Fanime 2011 Cosplay Report (Days 587 - 603)

I survived Fanime Con 2011! (Read my full review here.) My lack of updates is due primarily to trying to finish costumes in a panic. Unfortunately, I didn't finish everything on time, but it's didn't greatly impact the weekend.

(Photo by Steven)
Koffing was finished on Day 0 of Fanime, most of the waiting was because my mom said she'd make part of it and then said that I didn't remind her in time, or something to that effect, so she finished it the day-of. Made it in time though. I ended up not getting a hammer for Koffing and opted for a grenade instead, both because a grenade was surprisingly easier to find, and I didn't feel like explaining the hammer to everyone who didn't understand it. My Koffing cosplay is ridiculously comfortable. It's so comfortable that I don't even care that I was only recognized about 10 times the whole weekend while my boyfriend was swarmed by photographers, because I was so comfy and he had to wear a wig and hop/shuffle around all day as Magikarp.

Magikarp was about 99% finished, I only didn't make the side fins/ears, which is probably why more than half of the people that saw him thought that he was a red Gyrados. Whoops. I'll make them before the next time that he wears it, though who knows when that will be. Also, the tail got really dirty from, well, just being on the ground. Luckily, the fabric we used was intended for outdoor furniture, so I should be able to scrub out the dirt and red tanbark gunk that got on it.

Fun fact, my sewing machine broke Wednesday night when I was finishing Magikarp, and I blame that for not finishing the ears. Luckily, my boyfriend's mom let me borrow hers to finish what I could.

(Photo by Branden Kong) Pac-Man and Clyde were already finished, though I need to re-iron the letters on the back of the Pac-Man shirt, probably because my boyfriend always carries the Con Backpack, so the letters got worn off more than the Clyde ones on my shirt. I meant to do that before the convention, but never got to it, unfortunately.

Franziska von Karma still needs some major work, I need to completely remake the cravat (necktie thing), including the gem on it because it just doesn't work, and I always have to hot-glue it together while I'm wearing it or it just doesn't stay up right. I'd still like to get a color-accurate riding crop, but it's money that I just don't have right now. Speaking of the riding crop, a Fanime staffer (actually two of them) who didn't know what they were doing decided to zip-tie my riding crop to my belt loop, even though the forums (and other staff) say that they don't do that. I got it taken care of thanks to my buddy FoxBerry and her boyfriend. Also, my shoes for Franziska are just getting old. I'm considering taking them to the shoe repair shop in my local mall, but it's probably cheaper to get a new pair. And I sat in chocolate in my white Franziska pants. I washed them, but I haven't looked at them since, so I don't even know if it all came out.

I didn't have a cosplay for the Black & White Ball this year, I just had a tradition Chinese dress, and I put on the Magikarp wig because my hair was bleh. I'm actually considering gettng my hair cut like the wig now though, I think it looked cute! I found out that the dress (which I bought at a second-hand shop) is actually home-made, based on a lot of the stitching, and did come apart in one place, which is why it was in the second-hand shop. A dart that should go all the way to the bottom only goes to the waist. It's not horribly noticeable, but I would like to fix it before the next time I wear it (whenever that is).

Overall, Fanime was fun, I was only stopped for photos a ton as Clyde with Pac-Man, so it was a really relaxing weekend, and my only really uncomfortable costume was Franziska, which I only wore for a day.

Creepy Dress Form (Days 580 - 586)

So progress on my Koffing cosplay has officially begun. I bought a shirt for it at the thrift store. It's the perfect color, one sleeve is shorter than the other (I am indifferent to this), it has a hood, and it had this ugly little seashell thing with seahorses painted on it sewn onto the front. It took me two days to stitch-rip the thing off, and I ended up taking chunks of the shirt with it. I still haven't decided what to do to cover that up, but I'm thinking just stitch it and then make small holes and stitches all over the shirt, make it look intentional. I also took in the sides of the shirt some, since it had no shape to it whatsoever.

It's a little bit big on me, which I love, it hangs well, and the fabric is super comfy. I decided to put the little bump things on the hood instead of making a hat and trying to match fabric and stuff, but I'm having trouble getting fabric pieces big enough to make the bumps. I tried using the extra from where I took the shirt in, but it wasn't big enough. I guess I'm going to cut the longer sleeve to match the other one and use the fabric from that.

Really, it doesn't look like I did anything to the shirt if you've never seen it before, but whatever. In the picture, I wanted to compare the size of the little bump thing to the rest of the shirt to see if it was big enough, so I balanced my wig head on top of my dress form. Earlier that day, I figured out that I could take the top off of my dress form and attach a wig head. That might creep me out though.

