Ichito's 'flap' pt.1

Hellou!

Pfft, today mom got my depressed ass to do something instead of being a half-dead angsty sausage in front of the computer all day. Yeah, I had a shitty day today, didn't go to school etc...
So with her help I started working on Ichito's 'flap' thingy late during the evening instead of completely wasting the day.

Sorry again for the bad lighting but here's a few photos of today's progress:

Fabric cut out. Pattern still attached.

I zigzaged all around the 'flap' so the edges won't fray while I'm painting it later...

The fabric paint I will use. Slate blue.

Testing paint on scrap fabric.

To the right is only solid blue color and to the left is blue with some white blended in at the tips. I think I prefer the blended version so I will do the 'flap' that way, it looks better... not as boring, at least I think so.

Tomorrow hopefully I will paint the real thing, it's too late already and my eyes are going afdfghsgfh on me. *yawns* So tomorrow it is.

Goodnight!

Making Ichito's kimono overcoat

Hiya!

I started this cosplay project on 31th March, meaning I have the whole April, May and beginning of June to fart out an Okita and Ichito cosplay from scratch – here goes!

Character reference.

I decided to tackle Ichito first because he is the more complicated of the two and will take longer to make. Surprisingly when I showed mom a picture of the character she went "oh god that's so pretty!". Truth be told I was pretty sure she'd be disappointed in my choice because it was yet another kimono-wearing character but nope, she wasn't. :'D

So to my joy we already had three meters of white fabric lying around in the house that I could use for his kimono overcoat thingy, I gotta admit here that I don't know what the proper name for this type of traditional garment is – hitatare? Chihaya? If anyone knows please enlighten me in the comments! I'm just gonna call it a jacket from here on to make it simple. 

I started out by cutting out the pieces needed and yeah, I forgot to take a photo of this part. But to my defense it's just straight rectangular pieces so there wasn't much to show, lol. I borrowed mom's old serger for the first time; I was scared to use it at first but gosh, this thing makes sewing so much easier! It cuts off excess fabric automatically and it makes the seams look professional and stuff; I'll need to use it more often in the future. 

The very first thing I started putting together was the large sleeves. Okay, so first mom helped me count I'm ass at math lol how many "full patterns" (read: every different "ribbon loop" before it started over again) I could fit into each sleeve. This was not easy, needed some revisions. After that was done I had to decide how close to the arm opening I wanted the ribbon to run, how big I wanted the buttonholes to be and stuff like that.

Mapping out the placement for the ribbon.

Mom helped me to check how the memory function on this black sewing machine worked, but because we couldn't find the physical manual (old machine is old) I had to search online for a machine part explanation. we couldn't find the manual we got it to work. She then set the memory function to make same sized buttonholes and showed me how to make a few and then I took over.

Making buttonholes...

... a shitload of buttonholes.

After what felt like forever my huge sleeve was filled with buttonholes. So many damn buttonholes. Despite the measurements for the hole being locked into that memory setting thing the machine wasn't consistently doing that exact lenght. I ended up getting several bad and outright wonky buttonholes were one of the sides was a lot longer and it just looked really ugly!

Case in point. :C fffuuu fffuuu

At worst I got three of these failed ones in a row and yeah, might have had a moment of rage. xD Oh well, I kept doing them anyway because I mean what else can I do? Sure I could take out the seam ripper I guess but like, ehh, I'll put it this way – I had more buttonholes with some degree of deviation than I had actually perfect ones. It would have been a lot of work and I just didn't have the patience to sit and go through with that.

It was positively trolling me, I swear.

43 buttonholes later my sewing machine's trollface arc was over. I swear machines know when to mess with you lol! But at least I got it done and could move over to the next step, which was using a seam ripper to open up the secured buttonholes. I gotta say here that I'm always hesitant to make holes in fabric, like I'm so worried I'm gonna mess it up somehow and then I'll have a literal hole in the fabric that I can't undo. That, or if the fabric would start to unravel in all directions, that would be a nightmare!

Open up all the holes carefully.

I made the slits and then threaded blue satin ribbon through them, making sure it was loose enough not to bunch up. After the ribbon was in place I just burned the ends and tied them together.

Threading through the sleeve!

After the ribbon threading was done I repeated it on the other sleeve of course too and then I attached the sleeves to the body of the garment and hemmed everything. I left the sleeves open on both sides and the body of the garment is fully open at the sides too.
Now I just had to do those chest cord decoration thingies he has in front. I went to our outside storage and cut out a tiny square of this leather-ish plum colored fabric on which I then drew the shape of those flame/flower/whatever decorations and cut them out.

