Two weeks ago I was in Baltimore for Otakon! This was my 3rd year attending the con and I had a really great time once again. :) Though I must confess it was a little sad for me to have my sister not attend a con with me for pretty much the first time ever. :( (She's moved to Japan, so there will be more cons sans-Alex in the future.) This is so far, the only American con I have attended, but I always enjoy it, so the trek down south is definitely worth it.
Thursday: We made the long drive down, picking up our roomies on the way. Special thanks to Mike, aka EleventhPhotograph for driving us down! (I don't even know how to drive, so I probably would never make it there otherwise, because planes are expensive.) Trivia: How many American flags did we count on our way from border crossing at Niagara Falls to Baltimore? Answer: approximately 886.
Sadly, I didn't get my cosplay lineup completely finished for the weekend, as I ran out of time. I finished my essay for school in the car on the way there, and arrived at the con absolutely exhausted. With some difficulty we got our hotel room sorted out and then went to pick up badges. Unfortunately they had already cut off the line so we didn't get badges that night. Instead, Mike and I had dinner with the lovely ladies of Pro Voltage Cosplay at Kona Grill. :) I finished Sakura's wand in the hotel room that night! XD
Friday: I got up pretty early to get into costume and then go get my badge. I wore Sakura for friday. I did a short photoshoot in the afternoon with Mike before going for lunch. I explored the convention and looked around the Artist Alley. We met Mike's friend Andrea (whose cosplay handle I have subsequently forgotten! D:) and her boyfriend for dinner at PF Chang's.
Sunday: I attended a panel on Cosplay and Identity that was fairly interesting before heading out to get lunch (Chipotle again!). Did some last minute shopping before helping our roomies pack up their Artist Alley table. The drive home was fairly uneventful; only some minor detours due to construction (and no trips to Best Buy). We got to see some fireworks and the super moon on the way home, while singing along to Mike's crazy playlist.
My one serious issue with Otakon this year is that they didn't provide a paper schedule, instead they wanted you to download an app that I couldn't find. I went to the information desk for help on the saturday afternoon and they gave me a paper schedule, only for me to discover that I had missed pretty much all the panels/videos that I wanted to see. I wish they could have given us a paper copy in the first place, for people without smart devices, as the intermittent access to wifi would have meant I wouldn't have had much luck accessing it anyway. >:(
Other than that, the weather was much nicer this year (less hot and not rainy!). Definitely planning to attend again next year (providing nothing unexpected happens to me in the meantime).
[Can you believe I forgot what day of the week it was and only realized now that I missed my Thursday post? hahaha]
Hey all! This is something I've been excited to share for a while! A couple of months ago I collaborated with Crowtrees Studio to create a miniature 3D figure of my Asuna costume.
I say "collaboration" in the loosest sense of the word because all I really had to do was get in costume hold a pose for about 10 minutes! Hahaha :D Special thanks to James and Rui for making this happen! And another thanks goes to my friend Harriet for coming with me and acting as my squire for the day!
This project has been a long time in the running; I was actually contacted before Christmas about potentially being a cosplay model for 3D scanning. We set up a date in March to do the scans. I took 3 costumes with me that weekend: Asuna, Alice, and Kero. We did 5 scans that day (2 Asuna, 2 Alice, 1 Kero), but Asuna is the one they went ahead with to create the final 3D model.
Though they are now starting into doing cosplay figures, Crowtrees actually started out doing wedding cake toppers!
The thing about cosplay is that you encounter a whole lot of crazy challenges in the scanning process because of all the different complicated bits. For example, on Asuna the golden bells on her hair didn't get picked up by the scanners at all because they are highly reflective! Those had to be added in in post. Similarly when we scanned Kero's candy the cellophane wrapping totally messed with the scan. Another issue on Asuna was getting the back of the legs to scan, so we had to do a second pass with the scanner of just the legs while the skirt was held out of the way.
