'Breaking All The Rules" cosplay book and Winnie the Pooh progress.

Ok! 

So I have a perfectly legitimate reason why I am so tardy on my post this week; it’s because I was all out of data on my phone and couldn’t get on the internets.

But I have returned and am now doing all the internet related things I couldn’t do earlier this week. 

So anyway, I have a few exciting cosplay related things going on right now. I’ll start with the least exciting and work up to the most exciting!

While I had no internets, it gave me plenty of time to work on cosplay. So I’ve been finishing up Pooh Bear! I’m quite pleased with how it’s turning out. 

I tried dying an old crappy wig I had with the sharpie method and that was a complete fail.Either the wig is too cheap and crap or I didn’t have enough markers (it could be a bit of both). I would have bought more, but none of the stores had the colors I needed. So my Pooh Bear will just have to be a brunette for now. 

I also dyed some shorts I found. I had to dye them twice, since with the first pass they came out too yellow and not golden enough. Matching all my golden-yellows has been a challenge, but I think the shorts and the fleece are pretty close. I bought some tights that I thought were pretty close but they are a little too dark and orange. But they will have to work. There really is not much variety in the way of tights at Walmart. AND they do not carry my size in ANY of the colors. So I had to get the next size up. Thankfully they fit ok, but it was very annoying.

My amazing friend Krystal (Who will be Tigger, as I said before. *waves*) bought me the PERFECT honey pot for me to carry around the con. Of course I had to write “HUNNY” on it to make it a realistic Pooh honey pot. She also bought me this cute little Pooh plush to carry with me too.

Then I made this little honey bee pull for my zipper because... well because I needed to.  

I also made this adorable bear hat! I love it a whole lot. I’ve never made a hat before and, though it does need a little adjusting, I’m pretty happy with it.

So I only need to do a few more things for it and my Pooh cosplay will be ready for Tomo! 

Then I need to work on Lolita stuff. I want to wear Lolita to the tea party at Tomo on Friday. Depending on what I get done, we’ll see if I have a new coord for that. I’m also making a lolita dress for Krystal for the graveyard lolita meet up in November. I figured I should make her a dress since I also kind of recruited her to do a lolita photo shoot with me. The details of which will be revealed at a later date. 

Next up on my list of things to talk about is that I got some of the photos from Fandem back from my brother in law! These are just the color corrected ones and he has to do a bit more editing, but so far I think they look great! Here are a couple of them. I’ll do a whole showcase on each of these costumes soon.

Sailor Moon
Photo: James Wells

Peacebow
Photo: James Wells

And lastly, the most exciting thing! 

So last time I said I would possibly be involved with a cosplay photo book. We went on the photo shoot for it a couple weekends ago with a few of my other cosplaying buddies. None of us were sure who was going to make it into the book or not, since there was only room for 2 more people to be in it and the author of the book, Ger Tysk, said it would all depend on how good the photos turned out. The photo shoot was really fun! It’s always nice to do photos with my friends. We laughed and talked and it was great. Afterwards we went and had dinner. It was nice getting to know the author. She had flown all the way from Boston for one day just do these photos! Talk about a labor of love!

Anyway, we had to wait until Tuesday to find out who made it in the book. And I was so happy and surprised to find out that I made it! I really was surprised because I chose to wear Sailor Moon but there were two other Sailor Moon characters in the book already. If I had known that I would have worn some other character. But I guess it turned out alright because I made it in anyway! I do feel guilty though, because that means my other friends didn’t make it. I wish we could have all made it into the book, because they really deserve it! I hope she will write a second book and put all the people that didn’t make it into this one into that one.

The most tragic thing about the photo shoot was that I forgot my SM necklace!! I was so mad at myself!  But thankfully Jen saved the day and using her supplies I was able to make a temporary one for the shoot. So I'm bummed I'm wearing the wrong necklace in the cosplay book, but oh well. At least I have a necklace. Better than nothing.

So if you are interested in purchasing the book, it’s called “Breaking All the Rules: Cosplay and the Art of Self-Expression” and is available for pre-order. There really aren’t very many cosplay books out there, so it’s exciting that I’m going to be in one! 

SM and WW being silly. I like that we both fight for love and justice. East meets West, baby!
WW: Jen

Well I think that’s about all I have to talk about! Lots of cosplay things going on lately! And here I was thinking that I was running out of things to talk about! I’m not sure what I’m talking about next week. It could be an interview or a tutorial I’m thinking up. I guess you’ll just have to come back and find out!

