Kotaku

I'm on Kotaku!

http://kotaku.com/5602048//gallery/gallery/

Good Gawd, Gundam!?

I am officially nuts...

Otakon is only two days old and I am already thinking of my next outfit that I want to make. I just found out that NY Anime Fest and NY Comicon have merged and will be held together on October 8th and I want to have something new done by then. And it just so happens to be...

A Gundam Musume version of G Gundam's "Shining Gundam".

I already know what I am making it out of and have a few ideas on how I am going to make it the best Gundam Girl EVER.

I am using a modified respirator with LEDs in the vents for the face, this crazy makeup tutorial for the eyes, the fingertips of the gloves will have LEDs in them for the Shining Finger attack. And I am trying to convince my friend to go as Domon in a black stretch vinyl bodysuit... Haha, thats probably going to be the hardest part!

Off to Otakon

Ok! Just got up for Otakon. I still need to get some random shit done, but its cool.

hey lets go, hey lets go, watashi wa genki :3~

Airconditioning

I made the switch into part of the costume - her lock/microphone thingy. Idk what it is?

Where can I hide the battery pack?.... NO. NO WAY.

So the other day when I was trying on my costume, I realized that I was going to overheat VERY badly. So today I went out to Radio Shack and got a CPU fan, some wire, a switch, and a 9V battery attachment. Yep. Thats right. I now have air-conditionedcosplay.

It even glows this crazy blue colour:

My biggest concern now is: Where do I put the battery pack? @_______@;

I also threw together a Lavie Head from Last Exile cosplay for the Thursday Pre-Reg line. It turned out really cute for only taking 20 min!

Last Minuit Changes

O, hai friends! It is only three days till Otakon and I am literally vibrating from the coffee I drank this morning (see FaceBook post).
I did some last minuet shopping to finalize my cosplay. You see below:

Wooden dowel, three new nude thongs, adhesive spray that I am using to glue my bra to myself, a shirt for an emergecy just-in-case or Thursday standing-in-line oneshot Lavie Head from Last Exile cosplay, foam, rubber screw protectors for my A-10 interface, seltzer water because I LOVE it, my favorite power drill, and the rest is just a mess. Like me.

がんばって！！！ X3

Wiggle Dancing To-> Wake Up, Arcade Fire

TEST

Wigging Out

I got my wig cut today at my salon! I can barely even cut my own bangs, so I went there to have it done by my favorite hairdresser. He was thrilled to have another weird Heather Project.
I never realized how much the wig would change my complexion! I need to seriously consider my makeup options...



My love with the sun,
-Heather

A real friend is one who will stick her arm down the leg of your skintight spandex pants for half an hour

I finally tackled the issue of the yellow lines on the bottoms head-on. I had originally bought yellow bias tape, but after testing it over and over I wasn't happy with it. I have been looking for a while for coloured elastic. I finally found it at Bra Components. The site is amazing!!! I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is looking for lots and lots of some odd lace, trim, or elastic in quite literally any colour you need. Check out their options. Anyway.

The other thing that had been holding me up was the issue of pinning it all to my legs, while wearing it. I can reach just fine, but the fabric stretches, bunches, and I look pretty tragic at the end of the night with my underwear pinned to it, and it pinned to my skin. Bleeding on cosplay = bad.

My initial idea was to make a quick packing tape and plastic wrap copy of my legs to work on, but what saved me from THAT embarrassment was my friend Sarah. She has been with me through pretty much everything, and has no problem with sticking her arm down the leg of my skintight spandex pants for half an hour pinning elastic along, only to have me look in the mirror and decide I need it over 1/4 of an inch. She understands me so well TwT

We were talking about how めんどくさい it is to work on a costume like this, and we got to wondering about superheros and HOW they manage to do it. They must have a bunch of costumes, because they are always getting shot, cut, bitten, burnt, etc. Peter Parker makes his own outfit, so how the heck does he manage!? Then we wondered if there was some crazy seamstress out there who was contacted on Craigslist or something and now she's stuck making an outfit a week for a superhero. Or the idea of a superhero at 2am at the laundromat with just his mask and briefs on, watching his outfit go round and round and round... lol. We decided to make it into a short series.

