February 16, 2016

Lens review: MAX Elegance Tri-Tone Violet

Hi there!

I thought I could share a circle lens review with you all meanwhile I'm scribbling together my summary about Närcon Vinter. :3
These lenses are the MAX Elegance Tri-Tone Violet that I bought from HoneyColor a while ago. As far as I know these lenses are exclusive to their site so yeah, if you want to try these then that's where you should be looking!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 15.0 mm
Water content: 55%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)



Okay so, I think most people are unfamiliar with the MAX brand of lenses or M.A.Xas it's spelled on the vials. My guess is that the name MAX stands for My Alluring X-factor (to beautiful eye) because that's what's written on the label.
I bought these lenses out of curiosity and because they were on a 50% off sale back then.

Lens on my finger with "wrong side" showing. Different indoor lights.
I don't know exactly where or what but these lenses have a design that I'm sure I've seen on another pair of contacts before or at least a veeeery similar one. Then again, the print of these is rather generic I'd say; not like it's bad but yeah, I mean it in the way that it doesn't really stick out because there's several other lenses out there that looks the same.

Lens photos incoming!
All photos taken by me during a February morning with a clear sky. There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

One lens in. This is to show enlargement.
Facing window in my apartment.
Facing the sun directly, through the window.
Natural room light indoors in my apartment. (lamps off)
Room light in my apartment. I'm standing next to a weak yellow lamp.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
The color is a nice medium or light violet that shows up quite well. The lenses have a star shaped brown design towards the pupil hole, along with small black dots in the same shape; I think this is done to make them blend in a bit better with whatever natural eye color that the user has – I have light blue-gray eyes, with an occasional greenish tint. The design is kinda generic but it's still nice in all its simplicity. The black limbal ring is narrower than on most lenses and it has an irregular "cracking" effect instead of being a fully covering bold ring; this makes the lens and the enlargement effect look more modest and not as unnatural.

The issue with these lenses is the comfort. I am highly suspecting that the right lens is defective; I've tried wearing it 5 times but every time it feels like I have dirt between my eye and the lens and it feels horrible!! The lens gives a really unpleasant scratching feeling and it makes my eye water like crazy as soon as it has settled on my pupil. It's seriously horrible to wear and I've tried cleaning and inserting it multiple times and it always feels the same. :/ I threw it away as soon as I was done taking the photos and yes, this is the reason why there's fewer pictures than normal – I just couldn't stand wearing the hurting lens at all.
It seems though like the other lens (left one) is okay to wear but it feels kinda "thick" in my eye and it feels uncomfortable at first too, although not in any painful way just the usual "I have a lens in my eye" feeling, which I dislike. I haven't tried wearing it for long but I guess I could stand wearing it for probably 2-4 hours or so. Please note though that I have dry/sensitive eyes and that comfort of each pair of lenses can be really different from person to person.

Distance photo!


Want to see other colors?
Check out this: Red, Blue

Short summary:

Color: 6/10
Nice light to medium violet color.
Design: 6/10
Basic-looking circle lens design but it's still nice in all its simplicity.
Opacity: 7/10
The colored parts of the lenses are more opaque than I was expecting – they change my eye color nicely.
Enlargement: 6/10
They do look sorta big but it's nothing crazy that grabs instant attention to your eyes.
Comfort: 1/10
Comfort is really poor, mainly because I suspect one lens is defective; it feels like I have constant dirt in my eye and it's just reaaaaally unpleasant to wear and makes my eye water like crazy. The left lens seems okay but it's not really comfortable either I feel it in my eye and it feels "thick". Comfort for the non-defective lens is around 5/10.
Naturalness: 2/10
Too big and pigmented for being realistic. Also, violet is not a natural color to begin with, lol.

Thanks for checking out my reviews! Hope this was helpful. ^^

February 8, 2016

Lens review: Beaucon Jewels Violet

Hi folks from around the globe!

Time for a circle lens review before Närcon Vinter kicks in!
Since Kenshin has violet eyes, I actually bought the Beaucon Jewels Violet solely with him in mind because I thought they'd be a very good fit for his eyes! I have to say though that I can't use these for him since the comfort is really too poor for me; I most likely won't even be able to stand half a con day wearing these. :/ It's a shame because otherwise these lenses would be really nice for him.

