ailsa_chan

And other cosplay stories.

Aya is on Friday. Before today, I was panicking. I even had a dream about everything going wrong. I had to work yesterday (because I was down to work the Aya weekend and this was the only one I could swap to) and had a to-do list as long as a very long thing. But today, despite having not enought sleep, I feel more confident. Cosplauy rundown and progress pics under the cut.

( Aya in T minus 5... )

Firstly - Steam in a bottle.

Tab has been kind enough to build me a little steam generator for the violin. It's even better than I could have imagined, and the video doesn't do it justice. My camera's not the best for filming, and unfortunately I jumped quite violently when it went off! If you want steam for any costumes, or just for an exciting household decoration, talk to Tab. It's a Good Idea.



Someone at work found this. Just watch and be amazed by the power of Extreme Sheep-Herding. You will not be disappointed.




Longleat was good, if wet. I got to hold a tarantula, finally, and a Royal Python. The tarantula was lighter than I expected, and quite soft. The snakes were adorable, very active and interested in exploring. There are also porcupines, which are much cuter than you'd expect.

Also, we've pretty much gone through most tracks on World Tour, at least in the main game. We've even unlocked Tool ($8000?!!??), though the second track almost killed me. I was in terrible pain from about half way though, something about the strumming pattern just cramped up my arm, but I couldn't stop. You don't stop the rock unless your arm falls off. Oddly enough, the third track was fine.

I've been working my way through GHIII, largely because I wanted to play Knights of Cydonia by Muse. Having found it and played it once, I think I'll stick to just listening to it. There's something particularly horrible about murdering a song you love. Also - guitar battles? What's with that. I'm quite happy to accept that Slash is a better guitarist than me, I really don't need to go though frantic guitar mastibation to prove a point.

An assortment of cogs from ebay. Just what every girl needs! I should be on track to have all my sewing finished by the end of the month, so I can spend a month making props. I will have a steam powered violin, I swear, even if I have to make it myself (though if anyone has a spare old instrument that they want to donate?)

I can't decide whether to give Zephyr a tri-corn hat or a top hat. He has a blue velvet frock coat and a pirate shirt, so a tri-corn would probably look appropriate, but I want to put a pair of goggles on the hat, and a top hat would probably look better for that. Wig is styled, so I just need to finish sewing bloody Greensleeves into the waistcoat, sort out trousers and boots and he's pretty much done.

I still need to find fabric for Amari's skirt. Everthing I see I like is raw silk, which is going to get expensive. I need to head over to Bristol and check out fabric land. Jacket is done apart from cuffs, and top is almost finished, just needs more trim. Wig is on it's way; leggings and boots need sorting as well.

Amy just needs holdups and boots modded, shouldn't be more a days work.

Kirara needs a back end, paws and a head.

Oh dear, it almost sounds like I'm organised. This can't be right!

So very tired, but it was actually a very good weekend. There was still lots of work, lots of stress and I couldn't stand by Sunday evening, but it was rewarding work and there was plenty of fun involved too. Be warned, rambly post is rambly. Coherent thought patterns have not emerged yet.

( Thursday/Friday )

( Saturday )


( Sunday )

Memories of the weekend include

- Discussing the Chin of Italy
- Doing a double-take as someone with impressive facial hair comes up behind me, only to realise it's Annette.
- Theiving Darrin's chips
- Trying to get into Excel on Sunday and being told "You're not our cosplay staff." (They were quickly corrected)
- Discovering Minxie has the best chest for hugging
- James demonstrating to Jake that being tall is no excuse for not being able to dance.
- Timber's impression of a dying moth in the masquerade queue
- Tab's incressingly paniced face as various members of the group kept disappearing
- Being thanked by a Lulu cosplayer because she really enjoyed the masquerade.

I'm sure there was more, but I'm still really sleepy. I need to buy milk, tidy up the cosplay room, and sew things to other things. I wonder what I'll do first!

Nice lot of social events have just about got me over post holiday downer. Thursday was pre-birthday celebrations with Alex and Marcus, while Friday was actual celebrations with more people that there was room for in the Wetherspoons. (Not helped by the fact that all three big booths were being occupied by couples. Wankers.) Still, we got one in the end and just about managed to sqeeze round - Marcus has too many friends! Saturday was an evening of watching Soul Eater with Wessex. I'd spent the afternoon doing Amy's wig, so by the time people came round I was pretty high on the fumes.

