so much to do, no time for blogging Q_Q (and some cosplay memes)

AZ is in four days!  Animazement is in FOUR DAYS!  OMFG!!!  We are so screwed~  At this point, even sleeping sounds like a bad idea because it takes up time.  Anyhow, I just wanted to say that we are probably not going to post much this week because we are trying very hard to finish our costumes.

Anyways, here are some cosplay-related (or not) memes that I want to share with you guys :D

Enjoy and have a nice week!!

Mimi

Japanese hair dye, anyone? (Palty - Raspberry Macaroon)

I'm going to post something a little different on this blog today.  This goes with the "Vogue" section that I have started a couple of weeks ago.  The last time I got my hair dyed was ummmmm last year?  My roots have extended to the point that I started to have two toned hair.  Although I didn't hate the look completely, I also did not adore it.  Instead of spending ~$90 to get my hair dyed at my local salon, I decided to try out something new: DIY hair dye!

If you don't know, I'm Asian.  Meaning that I have rather dark hair that don't dye easily.  Due to my previous bad experiences with some salons in the US (ehem, sitting there for 4 hours to find out that my supposedly "red hair" has turned into "orange"), I have decided to purchase Japanese hair dye that is designed for Asian hair.

With their extremely cute design and bright pink packaging, Palty from Dariya has definitely captured my attention.  Since I just wanted to dye my hair a reddish-brown, I decided to choose Raspberry Macaroon (the decision might or might not have been made based on the name of the color >.>).  The dye itself was not cheap compared to the generic US dye products.  For $14, I got enough dye for my short hair.  However, $14 is much cheaper than $90.

Here's the awesome packaging

Where, below are some disturbing images of me, so beware...

The dye I got from Amazon.com

Before: if you ignore the derpy-ness, you will see that my poor hair is lighter at the end and the mirror is dirty

The dying process was simple, mix 1 & 2, shake shake, put on your hair.  I didn't really get anything dirty during the process.  The instruction sheet had a ton of information on how to do it "right."  However, since I started before I read the sheet...yeah oh well.  The sheet suggested on leaving the dye on for 20min, and I knew better than to follow the instruction, so I left it on for 40 instead.  According to the sheet, leaving it in for more than 40 min could severely damage your hair, so do it at your own risk. 

Here's the result:

I thought my hair was going to be a disaster when it was still wet, because the roots got really light and the rest was dark.  Anyhow, I think the dye worked pretty well.  The color was what I was going for and it matched the "expected color chart" at the back of the box.  I also used the conditioner that was included in the package.  It is not a wash-off conditioner, you put leave it in after you towel dry your hair.

I would say that the dye was enough for my hair, which means that it will not be enough for most people.  If you have hair more than twice my length, you should get at least 2 or 3 boxes.  I would use this hair dye again because it didn't damage my hair and I'm happy with the results :D

That's all for now~

Mimi

Insane Black Rock Shooter cosplay progress part 4: more on the sword

Hi y'all!  I finally finished my Insane Blade Claw! (what a silly name for a sword.)  Anyways, just to recap (you can find part 1 of this tutorial/progress HERE): I used spray foam to make the structure of my sword, and then I carved it.

My plan was to masking tape the whole thing, and then paper mache it with newspaper and the paper pulp thingie.  Well, I kind of changed my mind >.>

The masking tape process was definitely necessary, considering that the spray foam formed a ton of holes on the sword.  (I forgot to take a picture Q_Q)

I also paper mached my sword with newspaper to make the entire thing smoother and less fragile.  I just went to Home Depot and bought a tub of wallpaper paste and dipped strips of newspaper into it.  Then, instead of using paper pulp mache (which I bought...and needs to be returned >.>), I just mod podged the entire sword three times.

Mod Podge is amazing, it makes the small paper creases smooth!  If you are not very picky (like me), you would be happy with the result of this.  Then I sprayed the entire thing black with matte spray paint.

As you can see, it is not very smooth, but it is good enough for the grungy look I'm going for.

Here's another shot, you can't really tell the traces of newspaper anymore.

Then I dabbed some of the gold 3D fabric paint onto my sword to give it a rusted feel (I have other gold acrylic paint, but they were not nearly as pigmented as the fabric paint for some reason).

The paint also made it a little shiner than the matte spray paint. Not what I was going for, but okay~

Then I used "Delight" paperclay and made a hilt for the sword.  I really didn't think this clay was good enough for the hilt at first because 1). it was super expensive for a 3oz package, and 2). it had a sponge-y feel to it that made me think it was not sturdy enough.  However, after letting it dry for a couple of days, the light and squishy feeling actually made the hilt very comfortable to hold.  You can sand this type of clay, but it doesn't sand nearly as well as stoneclay.

After sanding, I wrapped the handle with electric tape and attached my foot-long chain to it!  Voila!

That's all for now~
Mimi

UPDATES! - Potpourri of progress

WAH, finally more progress from my side of cosplay. I've been totally absent from the blog for WEEKS, so this update is badly needed.  Ok so here's what what's been worked on so far:

1) Deus Ex Machina - Mask and crown

Mimi graciously created the crown in about an hour's time (excluding the time it took to for things to dry). The general shape was cut out of fun foam, mod-podged, and then spray painted.  Afterwards, Mimi took some gold 3D paint and created the superficial designs on the crown. Then, the whole thing was glued together in a circle.  Finally, Mimi took a hair dryer and heat formed the crown to be droopy like Deus' is.  :D.

