THE-OCD - cosplay/illustrations

Mechreation 01 - Yellow Jacket

2012-01-15T01:48:00.000-08:00

I try to do some marker drawings here and there but as you may or may not know they usually take me FOREVER = 6 hours minimum, so I really have to figure out how to balance my time among cosplay, drawing and gaming. New Years' resolution--MUST.DRAW.MOAR! So I will. I have recently been very inspired by a game I just finished playing this week but I will write about that soon... because most likely I will post fan art, haha.

SO. Here's the first drawing of 2012. Stunna-K did the concept and line art, I just colored it. We went back and forth on the color for probably an hour and somehow we settled on yellow even though I don't really use yellow, ever?? I think it turned out alright for being completely cracked out post-ALA and finishing this at 4am while listening to him play Dead Space 2 the whole time.

You can watch the short video of us drawing/coloring below.

For the background I wanted to draw something really crazy but it was 4am and I wanted to sleep so I decided to bust out the Copic airbrush system! Could not use my actual compressor because that shit is loud and it was, again, 4am. I actually had this wiremesh on my desk leftover from a cosplay and thought it'd be cool to create a hexagonal, smokey effect in the background--we decided on a "smokey" background but our initial idea would take me at least 2 hours to render. I am pleased with the result but wish I had another air can to create more smoke.

All Copic Sketch markers on 14x17 marker paper. The previous armored core we created was on smaller paper (letter size) and I actually prefer drawing on larger sheets for some reason. Canvas claustrophobia? I feel cramped when I only have a limited area to draw on I guess. Hopefully on our next picture we will stick the armored core into a fantastical background.

Background modified on Photoshop. Click image to view high-res.

of contracts and magical girls - kyoko's spear (2)

2012-01-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

After all the glue had dried, we (from here on now, we = my dad and I) went about putting bondo on the ends so we could sand them and therefore the edges would be flush.

And now the ends are perfectly smooth!
After priming and sanding down each piece of tubing, I sprayed each piece with Montana Gold in Gold Chrome and used Clear Gloss to finish. You can no longer tell I used a cheap pipe tubing :DUsing the tree in my parents' backyard to let these pieces dry haha....
My dad did most of the woodwork on the actual spear head, but he's going to be teaching me over the next few months so you'll have to bear with me as I will be writing extremely long posts about working with wood because my knowledge is so limited.
I mocked up the scale of the spear on Illustrator, which my dad then mocked up in AutoCad. He printed the blueprint on 2 sheets of tabloid paper and transferred the lines to 1/4" MDF. We decided on 1/4" MDF (medium-density fiberboard) because it is lightweight enough to handle but DENSE. After applying the spray paint it could actually look like a dangerous weapon.
We used a total of 4 pieces of MDF. The edges of the blade were shaped using a belt sander, as well as the convex edges of the spearhead attachment. The small diamond inside was also shaped with the belt sander. Each piece of MDF was glued with wood glue, secured with clamps overnight, and the spearhead attachment actually included some nails my dad added for extra support using an air staple gun.
To clean up the glue residue once dried, we used a chisel. That hollowed crevice is for the bolt we glued into that space in order to be able to make the spear detachable. The spear in total is about 6 feet tall and difficult to transport so we added a bolt into the spearhead. This was covered up by the spear attachment. And don't forget all the bondo~~~After more sanding...The finished spearhead, ready for painting!

black & gold - booty tang

2012-01-03T02:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, I don't know what it is with the characters I choose that prefer to wear booty shorts borderlining on diapers for strippers. In any case, I get to make a huuuuuge sword with this cosplay and crazy knee-armor-shoes.

I had planned on making Dead Master for a while--if you've been reading my blog since mid-2010 you know this. I drafted patterns and bought fabric for it. But somehow a conversation with some friends turned into--"OKAY I'LL DO BLACK GOLD SAW YOU CAN BE DEAD MASTER AND YOU'RE GONNA WEAR BLACK ROCK SHOOTER, RIGHT? KEWL." So here I am sewing a pair of PVC booty shorts. I altered my Xianghua fancy diaper pattern to draft the pattern for this pair of shorts. This is NOT stretch PVC, by the way, it has a little bit of stretch but it is not 4-way stretch PVC. I sewed the PVC in the same way I sewed the Mystique PVC--with some pattern paper sandwiched between my sewing machine foot and PVC fabric. I fit this pair of shorts a couple times because firstly there is nowhere for me to hide the zipper (belt loops galore), and I needed the shorts to stay on for at least a few hours. Luckily I have a belt to help with this, but the shorts themselves are pretty damn fitted around my hips. I topstitched some belt loops--yeah I topstitched each and every belt loop because I had topstitched the hem of the shorts already. I thought these details would enhance the costume--maybe make it look "less" costume-y? Does that make sense? Anyways, these shorts were one of the easier parts of this cosplay, even though they still took me a good amount of time to make.

Scrap pattern paper for sewing PVCThis is why you can not mess up on PVC--holes forever.
For the weird silver part above BGS's crotch area, I decided to use a zipper with very large teeth because this part was logically the fly, to me. I ordered a zipper from orgXIII - #20 gauge, in white. I sprayed this with primer, then spray painted it metallic silver. I wasn't using the zipper pull so I only used 6" of this zipper in total for its teeth. Hands down the most expensive vanity zipper ever. Belt loops I realize that PVC does not photograph very well in the middle of the night.

I found that it was very helpful to use blue painter's tape to secure some of the seams because you obviously cannot use pins on PVC. It's not the greatest temporary adhesive but it doesn't leave a residue.

how to create a back parting using epic cosplay 15" extensions

2011-12-20T18:42:00.000-08:00

I admit I am not a wig-styling expert and had to do a lot of research / trial-and-error in order to feel confident enough to write this tutorial as well as show what my wig ended up looking like for my Kagura cosplay. I thought writing this would also be helpful considering I only found 1 helpful tutorial on creating a back parting :( But since we all buy wigs from different places not all tutorials are applicable, so whenever possible I will try to explain how I worked on each wig (if somewhat complicated).

My technique is based on Katie Bair's excellent tutorial on parting wigs. She has tutorials for everything in case you are a wig n00b like me. I did not have those uber long extensions she uses though. I also do not have a heat sealer. I eventually ordered one through her website but I didn't get it on time =_=

For this cosplay I used a medium-length wig from Epic Cosplay. All my wigs prior were purchased from Hollywood Wigs in Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd. Their synthetic hair is amazing for the price. About $30-$50. I also like to try my wigs on before buying them because I had a terrible experience with buying wigs on eBay -- scarred for life. But I heard good things about Epic Cosplay, and my wig shop didn't carry the shade of orange I wanted for Kagura (yeah, I know, cosplay problems...) so I took a risk on the internet again. Let me just say that this is one of the best quality wigs I own, it's also heat-safe so you can do whatever the fuck you want with it and the fibers probably won't melt unless you stick the wig into an oven or something. Luckily I didn't have to do anything crazy with this wig so no heat was required.

This is what the wig looks like:

If you're going to be doing any kind of wig styling you NEED to buy a wig head. I buy mine from the wig shop in Hollywood. These styrofoam ones are $6 and great because I can pin them, toss them on the floor, and not care about breaking them because they were $6. Needless to say I have quite a few of them in my apartment which might be kind of creepy.

Kagura has her hair pinned up on both sides in a pigtails manner--I pinned the entire center as below so I could create a perfect center divide once I tied the pigtails.

You can now see why we need to create a back parting. This is not pretty. I unpinned the wig and flipped it inside out. Because I don't have the crazy long extensions Katie uses in her tutorial or a heat sealer, I ended up buying the 15" extensions from Epic Cosplay in the same color to work with. I realized I could simply cut the extensions into very tiny 1/4" sections and pull them through the lace trimming along the inside of the wig using a needle with a large eye. I didn't have a yarn needle on me so I used a leather sewing needle. I very carefully cut 1/4" sections making sure the wefts did NOT unravel or break, otherwise you'll have loose hairs everywhere. Keeping the weft intact is very important. I used embroidery scissors to cut for precision. Because I do not have a heat sealer, leaving the weft intact is how I "sealed the ends" of the extensions while not really sealing them. I sewed each extension through the CENTER LACE TRIM starting from the join seam of the lace front (right in the middle of the wig at the top)

What the individual extensions look like You need to very carefully cut these pieces What it looks like in the beginning! See the little holes in the lace? Sew through all of them. I patted all the extensions down to no more than 1/2" otherwise you'll have different lengths and extra bulkiness along the inside.

I didn't have a LOT of time to work on this wig, so I will tell you now that you really need to sew extensions through each hole in the lace trimming and the sides need to be perfectly symmetrical. I did not do this in each row so it looks a little funky, you'll see below. TAKE YOUR SWEET TIME. This took me 4 hours. This is what it will look like when you're done (inside). I patted these "ends" down and gently pulled the extensions to make sure I only had 1/4-1/2" sticking out from the top. I checked my extensions occasionally on the right side to make sure they looked "even"-- one side doesn't have more hair than the other. I put the wig back on the wig head and pinned it down at the top. I had leftover nude stretch fabric from one of my costumes so I cut a 1" strip wide enough to cover all the extensions just like Katie explains. I did not use caulk though because I actually don't have caulk. I squeezed out some tacky glue on the extensions ONLY (MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT GET ANY GLUE ON THE ACTUAL WIG because having glue on the rest of your wig unintentionally will be bad when you need to style) I made sure I only had glue on the lace trim and extensions. I gently pat down the fabric piece and let this dry for a day. I tried on the wig the next day and it was comfortable along the inside.

Next you have to part your wig. Place your wig on the wig head again and make sure you have a lot of pins ready, just like before. I actually worked on the wig with it in my lap so it wouldn't move while I made the back parting. Now you can see why the extension HAVE to be sewn in a symmetrical manner, and all need to be about the same width. You can see some of the inconsistencies in how I sewed in the extensions.

^This is what happens when you don't sew the extensions in symmetrically :(

I'm not going to go into stubbing because Katie Bair's tutorial on stubbing is excellent.

I do want to point out something else I did on this wig that is helpful for wigs that require high ponytails or hair being pulled away from the face/head. Obviously when you pull a wig up you're going to see the elastic band. This is very simple to fix. I referenced this tutorial for styling high ponytails (Kenshin hair). After I tied my pigtails and cut the rest of the hair, I pinned the wig down along the sides, all around. This way I could see where the elastic band was exposed. I cut the extensions the appropriate length to "cover" the elastic and sewed the extensions onto the band from the inside.

^ No buenoNow you can see in the same area that the elastic is hidden!

keep calm and carry aru

2011-12-20T02:12:00.000-08:00

I won't go into too much detail into this cosplay because I made it in 2 days, YIKES. But I thought that I'd have time to make something for ALA (Anime Los Angeles) in addition to my Kyoko outfit so I decided WHY NOT. The hardest part of this cosplay was styling the wig. Usually I don't like to work on "easy" cosplays because I like a good challenge, but I just love this character way too much. It's difficult for me to choose a favorite female character in "Gintama", but I think Kagura definitely delivers the most laughs, and she is one tough cookie. Also kind of brainless but she's a kid. She also likes to eat rice all day so that is something I can easily accomplish. Cosplays you can eat in are quite good. It's also fun for me to have an easier cosplay to wear at a convention because sometimes I don't want to worry about a prop or my outfit being damaged if it's delicate or slightly ... unwieldy. I also don't run into that many Kagura cosplayers at conventions these days and it makes me kinda sad because she really is such a great, memorable character and I wonder how a Kagura cosplayer would act at a convention--would she be walking around with a piece of sukonbu in her mouth while picking her nose? If so, I would applaud and cry otaku tears.

Before I get into how I made this cosplay, I want to share that I got the opportunity to wear this cosplay on Crunchyroll's Live Show along with my friends Kakyokuhime, Imari and Vivi. Vampy interviewed us during the cosplay segment and it was so much outrageous --and at times-- awkward fun. I usually don't make anime costumes either, but how can I say no to a character who picks her nose half the time!? Awesome. So I don't really have any work in progress photos this time, just our backstage photos showcasing the costume! I'll probably end up wearing this cosplay sometime when I feel like giving less fucks than usual.

She has a couple outfits that are fairly basic/standard China girl wear, but I decided to go with her regular outfit because I wanted to be very comfortable and not worry about fit for once.

I started with a cotton/poly-blended stretch fabric--I thought cotton would wrinkle too easily so wanted some polyester blended into it to help the fabric stay smooth when worn throughout the day. I didn't make the bias binding this time because I didn't need to. The pants are made from the same fabric, the pattern I knocked off from a pair of my sweatpants.

The top actually has a faux closure at the top--it only opens to allow my head to fit through.

So that's about it for the outfit. Simple stuff!

Yes I am wearing blue contacts!
with Vivi :D (as the AC Paradise mascot) I LOOK LIKE A KID. GYUHHHH
with Kakyokuhime as Chun Li!!
For the hair pins, I started w/ styrofoam balls and cut them in half. I painted them over with layers and layers of gesso (I kid you not there are about 20 layers of gesso, I started this first because I knew this process would take a while--it SERIOUSLY TOOK FOREVER but so worth it....) to make sure the surface was smooth. I sanded the surface a little with a very fine grit sandpaper because after so many layers of gesso the paint got a little globby.

This was then painted black. I ran out of time so I had to paint the designs :( I really wanted to cut out craft foam and form them with heat but perhaps when I have more time I will do so.

I made the tassels from fringe that I sewed together. There was a lot of work put into the wig, which I am writing a separate tutorial for -- it'll basically cover creating a back parting using Epic Cosplay's extensions (15").

Again, thank you Shun for the photos!!

of contracts and magical girls - kyoko's spear (1)

2011-12-03T23:12:00.001-08:00

This cosplay is surprising for me for 2 reasons:

1. I don't usually make anime-derived cosplays
2. This is a magical girl cosplay. I don't make those. (usually cannot relate to magical girl stories or characters)

But as you've read on my previous post about Madoka Magica, this story is unlike any other magical girl story I've ever experienced, and a huge part of me wanting to make this cosplay was because I am cosplaying with my sister! And one of my best friends! So of course I wanted to participate! I do also like the Kyoko character very much, even though her screen time in the anime was a bit short.

So let's get to it! I actually spent some time in my parents' house today and I have very poor wireless connection on my phone for some reason when I am there, so I don't get all my work emails, text messages or notifications of any kind. But it's nice in this aspect because I can work on stuff and also not have to think about replying to emails all day since I do that at work already :( I didn't plan on starting on her spear at first, but I had a lot of time to kill while at my parents' house. I headed over to Lowe's with my dad and we picked up some of the basic parts--PVC pipe, PVC plugs for the pipes, PVC caps, 9' of plastic chain... I decided to go w/ this variation of Kyoko's spear. Unfortunately mine doesn't actually pull apart as it does in the anime, and I have seen someone make a version that pulls apart, pretty damn cool but definitely more complicated and because I only had a month to make this cosplay I wasn't sure I could execute such a contraption within my limited time frame. Anyway, excuses aside, I figured out all the lengths for each section--both the pipe and the chain, and my dad went and cut all the pipe pieces on his radio saw. The great thing about going to my parents' house is, my dad has every single power tool you can think of--he's a furniture designer so YES I AM LUCKY. I am very lucky I have access to all of these special tools. On the other hand, my dad really likes to make props too, so he sometimes will take over a prop project I'm working on T_T

We thought the neatest way to attach the chain pieces to the pipe would be to glue the plugs into the pipe ends, and screw in a screw hook through the top of the plug, then connect the chain link to the metal screw. (not in that order, see the photos below) It was a good thing we worked on this in the early afternoon--the gorilla glue takes a good 24 hours to properly cure so I will be going back to my parents' house to finish the rest of the spear next weekend! You are probably bored of reading this wall of text now, so I shall supplement the photos below w/ some captions to explain more of the little details.

The plugs we bought didn't fit snugly enough into the pipe, so I wrapped some masking tape to add thickness
my dad, in his element. lol. Cut chains CLAMP EVERYTHING. LEAVE FOR 2-3 HOURS. The longest pipe piece is the actual spear.You may notice that the rim of the plug is hexagonal. It needs to be flush w/ the cylinder of the pipe, so after the glue is dried, bondo will be applied and sanded.

neo-japanesque magic?! (part one)

2011-12-01T02:36:00.000-08:00

Well. I never thought I'd be making any magical girl cosplays anytime in the near future but here I am talking about a Madoka Magica cosplay! Er, sort of. Inspired by, I should say. My buddy Ashli finally convinced me to watch the series, which... actually has a huge twist and is NOT your typical magical girl anime. I highly suggest you watch it despite the "cute" style of the animation, and the horrifically misleading trailer.

Ashli posted a beautiful picture of some Madoka fan art on her tumblr, and next thing you know the both of us are oogling and trying to figure out how the hell to integrate these outfits into our schedules. Since I actually have pink hair now (and Ashli has blonde hair) we talked about doing a photoshoot with these outfits, inspired by this concept art and our love for Madoka. It worked out that she was in love w/ the Mami outfit and I love the colors from Madoka's image.

Anyways, I was excited to finally not worry about being accurate to reference images for once, so I set out to buy fabric right away. Once again this fabric DOES NOT EXIST IRL (-_-) so it was back to hours and hours of painting fabric again.

I bought this cool printed cotton fabric (printed on both sides) for the kimono dress. I have to bleach the sleeves (that's why I specifically looked for 100% cotton fabric) and dye the edges orange so the fabric can somewhat resemble this reference image. How this dress will fasten is with inside ties and outside ties--it's basically a wrap dress. I wanted a cascading circle skirt with a shorter front and longer back. You can see that the pattern looks like a lopsided donut. Cutting circle skirts is generally a waste of fabric but you'll see what a difference it makes instead of cutting a rectangle and gathering at the waist.

I actually draped my sample on my dressform to make sure the hemline was to my liking. You can see how I marked the side seams on my dressform in green so I could make sure the bodice would line up to the skirt portion.

I decided to line the skirt in charmeuse so it would look more luxurious along the inside.

The skirt "trim" was 2-1/2" wide bias binding that I also painted the design on. The width I actually cut was 6" -- 5" folded to 2-1/2" finished, 1/2" seam allowance. I painted the designs before sewing to the skirt so it would actually look like a print. I used a poly/rayon blended gabardine--sturdy and heavy enough to weigh the dress down, but lightweight enough so it wouldn't be bulky when folded in half.

For the skirt patterns I used a mix of Jacquard Lumiere paints (I have every single color in existence now) and NeoOpaque paints - dull/shiny. I didn't like how metallic the colors looked on my Oriental Alice dress so I tried not to use as much as the Lumiere paints this time. I still wanted the designs to pop so I used the metallic paints as accents. I always freehand the patterns because I'm too lazy to mark anything. I do take my time though.

I think painting the entire skirt took me at least 6 hours?^the trim that has yet to be sewn together!

tales from the orient, another alice (4)

2011-11-20T15:47:00.001-08:00

Finally blogging about how I made the kabuki mask at the back of Alice's dress. I'm not 100% pleased with how it turned out but I'm sure I'll work on a new version sometime soon for my photoshoot.

