Post-AB Brief!

This is just a quick note after Anime Boston this past weekend, which was great! I wasn't really there for very long compared to my usual attendance standards, but I had fun while I was there. I went to Nobou Uematsu's QA panel... so amazing ;_;

Anyway, for now I will leave you with this pic of me in my costume. Needs a little tweaking, but it's totally one of my favourite costumes that I've done... not least of all because of the prop, which I'm pretty proud of. :D

More later!

Yay, slacking...

Yeah, I totally slacked off on the creation of this costume. But, I'm working my butt off to finish it to wear on Saturday. I'll be damned if I don't get to carry around a big shiny pair of scissors for a day. In a top hat. I'm just saying.

I'm going to wait on dumping progress shots (what of them I've managed to take in the rush) until after the con, along with pics from said con. I'm REALLY excited about the weekend... Nobou Uematsu, AGH. I'm completely geeking out about it.

Scissors are just about ready for paint. I still have a fair bit of sewing to do. I'm going to be up late, but I think things will get done. It's all part of the magic of cosplay...

Leave a comment if you'll be at the con! I'll be hard to miss on Saturday with my prop, so stop me if you see me, oh 5-or-so readers of my blog.

I'm going to try to find a few more at the con... I have cute cards! Bring yours to share!

Scissors are Progressing...

I finally had some time to really crack down on working on the scissors for my Souseiseki costume! The first step was making a pattern, which has involved a lot of sketching, erasing, measuring, and pencil lead (as it were) on hands. I measured a small picture I have of the scissors, then scaled it up to figure out the appropriate ratios. I think they're maybe even a little bigger than I had planned, but I think they look good this way. Giant props are fun!

I'm nervous about cutting out the foamcore, because I know it is going to be tedious. Since it's thick, I'll have to make several passes with the knife, and I have a lot of pieces to cut out. But, such is the plight of prop creation. Large amounts of effort are usually expended upon it. I think the results are worth it, though, ne?

I've been being lazy about the shopping post. It'll get up here some time this week, along with some progress shots of my costume. Hope everyone else's are going well. I'm starting to really feel the crunch... this is the last free weekend before BAMBAM two cons in a row! Agh. My wig isn't here yet. I don't have shoes. Aaagh...

... ._. I'll be fine! Do your best!

Scissors and Stuff!

My costume creation adventure begins this weekend with wig shopping and pattern making on Sunday. Before that, tomorrow, I'm off with my friends to the Museum of Science to see the Harry Potter exhibit. I'm very excited about it! I saw the Lord of the Rings exhibit many years ago when it came around, and was completely taken by it. I wanted to take photos of all the beautiful props and costumes, but they don't let you. Boo :<

Sunday, I'm off to my favourite, Dorothy's, to look for a wig. And in the surrounding time, I will be creating patterns for my giant scissors. I've got one of my cameras up and running again, so there will be all sorts of lovely documentation about it. Horray!

Oh, and one more thing. Months and months ago, my blog was mentioned on another, over at Star Costumes. I meant to mention it earlier, but completely forgot! Anyway, the article is here. Thanks for the mention, Star Costumes!

I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

How To: Plan Your Costume

There are a lot of people out there on the 'nets that are new to cosplay, as I once was, and come seeking advice on said 'nets, as I once did. I hope to help those people with this post. It's also for anyone who finds that they often can't seem to get themselves together, end up forgetting bits of their costumes, or aren't satisfied with their costume results on a consistent basis. I hope it helps!

The preparation stage of costume creation is probably the most important. If you plan well, overcoming the inevitable hiccups will be much easier, and on the whole your experience will be less stressful and more successful. It's all about researching, organizing, and lists, lists, lists! I'll be using my upcoming Souseiseki costume as an example, since I'm going through this process AS WE SPEAK.

• Do your research! Hit the internet or screen-capture device of your choice. Find as many images of your character as you can from as many angles as you can. Save them all into a folder on your desktop, or into a special Cosplay folder in your documents. Make a bookmarks folder in your internet browser and stash links to how-to's, material resource sites, and anything else you come across.

Be critical when looking for reference material! There is a lot of fan art out there, most of which have slight or major changes in your character's costume. Know what you're going for and make sure the materials you're gathering coincide with it; or, at least, know what bits are different so you can ignore them.

• Print your references. Print them in colour. I'm not talking full-quality, glossy photos or anything here; they won't be that great of a resolution to begin with if they came from the internet, generally speaking. Put 1-6 pictures per page and print them out at at least medium quality. If you don't have an adequate printer, take them to a Kinko's or similar and print them.

