Yoko Stuff (Days 543 - 547)

So, yeah, I got my Yoko wig, and I still love it. A friend of mine tried styling it, to almost no avail, but I'm gonna give it a shot with my favorite hang-it-upside-down-and-hairspray-it method.

I started on my shorts, altered the pattern (which took forever) and cut out all of the pieces. I also stay-stitched both layers to each-other, so that I can work with them without them sliding everywhere. I figured out that, with the stretch fabric needle, I don't need the special elastic string (much the the dismay of my wallet). It's fine though, considering I couldn't even thread the elastic string through the stretch needle because the string was too thick.

The fabric swatches that I ordered also came in, they were my choices for my jacket fabric. After careful deliberation, I chose one, now I just have to order it. I'll also be ordering four or five different kinds of iron-on vinyl for all of the details. Part of me is really looking forward to using it, the other part of me is terrified of accidentally melting my fabrics. I'll be doing test iron-ons on all of my fabrics.

I decided that I want to make Yoko's little orange communicator thing as a cell phone pouch. Shouldn't take much time/fabric/money, since it's small and simple, and I'll have a place to put my phone, since apparently the pant pattern that I got doesn't have pockets, and I can't be bothered to alter it any more than I already have. In the show, the communicator's mouth opens up to reveal a screen, but I'm not even getting that fancy with it, I may just even make a cover for a cell phone pouch that I already have (assuming my phone fits in it).

READ MORE - Yoko Stuff (Days 543 - 547)

It's Here! (Day 542)

I woke up to my Yoko wig being delivered today! It's gorgeous, I love it. It's a little small (and heavy o.o), but bobby pins remedy that (except the weight, holy cow). I threw together a "closet Yoko" for teh lulz. The only things in this photo that are a part of the actual cosplay are the wig and the chopsticks. Also, this photo does not show the color well at all. It's a dark red-orange. I bought it from fashiongarden300 on eBay. I'll do a full write-up later.

EDIT: Here is a picture of the color of the wig and the chopsticks.
On a side-note, relating to the first picture, yes, as I'm sure I mentioned before, I do have my naval pierced. I have been keeping an eye out for flesh-colored or clear naval rings, as I can't take the ring out for more than an hour without it starting to heal over. However, if I can't find one, or if they're just ridiculously expensive ($20+ is ridiculous for a ring in my opinion), I'm just going to wear the smallest, least noticeable one that I own. If people have a problem with that, well, that's just too bad.

READ MORE - It's Here! (Day 542)

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)

...Or Not (Days 450 - 455)

1:20am - So I guess I'm still "almost" done with Franziska ("almost" is really a relative term here). Some time in the past few days, I decided that I was still not happy with my Franziska ruffle, and so I took it apart. Well, I took some of it apart. And now I'm super annoyed at it because it's fraying and I remember how much of a pain in the butt that fabric is to work with. It just won't stay still! Sliding all over the place..

Anyway, I think I figured out what I want to do with it to get it to be the right shape and such. I can't quite explain what it is that I'll do, I'll just have to try it and hope that it works.

Still haven't straightened my wig, but I'm hoping to do that some time in the next week or so. My grandma has been staying with us, and I didn't want her to have to deal with a random blue wig laying in the shower all of the sudden. I'd much rather wait until I have my bathroom all to myself again.

READ MORE - ...Or Not (Days 450 - 455)

Giant Wig Fail (Day 318)

So I tried to re-style my Chi wig to use for Triela (Gunslinger Girl), but it turns out, you really can't put pigtails into a wig that's not meant to have pigtail in it, no matter how hard you try. And believe it or not, hanging it upside-down doesn't help in this case either. Nope. It kinda makes it worse.

So I had to re-style the wig for Chi. But I decided that that was probably a good thing. All that really had to be done was to put the spools back in the hair, which took too long, but I did it neater than I did last time. The parts where the hair separates to go into the spool are cleaner, and the hair in the spools is less tangled and more even on both sides.

