ORUHA
Clover
Photographer
Why I chose to make this costume:
This has been on my cosplay list for years! I've always wanted to cosplay from "Clover"—it's such a beautiful manga with incredibly gorgeous and whimsical character designs. Oruha especially is so many character elements rolled into one—she is sexy and vivacious, confident, caring, warm and motherly at the same time. And so eternally sad and doomed. The one-leaf clover.
How I made this costume:
I chose Oruha's signature black stage outfit with the vine tattoos because that is her most memorable image to me. I made the corset, skirt, garter and arm warmers with PVC vinyl, but looking at the artwork, her billowy overskirt seemed matte to me so I used matte bridal satin with an underlayer of organza for it. I made a mini hoop skirt to go under the satin skirt, and the corset has steel boning in it which help hold the wings on yay.
The wings are all right for being made in such a hurry—I cut out the "blades" in vinyl sheets, sprayed them black, and made a wire frame covered in Wonderflex. The wings separate and fold together and I especially made them small enough to fit inside my suitcase for the plane trip. The wing breast covers are heat formed plastic sheets cut out and glued together, and they Velcro onto the corset. For the first time I wore this costume, I spent over an hour agonizingly drawing the tattoo on myself.
The beautiful microphone was made by Brian of BountyHardware.com as a birthday gift. I told him he could pick between the wings or the microphone lol. I am not sure how he made the mic but it definitely included sculpting, molding, casting and butchering some found parts. The whole thing is plastic and metal, and the base/rod swivels!
Thoughts on this costume:
The Cher wig and mass of black vinyl make this a very hot summer costume, but I am still very happy I got to wear Oruha at TNT.
The garden photos were such a lucky incident—we stayed at the Hotel Geneve and their wedding chapel was this beautiful glass house and garden that looked like it jumped off the manga pages! It was so perfect for Clover and the staff graciously allowed us inside for 20 minutes while in costume. Mario and Marmota both braved the heat and did a mini photoshoot with us.
I also must thank Geoffrey again for coming all the way out to Vegas just to shoot with me. I felt like a rock princess all day!
