meepy-gal

Stark Suit Costume Information

2013-04-15T14:27:00.001-07:00

Here's a post that can hopefully help you get started on a Stark suit like this or something similar!

First Concepts, inspiration, and ideas:

Iron Man/ Tony Stark is definitely one of my favorite Stan Lee characters so I definitely wanted to do a costume inspired by him or some genderbent version (he did have an official female version in a alternate universe too). I really loved the costume designs in Iron Man 2 (although it really wasn’t that great of a film overall) and chose to do the racing suit since its pretty much a unisex outfit that a girl could easily wear too.

Robert Downey Jr. wearing the Stark Racing Suit in Iron Man 2

Concept art I did of how a gender-bent version would look.

Materials:
This costume was planned last minute so I went cheap on the materials. I got some cheap black pleather and blue and black cotton. I also bought 3 zippers (there are zippers on both arms and of course one on the front).

Patterning:
Gosh figuring out this suit pattern was a bitch. For the lettering I did some vectors on the computer, printed them out and used them as a pattern. For the rest of the suit...figuring out the pattern was...well... it took a lot of thinking. I ended up using an old t shirt and drawing out a rough sketch of the lines and shapes on the suit (well at least for the top area) . The most complicated pieces were on the upper area of the suit. Once I had figured out which piece was black and blue I cut them all out and separated them. I used them as a very rough pattern for the pieces on my suit. The leg pieces weren’t too difficult to figure out and pattern too.

Letters and numbers on the suit.

SUPER GHETTO T SHIRT PATTERNS YAY!

Pictured below are some vectors of the rough outlines I used as patterns. THIS IS NOT AN EXACT PATTERN. These are OUTLINES to use as a reference/guide to your final pattern. Even though I cut my fabric like this a lot of it was adjusted and cut away!!

Sewing:
This was definitely the most tedious and troublesome part of making this suit. I had to put SO MANY pieces together correctly. Just be prepared for A LOT of pinning. The blue fabric was lined with black so the color on the inside of the suit was consistent. All of the pieces were just pieced together with a regular stitch then finished off. The patches/lettering on the arms and legs were zig-zag stitched on.

Arc Reactor:
Figuring out how to make an thin and flat arc reactor that would stay on my chest was a bit difficult. Most people tend to modify a tap light but the problem is, its way too thick to be a convincing part of a costume. Instead I used a thin sheet of translucent plastic and some foam board. With a decent paint job is looks convincing in photos. The lights were just some LED’s connected to a battery pack (pack was not ON the prop) which I could hide in my bra. All I did was use some fashion tape to stick it on and it stayed most of the day. Unfortunately I kind of broke it during a rave so I’m going to have to re solder some of the wires on it and re glue some things. I'm also considering re making it sometime next year.

This is what it looks like when I have it attached to just my chest and the battery pack is somewhat hidden below.

The lighting shows up fairly well in photos.

Other comments and disclaimers about this costume:

This is definitely NOT a screen accurate version of the suit. I made so many mistakes on it and I am planning on re doing it next year with accurate materials and sewing techniques. Heck I didn't even finish the gloves the first time so I definitely want to get it right the next time I wear it!!

Anyways I hope you enjoyed reading this. I hope this helps for some of you guys and gals in making something similar to this!

Kumoricon 2012

2013-04-15T14:26:00.002-07:00

I had a blast at Kumoricon this year! It was definitely a chill yet fun con hanging out with my closer friends, attending events and cosplaying!

Day 0

I headed out for con wearing my Stark suit which was a BAD IDEA since the weather was incredibly hot. Luckily I live about 15-20 minutes away from where the convention was at so I didn't have to travel far. After arriving I quickly checked into my hotel. It seemed like a lot more people decided to come to the convention space on day 0 than last year. I went down to registration around 4:30 and I didn't even have to wait in line! Kumoricon always seems to be easy, simple and fast when it comes to registration. After that I headed out with my good friend Tom to photoshoot.

The rest of the day was spent rehearsing for the cosplay contest and hanging out in my hotel room.

Day 1

I decided to wear my Stark suit again for the whole day. Instead of going to opening ceremonies I waited in line for the dealers hall and artist first and checked them out. I didn't really find anything I liked in the dealers hall at all (which is a total surprise since I usually find some pretty good merchandise during Kumoricon) but there was a lot of stuff I liked in the artist alley so I ended up purchasing a poster from there.

A lot of people have been asking where I bought this poster and to be honest I have no clue what the artists name is. I know she goes to Kumoricon and Sakura con every year so you can probably find her at any major west coast convention.

I mostly was hanging out with the lovely Bad Wolf Cosplay that day (dressed as the classy Tarlok from LoK). We ran into a lot of Korra cosplayers that day! I actually got to meet snevib (I saw his cosplays on tumblr) and his friend Peter dressed as Mako and Bolin. We pretty much became bros by the end of the con. Oh and also I have cosplays plans with both of these guys so expect some awesome duo cosplays in the next couple of months/next year!

That day was also the day the new Doctor Who season premiered so I ended up attending a premier/viewing party that night, went to some meetings, raved and headed to bed.

Day 2

Day 2 is ALWAYS a crazy and fun day thanks to the cosplay contest! I had to get up super early to be able to get into my plugsuit, rehearse with my group then head to dress rehearsals. I also had to help Shay get into her suit and help fix her wig! Most of our day was occupied with the usual pre contest rituals and photoshooting.

Here are some of the photos we got with Tom Good

Are group also got some super awesome video footage filmed with Shinwh0! Check it out!

The Cosplay Contest was great! I always seem to have a lot of fun with my cosplay group (probably because Shay and I get super enthusiastic about all of the entries hahaha) and it was fun seeing my other friends go on stage. It was sad that there werent a lot of skit entries this year (there were sooo many walk ons). But with less competition we managed to snag the Best Drama skit award! We were so happy because we worked really hard to get a skit award this year instead of a costume award (I was the only one who entered for costume judging too). I was really proud of myself too because I wrote and directed most of it.

This is our skit if you would like to see it (sadly the beginning and end it cut off a bit but its still fairly easy to get if you are a Evangelion geek)!

Also Tom Good took this hilarious photo of use victory dancing onto the stage. Its too hilarious not to share.

