Some cosplay work! Mostly crafts!

Today was a day that I got to work on some crafts, and actually got a bit done. After realizing that I needed yellow foam for headsets, I got to work on other things with my friend. We made potions! One for mana (blue), health (red), and sanity (green). Sanity came from Tome of Eternal Darkness. No potions there but it was fun to make anyways. There was a big sale at a store, so we got a few things we needed and some additional crafts so we could just do some fun things. Up close pics of finished jars to come later.

I even manged to start sewing together one of the gimpi imp dolls I'd planned to work on from a while back, as you can see here, I didn't get far, but it felt good to finally make progress. And considering that I made some of these things or was going to make some of these things for others, getting started on it finally felt good, and has the added bonus of being presents for friends and cleaning out my area of projects I just haven't finished yet, if only so that I can then get more projects to work on in the future for myself and for friends. I'm brilliant that way.

I did do a little bit of cosplay work though, was going to work more on the magnet headphones until I realized i was missing something *see above first paragraph*. So instead I started work on my friend's cosplay outfit. I only got to doing the belt because I cannot find my tape measure. Blargh. But I did the belt, having to open up a new fabric pen and all. One down, one being used, and actually now have two more on deck. Len and Rin take a looooot of orange fabric pen. Haha.

I think when it comes to my friend's costume that I'm making for her, I gotta be careful how I do it. Because I've never gone off of a size chart before, and she's not around (lives faaaar away) so I have to really be careful about my measurements. I also need to double check on her pants/shorts size, because I don't know if its an adult 7 or junior 7. So far I have the wig, tie (which I might change? because its not as yellow as I'd like), and now the belt. EASY PARTS. I would've started on the sleeves but that was when I realized my tape measure wasn't around. So blargh. Didn't want to start unless I had some idea what I was doing. (And if my arm around matched hers at all, would just be a little easier to do). But even so, getting one part done is getting one part done. More than what I had before, which was no parts done at all.

And here are the finished potion bottles! Pseudo, since sanity doesn't exist in potion form. If it did it'd be ... well, maybe not so popular. Haha. I had fun cutting the tags up with some scrap booking scissors my mom had to make them look a little more authentic and because they had started out huge. Tied with a cream colored ribbon. Pretty no? Anyways, that's all there was for today. I should hopefully be update Saturday.

Yay potions!

Ah, the joys of a cosplay work day. It feels good to get stuff done. Friday, 26th of August. It was a good day to work on cosplay, and we got around two hours of work in. I was taking on a new project, sorta, making a new set of headphones for my vocaloid costume in the magnet style. I'm not the best at making designs or painting, but I was having a lot of fun getting the design as best as I could with paint. I have there in the picture two round tops off of some little round boxes I picked up, and they're big enough to go around my ears and sturdy enough to work for headphones. And I'm painting them. 'nuff said. It won't be 100%, though I am trying for it, as I'm learning 'bout how to do painting the best I can. I actually managed to get most of both headphone pieces done. Didn't get around to making the actual thing they'll go on. I was tempted to use the slightly smaller circle of the cardboard box, which was the bottom part, but I would have had to cut into the box, which would've made things uneven, and possibly a little hard on the ears. Granted I could've taped it up or smoothed it out some other way, but when a slightly larger version exists that would work just as well with none of that trouble, why not go for it? I'm looking forward to making the butterfly wings that will attach to the phone pieces. I'm almost tempted not to use the headband I have for it, rather just have them hang on a piece of black ribbon, though I know that won't stay on well. Either way, progress is progress.

My friend and cosplay help buddy was working on her Kimono for the Fatal Frame IV costume she's working on. Yuuup. I was able to talk her into making a Fatal Frame IV costume to do a semi group cosplay with my own one too. This pic is mostly just of her laying out the fabric, a nice red, and then she'd be cutting out pieces and prep them to be sewed! The floor was a little dirty, but that was okay, as we could wash things again if we had to. We'd just wash it before we painted it with the design for the costume. I'm blanking on the name of the character at the moment, but she's the main villain from Fatal Frame IV. She's already made the mask, which I'll have to take a pic of maybe. It isn't made of real wood, but who cares. She painted it really well. We looked at colors for that to make sure we got it as dark/old fashioned looking as we could without looking too terrible.