In terms of pose, I had jokingly mentioned that my one issue with this costume was that the sword was too heavy to wield and was very limiting on my posing capabilities. When they told me they could scan the sword separately and add it in later I was thrilled! Finally I would get to hold the sword in the air! Hahaha So they rigged a pole to be stationary above my head that I could hold onto at the right angle so they could scan my body with my arm raised. (Because if I just held my arm in the air it would move around a lot during the scan!) Long story short, I finally got my wish to hold the sword above my head like the character does in the manga. :P
I went to pick up my mini me last week! What a surreal experience! It is one thing to see a figurine of the same character as you, it is another thing to see a miniature version of your costume!
I am always really impressed with technology, so suffice to say that 3D scanning blew my mind! You could see the image forming in real time as the sensors picked up the figure with a surprising level of detail. The scans also picked up colour data as well! I especially love the way it picked up the drape of the fabric. :D
They printed it in 2 pieces, so the sword hand is detachable. Mini sword is much lighter and easier to deal with than the 6' version! Hahaha
Overall this was a really fun project to be involved with! I totally love my figurine! Really glad I got this opportunity. :)
Excited to see what these guys do in the future as the technology gets even better! :D
Hey guys! So I've been on a bit of a nostalgia trip recently because this was my 10th year attending Anime North. Easily my favourite convention of the year! I had a really great time this past weekend with friends and family! It was good to see everyone again! I finished 3 costumes for the weekend: Sakura, Isabelle, and Forest Guardian (previously known as Elven Archer). The weather was altogether pretty great (though I was hot and dehydrated on saturday...) and made for a fantastic weekend.
Friday: I got to the con a bit late (though not as late as last year) and hung around for a bit wearing Alice with my sister as Sakura. I looked around the Crafters' Corner for a bit and helped a friend set up her table before heading over to the DoubletreeInternational Plaza for the friday night Workmanship Competition. I entered Sakura for this event, which was new to the convention! You know things are serious when your judges include Merlin, Sailormoon, Catwoman(?) and some sort of were-rabbit? (Competition results were announced sunday!) I had a nice dinner at Swiss Chalet with the family before heading home for the night.
Saturday: After some major disappointment with failed prosthetic ear
(the other one worked fine?) I decided that I had worked too damn hard
to let that stop me from entering Masq this year. Rather than entering
as "Elven Archer" I had impulsively written "Forest Guardian" on my form
the night before, which worked beautifully for me! After an initial
hiccup with entering the Masq, my mum swung it for
me (ex: was very persistent).
It was a bit too hot with the amount of layers I was wearing so saturday was a constant quest for water. Probably my only complaint about the con this year was that they weren't quick enough with refilling the water stations in Artist Alley/Crafters' Corner area so there was a good couple of hours during the hottest part of the day where there was no access to water in that part of the building... Mostly I spent the day walking around and posing for pictures. Though most people were confused and couldn't figure out what show/videogame I was from--answer: none! This is my original design!
After food I went to the green room for the Masq and did my photo and judging portions. My judges were Feather Weight and the were-rabbit. They were most impressed with my embroidery. I was the last entry to present, which you can check out here!
Congratulations to my fellow competitors, your costumes were fantastic and your hard work really showed! I was most impressed by the level of quality in the Novice category and a certain lack of Artisans?! If you have time, I highly suggest also checking out the rest of the entries here, or at the very least take a look at the highlights reel by Dan TheVideoNinja. Special thanks to Alex for doing my audio again this year (I have no idea what I will do next year when you are in Japan??) she found me some great music from Cirque du Soleil's "Totem" CD.
Sunday: Instead of spending my whole sunday trying to rush finish Vaporeon I opted to wear Kero! It was much cooler to wear around (having been originally designed to wear at Otakon), a great casual cosplay that received much love with the AN crowd! The day was mostly spent hanging out with friends and shopping. In the afternoon I attended the Award Ceremony. I won 4 awards this weekend! A Hall Costume award each for Isabelle and Kero. I won "Best Accessories: Master Division" in the friday night Workmanship Competition for Sakura, and "Best Embroidery: Master Division" in the Masquerade for my Forest Guardian. Super happy! Special thanks to Alli Sosnoski for her help on the Sakura costume and
Harriet Lee for her work on Vaporeon (even though it didn't get
finished).
I saw so many friends this weekend that I couldn't possibly mention them all, but you guys know who you are! (Unless you got amnesia in the last 2 days) You guys rock and made my 10th AN that much more memorable!