The rest of the night was spent celebrating our victory.

Day 3

I was pretty much exhausted but I was able to get up fairly early and change into my Jedi Rei cosplay. I helped talk/participate in a photo panel with several local photographers that morning. It was a really small yet fun panel since it was mostly my friends sitting in a circle and talking about personal style.

I also did quite a lot of photoshooting with Tom Good, Shunichi Al Hayashi and Jeremy from Open Your Eyes Visuals.

If you would like to see more photos of this cosplay please go to my Rei Ayanami gallery.

Overall...
It was a fantastic con! I always seem to have a good time at Kumoricon even though it is a very small convention. Sadly I don't think I will be returning next year since my plans are to either attend PAX Prime or Dragon Con. Maybe I will come back when the convention moves to a larger location!

My next event will be Aki Con October 26-28!
If you want to follow my progress and plans for Aki be sure to follow my Facebook page!

Birdy the Mighty Costume Information

2013-04-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hey guys sorry for the SUPER LONG wait. I’d like to tell you guys more about my Birdy the Mighty suit construction since I was getting so many questions after Fanime!

First Concepts, Inspiration, and Ideas:
Once again this is one of those costumes that I took a lot of time to research and think about before I actually attempted it. I’m always very tentative when it comes to starting on suits. My work with my plugsuit had made me more confident in what I would be doing. Anyways I really had no clue where to start... and honestly I never thought about doing the cosplay until I remembered I had seen a photo of a Birdy promotional cosplayer in a magazine a couple years ago. I went and looked up the image and saw that the suit had flesh colored spandex and wasn't just taped up to her body (which is mostly what I saw when I searched around for Birdy cosplays). Although the cosplay wasn’t as good as I thought it was the spandex looked fairly good and I realized that I could make it better if I tried.

Specific Materials:
All the the material for the suit is 4 way stretch spandex purchased off of Spandex House. I purchased Lining in HSL-02 for the flesh color on the suit. I also got Milliskin Matte in Royal, Supplex/Tactical in SLX-07 and Milliskin Matte in White.

Patterning:
I seriously winged a lot of the patterns in this costume, especially with the gloves. For the legs I based the pattern off of a Tights with Heels pattern from an issue of Cosmode (Glamour Issue 01 to be exact). The gloves, sleeves and blue parts were easy to pattern because all I had to do was modify existing ones and made sure it fit correctly. The most difficult part was the flesh parts. I first made everything else (the “boots” sleeves, neck piece, torso piece) then went ahead and pinned it all together with the flesh colored fabric. This was really a trial and error process for me. The first time through I went and attached everything only to be unsatisfied with the piece which I ended up seam ripping and completely re doing it again.

Here are some photos of the most difficult pieces I cut out and pieced together for this costume. Hopefully you can use it as a reference to your own pattern.

Sewing: Sewing spandex is honestly a lot more easy than vinyl so this was a relatively pleasant experience. All of the seams were reinforced though because the suit was SUPER tight. Before I reinforced them I tried to see if I could do kicks/difficult poses and some of the seams ended up popping!! I made sure all of the seams were reinforced like crazy.

The Cape/Robe:
The cap/robe was a total last minute addition to the costume. Birdy also occasionally wears this when she wore it on her home planet so I decided to make it. The outside is just blue cotton and the inside is lined with a sea green cotton. The red designs were fabric painted on with fabric paint. The silver piece on the front was sculpted and painted then I attached a pin to it.

Wig, Headpiece, Other Parts and contacts:
For the wig I purchased a heat resistant silver white wig off of ebay and used the sharpie/rubbing alcohol method to dye it. I used for pink, one orange and one red sharpies to mix the desired color. I dip dyed the back, and then used a paint brush to carefully get the front section done. I also used heat (used a hair dryer and also ran a hair straightener through it) to set the color and make sure it wouldn't bleed because red/orange sharpie pigments tend to bleed A LOT and I have ruined costumes in the past because of this. After setting it with heat the color rub off was minimal and I only have a slight pink tinge on my suit from where the suit touches the front of the wig. Making sure the color doesn’t bleed will help you so much!! For the headpiece I just modified a headphone frame and used cardboard/paperclay to finish it up. I honestly didn’t like the headpiece much so I am probably going to redo it when I wear this costume again. The blue gems/triangles on her gloves and tiny gem on her neck were made out of clay, painted with nail polish then glued on with E600 (seriously best glue ever go get yourself a bottle if you don't have one). Contacts are Anime CPA2 Blue Cosplay Contacts you can buy them here:http://shoppingholics.com/goods.php?id=800

Other frequently asked questions about the costume:

“Did you paint it on a bodysuit?”
NOOOO AND WHY WOULD YOU EVER ASSUME THAT. Fabric paint on a suit does not look like that. If you ever wanted to paint on a suit don’t do it in large patches.

“If you did paint it on, what brand of fabric paint did you use?”
Some brands of fabric paint are very stiff on fabric when it is dry and it’s also difficult to get an even application over a large amount of space. Just buying the right colors of spandex and piecing it together is honestly the better and easier option rather than getting a zentai suit and painting it.

“Is it comfortable to wear?”
I love wearing bodysuits. So comfortable. The only annoying part was the neck area for me.

“What do you wear underneath the suit/what should I wear underneath the suit?”
All I wore were Silicone Nipple Covers that I purchased from Victoria’s Secret. But for more support I would recommend a seamless or adhesive bra. I also don’t recommend wearing panties underneath the suit, you can see the lines and it just looks terrible.

Thank you for reading this post and I hope it has helped you! If you have any other questions feel free to contact me! If you would like to view a full gallery of my Birdy cosplay just click here.

Fashion of the Week (6/24-30)

2012-06-30T17:49:00.001-07:00

Now that its summer time, I can finally take the time to dress up when going out. :) I have been wanting to do lookbook photos but honestly its a pain in the butt to get a tripod set up or to ask someone to take a couple of photos. I finally found a better alternative to get fashion posts up. INSTAGRAM.

YUP. Its simple and easy. All I have to do is take a couple snaps in the mirror then quick edit them. It only takes a couple of minutes to do it instead of the painstakingly long process to get more high quality photos on lookbook. Don't worry I will still post regularly on lookbook but not as often as Instagram! :3

You can follow me @bramblehomie. Or you can follow my photos on twitter or tumblr.