I also kinda did some touch-up on my Chi dress. Just making sure everything's attached and what not. Tried it on with two petticoats. I felt like a cupcake... It was awesome. =] I need to do something with the front bow though. It just looks messy in pictures, no matter how neatly I tie it. I have no idea what to do. Any thoughts?

READ MORE - Giant Wig Fail (Day 318)

Franziska Jacket (Day 305)

Now, I suppose I can't really call Franziska's jacket a jacket because it has no sleeves. What it really is is a redundantly long vest. Because, really, who needs a vest that goes down to their knees? And why?

Anyway, I finished the lining for the long vest, and worked on a lot of the outer part. I sewed together the pieces except for the shoulders, and I added the yellow around the sides and bottom. I'm using thin yellow ribbon and no-sew iron-on seams. I prefer the iron-on seams because, well, you can't see any thread.. Because there isn't any! It just looks cleaner to me and you don't have to worry about the edges sticking up. But I ran out of yellow ribbon! I'm going to JoAnn's tomorrow to get more ribbon to add around the arm holes because sewing everything together. I figured it would be easier to iron on the yellow while the fabric was flat, though around the sides and bottom, it didn't really matter and I ended up sewing the pieces together before I could finish.

It's funny, putting the ribbon on the vest really reminded me of when I helped my mom make my Riza Hawkeye (FMA) costume. Probably because I was using the same yellow ribbon and applying it the same way on a similarly-colored fabric. I was actually thinking about working on that cosplay again, fixing it up and buying a wig, but I don't have the money, or anywhere to wear it, so I don't know.

I'm a little concerned about my Franziska wig, I left the bobby pin in overnight to hold the bangs up. I was hoping that I could just leave it in until the con so that it would be pretty stable the day of the con, but it seems like the weight of the pin pushed it down more than the pin actually held it up. I repositioned it and am going to check on it again tomorrow. If it holds up, I'm going to take it out during the day and see how long it holds up without the pin, to see if the bangs will last a day at a con.

I would also like to correct yesterday's post, I said that I learned to hang the wig upside-down from the Cosplay.com forums, but I remembered later (as I was trying to fall asleep) that I actually learned that trick from a ridiculously good Hiei cosplayer at Fanime. My boyfriend and I were in the elevator with her and I noticed her ridiculously amazing wig and complimented her on it and asked how she styled it to be so perfect. She said she hung it upside-down and gelled it and let it dry overnight. I really wig I could find her again to link to her from here, that wig really is worth seeing.

Also, an update on my friend's Lolita Pokemon cosplay. She decided that she doesn't want to do it. I had previously warned her that she may have to pay for fabric, but when I reconfirmed this today, she said she'd just rather not at all because she isn't in the position to be spending money. Would it be wrong of me to make the cosplay (or even just the Lolita outfit) for myself after I refused to pay the full amount to make it for her? I'm in love with the design and would really like to see it happen, but if I made it, I'd be wearing it the day she was supposed to wear it. My only argument is that she's bigger than me (as is everyone over the age of 12 >_<) and it would've taken more fabric and more money to make it for her. Ugh, I don't know what to do. =[

I'm not sure if I've done this yet, but I've figured out my costume schedule for Fanime already. I'm pretty dead-set on this one, especially since I only have three new costumes to make for it (one for me and two for my boyfriend), and one is super ridiculously easy. The only issue is that the other two are in a completely new territory for me, I have almost no idea how I'm going to make over half of them. *sigh* Anyway, this is what it looks like:
Thursday - *Secret Cosplays*, Friday - Pikachu(Me) & Ashchu (Bf), Saturday - *Secret Cosplays* (again), Sunday - Chi(Me) & Hideki(Bf), Monday - None
If all goes according to plan and I finish the secret cosplays, the only things that may change are the costume for Sunday, we may do something else during the day and save Chi and Hideki exclusively for the Black & White Ball, and then maybe we'll cosplay something simple on Monday.

