Happy New Year!
And I'm only two weeks late. Again. Ho ho ho.
Anyway. I've been having a nice little break ever since the cosplay ball but with Minami ony ten and a half weeks away, I'm starting to get back into the swing of cosplay. I've got five costumes to make for Minami, two of which are for kuro2shiro, so I need to get cracking. Fortunately, making those five costumes isn't as big a burden as it sounds. Here are the costumes, and my reasons for not being particularly worried about finishing them:
1. Lamiroir. This is more or less finished, to all intents and purposes. The only thing I need to do is to fix up the cloak properly. I didn't line it the first time around, but it really needs the weight, so I'll be doing some lining for it. I've found a really easy way of remaking the hood so it looks right (just needs some assistance from someone who knows what they're doing with a box of dressmaker's pins), and then all I have to do is paint constellations all over it, which will probably be the last bit I do on this costume.
2. Machi (for Luke). Already well underway because it was originally planned for the Cosplay Ball before our original wig fell through. I've bought a replacement wig now and am going to have a bash at styling it myself, which should be fun. The only time-consuming bit I foresee now will be making the shoes.
3. Ginrei. I'm going to use the same Chinese dress pattern I used for Chun Li, and I already know from experience that that was an easy pattern to work with and the construction time was very short. I'll need to borrow a sewing machine that can handle applique so I can do the rose on the breast, but that's no problem. The biggest concern is the wig, since I found one that was absolutely perfect in terms of both length and colour on Cyperous, but they've stopped doing international orders. Boo :(
4. Medicine Seller (for Luke). Also well underway already - I have the base kimono and its lining all done and just need to obtain some more fabric so I can start doing the patterns on the kimono. I have a wig for this as well, which requires some simple styling, but I should be fine with that. This'll also require me using an applique-ready sewing machine.
5. Viola. This is the one I'm really anxious about, mainly because I don't have a pattern. I've got some interesting wig-styling experiences ahead with this, and making all the accessories is going to be fiddly, but I suspect that the top and skirt at least are far less complicated than they look. I expect the worst bit of this will be gluing all the feathers to the back of the skirt.
So, I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll be really disappointed if I don't finish Viola since it's literally almost a year since I agreed to do her, and if I don't get Luke's ones sorted I'll just be depressed. I'm actually OK with the idea of ditching Ginrei if I have to, although I will be sad to miss out on the retro theme of this year's con.
Anyway, I think the things I made most mention of above are wigs, since all but my Lamiroir costume require them. Three of them I already have, and although I think I've already put pics of them up here before, I'm going to do a quick run-down here. All wigs are modelled by Esmeralda, my wig form.
First is the Viola wig:
Ooh, lookit the pigtails. I need to reposition them slightly as they're a bit too low and too far back, and then I'll be chopping the ringlets off and using them to make ox horns. Viola's ox horns are tricky because they're a funny shape - they aren't perfect cones and are actually closer to a horn shape. I'll be using the stubbing method that I've seen detailed in various places online and making the ox horns by wrapping extensions around a foam base, but the odd shape of the horns will make things a bit more difficult. I'm probably going to buy a polystyrene heart, cut it in half and curve it along the flat edge to get it right.
Next is Luke's Medicine Seller wig:
As you can see, I've already sectioned off the front bits and all the wig needs now is to be cut to the right length in the back. I'll be getting Luke to put this on while I figure out the length before finishing off on Esmeralda. Experience has taught me that Esmeralda and her kind have much smaller heads than us normal people and thus should not be used as an accurate measure of length.
Finally, it's Luke's Machi wig, which arrived today:
I'm delighted with this wig. It's just the right colour for Machi and - having tried it on myself to check - it's just the right length and won't even need cutting. Woo! The only thing I'm not as happy about as I'd hoped is the fringe - it's not quite as long as it looked on Cosworx, but never mind, it's still workable. The only thing I'll have to do for this is to get some hair extensions in the same colour, shape them into a twirl and then attach them to a stub on the front. Not too hard, I think!
