2014: How It Went (Otakon)

I have to point out the excellent Excalibur cosplay in the background!
And, yeah, I do look kind of scary in this picture.

Hi! So I wore this cosplay (I will from now on refer to it as a cosplay–) to Otakon, which was very fun! I'll also be posting a post about it's performance on Halloween, so don't think I'm forgetting what this blog's about!

Recognition: 7/10

So yay! A bunch of people recognized me, including a person dressed as Soul who said "makamakamakamakamaka" as I passed by, and at least three people took a picture of me! But, it's to be expected that I would be recognized in this crowd, I mean, it is Otakon, after all.

Strength: 10/10

Nothing broke at all! I was worried that the buttons might come off, but they held very well, and all-in-all, this is a great costume for a con because of its durability.

Just another cool picture of Maka!

Comfort: 8/10

Pretty comfortable, except that the skirt kept riding up (I was wearing leggings, so it wasn't really a problem), the gloves were kind of annoying to take on and off to eat and such, and near the end of the day the wig cap was digging into my skull, but pretty comfortable, nonetheless.

Con Rating: 9/10

I'm replacing the candy rating section for obvious reasons. So this con is really fun! I had a lot of fun every day and at the photoshoot and hopefully will be going next year.  Even the lines were fun, because they gave you some rest in between all the walking. The only complaint I have is that the first day we had to wait two hours to get in the building because of the line (next time we'll get the badges the day before!)

So it was really fun, and I'll try to go next year. I also forget to mention that I went to the unofficial Soul Eater photoshoot, as seen in the picture above. It was really great, even if I didn't talk much to the other people, I still really enjoyed being around other Soul eater fans!

Anyway, I'll post more near Halloween!

Maka: The Coat and Skirt

The finished Maka costume.

Hi!

My costume's all finished and I'm ready for Otakon! :D

Yeah!

So, I looked all over the place and couldn't find a skirt, so I was going to make it, but then at the last minute I walked into Wal-Mart (reluctantly, just to see if they had something,) and saw the perfect skirt! (shown in picture)
So that's great.

And now...

The Coat

What you'll need:

• Black coat/dress/thing that looks remotely like Maka's.
• White shirt cuffs taken from tuxedo shirt (cuff link kind)
• Maka buttons (see previous post)
• Brads
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Thread and needle

Maka is a Slytherin! I knew it! ...Because her tie...?
...Never mind. :P

So what my father did was sew the cuffs onto the coat inside, using the hot glue at the same time to secure the thread. Then, for the buttons, he cut two very small holes in
the front where the buttons are, glued brads into the buttons
(so the flaps stick out through it) and inserted the bass through the holes and then folded the flaps down. Kind of complicated, I know, and also kind of hard to put on. I'd suggest finding another tutorial for that part.

Then we just glued the shirt cuff buttons on, because they don't need to come off.

So, yay!

I'll post after Otakon to report on how it went!

Maka: The Boots, Shirt, Vest, and Tie

Aren't they awesome? :D

Hello!

So I managed to find these really cool boots at a local thrift store and I think they are just perfect for Maka!

Yes, that's the same shirt I used for Near. :P

I may or may not add white craft foam and/or white belts to them to make them more like Maka's boots, it depends on whether I have extra time after I've finished her coat.

I also got these nice items.
I think they'll work pretty nicely. The tie is a little weird, you can't see it in the picture, but between the cream and green are small black lines.

Ah! Thrift stores! They usually have what you want. Anyway, the skirt is hard to find, which surprises me, because I thought it would be the easiest to find.
Oh, yeah, and I made these buttons for the coat out of (guess what?) craft foam, yarn, and stuffing. Here's what I did, it's pretty easy:

You will need:

• White craft foam
• Black or dark grey yarn
• Big needle with big eye
• Cotton stuffing, polyester stuffing, scraps of fluffy fabric...you get the idea.
• Silver paint
• Scissors
• Hot glue and hot glue gun

Okay, so you cut out 4 circles from the foam with about 3/4 of an inch radius, and also cut out 4 smaller circles with about 1 cm radius. Glue two of the circle's edges together halfway. Leave an opening so that you can put stuffing in to make the button roundish on top. Stuff it. Glue the opening shut. Paint the "button" silver.

Now for the thread. Thread the needle with the yarn and push it through at the edge of the "button." Push the needle in the opposite edge and repeat on the other side (so that it crosses over.) Repeat for the three other buttons.

Then you can safety pin them to the coat! Yay!

I'll post again soon!

2014's Costume: Maka Albarn

Maka!

Hello everyone!

This year I'm going to be Maka from the anime Soul Eater! I will be trying to finish it in time for Otakon, but even if I don't I'll still wear it for Halloween.

Right now the hardest looking thing about this costume is her boots...but good old craft foam will help a lot there.

Anyways, this is just a short update.

I'll post more soon.

2013: How It Went (Halloween)

Comparison to the manga version of Near.

