Mirai Nikki Photoshoot (circa AZ 2012)

Another item from the backlog of things from last summer- the Mirai Nikki photoshoots with the wonderful and talented Katsuya Weller!  Beware- massive photo spam below.

Group shots yeaaaah

Everyone loves sketchy parking lots full of cosplayers

       Deus!

Poor Stuart and his miniscule field of vision

Murumuru!

Lounging on the sketchy stairs

Read all the manga! (i.e. the Ratchet and Clank comic we borrowed off of Katsuya)

Time for Mimi's closeup!

Ninth / Minene Uryuu!

I recall this feeling very awkward

Yes, scream into the microphone like a crazy person!

Third / I don't remember his real name because he dies after the first episode (spoilers)!

Guys, we should probably take the stairs instead

Twelfth!

Next up, Katsuya's Black Rock Shooter pictures!

~Kathryn

Contacts Review, Ahoy!

So I thought that I would do a brief review of the contacts I used (or in one case, tried to use) for the Minene Uryuu and Black Gold Saw cosplays.  Since I have green eyes, sometimes it's difficult to know for sure how contacts will look on me, so I feel like these kinds of reviews come in handy on occasion.

Green eyes are green.  I swear that I never used to take these silly mirror pictures before this blog started...

Both of these sets of contacts were ordered from Pinky Paradise, pretty much my go-to place for colored contacts.  In addition, as I can see approximately three inches in front of my face without corrective lenses, both of these contacts come with strong prescriptions.

Black Gold Saw: Vassen Ruby Red 

EYEBROWS, WHY U NO MATCH WIG HAIR

You can see my natural eye color around the center of the pupil, but it actually looks pretty interesting.  You can't tell from this picture, but they actually do look a bit more red than they appear here.  They were very comfortable - I wore them for at least 10 hours (although you are definitely not supposed to do that), and I felt no discomfort whatsoever.  It felt like I was just wearing my normal contacts.

Minene Uryuu: E.O.S. Dolly Eye Violet 

...Well.  I'm afraid there will be no pictures of myself in these contacts.  I'm not sure what was wrong with them, but I could not for the life of me get them in my eyes without experiencing an intense burning that preceded immediate removal, on pain of death.  I had hoped it was a fluke, but I tried to put the contacts in three times that day, and each time I encountered the burning fire of a thousand suns...in my eyeballs.  

  Now imagine this in your eyes.  This horrible color that makes your eyes burn?  Yes.  Just like that.  Times a thousand.

I contacted Pinky Paradise about this, and they indicated that in order to give a refund or replacement that they would need pictures of the contacts and the bottles they came in with the expiration date visible.  As I had never had a problem with Pinky Paradise lenses before, I hadn't made a habit of taking pictures before opening the contacts, so I was unable to get a refund.  In the future I will remember to take lots of pictures, and I would recommend that others do the same.  Regardless, I have gotten many great contacts from Pinky Paradise and have never had any problems before, so I will write this off as a fluke.  

So what have I learned?  

1. Always takes pictures of the contacts you receive before you open them.  

2. Don't put things in your eyes that do not belong there.  Your eyes will tell you.  Vehemently.  

3. The bathrooms at Animazement have terrible lighting for re-applying makeup after your eyes have been watering.  Bring a compact mirror.  

And just because I can:

Well put.

~Kathryn

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 - Minene Uryuu Dress

I have finally started making significant progress (enough to warrant a blog post, anyway), so I give you the more-or-less complete Minene Uryuu dress!

Or Uryuu Minene. Whichever. Point being, she likes to blow shit up.

To start, I decided to order a frilly pink dress from Bodyline, because 1) I don't know how to make a dress from scratch and 2) I think I had a hidden desire to completely shred pink lace, because I did so with great pleasure.

So let me begin by saying that I ordered what I later found to be the completely wrong dress for this cosplay. Could I do it over again and save myself much anguish, I would, but instead I took advice from Tim Gunn and decided to "make it work."

Pink is not my friend. Time to take down this lace monstrosity.

It took quite a while to get all of the pink lace off the dress. Here is the result.

I'm pretty sure there was more lace than dress in that thing.

After realizing that the dress was completely not suited to this cosplay and having a brief moment of panic, Mimi had the brilliant idea that I could just turn the dress around backwards so the zipper was in the front and then just alter the neckline from there. Crisis averted! I also cut off the waist tie and altered such that it is a removable velcroed piece.

Just so.

Altered neckline and inevitable mirror picture, huzzah!

Then I had to take in the sleeves pretty heavily, they were way too wide. I used leftover scraps from the waist tie to make the hairpiece. You know what's awkward? When you walk outside to get the mail and forget you're still wearing that hair accessory.

I can stand in the bathroom and hold a camera in front of my face, too! Look how edgy I am.

I'm sorry. The sarcasm doesn't have an off switch.

So what have I learned while making this cosplay?

1) If you're going to alter clothing, make sure you get the right clothing to begin with.

2) Rulers are your friends.

2) Don't try to sew into the dress while you're still wearing it. Just... don't.

And now I just need to make socks like this. And kick Yuno in the face.

Contact and wig reviews for this cosplay will be forthcoming, mostly because 1) I want to wait as long as I can to open the contacts, and 2)I have learned from bitter experience (read: Medusa) that the less you mess with a wig, the easier your life will be.

Now it is time to work on Black★Gold Saw, also known as "how in the hell am I going to make a six foot sword out of insulation foam."

~Kathryn

Animazement Cosplay Plans

So our AZ plans for this year have been decided: We're doing group cosplays as characters from Mirai Nikki and Black Rock Shooter (and hopefully signing up for the Masquerade this year, which is exciting).

I had a bit of a change of heart regarding Dead Master. While her scythe is beyond awesome, the rest of her costume (read: her shoes) seemed a bit boring to me, so instead I'll be going as Black★Gold Saw, whose boots are suitably absurd:

Who wears short shorts? We do, apparently...

There is no logical reason why I should be so excited to learn how to make giant weapons. But I really, really am.

Who doesn't want armored thigh high boots, I ask you?

As for Mirai Nikki, I will be cosplaying the militant atheist terrorist who really enjoys blowing things up, Diary Holder #9 - Minene Uryuu.

Why am I always cosplaying the antagonists? I think this says something about me...

Unfortunately I will not have much time to work on the costumes for the next few weeks (curse you, MCAT!), so I can't really get started properly until March 25. Assuming my brain hasn't seeped out of my skull by that point.

But there has been some progress! I have ordered contacts (from Pinky Paradise - reviews will be forthcoming) and wigs, and I am currently still looking for a pair of high-waisted faux-leather shorts (not the easiest thing to find, mind you).

Updates will be coming...until I go into panic mode.

~Kathryn