Cosplayer Maggie Hu runs Lumin’s Workshop out of a former pie store. « There’s still an actual bakehouse back there, » she says, nodding at the storage area behind the store. Today Lumin’s Workshop sells cosplay supplies rather than baked goods, with shelves of prop-making foam, clay, and thermoplastic alongside paint, glue, dye, LEDs, and books about every aspect of the hobby. But it’s also a space
Cosplayer Maggie Hu runs Lumin’s Workshop out of a former pie store. « There’s still an actual bakehouse back there, » she says, nodding at the storage area behind the store.
Today Lumin’s Workshop sells cosplay supplies rather than baked goods, with shelves of prop-making foam, clay, and thermoplastic alongside paint, glue, dye, LEDs, and books about every aspect of the hobby. But it’s also a space for cosplayers to learn and to practice. The stock takes up the edges of the store, while the centrepiece is a table for people to work at. « On weekends we do workshops, » Hu explains, « and we’ve started doing more social events. Craft parties, where people come in and craft together. But those things have outgrown the space, so we’re planning on moving our craft parties to other premises. »
During the week Lumin’s Workshop is only open for a couple of hours on certain days, and it sees a steady stream of customers. On their way home from work people stop by to pick up some supplies for their next project, or ask for advice on how to get started. The workshop provides the kind of communal shared knowledge Hu didn’t have access too when she was getting into cosplay in small-town Australia. She had to learn by trial and error.
« My first cosplay was a really, really terrible Bandos armor from Runescape, » she says. « This was before I realized there were cosplay-specific materials and I made it out of fibreglass, air-drying clay, and cardboard.
