As Good as it Gets (Days 562 - 566)

So Yoko definitely isn't 100% finished. She's maybe 95% finished, and I'm not happy with one of the boots at all, but she's wearable enough for Kin-Yoobi Con. No pics yet, you'll have to wait until post-con for that. You'll also have to wait until post-con for information about making the cosplay because I just can't be bothered to do a write-up right now.

Basically, I've been freaking out over everything; finishing my cosplay, finishing commissions, making hats, updating the panel, and finishing things for the actual convention. This will most likely be my last blog post before the convention. So here's a summary of the con and the stuff I'm doing at it.

Kin-Yoobi Con ~ Friday - Saturday, August 5th - 6th, 10am - 9pm
We're celebrating our fifth anniversary this year which means even more fun-filled fandom-based events and big name special guests."
I'll be staffing the convention, running several events including Anime Jeopardy and the Cosplay Contest as well as participating in the Anime Date Auction.

'Magikarp: A History' at Kin-Yoobi Con ~ Friday, 11am
"Hit 'em with a splash attack! Join us to learn everything that you never knew that you wanted to know about Magikarp. We'll give you an in-depth look at Magikarp's behavior, anime appearances, in-game capabilities, and more!"
My boyfriend and I are hosting this panel, we have hosted it twice before, once at Animation on Display, and once at Fanime. It is exactly what it sounds like: a panel about the Pokemon Magikarp.

Rose's Fleece Hats at Kin-Yoobi Con ~ All day, both days
Rose's Fleece Hats is the name I use to promote the fleece hats that I make and sell. I will have an Artist's Alley booth to sell these, necklaces, hair ribbons, bracelets, and earrings.

BAC at Kin-Yoobi Con ~ Friday, 2pm & Saturday, 3pm
Bay Area Conventions (BAC) is a group that has interest in conventions, photography, and cosplay. Meetups and gatherings are set up as social events. The group includes people from all over the San Fransisco Bay Area.

Ratgirl and Para~Somnia at Kin-Yoobi 2011! ~ All day, both days
My friend Tricia (Ratgirl) and a friend of hers will also have an Artist's Alley booth there!

Dai Gurren Dan at Kin-Yoobi Con ~ Saturday
My friend's Gurren Lagann group (including myself, of course) will be chillin' at Kin-Yoobi this Saturday as well. No link to the Facebook event itself because it's a private event, but we'll be there!

I do believe you can now understand exactly why I feel so swamped, haha. You'll hear from me after the convention~!

READ MORE - As Good as it Gets (Days 562 - 566)

Dai Gurren Dan (Day 552)

This is a little late, but a couple of days ago, the leader of the Gurren Lagann cosplay group that I'm in hosted a get-together at her house. The intent was to watch the Gurren Lagann movies and work on cosplay. However, we are the worst group of procrastinators, so very little got done.

I brought over a ton of my sewing stuff and worked on my Yoko shorts. I thought that they were almost finished, but then I realized that I altered the pattern wrong. The good news is that it was fixable, and I know exactly what I did wrong, so I know what not to do next time. Of course now, I've given up on making shorts entirely, they're always a nightmare.

The rest of the group started working on Kamina's cape. It's really simple, but it looks glorious.

Of course, we ended up not watching either of the movies. We started to watch one, but then we decided to wait for someone. Then we realized that there wasn't enough room for everyone to sit around the computer, and we couldn't watch it on the TV for whatever reason, I don't always understand technical talk. We're going to try again this week.

READ MORE - Dai Gurren Dan (Day 552)

More Yoko Stuff (Days 534 - 539)

So I finally bought the fabric for my Yoko bikini, which I also decided that I'm going to try to use it for my shorts also. If it doesn't work, well, then I'll have some nice swimsuit shorts to swim in. I also bought a pattern for pants, which I'm just going to shorten for shorts. I bought a needle for stretch fabric and stretchy string (which I found out is just very, very thin elastic) too. I haven't actually worked on anything yet though.