10 YEARS OF COSPLAY!
I spent the past couple of days putting together a collection of
pictures including all of my Anime North Costumes from the last 10
years. So without further ado lets take a journey back in time! (If you don't want to read my sappy nostalgia commentary, feel free to just look at the pics, which are also posted on facebook.)
So to start, here is a collage of all my Anime North costumes from 2005-2014.
(The only one missing is Alice from this past weekend.) If the me from now could
talk to the me from 2005, oh what a conversation that would be... Never would I
have dreamed that one day would spark a hobby that would change my life! I
discovered a talent I never knew I had. ;D And yes, there were at least 6 years of costumes before I started Among Bobbins and Thread!
My very first costume my mum made for me! I was Tenten from
the popular anime series Naruto. It was made up of modified clothing items. But
we splurged on an official headband! I only attended AN for 1 day, but I wore
it again to Fanexpo (then known as CNAnime) later that summer. I was
accompanied by my older sister who was dressed as Rock Lee. :D So youthful!
Team 8! My favourite team in Naruto-verse (except for
perhaps the Sand-squad, which we would be cosplaying later that summer.) I put
up with an unbearably itchy low-quality wig for several cons in this costume.
My mum is the amazing woman who took the time to craft all these cool costumes!
Some pieces were from the closet, others made from scratch.
In case you aren't starting to see the pattern, we too
started by cosplaying from mainstream anime and kept this up for the first few
years doing several different groups from Naruto and Bleach. Our Division 11
group was our first Masquerade entry ever, for which we won a presentation
award (the "We <3 Katamari Award" if my memory is correct.) Mike
was added to the group as our Kenpachi, which perfectly complimented Elanne's
Yachiru. Mum made all of these from scratch with several billion meters of
black broadcloth! Power to her! We also wove our very own (very painful)
sandals!
Pokemon Gijinkas (+Pokemon trainer)! I think this costume
set was in part decided by Elanne's love of Pokemon. We entered our group in
the Masq and won another presentation award for our dance skit (which is
amazing because judges typically hate dance skits!) Pokemon on Broadway (or
Dawn's Secret Hobby)! Another set of costumes masterfully made by Mum. :)
The first and last time we got the full family on stage! My
fifth Anime North. We had attempted to finish the King of Red Lions boat for
this convention, but did not get it done. On the other hand, Mike's Phantom was
pretty darn impressive. We won a workmanship award in the Journeyman Division.
Alex and I finished the King of Red Lions this year which is
probably still the cosplay achievement I am most proud of. That year I also wore my first costume almost entirely by myself, which was Kiki, from Kiki's
Delivery Service (first worn to Fanexpo, the previous summer!). :) In the Masq we won a workmanship award for our crazy
awesome boat and I got a Props award for my Kiki costume.
My "Crow Soldier" costume from the less well-known
series Princess Tutu was fun to make and wear! It was my first experiment in
putting lights in costume (dollar store flashlights!) and it was a piece I used
in my Ryerson Theatre School application portfolio. I also helped to make
Alex's Cousin Miso costume, constructing the outfit while she and Mum made the
head. This was the year I began my blog, Among Bobbins and Thread.
Our Katamari group! (minus Jen as Mag) This was a very well
received group of costumes. The weather was not particularly kind to us,
meaning it was just too darn hot to wear them for more than a day.I did the majority of the construction
on these with assistance from Ian and Alex, while Mum made the Katamari itself.
We entered at Master Level due to our 5th member (Mai Sherie Costumes) and won a Technical
Achievement award.
Another
costume that I am really proud of! I just wish the armour were less
heavy and strangulating... The sword was heavy enough that I couldn't
lift it properly and it actually became the focus of my skit. Hahaha I
won a props/accessories award for this costume, if I recall correctly. I
learned how to mold and cast as well as began working with
thermoplastics. All I can say is that I will need a long break before I
ever attempt a costume with that much bias tape ever again...
My first con where I wore a different costume each day! This
was my first year entering solo without any family members also competing in
the competition. I entered my first original design costume "Forest
Guardian" in the Masquerade and won an award for the Best Embroidery in
the Master Division. Several hundred hours of it. I also entered my Sakura
costume (made for Elanne) in the Workmanship Competition and won an award for
Accessories. I also made an Isabelle (from Animal Crossing) costume for my
older sister, which won a hall award, re-wore Kero (also got a hall award) and
re-wore Alice. What a whirlwind weekend full of costumes! :D
Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did! Some of those old pics were REALLY hard to find.
