denise kuan

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  • here comes the munny bride

    May 21, 12

    I had the pleasure of designing and creating this mini-Munny for my friends' wedding this year! Originally intended as a wedding topper, the weight of the Munny was not workable for residing at the top of a cake. In hindsight I could have cast a mold though...
    
    I was in charge of making the bride-to-be's mini-Munny, and my talented friend Angela would be working on the groom's custom Munny. I worked closely with the couple for the idea, and for the dress/jewelry details I worked closely with the bride-to-be a few weeks prior to their actual wedding date. The dress as per the couples' original sketch below was not her actual dress--the bride-to-be sent me sketches and photos of the dress she would actually be wearing. Here was the original idea (sketched by the bride and groom)
    
    
    

    
    
    I found this Munny to be a challenge because the previous 2 mini-Munnies I customized had some form of armor, which I had a lot of fun weathering, and didn't have to worry so much about making the surfaces smooth. For this project, I wanted to make sure the dress looked delicate--meaning lots of details created during the sculpt instead of being applied later with paint.
    
    A mistake I made on both my previous Munnies was taking apart the ENTIRE Munny, sculpting all these details onto it, and then struggling to put it back together or messing up my sculpt because the arms were too close to the body or the details I added along the neck prevented the head from sitting properly onto the body. This time I put the arms onto the Munny as I sculpted the dress to make sure I wouldn't have this problem again. When the dress sculpt was done I put the head back on and sculpted the hair.
    
    
    The hair was another challenge in itself because I needed to make tiny ringlets! These actually weren't too bad to create... After fleshing out the general shape of the hair, I twisted each portion into a ringlet. Maybe in the future I could go through and create a million of even more tiny and delicate curls but I had a limited amount of time to spend on this project :(... as with all my projects I never have enough time!
    
    
    
    
    I carefully removed the head and cured the Sculpey.
    
    Next came the painting--I watered down my acrylic paints for the skin to keep the surface completely smooth and free from brush strokes. I used acrylic paint in a tube and it was too thick :( But watering the paint down saved me some money. Her hair consists of 3 different shades of brown.
    
    
    
    
    As you can see I only sculpted the bustier of her dress--I had initially sculpted the ruffles--4 times, in fact, but I was not pleased with how they looked, so opted to cut little strands of tulle instead! These were hot-glued after I painted the body.
    
    
    
    
    I drew the face w/ Copic markers because I tend to destroy all my very fine brushes.
    
    
    
    
    I used a metallic paint for the bustier for pop, I thought white would look too flat. For the veil, I cut a piece of tulle, gathered it, and glued it to the top of the head. Instead of making a tiny tiara, I opted for acrylic jewels to adorn the front of the veil.
    
    I sculpted a wooden staff from lightweight stone clay, painted it with acrylics and used clear nail polish as my gloss finish. For the orb I also used a combination of nail polish as shown below.
    
    
    
    
    Now came my big problem with the alternate "weapon". The dress was so fluffy I could not incorporate a "magic element" as originally requested--this was my own fault as I didn't think about the Munny's actual proportions prior to sculpting the entire Munny :( Last minute change was to create a bow! I cut this from leftover Wonderflex and wound up some thread.
    
    Angela and I stuck to the Zelda / magic theme and while I don't have a photo of her box, I created a triforce with gold lace and gold silk trim for the front.
    
    
    
    
    Congrats to the happy couple :)
    
    
    
  • Scientist Munnarian

    May 02, 12

    I've seem to have taken some kind of long hiatus from working on my cosplays to make mini-Munnies =_=' ! But in my defense, I'm.. practicing my sculpting skills--I need those in cosplay.
    

    
    

    As you probably already know, I have an obsession with the Mass Effect universe, and it's a constant source of inspiration for me, just how Bioware's team came up with such an extensive universe and the character development in the games is brilliant.

    
    

    One of my favorite characters is the Salarian Scientist, Mordin Solus. I'm not sure how you can hate him. Proof in this video below--
    
    
    
    

    
    

    I started with a mini-Munny which I cut the ears off of, and also made incisions on his hands to create a Salarian's hands. I used original Sculpey for most of the details. I usually take apart the entire Munny and sculpt on each piece, but I did not want Mordin to be top-heavy and fall over (my previous 2 customs can't stand on their own without having to lean on something). This time I placed the head back on the body a few times to make sure he wouldn't topple over. The sculpting on the head took me a while (I'm still new to this, but I'm working at it!!!!) and you can see how impatient I was with the painting... painting the body even before I cured the sculpey on the head!

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    I did not sand Mordin's head very much--I wanted to keep the skin texture I had recreated in the sculpey, as well as the lines I marked with my tool. For his clothing, I sanded the surfaces and filled in some of the thinner areas with lightweight stone clay. 

    
    

    Painting the clothing was fairly simple but a lot of painter's tape cut into small pieces were involved. Totally worth it if you want clean lines and edges.

    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    For Mordin's head, I painted the entire surface with white acrylic paint first, then dabbed on a flesh-colored paint. I actually used my fingers quite a bit to keep the paint distribution uneven. I then added a medium brown tone, and finished with a darker brown at the back of his head. I applied the salmon-red details on his eyelids with a Copic marker because I didn't have the color... TOTALLY OKAY.

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    For his eyes, I actually used nail polish because I wanted a high-gloss effect, and this worked out well because the surface is perfectly smooth--those nail painting skills are coming in handy now, hurray.

    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    I sculpted some additional details with lightweight stone clay after I painted his arms. This way I wouldn't have to worry about painting "around" these areas, and it looks a lot cleaner. Extra steps really go a long way.

    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    And of course I had to add an accessory for Mordin--a datapad! This was made from semi-translucent stationery paper and leftover Wonderflex scraps that I glued and painted.

    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    His "headgear" (for lack of a better description) was made from Wonderflex as well. Wonderflex is just so great as it is very light and will retain whatever shape you want after heating it up!

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    You can view the full-sized image by clicking the thumbnail below.

    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    As always, thank you so much for reading!!! I will have another custom mini-Munny (commissioned) to post in the next 2 weeks as well as cosplay updates, because FanimeCon is in 4 weeks :O
    
    

    SHOUTOUT TO THOMAS MARRONE @thomasthecat on Twitter, for coining the "Scientist Munnarian" term. THOMAS, I LOVE IT.
    
    
    
    Near-sighted Mordin????
  • The Man & His Bird

    Apr 15, 12

    I guess it was kind of inevitable that I made another Munny because I really have to practice my sculpting skills, and I saw that nobody has made a Mordecai Munny yet. Obviously I had to do something about this. I'm also addicted to making these because I love deformed toys. ANDD the best part, I always use leftover sculpey and materials so I really only spend $10 on the blank mini Munny. Win win win.
    
    **Note: I am still currently working on Bloodwing so maybe the post title is misleading but there will be a bird in the very near future, ha..*
    

    
    I started with a blank mini Munny (4"), same as my Bastion Kid...
    
    Here was my sketch--
    
    
    
    Because Mordecai's outfit is a lot more detailed than the Bastion Kid's, I wanted to sort out my ideas on paper first, and figure out what to omit, what to emphasize...
    
    For Mordecai's leather mask I went back and forth between using actual leather and a layer of sculpey... and ended up just using sculpey so I could practice rendering leather. You can't see too well in the photos prior to painting the Munny, but I added cracked leather details with a sheet of crinkled aluminum foil. I then used floss (yes, floss for your teeth) to create the "seam" down the center front of the mask. I omitted the goggles because I would add them on after I painted the mask. I created some rough details in his beard, and added a little piece of sculpey to create a nose.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    As you can see I had to condense and remove a lot of the details on his clothing because... well, the Munny body is so out of proportion compared to an actual human body. I decided to make the sniper rifle shown in the promo art (there are just... way too many guns to choose from in this game and I wanted this to look ridiculously huge) and used Wonderflex again for the base. I used bamboo skewers for the barrels. You can buy a package of bamboo skewers for $1 and use them for any art project. They're surprisingly helpful to keep around... I layered scraps of wonderflex for the details on the rifle. I painted this black and weathered it a little with some silver, brown and a dark silver paint.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    I also had to make Mordecai's melee weapon he carries around on his back. Since I love giving myself a headache, I decided to make the sheath "functional"--you can actually pull the sword out and have the Munny hold the sword. I made the sheath out of Wonderflex, as well as the sword.  All painted w/ acrylic. I added some details to the hilt of the sword w/ stone clay. The sheath was then glued to the figure's back.
    
