2017-18 ideas + giveaway

Hey everyone, I need your help! You may have noticed the album I posted last night full of characters I plan on cosplaying. Yes, whichever I chose will be made very slowly over a period of 6 months to a year. I did this back when I made Seth and Abel and they turned out much better than my recent projects. This time around I want something with lots of details and beading. Nicolas already has chosen his own cosplay which is not from the same series as any of the girls I listed.

He'll be making his cosplay by himself (with a little help from me when it comes to sewing.) but you can read about that on our facebook. This blog post is about the characters I've chosen and more about each outfit. I may even do a contest to help pull in some suggestions.

These cosplays would not be done for Kumori-con 2016. Instead I'll be aiming towards Sakura-con 2017. You can find my list of pros and cons on each picture in our facebook album.

Idea #1 Serenity- Sailor Moon

Serenity is a very popular character to cosplay right now due to the remake of the anime. This outfit I'm afraid might be too simple for a contest but it would be easy to wear with a baby with us.

This gown would have lots of beading and room for creative freedom. Everyone makes this gown differently and I would too. 

If I wind up making this one, I would also make Ozma, since both would be fairly simple to make.

Idea #2 Ozma- Return to Oz 

Ozma! Oh, how I've been dying to make this ever since I've started sewing. She's my childhood favorite character (beside Sailor Moon.) 

I already have some beads for this project and am going back to the same store later next month so I might just end up buying more for Ozma.

Ozma wouldn't be known at anime cons (Sakura and Kumori.) instead I'd wear her to comic cons in the areas. 

The dress itself wouldn't be hard to create, it would be more trouble finding the correct colors. Seeing as this dress was originally made in 1895. So the tinsel may have to be replaced with feathers and flowers. 

Would be easy to wear and carry a baby around in.

Idea #3 Anastasia by Hannah Alexander 

Anastasia is (again) another childhood favorite character. Instead I've been so obsessed with her I've become obsessed with the real Anastasia. I'm a bit of a Romanov history nerd really. 

This version really spoke to me as it has a lot more historically correct features on it than the gown from the 1997 movie. 

This dress reminds me of Anastasia's older sisters' dresses. I've always wanted to create a historically correct gown so I think this is a good starting point. 

There are some downsides, such as the colors of the gown and the ombre but the pros over shine the bad. There would be a lot of new challenges.

Idea #4 Mary- Trinity Blood

Mary is Esther's older half sister. She's the evil character I've been dying to cosplay. But this one would not be easy to move in so it would be only for a contest and photoshoot, sadly.

Although I love the details I'm not sure how my body will change after I have my baby so this one might be out of the question for now.

Idea #5 Yuko- XXXHolic

I've been eyeing this outfit for a long while. It would have so much creative freedom its very tempting but it also has some challenges that might be too time consuming while taking care of a newborn. 

Plus it is hard to have heavy and large items on my head due a injury. So I may (again) have to rethink this one at this point and time.

Idea #6 Astharoshe Asran- Trinity Blood

When I first started thinking about which characters I would want to cosplay, the idea of remaking Seth came to mind. However its nearly impossible for me to wear her hat now. I had to chose between Mirka and Astharoshe. Ashe has been a character I've wanted to cosplay for a while but now I feel I can actually create this dress. 

Although Trinity Blood isn't cosplayed much anymore, this character would be known. Plus it would be super easy to walk around in. 

Did I mention all the beading? ;)

As of right now I'm leaning towards (in no order)

#1

#2

#3

#6

What do you guys think? What would you like to see being made? For this project I'll be doing videos and tutorials.  If I don't get much of a response I most likely will not be doing a giveaway for this.


Note: The giveaway will only be for people who have liked and commented on their choice (plus have given a reason why) on our facebook page ONLY. It will be a contest aimed only towards our page, not on our blog. 

Sakura-con 2016 and what's next.

It's hard to believe that Sakura-con has come and gone when it feels like just yesterday I was sewing for it. Sakura-con 2016 went smoothly, even through we arrived a bit late and weren't able to go on day zero (which really would had helped.) We made the most of our rushed weekend and all three of us enjoyed it. The best part was when our friend mentioned he's interested in going to Kumori-con with us as well as cosplay. It made me happy to know I've inspired someone else to cosplay. I can't wait to see how he does and if he enjoys it like we do.