I also finally started working on my boyfriend's Magikarp cosplay. It's going both faster and slower than I thought it would. On the one hand, when I get a chunk done, it's a huge chunk. On the other hand, details area pain. I cut out the two main parts of the tail and sewed the back together (needed a seam down the back for roundness) and attached the tail to it (a secondary reason for the seam). I added all of the scale outlines to the front piece (pictured left), and I started adding them to the back, but didn't finish.

The Magikarp wig has been sitting in the sewing room since February, but my boyfriend finally bought the yellow extensions that we needed for the front of it. They're just the cheap Hot Topic kind, but I'm hoping with some hair spray or something they'll be manageable. Usually when I wear that kind in my own hair, people can't tell if it's real or not, so as long as no one looks too closely, they're passable. My boyfriend looks like an Asian rock star in his wig, which is hilarious because he's Mexican but is always mistaken for being Asian. (I promised him I wouldn't post pictures online, but I'll be able to after the con.)

Fanime Planning (still...) (Days 571 - 579)

the dance performance that I mentioned in my last post is over, so hopefully I'll be able to work on cosplay more.

I decided that to cut costs even further for my Koffing cosplay, I'm going to use an old pair of jeans that already have a hole in the knee. I'll have to figure out a way to stop any holes from ripping further during wear too, but I guess that's later. I'm really looking forward to destroying a pair of jeans though. It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun!

Here's a good tutorial that I found on distressing jeans, if anyone's interested.


I'm not going to use all of the techniques in that video, I'm mostly looking at ripping holes, the thing with the sandpaper, and bleaching. I'm also not getting a wig for this, even though I found some really nice ones for $10. Instead, thanks to the brilliant mind of my friend FoxBerry, I'll be making a hat. I've already figured out how to do it, save for a detail or two, and I believe I already have the fabric. The real bonus here (other than saving money on a wig) is that once I figure out exactly how to make it, I can *gasp* sell them! Though none that I make will ever be as good as the first one, that's just how it is.

I also found this picture of a Weezing gijinka that I was really attached to until I found the Koffing one. It's so adorable, and I had been thinking of a way to cosplay Weezing, though I'm not sure why, but it didn't stick in my head as well as the Koffing one did. In any case, it makes me want to have a little bomb prop. Though that's more time and money that I may not have. However if someone wanted to cosplay this when I cosplay Koffing, I might just love them forever. I'm just saying.

My boyfriend's and my panel, Magikarp: A History has gotten it's finalized time of 7:00pm on Sunday. You can RSVP on the facebook event here if you like, as well as get more details about the panel.

In addition to doing that, I applied to be a model for a "Mystery Designer" at Fanime. I don't know if I'll go through with it, since it'll take up Friday evening and Saturday morning and early afternoon, which would make me miss the Pokemon gathering, and I've had some pretty bad experiences with "random" designers, so we'll see what I think of this designer if/when I get chosen and meet them.

Exhausted (Days 566 - 570)

So I've been run ragged with ballet practiced for an upcoming dance performance at the college that I attend. The ballet piece in the performance isn't really that big, but it is hard, and regardless of our less than five minutes of stage time, we all still have to be at the stage for the full two to five hours of practice (no joke). Just being there is exhausting for some reason, it's probably the high energy level and low lighting. Anyway, because of all of that (and lack of money) I haven't done much.

My mom helped me gather the last $60 that I needed for Fanime hotel and badge, so that's fantastic. I just have to be sure not to spend it. I also counted change to build a cosplay fund for my Koffing cosplay. It's about about... nine bucks, which, actually, if I forgo the wig will cover just about everything.

However, I completely forgot until today that I have to see a ballet performance and write a reaction paper for my ballet class. And that'll run me about $30+. So... There goes my Fanime fund again. T_T I need to sell more hats.

Speaking of which, I did sell another Link hat! I think that's the third Link hat I've sold, actually. It sold to someone in Florida, so I'm feeling kind of awesome now, having three hats on the other side of the country (two in NY and one in FL). Oh, I hope they're being treated well...

It occurred to me fairly recently that I could probably get a lot mmore publicity if I put my hats up on Etsy, but I've just been too lazy to set up an account, list things, and re-link everything on my website. Hopefully I can get that done before Fanime and print out business cards, because every time my boyfriend wears his Magikarp hat out, it's amazing publicity and a lot of people ask where he got it, but they never end up ordering anything. Also, the online store that I use right now (UShops) requires an account to buy from and is rather difficult for me as a seller to navigate.

