Showing posts with label advice & guidelines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label advice & guidelines. Show all posts

January 11, 2016

Contact lenses – The advice and "what not to do" list!

Hello everyone out there!

I got the inspiration to write this post after I, once again, helped someone online to find a fitting pair of circle/contact lenses for their cosplay. I tend to browse online forums and cosplay groups on Facebook etc and help out with questions about contact lenses; I like to help people and so I got the idea to do this kind of "do and do not" type of list when it comes to colored contact lenses. I hope that this will be helpful to someone out there who's about to buy their first ever colored circle lenses to their cosplay!
Oh, and if you need help with finding suitable circle lenses for a character that you want to cosplay, feel free to email* me for suggestions! But please please PLEASE provide reference images of the character (with the eyes clearly visible) because hey, I don't know every single character in existence. xD I'll try to help as best as I can! ^_^  
* = my email can be found to the left of my blog, under "About Me".

Me wearing the EOS Bubble Blue circle lenses.
The thing is that many times –both online and in real life– I've stumbled upon people who say that they've done the same things and, every time, I wish they knew better. I don't mean to be that person but I think it's important to not do any risky stuff with lenses because hey, you only have one set of eyes and if you damage them it's most often permanent. It's worth to think about.


Okay so, this post will be a mixed bag of what I've heard from people I've talked with at conventions along with information I've picked up along the years, all relevant to the use of contact and/or circle lenses. This post won't go through everything so yeah, some important stuff might very well be missing; it's just a compilation of things that I'd especially want to bring up to new contact lens users. ^_^ I hope this will help to clear out some of the question marks!

 Oh, and for those who do not know: circle lenses are contact lenses that give the illusion that your pupil is bigger than normal. They come in a plethora of different designs, colors and brands and are very popular in especially Asia. A lot of cosplayers mainly use circle lenses since they provide a more anime-esque look. Circle lenses are often available in prescription.


• Rule number 1: DO NOT WEAR CONTACT LENSES PAST THEIR EXPIRY DATE. 

I seriously can't stress this enough! >o<;; 
I've had so many encounters at conventions when I've just been casually chatting away with another cosplayer and then, when I ask them about their lenses out of pure curiosity, they tell me that they've had said pair for a couple three years or so. In some extreme cases the cosplayer says this in a nonchalant voice it's as if they think that it's no big deal. At this point I mentally always freeze in horror.
A COUPLE YEARS??!  Seriously??
It doesn't matter one shit if you've just worn the lenses a few times
or if they still feel comfortable in your eyes – if you've had them opened (aka taken out of their original packaging) they have been collecting bacteria since day one. The thing is that as soon as you take your lenses out of their bottles (or whatever package they were in) they aren't sterile anymore. Even if you change the lens cases' solution regularly, clean them properly and don't wear them every month it still won't ever cleanse them 100% and new bacteria will keep building up on the surface of the lens. If you had a magnifying glass I can tell you that you sure as hell wouldn't want to look what kind of yummy friends are on top of those 2-3 year old lenses you just shoved in your eyes... :)
Use common sense, folks. Even if you have the cheapskate mode kicking in just before the convention and/or you don't have time (or money) to order a new pair just, please, don't gamble your sight. A new pair of lenses won't cost you much more than 20$ but really, if you wear an expired pair of lenses and, if the accident was to happen, you might get an eye infection or worse and, well, those bills surely ain't gonna come cheap and you might severely damage your vision too. 
Even circle lenses that are labeled as yearly ain't no exception they won't hold forever, period. If you have a pair and, say, you open them in February 2014, it means that you should stop using them when February 2015 rolls in. Heck, I never ever nowadays wear yearly lenses for a full year, no matter how actively I use them after six months have passed I almost always throw them out, unless I know for sure that I need said pair for a photoshoot on the seventh month, lol. The reason for this is simply that I'd rather play it safe than sorry, always. I want to note though that you don't have to do as I do; I just prefer to keep a six month limit because to me it feels safe and hygienic. ^^

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• Rule number 2: DO NOT WEAR LENSES THAT ARE DEFECTIVE/HURT YOUR EYES.

