Days 485 - 486

The timestamps have been moved to the bottom of the post to help make things look cleaner.

So I should be working on Magikarp (for my boyfriend) and probably Femme!Link, but those costume debut dates are so far in the future. I haven't gotten any materials for the cosplays that I need to finish sooner.

Instead, I've been working on stuff for the Magikarp panel. I really hope that I keep working on it until it's finished, and not end up putting it off until the last minute like last time. We're still not confirmed for Fanime, but we're still really hoping to get to present there. We think we'll do well there. =] According to a post by Fanime's Panel Coordinator on the Fanime Forums, panel submissions will receive news of approval some time in March. Since the last approval date was the second weekend of February, I'm guessing/hoping that the next approval date will be the second week of March. So only two more weeks of nervously anticipation!

Day 484

1:50am - So I've decided that I would in fact like to start sharing tutorials, at least ones I've found, if not making my own. I'm having trouble with Blogger though, it re-sizes all of the images so that the text is illegible. I may have to use PhotoBucket and post pictures the old-school HTML way instead of the fancy Blogger way.

In any case, I would at least like to make a picture tutorial for temporarily coloring eyebrows that was seen here on Cosplay.com. I use it often, for both my Franziska cosplay and my Chii cosplay. It really works, and people are always baffled by it.

Even though I didn't come up with the method (I will give credit, I'm always very conscious of that), and it's already well-known, I would like to post it here, at least as a way of learning how to make a tutorial.

PokeBra

So I remember seeing a photo of this PokeBra a while back, and wanting one. Of course, I considered making one, but I'm an odd bra size, so a plain white bra actually costs around $50 bucks for me, and no way am I going to spend that much on a bra that I'm going to destroy.

In any case, there is now a tutorial from the original maker on how to make your own PokeBra:

It's pretty simple, but I always like tutorials for things, and I think I might start posting them more often as I find them.

The original posting of this tutorial is on szmoon.net. The poster/creator claims that the idea came from this webcomic by mis0happy.

I had thought of this before, but I guess this reminded me, should I start posting step=by-step tutorials on how I do certain bits of my cosplays? I love sharing information and tips, but I've never really gotten much interest in how I make things. So there is now a poll in the side column over thar >> so please vote!

Terra Stuff (Days 480 - 483)

1:00am - I decided to get my stuff together for my Terra cosplay, just to kind of see what I actually had. First off, I know that her goggle lenses are normally blue. However, the ones I have are yellow, and her goggles turn yellow when she uses her powers. So that's that. The wig needs some de-frizzing and some general damage control. I never really gave it the usual TLC after I used it for the Pokemon gathering. I had some difficulty getting the goggles to sit right with the wig, the wig kept on bunching up in the back. I think that some bobby pins in the back to anchor it better will help, this was a very quick test.

It turns out that the gloves that I have, which I thought I could use, are too big/bulky. I would like some bulk to whatever gloves I end up using, but the ones I have are just too big. Hopefully I can find some brown leather gloves at the thrift store or something, otherwise they could cost a pretty penny.

Also, my mom does have a pair of tan hiking boots that I might be able to borrow, since I figure hiking boots are the best thing for this. I haven't looked at them though, and if I'm remembering them correctly, I may have to make partial boot covers for them. Hopefully not, because I have no idea what I'm doing.

At least I still have about a month to get all of this together.

AoD (Days 468 - 479)

7:50pm - Well, it's been a while since I posted. I went to Animation on Display on February 19th, con report coming soon. I also went to the Pokemon Black & White Promo Tour in San Jose on February 12th, I'll do some sort of write-up on that too.

As for actual cosplay progress, I finished Franziska (again), but part o fit fell apart (again) and I'm still now happy with it (again). I'm not sure if I'll ever get this right. I need to buy a little bit more fabric and try making the neck piece again. I might also remake the jewel for the neck piece. As much as I love the one I have, it's very heavy, and it's hard to attach and never sits right. So I'll figure something out.

I also finished my new Pikachu tail, but I'm not happy with it either. It's too thick and heavy, and there are seams everywhere. That aside, though, it's very cute. Once I accepted that it was going to flop to the side no matter what I did, it grew on me, and now I think it's pretty cute. I may try to make a thinner one before Fanime, but we'll see.

I've also confirmed that I am going to WonderCon, not sure which day though. I'll be going with my boyfriend, his brother, and his brother's fiance. I don't think we're spending the whole day together, but I'm expecting to ride there and register with them, and probably eat lunch with them, but that's all. Regardless, it was really cool of them to offer to take us. I'm not really close with my bf's brother or his fiance, so I'm actually looking forward to spending time with them outside of a family trip and in a place where we're all comfortable and have something to bond over.

I'm going to be cosplay Terra from Teen Titans (pictured right) at WonderCon. the funny thing is, I completely can't remember if I liked her or not when I watched the series. I don't remember ever really disliking her (the way I remember disliking Starfire -.-), but I don't remember loving her either (the way I loved Raven =D). I'm sure I got annoyed with her, the whole Slade thing, but, well, duh, haha.