Oh well, let's move on with the review!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.0 mm
Water content: 45%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

The lens to the watcher's left shows wrong side out.
As far as I know Beaucon's lenses can only be found at HoneyColor that's where I bought mine, in case anyone wonders where to get these. I also want to mention that the Beaucon Jewels series has a very similar design to those very popular 'Candy' style lenses, like EOS Sugar Candy and Vassen Sakura Candy for example. The main difference between the 'Candy' lenses and the Beaucon Jewels is the diameter – the Beaucon lenses are notably smaller.

One lens in.
Much to my disappointment it became clear to me as soon as I put the first lens in that these won't be comfortable. When I had both lenses in I spent the first 10 minutes resisting all the urges to just take them off because the lenses felt really uncomfortable on my eyes, especially when I moved my gaze. They make my eyes watery and it feels like no matter how many times I clean them and re-insert them they always feel like they kinda "scratch" my eye when I move my gaze – I don't know how to explain the feeling; it's really annoying. The first 30 minutes were really unpleasant and I caught myself thinking "I just want to take these off" all the time, lol. But after that my eyes got used to them a little, sort of. I managed to wear them for 1 hour and then they suddenly just felt so dry that I went "fuck this shit" and took them out. Please note that I have sensitive and/or eyes that are often tired, which means that even though I don't find these lenses comfortable they might be hella comfy for someone else – everyone's eyes are different.

These lenses have a simple design with a thick black limbal ring and a single color that fades towards the pupil and thus creates a very nice blending look. These lenses are that perfect middleground between giving the anime look but somewhat still managing to look natural, thanks to the blending effect. 

Lens photos ahead!
All photos are taken by me during a February afternoon with a cloudy sky. All close-up photos are free from filters etc and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Facing the window (always sun side) in my apartment.
Apartment room light. I'm standing next to a lamp.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
White light in the corridor.
Yellow light in the corridor.
Yellow light in the staircase.
Outdoors with my back against the light, aka facing wall.
Outdoors, sitting under the roof, turned towards the light.
Outdoors, facing the light.
These have a light violet shade that looks pretty damn natural, actually. In some lights the violet color seems to look a bit grayish though. Nevertheless it's a lovely shade and a good choice (assuming these would be more comfortable for others) if you are looking for a violet lens that isn't too unnatural.

Distance photo!


I would really have liked to be able to use these for Kenshin's portrayal in the Tsuiokuhen OVA since I was looking for a lens with a small diameter, simple design that provides the anime eye look but still something that would not be overwhelming and too distinguished. For the OVA version I'd prefer a more subtle lens, something that doesn't jump at you but still gives that surreal look to your eyes and the color change... Man, I was really hoping for the Jewels Violet to be the one because hnnng, they'd have been so perfect! >n<;; Damn comfort getting in the way!

Want to check out more reviews of the Beaucon Jewels series? :>
I have reviewed other colors too: Brown, Pink Brown, Green
Short summary:

Color: 7/10
Lovely soft light violet shade.
Design: 8/10
Simple design but it's very likable. It works great for cosplays on which you'd prefer a smaller diameter but still want that anime eye effect.

Opacity: 7/10
Opacity is good because the lenses change my eye color notably. They do blend for a natural finish though.
Enlargement: 3/10
These are small but still gives a subtle enlargement boost.

Comfort: 2/10
These are not comfortable for me; I can't wear them for much longer than 1 hour before they dry my eyes. They also feel like they subtly "scratch" my eye when I move my gaze, no matter how well I clean them.
Naturalness: 3/10
These are surprisingly natural for being an unnatural color, but the thick limbal ring still gives them away as circle lenses.

Shiro Samurai says thanks for reading and byebye! ^.-

February 7, 2016

Battousai Kenshin – Pimpin' up the wig!

Hello peeps!

I was bored this evening/night so I just sat for a while and thought about the upcoming Närcon Vinter and my cosplays and then it hit me – now that I'll bring Kenshin out again then why don't I update him a little and give the wig a new look?
I scrolled through some old photos of my Battousai Kenshin cosplay (for reference) and it hit me that the wig looked a bit too... I don't know... "untouched", for my current taste. :/ Too straight, lol. Besides, I wanted to mess around with a wig anyway because I was soooo bored.

