Keisuke Sannan photoshoot (aka preview!)

Yoo ~

Today I decided to put on my Sannan cosplay for a preview but it quickly turned into a cosplay photoshoot instead. I swear these glasses had something against me because, sweet lord, how hard it was to put them on! Either my head is huge or the glasses are ridiculously small (well, they are antique) because there was just no way I could get them to go over both of my ears – even just one ear was a hard task. Somehow I still managed to get them on after a lot of laughing and helping hands.
Also, I must say that wearing waraji in the snow is nothing short of suicide – my feet turned into no-feel pieces of meat at the end and the photographer even stepped on my toes at one point. xD Totally worth it because my feet aren't even visible on a single pic... *shot*
It was around 0 °C outside and a bit windy and at the end I couldn't feel my fingers anymore either (they were screaming red!) but it was actually worth it this time.

Now prepare for photo overload!

Cosplayer: Valkoinen Samurai (Keisuke Sannan)
Photographer: Jäätynyt Enkeli

Later on I put on my shinsengumi gear (haori and headband) and BOOM! More action-y pictures!

Bonus picture! 

LET'S HAVE A DRINKING GAME. I DARE YA.

...

 Well, now I'm outta here. See ya!
~ Valkoinen Samurai

SSL!Hijikata preview

Today I did a very quick Sweet School Life version Hijikata preview just to check that everything looked, well, sort-of-okay.. at least. I couldn't be bothered doing any proper cosplay make-up, except for filling in my eyebrows and some rather sloppy eyeliner and I didn't find some of my stuff at first. So yeah, I'm gonna look something like this next Saturday at Kemin mangapäivä (Kemi's manga day)!

Excuse the mess in the background..
(photo by Hasakitsuki)

Oh, I couldn't be bothered to put on violet contact lenses so I just edited my eye color on this one. Of course I will wear the contacts at the event. Nothing else to say, see you there!

Kureno Sohma preview! + Tracon

Yesterday I picked up my wig for Kureno from town and today I did a super quick preview! (aka no cosplay make-up except coloring eyebrows)
Excuse me for the huge mess in the background and yeah, mirror photo.

Yes, that's a plush bird and I'll totally carry it around!
I think it makes it easier to recognize the character ~

I actually thought I would look kind of silly because this shirt is too big for me but seriously, it's pretty much the perfect color and I found it at a second-hand store for like 1 € or something so.. I don't care! xD But with the cosplay on I figured it didn't look all that bad so okaydokay ~

Oh, and speaking of the shirt! There's barely any color pictures of Kureno -as far as I know- but as you know by now I went with the color on one of the manga's front covers showcasing him. But because in the manga he pretty much always has his shirt tucked into his pants I decided to wear it this way too.

Kureno to the left

I also plan to use my red contact lenses for Kureno (I just couldn't be bothered to wear them for the preview test..) because he has red-brown eyes and well, because my eyes aren't brown and I don't have brown contact lenses then I have to roll with red ~

Oh, hey hey also!

Tracon is closing in and I have bought myself a con ticket but it hasn't arrived yet. I'm still not 100% sure who I will cosplay on Sunday -so I won't make a cosplay plans post just yet- but I can say that Kureno will be my Saturday cosplay because there is going to be a Fruits Basket cosplay group that day!

BRS Souji Okita preview

Today a few hours ago I decided to do a quick BRS (no, it's still not Black Rock Shooter..) Okita preview because I was.. bored. I didn't bother with any make-up because I'm pretty laggy right now and stuff. Oh, and before I start there's one thing I noticed - inconsistent references!! It doesn't help that there are very few references of Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi characters available online in general but that they have to be inconsistent too.. aghjdgjs.

Haori himo.. (aka white ties that crosses at his chest)

No haori himo D<

So what do?
I dunno, I tried both variations but I'm not sure which I like more. I might be leaning towards doing the no haori himo version at Skecon because they kept moving around in derpy ways (off-center and such) and looking uncool when I had them on.. I don't know... probably because of the armor adding extra bulk..

Oh well, here's two photos. Sorry for the mess in the background, crappy lighting and yeah, mirror. I didn't put on any tabi socks or shoes by the way.. I didn't feel like searching for them..

With haori himo..

.. and without.
I swear my hakama are dark blue btw.. they just look black because of the bad lighting. ;_;

I must say the armor isn't the most comfortable to have on, at least not when sitting down. I really hope my swords won't rub against the armor so much during the con day that the red paint comes off though...