I have to start working on a costume for my brother and for a really good friend of mine online, I told her I'd make the costume for her and I have all the pieces for the most part for both costumes (bro and friend). I just need to now sit down and start cutting and sewing it. Which reminds me I need to print out my friend's measurements so I can get the correct T-shirt for her. Blargh.

Anyways, craft dayish was crafty! I got a little bit of work done, and it did feel good. Gotta start using the materials that I have and buckle down into the nitty gritty costume work!

This is Rin Kagamine, 14 year old vocaloid. Her twin brother/other half is Len Kagamine. She was a cosplay of mine that I wanted to do for some time. The only problem was my body type. I'm not the smallest person in the world, and I have long brown hair.

When it comes to cosplaying its always good to build to your bodytype. I said that in my last entry. However if you're going to do something a little out of your bodytype, or greatly as I see it in my case, have fun with it. If you wear the costume well and enjoy what you're doing, then everyone else will feel like they're enjoying seeing you too. Look uncomfortable and feel uncomfortable, and that's how people will perceive you and your cosplay, no matter how good it could be. All cosplays are better when you're comfortable with them.


This. This is me cosplaying as Rin. There are a few things left unfinished on the costume, but this is my Rin cosplay. Not bought from China, commissioned from anyone, but made by me, with a little help and encouragement from a friend. This is the more finished state. I'll include another picture of a less finished state later.

Distinct differences, I'm a big... bigger in the belly area than Rin is, by a lot. I didn't show it off with the cosplay, rather, I just tucked the t-shirt into the shorts as opposed to cutting it short and letting ma tummy show. You wouldn't probably believe that under that wig is REALLY long hair. I'm totally wearing a wig, and rocking it. There was a picture of some decent vocaloid cosplayers in the bad cosplay gone wrong, and the big thing was they didn't have wigs. For anyone. Even one of the rin cosplayers I saw at a con i went to, she didn't use a wig. She used her own hair, which wasn't bad because it was blond, but it wasn't as full as Rin's hair was, and thus was a little off putting. I actually got this one from China, and its surprisingly great quality.

The other major difference is the shorts. They weren't shorts to begin with, rather a pair of pants I found at Kohls on clearance. I cut them and hemmed them and the old leggings were the pants bottoms. Hahaha. And they're not the short shorts that Rin wears, slightly more modest for my body type.

As you can see there's a few differences, and I am definitely not the smallest person for the costume. There is some unfinished aspects of the costume as well, but mostly it actually is done. I wore it first at Anime Milwaukee 2010 (tons of Rins there), and second was at No Brand Con 2010, where I was one of about two Rins there, I believe. I didn't notice other Rins, but did notice other vocaloids. I think? but can't say for certain that the other Rin had ordered her costumes from China or some such, it looked a little like it.

I need to redo the shirt, in my opinion, because the bow tie at the top of my bust line was hastily done, and the sleeve sides are a little uneaven. This was one of the biggest projects I've done so far, and even had to work on it the night before the Saturday of Anime Milwaukee to finish the top. So a little hastily sewn. The sleeves and leggings I'm rather proud of, but I have to tighten the leggings and sew up a portion of the arm things I think. My other version of rin didn't have the white hair clips. IT IS HARD to find white hair clips. I ended up making my own.

Anyways though, this was a big one outside of my body type, but I had fun with it every step of the way. I enjoyed it, got into it, and I think others enjoyed it with me because I was having a good time. I had to take of my headphones from time to time so people could see what was going on on stage and the like. The bow is big, but that was fun to make. Lots of hot glue went into that top part. And some paint.

The belt overall was the hardest part, it took one entire fabric coloring marker to get all those triangles, the orange ones, on there. Not to mention the triangles on the belt loop too. THE WHOLE 3.49 orange fabric marker. That's my only complaint, and aside from what I need to fix, this costume was tons of fun to wear and I can't wait to wear it again.

So taking a few liberties to make it just a little more modest (belly not showing and the shorts not being short shorts) I made it work more for me as a cosplay. One day I might be rid of the extra pounds, but until then I love the costume.

As a bonus, here's the first version of Rin I had. This was taken by a prof. photography group that was at Anime Milwaukee. I can't find my CD with the original copy on it at the moment.

The hair doesn't have the clips and the leggings weren't right either, and were made of the pant bottoms (not pictured here tho). I still had a ton of fun with it, and can't wait to get it full and completed.

