Cosplay Showcase: Edward Insane as Alice

Sorry about the delayed post. It snowed a whole bunch in my neck of the woods and it messed up my internet. It's been flaking in and out. But it seems to be working finally!


So I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to blog about this week. I didn't really want to do an update post, since I've done two in a row already. Besides, I don't have any different or exciting news.


But I've decided I want to do a cosplay showcase on my 'Alice in Wonderland' costume.

I'm feeling very "into" 'Alice in Wonderland' lately. It's one of my favorite things ever. I love the book and the Disney movie. (I haven't seen a live action movie version that I like yet, but if you'd like to recommend one, I'd love to hear it in the comments.) I love anything Wonderland themed. I identify with Alice a lot, especially lately. The feeling of wanting to go to my own world, where things are however I imagine them to be, is very relevant to me at the moment. I also love the books because they are just how my dreams are. Things that are so strange and constantly changing, but the characters within the story don't even notice. There is a kind of logic to it, all be it mad logic. Babies changing into pigs, crazy/scary characters, and talking animals; Those are all the types of things in my dreams. Always flowing and changing, and stories morphing into other stories. It's the only thing I've found that accurately represents the dream world for me. And maybe that's why a lot of people don't like it? Perhaps it's too accurate. Or perhaps their dreams aren't like that. I dunno.

So, anyway, I'm in a very "Alicey" mood. Haha.

I'm cute. XD
Photo by James Wells

Another reason I wanted to do a showcase on my Alice cosplay, is because I just adore these photos. I simply love the dreamy quality of them. It feels like I'm in wonderland! My brother in law James Wells did them for me. The shoot was really fun! We went to a local park and wondered around some rose beds. (Which I was surprised there were still roses on them, since we did the shoot in October!) We were kind of flying by the seat of our pants, not knowing if the lighting was going to work and thinking up poses on the spot. It had actually been raining all weekend, but the sun came out just in time for our perfect lighting! I had a great time and will cherish those memories! I would love to do more Alice photos soon; but this time, an indoor shoot with tea cups and cards and stuff. This first shoot I wasn't totally prepared. But next time, I'll be ready!

Zzzzzz.
Photo by James Wells

I actually made this cosplay years ago, for a Halloween party. My husband was dressed as the Mad Hatter (I made his costume too, but I won't share it with you all, because I'm embarrassed.) It was one of my first dresses. Needless to say, it's a little sloppy. Lots of things about this dress bother me. But it was one of my very first attempts, and one of my first times using a pattern, so I shouldn't be too hard on myself.

Gee, I wonder what's down here?
Photo by James Wells

I based my design more off of the book and it's slightly more of a "how I imagine her" design. The original John Tenniel drawings show her in several different ways, so I kind of picked and chose the things I liked. Haha. In some of the illustrations it shows her having no collar and striped socks. So that's what I went with. I had to adjust the sleeves from the pattern because they were way to long and not cute enough for my purposes. My wig for this cosplay is quit long, but I didn't want to cut it as I use the same wig for my Aurora/Briar Rose cosplay.

Curiouser and curiouser.
Photo by James Wells

My version is not accurate to the Disney version of Alice and I have thought about changing it to more accurately portray her. All I'd need is some white tights, bloomers, a collar, and a shorter wig. Which is all fine with me, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. So for now, this is a "mostly based on the book but with my own interpretation" version. lol. Either way I really like it and it's really fun to wear.

Did that flower just fucking talk to me??
Photo by James Wells

My favorite thing about this cosplay is that it's SO comfy. I can hang out in it all day. And I have. Sometimes I just put it on at home when want to look pretty. Lol. (My husband can testify to this.) My other favorite thing is just that it's Alice! I love her so much and really identify with her in a lot of ways. It's so fun to be her, and I can't wait to wear this cosplay to conventions.

I'll teach you to call me a weed, ya bastard!
Photo by James Wells

My least favorite thing about this cosplay is the construction. I know I was just a beginner when I made it, but it still really irritates me. I did go through and fix some of it. I redid the bottom hem (It was ugly ) and took out some of the basting stitches around the waist, that I forgot to take out when I made it. The zipper is...... well, apart from taking it out and completely redoing it, there is really no hope. Thankfully my long wig covers it. (Zippers and I are still working on our relationship in general.) The sleeves still need a bit of work. I took apart parts of the apron and redid them. I'm thinking I might redo the shoulder bits again, and make them rufflier. Pretty much, it's just going to be lots of fiddly work until I get this cosplay how I want it.

My favorite.
Photo by James Wells

All in all, I really love this cosplay. It's probably my second favorite one to wear (after Sailor Moon of course). Even though it still needs a little work, it's fun to wear and I just love 'Alice in Wonderland' like crazy.

And I can't end a cosplay showcase without a derp picture. XD My face is awesome in this.
Photo by the Mad Hatter James Wells

I hope you all enjoyed this edition of Cosplay Showcase. I'm still coordinating with my next guest cosplayer for the next interview and showcase. So hopefully I'll have that all worked out by next week and will post them. ^_^



Love,
Edward

Cosplay Showcase: Princess Serenity

Cosplay Showcase time!!!

