Hey guys,

I been reading around the forum before finally registering and was wondering if you could give me a bit of help? I am going to be honest and admit I never took part in any costume making but for something really simple which was an Assassin from Assassin's Creed and a Mario.

As I got invited to this famous London expo next weekend I wanted to fit in and get a nice costume so I thought of our mighty Apollo Justice. I managed to get someone to do me the whole outfit with EMS delivery for $110 since I dont have a sewing machine since I finished my Textiles GCSE but am missing the bracelet and spiky hair.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for how to make a bracelet and the spiky hair or if anyone kind enough could do me something?

Any help is greatly appreciated and I promise to post photos of the result and also super nice to meet everyone. :)

I had a similar problem with parts of my outfit. For the hair, if it's long enough, try using Aquanet to keep your hair up all the time. It's the best hairstyling product for cosplayers. Unfortunately, i can't help you with the bracelet.

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First off, are you going to be using your own natural hair or a wig? Aquanet takes a while to set and works very well with wigs, but for something simple like your Apollo spikes you also could consider something called Got2B Glued if you're using your natural hair. It's a spiking glue and ultra scary strong.

Bracelet: You can probably find a broad yellow bracelet someplace, although it may take some searching. If you do find one, take a good permanent marker that won't smear and draw on the eye patterns. What I would do, being insane, would be to attempt to sculpt the bracelet out of Sculpey, a special crafts clay, probably using a normal bracelet as a base. However, this is because I am crazy. There may be a better alternative out there.

Oh, do you have your attorney badge yet? That is a definite recommendation for Sculpey. This is how mine turned out. You don't have to go all out on the details (I didn't). It looks really spiffy on a lapel with just minimal detail. :)

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I knew a guy that wood glued his hair. It WORKS.

...but I think you might have to shave your head when you're all done...he never said how he undid his hair xD

You could try making the bracelet out of cardboard, if you're really desperate :p

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I'm going to go ahead and second Gwiffen's suggestion of the Got2B styling products, especially the spiking glue and the freeze spray. That stuff works wonders, both on real hair and on wigs. I'm currently almost done with my own Apollo costume, and that's what I've been using on the wig. It's wonderful.

Here's a pic to show you what it can do, at least on a wig:


I'm actually not happy with them just yet... they're a little too long, and not quite correct yet, so I'm getting a friend to help fix them. But, that should give you a general idea of the miraculousness of that stuff. :3

Also, a tip: to keep your hair from looking odd, put one spike slightly behind the other, don't just pull up two sections at the very front of your hair, if that makes any sense. :D One spike is also slightly shorter than the other, and leans off to the side, so keep that in mind.

As for the bracelet, I can't mold things worth crap, I've discovered, so I'm taking a plain pre-made wooden bracelet and carving into it. (see above picture~) I found the bracelet at my local craft store. You could try finding one that fits you decently and covering it with clay or something if it has a design on it already, and then painting it.

Good luck! :D

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Thanks for all the replies with help guys as it makes me feel more confident about making those items!

At the moment I got my hair short like the rest of Apollo's for example so using that strong hold gel would definetly not get me two nice horns.A wig sounds like a very handy plan and your costume is looking fantastic DarkenedWings.Do you think if I find a cheap wig and then just cut out two long strands of hair to use with the gel to make it stand would it work ok too? Just did not get to the part of how to make it hold to my head without glue. :P

Definetly will look into sculpting too for the badge and bracelet if I can find something usable around here so great idea Gwiffen.

Thanks for the inspiration guys!

You mean combine it with your own hair, and just make the "antennae" separately? It might work, but cheap wig = no. Shell out for a nice one made of Kanekalon or Toyokalon fiber if you want to go that route. Cosworx, Amphigory, and sellers like cosplaywig and professional_only on ebay are good places to go for good, high quality wigs. Cheap wigs can completely ruin a costume.

Your other option, which may be even less expensive than a cheap wig, is look into hair extensions if you're looking to combine it with your own hair. If you do that, try and attach or weave the fibers into a thin piece of flesh-colored fabric and use spirit gum to attach it to your forehead, then take some makeup to the fabric to make it match your skintone. Complicated, but it'll look more natural that way.

Hope that helps a little. :3

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Another thing you can do for the bracelet is make it with a kind of stretchy, shiny fabric and put stuffing in it, and then draw on the design with a permanent marker. That's what I did. But you might have to redraw the designs periodically; it's starting to fade on mine (well, it said "permanent", so I naturally assumed it would be... are there actually permanent markers that are permanent on fabric? But the fading isn't entirely a bad thing because you might make a mistake...). It's very comfortable to wear, though. A snug fit like how it looks on Apollo, yet comes off easily. But if you do this, you have to remember to make it longer than the circumference of your wrist before stuffing it; otherwise it will end up too short.

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Using extensions does sound quite like a good idea as long as matches my hair colour which is a dark brownish/black and I got some ideas off ebay.

My plan is to use a lot of gel to fix them back while separating into two sections and cut one shorter. From both of those they are pretty close to my real hair colour. I better think more about it after this really important exam that I got today at 2 pm though and while listening to the Apollo Justice soundtrack that came today from play-asia. :D

Thanks again guys!

Has anyone got any patterns to draw and then carve for the bracelet?

Thanks!