Hopefully you can get a basic idea of how I tweaked an existing mask that I bought for $4 at a Halloween store. I didn't have time to take TOO many pictures but you can see I have cut out the eyes and mouth based on the reference images I gathered (yes that is the official Alice:Madness Returns artbook!!)

I used clay for the eyebrows but knew I needed something very light to create the saggy cheeks and fat nose. I should have used foam but I was really running low on time, so I ended up using puffy fabric paint to create the raised areas--I smoothed the unevenness of the fabric paint out w/ some sculpting tools.

To make sure I could attach the mask to the bow itself, I needed to fill in the back somehow. Luckily I grabbed some packaging foam from work to glue into the mask. I then glued a piece of felt w/ some snaps sewn onto it--I used snaps again to attach the mask to the bow. I used tacky glue and a hot glue gun, which worked extremely well and this costume lasted 3 entire days.

Yeah yeah my apartment is messy but I'm always working on stuff :< !!!

I spray painted the mask with primer first, then with Montana Gold spray paint. The BLACK areas are actually a very dark grey I applied with an airbrush.

Geh, my dress is wrinkly from all the sitting down I did (kind of) at the 2 conventions I wore this to! I did spray a gloss over the mask when the paint was all done.

blue shapeshifter - skulltastic

2011-11-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

I did not finish the skull belt in time for Halloween (ran out of skulls at the last minute) but I can wear it on another occasion now that it is completed :)! Luckily I live close to a Halloween supplies store so I bought 3 bags of skulls. 2 bags of 3-1/2" tall skulls and 1 bag of 1-1/2" tall skulls. I only needed 1 small skull for the wig, so I just have a bag of skulls casually sitting around in my house. Yeup.

The skulls I bought were on a string, they were basically hot-glue-gunned at the top (there was a hole at the top of each skull), and you could see around the hole, the extra plastic that came out of the mold, which I had to cut off with an x-acto knife. I wanted the skulls to be more white, less yellow, so I sprayed all of them with primer, then touching them up with an airbrush in a dark grey color--then finished with a clear gloss.

I knew I wanted the belt to close with a clasp of some sort, so I chose to use a round clasp similar to one you would use for a necklace. I punched using an awl on the sides of each skull and strung a piece of craft wire through.

Fun times...

For the tiny skull on Mystique's hair, I simply hot-glue-gunned it as close to the lace-front as possible. Tacky glue will NOT work. I wore this in a club for a couple hours and this skull stayed put!

I did curl the wig a bit because it was a little too flat when I bought it.

tales from the orient, another alice (3)

2011-11-07T01:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick post on how I made the Omega necklace for this particular Alice:Madness Returns outfit. After staring at reference image after reference image, I realized the string of the necklace wasn't a flimsy string--it was wired, round. To make things easier for myself I bought a wired jewelry choker for $2. I wrapped the wire with embroidery floss, applying tacky glue onto the wire as I wrapped the floss tightly around.

For the pendant, I used DAS clay and sculpted the Omega. Before drying, I cut a piece of craft wire and created the loop for the pendant. I let the sculpt dry and sanded the surface smooth. I painted the first layer of green using the Jacquard fabric paints I always use--I already have a ton of paint and these have a metallic finish that I really like. I let that dry, then brushed my shimmering white Jacquard paint over the entire pendant, quickly wiping away with a dry towel. I added some teal accents (you can't really see it though), let that dry as well.

blue shapeshifter - dressed up

2011-11-02T01:18:00.000-07:00

Ah yes. I know I haven't posted in a while but I was also purposely waiting for Halloween to post my own costume! FIRSTLY LET ME JUST SAY THAT I MADE THIS COSTUME IN 2 DAYS SO THERE IS A DIRE LACK OF PHOTOS. SORRY. ANYWAYS--

After seeing Kotobukiya's lovely rendition of Mystique for their Marvel Bishoujo line, my friends thought I was going to do a Mystique cosplay after I posted the illustration to Facebook. I decided why not, I've never dabbled with body paint, and besides, Mystique is a fucking badass. Cosplaying is the only time I get to be a badass, so why not...

I'll start by talking about how I made her dress. I wanted the boots, gloves and dress to all match, so I set out to find the boots first. I got very lucky and found exactly what I was looking for. Yes I went to a fetish shoe shop. Leave a comment if you're interested in what style these boots are, they're from Pleaser. These boots are made from PVC. Luckily I'll be wearing these mostly at night so I won't be a sweaty Mystique, at least. I ordered 4-way stretch PVC online for the dress and gloves.

The PVC has a decent amount of stretch, and was thinner than I thought. I drafted the pattern and cut a sample in muslin to check the fit and proportions. If I had more time I would have cut the sample in the same PVC but I did not have that luxury (ok, when do I ever, anyway). The dress zips up along the back.

(excuse crappy mobile phone picture, I forgot my camera the day I hauled my fabric to my friends' apartment, they have wooden floors = perfect for cutting stretch fabrics)

You can see that the dress has extremely deep cut armholes. I got one of those weird adhesive bras that girls wear for backless dresses. When I did my fit I had this bra on to make sure the chest area did not look funky and/or deflated (mostly the latter). I also tried it with the boots to make sure I wouldn't drag the train when I walk around. I used a zigzag stitch on my regular sewing machine since this is a stretch fabric. This sample was especially important for checking the proportions of this dress--am I showing enough side boob, enough thigh, etc, etc. I clearly took this photo after I had worn it, anyway I have to remake it for Anime Expo next year, I don't like that my zigzag stitches were spaced so far apart (that's why you can see the stitching in the seams), I literally made this dress in 2 days but I'd like to remake a better version for Anime Expo 2012 for our X-Men group.

The challenge in this particular design is that the neck piece is not a separate neck band. I wanted to keep this based on the illustration, so I used 2 seams to build up the neckline. The dress isn't exactly a halter dress either, so I thought it would end up looking like a mock turtleneck if I created a separate neck band. I neatly zig-zag-stitched all the edges. Curved edges were clipped, then stitched carefully. You need to get a walking foot for your machine or just sew with a piece of thin paper (don't use tissue paper, it's too thin. I used pattern paper but you can use vellum or tracing paper) over your shiny PVC surface in order to move the fabric efficiently through the machine. I used a size 11 needle to minimize the appearance of holes created by the needle, as well.

(how I sewed the zipper)

Here's a quick photo we snapped before heading out for Halloween festivities, I'll have to write up the gloves and belt (was not finished on time for Halloween) at a later time!

(yeah I'm wearing contacts!)

the nightcrawler - part three

2011-10-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

Judging by the large size of my patterns and the nature of the 4-way stretch fabric I was using, I had to cut my fabric on a massive, flat surface. I usually cut all my fabric on a cutting mat, but knit fabrics must be laid out perfectly flat for cutting, otherwise you will have many, many problems with your sewing later.

Since my apartment has carpeting, I hauled my materials to my friend's apartment and took up half their living room floor.

Always cut the big pieces first--I cut my 2 folded pieces first. I pinned the shit out of this fabric to avoid shifting while cutting. You can also use fabric weights to minimize breaking the knit stitches.

Laying the pieces out...

I bought 7-1/2 yards of piping. I used all of it while sewing. Yes, a little over 21 feet of piping.

For attaching the piping to the spandex, I used a zig-zag stitch and a zipper foot on my regular sewing machine. To sew the spandex to another spandex piece I used a very tight tension on my overlock machine. Make sure you have test scraps of fabric whenever you sew on your overlock machine to make sure you get the right tension, otherwise your seam will show on the reverse side when stretched.

I think sewing the piping to the spandex was worse than sewing silk bias binding on silk. IT TOOK ME FOREVER.

I sewed half the costume and did a test fit on my boyfriend. It fit to my expectations, so I will be uploading a preview shot this week hopefully! Next I have to make the gloves and feet... gloves. (feet gloves? Is there such a thing? They're not really socks I suppose...)

the nightcrawler - part two

2011-10-05T23:33:00.000-07:00

To make my life easier while drafting the pattern for this costume, my bf left me borrow his wetsuit. Obviously neoprene and swimwear spandex have different stretch properties so I had to reduce some of the measurements based on the wetsuit, as well as take some other measurements to ensure the bodysuit would fit properly.

I will blog about the gloves in another post--here I'll first talk about the pattern for the bodysuit. I draft my patterns on pattern paper, which I buy on a roll for $11 at the fabric store in downtown LA. You can buy it at 45" width or 60". I usually buy 45" because I have little need for 60"... until now. My bf is super tall so I had to tape more paper to the width of the roll.

I did some research online and in my personal sewing books to figure out how to properly draft a bodysuit. I decided for this style that we'd use a center back zipper so I bought a 22" regular nylon zipper. I always think about the closures before starting any pattern because how you get in and out of a costume is.. pretty damn important. So based on this costume using a zipper at the center back, I would have to draft 3 patterns total-- front piece, back piece and sleeve.

For the back piece, I drew a long line for the total length of the bodysuit from the top edge of the neck to the ankle. This was my fold line to help with the fabric cutting. I took measurements for the neck width, neck trim height and the highest point of shoulder, or where the neck goes into the shoulder above the collarbone. The other measurements I used I just based them off the wetsuit. I could have reduced each of the measurements by at least 1/4"-1/2" because swimwear spandex has more stretch than neoprene, but I wasn't really sure how the suit was going to fit so I wanted to be able to "trim" and resew, rather than make it way too small and keep wasting material.

The thin red lines are all the straight measurements (halved, of course), the thick blue lines are for the red panel at the back. You can also see that I made little notches at the knees, ankles, chest, waist; these are for marking the fabric when I cut and sew--to ensure I match everything up perfectly.

I added 1" to my CB fold line for the zipper. I added 1" from top to bottom since I will be cutting this pattern on the fold of the fabric, but slashing the fabric along the seam for the zipper.

Crotch space is quite important. I took this off the wetsuit, you pervs.
Here's the front piece with the chevron details (not cut yet). I traced the back pattern, pretty much.

Next is the sleeve. As you can notice on the wetsuit, these are raglan sleeves. I am not using raglan sleeves. I am making a regular set-in sleeve (due to the design of the suit), so I had to kind of wing it. I used painters tape to mark off where my armhole was, and laid my cut out pattern on top and traced the armhole.

I took the measurements of the entire "armhole" and drafted a knitted sleeve pattern from the armhole measurements. I remember that the wetsuit's sleeves were not snug when my bf put them on so I took bicep, elbow and wrist measurements of my own.

This pattern might not look like much but it did take me 3 full hours to draft which is pretty long considering there are only 3 pieces to this pattern--there are tons of measurements on this thing! Hopefully when I sew it together I will have few problems...

tales from the orient, another alice (2)

2011-10-04T01:08:00.000-07:00

I realized that almost every single project I work on involves bias binding, which I call the ragequit of sewing. Especially since I usually end up making my own bias binding, I always have a ton of scraps leftover I can't ever use for another project since the colors I choose are always so damn obscure.

On this project especially, I had to use bias binding to finish all the edges of my silk pieces... which is basically the entire dress. Overlocking the edges of a silk piece is blasphemy. Never do it. Merrow edges are ok but those are mostly decorative anyways. I just think overlocking the edge of a silk piece lessens the quality of using silk in the first place (or maybe I just like to torture myself). I used bias strips cut from the lining fabric, which was a soft acetate. Still very difficult to sew considering my silk was stretch silk and the lining is very thin as well. The hem of the skirt is finished with self bias binding (the silk). You can imagine how long this took me, I pretty much wanted to call it a night after sewing the entire hem.

One of these days I better take a picture of all the damn bias binding I cut in one year.
Bias-bound edges for the silk pieces.
Lining pieces are overlocked ^

There is 1 zipper along the side of the dress as I did not want to put a zipper along the center back--I thought it would look cheap and gross.

For the cuffs, I pinned 3/8" width satin ribbon (this costume had a triple whammy-- silk charmeuse, double faced satin ribbon, AND bias binding=ragequit) and stitched these very carefully in place. Yes I interfaced the cuffs. I hand-gathered the sleeves along the cap (not along the entire cap, for a total width of 5", which was reduced to 3") I hand-gathered the bottom of the sleeve to fit my cuffs. Sewing cuffed sleeves are easy unless you have a tiny ass bicep and you have to end up hand-sewing the cuff along the inside because you can't wedge the fabric between the machine arm and the needle. For me it is easier to sew the entire sleeve piece, then attach the sleeve to the armhole because I don't want to have to deal with handling the entire dress just to sew on a damn cuff or something.

You can see that the ribbon does not match along the cuff seam--I didn't mind this because the ribbon is randomly placed in the reference images. Also, unless someone is staring underneath your arms, nobody is really going to notice this.

If you're going to be hand-gathering a lightweight fabric such as silk charmeuse, I highly suggest loosening your stitch tension and gently tugging the fabric while sewing to help the fabric move along smoothly. Or you could buy a walking foot that might make it easier. I will probably need to invest in one as I've been sewing all kinds of different things these days.

The petticoat is shown as below. I overlocked all the edges as you can see. If you sew a lot I suggest you spend the money and buy a serger, this one was about $300-$350 and you can use it for knits as well. I have the option of switching between a single-needle and double-needle option, which is great. Totally worth your money if you sew alllllll the time.

I sandwiched the ruffle as below, and you can see how using these 2 colors creates a cool effect.

Hand-gathered. This piece ended up being about 7 - 8' long, so I was sitting here gathering fabric for quite a while....

The pink layer is on the outside, yellow on the inside.

To finish up the dress, I had to sew the ruffles/pleats--I chose to go with pleats--at the center front. I used the leftover linen from my apron fabric and hand-pleated the trim. I just eyed the pleats as I stitched because I'm lazy and didn't want to mark equal distances on my pleats. Don't be lazy ok?

I sandwiched the pleats between the lining and the self fabric, right sides together. After you turn both inside out, you will have a beautiful clean edge as my photos below. It takes a bit of time and there's a ton of ironing involved but it's totally worth it. I don't even iron my day-to-day clothes on a regular basis.

Aaaaand here's a preview of what I've got so far! Yes the petticoat is sticking out a bit too much so I'll have to reduce it from the waistband area.

The only things left for me to do on this dress are to sculpt the necklace, dye the obi ties, and make the mask to finish the obi. I will be purchasing the stockings and boots.

madness returns: deflect (1)

2011-09-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

What's an Alice cosplay without her trusty weapons?

The first "weapon" I set out to make is not really a weapon, it's more of a shield if we want to get down to specifics. There aren't many reference images of this item on the web, I basically had to pay extra attention during the game and come up with my own interpretation.

something... like that... image via Alice:Madness Returns wikia

I started with a cheap store-bought umbrella. I think it was $8. You can see how ridiculously long the handle of her umbrella is. My umbrella has a very short handle. First things first--I carefully removed the nylon from the umbrella. You can see that this umbrella is tacked in 3 places, goddamn this was a cheap umbrella.

Now you have the skeleton of the umbrella. And the entire nylon piece is basically a circle, made up of 8 triangles. I measured the width of each piece, which in my case happened to be 13". From the center to the edge, the length of each triangle was 18.5". Easy pattern.

I went with this type of lace pattern since I wanted the repeat to be large enough to be noticeable, and based on the reference images/gameplay it seems like the floral patterns in the lace are pretty big, and are arranged in rows. This was also how I cut the fabric. I wanted the edges to be scalloped (again, based on the ref. images and gameplay), so I positioned my pattern like so.

This lace had a bit of stretch to it, so it's pointless to pin (look at all the open weaves) and the chalk is going to leave too little of an impression. I use weights to keep the stretch lace from shifting, both on the pattern and on the area around the pattern. You can get legitimate fabric weights at the crafts store but I was kind of lazy and just used whatever heavy, small objects I had lying around.

To neatly cut the scallop shape I used a pair of embroidery scissors. I have those expensive Gingher scissors (they were a gift) but from my uber-last-minute cosplay midnight scramble at PAX2011 I learned that facial hair trimming scissors are a cheap and great alternative....

The next thing to do, obviously, is to sew these pieces together. I overlocked the edges using my serger, trying to match the scalloped edges as best as possible. The center of the umbrella didn't have to be finished too cleanly because I was going to sculpt a new tip anyways.

But before I could permanently attach the lace to the skeleton I had to color the frame of the umbrella.

Here's what it looks like so far.

tales from the orient, another alice (1)

2011-09-26T02:49:00.000-07:00

Well of course I started working on another Alice:Madness Returns cosplay! I have a couple huge projects lined up for next year so I had to choose a costume that would be relatively "simple" to make, but not so simple that I would be unmotivated to work on it diligently. I love the colors from the "Oriental" dress from the game-- this Chapter was my 2nd favorite, I really enjoyed the side-scrolling levels and those samurai mosquito enemies, lol. The environment was just gorgeous, by the way, if I could cosplay as that entire Chapter I would, but that's... just not physically possible, no.

image from deviantart, via albertorayman

So this dress will suffice. I already knew which fabrics I wanted to use for this costume--a silk charmeuse for the exterior, because I read that the silk from this dress was supposedly made from the silk spun from the Caterpillar. Ok well I wasn't aware that he was a silk-spinning Caterpillar, what a strange world Alice lives in. But I couldn't very well use polyester charmeuse on such a gorgeous dress, so let me believe that the Caterpillar spun silk from his butt and this is the material that Alice wore in the Chapter.

First sample that I always cut for fit reasons.

And of course the silk charmeuse I ended up having to paint.... using Jacquard Lumiere pants again. I think I should have used the Neopaques, which are not metallic, but this effect is not bad. I used weights while cutting out the silk pieces because my silk had a bit of stretch. The pin holes are too obvious as well, they don't disguise as well on silk since it is so delicate.

You need to use a lot of painter's tape so the silk does not shift around while you paint.
Had to paint everything...

For the "petticoat", I wanted to use organza. I thought it would look more ethereal if the fabric was slightly sheer, so I chose 2 different colors of organza for a more interesting effect. I actually used polyester organza because I needed something very stiff. Silk organza would be too pricey and it would have too much drape. I did not want drape.

I used two colors for the effect I wanted, here's the yellow, looking kind of pink..
The pink organza...
The two put together, you can tell the yellow is on top, and it's kind of hard to see because of the wonky lighting in my apartment, but I'll take better pictures when the petticoat is finished and you can see how the color changes depending on where the light is hitting it/movement of the skirt.

For the obi I wanted to use a slightly more matte fabric that still had some kind of sheen and interesting texture to it, so I used silk dupioni again. The light pink is 100% silk, the bright pink is rayon/silk blended, the texture is smoother and it has better drape. I was very fortunate to find the colors I was looking for! This obi would also use a snap closure as per the previous costume, and I wanted it to keep its shape so I added a backing to the underside of this obi as well. At the front of the obi are 2 bright cords in blue and turquoise. I just bought white rattail to dye for this.

Double-faced because that's how the obi looks in the reference photos.

