Remember how I back in 6th April started working on Masamune's leg armors? Well, I've been slowly working on them over the last few month and now I figured I'll put all the rest of the progress in a single long follow-up post. Here goes!
Way back on 5th April I continued the leg armor work by drawing a pattern for the knee cap part of the armor. I had to make a few versions before I came up with one that seemed right. The early ones had a dent at the middle but I scrapped that idea on the final version.
The final pattern version
With the pattern at hand I took the polystyrene and cut out two pieces...
... and then came the heat gun treatment to shape the plastic.
After having shaped the knee parts of the armor I took one of the leg pieces and tried the fit against it. I had to go reshape the knee parts a few times to get them to fit as well as possible and without leaving "empty space" where the bent parts of both pieces met.
Testing the fit
Over 5th April and the two following days I was struggling with trying to find some method to glue the pieces together. I tried several different adhesives that we had available at mom's place on scrap pieces but nothing seemed to work and the despair-&-frustration meter was rising fast.
I tried hot glue, construction adhesive (?), pvc glue, epoxy resin and allround glue... and nothing worked. Fuck. :)
I kind of left it at this point for some days in frustration to try and come up with what to try now. On 23rd April I was feeling like going through hell again trying once more. I thought that if I gave the surface a rough treatment with some sand paper maybe it would maybe make a difference at how well the glues would stick. But of course before trying any glues on the actual armor parts. I had to draw some marks where the glue would sit and thus also where to sand.
Edges marked...
... and sanded.
On the same day my stepdad had been cool and bought some kind of glue that claimed it would stick to polystyrene.
Equipped with a glue that gave me hope I decided to tackle the damn plastic again, but this time trying the glue on the actual armor parts and not just scrap pieces as before. So with a helping hand from stepdad we glued the knee caps to the armor pieces at the marked lines and secured them to dry over the night.
You better be stuck together when I return... *glare*
About 24 hours later on the next day (24th April) I returned to check if the glue had done what it claimed it could and low and behold, the pieces didn't separate even after I tried to bend and put some pressure on them!
I could have been happy at this point.. but colored by the reminder of earlier gluing failures and some justified iffyness I decided to be extra-super-duper safe and reinforce the part that attaches the knee cap to the leg armor with some rivets. So on 26th April I marked where to drill the armors.
Holes marked with a pencil. There's 4 holes.
After drilling.
Actually my stepdad did this next part for me, namely inserting the rivets with a hand riveting tool.
Hand riveting tool
First we tried a rivet on scrap pieces just to check that it worked, which it did. Then we put rivets on the actual armor.
Front with rivets (surface paint cracked a bit)
Backside
I quickly realized the backside of the rivets would probably get really uncomfortable because they stick out and well, having them pressing against my legs all day in cosplay can't be a very pleasant experience. Stepdad then showed it was possible to cut off parts of the backside of the rivets if you were careful not to hit that thing in the center. He went ahead and trimmed the rivet backsides before I even knew of it some hours later while I was in my former room (this was while I still lived at mom's place)doing something else; he did it without me knowing. xD
A "trimmed" rivet backside
A few days later, on 29th April, I noticed that the paint didn't stick that well to the polystyrene. It was possible to peel it off with your nails or something semi-sharp.
Oh crap...
Again I thought that if I sanded the surface the paint would stick on better. I used some sanding paper with a very high number, super fine grit.
Preparations - sanding papers, armors and a chunk of finnfoam to wrap sanding paper around
Front leg armors front sanded
Back leg armors front sanded
I left them in this sorry state for some time because I moved away from mom's place into my own apartment and thus couldn't work on my Masamune cosplay as often as before. But on 12th May I returned to work a few hours!
Because of the earlier sanding there was dust of the spray spread over the armor surfaces and so, to clean it, I had to use white spirit.
I just used some tissue paper, put some white spirit on it and wiped the surfaces clean of dust. After that I let them dry for around 2 hours outside and then returned to recoat the fronts of all the armor pieces.
