[AB] Get Some Supplies, then Seal the Deal!

After a long day of playing retro PC-98 Touhou games, I had the opportunity to go to Joan's Fabrics and grab the required materials!

Fabric shopping is always fun, especially when you have a knowledgeable mother who asks the equally knowledgeable sales ladies about certain techniques using words you have never heard of like "What about interfacing?" I'm always impressed by my mom.

Looking for a not-firetruck red fabric that could flow nicely, was comfy, and was somewhat rigid was actually kinda tough because purple didn't work, nor did brown, and I didn't want to look like the costumes you can buy online.

With many choices, The first fabric I saw was a maroon and super comfy fabric! If it had more than a yard and a half, I would have impulse bought it. I'm glad I didn't but it was still awesome!!! While carrying around this super-fabric, I spotted a linen fabric which was comfy, rigid, and breathable. It even had a really rustic, "I've been around the block for 1300 years" feel, and it was pretty cheap too! The next choice was a polyester fabric that draped nicely and felt comfy as well. Two tough choices.

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I asked one of the ladies who worked there for her opinion. She said the linen would be rigged enough, and breathable, but it wrinkles so easily and was more expensive. Her opinion on the polyester was less breathable, but smoother drapes and almost no wrinkles. I decided to go with the polyester finally, which was a good choice I believe! 3.5 yards of that bad boy were cut for $25. Now I have plenty to work with and some extra for the suspenders/arm bands/ whatever else I may want it for.

I also got some interfacing, because it would make the seals sturdy enough to survive the rigors of walking around, yet make them papery enough to still be "paper" seals. $1.49 got me 1.5 yards of thin stuff, and I got 1/4 yard of some thick stuff too for the same price.

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 For the suspenders, I found some clips that will look cute. It took a long time for me to be able to explain the back of the suspenders to my mom. the leather triangle patch thing that holds the 3 pieces of elastic together. I'm just gonna find a ring, tie and sew the fabric to it and maybe cover it if I have some spare leather, if not... whatever.

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Overall, it was $37.66 for the whole shebang, not bad at all! Plus I get the fun of constructing a pair of pants!!!


When I got home, excitement was high but energy was low, so I sat on the computer and drew out the seals on photoshop. It was fun, but for some I may have gotten a bit too carried away with the designs and they look kinda... bleh. Nothing a little doctoring up won't fix. And so I ensured a straight line, I used a 1/4" grid on photoshop and basically did pixel art.

It's like MS Paint or KidPix!
To make the lines, I set it to "snap-to-grid", displayed the grid and ruler.
Next I used the rectangular marque tool, and held [Shift] to add to the selection.
Once it was drawn out, I used the brush and drew all over the screen, coloring only the selection.

When I printed it, it filled to the whole page rather than the 3.5" x 6" I set the canvas for. When I used windows photo viewer, it had options for 4 3x5 prints per page. I can deal with it being less than a dissection kit in thickness and length.

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Salvaging the larger one, I turned it into a concept for the large bow atop her snowy dome. I think it looks kinda cute. Gotta do something about the face beneath it though.

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With 20 seals mocked up and about 14-17 being "good" I called it a night.

[AB] Concept Sketches and Game Plan

After work, I got home and tried to sketch an image of Mokou. I think for a 10 minute attempt at reproducing ZUN's "Great" artwork, I did a decent job.

Now with Aderpable eyes that look... arguable normal

I also found costumes online. I laughed at the $99-$120 I'd pay for a pair of flat red pants, a white button-up shirt and cloth suspenders.

Curtsey of hellocosplay.com
The pants actually don't look bad, nor does the shirt and $99 is pretty cheap, but I'd rather do it myself!

The upper-priced ones came with bows or you can buy them separately, but the costume itself didn't feel "Andy" enough...

Curtsey of  hellocosplay.com 

Also they didn't come with shoes. I found out why........

Curtsey of hellocosplay.com. Not bad boots, but I think repurposing my old boots would be cheaper!

SIXTY NINE DOLLARS AND NINETY NINE CENTS! For a pair of brownish boots made of leather that I would only wear for one day, and they're probably unable to get a 13 double wide size for me... Nope!

This lead me to my decision, I would analyze the costume and make it myself! Or edit old clothes if I had them!!!

So, with a very helpful mother, I began thinking. She suggested making the pants myself. I liked that idea, because then I can make them super poofy, no problem! I might even be able to do the MC Hammer Slide! She also said don't worry about the shirt as much, another good idea.


PANTS~!

I discovered a fantastically simple and easy tutorial on how to make poofy pants thanks to FelixCorvus This tutorial seems really straight forward.

With an idea of how to make poofy pants, I did a typical Andy thing and drew out the directions in my own words... Thank you Intro to Biology Prelabs! No matter how annoying it was to wake up at 06:00 to finish it for a 09:30 lab! (Don't tell Doctor B.)

Not bad in my opinion. I owe a lot of this to FelixCorvus's tutorial, and the dress tutorial up top.

Cosplay (dot) com had a good tip for making poofy pants also, basically you take tights or comfy pants, then sew on extra baggy pants and stuff them with something called tulle or crinoline. It seems like it could work, except I might favor cotton or some other soft thing so I can bring my legs together and move without carrying too much weight, or spending too much money. Or I can just wear baggy pants like a champ.