Look at the colours when they're printed out! Printers can interpret colours differently. Compare them to the images on the computer and write notes on your print-outs if you need to remember how they differ: "actual costume about a shade lighter" or "a little less yellow, a little more red" are simple notes that will work for you when you're shopping.

Put the print-outs in a folder to keep them neat and clean. You will use them a lot and you might as well not waste the ink printing them several times.

• Make an itemized list of the costume parts. Look at a full body shot of your character, or a few images that together show the whole costume. Go literally from head to toe and write a list of each component. For example, with my Souseiseki costume, I wrote a list that read: hat, wig, cape, shirt, vest, pants, stockings, shoes, scissors (prop).

Then, go back to each item and really break it down. For example, my first item is the hat. Am I going to make the hat from scratch? Buy it? What is it made out of? I decided I'll probably end up making the hat, so I listed "cardboard, black fabric, blue fabric". Do this for every item. Think about all the little things.

For my shirt, for example, I'll obviously need white fabric, ruffles (or more white fabric to make ruffles) and buttons for the sleeves. But I'll also need something to close the shirt, either buttons or a zipper, as well as interfacing to keep the cuffs in shape. These are all things that are easy to forget in the moment when you're shopping, so really take the time now to think about your costume in as much detail as you can fathom. The fewer trips you have to take, the less stressed you will be.

• Fill in the blanks. There will sometimes (okay, often) be bits and pieces of the costume that you aren't able to find reference material for, try though you might. It becomes your job to fill in the blanks and decide what to put in the unknown areas. Common missing links are the back of a costume and the bottom of the costume (shoes, etc). Look at the rest of the costume and try to think about what makes sense here. If you're scared to make something up, go with the simplest solution: mimicking existing elements. Don't know what the back looks like? It's possible it looks the same as the front, within reason. Or, it could be simply plain. Try to keep within the character theme. Please, DON'T use this as an excuse to wear your big shiny platform boots just because the shoes are an unknown. Think about the character and the costume. What goes with it? What would he/she wear? Do your best!

• Turn your list into two usable things: your task checklist and your shopping list. First, your task checklist is a big master list you can carry with you or post on the wall of every tiny thing that must be done. Don't gloss over anything! That can lead to BAD STUFF such as: forgetting to do something, thinking you don't have as much left to do as you actually have, skipping a step and having to redo something, etc. Make headings for each costume component and start listing them. For example, for Souseiseki's cape, I have the following:

• Purchase materials
• Sew ruffles
• Sew collar
• Sew cape
• Attach collar to cape
• Attach ribbon

These are all little steps that add up to creating the overall cape. Each one gets a checkbox next to it and doesn't get checked off until that part is TOTALLY complete.

Breaking this part into little pieces also helps you feel like you're making progress (which you are!) because you can usually check off a few of these little things each day.

The second part of this step is the shopping list, which is pretty self-explanitory. Take all the little things you wrote down and make them into a practical shopping list to take along. Divide the items up by store (craft store, fabric store, hardware store, online, etc), and remember to include quantities!

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We'll talk more about the shopping part next time, but for now, I hope these steps can help you to clear your head and feel super-organized going into your project. I've found taking the time to do these things at the beginning helps me feel less stressed and allows me to have FUN making my costume... don't forget, that's what cosplay's all about!

Oh, and One More Thing...

So, remember when I said I wasn't going to make a costume for Anime Boston? Yeah, I lied. The day after I wrote that last post, I spoke to my (new! :D) friend from work, and found she was interested in cosplaying. I mentioned that I always wanted to do Souseiseki and Suiseiseki from Rozen Maiden with someone, and she was completely on board! I couldn't pass that up. So here I am, making another costume. Wee! I'm going to be Souseiseki and she'll be Suiseiseki. I think it will suit her quite well.

Luckily, she has sewing skills of her own, so I don't have to make two costumes. Also, as far as difficult sewing goes, this costume doesn't have a lot of it. It's pretty basic. The most difficult sewing-related things will be the usual closures (boo) and probably the ruffles.

We're going to do their props as well, because it really adds something to their character, I think. They should be fun. I've always wanted to wield giant scissors!

Sewing will commence in about two weeks. I hope to have gathered everything I need before then so I don't have to keep running out in the week before the con.

Next up, I'll be writing a post on costume planning. I hope someone finds it useful!

Costumes for the New Year!

Happy New Year! I don't know about you, but I've had a crazy couple of months. I'm ready to start fresh and break open the packaging for a fresh new 2010. That last decade is old news, man.