DAY ONE (FRIDAY)

Day one was a crazy, crazy day that left us all out of breath and very tired. Our friend was running on no sleep, having gotten off work at midnight the night before. By two in the afternoon he had been up for over 24 hours. Although we didn't let our tiredness affect us much. When we arrived in Seattle we checked in our bags at our hotel and rushed out to get our badges. The lines were very long as I think non-prereg people were getting into the wrong lines, causing a bit of a build up. I barely made it on time to the pre-meet. There I got my first glimpse of some of the awesome cosplayers who were judges this year. We quickly set a time and walked out of there, very exhausted from the sudden rush of energy. After this we decided we had to hit the vender's hall.

My theme for this year was obviously Sakura, Cardcaptor as I could not stop buying her cute figures. We shared some good laughs and then hurried to our hotel in the hopes our room opened up early. It did. We got our bags and hurried up to the 9th floor to set up and get ready for judging.

One thing I'm not sure if I've mentioned was I've lost a lot of weight (12-14 pounds) due to my pregnancy and smaller appetite so I had a few problems with Lacie's bodice and the skirt but it was wearable and with the help of some safety pins, all was good. We set off to judging where I realized I really didn't want to be judged. For the first time since I started cosplaying I really didn't want to go on stage, I just wanted to relax. Being pregnant really changed a few things, such as my tolerance to wear wigs or be in cosplay for long periods of time. I just wanted to change and shop.

But we went on with judging and it was a lot of fun to speak to these amazing guests, as I've watched some of them for years now. After judging we rushed back to our hotel room for some fuel and returned to the con. I will admit that the con had a different vibe to it this year. We weren't impressed with most of the guests and there didn't seem to be a lot of cosplayers.

After getting all dressed up in lolita we hit the vender's hall again and after my regretful choice of wearing heels we went back to the hotel and changed, then went out to dinner at Kels.

I am so proud of my Mori themed coord. I've never been good at making outfits match nicely but this was a winner for me. Although I loved my new wig wearing it to the Vender's hall was a bad choice as I became too hot. As was the sweater. Haha...


(Can you spot the slight hint of a baby bump?)







DAY TWO (SATURDAY) 

Day Two was beautiful. I was so glad it didn't rain even through it started to cloud up a bit when we left the hotel to head out to the contest. This was a picture I took from our hotel window on the 9th floor.

Unlike wearing my Mori outfit, Lacie was very comfortable for me. The only probelm was the safety pins on the bodice but after a few attempts I'd re-figure out how to get it to keep the bodice pinned.

We ventured out and I felt great, especailly when Lacie's skirt blew around in the wind. I felt very princess-y.

When we arrived in the back where the contest contestants were waiting I felt very calm and enjoyed watching the others as they got ready.

During the skits I heard a there was a proposal, how romantic was that? I didn't get to see it but I did see pictures and couldn't help but to tear up. We went up on stage near the very end of the journeyman portion. This year they separated each group (Novice, Journeyman, masters) into two sections per group. Example: Individual novice and group novice. Which I really liked. That means there were more awards too.

We didn't win but I really didn't expect to as I had only a month and half to make these cosplays and had lost so much weight due to my pregnancy that the bodice and skirt didn't fit right. But we had fun walking on stage and were so happy to hear everyone cheering for us.

That's the best part of the contest. I will admit I was almost tearing up because this was the last contest by ourselves and it felt weird and emotional without our friend this year. But I was glad I went through with it and got our little moment to shine on stage. That in its self was enough to make me happy.




The best part about day two was our photo-shoot with Black Bettie Cosplay. We have had pictures done with her before and had a blast. So we were pretty excited to see her and her awesome assistant again. They found us a awesome spot and begin the best photo-shoot we had ever had. We not only got to do all the poses I had been dreaming of doing for years with Lacie and Levi but we also had Sakura blossoms fall around us (Thanks to Jamila's friend.) The pictures I saw were the best we've had taken since we started cosplaying. I really cannot wait to post them.


