My madness

If I knew how to get my LJ entries off of this thing..I would. Maybe I can go through and delete them all. really do not need double posting or anything stupid. What goes in one place should not be duplicated in another. I know how annoying that can be.

Nothing all that new to report but seeing how I haven't posted since last Sunday I figured I was due. Need to try and update this thing a little more regularly since I do check it everyday. I just get too lazy to actually type anything up.

There really isn't anything to report. Been working a lot of really early and really late hours because of the holiday. Just finished six days in a row. I have tomorrow off and Im going to try and finish Christmas presents and maybe get things boxed up and ready to mail out. I'm surprisingly a head of schedule compared to last year. I'm also hoping the fabric I ordered 3 weeks ago will show up tomorrow. That as the first and last time I order anything from Joanns.com.

I've been thinking about my year and there are several costumes I really really hope to do. I have some big groups I'll be doing things with which is very exciting.

Definites!
-Yue from Cardcaptor Sakura for Otakon. This has been on the "to-do" list for years. I wanted to cosplay him before I even wanted to cosplay Syaoran. But I couldn't figure out a way to make the wings look right. He has very interesting wings and I just didn't think turkey feathers would have the look I wanted. Well..I figured out what I am going to do and I think they are going to be AMAZING. Expensive..but amazing. I'm not going to reveal too much yet.Not until I know whether I can actually afford it. This is for a big CCS/Clow Card group that is gathering for Otakon but I have a feeling I'll be wearing Yue a lot this year.

-Hera from Saint Seiya for Otakon. I figure that is as soon as I can afford to get it done. This has also been on the to-do list for several years...basically since I worked at Joanns and that was 6 years ago. I finally think I might be at the level to be able to tackle it. And thanks to Kakyou I now own an airbrush, which was the one item I thought I would need to do this costume justice. Another expensive cosplay but since Lyn has plans to do Saint Seiya stuff too..I figure its time to get my butt in gear so I can join her!

-WCS costume for Katsucon. Yes..still a secret. I already have the three layers cut out and the lining for the first layer is all sewn and on the dressform. This is going to be a true test of my skills and yet I'm really excited for all the different things I am doing. There will be gradient dying, embroidery, air brushing, resin, bead making..I really hope it all comes together to make something very elegant.

-Suboshi from Fushigi Yuugi for Katsucon. I love Fushigi Yuugi and Suboshi's ending outfit was one of my first costumes ever. I'm finally doing his default outfit and it looks really good on the dressform. I'm very excited. Plus I will have an Amiboshi and a huge group thanks to Starlighthoney's group. It's really going to be awesome to have a large FY cast. We have all the Suzaku seishi, Soi, Tomo, Me and Amiboshi, Suzaku and maybe Seiryu so far. We really need to find a Nakago though.

Possibles!
-Cain from Trinity Blood for Animazement (remake). Yep..I'm thinking about remaking him. Since Utai is doing Seth I figured it might be time to pull it out of the closet and update it. It was a test of my skills all those years ago. Now that I know more about sewing and construction I though it was a good time to redo him. I've always wanted to anyway.

-Wild Tiger's Hero Suit from Tiger and Bunny. I SOOOOOOO want to do this. Like BAD. Every time I see someone who has done one or see pictures of the figures I'm just like..I need to do this. It would be so awesome. I am such a hardcore Tiger fangirl and to have his suit would be like..Awesome. I just don't know how to fit it in with all these other big projects. It's going to be a crazy year.

Okay so enough of that XD Wish me luck on all these crazy projects.


Anyway..I'm going back to watching my football game now. Hope everyone is having a good holiday season!

I'm alive, I swear! I hadn't realized it had been so long since I updated. Not that there is a terribly large amount to report.

