COSTUME INFO: Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Brief Bio: Riza Hawkeye is a first Lieutenant of the army of Amestris and serves under Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang. She's very skilled with firearms, and keeps up a tough facade, rarely showing any emotions other than anger or annoyance, though she is very compassionate on the inside. She is very protective over Roy Mustang and would follow him to the ends of the earth and back if it was his wish. For a full biography, check out Riza Hawkeye's FMA Wikipedia page.

Why?: I absolutely Love Riza Hawkeye. I think it's just her overall personality, she's independent and dependent at the same time, but still strong enough to take care of herself at the same time. As for the outfit itself, I've always had a liking for military uniforms for some reason, so it totally works for me.

Construction: I consider this my first real cosplay for some reason, even though Tohru was technically my first. My mom helped with a lot of this too, but I did a lot of detailing, and things that didn't involve the sewing machine.

The jacket was bought from a thrift store and modified with fabric bought at JoAnn's (added collar, cuffs, and closing flap), the skirt and pants came with it, and the skirt was cut to fit. The silver trim and yellow shoulder stripes are ribbon from JoAnn's held on with Heat 'n' Bond, and the buttons are hand-sewn on. I already owned the combat boots.

In the pictures here, everything looks a lot darker than it is (bad camera quality), but the main reason I made this costume instead of buying one is that I didn't feel that the store-made costumes were a dark enough blue. My Riza is actually a proper navy blue.

Originally, I used my real hair for this cosplay, though you can't tell in the pictures here, my hair actually was blonde. However, I ended up cutting my hair and dying to black, so Riza went into temporary retirement. Now I have a blonde wig, so I'm hoping to un-retire her at a con soon-ish.

This costume is 95% complete.
The missing 5(ish) percent is the silver nameplates on the collar, the star buttons / pins on the shoulders, and a handgun.

Convention Info: I first wore this costume at Comic Arts & Anime Teen Expo (CAAT) '06. Since then it has been worn to various small conventions as well as both Fanime and Kin-Yoobi '08. It has never been entered in competition. As mentioned before, it has been temporarily retired since '08, but I hope to un-retire Riza some time in '10.

READ MORE - COSTUME INFO: Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist)

COSTUME INFO: Amaterasu Okami (Okami)

Brief Bio: In the video game Okami, Amaterasu is the Japanese sun goddess in the form of a white wolf. While most can only see her as a plain white wolf, those with pure heart or divine powers can see her true form, complete with cloud-like fur on her legs and shoulders, and red markings on her face and back. Amaterasu wields the power of the Celestial Brush, giving her powers such as cutting through enemies, moving water, and creating wind. For a full biography, check out the Wikipedia Page for Okami.
(Note: The description provided here is of that of the character Amaterasu from the Okami video game, not that of the Japanese folklore of the goddess Amaterasu.)

Why?: I don't remember when exactly I chose to cosplay Amaterasu or how exactly the decision came about. However, I absolutely loved the video game, and my obsession continued through the seven-month process of creating this costume.

A lot of the inspiration for this costume came from Ouka of .hack// Legend of Twilight (the manga version). I love Ouka as well, but I knew that no one I knew would even dare to allow me to walk around half-naked, heh (image not mine).

I suppose I technically have two version of this costume. Version two is really more of an upgraded form of Version one though, so I still count them as one costume.

Construction: I built the feet & legs first, out of slip-on shoes bought at WalMart, foam, and of course white fake fur bought at JoAnn's. The bottoms of the feet are craft foam covered with generic sealant and Shoe Goo bought at Shoe Stop. I already owned the white shirt under the vest and the white tights (though I later bought a new pair). I found the vest at a thrift store and added the red swirls to the back. I bought jean shorts at a thrift store, covered them with fake fur and added a tail. The tail originally had wire in it, but people always thought it was fluff and squished it, so now it is filled with fluff. I bought the fan at a store called Daiso Japan, it already had the red "sun" symbol on it. I printed and cut out the image of Amaterasu, traced around it on the fan, then detailed it by hand.

Originally, the makeup was eyeliner from Hot Topic, but I later upgraded to a mask. I bought a half-mask (covers everything except the mouth and chin) at JoAnn's. The muzzle is paper mache, covered with short fake fur and colored with Sharpie. The nose itself is Scuplt It! clay painted black and sealed with generic sealant. The wig was bought at Party City and styled by me. The red streak of hair is two hair extensions I bought from Hot Topic. My first set of fangs were "Scarecrow" brand vampire fangs, and the second set is "Scarecrow" brand werewolf fangs, both bought at Hot Topic. The black lipstick was also bought at Hot Topic.

