Duela Dent Cosplay - Ame-Comi Version

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

This was my third costume premiere at SDCC 2012. In 2011 I was lucky enough to find an Ame-Comi version of Duela Dent designed by the lovely Jim Fletcher of DC Entertainment while on my first trip to SDCC. After seeing her in person, I *knew* I had to cosplay her. How could I not? She was designed with so many wonderful small details in her outfit construction and clearly present is the steampunk theme, which I also love!

Below I have described my construction process, but as this was such a lengthy process I have only listed a selection of what I did. Follow the link for this and more images!

This was one of the most complicated costumes I've ever created. It required finding supplies and materials in colors that were very scarce (purple, green and orange.. come on!), drafting a pattern for an overbust in a more complicated shape (with added support), painting and sewing leather accessories, and making multiple props. I did not attempt to make her cane, as transporting it would be nearly impossible and I wanted to concentrate on the pieces I would actually be wearing. I started collecting fabrics for Duela in 2011 and began constructing at the end of the year. This was a multi-month project up to the very last moment of wearing it at SDCC 2012 (in part because some of the pieces had not survived the plane ride as well as I hoped). 

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

The hat I originally bought online but it was horribly constructed and not sized properly. I had to take it apart at every seam and salvage the fabric to create a new one. Wire was sewn in to the brim for flexibility and then the band was made from leather which I had painted. The goggles were purely aesthetic, as I went for form over function. I created the adjustable band with leather, hardware and rivets, and the goggles themselves were actually made from leather, Sculpty, magnetic container lids, and stained glass paint.

The shoulder pads, collar, corset (complete steel boning), and gloves were, for the most part, made from a combination of painted leather and vinyl, and an assortment of re-purposed objects painted gold to create the steampunk embellishments.

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

Duela's "backpack" posed an interesting challenge for me. On the statue, it was hanging by two puny looking straps attached to her shoulder pads. Madness! I suspect that the laws of gravity may have been suspended for her.. Clearly I couldn't do that myself, so I decided to create a structure that would hold it to my back from the underside and could be lashed in to my corset. It worked out quite well! 

For the green tubing that comes out from the backpack and connects to the belting at the waist, I used a real gardening hose and connection fixture. I installed this fixture inside the bottom of the backpack allowing me to to actually screw/unscrew the hosing which made things much easier for transport. The base of the backpack was created with sheets of styrofoam, my motal enemy (luckily not the squeaky white stuff, the more aerated art store kind), that required stacking, gluing, and sanding. On top of that I applied and painted craft foam, then added more steampunk embellishments to match the original design. The tube sticking out of the side was actually a pop bottle preform (what a pop bottle looks like before it is heated and blown up into the shape of the final bottle) that I applied a variety of materials to after drilling holes in the side to attach it to the backpack.

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

I love this character. Creating a cosplay for the Ame-Comi Duela Dent was really a labor of love as there was, and is, nothing else like it. If you want to do this cosplay, you have to make every single component yourself (or have someone else make it for you) and be willing to put in a lot of time to do so! In the end, I was very happy with how she turned out and I think this project is really a testament to how much my work has progressed since I started my costume adventures :)