Cosplay Goals for 2011

Every year I set goals for myself and my hobbies.  Cosplaying is no exception.  A day ago I realized that I forgot to outline all of my cosplay goals in my previous post “A New Year, 2011”.  So I’m going to go over the goals I mentioned in the previous post and add the rest of the ones I forgot.  Mind you, these are not New Year’s Resolutions, these are just goals that I hope to accomplish for cosplaying this year. 

First on my list of goals is to make at least three new acquaintances this year.  This can be at cons, the fabric store, or on my way to a photo shoot.  Either way I want to meet more cosplayers and costuming enthusiasts.

My second goal is a singular goal with multiple sub goals that correlate to whom I will cosplay this year.  Granted some of my cosplays will not fit into one of the sub goals, but the goal of this goal is to make new cosplays, learn new skills, and have fun doing so. That said, here’s the next goal, its sub groups, and possible cosplays that correlate to each.

Second on my list of goals is to make at least four to five new cosplays.  Notice I said at least.  Knowing my love for sewing I will probably exceed this goal by the year’s end.  To make this goal easier to attain I made sub goals for each cosplay.  These sub goals will make it easier to choose cosplays as well as help me learn new sewing and cosplaying skills. 

My first sub goal is to make a cosplay that utilizes at least four intermediate to advanced sewing techniques.  I chose this goal because I want to learn more about said sewing techniques.  I want to get better at sewing since it is the basis of most, if not all, cosplaying.  I already have my cosplay chosen for this sub goal and have gathered most of the needed materials.  It is Maria Ross from Fullmetal Alchemist. 

 

My second sub goal is to make a cosplay based on a literary character.  I chose this goal because it is an adequate challenge.  I don’t know for sure who I’m going to cosplay, but right now I’m planning on Countess Meliara Astiar from Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith.  It’s one of my favorite books and Mel is one of my favorite characters.  Since there is no artwork in the book, I’ll have to design an outfit for her if I choose to cosplay her.  I only have tentative plans on this goal, there are no pictures to share at the moment.

Third, my sub goal is to make a cosplay that incorporates some kind of armor.  In addition there have to be two types of armor used.  I made this goal more complicated because I want to try my hand at the new armor techniques I’m learning.  I’m anxious to see how I’d do at making foam armor though I haven’t got the second type of armor making process worked out yet.  I’ll decide the second method to use after I choose the cosplay to base it off of. 

Fourth on my list is to make a cosplay using fabric with a moderate to high spandex content.  This is were Sango and Raven come in.  I have to decide between the two for whom is going with this goal.  Though now that I think about it, I could just use Sango for goal three and Raven for goal four.  That’s perfect! 

So for goal three I’m going to make Sango from Inuyasha in her Demon Slayer outfit.  I’ll use the foam armor for the body armor and shin guards and a different type of armor for the shoulder, elbow, and possibly knee guards. 

 

I might even make her kimono if I have the time and money. 

For sub goal four, I’ll make Raven from Teen Titans Animated.

Now that sub goal three and four are taken care of, I’ll continue.  

Sub goal five is to make a cosplay with a newly learned skill that does not apply to the rest of the sub goals.  I chose this goal because I wanted to use one of my new sewing skills I’m learning, machine appliqué.  For this sub goal, I chose to make Akari Mizunashi from Aria the Animation.  I’m working on her currently. 

My last sub goal is to make a cosplay from a modified or self-drafted pattern.  Knowing how to draft patterns is a very helpful skill to learn since most cosplays don’t have prescribed ready-made patterns.  Right now I know how to modify pre-made patterns.  For this project I chose to make Sophia Forrester’s Vice Captain Uniform from Last Exile. 

 Depending on how long I have till cons and fair, I might use Vorfeed from Lost Universe for this project.  I’m already working on Vorfeed, and most of what I’ve made is from a modified pattern.  It will be a while till I am able to make fully original pieces without the aid of an outside pattern source.

Now that my second goal with all its sub goals are fully explained, I’ll move on to my last goal.

 

Third on my list of goals is to attend at least one new con.  It is an ongoing goal that will continue till I either I stop going to cons or run out of new cons to attend, which ever comes first.  Either way, I am excited to see what cons I’m able to attend this year.  There are three local cons that I know about so I’ll stick to the local cons this year.  It should be really fun.  I can’t wait to debut my new list of cosplays too! 