I really loved the calm, open atmosphere. Everyone was very friendly and willing to talk about their costumes! In a way I preferred the demographic that attended this convention much more than that of Anime North. Overall the attendees were more mature, and very relaxed, whereas the AN crowd tends to be much younger and frenzied.
I bought some coutil for my next 2 corsets I have planned. (In theory I will be making these sometime this summer.)
Friday:
Wore my Eleventh Doctor coat with some more casual clothes underneath. I was on the "Intro to Tailoring Panel", which went fine overall, though I felt quite out of my depth. I went to the Single Pattern Contest and Monster Social in the evening. It was really cool to see the different things the contestants made with the few selected patterns. The Monster Social was a really cool event, that worked really well for a con of this size.
Saturday:
Although I was unable to finish the embroidered panel, which was to be the centerpiece of this costume, I still wore the rest of my Elven Archer original design costume. I did not compete in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi Masquerade, but I did go to watch it and it was absolutely amazing! Congratulations to all the entrants, your hard work really showed! Other than that I attended some really interesting panels.
Sunday:
I wore my new Steampunk Corset & Neckpiece. I won a Hall Costume Award for the ensemble, which was unexpected, but made me really happy! I attended the Future Fashion Show and the Historical Masquerade. It was cool to see the variety of costumes and eras represented in the Historical Masq. I went to a few panels, they were pretty good.
Monday:
I wore my Kero gijinka costume, which was its Canadian debut (previously worn at Otakon in Baltimore). I was on the "Cool Anime Costumes" panel, which was surprisingly well attended for 10am on Monday morning! The panel went really well, so that was good. Brought in some costume pieces to show. (Because panels are always better with things for people too touch/look at.) Went to a Game of Thrones Costumes panel, maybe someday I will make something from that series... Someday.
Overall, I really enjoyed Costume-Con. I picked up many good tips and ideas over the weekend and I am more motivated than ever to start working on new things! Looking forward to Costume-Con 35, which will be held in Hamilton, Ontario!
Cheers to 3 years of blogging! Holy smokes! I can't believe it's been 3 years since I started this blog. Thanks for all the support guys, it really means a lot.
This year has been really eventful, and full of a lot of great costumes. My costumes for this year were Asuna (Knight), Presea, Asuna (alternate outfit), Kero & Suppi. I also constructed a lot of cool garments of my own design. I learned some new things this year, most importantly molding/casting, working with thermoplastics, how to rig tails and wings, and even special effects makeup! I have a few projects already on the go for next year. :D
Lots of great stuff to look forward to this year. Those who are following me on facebook have seen some of the work I have been doing on my original design costume, which I have been madly working away at for Costume Con this April.I have a variety of things planned for the rest of the summer cosplay season, but I won't give away any surprises yet. :P
Year 4 is bound to be epic! And once again, thank you to all who've stuck by me this long and helped me along the way. :)
For anyone interested in the stats: Among Bobbins & Thread now has
more than 20,000 pageviews. The record for most pageview in 1 month is
2341! (It's always October!) My top 5 viewing countries are now as
follows: USA (7930 pageviews), Canada (6026 pageviews), Germany (906
pageviews), UK (880 pageviews) and Russia (544 pageviews). My Cosmo Wig
& Crown has snagged the spot as my most viewed post, followed by my
Cosmo Blouse & Wings and my 10th Doctor Wig.
For the last part of this tutorial lets talk tails! This was my first time making tails, so there was a bit of trial and error to get it right, but these ones turned out really well, and I am super happy with them. Particularly Suppi's; look at that fabulous spiral! :,D
The secret to these tails is that they aren't stuffed; I used foam insulation tubing for 1/2" pipe. Normally this stuff is used in construction around pipes. It's a flexible foam tube with a slit in the side. You peel off the yellow strips and it adheres to become a complete tube. Also it's dirt cheap. Pretty cool stuff!
Let's start with Kero's tail, as it was the easier of the two.