The ears were originally foam inside of fake fur, glued to hair clips. After I bought my wig, I sewed the ears to it. The fur tufts are fake fur over foam and sewn to the arm bands, which are just fake fur. The gloves were made by me with four-way stretch crushed velvet and black cotton, held together by a combination of sewing, Fray Check, and Heat 'n' Bond.

The shield is cardboard covered with green vinyl, and the flames are sheer fabric with Fray Check on the edges. The straps are four-way stretch crushed velvet (same as the gloves) with elastic on the inside. There are two straps of thicker elastic on the back as well so that it can be worn on my arm instead of my back. The top of the shield opens and it can be used as a backpack.

This costume is 99% complete.
Some padding needs to be added inside of the forehead of the mask, because it presses uncomfortably against my head.

Convention Info: I wore Amaterasu to Kiin-Yoobi '09, where I won 3rd in the cosplay contest, Holiday Anime Faire '09, where I won 1st in the "Hand-Made" Division of the cosplay contest, and Animation On Display (AOD) '10, where I won runner-up in the "Construction" division of the cosplay contest.

This is the only costume I really compete in, and the only one I take really seriously. It gets loads of attention, and always does well in competition. Unfortunately, it's madly uncomfortable, so I'm wanting to wear it less and less, especially if I'm not competing.

READ MORE - COSTUME INFO: Amaterasu Okami (Okami)

Days 108 & 109

Nothing! Ha.

Typing up the rules for the cosplay contest I'm running later this year >_> Any ideas would be lovely.

I also played Left 4 Dead for the first time today. Yup. I still don't like first-person shooters. Even if I did kill a Tank. I think it was a fluke.

READ MORE - Days 108 & 109

COSTUME INFO: Misa Amane ~ Original Variant (Death Note)

Brief Bio: Misa Amane is an actress / model / singer and the second "Kira" of Death Note. Kira is what the citizens of Japan and many other countries called the cause of all the mysterious deaths of criminals. Misa has an overly-bubbly personality, often referring to herself in the third person as "Misa-Misa." For a full biography, check out Misa Amane's Wikipedia Page.

Why?: Much like Tohru Honda (Fruits Basket), I don't really like Misa, but I somehow ended up cosplaying her. It was the night before a convention, and I suddenly realized that my friends and I had no costumes. So we worked with what we had and threw together a Death Note group.

Construction: I literally grabbed clothes off of my floor and went "This will work!" That was it. Didn't dye my hair or get a wig because it was so last minute that I didn't really even care.

This costume is 100% complete. I might make a more accurate Misa Amane cosplay in the future, just because I like her style, but that's a big maybe.

Convention Info: This was worn to Animation on Display 2009, and probably won't be worn again. As far as I'm concerned, it's retired.

READ MORE - COSTUME INFO: Misa Amane ~ Original Variant (Death Note)

COSTUME INFO: Tohru Honday (Fruits Basket)

Brief Bio: Tohru Honda is a first-year high school student, whose parents have both died prior to the start of the series. She is taken in by a family whom Tohru soon discovers is cursed, and turns into an animal of the Zodiac when hugged by the member of the opposite sex.

Despite her hardships, Tohru is very happy-go-lucky, and she always looks out for others before herself. She is very hard on herself when it comes to work and school, and feels like she is betraying her mother when she gets bad grades or does poorly at work. For a full biography, check out Tohru Honda's Wikipedia Page.

Why?: I never really sat down and decided "I'm going to cosplay Tohru." In fact, I never even really liked Tohru. The real reason I ended up cosplaying her was that I wanted to be a schoolgirl for Halloween in 2004. Fruits Basket was one of the first mangas I ever read, and so, I thought it proper to model my school girl uniform after the ones in that series. Shortly after, I attended my first anime convention, and saw everyone in costume. At the convention after that, I decided it would be fun to dress up too, and most people just assumed I was Tohru herself.