I'm excited! Are you excited?! Here we go!

So I decided to showcase Princess Serenity (Sailor Moon) today! Because, even though it's not my favorite, it's pretty good, and the photos are pretty. I wanted to do Tyleet from Elfquest, because those are my favorite photos, but not many people know what that is (You should though. Go to Elfquest.com to read the whole series for FREE!). And I also wanted to debut with Sailor Moon, but the costume I have done for her isn't perfect, so I'll wait until I have it redone. So I thought, the next best thing to Sailor Moon is Serenity. So, that's what ya get!

Obviously not my work. It belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha.

Swish!!

Now, this is the part where I say a lil' somethin' about the cosplay. The making process, why I chose it, yadda yadda.

I actually made this cosplay for a group. Serenity hadn't been high on my list, though she was on there. Actually, nearly all incarnations of Sailor Moon are on the list (except Eternal Sailor Moon. Those dopey pink sleeves piss me off). And if it had been my choice, I would have chose the anime version instead of the manga version. Only because I didn't know how to make those arm cuffy/sleevy thingies.  (We'll talk about those in a minute ) But it wasn't my choice, so I did what I was told.

All majestic and shit XD

The actual dress was very easy. I found the PERFECT pattern, so I didn't have to make one myself. The dress material is crepe back satin and the sheer stuff is something I found in the bridal section. I forget what it is. The circles are white cord hot glued onto circles of crepe back satin. The pearls are hand sewed on individually and so was the ribbon on the bodice. I forgot to wear the little hair barrets and bracelet in these photos, but I did make those too.

Princess Pose

The back bow, which you can't really see in these photos, turned out PERFECT! It's my favorite part of the whole dress! The trails hang just how I wanted them to and the bow stands up all pretty! It's so lovely!

Now onto the bits I had trouble with... Those accursed arm things! Gah! It took me WEEKS to figure out how to make them. (And only a day to ACTUALLY make them) And I still only feel so so about them. I mean, have you looked at the ones from the manga? They are perfectly round. If I made them perfectly round around my arm they'd look retarded! And what the hell are they made out of anyway?!?! Curse you Naoko Takeuchi!

Anywho... I finally decided to make them out of craft foam. Because I don't have fancy things to make molded plastic/resin ones. Maybe someday I'll make some fancier ones. But for now, these will do. They turned out all right, I think.

The other problem with this dress is... it has no straps! I've seen girls use the clear plastic straps.... but I just wanted it to be as accurate as possible. So I made it pretty tight and I tried using that hollywood tape stuff.... Let me just tell you.... THAT STUFF IS CRAP! It didn't stay put at all! I still had to constantly pull it up! I'm sure if you were sticking something on you that didn't weigh much, it would probably do just fine. But that dress is pretty heavy (lining, crepe back satin, sheer overdress and all the doodads on the bodice) and that stuff didn't work at all. I'll tell you what did work though. Toupee tape! Man, that stuff is robust! After I put that on, that dress was going no where! I did the YMCA and never had to pull my dress up once! I even had trouble getting it off at the end of the night! In fact... I think there is still some stuck to that dress. So, remember! Toupee tape is what you want!

I hate that wig!!!!

The other thing I didn't like..... THAT WIG! GAAR! I hate it! It was so poorly made! You could very obviously see the wig cap through the hair (which was yellow, and very obvious with the white hairs). And the hairs fell out like crazy! Sadly, I didn't realize this until it was too late to ship it back. I did get some of my money back though... It's also too tight for my head. All in all, it's the most horrible/uncomfortable wig ever. I thought my Sailor Moon one was bad.

The dango turned out ok though. Even though a few hairs like to stick out all crazy. Someday I'll get a new wig and it won't be complete crap.

Looking lovely. Cus, ya know, that's what princesses do.

So in a nut shell, this cosplay is terribly uncomfortable and annoying, but it's purdy. And that's what counts right? We must suffer for our art, I suppose. I thought Sailor Moon was uncomfortable. But now, putting on Sailor Moon after wearing this, is like a dream! Ah well.

One more

And I'll leave you with that last image. I always have a series of "derp" photos. Because cosplay can't be serious all the time. And one shouldn't take ones self so seriously.One day I'll do a "Derp Showcase." XD

If you want to see more pics of this cosplay, head over to my DeviantArt page here.


There is was! Cosplay Showcase! Hooray!Ok, so I'm done talking about myself for a bit (Other than updates and stuff. I can't go cold turkey XD). Next month I will showcase my friend Jen! She is a super awesome cosplayer that I know from my local cons. I look up to her so much! And often try to suck up all her knowledge! So look forward to that!

Oh yeah, and I hope everyone has a happy Turkey Day!! I know I will, because, if you don't recall from my interview, I LOVE TURKEY AND MASHED POTATOES AND GRAVY! Gah! I will be so fat and happy.
What a glorious day it will be.

Oh yes, and all these photos were taken by my brother in law Morgan Wells. He's super duper amazing!

See you next week!


<3 Edward