|
I had this wild idea to do monthly (or semi-monthly) update blogs - probably only because I feel like I've accomplished a lot of cosplay stuff so far this year. "Feels like" is the operative phrase here, but still, let's take a look: ProjectsWar: In January I finally finished my War cosplay (started 2019). I had put time into the accessories in late 2023, as well as replacing the pants, but the wig/hairpiece was the biggest (i.e. most intimidating) and final piece. I made the faux-hawk and braid combo from scratch using the wefts from a ponytail clip (dyed to match my hair) and red wefts, both from Cactus Mafia. All the wefts were hand-sewn to a felt strip - probably not the best choice for my base, but it was convenient and a discrete colour. Then came lots of teasing for texture and volume, curling the top, pinning the top into place, and braiding the back. It's not exactly what I had envisioned (but what ever is?), and it definitely reads as War. In any case, it's better than having to use my own hair again next time I put on the costume. Blanca Flightsuit: I'm keeping the inspiration for this one under wraps until the Costume-Con 42 Single Pattern Contest, so I'm going to label it with the pattern name instead of my inspiration. I laid out a very reasonable timeline for myself in early January to keep me on track for the deadline but also ended up with both less time and less energy than anticipated. No surprise: I'm way behind and I don't know if I will get it done. But I did sketch out my design options, chose fabrics, and assembled the pattern pieces in January. February was all about working out the design details, fitting a mock-up, trying to source materials, and cutting fabric. Not too much to show off here, so I'll just add pics of my mock-up as proof of life - I promise the finished garment will be at least a little bit prettier.
Amity video: At the very end of 2023 I finished a new Amity Blight cosplay with the hope to use it for some Christmas cosplay photos, but sadly didn't get it done early enough. However, it seemed like a great option for the Con-G masquerade, especially since for once I wouldn't freeze if I wore it outside! Since I have multiple Amity costumes at this point, I settled on a montage video showing all of them off, and doing it in the style of a sitcom opening. Prepping, shooting, editing, and putting together my build book and video accounts for most of my flightsuit time sacrificed in January, but I think it was worth it. More on that below... EventsTriCon: I was psyched for this to be my first con of the year - to see friends in the Kitchener ON area again and also go back to The Museum, which I haven't seen since the first TriCon in 2014! Sadly the winter weather wasn't in my favour and I had to cancel the drive, but I'll try again next year! Con-G Geeks @ Home: It’s difficult posting about a con when I wasn’t actively cosplaying and meeting up with my friends, and feels silly to recap programming when almost everything is now available online. It was a bit more of a challenge attending (viewing) this year than previous because I had many other things going on over the weekend, but I managed to catch several panels as well as the masquerade, made some drinks, and enjoyed the FMV blocks! As mentioned, all of the panels are already available on Youtube to watch on demand so I highly recommend taking a look at the playlist and checking out some of them! Additionally, here's the link to the masquerade and to my entry by itself. I ended up winning Best in Class for Master division, which was awesome; especially considering how many other Master entries there were this year! Looking forward to Con-G at home again next year! What else?I have so many (far too many) things in-progress these days. I'm knitting on TV nights with my mother, which means I'm making very slow progress on my Impervious shawl. I love the pattern but it's somewhat tedious to knit, so maybe I'll make enough progress to show off in a future post. For now, this is the point I was at around the start of the year  Website updates are coming - I know I still have a few "new" cosplay galleries which are missing, but it's been really hard to set aside time for that kind of work. Sadly, costumes with actual deadlines have to come first with my scant time for hobbies.
Unrelated to cosplay or crafting, I'm still staying active with running and dancing at the gym, and still playing D&D (in the second year of our current campaign!) I managed to squeeze in two visits to Kitchener to see friends, and celebrated my birthday at home with new and old friends. I finally defeated Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom so I can start a new game guilt-free (though I'm still working on finishing up all the side-quests). That's enough for now - look forward to the next update after Costume-Con 42!