READ MORE - Franziska Jacket (Day 305)

Of Hats and Wigs (Day 304)

(Random fact that no one cares about: The Day number, 234 today, finally matches up with the actual number of posts I have.)

I actually worked on cosplay today! I'm so proud of myself. My friend came over, originally so that I could start on her Pokemon Lolita outfit. We're going to make her into Mijumaru (pictured right). Unfortunately, the English name isn't out yet. Or if it is, at least I can't find it. I found a Lolita outfit that I really, really liked in New People yesterday, so we're tweaking it and changing the colors.

Unfortunately, we had no one to drive us to the fabric store, so we couldn't start on the outfit. So instead, I made another Pokemon hat! I plan to sell at Fanime if it's possible to only sell one day. I'd like to only sell Friday, but who knows. Anyway, I made a Totodile! He's quite adorable. I don't have a good picture though. He has little teeth that come down over the sides of the wearer's face =] So cute! I'll get a picture, ehh... Soon.

I've been asked a ton of times if I have a website. Am I allowed to have a website that sells things if I don't own the, umm, inspiration(?)? Anyone have any advice on this? As far as I know, I can only legally sell through places like Deviant Art or where it's abundantly clear that I am an artist and not a commercial brand. Otherwise copyright gets really, really messy.

I also styled my Franziska von Karma wig!I didn't cut it myself, had that done a while ago. I just used hair spray and gel to make the bangs stand up and fall the right way. In the picture to the left, she has a belt around her neck because I had her hanging upside-down on the shower curtain rod so that I could gel the top part of the bangs and let them dry in such a way that clearly defies gravity. I little trick I'm sure I picked up somewhere in the vast forums of Cosplay.com. They're almost perfect. I'm glad that I got them cut longer than I thought I needed to. I may have to clip them back to get them to stay exactly where I want them to, but I may be able to do it in a way that hides the clip. That would be really awesome. If not, I can just push them out of my face all day >_> Really. Not annoying in the least. -.-

READ MORE - Of Hats and Wigs (Day 304)

Cosplay Drama; I Has It (Day 293)

Do today I went for my wig styling / fitting for my Franziska von Karma wig and my Pikachu wig. My Franziska wig didn't turn out exactly the way I planned, but I still love it and do not want it messed with anymore for the sheer fact that I love it and don't want it messed up T_T My bangs can my imperfect. It's fine. Really. Bite me.

My Pikachu wig is a-freakin'-dorable, and I love wearing it and being a hott blonde again xD Is the most fun ever. My only beef(s?) with it is that it's hot, and you can see the wig line in the front because of the way the bangs are. Other than that, it's great =D

So, here's the interesting part I know you all care about. Dramaaa~!

A couple of weeks ago or so, I found out that a "friend" stole my Eeveelution group cosplay idea pretty much down to the letter and is doing it without me. She claims that her friend came up with it and she had "forgotten" that I came up with it before. Regardless of what actually happened, she's still going through with the group (or so she thinks) and isn't speaking to me, as though it's my fault.

Now, this girl clearly has no idea how the cosplay community works. She is, of course, planning on doing this group (An Eeveelution schoolgirl group) at Fanime. Last year, I wnted to do this group at Fanime. Now, my group fell through for various reason, but she had bailed on me right along with everyone else. Now I can't do my Eeveelution school uniform cosplay group until at least a year after Fanime, otherwise all I'll freakin' hear is "Did you see that group at Fanime??" Yeah, no thanks.

Now, I say she thinks she's going to do this at Fanime because she doesn't know how to sew. Sure, she knows how to alter, but not sew. She always came to me for sewing instructions. Without me, she's gonna get stuck a lot. In addition to that, she's flakey. Sure, she thinks she's going now, but who knows? She's a big fan of the line "something came up." Also, groups are hard to deal with in general, and she's always running out of money.

But, wait! There's more!