After rigorous searching online, I came across Fabric.com, which, while having the least creative name I've ever heard, turned out to be quite useful. I browsed their faux leathers (mostly poly and vinyl blends) and found two colors that might work for Yoko's awkward-colored purple-brown jacket. Luckily, you can order fabric swatches from Fabric.com relatively cheap ($0.75 each + $1.50 shipping), so I ordered one swatch of each.

My Yoko wig was also just shipped, and I am eagerly awaiting it, I just hope that it's good quality. I'll write more about it (where I bought it, what price, etc.) after it arrives.

I also bought yellow chopsticks for Yoko's hair. I really like them a lot, despite them being a little more rounded-off than I had originally hoped for. However, they looked stained yellow, as opposed to painted, so you can still see the natural wood grain on them, and they don't look harsh or too bright.

So, I need to buy fabric for the jacket and boots and iron-on vinyl for the boots, bikini, and jacket. I also need to find a belt and buckle, which I would just make myself if I knew where to get loose square, metal studs. I also need to decide how I'm going to make the bikini, if I want to go for the underboob, sideboob, or cleavage. I think I can only get two out of the three. I'm actually thinking of going for the cleavage and sideboob, but I'm worried that that will make it look too much like a bra, plus I'll have to spend more money buying push-up pads. It's looking like the bikini will be the last thing that I make, haha. Or I might just end up with three of them.

READ MORE - More Yoko Stuff (Days 534 - 539)

No Progress (Days 526 - 533)

So I have been doing nothing to forward my progress (or lack thereof) on my Yoko cosplay, except for staring at the eBay search results for "Yoko Wig" on and off for what's probably a total of 3 hours. I really cannot choose one, I've heard equal amounts of good and bad reviews about all of the sellers that I'm considering buying from. Basically, I have to decide if it's worth the risk on the cheapest one, wasting less money if I don't like it, or if paying more increases the chances of me liking the wig. I'm also looking into which sellers offer returns and such. Oh, if only the girl selling hers on Cosplay.com would respond to my messages and upload an accurate photo!

So that's where I'm at. I still need to do everything else that I talked about in my last post. Oh, well, I looked at bra pads at JoAnn's and decided that I would get one that fits me and make the bikini to fit over it. I'm sacrificing the accuracy of underboob (and some side-boob) for the comfort of support, cleavage, and coverage. People obsessed with accuracy (including a tiny bit of myself) might hate me for it, but I'm thinking it's a fair trade. I can't convince myself that underboob is a good look anyway, even if it is cannon.

READ MORE - No Progress (Days 526 - 533)

New Cosplay Plans & Material Research (Days 514 - 525)

So! A little while back, I was asked to join a Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann cosplay group for Kin-Yoobi Con's cosplay contest, and even though I can't compete (because I staff and emcee the contest), I decided to join the group, agreeing that, even if I couldn't wear it, I would finish the cosplay by Kin-Yoobi. In the past, I have been asked to cosplay Yoko, but I never had a real reason too, having never seen Gurren Lagann and not even having a group, so now that I was with a group, I decided to cosplay her. Originally, I had planned to cosplay her first, most recognizable outfit, because, well, it was the most recognizable, but after doing a little more research, I decided to cosplay what I have come to know as "Bounty Hunter Yoko" (shown above). I chose this outfit because it looks extremely similar to her original outfit, but is more covered-up, so that hopefully I won't run into issues with convention staff. If I do run into issues with staff, I have a backup plan (in Ep. 5, she wears a robe that completely covers her body, and I find it amusing).

I began researching materials and reference pictures as soon as I had chosen an outfit, as well as started actually watching TTGL. I haven't watched a new anime in a long time (since Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt finished), and of course I find myself completely in love with the series. Now, I'm not sure if this was because I was already slated to cosplay her, but I also find myself completely in love with Yoko. The moment she sat on Kamina's head for saying she had a big butt, I knew I loved her. I might not love her so much if I wasn't going to already cosplayer her, but I'd like to think that things just worked out really well in that regard, and that I would have loved her and cosplayed her anyway.

