Anime Mid-Atlantic 2014

This year for Anime Mid-Atlantic I think I will have managed to pull off a new cosplay.  Typically I don't because as teacher I don't get much construction done during the school year, but this winter I had the brilliant idea to cosplay as Serena, the female Pokemon trainer from Pokemon X and Y. 

Her outfit is super cute and super easy.  I've already found 90% of what I need to cosplay her; all I have left is to find a bracelet and make the skirt which I'll start tomorrow.  I'll take pics of all the pieces for your either after everything arrives or I'll let you know where everything came from after the con.

Happy cosplaying!!

Ring of Fire Con is Coming to Town

This year will be the first year for Ring of Fire Con or RoFCon in Virginia Beach, Va.  It's next weekend, February 28-March 2.  From what I've heard, it's run by the same group of people that run Nekocon in Hampton, VA and so if that's true then it should be a good time.  They are trying something sort of new and attempting to have literally 24 hours of programming, which should be interesting, because usually in the wee hours of the night, your only choices are either go to the dance or watch shows/movies.  I'm interested to see if they truly have really interesting and valuable programming 24 hours around.


My schedule is too tight this time of year to make new cosplays, so I'm just going to re-wear Hajime Ichinose from Gatchaman Crowds and Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill Vol. 1.  I'm super excited about Gogo because I absolutely love that character and got a lot of compliments on my weapon.  Since this is supposed to be not just an anime convention, but an all around "nerd" stuff convention, she'll be super appropriate.  I even bought a better jacket for her, than the last one.  I just need to replace the buttons and move the patch from the old jacket to the new one.

  

After this I won't have another convention until AMA in mid June, and if I motivate myself I think I can have my Kyouko Kirigiri from Dangan Ronpa cosplay finished.  I just have to make the tie and the jacket.  I think it's totally doable.

Post Nekocon 2013 Wrap-Up

For anyone that actually reads this blog, sorry this is SOOOO late.  Life kinda happened and I finally decided to just sit down and finish this, ha ha.

I only wore one new cosplay for this con.  I KNOW RIGHT!!  That's the first time in the year and a half that I've been cosplaying.  I was waiting for the wig I wanted Kyouko Kirigiri from Danganronpa to come back in stock, but it just came back in stock last week.  *sigh* so I'll be making her for the next convention.

So, for Neko 2013 I wore Stocking Anarchy again and debuted Hajime Ichinose from Gatchaman Crowds.  This was one of the easiest to make.  The skirt is a basic circle skirt, but I made the waistband 4 inches tall to match her high waistband. The straps are the same fabric as the skirt, about 1.5" wide and of course, crossed in the back. I found the blouse on Ebay.  It already came with the black collar, but originally had black buttons, so I switched them out for white ones. I bought the boots from Payless, the wig is the same wig I wear for Gogo Yubari and I made the yellow necktie flat, then tied it and it is attached to the shirt with snaps.  (I couldn't figure out how to sew one that I could tie around my neck and realized that it didn't actually need to be tied on)

My BF (well, fiance now), made my NOTE for me.  It started as a moleskin journal, that he covered with a piece of white cardstock.  He drew on the symbol and other decorations, then colored the silver portions with a Sharpie and covered the paper portions with clear contact paper.  The journal is still totally functional :-)


Not that I took a good picture of it, but I just made the bird barrette out of some leftover clay, painted a couple of coats of acrylic white paint on and glued it to a barrette.  Super easy!!

Although not many people recognized me, the ones that did were as excited about the show as I was, and were super happy that I had a NOTE.  I will definitely wear this cosplay again.

HAPPY COSPLAYING!!

Post Otakon 2013 Update

This Otakon we had a blast again.  This year we actually got in line early enough to get into panels, lol.  Lesson learned.  I got tons of loot again.  From top to bottom, left to right:  a grab bag, Aperture messenger bag, 2 Homura Akemi necklaces, Stocking Anarchy bag, some buttons, Mei Misaki (from Another) t-shirt, the rolled poster is of Tyrion Lannister with an awesome quote, an EDUCATE Dr. Who spoof print, a HunGir Games Invader Zim spoof print, Bat Kitty vinyl decal, Totoro vinyl decal, Black Rock Shooter t-shirt, Invader Zim vinyl decal, Finn and Jake vinyl decal, "Toyoda" vinyl decal, Legend of Korra postcard and Miyazaki characters print. 

  

On Friday I wore Black Rock Shooter.  Due to some unforeseen issues, the rock cannon was not finished before we left, so I just took the sword from my BF's Crazy 88 cosplay.  It worked perfectly as BRS's sword is also black and silver.  I got a lot of compliments and have to say that I was shocked that most of the other cosplayers playing BRS herself were actually males.  I didn't realize that so many guys like this show.

On Saturday, I wore my Stocking Anarchy cosplay.  Of course there were a ton of Stockings walking around.  My sword does light up, but it was hard to see in the daylight of course.  If I wear this cosplay again, I'll remake the sword and add two more LED strips to the blade, which help make it brighter.  I'm still proud of it though since I made the whole dress and sword myself and it was my first time working with any type of electronics.  The sword even had an on/off switch, lol.