On Friday, when I went to the wig store to buy my Pikachu wig, who should I run into but the idea-stealer? She's with a couple of friends and acts like she's not not speaking to me, coming over and giving me a hug. However, her initial reaction of stopping in her tracks and saying "Oh shit!" when she saw me probably gave her away. I quickly paid for my wig (well, half of it) and high-tailed it out of there.

But wait! There's still more!

As mentioned before, I had my wig stylings today. So while I'm getting my Pikachu wig styled (which took for-freaking-ever), the lady at the front counter asks my boyfriend if he can pay for the rest of my wig since they're closing soon. I give him my purse and he goes. When he comes back ten or so minutes later, he tells me what the nice lady told him.

Apparently, after we high-tailed it outta there Friday, my former friend ambushed the poor sales lady and started asking her what I was doing there, what was she helping me with, and what did I buy? Excuse me? What business is it of hers? And if she wanted to know, why didn't she ask me? And if she didn't ask me because she thought that I wouldn't tell her, obviously she knows that I wouldn't want her to know!

RAGE!

That is all. I love my wigs. And people suck.

READ MORE - Cosplay Drama; I Has It (Day 293)

More Hats! (Day 292)

Trying really hard to get back into posting again.

Today I made two more Pokemon hats! ^-^ A Chikorita and a Cyndaquil. I decided that I'm just going in numerical order here, since sometimes I can't decide what to make next, and then I get overwhelmed and just don't work on anything. I have seven more to make and only four days to make them. I might be able to pull it off if I make two a day like I did today. We shall see >_>

Wig styling appointment is tomorrow! Yay! I found an adorable hair style that I think will work well (shown left). The wig I got is really blonde (as in near-yellow) and is a little wavier, but I think it'll work. (This wig is for Pikachu.) Also, I'm bringing in my Franziska wig to see how much it would cost for them to cut it, because they told me it might be free, since it's only bangs.

READ MORE - More Hats! (Day 292)

Gah! (Days 279 - 291)

I'm getting worse and worse about posting. Probably because I'm getting worse and worse about cosplaying. I've been really ridiculously swamped with Kin-Yoobi coming up in a week, as well as some other stuff. However, I have been making a selling Pokemon hats. To date, I've sold 5 hats (two Drifloons, a Mew, a Lugia, and a Squirtle). I really loved that Squirtle and that Lugia.. I made another Squirtle to sell at the con, but that Lugia was so much work (probably why I loved it so much), I don't think I'll be able to make another one for the con. We'll see.

Kin-Yoobi meetings this Tuesday and Thursday, wouldn't be surprised if we meet Wednesday too for goo measure. Somewhere in there I have to make a batch of sugar cookies, two cakes, and a bunch of cupcakes for Kin-Yoobi's cosplay cafe... Yup. This will be an interesting time management challenge. I also have to keep making hats. I have at least six more to make, but 12 if I still want to do all of the ones I originally planned to do (chyeah, not gonna happen). I worry that I may sell out at the con, but.. Oh well. At least then I'll have MONAY! Monay is nice...

Speaking of money, I just put down money for a wig at a local wig shop called Martin's Beauty Supply. this store is a personal favorite of mine for a few reasons. First, it's the only wig store I've shopped at other than the Halloween store (and we just won't talk about Halloween store wigs..). Second, they give me amazing deals. When I bought my Chi wig, it was supposed to be $60 - $70, but when I told them that that was a little out of my price range, they gave it to me for $55. Also, styling is included with the wig purchase, so essentially free. In addition to all of that awesomeness, I have a friend that cosplays whose name is Martin xD.