This is just the base wig.
Ponytail is not shown because I didn't do anything to it.
I didn't do all that much to the wig, just spiked the front and sides all over for a more unkempt anime look. :) I didn't cut it because that was already done; this was one of my early wig cutting projects back in the days, haha.

I don't know why I'm so excited to do Kenshin again, even though it's a cosplay that stems back from 2013. Well, save for nostalgy and love of the series, that is. ^^" I guess I just really like how I look as him; it's one of those few characters that I currently feel like I actually fit – you know, that feeling when you put the cosplay on and look yourself in the mirror and actually somewhat see the (likeness to the) character? Kenshin is also one of the few of my cosplays that doesn't make me horribly self-conscious either, for the same reasons as above + that I've noticed that I do muuuuch easier get successful photos taken of me when I do him, even random con photos by others!? I hate bad photos of me so much, sob sob.
I guess it's just a relief to feel like you actually can pull off some characters with whatever physical traits you were born with. I know that it shouldn't really matter and all but yeah, on some days (especially when I feel bad about myself) it's still a really big "feel good" thing for me –can't deny– and it makes me happy because most of the time I don't like how I look in a cosplay, actually...

Looking forward to Närcon Vinter! Thanks for reading my cosplay ramblings!

February 1, 2016

Närcon Vinter 2016 cosplay plans – Sword boys with sad stories!

Hello puppies!

So my first con of the year will be Närcon Vinter in Linköping, Sweden. It's held during the 12-14 February and I must say that I'm really stoked about attending! σ(≧ε≦o) I already bought the con tickets and everything else is fixed too! I haven't been to Närcon Vinter since the very first one back in 2013 – it's gonna be interesting to see how it has evolved! What makes it even more of a fresh experience is that this year they changed locations so the con will be in a different building, yay! It used to be in Anders Ljungstedts Gymnasium but now it's gonna be in Saab Arena and Sporthallen!
I will be carpooling with the best company ever – we're gonna be 5 friends in one car! >w< Our seat takers consists of me, Frozen Angel (former Jäätynyt Enkeli), Sacchan, Ronya and Hitsu. It's gonna be so awesome!

Regarding my cosplay plans I need to admit that for the longest time I was pretty damn set on what to cosplay but then, like two weeks before the con, it suddenly hit me that some really important stuff for the cosplays have yet to arrive and that I won't be able to finish some props in time. D'oh! 
So yeah, I ended up having to change my original plans almost completely, only leaving one of the characters still on the list. But without further babblings I'll get to the cosplans, here goes!

Friday


Series: Rurouni Kenshin (Tsuiokuhen OVA)
Character: Kenshin Himura (Hitokiri Battousai)

Time to let Kenshin out again! A rather comfy and fun cosplay to wear for Friday – and I can't deny that it will feel a bit nostalgic since I did cosplay him at NCV (shortening for Närcon Vinter) three years ago. :') Kenshin is one of those cosplays that I really enjoy wearing to cons because I often get funny interactions and yeah, people are more likely to come and talk to me about RuroKen etc. It's a classic series for many and I just feel all kinds of fuzzy inside when a random congoer comes up to me and tells me that they're so happy to see that someone is still cosplaying from the old classics. ;u;

Saturday


Series: Touken Ranbu
Character: Kashuu Kiyomitsu

New cosplay! I have already spoiled here at my blog that I was planning to do Kashuu's casual outfit for my next con so yeah, this should hardly be a surprise anymore. xD I think I'm starting to fall quite deep into swordboy hell but I regret nothing. I just love the designs so soooo much, okay. ;A;
I decided to put Kashuu on Saturday because I'm hoping I'll find other TouRabu cosplayers on that day since it's the main day and well, Touken Ranbu is popular right now!

 _______

That's about it. Even though the con is three days I don't plan to cosplay on the last day, aka Sunday. Sorry about it. ^^" The reason for this is mainly because the con will close it's doors around 16:00 and that I'm really not sure if I can be bothered to put on a full cosplay and, well, it would slow me down and be a bother in case our carpool group has to leave ASAP after the con closes. I'm really not the type to want to be in a 9+ hours car trip with my cosplay and all the makeup still on, ughh. I just don't want to stress as soon as the con is over because yeah, we won't have much time to waste because driving back up to the far north will take the rest of the day and, most likely, we won't even reach our first destination before midnight – especially if we actually stay at the con until 16:00.