Have you ever bought a pair of lenses and noticed, once you got them, that there was a visible defect on them? It can be anything from a bump to a scratch and even a torn edge. If your answer is yes then you should contact the store you bought them from and ask for a new pair or a refund. Most times the store assuming they care about their clients just as any legitimate business would should take you seriously and help you the best they can. Once a friend of mine received a defective pair and she contacted LensVillage, the shop she had bought from, and got sent a replacement lens, completely free of charge.
The thing is that sometimes a lens can be defective even if it has no visible damage or errors; I've had this happen. You notice it when you try to put in the lens in your eye and, no matter how well or how many times you clean it and/or take it out and put it back in, it still feels horrible in your eye. It can be a constant stinging feeling, it can burn, itch or feel like you have dirt between your eye and the lens etc. If it seriously feels so uncomfortable that you can barely keep your eye open and that you can't stand it for more than a few seconds then yes, you most likely received a defective lens. This is something that can happen no matter how safe and how amazing a shop/brand is. My main recommendation is that you DON'T WEAR THE LENS and do what I said above – contact the shop/seller. The reason why you shouldn't force yourself to wear the lens should be clear to everyone.
Oh and yes, it can very well happen that when you buy a pair that one lens is super comfortable and the other one is defective.

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• Rule number 3: Take care of your lenses. And your hygiene. 

By taking care I mean change the solution regularly, change the lens case regularly etc. There's plenty of recommendations and different opinions about how often one should do these things but it's all up to you to decide in the end. Personally I follow a minimum of changing the solution at least once per month, if not in use, and of course every time after use. The lens cases I prefer to change every third month. Protip: you can sterilize used lens cases by boiling them in hot water for at least 10 minutes. You should also regularly wash the lens cases with warm water and liquid dish soap to remove any dirt and debris.

Wash the case with warm water and liquid dish soap to remove dirt and debris.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_7633203_sterilize-contact-lens-case.html
Wash the case with warm water and liquid dish soap to remove dirt and debris.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_7633203_sterilize-contact-lens-case.html
Wash the case with warm water and liquid dish soap to remove dirt and debris.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_7633203_sterilize-contact-lens-case.html
Oh and yeah, every time you touch/handle your lenses you should always remember to wash your hands thoroughly – preferably with a mild soap. I also want to say that using a liquid soap is more hygienic than using a block soap. Avoid touching things that aren't your lenses, as much as possible, once your hands are clean. I also want to mention that when it comes to drying your newly washed hands I'd recommend using something that doesn't leave much "residue" on your fingers – by this I mean that if you, for example, use a towel (fabric or paper) and look closely afterwards you'll see that small dots, fibers etc might have gotten on your hands; these minimal dirts are what you'll want to avoid because they are big enough to stick to your lens and be a bother when said lens goes into your eye. If possible, air-drying your hands is the best choice but yeah, few have a machine nor the patience for that shit so if you use the fabric towel try to not brush your hands against the whole thing; limit your "area" and moves so that you get as little of the "towel fuzz" as possible.
Oh and one thing, when you open the lens case it is possible that the lens might have gotten caught or is too close to the lid somehow and yeah, when you start screwing up the lid you can, if you're unlucky, tear up the lens on the go. This has happened to a friend of mine so yeah, be careful when opening the lens cases. Lenses can also, literally, get blown off your eyes if it's really windy outside. You have been warned.

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• Rule number 4: Try to not wear contact lenses longer than 4-8 hours per day, depending on the lens.