0 Comments
Let's take our annual look back on 2023, shall we? The year was a real struggle for cosplay - I ended up short on time for new builds which is definitely a running theme and (realistically) is only going to get worse year-over-year as I get older and also pick up other pastimes and hobbies (more on that later). Let's take a look at the costumes I made:  What I ended up with here is all easy/casual cosplay plus one old costume finished off. I still take that as a win! Chrissy from Animal Crossing was just something fun for both Year of the Rabbit and Easter posts Mom/Grace from Umbrella Academy was a cosplay I had started in 2019 and really wanted to just get completed. I finished the costume in time to enter the Con-G Virtual masquerade, where I won Best Master! I wore her again to Anime North for a meetup - unfortunately I am not sure if I'll be taking her to any more cons since the size is no longer good. Robert Baratheon was a fun project to go with my Cersei from Game of Thrones. I spent more time than I wanted to making alterations to Cersei so that she would fit again, but in the end I got Robert done in time for Halloween, which was the goal. Princess Waluigi was this year's silly "April Fool's" costume - very ridiculous but I had fun throwing it together with stuff from my closet plus making a custom crown. Amity Blight from Owl House is a repeat character but new "winter" outfit which I literally finished yesterday so I don't have photos yet... if I go to any winter cons in 2024 she will probably make an appearance.  Other less cosplay-related projects from the year include a cross stitch I made as an Umbrella Academy prop (for a specific photoshoot which hasn't actually happened yet), progress on my Impervious shawl, a commissioned Monokuma hat, one (of a couple) soap saver bags, a set of luma plushies for friends' children, and I started learning crochet with a couple of Woobles kits. I love how cute the critters turned out. I didn't attend a ton of conventions this year - checked out a couple of local events with SPCS and CKX, then the usual Anime North and Yeticon. I had hoped to do more but timing and travel just weren't on my side. The Oxford Ren Fest ended up replacing the con experience a bit, but I'm planning to do a few more in 2024 - I miss my con friends. As for how all this compares to my plans at the start of the year....  Mom got done! I made good progress on War, and am very close to being finished, but really need like a couple more days of holiday/vacation to get the wig done. Emi got cancelled altogether pretty early in the year - it just wasn't something I was passionate enough about for the amount of work it would have been. And the rest... they weren't touched. maybe next year. So, if I haven't been cosplaying, what did I do with my year? There's the usual boring stuff: I changed jobs, have been hanging with friends, etc. Aside from starting the year with Covid then a rotator cuff injury, I've been pretty good about staying active, so I end up at the gym pretty regularly. After a few summers of training I was finally able to run a full 5 km, and ended up doing three local races in September. The goal for next year is to improve my time - I want to be 2-3 minutes faster. I picked up a hip hop style cardio dance class at my gym as well which I am LOVING. I miss my old dance life a little LOL.  Along with being more active, I've also gotten more nerdy as our weekly D&D group started a new campaign in Feb, so we are coming up on the anniversary soon! Of course, I've been doing my best to keep up with shows, games, and also my huge to-read list. Since it seems like everyone provides a yearly summary now, I'm tossing those in here (too bad GoodReads doesn't do an easily sharable graphic). My Spotify wrapped was interesting this year, since it ended up being almost entirely my gym/running tunes. Tears of the Kingdom dominating my game time shouldn't come as a surprise - but that fact that I'm still not even close to beating it might. It looks like I real a lot, but take into consideration that a lot of that was comic books, not novels (feel free to click-through for more).
 There's one more thing this blog post needs: what's coming up???  A lot of my cons aren't confirmed - I would like to go back to TriCon in January, but it depends on the weather and other factors. Of course I'll be "attending" Con-G again in Feb, and the usual SPCS and Anime North in the spring. If YetiCon is happening *crosses fingers* of course I'll be there. Costume-Con 42 in Colorado is also on the list, I just need to confirm logistics. I'll try to keep my home page updated with the most current plans. As for costumes...  War is absolutely getting done this year. As I already said above, I really just need a couple of days to get it done and I'll be glad to have her off the list.
