Cosplay Progress - Minene Uryuu Dress

I have finally started making significant progress (enough to warrant a blog post, anyway), so I give you the more-or-less complete Minene Uryuu dress!

Or Uryuu Minene. Whichever. Point being, she likes to blow shit up.

To start, I decided to order a frilly pink dress from Bodyline, because 1) I don't know how to make a dress from scratch and 2) I think I had a hidden desire to completely shred pink lace, because I did so with great pleasure.

So let me begin by saying that I ordered what I later found to be the completely wrong dress for this cosplay. Could I do it over again and save myself much anguish, I would, but instead I took advice from Tim Gunn and decided to "make it work."

Pink is not my friend. Time to take down this lace monstrosity.

It took quite a while to get all of the pink lace off the dress. Here is the result.

I'm pretty sure there was more lace than dress in that thing.

After realizing that the dress was completely not suited to this cosplay and having a brief moment of panic, Mimi had the brilliant idea that I could just turn the dress around backwards so the zipper was in the front and then just alter the neckline from there. Crisis averted! I also cut off the waist tie and altered such that it is a removable velcroed piece.

Just so.

Altered neckline and inevitable mirror picture, huzzah!

Then I had to take in the sleeves pretty heavily, they were way too wide. I used leftover scraps from the waist tie to make the hairpiece. You know what's awkward? When you walk outside to get the mail and forget you're still wearing that hair accessory.

I can stand in the bathroom and hold a camera in front of my face, too! Look how edgy I am.

I'm sorry. The sarcasm doesn't have an off switch.

So what have I learned while making this cosplay?

1) If you're going to alter clothing, make sure you get the right clothing to begin with.

2) Rulers are your friends.

2) Don't try to sew into the dress while you're still wearing it. Just... don't.

And now I just need to make socks like this. And kick Yuno in the face.

Contact and wig reviews for this cosplay will be forthcoming, mostly because 1) I want to wait as long as I can to open the contacts, and 2)I have learned from bitter experience (read: Medusa) that the less you mess with a wig, the easier your life will be.

Now it is time to work on Black★Gold Saw, also known as "how in the hell am I going to make a six foot sword out of insulation foam."

~Kathryn

Cosplay Progress - Mask Construction

What is this?  It's been forever since I've posted anything!   Sigh...I need to keep you guys updated more often.

Basically, quite a bit more has been added on to my mask since the last you've seen it.  It now more resembles Deus Ex Machina, being a bit fuller and wider than it was before, though I will let you guys examine it for yourselves.   (and sorry in advance for the blurry pics DX)

More was added to the sides, eyebrows were created (sort of) and I glued a loved paper plate to his head!

Inside view (or where I get to place my face :P)

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Here's what I got to later on in that same day.  The head was too tall, so I glued it down using another piece of cardboard.  I added a little more to the eyebrows, and finished the cheeks part.

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And here's a super sexy secret sneak peek at Mimi's armor progress :P

Well, that's it for today.
Please keep entering our giveaway contest! We really want someone to get this $20 gift certificate to Arda Wigs! XD

Thanks everyone!

-Stuart-

[[[For reference, here's a link to the last update]]]

ahh, I have not posted for a while

Stuey and I went to his sister's wedding this weekend and hence have not had anytime to either work on our cosplay or blog Q__Q.  I do, however, have some new pictures of Gachapin to share with you guys.  This is basically a wig review.

Remember this wig?  It's the wig I bought from ebay for my Eruka cosplay.  It was a very cheap wig ($24) and definitely lived up to its price.  The wig itself was thin and tangled very easily. However, it works with Eruka because she wears a big hat that covers up the very thin part of the wig.  Now, I have to somehow transform this sucker into Murumuru's hair.

I know for sure that the volume of this wig is not nearly enough and that it will be hard to make ponytails with one wig, so I ordered two LONG ponytails from Arda wigs in silver to match my current wig.

As you can see, the pony tail I got is a little big lighter than the wig I have in this picture, but in reality, they are pretty darn close.  The biggest difference is probably the quality of the ebay wig compared to Arda's.  Well, there's no comparison.  Arda's ponytail is not only silky, but also very easy to brush.  The volume of the ponytail is amazingly full but also makes it super heavy.  I might have to somehow dye the wig a little bit with a lavender colored sharpie...but we will see.

I definitely recommend ordering from Arda, however, they are a lot more expensive compared to the cheap ebay wigs.  (The ponytails were about $20 a piece with shipping)  I have also received my black rock shooter wig from Cosplaywigsusa, however, it's ponytails are not nearly as full as the ones from Arda.  I also need to figure out something in order to add some blue highlights to my black wig...any suggestions?

- Mimi -

Cosplay Progress - Mask Construction and Gloves

Ahh progress, it is nice to finally post you again, hehe.  Since my last update, I've added plenty more craft foam and hot glue to continue the formation of Deus Ex Machina's mask.  At this point, the task is a little more strategic than just gluing foam everywhere I could.   I am still constantly looking back at the reference photos to make sure I am accurate with my shapes, but through this process I am getting a better sense of how to make the angles work for me.  Mimi has offered plenty of her help in creating this mask in the form of advice and some hot gluing (even acquiring some burns in the process Q_Q).  

Anyways, here's my updated progress gallery:

Created the upper eye framework.

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Built the cheek and chin frame work. Also replaced his "tooth" under the eye framework and bent the chin.

