A New Way to Cosplay: Cosplaying while Blind

Im a creative soul. I have been since I could pick up a pencil since the age of 2. I have excelled at every form of art I’ve put my mind to — well, except ceramics. I SUCK at ceramics — and cosplay has been my art of choice for the last seven years.

When I lost my vision seven months ago, I didn’t know the blindness would be permanent but no matter the case, I wanted to cosplay.

These were the first two, but I’ve made about a dozen cosplays already, and these are the biggest changes to my work as a Blind cosplayer:

Amazon Prime

I purchase what I can, and I purchase it online. I can’t see color in most cases, and online listings usually list what color the product is, the size and shape, it’s use, and Amazon is especially nice because the reviews assure me I’m getting what I expect. I prefer shopping online to shopping in store — stores are overwhelming and can be stressful and loud, and even at fabric stores, colors are sometimes not listed on the bolts (I.e. Yaya Han’s Cosplay Fabrics don’t have colors listed, luckily I know them well from before I lost my vision)

Less Sewing, more Hands-On

I definitely can sew, but with much difficulty:

I’ve seen full cosplays like Ivy and Punk PG, but unlike before, I keep such projects to a minimum. And since I can’t see detail, I struggle with any sort of painting, and thus armor-based costumes haven’t been prioritized. Which is fine I honestly never enjoyed making armor anyway >_>

Instead, I actually hot glue and fabric glue a lot. And hand-sew a lot. This way I can feel my way through what I’m doing with my fingers. But to be honest that’s not much different from before — some of my favorite costumes were hot glued, like Jasmine and Widowmaker. I think a good cosplay uses the right amount of hot glue at the right time :)

Original Designs

THANK GOODNESS I was already known for my original designs because doing canon designs of characters is near-impossible for me. My brain can’t decipher images too well— I can’t see color, or depth, or detail, so if I were to try to create a canon design it had better be rather simple. But instead, I prefer original designs where I can be creative in my color and design choices.

The photo at the top of this blog is my Poison Ivy cosplay that I designed myself, starting from a purchased dress and accessories from Amazon, that I hemmed and altered with fabric glue and hot glue. So I combined all of these aspects to make this month’s Patreon cosplays!

Creative vision isn’t in your eyes— it’s in your mind and in your heart. I haven’t lost any of my creativity, it’s just now a little more challenging and different.