Time for an over-due photo post! I finally completed my Chell gallery over in the not-costumes section with the group photos including Calamity and Yavarice! So much fun, and I'm looking forward to cosplaying with them again ^_^

In my previous blog post, I said that I was going to wear Izabel to Fan Fare Geek Fest.... and I almost did, until I ran into the problem of being particularly sniffly that day, and a runny nose is not a good thing to combine with full facepaint. So I stuck with Erika for Fan Fare, and just posted the Izabel photos from Snailoween over in my Saga gallery. Really really want to cosplay her more though (and going to be replacing the wig very soon as well)

Haven't been posting any updates in the past few weeks because I've been working hard on Halloween costumes (and getting completely addicted to Hyrule Warriors if I'm being honest). I've been continuing work on my Izabel costume, and also added something new: making a simplified version of River Song's dress from "The Day of the Moon" episode of Doctor Who for my friend 'Manda, over at Thoughts From the Test Chamber. 

Luckily for us, that dress is popular enough that there are a lot of images available online for reference. I wasn't going to be doing an exact recreation (it's far too complicated a shape to try to reproduce without one of the dresses themselves to use for guidance) but one of 'Manda's friends suggested using one of Simplicity's Game of Thrones/Hobbit patterns as a starting point. Having read all about the pattern in Andrea Schewe's blog (and already owning a copy), I thought it was a great idea. 

The essential characteristics needed for the dress:
sleeveless
low V-neck with partially functional, partially decorative zipper closure
billowy skirt with hankerchief style hemline
drawstring cord on side hems for parachute look
wide belt
bonus for functionality/accuracy: exposed zipper pockets on the hips 

Alterations made to the commercial pattern:
added panels to the sides of the skirt (with the zippered pockets in them) to get the pointy hem-line and add fullness
added center front seam to the skirt to accommodate the neck-line zipper
(had to sew things together in a different order than the instructions because of the above changes)
cut and finished the hem-line in a gentle curve between each seam on the front, same on the side but left a channel in the hem for the drawstring.

I could have made several additional adjustments to the pattern for more accuracy, but working within time restraints meant that wasn't really possible, and more importantly the final fit was also better having done it this way. 'Manda added a purchased belt and accessories and looked so awesome as River Song. Even for a perfectionist like me, not everything has to be 100% accurate; I'm really happy with how this came out.

When we last saw progress on my Izabel costume, I had just finished stenciling the t-shirt. After that, I went to work on the wig. 

I'm recycling the pink wig from my Fluttershy costume, and hoped to do 3 things to make it perfect: dye it a darker colour of pink, straighten the curl in it, and cut it to about shoulder length. I used some Tulip brand fabric dye I already had at home (since I know that fabric dyes can be used effectively on some types of wig fibers), but after trying my best I had to admit defeat - the wig did not take ANY of the hot pink colour at all. I could try again with FW ink or i-Dye Poly, but guessing from some online research there's a high chance that my wig fibers won't take new colour at all, so I'm not going to bother wasting my time and money. After all, there's nothing wrong with the colour it is now. Straightening the wig was another problem, because it's not heat-resistant, so I couldn't just run a flatiron over it. I ended up steaming it by carefully ironing it a section at a time, under a wet towel. It's didn't get all of the curl out, but was a big improvement. I did a quick cut to get the wig to approximately the length I want, and will be doing a more careful trim/clean-up on that before the next  time I wear it. I also sprayed the wig with silicone lubricant - I was having a lot of trouble with tangles in this whole process (dyeing, washing, steaming, cutting...) so the silicone should help* prevent more of a problem while I'm actually wearing it.

I decided to make gloves and sleeves for my arms instead of using makeup - it's a time investment (especially in this case), but tends to be worth it if you plant to wear a costume more than once since it saves time getting dressed, provides much more even colour, you don't have to worry about it rubbing off, and there's no clean-up. I used a "power mesh" in the closest colour I could find to my makeup and really like the results. I might do a brief power mesh tutorial at some point down the road if people would like more info.