Used a template to get them identical.

I attached each cut-out to a piece of the same satin ribbon by sewing them on. In hindsight I should have handsewn them on because sadly the presser foot left marks on the leathery surface. :( It's not too noticeable on a quick glance but it feels like something that could easily have been avoided and I guess that's what bothers me about it. Oh well, it's always easy to be smart after the unsmart part, lolol.

Assembled tie decorations.

I sewed them onto each side of the front collar and made sure to get them to sit at the same height, wouldn't want to have asymmetry! I intentionally left them untied and not fixed so that I can just tie them whenever I'm wearing the costume. Mom did point out I could have made the ribbons longer and I kinda agree, oh well.

Ichito's jacket finished.

I like how it turned out despite the buttonhole hell episode. xD This was a good learning experience and even though it was yet another kimono garment it had enough new elements to it to be an interesting project. 

Oh, one might notice that I left the jacket's bottom straight although on the character reference the tips come down at a slight angle. I thought I'd just adjust them to look like that when worn by folding up the fabric and stuffing it under the belt. But in case that doesn't work properly I'll probably return and cut them to shape. We'll see after I do a test run.

Next up I'll do the decorative flap thingy, stay tuned!
Shiro Samurai out~

Chibicon 2012 – I found a new friend for life!

Hello!

Chibicon came and went. It was a one-day event held on 7th April at the Pohjankartano building in Oulu, Finland. I was really happy to see another con in the northern half of the country!

Before going to the con me and Jäärä, whom had come over to attend Chibicon as well, tried to take some photos together of our Bleach cosplays outside on the terrace. I did Byakuya Kuchiki and she did the blue dress version of Rukia. Despite our efforts an overwhelming majority of the photos were high on the derp scale and thus not professional enough to post, lol. We tried to get some intentionally silly shots by throwing the plushies in the air and well, of course we couldn't catch them successfully every time they came back down again and that's the story of how Wakame Taishi (aka Seaweed Ambassador) almost ended up swallowed by the snow lol.

The plushies had an eventful morning.

Once we got to the con I was quite excited – this was my first anime convention in Oulu after all. I gotta mention here also that I had never been to Pohjankartano before this and so I had no idea what to expect when I entered the convention area; I was surprised by how big and open the place was! It was somehow almost surreal to me how there could be so many anime enthusiasts at a convention this high up in the country; I had only really seen larger amount of people at the southern events and my northern standards were formed by Kitacon and Kemi's manga day, which felt small now when compared to Chibicon. Of course I don't mean to imply here that Chibicon is the size of Närcon (where I was last year) or something like that! It just wasn't very chibi to me, lol. Or it could be that the open layout of Pohjankartano made it seem a lot busier than it was.


Anyways I had a good time at the convention. Although I was I guess expecting there to be more cosplayers? There was of course a decent amount, nothing crazy. I don't particularly remember what I did aside from just hanging around and stumbling upon new people to befriend! I met a tall guy in the stairs called Karri who seemed like a cool bloke and I was also excited to see some people cosplaying from InuYasha, one of my favorite series! Oh and speaking of InuYasha, I met the cutest little Rin cosplayer, Sallukka, who complimented my Byakuya cosplay and we quickly took to bonding over shared fandoms! In no time had we built up the foundations of a budding friendship and I was so excited over having found a new friend! 

Look, I finally took a photo of the event itself! :D

Above you can see a photo taken from upstairs down towards the main area of the con – where all the vendors and stuff were. I think they call this the Dealer's Hall in English? One could find the standard anime con merchandise here: mangas, plushies, figurines, doujinshis and a booth for ramune and other Japanese treats. I didn't buy anything this time because I'm saving money for the summer cons. :') I have to practice self-restraint, lol.

I also went and watched the FFFight and it was entertaining although I did notice the same people participating twice...? *shrugs* Maybe it's allowed, I don't know? Oh well, I like the concept of Final Fantasy Fight and it's always entertaining to watch. :D I also attended a Sengoku Basara panel which was nice.

Before you know it the day's almost over – time flies when you have fun they say, and that's so true! I really hope there's gonna be more Chibicons held in the future because I definitely want to return to this place again!

Tired Byakuya in the back of the car. 

I left in high spirits, albeit a bit tired. The hype crash is real.
I had a ride back home so I didn't have to take the train, which was nice as I was still in cosplay on the way home; every cosplayer knows that using public transport while dressed up can be quite an interesting experience, lol. It took roughly one hour on the road to get back home and yeah, that's pretty much it for my Chibicon journey. 