    
    
    
    
    Finally for the painting I researched a technique for rendering leather, which is similar to my technique of creating brushed gold/bronze finishes on sculpts. I started with my lightest tone (this tan color) and used a makeup sponge to apply the darker tones. I used a damp brush to wipe off excess paint. I kept adding my darker brown tones while leaving areas to let the lighter tones peek through. I used 3 different shades of brown, I used a reddish brown, a grey-brown and a medium-toned warm brown. The dreadlocks ponytail was made w/ stone clay.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    For his body I had initially sculpted the "harness" but it was too thick and when I put his head back onto the body, the pieces broke off :( So I just cut a tiny piece of leather for less bulk. 
    
    I sculpted the goggles last, as I mentioned above, because I didn't want to paint "around them". I had an unused Munny accessory that I took the acrylic pieces from, and filed the edges into the shape I wanted. I painted the back sides of the goggles w/ nail polish because I thought acrylic paint would look too flat. The rims were done with stone clay.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    For the belt with the daggers I used needles wrapped in stone clay.
    
    
    
    
    I painted the rest of the harness details onto the leather pieces.
    
    The holster and his knee guard were made w/ sculpey; they were pulled off from the original harness I sculpted after I realized it was too thick.
    
    
    
    
    You can view the larger image on my deviantArt page :D
    I worked on this on/off for about 3 days, just after work and on the weekend. As of the time I am writing this post, I realized that I am a few pageviews short of 50,000 all-time pageviews. Holy crap, thank you so so much for reading about my...... hobbies :D
  • the calibur of your soul - natsu (SPANDEX)

    Apr 02, 12

    Tried to break up the process of this cosplay into semi-organized "sections" per post, because I was a little all over the place in working on this cosplay, didn't have enough materials, time constraints, got distracted by Mass Effect 3... I already did the write-up on Natsu's default swords, the link is here.
    
    I decided to include all the details related to sewing the spandex pieces in this post, which consists of the bodysuit and tabi socks.
    
    Here's the character illustration showing a red bodysuit--the in-game rendering is of a dark salmon bodysuit w/ an iridescent finish. Wanted to go w/ the in-game bodysuit but could not find this fabric ANYWHERE. Luckily I found a great spandex fabric with a nice sheen, which was a painful $24/yard. I bought a yard and a half, which was exactly enough for the bodysuit and the socks, and just enough to cut an extra pair of socks since I have never made tabi socks before!
    
    

    
    ^ How I brainstorm
    
    I wanted this to be a one-piece bodysuit, meaning there is only a zipper at the back and no side seams! Luckily it fit after the first fitting, so as long as I don't eat any burgers or buffets for a while, ha.
    
    
    
    The spandex I bought is fairly thick--it was called "Super Spandex". But obviously I still had to buy a special bra so as to avoid awkward bra lines. Yes, these pictures above look WEIRD but once on the body the fit is perfect (I'll post a picture later with some of the armor on). And below is the pattern. I first drafted a 2-piece full-length bodysuit, then modified the 2 pieces into ONE piece. It was surprisingly easy and I can make a video about it/write a step-by-step process when this cosplay has been completed.
    
    ^ The pattern for the bodysuit.
    
    I didn't finish the edges because they didn't unravel and for the fingerless sleeves there was no way I could fit that through my machine...
    
    
    I had to create a two-piece sleeve, which was kind of a pain, because usually sleeves are one piece, and the only time you really need a two-piece sleeve is for creating a tailored jacket/blazer. BUT, Natsu's sleeves don't stop at the wrist, and the easiest way for me to create the fingerless glove look was to have another piece sewn to the "top piece" of the sleeve, which starts from the sleeve cap/armhole seam.
    
    Even with the tabi socks I didn't want the seam going down the center front of my leg because it would bother me for the rest of my life if this didn't look as close as possible to the game rendering/illustration/concept art. I found a tabi sock tutorial (though it's in Japanese, I'll write my version soon), cut one sample, sewed it up, and after test-fitting on my leg, I drew a line for where I wanted to shift the seam. I had to keep the seam separating the toes otherwise I wouldn't be able to control the fit on the top of my foot. I went with a curved seam so I could "hide" the seam to the side, as you can see in the pictures. I basically changed what was a 3-piece pattern into a 2-piece pattern, which, actually, results in less sewing for me! I was very pleased w/ the fit after I shifted the seam. Also very comfortable.
    
    
    
    To create the closure for the bodysuit, I bought a regular (not invisible) red zipper. I was okay with the zipper being slightly exposed because my fabric is fairly thick, and wrangling an invisible zipper while keeping my one and only seam neat was not worth it to me. I don't like taking out the seams and restitching on knit fabrics, even if you're using a ballpoint needle you are basically destroying the fabric :( I'd rather focus on stitching all my seams correctly the first time. Because you all know how much we cosplayers love ripping out seams at 3am!
    
    
    I was lucky to find a mesh fabric that had the exact look I was going for--and which I thought would be pretty accurate to the concept art. My other option was to layer 2 fabrics together but this saved me some time and headache. The neck piece is only sewn to the rest of the bodysuit at the shoulder seam and center back, because I didn't want any topstitching around the actual neckline. I added a knit binding along the top edge of the neck piece mesh to finish.
    
    I said I was going to include all the costs in this cosplay, so here's a quick rundown--
    Spandex fabric = $24/yard, 1.5 yards purchased = $36
    Mesh fabric = $11/yard, 1/4 yard purchased =  $2.75
    Zipper = $2.00
    Black knit fabric for binding = leftover from previous cosplays
    
    Just to make the bodysuit cost me $40.75 (materials only).
  • Mass Effect 3 - Kai Leng (mask)

    Mar 28, 12

    I had some leftover Wonderflex after I cut out the armor for my Natsu cosplay, and since Wonderflex is between $30-$50 per sheet, I was not going to let any of this go to waste. I'm still drifting through my post-ME3 depression here, so I decided to make Kai Leng's eye mask. If you played the game you probably hate his guts but his facial gear looks pretty cool. I love the design and I thought it'd be a good opportunity to experiment with making masks!
    
    

    
    This took me about 4 hours on and off because I got distracted by the ME3 multiplayer for an hour, hah. I also had to factor in time to let the glue and the paint dry.
    

    
    

    FIRSTLY, I APOLOGIZE THAT ALL THESE PHOTOS ARE IPHONE PHOTOS. Half of them are Instagram'd but I forgot to charge the battery for my DSLR and wanted to work on this mask, randomly, my next post will have fancy DSLR photos again.
    
    

    
    

    I drew a pattern on Illustrator with some measurements I made according to my face. I taped these patterns after I cut them out, onto my leftover sheet of Wonderflex. 

    
    
    
    

    I knew I would be making the mask in layers, so I molded the "base" piece (which is what I considered the "black" piece to be) to my face. Using the heat gun I softened the Wonderflex and gently pressed the piece against the contours of my face. That's probably not the best thing to do but well, it worked for me. After that I just softened each layer and molded layer upon layer (painting the layer beneath it first, of course).

    
    
    
    
    
    

    I painted a thin layer of gesso the base, but it might not have been a thick enough layer as Wonderflex naturally doesn't have a perfect, smooth surface--you can see the slightly textured surface of the Wonderflex despite the black paint.
    
    Each layer is reinforced with tacky glue. As you can see I have some really fancy clamping tools.

    
    

    I only used 3 colors of paint, starting with black as the base for each layer. Then I brushed a metallic gunmetal paint or a silver acrylic paint over the black to give the illusion of these pieces actually being some kind of metal. I find that metallic acrylic paints are always too transparent, and that painting a black base first will give more opacity to the metallic acrylic paint.

    
    
    This concludes my explanation of how I made his eye mask ONLY. Doesn't include his entire face piece. I will eventually make that but it is heaps more complicated than just molding Wonderflex to MY FACE.
  • the calibur of your soul - natsu (swords)

    Apr 01, 12

    I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to finish the rest of this cosplay in a week, especially since I started playing Mass Effect 3, and that's been my life for the past 2 days.... but in any case, I did finish Natsu's swords Kuzukiri and Awayuki. My dad helped me with the sanding as there were a lot of fine sanding details and I'm not that great w/ a belt sander (yet).
    
    I couldn't find great pictures of the swords but that gave me some freedom to play around with some of the details.
    
    Since I am a lot shorter than Natsu, I scaled the swords down so I could translate the cosplay to my body type.
    
    I knew I needed something relatively light and easy to work with so I used MDF for the scabbards. The handle of the swords are also MDF. The blade is actually made of poplar because poplar is much easier to sand than oak or plywood; at the same time, it is rigid, I don't want a floppy blade haha. I drew the swords on Illustrator first, just to get my ideas finalized. I decided that I wanted the scabbards to have beveled edges, and the handle to be an elliptical shape. I guess if you look at the in-game screenshots the scabbards have beveled edges? There was a lot of math involved while creating the scabbards and the blades in order to have the blades fit snugly.
    
