Hibike Skirt !

I've mostly been an unproductive anime watching blob this weekend so not much progress ;v;

I went to japantown in SF and got some cute stuff and sewing notions! And dango! 

And I did a teeny amount of work on the skirt. Last time I tried sewing the pieces together and then pleating it, and that didn't line up very evenly, so this time I'm pleating it first and then sewing on the yellow to the white

I also cut out the facing for the top!

(・ω・)ノ☆ 

40 hours of work a week is hard OTL

 

Hibike cosplay !

hibike is really gay and kumiko is my sweet baby weenie <3 and i've pretty much wanted to cosplay hibike ever since i saw that incredibly gay ED wowie ;v;

my friend megan said if i was going to be a giant ween, she might as well be best girl (;_;) , so she's cosplaying asuka with me! 

musical gay weenie

euphonium-sexual probly

 

i planned on cosplaying kumiko to AX, but didn't finish in time, and have generally been really lazy since. During AX I split a badge with a friend and spent a lot of time in the manga room and under the main foyer, cutting the fabric, ironing bias tape (with a hair iron ;v;), and hand sewing the skirt
 

we're planning on making the band uniforms!

the white fabric I had was super shitty and thin, so I had to double layer it and when i got back from AX i decided the white fabric looked way too gross, so Megan and I went and got more. I undid all the sewing i did over AX a while ago (cry for days) and I just cut more pieces out of slightly nicer white fabric. Most of it's was patterned already (yay), and I wasn't planning on adding facing for the top, but i think that'd be the best way to finish the edge for the armholes, so I'm planning on patterning and cutting that out later today!


cut pieces!

megan and I recently got a bunch of buttons as well! the woodland joanns has terrible stock and didn't have enough gold buttons, so we got a giant pack of green ones on clearance and a small bottle of gold paint -v-

after work, if i don't dissolve into a pile of goo and just watch anime on the couch for until monday, i'm going to try to finish the skirt! my wife alison will be coming over for queer girl movie night, so after, hopefully, we can force each other to be productive <3

i love hibike a lot

Yo!

hi guys!

2 years later-- time to pick up the blog again!

my idea this time around is more of an online journal or daily log to make me stay on track for cosplays ;v;

reading old things i wrote always makes me cringe a little so please read everything before this post knowing i was a wee high schooler and everything after this post knowing i'm a lazy college student 

esha

d( - v - )b

post-fanime re-cap

CAUTION: super long post w/ pictures

It's been almost a month since the last time I've posted. It's just been so busy the last few weeks T^T

The con's over and done and the last day of school just finished yesterday. Graduation is next week and I'll be DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL. AWWYIS.

But more about the con-- 
Fanime Con is a four day con and I went on Friday (despite not being done with cosplays), Saturday, and Sunday.

I went on Friday with two Sophomore friends and my Marshall Lee buddy. We ended up waiting in the badge line for 3 1/2 hours, which was boring to no extent (Although we had it better than people who went for the thursday pre-reg pickup, apparently they had to wait 6 hours...). I was hoping to attend an armor making panel but missed it in the line (aww well, can't complain too much) ;A; On the bright side, at least we made it to swap meet (I LOVE SWAP MEET, planning on another post for swap meet haul). None of us ended up cosplaying on Friday since not one of us were done with our cosplays ;A; 

Saturday was more hectic, the group came over in the wee hours to get ready. In usual fashion, we ended up working on cosplays right until we had to leave to avoid missing the Adventure Time Meet-Up. 

FINAL COUNTS

• FINN- totally done before Saturday :DD
• FIONNA- finished her hat Saturday (but hat got lost afterwards ;A;)
• MARCELINE- tried to make jeans, gloves and boot covers, but nothing worked out (T^T) so she ended up with reg brown boots, reg jeans, and beige (not yellow) gloves (BUT FUCK IT ALL, SHE STILL LOOKED FABULOUS)
• MARSHALL LEE- all was done but his (her) guitar (which we finished on Saturday)
• PRINCESS BUBBLEGUM- her's was pretty much done by Saturday :)
• PRINCE GUMBALL- literally made his (her) jacket all on Saturday ;A; (BUT DONE)
• LSP- she worked out her own shiz and LOOKED FABULOUS (GOD, I LOVE HER)
• ICE QUEEN- all shit done, but I forgot the two blue dots on the first day (glued them on later)