Day two ended with more shopping (it was too fun not to.) and dinner at our favorite German restaurant in a nearby mall. When we retired for the evening (playing Cards Against.) I realized that Sakura-con was over. It went by too fast. Although we weren't as tired as day one, my body had enough. It didn't help that my baby bump had started to form, causing me a lot of discomfort. But over all the weekend was a lot of fun.


Although there were negatives.


NEGATIVES 

• Not many cosplayers (Where did everyone go?)
• People were rude and pushy. 
• Vender's hall had many similar items (Especially plushies.) 
• Guests were boring. (Let's stick to voice actors and artists/fashion designers, guys!)
• Day two was crazy crowded
• Some contest constants should had been bumped up a category.

However, it was nice not to have protesters harassing cosplayers on the street this year. Although our friend was ready to harass them back, lol. Overall the con had its ups and downs but we made memories and had fun during the pros. That's all that matters. Every con will be different for everyone attending. It is what you make of it.

Now you must be wondering what is there to come for us since our baby is due in September. Well, not much until Kumori-con. Yes, we will keep going to conventions. It's our thing as is cosplaying and our baby will join in on the fun too. Equus Cosplay will still do contest but not for a few years as I want to make sure our baby is old enough not to scream on stage. Our next big cosplay for a contest will most likely be Trinity Blood related. But we won't decide for a while as we're still tossing around ideas, either way it'll be big and will take at least two years to build. I want to bead damnit!

We will most likely be going to Kumori-con for a day but are unsure of anything else. However we will 100% will be going to Skaura-con 2017 again. And I'm happy to say no contest for us, we'll be focusing on enjoying the con with a six month old instead. 

Although I am not working on cosplay for the next few months I will be doing other projects such as making things for the baby and quilts. But I won't be posting those on the page as they have nothing to do with cosplay and I want to keep the page clear. This brings me to what else I'll be doing for now on until K-con. 

I will be focusing on writing my novel and getting it ready for publication. This obviously is a lot of work and I want the novel done before our baby is born, which is fairly easy. I've finished novels in a month before and can do so again. If you didn't know I write, I do and you can check out my tumbler for more info on my writing and stuff here Confessions Of A Writing Addict

Cosplay is simply a hobby. A fun one granted but will never be a career for me. Writing is a career that I've been focusing on since the age of 15. I keep pushing it aside to make cosplays so it'll be nice to take a break from cosplaying and focus on what's important. So if your interested in keeping track of my crazy rambles, check out that link above. If not, don't worry about it. 

Thank you guys for the support this year, it meant a lot to see our page lit up with activity, especailly when I felt like giving up. There will be a ton of crazy projects in our future so keep watch of the page. The next projects will be...

HoneyColor for the win! (Pre-review)

Why this contact disaster is so bad


Guys! If you didn't see my facebook post, our back up contacts have arrived! Not only before the others but a day early! I am overjoyed. This really made my day and I can't stop smiling. If you haven't read my other post about what happened with our first order (from a different website.) I'll post the link above.

This means we can see! Our eyes will look amazing in photographs!

I'm just really happy. Tomorrow is the last day I'm dealing with the other company before I lose my brain bolts (I'm putting this in a nice way.) They sent me a message the other day saying once again that they have contacted the other shipper and they said they had made contact with USPS. Tomorrow is the day before we leave for Sakura-con and I like to soak the contacts at least a day to get them clean and make them a bit more comfortable. However I was fine with waiting until tomorrow. But it seems the other company has no idea what is going on. I replied wanting to know what "contact" meant and if the package had left Nebraska and was in Oregon yet or not. Never got a reply back.

I'm trying to be nice but tomorrow I will announce the company name and will write a review on what fully happened after con. We're obviously going to push returning the package and have them give us a full refund plus pay for the shipping to ship it back to them.

I still do not know if this was the company's fault or if it was aramex's fault. Either way I paid for 7-14 day shipping and it's 17 days later and still no package. I'm pretty sure it's still in another state. But thank goodness for HoneyColor. I'll do a review for them as well but it won't be until after we get our pictures back from Sakura-con. It could be a few weeks to a month.