SHIRT~!

I found a cool tutorial on how to make puffed sleeves on a dress. I am not making a dress, nor do I plan on making a shirt, so this tutorial will probably not be used, but its a really cute dress and if I have kids one day, or nieces/nephews, I'd like to make it!

If I wanted to use it, maybe I'd make a poofy "sleeve" that would be fit and gathered on top of a shirt I already have, and hey, I have an "aged" short-sleeve button-up shirt from concerts past I am not using! PERFECT! Just need a thin, red band to go around each arm!

SHOES~!

In my crusade to not spend $69.99 on shoes, I haven't thought about them at all... Maybe I'll go to a used shoe store and try to grab some for cheap, or I'll just wear an old pair of boots I spray painted HA!

WIG~!

I found a wig on Etsy, after asking my fellow members of the Anime Club for advice. They had great ideas... however I didn't want to spend over $30 on a wig, especially since there's probably $10 worth of shipping from China/Japan/UK/Taiwan/Pakistan/NOT USA. The wig should be prepared in 4-7 days, then it is ready for shipping! I'm quite excited!

One meter of snow-white hair! Oh dear!
Curtsey of uFashionWigs at Etsy.

SEALS~!

I'm planning on making the seals on her pants out of sticker paper, printing the designs, or fabric and using fabric paint or something. I may even velcro or iron them on, so I can wear the pants as pants or as cosplay pants, who knows.

In total, and from the artwork I have seen (many reference pictures) She has anywhere from 6-10 seals per pant leg. She also wears six bows in her hair in addition to the massive bow atop her head and two smaller ones on her boots. All these bows appear to be made from the seals also.

Yay for chicken-scratch!

 I think it would be fun to make each seal unique, so I took an index card, split it into equal parts, and drew random "seals" on each line to see what designs I could come up with.

Like Alien Pyro-glyphics! Get it, because they are fire-proof seals... ha ha ha.

I then decided to try and find the "right" size for the seals. I used my dissection kit as a size guide, since it is long and rectangular, it seems to be a good size, so I traced it out on graph paper for extra straight lines!

I found that 1.5 boxes is a good thickness for the lines, with one box between shapes. The borders of the seals will also be 1.5 boxes I think, or perhaps 2 boxes.

13x27 boxes of smelly sharpie.

SUSPENDERS N' STRAPS~!

I believe I will simply drape over and (perhaps) pin the suspenders to the shirt, since the pants have a "hakama-esque-fly-type-whatchamacallit" that the suspenders are attached to. I fear if they were actually holding up the pants, they would compress it too much and it would lose the effect of being splayed out and stiff.  I'm planning on using simple cloth for these, but I may try to borrow a pair and just make them lose.

For the arm band things, I'm likely going to use cloth, or if I can find a simple elastic band-type device I will use it.



Tomorrow my mom and I are going shopping for fabric! I believe I'm going to draft up some pants templates, perhaps suspenders, and we'll see what they have for "seal fabric."

[AB] Lets Make a Cosplay Costume!

So, activity on this blog has died down mainly because I've been lazy, but with Anime Boston approaching, I have decided to go full-out and cosplay a character, wig and everything... Maybe even colored contacts... assuming I can handle contacts in the first place.

I have always enjoyed the Touhou characters, the story, the games, and especially the music. That's when i woke up one morning and thought, "Maybe I'll cosplay one of them!" At first I thought I'd just make one of the 50+ "iconic" hats and wear one of them. With a little pressure from one of my friends and my love of making things, I decided, "Nah! This will probably be my last time to cosplay until after graduate school -assuming I get in- So lets go all out!

I thought back to the previous conventions I went to and how people would cosplay these characters... And I had a few, less-than-pleasant flashbacks. If a guy "cross-plays" one of these characters, they usually won't shave their legs, arms, nor face. Not that they have to, and many probably do it because a) its common, b) who cares as long as you're having fun, and c) who cares!

I on the other hand, want my cosplay to look decent to myself, therefore I scoured my memory and recalled a certain character who wears pants, and long-sleeves. This means I don't need to worry about thick calves full of hair popping out of a frilly skirt, and hairy armpits. Also the costume is relatively simple!

Fujiwara no Mokou, The Extra Stage boss from the 8th Touhou game: Imperishable Night.
Art by ZUN, because... ZUN

Mrs. Mokou is a pretty cool character with a sad backstory. Your aristocratic father has just been humiliated by a commoner calling herself a princess! In shame, your father becomes an empty shell. You discover an elixar of immortality, the same one the "princess" used to make herself immortal. Snatching it away before it is destroyed, you feel a surge of power and are now immortal! Still feeling pain and rage, you and the "Princess" battle to the death daily, killing each other countless times, but never truly dying. For 1300 years this has continued, like the tides... for ever, and ever... Except you can control (or rather create) fire!

So, for this costume, I will be wearing a long white wig, Poofy red pants, red shoes, a white, poofy shirt, and red suspenders. Pretty simple. The bows she sports are made from the seals on her pants.

Anime Boston is Easter weekend. A little later than I probably should have started... but with no school, I have plenty of free time!

For whatever reason, I am super-mega excited to do this! Even if it looks trash, I just wanna wear the pants of poofosity!