I'll admit, I've broken this rule quite a few times. Especially at conventions.
But I generally try to not wear contact lenses for much longer than the recommended time and, if I have to, there's always eyedrops! The recommendation is mainly so that your eyes won't dry out and yeah, if your contacts dry out fast it's often a good idea to either use re-wetting drops or take them out earlier than recommended. Note: eyedrops for eyes and eyedrops for contact lenses are different. Read on the product if it's suitable for contact lenses, it should say so and if not, don't use it with contacts!
Also, if you have dry eyes to begin with it's good be mindful of signs of tiredness/dryness once you wear the lenses; I  have naturally really sensitive/dry eyes and I have days on which I find it really unpleasant to wear contact lenses, no matter how comfortable said lenses would normally be. I've seriously had my fair share of both epic win lenses that would stay comfortable for 15 hours along with those that really dried my eyes up in less than 30 minutes.
If your eyes end up really red/bloodshot after wearing lenses (especially if around the pupil) it might be a good idea to give them a rest and not wear lenses at all for the next days...

Oh, one thing more! For the love of God and all that is holy, please don't ever sleep with your contacts on. Same thing when you are at a convention and you feel sleepy, make sure you won't accidentally fall asleep if you go and lie down somewhere with your lenses still on. A cosplayer I know has dozed off without meaning to, when wearing lenses, and she really panicked when she woke up and realized what happened.

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• Rule number 5: Do not use water as a substitute for lens solution and don't try to bring dried-up lenses back to life.

This one is a no-brainer. Water and lens solution just aren't the same thing.
If you ever find yourself at a con, with a really huge need to take off your contacts, and you notice that "HOLY CRUD I FORGOT MY SOLUTION!" then yeah, using water to store your contacts in their cases might suddenly seem like a very tempting and good idea after all, you probably don't want to throw your new pair into the trash bin and neither can you keep them in your eyes. The thing with this kind of situations is that the best would of course be if you could ask someone else in the bathroom if they could possibly lend a bit of solution to you but this of course assumes that the other person is a contact lens user as well, which isn't always the case. 
I've heard of a case when someone was desperate at a convention and used water as a last resort to store their contacts temporarily; when they came home they swapped out the water for solution and thoroughly cleaned the lenses. This might be okay (I guess?) but only if you reaaaaaaaally have no other choice, especially if short-term storage only.
The reason it's normally a no-no is because water and lens solution quite obviously contain very different things; water isn't made to clean, store and maintain your lenses.
...
Contact lenses dry out without any kind of moisture around them, shrivel up and become hard and unusable; they even crack if you apply a small amount of pressure to them once fully dried out.
Oh, and don't you think that it's a good idea to just resurrect them by adding lens solution to your crispy pieces of plastic; it might work and the contacts might feel like nothing ever happened to them (yay?) but yeah, dry contacts equal no solution to protect them and that means bacterial party galore. You do the rest of the thinking. ;)
I've had a friend who did this once to a very old lens pair that had been dried up for God knows how long and, even though she miraculously avoided problems, she nowadays feels like it was a really reckless and stupid thing to do. It's a really big risk. Just don't do it. Really.


There's probably a lot more that I could add to this list but I'm not too eager to do a 10 kilometers post, haha. For those still filled with questions about how to put in lenses etc there's plenty of really good tutorials online, both by private persons and by contact lens stores. 
Also, please remember that not everyone can wear contact lenses and that visiting an optician before your first lens experience is a good idea – they can answer all your questions and concerns better than I or any other cosplayer can, that's for sure. I'm not an eye specialist or anything, just a guy who has done his research pretty well and who likes to help others. 

Before I end this post I want to recommend some circle lens stores that I've personally bought from over the years and that I have deemed to sell genuine and safe-to-wear lenses:

PinkyParadise
HoneyColor
LensVillage
Ifairycon
• Cirkellinser (Swedish) / CircleLensesEurope (Europe only)

For discount codes check the right side half of my blog, you will see all up-to-date (hopefully) discounts visible there to stores that I trust. :)

There surely is a lot more lens stores out there that are also safe but those linked above are some of my favorites and most frequented shops. ^^ Other stores I've used include, for example, CandyLens.


Please don't ever compromise your eyes – the gift of sight is not something to mess around with. If you wreck it, you lose it.

Thank you for reading!
~ Shiro Samurai out.