Thanks for reading!

Why this contact disaster is so bad

Note: I will NOT be naming the well known company until I find out if my package comes today and if it does not, if they will refund our $17 dollar shipping costs. 



Contacts ordered: 2/27/16

Contacts shipped: 3/01/16

Total (Without ship): $42.80

Shipping: $17.90

Total: $60.70



Now that all that info is written, I can begin to explain why our contacts coming so late is such a huge problem.  First, Sakura-con is only 8 days away. That's enough for worry right? I have a bigger reason. I cannot see without glasses. Although there is nothing wrong with wearing glasses while cosplaying, I do not enjoy wearing my large framed glasses with long wigs. This is also my one time to be without glasses, something I look forward to. That's why we are willing to spend so much money to make sure our contacts arrive on time.

We order from this site every year since we started cosplaying (minus one year I believe.) and have always chosen a US shipping company. We've had no problems at all. And normally got our package days before it was supposed to arrive. That's why we kept coming back. However this time we chose a company we have never heard of before due to the shipping time (7-14 days.) which was perfect. There would no reason for the package not to arrive before con.

When the company, Aramex begin to update the tracking info I didn't notice anything wrong. Like normal the package was sent out of Asia (Can't say the location as it may give away the company.) and arrived in New York on the 3rd of March. Again, nothing stood out, as this company always sends its packages to NY.

Then I noticed something a bit strange....Instead of being shipped from NY to Oregon, it went down to New Jersey. No big deal, it's close to NY. Maybe they were doing something different. Then it happened....

Illinois. In case you don't know that's pretty far away from Oregon. That was the first red flag. I begin to worry when I saw the notice "Tendered for Delivery." pop up. DELIVERY? My package isn't in Oregon. So I looked up what that phrase meant and it said that it could mean that the company simply handed it over to USPS. So I decided to wait and see if the tracking number would work on USPS site. No, it did not.

On the 10th my worst nightmare happened. Our Package was in Nebraska. Not only was it in the wrong state, but delivery had been attempted and they gave us this message which my heart sink.

Obviously the address was wrong, as its located in another state. So the panic begin. I emailed the shipping company (Never got a reply, nice right?) and the company who sold us the contacts. They replied quickly and conformed it was our package. I was hoping we were simply given the wrong tracking number, but no, this was our's.

What pisses me off is that the shipping company never replied to my plea for help. That it took the contact seller to reply. They said our package would arrive (today) by the latest on March 16th. So far no knocks on my door. I'm going to check the mail and see if anything is in our box. But I highly doubt it.

Whether it was the shipping company fault for changing the address or the contact seller's fault, this could turn out very bad for us as we don't have time to order more contacts and we have to go on stage for the contest. I'm nervous and upset. But I don't want to give the company a bad review until I find out if the package arrives today or not. I'll update again on our facebook page. If it ends badly, there will be another blog, but this time a bad review for the contact seller.

Sorry if I sound horrible, I'm trying to be positive but as you can see, it's hard.

Big news and our Sakura-con to-do list

Sakura-con was our very first convention. Fresh out of high school Nicolas and I drove up with no cosplays and no expectations. Our cosplays had been ordered but were late. And it didn't stop us from having a blast! I still remember it fondly to this day.

But why am I bringing this up when this blog is labeled "game plan"? Because this is our last convention before Nicolas and I have a baby. I am currently 14 weeks pregnant and we are thrilled about our future mini cosplayer but this con is a lot more than just that, our high school buddy is going to be heading off to boot camp sometime this year and this is his last con for what could be a very long time.

I wanted to make the most out of this convention and obviously that meant cosplaying. I'll be roughly 16 weeks pregnant and should be showing by then which made me nervous about cosplaying. How do I plan a cosplay around a baby bump I don't have yet? The solution is rather simple, a corset backing on the bodice and flats. 

If you follow our page you know we decided to finally cosplay Lacie and Levi from Pandora Hearts. These cosplays are in a way are dedicated to our friend who passed away last July. I've always wanted to cosplay Lacie and Alice together since we had cosplayed Alice and Will and had a blast. Instead I wanted to make sure this cosplay was the best I could possibly make as if I were making it for her. 

