Dining Hall: Oversized Stitches

Azure Kite, Balmung, and Orca from .hack//GU. Image:www.rpgamer.com

Detail of Maria Renard, Castlevania Judgment. Image: castlevania.wikia.com

I’ve seen this effect done a few different ways, most recently and popularly with the character Dr. Stein from Soul Eater. Some cosplayers cut the fabric and use the oversized stitching to keep the garment together, and some cosplayers cut the fabric apart, stitch it back together again, and then the oversized stitching is decorative.

If you want the disconnected effect of the first technique but also want the strength of the second, then lining or partial lining is your friend. After cutting the garment apart along the desired lines, finish the fabric with either an overlocked edge or a tiny hemmed edge. For a frayed effect, run the edge between the nails on your thumb and index finger to separate the fibers, and then use Fray Check. If the fabric is polyester, you can even burn the edge because the fibers will fuse together. Do this in an area with proper ventilation since burning plastic does give off some nasty, hazardous fumes.

If you are using lining, then pin the two sides in place (here’s where you get to decide how much space you want between the two pieces of fabric) and with thread matching the top layer of fabric, stitch very close to the cut edge so that the seam is nearly invisible. On the other hand, if you are using a partial lining or just an insert of fabric underneath the seam, first determine if the insert can be seen through the top layer of fabric. Once you’ve determined that it cannot, then make sure that this layer is securely pinned in place as well as the top layers, as described above.

After this, proceed to use your preferred ‘thread’ for the oversized stitches. I like narrow bias tape because it looks finished and its lies flat well. Just make sure to use Fray Check or a similar product on the holes you create for the ‘thread’ if there aren’t grommets, so that the garment doesn’t become any more distressed than it needs to be!

Hall Meeting: When Should I Buy Theatrical Contacts?

Ah, Halloween. That special time of year when your beloved vampire/werewolf/hybrid lover can look into your eyes with those romantic... super creepy... glowing red eyes of his.

Theatrical contacts, while not much more expensive than a long wig for even prescription lenses, are commonly seen as quite an investment that many people opt out of when putting together cosplay. Maybe it’s because you have to go through the trouble of having an updated prescription (even for plano lenses), maybe it’s nearly impossible to get them if you’ve chosen to do a last-minute cosplay, maybe because it’s one more thing added to the budget. So realistically, when should you buy contacts? Here are my conditions for buying contacts.

1) If you’re going to steadily cosplay that character. I have ‘Terran’ blue contacts for Kuja because I will be cosplaying that man for quite some time.
2) If you have a lot of characters with the same altered eye color planned. For some reason, I’ve been attracted to gold-eyed characters lately. Post Tokyo-Revelations Fai Fluorite, Grell Sutcliff, Albireo, and Emperor Fou-lu all have gold eye(s).
3) If having the right-colored eyes is the only way for the make-up/hair/skin tone scheme to work. For the aforementioned Kuja cosplay, those blue eyes locked in the pale skin and silver hair color combination.
4) If that eye color is significant to the plot. If that character has blue eyes just because that’s how the art is, then that’s not so bad. But if your character has blue eyes that glow like toxic waste because he was pumped full of Jenova’s DNA, then you should invest in contacts.

In general, if you can fit the contacts into your budget, there is no reason to not plan ahead of time and order them. For me, they make a huge difference in how in character I will be. At a convention, I’ll turn off being in character to do something like… walk into the women’s restroom, take a breather to check my phone, readjust my wig and reapply my man-lipstick. All I have to do is look in the mirror. Just having an eye color different from my own (not too many hazel brown-eyed characters in the world of anime) gets me back in character. It’s pretty handy.

Dining Hall: Decomposing Armor

Armor doesn’t really rot. But if you want to give armor a decomposed, organic texture befitting a ghast from another plane, then give this a shot.

After you have made your armor but before giving it a finish (I used the craft foam method for this), take a bag of cotton balls, a bottle or two of Fabric-Tac, and find somewhere very well ventilated.

Working on one piece at a time, coat each surface liberally with Fabric-Tac. It does not have to be an even coat, as long as the surface is covered. However, it’s important not to use so much that the Fabric-Tac is dripping off.

Cotton balls tend to peel apart into long strands of cotton if you find the right place to start pulling. Do not pull the cotton ball apart beforehand, but keeping this face in mind, drag the cotton ball across the Fabric-Tac. The Fabric-Tac should catch onto the cotton ball and the fibers should stick, giving the armor a very uneven surface. There should be some cotton on every visible space, but the thickness should not be more than a quarter of an inch or so.

When the surface is covered, go over with a lighter top coat of Fabric-Tac or Tacky Glue. Allow this to dry. Afterwards, use the paint or finishing product of your choice to give your armor a metal-like or, conversely, organic appearance. I used spray paint, allowed it to dry, and followed up with rub’n’buff before giving it a final protective coat. Since it’s Halloween, don’t forget to take advantage of the uneven surface to show wear and age!

Black Butler Diary: The Hapless Butler

So I might or might not have been freaking out about Grell’s shoes for the past few days. Once I saw red oxfords, I really, really wanted to have red shoes for him instead of black and white oxfords or plain black oxfords. The two pairs of red oxfords I found were respectively 1) out of stock and 2) made out of such obviously synthetic materials that they would never fit the late Victorian era.

