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Teresa Claymore

Of the Faint Smile

Oh god… Filling out the details for this cosplay is going to take an hour >.<

Just FYI - Teresa, of Claymore, was my half of the entry into the 2012 WCS US Preliminaries at Katsucon 18. Let’s just say I learned a great deal while working on this project, as I damn well should have considering it took nearly 3 months to complete it.

The design of this cosplay looks very similar to Volpin Props Clare cosplay because we basically used the same idea for the construction. I am proud to say though, that while our method of construction was similar, we actually had the idea to create the armor in the same way much earlier than we had ever heard of Volpin props. So go us, we had an original idea, someone else just had the same idea before we did xD

Construction Details

Cosplay - Corsets and Tops were made by Maria at GS Props, custom made for both of us, tyvm. All of the little crap I actually made, by some miracle at the time, including the little silver socks, caps and junk. In the end we purchased white leggings, and wore white tights to get our legs as thin as possible.

"I spent a little bit of time after Katsucon improving the design of some of my cosplay, and changing out some of the items I didn’t like. In the end I think the final cosplay was pretty good, despite the strange contacts and bad wig. Anyways, one day I’ll wear it again xD maybe you’ll see me clearning a path down a hallway at your next convention (because that sword is big!). After the repairs its is actually quite comfortable. Although, I’ll need new shoes… the current shoes hurt my knees after wearing them for a few hours."

Wig – I hate, hate, hate this wig…> I can’t remember where I bought it, but its ugly and if I wear Teresa again, I’m buying a new one. There wasn’t any styling done to this wig, the curls were as is when purchased. I HATE it. Rawr!

Props – Armor and Weapon… oh god… where do I begin…

Alright, I’ll start with the sword, Teresa’s Claymore. Of course, everything that we made was doubled for Clare, the construction of the claymore was identical to that of Clare’s, except that Maria did her’s and I did mine.

We stated off with a thin wooden core, and covered in resin and fiberglass (I think, I wasn’t there that day). It was then covered in a LOT of bondo. Then it was my turn to sand down the bondo to a smooth finish, which took me weeks, because I kept messing that shit up. It was a horrible experience, and if there was any time that I wanted to break down and cry, give up on a cosplay, or just straight up quit my hobby, it was during the process of working on this sword. It was horrible… however, what I learned did translate pretty well later on for future projects.

After a few weeks of sanding, the sword was brought in to our “prop master” who told me it sucked, pretty much, and we worked on it more. In the end with a bit of help, the sword was finished.

It was painted with automotive paint, another new experience, and polished to be the beautiful sword (heavy ass) it is today. Sadly paint was applied right before the con, so it didn’t dry in time. There was a bit of damage, which I never repaired, because… well F that Shit.

Teresa’s Armor…

Maria did most of the work on the molds for the armor (Shoulder Pieces and Backpack), and we had a helper work on a prototype for the wing accents you see on the sides of the back pack and sword.

We vacuumformed the shoulders, which was an eight piece project, and the backpacks. We also vacuumformed some smaller pieces for the swords. The skirt pieces, and some other accent items were made out of, my now favorite type prop making plastic, Sintra. The sintra pieces were hand molded to fit. Again, these went through a long tedious sanding process, and also included a bit of beveling edges.

Painting was the same as the sword, with automotive paint. We had hoped for a chrome armor for the cosplay, but it just didn’t work out. When painting was complete, assemble took place in the hotel room, with a rivet gun. It was probably the most fun portion of the cosplay, as it meant we could see it all come together.

Cosplay Worn @

Katsucon 2012
Anime Matsuri 2012
Akon 23

Guest Stars: Marikasan as "Clare" & Sayuri13 as "Young Clare"

Thank you to all of the talented photographers who helped me bring this cosplay to life. Images include in this gallery are provided courtesy of the following...

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