January 14, 2014

Guideline approach: Cosplay decision process

Hello everyone!

Now -for a change- I'm going to write about how I personally choose my cosplay candidates - also known as "how I decide on who/what to cosplay?" :'D This is mostly just for fun and yeah, I am going to list my cosplay decision process generally; this is just my way of doing it and by no means am I saying that it's the only way or something! Everyone is free to cosplay and have their own decision approaches as they see fit and all that jazz that we should know by now but hey, now I'll tell you how it works for me! .. and it might work as a sort of loose guideline for newcomers to the hobby as well. Maybe.

Get ready, here it comes!


• First things first, number 1) I need to find a character to cosplay. How do I go about doing this?

It's obvious enough for everyone and their uncle's dog - I watch anime, read manga, play video games, watch movies or do anything else where you have characters that could make my "I like this guy" meter go up. No, not in that way. Oh, and if I'm honest sometimes I tend to pick what anime to watch/manga to read partly based on if there's any interesting character designs in the source material. :-D Yeah, that feeling when you watch/read something and then first you go "oh, this character looks cool, I want to know more about them" and then later have it evolve into "I fucking need to cosplay this character because their design is fabulous and so is their personality/story/whatnot aghdsjha;sgjh". In short, don't cosplay a character that you don't care about. You will likely regret it at some point; for example not having inspiration to work on the costume and you might even have your con experience suffering because of it in the end. So yeah, choose a character that you like! (and it doesn't matter if they are popular or not)


• When I have my eyes on likable character X it's time for number 2) Do I like this character enough to want to spend time/money on making the costume?

This should be obvious because cosplays don't get magically delivered to you from the sky by the Cosplay Gods sometimes you wish they would when you have decided on what costume to make. Either you decide on busting your ass off sewing, burning your fingers with hot glue and looking for the cheapest way to make that mega-armor-futuristic-super-samurai-guy come alive or.. you order the cosplay from an online cosplay store, hire a commissioner or buy/modify ready-made clothing parts. Whichever one you choose to do (or even a mix!) they are all good approaches to get closer to your cosplay. All these options have one thing in common -at least- and that's the sad fact that you will have to open that wallet of yours. Yes, the one that saw its grim fate approaching far too quickly after you started this wonderful hobby.. according to you, that is; I'm pretty sure your wallet has been crying and befriending spiderwebs in it's echoing cave since then. Money dear, I miss you, come back soon okay? It's cold and empty in here... *sob* The silliness aside it's pretty clear that if you don't like the character enough you won't be too happy about spending your hard-earned money (and limited time on this Earth) on making the costume or well, at least I wouldn't. I know I wouldn't be too keen on spending 500+ € or something on a cosplay that I would wear just once and then have it spending the rest of its life as just another dust collector in that graveyard-y part of the wardrobe. Brrrr.
So yeah, before I think so much more about how to make/get the costume I decide if it is worth the money, time and effort for me. And rage. 


Oh, and for the love of pasta, when you have decided that the cosplay is worth it then START WORKING ON IT IN TIME. Don't procrastinate for four of the five remaining months.. even though we end up doing it anyway because little pesky procrastinator goblins live full-time in us.. or well, in me for sure.

• Okay, character X is awesome enough to be worth the last of my last savings. But money isn't the only thing, so here comes number 3) Do I have enough skills in sewing/crafting/whatnot to make this costume? (only applies of course if I decide to make the costume. Duh. But in most cases I end up making the cosplay so I'm going to take it as the default on the follow-up "guidelines")

Sure, "you won't learn much if you don't try new things" in all its glory and all that but if I know where my current limits are I'm not going to jump straight into the massacre of Complicated Small Details of Hell.. even if I would love the character enough for it to be worth the eternal tantrum-cryrages it would take to eventually finish the costume. I'd rather take it a bit safer and build up my skills over time with more and more challenging projects. Also, I guess I wouldn't be all that happy if I made a complicated cosplay that cost me half my limbs and then, a few years later, want to burn the whole thing on a bonfire because it's falling apart of bad material choices or/and crappy craftmanship. And guess what, if I still loved the character I would maybe want to remake it with my improved current skills and well.. have to pay with my remaining limbs. Wonderful.
In other words - I'm going to pick my cosplay candidates based on current skill level in addition to the love for the character/design.. which means saving the hardcore costumes for when I have hardcore skills.