I've graduated from school and even managed to get myself a job (for now), so things are going pretty well. The only unfortunate thing is that I'm still in the tiny living space I was last year, which makes costume creation extra-challenging. I'm hoping to be in a larger space by halfway through the year, but... who knows. I'm sure I'll be moving at least once this year.

So what's on the cosplay docket for Triene this year? Well, let's see!

The big news in the convention community of the Boston area and, honestly, the east coast as a whole, is that PAX is coming to Boston! We're all very excited about it. I haven't decided if I actually want to cosplay for it... I might just ride it out and use it as a networking and learning opportunity, as games are my career of choice, and I think I could learn a lot at the con without having to think about costuming. Plus, it could leave me more free to report on any cosplay there for your enjoyment! :D

Anime Boston is immediately after PAX. I think it's finally time to pull out the Pokemon Gaijinka costume that I created oh-so-long ago! I can actually afford the wig commission, and there is very little other work to do on it, so I think it will be perfect for a con that's so close to already being here.

Further down the line are the "up-in-the-air" cons... i.e., the cons I plan on going to unless something (new job, moving, sudden loss of funds) prevents me from going. These are Blizzcon (woo!) and Connecticon. Will I be able to create my Stormrage gear by Blizzcon? In this little room, probably not. But I'll see how it goes. For Connecticon I usually pull a costume out of the costume closet that hasn't seen much love lately, or that is convenient for me to wear. My friends and I will likely enter the Rockband tournament again this year... will we come out on top again? We shall see.

The idea of Otakon this year was batted around, but like the aforementioned two cons, I don't think I'll be able to commit to it as early as I'll need to to make it happen. Next year, then.

Finally, if you didn't know, the second-to-last Harry Potter movie comes out (it had better!) in the fall of this year. I have wanted to make a Bellatrix Lestrange costume, and I may seize this movie as my opportunity. Or, it may have to wait until the last movie comes out next summer.

At any rate, we shall see how this unpredictable year unfolds for me. What are your cosplay goals for the year? What cons are you going to?

The Anime Boston Whirlwind Strikes Again...

Holy crap, AB is already over! What a crazy couple of weeks this has been. Things are finally dying down and getting back to normal. I have a bunch of pics to share, as well as stories about my costumes. Look for a few new posts this week on Anime Boston 2009!

Haruhi Costume Progress

Just a quick update on my Space Commander Haruhi costume. I spent today taking apart and then reassembling my costume, because I wasn't happy with the fit. Sometimes it's better just to bite the bullet, as it were, and spend a day fixing things, rather than just let it go and have the problem become worse over time.

So I'm back where I started, but in a much better way:



I think it's looking pretty good... the stripes on the sleeves don't match up exactexact with the shoulder, but I did my best, and there will be other stuff on the shoulders, anyway.

It's getting close to the con, so I've made up a costume schedule... just gotta stick to it now!

Commissions and Updates

I recently received a commission for another Ashitaka hood, which I'm pleased to say I just finished yesterday:


(I know, I look really cool >_>)

It's a bit different than the one I made for Mike a few years ago. I think there are some improvements, and some things that I wish would be different. That's the thing about homemade cosplay... every piece is unique!

Things I like about this new version:

- The mask! It's pretty awesome. It's attached on one side with stitches, and the other side has red velcro so you can take it on and off easily. I put in three pieces of velcro spaced a bit apart on the inside for adjustability. This also makes for an easier time keeping it securely up over the nose, or letting it hang down under the chin.

- I like the fact that I was able to attach all of the under pieces to the lining first, so there are no stitches on the outside from the velcro, mask, etc.

- The client wanted another flap underneath at the back of the neck so that he could slide the straw cape in between the pieces of fabric, so it wouldn't scratch his neck. I thought that was a pretty good idea.

Things I wish I had done better:

-The shape of the top ended up being a bit strange. I think it looks alright but it's not ideal.

- The white shapes. The client wanted them sewn on, which I did, but in hindsight I probably could've done it differently to make it look a little better.


Overall, I think the hood looks pretty great. I hope the client is happy with it!

I've also been working on my Space Commander Haruhi/Kyon costumes for me and my friend Mike for Anime Boston (it's soon! horray!). I think they're coming along... I'll have some pictures posted later.

How are your costumes going? Is your convention coming up? Are you going to AB? Hope everything is working out!

Anime Boston AMV List

I found a thread at the big bad AMV site of all the AMVs shown at Anime Boston 2008, complete with links to each individual page, where you can download a high quality movie if you sign up for the site (free, fast, painless... I did it). It shows who won each award and provides some basic info.