I'm not a cosplay expert by any means, but I have fun with what I do. Next up, I might start touching on my favorite thing, including favorite cosplays. HORROR! Fatal Frame cosplays to be exact.

Till next time.

Good Cosplay Gone Wrong

We've seen it, big guys or big girls in costumes too small for them, or outfits that don't flatter them. What's usually worse, is the fact that they don't look like they're having fun in their costumes. I've gone to a panel entitled "Good cosplay gone wrong" twice now, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. It showed plenty of bad cosplays, and even some good cosplays. I'll sum up a few of the finer points of bad cosplay. I don't think I need to show the pictures of it, googling is easy to do.

1) Big girls can do good cosplay! - This was enforced time and time again. We saw many bigger sized women doing cosplays that weren't flattering to their body type. Body suits usually were the worst examples out there. Yet some of the best Sailor Scout cosplayers can be big women. Making the skirts longer is never a bad thing for a little modesty. I'll have to come up with examples and ideas later, but I've seen some amazing big women do great cosplays, from Jedi to Queen Nehelenia from Sailor Moon.

2) No costume is no costume - Oh god. There was a woman who had hot glued pieces of fur onto her body for her costume, when a bodysuit would've been a much better choice. Then a guy who was only wearing a cloak/cape, nothing else. Some costumes yes, they don't have a lot of clothes on, but in cases like these where a bodysuit would've greatly helped, or where they were nude... that isn't a costume. At all. EVER. You can't walk around nude in public, why could you at a convention?

3) Wigs make the costume - There was one picture with a group of cosplayers doing Vocaloid cosplay. The costumes were all right, but the big thing that made it fail, was none of them were wearing wigs. They were using their own hair (not dyed, cut or styled like the vocaloids they were cosplaying). Wigs make a big difference. And... well, even then, make sure the wig is good. A thing of cheesewiz on your head does not a wig make. Wigs from China have surprised me, being rather good quality. There's wig caps, and wigs. Make use of them. It really does tie a costume together. I have two characters that I use my own hair for, the rest have wigs. My hair is really long, and I can wear wigs. Everyone else has no excuse.

4) Bodysuits - They can be nice when done well. Don't wear them females, when you're... on your time, and both sexes should not wear them when they're not flattering on the form, or good for the character you are portraying. I'll use one of my own costumes to represent this. I cosplay as Reika Kuze - and the top half of her outfit, in the game, is that she's naked. I wasn't about to be naked for this, rather, I found a dance outfit (well, a friend of mine helped me find it and I bought it) and it was a tight fighting bodysuit I turned into the top half of Reika's outfit, so I didn't have to be naked, nor draw the tattoes on my body time and time again.

My good friend Stacey helps me put the tattoes on, and drew them onto the bodysuit, she'd kill me if she had to do that each time I wanted to be Reika. But the thing about Reika, is I wore the bodysuit well, and it was fitting for the costume to have one. I'm not the smallest women weight wise, but height wise I am slightly ahaha. Luckily for me Reika's body, she does seem to have something of a tummy, which helps. But Reika Kuze is one way for the bodysuit to come into play the right way.

6) Closet cosplay- this can be both a good and bad thing. Some characters wear normal clothes, some characters don't. If you can do it, more power to ya. I have two costumes with goodwill pieces, Miku Hanasaki from Fatal Frame and my .hack//sign costume Tsukasa. I put the pieces together and made the extra pieces to complete it, and they turned out really well. I've seen good ones and bad ones. Though, even if you can do closet cosplay, keep in mind you might still need a wig, and any jewerly and accessories that the character might use as well.


I'm sure there were other points, those are the major ones I'm remembering...I'll go into more detail about cosplaying to the body type, little bit here, little bit later on. Because the big thing when you are wearing a costume, wear it well. Be happy with what you're wearing, or else it'll just make it bad. If you're not happy with the costume, don't wear it. If you carry yourself well and have fun, everyone else can have fun with you. More on this all later. I'll be using myself next time to show off my big girl having fun cosplay, because I like to think I'm one of the bigger cosplayers of this character out there. At least in my state that I've seen so far.

Frack

Minor tangent here. Full sets of teeth are great for cosplays. Because most if not the vast majority have them, pirates the notable exception.