Anyway, the wig is for my Pikachu costume, which seems to be, err, well, evolving as time goes on (LOL). For those who haven't seen (which hopefully is most people), my Pikachu costume started out as a pair of jeans, a yellow t-shirt, ears, and a tail. I've since gone through three pairs of ears, and my newest Pikachu version is turning out to look something like a Pika-maid. And to think I used to dislike Pika-maids, though my opinion of them changed long before I became one myself. In all honesty, my Pikachu probably would've stayed at it's last stage (as seen at Fanime 2010) if it weren't for the fact that part of my purpose at Kin-Yoobi is, well, eye candy. Which is very flattering, and believe it or not, not offending in the least to me, haha. I rather enjoy being trophied, so this works out well for me. I don't think the Pika-maid will become a regular thing unless it gets a really good response from both guys and girls. I for some reason thought that my last version of Pikachu would get more negative attention from girls (mainly because it involves short shorts and heels), but the response was quite positive ^-^ So that's the version that will probably stay.

In other news, I'm addicted to Super Mario Galaxy. Yup. That's about it.

READ MORE - Gah! (Days 279 - 291)

Happy Fourth! (Days 261 - 266)

Happy Fourth of July and all that good stuff =] I haven't blogged in forever, but now is as good of a time as any to start again, heh. Things have felt really hectic lately, even though nothing has been really going on.

Since I'm not sewing hats right now anyway (I'm still mad at them) I might sew another part of my Franziska von Karma cosplay when I have some spare time. Doing that will probably get me back into the sewing mood so I can work on hats again. I really need to get them done.

Also, I'm going to start looking into getting my Franziska wig styled, since I'm too afraid to do it myself. I know a place that does it, I just need to call and find out how much they charge.

READ MORE - Happy Fourth! (Days 261 - 266)

Oh my! Hacked?

Hey guys!

So I don't have much time right now but I want to apologize for the lack of posting lately. On my birthday, April 8th, I tried to log-in into my gmail account (which is connected to this) and I couldn't! It wouldn't take my password, so I tried resetting it but I couldn't remember the answer to my security question. I figured my email was hacked and I could no longer access my blogger or youtube account T__________T It made me cry. After filling out a form and stuff, complaining to Google I received an email on my yahoo account telling me that my form was denied and I didn't have enough information about my account to prove it was MINE. Grrrrr........ Sooo without giving up I tried the security question again and changed one letter in it..according to how I word things and it worked! I was sooooo RELIEVED. Seriously.

Anyway. I really got to go!!!!!!

P.S.

MY WIG AND GLOVES CAME IN!!!!!!!! ^______________^;;; I'll post photos later.

READ MORE - Oh my! Hacked?

Oh my! Hacked?

Hey guys!

So I don't have much time right now but I want to apologize for the lack of posting lately. On my birthday, April 8th, I tried to log-in into my gmail account (which is connected to this) and I couldn't! It wouldn't take my password, so I tried resetting it but I couldn't remember the answer to my security question. I figured my email was hacked and I could no longer access my blogger or youtube account T__________T It made me cry. After filling out a form and stuff, complaining to Google I received an email on my yahoo account telling me that my form was denied and I didn't have enough information about my account to prove it was MINE. Grrrrr........ Sooo without giving up I tried the security question again and changed one letter in it..according to how I word things and it worked! I was sooooo RELIEVED. Seriously.

Anyway. I really got to go!!!!!!

P.S.

MY WIG AND GLOVES CAME IN!!!!!!!! ^______________^;;; I'll post photos later.

READ MORE - Oh my! Hacked?

I MUST have this WIG!!

Soooo I really, REALLY want this. I plan on earning some money after I sell a wig or two so

hopefully I'm able to afford this beauty! ^~^ I think it will really fit for my Princess Agitha one so....I hope I can get it O_O

Maybe I can ask for it for my birthday or something next month, if I'm still jobless..if I'm not, that would be awesome xD

I do plan on making more accessories and such to sell though so let's just hope I can GET THIS WIG because I want my Agitha cosplay to look really good T-T

READ MORE - I MUST have this WIG!!

I MUST have this WIG!!