Once I got all the elastic pinned on, sewing it was easy. But I discovered that the hooks on the backs of the press buttons hurt like a bitch. Had to use aviation pliers to cut them off. I also completed my backpack with TEST written on it. I used bed cinches to make the straps to hold it on!

14 DAYS. OTAKON OR BUST!

Progress!

I got so much done today! I scrapped the pattern search and just used an old turtleneck. I put it onto my dress mannequin that I had drawn out my pattern onto in chalk, rubbed so it would transfer, then flipped it inside out.

I deconstructed it

Then made the red version!

Also started on the backpack

Obsession

You know you might be obsessed when you waste a perfectly good 92° day sitting in the air-conditioned flickery fluorescent lit back corner of a fabric store flipping through 15odd pattern books looking for a pattern for a certain neck cut... Oh well! Why is it so hard to find a turtleneck pattern anyway??? Everything I find is a cowl neck or ruched or bleh...
Some of the ones I am looking at are:




Some are cosplay related, others are 100% self indulgence.

Location:Freedom Dr,North Wales,United States

Plastic Packages

I am so excited! I was on my way out the door to go to class this evening and I found a package from Japan. It was my vinyl for the body piece that I had bought at Tokyu Hands a few months ago but accidently left in Japan at my friends apartment. He finally got around to sending it to me (ありがとう、アイゔンちゃん!).
I will get started on this right away!

Brilliant Buttons

I feel so accomplished! I had been wondering for a long time what to do about the little round details on the legs, when I came up with my best idea ever. Using covered buttons! And just snapping them right onto the leg rather than sew them on.

I got both the shoes done between last night and this morning and did a test. Always, always trying it on to make sure its working! I also exper

imented a little with using yarn (what I really want is piping or cord) for the yellow lines, but that was a FAIL.

Day Off

Got a surprise in the mail yesterday - my red spandex! Almost a week early. I had a day off of work today, so I took the time to start the Test suit, and go shopping for things to make it with.

This is the bottoms with a regular old orange tanktop that I am using as a stand in untill my friend sends me the vinyl I left in Japan TwT

I also finnished one whole shoe before I went out.

And we're off! I did a test fit to see where all of the problem arieas were because I have forgotten. I'm glad it still fits me so well. The back is too short, it gets really taught and there is no definition at the small of my back, so that must be fixed. Other than that, all is good!

Wet Feet

Went to Dick's Sporting Goods to get the water shoes that I use as a base for the shoes of my plugsuits. I am still waiting for my clear PVC and red spandex to come in the mail, so I am at least going to begin on Mari's shoes, gloves, and backpack. I am also going to start the base for Asuka's pack, which is different from any of the other's.

Spandex order has been placed

TIME TO PICK UP WHERE I LEFT OFF. NO MORE SLACKING!!! Otakon OR BUST!!!

Pictures from Kyoto

Kiyomizu-dera, originally uploaded by chibibunny713.

Most of my pictures from Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara are uploaded on my Flickr now.

Kyoto-a-go-go!

So this past weekend, I went on an OSS run trip to Kyoto! We took the Shikansen (bullet train) from Shinagawa at 7:30am on Saturday morning. It took a few hours, and I took some pictures of Mt.Fuji-san on the way.

When we got there, we got on a bus to go to some of the shrines. The bus ride itself was a blast! We got TASTY bentos, and Abby hung out the bus window like May and Satsuki did in Totoro. The weather was PERFECT. Just below 70 and none too humid. Tho I wouldn't have minded a good 90 with 80% humidity but w/e. My face still got a little burnt.

The first shrine we went to was Tenryuji Temple. The biggest Koi ever were there, and the whole shrine was beautiful not to mention HUGE.