Amy is largely ready to do. I have to buy and attach the roses to the wig, and make the chocker, plus sort out suitable holdups. I think I'll leave the boots until Aya, not because I don't have time, but because wearing anything but the most comfy shoes will kill me. The wig isn't purfect, but it't not bad, considering I've never really attempted anything like that before. The spirals sit a bit closer to the head than they should but I couldn't see how to make them stay in shape otherwise, not without making complex structures and I didn't really have time to get into that. I was lucky enough to find Tresemme hairspray on offer in town, so I shouldn't run out for a while.

Good luck to all those finishing exams, doing coursework or desperately sewing. I'll hopefully catch many of you at expo. The docklands is out, so I imagine we won't be far from the expo center all weekend.

It hasn't hit me yet, largely I think because I haven't come down from the high of the weekend yet. I still can't move my arms properly from the Taiko drumming workshop, but the pain was utterly worth it. Two things are also helping keep it at bay:

1) More cosplay plans.
Firstly I'm going to go through my cosplay room and old cosplays and put a load up in the loft to clear out room (currently I have two full wardrobes). Then I can get started on my next ones. I have SC4 Amy to finish (need to find more eylets. More I say!) and get started on Kirara (big form). Yep, fursuit for August, clever me. I also want to do some steampunk costumes, probably orginial charecters. I was sketching designs at work, and I think I know what I want to do clothes wise, but will need some help with punking them up.

2) London meetup.
Really looking forward to getting to see people again so soon, especially without the stress of a masqurade in the middle of it. If you can get to London, please do. My train gets in around 10.15, and I'd like to go to Shepards Bush at some point. The Koei lot are in Tokyo Toys, so will have to head down there in the afternoon. If anyone knows a good place in London to crash with copious amounts of food and maybe a bar, that would be good. Sunday, GunstarVixen and I are getting made over at 11.00, then I'm around until 6 when the train takes me home again.

(I've adjusted some of the photos on the earlier entry btw, because they didn't match the captions.)

Lots of cosplay done yesterday, so I'm nearly done. Sorted out Jayce's boots, which involved repeated finger burning from the glue gun, and did his wig. I can't find my hairspray, so it's unstyled, but there shouldn't be too much to do, just give it a bit more shape. Current to do list is:

Put elastic in Jayce's waistband (quite important that!) - not sure I have any elastic.
Put elastic under boot covers - see above.
Stick on 3 red bits
Put elastic on two pairs of boot covers
Make belt for Jayce
Style wig.

I can get that all done easily today (and tomorrow for the bits I need to pick up), meaning I may get to finish the other two I was planning, as most of the sewing is done. I was going to put up progress pictures, but as it's so close, you can just wait until Minami.

One dilemma I have is I don't know when to wear Sora. It will either be Friday afternoon, or Saturday morning / lunchtime. Now, I'd really like to get as many people as possible to see it. Vain, I know, but I am really proud of the costume. Pros and cons below.

Friday: Timing awkward as it needs to be late enought that people have arrived, but before the party starts. Would involve either changing from one cosplay to Sora, or not putting on She-ra until after I'm done with Sora.

Saturday morning: Not many people are up and if they are they are in the dealers queue. Does mean I can wear Sora and then get changed into the day's cosplay.

Saturday afternoon: Will mean getting changed from one cosplay to another (though possibly convient as I'd have to get changed for the masuerade anyway). Might interfer with something that I want to go to. More people likely to be around.

Opinions greatly appriciated.

Lovely Leena organised a surprise birthday meal for James on saturday, as he's all booked up before his birthday. So we grabbed a car full of people, headed down to Chippenham and met up with Mike and Amber. We were slightly concerned that James would spot either our car (which he's travelled in a lot) or Mike's classic beetle. Fortunately he didn't as the fact that he was able to scan the room and still miss us all shows he really wasn't expecting it :)

It was really good that so many of us had got there on time and were waiting in the pub for him, I really wish I'd managed to catch his expression on camera.

The food wasn't great quality, but it was cheap hot and tasted good, which was what we needed. Then we came back to drink Dr Pepper and have Warren run around the flat looking at swords and cosplay with a face like a toddler in a toystore. It was good to catch up with Mike and Amber again - hope you managed to get home okay!

Cosplay ball progess happens, probably not as fast as I need it too, but I'm not too worried. I'm not doing turn up cuffs again, especially with a pattern that doesn't tell you how to finish them off properly.

Went to Cornwall last weekend, managed to avoide most of the bad weather. Eden project was pretty cool, but lacked as much botanical information as I thought it should have. I only found one lizard too. Also ( we found otters... )