The apron, I decided to make it as a separate piece. Because I think of every costume I make as "actual clothing", I would assume that the apron is not attached to the dress, what if she wants to wear the dress without the apron and obi? To me, it looks more realistic when certain pieces of the costume are not all sewn together, but are separate/different components, as if this character was truly putting on each piece to create this outfit. Anyway, that's just what I think, so I made the apron its own piece with tie and everything. It closes with snaps as well so that it is not bulky at the back, underneath the obi.

AND MORE PAINTING. I painted this 3x before I actually found it acceptable. You'll notice it's not perfectly symmetrical and my line weight is uneven. I was okay with this because the lines aren't straight or even in the concept art.

The designs were all painted with my favorite Jacquard fabric paint, as always. These little jars aren't the cheapest paints ever but seriously if you're going to put time into a costume you're making you gotta use the best materials when you can. These jars are about $5-$6 each, and depending on how much paint you use, each jar can last you a while. Luckily for me I already had a turquoise leftover from my Xianghua costume last year! Hurray for obscure colors! I wanted the apron to have some kind of texture, so I used linen again; it doesn't look completely shiny or completely flat, I just thought it would look kinda cheap if I used a basic cotton fabric.

The sewing on this costume will not be extremely difficult but working with silk is kind of a bitch so it will most definitely be time-consuming. Not gonna lie, this costume has already cost me a little over $100 because I decided to use an entire family of silkworms.

the nightcrawler - part one

2011-09-12T01:51:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year again--plotting for Halloween. Based on my past experiences with working on costumes that appear to be easy but end up being absurdly time-consuming, I decided to start very early this year.

I don't usually sew bodysuits but I mean... c'mon, it's just not the same if you're a superhero and you're not wearing a bodysuit or your underwear on the outside, and my bf wasn't down with the idea of wearing anything suggesting underwear on the outside so we went w/ the below depiction of Nightcrawler.

We were very lucky to be able to find the exact type of spandex we wanted, in the exact colors we wanted, in one store. The spandex we chose was a slightly matte swimwear spandex.

For the piping trim I couldn't find the exact shade of yellow, so I bought a white piece of piping (content is unknown) to dye and see if this trim will absorb the color. If not I'll have to make the piping by hand T_T

I will be doing all the sewing in this project (hellooooo overlock machine~) and other than the bodysuit itself the only other thing we have to make is the tail. I'm not making that :D

I need to finish this project before October so I can start my own costume....

late but lucky, return to wonderland

2011-09-06T02:04:00.000-07:00

If you want to see more photos and a pretty damn detailed run-through of what people do at PAX, go to my friend Collin's blog, asiandoood.com. He did a great job of doing his convention write-up. Here I will shamelessly post pictures of my cosplay.

Thanks Jesse for the photos!

I didn't get the make the Omega pendant :( I will have the opportunity to sculpt it soon as I am planning another Alice: Madness Returns cosplay! But of course! Not sure if you can tell in the photos but I am wearing pink contacts. The pocketwatch I ordered from eBay for $11. Win again.

This was the most comfortable costume ever and I didn't have to worry about any of my body parts accidentally flashing anyone, hallelujah!

And thank you to the one person who recognized me, you are awesome.

I would also like to thank my friend Jesse for housing me and showing me around Seattle, buying spray primer, letting me use up all your black spray paint and feeding me spam musubi at 3am while I finished up my cosplay.

Some photos from PAX!

Really good Femshep cosplay + Destructoid head haha

I still remember this arcade game, it ate all my tokens but it was so much fun

Another one of my favorite games from my childhood, I need to be more skilled in fps games though, I suck
I'm a huge fan of the Bioshock series so I cannot wait for Bioshock Infinite!!!

X-Com area, this wax sculpt was shockingly REAL

Firefall greeted us at Registration, not gonna lie, we kinda hated on it because it looked like Gears of War so much but it wasn't the same at all.
Castle Crashers tee. Wearing it now. It's my pajama shirt....
And... a really goofy pic taken at the Ubisoft booth promoting Assassin's Creed: Revelations

I suppose the official photoshoot pictures for this costume will be up much later, as I want to do the shoot with some props that I am working on at the moment.

late but lucky, collected memories (10)

2011-09-06T01:32:00.000-07:00

The final part of this costume (not including the Omega pendant) was the top hat. I really didn't have time to search for a top hat exactly like the one in the reference image, and I also kinda wanted to try making my own hat. Yes, that is my logic--no time to find one to modify so I'll make one from scratch.

I did some research on how to make hats, and stumbled upon Fosshape. There's a pretty good fosshape tutorial on cosplaysupplies.com, but I think you're really going to need to just experiment via trial and error, which I expect to do more of when I make the Clockwork Bunny.

Fosshape is sold by the yard, it's basically fabric. I bought 2 yards because I figured--trial and error. I drafted a hat pattern based on an existing hat I had--just for the head circumference, really. In hindsight I would have added at LEAST an extra 1/2" to all the sides because fosshape shrinks a LITTLE when steamed. I also should not have used a regular seam to join the hat piece together, it was very bulky. I will try a lapped stitch next time (sewing one side directly on top of the other).

I made a hat base in the most last-minute (aka "ghetto") way possible--I used a roll of paper towels and wrapped it in layers of paper and cardboard. This was the exact shape of my top hat, wider at the top. My sewn fosshape piece fit perfectly over it. I cut out a circle for the top part of the hat. In hindsight I should have hand sewn the top of the hat to the sides, not done this after I steamed everything because all the edges shrank about 1/4"-3/8".

This is where the magic began--because making cosplay is magic?! Yes, it is. After you steam the fosshape (you NEED to use a steamer, do not even use an iron to steam it), it becomes stiff! Very very cool. I steamed the brim along a curved edge to get the sides to flip up.

I then sewed the steamed pieces together by hand as you can see in this photo below. Always remember to clip your edges when sewing round surfaces.

I also cut fosshape pieces for the ears to give them structure. I forgot to take a picture but I used the same pattern as I did for the ears.

For the ears I used the faux fur from the paws, and I bought a chenille fabric for the insides of the ears. Stuck the fosshape inside. Done.

How I "colored" my hat is a big no-no. Do not do it this way. It will smell and look fug on the surface. I didn't have time to dye the hat so I spray-painted it. I used primer, and this caused the "hairs" of the fosshape to raise a little, so my surface was no longer "flat". Anyway, I sprayed about 2 coats of primer and then sprayed the entire hat black.

I cut the "ribbon" from the same corduroy as the jacket, and glued that to the hat. I hand sewed the ears to the brim, and tacked the ears to the top of the hat because I didn't steam my fosshape enough to make the ears stand upright on their own. Fail.

This was a decent amount of work and I should have started earlier so I could make a more beautiful hat :[

late but lucky, collected memories (9)

2011-09-06T00:58:00.000-07:00

Here comes the part where I hauled my unfinished cosplay to Seattle and finished the rest of it at my friend's apartment, yikes!

For the "shoes" I made the calf-boot separate from the paw-shoe. I really don't know what to call them, sorry if they sound lame. Anyway, I cut 3 pieces for the paw-shoe, using a pattern similar to the one I drafted for my Zephie shoe.

This was actually just a covering, as I bought bedroom slippers ($7 at Target, WIN) and simply hand-sewed the fur covering over these slippers. My friend commented, "dude, you're basically wearing slippers all day, you lucky bastard". Yep, it was pretty damn comfortable!

The claws were also hand sewn. I created the separations for the paws the same way I sewed the sash's paws.

For the calf-boot I used leftover cotton stretch twill from a previous project and drafted 2 pattern pieces to my calf size. I lined the inside with muslin. The buttons are not functional--I used snaps to make getting in and out of them much easier. In hindsight I should have made the calf-boot tighter around my calf because walking around all day, these things kept slipping down. However I wanted the placket to lie flat, so I didn't want to use an extremely stretchy fabric. I think the twill I used had only about 1% spandex.

These didn't take that long for me to make; I feel like I kind of cheated by sewing the covering over a slipper, but hey--it worked and was super comfortable for me!

late but lucky, collected memories (8)

2011-08-29T23:58:00.000-07:00

I didn't forget about the gloves, but I didn't have much time to work on them.

I picked up a cheap pair in a used leather goods shop and bought some fake nails.

I glued the nails to the gloves, and painted the nails with matte black nail polish like so...

Goes on shiny...
dries matte

You could use acrylic paint too, but the matte nail polish I have is pretty nice and wouldn't chip. I also have matte clear (top coat), so the color is pretty much going to stay on these gloves forever.

If you're wondering where I got matte nail polish I ordered it from Knockout Cosmetics, they carry a ton of really cool matte nail polishes.

late but lucky, collected memories (7)

2011-08-29T22:26:00.001-07:00

After some careful consideration I thought it would be best to make the tail-bow (I don't know what else I'm supposed to call it?) attached to the sash. Sash-tail-bow. Yes.

I was lucky again to find the color I was looking for--tons of obscure colors on this costume. I used a poly charmeuse (poly?! BLASPHEMY, RIGHT? Well, I need to use polyester in order for the pleats on the sash to retain their shape) and drafted a simple rectangle pattern with 1/2" pleats. Then I pinned the shit out of it like below.

I don't have a photo of this but I cut a piece of interfacing that was attached to the pleated sash. I backed the sash with the corduroy from the jacket and skirt cape otherwise the sash just by itself would be too flimsy.

I bought bridal satin in a baby pink color and cut the pieces for the bow. I also put some interfacing in these pieces to make them more stiff.

I was blessed again to find faux fur in the exact texture and color I wanted, at some random fabric shop in the fashion district. I bought a yard at 60" width.

The thing with faux fur is that it GETS EVERYWHERE. So cut all your regular fabric first, cut the faux fur last, otherwise you're going to be wasting a ton of time doing clean up in between fabric cutting sessions. Technically you can tape the underside while you're cutting the faux fur to prevent the piles from exploding everywhere but as you can see I was too lazy to do that and now have to have a vacuum party. I cut the bunny tail and paws from the faux fur, making sure I cut these pieces out in the correct direction (nap). I used a 1/2" seam allowance on all these pieces.

I stuffed the sewn pieces with polyester batting, which is always pretty helpful to keep around for cosplay projects. You can get a pretty big bag for under $10, worth it.

You can see that some of the fur got caught in the seam--no worries, just scratch your fingers over the seam and the fur is released from the seam.

For the "claws" I used leftover vinyl from my Zephie project and cut pieces to stuff with batting. I painted the sewn claws with matte black nail polish, and once these pieces were dry, I hand sewed the claws to the paws. To create the separation in the paws I simply used huge stitches with black thread similar to how paws are made on plushies.

Might as well paint my nails while I wait...

Once I finished the fur pieces I simply hand sewed everything to the pleated sash, and used large snaps for the closure.

late but lucky, collected memories (6)

2011-08-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

I thought the skirt should be 3 layers, a petticoat underneath, and 2 skirts worn on top of the petticoat. I bought close to 25 yards of nylon tulle for my Bjork swan dress costume 3 years ago so I'm pretty much stocked up on tulle for the rest of my life. I used 2 layers of tulle and I cut the skirt in a half-circle shape to create a bit of volume when worn. Added a 4" ruffle to the bottom of this "petticoat" using the same self fabric (linen broadcloth) as the other 2 layers of the skirt. Yes, this was a bitch to gather, gRRRRR!!!

The 2nd layer of the skirt was cut from linen broadcloth as well. I decided to use linen broadcloth based on the rendering looking a bit textured and rough. I wanted the skirt to look well-made but slightly unkempt, if that makes any sense at all. I kept the wrinkles in the fabric. I bought 6 yards of grosgrain ribbon and sewed 2 rows near the hem. Yes, this also took me FOREVER. I had to press the shit out of the ribbon after it was sewn because it bubbled slightly due to the curved hem I cut.

(not ironed yet)

The top layer of the skirt is also linen broadcloth. I have never bought this many buttons for a project in my life. I was very lucky to find buttons to match my jacket's color EXACTLY, and have the outer lip as I was thinking. I also got lucky enough to find the exact type/color of velvet trim for the pockets. The trim on the top layer is cut from the same corduroy as my jacket.

The "cape" part of the skirt is sewn into the same waistband as the top layer of the skirt. I used a snap at the center front of the waistband. There was a ridiculous amount of hand sewing on this project.

I purposely left all the hems unfinished because I just didn't want the skirt to look too "clean", I wanted it to be a bit battle-worn--hell, there are holes at the front of the skirt which I embraced.

late but lucky, collected memories (5)

2011-08-18T23:36:00.000-07:00

I chose to make Alice's vest out of silk dupioni, which frays like no tomorrow--and using an overlock machine on silk is tacky, so of course I had to line the vest with acetate lining. The vest has 2 darts in the front and 2 darts in the back, and is very fitted.

Fraying like a b*tch

Acetate Lining

You can never have enough bias binding.
I think I've used about 20 yards of bias binding total on this entire project so far. Looking at the details on the reference images the edges are finished with a bias binding.

Buttons that must be painted.

1st coat of gold acrylic paint

The buttons have an antique finish which I replicated by using
a tissue to brush brown acrylic paint over the dried gold paint.

For small items I sometimes use clear nail polish as gloss :D

The completed vest

late but lucky, collected memories (4)

2011-08-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

Alright! I got to finish both the jacket and the blouse in the same week so I'm glad I could stick to my deadline better this time. Hopefully I don't run into problems with my hat and boots later.

The blouse was pretty straightforward because you can't see much of it in the reference photos, only that the collar is very tall and stiff, which was easily achieved with some interfacing. The blouse is fairly loose-fitting and will be tucked into the skirt anyways. I finished the sleeve length about 1/2" above my natural wrist to match the reference photos. Proportion was very important for me this time (well it's always important) but since this pattern didn't have any crazy seamlines (like Zephie) and has a bunch of layers, I had to make sure all the lengths were exactly as the reference photos depicted or something would appear off. Trust me I have been doing nothing but staring at reference photos for the past month T_T

I actually love the material I used for the blouse, it's a very thin, waxed cotton that is an off-white color. I still wonder why it is I have so much motivation to make a blouse for a costume when I can't be bothered to make a blouse I could wear for everyday. OHWELL.

Sidenote: To get your corners as sharp as I did for the collar, reduce the stitch width/spacing on your machine as you sew towards the corner. You can also see that I cut pretty close to the corner so when I turned it out it wasn't bulky and the edge didn't slip out. I used the same technique for my jacket collar/lapel. I wish I could've taken a picture of exactly what I did but maybe I will have to save that for another costume....

late but lucky, collected memories (3)

2011-08-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the jacket. I sewed it using the corduroy I bought 2 weeks ago, and will also be using it for trim on the skirt and the skirt overlay. I didn't realize the pattern would be this difficult. (I draft all my own patterns because I'm too lazy to buy a pattern and modify it >_>) I had to sew 2 samples to make sure the jacket would fit properly. So here we are, 2 samples and 4 hours of pattern drafting later. I didn't want the jacket to be bulky I didn't add lining. I just used a bias binding to finish all the edges--every single seam with the exception of the armhole seams is finished with bias binding. I used a total of 8 yards! Yeesh. BIAS BINDING, COME AT ME.

You can't really tell based on the photo on the dressform but the sleeves are slightly flared.

I used 2 darts at the center front for a more tapered fit because the jacket isn't snug but it isn't completely boxy either.

I also stitched along the collar edge because it helps the collar to stay flat, and this detail is visible on the dress rendering.

Following the reference photos, 2 large black buttons at the center back...

late but lucky, collected memories (2)

2011-07-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

I already had a pretty good idea as to which fabrics I was going to use for this costume, and bought 75% of my fabrics over the weekend. I didn't want the fabrics to look "shiny" so I stuck with more matte-looking fabrics.

I decided on a maroon/burgundy cotton corduroy for the jacket--I was VERY lucky to have found this in the color I wanted, because cotton corduroy is not a very popular fabric... for obvious reasons.... do you know anyone over the age of 6 that owns anything corduroy? My point exactly. So yes, I was very happy I found this in the correct color. I bought 2-1/2 yards--enough for the jacket and half of the skirt, if you follow the illustration as below.

For some reason I envisioned the vest in silk dupioni; perhaps it was the rendering of the fabric below that I decided to go with the texture of dupioni. I bought a slightly darker gold lining to match so there would be more tones to this gold color.

The top layer of the skirt will be made with linen/cotton in a loose plain weave; the skirt needs to look wrinkled and I went with a loose weave because in the rendered image the skirt seems to have this type of texture. I suppose I just wanted the skirt material to look slightly more "rough" and didn't want to go for a "clean/crisp" look. Pretty sure that didn't really make any sense to any of you readers but at least I tried =_=.

The bow at the back is a polyester satin, which will be doubled (probably) because it needs to hold its shape and look stiff.

Luckily I found mustard-colored velvet ribbon in the exact width I wanted (1") also, who knew? I was worried I'd have to dye this too! Too many hours spent in my bathroom dyeing fabric and trims! I do get to watch a lot of anime during my dyeing time though.

For the pink sash and ascot I plan on finding a satin of some sort. I haven't decided if I will be painting the hat or if I will be covering it with fabric yet (will post about it later).

I still have a lot of work ahead of me as I still haven't found a fake fur for some of the trims on this costume, as well as for the Clockwork Bunny. I will need to finish sewing at least 2 components of this costume by this weekend in order to stay on track! Goodbye social life!

a monkey in an octorok costume?

2011-07-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Or a monkey being consumed by an Octorok? You be the judge... thinkgeek.com uploaded all their Timmy cosplays this year and all of them are FREAKING AMAZING/CREATIVE/CUTE/ETC, so please enjoy the link below!

Or if you just want to watch mine skip to 22:00 :)

late but lucky, collected memories

2011-07-18T23:56:00.000-07:00

So much for my much-desired "break" after Anime Expo (just wanted to bum around at home and finish some games/anime/manga that I put off for the 2 wks prior to AX); I had to start on my next cosplay immediately for an upcoming convention.

I started playing "Alice:Madness Returns" in the middle of June and while I didn't play the first "Alice", I am pretty hooked. Also intrigued by the reinvention of the Alice Liddell character--mental and no-nonsense. That's how I usually like my female heroines (could do with/without the lack of sanity though). Might I also mention that her wardrobe selections in the game changed to match each level's environment, which is damn cool (cool in that the designers bothered to put in the extra effort). For this sequel to "Alice", the player can also download dresses to enhance some of Alice's abilities, and each dress looks like a cosplay waiting to be done...

Which brings me to my first American McGee's Alice cosplay ever--in her "Late But Lucky" dress; this I'm making alongside a plush version of the Clockwork Bunny (if you aren't familiar with the game the C. Bunny is a bomb Alice uses), so I have a lot of work ahead of me...

As with all my cosplays I always start with a sketch :D This one has a lot of components so I had to start patterns very early (started over the weekend). My plan is to finish the first sample (sewn in muslin) before next weekend so it's time to hermit mode again....

rock rock octorok

2011-07-15T02:25:00.000-07:00

Fresh off my adrenaline rush post-Anime Expo, I had to tackle a mini project for thinkgeek.com's mascot Timmy, as part of his Volunteer Costuming Corps!

