Time Flies... (Days 359 - 361)

...when you're swamped with things to do. No cosplay progress, but I did go to a costume/Halloween party! I went as a bloody, messy vampire. Somehow, people said that that was predictable LOL Ah well.

The most fun was people's reaction to my boyfriend's costume. He was "Party Bunny", a combination of Jackass's Party Boy and Bunny the Lifeguard. Yes. It was epic.

Good news though! A friend might be staying with us for Fanime, as well as my cousin and a friend of hers. Only for one night though. But it'll lessen the cost for me and my boyfriend a ton anyway! Yayyyy!

READ MORE - Time Flies... (Days 359 - 361)

Halloween Fail (Day Thirty-Seven)

So you'd think that Halloween would be the best day ever for a cosplayer. Yeah, I thought so too. Today sucked big time, my party bombed, and I'm out fifty bucks. FML

READ MORE - Halloween Fail (Day Thirty-Seven)

Costume Contest & Mello Jacket (Day Thirty-Four)

Today was totally fun. I went to my chiropractor's office in my Halloween costume because their contest is Friday and I can't make it tomorrow or Saturday. Afterward, my mom and I went to get dinner and a smoothie, and check mattress prices for my new bed, which I still don't have. Three people told me they liked my outfit, which is always cool.

Short post again today though as I'm off to quickly sew a jacket for Friday.

READ MORE - Costume Contest & Mello Jacket (Day Thirty-Four)

Shopping: Thigh-Highs; Liquid Latex (Day Twenty-Four)

I actually got to go shopping today =O No way. I never thought I would shop again, the way things are going. My room's torn to pieces & I'm supposedly not allowed to buy anything until it's finished (painting, new bed, cleaned up), however, I'm not getting any more money from my mom until it's finished. And she's not going to give me back-pay after it's cleaned either. It's going to take at least another two weeks to get my room cleaned, so I'm out $40. I have back-up money, but mostly for Yaoi-Con and Halloween decorations for my party... *sigh*

In ant case, shopping! Yay! I bought thigh-high leggings and fake eyelashes for my "Alice in Wonderland" Halloween costume. I'm still not sure if that's the name I'm going to call it, but it works for now. I normally don't wear fake eyelashes, but these are red and black and match the costume so well, I couldn't resist them. I also bought new pants for my Mello cosplay. They're built like pants, but with a stretchy leather material, similar to leggings. So they're looser and I can move in them better. And they don't give me bubble-butt, so my boyfriend can relax and not worried about guys looking back there.

I also bought some liquid latex, finally. I don't have a real use for it at the moment, but I always see people mentioning it in the forums on Cosplay.com, so I thought I'd pick some up just in case. This is the first time I've been able to find it and it was in the Halloween store, so I snagged it before the store leaves next month.

My boyfriend purchased red spray-on hair dye for his Matt costume, which was actually my suggestion. I don't really like spray-on dyes myself though. They flake off, rub off on everything, and generally don't work. However, for Matt, I believe it to be acceptable. I don't believe that Matt's hair is truly all red. To me, it appears as though it has red highlights. So we plan to lightly spray some areas of his hair, mostly in lower layers, so that in certain light, it'll look red, and it other lights, it'll look black. The way that Matt's does in the anime.

READ MORE - Shopping: Thigh-Highs; Liquid Latex (Day Twenty-Four)

Days Twenty & Twenty-One

Posting two days at a time would be great if it were easier for me to keep track of the days...

I showed off my nearly-complete Halloween costume to my Costume Construction class on Day Twenty and it was well-loved. I'm not sure what I'm calling it yet though. It looks like the secret love-child of Alice and the Mad Hatter. But calling it that would get me weird looks, which aren't that great when almost everything is normal on Halloween.

Day Twenty-One, I had a meeting for the convention I'm helping plan and we actually got a lot done, despite people getting dangerously off-track and annoying the cr*p out of me. When I got home, I threw together an event schedule for the con, and I'm hoping we can at least get the events (without times) posted by next week. Then we can start recruiting people for the events that we'll need them for. However, I'm keeping this pretty hush-hush so I don't ruin anything good (or get people's hopes up and end up having to cancel an event).

READ MORE - Days Twenty & Twenty-One

Day Fifteen

Today was rather busy, preparing for a Star Wars party, meeting with the convention planning committee, and a doctor's appointment.

I wore my completed skirt out and actually got some ideas from someone about making it into a costume, so I'm really excited about that.