I'm also going to start doing posts of clothing details for my outfits. So starting now lets get started with this weeks outfit breakdown!

TUESDAY

Shirt: Billabong

Shorts: DIY

Diamond Pattern Socks: Target

Platform Sneakers: H&M

Bag: Mossimo

Accessories: Forever21

WEDNESDAY

Shirt: Not sure I think Wallmart?

Bow Jeans: Taobao/Somewhere from Asia? Bought off of someone.

Floral Shoes: H&M

Bag: Mossimo

Monster High Headphones: Ross

THURSDAY

Shirt: H&M

Shorts: cut up Abbey Dawn jeans

Pinstripe socks: Target

Brown Oxfords: Forever21

Bag: zoe&zac

FRIDAY

Shirt: Wet Seal

Skinny Jeans: Ross

Liz Lisa Style boots: Minimaos (site is not available anymore :C so I'm not sure where you can purchase them)

Bag: Mossimo

SATURDAY

Blouse: Forever21

Shorts: DIY

Polka dot socks: Target

Platform Sneakers: H&M

Bag: Mossimo

Head bow: Gift (you can probably find a similar one anywhere!)

Accessories: Forever21

That is all! Hopefully I will be out and about enough to make these posts every Saturday! :3

Cove Palisades Photoshoot Trip (pic heavy)

2012-06-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

On June 22 my friends and I went on a long trip to eastern Oregon to take cosplay photos! We drove from Oregon to Cove Palisades state park. It was a long and rainy day but the photo results were great!

I was mostly excited for this shoot because the canyon area would be absolutely perfect for my Nausicaa cosplay. Tom (the photographer) had shown me some of the photos before we went and I was pretty much freaking out. Cove Palisades was pretty much the valley of the wind!!!

Apart from my Nausicaa cosplay Tom also shot the lovely Ka-San and Shaynii.

Shay as Lots of Laughs Hatsune Miku.

Katie as Pinup-Inspired BLU Engineer from Team Fortress 2.

The scenery in this park was just beautiful. The waterfall here was amazing!

Another amazing view. I didn't really like this shot just because it isn't in character very much and you can see the guard rail. But the view was still great.

After taking getting a couple shots at this particular location it, it started to rain :C After that we couldn't take as many photos as we wanted to because it was just hard to get out into the rain and wind with all of the camera gear. We stopped for some food then decided to head back.

On the way back we managed to get some cool shots right in front of this giant pile of snow at Government Camp. I'm glad I decided to brave the rain to get out and get these shots!

Well thats it I hope you enjoyed this post a long with the video! :)

Fanime 2012 (Pic Heavy)

2012-06-12T13:42:00.002-07:00

This year I was finally able to make it to Fanime con! It was an amazing experience and is definitely one of my favorite convention experiences to date! I hope to go back someday (next year is a total maybe thanks to senior finals).

Day 0

My trip was incredibly long because I had to travel from Portland OR, to San Hose CA. I left Portland on the night before day 0, spent the night in Eugene then got up at the crack of dawn to drive down with my friends. We arrived in San Hose after about TEN HOURS or driving. Next time I go, I think I will fly. I almost went crazy sitting in the car for so long. XD

After arriving and checking into the hotel I quickly changed into my Yuno cosplay and headed out to photoshoot with Eurobeat Kasumi Photography.

Im really glad I brought this cosplay because I finally got to cosplay with a Yukiteru! I convinced ka-san to finally watch Mirai Nikki and she decided to cosplay him!

Some of the photos from the shoot!

After that we tried to wait in line for our badges but unluckily the building had a power outage. :l I think we sat in line for around two hours before we gave up. I did appreciate the staff though they were incredibly professional and I felt bad because the power outage was nowhere near their fault! Personally this con probably had the best staff (compared to the staff at other conventions I have gone to).

After giving up I just derped around with my friends before going to bed.

Day 1

Because we gave up on the line we all decided to get up very early to beat the crowd and get to the front of the line. Luckily we did and had our badges by 9:30 ish. We were hella lucky because the pre reg line ran around outside the building almost ALL DAY.

I had first changed into my Noriko cosplay and spent most of the morning wandering around, doing shoots and just chatting it up with friends I had not seen in a while.

I even met another Noriko cosplayer! It was pretty exciting to see one because almost no one cosplays her. Everyone that recognized me was like "YESS OLD SCHOOL GUNBUSTAAAA". I like giving people serious Nostalgia feels.

After wearing Noriko I went back and changed into Nono for some shoots.

For some odd reason I wasn't too happy while wearing the costume so after I finished my shoots I quickly went back to my hotel to change AGAIN.

This time I wore my Gunbuster uniform with my Nono wig. There actually is a official Gainax illustration of her wearing the outfit so Its pretty legit. Sadly I didn't get any quality pictures of it. After doing some filming with my friend Shinwh0 I quickly went to Stage Zero for the Crunchyroll announcement!

It was so exciting getting up on stage and being introduced as someone who will be representing Crunchyroll!

I finally got to meet and chat with Pikminlink too! She is so nice! :D

The Pokemon Men also crashed the party LOL

The rest of the day was spent browsing the dealers hall, eating food, and going to the /cgl/ meet up which was preeeeetty crazy.

Day 2

I decided to wear Birdy all day because of costume judging. I had a quick shoot with EBK in the morning and then went off to costume judging for the cosplay contest.

Photo of me during judging. I was so nervous since this was my first masquerade entry at a huge convention. I wasn't really sure if the judges were impressed or not.

Later I went to the Shigeto Koyama autograph session. I am a HUGE Heroman fan (for those of you who don't know Koyama designed the characters in the show). It was fun talking to some of the dudes in line especially the guy next to me because we discussed his interview with Koyama.

He drew me an ADORABLE little Joey Jones on my stand. >u< Im so happy I found a Heroman figure in the Bandai booth.

After that I did some filming, photohsooting, and food eating before I decided I was sick of wearing my heels. I changed into my Joey cosplay that I had brought.

This variant was based off of Koyama's artwork. It sucked not being able to have time to change for the autograph session but luckily Koyama saw photos of it after the con and complimented me! YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY I WAS TO SEE THAT.