I signed up to do this in May but knowing me I didn't make the costume until the day I had to ship out the package (I also sent it next day air ...-_-")

Anyway, here's the quick rundown on this mini Octorok costume (it's barely 7" tall) that simply slips on over Timmy's body. I literally finished this costume in a little over 2 hours so I didn't really have time to document the process, sorry! Still wanted to share with everyone though as this was fun :)

Of course with all my costumes I start out with a sketch of some sort where I plan the pattern pieces/seamlines/etc. I actually had this octopus plush to help me with the shaping.

Weird pattern pieces!
These just look like mini stockings.... cut from fleece. The cashier at Jo-Ann's asked me if I was making a blanket. I said I was making a costume for a stuffed animal. I heard crickets even though she said "Oh... that's.... nice..." :[ I am 24 years old this year. :[

After sewing the tentacles I stuffed them with polyester batting. The white fabric was leftover twill from an old project. Looks like a beanie doesn't it?
I tried that. Lol.
I don't have roommates. I can get away with this.

For the snout I used a toilet paper roll. Heh. I painted the eyes because I didn't have any more time :( But here are the 2 octopi side by side :D

Here's a side view. I hand-sewed the tentacles to the body.

No more happy octopus.

eternal boredom (haruhi suzumiya), ANIME EXPO recap

2011-07-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

I doubt we're doing a photoshoot for our Haruhi Suzumiya cosplay group but here are some pics from Anime Expo real quick :)

Had a ton of fun making faces, friends, etc. Being Haruhi was fun and it made me realize how iconic these characters are as everyone recognized me immediately just for the brown hair and yellow headband.

Here's a cameo from Vampy teehee.

I ended up styling the wig for our Ryoko and making her outfit too. Ran out of the original blue fabric, poop :( Yeah, you can see I'm just Mikuru Beam-ing everywhere.....

wind wizardry (zephie), ANIME EXPO RECAP

2011-07-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Photo by Shun Kim
I'm aware that I haven't updated you guys on the rest of my Zephie cosplay but it has been insane leading up to the debut on Saturday, July 2nd at Anime Expo. I was rushing to finish up my 2nd school uniform the day prior (I wore Haruhi on Friday, July 1st) so I was going crazy and pulling late nights again, heh.

This year was exceptionally special for this particular cosplay, as well as just this year in general because I got to debut my Zephie cosplay with the SUPERAWESOME VAMPY during her Crunchyroll live stream segment on Saturday!! Eternally grateful for finding me among the pits of Twitter. Or something like that. Anyway, it was great to meet her and just nerd out about cosplay and games during my short interview--I also made some new friends at the booth so it was a pretty damn good day.

I also met up with Ted / Spooky-epiic who cosplayed as Raud at FanimeCon but I did not wear Zephie to that convention so luckily he found me again and we met up on Saturday morning and shot some photos together! Seriously why are there no MC/WoG cosplayers down in SoCal? We can do an epic photoshoot, you guys...

So without anymore rambling.... I finally give you... my Zephie cosplay. I do have to remake the shoes and some accessories as I realized the clay was too fucking heavy and the insulation foam has zero support. Fail.

With Ted as Raud! Photo by Shun Kim
With Ted as Raud! Photo by Shun Kim
With Vampy as Reika from Gantz! Photo by Shun Kim
We look at my destroyed shoes :( Photo by JB Ong
Talking w/ AnimeConji afterwards

Talking w/ Stephanie of IGN (SHE WRITES THE WALKTHROUGHS. YES. THEREFORE=HAWT) and Vampy before our interviews, cool people galore.

I'm doing the photoshoot at the end of the month with my dad again, who finally returned from his 6-month long business trip, but until then I have more costumes to finish! Eekkkkkk!

wind wizardry (zephie), wand-ering 3

2011-06-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

I know I debated adding feathers onto the wand but I did, and it looks acceptable, actually.

I finished the back end of the wand with cardstock I cut in the appropriate shape, with clay spheres. The paint was touched up a bit, and then sprayed with gloss (except the part with the swan, duh).

Yeah I watch anime while I work on my props sometimes, don't hate.

I bought a feather boa and just pulled the feathers from it as these

feathers were easy to shape/trim.

The last thing I had to add was this weird, rounded crown-shaped thing near the end of the wand. I actually shaped this with a piece of cardstock that I cut after I drew a shape. I don't have a printer at home (well, I do, but it doesn't work very well) so I just had to eyeball this =_=...

Tacky glued to the wand. The little balls were sculpted from DAS clay and glued as well.These will be painted white.
(I'll make you breakfast in bed if you can guess the anime in the background)
To finish the wand I use Montana spray paint in clear. I used Montana paints for everything I have spray painted on this project, and I like that you can change the tip depending on what kind of lines you want--can be more precise or if you don't give a fuck you can just use a regular cap.

eternal boredom (haruhi suzumiya), class dismissed

2011-06-15T22:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates on this costume but it wasn't very difficult so I didn't take too many photos, heh. I actually have to make 2 of these outfits before Anime Expo so I quickly finished this (quickly? More like... procrastinated for 3 months and then finished it in 2 days, heh...) and took a couple photos of some techniques I wanted to share with you guys. Yeah, all 3 of you that read this blog...

So based on the last post I had started a bit of the top and the skirt. I finished the skirt hem with fusible hem tape. You can buy it in a roll and it's super cheap, probably around $3 for 10 yards. If I wanted to be super tidy I could have blindstitched but this isn't a couture skirt, haha. This is a quick, clean and easy way to finish your edges if you really do not want any seam lines to show.

I also added belt loops, of course!

Skirt was finished with a 9" zipper and 2 pairs of hooks and eyes.

The top was cut from a kona cotton (lightweight) and the collar material was the same as the skirt. I made it a bit loose-fitting so I could tuck the shirt into the skirt and let it blouson over, that's how the characters seem to wear the uniform.

The insert was made from another shade of blue in a lighter weight polyester fabric with white satin ribbon sewn across the top edge. This was finished off with a deep red double-faced satin ribbon that I looped around the collar. The emblem was painted with Jacquard fabric paint because I did not have time to embroider it :(

Finally, Haruhi is the president of the SOS Brigade so she OBVIOUSLY HAS TO FLAUNT THAT. Painted with regular acrylic paint, uses snaps to open/close.

I will be wearing Haruhi on Friday at the convention, alongside a Tsuruya, Yuki and Kyon, so come say hi! I will be bringing a video camera as well :D

Yeah, I know, I need to clean my room. I'll clean it after I finish my cosplays, yeah?

the process/the journey, part 1

2011-06-08T02:49:00.000-07:00

There were a small handful of people who asked me about how I even get started on a cosplay, and I've been getting a few questions here and there about the "general process", so... I guess this post can help you guys see that getting started in cosplaying isn't really that hard. It can be time-consuming depending on the difficulty of your costume and you'll be going through a lot of trial-and-error (as you've seen on this blog). I suppose I'm some kind of masochist for driving myself crazy trying to make everything (props + sewing) as clean and perfect as possible, especially since this is just a hobby and my actual job is already pretty draining haha.

Obviously I cosplay as characters I like, but sometimes I'm captivated by the costume/their outfit first (like, "HOLYSHITWHATTHEFUCKISGOINGONIWANNACOSPLAYTHIS"), then I delve into the series or game to learn more about the character. I also love a good challenge and enjoy the learning process as well, so I usually choose something that looks difficult (for me) and try to break it down with an initial sketch.

Depending on how many reference images I have (either ones I scan from artbooks, screencaptures I take, images taken from google, etc...), my flat sketch can take 5 mins or 3 hours. This is the most important since I figure everything out--list all my materials, draw in all the pattern pieces I'll need to cut out or create, write what I need to assemble first--it's the blueprint. I'm always reading tutorials online or going to fabric and art stores to browse new techniques or different ways to use the same materials I've been using. Sometimes I don't always know every single fabric I want to use for the costume, but I do have a general idea of its thickness (depending on the character sketch), and how I'll be cutting the outfit.

So let's use my Zephie costume for this process outline. The sketch took me about 2 hours to complete but I spent probably 6-8 hours compiling images and playing the game to understand this character and find the appropriate pictures I needed.

(closer view. It helps a LOT to have experience in garment construction... and also go through a lot trial/error, heh)

This is the most important part, the brainstorming/blueprint. I'll write more about pattern drafting/draping later this week.

wind wizardry (zephie), accessories assembled part 1

2011-06-06T02:20:00.000-07:00

I used my little bit of extra time to add more details to the accessories. A lot of this may seem time-consuming, and it really is, but it's strangely a stress-reliever and I get to use my noodle-noggin to think "out of the box", to figure out how to replicate the 2D concept into a tangible object. I think it's kind of exciting. Ok, who am I kidding, I think it's insanely exciting which is part of the reason I cosplay. Anyway, digressing here again so I'll explain my processes through photos again:

1. That weird bust piece...
(reference photo)

After looking at the screencaptures again I realized I probably shouldn't miss out on this detail because I have this extra time to add it into the costume. I wanted this weird piece to "stick out" and be stable, so I used some craft wire twisted into the appropriate shape.
I cut an 1/4" width strip of muslin, applied glue onto the wire and wrapped the wire in muslin.
I cut leaf shapes from the muslin as well, leaving LONG stems to wrap around the wire (also glued).\

I then tacked this piece to the weird bust piece.
2. Weird bag .... thing attached to belt

Firstly I realize I didn't take enough progress photos of this, but I literally just made a mini bag. The red is a thick and sturdy canvas, the "flap" is canvas with a shiny twill face. The oblong shape in the middle was cut out and the little circles were painted. The cord was zig-zag stitched.
I used dome studs to attach these teardrop shapes onto the side of the "bag". I sewed the flap to the back as well.
I had cut holes at the sides for the rope to go through. There is also a hole at the bottom where I attached pipe tubing.

I ended up buying a ton of supplies from Home Depot. Let me tell you, that is not the place to be when you're a young Asian girl by herself. No bueno.

wind wizardry (zephie), finishing touches- dress

2011-06-01T01:48:00.000-07:00

Since I posted about the shoes yesterday, here's a post with the completed dress. I shall explain through photos:

My friend said these looked like roll cakes. I thought they looked like flattened beans. No matter, they belong on the side of the dress. I just glued them. For the side with the zipper, I attached them with snaps. (The pieces are cut from the same interlock fabric from the side panels)

Added snaps to attach the "belt" pieces.

Ended up painting the trim along the really weird edges I couldn't sew properly.

Hah, does anyone even remember that bust piece at the front?! I attached it with a snap. Ok clearly I took this photo before I finished sewing the zipper....

Here's a not-very-clear photo of the back details, which were also painted. It suddenly hit me that I seem to enjoy making costumes that have a ridiculous amount of painting. Why. Is. This. Someonehurryandgetmealife.

Nope, I did not forget this little trim! It was hand-sewn to the back as well as the front,

but it is more visible from the back.

wind wizardry (zephie), on your toes!

2011-05-31T00:12:00.002-07:00

Finally an update on my Zephie cosplay that seems to have taken forever to finish. No pictures of the completed cosplay until July though, for Anime Expo! There is a cosplay meet-up for Magna Carta 2 cosplayers that weekend though so I'll upload photos with other characters/cosplayers then :)

Real quickly (quickly? Who am I kidding this is an insane amount of photos), here's a brief post about how I made these weird shoes. I'm sure this was not the best way to make them but they did the job (as being fancy crocs, I mean). I'll have to work with different materials next time as I didn't really like working with canvas; it was not sturdy at all (but it was comfy and light!)

Basically, this write-up below is the noob version, I'm sure the next cosplay I make that requires a custom shoe will be a legitimate shoe and not something I tacky-glued all up in this place.

I drew the sole of the shoe on Illustrator and glued the pieces to insulation foam (2 pieces, glued together to form the required thickness). My dad helped me cut the shape I drew on the computer, using a band saw.

Before painting over the foam with white paint though, I had to coat the foam with a couple layers of liquid gesso to smooth out the surface, otherwise the foam will just absorb the paint like a sponge. Luckily it dried fairly fast so this process only took a day of work (on and off).

I decided to use a red terry fabric for the padding of the shoe, I just glued it with tacky glue. You can see I still haven't finished coating the foam with gesso, heh.

I am now going to apologize for the lack of high quality photos because I seriously rushed the rest of this process and I took camera phone photos at some point.

I guess I could say I was lucky that there weren't any clear photos of Zephie's shoes, which meant I was free to interpret the general design of the back. I think there were 2 straps of some type at the back, so I cut one strip out of leather and one strip out of a white canvas fabric.

(why do these look SO DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER?! FRUSTRATION.)

(pattern pieces)

This was for the back of the shoe, I also cut this out of red canvas and I literally just measured my foot, I got really lazy >>;

This next part was trickier, I actually used satin nails to attach the fabric portions of the shoe into the foam platform. After I secured the position I took out each nail one by one, dipped it into tacky glue and re-applied it to its previous position. It got a bit messy but I was watching anime at the same time so all is good.

I realized I didn't take any photos of how I cut out the front part of the shoe. To be honest I didn't really measure anything except for the length and height so I didn't even really want to explain it. It doesn't look that great and if I had the time I would remake it.

I used paper clips at another point to hold everything in place, heh.

To clean up the edges of the shoes I cut out 1" leather strips to glue along the edges. (You could also see the details of a brown trim on the rendered artwork which I was referencing)

I threw in some studs to make it look like I put some effort into the shoes. And voila. Meh.

(I should have painted over the foam more because you can still see that I used 2 layers of foam, sigh)

eternal boredom (haruhi suzumiya), HARUHI part 1

2011-01-07T03:03:00.000-08:00

(as if I really even need to write an introduction for Haruhi Suzumiya!!)

So... I've been gone for a LONG TIME. This is partly because I started up a new blog (that I now update twice weekly), and my day job hours have increased by about 5 hours. Leaves little time for blogging on cosplay progress. But I've been working on things here and there, and this is one costume I was working on, then got distracted, got distracted by some other shiny objects, then came back to.... This costume wasn't too difficult but a few things gave me headaches here and there.

1. Here are the collar piece/cuffs. I will NEVER AGAIN use bias binding as a substitute for TWILL TAPE OR RIBBON. This little bitch kept moving underneath the foot and as a result I had to rip out the seam three times.

Yes. I make mistakes. A ton of them.

Cuffs.

Had to pin everything down multiple times.

2. I made the cuff TOO SMALL TO FIT THROUGH MY SEWING MACHINE SO I HAD TO HAND SEW THIS SEAM. :( Oh well. Blind stitch ftw?

3. I don't believe I have ever made a skirt with inverted box pleats before, not even during college. So this was fun.

All of these funky pentagon shapes are used for the pleat backings.
I will write more details in my next post. All of these are overlocked to prevent fraying
since I will be handling the skirt so much during this process.

I digress: Copic Marker Tutorial

2010-12-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

I published this over 2 years ago on my old blog (so old I forgot I had it, so old I forgot I bought a domain for it. Fail.) and finished drawing my marker illustration of the year, which had one of my friends asking me about the Copic Markers. I also had a friend ask me what markers I would recommend for starting out in marker illustration. I'm no pro, but I have been using these markers for over 6 years or so, and I would say that you should definitely not start with these markers. The alcohol content is very high in these markers which leads to a lot of color bleeding. Like other materials, you'll experience much trial-and-error when using the Copic Markers. Or you can read my tutorial from below and minimize the hair-pulling when you're trying to render leather or velvet. There's no correct way to color; the below is just the way I found easiest for myself.

I typically start with a pencil sketch. I use a 0.05 mechanical pencil to keep all the lines fine and minimize the amount of lines I have.

I outline with a Copic Multi-liner pen after my pencil sketch is finalized. I like using the Copic multi-liner pen because if I accidentally run the marker over the ink lines, nothing bleeds. I use 0.03 Copic Multi-liner pen.

I was always trained to color with the lightest shades first (oil painting, watercolor, pastel...)

For the skin, I used: E00 Skin White, E11 Bareley Beige, E34 Orientale; the dark brown is E49 Dark Bark.

For the lips/shoes, I used: R05 Salmon Red, RV29 Crimson Red, R29 Lipstick Red

Notice I did not add the hair or eyebrows yet.

I went ahead the colored in the darker shades (still no hair yet)--the top, skirt and headband. For her top, I mixed 2 colors because I did not have that exact shade. This is the beauty of these markers--you can blend and combine colors to make a color you need but either cannot (1) find, or (2) run to the art store at 12am to buy [which is usually my case =_=] To color the top, I used PRISMACOLOR Tuscan Red as the base, and then used E79 Cashew over it. I used E49 Dark Bark for the shadows again.

The skirt drove me a little crazy--it's a velvet fabric, and I have never rendered velvet before. On top of that, there were 3 visible tones: deep red, red-violet and a light crimson red. No marker exists like that. I ended up using B79 Iris as the base, running PRISMACOLOR Tuscan Red and R39 Garnet over the purple, then using E49 Dark Bark AGAIN in the dark areas. I alternated which color I layered, in order to enhance the velvet "effect". Obviously leave areas uncolored for the lighter areas. I used C8 Cool Gray No. 8 at the hem to blend

For the hair, I used (in this order--layer upon layer): W3 Warm Grey No. 3, W8 Warm Grey No. 8, E49 Dark Bark, and then a little bit of N6 Neutral Grey No. 6 to blend the colors. I used C8 Cool Grey No. 8 for darker accents in the hair. For the headband I used B79 Iris for the base color and N3 Neutral Grey No. 3 to blend.

For the nylons, you can see that they are not entirely sheer, so not much of the actual skin tone is peeking through. This became very tricky as the two shades I needed to use for this "look" could result in muddy colors=black and peach. After some tests on my scratch paper, I started with the medium shade of grey, which in my case was N6 Neutral Grey No.6. I stayed with warm hues since your skin tone is... mostly comprised of warm tones. I used W8 Warm Grey No. 8 and C8 Cool Grey No. 8 to blend. For the skin I used E11 Bareley Beige--First, I used N6 all over, leaving the skin area white, then used T6 Toner Grey No. 6 to blend from the N6, filling the white space. The E11 will pick up some N6, but not turn out to be muddy. Then you can go ahead and fill in the darker greys.

For the shoes, I used C9 Cool Grey No. 9 first, leaving white areas for the shine of the patent leather, immediately blending with N6 while the C9 was wet. I actually used N2 Neutral Grey No. 2 for the "brightest" part of the shoe, so it's not actually white (too much contrast). I used 100 Black for the darkest parts of the shoe. I would have used 110 Special Black but... all 3 of Special Blacks ran out of ink =_=

Next, you can see that I am almost finished with the girl except for her leather jacket. I barely even outlined any of the details on the jacket. I didn't even know where to begin with this jacket. It took a good hour to complete, and did not outline the entire jacket in order to keep the soft look of the lambskin leather. I did not outline the fur collar either, simply using shades of grey and brown (starting with the lightest grey) to mark the fur area. The lightest shade I used was E41 Pearl White, then E35 Chamois, E31 Brick Beige, and E79 Cashew (not as dark as it appears), then adding some details with E29 Burnt Umber. Finally, I used E49 Dark Bark again to add details. I also used a bit of C8 Cool Grey No. 8 to give a little bit of dimension. All those markers just for a tiny fur collar T__T.