In any case, I was torn between her and a Star Trek (season 1) Vulcan Starfleet Officer with a tribble. I've always wanted a Star Trek uniform, but I'm much more partial to The Next Generation, a season 1 female uniform is a super short dress, and there's no "set" design for a Vulcan officer. Given a choice, I would actually rather have a red or yellow uniform, but because of Spock, all of the Vulcan officer cosplays I've seen are blue. I know I could do whatever color I wanted, but it's more widely accepted as blue, and I just don't want to deal with sci-fi nerds telling me I'm wrong when I know exactly what I'm doing.

Also, all of the parts that I need to buy for Terra I can re-use in other cosplays (except the belt, which I don't know how to do yet). The long-sleeved crop-top black t-shirt I need for Gardenia, and I've been wanting a pair of yellow shorts for Pikachu. So that all works out well. As for the belt, I'll see what the thrift store can provide as far as parts to put something like that together. I believe there are hiking boots in my house than I can use, as well as gloves, and I can use my Chi wig.

I'm still trying to figure out my cosplay schedule for Fanime. I'm all over the place with it. Because I'm going to be putting together Terra, I might not make Panty and just take Terra instead. I have a backup dress for the Black and White Ball (which I originally wanted to wear Panty to). I'm also still trying to figure out if I'm getting an Artist' Alley booth, which will determine my cosplay for Friday. I will figure this out!

On a side-note, our Magikarp panel went rather splendidly at AoD, so we're going to submit it to Fanime as soon as we can. Fingers crossed!

Franziska and Pikachu (Days 457 - 467)

11:20 - So considering the amount of time that's passed since my last post, I haven't really done a lot. I made another online sale, but the person's PayPal isn't verified, and they payed with an "echeck" (or something to that effect) so I'm waiting for it to clear before I send the hat. I'm a little upset because they seemed so eager to get the hat, I made it as soon as I could and contacted them as soon as I was finished, and now I have to wait. Ah well. As long as they don't start sending me angry e-mails, it's alright. I told them that I was waiting for the payment to clear before I sent it.

I tried to buy a riding crop for Franziska on ebay, but I hit a little snag. Despite it saying "Ships to: Worldwide", apparently in the description, it said "Ships to UK only." Apparently my misunderstanding was enough to prompt the seller to send me not one, but two what I felt were very rude and condescending e-mails. I can understand her frustration at the mistake, but since her settings were officially set to worldwide shipping, ebay did not notify me at any time during the checkout process that it was UK shipping only. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

I have also contacted someone on Cosplay.com about a wig they're selling that I would like for my boyfriend's Magikarp and Matt cosplays. I need it by next weekend, and the seller hasn't responded yet. I know that it's sort of my fault for waiting so long and that people are busy, but I'm getting anxious about it. At this rate, it doesn't look like he's getting a wig. I feel like it's my fault, but in my defense, he never looked for a wig either.

Speaking of people not responding, I found a second place that sold brown riding crops, but the style that I needed appeared to only come in black, even though it said "assorted colors". So I e-mailed the seller and, you guessed it, no response. Granted, the automated e-mail that I got said it may take up to 48 business hours to respond, and I only e-mailed them yesterday, but I'm getting anxious!

So I bought a different riding crop, with a buttload of shipping costs (okay, only like $7), but it's the color I want, I'm hoping the size I want, and it will be here in 2-3 business days, so by Wednesday. My backup plan is to buy leather from JoAnn's and a wooden dowel from Micheal's and just wing it from there.

Also, I figured out why it was ridiculously hard to find the right style of riding crop in brown. It's an English riding crop. For those who know nothing about horses, horse tack(equipment) comes in two styles; English and Western. From what I remember from when I used to ride horses, in the Western Hemisphere (where I live, of course), English riding gear is mainly used for show jumping. Western tack is used for everything else. So the only riding crops I could find were either around $40, because they're for show, or the black fetish gear. Now, I'm not above buying from a fetish shop. It's whatever. But the fetish shops only sold in black, because black is "sexier" or something.

The crop I ended up buying was from a tack shop in Florida, and only cost $13, plus shipping, for a total of a little over $20. I was only looking to spend about $15, but for express shipping, I decided that I'd pay more. I just hope that it's the right size. It'll look silly if it's only like.. a foot long. Should be at least 15" to look right. So we'll see what happens.

I finally bought the foam I need to make a new Pikachu tail with the female Pikachu "heart" indent. However, for some reason, I can't seem to draw the tail correctly on paper to transfer onto the foam. I don't want to buy any more, so I can really only cut it out once, maybe twice based on the amount of foam I have. I also can't find a single female Pikachu cosplayer with the heart indent tail, so I have no one to ask about it.

This weekend is the Pokemon Black and White Tour in San Jose! (Which is why I need the new tail.) I'm so ridiculously excited, and I don't even know why. They're giving away Celebi on Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver, in addition to the Celebi that they're giving away on the 27th in GameStop, so I'll get two! So excited...