Oh, and one thing. I had problems taking the armor off. I had somehow tied the two knots at the back super tight and my twin had to free me and it took.. forever. It wasn't that far away that I would have had to have it on until Saturday because le twin started to get pissed. :DD Lesson learned: ask someone to tie a ribbon knot in the back, don't try tying it yourself. trololo

Well well, not so much more to say than that SKECON STARTS IN 3 DAYS, JAG ÄR SÅ TAGGAD!!

Rokuro preview + My Desucon journey starting soon!

Today soon after I woke up I figured this day is my last chance to do a Rokuro preview before Desucon. Sure, the eyewrap thingy isn't done but who cares? :'D  Besides, I noticed some things when I put it all on.. namely that the eyewrap isn't as long as I thought it would be; I could wrap it 2-3 times around my head which led me to the conclusion that if I was to finish it (read: fold it in half and use a straight stitch to close it) I would lose half of the original width.. and this is not so good because of the thing not wrapping as many times around as I had thought so I need the extra width to make sure it really covers my eye. Yeah. With that said I think I'll keep it "unfinished" for now. I might go buy more fabric to add length to it another time

By the way I've finally got the mirror mounted into the new apartment so now I could take some preview photos alone. Sorry about the photos being mirrored (everything is reversed..), the mess in the background and the yellow lighting. Oh well, enough rambling, le photos coming in!

I still just see Saitou with a damaged eye lol

Very chill cosplay to wear.. and everything for it is from my kimono closet w00p!
Oh, and one thing - Rokuro sports violet eyes but because of this being a Sunday cosplay I don't think I'll bother with using contact lenses. The reasoning? It would be a hassle after the con is over because I will be traveling back home north and yeah, I don't gusta the thought of wearing contacts during a long car trip or alternatively removing them in a) a crammed con toilet b) in some random gasoline station or whatnot stop along the way. Just.. no, especially considering I'm still pretty new to using contact lenses and it's so important to have clean hands and stuff. Just not worth the trouble I think.. but I will for sure wear contacts whenever I have a proper photoshoot with this cosplay someday.

Well well, seeing how my Desucon journey starts already tomorrow evening I guess it's safe to assume I won't write any more blog posts until after the con sooooo..  

SEE YOU ALL AWESOME PEOPLE AT THE CON! :DD

And now, I'm outta here. Nose turned to the south and on my stomach in 3.....2......1.......

Quick Kazuma preview + I now live in Sweden!

First off I must mention something not-so-cosplay-related but which still affects my cosplay hobby in some ways and yes, it is also important; I moved away from home the 1st May and currently live in a very small youth apartment in northern Sweden, not far from my mom's place (read: former home) in Finland. That also means that a chunk of my cosplay posts from now on, if done in my apartment, will have a semi-crappy background. I will try to do photoshoots and such at mom's place every now and then because the yard there is great as a background.. but I guess most quick previews, contact lens try-ons etc from now on will be photographed at my apartment so yeah, I'll apologize for future messy backgrounds and yellow lightings in advance. I will try to check though if there's any cool photoshoot locations close to my new apartment. :) Oh, and about the cosplay making itself I'm pretty sure I will continue to work on my cosplays at mom's place because the good sewing machines are there as well as all crafting tools and stuff. I can't really bring much stuff to my apartment because the space is very limited..

Oh, and before someone gets all worried and asks me...

 •••

I will still attend both  

Finnish & Swedish 

anime conventions/events as long as my economy allows it. 

•••

If anyone wants to help me out funding my cosplay hobby xD
I do art commissions at deviantArt:
Art Commission information ~ ^_^

•••

Oh well, I decided to do a super quick Kazuma cosplay preview sort of thing today. I didn't bother with any make-up and yeah.. now comes the yellow lighting and semi-crappy background for you all to enjoy.. not. ._. Also ignore my non-tabi socks and that I'm not wearing zori.. I will of course have the proper footwear at Desucon.

Cosplayer: Valkoinen Samurai
Photographer: Jäätynyt Enkeli 

I forgot to mention that all the items for this cosplay (kimono, juban, haori, kaku obi) are from my kimono hobby closet and by that genuine Japanese pieces.
 

And lastly a head close-up I took myself:

This hairstyle doesn't look very good on me I think; my photographer had to take quite a bunch of photos before getting anything I was at least semi-pleased with... oh well.

Not so much more to say about my Kazuma cosplay, it's awaiting its debut now.
I will try to do a Rokuro Unno (Brave 10) preview later too.

Have a nice day!

Battousai wig styling + preview!

I got my wig for Battousai yesterday and today I decided cut it. It was originally sold for another character but the color was perfect for Battousai in my eyes and it also had a short clip-on ponytail, double yay!