Izabel wears cuffs on her wrists which is pretty convenient for me to cover up that the gloves and sleeves are separate pieces (makes washing hands easy!). While leather would probably have been the most accurate choice, hot pink leather and learning the skills to work with it were not in my budget for this costume, not to mention it would have been uncomfortable. So I used fleece, and added some black to give the parts some outline-type definition so the details would be less likely to disappear. I'm not 100% sold on the black base layer, so I might change that, but I definitely got all the details I wanted worked in.

The character's exposed guts are one of her defining features, and unfortunately just the way things worked out, they were the last thing to get done. Mere hours before the Snailoween party I was sewing lumpy tubes out of all the different pink fabrics I have in my stash and KW Iron Man was being the best boyfriend and stuffing them while I cut and sewed. Keeping things simple, I just safety-pinned the intestines to a belt. They ended up being a lot more voluminous than I had been picturing which gave me problems with the fit of the shirt, but the longer I wore it, the more I decided I like how they sit.

So that's the costume done, though I still want to improve the makeup (including the prosthetic nose). I got a few nice photos from the Snailoween party which I will be posting next week and I'm hoping to get some more nice shots at Fan Fare Geek Fest II which is coming up this Saturday!

*the spray doesn't make things tangle-free, just helps the situation and makes combing it out easier.

While Izabel is getting most of my attention lately, I have also been shopping for a new "not-costume"; Mai based on Avatar: Last Airbender fan art by Viria13. I have wanted to cosplay from Avatar since first being introduced to the show, though I have never gotten around to actually finishing any costumes, and I also fell in love with Vieria13's design when I found it on Deviantart. It wasn't until Arda was selling their "Anti-Valentina" limited edition wig, though, that I decided it would work awesomely for Mai and I should try to recreate the art design.

So far I have collected everything I need - the wig requites minimal styling (pretty much just trimming the bangs) unless I decide to make her little buns too, and I found perfect red jeggings for her pants from Urban Behavior. I picked up boots from Ardene and with some matching fabric I'm going to add the giant fold-over cuff thing. I haven't been able to find anything pre-made suitable for her shirt, but I did get some very nice jersey from Fabricland to sew one up myself, and I'm going to use some ivory faux suede from my stash for her vest.
Since Zuko's outfit is pretty straight-forward I've also started collecting pieces for him so Mr Stark can cosplay this with me ^_^
As always, I'm hoping that other people will join me too, it would be great to have a group of all six (or more!)

I've been doing more supply-shopping than just that, though - I finally got a wig to go with my Saffron costume - I`m unhappy with how my styling job turned out, but eh it`s a thing. It`s really hard to make a cheap, synthetic wig fluffy like real hair. The Blonde wig is one I picked up for a (distant) future lolita costume. I got a Pinky Paradise order in a few days ago too... some (hopefully) creepy contacts to wear with my next creepy costumes, whenever that happens. I really want to try them out... but also want to keep them in usable condition for as long as possible, so they`re staying put until I need them.

And finally, more progress on my Izabel costume since last week. I`m in the process of cutting the wig (no photos yet), and just finished stenciling the design on to her shirt. 

... That`s it for this week, hope all my Canadian watchers have an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend!

October is here! Despite being on hiatus from attending conventions, Halloween parties and prepping the costumes for them means I'm back to making-mode this month. There are 3 "Zombie Walks" happening this month that I could conceivably attend (Toronto, Kitchener, and Waterloo), but after looking at all my other conflicting obligations and travel/costume budget, I ended up deciding not to attend any this year. That's OK though, because I still have a Halloween party thrown by a friend, the Silver Snail party, and a cosplay picnic day to plan costumes for!

