Stephanie's Cosplay Log

10/5/2011
I know! Two days in a row! You're going to get spoiled if I keep on like this! But I figure I should post since I actually have something to update about.

So.

I saw the most awesome pair of wings in a Halloween specialty shop that would have been perfect for Howl's bird-form, but being the picture of a stereotypical broke college student, I did not have the funds to make them mine. I did, however, have the funds for the weirdly pre-shrunk chicken wings that are going to look absolutely ridiculous. Seriously. They're like a foot across. What kind of giant bird-man wingspan is that? My Howl is going to look retarded. Like Nemo with his gimpy fin. No offense to Nemo; he's adorable. But what is a cosplayer with limited funds to do? Pray for a windfall that will allow me to get the awesome wings. Okay, maybe not the best plan, but it'll do for now.
The wings...

The wings next to your average-sized Russian-English dictionary so that you can see just how tiny they are...

Now onto Howl's earrings and necklace! Would you believe how hard it is to find those kindsa of beads?!?! I have searched high and low for those things! I've stormed all the relevant stores in a less than convenient radius, and nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. No es bead-os.
And so, I gave up.
Not on Howl's jewelry, on actually finding the beads I need for it. Given that statement, I decided to make the needed beads out of clay. Mind you, I'm not a potter so they look like they're made of clay. I'm hoping they'll look better once I've painted them.
They are, at least, the general size and shape of Howl's gems. That's about all I can say for them though.

On the bright side, thenecklace will be tucked into my shirt (thankfully, how Howl wears it) and the earrings will be hidden by my hair, with only the occasional glimpse of bright color! I did manage to find gold chain for the necklace and gold earring-making pieces. I'll just stand far away from the mirror when I test them out. That'll work. Lots of things look better from far away; why not my hand-made jewelry?

I was feeling especially creative so I attempted Howl's ring. It'll probably turn out to be too bulky, but I was in the "I'm molding Crayola Air-Dry Clay and I'm having so much fun being a little kid that I don't particularly want to stop" mood. And no, that's not product placement. Just me trying to explain the mood I was in.

On yet another bright side, Jordan says my hair looks close enough to Howl's that I won't necessarily need a wig. (Maybe I'll take the wig money and put it towards those wings...) I might need to make it a little darker to go with the feathers, but that shouldn't be too hard. I hope. Still trying to decide between comb-in color and that funky colored hair-spray. Leaning toward the comb-in because it'll look more natural. Then again, bird-Howl's hair looks kind of stiff, like feathers now that I think about it... I learn something new every day! So maybe the spray would be better... I'll decide later.

So, that's my update. I hope you enjoy.


...

10/4/2011
So I apologize for the length of time between my posts. I've been busy moving to Greenville (new home of Blame The Muse!) and transfering colleges, which is almost more trouble than it"s worth. If any of you are college transfers, you know what I mean. But I'm settled now and Blame The Muse has started working on our cosplays for Neko-Con. So yay!

There have been a few changes to our cosplay line-up, and I'll try to make a note of them. Friday is still Angry Birds, providing we can find all the materials needed for it. Saturday is still Howl's Moving Castle, where Jordan will still be Witch of the Waste, but I have decided that instead of brunette Howl, I'll be doing Howl in bird-man form. For Sunday, we've changed from doing Fallout to doing Vampire vs. Vampire Hunter, a lot like our Pirate vs. Ninja cosplay last year. I'll be doing Vampire Hunter in case you couldn't guess. We had hoped to make it Victorian-esque or a little steampunk-y, but due to budget retraints it may end up a bit more modern than that.

So I have the front of the rave corset basted together. I'm sorry to say that I don't have any pictures of it yet. And since I left it in Trap, I can't just upload one really quickly.

But, in other news, I've sketched out the Calcifer plushie pattern, of which I have a picture. And yes, I am aware that his eyes are two different sizes. It's because I haven't decided which I like best. He's definitely going to be made out of felt, though. He's also going to be holding a sign that says, "May all your bacon burn!" which is just awesome, right?



8/7/2011
So I felt like posting our stuffed felt Calcifer idea. The goal? A tote-able Calcifer, ie, a Calcifer that we can tote, or toss, around for our Howl cosplay. So far, we've decided that it should be felt, because felt is a little stiffer that your regular cotton fabric.

We're thinking about making two! versions of Calcifer: a flame Calcifer and a falling star Calcifer (this is were the tossing comes in, makes it more authentic).

I don't have sketches for these, which is probably for the best (I was pushing my limits with the corsets!). But flame Calcifer will be a little red, orange, and yellow flame with a little Calcifer face and falling star Calcifer will look like a falling star with a little Calcifer face, probably done in whites and pale yellows (Colors subject to change upon availability :D) ((And if you used your best announcer voice for the previous parentheses, like myself, reward yourself with a cookie... or pie... cake? Just reward yourself with the confection of your choice)).

I think that's all I have right now on the Tote-able Calcifers, especially since the Wal-Mart in Greenville has seriously downsized their fabric section, which I found to be extremely rude. I mean, I know they're doing it to most of them, but it really makes me sad. :( See? Sad. The even took away the fabric bins! You know, the giant grey things with drawers that you searched for a pattern in after finding it in the catalog? Those! It just makes things that much more difficult! Sigh.

But... On the bright side, I'll be posting our progress up here, complete with pictures, of course! Though making everything might take longer than I had hoped since it seems that we'll have to travel for supplies, or find another place entirely, between work and classes... Wish us luck, huh?


...


8/2/2011
This is the first official post of the Cosplay Log page, so I figured I would update everyone on our plans so far for Nekocon in November. We plan to cosplay Fallout, Howl's Moving Castle, and Angry Birds (I personally think we should keep the order a surprise). And, of course!, we plan to have the most AWESOME Rave outfits that we possibly can.

An idea of the corset I plan to make and wear:
And this is an idea of Jordan's, if you take the first corset and pair it with the sleeves of the second:

I just know they're going to look great once we get them done.

I guess that's pretty much it for my first update.




Oh, and a shout-out to Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts, which is Blame The Muse's new craft store of choice due to the fact that everything we need for our cosplays is centrally located and the fact that they gave me HUGE discounts on my purchases when I was there last. Not saying you have to love Jo-Ann's, just saying that I am very pleased with them at the moment.

One more thing that Jordan just reminded me of. We will be giving out free (read that, FREE) Blame the Muse merchandise at Neko! So if you want free stuff, come find us!


...

No comments:

Post a Comment