That's my cosplay line-up for Närcon Vinter! See ya there!
Shiro Samurai says byebye!

January 28, 2016

Tsurumaru Kuninaga sword WIP – part.1

Hello geeks!

So for my coming-later-this-year Tsurumaru Kuninaga cosplay from Touken Ranbu I wanted to start by making his sword, in good time. Technically he is a sword himself so... yo dawg. x) But yeah, you get the point...
I decided to split my progress in several parts to avoid a text wall. I also want to mention that this first part, the beginning, mostly consists of me being a disaster master – everything that can go wrong went wrong, basically. Can't succeed every time. I never do anyway, who am I fooling? trolololo.

Reference image.
What I did was that this time I decided to do things a bit differently. You see, previously I've always made wooden swords from scratch but this time I decided to try the "let's modify a toy sword" approach. With that said I bought a cheapo toy katana from Partajshop and I must admit that I was quite surprised with the quality of the thing – I was expecting something really flimsy and low-end with all the parts glued on but yeah, what I got was an extremely modification-friendly plastic sword that had all the parts easily removable by just pulling them out. Said store gets both my thumbs up for their cosplay-friendly fake samurai swords! ヽ(^o^)丿

So yeah, what I started with is your generic plastic toy katana:

This is what the sword looks like straight out of the package.
This is the naked sword, all removable parts removed.
I noticed afterwards that it's for the better that I keep the part that is the "mouth" of the sheath since it provides support for when the blade glides back in. I thought I'll just cover it with worbla because it looks otherwise really cheap and fake with that overly golden color...

The sheath comes with these two "hanging loops" on each end.
I cut them off with a scissor and then sanded them flat.
I don't know how visible it is on the photos but the sword's handle came without any kind of wrappings which is a good thing because yeah, on toy katanas the wrapping always looks like complete and utter shit. No handle wrapping (aka tsukamaki) makes life easier for me because I don't have to start undoing it and neither do I have to worry about ugly glue remains. :)

I started by making the tsuba. I decided to try my hands at the sandwich method and I must say that it... didn't go quite as planned. I almost ruined my work twice but, by some miracle, I managed to save it. I want to say a few things about it because I ended up with a hilarious fail. xD You see, at first I started heating the bottom worbla piece on my freezer's lid. I had no idea what was a suitable working space for worbla because the damn tutorial didn't say a word about it so yeah, I thought that plastic shouldn't be all that bad – WRONG. My worbla stuck to it like hell (even though glue side was up) and I had to rip it off with force, to the point the whole thing got deformed, bumpy and almost tore. Seriously, don't do the same mistake.
My second thought was to use a metallic surface. The idea was good and I was on the right track but yeah, much to my disappointment I had no worbla-friendly metallic surface to work on; the closest would have been the sink/stove area on my mini kitchen but the problem was that it's way too uneven to work on. As desperate as I was I went to the common kitchen and dug through the closets and then I found a... metallic tray. It had some intricate designs on it but because it was flat I didn't think much more about it – BAD IDEA.
So, well, I did the other side of my worbla piece and –while it didn't stick as horribly to it as with the freezer– the tray had another surprise up its sleeve...

OH MY FUCKING SHIZZLE DRIZZLE .........
I swear that when I saw that the worbla had stolen the tray's print nyysijä!worbla with it I was laughing so hard that my stomach hurt. xD Thank god that it's from my apartment house's common kitchen and not my mom's – mom would soooooo have killed me. I don't think anyone even uses this tray so I should be safe, lol...
Later on it finally hit me that aluminium foil might be the best surface to work on and... guess what? Of course that's what I don't have at home. So yeah, I had to call Sacchan to fetch some for me since she was coming over to my place anyway.
I need to say that I was right – tin foil is by far the best surface to work on that I've tried so far. The worbla doesn't stick to it! I guess you learn from your mistakes. But seriously, my mishaps didn't end there, no no. You see, because I did a layered design on the craft foam I had the stupid idea that I wouldn't need to glue the detail layer onto the main piece... I guess I don't need to even say that it was a bad idea too. :) Needless to say that when I had done one side (all nicely for a change) the other side moved and the second layer (detail layer) fucked up during the bonding process. I ended up with a tsuba that is not identical on both sides and thus, because the edges don't meet, it looks like shit. I tried to save it the best I could but nothing's gonna make it identical so I just have to suck it up. Oh and guess what? I also got a horrible king-size air bubble inside the damn thing too!! I did get rid of the air bubble but I had to really press down on it with my full palm, whole body weight and use protection gloves (warm worbla is warm). The problem is that because I've used my gloves for woodwork they're damaged on the surface from all the sanding etc and yeah, of course this shit caught onto the worbla and gave it a dirty and knobbly surface. HOW MUCH BAD LUCK CAN YOU HAVE IN ONE GO? щ(ºДºщ)
Note to self: fucking glue the craft foam details onto the main foam piece before using worbla on it. It will save you from raging and screwing up your project.