Our Cake and Flame Princess were unable to make Saturday at the last minute T^T
Our Cake told us ahead of time, so I hiatus'd her cosplay and it's still in bits around my room and Flame Princess was done to begin with :)

We ended up going to the wrong meet-up spot, and were pretty late. The meet-up lasted only half an hour, which sucked cause there were so many people there, but at least (cause there were so many people) we're likelier to get a larger space (super crowded this year), or a larger time slot next year. There was also a STEAMPUNK AT GROUP *faints*

*stolen from tumblr*

mother of glob 
THEY SO COOL
;A;
i wanna do steampunk IQ next year.
anyways. 
We only made it to about 15 minutes of the meet-up in the end (it was only half an hour long) and we never really got any group pics before we split off, SUPER REGRETS. But we did get some good pair pics :)

I managed to find a wandering Ice King for a genderbend groupie :)

It'sour Marceline and Marshall Lee!
they look motherfracking GOOD in gray ;A;

PB and PG
THEY SO CUTE T^T

PB and Finn
"I love you Princess Bubblegum!"
*stolen directly from Finn's fb*

Our Fionna was doing two cosplays
and she changed back into her Baron Nashor (League of Legends) before I could get pics of her Fionna
;A;
(but at least her Baron looks really good)

And I found a wandering Jake to bro-fist :)
awwyis.

Other than forgetting the other two circles (hope not too many people noticed ;A;), my crown only had one bobby pin attached in the back (silly decisions) and flopped all over the place, so I need to fix that, and my bustle was also all over the place (as can be seen in the pics), so I need to figure out a way of keeping it in place.

I spent most of the day wandering with Marshall Lee and Fionna (as Baron). I'd wanted to go to another armor panel and the DollDelight fashion show in the morn/afternoon, but missed both as we were still getting ready (cosplay problems T^T) After the meet-up, Marshall Lee, Fionna/Baron, Brolaf (Olaf skin from LOL), and I made our way to the pokemon meet-up to chill with another friend who was cosplaying Dewott. After that, Marshall Lee, Baron, and I went to Quickly's (bubble tea cafe) for yummies (i had lychee slushie with grass jelly -u-) and some little girls there thought I was a fancy princess (and I didn't have the heart to tell them I was an evil kidnapping queen) so I took some pics with them and left with questionable morality. We had planned on coming back with enough time to check out Artist Alley, but by the time we came back, it was closed :(

Around this time (7ish) we re-grouped and since Dealer's Hall and Artist Alley were both closed, my camera was out of batteries, I wasn't really into any of the later panels or movies, I still had work to do for a friend's Damara cosplay for Sunday, and my feet were killing me, I went home with some other friends who were leaving.


Sunday, since most other AT-ers planned on going only Saturday and the ones who were, were doing Homestuck for the Homestuck meet-up, Marshall Lee and I were the only ones to re-wear our AT cosplays. Our planned Cake did Damara, PB did Aranea, and our Finn did Gamzee (crazy character difference *__*) Their group also included a Kankri, Mituna, Cronus, and Meulin (so mostly dancestors, plus Gamzee) 

That day, Marshall Lee and I explored Artist Alley (FINALLY), which took a mofo-ing 4 hours of WONDERFUL. I swear, we stopped by pretty much every booth to check out junk. We had a GIANT STACK of business cards to deal with when we left and we couldn't be happier :)

However (HUGE regrets) I was supposed to get some spending money from mi mama before I left (I'm a senior, I shouldn't depend on my parents for this shit, i know ;A;), but we both forgot and when I remembered in the car, my dad, who was driving us to Fanime, had only about $5 in QUARTERS (...) in the car, so I definitely wish that could have gone better. My Marshall Lee bud (god bless her) let me borrow some of her money so I was thankfully able to buy some good junk (which I'll definitely  share in the post with the Swap Meet haul -u-)

By the time we left, my feet hurt like hell and i spent the rest of the day walking precariously on the heels of my heels (hope that makes sense) to spare my poor toesies ;A;
They still have blisters and I'm avoiding shoes like the plague. Thank glob, it's practially summer here and it'd be weird NOT to wear flip-flops :)


After Artist Alley, we visited our friends in the park, where they were chilling after the Homestuck meet-up. We took some pretty photos and then headed over to Johnny Rockets for sustenance. I managed to take off my hoop skirt inside and the management was super nice enough not to complain :) We ate some junk, refreshed our make-up and headed back to the con. 