• But we are not done yet! Number 4) I like this character, I have the money and the skills to make it.. what am I missing? - It's called your own comfort zone, dude.

At least for me it is a rather important thing to consider how comfortable I would feel/be in the cosplay when I finally get to wear it. It doesn't always have to be about pure physical comfort (I get it, we've all probably had that cosplay with the shoes that killed our feet..) but mental comfort as well. The most common example would be if the character is wearing an outfit that you might not feel perfectly at ease with, for example too high amount of skin showing or having their hands constantly bound or something. Sure I know some people find it more of a challenge to actually go past their comfort zones but personally I'd rather stay in mine.. for now, at least. Thing is, I've had a few instances when I cosplayed a character that I liked and everything was all fine and dandy.. until the con morning when I had to wear the costume to a place where people would be looking at me and then realize that, well, I wasn't actually at ease with how some parts of the costume looked on me or whatnot. It can be anything, really. Sometimes you just don't realize how much some small things can start to eat at you after a while. Then again, I do try to figure out what the costume will look like on me before I start working on it but sometimes you still get these not so funny "surprise, motherfucker!" moments when you just go self-conscious for reason Y and Z and, well, you are already at the con so not much you can do. Not like I've personally had a bad case but there are maybe a few costumes I've made I wouldn't wear again just yet because of comfort issues.
Make sure that the cosplay you are doing won't make you feel too uncomfortable when you actually have to wear it. Focusing too much on what is bothering you can take the fun out of wearing it - no matter if it is uncomfortable shoes, the sixpack that is shining with its lack of presence or a part of the cosplay that you think just looks unflattering on you. 


Sometimes you can fix the issues but then again, most times people won't even care/notice the smaller things that bug you as much as you do.
*lifts index finger* Not to mix things up but remember - never let things like age, gender, height, weight, skin color or anything else that you have little to no control over affect your cosplay choices, everyone can cosplay and screw the people who say otherwise!

• Guess what, guess what? We actually have another one! Bonus final number 5) With all the brainwork done, all the sewing/crafting/online shopping/waiting/thrift storing/whatever done and the cosplay is ready and the con is closing in. What now?

Okay, so you are dressed up as probably one of your favorite characters from whatever fancy you have for the moment and ready to show the world what you've accomplished and you've likely been severely sleep-deprived because of last minute sewing through the last night, but let's pretend cosplay is always wonderful, okay? So, the con is this weekend and you know that soon it's gonna be one hell of awesomeness with friends and fellow cosplayers. There's only one thing left to do - wear your cosplay with confidence, enjoy your time and remember to be a good peep to everyone else!


And when the con is over and you've survived the post-con lag and possibly depression then it's time to roll over and start anew with another cosplay to put on the table of creative.. creations. If you want to make another one just yet, that is. It's just as fine to be green in this hobby as well - recycle your cosplays as long as you find the sparkle of joy in wearing them.

Now I've told most things that I can think of for the moment and I've spammed you with Pokémon gifs and whoever actually read it all gets a virtual cookie from me! :'D I might have missed something but I'm too brainfried to think any longer and I'm freezing to death. Oh well ~

Oh, one last thing! If anyone's interested I could do a follow-up post to this one where I write more personally about what kind of characters/series appeal to me cosplay wise and make me inspired to cosplay them; personality traits, clothes, weapons and stuff like that. :'D Shout out if you want to read about this in the future and I might make it happen!

Live and cosplay guys! <3

January 9, 2013

"Help! I want to cosplay a kimono character!"

"What is this?" you probably think now.
Well, I decided to do my first 'tips and guidelines' blog post to help other people out!

