August 8, 2013

Straightening synthetic hair fiber

I like to re-use and –style my wigs, even if I have a tendency to hoard them excessively. For my new project I bought some straight fiber to match my already existing wig. I was disappointed when I opened the package and saw that the presumably straight fiber was anything but straight. I really didn’t have the time to order a whole new wig and had to start a straightening project for kanelon fiber which weren’t heat resistant. I was bit horrified, even if I have straightened synthetic fibers before. Now I needed to style a really sleek and straight wig, when the troll wig was fine being bit frizzy and messy.


I used almost the same method as with the troll wig, with the difference of using gauze instead of pattern paper.

First I took a small lock of fibers and combed then through with a wig brush. Then I sprayed the lock with water and combed it again.


Then I layered the gauze on an ironing board and misted it with water. On the bottom I placed one layer of gauze and two on the top. The gauze which I used was diaper gauze, which is multi-layered compared to regular one-layered gauze. So if you are using regular gauze, be sure to fold it several times.

I set the iron first on nylon setting, but soon increased the heat to silk setting; one point.

Then I placed the fibers beneath the gauze, holding the loop on my fingers. Then I pressed the iron firmly on top of the gauze as close to fingers as I was comfortable with and pulled the fibers under the iron. This I repeated multiple times, with spraying and combing the fibers time to time. Its important not to press the iron too hard, because you don't want to stretch the fiber, only re-shape them.

On left: the half-way fold after few presses with iron. On right: the fibers with the half-way fold, straight from the package.

For some fibers I decided to iron the really annoying half-way loop/fold, especially if you’d like to make the wefts longer than half of the fiber length. It took few extra presses, but finally the fold vanished all together.

After straightening half of the fibers in the package, I sewed the wefts and handstitched them on the wig. After experimenting with iron-on interface, I’m back with sewing the fibers on tulle. I think it’s because my craft skills have improved and I have much more patience than before with wefts.

On left: wet fibers comparison; straigtened- original. On right: dried fibers comparison: straightened- original.

With straightening the results really depend on how many times you repeat the ironing process. And of course it would be ideal to buy real straight fibers in the first place. My resent purchase from Cybershop was somewhat a surprise, since the first straight fibers I bought from the company before were really silky and smooth. These seemed like crepe fiber, which was carelessly straightened. Gladly I’m a crafty person by nature, so the straightening wasn’t a big effort even it first seemed laborious. I’m still going to continue buying from Cybershop, since their customer service is awesome and this was my first let down in almost seven years.

And here is the wig almost styled, some trimming is still required. I added some length with the wefts and re-styled the whole front with removing part of the skintop and adding long bangs. The wig I used for this project has been seen on Deidara before.


I’m going to make an entry of this "no embroidery for a change, only crafting"- project soon, because... summer holiday! If you have any guesses, feel free to leave a comment!

P.S (Finns) If anyone has problems with keeping wigs on their heads and hasn’t found wig-clips anywhere, Cybershop has three different colors of them and they work miracles! I first used them with Amira’s wig, because regular pins couldn’t support the weight of that massive braid. Also Yoki used them on Fuyu’s wig, since her current Mohawk haircut provides very little fastening surface for pins.

August 7, 2013

Kawaii Karuta Roromiya Cosplay by Mon

I never think Karuta Roromiya Cosplay can be this Kawaii, unlike her lates Karuta Roromiya Cosplay photo now we can see Mon wearing a sweet pink sweater that make her 100x time kawaii-er that before, I prefer this Karuta Roromiya Cosplay photo than her previous Karuta cosplay.



I really love the pinky sweet sphere on this Karuta Roromiya Cosplay photo, i think in this Cosplay photo i Mon was not just manage to show kawaiines of Karuta Roromiya but also show us a mature version of Karuta Roromiya Character, beside that i really love her hair too, nice natural hair. if you don't know whos Karuta is,..she is main character from Inu X Boku SS anime.

Monkey D Luffy Cosplay by Deicn911

Its really hard to find great Monkey D Luffy Cosplay photo, you know I think its hard to mimic Luffy face characteristic and look fits with his personality, well at least I think Deicn911 really did great on this Monkey D Luffy Cosplay photo, although she’s a girls but she look really fits as Luffy character, also check Boa Hancock Cosplay.




Yea I know, on this two Monkey D Luffy Cosplay photo he’s not showing his face to us, but trust me Deicn911 is fits enough as Luffy I have many of her Monkey D Luffy Cosplay photo that will make you guys fall in love with luffy, I believe that guy with that black hat and blue blazer are Sabo-san, a long lost Luffy and Ace’s friend, well I got this Monkey D Luffy Cosplay by Deinc911 from her worldcosplay page. Love it.