Construction: The bulk of this costume was made in one night, mostly by my mom. The blue shirt was a jacket that my mom sewed shut in the front. The skirt was originally longer then cut short, but I later found one that was already short and properly hemmed. The white tie and back.. Umm.. Flap? Is actually a pillow case that my mom cut and hemmed. Later, I decided not to let a good costume go to waste and bought a wig. The Momiji(rabbit) backpack was bought at Comic Arts & Anime Teen Expo 2007

This costume is 95% complete.
I would like a new shirt because the fabric is all wrong, and I'd like a new tie because the lines got smudged.

Convention Info: I believe that this was only worn on one or two occasions, at Comic Arts & Anime Teen Expo and/or Holiday Anime Faire 2005. I don't know if I'll ever wear her again, though, especially not without a group.

READ MORE - COSTUME INFO: Tohru Honday (Fruits Basket)

Costume Process: Makoto Kikuchi!

Yo~ I had initially wrote this entry to be posted on my personal blog to share with my friends and well…to just generally complain and rant about this costume. but I thought since I’ve already written it and it is Cosplay related, why not share it here?

The costume was a jam pack 5 day’s HARD WORK! I’d say other than Luneth (FF3), this costume has got to be my worse nightmare ever. I had thought making the costume was gonna be easy since it looks simple enough. But I was SO WRONG!!!!! Argh! NEVER underestimate a 2d costume!

First stage of costuming. Dissecting the costume on paper. I highly recommend every new cosplayer to do this because getting your idea out from your brain and on paper really allows you to take a step back and analyse the costume better.

Wearing the paper draft 

The weird shape and cutting of the top really daunted me a lot but after getting over the initial phobia I managed to come down to a basic one piece dress draft.

I’m wearing the paper draft on the photo above.YEs, I’m a lazy pig so I only do half of the draft (half of the costume, literally) and stick it on myself. Not exactly the best method for a tight fitted costume. Because my costume came out too loose and I had to do a lot of alterations =_=;;;

At this stage the costume really looks like some traditional Chinese undergarment ahhahaa.

 

And for the first time in my costuming life, I actually burnt a hole in my costume. Great work kaika. I tuned the iron to the highest setting because I was impatient and the iron only took 1 second to scorched the fabric.

Thank goodness for me, it was burnt at the extra portions and I could cut it away easily. Otherwise I might really have just thrown in the towel and call quits.

 
Yeay! basic top done!

The white bias at the bottom look innocent enough but they gave me a lot of trouble too. *shakes head* I guess this really shows how poor my costuming/dressmaking skills are =\

The gloves were the next thing to give me yet another headache. Yes, I made the gloves too because I was too cheapo and didn’t wanna buy them . And also because Makoto’s gloves were extra long and had this outturning effect on the top which store bought gloves didn’t have.

My glove pattern. Yeap, on paper again xD

Wasted some good lycra on a glove that didn’t work out and was way too tight =\ But lesson learnt, I gave it more allowance for the next trial and thankfully things worked out better T_T. But I forgot to draft the outturning effect thingy on the gloves so they came out really straight and boring and……un-makotoish. Got me pretty depressed =\

 

Had intended to ignore that flaw and just wear it the way it is but……… after much deliberations, I decided to push my limits and continued to make some improvements to it. If you’re a cosplayer who sews your own costume, you’ll understand how I felt. This horrendous feeling of screw up and how you just feel like you just stabbed your own butt with a chopstick because you are soooooo going to be a cosfu*k because of that little error/flaw.

The next big headache was the 2 holes by the side. They are soooooooooo awkwardly placed, I really squeezed my brain dry trying to figure out how I can sew it nicely and not have it show stuffs that was not meant to. If I placed it too high, it’d show my bra, if I placed them too low, they show the skirt band =_=

Trying on the costume with a fake pocket flap and fake side holes XD. Both are made of paper and stuck on with tape.Was trying to figure out where would be an appropriate place to sew them. I always do this to give myself a vision of the end product so I know how to work towards it.

One of the process I dread most in costuming is wearing and taking out the costume x 9892843474 times. It’s just such a bothersome and repetive task=_=!

Finally got pass the holes!

I’m not really pleased with the final product though. Sigh, I wish I gave the collar design a longer and ‘droopier’ tail. I’m sure it’d make the entire costume classier. And argh don’t get me started on my ghetto tie…..

And the end product below!

 

  

Special thanks to Yuanie for lending me her wig and for helping me soooo much on the day itself.

I love having helpful teammates. Everyone helped so much its very touching *sniffs* T_T And I guess its really this humane spirit that makes me keep coming back to Cosplay. I’m really glad cosplay has allowed me to meet such lovely people =)

READ MORE - Costume Process: Makoto Kikuchi!