My first sandwiched worbla piece done.
It's fugly but it'll suffice... I guess.
Because my apartment has no spray paint friendly area shower doesn't count and because it's cold as all hell outside I couldn't paint at home; I had to wait until I had my furniture makeover & redesign class in school on Thursdays. During said class we work in a garage and yes, my teacher totally approves that I do cosplays in school, lol. So yeah, I bought some glossy white spray paint and started spraying the sheath white. I did several coatings but –because I'm horribly impatient with waiting for spray paint to dry– I ended up with a less-than-perfectly-even surface. Oh well, I have a fair chance of getting the ugliest spots covered by random details later anyway.

My creative "where to put it to dry" solutions.
With the sheath turned white it was time to add some worbla details on it. No, just kidding – I decided to start working on the handle first. Oh boy, I need to say that I was up for some serious shit... as if it wasn't bad enough already.

Read ahead for a disastrous PU-foam story. Learn from my mistake and fucking don't do it yourself, okay? Thanks. Oh, and warning for foul language ahead. 

Okay, so after some brainstorming with my teacher and one of the, err, I guess he counts as an extra teacher/helper, we came to the solution that I should use PU-foam (aka expanding foam) to fill out the gaps of the handle. I had taken with me my barely used can of PU-foam and started shaking it and preparing it for use. But yeah, as you know my luck is as shitty as that of Donald Duck so of course nothing came out when I pressed down on the "trigger" on the straw piece that I had screwed in place. Nothing. Nada. Nope. I started twisting and turning the straw and heard some soft clicking sound and hoped that it was the "turn the nozzle to activate it" sound but nope, still no foam came. At this point I started getting both frustrated and confused so I just kept turning the plastic straw around until it fucking locked itself on the can's screwable plastic mouth piece. Fuck me. :) Now I got even more irked and because I was ashamed to go ask someone for help at this point, for such a simple thing, I decided to try and do it myself and oh lordy lord do I hate myself when I catch myself thinking like this things never end well when I don't ask for help, especially when my gut feeling tells me that I should.
Okay so, I seriously got so frustrated that I just thought that it would be a good idea to start from the beginning and so I tried to pull off the straw from its attachment point on the mouth of the can. Horrible idea, okay I accidentally ripped up the whole damn straw, with the can mouth/dispenser still attached to it. >_> They were really inseparable, lol...
Now I just had the black rubbery pipe-like thing still standing and if I peeked into it I could see the foam in the can, oops. I just felt so lost and so infuriatingly stupid and self-hating that I had no choice but to ask the extra teacher what the fuck I should do now. He just casually told me that it's possible to buy a new mouth part for the can. He also wanted to check if the foam hadn't hardened already since he said it does that after a while and, well, I had had mine for over half a year. He looked at me and said: "you can also do like this take something thin and stick it to the can! :D".

...
...
JUMALAUTA.
EI HELVETTI.
PERKELE.
KULMIKAS VITTUSAATANA.


I kid you not as soon as he poked whatever thin object into the can a loud explosion was heard across the whole garage, followed by "PFFFSSSSSCHHH" and then foam started gushing out of the can in all possible directions! It flowed so rapidly that it was uncontrollable and it ended up on the floor, into open cardboard boxes, tables, walls etc fucking everywhere, basically.
It was like trying to stop the goddamn Niagara Falls, except that it was Foamgara Falls.