After some fun late night shenanigans I went to bed.

Day 3

In the morning I got up to change into Rei and did some plugsuit photoshoots. I finally got to cosplay with a plugsuit Shinji! :D

OTP PICS FOREVER

Skye's plugsuit was simply amazing!! Im so sad I didn't get to cosplay Evangelion that much at the con!

I had to quickly change back into Birdy for the Masquerade.

The auditorium was huge! *o* It was my first time participating in a contest with such a huge audience and stage. Going on stage was a freaking sensory overload :o the audience was huge!

Photo of me on stage. This is like the only one where I don't look like a total derp XD

It was fun watching all of the skits (the good and the bad lol). But I was mostly waiting to see which of my friends got an award.

My friend Bad Wolf cosplay got a craftsman ship award on her White Bunny cosplay!

Surprisingly I got one too! It was a total shock and surprise! I got Best of Division Craftsmanship Individual!

The rest of the night was spent staying up late and hanging out with friends since it was the last night of the convention.

Day 4

Luckily I did not have to rush and pack on the last day because we were staying another night. Having most of the day to relax and do stuff during a con was AMAZING and its probably why I didn't come home as tired as I usually am.

I wore my Miki cosplay in the morning because it was pretty much the equivalent of casual clothing. XD Even the wig was comfy!

I also got time to head down to the pool at the hotel. I ended up doing a small shoot too so here's the one and only photo I will be releasing from it!

This was also supposed to be my "400 likes" photo but I never got around to it because I didn't have computer access when I hit the 400 mark :C

The rest of the day was spent chillaxin and slowly packing. We left very early the next morning. Sadly I didnt get back to Portland till around 9 PM the next day due to train/bus schedule mishaps.

Overall

Great convention. I would definitely go again and I can't wait for next time. I am bummed that I might not even be able to go next year but I think I will come up with some sort of plan to make sure I can go! I loved making new friends at this con and I freaking love California. I can't wait to return.

Rei and Asuka Plugsuits

2012-05-10T20:24:00.003-07:00

My plugsuit is probably one of the best costumes I have made so far. Shay and I are really proud of hard work we put into making them. I hope you guys enjoy the information and detailed construction notes and tips.

Kumoricon 2011

We first made our costumes for Kumoricon 2011. We ended up being unable to finish them. The first version of our suits did not look very good. There were a lot of mistakes made and we never did the sleeves. We ended up fixing and completing them for Sakura Con this year.

First of all I didn't just figure it out on my own, I spent about 6 months researching everything I knew before I actually bought the items to start constructing it. Most of my information came from observing/looking at descriptions lulubirds beautiful plugsuits, and also getting advice and tips from the Yuurisans (Karen & Cindy) who are wonderful.

Lulubird and her Sister

Yuurisans

The suits consists of six different parts; the main suit, the under armour, two cuffs, two gloves and the backpack.

The fabric is all four way stretch vinyl which I purchased off of Spandex House online. The red and white fabrics are quite shiny but the black vinyl is actually matte. A lot of hand sewing and glue was involved to make this costume. Later on we got better with sewing vinyl with a machine. I also didn't use a specific pattern. When making this suit you had to have someone pin it down on you to get a perfect fit. Shay and I both helped each other out on our suits. All the 3D parts like this neck piece here have a cardboard or craft foam base in them. The chest area was a combination of cardboard, craft foam and several bra cups all glued together. As you can see it looks like shit inside of the suit. For the shoes I cut up a pair of rip off vans and carefully hand stiched and glued them to the feet of the suit. All the black details are done with tulip fabric paint. Surprisingly it works well. The butt stripes were originally glued on which did not work well AT ALL. I just hand stitched mine after that. Shay did hers with a machine.

For the back pack all of the designs on it were painted. I made stencils with masking tape and painted over them. When the paint was dry I peeled it off and you get a perfect number pattern on the backpack! The base is made of cardboard and I stretched the fabric over and glued the shit out of it to keep it all in place. I put hooks on the corners and also velcro on the back. This will make sure everything stays in place when I attach it to the main part of my suit.The back of the suits have holes for the hooks on the backpack and velcro. The front of my suit has velcro on it so I can get the front of the entire back pack attached. For Shay's Back pack we used safety pins instead of hooks/eyes.

The cuffs have a cardboard base. This is kind of hard to describe but I stretched fabric over the base (which has the yellow painted on it) then stitched on pieces over the holes on the base. Then I cut small holes in the stretched over fabric so I can put my hands through. When you wear them you just kind of slip them on. I know Shay had a hard time getting hers on so make sure the hole is at a comfortable size. The gloves are pretty easy. One side is the main color and the bottom is just some regular blue. The orange parts are fabric painted on.

The under shirt isn't too hard. Its pretty much just a black tight shirt with the armor added on. Originally I made my armor out of a craft foam base and it did not turn out too good. The re done armor is made out of a cardboard/paper mache base with fabric stretched over it. The sliver buttons (or whatever you're supposed to call them) are made out of clay and glued on. The armor was painstakingly hand stitched onto the shirt. It was kind of uncomfortable to wear at first because you cant really raise your hands with the armor on but you will get used to it.

As for comfortableness of these suits? I thought it was super nice to wear. The only uncomfortable part was the neck. I would not recommend wearing the full sleeved version in hot weather, vinyl is not breathable. Getting into the suits is a challenge but the rest of the time It practically feels like I'm not wearing anything at all

Last but not least my lance prop. The base was an metal lightweight broom handle that I got at the dollar store. I then sculpted the spirals out of clay on top of it. Once I got to the top area I made sure it had a good wire base and started sculpting again. I also added paper mache at some points so It can be lighter. The tips are actually just masking tape so It can bend and the tips wont break.

ALSO Ive had a bunch of people who are trying to make these suits with no sewing experience at all. PLEASE DON'T ATTEMPT THEM, wait till you have been cosplaying and sewing for a couple of years.

Lots of talented cosplayers first plugsuits have not turned out perfect the first time. Heck I messed up so much on my Rei suit. Once I made the sleeves I fixed so much on the parts I had already made.

Before and after.

Lots of talented cosplayers first plugsuits have not turned out perfect the first time. Heck I messed up so much on my Rei suit. Once I made the sleeves I fixed so much on the parts I had already made.