Newly sprayed coat of paint on top front sides
I left them to dry over the night because I had to leave for my apartment. It took me until 8th June before I got another chance to work on these again and when I returned mom had told me some things that sounded weird and bad. "The color is flaking everywhere." I had heard and I wasn't sure what she meant until I got there and saw the armor pieces. The fronts which I had treated and recoated earlier were as fine as ever but the backsides -which I had left completely untreated after sanding the surfaces- had pooed black flakes basically everywhere and even the slightest touch let lose a dark cloud of them!
Maximum flaking. Fuck. :)
I tried softly rubbing my finger against the flaking surface and...
... almost all of the (sanded) spray coat fell right off!
And on all the untreated back sides to boot!
Nothing to do but to let lose a few curse words mentally and give the back the same white spirit and recoat treatment I had given the front sides quite long ago.
On 24th June I decided to try them on and crossed my fingers but somehow I had a feeling it wouldn't go well. Guess if I was right? :DD
Before starting I cut out lengths of white cotton ribbon and sat down on the floor and started tying the armors on one of my legs. I started with the backside armor and at first everything seemed alright but when I started with the front armor I noticed things started screwing up. First of the armors wouldn't stay where intended and they would constantly turn to either the right or left and, secondly, the lower ties would slide down if I moved and sometimes if I didn't -.- and thus the armor would "pop out". I guess it slides down because the surface is kinda... plasticy/slippery (there's no grip) and because feet get narrower closer to the ankle. Frustrating to say the least.
Testing. Notice backside armor has "popped out" from the lower tie..
I also noticed that the backside armor had flaked some paint off in strips at the high tension bending point, the middle.
The front armor didn't flake though. I'm pretty annoyed because this means I likely have to come up with something else for the armor and I'm running short on time. I can probably still use the front piece but I would have to replace the backside armors with something with a rougher/uneven/non-slippery surface so that they won't slide around and shit. I guess I will try mutilating a roll mat...
With Desucon behind me I'm now pointing my con radar towards what's next up in the horizon and that's Skecon; the small con at Skellefteå is returning this year, a bit more summery than last time! *coughnovembercough* Placed on 5-7 July this year Skecon will be the first anime convention to kick off my con-crammed July month and god I'm looking forward to this con summer peak, the hype is flowing over like magma of molten cupcakes and sparkles!
But no anime con is as awesome if you're not donned up in a cosplay -or so I think- so here comes my cosplay plans, samurai style!
Friday
Character: Toshizo Hijikata
Series: Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan
It just couldn't possibly be the same derpily derptastic Skecon experience for me without the return of Herpkata Hijikata because last year's Hakuouki group together with Sairu-chan as Chizuhurr Chizuru and Jäätynyt Enkeli as Oppa Sannan Style Sannan was of such a legendary caliber that it must be re-experienced in all its glory! No objections!
Saturday
Character: Souji Okita
Series: Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi
Yes, a new cosplay and yes, I'm a hopeless shinsengumi nut. xD
I just need to make that armor and he'll be clear pancake for debut! Now to just start working dammit..Sairu-chan will accompany me as Suzuka Sakuraba from the same series, yay!
Sunday
Character: Kenshin Himura (Hitokiri Battousai)
Series: Rurouni Kenshin
And the weekend will be rounded up with Battousai Kenshin! I will be doing a pair cosplay with Sairu-chanas Tomoe. It will be interesting to see how long I can keep the manslayer-shouldn't-smile-face on when the company has a derp level of over ninethousand.. and it's contagious to boot. Wish me luck. xD
It's a comfortable cosplay to wear and shouldn't be much of a problem at the bus trip home either (yes, I will very likely sit 4 hours in a bus in cosplay) because the kimono and hakama aren't vintage kimono items like I often use, which means I don't have to worry so much of dirt and stuff. The most notable thing that could possibly lead to some very interesting looks and conversations though is the fact that I'll be scarface. Hope I won't need to do any explaining to the bus driver..
I'm pretty sure you all know what is coming next, am I right?
The Desucon summary of course!
I will write about all days in one single post so be prepared for a wall of awesome (and a wall of photos) coming in. You have been warned.