Anyway, sorry for sad sappy stuff she's on my mind a lot when I talk cosplay. 

Our Sakura-con game plan isn't very complex like when we had Seth and Abel. Thanks goodness Lacie and Levi have simple outfits. Down below is a list of what still needs to be done. 

Lacie

Bodice 

• corset backing
• Ruffle collar (around shoulders)
• Fabric flower

Skirt

• Connect front ruffles
• Make front black ruffles

Choker  (might make this out of ribbon.)

• Base
• Bow 
• Lace trim
• Attachment clip

Wig

• Cut bangs

Levi

Shawl

• Cut a few inches off each side and hem
• Sew on Trim fringe

Coat  (May switch this with the waistcoat)

• Draft pattern
• Buy fabric
• Sew panels together
• Sew on trim details

Waistcoat

• Find and buy pattern
• Buy fabric
• Buy white trim
• Buy gold buttons
• Sew together

Wig

• Weft turned into braid to go around the ponytail
• Braids along the side of the base
• Bangs styled

Honestly looking at the waistcoat I might just pass on it. There is no way I can get button holes down on time. Because I hate them. Hahaha.....Anyway I'm thinking the coat/cape thing might look cooler for pictures as Levi is often seen wearing that more often than his other outfits. And it owuld be a lot easier to make as I already have muslin to make a pattern. 

Overall I am not too worried about getting both down on time. I do however need to find my petticoat I use often with hoop skirts to hide the bones from showing under the gown's fabric and find the boots we used for Abel. Otherwise the only thing we need to buy are pants and a shirt for Levi and some small and minor make-up products. Our contacts should be here within a few days to a week so everything that needed a long wait time to order has been dealt with. 

I don't know if I mentioned this on the page but we will be arriving on day one, instead of day zero due to our friend's work schedule. The poor guy has to end his shift at midnight and be in the car on the way to Seattle by five in the morning. He's going to be beat. Luckily for us our hotel has safe bag storage so once we arrive and if our room isn't ready we will rush down to get our badges and wait or rush to (depending on when we arrive) to the contest pre-meet. 

Friday will be a busy day. We have judging and a photo-shoot with a lovely photographer we are so excited about working with again. After all that I may be in lolita the rest of the day. There will be lots of shopping and having fun. Hopefully trying new things too. 

Day two is the contest and day three we go home. The weekend will be a ton of fun. I'm glad I was able to get the bulk of our cosplays done especailly since I had been sick during most of it. If you are going to Sakura-con comment on page (on the post I linked this on.) and tell us who your going as to Sak. 

We're going to Sakura-con

I intrupt this steady stream of blogs to announce we ARE going to Sakura-con! After discuss it we've realized since something pretty major is happening around Kumori-con its better to go to Sakura-con go to Kumori-con for a day. We've decided since we only have two months and half to get cosplays done we are going to make Lacie and Levi. I'm thrilled! It's going to be a great convention. Even better our friend is able to come. It'll be his last con before he gets ships out.

Trinity Blood- Part one Abel (Pic heavy)

                                                                 Photo by Rose O'Neal

Looking through the blog I realized I have never written a blog about our crazy experience that was the making of two complex Trinity Blood cosplays. Now is better than never I suppose. This series will be split into three blogs, part one Abel, part two Seth and part three will be about our contest experience.


The beginning...


We decided in late 2013 we wanted to push ourselves with a big project. Trinity Blood is one of my all time favorite manga. Nicolas has watched the anime and has read most of the published manga. We both really enjoyed the characters and art-style. Trinity Blood is known in the cosplay community has being one of the harder, most detailed series you could cosplay from. It was a risk. I had only sewn four cosplays before this and they were all very simple. Even with that in mind, we took the risk.

I chose my favorite character, Empress Augusta (Seth Nightlord) And Nicolas decided on Abel Nightroad (Nightlord) The pictures below are the ones we went off of.

The goal was to have both cosplays done by Sakura-con 2014. This convention turned out to be very emotional and one of the best cons ever. But I'll go into that later.  We had seven months to finish these cosplays. That includes Abel's cassock, cape, armor and to style his wig (plus props). Seth has a underskirt, dress, ballet shoes, wig and hat. 