I started by cutting a section the length I wanted (keeping in mind the pouffe on the end would add to the length). Then I stuck 3 lengths of wire down the center, leaving excess at both ends. Then I pulled off the adhesive strip, closing the tube. The end of the foam where the tail base would be I cut on an angle. Then I bent the wires into loops pressed off to one side. This would make the connection secure.
Then I made a long tube of my yellow fabric just slightly wider than the circumference of my foam tube that I snugly slipped over the tubing.
The base piece is a covered piece of styrene plastic. The cover has a slit built into it where the wires come out of it.
I drew a center line on this piece that would line up with the slit, then carefully glued down my wire loops using hot glue. The nice thing about styrene is that hot glue bond really well with it. But be warned if you make a mistake the lumpy glue will pretty much never come off.
Then I cut off the excess fabric, stuffed it inside the tube and hot glued it in place.
The slitted cover is then slotted around the wires and stitched together along the top edge. The cover is then sewn to a fabric belt. This kind of belt is easily picked up for cheap in Kensington Market in Toronto.
The pouffe was constructed out of leftover scraps from a costume of my sister's. That is actually part of a sheepskin rug from Ikea. :P
Suppi's tail was a lot more challenging to construct. The main issue was getting a spiral with a cover that wasn't completely wrinkly. This meant that part of the cover had to be a curved tube.
Making the spiral itself was pretty easy. I simply cut out triangle wedges from the inside edge of the tube to allow it to curve more sharply for the spiral portion. I fed 3 wires down the center, then removed the adhesive strip, sticking the tube together. Then I bent the wires into a spiral, keeping my slits on the inside edge. The length of tube was 4 ft, but I didn't cut it any shorter, as the length was necessary to make the spiral.
Then I made a test cover piece. How I patterned it is really quite easy. I measured the inside edge of the spiral, then the outside edge of the spiral. These two numbers I divided by 20. Using these two products I then made a trapezoid pattern piece that would then be drawn 20 times to form a C-shape.
I cut 2 of this shape, sewn right sides together, then flipped inside
out. This was then slid over the spiral end of the tube. I made a normal
rectangle tube to fit over the straight part of the tail.
Where the two covers met they were hand stitched together, and the tail end was hand stitched closed.
The base was done in the exact same way as Kero's. :)
And that's it for Kero and Suppi! These costumes were a blast to make and to wear! I loved having a tail, wings and ears. ;D I only managed to drag my tail through one puddle...
This is the fourth post for Kero and Suppi! This is just a quick look at all the props and accessories for these costumes. :) I always feel that props and accessories just make a costume that much more interesting!
First let's talk about those delicious candies! They were actually made by my sister. It was really nice to have a super light prop to carry around for the day.
My mint is made of 2 layers of insulation foam hot glued together. The edges were sanded down to be round. She then painted it white, then added the red swirls using acrylic paint. Alex's gumballs were simply coloured balls she got at the dollar store. Both candies were wrapped in cellophane.
Alex also made our cool gems. For the gems we used a gedeo clear resin we bought at Curry's. Following the instructions she mixed the 2 parts accordingly and used a new paint tray as a circular mold. Then they were left to cure. We only needed 2, but she made 6. This was lucky because for whatever reason 50% of the gems didn't cure.
Then she painted them using nail polish. She backed them with a polish of each chosen colour (red and teal), then in order to bring out the shine she coated the top of the gem in a clear coat of nail polish. Trust me when I say that the clear coat is what turns them from looking "meh" into looking gorgeous.
The next accessory was a set of 3 bows for each of us. Each bowtie was made of 4 pieces plus a neck band. All the rectangular pieces excluding the center were given stripes to match the aprons. The bows were hand stitched together, then the gems were hot glued onto the center. Finally to the neck bows I added a neck band, with a velcro closure. My sister's I made longer because she wanted to have her collar unbuttoned.
The shoe bows were simply attached to our own shoe laces with safety pins!
This is part 3 of Kero & Suppi's posts: lets have a look at the wings and aprons. On this costume the wing rigs are built into the aprons. (As opposed to on my Cosmo costume, where the rig was hidden under the costume, this rig is incorporated directly into the apron.)