I didn't actually use too many colors for the leather jacket. But I had to eye, approximately, where the highlights were, where they stopped and how vibrant they were. I started with my medium dark tone, C8 Cool Grey No. 8 to fill in the smaller enclosed areas (so I could better control my shading), quickly blending with B37 Antwerp Blue, also washing OVER the C8 with this blue. That way you have a hint of the blue and it does not appear as the dominate color. My lightest color was N3 Neutral Grey No. 3, which was used to blend the lightest areas into the darkest areas. You can use N6 as well if the colors don't blend smoothly. I used C9 for the darkest areas of the jacket, applying this color last. The shadow is made with C9 and 0 Colorless Blender.

You can also see that I finally added the studs to the shoes, using any regular white Gel-pen. Mine is ridiculously old, but you don't always need expensive, overly fancy tools to get the job done. I added details on the jacket using the 0.03 Multi-liner in Black.

I then added her eyebrows using PRISMACOLOR Verithins in Dark Brown. I added a light line underneath her eyes using the same brown color; for her lids I used indigo blue and violet--more violet than blue.

The last and most important thing is the background. I have the COPIC airbrush system so I decided to create a light atmosphere. I first used B00 Frost Blue, then B02 Robin's Egg Blue for the darker color. It actually appears darker than it seems.

7 hours later...

I realized I didn't explain the belt or racerback tank. Both are simplified versions (2 colors of markers only) of the leather jacket explanation.

I can't believe I drew this 2 years ago. Gawd I'm old.

Below is the picture I finished last week, in case you were wondering. You can view a larger, higher-quality version of both images on my deviantArt page.

(From Barneys' Fall 2009 catalog. Outfit by Marni)

*I used a pretty generic brand of 14x17 marker paper for both these drawings.

warrior princess (xena), skirting the issue

2010-11-08T00:37:00.000-08:00

The skirt is easier than the bodice, but with all the studs and pieces that comprise the skirt, there was a lot more time involved.

I used masking tape to secure the pieces I was going to sew together (below).

Permanent marker to trace the shapes.

Secured with masking tape

More wax paper for sewing.

So... much... topstitching...

Tacky glue to secure the pieces before studding

2 down, 8 more to go...

warrior princess (xena), wrap your arms around this

2010-11-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

I didn't use leather for the wristbands and armbands. I used a faux leather that is typically used for upholstery and backed it with a vinyl (also used for upholstery). I simply used tacky glue for the bonding--you will see that I used a TON of tacky glue on this project.

I pressed these overnight to ensure a secure bond.

I only had red vinyl :(

In order to recreate the raised gold motifs, I simply used fabric paint and an EXTREMELY steady hand. I first drew in the design using a permanent marker, then retraced with the gold fabric paint. I kept the lines a little uneven and bumpy to stay true to the nature of Xena's cuffs.

You can see where I made my lines with permanent marker.

For the armbands, I set flat-backed rhinestones into the wet fabric paint.

For the wristbands, I actually masked the border and used some of clay sculpting tools to flatten the paint. I suggest peeling the tape off after 5 minutes of applying the paint, otherwise the paint will come off with the tape if you wait until the paint is 100% dry.

The final step was "weathering". I brushed on some brown acrylic paint very quickly to the dried fabric paint to create more "depth", wiping away the raised areas. You can see what a big difference it makes on the shoulder pad design below.

Before

After

warrior princess (xena), second skin

2010-11-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear readers! I haven't disappeared. I've been struggling to juggle my job, my new geek-centric blog, my social life and a start-up clothing line I'm consulting on... ! I'm still working on costumes though!!

If you are my friend on Facebook you've seen two new albums from me--Xena/Warrior Princess, and Haruhi Suzumiya. Xena is for Halloween. Because simply put, she was one of my very first heroines growing up.. and despite all that sheisty CGI monsters in the series, she was badass.

Like every Halloween, I always come up with my costume idea a few weeks before, and basically stay up late every single night trying to finish. This year is the same but I think this costume is far more complicated than last year's GaGa ordeal.

Not surprisingly I did not finish this costume in time. Which is fine because I did not have time to make the chakram or the sword, which are both central to Xena's entire getup, anyway, so I will have this costume done in time for Comic-Con next July. Yes, next July. Because I'm sure this costume will take far more than the 85 hours minimum I usually put into each costume...

The bodice itself is requiring quite a bit of meticulous sewing and detailing on my part already, as I've had to use my wax paper (typically used for baking) to sew each piece of leather.

It was an ordeal trying to find a screenshot of the leather bustier minus the armor. I cannot even remember where I found this picture, now, so if this is your image please let me know so I can properly credit you.

I used my Xianghua bustier pattern as a base as it fit perfectly, and simply shifted the style lines to match the shape of the Xena bustier. I also marked where I would need to add the bra cups, and roughly cut out that area, after I mocked up the first sample. I then took the actual bra cup I would be using, and draped muslin over the cup, pinning the cup to the bustier to make sure everything would fit in place during the sewing process. Draping the muslin took forever as I wanted to make sure the style lines would match Xena's exactly--1 piece at the top, 2 pieces at the bottom. I kept this pattern in fabric form and did not transfer to paper.

I did not line the bustier this time. The inside actually looks slightly unfinished but I tried to keep it as clean as possible.

Sewing leather without a leather sewing machine is very tedious. You need to use wax paper to sandwich the leather in order for it to properly feed through the sewing foot. My stitch lengths were not 100% uniform, which irritated my OCD self but what can you do? I switched to a thicker thread and achieved better results.

Welcome to my apartment. Please be wary of the wax paper so you don't slip and fall. :(

I sewed the entire bustier minus the bra cups, and added a zipper to the side seam. The back will have a faux lace-up look--fun times ahead =_=... ready to become best friends with my leather punch.

I then sewed the leather pieces for the bra cup TO the bra cup itself, even securing with tacky glue. I had to hand-tack the leather-covered bra cups to the bustier, then sew it a second time through the machine. This was extremely difficult as I had to carefully walk my hand along the joining seam to make sure I was still sewing 1/4" away from where I needed to be. Not the best sewing job in the world, I can honestly say, but with leather, you can't rip out the seams and start over, as the leather has already been pierced.

I still have to add the straps (didn't buy the rings yet) and add the piping to the bottom edge!

my chest speaks louder than my face

2010-09-10T04:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging as much, yes, but I am working on some things that aren't particularly interesting so I've been holding off on posting. The past 2 months have been crazy anyway, what with my last-minute business trip to China, especially. But costumes aside, some of you know I actually work in the fashion industry and some of my older posts were more fashion-related. I know I haven't posted about my own closet in a while--there's nothing exciting going on it--and probably won't have any exciting new additions. But, I was cleaning my really tiny closet out the other day and found a bag of old t-shirts. Remember when Threadless first debuted and only a few people were buying their shirts? And now the whole freshness of it has kinda faded? Well I bought all these Threadless shirts sometime between that period, moreso towards the beginning of their launch.

So please enjoy the most unfashionable/potentially nerd-tastic post on my blog, ever.

1. Video Games Ruined My Life. Good thing I Have 2 Extra Lives
**Yeup here I am in full nerd mode. You don't exist when I'm like this.

2. Refrigerator Running
** There is something obscenely adorable with putting innocent faces on inanimate objects. Like, toasters and trains. Also, I'm very lame sometimes.

3. Hitch-hiking Godzilla
** How can you not like this t-shirt?!!??!!

4. In the beginning
** No words. This is fucking genius.

5. Honey?
** IT'S A BEAR. TRYING TO BE A BEEEEEE!!!

6. In Case of Zombies
** This is me helping you in the event of a Zombie-pocalypse, because I care about you, and we all know a zombie-pocalypse is inevitable. Or an alien invasion. I haven't decided which is more imminent yet.

7. What Do You Mean You Can't See Him?
** Ok, you can see him (A), but this shirt was printed using solar-activated ink, and this monster you see now was previously invisible without sunlight. Then I threw this shirt into the machine wash by accident and now the ink does not work anymore. :( Let's learn from this :(

8. Moby Was a Consumer
** Greedy whale.

9. Mother Nature
** I think this was my first Threadless tee. I still like the graphic on it, sort of.

10. ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN THROUGH INTERPRETIVE DANCE
** Uh... who DOESN'T have this shirt?

11. This isn't from Threadless but it's a Scott Pilgrim tee sporting Scott's signature awkward-teethy-smile so I just have to share it anyways. It's also bright green and matches my fabulous Nixon watch that can't really tell time. I got it from the cool folks at Meltdown Comics in LA.

So what do I do with these shirts now? I pretty much just sleep in them. I happen to be wearing the zombies one to sleep these days, so I guess if you were to be sleeping next to me during a possible zombie-pocalypse (which would have to happen in the next few days) then I think we would be able to make it to the next town with all our limbs still intact.

If you thought this was a geek-tastic post, please head on over to my new group blog, the g-spot. I didn't name the blog, but that's a pretty cool name isn't it?

master of death (dead master), puzzle pieces

2010-09-01T02:47:00.000-07:00

I would normally not bother writing about my pattern pieces, but I thought this would help some of you understand what it's like to start completely from scratch. The Dead Master outfit is not super difficult, but I did have a few things to consider while drafting the pattern.

These are my "blocks"--basically, my templates. I drafted them in college, and I am lucky I am pretty much the same size as I was (otherwise I would have to make NEW blocks... ugh). I use these as the basis for every pattern I draft. Some people buy patterns and modify them. I am too lazy to do that. Also I feel like I'd be wasting my education if I still had to go out and buy patterns :\

Basic 2-dart bodice (I don't use this one often. This is the very, very basic bodice that
I made the one-dart bodice from and the contour front from).

This is the one-dart bodice (I don't use this one that often).

Contour front (I always use this one. It's for making more fitted items).

Basic sleeve (I don't always use this. Sometimes I just measure my arm and
draft the pattern from there, depending on what the design is)

Torso front (I use this for longer dresses or jackets). Torso back piece.

Skirt front (I don't use this one that often either). Skirt back piece.

These pieces will make up the dress/tunic portion. When drafting patterns it's important to remember how you're going to cut the fabric--along the grainline or along the bias (diagonal)? All my thinking/planning is done at this first stage. I also have to consider the fabric when I'm drafting my patterns.

These pieces will form the capri pant. You can kind of see how they fit
together a little more easily than the top.

I have to take into consideration if I will be lining the dress (I won't be)--that's another set of patterns. I have to consider what type of hem finishings I will use, what type of closures I am using.... all my brainstorming occurs at this first stage, which seems the most boring but is the most important.

For starters you can buy a pattern-making book off Amazon. I use this one I got while in school. Obviously it can't teach you how to make everything but with practice and creativity you can make anything. For my Zephie costume this book could not help me at all.

After I draft the patterns I make a first sample using muslin or a stretch fabric in the same weight/elasticity of my fabric. This way I don't waste the actual fabric if my pattern is not good and I have to redo it.

wind wizardry (zephie), in your breast interest

2010-08-23T02:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick post on the bodice piece of this costume. I used an interlock knit for the 2 side panels, stiffened with tricot interfacing and a facing fabric. I sandwiched the piping between both layers, and that is how I got the border.

The center front piece is a stretch twill that is similar to the ribbed detail in the illustration / game rendering. I had to add push-up bra pads underneath since I don't have a nice rack like Zephie does. Sad. But hey! I get to practice sewing bra pads into a garment :D The bust piece has the leather stitched into it and glued into place. If I'm going to keep working with leather in the future I think I will have to invest in a leather sewing machine, because even as I was using a leather sewing needle, the stitches skipped a little and were uneven, even though you can't really see them.

Again, all the details along the side panel were painted by hand using Jacquard paint.

Details were lightly painted in brown first, filled in with white, then retraced in brown.

The dress is only half-lined where necessary. I didn't want it to be bulky so I did not want to line the body at all. I used an invisible zipper along the side.

The little spades were cut from leather and hand-stitched to this panel, which was also painted.

Most of the details in the front were painted.

When cutting thinner sheets/pieces of leather, make sure you use a SHARP pair of scissors. And if you have some type of straight or long, curved edge, use a rotary cutter to keep a smooth line. This is why most of my pieces are always laid on this gridded cutting mat, most of my pieces I'm cutting with a rotary cutter. I bought a rotary cutter for $8 at an art supply store.

wind wizardry (zephie), flipped out

2010-08-17T16:00:00.001-07:00

As the Xianghua wig required zero wig styling techniques, Zephie's hair required me to do some research in curling synthetic wigs.

Luckily, Zephie's hair is not very complicated, so the flipped out curls did not have to perfectly even or even the same size.

I started with a long, dark brown wig.

I used a regular scissor to cut the layers, cutting at an angle to keep the hair looking natural. (Zephie's hair has 2 main layers--a short one, then a few long strands at the back)

A liberal amount of hairspray was used at the bangs to separate the sections.

For the short layer, I used a large barrel curling iron, which I had to turn on, then turn off once it was heated as the lowest heat setting was still too hot for the synthetic fibers. I wet the piece of hair I was curling, and clamping it in the iron, rolled it towards the scalp. I held it in place for about 20 seconds. If the hair sticks to the iron, you know the fibers have melted :\

I wrapped the curl around a toilet paper roll (I didn't have large rollers) and bobby-pinned it in place. I kept each curl around the roll for about 1 minute.

Keep in mind this is NOT the best way to curl hair, but I just used what I had, and watched a few video tutorials online. When I figure out a more efficient way I will explain in further detail or post a video.

master of death (dead master), growing pains

2010-08-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

I'll just be honest. I ignored all the Black Rock Shooter hype. Until I watched the OVA, and while people had mixed feelings about it, I really enjoyed the OVA. I thought it was a great depiction of the friendship and jealousy between teen girls. Of course I would have liked it if the "alternate reality" had been explained a bit better but... oh well.

I expect many more people to cosplay as B*RS for the upcoming conventions, and I've already seen some Dead Masters, but scythe and skull together, this would be a great costume for Halloween, and I already found friends to cosplay as Black Rock Shooter for conventions next year--awesome.

The costume for Dead Master is actually pretty easy, the most difficult part will be the 7-1/2' scythe and spinal cord horns. Both of these have to very lightweight and somewhat sturdy. The scythe will have to disassemble so I can transport it easily. This would give me a good opportunity to work with materials I had only researched about but not actually done myself--like casting and using WonderFlex.

All images via Good Smile Co.

Her hair has a dark green glimmer which... may render impossible to find a wig for,
so I'll have to dye a wig.. yikes.

I broke down the costume below...

I always do a flat sketch of sorts with my seam lines so I have a mental record of how to draft the pattern, and some notes on materials I need to buy for the costume.

This illustrates my attempt to gather all my materials in the beginning, but I always end up changing something or realizing something else works a little better, so I have to keep my options open and not remain stubborn on using a certain item/material for each part.

wind wizardry (zephie), accessories 2-belt

2010-08-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Continuing on with the costume, here is the "belt" piece. It's not a belt actually as it doesn't wrap around the body, but it does hold the rest of the accessories.

Backed with vinyl, glued first then stitched

Raised border also cut then glued.

I cut the pieces from leather and stitched a vinyl backing (after I secured the pieces with glue), then studded to my heart's delight.

The finished "red cone"--I glued the leather strips one by one, then trimmed at the top. The bottom was leather trim with paint. For the fringe, I first stitched a small bit of trim, glued it to a toothpick and let dry overnight. The toothpick with fringe was then inserted with glue into the bottom.

wind wizardry (zephie), with the band 2

2010-08-02T10:26:00.000-07:00

A hammer, a leather hole punch and a couple snaps later, here we have the completed armbands.

Cut from leather then painted.

You can see the leather stitching is not as straight as I would like it to be; this is because I don't actually have a leather sewing machine and just used a leather needle on my home sewing machine.

wind wizardry (zephie), baby got back

2010-07-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

I realized I have a tendency to choose costumes with surprise back details. Like, the last costume I did had me painting for 5 hours straight. This one requires painting as well, but also some randomly shaped pieces and a lot of bias binding.

I mocked out how the patterns/pieces would overlap as I sketched the pattern out. I was kind of running out of time on this one so I just eyed everything according to the screenshot... yes, I'm working off this tiny, 450px by 450px screencap... ha, ha... I made a few measurements to maintain the correct proportion. There are 4 pieces that I used poly organza in fuschia for, and the rest of the pieces I used the same stretch twill as the center front bodice.

I wanted the organza to have a shimmery, dip-dyed effect--from violet to fuschia. Well, that did not happen at all when I dyed it. I used RIT liquid dye. I think I should have used iDye Poly for this one....I used the airbrush instead and touched up the edges. I pinked the edges this time to change up the look. I let the airbrush dry and then painted the white details--using Neopaque acrylic paint and Jacquard acrylic paint in Pearlescent White to add some shine.

Blurry goodness.

The twill pieces were all bound off with self-binding. All these pieces needed to be painted...

I hadn't realized how long everything took me until it was 4am.

Due to the shape of these pieces (won't lay flat),
I had to paint it while this piece was pinned on the dressform.

Deer-tree things...

Pinned/half-sewn. Needs to be touched up, still.

Dear Bryan Lee O'Malley, Thank You For Remembering the Fashionistas

2010-07-21T01:12:00.000-07:00

The past few days I have been anticipating and anticipating the release of the FINAL volume of the Scott Pilgrim comic. What? I read American comic books, too? I will read anything that is good! My dad has a large collection of Marvel comic books and I grew up flipping through those.

I didn't breeze through this final volume of Scott Pilgrim right away. I was working on my costume, which I won't finish by Comic-Con anyway. Sigh. Feeling a bit like a failure I decided to finish reading SP6 to make myself feel better. After all, Scott knows all about failing even if he might be in denial about certain moments of his failures... and memories.

I won't spoil anything for you Scott Pilgrim fans. And if you aren't reading Scott Pilgrim I suggest you pick it up and read it NOW. It might change your life. Just saying.

Something I really noticed in this last volume is O'Malley's attention to Envy Adams' fashion this time. I had to do a double-take on her shoes when she first enters volume 6. She's wearing Balmain booties! She's relevant! Thank you for that, Mr. O'Malley. And what's this dress? It's a bandage body-con dress w/ cut-out panels and mesh!

Left image scanned by me; Balmain booties image via net-a-porter.com

L-R: Herve Leger Fall 2010, Balmain Fall 2008; images via style.com

In her 3rd scene, she's wearing a double-breasted poncho--so difficult for any regular person to pull off without looking frumpy--while rocking OTK (over-the-knee) wedge boots with a Camilla Skovgaard-ish sole.

