Quick Doodles: Beads and Such

Pet Peeve: beads that come in multicolor packages.

I don’t have anything against the fun packs of beads you can pick up at Walmart or even Hobby Lobby. But when I’m going out of my way (a.k.a. going online to a specific store) to find a specialty bead with a distinct sheen, shape, material, whatever, nothing ticks me off more than finding that bead only comes in silver or gold, and then mixed multicolor—to me, totally random—packs.

This is because if I’m cosplaying, chances are that the character has a very specific color, say… green. Green isn’t random. Not random at all. And cosplay is such an expensive endeavor, it's not fun to hand over your money and only get 1/10 of it back.

Also. In the catalogues, the price is usually what I see first. So if I see an awesome amount of beads for an incredible price, I get excited. Then I see that they’re mixed or multicolor, and I get sad. It happens.

Dining Hall: That Super-Fancy Encrusted Gems Effect

Sometimes artists, like Yoshitaka Amano, give this sort of cloudy texture to a piece of the costume and that particular piece doesn’t look like fabric. It’s something weird, like a shoe buckle. Instead of spending a ridiculous amount of money on a fancy buckle that doesn’t really look accurate (but is expensive), try this.

Buy a bunch of shiny seed beads in the color you need and pour them out on a paper plate. Find a nice, cheap and plain version of, say, that belt buckle. Coat the area you need decorated with E6000 (please do this outside with proper ventilation and safety precautions) and dip.

After your item is covered, coat the beaded surface with polyurethane and leave them somewhere nice, like your garage, to dry out.

I like to add a few seed beads that are lighter and darker to give this effect more depth. Also, you can buy undrilled miniature gemstone chips and do the same thing if you’re looking for a different texture than seed beads can provide.