

One of my dreams in cosplay is to make almost all Witcher girls. And I want to continue my collection with Philippa. First of all, because I love her costume design. Secondly, because she is a badass sorceress. I pic her look from the Assassins of Kings for several reasons: I love black & red combination more that “orangy”- blue - brown she had in third part; in this costume Philippa had gorgeous sleeves; and she still had eyes there XD

Concerning costume

Honestly, when I chose this cosplay I thought it would be kind of an easy task, that it would be a month of “relax”, and I told my friends about it. Should I tell you how many times they reminded me of these words? In the process I found out that it’s not easy at all. Surprisingly? Month of relaxation, what I was thinking about?

I started making it by dividing it into “what I will do” and “what my seamstress will do”. Her work included: red top (without golden binding and straps), red skirt (also without binding and black lines), beige skirt, collar and sleeves. Mine is everything else.

Finding fabrics

The main problem for me was getting burgundy jacquard and matching it burgundy suede. I ordered two good jacquards (one dark-red and one bright red) and, when I was waiting for them, I got my first suede from an offline shop. When my purchase came I understood that none of them match the suede, so I took the dark one. We decided to use suede fabric from the back side (without the texture of suede) and seamstress even cut it out. On the first try I realized that was a bad decision. I connected with an offline shop, if they have something I need, they told me the right burgundy fabric and it’s in stock in one of their 2 shops. But it wasn’t there, as were two others, which were quite close to it. I called the second shop with the same question and they told me that they had one suede called “dirty-red” (the name suits it for 100%). And finally almost perfect fabric was mine! I can't tell how many shops and websites I looked through without any success. It was a very long and tedious process.

Black lines on skirt (not in life)

Initially I wanted to find the fabric for a skirt with lines to save time, but the only black&red striped thing I found was a glossy biflex (usually used as sport costumes). So as you understood I chose 2 types of suede: black and red. From the last one my seamstress sewed a skirt and my work started. The algorithm was next: with sewing chalk I drew lines on the skirt, gradually moving the item and pinning it to the board (the skirt has interesting shape) → took tracing paper and also pinned it into the place where the “lines” should be → folded the paper into the shape of “lines” and cut it out → got 11 lines → transferred them to black suede and made 1 cm allowance for hem → cut them out → using glue web and iron folded from sides each piece → attached pieces to skirt with pins → sewed the lines with sewing machine. It took me about 2 days to finish.

Lace collar for sorceress

Getting good lace was tricky too, I guess I managed with it. When the seamstress gave me the final version we understood that it doesn’t keep its shape. There was the only way to solve it – use starch. I’ve never worked with it. After watching one lesson on Youtube I got down to business. In boiling water I poured in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch diluted in normal water and stirred it to avoid sediment → when it was warm I put my collar there for 30 minutes → then left it to dry on a towel. And yeah after 2 attempts I got my collar as I wanted it to be!

Black and red belts

As usual I made it from EVA, eco-leather and glue. For the red belt I used 86 silver 6mm holnitens, gently hammered in XD. Without jokes it was a careful process to put all of them in the right places. Tip on the end of the belt I made from PVC, colored by me in silver. Black belt I sewed from both sides on a sewing machine.

Witch-crafts

Wax-looking seal I sculpted from gray plasticine using special sticks for it. Then I did my first mold in life from silicone: I made the borders of my mold → sprayed with wax limiter → combined 100 g of silicone with 2 g of hardener and poured on my form → on next day I got my perfect seal → I processed it with sandpaper → covered with 3 layers of black liquid resin (cause didn’t have black grunt for plastic) → covered the center and colored in silver → covered the borders and colored in red. So here we are!

Detail with star I did more than a year ago from EVA-foam from two parts: 1 circle and one ring. I don’t want to remember how many hours I spent processing it with engraver, sandpaper, liquid nails, etc. I remember the effect of “leather” I did using my bag as a stamp XD.

“Metallic” details are 3D printed. One more time THANKS to Dimitri for purchasing them for me! The process was as it was before: printing, cleaning of supports → covering with resin and exposing in UV-camera → covering with filler and processing with sandpaper → covering with 3-4 layers of liquid resin → covering with silver paint tangentially.

I will finish my story now and continue on Tuesday with Philippa’s new lingerie set! Hope you love reading that creation post. I guess I need to make videos of inprogress and me in costume, what do you think? I guess it would be more interesting!

Retouching the sets:

The situation now is next. This month I will send 3-4 finished sets. As I said before, Philippa turned out to be much more difficult than I imagined in the beginning. That’s absolutely my fault for incorrect time allocation! I am working hard to solve it and send you good photoshoots, which are not made in a hurry! Some sets need additional shoots to make them full and good. This month I already did 3 additional sets in one day – it was hard. Hope for your understanding and patience! Thank you a lot for it!

Thank you for inspiring me to make such complex costumes and being inspired making them!

Have the great day!

With love

Sladkoslava