Oh! One last thing, I finally got 100 likes on my Facebook cosplay page! Woo! I want to do something special for it, but I’m not really sure what. I was thinking maybe a giveaway, but I have nothing of value to give away. Lol. So if you have an idea, let me know!

Until next time!

~Edward

Preparing for Con and an Exciting Cosplay Event

I know I’m late today and it’s because I wasn’t sure what the heck I was going to talk about this week. But actually, I do have an exciting cosplay related event going on this weekend, so I guess I’ll talk about that. 

First I know you’ll all be so happy to know (sarcasm) that I finished my stupid vest! Haha!  It did it’s best to overpower me, but in the end I defeated it. And here it is!

Stupid vest, you didn't think I'd look fabulous did you?!

I think I look pretty awesome. Now, I just need to finish making the matching pinstripe pants and I’ll look pretty smart, if I do say so myself! 

Also, I mentioned last time that I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it to Tomodachi Fest. Well good news!! I got some monies and I’m going! 


So for that I am going to be doing a gijinka Pooh cosplay for a group (which I also mentioned last time). I’m pretty damn excited about this one! I’ve been wanting to cosplay as Pooh for a while. But I hadn’t thought of doing it gijinka style until my friend asked if I wanted to be part of her group (She’s going to be Tigger. Hi Krystal! *waves*). Sadly I haven’t been able to work on it much because I haven’t had the supplies. Though I do have the concept figured out (with loads of thanks to my friend who is going to be Tigger *waves at Krystal*). Here is my idea:

Did you know it's very difficult to find Winnie the Pooh gijinka fan art for reference??
P.S. I don't own any of these images.

I already have a similar sweater -it has short sleeves instead- and I’m going to make the hat and gloves out of fleece. I’m not going to wear a shirt under the sweater because I think it will be cute (and very Pooh-like) to have my belly button sticking out. Everything else I plan to buy and dye or paint. Also I have a bob cut wig that is white that I’m going to try to dye golden yellow using the sharpie dying method (Would you guys want a tutorial of that?). Hopefully it turns out. If not, my friend (who is going to be Tigger *waves at Krystal again*) has a golden colored wig with pig tails and we are going to pin the pig tails up so they look like bear ears. Either way it should be cute! This is going to be the simplest cosplay I’ve ever done. Most of the things will be bought and there will only be minimal sewing. So it shouldn’t be too stressful (as long as all my dying goes as planned) and should be incredibly comfortable to wear, since it’s just regular clothing. It will be nice to do a cosplay that isn’t involved.

Speaking of involved....

Today I am brushing this monster....

            

This is my Sailor Moon wig. I was a complete idiot and didn’t brush it between cons (don’t ever do that ). So now I get to brush two cons worth of tangles out. Swell. But I have to do it today because I’m wearing it to my exciting cosplay related event this weekend!

So recently I was asked to be involved in a book all about cosplay! The author, who is also the photographer, has been traveling around the US interviewing cosplayers for her book “Breaking All The Rules: Cosplay and the Art of Self-Expression”. It’s not for sure if my interview will be in the book or not, but she is coming up to Boise this weekend to get photos of everyone who was interviewed locally. I’m very excited! I’ve decided to wear Sailor Moon, since that’s kind of my thing. Lol. I hope I do make it into the book. But if not, it was a great experience and I’ll have some nice photos of my Sailor Moon cosplay. 

So since I’ll be out of town for that I probably won’t post next week. But when I do, I will tell you guys all about the photo shoot and whether or not I might be in the book! And also, this weekend I’ll be getting back photos my brother-in-law took of me in my Peacebow and Sailor Moon cosplays at Fandemonium. I’m really excited about the Peacebow ones! They looked really awesome with just the color correction! So look forward to that for the next few weeks. 

And now I'm off to watch Winnie The Pooh and brush this terrible wig. 

Until next time!

~Edward

Lots of lolita things.

Oh hi!So I didn't write a second blog post last week cus I don't have a ton to talk about so I figured I'd save it for today.

So let see, lets see.... What have I been doing?

Well I've been working on a few projects. I'm hosting another Lolita even this fall and it's Halloween/gothic themed. So I'm making an appropriate coord to wear to it. I'm excited because it's going to be a photo shoot in a graveyard! I am hoping like crazy that it snows. That would be so elegant!

