How To Make : Lightning FFXIII Gunblade

Naomi has been cosplaying as Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII for two years now, due to the first MCM event that she went to was last minute she didn't have enough time to make Lightning's Gunblade.

This gunblade was made in just over 5 days, due to this Naomi is going to re-paint the Gunblade before the next expo.

The tools which were used when creating the gunblade are:

-Craft Knife
-Thick Card
-Craft Foam
-Plastic Tube
-Strong Glue or a Glue Gun

-Silver Spray Paint

-Red and Black Acrylic Paint

-Dark Grey Acrylic Paint.

The measurement for this Gunblade was 50" long. Here is the template which we used for the outline of the sword. We started off by creating the general shape of the blade first. 

After creating the template we then started to draw the blade on to the card first, and then the same with the handle.

 Once we had the first layer to the Gunblade we then repeated this process two more times so in total we had 4 layers for the sword. However the two outside layers for the handle we made the pieces a little bit longer to give the sword some strength and to cover up the joints in the middle.

After doing this we then coated the sword in a papermache, however the sword was still a little flimsy and needed alot of reinforement. we did this by adding an addition piece of thicker card to the sword which you can see here:

Despite doing this the sword didn't support its self properly and we had to improvise a way to support the handle of the sword. We decided to cut a whole through the middle of the handle and add a thick plastic pole, which gave the sword the support that it needed. 

After these sets were completed a final coat of papermache was applied and then we were ready to add the detail. We did this by using the previous template which we cut out the shapes of the detail and used these to created the detail from thin blue craft foam. For some of the detail a few layers of the shapes was required. The piece for the handle easily covered the plastic pole.

This is the sword after all the building work was complete. We added another layer of papermache over the foam detail to protect the foam from the spray paint and to also harden the foam to stop it coming away while we were at the expo. 

After the papermache layer was dry we then coated the gun in a silver spray paint, and then used reference photos to add the additional colours on to the Gunblade. 

Due to Naomi's sword being made the week before the expo. she has decided to give it another coat of papermache and to repaint the Gunblade.

Here are some photos of Naomi in her cosplay at MCM Manchester 2012.

Lightning Farron Cosplay

At the two expo's I've attended, I've noticed that Lightning is quite a popular character to cosplay as, so I thought I'd post up some pictures of Naomi's outfit so any one that is looking to put their own together can see what is needed.
This outfit however, was not made by neither myself nor Naomi, so we have little knowledge of how to create it from scratch, but references are always a good starting point :)

The 'under-vest' as I would call it, has only 3 important factors for it to work with the overall outfit, firstly the collar/zip needs to reach your neck, this is something Lightning uses to hide her brand, she doesn't like to show any weakness, which makes this quite an important part of the overall aesthetic. Then its the colour, a slightly darker than Tan Brown, and then the pattern. Once these principles have been met, your quite safe to move on, if the top is too long for you, you can always just tuck it into your skirt :)

The skirt is fairly easy to get right, it's simply brown high waisted, and hugs your curves. I can bet it'd be quite hard to find one with the zips and ribbon, but I know that these additions can be introduced to a skirt with simple sewing skills.

Naomi's skirt has belt loops, which is quite useful when you need to attach the bag to your hip.

The bag is quite a complex piece, but don't get put off by the straps. The bag itself is three compartments, the main section, then a smaller pouch on the face that has a side zip and a zip across the top, sectioning the pouch into two pockets. The bag is held onto you with the large strap going through one of the belt loops on the opposite side of the leg, with enough slack to allow it to rest just beneath your skirt. Then there are three more strap that tend to mix and match which seem to mainly be for aesthetic use only, they wont hold the bag up, but it will stop it from swinging around. you simply need to over lap them through the loops on the bag, then meet them on the inside of your leg, it's quite simple, but gives off an 'intricate' effect when worn.

The jacket is something you're going to want to spend the most time on, it's imperative to get this spot on, as it's Lightning's most noteworthy aspect of her out fit. The main thing you want to get right, are the three buckles on the front, and the colour of her pockets, and you should be ok. The cape is a simple red fabric, but when attaching it to back, try not to make it too wide, but use a wide enough cloth so you can almost bundle it at the seem. This way it'll look a lot more badass when it blows in the wind :)

To finish off the jacket, this belt is needed, the thing to look out for, is the doubled up appearance as it moves away from the buckle, and the colour.

The accessories are quite tricky, Lightning's shoulder pad is quite unique, but luckily, she only wears one :) it might be worth scouring eBay for a cheap one of these if you aren't good with fabrics. It attaches with 3 buttons, one on top of the shoulder, another on the front of the jacket, if possible under the brown strip, and the last can be hidden under the cape. The gloves are blue fingerless quarter arm length, silver wristband, and a gold fabric with 4 bundles, almost like you be able to fit a straw in each of them. She has a black sleeve coming from under one of her gloves that reaches her elbow. Then on the other arm, around her bicep are 2 bands, one is a simple straight band, and the other appears to be a string of rectangles angled at 45 degrees.

Last but certainly not least, are Lightning's boots, these Naomi did have to put together herself. However, it was quite simple, she bought brown boots, with the buckles already attached, and then simply sewed silver ribbon along them. The strap at the top did not go all the way around the boot, but she circled the ribbon around it to make it appear as though it is. The tongue is simply a wider ribbon, pink, that is also just simply stitched up the front of the boot. She did find it quite hard to get the needle through the leather, so a thick one is recommended if your going to try this.

That's everything for Lightning's costume, if you have any questions or would like to offer myself any advice on improving both the costume and this description, feel free. Let me know what you think, and I'll be posting up how I crafted Lightning's Gunblade from card and gym mats very shortly :)