COSTUME INFO: Marionette (Original)

Brief Bio: Thrown together for a photoshoot to increase the size of my modeling portfolio. No character base.

Construction: I don't really think I did anything here. I threw some clothes together really. my "strings" were purple yarn. Yay. The hat was borrowed from a friend. Just like my ninja, I barely consider this a costume. The shirt has since been destroyed by the wrath on the washing machine. Just as well, it didn't fit right anyway.

This costume is 100% complete.

Convention Info: Never been worn to a con, never will be.

READ MORE - COSTUME INFO: Marionette (Original)

COSTUME INFO: Ninja (Original)

Brief Bio: An original character made for a photoshoot to increase my modeling portfolio. Nothing more, nothing less.

Construction: There wasn't much done here, I barely consider it a costume. I cut off one pant legs and hemmed it, that wasn't even intended to be turned into a costume, it was basically just because I could. The shirt is actually from my Riza Hawkeye cosplay, with a black tank top under it. The "mask" is a black shirt with a hair clip in the back, and the swords were both purchased, one at FYE and one at the SanFransisco Cherry Blossom Festivale '09.

This costume is 100% complete.

Con Info: Never worn to a con, never going to be worn to a con.

READ MORE - COSTUME INFO: Ninja (Original)

COSTUME INFO: Cat Girl (Original)

(Better pictures soon to come.)

Brief Bio: There isn't much to say about the "background" for this character, seeing as it's an original design by me. I guess you could say she was inspired by Loveless, because I wanted giant-ass cat ears like the ones Loveless shows. But I do not consider her in any way related to Loveless. I will never write a fanfic about her, and she will probably never have a real character or specific personality, or even a name.

Construction: A large part of my cat girl's creation is owed solely to the fact that my mom basically tossed a giant bag of fur at me and went "Here ya go," and I had no idea what to do with it. There is foam inside of the ears, in an attempt to get the to stand upright. Even though this attempt half-failed, I find myself absolutely loving the one-ear-falling-over look. There is, if I'm remembering right, elastic inside of the white headband, however, it doesn't serve much of a purpose. The skirt is literally just the fur that my mom handed to me, minus what was used on the ears, tied at the side. I'm lucky it even fit. I used the pants of my ninja cosplay, with the leggings I use for my Amaterasu cosplay. The pants were just a regular pair of pants until I cut off one leg and hemmed it. That in itself wasn't a cosplay decision, it was basically just for the hell of it. The shirt is a camisole (spaghetti-strap) with a "wife-beater"(I hate that term; tank top) over it, and a black vest over that. I also used the fangs from my Amaterasu cosplay. The collar / bow was just thrown together with ribbon and a bell I had laying around. (I have lots of bells laying around...) The gloves were purchased at Hot Topic.

This costume is 100% complete.

Convention Info: My cat girl was worn to SacAnime Winter. She's the only costume I have that I would wear out and expect to get no pictures taken of me at all. it was sort of nice to lay low for a little while. It's a huge contrast to when I wear my Amaterasu. At SacAnime Winter, I wore my brown Tohru wig, just "for fun" (it was not fun).

READ MORE - COSTUME INFO: Cat Girl (Original)

Holiday Anime Faire 2009

I am sooo glad I went to Holiday Anime Faire. Especially as Amaterasu.

I went in a browsed (okay, ransacked) the place for a wall scroll of Chi, which I did not find! *rage* Oh well. I bought the last two books of Chobits later instead.

I loitered around and ran into (or rather was pulled out of the crowd by) a couple of friends. We were disturbed by this girl... How do I describe her..? Insane? Heh. It was clear that she was excited, but from what I could tell, and what people who knew her told me, she's severely socially awkward. She just thought that she was the best thing ever and it was just awkward when she spoke. She walked up to my friend who was dressed as Sleepy Time Naruto, and she herself claimed to be Naruto and had a Naruto graphic tee on. She asked "Which one if the real one?" and my friend (not Naruto) pointed to her shirt and said "That one." The chick thought my friend meant her and started to say "Ha! I win!" When the Naruto I knew cut her off and said "No. You don't understand. That's the real Naruto," and pointed more clearly to her shirt. Heh. Awkward, but my friends are awesome anyway =D So I chatted with them and kinda stuck myself to them until the costume contest, which was the only reason I went in the first place.