Twili Midna is the other older unfinished costume I want to focus on this year - it's been a decade since I started the sewing (and much longer than that for buying supplies), and I think that's probably the best reason to pick this one of my many abandoned WIPs. The "Blanca" jumpsuit will be for the Costume Con single pattern contest, but exactly what I'm doing with it will remain a surprise for now. Princess Buttercup has been on my to-make list for a while, but I recently changed which outfit I want to make. I want to have her ready for YetiCon 2024 Finally, there are plans in the works to make Akuoart's Witchy Princess trio with friends - maybe for Halloween?? Hmmmm, my last post was at the beginning of 2020... I wonder what happened there?! The pandemic has hit us all differently, and while in a perfect world I would have used the break from conventions and new costumes to get all my photo folders organized and my website up-to-date, that's clearly not what has happened. I didn't quite stop cosplaying altogether during 2020 and 2021, but pretty close. I buried myself in Animal Crossing, Drag Race, working (not from home) and didn't leave much room for anything else. 2022 brought big life changes and a moderate return to cons and cosplay, but also trying to deal with the nightmare my digital backlog has become. And now here we are. One month+ late with my previously annual New Years post and a lot of "coming soon" galleries. But the important thing is that we are here. Let's take a little look at 2022... Costumes  Rosalina by Desi-Desu became my white whale during quarantine. The wig was sponsored by Cactus Mafia and I was supposed to finish her by the end of 2019, but had bitten off much more than I could chew on the deadline I had committed to. Then... well you can guess. I managed to put the bulk of the work needed into finishing her in time to enter the Con-G Virtual Masquerade (right after a big move), and then the final finesse was added before Meagan's Walk in the spring. She finally got her convention debut at Youmacon 2022. Photo from Elemental. Megara happened because I watched Disney's Hercules for the first time near the end of 2021, and really liked Meg. When I was looking for a new cosplay I could put together before Yeticon (as opposed to something I started years ago and was feeling stale), I found the perfect base wig on sale from Arda, and Meg plans were sealed. I was even able to cosplay in an amazing group at Yeti with Ice Phoenix Art and Lulu Rush Cosplay as Hades and Herc respectively. Photo from the Video Ninja. "Tennis" Rosalina was the result of wanting to cosplay Rosalina (and make use of that labour-intensive wig), but being fully aware that the fancy costume would be a bad idea in both heat and high winds. So I did something I've never done before and bought a costume online. Of course, I had to make myself custom accessories like the racket, shoes, and shorts for under the dress. Photo from WCES. Amity Blight "3.1" was a relatively unplanned costume. I was thinking of a comfy costume to wear to YoumaCon as a break from Rosalina and Megara, and landed on one of Amity's costumes from the recently released Owl House special "Thanks to Them". It's mostly a closet cosplay but I hope I can take her to at least one bigger Owl House meet-up. I'll have to put together her season 2 outfit sometime so I can have one cosplay from each season hahaha. Photo from WCES. Miss Elizabeth wraps up the year - I've never been a wrestling fan but this is what happens when you let other people choose your Halloween costume: expanded horizons. Again, very much closet/thrifted but a lot of fun. Photo from Valius. Slothplay Let's face it - there isn't even a legit reason to have a separate section for slothplay this year, but it's not up there, so here we are. I only did one costume which I think qualifies, and it was Fierce Deity Link for April Fools posts. Enjoy.
Conventions: Obviously I don't have any blog posts to link to (unless I sneakily write them now and post-date them hmmmmm) so we'll stick with the very brief summary versions of "con reports". Con-G Geeks @ Home (panelist and virtual masquerade entrant) Android 18, Rosalina YetiCon (attendee) Plague Doctor, Megara, Amity Blight (S1) Anime North (Masquerade staff and Craftsmanship contest entrant) Android 18, Megara, Tennis Rosalina Youmacon (attendee) Megara, Rosalina, Tennis Rosalina, Amity Blight (S3.1) Non-cons: My non-con highlight of the year was definitely being invited to Meagan's Hug - a fundraiser for paediatric brain tumors. Every year cosplayers are asked to attend as entertainment/morale boosters and it was a fun event, even though doing a 5km walk in Rosalina in the May heat wasn't my wisest decision ever. I very much hope that I am invited to return again next year. Otherwise, I'm still trying to find the local cosplay scene in my new city. I have a couple of leads, and our local con is returning again in 2023, so wish me luck finding them.  Let's move on to bigger and brighter days! My calendar year started off a lot slower than I would have liked (*ahem caught Covid for Christmas ahem*) but I'm ready to work hard (OK, not too hard) at keeping up better this year. In the past month I've already got the ball rolling on finishing some projects which have been neglected too long. Much like in my last post, I'm going to tell you that I really want to complete some unfinished projects, with a few new things tossed in to keep my motivation up and to join groups with friends. I'm at a point in my life now that most costumes made/started before the pandemic hit no longer fit, so I'm also trying to be logical about which costumes are even reasonable to attempt. I'm also hoping to stick to my guns better than I have in the past and not multitask cosplay (finish one before picking up another). Maybe I'll pull it off. So here is how things look at the beginning of the year:  Mom/Grace from Umbrella Academy was on this list in 2020, too. But this year, she's finally getting finished. No question. The skirt is almost finished (I’m trying to engineer a simple hoop for the hem) but there’s some wig styling left to do and the shirt to sew. At least I don’t have to paint any more polka-dots.