Thank you so much for reading this humungous post. 

Vorfeed Update 4

I finished the second glove.  It looks as good as the first and even better.  I changed the layout of the top ribbon to bunching the lower arm fabric.  The gloves look more like the reference pictures now then before.  In addition, I don’t have to fix the bunching every time I turn around.  I really like how the gloves turned out.  They are still tight and hard to get on and off, but the initial struggle is totally worth getting to wear a pair of awesome gloves.

It’s just under a week till college starts again.  I am totally amazed at how quickly the time passed.  Even though this has been my fastest project to date, it has still taken me a long time, and I have more to do.  I still have to make the boots, cape, wings, and jewels and attach everything.  Not to mention style the wig.  It will probably take me another month to complete Vorfeed since college starts soon. 

I have to wait to finish Vorfeed because I don’t have all of the materials I need yet.  I still have to get the resin and dye for the jewels as well as the feathers for the wings and cape.  I need to get more interfacing too.  I’m having a really hard time deciding what type of resin to purchase, either Easy Cast or the Tap Plastic brand.  Easy Cast seems to be used more within the cosplay community.  It works best for casts no greater than 6 ounces.  The trouble is that Vorfeed’s jewels are at least 8 to 10 ounces each.  I thought of layering the resin, but I don’t know how well that will work.  I know it’s worked for smaller casts for other gem makers and cosplayers, but I don’t know how it would work for jewels of greater magnitude.  I shall look into it more before I actually make my decision.

I have pictures!!!!!!  Top row from left to right: front and back of dress.  Bottom row: my gloves!  I’m so happy with my project.  I really like the bow on the dress and will get a detail picture up next update.

 

New Cosplay

I recently found a  new anime named Aria the Animation.  It is a three season and one OVA anime.  I absolutely adore the show.  It takes a totally different approach to anime then the normal action and/or drama animes that flood the market.  Aria follows the life of Akari Mizunashi as she learns how to become a professional undine or gondola rower. 

In Aria undines wear uniforms that match one of three companies; Aria Company (blue), Himeya Company (red), or Orange Planet (yellow).  The uniforms are adorable as are the main characters.  Each of the characters add a totally different personality to the show and would be great fun to cosplay.  I like all of the characters but my favorites are Akari Mizunashi (pink hair), Aika S. Granzchesta (blue hair), Akira E. Ferrari (brown hair), and Athena Glory (purple hair).  Of my favorites, I like Akari the best.  As such, I’ve decided to cosplay her for the next year(2011).  Since the outfits are so interchangeable between characters  I’m going to make more Aria cosplays in the future.  You can cosplay at least two characters with one outfit just by changing wigs.  But right now I’m starting off with Akari. 

This is Akari and her summer uniform:

   

I chose her summer uniform over her winter one because it’ll take a bit less fabric, and I can wear it in the summer and winter. The summer uniform is also a bit easier to make then the winter one as well.  I do want to make her winter one too.  Depending on how long the summer uniform takes me, I might get her winter uniform done this year as well.

Here are a few pictures of my other favorite characters.

Aika S. Granzchesta

    

Akira E. Ferrari

 

Athena Glory

 

Akari also wears a few other outfits that I might make as well, like an Orange Planet uniform as well as really cute kimono and a couple normal outfits.  All those are in the future though.  As are other possible variations of my other favorite characters.

My sister also wants me to make her an Alice Carrol cosplay as well.  Alice is another character from Aria and a close friend of Akari.  Here’s a few pictures:

  

I’m really excited to start working on my new cosplay.  As soon as I am done with Vorfeed, I will start working on Akari.  I’m hoping to have Vorfeed done this week and start Akair either this weekend or next week.  If all goes well, I hope to have most of my Akari cosplay done before school starts on the 17th.  I’m kinda sad that I only have around 12 days to sew almost nonstop though I am rather excited that school starts soon. 

Vorfeed Update 3

I finally got my first glove done.  It took me 15 hours, but I finally succeeded.  ~_~  I never knew making a single glove could take so long.  I scrapped my first construction idea just before I started making my glove last night.  Instead of making my own pattern, I decided to modify a premade one I found.  I chose to do so because I realized that tracing my arm myself was harder then anticipated.  So I found my pattern and modified it. 

