Things have been quiet over here at Slothcore... in the post-move chaos my computer hasn't been hooked up to the internet (and still isn't) which makes updating my website challenging, nor do I have space for crafting so I haven't made anything new. All I've been doing so far this winter is knitting.

But I'm trying to get back on track, starting with a substantial gallery update covering ConBravo! Both my "Ain't No Pretty Princess" Alice gallery and my Amaterasu gallery have had photos added, courtesy of Cosplay for a Cure and Dream Land Photography. I hope that this will be the start of a big batch of gallery updates, even if cosplay creation itself is still on hold for another few months.

I was at ConBravo! for all 3 days again this year, but I guess I was too successful at being a stealthy ninja because I feel like I somehow missed most of it. Go figure. Friday is understandable - I spent the day at work, then took the bus to Hamilton, and by the time I had arrived. picked up my badge, checked in to the hotel, and gotten into cosplay... there was time to take a real quick look at the dealers hall and then go for dinner with Kurumasha. I'm not even sure why I bothered to put on my Kate Bishop costume - I didn't even take a selfie. But it was good to see Sha again and dinner was perfection.

Saturday was the big day - convention time during the day, then being a Stage Ninja for the masquerade in the afternoon/evening, followed by a group Wicked + Divine shoot to wrap up the day. So Kurumasha and I spent the morning doing our goddess makeup for Badb and Amaterasu respectively, went to Cosplay for a Cure to get photos and hang out with friends in the afternoon, until it was time to do the masquerade thing. I couldn't ninja my makeup off so I just did what I could to hide in the shadows anyways LOL

While it otherwise ran relatively smoothly, the masquerade did finish later than expected which meant that we were rushed to meet with Jen of Verberg and Dan the Video Ninja for our shoot with Dream Land Photography... but we made it work in the end. Jen and I had been trying to find a time to cosplay Luci and Ammy together for months, so I'm glad that it finally happened, and even better that we had Badb and Baphomet along too.

Sunday was a lot more chill. I was "on call" at Cosplay for a Cure but the other volunteers for the day mostly had everything covered so it was nice to get to wander away regularly as well as chill with the ever-growing Ain't No Pretty Princess cosplay group. I've got shots from Cosplay for a Cure and Dream Land Photography to share from that group too... coming soon. As usual my own photos (plus a couple others) are below... mostly Saturday. Between carrying around my bass and fighting off con-plague sniffles on Sunday I didn't have my camera out.

I was at NFCC a couple of years ago, and while I skipped 2016, I was back this year to work for my friend Ice Phoenix Art at her AA table. So that means I don't have a ton to write about - I mostly spent the 2 days behind the table, making some sales but mostly keeping Ice Phoenix company. Aside from that I did a little bit of shopping, visited my friends at Cosplay for a Cure (and their neighbours the Ontario Ghostbusters) and finally did a proper shoot of my "Marvelous Coat" with Very Frank Pictures. So I'll share some selfies (the pro shots are coming soon) and leave it at that... for now ^_^

Like every year, I ended up with several Halloween costumes and events this year, and so one post will rule them all. 

Firstly, on (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend, Mr Stark, The Video Ninja, Dream Land Photography, and I all went out to High Park to shoot some costumes, one of which was the Space Warrior outfit that I made a year ago. Unfortunately, it's been a warm autumn and the leaves hadn't really changed colour yet, but I'm just happy to have some photos of the costume. Next year's squad goals: a whole group!

Next up was a very last-minute decision to go to Unplugged for the day to give Bear Sailor Moon a hand with the masquerade, and with it came a very last-minute costume: R from Warm Bodies. R is a character which I've had on my cosplay list for a couple years; just waiting for the right opportunity. While the hoodie is way too big (that's what happens when you only have one hour for shopping) I'm pretty happy with the distressing and my makeup. Hope I have the opportunity to wear him again ^_^

(and while we're here, have a few Unplugged floor photos...)

Snailoween was the main event for October this year, with Kurumasha once again coming in for the weekend and we managed to pull together a (small) costume group! Kurumasha, The Video Ninja and I all went as characters from The Wicked + The Divine; I put the finishing touches on my Amaterasu, Kurumasha went as Badb, and I put the Video Ninja in a Baphomet outfit. It was great to be there with my peeps and spending the night dancing with friends - and to top it all off we took home a couple of small gift cards for the store ^_^

Of course I couldn't walk away from the season without dressing up on Halloween itself, even though dressing up is not a thing that people do at my workplace. So, I decided on a "stealth" costume - a non-uniformed Holtzmann. I think I did a decent job replicating her look using stuff found in a quick outlet-store shopping trip (and already accumulated for other reasons ~_^). I've got some sweet non-selfie pics in the queue for a later post.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends! 