Remember doing shit similar to this during chemistry class in school?
Yeah, something like that.
I swear every goddamn inch of foam came out like a mad erupting volcano from hell and it felt like it would never end. The teacher assistant guy was running around with the foam fountain in his hands and I followed after; neither of us had expected that the foam would be so, err, explosive, and we both were, quite frankly, panicking. When it finally ceased (it seriously took several minutes) I was surrounded by a sticky mess. When I looked around it finally hit me that around me were the scattered remains of my almost filled can of expanding foam; my almost unused can was all wasted and that, I tell you, made me feel wasted that was material for several cosplay projects down the drain. My jeans ended up being a sacrifice to the angry foam gods and so did my expensive winter shoes and, almost, my Sonata Arctica hoodie as well (thank god I had rolled up my sleeves!!).

This is what the can looked like once the foam explosion finally ended...
I spent several hours after class trying to salvage at least my shoes from the grip of the sticky goop of hell. I first tried to wash it with soap and water and scrubbing vigorously with one of those more robust brushes but lolnope, it didn't do shit – the brush seriously went and died before even a centimeter of the foam came off. I also got some of the foam residue on my fingers and I washed my hands thoroughly with soap 3 times during the first 15 minutes (countless times afterwards too) and rubbed my hands like no tomorrow and it barely did anything; I swear the foam residue stuck to my fingers so hard it felt like a second skin (especially when trying to peel it off), except a lot tackier – this crap is impossible to get rid off.
Regarding my shoes I sat for over an hour with a blade from an exacto knife just carving off the fucking foam, painstakingly slow, from my shoes. I was so angry I was gritting teeth and just wanted to kill something. No wait, correction I wanted to drown something in PU-foam.  
Do you know that feeling when a stupid disaster happens, that ends up costing you a lot (both in materials and time), and you just try to joke/laugh it off with your classmates but inside you are about to break down and start crying/screaming because you hate your life and your fucking constant shit luck so fucking much? That's exactly how I felt.

I got some foam where it was intended at least... very overkill though.
I think I'll gladly just end this post here because it's starting to get way too infused with my deluxe bad luck. (ノ_ _)ノ Maybe things will go better in the next episode of this project... or at least I goddamn hope so. I'm getting really sick of this Donald Duck curse that's been plaguing me for the last few cosplays, ughh.

Thanks for reading my... err... explosive foam experiences and unintentional worbla prints, I guess? xD If nothing else I hope you won't need to experience these mishaps yourself, lol.
...
I also guess it would be uplifting to hear about the not-so-successful cosplay making stories of others, so feel free to share your bad luck adventures with me so that I don't have to feel all alone in this misery, huaah.  ╮(─▽─)╭
~ Shiro Samurai out.

January 26, 2016

Touken Ranbu Kashuu Kiyomitsu's scarf and tasuki

Hello again!

My first con is closing in and I'm starting to really rush to get things done! I'm also crossing my fingers that some stuff will arrive on time, especially considering how shitty the post has been lately. One of my packages got sent back to Japan before I even got a notification that it had arrived, boo. I'm 95% certain about my cosplay plans but I can't publish them just yet because yeah, some critical stuff has yet to arrive. Sorry about that. Cosplay plans will be released as soon as possible!

One of the characters I will cosplay at the con is Kashuu Kiyomitsu's casual (aka uchiban) outfit. I sewed the scarf at mom's last Sunday. Luckily the kimono, juban and hakama I can pull directly from my kimono collection since I happen to have perfect pieces for him, haha. But yeah, the scarf I had to make and I started making it with the thought that it's gonna be a piece of cake but yeah, it took me longer than anticipated, mainly because I had problems figuring out the best way to do the tassels at the ends.

Really quickly thrown together outfit test.
(note: mirror photo! aka corpse mode)
The photo quality is shit because the sun had gone down for hours ago and yeah, I only had my crappy apartment light to count on. ._. I couldn't be bothered to dig out my juban so I just kept my long-sleeved shirt under, lol. I might do a more proper test before the con too, we'll see. Heck, I didn't even tie the hakama...

I barely took any progress photos of the making of the scarf; I was too busy trying to get it done before mom would drive me back home. I do have a few pictures to show though, but they're all taken with my cellphone so yeah, the quality is sub-par at best. ^^; Oh and yeah, my cellphone fucks up the colors real bad, lol.