Left image scanned by me, Camilla Skovgaard wedges image via net-a-porter.com

And for her backstage look, she is wearing booties very, very similar to Burberry Prorsum's popular platform bootie from Fall 2009.

Left image scanned by me, Burberry bootie image via style.com

Whether or not these were mere coincidences, I would like to thank Mr. O'Malley for accurately portraying Envy as the rocker babe she's supposed to be.

wind wizardry (zephie), to be continued

2010-07-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

To my lovely readers, I will probably not be updating very much this week as I am scrambling to finish this costume. The rest of the how-to posts I will write-up next week--right now I am just trying to finish as much as possible before I leave for San Diego on Thursday night!!!

I've updated the COSTUMES detail page with Zephie's details, including a banner for the Xianghua costume if you haven't seen it already.

Here I go again with just a teaser of my weekend's progress~!

wind wizardry (zephie), wand-ering 2

2010-07-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

I mentioned on my Facebook page that I do not like Crayola Model Magic. It is very brittle and feels puffy. It was weird sanding it down, so I don't think I did a very good job with the sanding. I'm kicking myself for skimping a little on research this time--I could have made the wand so much better, but now I don't have time to remake this.

At the very bottom, you can see the color of the wand--I used Liquitex's BASICS acrylic paint (I highly suggest this paint if you're on a budget but still want a smooth, good-quality paint. I get it at Blick's for about $3? I linked it for you guys). It dried about 20% darker than when I applied it, which was a good thing because I thought the color was a tad too light for me.

I put about 3 coats of paint. Luckily acrylic paint DRIES REALLY FAST. I covered the swan in paper mache. Short, thin strips to make it easy to wrap around the round surface. I applied 2 layers of paper mache.

I debated using feathers for the swan... it could look very gimmicky and too soft with all the hard elements on the wand, so I ended up using manila paper (didn't have card stock on hand...) and regular printer paper, with wire sandwiched in between. The wire would make it easy for me to apply to the swan's body, and after the paint and gloss, will get rid of the "paper look".

Checking to see if the proportion is correct.

Taping wire to the "feathers"

I had to paint the wings the same white I painted the swan.

I airbrushed the swan and "wings" a little with a warm grey and light purple color to give it some more dimension. The "feathers" were inserted into the swan's styrofoam body, along with some tacky glue, and gently bent into place. I will probably be adding some more "feathers" onto the surface for more detail. This is still too simple-looking.

You can see some slight shadowing on the wings.

The swan had been painted with 3 thick coats of acrylic paint before the wings were inserted.

The vine of flowers was created by rolling the clay and wire together. I inserted small pieces of wire into the cut flower stems for more reinforcement. I had to work very quickly and keep dampening the clay to prevent cracks. I'm not looking forward to sanding this.

The white clay is also DAS clay.

Most of the details were done in clay, glued with Tacky glue while still wet.

I still have a bit of work left to do on the wand (mostly painting), but I'd say this is about 85% finished!

Also, don't you think this wand stand is great? My dad made it! I also have one for the sword that he made.... soon I'll need a closet just for "weapons"....

wind wizardry (zephie), around the neck

2010-07-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

I try to make my costumes as functional as possible, and to resemble actual clothing as closely as possible--meaning, you can actually wear these armbands, the choker is actually a piece of jewelry with a proper clasp at the back, you can actually wear the shoes... the costume doesn't look cheap... etc.

So here's the choker--a small detail that I won't leave out. I couldn't buy a scrap of python-embossed patent leather, so I just used the leather I had. It kills me inside to not be able to match this perfectly, but I only have 8 days left, so... red matte leather it is. I needed something thin enough to sandwich between the leather and vinyl backing, so I cut the charm out of vinyl and painted it gold. This was glued to the leather piece, and I cut a thin brown edging that was also glued to the top of the leather. All the edges were finished with leather. I used tacky glue and kept a damp towel nearby to clean up any glue residue. I finished the closure with a larger ribbon end, which was then painted gold in the same way I did the belt for the Xianghua costume.

Added the stud after finishing the edges of both sides.

Back detail - notice how I still have to do some trimming on the edges....

wind wizardry (zephie), in the news

2010-07-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

OK. Somehow I am now left with only 9 days to finish this extremely complicated costume. But if I reduce my daily sleeping to 3-4 hours a day, I will complete this costume by next Thursday. I've pretty much been devoting 7-8 hours a day onto this costume, after the 9-10 hours a day I work at my job, so I might not be the friendliest person at the moment :(

This post took me a while to write up because there was a lot of time between waiting for the glue to dry, sanding the clay and finding the correct materials.

There are some weird belt accessories on Zephie's dress, and I was at first very confused as to how to recreate these objects. I figured they should be lightweight, and while walking around the crafts store, I found some styrofoam--I picked up some spheres and a cone, which I ended up sanding and gluing together to make the appropriate shapes. I even used a little bit of clay to help with the shaping.

The first accessory here is ... what I will call a red cone. It has a rounded bottom, and ring attached to the top end. A tassel of sorts will need to be attached to the very end. For this I started w/ a cone-shaped styrofoam piece and a sphere. The sphere was cut in half, then glued to the bottom of the cone. The cone was cut at the top and bottom to keep the correct proportion. I was very fortunate to find bone rings at the fabric store. I bought 6 pieces for about $1.50. I shaped the ring attachment in clay, glued the ring into the clay, and attached the top using tacky glue and toothpicks. The shape was finalized using paper mache. The next steps for me are to spray paint the body and attach the leather strips.

I used Crayola Model Magic for more shaping.

Paper mache

Toothpicks and tacky glue help keep things in place.

Letting the clay dry!

The second accessory here is ... what I will call the ivory bottle.

Attached w/ glue and toothpicks.

Shaped w/ some clay.

Drying the 5th layer of paper mache. I still have a few layers left to achieve my desired shape.

Here's the 3rd object, the brown ornament. I didn't really think about it before putting the "strap" on, so I had to remove the piece and start over. I hung the styrofoam ball from my lamp and used short, thin strips of newspaper to keep the circle shape--using large strips of newspaper makes it difficult to mold to the round surface. The loop/strap will be molded with clay around a piece of floral wire, then attached to the sphere after all the colors have been sprayed.

Put the strap on too early :(

At this point I realized I should have just bought a Christmas ornament.

wind wizardry (zephie), with the band 1

2010-07-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

I wish I wasn't rushing through this costume like I am. But I did not plan out my schedule efficiently this year and spent too much time on Xianghua.

Anyway, with about 15 days left for me to finish this costume, I will have to do the best I can within my time limit!!

So here are the armbands. They are supposed to be one of the easiest parts of this costume, but as you can see from all the pieces below, they're actually quite complicated. I studied the screenshots from the game for a while and finally figured out how to make them functional.

If these are your screenshots, let me know so I can credit you.
I don't know where I got these, it was way too long ago! Sorry!

The leather I bought was too thin, and because of that I lost out on some of the detail I wanted to incorporate--if it was thicker I would have been able to crease it, and it would probably be a more accurate reflection of what a sturdy leather armband would be.

I bought a few different types of materials when I went to pick up the contrasting red leather (I really wanted patent leather but I could not find it anywhere!) and ended up using the matte red leather as the contrast. I had bought a vinyl as well, with a stiff backing, as an alternate option, but decided to use this as a backing for my flimsy leather.

Top to bottom: Real leather, canvas, faux leather, vinyl

Everything was first glued into place then sewn on a regular machine with a size 16 leather sewing needle. I had some problems sewing the leather (wouldn't move under the foot), but after a bit of online research, wax paper solved this issue. By sandwiching the leather between pieces of wax paper, I could easily sew and tear off the paper. I don't have too much experience sewing leather so my stitches were not as clean as they should have been... well, practice makes perfect!

I stuck one more piece of vinyl as backing (shown below), and laid all my leather pieces to press flat underneath some hardcover books and binders.

I still have to add snaps and a "buckle", but I'm going to San Francisco tonight so I won't be able to work on my costume until Monday! :(!

Also, thanks to everyone for your support on my everydaygaga website. It is hilarious that people actually think I wear that costume everyday.

wind wizardry (zephie), accessories 1

2010-07-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit hard documenting the progress on this costume as I don't have all the materials I need, so I can't post a complete entry--a bit frustrating.

Anyhow, I've completed a lot of the work on some of the accessories on this costume, which I'll briefly run through below:

1. Bust piece
I don't know what this piece really is, but it's separate from the garment and attached to the center front at the bust. I tried to make it more complicated than it really is and wasted too much time trying to perfect it. My original idea was to use applique for the brown areas, but my fabric frayed too much and it turned out a bit messy. I'm also on a time limit so painting was the best option for me.

The pattern.

The points gave me a hard time--the secret is to use tiny stitches and clip your edges like mad so the points are sharp when turned right-side out.

Not done yet; need to add white and some flower petals....

2. Armband "ruffle"
Here's the fabric piece that attaches to the leather part of the armband. This isn't exactly the fabric I wanted to use, but I still wanted it to match the rest of the costume so I used the same fabric as the skirt and bust piece. I cut it slightly on the bias so it flares out a little when attached the armband. I still don't have a merrow edge machine yet so I had to use No-Fray Glue for the edges again. I would never use this glue for regular, everyday clothes. I actually don't even like using this for the costume, but I will make do with what I have for now.

3. Leather strips
These are the strips that wrap around one of the belt accessories. I haven't even finished the accessory itself but I thought I should just get all the painting out of the way (besides the painting that needs to be done on the actual outfit), and try to finish all the accessories as soon as possible. I already had the base of this accessory completed, so I was able to go ahead and cut out the strips. I busted out my rotary cutter to achieve clean edges on the leather.

I love the texture!

My table is way neater than the floor....

smelly flower (xianghua), the photoshoot

2010-07-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

I'm at Anime Expo now, probably getting sunburn, but here are some photos from the shoot over the weekend for those of you who couldn't make it out here to sunny Los Angeles!!! Thanks for reading from the beginning of this journey, if you were!

Xianghua - Soul Calibur IV Player 1 cosplay

Costume, Hair, Make-up by Denise Kuan
Photography by James Kuan, in Los Angeles

For those of you interested, here's the make-up I used. I'm no expert make-up artist
but I enjoy this opportunity to try some different looks!

Lipstick: Maybelline Color Sensational in Pink Petal
Foundation: Laura Mercier
Loose powder: Bare Minerals
Eye makeup primer: Almay
Blush: NARS Mata Hari
Mascara: Chanel Inimitable
Eyeshadow: Chanel Quadra in Mystic Eyes
Eyelashes: Random brand from drugstore
Nail polish (not pictured): Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in "Diamonds"

And here are the earrings I got from Anthropologie! Very close to the video game.
A bit pricey for earrings I may only wear once....

Well, I hope you guys had fun reading my process, I sure went through a lot
constructing this costume! Thanks so much for reading!

why katy perry would not approve of the new wonder woman

2010-07-01T01:07:00.000-07:00

I've posted about superheroes before, and I sure as hell post a lot about costumes. I usually don't rant or complain about certain things, but I thought I just had to shed some light onto this currently very popular topic of discussion:

The "new" and "improved" look of Wonder Woman.

When I think of Wonder Woman, for some reason I also like to think of Katy Perry. I am not a huge fan of Katy's, but I WILL sing "Hot N Cold" and "I Kissed a Girl" before we get completely drunk at karaoke. AND BEFORE YOU get mad at me for linking the 2 together, I have very good reasons:

1. I wouldn't want to pick a fight w/ either of them.
2. Fluffy dark brown hair
3. Tall and fierce-looking
4. Generous rack
5. Nice legs
6. Fair skin

I think from what we've seen of Katy's ensembles, a bustier and hot pants are quite standard for Katy.

The hot pants aren't going anywhere.
L-R: Photos via celebrityphotos.sheknows.com, teamsugar.com, absoluteradio.co.uk

So now, let's take a look at this new Wonder Woman outfit, and why I believe Katy Perry would highly disagree with it.

I've juxtaposed my arguments with quotes from acclaimed writer J. Michael Stracynzki, via deadline.com.

Let's start from the top:

Image via deadline.com - original article

1. Did she kill Sailor Mars and jack her tiara? And then... glue the earring on top of the crystal to .. disguise her CRIME!!???

Poor girl.
Image via straferight.com

2. The jacket: "She can close it up to pass unnoticed...open it for the freedom to fight...lose the jacket or keep it on...it has pockets"
--Open it for the freedom to fight? So... it's like a half-costume? Is it like... Superman/Clark Kent? He has to wear his outfit underneath his suit? She can close it up to pass unnoticed? What if it's really hot outside? Leather jackets are not ... that easy to move in. Lose the jacket or keep it on? That's a lot of work. Are there only pockets in her jacket? Are there pockets in her boot-pants? Pant-boots? Whatever? Katy Perry doesn't wear jackets. I don't know where she puts anything either.

3. The bustier/bodysuit/thing: To the many female fans over the years who've asked "how does she fight in that thing..." I have some answers: a) metal boning. You can dance in those strapless dresses you wear to prom, right? b) Watch this video of Beyonce performing at the 2009 MTV Europe Awards [link - just skip to 2:30 and you'll see what I mean]. c) Last I checked, Katy Perry hasn't had a nip slip yet.

4. Her bracelets. Yay. They're still there. But what the hell, they're wrist-warmers. Those aren't bracelets. They don't match the rest of her outfit. They make her entire outfit look as though she forgot to take her crime-fighting outfit off when she went to pick up her kids after their soccer game. Katy hasn't over-accessorized to this point. Yet.

5. What the hell is this belt-thing that has a chain? So... she's trying not to be flashy (hence the leather jacket) but she'll wear a blingin' belt.. with a chain? At least when Katy blings, she's completely shiny.

MTV Video Music Awards 2009
Images via zimbio.com, aceshowbiz.com

6. Okay, I don't know where the boots start and the pants end. Boot-pants/Pant-boots are Rihanna territory.

Image via gofugyourself

7. The anklets. See #4 regarding over-accessorizing.

I think I liked it better when I questioned how certain heroines/villainesses fought in their seemingly skimpy outfits, but being that I've made some costumes (and had to figure out how to make them comfy and well-constructed), I... don't find it all that impractical now. I think we females deserve some credit for figuring out ways to wear some outrageous styles without flashing unnecessary body parts, and in the case of Wonder Woman, kick ass while rocking a unique, iconic style.

smelly flower teaser

2010-06-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a teaser from the photoshoot for my Xianghua/Soul Calibur cosplay today!

wind wizardry (zephie), skirting the issue

2010-06-24T03:45:00.000-07:00

Even though the pattern for this costume is by far 1230808230958x more difficult than my Xianghua costume, I was very lucky to have my first sample FIT, with only some minor corrections.

All the times I rushed to the fabric stores to pick up materials for Xianghua, I kept my eyes peeled for materials I could possibly use for this costume, since I knew I wouldn't have very much time at all.

Among the main fabrics I've decided to use for Zephie's outfit, I purchased a semi-stretchy active-wear fabric with a good amount of spandex (similar to an interlock jersey, or a doubleknit) for the side panels (I'll have to stiffen the collar with a thick fusible); a stretch twill for the center front, and a printed cotton fabric for the skirt.

The easiest part was the skirt...or so I thought. I wanted to speed through it and cut the entire skirt in a circle, thinking there would be enough flounce. Unfortunately there wasn't enough, so I ended up cutting 4 pieces total for each of the skirt's layers, 2 layers total, then cutting corresponding pieces of tulle (still leftover from the Bjork costume) to give more pouf underneath. I pleated the entire skirt as it was pinned on the dressform to make sure the look was similar to the illustration.

The drawback to my fabric was that the rose print was so faint the details wouldn't stand out as they should, so I had to paint, again. I used my favorite Jacquard Lumiere textile paint, in Pearlescent White, let it dry 24 hours, heat-set the paint, then painted some outlines in Metallic Gold.

The picture above this one shows the completely painted flounce.

The skirt edges were bound off with 1/4" self-binding, meticulously cut and pressed.
One round took me one hour to sew.

The extra 2 hours it takes to add the binding to the edge makes a big difference in
the overall quality of the garment. Look how clean the 2nd layer looks with the binding
as opposed to the top layer which has not been bound off.

Now, the lace I found for the 3rd layer of the skirt was the most expensive part of this project. It was $30/yard. That cost MORE than my entire 5.2 square feet of LEATHER! I had to buy 2 yards of this lace. And then I had to dye it. It did not absorb the dark brown dye very well--I stirred it for 40 minutes.

The 1st attempt: why isn't it dark brown!?! :(

Dyeing the 2nd time. Looks nasty! Like brains?!

I left the lace to dye longer the 2nd time and did not wash it out as thoroughly as I did the first time. If I were to be wearing this costume everyday, I'd have to wash it out completely, but since I'm wearing this for a mere 2 days (barely), I don't need to.

The 3rd layer skirt's base fabric was a slinky lining fabric called "Ambience" that is not super cheap ($7/yard. I only used half a yard, though) but has a beautiful drape and will not bulk up the rest of the skirt.

Each piece of the skirt was cut circular.

I overlocked the edges of the lining to make my life easier..

My noisy, part-time best-friend.

Here's the completed skirt portion in all its semi-glory...

There's a top piece that connects to the bodice (not shown). The skirt also does not fit over the shoulders of my dressform :(

smelly flower (xianghua), conquered!

2010-06-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to be finally finished with this project. I feel like it took me forever (oh, wait... it did--75+ hours!), and I'll be happy to reveal the final photos when I complete the photoshoot!

Here is the complete breakdown in hours of how long this costume took me....

7 total hours dyeing trim
4 hours drafting patterns
6 hours total purchasing supplies
3.5 hours airbrushing
8 hours cutting all fabric pieces
3.5 hours to sew shorts
6.5 hours to sew bustier
12 hours to sew jacket
6 hours to paint jacket
30 minutes to make choker
20 minutes to make armwarmers
30 minutes to paint socks
1 hour to modify/paint shoes
30 minutes to assemble/airbrush floral hair pin
1.5 hours to assemble belt
14 hours to modify/paint sword
1 hour to cut/style wig

I'll be wearing this costume at Anime Expo July 2nd and 3rd (and again at Comic-Con the 3rd weekend of July), so I'd love to meet any of you fellow cosplayers/otaku !!

wind wizardry, wand-ering

2010-06-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

Patterns and fabrics aside, I decided to try and finish the wand first. Today is Father's Day, so I didn't ask my dad to help me. I only requested that he help me cut the styrofoam. I joked that he gets to spend Father's Day helping me make another weapon. He looked at the illustration and said, "...you have your work cut out for you." (then he walked away and resumed watching his Korean dramas...) I started working on this since 3PM and it's now almost 9PM.