Soooo I really, REALLY want this. I plan on earning some money after I sell a wig or two so

hopefully I'm able to afford this beauty! ^~^ I think it will really fit for my Princess Agitha one so....I hope I can get it O_O

Maybe I can ask for it for my birthday or something next month, if I'm still jobless..if I'm not, that would be awesome xD

I do plan on making more accessories and such to sell though so let's just hope I can GET THIS WIG because I want my Agitha cosplay to look really good T-T

READ MORE - I MUST have this WIG!!

Styling Chi Wig (Day 124)

I styled Chi's wig (put the spools in it). It was a pain in the butt, but it looks bretty good =] I'm all set for both AOD and Fanime, even registered for the costume contest at AOD, I just need to print and sign the consent form. I'll probably try and get that done today. I have to print a reference picture of Ammy too, but that's pretty easy.

READ MORE - Styling Chi Wig (Day 124)

Spools (Day 119)

There's some irony in here somewhere. I made the spools that go in Chi's hair out of Sculpt It! clay. Damn, I really hate this stuff. I wish I could've just used real spools. but I don't have two the same, and that'd be a waste of thread =/

So, somehow, even though the seal was never broken, my white Sculpt It! was completely dried out. How massively inconvenient. The lightest-colored, least-dried-out was yellow, so now I have two little yellow clay spools. I'll probably paint some of them tonight, but I have to put sealant on them firs to smooth them out a little, since Sculpt It! is lame and cracks. I'm a little worried about threading the hair through the spools, but at least I have a general idea of how to get them to stay.

READ MORE - Spools (Day 119)

Days 117 & 118

I got my wig for Chi! And that's really it D= There's not much styling to be done, other than adding the spools to her hair. I don't want to cut the back of it, since it'll be doubling (tripling?) as my wig for Triela (Gunslinger Girl) and Riza (Fullmetal Alchemist). To get the effect of the cut hair in the back, I'm just going to tie the bottom of the wig into two "pigtails" which will keep it from tangling too badly during the day too.

READ MORE - Days 117 & 118

Happy Day~! (Days One-Hundered and Three & One-Hundred and Four)

(Note to self: If you miss a day posting, you will have a ridiculously long title, and it will look silly.)

Oops, missed a day, but no matter. Nothing happened that day anyway, except PayPal finally went back online and I got my boyfriend's Fanime ticket payed for =D Now he owes me fifty bucks, ahahaha! Anyway, on to today~!

Got together with the group =D Finally. The plan was Wig Store > Fabric Store > Home > Cosplay. But, uhh.. Somehow we spent three hours in the wig and fabric stores. Oops. And then mah buddies had to leave. But I ordered my Chi wig! From the store! Turns out the store in my area can order CosWorx wigs =D And they take cash. And you can haggle price, easy. They wanted sixty-six dollars for a wig, so I told them I'd have to think about it, I was only looking to spend around fifty, and they said they'd take fifty.

The wig I ordered isn't from CosWorx, though, I'm just excited that they can get them from there. I don't know the brand or name or type of wig I got though, haha, I'm such a n00b. I just likes the color, style, and texture, so I went with it. I like that they have sample colors there in the store. Helps a lot.

I also got a long-neck wig head and another wig cap, since I accidentally gave mine away when I returned a friend's wig >_> Good thing they're relatively cheap. Plus, the one I gave away had some scar putty and liquid latex on it from when I did Mello's scar. And my new wig head came with wig pins o.o Which they didn't give me last time I bought one <_< How rude..

So we're planning on getting together Friday to actually work on stuff, so we'll see how that goes. And SacAnime Winter is this Saturday~!

READ MORE - Happy Day~! (Days One-Hundered and Three & One-Hundred and Four)

Day One Hundred and Two

Nothing really happened today, Re-scheduled when our group's gonna meet, hope it works out this time. My boyfriend attempted to drive me to the wig store. "Attempted" being the key word. Somehow, we got lost. So we'll be going Wednesday =D I hope D=

READ MORE - Day One Hundred and Two