Hi! Hope you all had a great Halloween!
So, time for the review of last night! :D I'll only do the Near costume, because I don't have all the details about my brother's Deathstroke costume (he wasn't trick-or-treating, he just stood around, looking cool.)

Near loves his toys!

Recognition: 2/10

This was as expected. The only person who knew who I was was one of my friend's friend's friends (I know, complicated, right?), who had happened to watch Death Note till the end.
I did get a lot of "who are you?", to which I usually answered "an anime character", and people knew what that was.
I did get a really great guess, though: Andy Warhol! I laughed a lot about that :D


Strength: 9/10

Closeup of the L puppet.

So, this costume held up very well, seeing as it was raining, the only problem I had was that the puppets started tuning back into clay... so... yeah, but I think if I had used Fimo, it would have worked.

Comfort: 9/10

This costume might have been the most comfortable I've had yet. The only uncomfortable thing about it was that my hands got very cold, and almost numb. I can't really think of a solution to that, though, so, all's good!

Here he is!

Candy Rating: 3/10
As I've said before, I don't really go trick-or-treating because of the candy, but I did discover that I liked Smarties more this year, so I guess that's a strong point. Also, lots of chocolate, and I love chocolate!!

So, yeah. This year was a really great year. And I'm already thinking about who I'm going to be next year, so expect a post in late 2014 about that! Yay!

Oh, yeah, and that is a picture of Deathstroke.

I hope I inspired you to make your costume!

Happy Halloween!

Deathstroke: Armor (plus a small Near update)

The chest armor in-progress

There is a lot of armor on Deathstroke, so I'm not going to go into complete detail, but I will provide you with some (hopefully) helpful insights.

The basic idea is to cut out a whole lot of shapes from craft foam to fit your body, using the original reference as a model.

The ammo is made from corks with mesh straps glued to them, and the belt and "suspenders" are made from straps too.

Here is the pattern for the pouches

The pouches

The pants are jeans, but you should probably get them in black, because we tried painting these and it didn't work so well (we had no black jeans at that time) but they should be scrap jeans because you have to glue all the parts to them and the shirt.

The pouches are actually made from one piece of black
foam that is cleverly folded to look like a pouch. It doesn't have a back, but who's going to see that anyway? So, it's cool. You can use the pattern to the right for reference. Then, you put a little bit of mesh strap through the hole in the top and there you have it.


So, if you follow this method, you can basically create all the armor.

And now for the...

Near Update: The Puppets

So, here are the puppets:          

  I made them out of Das polymer air-dry clay, and they turned out pretty well, but I wouldn't recommend using Das. It's very soft, and doesn't keep it's shape, it also doesn't stick to itself very well, so that posed a problem.
But I still like the result, so all's well that ends well.



 

I can't wait for tomorrow. Can you? :D

Deathstroke: The Mask and Bo Staff

Hi! Finally, a post for Deathstroke. Sorry about the wait, I know it's a little late now for this Halloween.
Hopefully, you're looking at this post after 2013's Halloween!
Anyway.

The Over Mask

The finished mask.

This is the orange and black part of the mask that looks like a mask. You will basically only see this part in the finished thing.

You will need:

• 1/4 inch thick white craft foam
• Thin black craft foam
• X-Acto knife
• Black paint
• Orange paint

Draw a pattern on the foam for the mask using the picture to the left as reference. You can make one out of paper first, to get the measurements correct. Cut out the foam using the knife and make sure it works properly.

Cut out a small square of black foam and glue inside the mask under the mouth holes. Do the same for the eye, but cut out an eye hole first. Make sure you can see the black foam, though, as this gives the impression of a more 3D look!

Paint over the mask using the orange paint first. Use tape to make the line clear and straight between the transition. Do the same with the black.

Voila! You have completed step 1.

The Under Mask


You will need:

• Half a yard of black cloth, preferably stretchy
• Strip of orange cloth

Take the black cloth and fold in half over your head. Take the corners that stick out and tape them flat to the back of the mask. Continue to take the loose flaps and tape them down, keeping in mind that your head needs to be able to slip out of it. Glue all taped flaps down, then remove tape.

Take the strip of orange cloth and tie a knot in it like a ninja headband. Using the foam over mask as reference, glue the strip to the under mask to look like it's coming out from the over mask (and make sure to read that sentence carefully so you don't get the under mask and the over mask confused :D)

Cut an eye hole in the under mask where the eye will go. You might want to tape the over mask to it temporarily for placement.

Fasten together with desired method. You are done with the mask!

The Bo's end, wrapped with duct tape

The Bo

You will need:

• Metal or plastic black broom handle
• Duct tape 
• Black craft foam

 Take the craft foam and wrap it around the middle of the broom handle, then cut so that it fits snugly over it. Glue or tape on. Wrap the ends of it in duct tape for a cool "wrapped" look. 
Take a couple swings at an imaginary enemy. Now you are done!

Hope you all have a great Halloween! See you next time!