My dad and I went to Halloween Club again to look for pre-made weapon bases (last time we used a Zorro sword, disassembled and reassembled the entire thing). I thought of using PVC tubing for the wand base, but that would be way too heavy. We found a weird fairy wand or broom? on sale and started with that. My dad sawed off the extra length, and we headed to Michael's next. I needed the wand to be very lightweight since I'd probably be carrying it around all day, so I already had in mind to use Crayola's Model Magic (very light type of clay, I guess it isn't really even clay since it's more like a marshmallow-consistency) and styrofoam. I bought styrofoam in a few different shapes--an egg for the swan base, some small circles for the end of the wand, a cone for a belt accessory, and some larger balls for another belt accessory. Styrofoam is extremely difficult and nasty to paint on, so these will be papier-mached over. Using these materials will make the wand 10000x lighter than using a huge hunk of clay to mold over the wand.

Styrofoam

I simply used some toothpicks and a lot of tacky glue to secure everything.

I also used some floral wire. This is not very pliable, so I had to use pliers to get the shapes I wanted.

There are tiny cherry blossom-type flowers everywhere on this wand, so I bought a bunch of cheap fake flowers, cut the stems off and painted the tips a dark brown.

Don't they look like they were dipped in chocolate? Maybe I'm just hungry...

I used an entire package of Crayola's Model Magic for creating the base shapes on the wand and my belt accessories!

(belt accessories)

The downside to using this clay is it takes 72 hours to fully dry, whereas the DAS clay took only 20-24 hours. I will be sanding the surfaces smooth, so I am not worried that some of the clay looked bumpy in areas.....

smelly flower (xianghua), fake

2010-06-14T01:16:00.000-07:00

I uploaded photos of hair being cut on my Facebook, and all my friends thought I had actually cut my hair. Since I'm wearing 2 different costumes with different hairstyles, I can't! (My hair isn't even brown right now anyway...)

I ordered 2 cheap wigs from eBay, the longest dark brown wigs I could find with bangs.

Yes, that little ducky is holding a toothbrush :)

I stopped by Hollywood Wigs on Hollywood Blvd (my favorite wig place) and picked up wig heads--$6 each!

I spent no more than $15 on this wig--combs included. I bought a basic comb set at Rite Aid for about $3, and just used a household scissor to cut the layers. The ribbon in the hair was leftover from the socks, and the gold trim leftover from the choker.

This concludes the Xianghua costume, please check back July 7th for photos! I've already gotten started on my Zephie costume, so I am excited to share the progress on it!

all day everyday

2010-06-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

The new project I mentioned briefly in yesterday's post is surely not such a huge secret to you, my dear readers.

Last October, I replicated a Lady GaGa outfit from scratch and outlined the process on this blog, and never did a "proper" photoshoot for it. As I brainstormed ideas for a photoshoot that would be interesting and distinct, I thought of presenting the costume in a series of "everyday" shots (I kept in mind that Lady GaGa dressed in costume 24/7). I pitched the idea to my friend Mike about it, wondering if it would seem "interesting", and he suggested that it might be MORE interesting to actually take photos everyday, of seemingly mundane activities that every regular Joe and Jane has to partake in--chores and whatnot. This turned into a discussion on making a website, the title and the numerous activities I would participate in.

I was fortunate that Josh, the photographer from my lingerie shoot back in December, was willing to shoot the first set of photos for me. I had started planning this back in January of this year, and Josh joined me in March. We spent a few months corresponding back and forth via email on activities we wanted "Everyday GaGa" to do.

Finally, after months of working discreetly on this project, and poking around the web to make sure no one else had done something like this yet, I was happy to unveil my latest project, Everyday GaGa, last Tuesday, June 1st.

Just one day in the life of GaGa

The site is updated everyday, at a different time everyday, to correspond with the activity of the day.

You can follow the site on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/everydaygaga

On another note, since my costume-making and Everyday GaGa have now sucked up the remainder of my life, I will no longer be updating the TUMBLR. I simply do not have the time to properly post on it anymore, and I'm not the type of person who likes to half-ass anything. It's 110% effort from me, or 0%, so while the tumblr will still exist, there will no longer be any updates.

smelly flower (xianghua), belted

2010-06-06T02:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted any status on my Xianghua costume. You probably figured out by now that I had another huge project brewing, and I will blog about that later! If you haven't seen it already, then you should be in for a treat :)

I didn't mention that I had to dye the TASSEL of this belt a total of 4 times. The first time was a complete failure as the tassel didn't absorb the dye properly. The 2nd and 3rd times, I bought fringe and dyed that. The fringe wouldn't take the dye, instead becoming a really dirty, mold color. During my 3rd trial, I realized that the color completely washed out during my final rinse, but the color stayed vibrant during the dyeing process.

Left: A trim that did not take the dye properly (I didn't show the result);
Right: The fringe, before dyeing

The 2nd time I dyed the fringe

The 4th time, unwashed

So for my 4th trial, I did not wash the fringe. I am surprised the color came out this close to the belt, which I dyed in a separate trial.

Next, the reference photo I had did not depict the details entirely, so I was free to interpret the front of the belt. I sewed buttons to the center of the flowers I had sewn, and glued, then clamped ribbon ends to the sections I would be adding beads to.

You can see that the color is a lot lighter after it's dried.

I could not find golden ribbon ends to match my beads, so I had to paint them with 2 coats of acrylic paint, then I used clear nail polish (2 coats) to add some shine to the ends. I used a thin brass wire to string the beads.

Just regular old Rimmel top coat!

Since it was near impossible for me to find the exact type of tassel for the end of the belt, I had to sew the fringe to make a "fake tassel". Luckily there was a butterfly decoration where the belt would connect to the tassel, so I pulled out the clay again, and glued all the pieces together.

it's an uver, UVERworld

2010-06-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

As I previously had featured a Japanese rock musician (Miyavi) in March, noting his extremely unique and quirky style, there is no end to the selection of interesting outfits worn by Japanese musicians (in pop or rock). But while their clothing choices may pique my interest, their music may not always warrant a second listen for me.

In the case of rock band UVERworld (the site is in English!), I first fell deeply in love with TAKUYA's voice (hey--the guy can rap, sing and beatbox), when I heard the second opening theme to the anime "Bleach". If you ever get the chance to noraebang (Korean karaoke) with me, you'll quickly learn that I know this song by heart. My friend Rick later sent me one of their albums, and I became a crazy UVERworld fangirl.

Image via fanpop.com

It wasn't until I came upon their live performance from this year's ONTAMA Carnival show that I realized their vocalist rocks quite the wicked street style:

Plaid shirt + deep V + fur tail + waxed skinny jeans + shearling-lined boots + single fingerless glove + blonde tips = normally, that would never work.

Furry sweater coat with a tank.

In the most recent issue of Arena37c (a popular Japanese rock magazine), he's wearing a ruffled bomber, zipped vest and very interesting pants...

Scanned by me

Patchwork denim!! I'm not sure if they work, post-70's, on ANYONE,
but this doesn't bother me at all. Image via fanpop.com

Here's their debut single, "D-tecnolife", which is one of my favorite songs, ever...

And I'd like to mention that their latest video, "GOLD", was the 1st video to be released in
3D in Japan. Unfortunately the video was removed from Youtube recently... too bad, because TAKUYA rocks some crazy gold fringed pants in the vid!

smelly flower (xianghua), belting it out

2010-05-27T01:24:00.000-07:00

With only a few elements left to complete on this costume, I am very excited to finally wrap up this project that has sucked my life away for the past 3 months.

That being said, I was frustrated when I had to dye the belt trim 3 times. I decided to use a 100% rayon rattail trim, which is about the same material used for Chinese knotting. However, seafoam rattail doesn't happen to be sold anywhere... which is why I decided to use the 100% rayon--it would soak up the dye better than a nylon or poly trim.

College-student-style, hand-stirred in hot water for 30 minutes.
I have been watching D.Gray Man while stirring. Because watching an anime about exorcists
is the best accompaniment to dyeing trim.

Unfortunately, my first attempt (below, on the very right) was too teal. I had bought RIT Liquid Dye in Teal, and thought the color would be ok. But that was just me being lazy, I really knew I had to mix in some green... anyway, I went to a different fabric store and picked up some Kelly Green, along with more rattail trim to dye the second time.

Welcome to my bathroom.

Instead of rattail trim, I picked up a thin polyester binding to test out. I had to stir this trim for about 50 minutes in order to properly absorb the color. At the same time, I decided to dye the tassel for the end of the belt at the same time. 50 minutes later, the color was a weird, faded green and the tassel didn't dye very well. The poly was also not very shiny=no good.

The next day I decided to buy the rayon rattail again, and redyed it using a little more green this time, and included a rayon fringe to replace the failed tassel from the previous night.

I bought this in ivory. I don't know what this is anymore.

As you can see in the photo above, on the very left, the fringe and rattail are too green. If you look at the trim in the center, the color is correct! I guess it just had to dry overnight! Sweet.

This was the poly trim.

inside/out/outside/in

2010-05-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

I was mentioning on Twitter over the weekend that I'd be rearranging the furniture in my apartment. Alright, who am I kidding, I don't really have any furniture, mostly bookshelves and a rack of costumes/clothes I made. I'm trying to make my apartment more people-friendly. My next step will probably be to finally purchase a worthy dining table so I can stop eating college-style (upside down cardboard box).

When you're re-organizing, the best part is finding "that book" you thought you lost, or finding "that pair of earrings" you forgot you had. There was a book I bought quite a while ago at Urban Outfitters (I never even buy clothes there), titled "Bears".

"Bears" is by Kent Rogowski, a photography teacher at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), who, according to a brief introduction by Diane Karp, "...Kent Rogowski turns all that inside-out (literally as well as figuratively) presenting us with the other aspect of a collection of bears that now become quirky alter egos to the ordinary cuddly things..." I spent most of my time upon purchase of this book trying to guess the actual appearances of these bears, and some of the "inside-out" versions of these bears were actually a bit freaky-looking.

As someone who makes clothing, the inside of a garment can be more important than the outside of the garment, which is why I enjoy showing the inner construction of everything on my blog.

Lanvin is a design house that also treasures the inside-as-outside idea, and if you visit any Lanvin boutique or Lanvin stockist, you can see that most of their garments have the seams along the outside.

Other designers enjoy showing their garments inside-out, and there's even one particular spread (one of my favorites) titled "inside-out", from Vogue Hommes International, styled by the fabulous Joe Zee....

L-R: Rick Owens' Lilies line is 90% knits sewn with the seams exposed (image via net-a-porter.com); Alexander Wang's corset dress from Fall 2009 has the boning sewn on the outside (image via google)

Comme des Garcons' Fall 2010 RTW collection included shapes that seemed to be body organs, sewn on the outside of each garment... (all CdG images via style.com)

L-R: Comme des Garcons Fall 2010 RTW; Juun.J Fall 2010 (image via wwd.com)

smelly flower (xianghua), along the edges

2010-05-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

I can't put my finger on the number of hours I already spent on this jacket.... most notably, these scalloped edges are making me quiver on the edge of my sanity.

As mentioned in my previous jacket post, I used Aleene's No Fray glue to finish the edges.

Attaching the lining and outside pieces along the center front were another problem to tackle... I couldn't very well sew them together, and I really did not want to use glue. For some reason I thought there might exist a "double-sided" fusible/interfacing, so I randomly googled (I'm aware that "googled" hasn't officially been integrated into the official American dictionary yet) this term, and sure enough, it DOES exist. Its primary use is for applique, and its alternate name is "Wonder Under". I used this to bond my fabrics together.

The edges were too fine for me to bind off, so I actually just painted the edges with the same acrylic paint I used for my sword and choker...the purple paint is the Jacquard Lumiere fabric paint.

who wears short shorts?

2010-05-19T02:40:00.000-07:00

If I were a martial arts/sword-master, short shorts wouldn't be my ... ideal choice of clothing to allow for ease of movement. Anyhow, let's hope I don't really do any type of martial art in these.

Naturally, an elasticized waistband would be the easiest way to construct these shorts, but the shorts appear extremely fitted. They're also outrageously short, so I debated where exactly to put my closure, and what type of closure to use. I finally settled on an invisible zipper along the center back.

Trust me. This is OK. I squatted, did some lunges in them and nothing happened.

I used 2 types of bias binding for this: the fabric itself and the same blue I used for the bustier.

Yeah... that lace again...

Here is the shape.... it's basically a super fancy diaper?!

jumper capsule player

2010-05-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Since I returned from Japan a mere few days ago, I felt I should write briefly about a Japanese artist this time--or two--the duo behind J-techno/trance act "capsule".

L-R: Toshiko, Yasutaka (uh... he's looking a little like Andy Samberg here?

I swear this image isn't from a digital short...)

image via xmages.net

capsule officially debuted in 2001, their latest release in March marking their 9th year working together. The mastermind behind capsule, Yasutaka Nakata, personally handles every aspect of anything the duo puts out. We can hear in capsule's music, similarities in beat arrangements to popular American and European techno artists, with a fantastical, anime-like twist. This type of feeling behind the music is only encouraged by the overly cute frontwoman Toshiko Koshijima, who we can see bouncing around in the "Jumper" video.

"Jumper" is one of my all-time favorite songs from capsule, even if Toshiko repeats
the same verses over and over with different melodies...

She can't be human, she is so cute!
image via bonkurasu.animeblogger.net

There are a few other Japanese techno/electronic acts people have recommended to me as I love capsule, but don't seem to be as unique or even similar. Even listening to their music, late at night, cruising through downtown LA, is quite the surreal experience that I rarely encounter.

I always find it amazing how techno acts can differentiate themselves from each other, and capsule is one that offers the genre a distinct, playful mood of their own.

One of their older songs, "idol fancy"

wind wizardry (zephie)

2010-05-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Rzephillda Grena Berlinette, aka "Zephie" is from the not-so-popular game "Magna Carta 2" from Softmax. All cred in these characters from the game stem mainly from Hyung-Tae Kim's character illustrations. I'm not the type to cosplay as a character I know nothing about, and I was fortunate that my friend Ken gave me the game since he knew I was planning to cosplay as Zephie.

After playing the game, I realized something: Zephie sucks. Her attack strength is low and her attack range isn't as far either. She's good for healing your other characters. My favorite character in the game is actually Crocell, a fire wizard, who is usually my leader in the pack and the one I take the best care of. I debated for a while whether to make the Crocell costume or Zephie costume... but after discussing with close friends and realizing that this would be the costume I plan on entering into Anime Expo's Masquerade contest, Zephie's costume was technically more challenging. After all, I do enjoy torturing myself.

If you've been following my Xianghua costume process, you can tell that it took me on-and-off, about 2-1/2 months, and ### hours. Anime Expo is the first week of July, leaving me with 7 weeks only to finish Zephie.

Through all the trials and errors I experienced through the Lady GaGa outfit and Xianghua costume, I've gained significant knowledge on the appropriate materials and techniques to complete a costume of this degree. However, I'm sure I'll be pulling my hair out at 3AM trying to bind something or paint something...

My first task would be to draft the pattern, which seemed a bit daunting to me initially since I would be using a combination of knit and woven fabrics. If you noticed on my tumblr, I was already picking my brain in March on the fabrics to use for Zephie.

I tried to break the entire costume down at the first stage...

above: Hyung-Tae Kim's original sketch, with my notes

smelly flower (xianghua), jaketto

2010-04-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the previous post, I'm not a fan of scalloped edges. And as I mentioned also, there are pretty much only scalloped edges in this costume... especially on the jacket. Sigh.

(the front scallops haven't been cut yet)

I didn't realize that it took me an hour to do the scalloping on one sleeve (cutting, ironing, pinning, more ironing...), and it wasn't exactly perfect for me. I now felt a little intimidated by the front edges of the jacket, because the scallops are so fine and the shapes, a little more irregular.

Luckily, I found this at the fabric store!!!

Thank you Aleene, again, you have made my life easier. No fray glue! So what if it took me an hour to cut the scalloped edges? I don't have to bind them. I would rather apply this glue to my raw edge any day than bind off these edges!

Though, it is too bad I didn't pick up this glue before I singed the edges from my chiffon overlay.

smelly flower (xianghua), bustin' out

2010-04-26T01:15:00.000-07:00

So I wasn't going to post about the making of the bustier either, but it took me about 7 hours to construct it, which probably deems it worthy of its own blog post.

This was supposed to be the easiest part of my costume, but I underestimated the amount of work that would need to go into it... the binding, the lace (yeah, that lace that took me 2 hours to DYE.), the airbrushing.... I also messed up at one point and that cost me an hour and a half. But even as I'm pulling my hair out, if I wasn't pulling my hair out at some point in this costume, there would be no reason for me to work on it.

This bustier was comprised of 3x the number of components compared to my Lady GaGa costume. Compared to this costume, my Lady GaGa costume was a cinch. This current costume is probably edging towards 150 hours. (also 2x the amount of time I spent on the GaGa costume) I haven't even finished sewing the shorts or jacket yet. I spent too much time on the little details in the beginning and should have focused on the major components of my costume, but at least now I know how to balance my time between accessories and the clothing.

The bustier is made up of 3 parts:
1. Self fabric
2. Lining top
3. Lining inside

If you noticed in my sketch reference, the lining (or what I'm calling the lining) is longer than the self. I hate seeing messy, unlined reverse sides, so I cut another piece (lining 2) so I could conceal all my stitching. Also, I needed this second piece to create a casing for my boning.

I had the most difficult time sewing the scalloping at the edge of the lining. The first time I sewed it, the scallops weren't obvious enough (the curves were not very visible). I had to rip out the entire seam and restart. I reshaped the scallops, cutting them deeper, and left a 1/4" seam allowance to clip and properly finish the edges. That part alone took me over 2 hours. I am not a fan of scalloped edges now. Unfortunately for me, every other edge on my costume is a scalloped edge.

Here, I'm cutting the bias binding from an ultramarine poly satin. You can buy pre-packaged binding at your local fabric/crafts store, but I needed a specific color, texture and width. I usually like to coordinate the color or texture with the rest of the garment, so I prefer to make my own binding if I'm looking for something in particular.

The airbrushed bustier. I used a total of 3 air cans so far. I switched back and forth between the air cans and air compressor, because my compressor actually was not at the correct pressure for use with Copic markers and that made my life very difficult. You can read about the Copic markers and airbrushing system here.

I sandwiched the lace between the lining and self at the top edge...

Oh, and here's my pincushion, in case you ever wondered.

smelly flower (xianghua), a-stir

2010-04-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

I wasn't planning on posting about the trim on this costume, but I thought it would be worthwhile to share my little foray into dyeing trims.

After trips all around the shops on Maple Street in downtown and Mood Fabrics, I couldn't find the dark violet/blue lace trim I needed for the bustier. I found a white that I loved, as well as a lilac that I felt was a close second. Since I don't have much time left to finish this costume, I thought I could settle with the second lace.

But when I matched it to my bustier lining, the color did not complement it as I had hoped, so I either had to look for another lace in the dark violet/blue, or dye my lace.

I bought a bottle of RIT dye a while ago for another project I didn't finish, in a dark denim color. I wasn't sure if my trim would absorb the dye properly, since neither of my trim were of natural fibers. They were both nylon / nylon blends.