Cherry Blossom Festivale (Days 557 - 565)

I originally wasn't even going to post for day 557, because that's when I posted my skin care recommendations, but then I missed a day or so before posting about my fantasy sewing room, so I figured I'd just post for all of the days I hadn't yet.

In any case, I went to the Cherry Blossom Festivale! It wasn't overly eventful, so I'm not doing a full write-up for it. I didn't even hang out with my cosplay buddies that much. =/

The best part of the day was probably getting chocolate tayaki and strawberry mochi cake. Mmm, love that strawberry mochi cake. Which, of course, I can only find during festivales.

Most random part of the day? The same guy coming back to talk to me twice after getting my picture. He was very nice and polite, it was just odd of him to do, heh. Also, when asking for a picture, he just said "I think you're very cute, may I have a picture?" which was very nice, but I don't think I've had anyone say exactly that, so I was caught off guard, haha. The second time, he asked for my e-mail address so that he could e-mail me the picture, and then the third time, he asked if there was a costume contest. I dunno why he came back to me to ask about the contest when I was standing in the middle of a huge crowd of cosplayers, but I guess he figured since he already had spoken to me, it was okay.
I never felt threatened or anything, it was just... Different, haha.

The worst part of the day was just how uncomfortable I was watching the parade because it was so cold! And then the person standing behind me (I was sitting) had their foot practically under my butt the entire time and kept wiggling their toes, and whenever I scooted forward, they moved forward too! Ugh. I didn't even watch the whole parade because of the cold. We (my boyfriend and I) went to get chocolate tayaki instead, and they gave us red bean instead. T_T I was so upset, he had bought for of them too. We ate two and gave one to a friend, unfortunately, I had to throw the last one away because no one ate it and I forgot to refrigerate it. We got chocolate tayaki later anyway, but only two of them. =[

Anyway, saw some awesome people, even if we didn't talk much, ate awesome food, and had an overall good time.

Also, I did finish my femme!Link cosplay in time (at 4 in the morning), but it was so cold, I had my jacket on the whole time. At least it was my green Legend of Zelda jacket, but that may have made it worse, I get the feeling that some people thought that the jacket was intended to be my cosplay. I have never endured that many dirty looks from girls, though, holy cow. I wasn't even that naked, I had tights and a jacket on. Yeah, the dress is short and there's quite a bit of cleavage, but even when I had my jacket zipped, I got dirty looks. It was... Unnerving, to say the least, especially since I saw girls who were at least as naked as me, if not more so, and I didn't see them getting dirty looks. As one girl was walking past me, she (very loudly >_<) said, "Is that.. Link!? As a.. What!? WHY!?" For some reason, that bothered me more than the dirty looks. Probably just because she was so loud and right next to me, it was extra rude.

When I first arrived, the first thing I heard (actually before I put my jacket on) was "Hey, look! It's Tinkerbell!" a cosplay buddy of mine who cosplayed Link as well said "Welcome to my Halloween." Haha. Only heard that once, though. Another guy (when I had my jacket unzipped) sang/hummed the LoZ theme song from the first game, that was fun. He continued singing it after I had walked pretty far past him too.

But, yes, good times. I do have some left to finish on the costume, but it's mostly maintenance stuff, fray-checking unseen edges, sewing small things closed where they've opened, stuff like that.

My next cosplay will be Koffing. I just need to find a wig and extensions and the rest will be so easy!

Fantasy Sewing Room

I'm always trying to "complete" my sewing area/room. There are so many different things that go into it, I feel as though I'll never really get everything that I "need", however, it's an interesting concept to think about. So here's a list of everything that I think a sewing/cosplay room needs (so far).

*~*~*~*~*~*Stuff I Already Have...
• sewing machine
• overlock machine / surger
• ironing board
• iron (+ distilled water for steam or a spray bottle)
• steamer
• dress form
• computer
• sewing cabinet
• fabric scissors
• miniature scissors
• clear ruler
• seamstress measuring tape
• hot glue gun
• pins + cushions
• magnetic pin cushions (or just a large magnet)
• thread (in almost every color imaginable)
• sewing patterns
• lint roller
• canned air + cotton swabs
• pens, pencils, markers, etc.
• work table (for drawing out patterns, etc.)
• bulletin board


*~*~*~*~*~*Stuff That I Really Want...
○ clothing rack
○ sleeve ironing board
○ ham (for ironing darts)
○ disappearing ink fabric pen (these are a Godsend)
○ white board
○ full-length mirror
○ a folding screen to create a private changing area







*~*~*~*~*~*
That's all that I can think of for now. Let me know if you think something should be added! I put as little description as possible to avoid cluttering up the list, but please feel free to ask about the necessity of any of the things mentioned.