War was a bit of a debate for this list for me... I'm not feeling super motivated to finish her, mostly because I don't know when or where I'll have the opportunity to wear the costume. On the other hand, at about 75%, she's so close to done that it almost feels like a shame to not just do it, and then she'll be ready to go for some Good Omens get-together in the future. The to-do list includes making a hairpiece, replacing the pants, and making a cool flaming sword. NBD. Emi from DDR is a new addition because I just can't resist a fun group. Already dreading a repeat of the Umbrella Academy custom-painted polka-dot hell. Cybersix. Yeah. The costume which has been on my bucket list almost as long as I've been cosplaying. I got motivated by Zeekay's Adrian cosplay last year, bought some new fabric and a pattern on an impromptu trip to Joann's, so now I just need to find the time to build it. Midna has been on my list even longer than Cybersix. That bodysuit is basically done (if it still fits). I have the supplies for her outfit (since 2010). I can do this. Milotic is on this list because I have access to the beach again, and where else are you going to cosplay a Pokemon mermaid? Only hundreds of hours of painting scales stand between me and that shoot XD As always, I'm sure lots of other fun things will pop up along this journey as my whims take me elsewhere. Conventions I have the first half of the year planned out so far: Con-G Geeks @ Home virtual con again, then my local-ish SPCS and KCExpo, followed by my standbys Anime North and Yeticon. I'm definitely open to doing Youmacon again, and maybe even Fan Expo if the timing and costs work out. I'm a lot farther from the GTA now though, so I have to be a bit pickier about what I can travel for than I used to be. As always, I would love to connect with people - visit new cons, join new cosplay groups, shoot with new photographers, and have new experiences. You know how to reach me ;) If you read my 2019 wrap-up post, you'll know that I had a tough year creatively. A large part of that was wanting to do things other than cosplay, but having committed to the costumes and getting stuck in in-progress-purgatory. This year, although I'm starting out with these plans… I'm trying to place no pressure on myself to finish anything except Rosalina. My main goal is to finish UFOs, only start costumes I already have materials stashed for, and just take on less. I love cosplaying with groups and will always make efforts to join people when invited, but I have to get better at not pushing my limits this year. ...So here is how things look as of January  Rosalina (redesign by Dessi-Desu) is part of a sponsorship with Cactus Mafia, so that's top priority to finish ASAP. I'm close… it's mostly hand finishing and a couple of accessories left to do.
Mom/Grace from Umbrella Academy was supposed to be a simple, easy, basic sewing project which really ended up being more work than I expected (story of my life). The skirt is almost finished (I’m trying to engineer a simple hoop for the hem) but there’s some wig styling left to do and the shirt to sew. At least I don’t have to paint any more polka-dots. War is almost done; I just have to style the hairpiece so I don't have to spend a couple hours styling my own hair every time I want to wear her. The wig fiber has been dyed, so I just need to get over the intimidation factor of building a fauxhawk from scratch. Captain Marvel has been stuck in progress limbo for at least 4 years. It would be nice to get that done. Milotic is another bigger-than-expected project… I just wanted to make a mermaid tail and change up the aesthetic of the Milotic gijinka I made a few years ago. It would be nice too be able to bring her to Yeti this year. Espeon: again, I have had fabric for YEARS. I know Kurumasha has been working on her coordinating Flareon so Espeon might get started this year. Basically I really want to finish the top row, and will be satisfied with any amount of progress on the bottom row. I'm definitely going to end up working on things not on the list though (including partnering with Stark for his new costume this year, and probably something for munchkin too). Conventions Along with fewer costume plans, I'm making fewer convention plans too. I'm definitely going to Costume-Con 38 in Montreal, Anime North in Toronto, and Yeti Con at Blue Mountain. Kitchener Comic Con and Pretty Heroes are maybes because munchkin wants to be there. It would be nice to visit a US Con again this year, but budgeting for that is hard. In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing lots of you this year! I almost decided not to do a "cosplay plans" post this year... since I don't have any kind of studio space set up now, and life will get messy