I hoped this helped! Good luck with your plugsuits and I hope I can see them!

Sakura con 2012 (pic heavy)

2012-04-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

I had an amazing time at Sakura con this year! I had a much more enjoyable time than last year! It was awesome meeting lots of new people and hanging out with my best buddies!

Thursday

I drove up to Seattle with a couple of friends from Portland. Not a lot happened all I did was register and hang out/photoshooting with some people. I ended up hanging at the Sheraton pool and lounge too!

Pool time with Shay Sahara and Sarah!

Ate the most delicious brownie at the Sheraton lounge! Also drank some delicious Shirley temples! I had never eaten there before. I am totally going back next year to eat brownies and drink fruity things there!

Friday

I changed into maid Rei in the morning. I really wasnt sure what I was doing so I ended up hanging out with Caitlin and Sarah until I contacted Vincent to meetup.

/endedupstalking his No More Heroes group shoot

Also finally got to meet Kara/electric-lady!!!! * 3 * She is so sweet and cool~!!

Some photographers who were watching with me also decided to grab me for some photos! I had a great time woking with lemon-ikon photography and Roger Lee!

After that I had to quickly scramble back to the hotel room because.....

We trolled the Aniplex Madoka Magica Meetup LOL

A couple of my friends and I decided to make "gangster" themed costumes of the characters and ran around with a Madoka rap playing on a portable cassette player!

I GOT TO BE COOBIE

The whole group! XD Our Madoka was so adorbs *u*

All of our costumes were just ridiculous.

After that I quickly ran back to my room and changed into Yuno since I wanted to wear her before it got dark.

I did a couple of shoots and actually met some cool photographers! :) It was nice working with Coolppls and Etaerada!

After that I contacted Shay and we decided to change into our plugsuits for fun!

We were sooo happy with the improvements on our costumes! I especially loved how Shay's wig looked this time we finally made the pigtails/clips look good! We just walked around the con being stupid attention whores for a while hahahaha.

We also enjoyed Shirely Temples at the hotel lounge! I HIGHLY recommended to order some if you ever stay at the Sheraton! Super cheap and free re fills! The server ended up recognizing our costumes and he also gave us the drinks for free. Cool dude.

Then we had our epic lightsaber battle shoot with Vincent.

FUCKYEAH

LOL Shay was so silly she kept holding the blade XD

After that it was the /cgl/ meetup which was fun (THE PIZZA WAS GOOD) but I got bored and ended up wandering off then changing for the rave.

I was a dumbass for wearing this to the rave. The shirt was sooooo hot and I could barely breath in the mask. Oh well it looked badass!

Saturday

My Evangelion cosplay group got up early so we could all do a photoshoot together with Vincent.

The full shoot is not out but heres a little preview ;)

We quickly rushed off to shoot with EBK too! Our Mari had to leave us though ;A;

To see more photos check out his facebook page!

A lot of the day was spent trying to trudge through the dealers hall without getting stopped by people. ;A; at one point I was just very grumpy because I wanted to shop for figures in peace!

We also went on nico nico while we were in the dealers hall!

Here is our interview!

Also met this dude on Friday but we ended up being able to hang out with him for a while! :D

Pretty much spent the rest of the day hanging out with people and doing random photo shoots. I ended up going to bed early which is really strange but I guess it was nice? XD

Sunday

I ended up leaving Seattle around 11 so I never hung out at the con! I pretty much said bye to my friends then got picked up to leave!

I hope everyone had a good time at the con! I cannot wait to see some of you guys at Fanime!

Mirai Nikki Photoshoot

2012-03-26T22:28:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I finally had a photoshoot for my Gasai Yuno cosplay! Its nice when you have a small photoshot with plenty of time to take photos.

Once again the amazing Tom Good took photos of me :)

My boyfriend Todd and my other cosplay friend Kati e also came to assist. Katie also wore a cosplay too :>

We all ended up getting up VERY early in the morning to meet up and take photos. Why? Because Tom wanted to take photos of my Yuno cosplay in a skate park. Sometimes timing can be key in a photoshoot. We didn't want to take photos when there were a lot of skaters at the park. Luckily when we arrived there was no one there. The weather also was in our favor that day. It was clear skies and sunshine. It was still freezing cold and windy though. It ended up getting a lot warmer later in the day.

Here are all of the skate park photos. I really like how the upper left one turned out. If you look at the shadow it is different from what I am actually doing XD

Also for people who have actually seen the Mirai Nikki anime you might be wondering why my uniform is slightly different. I actually made the original design of the uniform in the manga. The anime (for some odd reason) decided to make Yuno's shirt in a slightly lighter shade of blue and added some designs on the sides.

We also ended up taking some photos in the surrounding area until Tom slipped and fell in the mud! :C We quickly left and headed back to Tom's to take indoor photos. I think its really cool that Tom has some studio equipment that we can work with at his house.

Here of some behind the scene photos of our set up! We have a backdrop and lighting equipment! On the right you can see that Todd is setting up a fog machine! We planned to use it to see if we could get some cool shots....and guess what....

WE DID!

I am so happy about these creepy fog photos!

Heres another photo done without the fog. I love how we used a kitchen knife for this XD Also my wig looks fabulous in this shot!

I also want to share some of the photos Katie posed for! Shes cosplaying Yamada from Working!! Isnt she adorable with her apron and bear plushie? :3

After lunch we ended up taking some last minute photos too!

These were all taken at a small elementary school in the area.

I think the best thing about the shoot was that the photographer and assistants new about the series, we had to many ideas for photos. Also working with a lot of props gave us more room for interesting and creative shots. I also finally learned how to properly hold a gun lol!!!

Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the photos! <3

P.S. HERE ARE SOME OUTTAKES ENJOY <3 <3 <3

March 18 Cosplay Meet Up

2012-03-20T19:37:00.003-07:00

Hey guys! Heres a quick post about the cosplay meet I went to on Sunday :)

It was just one of those local meetups where anyone could come to take photos or hang out. I usually don't go to them but I really wanted to go get some cosplay photos.

It was at the local Rose Gardens! Sadly none of the roses were in bloom :C

It was VERY MUDDY too. The entire stretch of grass in this photo was a SWAMP. My shoes got covered in mud lol.