So with all the enthusiasm of a Facebook stalker, I’ve been checking ModCloth.com’s new stock every day, because that’s how quickly some items can sell out on that website. I came across this pair, which I liked better than the heels I had seen previously because it goes up higher on the foot, has more buckle details, and look more old-fashioned. Except they were in white, not the desired red.

I’ve spent the past two months dyeing stuff for class instead of having a social life. Apart from fabric, you can dye anything—wood, shells, bone, even acrylic beads. So why did it take me so long to remember that you can dye shoes?

Instant Noodles: Post-Apocalyptic Angel Wings

Today is October 1st, and you know what that means! It's time to start thinking about Halloween. This entire month, my how-to posts will focus on distressing, blood, and everything downright creepy.

Day One: Post-Apocalyptic Angel Wings

Angels don’t always look all pure and pretty, as everyone knows. But if you’re bored with simply trading out the white feathers for black, try this.

Cut out your feathers from newspaper. That’s right: newspaper. Use sections with a lot of text, because nothing ruins the effect like having Garfield on your wings. Crumple each feather and then flatten, and then coat liberally with craft polyurethane, like the kind you would use as a final protective coat on a sword. Here’s one of the few cases where it’s better to use the polyurethane that turns yellow when it dries. Allow the polyurethane to drink completely, and then use these feathers when making your angel wings.

What the polyurethane does with the newspaper is that it both yellows the newspaper to look like it’s been aged, gives it a creepy oily sort of sheen, and it makes it slightly transparent so that you can halfway see both sides of the print. Because this makes the paper brittle, I don’t recommend stapling down or stitching them to the wing structure. This is one instance where glue works just fine.

Shopping For Cosplay During Halloween: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

As much as I warn people to stay far, far away from the ‘costume’ fabrics aisle at Joanns and as much as the sight of a Party City wig makes me cringe, Halloween can be a good time of year to do some cosplay shopping. When else can you find ridiculously huge plastic chains for that oversized sword prop, already pre-painted and weathered, for 40% off?

If you’re the kind who plans way ahead on their costumes, Halloween can potentially be the most rewarding time of the year (apart from Coupon Commotion Week at Joanns, maybe) depending on what kind of costume you have slated. Some things, like fake blood, fake teeth, etc., are simply easier to find at this time of year. For example, I have a silver cream makeup tube that I bought at (gasp!) Party City. After trying a few different techniques, it really does the best job of making my eyebrows appear silver whenever I cosplay Kuja. Especially if you happen to live near a costume shop already, the items that appear in stock will likely be more than just bottom-of-the-line, low-quality materials.

Of course, it’s really easy to fall into the trap of ‘well, I need a scythe, and there’s this one right here… it doesn’t look anything like what I need, but it IS right here…’

Just like shopping for materials at any other time of the year, you have to use good judgment. If something isn’t up to standard, no pumpkin stencil on a sale banner is going to make it better.

But if I’m cosplaying Seras Victoria from Hellsing and I need those fangs sooner or later, I can bet now’s a pretty convenient time to go out and purchase them. And I’m all for having one less thing to worry about.

Black Butler Diary: Heels of Death

After I saw The September Issue, I was inspired to get back into wearing heels because I do love heels and, at 5’2”, I’m not exactly removing myself from the dating pool if I go a little taller. It’s now the end of September, so I figure that I have plenty of time to work my way from flats to stilettos for March. But I admit, I look a little ridiculous wearing a tanktop, gym shorts, and grey suede knee-high boots with 3” heels.

So… it’s 10:30 in the morning on a Sunday. Why am I doing this, again?

Sometime last week or so, between deciding that Eye Motif Fai would be best for A-kon 2010 and thinking I would like to be sane after completing the costume, I thought it would be nice to pick up a ‘break’ cosplay—someone I could work on when Fai gets to be too much. Someone spunky (because nothing says depressing like a post-Tokyo Fai cosplay), someone who I can have fun with researching the costume period, someone… with a bit of flair. It is fashion week time, after all. What can I say, I miss Kuja!

I was considering a female character just for a change. I looked at the fighting game girls and looked over my anime and manga collection, but no one really stood out. Since I’m super-picky and the character has to have some meaning to me for me to pay attention long enough to finish a costume, I went on a search. What better time to discover new anime and manga than the present, right?

So I started off with Kuroshitsuji, or Black Butler. As everyone knows, Kuroshitsuji is what would happen if Hellsing and Yami no Matsuei had a one-night stand, left Yami no Matsuei to raise the child, named him Artemis Fowl, and put him in a dress.

We all know where this is going. My criteria were 1) someone who it would be fun instead of depressing to be in character as for an extended period of time, and 2) someone vaguely fashionable for the series, and 3) Someone who I could cosplay solo without feeling weird. Enter Grell Sutcliff.

Of course, I couldn’t just pick someone and go. I had to run this by my friend (aka sanity meter) first.

Her: HOLY FUSS. WHY ARE YOU NOT DOING THIS ONE? SHE'S, LIKE, KUJA'S AND FAI'S EVIL DAUGHTER. (creeped out, btw, very creeped out)

Me: That’s a boy.

Her: ...it's a he?! *goes and stares at the pic*

Forget the chainsaw, these heels will be my death.