Dealer's Hall and Artist Alley were again closed by this point, but we went to the game room for some board games. I won a game of Apples to Apples and Hungry Hippos, but left pretty fast after they opened Dirty Minds (-A-)

Marshall Lee was nice enough to wander with me as I attempted to find a group of rumored Angelic Layer cosplayers. Angelic Layer is my favorite manga of all time. No Question. I'd met a Hikaru cosplayer earlier that day in Artist Alley and she said she might be joined by her friends who were also cosplaying Angelic Layer and I just freaked out (*__*) Sadly, I don't know if they came or not and I didn't end up seeing them T^T If anyone knows anything about this, I'd love some kind of picture of their cosplays (sorry for creeping) 

Eventually it was around 10:30 and we left for home sweet home. 

Monday, I figured it was high time to write my final essay for AP LIT, but our Aranea/PB, and Marshall Lee ended up going again, which was fun for them :) (only a wee bit jealous) (*__*)

NEXT UP: FANIME HAUL!

Flame Princess~

FLAME PRINCESS' DRESS IS DONE :)

it's flippin done!!

i'msohappy.

Look how cute she is.
Just look at her.

The episode she's cosplaying is "Vault of Bones" and it's super cute.

The top pattern was made from a tape model and I used broadcloth (frown upon me o experienced seamsters and seamstresses, FROWN AWAY). The skirt a 4 piece A-Line, also made from broadcloth. The flames (the most time consuming bit and also my favorite bit) are made from canvas sandwitched by two layers of red broadcloth. 

WHAT I LIKE: 

• I like that I finished.
• UM. I like the flames at the bottom.
• I like the that the top is actually interfaced. (BABY STEPS)
• I like our cosplayer, she's super awesome.

WHAT COULD BE BETTER:

• The bunchy bit under the boobs.
• The flames at the bottom should be bigger
• The red part at the top should also be bigger.
• You can't even tell she has a petticoat under the dress.
• I used broadcloth. 
• (I'd bought it ages ago and it was the the right color ;A;)
• *hides in shame* 
• The colors for the bottom flames and the top detail don't match.
• The gems aren't done.
• FUCK, still need to make her gems... (i'm not done.)
• disappoint.

We considered a few different ways to make/buy gems (resin, craft stores, online, sugar candy) but in the end, we ditched attempting clear gems in favor of cheapness and we're currently planning on making paper gems with two billion coats of mod podge. 

YAY, MOD PODGE!

NEXT UP: MARCELINE BOOT COVERS

also, AP LIT TEST ON THURSDAY *shoot me now*

Ice Queen fabrics

I was hunting through our local Savers (thrift store) and if you read the hoop skirt post, you'll know I thrifted some white bedsheets for that, but as I was searching, some blue ICE QUEEN colored bedsheets had also caught my eye. Each one was $1-$2, so I bought 3 blue sheets as well and ran with the idea. 

BEDSHEETS, salvage, and RIPPED THREAD.

The darker two seem to be matte cotton (which is what I was planning on getting), but the lightest one definitely has a sheen to it. I can easily see the problem with not having enough fabric and not being able to buy more, so I'm taking my time to make sure all the pieces will be the right size and ripping the seams from all of the edges to maximize the lengths of the sheets. In this extremely pain-staking endeavor, I salvaged some elastic from the dark blue bed sheet and some blue bias tape from the medium blue one. Each bed sheet took about 3-4 hours to rip the seams ;A; 

The medium blue is in great quality, the dark blue is good, but not as good, and the lightest one is pilling.

I'm currently planning on using the darker two for the dress and the lightest one for a petticoat in between the dress and the hoop skirt.

I have no idea how the dress will turn out, but as this was hoards cheaper than buying fabric from a fabric store, it's worth a go.

