Character: Nelliel Tu Odelscwanck
Series: Bleach
Version: Thousand Year Blood War
Debut: AnimeFest 2023
Build Thread

If you’ve known me for a while you probably know that in my early days of cosplay I made almost exclusively Bleach costumes for about two years, so when the Bleach anime returned I knew what I had to do. I really like Nel’s outfit from Thousand Year Blood War, I feel like she got quite the upgrade from the tattered dress and flashback marshmallow uniform. This costume is outside of my comfort zone but I knew working on her would build up my skills and I love her, so I got to work.

Armor

I started with her Mask knowing I wanted to sculpt it and then use the tape method to create a pattern to remake out of EVA foam. Once I had my pattern I was able to cut and glue my foam. On the main part of the scull I then used foam clay to sculpt up some of the more organic details like the nose area and teeth. I then covered the whole thing in Worbla black. I chose to make the horns detachable so that it could break down for packing easier. I used my foam horn bases and just cut strips of worbla and wrapped them around the shape to create the horn ridges. Then I used worbla to attach some chicago screws to the horns. One thing I did learn through this process is that if you do worbla over eva foam your pieces will turn out larger than your original, so if I could get a do over I would have made my horn sculpt like 20% smaller. I used a similar process of EVA foam and worbla for the breast armor pieces using a Kamui cosplay pattern as a starting point. I primed all of the worbla pieces with woodglue and filled any major imperfections with wood filler. Then I sanded them forever. Luckily I didn’t need a super smooth finish because these peieces are supposed to look organic.

For her shoulder pauldrons I decided to just go with straight EVA foam knowing they are huge and I didn’t want something super ridged on my shoulders all day. I used the Kamui cosplay Barbarian shoulder armor pattern and scaled it up a little. Then I used half round EVA foam dowels for the trim.

I knew I wanted the trim on the pauldrons to match the general color and tone of the “bone” looking pieces so I decided to paint everything with plaidFX paints. I used their foam primer on the pauldrons and then painted everything with a brush. I did do a few base coats on the worbla pieces with cheap acrylic since they were so dark to start with.

Sewing

For her bodysuit I started with the Yaya Han ultimate body suit pattern. This pattern is not for tall people. I had to add in probably a total of 6 inches at various points to make it fit me correctly. It took a couple of mockups to get there. Once I had the pattern the actual leotard wasn’t too bad. I did end up lining it. I used the same white fabric to make her thigh highs and attached them to some skin toned material to basically make weird leggings. I was also able to find some lime green minky that had enough stretch to use for the furry parts. I used a interfacing foam for my gauntlets to give them a lot of structure and they just slip over the little gloves. I also made what can only be described as a furry bib? Thanks cosplay.

Finishing Touches

To attach all of the armor pieces to myself I just used mostly snaps, but I did have to add a little tab and loop thing to the top of the pauldrons to keep them from falling. Originally I used magnets for the mask but they proved to be too weak so after her first wear I added a very thin headband that I can slip through the underside of the mask and pin into my wig. Now it’s not falling off…again.

Photos: PhotoPersuasion, BossCos