    
    

    
    
    
    A shitload of sanding.
    
    
    Hours of sanding later...
    
    After the bases were created, I began painting the scabbards and the swords. I used Montana Gold for the red--I actually used up half a can!! Fumes everywhere...
    
    
    
    
    
    Instagram photo lol.
    
    For the handle, I wanted to do something a little different and give it a stone-textured finish. I bought a stone-textured finish spray from Home Depot and applied that over the primer. It takes 24 hours to fully dry, but the effect looks really cool! I sprayed the red paint over this to finalize the look.
    
    I had already decided ahead of time that I would be sculpting the details on the scabbard with clay, and creating the details on the handle with Wonderflex. I didn't feel it was important for the details to look perfect on both swords; I wanted these swords to differ slightly in the details. I used lightweight stone clay--dries faster and easy to sand. I kept the sanding to a minimum because I knew I wanted to apply a brushed gold finish afterwards. The best way to create this brushed gold look is probably to apply black paint to the surface you're working on, then use a dry brush to apply the gold paint on top of the black base. If you have too much gold paint on an area you can quickly wipe it off with a damp towel or brush. I used acrylic jewels for the accents. For the less "organic shapes" on the scabbard I used Wonderflex for structure and stability. Then came more clay for the twisty-vine details. For the twisty-vine details on the scabbards, I used black puffy fabric paint. All of these were given the "brushed gold" treatment as well.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    For the sword handles, I used Wonderflex for all the details since it would be easier than sculpting, and especially since these pieces were very thin to begin with it would be easier to add layers of Wonderflex rather than to roll out a ridiculously thin piece of clay, only to have it break later.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    I used more black puffy fabric paint for the raised details on the swords. Then gave them the "gold treatment".
    
    These probably don't look like they took FOREVER, but the fabric paint took at least 20 hours to fully dry, and I had to lay the scabbards completely flat while I applied the paint otherwise it would drip. So I could only paint one surface at a time! Stone clay also dries fairly quickly but I still had to wait at least 4-5 hours in order to start applying paint. Lots of time spent waiting for things to dry!!
    
    
    
    
    4/1 edit --I mentioned on Twitter that I was going to break down the cost of this cosplay, and I realized I didn't write that here. I am only including things I had to buy specifically for this cosplay, not leftover materials:
    
    2 strips of poplar = $2/ea, $4 total
    2 3/8" pieces of MDF = $2/ea, $4 total
    1 can of stone finish spray = $9
    1 bottle of puffy fabric paint = $4
    1 sheet of 21" x 27" Wonderflex = $33 (after shipping)
    1 can of red paint (leftover)
    1 can of metallic silver paint = $6
    1 lb of lightweight stone clay (leftover)
    2 bags of acrylic jewels = $3/ea, $6 total
    1 tube of gold acrylic paint (leftover)
    1 tube of black acrylic paint (leftover)
    TOTAL = $62
  • Marker Render Set - Mass Effect 2

    Feb 02, 12

    Did this exercise to recognize color more efficiently and render at a faster pace... this year I really wanted to train my eyes to pick up on more details at one time and work quicker this way... Really focus on adding depth to a drawing without spending hours upon hours on it. I decided to draw my favorite characters from Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2, because... let's face it I FREAKING LOVE MASS EFFECT.
    
    14x17 marker paper, Copic markers, Prismacolor markers, Prismacolor pencils. Very minimal outlines in Copic multiliner, I don't really like to outline my pictures too much; I feel that a very obvious black outline can make the subject look flat.
    
    

    Here is Grunt. I love Grunt. 2 hours.
    
    
    
    
    

    Commander Shepard's BIGGEST FAN--LEGION. LOL. Sigh. This one did take me a really long time. The Mantis sniper rifle alone took 3 hours. So much for trying to be efficient. I used white gouache for the highlights along his back and to create the lens glare. I would like to note that 4 of my markers ran out of ink while coloring Legion, lots of blending involved. To get the color of his armor I actually had to use a light pink, light blue-violet and a medium tone of blue-violet, which I layered a light grey over, and then added a darker shade of grey--basically, I was pulling my hair out trying to get all the hues in.
    
    I took some pictures of how I colored Legion's... arm. I used Prismacolor Light Walnut first, added shadows w/ Copic #E71 Champagne, then used Copic #E49 Dark Bark and #W10 Warm Grey for the shadows, blending the edges with Champagne. Added some contrasting tones w/ Copic #N3 Neutral Grey. In total this picture took about 9 hours and... I need new markers.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    ^Before gouache
    ^Completed. High-res at my deviantArt page
    I'll probably actually work on some speed renders when I have some time, but for now, back to working on cosplays!! NOTE: Do I prefer Copics or Prismacolors? Honestly to me there isn't a huge difference between the quality of these brands (both are alcohol-based markers) but I like the brush tips of the Copics, and they are refillable. They are, however, almost 2x the price of a Prismacolor marker so unless you're coloring all the time, it's probably more cost-efficient to buy Prismacolor markers. I recently started buying the Copic Ciao markers, which are a little less than the Sketch markers, for colors I don't use often because $6 for a marker.... it hurts.
  • Calamity Kid

    Jan 30, 12

    ....I guess I got a little bit distracted from making cosplay.... all started when I caught up with a friend who suggested I play "Bastion". I was still busy trying to finish Arkham City at the time so I stuck Bastion on the backburner. About a month later I was browsing the xbox Marketplace and was interested in seeing what demos were out. I remembered "Bastion", and downloaded the demo. I played the demo for about 2 mins; after listening to the narration and the music, I was completely hooked and added Microsoft points to purchase the game. This was a Wednesday night. I finished the game on Friday night. And here I am making a Munny of the Kid.
    
    
    

    
    
    I consider this a "healthy" tangent because hey! I get to practice my ...sculpting. Especially since I've never used Super Sculpey before, and I expected customizing my Munny to be incredibly hard. It actually was not as hard as I thought it was, but I didn't take any progress photos because I was too busy trying to figure out how to work w/ the Sculpey. I can tell you how I made the hair though--using a pair of embroidery scissors! Don't do that. I have a very expensive pair =_=. If you have anything with a very sharp tip--even cheap beard trimmers or a CHEAP pair of embroidery scissors, you can use those. Well, I have no regrets. "Cutting" into the sculpey (I cut "V" shapes) made the hair process so much easier. I did use my sculpting tools to smooth out and touch up each tuft of hair though. I used smaller "V" shapes as I got closer to his hairline at the back.
    
    
    
    
    In hindsight I should have used actual gauze for his bandaged hand (for a better effect), but... if I ever decide to make another Munny of the Kid, I'll be sure to do so.
    
    Because I sculpted directly onto my Munny, I didn't feel safe baking it in the oven. I did some research and it seemed like boiling was a good option even though people have stated that boiling doesn't fully "cure" the sculpey. That may be true but it was no longer soft for me after all the boiling I did (for the small pieces I boiled them for about 20-30 minutes, look at the Kid do the backstroke! I boiled him for a little over an hour). Maybe if it deteriorates after 5 years I'll write a follow-up blog post then.
    
    
    
    
    I sanded down some of the rough edges, broken edges (there were a few) after the sculpey had cured. I sanded for quite a while--3 hours, or so.... Had to touch up some of the hair with air-drying clay. I used Activa la doll Premier lightweight stone clay. Really soft and easy to use, dries pretty quickly compared to DAS clay (what I usually use).
    
    
    
    I used acrylic paint for this kid. I painted all the surfaces white before applying any of the colors.
    
    
     Peek-a-boo...For the tips of the hair I used an airbrush for this effect; very subtle but gives the hair more depth.
    

    
    

    I also "weathered" his armor--it makes a big difference even though these pieces are all really small. I used a small piece of paper towel tipped in some black paint, and wiped it quickly across the armor.
    
    
     ^Before weathering^After weathering
    
    For the final touches I cut a piece of red cotton fabric for his bandanna and some ribbon for the gear on his back.
    
    Aaaaaand being the obsessive fan that I am, I went and painted the whole damn Munny box as well. I uh... guess I got a bit carried away with this project T_T
    
    
     Pay no attention to the parts of another Munny in the background...T_T
    Full view on deviantArt
  • Mechreation 01 - Yellow Jacket

    Jan 15, 12

    I try to do some marker drawings here and there but as you may or may not know they usually take me FOREVER = 6 hours minimum, so I really have to figure out how to balance my time among cosplay, drawing and gaming. New Years' resolution--MUST.DRAW.MOAR! So I will. I have recently been very inspired by a game I just finished playing this week but I will write about that soon... because most likely I will post fan art, haha.
    