Speaking of first place, I got it! Hehehehehe. Never has winning been this rewarding though. We were split up into three categories: hand-made(which I was in), closet cosplay, and store / internet-bought cosplay. Last time I competed at this convention, in April (same convention, different name and month, don't ask) the judging was based solely on audience reaction. If it had been like that this time, I'm not so sure I would have one. This one girl, I forget who she was dressed as, got a lot of cheers and screams, but I was told that a lot of it was her friends in the audience and people just generally fangasming. This time though, the convention head brought in an impartial judge who knew almost nothing about anime, and that's probably the reason I won. I thanked everybody, including the audience and random people who said they liked my costume so many times, it was crazy. I'm so grateful.

My prizes kick ass. seriously, best. prizes. EVAR. A jacket with the Shonen JUMP logo on it, estimated to be worth about $50, a keychain, which I already have, an iron-on patch with no significance to me, and a freakin' ticket to freakin' Fanime. My jaw dropped to the floor when they announced that as one of the prizes. I mean, seriously. They were listing the prizes "DVDs... A jacket... A ticket to AOD... A ticket to Fanime." and people just freaked. I was happy for the potential DVDs, that's what my prize was last year, the jacket didn't interest me, but they got my attention with an AOD ticket, and I nearly passed out when they said a Fanime ticket. And then I won the Fanime Ticket. OMG. I'm just really excited.

I plan on showing my Ammy lots and lots of TLC tomorrow because it won me so much today. I don't know if I'll finish any new parts, but I'll patch up what's falling apart and whatnot, because it managed to take a beating today =/

READ MORE - Holiday Anime Faire 2009

Day Sixty-Eight

Today in my costume construction class, I began building a pattern for a Lolita shirt. But that's about it. Oh, and Draping > Flat Patterning. Seriously.

READ MORE - Day Sixty-Eight

Sheer Fabric Must Die (Day Fourty-Two)

Convention planning meeting tomorrow at nine in the morning, so this will probably be short. Costume Construction class has taught me something very, very important... I HATE sheer fabric! Hate. With a capital H - A - T - E. It slips and slides and stretches and frays and is irritating as hell. That is all.

READ MORE - Sheer Fabric Must Die (Day Fourty-Two)

Day Nine

I started out the day with the intent of doing cosplay-related things.. But, alas, the world did not allow me to do so.

My plan was to go to the mall and buy my boyfriend some combat boots for his Matt (Death Note) cosplay. The rest of the world's plan was for Hot Topic to only have two pairs of said boots left. One pair vastly too big, the other immensely too small. Damn you world!

On the up side, I bought my boyfriend a piece for his surprise Halloween costume. We may use it for a surprise cosplay, but that has yet to be truly discussed.

My finger's still sore from burning it yesterday, so I'll have to sign off here.

READ MORE - Day Nine

Cosplayers & Halloween

I'm starting to regret starting this blog at this time. I'm not doing anything cosplay-related... I played with makeup this morning, taking the color out of my lips for crossplay, and practicing my makeup for Halloween.

I've heard that some cosplayers actually don't like Halloween because of all the "amateurs" and people that buy poorly-made Halloween Store costumes. I like to think of Halloween as a break from cosplay. I can still get into costume, which is usually something random and baseless, and still get complimented on my creativity, but it doesn't take nearly as much effort.

This year's Halloween costume is an upgraded version of my costume last year, a butterfly. I bought small, children-sized butterfly wings, a black mini skirt, and black knee-high pleather boots from a second-hand store, black tights with various colored butterflies on them, a lace jacket, and various colored hair extensions from Hot Topic, a pink tank top from Basic, and found a butterfly mask that my mom had bought a few years ago at a flea market, I believe. The mask, however, goes on the back of my head, held on with chopsticks through the eyes. I'm thinking of buying better, plastic chopsticks from a Japanese store called Daiso, but money is unbelievably tight, so I'm stuck with wooden ones for now.

I know it's early to plan my costume, but the Spirit Halloween store just came back into town for the season and I'm planning a Halloween party as well.

I feel like I've got a lot on my plate, what with YaoiCon and Haloween literally at the same time, and me planning to do both, YaoiCon the day before Halloween, of course, as it'll take all day to prepare for my Halloween night scary movie / costume party.

READ MORE - Cosplayers & Halloween