The weather was alright at first. It was cloudy but we got a bit of sunshine. BUT THEN IT STARTED TO SNOW WTF. By 1 pm it was snowing so hard we couldnt go on with taking photos. I pretty much freezed my ass off but hey I got some good photos so Im happy :D

The type of equipment set up we had for photos. Props to Tom for getting all of it out here, setting it up and making sure it didn't get damaged by the rain/slush/snow.

Some of the other cosplayers that showed up. They were my favorites out of everyone else.

There were some annoying ass weebs that showed up too =A= one of them goes to my school and all she showed up in was a tangled wig and generic dress that was just a closet cosplay. Wtf.

Ok Ill stop trash talking lol

I made a new Rei outfit to wear for fun. It was really easy to sew and it was super adorable. Its actually an older version of Rei from the light novel Evangelion ANIMA

This is the only reference photo/illustration of the actual outfit XD SUPER DUPER OBSCURE STUFF!

Anyways here are some of the cosplay photos.

I think I finally got the wig style and makeup perfected for Rei. Im super happy with how it turned out :)

Thats all for today! Thanks for reading <3

Life and Cosplay Updates

2012-03-16T21:21:00.001-07:00

Oh my gosh I have not written a blog post for a long time!!!! ヽ(≧Д≦)ノI really need to get back into the habit of posting regularly.

Ive been super busy with school and working on cosplays for Sakura Con! Ive been taking some progress pictures but not a lot.

Here are some (crappy cell phone pic) progress photos of a couple of projects :D

I will do a more extensive/high quality cosplay progress and preview post during Spring Break :)

I am also going to start writing and filming a little "convention survival" mini series. It will be presented in blog posts and YouTube video. Its going to cover lots of different subjects like packing, money saving, traveling, cosplay tips and other things that revolve around convention events. If you are interested in something particular feel free to request it! I am super determined to do this new project!! ヽ(；▽；)ノ

Well thats all for today! I will get back to doing more interesting and fun posts soon <3

World Cosplay Summit U.S. Preliminaries 2012 Thoughts and Opnions

2012-02-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

If you didn't know Katsucon happened this weekend along with the World Cosplay Summit Preliminaries. Its one of the biggest cosplay competitions ever and is held every year. About 19 different countries compete at the World Cosplay Summit.

ACP had pretty decent coverage on the events so I was able to follow most of the competition and watch some of the skits. I think that top 3 were great.

Source

The winners Coconut Bubble Sex Cosplay in their Princess Tutu cosplays.

I really loved the skit! The concept was great.

Originally I was excited to see Uxi and Bur Loire compete but apparently they did not finish their costumes in time. :C

Source

My overall favorite was breathlessaire and Starlighthoney's gorgeous Ah My Goddess costumes. I was hoping they would of won >>;

If you are interested in seeing the top ten skits and seeing more photos of the contestants you should check out the page on American Cosplay Paradise

Valentine's Day 2012 & Updates

2012-02-14T23:32:00.000-08:00

Valentine's day (or single awareness day for some people) has always been one of my favorite holidays. Ive honestly never been bitter about it because I think its fun single or in a relationship. I love getting (and giving) candy, cheesy cards and other cute, thoughtful gifts.

To be honest I really hate the people that are total party poopers about the holiday. Valentine's day isnt just about couples or your significant other, its also appreciating the love of your friends and family. Sometimes it seems like people just use the holiday as an excuse to bitch about how sad and alone they are.

WELL ANYWAYS

I don't get anything over the top to give to people but I made macarons for my friends and especially Todd. He loves my homemade macarons :)

I tried making them in heart shapes. Its was pretty nervous making at first because the first batch turned out funky and a lot of the hearts were disfigured hahaha. Eventually I figured it out and got them to look like adorable hearts. I made them in dark pink, lilac and light pink.

If you are interested in the recipe I used It is this one!

Todd ended up surprising me with these gorgeous chocolates after school :) I love how there are chocolates inside of a chocolate box. The designs on it are beautiful ;u; I didn't want to eat it!

We were supposed to go on a Valentine's 'date' but it got postponed till this weekend >>; Oh well Im super excited for the weekend since its a four day one (THANKS TO NO SCHOOL FRIDAY AND MONDAY 8D)

Winter formal pics also came in and ahhhh that background actually looks really good. And hnng my legs look so good in it XD

I think thats all of my updates for today! I hope you guys had a lovely Valentine's day (single or taken haha)!

ISB Bunkasai (pic heavy)

2012-02-04T22:52:00.000-08:00

photo by Tom Good

The International School of Beaverton's held their first-annual Bunkasai, a festival all about Japanese culture. It was a lot of fun and a huge success!

I had come to visit and help out a friend Hazuza who was one of the main leaders in the Japanese Honor society. She wanted to have me help host and judge the small cosplay contest event they did.

photo by Tom Good

The school put together various activities in different places of the school. There were things like catching goldfish, trying on Kimonos, tea ceremonies, a gaming room and other things.

The gaming room.

I finally finished a new cosplay to wear at this event! I did the maid version of Rei from the UCC coffee can artwork! There is also a figurine of it too. Its a very comfy and cute cosplay

photo by Tom Good

I ended up helping judge and host the cosplay contest Hazu put together!

From the left, Dana, me and Hazu introducing ourselves on the main stage! photo by Tom Good

photo by Tom Good

Its fun getting to be on stage and introducing yourself with some of your closest cosplay buddies! I totally sucked at talking to the crowd though X_X and the mic was very quiet!

photo by Tom Good

I was surprised how many contestants actually showed up! There were also a lot of cosplayers who did not compete.

Apart from the cosplay contest there was a huge variety of entertainment for the main stage. I was mainly impressed by the Childrens Taiko group. They were so well disciplined and incredibly musical.

Totoro!

The school ended up raising over a thousand dollars from this fundraiser! It was a great success!

Finishing this post with some derpy photos! Hope you enjoyed this post!