Anime Boston 2008 AMVs

Hope you enjoy looking at these! I think "Unbreakable" is really great. I haven't seen many of the anime featured in it, but now I want to! Also, it's makes me all happy inside to watch it.

Also, make sure you check out Dead Fantasy I and Dead Fantasy II... they're awesome.

AB Aftermath

Well, Anime Boston has come and gone, and I've had to integrate myself back into the real world.

It's a sad time for everyone.

I had a lot of fun at AB this year, although perhaps not as much as I had expected. I can't really put my finger on the exact reason for it, but I think part of it had to do with being unable to attend all the panels I was interested in, with the exception of the Doujinshi Culture panel, which was very good.

As far as cosplay goes, I would say it was a success. I loved wearing both of my costumes, and a lot of people took photos of me and my friends. I even got a ticket for the judge's hall contest... too bad you need three to get a prize ribbon. Oh, well. Maybe next year I'll hang out in the hallways posing more often. :3

Mike's Ashitaka costume turned out great, if I do say so myself. My boyfriend helped out (time crunch, don't be too shocked) by wrapping the sword handle and making the sheath. Mike showed up with his own bow.

The Pillows put on a really great show on Saturday, despite the concert itself being very far behind schedule (reason I missed one of my panels ._.). It was kind of ridiculous how long we were kept waiting, and that they didn't even start letting people in until 3, which is when the concert was supposed to start. This was bad planning. I enjoyed watching Luv & Response as well... can't go wrong with choreographed dances. They were too r&b for my taste, though. I'm more of a straight pop fan in that category.

Anyway.

I heard about... and saw a little of... the astronomically long registration lines. To anyone who had to wait in that melee, I feel really bad about it. It couldn't have been fun, and I'm sure you missed things you wanted to do. On behalf of everyone, I hope - and pretty much expect and demand - that AB gets it right next year. Six computers to register tens of thousands of people is unacceptable.

I saw many good costumes at the convention, but as I'm still having camera issues, didn't get to take many photos. I'll have to rely on my friends' few pictures to show some of the costumes.

For now, here are some pictures I've gathered off the internet and my friends of all of us in our various costumes. The photo above is me as Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere (her formal outfit), which I wore to the formal ball on Friday and just walking around Sunday.

[Left] Me as Suigintou. [Right] My boyfriend as Phoenix Wright (plus glasses), with a Mia and Maya we bumped into at the Pru.

[Left] Mike as Zabuza from Naruto. After a year, the sword needs some touching up, but it still looked pretty damn cool. [Right] Mike (the other Mike) as Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke.

Preparing for a Con

Anime Boston is a week away!
Yay!
I'll be blogging all this week, showing pictures of my projects and giving you some idea of my timeline. I try not to have costumes to make right before the con, but that hasn't happened yet, and I have one to make for my friend in addition to finishing my own.

The first step is to make a big fat list. I wrote down each costume and underneath each put what I had to do, in specific tasks. If a task had multiple steps, I wrote those in. If you gloss over things, you will think you have more time than you do. Seriously.

Tomorrow I'm going to make a rough timeline to give myself some deadlines. I'll have to squeeze in some schoolwork, too!

The second step was rearranging my room to accommodate the amount of cosplay stuff that's in it. I live in a single dorm room, and it's reasonably sized for a person who doesn't sew or do cosplay as a hobby. I have crinolines hanging on the walls, bags on the walls... everything on the walls! All I have is vertical space. Use what you have.

I have a lot of materials and supplies, and everything gets organized into separate bags by costumes. Fabric is kept separately from paint, wood, etc. and in ziplocs (to keep out dust) instead of grocery bags.

3M hooks are great for this kind of thing. You can put up tons of them, hang everything your little heart desires, and then take them down after the con!

I'll be posting some photos of the sword making process this week, as well.

I finished up my client's dress. It was a bitch to make, for some reason, stupid things just kept going wrong. It happens. There was a problem when she got it, too, but we figured out how to fix it :D and she has been very nice the entire time. I can't wait to see how she creates the rest of her Urd costume.

Well, off to work on costumes...!

More Costumes; More Sword Changes

As is typical, the idea and process for creating the Suigintou sword has changed yet again.

I spent hours with my dad (definitely a two-person job) creating a blade out of foam to cover in plastic, and it was just not working out. We got stuck trying to make the difficult angles in the blade, and worried how the plastic would adhere if we couldn't get the foam perfectly smooth. It was all blowing up and we were at a standstill for a while.