So that's how everything sits with me right now. Expect plenty of updates between now and the end of March!
Anyway. I've been having a nice little break ever since the cosplay ball but with Minami ony ten and a half weeks away, I'm starting to get back into the swing of cosplay. I've got five costumes to make for Minami, two of which are for kuro2shiro, so I need to get cracking. Fortunately, making those five costumes isn't as big a burden as it sounds. Here are the costumes, and my reasons for not being particularly worried about finishing them:
1. Lamiroir. This is more or less finished, to all intents and purposes. The only thing I need to do is to fix up the cloak properly. I didn't line it the first time around, but it really needs the weight, so I'll be doing some lining for it. I've found a really easy way of remaking the hood so it looks right (just needs some assistance from someone who knows what they're doing with a box of dressmaker's pins), and then all I have to do is paint constellations all over it, which will probably be the last bit I do on this costume.
2. Machi (for Luke). Already well underway because it was originally planned for the Cosplay Ball before our original wig fell through. I've bought a replacement wig now and am going to have a bash at styling it myself, which should be fun. The only time-consuming bit I foresee now will be making the shoes.
3. Ginrei. I'm going to use the same Chinese dress pattern I used for Chun Li, and I already know from experience that that was an easy pattern to work with and the construction time was very short. I'll need to borrow a sewing machine that can handle applique so I can do the rose on the breast, but that's no problem. The biggest concern is the wig, since I found one that was absolutely perfect in terms of both length and colour on Cyperous, but they've stopped doing international orders. Boo :(
4. Medicine Seller (for Luke). Also well underway already - I have the base kimono and its lining all done and just need to obtain some more fabric so I can start doing the patterns on the kimono. I have a wig for this as well, which requires some simple styling, but I should be fine with that. This'll also require me using an applique-ready sewing machine.
5. Viola. This is the one I'm really anxious about, mainly because I don't have a pattern. I've got some interesting wig-styling experiences ahead with this, and making all the accessories is going to be fiddly, but I suspect that the top and skirt at least are far less complicated than they look. I expect the worst bit of this will be gluing all the feathers to the back of the skirt.
So, I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll be really disappointed if I don't finish Viola since it's literally almost a year since I agreed to do her, and if I don't get Luke's ones sorted I'll just be depressed. I'm actually OK with the idea of ditching Ginrei if I have to, although I will be sad to miss out on the retro theme of this year's con.
Anyway, I think the things I made most mention of above are wigs, since all but my Lamiroir costume require them. Three of them I already have, and although I think I've already put pics of them up here before, I'm going to do a quick run-down here. All wigs are modelled by Esmeralda, my wig form.
First is the Viola wig:
Ooh, lookit the pigtails. I need to reposition them slightly as they're a bit too low and too far back, and then I'll be chopping the ringlets off and using them to make ox horns. Viola's ox horns are tricky because they're a funny shape - they aren't perfect cones and are actually closer to a horn shape. I'll be using the stubbing method that I've seen detailed in various places online and making the ox horns by wrapping extensions around a foam base, but the odd shape of the horns will make things a bit more difficult. I'm probably going to buy a polystyrene heart, cut it in half and curve it along the flat edge to get it right.
Next is Luke's Medicine Seller wig:
As you can see, I've already sectioned off the front bits and all the wig needs now is to be cut to the right length in the back. I'll be getting Luke to put this on while I figure out the length before finishing off on Esmeralda. Experience has taught me that Esmeralda and her kind have much smaller heads than us normal people and thus should not be used as an accurate measure of length.
Finally, it's Luke's Machi wig, which arrived today:
I'm delighted with this wig. It's just the right colour for Machi and - having tried it on myself to check - it's just the right length and won't even need cutting. Woo! The only thing I'm not as happy about as I'd hoped is the fringe - it's not quite as long as it looked on Cosworx, but never mind, it's still workable. The only thing I'll have to do for this is to get some hair extensions in the same colour, shape them into a twirl and then attach them to a stub on the front. Not too hard, I think!
So that's how everything sits with me right now. Expect plenty of updates between now and the end of March!