hanyaancosplay

Cherry Blossom Festival 2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:27:07 GMT

I always love the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco! More than most other cities' Cherry Blossom Festivals, San Francisco's has a large emphasis on cosplay, and the cosplayers get to join in the Grand Parade! It's always been one of my favorite events of the year, and this year was no exception.

While I didn't have a chance to fully finish the outfit due to my sewing machine crapping out on me, I wore a new costume: Vinegar Doppio from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (part 5). I really love Doppio tons, and once this thing is fully finished I suspect it'll be one of my very favorite outfits, period!

Photos by the ever awesome Conpix.net.

It was tons of fun walking in the parade wearing this thing (which has insanely comfortable shoes, thank goodness!) and my telephone was the most awesomely delicious prop I've ever had. I hope I can fix all the issues with it (mainly the pants at the bottom, the wig, and the sweater hems), get the props I was hoping to have by now but still don't, and get some photos showing off a finished version as soon as I can!

Special thanks to shincosplay for being one of the most awesomest sewing buddies ever, my boyfriend for helping me keep sane while making those pants, TAP plastics for being godly, E6000 and masking tape for being even more godly, greatsg for the fuckwin King Crimson head, and iorie for helping save my ass at the last minute with the pants.

2008, sure to be great!

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:30:57 GMT

I haven't posted in here in ages; I've been too busy with real life things to actually work much on cosplay lately! T_T Some schedule shuffling will be needed.

So on that matter, I'm going to be talking about upcoming conventions and costumes.

I'm starting out the year cosplaying as Cirno from the Touhou Project games. I've become a fan of the Touhou characters lately, and Cirno is just too cute! The wings are going to be hard, but I'm sure I can do something that doesn't look too bad.
2008 is going to be the year that my Judeau costume (from Berserk) finally gets the armor! I adore cosplaying as Judeau so much, and it's always bothered me that while my just clothes version is in fact very accurate, I don't have the armor or the knives. (Once I swiped a Naruto cosplay kunai and tried to pass it off as a knife, but that's another story...) However, I have been officially bribed well enough that I'm going to put my fear of armor-making behind me and actually go for it.
Speaking of things that I keep meaning to get around to... Diamond-coat Howl. I know I'm not the best Howl (although I bet I'd be a lot better if I weren't almost 5'3"), but I've dreamed of that costume since 2001. I will do it, and do it every piece of justice my short ass can do.
I mentioned this in the last entry I posted here, but Vinegar Doppio from the fifth part of JoJo is the outfit that I'm both looking forward to and dreading the most. Looking forward to because it ought to be endless amounts of fun (I can assure you I'm already gathering props for "phones"), and dreading because it shows my midriff. Ugh. Nonetheless, despite it probably being the hardest outfit on my list (that wig is going to kill me), I'm super looking forward to it!
I have a few slightly secret costumes that ought to be really fun. Two of them will be seen at Otakon (yeah, I'm going there this year! ♥) and there's one more that I'm not sure precisely which convention I'll end up debuting it at. Oh, and they're all JoJo.

Hong Meiling/China

Konata

Komori Kiri

Xelloss

Phibrizzo

Steel Ball Run.

Gurren Lagann

Imp Midna.

Uwaa~

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:56:28 GMT

There hasn't been all that much to post about since I made this journal; I've been so busy with schoolwork, everyday life, and my job that I haven't made much cosplay progress at all. (Not to mention that I've gotten quite sick recently, although I'm recovering quite well.)

The last con I went to was Yaoicon, which was a blast! I wore a last episode Rei Ayanami costume that I bought from charmedseed and somehow managed to get no pictures of, my black-haired more casual version of Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, Giorno (of course), and a joke costume that I think there's only one picture of since shortly after putting it on, I had to change my clothes due to heat exhaustion. Note to self: Binding, fake leather pants of extreme heat, and sitting in the sun are not a good combination. Ever. I met some new people and had a great time hanging with my friends who were already there. If you're ever considering going to Yaoicon, I highly recommend going. Whether or not you're a huge yaoi fan, it's one of the most enjoyable conventions I've ever been to, with a surprisingly laid-back atmosphere that's a refreshing change from many other events I've been to. Low stress con for the win.

Alas, poor Calcifer. Even if this was a joke pose, the pic turned out so well! I restyled the wig somewhat, and I think it made a huge difference.

Curse those Yaoicon wrist bands! Anyway, after years of having this costume, I finally got much more accurate pants (courtesy of H&M, of all places; when I found tight-fitting high-waisted pants with two buttons on the waistband and a slim fit in a slightly shiny cotton, I nearly died of amazement), and upgraded to more accurate shoes. Hideous but comfortable! Augh, if only I wasn't so ridiculously short.

Al got this pic of my Giorno costume late at night, after I'd managed to wear it for five or six hours. Although my binding was slipping, the heart tailoring held up so that in most pics you couldn't see my boobs. Win! The makeup job held up pretty well, too, and for once I remembered the earrings. I miss my Gold Experience vine with the flowers, which broke at Anime Expo, but since that kind of fake vine is rather seasonal, I'll have to get another one later and use my flower-less one for now.

Many thanks to my very good friends travel_valenti for managing to get the one picture that survived of my joke costume. Those of you who surf /a/ a lot may recognize this really crappy cosplay of a really crappy drawing. Yup, that's right. I tried to cosplay as Ecstasy aka DARKS. I lost my red earrings, so I wore my green Giorno ones thinking to photoshoop them later. Oh well, if I ever get more photos of this thing wearing it properly, I'll find the red ones or get some new ones. It was kind of fun even if nobody knew what I was doing other than a few friends.

travel_valenti also got a slightly LOL candid pic that I feel like sharing.

This is me on my phone. It is very pink. Pink is awesome, especially on technology or other things that really should not be hot pink. I forgot to put it back on, but that green phonestrap came with a 3D charm of Noriaki Kakyoin and Heirophant Green on there that I normally keep on for conventions (it's too fragile for everyday wear). At every con I've been to lately someone gets a picture of me on my phone, so I figured I'd post the Obligatory Phone Picture.

Speaking of phones, while my progress has been very slow I'm already getting to work on my next costume — Vinegar Doppio from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Doppio is one of the enemies that the hero cast from the fifth part faces near the end of the arc, and has a slightly tacky outfit and a wig that I suspect will be the cause of my death. I'm already having fun gathering the many props I'll have to go along with the costume. (Nothing quite as awesome as looking on eBay for fake ice cream.) If anybody here knows where to get a realistic-looking fake frog, please tell me! It's the prop I'm having the hardest time locating, and not only that costume but another upcoming one I'll be making both need a fake frog.

I'm going to get to do another exercise in covering shoes like I did for my Giorno costume, so when I do make the shoes, look forward to my really lame shoe-covering tutorial! Hopefully it'll help somebody out. :D This costume is going to be the death of me, and I can't wait to really get cracking!

I wasn't able to go to JTAF, so my next convention will be Anime Los Angeles in January. If you're going, I look forward to seeing you there!