August 5, 2013

Haku Cosplay Photo by Mon

After Singeki No Kyojin and Karuta Roromiya Cosplay photo now we got another kawaii cosplay from kawaii coser Mon, and this time she is cosing as my first favorites character on Naruto Anime series Haku (although till now i am not sure about her gender), on this Haku Cosplay photo Mon really pretty and look fits enough as the character she cosing...the best part is now im sure on this Haku Cosplay photo she is a girl.





Yea i really love this character because Haku has a sweet face and cold expression but when my friend told me that Haku is a guy! Thats ruining everything on my imagination Lol. What i really like from this Haku Cosplay photography is she look really pretty with a droping soft light from her back, and in the second Haku Cosplay, although i don’t like to see Haku’s death but the photography was manage to bring dramatic atmosphere in to this Haku Cosplay photo. Great work.

League of Legends Cosplay by Lolcos

I’ll tell the truth, i don’t know much about this League of Legends Cosplay photography, i don’t know the name of this character and also actually i don’t know whos the coser behind this awesome League of Legends Cosplay photo, beside that i already forgot from where i got this cosplay photo ^^”, so sorry for not including the coser name or the owner of this League of Legends Cosplay photography.




Well all i know is...this is one of the character from famous multiplayer online games League of Legends, i never play this game but this game surly famous among online gamers, i know some cute and smexy character from League of Legends such as Ahri, Annie and Sona.


Well its suck i don’t know whos the coser behind this stunning League of Legends Cosplay photo. But they are really awesome on playing with nice costume and photography effect.

August 4, 2013

Karuta Roromiya Cosplay : by Mon

After cosing as Christa Renz (from Singeki No Kyojin) now we can see Mon on her Karuta Roromiya Cosplay from Inu X Boku SS anime series, well i don’t know much about this anime... so let’s skip about this anime prologue, if you want to know about this anime just find out by yourself OK!, well...as well as her Shingeki No Kyojin Cosplay she also look great and Super Kawaii on this Karuta Roromiya Cosplay photo.




One thing that i know from Karuta Roromiya is,..she love Pocky, because in most Karuta Roromiya Cosplayphoto we’ll always see Pocky there, well Mon really look kawaii with that maid Costume and pinky hair, i don’t know how fits Mon as Karuta Roromiya but if you asking how kawaii she is? She got 8 from 10 (from me :D), i still have her Karuta Roromiya Cosplay photo but i’ll save that for next post. I got this Karuta Cosplay by Mon from her worldCosplay page. KawaiiI~~ 

Boa Hancock Cosplay : by Deicn911

This time I got another Boa Hancock Cosplay by Deicn911, this is not my first time i post Boa Hancock Cosplay photo by Deicn911 on MyAnimeGirls.Blogspot.com, you can find her another One Piece Cosplay Here. Actually Deicn911 is one of few coser who look fits as Boa Hancock character, you know it’s hard to cosing as pretty, smexy but still look strong, and Deicn911 has all of that.


  

On this Boa Hancock Cosplayphoto she married with luffy, wait is that possible? I don’t think luffy interested on before he become a pirates king, well whatever, i think they really enjoying Boa Hancock’s wedding but i’m sure luffy won’t share his wedding cake, that why they chasing him Lol. Well although this is not my favorites Boa Hancock Cosplay but Deicn911 really made Boa Hancock’s dream came true.

August 2, 2013

Singeki no Kyojin Cosplay : Christa Renz

This is it!... another Shingeki No Kyojin Cosplay photo from Mon, I think this is my first time I post her cosplay photo on this MyAnimeGirls.blogspot.com, but actually I already have many of her Shingeki No Kyojin Cosplay photo on my PC, she’s cosplaying as one of Racoon Corps member Christa Renz, she look really weak XD but she got a guts for joining Racoon Corps.
  

Shingeki No Kyojin anime is also known as Attack on Titan (in english), SNK is really awesome anime with a nice plot story and stunning animation, I really love to see Mikasa flying around with her 3D gear XD I bet she fly faster than USA’s F22, she look sooo cool.

Shirahoshi Hime Cosplay by Deicn911

What do you think about this Shirahoshi Hime Cosplay Photo by Deicn911?, if you think this is the best shirahoshi cosplay you should check this Shirahoshi Cosplay Photo too, you will have a hard time to decide whos the best ^^.