Then we went to "Monkey Mountain"... We called it Monkey Mountain because it seemed like it really was a mountain. None of us knew about the climb. I had no problem, I ran up it, but it was pretty high. I don't really like monkeys in person to begin with, and these ones were free-range. Poop everywhere. And when the keepers fed them, they played the Can Can song and chucked food all over so the monkeys would go running around to this silly music in packs attacking each-other for food.

The next temple we visited was the Golden Temple. It was nice, but I liked the surrounding area better than the temple itself.

Last stop of the night was Kiyomizu-dera which was having its lights festival. It was the most uncanny and beautiful thing I have experienced. My heart stopped the moment we got to the first lanterns and I still don't think it has started again. It looked exactly like Spirited Away. I really expected to at any minuet be pulled aside by so

me spirit and be told that I can't leave for some reason or another. The lights were SO supernatural. And the most bizarre moments kept happening - like the wind would blow and the trees would send petals floating through the light beams so they glowed. It was really surreal. *sigh*

It also helped that I had this photo assignment due: "Light." I shot the whole thing there untill my SD card filled up. Oops.

Did you know? You can buy 4G SD cards at convenience stores in Japan! I was so relieved untill my battery ran out. Crap. BUT, another girl on the trip also had a Canon Rebel EOS-X so I borrowed her charger.

The hotel we stayed at was a real Japanese hotel with tatami mats and futons and yukatas for us to wear. The best part was the little onsen (public bath). You and who ever else is in there shower at these little showers around the sides of the room together, then get into a big hot bath together. I was a little drunk by then, so I had to wrap a cold towel around my head to keep from getting too hot. Breakfast was a traditional Japanese breakfast, ate kneeling at a small table with rice, tofu, oolong tea, a fried egg, miso soup, and some stuff I have no idea the name of. But it was really filling! We were up and out by 9. A group of us went to Osaka by train, and Quinn and I split off to go to Kaiyukan Aquarium - the 2nd largest in the world. If you don't know, I LOVE aquariums! This one had animals from the Ring of Fire area of the world. My camera was still without a battery at this point, so all the pictures I took were on my iPhone. They wound up turning out really good! There were 2 Whale Sharks, 2 Beluga Whales (or "finless porpoises" as they called them), baby Otters, and lots of Jellys.

I wanted to go on the ferris wheel, but Quinn is upset by heights...

At night, we went to the onsen again, and fit in 8 girls. Then we all played "Bull Shart" into the night. Needless to say, we took advantage of a few drinks to get to the "shart" part of Bull Shit. Ahhhhh yes....

Our last day was spent in Nara, where the Sacred Deer live. I didn't like the Sacred Deer thing... I don't believe in playing with my food. Its way too weird, feeding wild animals and seeing them act like totally spoiled lap dogs.

Instead Quinn and I went to Todaiji Daibatsuden Temple, home of Japan's largest Buddha and his two Bodhisattvas. There was a lake on the way that we stopped to look at with a little shrine in the middle on an island. While looking at it, I spotted something blue in a tree and thought it was a Kingfisher bird. I shot it with my telephoto lens and it was! Good spot! I even saw it dive, but I couldn't shoot that.

The air smelled really good. Not like the cloying incense that makes me sick in churches, but like burning cedar. The Buddha was enormous and looked right through you. I was really in love with the Bodhisattvas. I always find them really interesting. I like the idea of someone postponing enlightenment to help others. I like to think that given the chance, I would do the same.

On the way home, I saw something really strange. I thought I saw a great big light coloured bear from the Shikansen window... I looked it up, and a species of bear called the Moon Bear does live in Japan, and there is a morph called the Golden Moon Bear, but it would have been impossible for me to have actually seen one of those. But what I did see looked exactly like what it should/ would look like. Or maybe I saw Moro. I did get the feeling that I would see a giant boar or wolf with two tails at any moment. I guess I really did see a spirit. Thank you, Japan. It means alot to me.