The wig looked like this before my scissors attacked it:

le wig in its original glory

I cut off this much hohoh

I can't say I'm all that pleased with the wig, it's decent but could have been better.. I'm still really new to wig cutting and I hesitate a lot and doubt myself, hah. Oh well, maybe I can fix it a bit better when I have more proper hair/wig cutting equipment. Oh well. With the wig cut I decided to do a cosplay preview. The sun was about to set, but it wasn't dark yet outside, so I put everything on as quick as I could manage (while still looking decent) and went out in the snow. I must say.. wearing geta in snow was... interesting...

Cosplayer: Valkoinen Samurai
Photographer: Jäätynyt Enkeli 

And those were pretty much the only decent ones.. OTL I will try to get better pictures after/during Närcon Vinter.

I find it a bit funny how when I earlier tried to be does-not-kill Kenshin I ended up looked super serious on photos and when I now cosplay Battousai I looked like I'd hug a squirrel before killing anything on most photos. Not sure if going the right way... x'D

Toshi makeup test (aka photo spam!)

 Hi all.

I got home early today so I had several hours of being home alone to derp around in cosplays and what-have-you. I've been having an urge to try on my upgraded Hijikata cosplay for quite some time now so yeah, I did it. At first I was feeling very lazy to do any makeup but after thinking about it I decided to go all out; I needed to come up with some fitting makeup for Toshi anyway. Toshi sounds cute.
I didn't even try to tie the wig into a ponytail because 1) I can't style it alone 2) even if I somehow magically managed to do a nice ponytail it wouldn't hold the shape until Kemi's manga day. Why bother? Besides, Hijikata does have his hair untied at least at the beginning of Sekkaroku's opening and in one of the game CG's so it's not terribly inaccurate either ~

OH GOD WHY is his hakama so SHORT here??? It bugs the living crap out of me... rofl

 

*nods* *nods*

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now it's time for photo spam.

Here's the results of my derping ~ 

Again most photos are mirror photos, sorry 'bout that. I dislike mirror photos because it makes kimonos go corpse mode. Eew. Also most photos are a bit blurry and my hakama knot is lolrepsderp on some photos. *facedesk*

Like a walrus :'DDD boss

I think that's my usual camera grump face. lol

I'm fabulous

Angst? I dunno..

Dirty mirror, Toshi does not approve...

I don't even

Adjusting kimono...

Onks se jotenki väärin että saan kicksit keksit tuosta ilmeestä? X'DD

Me gusta ~

 I think this is my favorite face shot:

Pfsfhgdshgf <3

 And when I thought everything was all rainbows and awesomeness...

Something's not right here...
...
.........
............
...............

"FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUCK!!1" roid rage LOL
(aka I noticed I had the swords on the wrong side.. cosplaying Saitou too much.. Orz)

I think I wanted to kick myself in the face. OTL 

Oh well, switched the swords over to the other side. and then, for some reason, I didn't get any good photos anymore – except maybe this one, lol. So typical or what?

trolololo

I also noticed later that I had completely forgot his white sword-holder-obi-whatever-thing too. Oh god, why do I fuck up with all those smaller details? Urgh. Oh well, luckily this was just a kind of 'test', as long as I don't screw up when it's the real deal (cons, events) then it's alright I guess. Still bugs me though. *shrugs* Well well, now I at least know how to do the make-up for Toshi.

And now I guess everyone wants to vomit on me if I post any more photos for now so...

Awaiting Kemi's manga day ~

When Saitou decided he needed pants too...

 Hello to everyone!

So today after a lot of "but I waaaaant to have a cosplay photoshoot today" whining to my twin he finally agreed to be my photographer, but he didn't cosplay because his next cosplay isn't quite finished yet. So I tried on my casual/plain clothes version Saitou cosplay to see that everything worked together before the coming debut at Oulun Animeseminaari and of course to, well, have a photoshoot. Duuh.

Less talk, more photos!

hakama!Saitou preview galore!

Model: Valkoinen Samurai (Hajime Saitou)
Photographer: Jäätynyt Enkeli

And well, let's say it wasn't all pleasure taking photos... we were butchered by a swarm of mosquitos. Almost. So here's a few mosquito related derp shots ~

SMACK a mosquito.. without giving a flying fuck.

Lawdy lawd my foot is itching ~ *scratch scratch*

And lastly two (more) bonus pictures because I know everyone loves random derptacular crap, heuheuheuheuhe. In the middle of the shooting I noticed there was something in my kimono sleeve and I had no memory of it at all... so I decided "fuck the shoot, I must know NOW what it is".

FFFF what the fuck is inside my sleeve??

PAPER TOWELS! OM NOM NOM NOM

What is this I don't even....

That's it, I'm outta here!