    SO. Here's the first drawing of 2012. Stunna-K did the concept and line art, I just colored it. We went back and forth on the color for probably an hour and somehow we settled on yellow even though I don't really use yellow, ever?? I think it turned out alright for being completely cracked out post-ALA and finishing this at 4am while listening to him play Dead Space 2 the whole time.
    
    You can watch the short video of us drawing/coloring below.
    
    
    

    
    
    For the background I wanted to draw something really crazy but it was 4am and I wanted to sleep so I decided to bust out the Copic airbrush system! Could not use my actual compressor because that shit is loud and it was, again, 4am. I actually had this wiremesh on my desk leftover from a cosplay and thought it'd be cool to create a hexagonal, smokey effect in the background--we decided on a "smokey" background but our initial idea would take me at least 2 hours to render. I am pleased with the result but wish I had another air can to create more smoke.
    
    All Copic Sketch markers on 14x17 marker paper. The previous armored core we created was on smaller paper (letter size) and I actually prefer drawing on larger sheets for some reason. Canvas claustrophobia? I feel cramped when I only have a limited area to draw on I guess. Hopefully on our next picture we will stick the armored core into a fantastical background.
    
    
    
    
     Background modified on Photoshop. Click image to view high-res.
  • of contracts and magical girls - kyoko's spear (2)

    Jan 10, 12

    After all the glue had dried, we (from here on now, we = my dad and I) went about putting bondo on the ends so we could sand them and therefore the edges would be flush.
    
    
    
    

    And now the ends are perfectly smooth!
    After priming and sanding down each piece of tubing, I sprayed each piece with Montana Gold in Gold Chrome and used Clear Gloss to finish. You can no longer tell I used a cheap pipe tubing :DUsing the tree in my parents' backyard to let these pieces dry haha....
    My dad did most of the woodwork on the actual spear head, but he's going to be teaching me over the next few months so you'll have to bear with me as I will be writing extremely long posts about working with wood because my knowledge is so limited.
    I mocked up the scale of the spear on Illustrator, which my dad then mocked up in AutoCad. He printed the  blueprint on 2 sheets of tabloid paper and transferred the lines to 1/4" MDF. We decided on 1/4" MDF (medium-density fiberboard) because it is lightweight enough to handle but DENSE. After applying the spray paint it could actually look like a dangerous weapon. 
    We used a total of 4 pieces of MDF. The edges of the blade were shaped using a belt sander, as well as the convex edges of the spearhead attachment. The small diamond inside was also shaped with the belt sander. Each piece of MDF was glued with wood glue, secured with clamps overnight, and the spearhead attachment actually included some nails my dad added for extra support using an air staple gun. 
    To clean up the glue residue once dried, we used a chisel.  That hollowed crevice is for the bolt we glued into that space in order to be able to make the spear detachable. The spear in total is about 6 feet tall and difficult to transport so we added a bolt into the spearhead. This was covered up by the spear attachment. And don't forget all the bondo~~~After more sanding...The finished spearhead, ready for painting!
  • black & gold - booty tang

    Jan 03, 12

    Ok, I don't know what it is with the characters I choose that prefer to wear booty shorts borderlining on diapers for strippers. In any case, I get to make a huuuuuge sword with this cosplay and crazy knee-armor-shoes.
    
    
    
    

    
    I had planned on making Dead Master for a while--if you've been reading my blog since mid-2010 you know this. I drafted patterns and bought fabric for it. But somehow a conversation with some friends turned into--"OKAY I'LL DO BLACK GOLD SAW YOU CAN BE DEAD MASTER AND YOU'RE GONNA WEAR BLACK ROCK SHOOTER, RIGHT? KEWL." So here I am sewing a pair of PVC booty shorts. I altered my Xianghua fancy diaper pattern to draft the pattern for this pair of shorts. This is NOT stretch PVC, by the way, it has a little bit of stretch but it is not 4-way stretch PVC. I sewed the PVC in the same way I sewed the Mystique PVC--with some pattern paper sandwiched between my sewing machine foot and PVC fabric. I fit this pair of shorts a couple times because firstly there is nowhere for me to hide the zipper (belt loops galore), and I needed the shorts to stay on for at least a few hours. Luckily I have a belt to help with this, but the shorts themselves are pretty damn fitted around my hips. I topstitched some belt loops--yeah I topstitched each and every belt loop because I had topstitched the hem of the shorts already. I thought these details would enhance the costume--maybe make it look "less" costume-y? Does that make sense? Anyways, these shorts were one of the easier parts of this cosplay, even though they still took me a good amount of time to make.
    

     
    
    
    
     Scrap pattern paper for sewing PVCThis is why you can not mess up on PVC--holes forever.
    For the weird silver part above BGS's crotch area, I decided to use a zipper with very large teeth because this part was logically the fly, to me. I ordered a zipper from orgXIII - #20 gauge, in white. I sprayed this with primer, then spray painted it metallic silver. I wasn't using the zipper pull so I only used 6" of this zipper in total for its teeth.   Hands down the most expensive vanity zipper ever. Belt loops I realize that PVC does not photograph very well in the middle of the night. 
    
    I found that it was very helpful to use blue painter's tape to secure some of the seams because you obviously cannot use pins on PVC. It's not the greatest temporary adhesive but it doesn't leave a residue.
  • how to create a back parting using epic cosplay 15" extensions

    Dec 20, 11

    I admit I am not a wig-styling expert and had to do a lot of research / trial-and-error in order to feel confident enough to write this tutorial as well as show what my wig ended up looking like for my Kagura cosplay. I thought writing this would also be helpful considering I only found 1 helpful tutorial on creating a back parting :( But since we all buy wigs from different places not all tutorials are applicable, so whenever possible I will try to explain how I worked on each wig (if somewhat complicated).
    
    My technique is based on Katie Bair's excellent tutorial on parting wigs. She has tutorials for everything in case you are a wig n00b like me. I did not have those uber long extensions she uses though. I also do not have a heat sealer. I eventually ordered one through her website but I didn't get it on time =_=
    
    For this cosplay I used a medium-length wig from Epic Cosplay. All my wigs prior were purchased from Hollywood Wigs in Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd. Their synthetic hair is amazing for the price. About $30-$50. I also like to try my wigs on before buying them because I had a terrible experience with buying wigs on eBay -- scarred for life. But I heard good things about Epic Cosplay, and my wig shop didn't carry the shade of orange I wanted for Kagura (yeah, I know, cosplay problems...) so I took a risk on the internet again. Let me just say that this is one of the best quality wigs I own, it's also heat-safe so you can do whatever the fuck you want with it and the fibers probably won't melt unless you stick the wig into an oven or something. Luckily I didn't have to do anything crazy with this wig so no heat was required.
    
    This is what the wig looks like:
    
    
    

    
    If you're going to be doing any kind of wig styling you NEED to buy a wig head. I buy mine from the wig shop in Hollywood. These styrofoam ones are $6 and great because I can pin them, toss them on the floor, and not care about breaking them because they were $6. Needless to say I have quite a few of them in my apartment which might be kind of creepy.
    
    Kagura has her hair pinned up on both sides in a pigtails manner--I pinned the entire center as below so I could create a perfect center divide once I tied the pigtails.
    
    
    
    You can now see why we need to create a back parting. This is not pretty. I unpinned the wig and flipped it inside out. Because I don't have the crazy long extensions Katie uses in her tutorial or a heat sealer, I ended up buying the 15" extensions from Epic Cosplay in the same color  to work with. I realized I could simply cut the extensions into very tiny 1/4" sections and pull them through the lace trimming along the inside of the wig using a needle with a large eye. I didn't have a yarn needle on me so I used a leather sewing needle. I very carefully cut 1/4" sections making sure the wefts did NOT unravel or break, otherwise you'll have loose hairs everywhere. Keeping the weft intact is very important. I used embroidery scissors to cut for precision. Because I do not have a heat sealer, leaving the weft intact is how I "sealed the ends" of the extensions while not really sealing them. I sewed each extension through the CENTER LACE TRIM starting from the join seam of the lace front (right in the middle of the wig at the top)

    
    
     What the individual extensions look like You need to very carefully cut these pieces What it looks like in the beginning! See the little holes in the lace? Sew through all of them. I patted all the extensions down to no more than 1/2" otherwise you'll have different lengths and extra bulkiness along the inside.
    