Katawa Shoujo

2012-01-28T00:45:00.000-08:00

One of my brand new obsessions lately has been the visual novel Katawa Shoujo! It was my first time playing a visual novel. I don't play a lot of video games so it was nice that I really got hooked on to it. :)

So what exactly is Katawa Shoujo? Its a bishoujo style visual novel, that is set in a fictional high school for disabled kids. You play Hisao Nakai, who came to the school after a near fatal heart attack and was diagnosed with a heart defect. There are paths five main female characters you can explore. It also has adult content (which you can also disable!) which is something that most visual novels tend to have.

(source)

The game is licensed under a Creative Commons and is free to download on the official website!

Some screen shots and artwork from the game.

I totally encourage you guys to download it and give it a try! Let me know and comment if you play it too :)

Chocolate Festival Lolita Meetup + Updates

2012-01-23T02:53:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! I have not written a new post in a while ;u; SO I AM BACK NOW!

So I have some good news and some bad news!

First off BAD NEWS ;u; I am cancelling the current giveaway due to the lack of entries! Sorry to the people that entered!

Now to the GOOD NEWS! Once I hit 100 likes on my facebook fan page I will host a anime themed giveaway! Want free stuff? GET ME SOME LIKES ;D

On Saturday I went to the Chocolate Festival lolita meetup. It was super fun! I went last year but did not wear lolita. ;A; But I decided to dress up this year!

My outfit. This was the first time I wore anything in lolita style ;u; I made the dress in about a day and found random things to pair it with. hahaha

I had a good time seeing a lot of my cosplay friends and hanging around! Trying all of the chocolate was a lot of fun too!

Lolitas taking pictures of each other. lol

Crazy lolitas wahahaha

Shay and I! lol I look stupid.

Everyone eating the chocolate they got!

Nails photo! There were so many people that showed up this year!

My favorite photo from the meetup!

Heres a little cell phone app edit! I finally downloaded Meitu! Its a Chinese app but its seriously one of the best photo editing apps out there.

A couple of edits I made on my new app <3 I love the heart bokeh.

Thats all for today! Thanks for reading :3

Weekend shopping!~

2012-01-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

Don't forget about my beauty giveaway! :3

This weekend was pretty much going to the mall every single day and shopping hahaha... I didn't get a lot but it was still fun :)

I went shopping/had dinner with my mom yesterday!

My outfit. It wasn't very lookbook worthy so I just ended up taking a cute cell phone picture.

I also saw these creepy ass Naruto pencils at the Hello Kitty/Anime/Cute Stuff store. I pretty much cracked up when I saw them but they are also so creepy! >A<

I got two shirts from Wet Seal! They were only 5$ each! :>

I also got a pair of black ankle boots which will be perfect for my winter formal coordinate.

Today I went shopping with my boyfriend. We were actually trying to hunt down some items for his cosplays but we couldn't find a lot. :c

We ended up going to the mall because I found a 50$ gift card to FYE while cleaning (SCOREEE) but there wasn't anything I wanted. I was hoping to buy some anime DVD's but my favorite series were not on the shelves :<

We ended up going back to his place to hang out and take lookbook photos!

Derpy photo of the day.

Annnnd the finished look from today!

I hope you enjoyed thanks for reading!

Cosplay Makeup 101

2012-01-06T01:37:00.000-08:00

Don't forget about my beauty giveaway! :)

You might think a stunning cosplay is all about the costume construction but its not. Makeup is incredibly important when It comes to cosplay. One of my biggest pet peeves when someone doesn't take the time to even put on a some basic makeup while cosplaying. It takes away so much in the cosplay. They look tired, and not as beautiful as the character they should be portraying.

Here's an old photo of me wearing no makeup on the left and wearing a full set of eye makeup on the right. I didn't wear a lot but as you can see it makes a difference. If you want to see more you can always Google 'makeup before and after'. So many of the results are pretty shocking.

Makeup is a pretty big subject because there are so many products to get, and things to learn about it. But this post is to teach make up newbies on simple things they can do to make their cosplay look even better.

So where do I start?

The first thing you can do Is start purchasing the products you need. Every person will have a preference on how they do their makeup but starting out its best to get the basic tools and products you might need.

~Foundation

~Concealer

~Eyeliner

~ Mascara

Those four things are what I would highly recommend starting out with.

Where do I get these items? Are they expensive?

A drugstore is the best (and cheapest) place to start out. If you have a Target in the area I highly recommend the e.l.f. (which you can also purchase online) brand because it is so cheap and the quality is great. Also looking around at your local dollar store is a good idea. They sometimes have discounted or discontinued drugstore products for only (well duh) a dollar. You don't need to use expensive makeup to get a good look.

How do I even put makeup on????

This is where the internet becomes your best friend. Online tutorials and videos are the best place to get advice and tips. Videos are great because you can actually see the demonstration of how other put on their makeup. There also is a wide variety of styles and methods to look at.

Here are my favorite videos on showing people how to do simple cosplay makeup. Its pretty much what I watched when I first started applying makeup.

There is so much more to watch and look at. You can even search for specific character tutorials or Japanese makeup tutorials.

What are your basic cosplay makeup essentials?

~Loreal Magic Perfecting Base

~BB Cream

~Maybelline Dream liquid Mousse Foundation in Porcelain Ivory

~NYC Smooth Skin Loose Face Powder in Translucent

~ Hard Candy Glamoflauge heavy duty concealer

~Neutral Eyeshadow Palette

~ Chapstick

~ e.l.f. Cream Eyeliner

~False Lashes + Glue ( MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE ITEMS EVER)

~Maybelline Falsies Mascara

~Blush

~Bronzer

...YEAAAH I have a lot... but thats because I like doing over the top makeup when I cosplay.

I hope this posts helped some of you guys out! :) Thanks for reading.

2011 Cosplay/Conventions (pic heavy)

2011-12-30T22:25:00.000-08:00

2011 Was a really interesting and fun year for cosplays/conventions.

I had a lot of fun meeting new people and doing new things!

QUESTION TIME!

1) Which conventions did you go to?

Sakuracon, Wonder Northwest and Kumoricon!

I also went to small events for various things.

2) Favorite cosplay of 2011?

Rei!! The plugsuit turned out great and I pretty much love cosplaying her. Panty comes in a close second though. It was fun wearing whore makeup and cosplaying with my boyfriend.

3) Favorite convention of 2011?

Kumoricon. Even thought its a small con I have the best time with my bros there. Also Sakura con was a bit disappointing :B

4) Favorite cosplay/convention memories of 2011?

