Projects 2010-2011

It's been super busy getting back from Otakon and then starting school. So I'll try and keep up as much as I can. I never really took the time to write up what I thought about Otakon, maybe I'll get to that eventually, but it feels a little too late now. I might try and keep up with that more with upcoming cons, but for now I can at least sort of showcase my costumes.

Part of this counts still in 2010, so I'll keep using the 2010 tag until 2011 hits. I still have a con in 2010 anyway. So far this year (and next) I plan on going to AUSA, Katsucon and Zenkaikon. I'd like to make it to Tekkoshocon but we'll see about that. And I have no definite plans for a summer con yet.

As for what I plan on wearing. At the moment I'm still working out what I want to wear where. But so far this is what I plan on making.


From left to right: Miku (Vocaloid: Project Diva 2, Amanda: MGS Peacewalker & Sister Teodora: Assassins Creed 2)

Teodora will be the most challenging, so we'll see how this goes!

Eileen Galvin (party dress variant)

I had done Eileen previously for a con, but just her regular daytime outfit. A friend of mine asked me to be her Eileen to her Henry so of course I wanted to. Plus, Silent Hill 4 is probably one of my favorite Silent Hill games, next to 3. So after that, I decided I was going to make her party dress. Normally I make these kind of posts BEFORE a con but because of the nature of the costume and needing help with it, I had to wait till after Otakon until I could finish this up.

This was probably the most reveling costume I had ever made. Which isn't a terrible thing, but just not something I was used to. A lot of side boob action going on. The dress was mostly constructed from patterns I had laying around, the top found and modified. The bodice was a little difficult because I sort of had to construct it on my own, and the fit was off. It was a lot of me trying to fit it and refit it, which is always a little irritating. The fit is still a little loose, but I don't think is too noticeable.

The fun part was getting the makeup to look all beat up. I had never really done that kind of make up before (I'm generally not that experienced in anything more then trying to make my skin look even and decent) so it was a fun little experiment. The make up used is just this cheep Halloween stuff that I found on the internet, and me playing around with it and looking up tutorials. I had a lot of really helpful advice for it to help improve what I have, which was awesome.

For the progress shots I have, the hardest part was trying to bandage myself up. Thankfully for the con I'll have friends to help me do that. It's a little awkward to do everything one handed. Unfortunately I couldn't do the makeup for the numbers written on her back by myself, my arms just don't bend that way. So for Otakon I'll have to have someone do it for me. The makeup is actually fairly easy to do and I have confidence in my friends in getting it done.

For her purse, I really lucked out and found a purse at a vintage store. I covered in the leftover fabric from my dress and I had a prop and something to carry all my stuff in which is even better in this outfit. The worst part? Probably the shoes. My feet were pretty sore after all of that. But the makeup was really surprisingly resilient. It was still on even after the heat and walking around. What was a bit funny though was walking into a bathroom and having a woman stare at me. Well probably not too funny, she probably thought I was actually hurt. But thankfully the make up washed off pretty easily, except for the stuff on my back I couldn't reach. Had to wait until that faded off.

Progress
Dress


Makeup Test


Finished

Kay Faraday

The Ace Attorney series has always been one of my favorite game series. The assistance were always some of my favorite characters. So of course after Investigations came out I had to cosplay Kay. Despite it being rather a simple costume, there's a lot of little details on it that add up to the level of complication. Like the tabi boots. You know how hard it is to find a pair of tabi boots? This costume had a mild bit of shipping drama with some of the items.

The easiest parts were making the skirt and the actual shirt part. The skirt was just a basic pleated skirt, the marital the same as my Magnet Miku costume. It's always nice having left over material less money spent on stuff later on. The top was a modified shirt pattern. Basically I just cut down the center and extended it a bit to create the awkward vest look and the pattern on top was painted on with fabric paint. The gloves were bought then modified, adding the trim on the bottom, though it makes it more difficult to actually put on the gloves, once I'm wearing them it's alright, the added lace took away the stretch at the wrist.

The belt was a modified belt I found on ebay. Love ebay, I think I get the majority of my cosplay finds from there. Got my wig from there as well as well as the clip that attaches to it. The boots were bought off ebay as well. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find tabi boots for a cheep price. It's almost always pricey for specalty boots. The pink parts are actually just little covers, rather then worrying about making whole tabi socks, it was just cheeper (with matrial I had left over) to make little covers that just look like socks (there was Velcro in the back to attach and detach it). The gloves were also bought off ebay and modified as well.

Her pin and key I had to make myself. The pin was made from sculpy, baked then painted. A pretty simple process. I will admit though I'm not really an expert with sculpting or anything like that. I just had to do my best and work with the tools I had.

The scarf was done from my own pattern. It was sad how badly the first version turned out. The second I took much more time for and it turned out perfectly. Just shows it pays off to actually take your time and make sure you do things correctly rather then quickly try and get it done.