I don't have much else to say, thanks for reading!
Shiro Samurai says bye~

Desucon 2012 cosplay plans!

Hello summer-hungry geeks!

I'm super early with this cosplay lineup post but I have already decided on my appearance at the upcoming Desucon in Lahti, Finland, on 8-10 June. There's still several months to go but, as I'm making an entirely new and somewhat challenging costume for the con, I want to start it already now while I still have plenty of time (and hype!) to get it done without it being yet another last minute project.. I hope. :D

This is what my plans look like~

Friday: Juushirou Ukitake from Bleach

Saturday: Ichito from Asaki, Yumemishi

Sunday: Souji Okita from Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

I'm bringing my signature captain Ukitake cosplay on the first day and I will be taking the shikai twin swords with me too, woop! It seems our Finnish Bleach group decided on Friday being our group's main day – we're totally assembling once again! Gonna keep this greatness going~

When it comes to my planned Saturday cosplay I gotta say that this will be one of the most obscure cosplay choices I'll ever do and yet I don't care because I adore his design, period. Ichito is the antagonist from a visual novel game called Asaki, Yumemishi that was only ever released in Japan. I stumbled upon this character by chance when browsing online and I was immediately curious about the source. I've tried to read up on what the game is about and done my research but it's been quite limited since there's not a lot of information available in English, aside from a few scattered summary blogs. He might be a cursed undead spirit who's treading on psychopathic grounds but he looks cool and that means I want to cosplay him. Besides, I think his mystic backstory is what makes him rather intriguing because you have to piece together what happened to him through the routes of the other romanceable characters.

And for my third and final cosplay I will splurge headfirst into my latest new anime obsession and that's Hakuouki. Okita is currently one of my favorite shinsengumi members in the series, if not my favorite. I decided to do the sickbed yukata version or whatever it's called – the purple yukata he wears in bed while not doing too great. I don't know if it has an official name, probably not because I can't find anything? But anyways, this is a quick new cosplay to throw together and it should be possible to get both Ichito and this yukata version of Okita completed in time! Oh and yeah, my cosplay friend group is planning a smaller Hakuouki gathering so there's gonna be a lot of fun and derps~

That's all for this time, stay tuned for upcoming progress posts!
Shiro Samurai says bye~

Chibicon 2012 cosplay plans!

Hi everyone!

Chibicon is coming up at the beginning of next month and, after some thought, I have finally settled on my cosplay plans for the con. I don't know much about Chibicon, I've barely heard about it before but I heard an anime convention was coming to Oulu and yeah, that's enough to get my interest. xD

My original plans included bringing my Ichigo Kurosaki cosplay back but I read up on Chibicon's cosplay prop rules and it seems like they have some limits in place and well, my supreme super-sized zanpakutou would probably end up collecting dust all con day in the cloakroom and that would be kinda uncool. Very uncool. My Ichigo cosplay just isn't that impressive without the oversized butcher knife. Chibicon's rules don't like big props and that means Ichigo has to remain sulking in my closet.

So what am I cosplaying instead, then? Something else from Bleach, of course.

I'm gonna go with Byakuya's first appearance version. Anyone who has watched the anime or read the manga might remember that the first time he shows up in the series is when he arrives in the real world together with Renji in tow. What makes this version different from his standard attire is that he isn't wearing his captain's coat and instead appears in just his shinigami garbs. It's a peculiar thing, I'm not sure why the cloak was omitted but regardless this version exists canonically and that means I'm gonna cosplay it!

As much as I would like to do Byakuya's default outfit I just don't have the energy to make another captain's coat right now. I thought that this version would be a nice middle-of-the-road option where I get to do a character I really like in a version that's quick to put together and on top of that it's one that's rarely done. If ever?

I've already made those kenseikan hair pieces or, as I like to call them, "hair bananas" lol. I made them very budget-friendly by bending and stacking two layers of cardstock paper on top of each other and then using thin cardboard for the bottom and I shaped it with staples and secured it with duct tape for stability on the underside. It probably sounds incomprehensible and yeah, this was a bit of a trial and error project where I had to make do with what I had easily and cheaply accessible. During my first test run they were too big and thus troublesome to attach; I had to use strategically placed bobby pins to keep them somewhat in place. I later modified my kenseikan and now they sit a bit better and are easier to attach.. although I could still use a helping hand to fasten them, heh.

I've also made his scarf. It was very easy to do. We had this whole pretty white fabric roll at home and I wrapped several meters around my neck in front of the mirror to check the drape before commiting, lol.

