Side Quests in Cosplay: Prop Making!

Over Memorial Day weekend, I was going insane - I had all my costume pieces cut and ready to go. But the lilac thread, the same thread I'd used for Pie and which has been hanging around uselessly for the last two years, was nowhere to be found. I was dying to work on the outfit, and had no way to do so!

So I went off on a side project - making my prop frying pan. Now, the easiest and most accurate thing to do would be to buy a cast-iron skillet and carry it around, but cast-iron is heavy, and excess weight gets very old very fast in a crowded convention center. So I started thinking of ways I could have a frying pan to carry that wouldn't add a lot of extra weight, and would pass muster with convention security.




I started with some cardboard pizza circles, the kind that come in supermarket frozen pizza. (Yes, there are days when the Mr. and I are both too lazy to cook!) I glued two of them together, just to give my base some added strength.

I then measured the circumference of the circles, and cut 2-inch-wide strips of cardboard to make the sides. A beat-up old Priority Mail box was my cardboard donor.



The strips were too stiff to bend properly at first, so I ran them back and forth against the edge of the table until they became flexible.





I fit the base and sides together, and brought on the tacky glue.





(After a short time, I gave up and decided to sacrifice an old paintbrush for easier glue application.)



Making the handles. The hole in the handle is a pain to cut, but essential for a)accuracy, and b)attaching the pan to my bag so I can carry it around hands-free.



Layering pieces to get stability:



It's taking shape!



The semi-finished product. The hardest bit is getting stability where the handle joins to the body. Lots and LOTS of masking tape used!

I've started to coat the entire thing in a layer of acrylic gesso primer. Next will come a coating of acrylic texture medium, to get that gritty cast-iron texture, and lastly a coat of black paint! All in all, it's a nice way to work on my costume on those nights when I have no desire to sew!