Thursday
Yes, my Desucon journey started already on Thursday. I didn't advance far though, just from my home to Oulu by train. I had contacted my aunt living in Oulu beforehand and asked if it's okay if I come by and sleep at her place the night between Thursday and Friday. It was okay so there I was in Kemi train station around evening time with all my con stuff in a blue suitcase and a swordbag on my back. The train trip took about one hour and I played on my Nintendo DS to pass the time. When I got to Oulu I just walked to my aunt's apartment, chilled and went to bed. Nothing special so let's get on with the Friday!
Friday
Friday morning arrived and the first rays of Desucon feels, carried by the sunshine rainy clouds, spread across one apartment in northern Finland and awakened a glimpse of con hype in an otherwise almost dead shell.. also known as a human who didn't get enough sleep.
I woke up around 07:00 in the morning and got ready to leave. I had decided with the carpoolers that we would meet at Oulu's train station around 08:00. Luckily my aunt had work starting the same time so she drove me there. At the train station I soon enough spotted the red car in the car park that was going to take me to Lahti. So I bid my aunt farewell, crammed my stuff into the car and went inside and so the ~more real~ journey to Desucon started!
About the car pooling I have nothing special to say actually, I mostly just alternated between sleeping and playing Nintendo DS and occasionally getting out of the car when the others had decided to eat or such along the way. Oh well, before I knew it Lahti didn't seem that far away anymore and so I texted Ri-kun a few times along the way to check if they were already in Lahti and when to pick me up from Sibeliustalo, also known as in front of the building Desucon would be held in.
So came the time when our red car found its way into one of Desucon's parking places and I would switch from one car into another.. namely into Ri-kun's. I said the goodbyes to the carpoolers while Ri-kun appeared to show me the way to their car - after the obligatory hugs of course.
MAH FRIEND
I and Ri-kun had booked a hotel room for us two for Desucon and so now when we were gathered we headed straight for the hotel, still having a few hours to waste before Desucon would open its doors. 10 minutes or so later we had found our hotel, called Salpakievari, nicely "disguised" as a Thai restaurant. Err, well, it seemed more like a restaurant with hotel rooms than a hotel with a restaurant anyway. If that even makes sense. xD
le hotel restaurant
(photo taken on Sunday, hence Ri-kun's western!Saitou cosplay :DD)
Inside the hotel we went to the reception desk thingy to check in and get the hotel room keys but we happened to be there at a time when their boss were soon to visit or something so, eh, we were told to wait a while in the restaurant until the visit was over. Oh well, we weren't in a hurry so we didn't really mind the extra wait and besides, we got free tea!
Free stuff is always good, heh
Before long we got the keys and our room number was 3. We walked a corridor and found our room, almost last as always. Inside the hotel room we opened our suitcases, spread out our stuff everywhere and then we changed into our Friday cosplays. We chilled in the hotel past the con's opening time (17:00) on purpose so that we wouldn't have to stand in line while it was raining outside. Kimono and rain ain't good friends man.. sure I had my umbrella but rain is still eww.
We went to the con, hmm, I think it was around 45 minutes after the
start and that was a good decision because when we got to Desucon we
could easily walk in. Oh, and my cosplay for the day was Kazuma Sohma from Fruits Basket and Ri-kun accompanied me as Kyo Sohma.
Photo by Kyuu Eturautti
At the con we just walked around together, met some friends and had our photos taken more than we both had expected. Oh, and of course I took photos of some cool cosplays too.
There really wasn't that much to do on Friday because the Dealer's hall was closed and stuff so yeah, we went back to the hotel when we felt we had seen everything for the day.
I LIED
We actually went superspeed to a random foodstore just before closing time to buy cheese doodles before we went to the hotel. Yeah. Everybody's gotta love those yellowish shapes of crispy cheesy goodness ~ But for some reason we didn't even end up opening the bag on Friday, I ate my leftover travel candies instead.. fail. x)
Hotel room night chillaxin' [feat. stuff everywhere]
At the hotel we changed out of our cosplays and spent the rest of the night talking and eventually falling asleep on the very comfy beds. I swear the temptation to jump on the beds was much greater than normal...
Saturday
And so Saturday dawned. After some lagging I managed to get up and to our joy it wasn't raining outside, which was definitely a good thing. We quickly put on random everyday clothes and headed for hotel breakfast. I must say there really wasn't much to choose from but hey, here comes the "but it's free food" so of course I would eat some yoghurt, bacon, bread and drink some juice and milk. After having had breakfast we were back in the hotel room and putting on our Saturday cosplays. For me it was shinsengumi time!
