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.

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!

Slow progress...

Well, I did get SOME things done over the holiday. The sword is about 1/3 of the way done. I don't have any photos yet, but I should have some when the process is a bit further along. It's just as well, so that you can see where it's all going.

After much planning and discussion, the original plan was sort of thrown out, or at least modified. No more "sandwich". Now, the main part of the handle has been made out of a baseball bat, and the wings were cut out of MDF (medium density fiberboard; available at any home improvement place). I put wooden dowels into the foam for the blade for structure and support, and the bottom end of the dowel will be put through the handle several inches.

The next steps are to carve and cover the blade, and dremel the design into the wing section. I will do those some time in the next several weeks, when I have access to the tools and space at home again.

I also spent about 2 hours simply detangling the wig. What an annoying process. When I next work on the sword, I'll work on the styling of the wig more as well. I got a curling iron with adjustable temperature which I'm hoping will help solve the problems I've been having with it.

In Gwendolyn and general construction news, I FINALLY got a shipment of Wonderflex in the mail, and will be playing with it this weekend with my heatgun. I'll also be experimenting with various combinations of craft foam, polystyrene, hot glue, and the heat gun to see what comes from it. I'll post my results next week.

If you are looking for Wonderflex, I got mine from Mainstage Theatre Supply, where I got a full sheet for around $30 shipped, MUCH cheaper than cosplaysupply.com's $70ish dollar charge for a sheet. (EDIT: I have reason to suspect that Mainstage, while nice people, do not have a website that is as secure as it should be for credit cards. Please use caution when using your card over the internet. I recommend trying to phone in your order and/or paying with a different method.) I will probably still end up ordering Friendly Plastic from them, though, unless I find it somewhere else. I'm thinking about ordering some Fosshape as well... but more on that another time.