Well this time the coser behind this Shirahoshi Hime Cosplay is one of my favorite coser Deicn911, she really have a sweet and innocent face that make even more fits as Shirahoshi character, actually I prefer Badian-dian as Shirahoshi, she got a natural innocent expression in her Shirahoshi Cosplay photo. Actually badian-dian always look fits when she cosing as innocent 

July 30, 2013

The Best Naruto Cosplay (sofar)

This is the best Naruto Cosplay photo so far i have ever seen, i dont know why but its really hard to find Naruto Cosplay photo that suitable with my imagination about naruto character, most of Naruto cosplay always look more cuter or to ugly for naruto, but this one the coser look fits enough as naruto beside that i really like his expression, but sadly i don't know their name i found this Naruto Cosplay randomly from internet.


There is another coser too on this Naruto cosplay photo, they are look really sweet with their cosplay costume, and look fits enoug, except for Sasuke and sei cosplay XD not sure why but they're ruining my imagination about Sasuke and sei. well whatever, i know how hard to make ourself look like people's favorites character. good work guys!!

Singeki No Kyojin : Anni Leonhart Cosplay

Singeki No Kyojin Cosplay by Hana, after she manage to make Mikasa alive on her previous Cosplay photo (and make me fall in love with mikasa once again) this time we can see Anni Leonhart Cosplay photo by her, I actually feel Anni Leonhart cosplay would look more real if it is the European coser, because Anni Leonhart has a nose that is too unique to asian girl ^^.



Well at lease Hana has manage to make Anni Leonhart character more cuter that the original one (Anni always look scary with her serious face on anime), i really her proff and costume on this Anni Leonhart Cosplay photo, thats really look like a real one and also her blond hair look really pretty on Hana. i love it.

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July 11, 2013

Animecon is closing in

For first time in years we managed to pull ourselves together and attend to two summer conventions. We both had this particular weekend free and couldn’t think anything better to do. Animecon is just few nights away and we are… ready! Okay, almost ready since we still need to sew few wig clips.

With characters we chose the easy road and decided to recycle. Yoki picked Fuyu, who she portrayed the first time last spring at Desucon Frostbite. The costume includes a full length linen robe, but Yoki left it out because we are going to travel to Kuopio with train for change and linen and tight packing don’t mix. I'm afraid that also the staff seen in the photo below has to stay at home, because our ride back will be even more cramped.

Photo: Esa Ala-Petäys

I chose Saya from Blood+, but the wig is basically the only part I’m reusing. Everything else I sewed during these last weeks. I have always dreamt of making a school girl costume someday and now I managed to fulfill that dream! Saya's high school outfit contains dark pleated skirt, white shirt and red bow.


I also made the school bag for Saya based on what I could get out of the design from few frames in the anime episodes. I think it’s always better to have character loyal item to carry your stuff in and it was actually my turn to be the item holder... And I love bags.


With Saya I also was able to craft new teeth the similar way I made our troll teeth last year. I accidentally deleted the photos from the making process even if I had thought of writing an entry about them. Now with new photos I can correct my mishap in the future.


We are really looking forward to this weekend! There is so many programs we want to see and we both have carefree costumes and I'm going to bring my camera and try to recall how to take photos and it's going to be nice weather and nice people and hotel breakfast... I could go on forever, but maybe I continue after the convention. See you at Animecon!

July 9, 2013

Eleventh Doctress photoshoot 1/2



Summer seems to be the simplest time of the year to organize a photoshoot. People have so much free time on their hands, like we had. And Sunday is the perfect day to pick! There was absolutely no one anywhere when we head out for the shoot!

Our first location for the Doctress was a small rooftop parking lot. The photographer of this shoot was Karan-chan who was with us on our Lady Bot shoot two years ago and Yoki was the fez holding assistant. The rooftop is the first part of the photoshoot. I decided to split the shoot in two, because there were over 300 photos to choose from. 




The Eleventh Doctress was a costume I made last year and wore the first time at Desucon Frostbite, 2013. The costume itself I constructed based on the outfit the 11th introduces himself in. I just can’t get over that look! It's brilliant!

Even if I made the costume some while ago, I still find some things I would like to add or fix, like the red stripes on the cuffs and the golden wristwatch. Actually I have the watch; I just forgot to wear it. But I had the journal and sonic screwdriver to fill the void.




We took a bunch of running photos. With the heat, wool jacket and stockings it wasn’t the most brilliant idea, but each photo turned out great! It was hard to pick only one! Karan laughed that in each frame my arms and legs had changed position, but face was like frozen in time!


June 27, 2013

Desucon 2013 and ECC qualifiers


It’s been almost two weeks since Desucon, which was held for the fifth time at Sibelius Hall, Lahti. For me it was hands down the best Desucon ever! I competed in EuroCosplay Championships qualifiers as Amira Halgal from Otoyomegatari and placed first, which means that in October I’m going to represent Finland at the finals at London Comic Con!