My first worry about the costume was the materials. With a ridiculously wide variety of materials to choose from, I've seen Yoko cosplayers use everything imaginable, and sometimes, http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwell, it just doesn't work out. The bikini top is an easy one, bikini fabric. I was fortunate enough to find that JoAnn's sells dance/swim knit fabric. Originally, I was going to buy a bikini top and alter it, but you'd be surprised how hard it is to find a plain, black bikini in the right style. I was also surprised to see how easy it seems to be to make your own bikini. The tutorials on YouTube seem so simple, however, they all forget to put any kind of padding in, and a majority of them, they use t-shirts as material.

Wet t-shirt contest anyone?
In the defense of the video creators, their intent may have been to make bikinis for tanning/showing-off purposes only, but I have yet to come across a video that either says this or puts pads in. Regardless of that, though, most of the tutorials that I have seen are very good and easy to follow.

The next material issue that I had to tackle was the flames on the bikini. Originally, I thought I'd use bikini fabric and hand-sew it on, but then I didn't like the thought of all those stitches and the edges of the fabric showing, so I started researching more about applique materials and techniques. I frequently use Heat 'n' Bond for adding details, mostly ribbon detailing on projects such as Franziska, but the http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifkind I use gets very stiff when it's dry, so I wanted to see if there were more options. I was browsing the "bonding & stabilizers" category of JoAnn.com, when I came across iron-on vinyl, which led me to do a Google search which took me here then led me on a fantastical journey of knowledge.

Eventually, I ended up on Specialty-Graphics.com reading about Siser EasyWeed Stretch Vinyl, a thin, soft transfer material commonly used on sports uniforms. It can be applied to "Cotton, Polyester, Poly/Cotton Blends, Spandex, and Lycra", and seems generally easy to work with. At the moment, this is looking like my best option, but it just sounds too good to be true. Also, according to JoAnn.com, the dance/swim fabric isn't supposed to be ironed. So I'm eyeballing this, but also looking for other possibilities.

Another important part of the costume, for me at least, it the shorts. I intend to cosplay several versions of Yoko, and it seems like a lot of them use the same shorts, so I want them to look good. I've never been impressed with any Yoko shorts that I've ever seen. Granted, I have not seen many Yoko shorts, so maybe I just have to look harder. I've seen Yoko's shorts made out of vinyl or pleather, and I can see exactly why cosplayers would choose that material based on the artwork, but I just flat-out do not want to work with or wear pleather or vinyl. Ideally, I'd like leather shorts, but not only are they hard to find and expensive, I'm actually generally opposed to leather, and I'm not sure how ready I am to push my morals on this.

On an outing to JoAnn's, I browsed the fabric looking mainly for what fabric to use, not eliminating any possibilities until I had fully checked them out. Even though I know how taboo is is for cosplayers to use it, I was drawn toward the satin, and even though I knew I didn't want to use it, I will admit to looking at it. Located right next to it was a satin blend, which caught my attention and is shown left. I know it's hard to tell, but the top half of the image is the "right/correct" side of the fabric, and the bottom part of the picture is the "wrong" side of the fabric. Believe it or not, heh, the "wrong" side of the fabric is less shiny, but that picture was taken under JoAnn's bright fluorescent lights (no flash). At the moment, this is the fabric this is the fabric I'm considering. However, since I keep feeling like I have to defend it (it's not that shiny, it's bad lighting, it's darker in person), I'm still looking for something better. So we'll see.

I'm not even going to get into the jacket and boots right now, since I'm completely lost as to what material to make the jacket out of (I'm not even 100% sure what color it is), and the boots are seriously a whole post on their own. I have some vague ideas for the boots, but nothing concrete, so I'll just hold off on posting about them until I get more ideas.

READ MORE - New Cosplay Plans & Material Research (Days 514 - 525)