    I didn't have a LOT of time to work on this wig, so I will tell you now that you really need to sew extensions through each hole in the lace trimming and the sides need to be perfectly symmetrical. I did not do this in each row so it looks a little funky, you'll see below. TAKE YOUR SWEET TIME. This took me 4 hours. This is what it will look like when you're done (inside). I patted these "ends" down and gently pulled the extensions to make sure I only had 1/4-1/2" sticking out from the top. I checked my extensions occasionally on the right side to make sure they looked "even"-- one side doesn't have more hair than the other. I put the wig back on the wig head and pinned it down at the top. I had leftover nude stretch fabric from one of my costumes so I cut a 1" strip wide enough to cover all the extensions just like Katie explains. I did not use caulk though because I actually don't have caulk. I squeezed out some tacky glue on the extensions ONLY (MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT GET ANY GLUE ON THE ACTUAL WIG because having glue on the rest of your wig unintentionally will be bad when you need to style) I made sure I only had glue on the lace trim and extensions. I gently pat down the fabric piece and let this dry for a day. I tried on the wig the next day and it was comfortable along the inside.
    
    Next you have to part your wig. Place your wig on the wig head again and make sure you have a lot of pins ready, just like before. I actually worked on the wig with it in my lap so it wouldn't move while I made the back parting. Now you can see why the extension HAVE to be sewn in a symmetrical manner, and all need to be about the same width. You can see some of the inconsistencies in how I sewed in the extensions.
    
    
    ^This is what happens when you don't sew the extensions in symmetrically :(
    
    I'm not going to go into stubbing because Katie Bair's tutorial on stubbing is excellent.
    
    I do want to point out something else I did on this wig that is helpful for wigs that require high ponytails or hair being pulled away from the face/head. Obviously when you pull a wig up you're going to see the elastic band. This is very simple to fix. I referenced this tutorial for styling high ponytails (Kenshin hair). After I tied my pigtails and cut the rest of the hair, I pinned the wig down along the sides, all around. This way I could see where the elastic band was exposed. I cut the extensions the appropriate length to "cover" the elastic and sewed the extensions onto the band from the inside.
    
    
     ^ No buenoNow you can see in the same area that the elastic is hidden!
  • keep calm and carry aru

    Dec 20, 11

    I won't go into too much detail into this cosplay because I made it in 2 days, YIKES. But I thought that I'd have time to make something for ALA (Anime Los Angeles) in addition to my Kyoko outfit so I decided WHY NOT. The hardest part of this cosplay was styling the wig. Usually I don't like to work on "easy" cosplays because I like a good challenge, but I just love this character way too much. It's difficult for me to choose a favorite female character in "Gintama", but I think Kagura definitely delivers the most laughs, and she is one tough cookie. Also kind of brainless but she's a kid. She also likes to eat rice all day so that is something I can easily accomplish. Cosplays you can eat in are quite good. It's also fun for me to have an easier cosplay to wear at a convention because sometimes I don't want to worry about a prop or my outfit being damaged if it's delicate or slightly ... unwieldy. I also don't run into that many Kagura cosplayers at conventions these days and it makes me kinda sad because she really is such a great, memorable character and I wonder how a Kagura cosplayer would act at a convention--would she be walking around with a piece of sukonbu in her mouth while picking her nose? If so, I would applaud and cry otaku tears.
    
    
    
    
    

    
    Before I get into how I made this cosplay, I want to share that I got the opportunity to wear this cosplay on Crunchyroll's Live Show along with my friends Kakyokuhime, Imari and Vivi. Vampy interviewed us during the cosplay segment and it was so much outrageous --and at times-- awkward fun. I usually don't make anime costumes either, but how can I say no to a character who picks her nose half the time!? Awesome. So I don't really have any work in progress photos this time, just our backstage photos showcasing the costume! I'll probably end up wearing this cosplay sometime when I feel like giving less fucks than usual.
    
    
    
    
    
    She has a couple outfits that are fairly basic/standard China girl wear, but I decided to go with her regular outfit because I wanted to be very comfortable and not worry about fit for once.
    
    I started with a cotton/poly-blended stretch fabric--I thought cotton would wrinkle too easily so wanted some polyester blended into it to help the fabric stay smooth when worn throughout the day. I didn't make the bias binding this time because I didn't need to. The pants are made from the same fabric, the pattern I knocked off from a pair of my sweatpants.
    
    The top actually has a faux closure at the top--it only opens to allow my head to fit through.
    
    So that's about it for the outfit. Simple stuff!
    
    
    
     Yes I am wearing blue contacts!
    with Vivi :D (as the AC Paradise mascot) I LOOK LIKE A KID. GYUHHHH
    with Kakyokuhime as Chun Li!!
    For the hair pins, I started w/ styrofoam balls and cut them in half. I painted them over with layers and layers of gesso (I kid you not there are about 20 layers of gesso, I started this first because I knew this process would take a while--it SERIOUSLY TOOK FOREVER but so worth it....) to make sure the surface was smooth. I sanded the surface a little with a very fine grit sandpaper because after so many layers of gesso the paint got a little globby.
    
    This was then painted black. I ran out of time so I had to paint the designs :( I really wanted to cut out craft foam and form them with heat but perhaps when I have more time I will do so.
    
    I made the tassels from fringe that I sewed together. There was a lot of work put into the wig, which I am writing a separate tutorial for -- it'll basically cover creating a back parting using Epic Cosplay's extensions (15").
    
    
    Again, thank you Shun for the photos!!
  • of contracts and magical girls - kyoko's spear (1)

    Dec 04, 11

    This cosplay is surprising for me for 2 reasons:
    
    1. I don't usually make anime-derived cosplays
    2. This is a magical girl cosplay. I don't make those. (usually cannot relate to magical girl stories or characters)
    
    But as you've read on my previous post about Madoka Magica, this story is unlike any other magical girl story I've ever experienced, and a huge part of me wanting to make this cosplay was because I am cosplaying with my sister! And one of my best friends! So of course I wanted to participate! I do also like the Kyoko character very much, even though her screen time in the anime was a bit short.
    
    

    
    So let's get to it! I actually spent some time in my parents' house today and I have very poor wireless connection on my phone for some reason when I am there, so I don't get all my work emails, text messages or notifications of any kind. But it's nice in this aspect because I can work on stuff and also not have to think about replying to emails all day since I do that at work already :( I didn't plan on starting on her spear at first, but I had a lot of time to kill while at my parents' house. I headed over to Lowe's with my dad and we picked up some of the basic parts--PVC pipe, PVC plugs for the pipes, PVC caps, 9' of plastic chain... I decided to go w/ this variation of Kyoko's spear. Unfortunately mine doesn't actually pull apart as it does in the anime, and I have seen someone make a version that pulls apart, pretty damn cool but definitely more complicated and because I only had a month to make this cosplay I wasn't sure I could execute such a contraption within my limited time frame. Anyway, excuses aside, I figured out all the lengths for each section--both the pipe and the chain, and my dad went and cut all the pipe pieces on his radio saw. The great thing about going to my parents' house is, my dad has every single power tool you can think of--he's a furniture designer so YES I AM LUCKY. I am very lucky I have access to all of these special tools. On the other hand, my dad really likes to make props too, so he sometimes will take over a prop project I'm working on T_T
    
    We thought the neatest way to attach the chain pieces to the pipe would be to glue the plugs into the pipe ends, and screw in a screw hook through the top of the plug, then connect the chain link to the metal screw. (not in that order, see the photos below) It was a good thing we worked on this in the early afternoon--the gorilla glue takes a good 24 hours to properly cure so I will be going back to my parents' house to finish the rest of the spear next weekend! You are probably bored of reading this wall of text now, so I shall supplement the photos below w/ some captions to explain more of the little details.
    
    
    
     The plugs we bought didn't fit snugly enough into the pipe, so I wrapped some masking tape to add thickness
     my dad, in his element. lol. Cut chains CLAMP EVERYTHING. LEAVE FOR 2-3 HOURS. The longest pipe piece is the actual spear.You may notice that the rim of the plug is hexagonal. It needs to be flush w/ the cylinder of the pipe, so after the glue is dried, bondo will be applied and sanded.
  • neo-japanesque magic?! (part one)

    Dec 29, 11

    Well. I never thought I'd be making any magical girl cosplays anytime in the near future but here I am talking about a Madoka Magica cosplay! Er, sort of. Inspired by, I should say. My buddy Ashli finally convinced me to watch the series, which... actually has a huge twist and is NOT your typical magical girl anime. I highly suggest you watch it despite the "cute" style of the animation, and the horrifically misleading trailer.
    