as we're planning to move again in the spring so I have no idea what my possible productivity will be, let alone my motivation... but I'm a sucker for tradition. Despite the mild negativity of that intro, and the rest of the following post, I do have the attitude of the title - this will be a great year... even if I don't get ANY new cosplays finished. Choosing what to prioritize this year has been difficult... there isn't much that I'm really really itching to get to (at least, not as I'm writing). So I started with just carrying over the unfinished costumes I had on my list last year - because of how I organize my fabric, these costumes are at least accessible (vs. being in storage). So Gwenpool, Captain Marvel(s), Sam Sparks, and Nightingale are all back on the list. I'm adding Princess Buttercup - it struck me only very recently that I never even thought to cosplay her, and as a life-long Princess Bride fan, I should. From my long, ongoing list of plans are Tizzie from Rat Queens and Espeon by Cowslip - I have fabric/supplies for both of these, and since I know that Kurumasha is going to be working on her Flareon this year, I should probably do Espeon to coordinate. Finally, Lycanroc Midnight Form... I don't have any actual design interpretation in mind yet, but it's likely that I will want to make an additional Pokémon costume this year, and Lycanroc is at the top of the list.  For a change of pace, I want to talk about the state of my "to cosplay" list for a bit. Last year, I was determined to finish more costumes than I added to the list... and I was somewhat successful. In actuality, I added many more costume ideas to my list than I usually do on a yearly basis, except I added them fully knowing I probably won't be following through, buying fabric and wigs, starting to sew and then moving on. But the ideas are still there, in case I find the perfect materials, or a group comes up and friends of mine want to cosplay, or there's a perfect convention/photoshoot opportunity etc. So, minus the costumes already mentioned above, here's what my actual list looks like right now (not differentiating between things I've already bought-in to and fluff plans):
Archer (Vice) - Pam Poovey Bayonetta - Joy Cybersix - Cybersix Darkest Dungeon - Plague Doctor Dragon Ball Z - Glacia/female Arcosian El Hazard - Miz Mishtal Game of Thrones - Ygritte Iron Man - Rescue/Zombie Rescue Journey - Traveller Only Lovers Left Alive - Eve Sparks Nevada - Ginny West or Red Plains Rider The Wicked and The Divine - new/update Amaterasu - Imperial Phase Cover The Wolf Among Us - Snow White Thor Ragnarock - original design based on Hela Thor Ragnarock - original design based on Loki's Norway outfit Thor? like legit Thor? Twilight Princess/Hyrule Warriors - Twili Midna Undertale - Undyne Vikings - ??? ... plus whatever awesome new stuff I get into this year. That's how it goes - the list always gets longer, but at least I have finally stopped buying tonnes of supplies for costumes I never get around to making. One day my goal is to be like my friends who somehow manage to focus on a reasonable number of projects at once - and actually finish them. As for conventions, I really don't know how things will go this year. I have tentative plans for Toronto Comic Con, Anime North, and YetiCon... but there are a lot of new factors I have to consider this year when attending cons so I'm not 100% committed to anything yet. With the usual caveat that these plans will most likely get disrupted and delayed by real life issues or by new plans, here is what I would like the next year of cosplay progress to look like (in no particular order):  Priority A-1: Holtzmann, Rock Star Alice, and Cersei Embroidery
All three of these costumes are very close to completion. Depending on my health and a few other factors I can see myself finishing all three by the end of the month. Priority A-2: Kevin After having aleady made Holtzmann's jumpsuit, Kevin's should be relatively easy (and slightly less time-consuming, for what that's worth). I don't normally put projects which will be worn by others onto my list, but having him there should help keep me on track. I can't procrastinate too much on this garment, since the pattern and materials still need to be passed on to the rest of my GB squad. Priority B: "Single Pattern" coat and Nightingale. One old costume and one very new garment, both of which I want to have done for Costume-Con 35. The McCall's coat will be my entry for the Single Pattern contest, and Nightingale will be for the historical masquerade . . . OK, I don't know if I will enter the historical masq, but since I had the event in mind (for Costume-Con 32) 4 years ago when I started sewing, I figure having the deadline won't hurt. Priority C: Sam Sparks, Captain