I modified the pattern easy enough (2 hours) but it took me three tries to get the sizing right.  My seam ripper was very active for the first five hours.  I had to almost completely redo the entire hand.  At first the fingers were to long so I cut them shorter.  Then the fingers were to small and the thumb was too big.  So I scrapped the pattern’s gussets and made my own.  Once that was over, I found that three of the fingers were too big along with the easily annoying thumb.  I was frustrated with the fingers by that time so I switched to the rest of the glove, mainly the ribbon detailing.

I now know that when making gloves ADD THE DETAILING FIRST!!!!  For the sake of your sanity add it first.  It is so not fun to fight with a half made glove hand, that you already mad at, while you wrap it around your knee just so you can get it to ly flat for a few seconds while you fiercely try to not pin your glove to your skin before the glove curls again.  Luckily I only had to do that with the first part of the detailing.  The second part was not nearly as hard or frustrating.  My main problem was trying to get the detailing to look accurate.  Compared to Vorfeed or any anime character for that matter, I have short arms so I had to squish the design without making it look squished.  It turned out quite well.  I even got the bunching to look right!  I love the way the detailing came out.  I might add a few more minor adjustments here and there. 

I was very encouraged over my success with the detailing.  So I sewed up the rest of the glove and tried it on.  To do my delight and amazement, it fit!  I was even able to get the glove on my hand without having to rip any seams out!  I was so happy I seriously spent the next twenty minutes admiring it and wearing it around just for fun.  Once I got the excitement out of my system, I finished the rest of the glove by adding the top puff and fixing the fingers.  The puff was easy enough to make.  I just made an oddly shaped rectangle, added elastic around the top, stuffed it full of tulle, and sewed it to the top of my gloves.  It doesn’t look that puffy, but I’m happy with it.  It looks like the character and goes with the rest of the outfit very well. 

The fingers weren’t that hard to tailor.  It was a bit hard to tailor the glove with one hand while wearing it on the other.  I ended up just estimating the amount to take in and added darts on the inside.  It worked surprisingly well.  I can hardly tell that I added darts to the fingers.  The thumb dart is easier to find though. 

Despite all the trouble and time it took to make the glove, I am extremely pleased with it.  It looks better then I’d hoped.  I can even get it on with a minimal amount of effort too.  Getting it off… well that’s another matter.  Now that the first glove is I just have make the second glove mirror the first.  As best I can that is.

Here’s a picture of my finished glove.  I don’t have any progress pictures though.  I’m going to get them on the second one.  I might even make a tutorial. 

Vorfeed Update 2

The dress is done.  It looks beautiful and twice as good as I thought it would.  I was initially worried that it wouldn’t look right or even recognizable with my modifications, but everything worked out better then planned.  Also I set a new record for dress making, around 21 hours total.  My last record was around 22 to 23 hours total.  ^_^  I keep getting better and faster each time I make a new cosplay.  Practicing perfectly makes a skill even better. 

Now on to the hard part, the gloves.  I have an idea for how to make the pattern work around the non-stretch fabric.  I trace my arm and half my hand.  Then make a separate thumb piece.  I add a seam allowance, cut the pieces out, and sew it all together.  Then I make, cut out, and sew the puffs to the rest of the glove.  It should work.  I’m using a pattern and tutorial to make sure I get the construction and basic shapes right.  I haven’t quite worked out when to add the ribbon detailing.  I don’t know if I should appliqué it on or tack it on after the gloves are done.  Other than that, I have most of my glove problem worked out.  I’m sure it’ll work too. 

Vorfeed Update 1

I’ve been working on my Vorfeed cosplay for the past few days.  It’s about 45% complete.  So far, it has taken me around 14.5 hours to make this cosplay.  The main dress is nearly done, and I don’t have much left to do otherwise.  I just have to scrunch the bodice, make and add the bow, finish fitting it, and make the hem.  Then it’ll be time to work on the cape, shoes, and gloves. 

The cape shouldn’t be hard.  I just have to make sure I get the layering and feather work right.  I still have no idea how I’m going to make the back feathers.  I have a couple ideas, but I don’t know how well they’ll work.  I still need to get the feathers though.  I need to find a good place that sells good feathers in bulk for a reasonable to good price.