    Ashli posted a beautiful picture of some Madoka fan art on her tumblr, and next thing you know the both of us are oogling and trying to figure out how the hell to integrate these outfits into our schedules. Since I actually have pink hair now (and Ashli has blonde hair) we talked about doing a photoshoot with these outfits, inspired by this concept art and our love for Madoka. It worked out that she was in love w/ the Mami outfit and I love the colors from Madoka's image.
    
    Anyways, I was excited to finally not worry about being accurate to reference images for once, so I set out to buy fabric right away. Once again this fabric DOES NOT EXIST IRL (-_-) so it was back to hours and hours of painting fabric again.
    
    
    
    

    
    
    I bought this cool printed cotton fabric (printed on both sides) for the kimono dress. I have to bleach the sleeves (that's why I specifically looked for 100% cotton fabric) and dye the edges orange so the fabric can somewhat resemble this reference image. How this dress will fasten is with inside ties and outside ties--it's basically a wrap dress. I wanted a cascading circle skirt with a shorter front and longer back. You can see that the pattern looks like a lopsided donut. Cutting circle skirts is generally a waste of fabric but you'll see what a difference it makes instead of cutting a rectangle and gathering at the waist.
    
    
    
    
    
    I actually draped my sample on my dressform to make sure the hemline was to my liking. You can see how I marked the side seams on my dressform in green so I could make sure the bodice would line up to the skirt portion.
    
    I decided to line the skirt in charmeuse so it would look more luxurious along the inside.
    
    The skirt "trim" was 2-1/2" wide bias binding that I also painted the design on. The width I actually cut was 6" -- 5" folded to 2-1/2" finished, 1/2" seam allowance. I painted the designs before sewing to the skirt so it would actually look like a print. I used a poly/rayon blended gabardine--sturdy and heavy enough to weigh the dress down, but lightweight enough so it wouldn't be bulky when folded in half.
    
    
    
    
    
    For the skirt patterns I used a mix of Jacquard Lumiere paints (I have every single color in existence now) and NeoOpaque paints - dull/shiny. I didn't like how metallic the colors looked on my Oriental Alice dress so I tried not to use as much as the Lumiere paints this time. I still wanted the designs to pop so I used the metallic paints as accents. I always freehand the patterns because I'm too lazy to mark anything. I do take my time though.
    
    
    
     I think painting the entire skirt took me at least 6 hours?^the trim that has yet to be sewn together!
  • tales from the orient, another alice (4)

    Nov 20, 11

    Finally blogging about how I made the kabuki mask at the back of Alice's dress. I'm not 100% pleased with how it turned out but I'm sure I'll work on a new version sometime soon for my photoshoot.
    
    
    

    
    
     Hopefully you can get a basic idea of how I tweaked an existing mask that I bought for $4 at a Halloween store. I didn't have time to take TOO many pictures but you can see I have cut out the eyes and mouth based on the reference images I gathered (yes that is the official Alice:Madness Returns artbook!!)
    
    I used clay for the eyebrows but knew I needed something very light to create the saggy cheeks and fat nose. I should have used foam but I was really running low on time, so I ended up using puffy fabric paint to create the raised areas--I smoothed the unevenness of the fabric paint out w/ some sculpting tools.
    
    
    
    
    To make sure I could attach the mask to the bow itself, I needed to fill in the back somehow. Luckily I grabbed some packaging foam from work to glue into the mask. I then glued a piece of felt w/ some snaps sewn onto it--I used snaps again to attach the mask to the bow. I used tacky glue and a hot glue gun, which worked extremely well and this costume lasted 3 entire days.
    
    
     
    
    Yeah yeah my apartment is messy but I'm always working on stuff :< !!!
    
    I spray painted the mask with primer first, then with Montana Gold spray paint. The BLACK areas are actually a very dark grey I applied with an airbrush.
    
    
    
     Geh, my dress is wrinkly from all the sitting down I did (kind of) at the 2 conventions I wore this to! I did spray a gloss over the mask when the paint was all done.
  • blue shapeshifter - skulltastic

    Nov 08, 11

    I did not finish the skull belt in time for Halloween (ran out of skulls at the last minute) but I can wear it on another occasion now that it is completed :)! Luckily I live close to a Halloween supplies store so I bought 3 bags of skulls. 2 bags of 3-1/2" tall skulls and 1 bag of 1-1/2" tall skulls. I only needed 1 small skull for the wig, so I just have a bag of skulls casually sitting around in my house. Yeup.
    
    
    

    
    
    The skulls I bought were on a string, they were basically hot-glue-gunned at the top (there was a hole at the top of each skull), and you could see around the hole, the extra plastic that came out of the mold, which I had to cut off with an x-acto knife. I wanted the skulls to be more white, less yellow, so I sprayed all of them with primer, then touching them up with an airbrush in a dark grey color--then finished with a clear gloss.
    
    
     
    
    I knew I wanted the belt to close with a clasp of some sort, so I chose to use a round clasp similar to one you would use for a necklace. I punched using an awl on the sides of each skull and strung a piece of craft wire through.
    
    
     Fun times...
    
    
    For the tiny skull on Mystique's hair, I simply hot-glue-gunned it as close to the lace-front as possible. Tacky glue will NOT work. I wore this in a club for a couple hours and this skull stayed put!
    
    
    
    
    I did curl the wig a bit because it was a little too flat when I bought it.
  • tales from the orient, another alice (3)

    Nov 07, 11

    Here's a quick post on how I made the Omega necklace for this particular Alice:Madness Returns outfit. After staring at reference image after reference image, I realized the string of the necklace wasn't a flimsy string--it was wired, round. To make things easier for myself I bought a wired jewelry choker for $2. I wrapped the wire with embroidery floss, applying tacky glue onto the wire as I wrapped the floss tightly around.
    
    
    

    
    
    For the pendant, I used DAS clay and sculpted the Omega. Before drying, I cut a piece of craft wire and created the loop for the pendant. I let the sculpt dry and sanded the surface smooth. I painted the first layer of green using the Jacquard fabric paints I always use--I already have a ton of paint and these have a metallic finish that I really like. I let that dry, then brushed my shimmering white Jacquard paint over the entire pendant, quickly wiping away with a dry towel. I added some teal accents (you can't really see it though), let that dry as well.
    
    
    
  • blue shapeshifter - dressed up

    Nov 02, 11

    Ah yes. I know I haven't posted in a while but I was also purposely waiting for Halloween to post my own costume! FIRSTLY LET ME JUST SAY THAT I MADE THIS COSTUME IN 2 DAYS SO THERE IS A DIRE LACK OF PHOTOS. SORRY. ANYWAYS--
    
    After seeing Kotobukiya's lovely rendition of Mystique for their Marvel Bishoujo line, my friends thought I was going to do a Mystique cosplay after I posted the illustration to Facebook. I decided why not, I've never dabbled with body paint, and besides, Mystique is a fucking badass. Cosplaying is the only time I get to be a badass, so why not...
    
    

    
    
    I'll start by talking about how I made her dress. I wanted the boots, gloves and dress to all match, so I set out to find the boots first. I got very lucky and found exactly what I was looking for. Yes I went to a fetish shoe shop. Leave a comment if you're interested in what style these boots are, they're from Pleaser. These boots are made from PVC. Luckily I'll be wearing these mostly at night so I won't be a sweaty Mystique, at least. I ordered 4-way stretch PVC online for the dress and gloves.
    
    
    
    
    The PVC has a decent amount of stretch, and was thinner than I thought. I drafted the pattern and cut a sample in muslin to check the fit and proportions. If I had more time I would have cut the sample in the same PVC but I did not have that luxury (ok, when do I ever, anyway). The dress zips up along the back.
    
    
    
    (excuse crappy mobile phone picture, I forgot my camera the day I hauled my fabric to my friends' apartment, they have wooden floors = perfect for cutting stretch fabrics)
    
    You can see that the dress has extremely deep cut armholes. I got one of those weird adhesive bras that girls wear for backless dresses. When I did my fit I had this bra on to make sure the chest area did not look funky and/or deflated (mostly the latter). I also tried it with the boots to make sure I wouldn't drag the train when I walk around. I used a zigzag stitch on my regular sewing machine since this is a stretch fabric. This sample was especially important for checking the proportions of this dress--am I showing enough side boob, enough thigh, etc, etc. I clearly took this photo after I had worn it, anyway I have to remake it for Anime Expo next year, I don't like that my zigzag stitches were spaced so far apart (that's why you can see the stitching in the seams), I literally made this dress in 2 days but I'd like to remake a better version for Anime Expo 2012 for our X-Men group.
    
