Otakon Review (2015)

This year for Otakon my DH finally agreed to just let fate lead us instead of trying to plan every minute and get to every panel.  I have to say, this was the best year yet.

Friday, I wore my Princess of the Crystal cosplay.  That one was so much fun and I got a ton of compliments because not many people have seen cosplayers do this character. Plus, it's just fun to wear a big flowing skirt.

This was my first time wearing circle lenses and I have to say that I'm hooked.  They were just as comfortable as my regular contacts and definitely put the final touch on the cosplay. These are the Vassen Cloud Nine Pink from PinkyParadise.com. You can't really see it in the picture, but in real life my eyes were obviously pink.

There is a garden terrace at the Baltimore Convention Center that is great for taking pictures and a lot of cosplayers hang out there, because photographers like to go there and just shoot.  While we were there the author of Cosplay in America, Ejen Chuang, took my picture!  Although I don't think he's posted it anywhere, it's still an honor to even be asked, since he's seen and worked with so many great cosplayers.

I also finally got a picture with Yaya Han on Friday.  Usually the line for her booth is hours long, but we walked up and were only the 3rd people in line.  It was glorious.  She's such an inspiration.

Saturday, I was Esdeath from Akame Ga Kill. Two awesome things happened on Saturday.  The first was that we were interviewed by a journalist from Vice Magazine for an article about cosplay and anime in the black community.  That was just a case of being in the right place at the right time.  We were early for my first professional photoshoot and were just waiting around, when we were approached by the journalist and her photographer.  How serendipitous was that!!  If you want to read the article I've linked it here.





For Esdeath I'm wearing the Vassen Cloud Nine Blue circle lenses also from PinkyParadise and they were just as comfortable and vivid as the pink ones.












The second awesome thing was my first professional photoshoot. I have to shoutout Ash B Images for the amazing photos that I've posted here..   If you like her work, you can check out her Facebook page, by clicking her name.

Registration was low this year for Otakon, which is of course bad for the convention, but it was great for us because it was much easier to get around and I just feel like I was able to pay more attention to cosplay since my line of sight wasn't being overloaded.  I do hope, however, that they are able to get the numbers that they want next year.  I love to see my favorite conventions succeed.

I also made two new friends at this convention, which is always a great thing and a few of us are planning a group cosplay.  There will be more about that in the next post though.

To see more pictures of my cosplays check out my DH's photography Facebook page at Tarou Studios. If you like s work, message him and maybe he'll take some pics for you at our next convention.

Happy cosplay!

Work Log: Esdeath (Akame Ga Kill) #5

The last thing for this cosplay was to make the black cuffs at the top of her boots.  I chose not to wear actual boots because I want to be able to take off the high heels and put on flats.  So instead I'm wearing thigh highs and these cuffs will just be tucked in.

The cuffs are just made from quilter's cotton, with 1" elastic inside so that it'll stay on by itself.  When I tested it, I put it on upside down, pulled the tight high up over the elastic, then folded the rest down over the outside and it seems secure.  I added two black eyelets to the front so that I could thread the ribbon through for the bow and done.

I'm so happy that I'm done with a day to spare, lol!!

Happy cosplay!!


(Added 8/17/15 - These worked beautifully.  They stayed up the whole day and so did the thigh highs.  I had planned to some how add Xs to the thigh highs so that it would looked like a laced up boot, but forgot.  I'll have to go back and do that later.)

Work Log: Esdeath (Akame Ga Kill) #4

 
So, due to unforeseen circumstances (e.g. basically people requiring me to do things for them unexpectedly), it took me longer to finish Esdeath's belt and hat than I wanted.  I am, however, finished and think I did a pretty good job.

 For the belt, I just bought 1 1/2" leather strapping from the fabric store. The cross is craft foam that I cut, sealed with Plasti-Dip and then painted.  It's a black cross on top of a silver cross.  The ends of the belt are covered with silver stretch polyester, and then the belt and cross are joined by a piece of felt in the back.

For the hat, instead of making a hat from scratch, I bought a black military style hat from Amazon.  "Why black?", you ask.  Black so that the part of the rim that was left sticking out would be black as it is supposed to be.