Saitou dressing in progress
While I turned into a samurai Ri-kun turned into a hobbit - Bilbo Baggins. We had decided to have a quick Bilbo photoshoot in the hotel backyard's foresty area around the car park before heading to the con. Now the photos were taken with Ri-kun's camera so I don't have them but Ri-kun posted some of them at their Desucon summary blog post, so go check it out man!
Oh well, we arrived at the con around 10:00 or something and walked around again, spotted some familiar faces and just generally chilled. I was excited when I found out I wasn't the only one cosplaying from Hakuouki; there were these 4 guys cosplaying as Saitou, Hijikata, Okita and Ibuki and ahgjfdsghj! I was really happy haha.
le Ibuki cosplayer ~
(a cosplay video with the rest of my Desucon photos is at the end of this post!)
After some hours I realized I was hungry as fuck and so a samurai and a hobbit made their way into the nearest food place! Turned out everyone else had thought the same thing at the same time as we so there were a lot of people waiting in line to Kotipizza to well, order a pizza. Me and Ri-kun quickly changed plans and headed for the foodmarket next to Kotipizza instead and I ended up just buying a small banana flavor milkshake instead. I would have bought Moomin lemonade but it was sold out! I had to try the banana one because all my life I thought Power Cow milkshakes only existed in strawberry and chocolate, god so wrong I was.
Yum ~
We then derped around some more at the con and then, well, I was hungry again. Not a wonder seeing how my last warm/proper meal was back on Thursday mid day... Back to Kotipizza we went and this time there wasn't an overlong waiting line so we headed straight inside. Seeing how Ri-kun wasn't as hungry as I was we decided on just buying one pizza and I'd give a part of it to the not-that-hungry hobbit. Our pizza of choice ended up being a pepperoni pizza with tuna. Actually, it's exactly the same one I ordered back at Desucon Frostbite 2012 that I waited forever for and when I got it in my hands my Sprite exploded all over the pizza and it was a.. former pizza. :DD This time I had better luck though, bless that. Oh, and speaking of lemonades, I went to grab myself a Mountain Dew Supernova while Ri-kun waited for our pizza to get ready because hey, Mountain Dew is yummy and I wanted to taste this new flavor.
This was taken by Ri-kun after I had returned from my buy-a-drink trip.
Notice how there's a Saitou, aka me, in the background with a perfectly placed lamp reflection face censor. xD
Waiting for pizza..
As soon as we got our pepperoni tuna pizza we headed back to Sibeliustalo to try and find some empty sitting places. Turned out there were some nice bench table things outside, next to the dock area.
Pizza tajm!
At some point I found the Kenshin cosplayer I had been looking for and so we headed out to take some crossover photos while Ri-kun went to hang around with some other peeps for a while. It was windy as hell but at least we got some pretty cool photos. I must say Anniilaugh is the best Kenshin ever. <3 It was fun to be your shinsengumi enemy of the past, heheh... ~
Oh, and I totally dumped my scarf at some point because it was a major pain in the ass to keep on; it kept smothering me, flying everywhere, sliding over my shoulders and just being a nuisance.
lolol I did some improvisation Gatotsu.. xD I couldn't take a more proper feet position because the wind was raging and I don't approve of kimono feet flashing..
After the crossover photoshooting I rejoined with Ri-kun and before long we bumped into Zero dressed as Rokuro Unno from Brave 10. We chatted for a while about a lot of things, like Närcon and stuff. I got so much more motivation to put fire on my ass so that I will finish my Masamune Date cosplay on time for Närcon now because damn, Zero will be a sad Yukimura if I don't! Can't let that happen!
Motivation boost!!
After Zero had to go I and Ri-kun walked around some more and when we were at the dock area we decided to have some photoshoots.
And because Ri-kun is just so adorable and great as Bilbo.. <3
Oh, during the photoshoots we also bumped into Jäärä, Zkitsune and the rest! It was nice to see you guys again!
Hellou Jäärä!