Supplies

Eleven yards of black broadcloth and two yards of firm interfacing made up Abel's cape and cassock. (Also pictured tulle for Seth's underskirt.)

I wound up having to get more black fabric as my first pattern for the cape didn't turn out as I had wanted. 

What no one knows is the second fabric was more brown than black. But no one can see it or has never told me. It's my silly little mistake and I still find it funny. 

Kona Broadcloth black 6 yards (I believe that includes my mix-matched fabric.)

Daphne poly/cotton 3 yards

Metallic gold trim  6 yards

Red broadcloth 4 yards

Casa Silver satin 5 yards (made into bias tape.)

This doesn't include all the prop supplies, beads, interfaceing, ect. I didn't keep track of those. 

The cape: A bias tape nightmare.

Since the only silver bias tape was very cheap looking and scratchy, we bought a machine to make our own.  November 18 we took our amazing silver satin and begin making bias tape. It worked out really well but I quickly learned, like most cosplayers, I hated sewing bias tape. There were a few flaws but it looked great in pictures.

Nicolas was in charge of making the bias tape. We used Simplicity's bias tape marker machine.  Which worked pretty well. It made the bias tape making process faster.

The last picture is what almost five yards of bias tape looks like. This was used on the cape and cassock.

Cassock 

When I started on sewing the cassock I lucky had a pattern that was very similar and didn't need much modifying. This was also the first time I did pin-tucks.

The worst part was fitting in the zipper into the pattern and sewing bias tape near the zipper. 

Note: I was working on a sewing machine that was older than me. I was around 21.

The cassock itself didn't take too long to create. It was all the details that took forever. I spent roughly...three months on Abel's outfit.

The awesome cuffs. I made the pattern myself. These turned out so good. The firm interfacing really helped hold the shape even during wear.

Accessories 

As you can tell, Abel is a man of many accessories.

 The best part of creating Abel was his accessories. This was the first time I had used muslin to make a pattern. This was the start of Abel's scarf. I hand drew the shape with a fabric pen.

The scarf turned out so well. The cross appliques, not so much but I know what to change next time.

The way I created the crosses was by using tape to create the shape. This worked out amazingly. I wish I had rotary cutter, it would had made the process a bit easier.

In total I made four cotton crosses. Two small for the gloves and the two for the scarf. Each cross was lined with gold pipping.

Next time I'll be sewing down the crosses as the glue soaked into the fabric a bit too much.

 Daphne was the perfect fabric to create the scarf out of. It was soft and flowed nicely in the Seattle breeze. 

  What are these you ask? These are the little "clips" that are all over Abel's cape and cassock.

I made these by casting my own mold and using hot glue to create the finished pieces. Overall we had about 150 of these bad boys. That's a lot hand painting....

The clip part (not pictured) were made out of wonderflex and worbla and were also all hand painted and primed.

My test pieces. The yellow part is a mold, created with something I bought at a local art store. The very first piece used to create the mold was made out of wonderflex (It is on the bottom left, slightly more blue than the others.)

Remember to always test your methods to make sure paint and primmer will stick to them!

Armor!

There are many different styles of Abel's armor. From the anime, to the novel and the manga. We decided on doing the manga version but took some inspiration from the novel as well. Nicolas made and pieced all the armor together himself. I painted all the armor.

The armor was made out of a variety of items. From Wonderflex to worba and hardware store installation foam.


To create the long strands that drape down from the back piece we used tubing you can find at any hardware store.

The armor process took the longest for Abel. We wound up working on it up until the week of Sakura-con. There was a lot of painting to do.

The bottom of the tubs are pointed, we used pen caps to create it!

Finished cuff plates. These were rather to make. We would heat the wonderflex then mold them around Nic's wrists. To make sure they fit over the cassock's cuffs, Nic would put his arm in the sleeve and we'd test the fit.

This was Nic's first armor piece. He did really well. This was also our first time using a thermoplastic. I was terrified of using the the mini heat gun (you can get these are Joanns.) that I didn't work with Worbla until the very end when I was working on Seth's hat.