My mind is blank right now though, I can't think of a blog topic, so.. Sorry!

READ MORE - Day Fifteen

Crossplay vs. Genderbending

I finished the skirt for my Halloween costume! YAY! It's not anything like my original design for it (aside from the pleats), but I love it just the same. =D
My next project, beside Mello's vest, which is at a dead standstill, is making a green Luma (Super Mario Galaxy) plushie from my cousin. But it's a Christmas present, so in all actuality, I've got a LONG time to make it.

Now, for the past couple of days, I've mentioned ways to get your parents to accept cosplaying, but today I remembered that I had mentioned Crossplay vs. Genderbending. So off we go~!

Crossplay is when someone cosplays as the opposite gender (a girl cosplaying a boy, or a boy cosplaying a girl).
Genderbending is when someone takes a character of the opposite gender and makes the character into their own gender. For example, a girl changing Mario from Super Mario Brothers into a girl, or a boy taking Princess Peach from Mario Bros. into a boy.

I personally have an immense amount of respect for either, when they're done right! Crossplaying is much harder than regular cosplaying, no matter how you look at it. Not only do you still have to make the costume, but you have to temporarily switch genders, meaning more makeup for contouring and changing the look of your face, binding of girls, and, erm, tucking for boys. Now, as clarification, just not doing these things, does not mean the person is genderbending the character.
A character that has been genderbent well will have any of the character's identifying pieces of clothing, Mario's red shirt and overalls, of Peach's pink outfit and blonde hair, but anything else that can be changed to the other gender should probably be changed. For example, I've seen Marios with overall skirts instead of pants.
I've genderbent Mario myself, and I actually kept the overalls as pants. I put knee-high boots over my overalls and wore long white gloves, much like Peach's, instead of his normal white gloves. I then accessorized with an invincibility star on a necklace. I'm rather proud of my genderbent Mario (or as I call her, Maria) as she was not only well-loved at the convention, but even won the costume contest.
However! Mario was a fairly easy character to genderbend and still be recognized as. Genderbending a girl into a boy is more of a challenge (especially if she wears all pink...).

In any case, there are plenty of reasons to genderbend instead of crossplay. For example, it's much harder for a boy to be accepted as a crossplayer than a girl. Also, some people just aren't as comfortable with themselves to take on such a feat as to dress as another gender.
I do not believe that genderbending is lazy or "an excuse not to bind."

READ MORE - Crossplay vs. Genderbending

Cosplay, Conventions, & Parents, Part 2 (Days Twelve & Thirteen)

Oops, I missed a day. I wonder if anyone really cares.. In any case, I haven't been feeling the best, so no real progress on anything. I went to work on my Halloween costume, but ended up in the hospital for shortness of breath and chest pain. They told me "Nothing's wrong. Here's an inhaler. Thanks for the fifty bucks and your four hours." Big fat waste of time.
I almost want to stop posting every day, but that's a good way to forget that I'm even doing this.

So back to what I was talking about before. Getting parents to understand cosplay.
I would suggest introducing it to your parents slowly. Start by making a Halloween costume for yourself. This shows your interest and allows you to get a handle on what your doing. If you've already made costumes and your parent just don't know yet, just back track a little and let your parents know you're making a Halloween costume. Even if it's November, tell your parents it's very elaborate or it'll take a while because you're making it from scratch.
If your parents already allow you to go to conventions, that's a big help. If not, take them to one. Actually, even if they already let them go, you should take them. Find a convention that only charges to get into events. Fanime does this for example. You are free to wander the halls and watch events on the main stage, you only need a pass to get into the dealer's hall, artists alley, panels, etc. This way, your parents won't be "wasting money" and can leave after they see that you are in a safe environment.
Chences are, your parents will see a few cosplayers. On the way home from the convention, or once you get home (never in a public place) express your interest in the hobby. I personally believe that it is best to discuss it after your parents have seen it, so they don't have any preconcieved notions and you can say more than "you just don't know."

READ MORE - Cosplay, Conventions, & Parents, Part 2 (Days Twelve & Thirteen)

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

Day Eight

First day of October! The best month ever! I swear, Halloween is like Christmas for me.
I however did nothing cosplay-related. I played with makeup for my possible Halloween costume change, but I didn't really like it. I managed to burn my finger while ironing in my Costume Construction class. NOT fun. I can't type much though, due to the finger (I burned the tip), which is a shame because I had a good topic for today's post too. So sometime in the next week: Genderbending vs. Crossplay!

READ MORE - Day Eight

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