    
    
    
    The challenge in this particular design is that the neck piece is not a separate neck band. I wanted to keep this based on the illustration, so I used 2  seams to build up the neckline. The dress isn't exactly a halter dress either, so I thought it would end up looking like a mock turtleneck if I created a separate neck band. I neatly zig-zag-stitched all the edges. Curved edges were clipped, then stitched carefully. You need to get a walking foot for your machine or just sew with a piece of thin paper (don't use tissue paper, it's too thin. I used pattern paper but you can use vellum or tracing paper) over your shiny PVC surface in order to move the fabric efficiently through the machine. I used a size 11 needle to minimize the appearance of holes created by the needle, as well.
    
    
    
    (how I sewed the zipper)
    
    Here's a quick photo we snapped before heading out for Halloween festivities, I'll have to write up the gloves and belt (was not finished on time for Halloween) at a later time!
    
    (yeah I'm wearing contacts!)
  • tales from the orient, another alice (2)

    Oct 04, 11

    I realized that almost every single project I work on involves bias binding, which I call the ragequit of sewing. Especially since I usually end up making my own bias binding, I always have a ton of scraps leftover I can't ever use for another project since the colors I choose are always so damn obscure.
    
    On this project especially, I had to use bias binding to finish all the edges of my silk pieces... which is basically the entire dress. Overlocking the edges of a silk piece is blasphemy. Never do it. Merrow edges are ok but those are mostly decorative anyways. I just think overlocking the edge of a silk piece lessens the quality of using silk in the first place (or maybe I just like to torture myself). I used bias strips cut from the lining fabric, which was a soft acetate. Still very difficult to sew considering my silk was stretch silk and the lining is very thin as well. The hem of the skirt is finished with self bias binding (the silk). You can imagine how long this took me, I pretty much wanted to call it a night after sewing the entire hem.
    
    
    

    One of these days I better take a picture of all the damn bias binding I cut in one year.
     Bias-bound edges for the silk pieces.
    Lining pieces are overlocked ^
    
    There is 1 zipper along the side of the dress as I did not want to put a zipper along the center back--I thought it would look cheap and gross.
    
    For the cuffs, I pinned 3/8" width satin ribbon (this costume had a triple whammy-- silk charmeuse, double faced satin ribbon, AND bias binding=ragequit) and stitched these very carefully in place. Yes I interfaced the cuffs. I hand-gathered the sleeves along the cap (not along the entire cap, for a total width of 5", which was reduced to 3") I hand-gathered the bottom of the sleeve to fit my cuffs. Sewing cuffed sleeves are easy unless you have a tiny ass bicep and you have to end up hand-sewing the cuff along the inside because you can't wedge the fabric between the machine arm and the needle. For me it is easier to sew the entire sleeve piece, then attach the sleeve to the armhole because I don't want to have to deal with handling the entire dress just to sew on a damn cuff or something.
    
    
    
    
    You can see that the ribbon does not match along the cuff seam--I didn't mind this because the ribbon is randomly placed in the reference images. Also, unless someone is staring underneath your arms, nobody is really going to notice this.
    
    If you're going to be hand-gathering a lightweight fabric such as silk charmeuse, I highly suggest loosening your stitch tension and gently tugging the fabric while sewing to help the fabric move along smoothly. Or you could buy a walking foot that might make it easier. I will probably need to invest in one as I've been sewing all kinds of different things these days.
    
    The petticoat is shown as below. I overlocked all the edges as you can see. If you sew a lot I suggest you spend the money and buy a serger, this one was about $300-$350 and you can use it for knits as well. I have the option of switching between a single-needle and double-needle option, which is great. Totally worth your money if you sew alllllll the time.
    
    
    
    
    I sandwiched the ruffle as below, and you can see how using these 2 colors creates a cool effect.
    
    
     Hand-gathered. This piece ended up being about 7 - 8' long, so I was sitting here gathering fabric for quite a while....
    
    The pink layer is on the outside, yellow on the inside.
    
    
    
    
    To finish up the dress, I had to sew the ruffles/pleats--I chose to go with pleats--at the center front. I used the leftover linen from my apron fabric and hand-pleated the trim. I just eyed the pleats as I stitched because I'm lazy and didn't want to mark equal distances on my pleats. Don't be lazy ok?
    
    
    
    I sandwiched the pleats between the lining and the self fabric, right sides together. After you turn both inside out, you will have a beautiful clean edge as my photos below. It takes a bit of time and there's a ton of ironing involved but it's totally worth it. I don't even iron my day-to-day clothes on a regular basis.
    
    Aaaaand here's a preview of what I've got so far! Yes the petticoat is sticking out a bit too much so I'll have to reduce it from the waistband area.
    
    
    
    
    The only things left for me to do on this dress are to sculpt the necklace, dye the obi ties, and make the mask to finish the obi. I will be purchasing the stockings and boots.
  • madness returns: deflect (1)

    Oct 01, 11

    What's an Alice cosplay without her trusty weapons?
    
    The first "weapon" I set out to make is not really a weapon, it's more of a shield if we want to get down to specifics. There aren't many reference images of this item on the web, I basically had to pay extra attention during the game and come up with my own interpretation.
    
    
    

    something... like that... image via Alice:Madness Returns wikia
    
    I started with a cheap store-bought umbrella. I think it was $8. You can see how ridiculously long the handle of her umbrella is. My umbrella has a very short handle. First things first--I carefully removed the nylon from the umbrella. You can see that this umbrella is tacked in 3 places, goddamn this was a cheap umbrella.
    
    
    
    
    Now you have the skeleton of the umbrella. And the entire nylon piece is basically a circle, made up of 8 triangles. I measured the width of each piece, which in my case happened to be 13". From the center to the edge, the length of each triangle was 18.5". Easy pattern.
    
    
    
    
    I went with this type of lace pattern since I wanted the repeat to be large enough to be noticeable, and based on the reference images/gameplay it seems like the floral patterns in the lace are pretty big, and are arranged in rows. This was also how I cut the fabric. I wanted the edges to be scalloped (again, based on the ref. images and gameplay), so I positioned my pattern like so.

    
    
    
    
    This lace had a bit of stretch to it, so it's pointless to pin (look at all the open weaves) and the chalk is going to leave too little of an impression. I use weights to keep the stretch lace from shifting, both on the pattern and on the area around the pattern. You can get legitimate fabric weights at the crafts store but I was kind of lazy and just used whatever heavy, small objects I had lying around.
    
    
    
    To neatly cut the scallop shape I used a pair of embroidery scissors. I have those expensive Gingher scissors (they were a gift) but from my uber-last-minute cosplay midnight scramble at PAX2011 I learned that facial hair trimming scissors are a cheap and great alternative....

    
    

    The next thing to do, obviously, is to sew these pieces together. I overlocked the edges using my serger, trying to match the scalloped edges as best as possible. The center of the umbrella didn't have to be finished too cleanly because I was going to sculpt a new tip anyways.

    
    
    
    

    But before I could permanently attach the lace to the skeleton I had to color the frame of the umbrella.

    
    

    Here's what it looks like so far.
    
    
    
  • tales from the orient, another alice (1)

    Sep 26, 11

    Well of course I started working on another Alice:Madness Returns cosplay! I have a couple huge projects lined up for next year so I had to choose a costume that would be relatively "simple" to make, but not so simple that I would be unmotivated to work on it diligently. I love the colors from the "Oriental" dress from the game-- this Chapter was my 2nd favorite, I really enjoyed the side-scrolling levels and those samurai mosquito enemies, lol. The environment was just gorgeous, by the way, if I could cosplay as that entire Chapter I would, but that's... just not physically possible, no.
    
    
    
    

    image from deviantart, via albertorayman
    
    So this dress will suffice. I already knew which fabrics I wanted to use for this costume--a silk charmeuse for the exterior, because I read that the silk from this dress was supposedly made from the silk spun from the Caterpillar. Ok well I wasn't aware that he was a silk-spinning Caterpillar, what a strange world Alice lives in. But I couldn't very well use polyester charmeuse on such a gorgeous dress, so let me believe that the Caterpillar spun silk from his butt and this is the material that Alice wore in the Chapter.
    
    
    
    First sample that I always cut for fit reasons.
    
    And of course the silk charmeuse I ended up having to paint.... using Jacquard Lumiere pants again. I think I should have used the Neopaques, which are not metallic, but this effect is not bad. I used weights while cutting out the silk pieces because my silk had a bit of stretch. The pin holes are too obvious as well, they don't disguise as well on silk since it is so delicate.
    
    
    
     You need to use a lot of painter's tape so the silk does not shift around while you paint.
    Had to paint everything...
    