Marvel, Gwenpool Sam is a costume I started and set aside many, many years ago, and now Mr Stark is encouraging me to finish it, so maybe i should just get that one off my plate. I put Captain Marvel on hold in Oct 2015 so I think it's time to go back to her, especially with my friends' hype over the new Marvel Vs Capcom teaser. Marvel's gown will be fun to have alongside, and the only new-new costume I've added is Gwenpool, which will be my first experiment with using a sub-dye printed fabric for a suit! And if I happen to actually finish those 10 costumes? You bet I have a list of 30 more just waiting for my attention. But let's be realistic here, there's no way I'm getting more than 5 of these done in 2017. What about events? I don't actually have many conventions planned yet. I'm doing Costume-Con 35, Anime North, and YetiCon for sure. I will be at FrostCon (in a couple weeks) with Cosplay for a Cure, and will probably be joining them for a handful of other GTA/Southern Ontario events. I would really like to hit up an AmeriCon again (probably NYCC since the fall is better timing for me) but the cost of travel and exchange rates will probably get in the way (again). ... and speaking of money: I've been talking about doing this for years, but I'm now at the point of really needing to get some of my storage space back, and I could use a few extra $$ in my pocket for some big expenses this year, so I'm going to be selling a bunch of old costumes and costume parts. Full sales posts will be coming up later this month, but as a teaser, some of the costumes up for grabs are Mrs Impossible and Triana Orpheus, Gabriel, Kim Pine, Dorothy, and Alice. Here's to lots of fun costumes, actually meeting my goals, hanging with friends and making new ones, learning new skills, and all that other good stuff that comes from this hobby. Let's do this!!! I can't believe we're at the end of 2016 already. October seemed to last a reasonable length of time but November and December have been a blur of work and cosplay and streaming and oh gawd why did I decide to make so many gifts for Christmas??? Oh, and spending the last 2 weeks being QUITE ILL. But let's not get bogged down in that too much. Costumes  It was once again an odd year for new costumes. Flashback Tizzie was a "casual cosplay" which took far too much work to make and which only exists because Sha suggested wearing elf ears at G-Anime. I did at least get to start work on my actual Tizzie costume via the necklace (and also play with Worbla's TranspArt a little). Weirdmageddon Wendy was another quick and dirty variant costume put together for my birthday party. Rock Star Alice isn't technically finished, but since I've worn her a few times and the missing part is just a prop, she's added to the list. This Alice is an original design to go with the Rock Star Disney preincesses that the Cosplay for a Cure girls made. Looking forward to group photos as soon as my instrument is done. Chihiro wasn't made by me. The costume was made by Kurumasha as part of our Anime North group cosplay efforts. Since I wanted to keep wearing the outfit, I added the wig and shoes so I wouldn't be a "generic bathhouse worker" while solo. R had been in my to-cosplay for a while, and since Unplugged Expo was a week before Halloween this year, I figured it was time to crossplay again. Luci and Ammy were both originally just makeup tests I did one weekend after picking up WicDiv. Both turned out so well that they each became a comfy, "low effort" costume to take to cons. ... and finally, Holtzmann. The costume I did because everyone was asking when I will do it LOL. "Fashion" version was for Halloween since it's more work appropriate than just about everything else I own, and I finished the uniform just in time to take to DTAC. There's a little more work to do on her, but since it's more than wearable, she has earned a spot on the list! You might be thinking, that's a lot of casual/off the rack costumes, even for Mai Sheri, and you'd be right... but a lot of my effort went into still unfinished costumes (like Cersei, Alice) and a lot of the rest of my sewing energies went into costumes for other people.  That's right, I went back to my roots and made a new Pokemon hoodie (this time Blastoise for Mr Stark)! And a Wooper bathing suit (with tail/skirt) for Hikarimoro; who doesn't like water-Pokemon pool parties? I painted up a shirt and sculpted a pendant for The Video Ninja so he could be Baphomet for Kurumasha and I at Snailoween. And then there's my last project of the year: a kid-friendly costume of Princess Zelda from Hyrule Warriors (her Daddy is in charge of making the crown). .... but back in January, I posted a plan for the year. let's take a look at that again, shall we? .... UGH.  