 On Sunday, I wore my Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate cosplay.  Sorry, no pics for that one.  If you want to see it, it's on my Post AMA update post.


The next convention is Nekocon from Nov 1-3 in Hampton, VA.  I'm seriously thinking about finishing my Major Motoko Kusanagi cosplay, since all I need to do is make the jacket and bodysuit.  However, working with faux leather is making me nervous and I'm about to go back to work soon.  I may put this on hold for next Otakon, and do something else for Nekocon.  We'll see.

Happy Cosplaying!!

Stocking Anarchy 95% done

I'm wearing Stocking Anarchy for Otakon next week, I think on Saturday.  I have the wig from EpicCosplay and two different style socks from Sock Dreams, I'll just decide if I want to wear the thin stripes or wide stripes that morning.  I even bought the bone cat from FM Anime and it's super cute isn't it??

I really love the dress!  It's actually really comfortable to wear and super breathable, because it's just quilting cotton so the fabric is really thin.  I hoping this prevents me from dying in the sweltering August heat, although that may backfire when I wear this cosplay again in November at Nekocon when it's coooooooold (brrr).  The bow next to the dress is the hair bow.  At the time of the pick I hadn't made the waist bow yet, but it looks just like that, but much larger.  I used the Anime Style Bow tutorial by EvangeSews, for both bows.  The only difference is that the waist bow has "ties."  Yes, the dress is missing the blue "neck tie" that she usually wears.  I made that after I took this picture.

 The shoes that I'm wearing for her, are just some Mary Jane style shoes that I have.  They have a cute button on the side and I think they're totally appropriate for Stocking.




I'll be making her sword this week and basing it off of a this Glowing Sword tutorial that I found on Deviantart.  I've had to make a few changes and as usual actually combine some ideas I've gotten from various tutorials.  The person that posted this one, didn't give enough details for me, so I'll be taking pics along the way and posting a tutorial of my own, when I'm finished with my sword (or when I get back from the con).


In a couple of days or so, I'll post about my finished Black Rock Shooter coat.  That was really fun to make too and I'm really proud of it!

Happy Cosplaying!!

 

Super late update: Post-AMA 2013 and Otakon 2013 Planning

For starters Anime Mid-Atlantic 2013.  This year this con was not as fun as it was last year.  Last year just had better options for panels, so this year we found ourselves sometimes either choosing panels/workshops at random or having more free time than usual.  I did get some cool stuff from the vendor's room though, including a great Black Rock Shooter binder and a super cute Totoro Hello Kitty tee.  (See the logo below)

This year I cosplayed for AMA, which I didn't do last year b/c at this point in the year I had never cosplayed before, haha.

For Friday I was Sawa Nakamura from the new anime Flowers of Evil.  This was a super easy cosplay as she's basically a school girl.


I got the skirt from Land's End.com, the shirt is a men's shirt from Walmart.  I bought a men's shirt b/c the collar stays standing and they're longer and therefore stay tucked in no matter what I do :-)  The wig is a Copper Red 14" Chronos from Epic Cosplay.com.  The shoes are from Payless.com and the glasses are low level reading glasses also from Walmart.  The socks and neck tie I already had from my Gogo Yubari cosplay.



Saturday, I was Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate.  From top to bottom:  the wig is a 28" Nyx Copper Red from Epic Cosplay.  The shirt is the same style shirt from Walmart that I bought for Nakamura.  I just sewed on the blue ribbon trim and changed the top button to a gold one. The tie and tights were also from Walmart.  The shorts are from American Eagle, and the belt and boots are from Ebay.

I made the jacket using a hoodie tutorial I found.  It was super easy to follow and I loved the result.  I'm probably going to use it to make hoodies just to wear, lol.  Unfortunately in my pic you can't see the armbands. The boots I bought for the cosplay had straps on them, so I just took those off and used them on my arms!

For Otakon coming up August 9-11, I'm going to be Black Rock Shooter the OVA version, Stocking Anarchy from Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt and I'll wear Kurisu again on Sunday.  I'll be posting a blog about those cosplays soon.

 HAPPY COSPLAYING!!

Next up: Stocking Anarchy of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

My next cosplay will be Stocking Anarchy.  I've been trying to decide since the day after Nekocon, but couldn't settle on anything.  I've been watching Panty and Stocking for a couple of weeks, and I am so loving Stocking.  She is a bada** with a sword, black and blue are my fave colors, and my sweet tooth is just as bad as hers.  (Yeah, I know that will be a major problem when I hit middle age, lol).

What solidified the decision for me was that yesterday, the Stocking wig on Epic Cosplay, was out of stock and when I emailed them about it, not only did I get a response today, but they're already back in stock!  So, I figured it was meant to be!

I will admit that I'm kind of hoping for a friend to cosplay Panty, because I know my BF will cosplay Garterbelt, but I don't really have any female friends who are into cosplay.  Oh, well.

Happy cosplaying!

Panty                                Stocking                               Garterbelt                                 Chuck