So I went to Arisia last weekend...
...and I haven't yet gotten around to posting about it. For some reason, I was convinced we should dress up (i don't dress up for cons), and that it should involve rocket packs. Specifically, that we should be a sort of mercenary group of rocketeers. stubornson designed us a badge and everything, and thus the "1st Jump Infantry Deathangels Squadron" was born. This was months ago; I don't remember what the logic behind this was at all by now. Anywhoo, so he and I prototyped our costumes sans rockets (tho i had a a little baby one...please excuse my dumb expression) for Halloween. In the end, we ended up going with something totally different. Also, by that time, I had come up with a series of support roles and outfits for them...unfortunately, due to last-minute issues and the fact that I was nursing a still-sore ankle from a fall a few weeks ago that resulted in a minor sprain (but a hell of a lot of bruising), I reduced my wardrobe to my rocketeer outfit and that of one ground support.
Saturday:
Rocketeer
Rocketpack - Nearly 100% PVC piping. Tops and bottoms of tanks are furniture casters. Held together with Gorilla Glue and zip ties. Mounted on backpack frame from army surplus store.
Flight Suit, flight cap, Soviet goggles, web belt, WWII-era gaiters from army surplus stores.
Gun is a really annoyingly noisy raygun from Kay-bee toys with a really half-assed paintjob.
Armband sewed by me; Patches (on armband and chest) are custom-made based on stubornson's design.
Makeup is plain drugstore stuff (powder, beige eyeshadow, black eyeliner and mascara), with the exception of lipstick from Besame in "Besame Red." (and yes, i do have some even brighter)
Sunday:
Ground Support: Field Radio Operator
Radio headset with chest-mounted microphone is WWII-era, found on Ebay.
Shirt is from Express.
Skirt is from H&M.
Shoes are Crown Vintage, from DSW.
Hose in nude with black Cuban heels and backseams are Leg Avenue from Sock Dreams. (i was seriously accused of having drawn my seams on, btw. um, no.)
Garrison cap & tie are both from army surplus stores.
Armband & patches from previous costume. (patch on chest moved to garrison cap)
Makeup the same as before, except lipstick in "Noir Red."
As you can see, the only things actually constructed for the costumes were the rocket pack and armband. That's it. The rest is pieced together with already-existing items. Costuming can be easy! ^_^
I felt like despite the hangups (including last-minute redesigning of my rocket and the first run of patches declaring us "Deathangles"), I felt like everything came together well...but I never would have expected the reception we received. I must have posed for a million pictures, which are now popping up in places like random Flickr accounts and the Boston Phoenix's website. It's so exciting to get so much approval of my ideas. Maybe next year we'll have more people join our little group.
Apart from the costumes, the con was stressful, but fun. I attended a few panels but not as many as I wanted, as I was dead tired (which is why i have such crazy eyes in all my pics not taken by the bf) and was worried I'd sleep through them. I shopped a little bit and saw a few people I'd met before and met some new ones. By Sunday night, my increasingly-grumpy ankle was reaching an intolerable level, so we went home. It'd been my first con in years and I'm glad I went. ^_^
Saturday:
Rocketeer
Rocketpack - Nearly 100% PVC piping. Tops and bottoms of tanks are furniture casters. Held together with Gorilla Glue and zip ties. Mounted on backpack frame from army surplus store.
Flight Suit, flight cap, Soviet goggles, web belt, WWII-era gaiters from army surplus stores.
Gun is a really annoyingly noisy raygun from Kay-bee toys with a really half-assed paintjob.
Armband sewed by me; Patches (on armband and chest) are custom-made based on stubornson's design.
Makeup is plain drugstore stuff (powder, beige eyeshadow, black eyeliner and mascara), with the exception of lipstick from Besame in "Besame Red." (and yes, i do have some even brighter)
Sunday:
Ground Support: Field Radio Operator
Radio headset with chest-mounted microphone is WWII-era, found on Ebay.
Shirt is from Express.
Skirt is from H&M.
Shoes are Crown Vintage, from DSW.
Hose in nude with black Cuban heels and backseams are Leg Avenue from Sock Dreams. (i was seriously accused of having drawn my seams on, btw. um, no.)
Garrison cap & tie are both from army surplus stores.
Armband & patches from previous costume. (patch on chest moved to garrison cap)
Makeup the same as before, except lipstick in "Noir Red."
As you can see, the only things actually constructed for the costumes were the rocket pack and armband. That's it. The rest is pieced together with already-existing items. Costuming can be easy! ^_^
I felt like despite the hangups (including last-minute redesigning of my rocket and the first run of patches declaring us "Deathangles"), I felt like everything came together well...but I never would have expected the reception we received. I must have posed for a million pictures, which are now popping up in places like random Flickr accounts and the Boston Phoenix's website. It's so exciting to get so much approval of my ideas. Maybe next year we'll have more people join our little group.
Apart from the costumes, the con was stressful, but fun. I attended a few panels but not as many as I wanted, as I was dead tired (which is why i have such crazy eyes in all my pics not taken by the bf) and was worried I'd sleep through them. I shopped a little bit and saw a few people I'd met before and met some new ones. By Sunday night, my increasingly-grumpy ankle was reaching an intolerable level, so we went home. It'd been my first con in years and I'm glad I went. ^_^