On one hand, there isn't much to talk about here, but on the other, it does go to show how bad I am at sticking to my plans, and also how easily those plans can be set aside to play with new ideas instead. I'm sad that I didn't finish any of these costumes (or even touch most of them), but I am quite happy with what I did make this year, so there's that. I still haven't figured out a way to lay out my plans so that I stick to them though. Maybe in 2017. ......and with that, my workbench sidebar gets wiped clean! Conventions My original plan for 2016 was to attend fewer convnetions than I did in 2015. And technically I did, but 12 cons vs. 13 isn't much of a cutting-back success story hahaha. I did go to fewer "just for fun" though. This year, most of my cons were volunteering - either as masquerade staff or with Cosplay for a Cure. Due to that, I also took a lot fewer photos and didn't write up blog posts for all of the cons. G-Anime (blog) Toronto Comic Con (blog) Kitchener ComiCon (blog) Civil War Geekery Con (blog) Ottawa Comic Con (blog) Anime North (blog) Yeticon (blog) ConBravo! (blog) Fan Expo (blog???) Hamilton Comic Con Unplugged Expo Toronto Fan Days Holiday Show (blog) And of course, all the cosplay-related events like Free Comic Book Day, Mississauga Picnic (blog), Centre Island (blog), co-hosting a GoT trivia night, BrianCon36, Wine Parade (blog), Snailoween, Halloween, and I started a bad habit of cosplaying while streaming games with The Video Ninja (no comment. OK, more comments later). The number of cosplay events in Toronto continues to be crazy, espeically with the increase in geeky bar/food venues. *is still overwhelmed* Other Stuff First off, there's all these other things that I made! (I sewed a whole bunch of Christmas gifts too but since there's not geeky, they don't matter) I made five lumas for various charities/fundraisers, plus a Hawkeye one. Also, there's a selection of hats; Castle crashers, Pokemon GO trainer, and Link.  Unfortunately, the "Tutorial Tuesday" series I started last year didn't last very long, but on the up-side, the stencils and FX makeup ones were received very well, so I'm happy with that! I will do more tutorials if people ask and if I think it's something worth teaching. Streaming has somehow become a thing this year??? Mostly because Dan the Video Ninja got himself all set up on twitch and after doing a couple guest-type spots I caught the bug. We started with the Yooka-Laylee toybox, then a pre-Halloween sit down with Costume Quest 2 (video isn't available but there are some highlights in this compilation), then I tagged along for a chunk of his Extra Life fundraiser. Now we're streaming a play through of Ocarina of Time, every Thursday night, at 9:30pm EST. If watching game streaming is your thing, or you want to bug us on chat while I Save Hyrule, find us at twitch.tv/dan_thevideoninja (or watch social media for the #JenSavesHyrule tag LOL). And if bite-sized edited down versions are more your thing, it's all getting a youtube edition, too. While the discussion of where things are going in the future is the subject of my next blog post, I wanted to touch on just a few things here. Some big life changes are going to be happening in 2017, so cosplay progress and convention attendance are both going to be more unstable than usual. Along with that, though, comes the potential up-side that I'm going to be selling most of my older costumes - anything that I don't wear anymore or which doesn't fit. Sales posts should be coming before the end of Jan (and will be on all my social media feeds too)
Anyways, thank you to all my readers and friends and family for a fantastically supportive 2016, and I'm looking forward to the things we can do together next year. While I'm still finishing up some of the accessories for my Holtzmann costume (making boot toppers, side shields for my glasses, and getting my hair done) and Mr Stark is still up to his elbows in proton pack assembly, I have managed to accumulate enough photos to open a new gallery page. I wore Holtzmann out to DTAC this month with a special substitute "proton pack" made of a large (but probably not large enough) mass of tangled christmas lights and my old Crystal Entropy gun. Unfortunately, because I wasn't sure that the outfit would be ready until the last minute, I didn't book any photo shoots, but some lovely photographers nabbed great photos in the hall, and I should have more photos coming later thanks to an impromptu mini-shoot with Skyleaf Creations. Looking forward to having this outfit at 100% (whatever that means for something with a ton of optional bits) in early 2017!  