Nekocon happened. We won Best in Show for the third year in a row. So we are officially retiring from Nekocon masquerade competition. It's been fun but we said if we won 3x then we would stop. It was also the first time that we have gone under our group name. From this point on we shall be known as "Last Minute Cosplay"!! It's kind of been a joke for awhile but with the WCS stuff going on we decided to make it official. Its time to focus on Katsucon and the crazyness that will be that convention x_x Yes..we are doing WCS. No..we are not all super OMG Serious business about it. I just want to do it, say I did it once, and see what it is like. I know what kind of competition is going to be there and I'm a realist XD

Also, kousuke_no_baka came and visited for a week and a half ^^ It was fun and there was much Nekocon sweatshopping LOL. There was a Cosplay Flash Mob thing on that Saturday she was here so we went to the mall dressed in Vocaloid wigs. We didn't want to do anything too crazy XD But we went all over and got some very interesting looks but since it was the Saturday before Halloween people just figured we were going to a costume party.




We went to a Haunted Forest and a haunted house while she was here. On Halloween I went to work dressed as Rin (Ao no Exorcist) and then went home, got Ravage..and went back to work to show everyone my transformer costume XD It was kind of amazing. And then I went to downtown Elkin and walked the streets as Ravage. It always gets such amazing reactions..doesn't even have to be a convention.



And we made this video with sabermonk because Tiger and Bunny and Origami are cool and would make an epic boyband with dance moves like these. Everyone should watch because I watch it everyday and it makes me smile every time XD!! I think we should do something like this at every convention we go to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bFHoSXlH-0

Dealer's room was a nice change. Shorter hours, decent traffic and more interesting scenery then we would have in the artist alley. Would definitely do it again.

As far as work..there has been a string of armed robberies in my area, including the store that is about three down from where I work and the Dollar General across the street. It's scary and we've been doing all this stuff to try and protect ourselves. We will now have a police officer in the building on Friday and Saturday nights and they are supposed to patrol the shopping center as a whole every night. There was like..4 robberies all last week. It's really crazy.

Also, I'd like to say that lionboogy is AWESOME. When I got home from Nekocon I had the coolest package ever waiting for me. Transformers!! Big Optimus Prime that only took me an hour to transform into a truck..I was so proud of myself XD There was also 2 more Transformers and a Bumblebee style Camero. I'm going to do a whole little Transformer shrine and take ridiculous amounts of pictures XD I'll probably put it in my sewing room.

Which brings me to the sewing room. We've moved all my sewing stuff upstairs into what used to be the spare bedroom. It's kind of nice to have my own little space. I still have to organize it a little and move more of my stuff upstairs but overall its been nice.

I also have been working on Suboshi for the Fushigi Yuugi group at Katsucon. I'm actually amazed with how well it is turning out. I expected it to give me a lot of issues for some reason..and I spent a long time plotting it out because the anime outfit is slightly different then the artbook/manga outfit. I ended up going with the artbook/manga version because it seemed easier and to make more sense. Oh man though...so much ugly orange and blue LOL.

And thats really about it. I'd do a convention report but at this point I'm not sure I'd remember everything that happened.

This is going to be a very brief report because..well I didn't really do a whole lot nor do I remember a lot of it. But here we go.

( because they always ended up longer then I intend )

Overall..probably my favorite Dragoncon ever. Mostly thanks to the events of Saturday night and Sunday. I hung out with people more at this con then I did at the other two and I think it was because I knew more people this time or managed to run into them more often. It was nice to have people to talk to versus wandering aimlessly.

It really was a lot of fun though. I had debated about going back next year, but after the fun I had this year I think I will go ahead and do it. I'll buy my ticket as soon as I can afford to.

Next up..Anime Weekend Atlanta.

Oh man..I haven't updated since Otakon but I haven't really had much to say. I could rant about work because they did something REALLY stupid this weekend but I might save that for later.

My photoshoots are starting to come in. I did several over the weekend of Otakon and the one I was probably most excited for was the Togainu no Chi group I had. Lionboogy posted the pictures and I am so happy ^___^

http://lionboogy.livejournal.com/715377.html#cutid1

I was Shiki obviously, 4ng31 was Kau, Umi-kun was Akira and her two friends were Arbitro and Rin. I wish we could have gotten more pictures together then just the shoot but hopefully we can all get together again soon for another round of TnC manly times.

We all look so cool!

Also, I'm finding pictures of Ravage everywhere and some are really awesome shots. I can't wait to wear it again. It suffered some damage on the ride home and also while it was being worn so I have a lot of repair to do and I might upgrade it. I'm considering covering the whole thing with gesso and re-painting it. Oh man..another 14 cans of spray paint. but we'll see.