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Also in progress news, I received some hockey gloves that I will use as a base material for my MZMA gloves.  I got the idea for using hockey gloves from this Instructables tutorial on how to make Hell Boy's RHoD. These things are HUGE on my hands, so they will work perfectly for MZMA.  I plan to cover the tops in red fun foam and maybe spray paint an orange gradient on to it afterwards, but that's just me thinking.

We cut off the BAUER logo part to make room for the craft foam that  we will use.  

The most pressing issue for these used hockey gloves is to remove their intense smell of sweat.  If anyone has any good ideas on a deodorant for these, let me know (THEY REALLY STINK!!!! X___X)

Thanks, I will keep you guys updated! :D

-Stuart-

[[[Here's a link to the next update]]]

[[[For reference, here's a link to the last update]]]

Cosplay Progress - Masks and Half-People

Getting stuff done feels good, and blogging about it feels even better, lol.  Recently I have been working on my Deus Ex Machina mask/headpiece. I have begun to collect pictures of the mask in its formation from start to beginning.  Hopefully I will be able to write a tutorial once I am finished, but for now, I will describe the process as it has been occurring.

The first step was to create a basic mask framework.  Mimi helped me shape thin strips of cardboard to my face shape and size. 

After this, the nose and chin components were built as guiding points and anchors from which to build more facial components.  Fun foam is our material of choice.

The next part is a little hard to describe, because at this point we basically just took fun foam scraps and glued them to places to help the mask take a little more form, in no specific order.  The goal for this transition was to create a little bit of "sunken-cheek" look and to connect the nose to the bottom half of the face.  This was done wonderfully with lots of help from Mimi. :D

If there's anything I have learned from Mimi in the crafting world (other than glue gun burns can hurt a lot), it's that I should think of this project as sculpting with small pieces of fun foam,and  that fun foam can be used for anything and everything.   At this point it looks like the mask could either belong to Deus, or the King of All Cosmos haha.   

The other awesome thing we did recently is to create a body form for Mimi.  She was very patient as I duct taped around her for about an hour and a half.  We followed this tutorial from Threadbanger, but used regular duct tape instead of water-activated packing tape.  

Look, it's a ghetto Saber :P

After Mimi had a couple or so layers of tape on her, we cut through the shirt and tape body mold, re-taped it together, and stuffed it with some old shirts and pants of mine.  The final result? :

A wonderfully shaped figure that Mimi will be using for future sewing and armor-related endeavors.  I call it SeMimi, because it's more of a half  Mimi than a mini-Mimi.  Hehehe.

Well, that's all for now people.  We will be sure to keep you updated on anything cosplay related, or maybe just whatever tickles our fancy for the day.  Thanks!

-Stuart-

EDIT:[[[Here's a link to the next update]]]

Hey, I want to make a post too~

Mimi and Kathryn have both announced their cosplay plans for Animazement '12, so I guess I'll be a copy cat :3

From the BRS series, I will be doing MZMA (pronounced Mazuma), the second of the Seven Apostles.

Oddly shaped sword, giant hands, non-matching boots, what's not to like? :P

  Since there aren't many pictures of MZMA beside this one, I will be using this video as a reference for any other details.  As for progress, I jumped on Mimi's wig and contacts orders and got a red wig and red contacts. We also bid on a pair of hockey gloves to use as the base for the hands.


From Mirai Nikki, I will be going as Deus Ex Machina, the deteriorating god of time and space.

I'm really liking the hair, and the large chin.

I am planning on, and currently creating, a mask for his face (no human face looks like that).   I have not quite decided what to do for his hair yet, but whatever it is, it will be awesome.  

I am really excited about this year....maybe it's because I will get to carry a huge sword and dress up as a god.  But it also might be that I feel that I will make the transition from Cosplay Noob to Sort of Somewhat Experienced Cosplayer-ish Person.  Also, if we are able to do a skit at the masquerade this year it would be AMAZING, but we'll see how that turns out.

Anyways, I'll keep you guys updated on the mask making for Deus (hopefully ending up with a progress gallery/tutorial).  If Cosplay-Vania reaches to 5000 views, I'll make a little victory composition for us :D.  Thanks Everyone!

-Stuart- 

Animazement Cosplay Plans

So our AZ plans for this year have been decided: We're doing group cosplays as characters from Mirai Nikki and Black Rock Shooter (and hopefully signing up for the Masquerade this year, which is exciting).

I had a bit of a change of heart regarding Dead Master. While her scythe is beyond awesome, the rest of her costume (read: her shoes) seemed a bit boring to me, so instead I'll be going as Black★Gold Saw, whose boots are suitably absurd:

Who wears short shorts? We do, apparently...

There is no logical reason why I should be so excited to learn how to make giant weapons. But I really, really am.

Who doesn't want armored thigh high boots, I ask you?

As for Mirai Nikki, I will be cosplaying the militant atheist terrorist who really enjoys blowing things up, Diary Holder #9 - Minene Uryuu.

Why am I always cosplaying the antagonists? I think this says something about me...

Unfortunately I will not have much time to work on the costumes for the next few weeks (curse you, MCAT!), so I can't really get started properly until March 25. Assuming my brain hasn't seeped out of my skull by that point.

But there has been some progress! I have ordered contacts (from Pinky Paradise - reviews will be forthcoming) and wigs, and I am currently still looking for a pair of high-waisted faux-leather shorts (not the easiest thing to find, mind you).

Updates will be coming...until I go into panic mode.

~Kathryn