Very Frank Pictures  Tyrone Islington ... and while we're talking about it, how about a collection of progress photos of the jumpsuit? I haven't done these progress posts on my blog lately (pics just go live to my instagram and FB pages) but I miss it a little. Like I did last year, let’s check in on how I’m doing compared to my plan in January…  Now, just looking at that image, it doesn't seem good. I mean, just a couple of projects worked on and nothing finished??? While, granted, main cosplay projects Midna, Nightingale, and Captain Marvel have been more or less untouched, I've gotten a lot done on Alice and Cersei! Not to mention the unexpectedly large amount of time I spent at conventions and other events (which is time not spent working on new costumes)! ~Alice's whole outfit was designed and made, and although the wig needs a little styling work, she's been worn to a couple of cons already. The main thing which is slowing me down now is making her prop bass, because I'm not a props person. As of this writing, the base has been sculpted and base coat of paint applied, and I hope to get back to painting and adding hardware in August. ~I got a huge chunk of work done on Cersei's lions in June but I had to take a break because it's a very tedious and very large job. As soon as I get the hoodie (see below) finished, Cersei's embroidery is moving back up to the top of my priority list though. ~Espeon, Miz Mishtal, Captain Marvel Gown, and Journey are all no change, because they were only for after the top 5 are done XD  BUT, I did complete a long list of smaller projects, many of which were owed to various friends.Clockwise from top left: ~I completed a new (casual) costume - flashback Tizzie - which I blame Needle Panic for and for which I finally started to play with Worbla's TranspART ~Weirdmageddon version of Wendy ~Makeup tests/closet cosplay of Ammy, Badb, and Luci from The Wicked and The Divine ~A kid-size Pink Knight (from Castle Crashers) winter hat for Little Stark ~Character Lumas including Cosplay for a Cure, Hawkeye, and Luna & Artemis ~Wooper (Pokemon gijinka) bathing suit for Hikarimoro ~Several stenciled t-shirts for friends including the two shown .... but that's just the stuff I finished.  Cosplays in active progress but not on my January plan:
~I'm currently sewing away on a Blastoise hoodie for Mr Stark (which I want to finish this week). Despite only having started work on it recently, it's been on my to-do list for over 2 years. ~The WicDiv closet cosplay thing worked out so well that I'm fleshing out Ammy a little into a wearable costume ~since some jewelry and accessories from Flashback Tizzie were originally intended for "proper" Tizzie, she's on the list. I have all the fabric/supplies for the costume because my original plan was to make her for Halloween, but at this point I think that would take a minor miracle. So... she's pending. ~surprise-new-thing-oh-wow, Gwenpool, because last week I won a dye-sub suit pattern from The Symbol of Hope, so why not? It'll be something new to experiment with since I've never worked with custom printed fabric before. Depending on how the higher-priority stuff goes, I might try to put her together for Fan Expo XD Anything else which might show up in 2016? I've got wigs to work on for Chihiro and Pepper Potts; and a half-finished Sam Sparks costume which has been sitting in my apartment for far too long. Oh and another potential little project for fun, somewhat related to this. If you want to watch my random progress as it happens, everything is currently going to my instagram (and cross-posted to twitter and facebook). Hope you're all having a good summer and I'll see you again at Fan Expo! Spring convention season is finally over! I’ve had time to unpack, although I still have lots of tidying up and laundry to do! As things currently stand, I’m taking a break until Fan Expo Canada - skipping Con Bravo and Otakuthon this year because I really need a long break. To be honest, if it wasn’t for Asgard Barbie coming up to Toronto and wanting to cosplay with me, FanEx might have been on that list too XD So, without all those conventions, what is Mai Sheri doing over the summer? ...aside from working, because she’s an Adult™, that is. 1. Website updates!
2. Selling some old costumes! I need the space more than I need things that don’t fit anymore. I’m looking to get rid of most of my stash more than a few years old, including:
3. Cosplay-making!
4. Cosplay-wearing!
5. Play all the games!
6. Read all the books! (my bookshelf is so full of unread pages…)
I’m also happy to return to the monthly tutorial posts - please let me know if there’s a project you want to know more about!!! See you soon with more of that website content as promised <3  Some extra-warm bathhouse workers at the Anime North greenroom. Photo from: Pollux / Dioskuri Duo |
Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