I have also added 2 costumes to my nekocon list.

Kotetsu from Tiger and Bunny
Rin from Ao No Exorcist

both will be fairly easy to assemble and I already have Kotetsu's shirt I believe. It is going to be sooo much fun. I already have a Shiemi for Rin and a friend is doing Blue Rose to go with Kotetsu. Plus I have convinced kousuke_no_baka to be my Bunny >D Oh yes..nekocon is going to be fun.

It has been a long time since I have marathoned anime like I have been doing this week. Last week it was Ao No Exorcist and Tiger and Bunny. Week before that was Durarara!! Now I'm trying to catch up on Naruto (which I was 200 episodes behind in). And I know the icon isn't terribly fitting other then the fact it is Naruto and it probably is one of my favorite cosplay pictures of us in those costumes. Anyway..onward.

And..( SPOILER WARNING )

I think the reason I stopped watching Naruto is because there just wasn't enough Sasuke and Itachi airtime. Now that they are back as a main part of the plot..I find it a lot more interesting again LOL.

As far as the other shows..

Durarara!! Really enjoyed it. Love the characters. Plot was really interesting and it was fun. Planning on a Shinra cosplay in the very near future. Already have the lab coat.

Ao no Exorcist. Adore Rin. Very interesting story and although some of the characters annoy me, I am completely drawn in.

Tiger and Bunny. LOVE Wild Tiger. LOVE LOVE LOVE. He cracks me up.

Its so rare for me to talk about actual anime XD But there you go. Thats enough for now..just wanted to get that little Naruto rant or whatever you want to call it off my chest LOL

29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)

I know that most would probably say the Fai staff and you'd probably be right. That was my first actual prop that I ever made. A lot of the time when I need swords and things my father makes it and then I just paint it. But I actually have made this prop and evolved this prop into what it is. And it keeps evolving. I just added lights to it for Otakon. I probably won't leave them in there but its a good test.

But I think another thing that ranks right up there would have to be my Sakura staff.


It was fun to make, its fun and light to carry and it is instantly recognizable. Its kind of cute too XD So those would be my two favorite cosplay items.

( questions )

27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favorite?

Um..Give me a minute. Gonna have to count. *goes a hunting*

I couldn't really get them all counted but I have 60+ wigs.

I can't really pick a top favorite because honestly..all wigs kind of drive me crazy XD But a few of my favorites would have to be the Kougaiji wig because it is a fun color and just fun to wear, the Elizabeth and Alexiel wigs because people seem to think they look very natural and pretty on me XD, My Sakura wig and my Mukuro wig. I can wear any of those pretty much an entire weekend and not get sick of them. LOL

( questions )

Otakon to-do list:
-add beading to Elizabeth's dress and sew piece back on
-Fix Shiki necklace
-print reference images/release forms/press info
-Ferio pants - remake or fix up
-find Ferio long sleeve shirt

At the beginning of the month I figured I would be scrambling at the end to finish. Hard to believe I'm going to finish in time and won't have to worry about too much.

25. The cosplay you put the most effort into

I would definitely have to say the Fai coat falls into this category. So many hours went into it and it was just back breaking at times to paint and sew. Cain would probably be the number one though since I was teaching myself so many different techniques. I used resin for the first time so I spent time creating crosses and clasps out of model magic and sculpy, then spent the time to create the molds and then pouring the resin. There are a lot of little clasp things on the coat that I had to do one at a time and then had to do a front and back to so that was very time consuming. Then there was learning to use wonderflex and figuring out what shapes to make the fingers and the armor in order to get it to look the way I wanted it to. And there were was the weeks I spent in the barn creating the pully system for the wing and then gluing feathers. Cain was definitely a labor of love and I still consider remaking it and starting over since it was a costume I did before I was really ready to tackle a project like that. And then I think about how much effort that would take and it makes me want to fall over LOL.

And then there is my current project which shall not be named that i have spent countless hours cutting, planning, gluing, reworking, painting, and just generally scratching my head over going..."how in the hell am I going to make that work?"

( questions )