WIGS!

~ I got ma wiiigs. I got ma wiiigs. I got ma wiiigs. I got ma wiiigs ~

Last Thursday (April 25) I ordered two wigs from animestuffstore.com
I received them on Tuesday (April 30) which was perfectly in the 4-7 days they gave for shipping, but cost me a good $12, but either way, props for quick shipping.

My first wig was for Ice Queen- click here to see webpage 

(Ayumi-Snow White- 29"-- $27) VERY PRETTY.

The second was for Beth- click here to see webpage

(Tomoyo- Natural Black- 32"-- $25) ALSO VERY PRETTY.

Shipping at this store was quite expensive. I was originally intending to buy the Ice Queen wig off an ebay retailer, but chose this one instead to lessen shipping and for a better guarantee on quality. 

SO, TO THE REVIEWING~
ICE QUEEN WIG:

FRONT
and an obligatory IQ pose

and the BACK
this was a hard picture to take, kept missing ;A;

When I first saw the wig, I was a bit wary that it would be too pretty for IQ. Even though most IQ cosplayers use a straight wig, I wanted a wavy one, as her hair does have a wave to it. This wig is shorter and curlier than I would have liked, but overall, I accept it. As a curly wig, it doesn't tangle or shed too badly and we'll see how the curls keep. It's a bit shiny in natural lighting and I can only assume it'll be worse with flash, so I plan on running some baby powder through it eventually. The head model they used looked small, so I was worried it wouldn't fit my head, but the sizing was surprisingly good-- snug, but not too tight.

BETH WIG:

FRONT
*i be watchin' you all sleep*
*_____*

BACK
i see you seeing my art wall of art which i mostly did not art.

so here's a (marginally) better pic :)
i like my doctor who poster best <3

BACK TO THE WIG, for a Beth cosplay, I'll definitely need to style the bangs and the ends. I thought it would be a bit too long, but I the length came out really well, although I'm starting to think long wigs make people look shorter. In natural lighting, it doesn't photograph too shiny, but we'll see what happens in flash. This one tangles a bit more than the other wig, which is probably because it's straight and doesn't have curls to keep its shape. I've tried to brush the tangles out with my fingers, but that causes some shedding, so I'm a bit wary of that. As with the other one, I was worried it would be too small, but it was a nice fit. 

To max my use of the wigs, I'm making lists of other characters the wigs could potentially be used for, but I haven't come up with much yet. 

White wig: other Ice Queens (Sailor Moon crossplay, Pre-Ice Queen~Simonne, steampunk Ice Queen) Storm (Xmen), female Appa gijinka (Avatar, the Last Airbender), *possibly* TARDIS (Doctor Who), Totoro gijinka (Tonari no Totoro- Ghibli), Athena (Angelic Layer), Derpy Hooves (My Little Pony), Yue (Avatar, the Last Airbender), Harley-Quinn (Batman- DC Comics), other potential gijinkas, any lolita, and various steampunk

Black Wig: Other Marcelines, Mio (K'ON), Jade (Homestuck), Wonder Woman (if I can curl it right) (DC comics), and again, other potential gijinkas, any lolita, and various steampunk

Also, if anyone noticed in the other pics, I was testing out some gunmetal lipstick
Our PB cosplayer (my main call to arms buddy aka *we do most of the work and we're tentatively ok with that*) ordered some lipstick samples from mybeautyaddiction.com 
She was able to order their 3 sample for $4 deal from their etsy, but I can't seem to find the page, so here is the link to the deal on their home site. We ordered gunmetal, sapphire, and sinful.

it's little capsule on the left (and the bobbin is for scale)

regular smile
(and i apologize for my face, my skin hasn't been my best buddy of late)

teethy smile

FROWNY FROWN

i don't know what face this is, but i have a wig on, so it's ok

It stays on pretty well and the color is wearable, so I like it. The little capsule is also a good size for a one-time use. 
I originally wanted blue lips for IQ, but the sapphire was too dark, so right now I'm planning on using this color for IQ. I'm still debating whether I should try the sapphire mixed with some something to make it lighter (would foundation work?). 

SO THAT'S THAT.

STILL TONS OF SHIT TO DO.
HUZZAH.