The apron part was really easy, figuring out the wing rig was a little more tricky.
Check out Eleventh Photograph's Otakon gallery for more pictures of Kero and Suppi (and other awesome cosplayers!)
I started by making a paper tracer for each apron. I held it up to myself until I was satisfied with the shape, then cut out 2. The 2 layers were just for extra sturdiness.
I applied my contrasting bias tape trim around the edge of each apron.
This red is the leftover fabric from my red panda bag. :) (Which is still for sale, if anyone is interested.)
I then made two strips for the tie at the back. (I should have made mine a little longer.) These were narrower at the base where they attached to the apron and then widened partway. On these I marked 2 stripes going down the center. Along my marking lines I used my sewing machine to embroider a tight wide zig-zag stitch. This was much cleaner than attempting to paint the stripes on.
I made the 2 shoulder straps, marking where they needed to attach at the back and how long they needed to be. They needed to be fairly tight so the wings wouldn't droop, so I ended up having to tighten them later...
Then I cut out the pieces for the applique design. Suppi's symbol is based on the one from his "big form", Kero's is a simplified version of his sun symbol. (Meaning no wavy lines, as they would be impossible to do at this scale...)
Using a tight zig zag stich, I carefully followed the edges of my cut outs. For Kero's I did the pale star points, the inner lines and then the yellow star outline. For Suppi's I started with the inner circle, then the butterfly and lastly the antennae.
Once the apron bases were done, I started on the wings. Like many parts of this project I started with a paper tracer which I sized up to the actual person before cutting anything out.
I then cut out the foam bits (double thickness for all wings), followed by the cover pieces. For the covers I made them slightly larger (by about 1/4"), as they had to go over an object with thickness.
I sewed the covers right sides together, leaving myself a large gap at the base through which I could stuff my foam cutouts.
On Kero's wing cut outs rounded out the edges, so they would fit the case better and look less blocky. Even then it was a struggle to get the wings in.
Then I started to work on the rigging. Kero's wings were sort of the trial and error run, before I figured it out and streamlined the process for Suppi's. I started with a piece of wire (1 for each wing) that I bent like in the picture above left. These would slide through the opening in the base, up in between the 2 layers of 1/2" foam where they would be secured later.
I then cutout a back panel, using the fabric matching the shirts. The whole back piece would be made of styrene panels secured inside a fabric casing.
I slid the wires inside the wings and placed them on the back panel to see how they would sit together. I marked where I needed to put the holes for the wire to stick out of the back panel. These holes I did in the same style as normal button holes. These were only on one side of the fabric cover.
Keeping the wires the same distance apart as on the panel, I marked and hot glued the wires down to my base pieces, made of rectangles of styrene.
Unbending the ends of the wires for the time being (they were bent over so they won't poke holes in the foam wings), I slid them between the 2 layers of fabric and out through the holes in the back panel. When in place I stitched a line along the bottom and top edge of the panel to keep them from sliding around.
At this point I re-bent the ends of the wires. Then I carefully marked and hot glued the wings to the wires.
Then I had my friend Alli assist me by tucking all the covers underneath and hand stitching them together to finish them at the bases.
Lastly I made the 2 swirls for Kero's wings. This was simply 2 ovals of foam that I made cases for. When they were together I stitched the swirls directly onto them, through the foam layer, giving them the plush look.
These were a lot of fun to wear, though mine kept sliding down at the back. This could have been fixed by making my back panel bigger, as my sister did not have this problem at all.
Saturday: I wore my more casual Asuna outfit, complete with harisen (because my sword doesn't fit in the car). Funny enough, because I was in the same hotel again this year I made my way over to the same café for breakfast and bumped into the same gentleman that my sister and I had become acquainted with the year before. I was pleasantly surprised! :D And also amazed that he recognized me in a completely different costume, without my sister. Apparently he's a regular, so who knows, we might meet again next Otakon? Hahaha We chatted for a bit before I went off to enjoy the con. I finished the Dealers Room and wandered around the con before going for lunch. I made the trek to Chipotle in honour of Alex! And also because its delicious. I spent some time in the games room that afternoon. We met with Andrea and friends again for dinner, this time at Cheescake Factory. Mmm Cheesecake <3