I finally came the conclusion that I should just make the blade out of wood/MDF and deal with the consequences should there be any. That way, the sword would look the way I wanted it to. I will take it to Anime Boston and hope no one thinks it's dangerous (it certainly will not be). If they do, I'll just leave it at security, pick it up at the end of the day, and go on without it. But at least I will have a sword the way I want it to look for other cons and photo shoots. That seemed more important, in the end, than a particular cons potential rules, particularly when I'm not being entered in any formal competitions.

In the realm of more costumes... MORE COSTUMES. I will be making myself another costume for Anime Boston to wear to the formal ball, which will be Gwendolyn's ball gown from Odin Sphere. I bought all the fabric for it this weekend and I'm really excited about it.

I also bought fabric for my friend Mike's costume, who will be going to AB as Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. It's a pretty simple costume, which are some of the most fun to do, because every detail is important. I got great fabric for the hood and burlap to make him some shoe covers. He's (supposedly) taking care of his own sword and (maybe) bow.

I'll be working on 4 costumes - the two mentioned above, Suigintou, and the Urd commission - over the next month leading up to AB. Spring break is definitely my friend this year (first week of march). I'll be posting all kinds of photos over the coming weeks, including of sword construction.

This is the fun part!

Holiday Cosplay Goals

I'm finally done with finals hell, so I can focus on cosplay for a few weeks! That is, between seeing my friends and family and doing holiday activities. *sigh*

My biggest goal for this time period is making Suigintou's sword for my costume (see crappy picture to the left).

I registered for Anime Boston at the nice low rate of $35. I plan on entering the Hall Contest, I think, because I'm a little concerned with the masquerade taking up too much time (like Connecticon, though I'm sure it will be run better at AB), but I still want to enter the costume in a contest. It seems to be a good middle ground.

I'm planning on making the sword handle out of wood. I'm going to use two pieces, one for the front and one for the back. I'm going to cut them out and dremel the same design into each one. Then I'll sandwich the blade between the two halves of the hilt.

I'm going to construct the blade out of a (insulation) foam core that I will cover with plastic. I chose this method to comply with convention regulations. Many events absolutely do not allow wooden swords, so I figure this way I won't really have to worry about whatever convention I take it to. I made Zabuza's sword out of plastic covered foam last year, and that was huge, so I know they will allow it. In my opinion it's better to be safe than sorry with this kind of thing, lest you be left without the amazing prop you spent so much time working on.

At least that's the plan.

I'm going to try to make an instructable for the sword, or at least take photos and share them.

My second goal is to fix the wig for the Suigintou costume. It's a bit wonky right now. I got a curling iron with adjustable temperature so I think that will help coax the wig into doing my bidding. I'm also going to fix the cut. It's a little strange.

I'll be happy if I can get those things done while I'm here.

I'm in the process of making instructions for my Izumi goggles. I figure even if you never make an Izumi costume, it could be helpful for if you have to make any kind of goggles or similar item.

Costume Profile - Haku from Naruto

This is the first "Costume Profile" post, where I, well, profile a costume I have made and finished.
The content of these posts will probably evolve over time, and I readily welcome any comments or suggestions about what you think these posts should contain.



Character Name: Haku (right, shown with Zabuza, left)
Series: Naruto
Worn to: Anime Boston 2007

Total Time: I didn't keep very close track of this one, but I'd estimate about 10-15 hours.
Total Cost: Again, didn't keep very good track, but I'd say about $40.

Easiest things about this costume: Shoes - Purchased for $2 in Chinatown, cut off ugly beads, painted with fabric paint.
Sweater - Found at used clothing store The Garment District for about $10.

Most difficult things about this costume: The pants were the most difficult, but weren't really difficult. I used an old pattern I had for pajama pants (will post the number and brand when I find it), only I made them shorter. I cut out triangular fabric panels and added them into the front to add volume to the pants.

Materials Used and Price Breakdown: -Pants and Sash: Plain cotton, $3/yd, Jo-Ann Fabrics
-Robe: Cotton/poly blend, $2.50/yd, Jo-Ann Fabrics
-Sweater: Found at The Garment District, $10
-Shoes: Found in Chinatown, $2. Fabric paint and foam brush, $3, Pearl Art & Craft Supply
-Hair: Fabric Scrap from making the robe. Modeling clay, $1.50, Utrecht Art Supply. 18ga. Copper wire, $3, Blick Art Materials. Silver enamel paint, $2, Utrecht Art Supply.
-Weapon: Double-ended knitting needles, about $4 for a set of 3, Jo-Ann Fabrics.
-Headband: $8, Ebay. From one of those Hong Kong guys. ^_^;