Making of MKX Scorpion cosplay – Part 3
Making of MKX Scorpion costume – PART 3
Adding some metal: When jewelry meets costuming
The final touches on the costume were all the silver pieces custom made by Vincent Zimmermann from Joaillerie Zimm’s in Québec City. The reference pics for Scorpion’s costume were so detailed, especially since Scorpion is the character on the game’s promo shots, that I had plenty of views of the many metallic pieces and buckles that garnish the whole costume. The most recognizable metallic pieces are of course the huge belt buckle and middle front convex circle; the 4 rectangular buckles and 8 triangular shaped pieces garnishing the leather straps on Scorpion’s shoulders; and the 6 one-of-a-kind designed pieces garnishing the black leather straps on Scorpion’s chest. These pieces, and a couple more, were hand made in silver by Vincent, each of them being a real little jewel.
That’s the most he could do before I left for Romania. I had to use ‘standard’ buckles from the store for the rest of the costume (arm pieces and accessories) but I will eventually replace these store-bought buckles with custom made silver buckles that will match perfectly the original design. At least, thanks to Vincent, the essential metallic pieces of Scorpion’s costume were ready on time, giving its personality to the costume and bringing it to another level. It was the very first time that I included jewelry in my costumes and I definitely plan to do it again instead of imitating metal with any other material. I like to go for the real thing.
You can see more of Vincent Zimmermann’s work here:
Or visit his Official Facebook Fanpage.
Now, let’s accessorize
I had the pants, sleeveless top and yellow uniform with the hood, but all the arm pieces and bracelets were still missing. The 2 bracelets that Scorpion wears around his biceps were made of more leather straps, using the same chromed-tanned leather that I had used for the rest of the costume. Basic work, easy and as fast to do as making leather straps can be.
The pieces that Scorpion wears on his forearms were more complicated to do, though. I used a thick vegetable leather piece and glued a piece of black chrome-tanned leather over it, the same black leather used for the sleeveless top. I could have dyed the vegetable leather in black. This is done a lot for LARP armors, for example. But it wouldn’t have had the same texture as the other pieces of leather in the costume, so I preferred to glue the good leather on top of my vegetable leather armpiece. Since this accessory will be very curved when worn over my forearm, I glued the chrome-tanned leather piece over the vegetable leather while it was curved in its final position. When I open the armpiece and put it flat on a table, the black chrome-tanned leather is full of wrinkles. But when I curve it and put in on my arm, it’s perfectly slick.
I used the same glue that I use to glue all the sewing allowances inside every leather garment I make. Then I tried to figure out the design of the brown straps on these armpieces. There were more custom buckles that the jeweller didn’t have the time to make, so I used store-bought buckles and made a simpler version of the original design. I sewed the straps on top of the armpieces, glued one last layer of black leather inside so it would look good on both sides and made a finish with a brown bias on the edges of the pieces. This is literally the last part of the costume that I made just before leaving for Romania. I made these armpieces fast and they were not perfect. They were actually a little too long and they hurt me when I bent my arms. Later, when I came back home, I modified them and made them shorter. Eventually, I’d like to redo them with the proper custom silver buckles so it will be identical to the reference pics.
Check out for Part 4 of my blog for the making of a very important part of Scorpion’s costume: the mask!
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