Since JP Patches was the subject of my post 2 years ago, I may as well follow up on that. I did complete a JP Patches cosplay for Emerald City Comic Con. I didn’t do the post apocalyptic version however. I had waited and procrastinated long enough and wanted to go ahead and finish it to wear at ECCC. Here is how it turned out;
Naturally there were several things that were easily done and others that took substantially more work. The Patches Pals patch was purchased and ironed onto a basic fishing hat that I also purchased. Other patches were purchased specifically or sent from interested parties. Darigold was happy to send me several patches to include on the jacket. The fire department patch was purchased from a reseller/collector website. Many of the other patches were items from games and the like that I had received over the years.
The fabric remnants as “patches” are pretty self explanatory. That is where the character got his name. Instead of just random patterns, many of the patches that I made came from geek oriented fabrics. My Little Pony, Spider-Man, Star Wars, etc. While I wanted to remain true to the spirit of JP Patches, I also wanted to give a nod to the comic book culture I was going to be surrounded by.
The buttons on the hat included one for Emerald City Comic Con, as well as, one for my own cosplay page. The others were generic motivation and “feel good” buttons. The buttons on the jacket were a different story. JP Patches didn’t wear a specific set of buttons or even keep any certain buttons for long. He rotated them out as he received them from fans, friends, or picked them up through out the days. Because of this I could have done the same, or even followed the same path as the fabric swatches. Instead, I made buttons specifically with images and tributes tied directly to the show. Many were black and white stills, pics of JP Patches with Gertrude, an pics of Chris following the show making appearances as JP Patches.
At this point the amount of work greatly increased. The shoes were simple, just drawing lines on some Converse All-Stars. The vest was just a basic geek vest that I had hanging in the closet. The gloves were purchased, along with the pants and shirt. The ears, makeup, and nose were all found on ClownAntics.com. Unfortunately the nose wasn’t perfect, but it was the best that I could find online. The ears were perfect. The makeup was more difficult than I had expected. The jacket required significant work. I took a jacket pattern and changed some of the panels to give the more linear lapel. Sadly, I’m not as great a sewer as I’d like to think and the sleeves an amazing amount of subterfuge to conceal. Thankfully, he’s called JP Patches for a reason.
After a few youtube tutorials the makeup did come out much brighter and defined. I do, however, wish I had done more than a single makeup test. It is harder than it looks. Also, make sure that all of your equipment works as expected. The pencil sharpener that came with the black makeup pencil, not big enough. Caused a medium size panic attack the day I wore the costume.
The wig is another item that caused more than a little trepidation. I wasn’t sure what to do with it once I got it and even toyed with the idea of not wearing it at all. Shortly before the con, I was saved by the graciousness of my best friends wife, who styled the wig for me. The morning of the reveal I went through the motions of getting dressed and putting on the makeup and the further along I got, the less hopeful I got. Until I put on the wig and hat. I can honestly say that I was surprised at how much the wig pulled the entire look together.
The reactions that I received at the con were spectacular! It was a fantastic day fun and, nearly, tears. I purchased 50 small rubber chickens to pass out to people that took my pic and they were gone by noon. Considering that I didn’t even make it to the con floor until about 10:30, that’s pretty impressive. The only problems that I had was a popped seam when I put on the jacket. And about 8 hrs into wearing the nose, it made a break for it. Reattached it with more spirit gum and it was good for several more hours.
I’d like to thank Erynne for her help with the wig. ClownAntics for their fantastic supply and support with the noses when I purchased ones that wouldn’t work and they gladly exchanged them. A very sincere thanks to Archie McPhee for stocking those hard to find items and curiosities that you can’t find anywhere else. My deepest thanks to JPPatches.com for their help and advise on how to proceed. Another to Darigold for sending me authentic patches to include on the jacket.
Most of all, Thank You Chris Wedes, for creating somebody so special. You’ve touched lives beyond measure and we’ll never forget.