OH GOD SO MANY OF THEM...

I really enjoyed the /cgl/ meets at all of the conventions. :)

Also chilling with all of my bros.

I think the highlight of Sakura con was meeting Jnig (even though I really don't like her :l) and posing with her lololol THE BITCH TOOK MY STOCKING IN THIS PHOTO. lol

Also DAMN her boobs XD

Favorite moment from Wonder NW :D Sonic Screwdriver + Mari = YEAAAAAH

My favorite Kumoricon memory was watching Tiger and Bunny with Hazu and Caitlin infront of the Columbia river.

Also Shay and I ended up winning a cosplay award at Kumoricon. We came on stage and the guest judges complimented us on our plugsuits. I was later looking at the videos and saw voice actor Todd Haberkorn clearly staring at Shay's ass. This photo kind of got a ton of attention on facebook and Todd Haberkorn ended up seeing it too hahaha. Definitely the best joke from Kumoricon.

5) Best convention goodies of 2011?

My Mari figures and my unit 00 figure.

6) Favorite Photo Shoot of 2011?

Newport Aquarium Shoot! It was an amazing experience!

7) Favorite photographer & cosplayer this year?

Tom Good is my favorite photogapher this year! He took us on two road trips and is so chill to hang out with!

Tom at Newport!

Some of his photos he took of me this year.

My favorite cosplayer this year is Electric Lady/Kara!

I discovered her after Sakura con because I had seen her Stocking cosplay.

She incredibly pretty, cute and very nice! :D

You can find her on facebook or deviantart!

8) Favorite cosplay/convention photos?

IN NO PATICULAR ORDER...

As you see I really like derpy photos XD

9) Plans for 2012?

Sakura con, Fanime, and Kumoricon or PAX west.

Thats all folks! I tag you cosplayers to go an answer these questions too!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T21:42:00.000-08:00

Hello I just wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my readers!

I really appreciate the people who read and follow my blog. I have been doing this for almost a year and it has been lots of fun! (●´∀｀●)

I really want to do another giveaway for you guys! So stay tuned!

If you celebrated Christmas, what was your favorite present? Tell me :>

My favorite gift is the Liz Lisa style boots my bf got me ;D

P.S. This was the best Christmas card this year. I rabu you too Shay :3c

Newport Photoshoot! (pic heavy)

2011-12-23T21:42:00.000-08:00

Hello! I haven't been posting in a while (I feel so bad orzzzz) because I have soooo busy this week with things.

Winter break started and I went down to Newport, OR to photoshoot with two friends. Our idea was to get cool photos at the aquarium, which is well known for having these glass tunnels you would walk through.

I FINALLY finished my plugsuit for this photoshoot.The undershirt, gloves and cuffs were sewn right before the photoshoot.

The drive was about 2-3 hours so I had to get up very early to get ready and also get into the suit.

Christmas hat Rei!!!

When we arrived we headed straight to the Aquarium to start taking photos. Luckily it wasn't tourist season so there were less people and taking photos was easy.

Our photographer/ride Tom shooting Katie as Ringo from Mawaru Penguindrum.

SUPER CUTE OTTER <3 ahhhh it was just chilling in the water being adorable!

Apart from being strange tourists we got down to serious business to take photos.

Katie in the glass tunnel.

Me in the same location! I LOVEEEE how the shots turned out!

Another shot I love because you can see the shark in the background!

After spending about three hours shooting in the aquarium we decided to explore outside to see where else we could shoot. It was FREEZING but the skies were clear and beautiful. SO WORTH IT!

In this shot you see: me freezing my butt off and desperately posing.

You can check out more of the cosplay photos at http://www.facebook.com/meepygal

Of course we also did fun tourist stuff too!

All of us dramatically posing behind the shark jaws.

Gift shop time! Katie loves penguins too much and Im just obsessed with seals!

This. Is. Newport!!!

Thats all! I hope you enjoyed this post <3

This Weeks Photo Diary

2011-12-10T21:27:00.001-08:00

OH HELLO THERE.

UPDATES: I have a new facebook page. You can go check it out? :D

I haven't done much this week. But I happened to take a lot of photos~

The weather has been getting a lot more cold lately. But luckily its been more of a dry winter than wet which means long walks are nice (BUT ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE DRY SKIN FFFUUU).

I tried doing Victory rolls this week! It turned out nice!

Also bought a new makeup bag today! :D

THIS IS ME WHEN I DANCE AROUND THE HOUSE LIKE AN IDIOT

Okay guys thats all byeee!

p.s. Ive also been doing a lot of lookbooking check it out!

Im Blonde!!!!

2011-12-04T13:30:00.001-08:00

I finally changed up my hair!

This was the first time bleaching/changing my hair so much! Im surprised it turned out so nice. I am super happy with it. ヾ(･ω･*)ﾉ

Playing around with Purikura apps!

I pretty much love my new hair <3 I think I will keep it this way for a while (☆^O^☆)

Just for fun here are some of my favorite blondies~

Xiaxue

(she has pink hair now but her blog header still has her pretty blonde hair!)

Allison Harvard

Okarie! My favorite gal model! Y U SO CUTEEEE

Kyary!!!!

Okay that all for today!! Expect a boyfriend tag video soon! 'w'

Thanks for reading <3

Black Friday Haul

2011-11-29T13:25:00.001-08:00

Hello!

Here's my Black Friday Haul! I did a YouTube video for it this time!

Hope you enjoy (○'ω'○)

Small Date Downtown~

2011-11-27T19:21:00.001-08:00

HEY HEY HEY Dont forget my GIVEAWAY is still going on!

Today I went downtown with my boyfriend :>

We mostly browsed shops then ate lunch and went home.

I just wanted to share some photos~

lol what are we doing...? XD

Beautiful Autumn weather!

I am loving all of the Christmas decorations in the malls!

The big Christmas tree in the center of downtown! Super pretty!

On the way home there was this DIRTY HOBO on the bus. He stunk up the whole bus and everyone was holding up scarves in front of their faces because it smelled SO BAD >:l

PEOPLE WHO SMELL LIKE GARBAGE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN PUBLIC PLACES D:

/rantisovernow

Thats all for today byeeeee! ヾ(＾∇＾)