I'm going to be posting lots of photos as we approach Halloween, and i'm starting with my girls from The Wicked and The Divine. Back in February I did makeup tests for several characters, and over the summer found placed to wear relatively complete costumes of both Lucifer and Amaterasu. Galleries for both costumes are hanging around on my casual cosplay page.

No blog posts since Bravo? Whoops! How the time flies by!

I was going to post about Fan Expo, but it turns out that I don't have much to say this time. I spent most of my weekend working at the Cosplay Recovery Lounge, which was fun but didn't leave me with any stories to share. I also wasn't able to take photos - definitely not a selfie-con this time around. I spent a little time on Thursday doing some shopping, but other than that, when I wasn't at the Lounge, I was at home being exhausted (real-life job has been keeping me on my toes). However, I was extremely fortunate that I was able to meet up again with Asgard Barbie (and Mr Asgard Barbie) on Sunday for some fun #TeamPepper photos and then being a terrible tour-guide as we explored some of downtown Toronto's sights ^_^

Some other things happened this summer which I haven't commented on yet, like getting to co-host a Game of Thrones themed trivia night with the fab Bear Sailor Moon. While admittedly I was dying of heat in my dress that day, I still had fun and it was great to hang out with "Jon Ho" and meet BrigitFiddle among others!

August also included Mr Stark's birthday, which was a cosplay-filled affair. I pulled together a more complete version of Ammy from The Wicked + The Divine, and had fun spending foreverrrrr doing my makeup LOL

As for off-camera stuff, I've been working away on finishing Cersei for the last couple months, as well as upgrades or additions to the other costumes in my current rotation. That percentage counter over to the right is climbing, but it is so painfully slow T_T. Right now I'm trying to stop myself from working on anything else until Cersei is actually complete, but a couple new projects for other people have popped up unexpectedly and I might have to break for them :/  In any case, my instagram (@maishericostumes) is the place to look for current progress updates until I have more time to post collections here.

I've gotten back several sets of photos from photographers recently which I will be posting soon (I hope!!!) because they're gorgeous, so that'll be the next few blogs.

As for events: I thought that I was going to be finished for the year after Fan Expo, but I just can't turn down working with Cosplay for a Cure, so I will be with them at the Niagara Wine Festival parade again this year (Sept 24), as well as Hamilton Comic Con (Oct 1-2) and probably Forest City Comicon (Nov 5-6) as well! And can't forget about Halloween either. It's going to be a very busy fall!

I wasn't planning to be at ConBravo! this year, because of the convention-burnout from all my spring events. But the masquerade put out a call for volunteers and since I can't resist the siren call of working for a masq (and I could allow myself to have a day off from my sewing projects) I ended up there for Saturday afternoon and evening anyways ^_^

I wanted to wear something comfy, easy to change out of (since I needed to be a ninja for the masq), and "new", so I elaborated a little on my makeup test from the winter and dressed as Luci from The Wicked and The Divine. I love the look of the Devil Herself, and had a lot of fun trying to look like a badass all afternoon XD. I spent most of my time hanging around the Cosplay for a Cure room or shoving my camera in friends' faces until It was time for the masquerade, when I changed and shifted to ninja-mode. I got the "interactive" ninja jobs, which was fun, and there were lots of beautiful costumes entered! However, as a masquerade vetran, I think that Bravo might want to consider reducing the time limit for entries, or we need to bring back the "Masquerade 101" panels. Or Featherweight's tip-sheet handouts. Something to remind entrants that 2-3 minutes on stage is a very long time.

The night wrapped up with spending some time at the dance (it's been years since I went to a con dance!) and hangouts with friends because I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to everyone yet. Thank you to all my friends and the ConBravo! masquerade and events staff who made it a really fun day ^_^

As usual, I'm going to toss in a plug for The Video Ninja's coverage, including the full masquerade, retrospective, and interviews: ConBravo! 2016 playlist

So what's next? Fan Expo! I'll be there with Cosplay for a Cure this year, looking forward to that and the masquerade and cosplaying with friends. Gotta spend the next couple weeks getting my costumes finished though!!!

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

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!