After the photoshoots we two just walked around some more and enjoyed the con atmosphere. When it got late we decided to leave for the hotel and spend the rest of the night hotel derping as it has become a sort of tradition to us by now. :D Oh, and Ri-kun's coolness factor increased by 100% when Bilbo put on the sunglasses unts unts unts ~
Driving, like a boss
Oh, guess what we did at the hotel this time?
Oh you crispy cheesy goodness, how I've been waiting to eat you ~
...
Ehrm. Yeah.
Sunday
And so arrived the last con day and again we woke up at 08:00 and headed for hotel breakfast. My stomach filled with the same bacons and yoghurts I changed into kimono!Rokuro.. but only for a quick photoshoot. I had figured earlier that if I would end up sitting in cosplay during the car pool back to Oulu wearing a black kimono would be less sensitive to dirt and shit than an off-white one.. and having both my eyes available would save me from eventual hazards. So yeah, I just wore Rokuro for a quick shoot in the hotel's backyard and then switched back to Saitou for the con.
We didn't shoot for long and soon enough I was Saitou again and Ri-kun western!Saitou. Double Saitous heading for the con aaaawww yeeeah! But before we left I just had to try on the Waluigi cap I bought on Saturday at the Dealer's hall for Jäätynyt Enkeli, who couldn't go to Desucon because his school's closing ceremony or whatever was on 14th June, aka Desucon's first day.
So cool bro, yo
When we arrived at the con my Saitou ponytail hairtie had derped and so Ri-kun retied it for me. We stood close to the entrance and at some point a group of Japanese girls had approached Ri-kun and asked for a photo. I didn't see when they came because I was turned facing the other way but when I did turn around they noticed I was cosplaying Saitou too and yeah, photo time! We changed a few words in English and then came the ~awesome moment~ which made me smile like a dork for the rest of the con and even now! :'D Turned out they were big Hakuouki fans and had with them this drawstring bag with random Japanese Hakuouki gashapon figures and they gave us one each ohmygodohmygod I died so much. <3 I got this adorable western!Okita. ;w;
B'awwww <3
After enough ahghdshj-ing me and Ri-kun went to the Dealer's hall again to check if there was anything new today and yes there was. One of the things I bought was this fabulous Wario t-shirt for myself:
WAHAHA
Because Wario is DA MAN >8D
Later on we went back to the dock area and I was being the cameraman again, this time photoshooting Ri-kun's western version of Saitou. Yes, I really like photographing!
photographer!Saitou at your service ~
(photo by Jäärä, taken on Saturday)
Even though I was the photographer I won't upload any of the photos here; some of them can be found at Ri-kun's blog post.. which I already linked to earlier so just scroll up a bit if you're interested!
Oh well, we ran into Ellu, Joel and their company and decided it's better if we go pick up those free cosplay parts now when we all were together than to wait until later. So everyone crammed themselves into Ri-kun's car and off we headed to city to pick up free cosplay stuff from an apartment of someone we didn't even know. :DD The whole car ride was so much fun and absolutely hilarious things were said, you guys are awesome!
The people at the back seat having fun ~
Uh, about the free cosplay stuff thing.. this one person wanted to give away their stuff for free to anyone who wanted them because otherwise they would be going to be trashed. They had informed about this at Aniki forums and I had reserved some parts for an Inu no Taisho (Inu-papa) cosplay from InuYasha because hey, my first manga and the thought to cosplay him has been stored in my brain long enough already so, eh, why not make it happen someday?
While there I also grabbed a Gaara (Naruto) gourd because no one had reserved it and hey, it was cool and deserves a second life much more than being trashed. Sure it was cracking and a bit heavy but the cracking should be fixable. It's likely I'll let my twin have it though because he has mentioned an interest in cosplaying Gaara.
Well well, back at the con Joel took some photos of us. After that we parted ways and again me and Ri-kun derped around. We went to eat some more cheese doodles outside when I felt my stomach roaring for food... yeah, cheese doodles pretty much count as food for me at a con. I know, con nutrition is the finest thing ever ~
western!Saitou and crispy cheesy goodness..