Anyway, I've started making a blouse based on this pattern:

New Look 6599

Mine is going to have long poet sleeves (large bell sleeves gathered into a deep cuff). I've changed the pattern so it buttons all the way to the top, like lolita should. It's going to have a collar like C but instead of lace it will have a big ruffle. And it will have the ruffle down the front like D. It's coming along pretty well. The sleeves aren't as large as I'd like them to be but they still look nice. I think it will be very elegant with the high ruffled collar. Very Victorian, which is my favorite fashion era.

Along with my poet blouse I'm working a pin striped vest. 

Doesn't it look so pretty? Yes, well it would if it didn't look like this in the back:

My bane....

Yeah... it's like 2-3in too huge.  Because I'm not a perfect hour glass shape and my top is smaller than my bottom, I have to take in the pattern when I cut it out, which I forgot to do. So it's hugenormous. 

 So now I must rip out all of the beautiful lining and redo half the damn thing so it fits. 
But once it's done it will be lovely. And go quite nice with my ruffly collar and all my frills.

Then I'm going to make an underskirt with a chiffon ruffle to go under my black skirt so it's a little more frilly.

THEN I'm going to make another skirt for no reason in particular other than I have super beautiful fabric to make a skirt with.

Isn't it so pretty? XD

The green with birds and butterflies will be one panel in the front and the wine color will be the rest of it. I think it will be super elegant and very classic lolita.

Let see, what else? Oh I'm going to make some bloomers for my lolita coords with this pattern:

I'm going to make the shorter ones in the bottom right corner. I might actually make them a bit shorter. I also REALLY want to make the nightgown in the pattern because it's so gothic and pretty! I have no reason what so ever to make it.... except to wonder my house at night wearing it being melancholy and melodramatic. 

Hmmm... do I have any other exciting sewing things going on? I'm not starting any new cosplays yet. Well... except Pooh Bear. I was asked to join a Winnie the Pooh gijinka group, which I'm excited for! I'm really hoping I'll be able to attend the next con and get my cosplay together for it, because I've been wanting to cosplay as Pooh for a while! In our group we have a Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit and Piglet! So I really want to be able to participate. If I can't there is always Fandem next year.

And that's it I think! I'll try to be more exciting next week. I'm thinking of trying a new series of posts for this blog. So we'll see how that goes!

Until next time!

~Edward

Housekeeping...

Ok, I know I’m late. But this time it’s a very good reason. My husband has been out of town for a couple of weeks and he finally got home yesterday! So I spent all of that day shnuggling him! Sorry, but in my book, penguin shnuggles are more important than prompt blog entries. 

Anyway, time for some housekeeping...

So remember a few posts ago I mentioned something about making some changes to my blog? Well, I’m thinking I’m going to make it more about sewing and crafting in general. I’m just running out of things to talk about with cosplay. I do have some ideas for future posts, but not enough to carry an entire blog on. I’m sure if I didn’t post every week I could get away with having this blog be only about cosplay, but I like writing my blog and I want to be consistent (when I don’t forget ) for you guys. 

Don’t worry, cosplay will still feature heavily in this blog! I’ll still be cosplaying, but what with our financial situation changing, I won’t be able to start any big projects for a while. I’ll still do the interviews, but perhaps not as often. And I may make this blog a bit more personal. Talking more about my sewing projects. If I do that, I may be able to do tutorials. The only reason I haven’t done a tutorial, is because by the time I think, “I should make a tutorial of this” I’ve already finished it. Or it’s the first time I’ve made this thing so I don’t know if it will turn out. OR I watched or read someone else’s tutorial, so why repeat what someone else has already done? But I will try to share more tutorials in the future. 

So what can you expect to see from now on? All the same things I talk about now, just not as frequently, more of my personal sewing projects, more lolita related things, possibly more tutorials, more crafting related things, features on crafters that aren’t necessarily cosplayers.

You may wonder why I’m always talking about starting new blogs or changing this one, and it’s because I have a whole lot of things bouncing around in my head that I can’t talk about with many people and I need to get it out. I’m interested in more than just cosplaying and sewing, I like a lot of things. And I’ve thought about possibly writing a blog about nerdy things in general, so I can talk about more of the things I like. I also really enjoy writing. I think what is going to end up happening is that I’m just going to end up writing a “me” blog so I can get all my feels out in one blog. But I’m not sure if people would even like reading that sort of blog. So for now, I’m going to try to keep my blog ideas separate, so people can just read the parts about my life that they are interested in.

So since this entry was terribly dull, I might do a second bonus entry this week. Nothing too exciting, but some projects and things I am or plan to work on. 

