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Neighbors | Jessica Harker .Librarian Annette Ahrens instructed teenagers in how to use different materials to construct pieces of cosplay armor July 9 at the Poland library.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker .Librarian Annette Ahrens taught teenagers about the different materials used to create cosplay armor July 9 at the Poland library.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker .Teenagers used pieces of Worbla to construct their own arm bands on July 9 at the Poland library's cosplay armor making event.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker .Using a heat gun Annette Ahrens showed teenagers at the Poland library how to work with Worbla, a thermo plastic used in construction of cosplay armor on July 9.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker .Annette Ahrens, a librarian at the Poland library, showed teenagers how to correcly use Worbla to create cosplay armor.
By JESSICA HARKER
The Poland library hosted an event for teenagers to learn about the different materials used to construct cosplay armor.
Librarian Annette Ahrens hosted the event with 10 teenagers in attendance.
“I really thought this would be a cool thing to try,” she said.
Cosplay is the art of creating a personalized costume to match a fictional character.
Ahrens explained that the hobby has grown in popularity in recent years.
“A lot of people like it, myself included,” she said. “But often it’s hard to know where to start.”’
Ahrens explained that the two main materials used in armor construction are Worbla and Wonderflex, which are both thermoplastics.
She showed teenagers gathered at the event how to use a heat gun, or a hair dryer, to heat the material.
“Once it’s heated you can bend and shape it however you need to, and as soon as it cools down it remains in that shape,” Ahrens said.
She passed out free online guides to creating your own armor to the group.
After Ahrens’s demonstration each participant was able to use a piece of Worbla to design their own arm band.
Each person was able to design their unique piece, and heat and shape it with Ahrens’s help. For more information on upcoming library events, go to www.libraryvisit.org.