I have monodents in my mouth, four of them total. They're essentially a cheaper version of a bridge. Today biting into a carrot caused me to loose one, and its a holiday weekend. Not only am I afraid to eat, but I'm afraid my other monodents are loose. This is not helpful in the long run. I have an appointment for the dentist on the 7th, but I might need to get in sooner.

Cold in my mouth does not feel good. Nu uh right now. They're held by two little metal bands, and so holes in my real teeth had to be dug. I think those are what's being sensitive. This is not fun. Its not something I wanted on my holiday weekend either. Mom said the tooth does look a little small, and I told her they had to guess... still seemed a little small for guessing I suppose.

So really, fml. I have insurance, but still it cost around 600 for the one monodent, and I don't think its even lasted ... 3, maybe 4 months. Well, not that long anyways, and I don't want to wear a retainer, and don't think at this point considering the holes in the other teeth that's much of an option. I just want it to staaaaay. And my other teeth to not be loose. D8 I'm going to have them triple check the other teeth while they're at it. I don't think they'll have to numb up anymore, mebbe just more sealant or something. I don't know how it works. But I don't want... it to be a whole hell of a lot of money, considering how much my mouth is always worth.

Cosplayers, take care of your teeth! That's ... a silly lesson I suppose but a mouth full of fake teeth isn't fun.
Admittedly Most of my fake teeth were because baby teeth never turned into adult teeth, aka never came in, but still. Frack. Either way, still something to be wary and warned of.

Mostly felt a need to rant in this post. Also apologize for not posting yesterday. Teeth is important for cosplayers though. for SERIOUS. XD

Have a good 4th!

Costumes

I'm a beginning cosplayer. I've made a few costumes, but haven't entered in any contests and still am trying to work out how to make most of the costumes. I have lots of ideas for costumes but finding time and energy to work on them can be ... well, quite a bit of work. Still trying to find my way around a sewing machine, and getting one workable. Trying to figure out my mom's hasn't resulted in positive results yet, though I still think I can, its not easy, because its an older sewing machine, and the bobbin setting is what's taking so long.

Cosplays I have:
1) Tsukasa from .hack//sign
2) Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon
3) Sae Kurosawa from Fatal Frame 2
4) Miku Hanasaki from Fatal Frame
5) Reika Kuze from Fatal Frame 3
6) Rin Kagamine

And actually I consider some of these unfinished. I think the only finished ones are truly Miku Hanasaki and Sae Kurosawa.

Sailor Jupiter I want to get an actual tiara for, and need to do the gloves properly. It'd be nice to get actual green boots (and they have hers online from china) but the green heels and socks do well enough for now.

Tsukasa I've outgrown a little. Need to loose a little weight, get a new wig, and redo the hat. But that one I've had since HS and am still quite proud of.

Reika needs more tattoes added to the bodysuit, not to mention I need latex. The trouble is she really needs to be...blue, and I'm afraid to dye the piece so far. So I can't get the latex until I know what color its actually going to be. And if I ruin the bodysuit one of my friends will kill me. >.>

Rin Kagamine is pretty much done, although I need to complete the leggings a little more (tightening them up), and redoing the shirt. I sewed the shirt the night before its first con, so it looks a little rough on the edges. The other problem with it is the bow. I need to redo that on the front too, and its just held on by a safety pin.

So a few problems, none of them keeping me from enjoying wearing the costumes or getting pictures taken. And a few of them obscure. I like having obscure costumes mostly for the fact that when people get it, they get it. A lot of horror games are obscure at that, the mainstream ones I don't like as much as others. These days it seems more like shock value vs actual horror, but that's not for this discussion.

Cosplays I have materials for:
1) Len Kagmine - Len is for my friend Vivi who I know online, and Rin is going to be for me. The vocaloid twins! I plan to do the regular headphones and attempt to make the Magnet headphones as well. Not working, but visually nice.
2) Elizabeth from Persona 3 - Have materials and painted the book, now just need to wash fabric and get down to it.
3) Lucy from Fairy Tail - I have the keys, not the costume stuff.
4) Altair from Assassin's Creed - For my brother actually. Have the materials.

Cosplays I need to help friends with:
1) Sailor Pluto - for a friend.
2) Sailor Saturn - this one is more up in the air about my help/not help.