Oh and hello to everyone, both old and new readers and everyone else who've stumbled upon this post! ^-^

Tetsunosuke Ichimura and Souji Okita from PeaceMaker Kurogane.
During my years of cosplaying I have several times run into people online asking the same questions about cosplaying a kimono-wearing character and what to do, how to wear it etc and I have probably just as many times given them a helping hand. That said, I've felt for some time now that I know enough about kimono in general to share my knowledge with others who want to cosplay characters wearing kimono but are lost on the way. As you probably have noticed by now I'm very biased towards cosplaying characters who don a kimono, for many reasons. But I will not talk about those reasons I will talk about something more helpful! I will share what I know, as a cosplayer and as a kimono enthusiast, what I think might be what cosplayers who look to cosplay a kimono-wearing character would like to know and also go through the most common errors I see at cons, aka a basic kimono introduction info post. I don't claim that I have any kind of ultimate knowledge I will just share what I have learned and picked up personally over the years. :)

 This will be in a kind of question and answer form to avoid a wall of text.

 Here goes! ~ 

~~~~~~~~~

1. Is there any difference on the kimono depending on the gender of the wearer?

When cosplaying a character with kimono it's important that you know the main differences between how a man –and respectively, a woman wear kimono and the differences in the garment itself.

A woman’s kimono has freely hanging sleeves that are left mostly unattached to the body of the kimono. Why the sleeves are like this is because it is better suited for the wide obi (belt) that is tied around the waist. There is also a small opening in the armpits although this, for some reason, is almost never drawn in manga/anime from what I’ve noticed. Men's kimono have the sleeves almost completely attached to the kimono, with only about 10 centimeters hanging free.
Another distinctive trait for women’s kimono is how it is worn women wear the kimono with a waist fold (called ohashori) to adjust the length to the wearer. This waist fold is located slightly under the obi. Because men wear their obi on their hips –and because men's obi is much narrowerthere is no need to have the sleeves hanging freely.

Here is a picture illustrating what I mean:

Image found on Google.
Of course if you crossplay (aka dress as a character of the opposite gender) and the character wears kimono you just wear it the same way as they do – and make sure the kimono's "gender" is the same as the character's. *points at sleeve picture above*
Same thing goes if the character crossdresses. One example is that if, let's say, a male character is crossdressing and wearing women's kimono then that's what you should be doing too, if you want to cosplay said character, that is you should do the waist fold, make sure your sleeves are open in the back and have the underarm openings etc etc.

2. Which way are you supposed to cross the collars?

Wear your kimono like a living person would, also known as always cross the collars left over right. Right over left is reserved for the dead only. I SERIOUSLY CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH. 
Don't make yourself look like a complete idiot at the con who didn't even bother to do a simple Google search to find out which way to wear the damn thing! Crossing a kimono right over left is like the biggest no-no you can do when it comes to how to wear it. Of course, if the character is actually dead (somehow) and actually wears their kimono reversed, then by all means go for it.

You know, I can honestly say that at probably every anime convention/event I've ever been to so far I've always seen at least one person donning a kimono the corpse style and it makes me cringe so bad that I can't help but do a big fat mental facepalm; I have to resist the urge to go up to that person and politely give them a short lesson on kimono knowledge. Needless to say it practically kills the cosplay for me personally, no matter how nicely sewn and perfect it is otherwise. Yes, it's one of my pet peeves. There ya go.

"I see dead people..."
(Kenshin demonstrating my inner rage face when I spot someone doin' it wrong)
Oh, one last addition to this! I've seen people saying that they have heard from someone else that men and women cross their kimono differently, aka that one sex would cross left over right and the other one right over left. That is NOT true and those who go telling others such bullshit need to check their facts before they spread false information around.  
Note: while this is how it works in our Western world (example: men's jackets are left over right, women's right over left) I want to stress that it does NOT apply to kimono or any traditional Japanese garments!!

3. How are kimono constructed?

