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!

Dat Animucon ticket

A pleasant surprise awaited me in the mailbox today and by that I mean a letter from Urumi's store, aka my Animecon ticket order!

It is also of the fabric style (better!) and has the standard con ticket width: 1,5 cm. No megasize 2 cm like Desucon ticket. xD This ticket also has that pull-up-black-lock-to-fasten system.. when you pull it upwards it will lock itself so that you can't pull it back.
Oh, I also noticed how very similar this year's Animecon ticket is when compared to last year's. Pretty much the same colors (except this year's has a gray inside while last year's had a more green-gray), same fonts etc.

Not so much more to say, looking forward to con summer!

A-A-A-ANIME A-ANIMECON ~

I've now bought a con ticket to Animecon!! ~

Honestly, I had no plans at first to go to Animecon in Kuopio this year because my con plans looked like this for July already:

5-7 July • Skecon 2013
25-28 July • Närcon 2013

Skecon first week and Närcon last week of July. I thought that would be enough of cons for that month.. until mom mentioned she had a big interest to go revisit Rauhalahti Spa Hotel in Kuopio this year too and well, last year we were in that hotel at the same time that Animecon was. Okay, my brain quickly put things together aaaaand..

le mom + Kuopio spa hotel + (free) car ride = ANIMECON HERE I COME

YAAY

Okay, so now my July con summer plans look like this:

5-7 July • Skecon 2013
~ 13-15 July • Animecon 2013 ~
[19-21 July • con-free weekend]
25-28 July • Närcon 2013

What to say? July is now almost filled with cons for me.. and money is sure to burn but...

New wig and more shinsengumi for the summer

Went to town after school today and picked up a new wig from the post office, heheh. I have planned to cosplay Souji Okita from Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi this summer and I'm one of those persons who tend to buy the wig almost first so, yeah. It took me quite a long time to settle on what to get because his hair is this color that seems to vary from silver to light gray-blue to white-ish blue and ahkfdsjk. Don't we all just love inconsistent references so much? lolnope

Okita from Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi

I found a few (Japanese) cosplayers who had cosplayed him and it seemed the majority had used a light blue wig.. but I personally wanted to have some white/silver in it too. I then found on eBay this rather cheap blue-white mix wig that made me go "close enough" and I went with it because hey, the cheaper the better, heh. I don't even need to cut it or anything and I finally got a reason to buy a two-color wig, hehehe ~

I really like this wig's color and it's not too thin either.. I was afraid it wouldn't have so much fibers because it was on the cheaper side. Only not-so-cool thing was that it shedded a bunch of fibers when I touched it at first so I got a bit worried. Oh well, it stopped doing that after a while of hand-combing so it's pretty okay now.

Later at home I just had to do a very quick try-on. Excuse me the yellow bathroom light. ._. I didn't bother with make-up either. I'll take better photos later when I've made the armor and stuff.

The red collar is temporary and ghetto; I just took a wide sash I had lying around, folded it in half and wrapped it around my neck and the excess I tied around my lower chest... it was uncomfortable so I'll either make a juban or a fake kimono collar later.

Oh well, I'll reveal what con I will cosplay this portrayal of Okita at later. I'll also work on him more around June or so; I need to finish Masamune Date first.

Hair cutting scissors and Kazuma wig trimming

I bought scissors for wig hair cutting from eBay some time ago and received them today. Earlier I just cut my wigs with mini scissors and well.. it worked but it wasn't the best and my hands hurt like hell if I had to cut for a longer time. I figured that if I will cut a lot more wigs in the future, which I will, so why not get some scissors actually meant for doing just that? Okay, I had my doubts buying from a cheap-ish eBay Hong Kong seller but turned out these are actually pretty sweet.. at least for someone non-professional like me who just needs 'em for a wacky hobby ~

le hair cutting scissors
(yes, I'm left-handed and these are leftie style. Haters gonna hate ~)

And with those I attacked the wig. Sure there wasn't much to cut, I just wanted to trim the bangs a little shorter because the bangs, although pretty nice, were originally of that derp-length that makes me look, well.. derp.

Wig before cutting
(sorry, flash photo)

After trimming the bangs (also layering them slightly) and trying the wig on my head it looked like this:

Excuse yellow bathroom light..
(mirror photo)

Now the bangs barely cover my eyes and thus don't look as derp anymore. I'll do a Kazuma cosplay preview later ~

Kazuma wig test

Got my wig for Kazuma yesterday. I'm at Jäätynyt Enkeli's place right now and I will stay here the whole weekend but I took with me the kimono items needed for Kazuma so that I could do a quick wig test preview while here. Oh, and this is pretty much a closet cosplay for me.. I happened to have all the clothing items for this already thanks to my kimono hobby. xD I just bought the haori and the wig.. not like he always wears a haori but it doesn't hurt to have it ~

I barely bothered with make-up and I'm not sure if I should trim the bangs on this wig a bit or not because on the manga Kazuma's hair length varies; sometimes it covers most of his eyes and sometimes it doesn't. ._. But I think I might shorten the bangs slightly because it might look better on me.

This is the only at least semi-decent photo I got and it's taken with the help of a mirror too so yeah, I'm not actually dead. lol Oh, and it's the manga version.

derp
(oh, yes, the mirror is dirty..)

Not so much more to say, if I decide to trim the wig you'll get a proper preview later.

Desucon ticket arrived!

I forgot to make a post yesterday but I will do so today instead..

Why? 

Because I got my Desucon arm band ticket in the mail!

The ticket fastens by pulling up that black lock thingy.. when you pull it upwards it will lock itself so that you can't pull it back.. aka if you put it on and tighten it you won't get it off without cutting it up. :DD

Okay, so last year I was on my first Desucon ever and back then the arm band tickets were made of paper.. this year it's fabric and well, fabric ones seem to be quite rare in Finland. Most cons in Finland I've been to have had paper arm bands (except Animecon 2012) as opposed to all Swedish cons which sported fabric ones. Then again Finnish cons send your arm band tickets in the mail while in Sweden you print out a paper receipt which you take to the con and exchange for an arm band ticket at the con place.. after standing in line for a few hours normally. Finnish cons are good because by sending the tickets home with the mail you avoid horribly slow con queues!

I must say that when I got the Desucon arm band I was like "man, this thing has been over-nourished!" because the letters on it are much bigger than what I'm used to and the whole thing is wider than the Swedish counterparts as well as the Animecon 2012 one, aka 2 cm instead of 1,5 cm. Oh well, not like I mind. x) Fabric tickets ftw! I highly prefer fabric arm band tickets over paper ones and that's because paper ones are more sensitive to damage and they wrinkle and get in bad condition much easier. I like to save and collect all my con tickets as memories so it's better if they stay in good condition longer hehe ~