Shoulder piece. Almost painted. We didn't take many pictures of the armor building process as Nic often did it while I was working on the costumes.

Although this isn't truly armor, Abel's rosary is a huge part of his character. You can find out more about that on the Wikia or read the manga.

This center piece was very tricky for me to make. I remade it three times, using different mediums. Finally decided on using model magic, which was covered in layers of Mod Podge. This means the center piece is still very soft but it lasted two cons. I'd love to remake it out of worba.

The rosary itself was made out of oven bake clay and model magic. And lots of hot glue and wire. Surprisingly the rosary wasn't as delicate as i thought it might be. Which was good.

The finished piece was painted in layers of gold acrylic and rub and buff.

By the way, rub and buff is REALLY hard to get off skin. What I did, especailly for small parts I used a Q-tip. It works so much better than a finger or paint brush. You will need a lot but you can get a pack at the dollar tree.

The finished piece is my pride and joy. I'm really excited to remake this some day and to improve it! The rosary really bought the cosplay together. And from making it I've found a love for making jewelry pieces.

Finished

                                      Photo by Jamila Clarke Photography     Sakura-con 2014

                             Photo by  FallMoonlitRose Photography   Kumori-con 2014
                               

               

                                  Photo by  FallMoonlitRose Photography   Kumori-con 2014

                                 Photo by  FallMoonlitRose Photography   Kumori-con 2014






Overall the creation of Abel was quite the process. We both learned a lot. Nicolas learned how to create armor out of plastics, while I learned how to sew on bias tape and to put in a larger zipper. Abel is one of those cosplays I may never be able to sell. I'm really proud of what we created. It was worth the hassle and stress, blood and tears. But it was just the first part on a very long road of creating two Trinity Blood cosplays. Part two will talk about Seth's process.


Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, I'd be more than willing to help you out the best I can. You can contact me by commenting below or posting on our Facebook page wall.

Equus Cosplay

Thanks for reading! Part two should be up soon!

-Jessica.

Cosplay-Step one: Pre-planning. (Photo heavy)

Hello everyone! I've been meaning to blog the process of how I go into and finish making a cosplay. So since it's a new year and we're planning some pretty big stuff, I think I'll be finally blogging each step that goes into my method of planning and making a cosplay. My first cosplay of the year will be Sieglinde Sullivan from Black Butler. She'll be the featured character for my planning blog posts. 

                                                     Sieglinde Sullivan: The Green Witch

Please remember this is how I plan out my husband and I's cosplays. If you ask a thousand people how they plan out a cosplay, I'm sure you'll get just as many different answers. Do what you feel works for you! Also these blog posts will be covering making your cosplay. There is nothing wrong with buying your cosplay. 

Step one: What are we working with?

Gather pictures of your character. What are the small details you might have missed while excitedly reading that new chapter? This, honestly is one of the most important steps if you are trying to make the cosplay as accurate to the original as you can.  

Note: It's also important to find different views. Example: Side, back (usually the hardest to find.), ect. 

With these pictures take some time to look them through. Whether that means you're rewatching your favorite scenes with this character or flipping through a manga to find pictures of their outfit. I'm a huge fan of little details (beads, ruffles, lace.) so those are the type of details I often look for. Did you know she has little beads/pearls on her hair nets? I think that will make those tricky hair nets fun for me to make just due to that little detail.  (check out the last pic, first row.)

Step Two: Figure out if you'll need props.

You don't need props in order to cosplay. But if you do decide to make some props look back through all those pictures you've collected for something the character might hold or use often enough that it would be something that would help people at a con recognize your character. 

Sieglinde has a wand that is pictured a few times in the manga. I'd say this is really her only prop, but it isn't something many people would recognize. But that is okay! Not every character has a big blade that is easily noticed.  In the second picture you'll notice she also has a small bottle that hangs off her belt. This could be a very fun prop to make. Just be careful how much it weighs as it might make the belt a big heavy.

 


Step Three: Accessories 

Accessories can be seriously fun to make or buy, which ever you chose, one thing is for sure; accessories are important. They add the finishing touch to a costume.