Kimono consists of one left and right panel, front overlap panels (okumi), collar and sleeves. Kimono traditionally always have a back seam but never shoulder seams. In cosplay it's not the end of the world if you do not sew your kimono the traditional way, but it is a nice bonus if you want to at least mimic the way it's cut to have it look more authentic, so to say. You don't have to handsew the whole thing though because that's how it's traditionally done too. xD

Hard to understand what I mean?
Here is a picture (note: woman's kimono) to help you see the pieces a kimono consists of:

Image from Google.
4. "How do I wear this thing??? It seems so complicated!"

First off, look at how your character is wearing his/her/their kimono. When you cosplay you will want to wear it in a character accurate way more often than not and fictional characters tend to break and bend most real kimono dressing rules anyway. :)) But as a general rule the ideal kimono shape is like a cylinder more or less for both sexes, aka you want a straight silhouette. Traditionally women would pad their waist and even bind their breasts, if needed, to achieve a straight shape. 
Also, normally you want the kimono to fall to your ankles.

Not looking for a straight silhouette here nope, lol.
It's Kongiku from Muramasa: The Demon Blade.
There are lots of really helpful videos on Youtube showing how to put on kimono; just try searching with sentences like "kimono kitsuke for beginners" or anything like that and you should find at least some kind of video tutorials. Even if you watch videos meant for authentic kimono-wearing you'll get a better understanding on how to wear a "cosplay kimono" and have it look crisp and nice too it's not wasted knowledge! 
If you want to invest in learning how to wear a kimono try searching with these words for a start:

• kimono kitsuke (how to dress in kimono)
• ohashori (name of the waist fold on women's kimono)
• obi musubi (different knots for the belt)

There are lots of different ways to tie the obi and some fictional characters have their obi tied in a way that has no exact real-life counterpart, and thus can be a real headache to figure out. I know at least one character with their obi tied in an actual knot, but reversed, and then there's those with something completely weird going on in the back, lol. 
Luckily, many characters have their obi tied in an existing knot and I will also help you by naming a few of the different ways to tie an obi so that you can search online to find how to tie them, if you would need to.

Men's obi knots:
Kai no Kuchi musubi
Katabasami musubi

Women's obi knots:
Otaiko musubi
Tateya musubi
Fukura Suzume musubi

There are several other tying variations (especially for women) as well, just look around and you'll surely find them!

5. What fabrics are kimono made out of and what to do if the character you want to cosplay has "trims" around the collar and sleeves?

Well, first of... THEY ARE NOT TRIMS. It's very very likely that the character is wearing a juban underneath it's an under kimono meant to guard the outer kimono from being in contact with your body and thus getting stained/dirtied by body liquids etc. Usually nicer kimono are made of silk*, which is delicate and expensive, hence the need to have something shielding it from getting ruined easily. KIMONO ARE NOT MADE OF SATIN.

In most anime/manga/video games characters tend to have a white juban. It's very common for some reason.

* = I want to mention, as an extra note, that not all kimono are silk – for example farmers and such would have kimono made out of hemp. Cotton also exists, although it's not common for anything that is not a yukata. There's also the very thin summer sha and ro fabrics but those are likely not what cosplayers will want to look for. Oh and yeah, modern/newer kimono are quite often made out of polyester, so that's not technically all wrong either.

Kazuma Sohma from Fruits Basket wearing kimono, haori and juban.
However, with yukata a cotton kimono which is very informal you don't wear a juban; it's possible to "dress up" a yukata by adding a juban and other accessories though, but it's not really all that common. 
If someone wonders what a yukata is it's a light-weight, non-lined summer cotton kimono often worn to different outdoor festivals in Japan, like cherry blossom watching. Women's yukata tend to have floral prints and be colorful while men's often are more subdued in color and have geometric patterns.

Masato Hijirikawa from Uta no Prince-sama wearing yukata.
Notice the lack of juban.
But of course, when cosplaying, you most likely won't be making a silk kimono so the need to make a juban too just to have like 2 cm of the collar showing and have the sleeves peek out from inside might feel like wasted sewing work to most. It's understandable. But still, if your cosplay character of choice seems to be wearing a juban underneath then please, don't skip it. Heck, you can just make a fake kimono collar and it will give you the right look! Easy peasy and certainly looks better than having a trim of fabric running all the way down the collar, like seen on the majority of all the mass-produced Bleach shinigami outfits...

