Cinder Fall RWBY

Sheena Duquette

May 3, 20232 min read

Who doesn't want to step out of their comfort zone every now and then? I was up for a challenge with this build back in 2014.

ExperimentING

Once I began my foray into making more RWBY costumes, I decided to take each project on as an opportunity to experiment with new techniques. I knew I didn’t want to just hand paint the designs on her dress sleeves, but I also didn’t want to embroider all of it on a home machine, either. Considering the time this costume was made, things like Cricuts weren’t available, so I used an industrial plotter instead and brute forced it to do what I wanted.

After a few tests, I went ahead and ran the designs I put together in Illustrator through and began peeling away the negative cuts. I only wish I had a better idea of patterning for the dress at the time, but I was still learning and was more focused on the shiny parts.

While the heat transfer material was reflective and did in fact give me the result I wanted, the material was also very stiff with little to no give, and resulted in some rigid silhouettes. I still consider it a very successful experiment.

Accessories

For her minimal accessories, I created a mold for the diamond before mixing blue, green, and a little bit of black dye to the resin pour. I’m happy to say I’ve learned an immense wealth of knowledge when it comes to casting by now, so please note all the bubbles and how messy this was as an indicator to the importance of learning by mistakes! Afterwards, gold jewelry rings were glued around the edges, feathers set in place and the whole thing completed with a brooch pin on the back.

The anklet was hand-made with jewelry kit pieces, manually opening and closing rings to add in the gems with pliers.