    For the "petticoat", I wanted to use organza. I thought it would look more ethereal if the fabric was slightly sheer, so I chose 2 different colors of organza for a more interesting effect. I actually used polyester organza because I needed something very stiff. Silk organza would be too pricey and it would have too much drape. I did not want drape.
    
    
    
     I used two colors for the effect I wanted, here's the yellow, looking kind of pink..
     The pink organza...
    The two put together, you can tell the yellow is on top, and it's kind of hard to see because of the wonky lighting in my apartment, but I'll take better pictures when the petticoat is finished and you can see how the color changes depending on where the light is hitting it/movement of the skirt.
    
    For the obi I wanted to use a slightly more matte fabric that still had some kind of sheen and interesting texture to it, so I used silk dupioni again. The light pink is 100% silk, the bright pink is rayon/silk blended, the texture is smoother and it has better drape. I was very fortunate to find the colors I was looking for! This obi would also use a snap closure as per the previous costume, and I wanted it to keep its shape so I added a backing to the underside of this obi as well. At the front of the obi are 2 bright cords in blue and turquoise. I just bought white rattail to dye for this.
    
    
    
    Double-faced because that's how the obi looks in the reference photos.
    
    The apron, I decided to make it as a separate piece. Because I think of every costume I make as "actual clothing", I would assume that the apron is not attached to the dress, what if she wants to wear the dress without the apron and obi? To me, it looks more realistic when certain pieces of the costume are not all sewn together, but are separate/different components, as if this character was truly putting on each piece to create this outfit. Anyway, that's just what I think, so I made the apron its own piece with tie and everything. It closes with snaps as well so that it is not bulky at the back, underneath the obi.
    
    
    
    AND MORE PAINTING. I painted this 3x before I actually found it acceptable. You'll notice it's not perfectly symmetrical and my line weight is uneven. I was okay with this because the lines aren't straight or even in the concept art.
    
    The designs were all painted with my favorite Jacquard fabric paint, as always. These little jars aren't the cheapest paints ever but seriously if you're going to put time into a costume you're making you gotta use the best materials when you can. These jars are about $5-$6 each, and depending on how much paint you use, each jar can last you a while. Luckily for me I already had a turquoise leftover from my Xianghua costume last year! Hurray for obscure colors! I wanted the apron to have some kind of texture, so I used linen again; it doesn't look completely shiny or completely flat, I just thought it would look kinda cheap if I used a basic cotton fabric.
    
    The sewing on this costume will not be extremely difficult but working with silk is kind of a bitch so it will most definitely be time-consuming. Not gonna lie, this costume has already cost me a little over $100 because I decided to use an entire family of silkworms.
  • late but lucky, return to wonderland

    Sep 06, 11

    If you want to see more photos and a pretty damn detailed run-through of what people do at PAX, go to my friend Collin's blog, asiandoood.com. He did a great job of doing his convention write-up. Here I will shamelessly post pictures of my cosplay.
    
    
    
    
    

    Thanks Jesse for the photos!
    
    I didn't get the make the Omega pendant :( I will have the opportunity to sculpt it soon as I am planning another Alice: Madness Returns cosplay! But of course! Not sure if you can tell in the photos but I am wearing pink contacts. The pocketwatch I ordered from eBay for $11. Win again.
    
    This was the most comfortable costume ever and I didn't have to worry about any of my body parts accidentally flashing anyone, hallelujah!
    
    And thank you to the one person who recognized me, you are awesome.
    
    I would also like to thank my friend Jesse for housing me and showing me around Seattle, buying spray primer, letting me use up all your black spray paint and feeding me spam musubi at 3am while I finished up my cosplay.
    
    Some photos from PAX!
    
    
    
    
     Really good Femshep cosplay + Destructoid head haha 
     
    I still remember this arcade game, it ate all my tokens but it was so much fun 
     
    Another one of my favorite games from my childhood, I need to be more skilled in fps games though, I suck 
      I'm a huge fan of the Bioshock series so I cannot wait for Bioshock Infinite!!! 
     
    X-Com area, this wax sculpt was shockingly REAL 
     
    Firefall greeted us at Registration, not gonna lie, we kinda hated on it because it looked like Gears of War so much but it wasn't the same at all. 
     Castle Crashers tee. Wearing it now. It's my pajama shirt....
    And... a really goofy pic taken at the Ubisoft booth promoting Assassin's Creed: Revelations
    
    I suppose the official photoshoot pictures for this costume will be up much later, as I want to do the shoot with some props that I am working on at the moment.
  • late but lucky, collected memories (10)

    Sep 06, 11

    The final part of this costume (not including the Omega pendant) was the top hat. I really didn't have time to search for a top hat exactly like the one in the reference image, and I also kinda wanted to try making my own hat. Yes, that is my logic--no time to find one to modify so I'll make one from scratch.
    
    I did some research on how to make hats, and stumbled upon Fosshape. There's a pretty good fosshape tutorial on cosplaysupplies.com, but I think you're really going to need to just experiment via trial and error, which I expect to do more of when I make the Clockwork Bunny.
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    Fosshape is sold by the yard, it's basically fabric. I bought 2 yards because I figured--trial and error. I drafted a hat pattern based on an existing hat I had--just for the head circumference, really. In hindsight I would have added at LEAST an extra 1/2" to all the sides because fosshape shrinks a LITTLE when steamed. I also should not have used a regular seam to join the hat piece together, it was very bulky. I will try a lapped stitch next time (sewing one side directly on top of the other).
    
    I made a hat base in the most last-minute (aka "ghetto") way possible--I used a roll of paper towels and wrapped it in layers of paper and cardboard. This was the exact shape of my top hat, wider at the top. My sewn fosshape piece fit perfectly over it. I cut out a circle for the top part of the hat. In hindsight I should have hand sewn the top of the hat to the sides, not done this after I steamed everything because all the edges shrank about 1/4"-3/8".
    
    
    
    
    
    
    This is where the magic began--because making cosplay is magic?! Yes, it is. After you steam the fosshape (you NEED to use a steamer, do not even use an iron to steam it), it becomes stiff! Very very cool. I steamed the brim along a curved edge to get the sides to flip up.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    I then sewed the steamed pieces together by hand as you can see in this photo below. Always remember to clip your edges when sewing round surfaces.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    I also cut fosshape pieces for the ears to give them structure. I forgot to take a picture but I used the same pattern as I did for the ears.
    
    For the ears I used the faux fur from the paws, and I bought a chenille fabric for the insides of the ears. Stuck the fosshape inside. Done.
    
    
    
    
    
    How I "colored" my hat is a big no-no. Do not do it this way. It will smell and look fug on the surface. I didn't have time to dye the hat so I spray-painted it. I used primer, and this caused the "hairs" of the fosshape to raise a little, so my surface was no longer "flat". Anyway, I sprayed about 2 coats of primer and then sprayed the entire hat black.
    
    
    
    
    I cut the "ribbon" from the same corduroy as the jacket, and glued that to the hat. I hand sewed the ears to the brim, and tacked the ears to the top of the hat because I didn't steam my fosshape enough to make the ears stand upright on their own. Fail.
    
    This was a decent amount of work and I should have started earlier so I could make a more beautiful hat :[
  • late but lucky, collected memories (9)

    Sep 06, 11

    Here comes the part where I hauled my unfinished cosplay to Seattle and finished the rest of it at my friend's apartment, yikes!
    
    For the "shoes" I made the calf-boot separate from the paw-shoe. I really don't know what to call them, sorry if they sound lame. Anyway, I cut 3 pieces for the paw-shoe, using a pattern similar to the one I drafted for my Zephie shoe.
    
    
    
    

    
    
    This was actually just a covering, as I bought bedroom slippers ($7 at Target, WIN) and simply hand-sewed the fur covering over these slippers. My friend commented, "dude, you're basically wearing slippers all day, you lucky bastard". Yep, it was pretty damn comfortable!
    
    
    
    The claws were also hand sewn. I created the separations for the paws the same way I sewed the sash's paws.

    
    
    
    For the calf-boot I used leftover cotton stretch twill from a previous project and drafted 2 pattern pieces to my calf size. I lined the inside with muslin. The buttons are not functional--I used snaps to make getting in and out of them much easier. In hindsight I should have made the calf-boot tighter around my calf because walking around all day, these things kept slipping down. However I wanted the placket to lie flat, so I didn't want to use an extremely stretchy fabric. I think the twill I used had only about 1% spandex.
    
    These didn't take that long for me to make; I feel like I kind of cheated by sewing the covering over a slipper, but hey--it worked and was super comfortable for me!
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