Skin Care

I've been thinking about posting about skin care for a while now, but I couldn't really figure out how to relate it to cosplay. I finally decided, you generally want to look good in your cosplay/at conventions/in photos, in addition to in general, and I definitely believe that it starts with good skin. So here goes.

(Please note that because of varying skin types and conditions, this advice may not work for everyone.)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
For the body
I lotion everything. Yes. Everything. However, I think the most important body parts to lotion are your face, chest, arms, and legs (see? everything). I'll address the face later though. I always try to lotion after shaving. Your skin is most vulnerable after you shave, because the razor scrapes off of a layer of skin. If you use chemical hair removers (Nair or Epil Stop), some don't damage skin as much, but you're still putting chemicals on your skin.

Tip: If you're using lotion or body cream without shaving, rub the lotion in the direction that you want the hair to grow/lay, so if you're using it on your legs, rub downward, toward you foot. It will take a few times doing this, but eventually the hairs will lay in the same direction.

Now, when I said lotion your chest, I did mean what you think I meant. I mean the collar bone area and the breasts, so the whole chest. It's important to moisturize the collar bone area, just as it is important to put sunblock on it, because it's prone to sun damage. The breasts, well, supposedly lotion helps prevent sagging. I have no information to confirm or deny this.

I've used a variety of body lotions, but I think my favorite so far has been Ulta's Berry Crush Hand and Body Cream (which of course I can't find online anywhere). I like the scent and consistency of it, and I got it at a really cheap price when it was on sale (I think it was $2 for a small tube that lasted a few months of weekly use).

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
For the face
I have tried, and still use, so much stuff on my face, trying to find what's perfect for my skin type and particular issues. So, again, this may not work for everyone. The picture to the left is the best, most recent picture that I have that shows the skin on my face (click to enlarge). It's pretty smooth, and this is all of the stuff that I do to keep it that way.

At night before bed, I wash my face with Clean & Clear Daily Pore Cleanser©. I have major issues with my pores, they're huge! Like craters! So of course I'm bound to go for a pore scrub. It also of course helps with typical acne, but because it has micro-scrubbers, it can be rough on pimples, so if you're issue is more with pimples than pores, you'll definitely want to try something different. The micro-scrubbers also help smooth skin in general and get rid of any leftover dirt or makeup that regular showering or makeup cleansers leave behind.

Tip: Before using this wash, I wipe off makeup with Walgreens Make-Up Remover Cleansing Cloth Towlettes©. They work just as well as the (more expensive) Neutrogena ones and get off all of my makeup, including my water-proof eyeliner.

For my acne, I have a $5 tube of 5% benzoyl peroxide cream (Kaiser Permanente brand). I'm fairly confident that any brand of benzoyl peroxide will work just the same, though, and you can also get 10% by prescription. Whenever a particularly bad pimple shows up, I dab this on it, and it speeds up the healing process. I do not recommend using this on your whole face, as it will dry everything out horribly, even if you use moisturizer.

Twice a day, once before applying makeup and once after washing before bed, I use Clean & Clear Dual Action Moisturizer©. It moisturizes and (supposedly) fights acne. Since I haven't had any horrible bouts of acne in a long time since beginning using this, I'm fairly confident that it works, and it definitely makes my skin a lot softer.

I also have horrible under-eye bags and wrinkles. In an attempt to combat them, I use Garnier Skin-Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller© two to three times a day. After using this product for about a year, I still can't come to a conclusion about it. The up-side is that one roller has lasted me this long, the down-side is that I still have under-eye bags and wrinkles. However, I'm also Vitamin D deficient, anemic, and an insomniac, all of which contribute to this issue. So, I believe that the eye-roller does help as much as it can, it just can't completely get rid of my under-eye bags.

Tip: For covering under-eye bags, try using a yellow-tinted concealer, the yellow contrasts the purple/blue. If your under-eye bags are puffy (like mine) use slightly more/thicker concealer in the lower creases, usually near the inner eye/nose.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A while back, I posted about Almay Blemish Reducer. I have since stopped using it, but I can't fully figure out why. I still fully recommend it, I think that the powder just got annoying to put on or something, I also couldn't sleep with it on, so I couldn't use it at night like I can with the scrubbers and lotion that I use now. I've also expanded my daily makeup routine and had to cut a few things out that just didn't work with everything, and unfortunately, this was one of them. I still fully recommend it for how well it works, it just didn't fit into my daily skin-care routine.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
So that's about it, then. I'll either post again or come back and update this if/when I find new things. I also may or may not post about my varying makeup routines and recommendations. I'm really wanting to at least post about my basic cosplay makeup routine (with theatrical makeup).