I measured the top portion, and the circumference of the hat, and sewed it on to cover the hat.  The front black portion is faux leather, cut to shape and then trimmed with bias tape.  I already had the chain leftover from a previous project, and just hand-sewed that on.  I think the hat turned out really well and I'm super excited to wear it.


I don't have a picture of the thigh highs because I'm still not happy with the way they turned out.  Trying to sew on the black "collar" portion has been difficult.  I'm able to do it, but I don't like the way they turn out and am worried that they won't stay up at the con.  I'm going to try just making the "collar" separately, then simply attaching it with double sided tape instead of sewing it on.  That way the thigh high will maintain it's own stretchiness.  Then I'll just have to hand-sew the Xs on.  When I do that, I'll take pics and let you know how it turned out.

Now that I'm basically done with Esdeath, I'm going to start working on The Princess of the Crystal, from Mawaru Penguindrum.  I'm excited about this one because I love outrageous outfits.  Do you??

Happy Cosplaying!

Work Log: Esdeath (Akame Ga Kill) #3

Last night, I made the tassels and cut out the template for the belt buckle.  After trying the tassels on they're like 2-3 inches too long in my opinion, but I probably won't worry about it too much.

I made the collar that holds the tassels 2 inches wide and 16 inches around. My neck circumference is 14", so I added 1" or comfort and then 1" more to accommodate snaps.

In my effort to be accurate I decided the "scarf" portion should stop just a little below my hip line, so I measured to the top of the back pocket on my jeans. From the base of my neck to that line is 25" and I added two more to the top to anchor the tassels securely to the collar. The fur part of the tassels is 21" in length, since Esdeath's are so ridiculously huge, and they're just stuffed with polyester filling. Mine aren't as round and fat as hers are because I didn't want them to be too heavy and after trying them on, they're actually more comfortable than I thought they'd be.

Today I'll hopefully finish everything that's left since I don't have anything else to do today.  I just have to make and attach the belt buckle, make the thigh highs and decorate the hat from Amazon. 

I'm getting so excited about wearing this.

Happy Cosplaying!

Work Log: Esdeath (Akame Ga Kill) #2

I didn't get a chance to go to the Hancock Fabrics yesterday, so unfortunately I couldn't get anything accomplished.  Today however, I did have time to make the arm warmers.  I don't want to start her tassels because it's so late.

The arm warmers of course were easy, they're just two tubes, with elastic at the top.  I measured my arm where I wanted them to go and my upper arm is 9 inches around.  The final arm warmer is 10 inches around to allow the fabric to bunch up when I bend my elbow.

Tomorrow I'm going to make the tassels, and hopefully start on the belt buckle.  I don't think I'm going to make the hat from scratch.  I ordered a white hat from Amazon and I will most likely just embellish it to save time.  I have 19 days until Otakon and I haven't even started on my second cosplay.  Gotta love working under pressure, lol.

Happy Cosplaying!

Work Log: Esdeath (Akame Ga Kill) #1

Before I started working on my cosplays for Otakon, I told myself that I would start making work log posts here, but of course as the procrastinator that I am I haven't done it daily like I should.  So... this is going to be a post to catch up, and I'll do it daily from now on :-)

I started with the dress as that is the largest item.  I modified a McCall's pattern #5847(pictured right). This was much easier to put together than my Kirigiri jacket; I was more successful getting the color on the first time.  Because of that, I may try to use more McCall's patterns in the future instead of other brands.
shirt dress pattern.  The directions were quite easy to follow and it was easy to modify. The first modification was to figure out how low the neckline would come and to add on 3.5" to make it a double breasted dress.  I also of course shortened the dress. Next, I figured out that the bottom of the dress has box pleats in a contrasting color, so before I assembled the dress, I added the black between the panels using this simple tutorial that I found on YouTube.

On the inside of the dress there are three small buttons keeping the inside panel from moving and shifting during wear.  Since, her dress has silver buttons on the lapels, I put in snaps to help keep the collar from moving.

Next, I'll be making the arm warmers.  Hopefully I'll have time to at least get that done tomorrow or Wednesday.

Happy Cosplaying!!