The bag was an odd part, it was a rectangle shape, I needed to sort of keep that. And I've really never made a bag before. The material is the same as my Otacon jacket, the pink parts being left over from my shirt. I wanted it to be actually functional, so I lined it with yellow fabric. The shape is kept with a rectangle made from Bristol board. It's functional for what I need it to, and I'll be able to keep my stuff in it for the con. It attached to my belt and is worn from behind.

Progress
Scarf + Pin


Pin


Pattern


Shirt, Scarf & Skirt


Finished

Otacon: Sweet Snake Figuremate

This is just about the easiest thing I ever had to make. I chose this costume because I adore Metal Gear Solid and I love these little figurines like no other. They're just too adorable. This was made basically because I wanted something easy to wear. This post won't be nearly as long or impressive because it was a rather small, easy costume to make.

I decided to use my own hair for this, worked at with a curling iron. Not a terribly difficult process, I just needed to do a few tests to see what I liked. My hair is a bit longer then what I'd like for this sadly, by the time a con rolls around I'll have it trimmed, but the style is about right. I decided to use my own glasses for it.

Then it came down to buying vs. making the outfit. In the end I ended up doing both. The shirt is bought and dyed to the color I needed it to be and the jacket was made. Finding the style I needed was difficult and more expensive, it ended up being cheaper just to make it.

Progress
Hair


Jacket + Shirt


Finished

Maylene

(I'm actually making the manga verson rather then the anime, so the color choices are different)

So to start this off I'll have quite a bit of progress to post with Maylene, since I got a lot done before I even made this blog. I'll just go through most of my progress shots and show the progression of the costume, of what I have up until this point.

This costume was the first one I had to basically Frankenstein the patterns for. All of it is from previous patterns and were modified for this costume, which made it hell to figure out. I really should do something with practice before hand, before I cut into the fabric, but I really just didn't have the extra to do that. So it's always sort of measure and cut for me. Though that made this process a bit hellish unfortunately, making me have to go in and fix up previous mistakes over and over again. Sadly this was all made before I had some kind of body form to fit this to, so every time I did something, I had to stop, try it on and the fix whatever mistake I made.

Usually I don't get into buying wigs until much later, but the wig was something that came and went. So I snatched it up before I even decided I was going to cosplay her or not. And god does the wig feel amazing. I left the strings for the pigtails there, lovely.

Before I had a chance to buy the fabric I ended up making the headdress out of leftover fabric I had laying around. Not really a major accomplishment of any kind, the headdress was easy enough to make. A lot of little stuff like this I never really make patterns out, I just sort of go with the flow and see what happens with it.

After I went out and got the fabric, I started doing the patterning. And god I thought that it would be an amazing ia to just Frankenstein without really putting the amount of thought into it that I needed to. Needed more measurements, needed more testing without wasting my good fabric. My first attempt at the sleeve seemed alright. From the terrible cellphone photo you can see it seems alright. But really it was rather terrible looking. It didn't sit right at all, it was way too big, etc, etc. So I ended up scrapping it and remaking the sleeve entirely. From there, it was touch and go. Really I'm not completely satisfied with it. There are parts I really want to fix and remake entirely, though I'm kind of at the point where I don't even want to touch the costume anymore.

The best part of the whole costume was the apron. Honestly I'm starting to love making aprons. This is probably my second or third one? Something about maids I swear...but the apron was so easy to make and feels rather lovely.

Both the shoes and glasses were found items, the shoes from Forever21 and the glasses from a local vintage store. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find large round glasses. I lucked out with these and popped out the lenses. The white part is just Bristol paper that I can just pop out and remove.

I think the last thing I'd really want for this costume is a prop. Most of my costumes don't have a prop, but when the switch happens I think a prop would really help. Though I can't find anywhere that sells a toy rifle. And I really don't have the prop skills in making one. Oh well, I'll probably have to pose without it.

Progress
Apron


Dress


Dress + Apron


Finished

Intro & Otakon 2010

First post, this will basically be a short introduction. I've been cosplaying for two years now (not exactly an expert or anything, but each costume gets better and better). I've met a lot of awesome people through cosplay and I hope to meet many more! Basically this blog will be used for anything cosplay related; from con plans to progress shots of costumes I'm working on. So I hope you enjoy!

The next con I plan to go to is Otakon 2010.


From left to right: Kay Faraday (Ace Attorney Investigations), Maylene (Kuroshitsuji), Eileen Galvin (Silent Hill 4), Otacon (Metal Gear Solid 4: Sweet Snake Figure-mate variant)

Four brand new costumes, oh my god. Probably the most I've made for a con. But I tend to start really early and I have just a bit of progress for each one. Stay tuned and I'll post some progress!