Days 1088 - 1105

I actually made cosplay progress! I'm still lying and telling myself that I'm trying to finish my Ho-Oh gijinka by AoD, that way maybe it'll be done by Fanime. Maybe. Hopefully, because I'm making so much progress.

This photo shows the colors the best.

So far, I've pleated both of the Isis Wings and sewn the green strips onto them. One wing's green strips are entirely finished, the others just need to be hemmed across the bottom (though they all need some trimming). The gradient on the green strips was colored on by hand with four different shades of green Sharpie. I wasn't convinced that it would work, but regular fabric dye didn't work because the green fabric is synthetic and more like plastic (not porous), and I'm too intimidated to attempt to mix Sharpie dye. It looks simple, but I'm just afraid I'd mess it up somehow, and I didn't have backup green Sharpies (couldn't find all of the shades I needed). In any case, I really like the way the gradient turned out, I really like that it has different kinds of green instead of just varying shades of the same green. The green pieces are sewn on with gold thread in stitches that basically I just thought looked cool.

I also nearly finished both pieces of the "skirt" (or whatever you want to call the bottom half). Both pieces need to be gathered a little more, I thought that they would sit more on my hips, but they need to line up with the belt, which definitely sits higher toward my natural waist.

The belt is nearly finished, and I'm ridiculously proud of it, I've never made something like it before. I used my dress form to get the basic shape and then fitted it to myself. The gold on the belt is actually ribbon, and it's simply hot glued to the inside. The inside is a complete mess, and since the ribbon is wired, it's kind of... Stabby, haha. I'm going to line it with some fluffy fabric so that it doesn't hurt my skin.

Open Isis wing

I'm trying to completely finish the wings before I move on the finishing the bottom and then starting the top. After that I'll be doing the feather pieces, accessories, and embroidery. I'm hoping that by tackling this huge project in chunks and entirely finishing one piece before starting the next, I'll be able to finish quicker and not forget any details.

Also, "Magikarp: A History" has been confirmed for two hours at 7pm on Saturday of AoD in Live Events 1!

Detail on the green strips

Days 1043 - 1087

Oh yeah, you guessed it, I've done nothing productive. I went to the Norcal Winter Gathering/Christmas in the Park in San Jose (pics to come soon). Shortly after that, I got really sick. I was better for about two weeks, and then I got really sick again. I was really tired of being sick. I think I'm getting sick again, but, mind over matter, I refuse!

In other news, "Magikarp: A History" has been approved for Animation on Display 2013! No official word on which day or what time, but we're currently discussing the possibility of the panel being two hours long this year! It's a daunting task, but we're pretty confident that it'll work out. The main issue right now is that we originally submitted the panel to AoD as a one-hour panel, and it was scheduled as a one-hour panel. Since we expanded to two hours, AoD pane staff would have to re-work the panel schedule to fit us in as a two-hour panel. The head of Panels Staff seems happy to accommodate us, and things are looking positive, but we've gotten no confirmation yet. If they can't fit us in as a two-hour panel, we will still be there as a one-hour panel.

Here's the Facebook event page for "Magikarp: A History" at AoD. If you're interested, please like our Facebook page for updates!