The mask has also been completed.  The basic frame and white coat of spray paint have been finished for a while, but with limited pictures taken of them.  So Deus' face now looks pretty cool and angular, just like it should, hehe.  Mimi added the eyes with a couple of brush strokes of black paint.  

The major problem I predict with this mask is the limited visibility....that is I foresee not seeing.  See those to little triangles under the eyes?  Yup, that's where my eyes go, lol. Granted, I've tested it out, and I can see most things, but my peripheral vision will be significantly hindered.  

2)  MZMA - Gloves

To create these gloves, I meticulously cut out many craft foam squares and hot glued them on to the hockey gloves I purchased.......it doesn't sound as exciting written out as I thought it would, but hey, it's the truth.  These gloves aren't exactly accurate with the design of MZMA's, but they are pretty darn close.  This discrepancy comes from the joint placement within the gloves.  Sometimes, you gotta sacrifice design for functionality though, hehe.  

3) MZMA - Headpiece

I've cut MZMA's spinal cord and pelvis head piece out of fun foam.  My next steps with this will be to make it more three-dimensional looking and attaching it to the wig (you know, the one Gachapin modeled ;P).

4) MZMA - Coat

Here's a wonderfully messy work-in-progress shot of the gluing of one side of MZMA's coat.  The patterns on the coat have been cut out of red vinyl fabric and have been glued to the coat.  More pictures will come along as I (with tons and tons of Mimi's help [thanks so much MIMI!!!]) glue the rest on.

Well, that's all for now.  Next time (which will be MUCH SOONER than my previous posts) will be Deus' fingers, more of MZMA's coat and head piece, and MZMA's sword progress.  Now I gotta sleep so I can wake up EARLY in the morning.  Thanks guys!  

~Stuart~

Minene Uryuu- DIY Tights

So I've been trying to get the outfit for Ninth over and done with, and the last thing that I needed to do was to either purchase or make the socks/tights shown below.

In what is probably still my favorite picture, because isn't kicking Yuno fun? Not like she doesn't deserve it...

After countless internet searches for thigh high striped socks in this color scheme, I finally gave up and decided to go all DIY on some tights.  So I ordered THESE off of Amazon, and they fit well.  Then came the fun part - how the hell to get those horizontal lines nice, clean, and even.

First I made a template out of a cereal box, because drawing straight lines free-hand is just a no no in any case.  

In a fit of sheer brilliance, I tried to paint one of the lines while I was actually wearing the tights, reasoning that who better to act as a dummy than myself!  Well.  Unless you are insanely flexible and inhumanly accurate at painting straight lines on a curved surface (even with a template taped to your leg), this is just a terrible idea.  

I feel like she could have done it.

So then I did what I should have done in the first place and made a cardboard "leg" to stick in the tights.  Then I just used acrylic paint to go over the template, making sure that I measured evenly between each of the lines.

Just so.

 The template was pinned in place with paper clips, and several layers of paint were needed to make sure that it showed up on the fabric (since it kept soaking through onto the cardboard underneath - or in that one case, onto my leg).  After the paint dried completely, I covered it with a couple of coats of clear nail polish to keep it from cracking.

Everything went better than expected.  Except now I have to do it all again >_< 

This is definitely a time consuming process, but I felt like the results turned out pretty nicely.  And for those of you who count nine stripes on Minene's tights where mine only have eight, I may have made a counting error.  And for the rest of you, pretend I never said that.

~Kathryn

Cosplay Progress: Murumuru (with a small bracelet tutorial)

Sorry for the lack of updates, a lot has happened lately to my family and friends.  Anyhow, I have made some major progress with my Murumuru cosplay from Mirai Nikki, so I'm going to post it here.  :D

Currently, I'm done with Murumuru's shirt, panties + tail, and bracelet.  

I made the shirt from scratch out of some pattern I used for my Ciel cosplay long long time ago.  I altered the pattern quite a bit, but I think the vest came out a little short >.> oh well.  

Anyhow, onto the bracelet tutorial:

1. Buy some cheap plastic bracelet and clay.  I used La Doll Premier Lightweight Stone Clay, I like this type of clay because it is very easy to sand.  

2. Then, I just wrapped strips of clay onto the plastic bracelet.  This step would be a lot easier if you use water, water really helps to soften the clay.  Well, my clay is a little old, so it kinda dried out.  >.>

Here are the two I made, obviously, they are not perfect, but I can sand them down later to make them a little rounder and smoother.  They took about 24 hours to completely dry.

3. Sanding.  This process takes a little bit of patience, and know when to quit.  The good thing is, if you mess up, you can probably just add some more clay onto it.

See, it's a lot better!

4. Gesso.  I use a type of transparent gesso from Liquitex, it was just something I had from painting, but I'm sure you can using any gesso that works with whatever your paint is going to be.  This step is important because the plastic part of the bracelet is very smooth and hard to paint, you could even sand it so that the gesso would go on more easily.

5. Painting!  I painted everything white :D

6. Glaze or Clear nail polish.  Since I couldn't find my clay glaze, I just used some spare nail polish.

Anyways, I also started to make the little cat pin

hehe, it really needs to be sanded >.<

Here's everything I have so far:

That's all!

-Mimi-