We just hung around the rest of the time and walked all over the place, chilled and talked with people we knew. When Desucon started to near its end we both started to feel laggy and sat down and awaited the con ending ceremony to finish. I would maybe have gone watching the ending ceremony had there not been a huge waiting line for it.. I don't know really but whenever there's a long line to something it pretty immediately drains out my interest to go check it out. Huge lines just puts me off somehow. *shrugs*
Laggy Ri-kun leaning on my shoulder
And so the ending ceremony finished and people started leaving Desucon... but something decided to arrive too, namely the notorious "Desucon weather" which means rain, rain and more rain. Oh, and did I say rain? :DD Yeah, it started raining a lot just when the con ended and that wasn't cool man! I then realized I would have no choice but to change out of kimono unless I wanted to brutally murder it along the way. Seeing how my suitcase was in Ri-kun's car there wasn't much to do than go get it and well, I couldn't do that myself unless I wanted to sacrifice parts of my cosplay. So well, Ri-kun being as awesome as they are went and got it for me. ;^; They came back half-soaked and I went turboo into the roomy handicap toilet to change into casual!Saitou more like my everyday clothes with Saitou's wig and make-up before the con would order everyone to get the fuck out of Sibeliustalo and out to enjoy (not) the Desu weather. They even said in the speakers "Sään tarjoaa Desucon." which translates to"Weather brought to you by Desucon."<- Yes, it's that notorious. Go figure.
I bid Joel, Ellu and the rest farewell and went with Ri-kun to their car with all my stuff in and we then drove to the other parking place to find my carpool company. We found them and then we had to move my OVER NINETHOUSAND stuffs over to the carpool car and avoid the water pools that were everywhere while we were at it. The most interesting mission was to get the Gaara gourd safely into the car. Luckily seeing how there were only two people in the backseat the gourd could be put in there and it was totally put between the couple oops. But they said it was okay because had I kept it in my lap I could barely have moved...
Gaara gourd is a bitch and it's on its way to a new home ~
(yes, that black thing is a car safety belt lol)
Oh, the gourd decided to shit out "Gaara gourd was here" cracked pieces all over the place.. there's pieces of it in Lahti, Oulu and Kemi and around my apartment... lol
On our way to Oulu
I spent most of my time sleeping and playing Nintendo DS again during the trip back to the north. Oh, and as you can tell from the photo I sat in the front, but obviously not in front of the driving wheel or
we would have been swimming in one of Finland's thousand lakes. :DD The two people in the backseat left at Jyväskylä and so me, the driver and the Gaara gourd was left. We also ate hamburgers at an ABC station along the way. I then slept some more and before I knew it we were in Oulu and there was a pretty sunset going on too!
I'd so want to have a cosplay photoshoot in a sunset like this someday..
We arrived at Oulu past midnight and I dragged my stuff to my aunt's place again where I would sleep the night. On Monday morning I woke up early and took a morning train to Kemi and well, I was a bit in a hurry to get to the train in time but I managed (read: it was late) nevertheless. Oh, and I must say people stared at me so much in the train station because of the gourd, oh god.
Well well, I bought a ticket at the train (I normally always buy tickets online) and something weird happened; when I said I wanted to buy a ticket to Kemi the train conductor asked if I was a junior.
What the hell...
I probably did that very same expression and said my age and the conductor just silently gave me a normally priced adult ticket... now when I think back at it I should just have pokerfaced and lied because he didn't check ID I would probably have gotten a lot cheaper ticket. Damn.
~~~
Alrighty then, that sums my Desucon journey up. All in all it was awesome and the only thing I can think right now is agjhdshja I want to go to a con again! ;_; Luckily there's Skecon coming up on early July so I will survive..now to return to working on my cosplays...
Oh, and here's my cosplay photo video from Desucon:
If you want your photo just tell me at what time you are and give me an email adress or something to send the photo(s) to and I will. :)
Thank you for a great con and to everyone who interacted with me! It's always such a fun surprise when someonetellsme they follow my cosplay blog at a con. :'D Oh, and if anyone survived this textwall then major creds to you! 8D
...
Wait.
This is the last thing, I promise. I'm also looking for photos of my cosplays, if you happen to sit on
some I'd be very happy to have them. You can send them to my email valkoinensamurai[at]gmail[dot]com. Thank you! ~
