Viola III

Character: Viola
Series: Soul Calibur
Photo taken by: Joseph Chi Lin

I've wanted to cosplay from Soul Calibur for a very long time, but could never come to a decision as to who to cosplay. Xianghua is normally my go to girl in the series, but when they revealed Viola's design she really called to me and I knew I had to make her costume.

Dying fabric, satin stitching, and structure was the mantra for this costume... I wish I could say making this costume was a happy process, but honestly it was rather frustrating because of how weird her top is, along with trying to get the colors right (my costume is based off the color palette in her concept art). All the details are heat 'n' bonded and satin stitched on. The top has boning in it for structure and stability.

The cloak and collar is my favorite part of Viola's costume. I took a packaged pattern and adapted it to create the hood and the part that drapes over my shoulders. The split cape portion was freehanded and added on. In order to keep the cloak from falling it has buttons sewn on that go through elastic button loops sewn onto my collar. The pearls were strung using flexible wire and then crimped with crimping beads. There are ring beads (I didn't want to use jump rings because I wanted something sturdy and all the jump rings in the store were open) on both ends which are hand sewn to the hood.

The claws were very fun for me to make. This was my first time using wonderflex! I followed the concept art for Viola's claws, so I had mobility with my fingers and they wouldn't be locked in place. They're a system of two rings on each finger (one at the top and one just under the middle knuckle). The paint job was done with silver and black acrylic. I built up washes of watered down black to create shadow and highlight.

The orb is still in process. I wanted it to light up and float above my hand, but unfortunately ran out of time.
I bought a clear acrylic lamppost cover and then sponged on a pearl finish purple acrylic.

You can see me in action as Viola here:
Acksonl ~4:03 [link]
MLZ ~2:37 [link]

Improvements I'm hoping to have for next time, include:
-Moth spider web pattern drawn on a pair of thigh highs
-Improvements to the top
-Structured curls for the wig
-Lit orb and hopefully "floating"