Typical online Bleach shinigami outfit.
Notice the "trims".
Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki from Bleach.
Do you notice the difference? Also on the picture with Ichigo and Rukia you can see that the white can be seen on the inside of the sleeves too. If you just used trim the inside would be black...

6. What are these different Japanese garments called? 

Kimono is actually an umbrella term meaning basically any T-shaped ankle length robe with collars and wide sleeves. That means there are different kimono types which each have a name yukata and furisode, to just name a few. Furisode are known for their very long sleeves that can be almost floor-length; you can pretty often spot a young-ish female character in manga/anime/video games who wears a furisode. Yukata kimonos are also often seen in anime it's a very casual informal cotton kimono worn to summer festivals, hot springs, possible sleepwear and the like. Yukata are the only kimono to which you don't wear a juban so yeah, if the character has no second collar peeking out it is likely they are wearing a yukata. 
Both men and women can wear yukata but it will have the sleeve differences and stuff I mentioned in the beginning of the post. Oh, and occasionally characters (especially males) might wear a waist/hip length jacket over their kimono that is open at the front this is called a haori and it isn't meant to be closed. Also, sleeve rules applies for men's and women's haori too, although what I've seen on authentic kimono men's haori often have the sleeves completely sewn to the haori's body. But again, look at your cosplay references first to see how their garments are.

Also, especially male characters often wear hakama. Hakama is a type of pleated pants/skirt (depending on the style, both versions exist) with long ties that are wrapped around the body and secured with different knots. Most people know them as "samurai pants". 

Regarding hakama and fictional characters I've noticed that quite many shows have a hakama-wearing guy with his hakama tied knotted in a floppy ribbon or a knot with the ends hanging free in front. This is actually not an accurate way to tie them, as far as I know, but even in famous series such as Rurouni Kenshin and Bleach you will see hakama tied like this.

Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin wearing hakama.
Oh, and regarding hakama if you plan to make hakama be sure to check out some photos of real hakama to get the hang of what they actually look like. And, please, DO MAKE PLEATS, preferably pleats that hold their form too, not just big poofy pants because it looks cheap and makes me cringe. Oh, and hakama have 5 pleats in the front and 2 in the back. There are exceptions but I won't dig into that. Don't make more pleats than that or it will look... funny. :)) Oh, and don't forget the side openings and if the character has one the backboard. Note: women's hakama don't have a koshiita (backboard) and are worn higher up than men's. Only exception is martial arts hakama on which both sexes hakama look exactly the same. 
Also, some anime/manga/video game women like Chizuru Yukimura from Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan and, occasionally, Kaoru Kamiya from Rurouni Kenshin actually crossdresses. Be mindful of these!

Chizuru Yukimura from Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan.
I guess that's the most basic things one would need to know; I might have forgotten something though. Remember to follow your character references first and adjust accordingly if needed; it's possible the character's clothing or way of wearing it might go against the normal kimono dressing rules. This is all just general guidelines, about basic kimono knowledge, to help you out with your kimono style cosplays! Some characters do wear very inaccurate or heavily modified kimono, to which these guidelines might not be of as much help. I still hope you won't be too intimidated to try to tackle any of these "kimono rule breakers" since they're a whole new level of fun experimenting to do!

For example: Nouhime from Sengoku Basara!
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I hope this was helpful to someone out there and, if you have any questions about this post or kimono and cosplay in general, feel free to contact me (my email can be found to the left of the blog) and I will try my best to answer you! I can also help you identifying what exactly a character is wearing etc. ^_^
Want to know something more about cosplaying kimono wearing characters? Send me a request and I'll see if I can write about it!
 
Thanks for reading and I hope you learned something new!
Samurai-sensei is out.