I measured around 2,5 meters of that fabric (yes the whole width, huge scarf is huge) cut it out and sewed it. It feels like I'm having a whole curtain wrapped around my neck. xD I hope this thing doesn't get hot and I also hope I won't need to pin it in place lol. Damn you Byakuya and your über-precious-family-heirloom-crème-de-la-crème scarf...

That's all for now, bye!
Shiro Samurai out~

Kitacon 2012 – Headhunted into the cosplay competition

Sup!

I was at Kitacon this past Saturday, on 11th February to be precise. It's the world's most northern con at the time of writing and, heheh, it's the only con in Finland that can be considered close to me. Normally I have to travel to the other end of the country for cons so I'm really grateful that there's something I don't have to sit in a train for half the day to attend lol.

Oh shit. I realized I forgot to take photos again. :DDD

Oh well, my friend Jäärä visited me during the weekend with the culmination being going to Kitacon together. As previously Kitacon was again held in the Kulttuurikeskus building. The con was small but comfy and the atmosphere was just right! We just walked around the con and had fun and all that jazz, time flew by quickly. Maybe that's why I forgot to take photos.

At some point when we were just vibing one of the cosplay competition judges saw us and went "hey guys, you two should seriously consider entering the cosplay contest!" or something like that. We were caught offguard because we hadn't gone there with the intention to compete at all and well, I have some serious stage fright lol. We thought about it for some minutes – at first we were unsure but then we signed up anyway. A fun little detail is that they had actually just closed the registration but they made an exception for us!
We competed as a duo by the way, if it was not obvious. I was so nervous, oh my god! Me and Jäärä were the last ones (number 22) to go up on the stage. I probably looked like I was shitting myself pale while waiting in line at the backstage. I'm really not the one to stand on a stage naturally. Once at school I was shaking so bad I couldn't hold my papers in hand during an oral presentation. I have like no memories of what I did on stage but it was one of those classic 'lavajuoksu' types, meaning you walk to the stage front and strike a few poses and then you walk away so the next contestant can enter. I did relax a bit once we entered the stage together and the audience cheered loudly. We actually got second place together, which felt really nice! It felt so fancy to get a medal for cosplaying. :D

Oh I almost forgot! We ended up getting featured on a local newspaper called Pohjolan Sanomat, that was crazy!

Someone took a candid shot of me. Notice the medal!

Fun fact is that I've actually competed twice before and one of the two was at another Kitacon, but that was a one-time-only Kitacon in northern Sweden. :'D It was an even smaller event than Kemi's Kitacon and I competed with my Ichigo Kurosaki cosplay. I ended up winning second place at the time – although I think my solid wood shikai form Zangetsu did a lot of heavy lifting. xD Everybody rained compliments on that massive butter knife lol. If I recall correctly I was asked to compete during that time as well – it's almost as if there's a pattern...

I don't really know what else to say except sorry for not having any photos to show, again. I really need to get better at documenting and going to cons with blogging in mind! I get so carried away in having fun so that while I'm at the event I just forget all about my blog responsibilities, lol!

Thank you for a fun day!
Shiro Samurai out~

Kitacon 2012 cosplay lineup

Hello!

My next anime convention is going to be Kitacon in Kemi, Finland. It's held on 11th February and seeing how I live very close to Kemi it would be rather dumb of me not to attend. :D This is the fourth iteration of Kitacon and I gotta say it's so nice to have events in the north, even if it's just one-day events. Almost everything is in the south and so we poor bastards who live up here with the reindeers and stuff really miss out, haha.

I've been really into Bleach lately and I'm gonna stick to this hype for a while longer, hehe. I've considered cosplaying all canon variations of Ukitake so you can probably guess what my cosplay plans for Kitacon will be...

Yes I'm doing ponytail Ukitake, aka the Turn Back the Pendulum. I guess it's technically a new cosplay because it's a different version of the character but the only difference is basically that he has his hair tied up and the front bangs are a tiny bit longer, maybe. It's a stretch to call it new because the only thing I need to do is the hairtie lmao. Easy cosplay is easy. xD

I've already done a test run with the wig and everything tried on and err, maybe it's just me but I find I look totally awful with the hair tied back?! I can't stand how my face looks in almost every angle, feels like it brings out my worst features and it makes me horribly insecure. Oh well, I should do this version at least once so let's bite the sour apple and go. Love for the character wins.

If everything goes as planned my friend Jäärä will travel up here and do a pair cosplay with me as captain Retsu Unohana to match. She's doing the Turn Back the Pendulum version as well and will have a Minazuki plush prop! It's gonna be a lot of fun, I just know it!

That's all folks, see you!
Shiro Samurai out~