Sieglinde's choker appears to made out of delicate black lace. I'll most likely be piecing this together using venice lace.Or by using lace fabric. If I have enough time I might even make it by tatting.

This is by far the most important accessory Sieglinde has as it crowns her head and gives her a unique look. Her headdress is very similar to that of a lolita headdress (pictured below.) The beaded hair nets cover Sieglinde's long hair and forms it into horns. It does not seem to have any type of strap or ribbon tying the headdress on. Which means it is either clipped on or stays on by the hairnets going over the horns.

The headdress features...

• Ruffles
• Beads (pearls?)
• Two bows under each "horn"
• Small lace trim (in front of ruffles.)

Next accessory is Sieglinde's mesh gloves/sleeves.

These are attached by her middle finger. Similar details like her choker (little knotted loops.) Not sure how far they go up, but I'm guessing to her elbows. I'll have to search for more pictures.






Step Four: Shoes

Most characters wear shoes. Not all do but when at a convention, it is most likely a rule that your feet must be covered. I usually buy our shoes as I'm no shoe-maker. However, I'm not sure if I'll be able to buy already made shoes for Sieglinde.

 

Sieglinde had her feet broken and bound (It's a ancient Chinese tradition.) limiting her walking to a few steps. There are two ways I'm thinking of making her shoes.

1. Wedges or heeled flats.

Wedges are very similar to the shape of her shoes but a bit blocky and might be too tall. However, heeled flats might be the perfect shoe for sieglinde. I've seen a few cosplayers use heeled flats already and I love how they look.


2. Rocking horse shoes

This could be the most expensive route. I would have to carve the back of the rocking horse shoes into the correct shape but I'm not sure if this would work properly.



(Optional) : Underclothes 

Underclothes aren't always important. You don't even need to make them if you don't want to. You especially don't need to make them pretty as no one is really going to see them. They only are used to give shape to the outfit (mostly dresses/skirts)

For Sieglinde I've sketched out this simple petticoat and corset. Obviously there aren't any pictures of what her underclothes may look like so I'm basing it a bit off of Elizabeth's corset.

I haven't decided if I want to add a hoopskirt but I am most likely going to be making a very fully tulle petticoat instead in order to give the dress less strict shape.

The petticoat will be shorter. I drew it long. Oops.

Step Five: Parts of the outfit

Some outfits are in pieces. Others are one piece. Some include coats. By looking over a full body picture of the character you can figure out what makes up your character's outfit. You may not be able to make certain parts so this is when you can decide what you can skip and what you should make last.

Sieglinde has a complex outfit full of pieces.

• Dirndl style corset
• Green overskirt with large bow and train
• Layered skirt with lace
• Long sleeves with ruffles
• Green stockings
• Puff sleeves

The corset will not be boned as I'll be wearing a boned corset underneath. The ruffles on the bottom of the Dirndl style corset will have horsehair in the ruffles at the bottom. This stiffness should help keep the corset weighed down and in place. 

My plan is to make the second layer of the skirt a under-dress which the bodice is attached to. This should help keep the skirt less bulky. I had that problem with NoFlutter's Pluto.

The tails of the bow on the back of the dress will be long and drag behind me. The bow will most likely be sewn onto the skirt in order to keep it from being torn off if stepped on.

The first thing I'll be sewing is the underthings (petticoat and corset.) then I'll be sewing the skirts. This will be to gauge how the corset will fit over it. The corset also has more details which I'll want to take my time on. The last part will be the bow and while I start on all the larger pieces I'll be working on the shoes, wig and accessories. 

I hope this was (sort of ) helpful. Obviously every character will be different. This is just how I go about the early steps of planning out how I'm going to make a cosplay. Things may change during the process but that's to be expected with any project. After deciding how to make your cosplay and what is apart of the cosplay, the next step would be to start thinking about patterns, fabric and trim which is what the second part of this series will be about.

If you are interested in seeing a tutorial done for a certain part of this cosplay, comment below or on our FB page Equus Cosplay to tell us what you would like to see when I begin making Sieglinde Sullivan. I'd also love to hear what you think of this blog post and what you like to see int he next one!

-Jessica.