I’m still slightly confused, but really happy and proud what I managed to achieve. I can only thank the judges, the competition manager and the crew, audience and all the fellow hobbyists at Desucon, who complimented my costume or just wanted to share few words before and after the competition. You have no idea how big impact your words had and still have. Seriously, I’ve been reading Tumblr notes and all sorts of blogs these past few weeks with a tissue box. But the biggest thanks I have to save for Yoki, who was my support, critique source and assistant during the making of the costume and at the competition itself.

In this post I’m going to go through our days at Desucon costume-wise. First I could actually tell what we even wore, since we didn’t reveal the costumes beforehand like we usually do. This was because we decided on some of them only a week before Desucon. In the end we packed six costumes. So six costumes with accesories and amount of stage props, which could easily decorate a small living room and everything should be fitted in one car!


By the way, the photo was taken at a point where we still had my suitcase and one suit bag left. And three human beings. In the end we were able to squeeze everything in with stacking skills trained to perfection with Tetris.

Photo: jesmo

On Friday we recycled Joxter and Muddler from Moomin. We debuted the costumes three years ago at Tracon. For second take at conventions, we didn’t need to do much with them, which was actually one of the reasons we chose them. There was so much going on at the last week that anything more time consuming would’ve been just too stressful. The other reason was that they were a nice pair of costumes just to keep at the closet.

Joxter got a new wig, because I couldn’t find the old one anywhere and Muddler had a facelift for his shoe… socks. Yoki took away the base shoes inside the socks and stuffed them with cotton to make them look and feel softer. And we had to take Muddler’s pants in five centimeters or they would’ve been in Yoki’s ankles if someone had stepped on the tail!

One thing to say about Desucon and our Friday costumes: Finns love Moomins.


On Saturday I was naturally Amira, since the competition was held that day. Yoki wore an original character costume from her story Varjella. The character's name is Kulo Halava.

Yoki chose Kulo, because the costume was really easy to move in and it was made from natural materials, which made it breathable despite all the layers in it. During Saturday I had Yoki as my personal cosplay assistant, which basically meant tying sailor knots on my underwear which were seen briefly on stage, bringing me liquorices and juice when I needed any, checking my costume for photos, setting the stage props before the show and just being there for support. These tasks included running, kneeling and all sorts of activities, which really required a comfortable costume.

In this costume version Kulo is in his youth, which means that for the adult one Yoki will update the outfit by adding embroidery and new props.

 
Photo: Tapio Matikainen

I'm going to make a blog entry about the competition experience as whole, but I might say few words about Amira. With the costume I was able highlight the strong points in my craftsmanship and create something lifelike and true. In all, I’m really happy with the costume and the performance had an impact I wished it to have!

Even if I’m really pleased with the outfit, I’m going to fix and redo some of the accessories, because I want them to be more authentic.


One of the six planned costumes dropped out from Sunday, because after placing at the qualifiers I wanted to wear Amira instead and have more pictures taken at the photobooth. The costume I had planned for Sunday was Miss Who, female version of the 11th Doctor. 

Yoki wore battle damaged Sio Imano, who is also character from Varjella. Yoki made the costume last year and debuted it at Tracon. Even if the missing arm gave her trouble during the convention, she survived the con well singlehandedly. Yes, pun intended.

Photo: Yumi

Five year old Desucon was great, even if our schedule was mostly cosplay related. The show competition on Sunday was something to see and it gave me chills and few tears also. The winning performance was just pure gold. Congratulations for all placed competitors and also to fellow contestants from Saturday!

Desucon, thank you!

My Desucon feelings exactly! Photo: Yumi

June 21, 2013

Mikasa Ackerman Cosplay Photo by Hana

This is The first Mikasa Ackerman Cosplay Photo on this blog, i never post Mikasa Cosplay photo before because i just know Singeki No Kyojin (Attack on Titan) anime few week ago ^^", yea this anime has become one of my favorites anime till now, good story and nice visual effect on the anime make me fall in love with Singeki No Kyojin (or Attack on Titan for English fans) And...make Mikasa Ackerman as my favorites anime girls character.




Mikasa Ackerman is new recruit of human soldier but she got outstanding ability that make her as elite force at the first day she graduate, i love Mikasa with her long hair but she also look cute with short hair like on this Mikasa Ackerman Cosplay photo, stunning look real equipment and nice dark shade photographic effect make this Mikasa Ackerman Cosplay Photo look more dramatic. the cosplayer behind this awesome Mikasa Ackerman Cosplay photo is Hongkong Coser, her name is Hana. Love it.

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