#belt buckle

MINI-TUTORIAL: Belt buckle for Cosplay

1. Make a stencil out of normal paper and copy it onto the styrodur*. Cut out the basic shape with a knife or jigsaw.

2. Grab rough sanding paper and start sanding to get closer to the final shape you would like to create. As you get closer to the final shape use a final sanding paper to smoothen the surface.
Be careful with your fingernailsand other sharp items. Styrodur can be damaged quite easily. The good thing about this trait, however, is that you can add details such as the stripes above with nothing but a pencil or tooth pick.

3. Take some left over Worbla’s Finest Art (or other thermoplastic) and cover the styrodur in it. Add small wholes on the inside of the buckle and push a spit in there. Fasten the spit with glue.
Shape the pin of the buckle out of a tiny piece of thermoplastic as well and wrap it around the spit. Take care to not wrap around the end of the pin around the spit too closely or you might not be able to move the pin back and forth.
Note: The step in which you cover the styrodur with thermoplastic is optional. You can also leave the styrofoam as it is and cover it with various layers of wood glue to keep it from getting damaged easily.

4. Cover the buckle in wood glue and let it dry. Sand the wood glue down to smoothen it. Repeat this step until the surface of the buckle is as smooth as you’d like it to be.

5. Paint the buckle including the pin and spit in one layer of black (acrylic) paint. This will make the golden colour which you’re going to add in the next steps more brilliant.
After the black paint is completely dry you can start applying further layers of gold colour. Depending on the opacity of your golden colour it might take up to 10 layers of paint to finish the buckle.

6. To keep the paint from rubbing off onto your costume add another layer of wood glue or coating to the belt buckle. Make sure to leave the buckle to try for another few hours until you attach it to your actual belt.

*) Styrodur is a more finely pored version of styrofoam. It can be purchased in hardware stores and is used for insulating houses.)

One of the most typical Romantic era fashion details I know of is the big, quadratic belt buckle women wore to emphasis their waist.

After some decades of a raised waistline and column-like silhouette, narrow waists once again came into fashion, helped by a new hourglass shaped corset that further underlined the shape. And the big buckle was the the finishing detail, the exclamation point. Here’s some examples. 

1. “Portrait of a Woman”, 1831, by Miklós Barabas (unknown location)
   
2. “Portrait of Eleonore Thulstrup”, early 19th century, by Jacob Munch (Oslo Museum, OB.00484)
3. “Portrait of Christine Kemp Keilhau”, 1835, by Johan Görbitz (Oslo Museum, OB.00258)
4. Ribbon belt and golden buckle on a pigeon blue dress, 1830s (from Cora Ginsburg auctions)
5. Golden buckle, 1827 (private collection)
   
6. “Portrait of Juliane Elise Larpent”, 1827, by Aument (Linderud gård, Oslo). Here she is wearing the very buckle seen in photo 5.
   
7. Golden buckle and belt made of the same fabric as the dress, 1830-34 (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, T.168&A-1915)
8. “Portrait of Henriette Hansen”, 1831, by Richter W. (Oslo Museum, OB.00049)
9. “Portrait of Paula Schedius”, 1834, by Carl Rahl (unknown location)
   

bimbo tip: If you need a quick and easy Halloween costume, and you’re very blonde, then all you need is you sexiest, tightest all white outfit, and an X-Man belt buckle, and you can be Emma Frost A.K.A. The White Queen. she’s like one of the sexiest girls in all of comics!

This also is a beri good costume option if you’re dating a sexy Nerd.

(If you’re not naturally blonde you might need this.)

Edit: I had this queued up months ago and only reccently saw that the content rights holder had it taken down. I haven’t been able to find another photo along the same lines to replace it with, but I had done so much work finding links for the bimbo costume suggestion I’m going to let this stand for now.

An Ostrogothic belt buckle from the 6th century. This would have been worn by a woman of high status who was probably dressing in more of a Mediterranean fashion. The large central garnet is surrounded by cloisonnégarnets and green glass in a mosaic pattern. I think we should bring cloisonnéback in style.