I previously bought 4 yards of the lilac trim, because I "settled" (meaning, I got lazy and didn't want to bother with dyeing the trim), but went to look for a back-up in case the trim didn't absorb the dye. I bought the dark blue and 4 more yards of the white I liked. I don't like the pattern of the dark blue but the color is closer to my ideal.

1. ribbon for the front of the bustier
2. hanger tape
3. dark blue lace. Don't like this pattern but it's the right color.
4. white lace. Love the pattern!
5. lilac lace. Pattern is good but it's the wrong color.

If you've ever hand-dyed anything, you know there's lots of agitation going on. I threw in my tiny, 13" piece of white lace and lilac lace into a small container, and stirred them nonstop for 30 minutes. A very boring, unexciting 30 minutes in which I forced my friend to entertain me over the phone, while I stirred my lace in the bathtub.

Dye mixed with HOT water.

After rinsing, washing and blow-drying the lace, I was overjoyed! Sad, I know, it's just lace. A 1/2" wide piece of trim people will blink and miss. But now you see this blog maybe appropriately named. In my photos below, the "before" lace and "after dye" lace.

1. Lilac lace after dye
2. Lilac lace before dye
3. White lace after dye
4. White lace before dye

The white did not take the dye very well at all. It must have been a poly/nylon blend, with more polyester.

The lilac probably had some cotton blended into it, because it took the dye but wasn't completely saturated with color. But guess what? THIS WAS EXACTLY THE SHADE I WANTED!

I quickly dyed the rest of the 4 yards I bought 2 weeks ago and stirred lace in my bathtub for another 40 minutes.

Here's the finished result:

the vincent black shadow

2010-04-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

Going to concerts, like getting tattoos, can be addictive for the soul. Alright, maybe you might disagree with me on the tattoos activity, but enjoying live music, for me, is so soothing for the soul. I love basking in the world the musician is sharing with me, and how the music invades my ears and pushes the stresses of reality away. That being said, some concerts are so powerful for me that I have to enjoy them twice. There are only a few artists I will bother to see the second time, two of which include The Faint (I've never danced so hard in my life) and The Vincent Black Shadow.

Image via tvbsmusic.com; artwork by Cassandra Ford

The Vincent Black Shadow hail from Vancouver, and I'll have to thank an old coworker for turning me onto them. I guess in a way she provoked me into listening to them, as she said, "Oh. The lead singer is Asian and tiny. Reminded me of you." Unfortunately, I don't sound like Gwen Stefani and I can't pull off dark eyeshadow like TVBS' vocalist, Cassandra Ford.

After listening to "Metro" in 2008, I was hooked. I've been a fan ever since, and I must admit, Cassie's voice is much more powerful than Gwen's, and she spits out a lot more spunk. (Sorry, Gwen, I'm a fan of yours too though!) To add to her vocal prowess, the guitarist is one of the most animated (and skilled) musicians I've ever seen on stage, and he has a great sense of humor. After attending one of their live shows, I could easily see the band's shining chemistry.

"Metro" has a hot chick, monsters and guns. What more can you want?

One of the songs from their last album, "El Monstruo" - Don't Make Me So Mad

It's a shame that such a great band hasn't gotten the recognition they truly deserve, but I'm hoping great things happen for them in the future...!

Image via rockpulse.co.uk

Official site: tvbsmusic.com
On myspace: myspace.com/tvbs

Here I am with Cassie and Rob... (2008)

full metal? sort of...

2010-04-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

If you've been following me on twitter, you probably read that I tweet about "FMA" a lot. Any anime geek would immediately know I'm talking about "Fullmetal Alchemist". But I don't think a lot of my readers are anime geeks, so I'll explain in one sentence: Fullmetal Alchemist is the best manga I have ever read in my life! I finally started watching the first series (only loosely based on the manga), and became hooked. Then I watched the new series (which just came out last year, more stringent on being loyal to Hiromu Arakawa's manga) "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood", and fell in love for the 3rd time.

The story is unlike any other--dealing with the idea of alchemy, two brothers and the power of a "God". After watching the first episode, I commented "Oh my god, how cuuuuuute!!! A huge piece of armor with the voice of a 10-year-old boy!!!" I quickly discovered it was not that cute, this seemingly dark and profound story. There is a perfect balance of comic relief that keeps me gigging though.

The main character, Edward Elric, has an arm and leg made of automail (metal prosthetics), due to unfortunate circumstances. Upon seeing this, I realized it was similar to other media I've seen with characters using prosthetic limbs, or being part cyborg. FMA is different though because most media we see this type of technology is some sort of post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk environment. FMA is set in a world parallel to ours, shortly after the Industrial Revolution, in which civil wars across the country allowed for the prosthetics business to boom.

Sculpted metal parts aren't uncommon in the fashion scene either, albeit those parts aren't as practical as Edward's arm.

Although...if you were to break these parts while engaging in some sort of dangerous activity, you probably wouldn't have a cute blonde girl hurl a wrench at you.

Tetsuo from "Akira", Jax from Mortal Kombat
image via lesroquetes.com, image via fdmk.net

From Harper's Bazaar Singapore
image via fashiongonerogue.com

Barret Wallace from FFVII
image via dothack.free.fr

I can't leave out the Dior couture show from Fall 2006
detail images via style.com

Detail from Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2007, Dior Couture Fall 2006, Somarta Fall 2008

D&G, Dior images via style.com, center image via coutorture-blog.onsugar.com

I couldn't find the credited designer for this arm piece;
Dazed&Confused magazine (one of my favorite editorials of all time)
first image via trendhunter.com

Yuima Nakazato, the one and only Thierry Mugler
images via yuimanakazato.com, alifeofstyle.com

Lady GaGa's "Paparazzi" video showcases a load of Thierry, and his metal-sculpted parts.

I only included partial-cyborgs / images of metal parts, not entire robot, bionic, metal, or concealed suits. Hence you do not see Robocop, the Bionic Woman, Ghost in the Shell, Battlestar Galactica, Astroboy, Appleseed, Casshern (and so forth) in this post...

If you're interested in viewing Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, subbed episodes are free online on hulu.com.

smelly flower (xianghua), chiffon

2010-04-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

Before being able to assemble my jacket in its entirety, I had one piece left to finish--a layer of chiffon with a scallop detail...

I don't have a machine to do a merrow edge, so I burned the edges of this polyester chiffon to prevent fraying (and to keep the edge clean)

I thought of using a stencil or doing a burn-out, but after some debate in the use of materials and time, I decided to free paint (again...) the design in an shimmery, ivory Jacquard Lumiere paint.

smelly flower (xianghua), shoes

2010-04-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

One visit to Payless and a few coats of paint later...

I wanted to sew gold binding to the edge of the shoe, but I don't have the materials for that! I consider this the "painless, mindless" way... as it doesn't require an advanced knowledge of finishing/sewing techniques to modify this shoe...

I used both a regular Liquitex Acrylic paint (gold) and Jacquard Lumiere paints (Grape, Pearl Turquoise) that I used on the sword and jacket.

smelly flower (xianghua), accessories rundown part one

2010-04-09T02:30:00.000-07:00

1. Knee-high socks
2. Choker
3. Flower hair pin
4. Armwarmers
A. Pattern pieces
B. Yet to be sewn...
C. manga...

All of these were simple enough to not warrant their own individual blog posts, so I've included a brief summary of the processes below...

1. Knee-high socks:
I don't need to make my life any more torturous than it is right now (although I do like to torture myself with difficult projects), so I went out and bought knee-high socks from American Apparel. I slipped them on, airbrushed them like I did everything else, painted some details, and measured the ribbon to go around my calves 2x. I tacked the ribbon to one side of the sock for security.

2. Choker:
I used leftover lining material and 2 layers of cardstock. I cut out the shape of the cardstock first, then glued the fabric over the paper. I then painted the edges of the butterfly gold. Next, I measured my neck to figure out the correct length of the ribbon for my choker, and cut accordingly. I stitched a thin gold braid all along the edges. I wanted to use a fine trim to give more dimension to the choker--painting would be easier, but I thought it would look too flat.

Ohh.. I might be a little obsessed with purple...

I cut a tiny piece of Velcro to fit the width of the choker. The reason I placed the Velcro at the front of the neck, behind the butterfly, was to hide the closure. I debated using snaps (ow) or a hook-and-eye for a clean finish (also, ow for my neck), and although Velcro reminds me of being in preschool and the inability to tie shoelaces, this type of closure, I felt, was best for this accessory. (You can't see the closure from the back!)

3. Floral hair clip:
I bought a fake flower from the arts/crafts shop, cut all the petals off and airbrushed the shade I wanted. I hand-sewed all the petals together and attached a gold, rose-shaped button as the center.

4. Armwarmers:
Let's take a moment to embrace high-powered swimwear knits--shiny and super stretchy!

neo-japanesque

2010-03-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

During my high school years, I wasn't the "emo kid", the "goth kid", the "nerd", the "cheerleader".... I was just like every other Asian at my school: good grades, involvement in sports, active participant in club activities. However, there weren't many Asians in my school that were interested in Japanese rock music or Gothic/Lolita culture. The few of us that WERE piqued by this culture eventually went all our separate ways, and I somehow ended up working in fashion, leaving that "culture" behind. Then I started watching anime again, and a Ticketmaster email roped me back in, as one of my favorite artists would be returning to LA on a world tour.

Miyavi, as a young boy, dreamed of being a professional soccer player, but had a serious foot injury that kept him on the bench for the rest of his life. As he could no longer play soccer competitively, he took up the guitar... which, now, doesn't seem to be so bad after all.

Miyavi's origins were in visual kei, a type of Japanese rock that involves a lot of make-up, outrageous hair and ensembles (think 80's hair bands with more make-up). He was the guitarist for the band Due le quartz, who were very popular in the indie circuit and were thisclose to touring in the US. But most indie Jrock bands separate after one or two "mini-albums", and Miyavi went solo in 2002 shortly after the bands' breakup.

I don't know where this image is from (sorry!)
L-R: Kikasa (bass), Sakito (vocals), Miyabi (guitar), Kazuki (drums)

His solo debut was highly anticipated, as fans (like me) simply saw him as a pretty guitarist, slightly uncertain of his skill as a musician. I don't believe his debut album helped to confirm his abilities, but it was different from what other indie artists were producing, and of course, with his good looks, he garnered more and more (mostly female) fans. His first solo tour piqued a lot of interest as well though, as he recorded all the instruments himself on the album, and there was no mention of a traveling band.

One of his first singles, "Girls, be ambitious". I'm not crazy about it, but it did pretty well on the indie charts.

An updated version of the song, featuring the KAVKI BOYZ!
I much prefer this variation of the song.

POP is dead

Senor Senora Senorita

It was his 5th album, "Miyaviuta ~dokuso~", an all-acoustic album--just him and his guitar, that finally won me over 100%. My favorite songs from him are from this album.... (see below)

The intro track on ~dokuso~

A version of "Kimi ni funky monkey vibration" performed with TYKO;
one of my favorite tracks from his acoustic album.

On his next album, "This iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock" he collaborated with the KAVKI BOYZ, and again, changed his sound. It was funky but it was still Miyavi. I caught him on tour after the release of this album, at the Avalon in LA (my video is below). The KAVKI BOYZ performed with him, TYKO providing the beatbox, Tap SARO bringing tap-dancing skills, both giving a very unique rhythm and sound to what could have just been a very ordinary rock concert.

Though he's left the visual kei scene, he's kept some of it with him, as his style continues to evolve through his career....

Miyavi vs Tap SARO

He went on a little hiatus it seems, after that tour, and in the middle of 2009 he got married and had a daughter. This was totally unexpected as most of us Miyavi fangirls were praying that he was gay. I mean, look at him, isn't he pretty? On occasion I check the Japanese music charts, various J-music websites, and it didn't seem like he was producing music anymore....

Until I got that email today from Ticketmaster.

Scanned from "21sekigata koushinkyoku"

Scanned from "This iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock"

This is such great news for me, as he is one of the best musicians around today, though many people don't know of him. From reading his blog and seeing a few of his tweets, I could tell that he genuinely cares about his fans, much like another huge talent today, Lady GaGa. I think it's unfortunate that other superstars aren't more grateful and humble to their fans (I won't point out any in particular), and this only makes Miyavi a better artist.

Hopefully, this insanely talented 28-year-old decides to stick around for a long, long time, because not enough of the world has been exposed to his talent yet.

His latest single, "SURVIVE"

smelly flower (xianghua), meet my father (part 4)

2010-03-29T23:31:00.000-07:00

(my dad made this stand especially to hold the sword!)

The clay took about 24 hours to dry, and between that time, one of the parts fell off because we didn't properly secure it with glue....

After spending a little over an hour sanding down the rough edges and knobby shapes, my dad showed me that the hilt was ready to be painted...

I didn't really use all this paint. My dad just thought it'd
be funny to display all these colors...

That's me, obviously, my dad's hair has light colors but no pink.

After 6 coats of the goldenrod.

You can use any regular acrylic paint; don't thin it with water, otherwise you'll just be brushing all day.

I did something very, very wrong, that my dad did not point out to me until I was completely finished.

In my attempt to create a worn, rusty metal look of the sword, I started layering a goldenrod color (6 coats to completely cover the red tone of the clay), then proceeded with a dry brush to add gold accents. I then mixed the gold with brown to create a bronze tone, then mixed gold with orange to try a more "copper" tone. Then I added some silver highlights, all of which took me far too long. My dad said that in the future, I should paint the entire surface black, then use a dry brush to dab on a FEW strokes of gold or silver, which would do the trick. I thought my way was the best way to go about painting, as anyone who has painted, used markers, pastels, knows that the dark color is usually last. Anyway, I learned something very valuable this time and the next time I need to paint a sword hilt, I will heed his advice.

Only 1 coat of the ultra blue... many more coats are needed.

We're almost there...

smelly flower (xianghua), meet my father (part3)

2010-03-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

The previous post hinted at the next step of the sword-making process... CERAMICS.

My dad cut the plastic as the base, and added clay (here we're using DAS clay) for shape and more support. Without the plastic, the hardened clay would be too fragile for me to carry around all day.

Punching out the air bubbles, and also creating texture on the surface of the clay

We placed the stone into the clay before it hardened so we would be able to replace it
after the clay was hardened and sanded smooth.

The clay took 24 hours to dry, and after sanding, all that's left is the painting!

smelly flower (xianghua), meet my father (part2)

2010-03-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

I had to separate the process into more than 1 post because I had too many photos! My dad insisted that the procedures were too easy to put into a video, but I uploaded 50 photos yesterday just for this part... if I'm going to have to make an animated .gif I might as well make a video! So for the remainder of this sword-making project, there will not be video. However, there WILL be video for Zephie's wand.

Now that my dad connected the blade to the hilt and secured it with a screw and glue, our next step was to create the "guard". This part my dad asked me to sketch on the computer and make 3 copies, so he could create the base with plastic.

Finished sketch on Adobe Illustrator

Cutting the shapes out...

Taping the paper stencils onto the plastic sheet

0.5mm sheet of plastic, to be used as the base of the guard..

Cutting the shapes with the saw again...

All shapes done!

Applying glue...

There are multiple layers to be used for the guard, so here we are marking off where
to cut to fit the blade...

After we cut the 2nd layer in half, we placed it on top of the 1st layer to ensure fit

My dad realized that 3 layers would not be enough, and instead of cutting another layer
to accommodate, he simply filled in the spaces with leftover pieces...

Letting the glue dry...

Drilling the hole for the tassel at the end of the sword

Tools laid out for the next part

smelly flower (xianghua), meet my father (part1)

2010-03-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

Cosplay is not only limited to the outfit itself--sometimes the accessories help to add a finishing touch.

For example, Cloud (Final Fantasy VII/Advent Children) would not be as recognizable without his massive sword...

L-R: image via thelifestream.net, cosplay image via generationotaku.net

Both my characters are also from video games, and without having their weapons to tote around and pose with, would seem to subtract from the character.

To create my first "weapon", Xianghua's sword, I had to go down to my parents' house to ask for my dad's guidance, because he has made his own "weapons" for Halloween...

(yes, my dad makes costumes too!)

Final Fantasy Cloud sword (I put my boots next to it for scale)

Wolverine claws

My dad's Cloud sword was made from plastic, which I found out, is extremely heavy, and not practical to carry all day, so we decided to purchase a ready-made sword and modify it.

1. Store-bought sword (the blade was similar to mine)
2. Wire-cutter
3. Screwdriver
4. Dual-ended screwdriver (finer than #3)
5. Hand saw
6. Clamp

In order to customize the store-bought sword, we had to remove the extra attachment between the hilt and blade...

Close-up of blade

Cutting off the extra frills with the wire cutter

Cracking open the center of the attachment

The sword came with some sort of sound, so we had to remove the wiring...

The blade was not connected to the hilt, so my dad decided that the best way to keep the blade firmly attached to the hilt would be to carve a slot for the blade to fit in.

It would need to be secured with screws and glue.

Using an automatic saw to shave off the edges

My dad is a furniture designer, so he has a ton of tools for cutting plastic and wood, as well as an extensive knowledge of working with these materials.

Calibrator to check the widths

Fitting the blade into the hilt

Drill attachments and glue

Using the power drill to create another hole for a screw

Fitting the screw to check if the surface will remain flat.

Perfect!

My dad's tools...

The screw fits, so we have to sand down the plastic paint in order for the
glue to adhere properly.

Done!

My mom ignoring us in the background.

smelly flower (xianghua), meet jacquard lumiere

2010-03-16T01:29:00.000-07:00

Before I could assemble the entire jacket, I had to paint the back detail across the entire center back.

Yes, I did take this photo while on Character Creation mode, with my digital camera...

Ideally, I would embroider it, but that would be way too expensive. I would still have to sketch out the art as well.

The most economical way for me to replicate this effect was to use fabric paint. Fabric paint is notorious for being puffy, stiff and uncontrollable, but luckily for us who need to create elaborate designs on fabric without using a screen or embroidery machine, we have Jacquard fabric paints.

These aren't specifically for fabric. You can use them on wood or plastic (it's a type of acrylic paint), but from my previous experiences, Jacquard works the best for me on fabric.

I bought the Lumiere paints this time, since they add an extra sheen to the surface. I bought only a few colors...

Work space

I tested out the opacity of the paint on a swatch of the fabric I would be painting on. I realized I could not dilute the paint with water on this particular type of fabric as the color bled a little.

I also wanted to minimize the amount of "guidelines" I marked onto the fabric, so I only made a few minor markings with my chalk to help me find the center and points I felt were important. I just eyed the rest of the design, and modified it as I went along.

This process was important to me as a cosplayer because when I want to replicate something 2D, it is my own interpretation... I'm free to use any fabrics and materials I feel are suitable to become this character. That is why no one cosplayer is the same (unless you bought your costume)--even if you're a beginner and you realize polyester may not be the best material to use for those summer conventions, that's how we all learn!

Going back to the painting, I feel as though I need something else to make the design stand out more--to be a bit more flashy....

oh my gosh you guys, symmetry is a bitch

(not completed yet)