Kebab arm! :DD
I found a suitable fabric in the attic and used the whole fabric width twice for the length; I made the scarf double so that it would be a bit thicker and look nice no matter which side was showing. I sewed the two pieces together and then put right sides together and sewed the scarf into a long tube. To turn the tube the right way I threaded it on my arm (I had left the ends open), like on the photo above, and just grabbed the edge and turned it around.
I had several ideas about how to make the tassels, ranging from using silk ribbon to just cutting them straight out of the fabric. Mom also did a fire resistance test on the fabric to see if we could simply just burn the edges, to keep them from fraying, but the fabric caught fire way too easily so it wasn't an option. Yeah, basically just us trying to see if there was a way to skip the tedious zigzaging part. xD
In the end I decided to cut out two separate pieces (one for each end) from the same fabric and then pre-sew the zigzag on it and then cut it up, next to the zigzag.

Put our idea to the test – it works!
I did try first to cut and then do the zigzag but oh lord, it was such a pain in the butt that I quickly went back to the original plan. Mom later came to ask me how it went and my answer was a straight "tää on perseestä mutta toimii". :DD lol

Second piece done and ready for cutting.
With the tassels done I just took the open edges of the scarf, folded them inside, put the tassel part inside and sewed the whole shit closed. It was a bit hard to get it to look nice on both sides because yeah, this fabric is the same type as the one I made the Star Wars robe from and, well, it lives its own life. I had to rip up the "underside" twice and redo it because it looked like shit. xD

Tassels pinned in place.
I realized a few days later that the tasuki I had used for Yamato no Kami Yasusada was too short to work for Kashuu. The reason is because they have it tied differently – you can see it on the official art book. Yasusada has the tasuki sleeve cord tied the usual way in the front but Kashuu has it tied in a ribbon at the back.

Touken Ranbu art book reveals Kashuu's back!
I had to ask some of my kimono friends how to tie it like that and I got some good suggestions how to make it work! I ended up having to try it several times and it was harder than I thought to get a neat bow. I will need to practise a lot more... or ask someone to tie it for me directly on the back. #lazy

I don't have any progress photos of the tasuki, except for the one below. Yeah, I decided to make a completely new one for Kashuu because I want to be accurate and hey, the fabric only cost 3 € per meter!!
I made it in school today during my handcraft class. The tasuki was made the exact same way as the scarf but because it's a lot narrower I had to use a wooden pole, to push it back to the right side, after I had sewn it into a tube.

Tasuki in tube form, half-way done with turning it back to the right side.
That's about all I have to say for this post. See ya later and thanks for reading my blog! ^^

January 22, 2016

Convention plans 2016!

Yo peeps!

I thought I could do a list of what anime conventions I have planned to go to this year. I will order the cons by an estimated date when they will happen (not in chronological order since all dates aren't even out yet). ^_^ I've been thinking about doing this kind of list as a reference to both myself and all my friends who want to know where they might have a good chance of meeting me!

 Let's go!


~ CONVENTION PLANS 2016! ~

SWE • Närcon Vinter 2016
FIN • Cosvision 2016
FIN • Kummacon 2016
SWE • Skecon 2016
SWE • Närcon 2016
SWE • Nerdcon 2016
FIN • Matsucon 2016
FIN • Tracon 2016
FIN • Kitacon 2016

And here's the "how likely I am to attend each con" list.

Närcon Vinter > SET
Cosvision > LIKELY
Kummacon > VERY LIKELY
Skecon > SET
Närcon > VERY LIKELY
Nerdcon > SET
Matsucon > VERY LIKELY
Tracon > CONSIDERING
Kitacon > SET

The scale goes like this: set > very likely > likely > considering

Please note that these can still change and that I might have missed to list a con or two; if I get sick or something I obviously won't be able to go to a con, even if it was marked "set" etc. ^^" This list is just an estimation and I reserve the right for any changes, adjustments etc. 
Cons that are not listed I have no interest in attending, or the interest is so small that I just didn't bother to list them. Oh, and Kemin mangapäivä (Kemi's manga day) is not listed because I have no clue when it is and well, you can't really consider it a convention anyway.

Thanks for checking this out and I hope to see you peeps around!
Ciao mjau!