So here's what's been keeping me crafting? I have been actively working on so many things lately. The first isn't cosplay-related at all; it's a light fall/spring jacket! I have needed to replace my ugly old windbreaker for years, and I ended up having awesome timing in terms of having it ready to wear for the autumn cool-down. The jacket is based on a Simplicity pattern with no alterations except for lengthening the sleeves (which still aren't long enough gurrr....) made out of a water-resistant coated nylon and lined with Kasha lining because I'm always cold. I have never actually fully lined anything like this before and lining wasn't part of the pattern, so that was an adventure, but I think it turned out pretty great in the end.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was re-vamping my old Sin City costume, but it's not the only one. I bought a new wig for my Wendy costume since the ones I had been using is now in the process of being styled for Midna. I also picked up new pants for the costume because I have, er, outgrown the old pair :( It's still not exactly the right colour, but I think that this red is a lot closer than the orange I was using before. I'm going to be straightening out most of the curl in the wig, but this is how it looked straight out of the bag ^_^
I really want to get together a Gravity Falls group for the Nov 1 cosplay picnic for more awesome and fun photos XD

How about new costumes? Since The AnarCHris forced me to take home a copy of Saga Vol 1 after NYCC 2012, I've loved the comic. Thus it follows that I need to cosplay from it. And 3 novels in, I was choosing between Izabel and The Stalk; decided to go with the character who doesn't have any legs vs. the one who doesn't have any arms XD. I've been collecting pink things for months in preparation, and started in earnest by knitting the hat. It's a relatively simple slouchy hat so I figured I was better off just knitting the hat from scratch than wasting time trying to find something in both the right colour and style. Aside from a mistake on the gauge which led to a mistake in the pattern which led to having to kind of make up the design at the end, I think I was right hahaha. 

With the hat done, I figured I should probably make sure that everything coordinated like I hoped it would, which meant doing a makeup test! This costume will involve a couple of prosthetics - ears which I bought from Malabar, and a nose which I'm going to try to sculpt myself. I couldn't wait until the nose was done to make sure the make up would work, so I just painted up the ears, added earrings, and then went to town on my face. The rest of the costume is still in progress, but here are my notes on the makeup:

• make nose prosthetic
  
• blend ears with latex instead of just spirit-gumming them on
  
• more purple tones in the lips
  
• cover eyebrows properly
  
• false lashes
• get better at shading or find a different way to do it (Oct 3: bought makeup to do this today!)
  
• cut/style wig

All that having been said, I'm really happy with this and if I didn't have time for improvement, I'd be quite pleased with going to a con in this look. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my massive progress post next week!

Now that all the con reports from months ago have been taken care of, let's take a look at recent happenings!

A week and a bit ago was the big 25th Anniversary party for Lookin' For Heroes, a comic book shop in Kitchener. KW Iron Man (and Spidey and Deadpool) were invited to be there in costume, so I decided to dress up too. I could have cosplayed as Pepper Potts again, but as much as I love her, I'm more than Iron Man's accessory and I wanted to show that. I was hoping to finish a new comic-based costume, but I wasn't even close to done. Then I hit on Goldie... the Sin City sequel movie came out recently and I still had most of the parts of the costume I made back in 2006. I found some new pants to replace the originals and Mr Stark was accompanied by a hooker instead of his assistant LOL.
I'm actually planning on fixing up the pants to make them screen accurate, picking up some red shoes, and hopefully gathering some people for a Sin City shoot sometime in the next few months.

As for that other comics-costume that I didn't finish in time? I started actual work on that this week, starting with knitting a hat. Unfortunately, I realized this morning that I'm going to need to start over and make it bigger, but at least it's started! I have my fingers crossed that I will get Izabel from Saga done in time for halloween, but I have a (surprise) back-up costume in place XD

Unrelated to costumes, I should probably plug the "let's play" videos I'm currently doing with Dan the Video Ninja on his gaming channel. Last year we played LEGO marvel Superheroes together because Marvel is awesome and LEGO games are fun (especially when doing 2-player games). The highlights are below, but if you feel like watching the whole thing, it's available here.

This year we're attacking The LEGO Movie Videogame, where everything is awesome ~_^. 
Here's the latest part, and new parts are added to the playlist every couple of days!