As for the gloves and boots, they are going to be a bit harder.  Ok, a lot harder.  I’ve never make gloves before, much less full arm gloves with large puffy add ons on the top.  Not to mention, I’m using satin that has little to no stretch whatsoever.  I know the gloves are going to be the biggest challenge of the entire cosplay.  Even the wig looks easier. 

The shoes on the other hand look relatively easy, especially compared to the gloves.  I still have to find good base shoes and maybe a couple zippers, but other than that I have what I need.  I even have a pattern halfway worked out.  I just have to test it. 

Finally, the wig looks like it’s going to be one of the easiest pieces of the cosplay.  I’m really glad I chose it for my first time cutting a wig.  I am really nervous but calm at the same time.  I know I can do it.  I know it will turn out fine. 

Oh! I almost for got about the jewels!  I’m going to cast the two jewels myself as soon as I’m able to get the supplies.  I really hope it’s soon because I’d like to get a photo shoot before my friend leaves for college again if it’s possible.  She takes amazing photos.  I’ve wanted to do a shoot with her for a while.  If I don’t get the jewels done in time, I could always improvise…but I don’t want to do that unless I have to. 

Beside my minor aforementioned dilemmas, my cosplay is coming along beautifully.  I’m really happy with the way it’s turning out.  I can’t wait to see the finished project.  I don’t have any pictures to share yet, but I’ll get some up with my next post.  So far it’s nearly perfect with just a few quirks that the laws of physics won’t let me change.  Trying to make a shirt drape and split and fall at a slightly tilted angle just isn’t going to happen no matter how much I wish it would.  Anime characters are known to defy the laws of physics and this cosplay is not without it’s exceptions. 

A New Year, 2011

With 2010 at it’s close, I am excited to see what the new year will bring.  A I reflect over the last year I’ve found that 2010 was a good year overall.  Sure it had its bad times, but there were pleasant times as well.  I was able to make four costumes for myself as well as for others.  I was also able to make new friends, meet lots of awesome people, and become a better seamstress.  In the grand scheme of things, I am happy with how 2010 went. 

But this post isn’t just about reminiscing 2010, it’s about looking forward to 2011 as well.  This new years gives me a chance to make more friends, acquaintances, and cosplays.  I am excited as I think about what I hope to accomplish this next year.  Mind you, these are not resolutions.  There is no need to make resolutions that I will forget and not accomplish.  Instead these are goals with game plans that I hope to accomplish in 2011. 

My goals for next year are simple and attainable.  Though they may take lots of time and/or finances, I know that I can accomplish them if I really try hard and work toward their completion.  It may not be easy, but I am up to the challenge.

First on my list of goals is to make at least three new acquaintances this year.  Whether that be at the fabric store, a con, or just on my way to a photo shoot, I know my goal is attainable even if I am on the introverted side. 

Second on my list is to make at least four new costumes/cosplays.  With my nigh constant additions of costume/cosplay possibilities, it should not be hard to pick out some suitable prospects.  As I’ve said in previous posts, I already have a definite and planned cosplay list for this year.  As always, it will change in some way or ways, but I plan to keep it pretty close to the following list as possible.  Of course, time and finances will play a deciding role in whether or not I am able to make any of the below listed costumes/cosplays. 

Planned List

Vorfeed from Lost Universe

Akari Mizunashi from Aria the Animation (Summer Uniform)

Maria Ross from Fullmetal Alchemist (State Alchemist Uniform)

Toph Bei Fong From Avatar:The Last Airbender (either her Earth Nation outfit, her Ba Sing Se dress, her noble dress, or her final dress)

Sophia Forrester from Last Exile (Vice Captain Uniform)

A princess dress of some sort

Possible List

Lacus Clyne from Gundam Seed (either her first dress, civilian dress, captain’s dress, and/or an artwork version)

Kaylee Frye from Firefly or Serenity (Mechanic Outfit)

Raven from Teen Titans the animated series (White Version)

Nausiccaa from Nausiccaa of the Valley of the Wind (End Outfit)

Sophia Forrester from Last Exile (Orange Dress)

A female Final Fantasy character or two (so far Aerith and/or Porom)

And I know there’s at least a couple others I can’t think of yet

Others as time and finances permit

I will include a couple picture albums of my planned and possible cosplay lists below. 

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