Until next time!

~Edward

Cosplay Showcase Special: Usagi Yojimbo Plush

*looks at calendar* Oh it’s Wednesday..... OH CRAP IT’S WEDNESDAY?!?!

Sorry about that. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m terribly forgetful.  But hey, as long as I’m posting once a week we’re good!

This time it’s a special cosplay showcase of my little Usagi Yojimbo plush that I entered into the Plushie Costume Contest at Fandemonium this year. I know I said this in my last post, but I actually won fan favorite with this guy and 2nd place with the judge! I’m so proud of him so I decided I’d share him with you guys! I hope you like him!

First off, if you don’t know who or what Usagi Yojimbo is, you should check it out! He’s an anthropomorphic bunny samurai and he kicks ass!! What else do you need to know? Oh, he also made an appearance in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tv series back in the 90’s. And the Turtles appeared in his comic as well. (I haven’t seen or read any of those episodes/issues, but someday I will!!)

Cosplay Showcase: Usagi Yojimbo Plush

Master samurai Usagi!

Why did you chose this character to make? Why did you chose it for the showcase?

I super love the comic Usagi Yojimbo. And when I found out about the plushie contest I knew I had to make this bunny into Usagi! His little ears are perfect!! And his profile is even the same as Usagi’s! Even though he doesn’t have the right legs his top half was so right I just had to make it.

I wanted to share him in the showcase because I’m so proud of him! This is the first time I’ve ever made a costume for a plushie and I think he turned out really well! There isn’t anything about him that I want to change or fix up. He turned out just how I planned!

What was your construction process?

Well first I had to device a pattern for the hakama. His legs are shaped like bunny legs and they are attached to the side of his body, so pants don’t really work for him. So I made a paper mock up that looked like pants and just kept shortening the legs until they actually fit him. Then I made a mock up with scrap fabric and added the appropriate pleating and then I made the actually pants. And they turned out perfect! 

I like how his little feet poke out.

Next I made his kimono top. This plush used to be a white rabbit plush and he had a little jacket with coat tails and a little vest. I used the vest to make a pattern for the top part of his nagajuban (“Kimono-shaped robe worn by both men and women beneath the main outer garment”- Wikipidea. Used to keep the kimono cleaner). I figured I didn’t need to make a whole one since you only see the top part of it peak out under his kimono. And it’s not like he’s going to sweat on his kimono. Lol. Then I took apart the jacket so I could use it to base my kimono pattern off of. I used bias tape for the white edges. Everything went so smoothly and I only had to unpick stitches one time! That’s a first for me! I painted the little designs on the front and the sleeves.

Then I made his katana and wakizashi (that’s the shorter sword). They are made of cardboard and tin foil. I painted the cardboard and it kind of looks like lacquered wood! I was quite pleased with that. I wrapped tin foil around the blade part so they looked like metal and I wrapped the handle with green thread. I like the thread better than if I had painted it. It looks more like a katana. I also made the sheaths out of cardboard that I folded over.

Deadly weapons...

The final detail is his top knot. The tie isn’t anything special, but to be accurate to the “real” Usagi, I placed a lock of hair (that was my husband’s) wrapped in a piece of paper inside of it. Usagi keeps a lock of hair that belonged to his true love inside his knot at all times. Of course no one sees that part, but I know it’s there. 

He looks like he's going to kick some bad guy butt!

The things you love about this cosplay.

Everything. Lol. I just love him so much. He turned out so good and he’s so stinking cute I can hardly stand it. My favorite thing would have to be a toss up between his pants and his swords. They both turned out exactly how I planned them and I’m really proud of that.

The things you hate.

Nothing really. Well, I guess if I had to pick a thing I would have finished the inside seems a little better, as that docked me points on the judging. But I’m not going to fix it. I like him just how he is. I just know better for next time to finish my seems nice.

A general closing statement and where one might find more pictures of this and other cosplays you’ve done.

I fucking love this bunny!! I don’t ever want to take his costume off him! It’s so adorable and I love it. I enjoyed making plushie costumes so much I think I’ll do it more regularly. And I definitely want to enter the contest again next year! And you can find more pics on my facebook page or my deviant art.

Photo by Krystal Miller

There he was! The cutest bun-bun ever! I hope you guys enjoyed this entry and thanks for indulging this proud plushie mama. Haha.

Next week.... Well I dunno what I’m doing next week... I’ll think of something. 

~Edward