The Thing That Goes Doink

Ganked from earthstar_moon

1. Reply to this post with "ICON ME!", and I will pick five of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

Her picks for me:

( Icon squee behind the cut! )

A couple anyway. These were taken by my friend Krys. I need to get the photos of me from sideshow_ericka as well. I should poke at her to have her post them to Facebook. First up is Sheena, from Tales of Symphonia.

( Behold, several large photos and explainations!! )

So.

Yesterday I went out and bought the clips for my My Little Pony ears, as well as binder rings for the tail (I also picked up one of those multi-pocket file folders for work, too, because there was no way I was writing a check for four dollars). I watched Sailor Moon as I cut the yarn to the appropriate lengths for the tail, and the tied it off around the binder ring. My biggest concern is that there will be red fuzzies all over the back of my pants, so one of things I should seriously consider buying is a lint roller, if someone hasn't packed one already.

I also started messing with the ears and barrettes, only to find that baring some serious sanding (which I do not have time for), there's no way that the ears are going to stay on the barrettes. So this afternoon I get to run out to the craft store and buy more Fimo Clay to mold ears this afternoon which actually conform to the barrettes, and then hot glue them on. Hmm...maybe I should pack the hot glue gun as well... I haven't bothered messing with Sugarberry's wig, but part of that was that she was going to be styled on the spot, rather than pre-styled.

And speaking of styling wigs, I applied another coat of gel to Sheena's bangs and forelocks, which means that hopefully they'll stay put. Otherwise I'm going to get creative with the bobby pins. (Or one of my friends will.) I did seriously consider fluffing out the ponytail, but I have no practical way of doing that. And yes, that sound you hear is me banging my head against the wall because I should have just buckled and bought the pre-styled wig, because at this point the cost is roughly the same.

Also, I need to bite the bullet and buy my Sailor Venus wig, and then look into attaching red ostrich feathers to a comb rather than doing the Red Bow of Doom. I think the ostrich feathers are more Burlesque than the bow. But if I do the bow, I'm going to do it a la PGSM, where Sailor Venus has the strands of beads and jewels hanging from her bow. My biggest beef with Burlesque Sailor Venus is that 1) I need to lose about ten pounds and 2) she's going to be expensive because she's going to require expensive fabrics (and here I was thinking that my Sunako was going to be the most expensive - sheesh!), accessories and wig! (For a Sailor V length blonde wig, it's well over $50, and that's if you don't get it pre-styled. Augh.)

So, remember kiddos! The moral of the story is Cosplay: It's More Expensive Than Crack and Can Just as Easily Ruin Your Life.

In other news, I'm going to start in on packing and laundry today (hopefully). The biggest thing is that I need to wash my pants (or at the very least my jeans, cause it's time) and determine if I'm actually going to brave the swimming pool at the hotel. (It's indoors, and I know at some point I'm going to be "OFMG HOT TUB NOW.") I'm also thinking flannel pajamas because this is Seattle in April (which is also why I maintain that my MLP costume will have actual sleeves instead of the arm warmers). Naturally I'm really excited (we leave in two days) but I'm also really terrified and nervous, which I guess is normal right before con.

Well, I suppose I should be off to get the clay for my new pony ears. Fun times, fun times.

So I had that oh so wonderful epiphany about five seconds ago that it's less than two weeks until Sakura-con.

It's weird, because I'm excited but at the same time I suddenly realized that, "ZOMG I HAVE LESS THAN TWO WEEKS TO FINISH SHEENA'S WIG AND GET CLIPS FOR MY MY LITTLE PONY COSTUME EARS AND I STILL NEED TO MAKE THE TAIL AND AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH." I feel that abusing caps lock was necessary to convey exactly how I feel at the moment.

The actual My Little Pony costume will have arm warmers instead of sleeves, but since this is Seattle in April, I'm going for actual sleeves. I'll probably try on the shirt with the jacket just to make sure everything fits the way it's supposed to, and probably invest in a binder ring to attach the tail to my jeans (it's made out of red yarn). My biggest issue now comes from the fact that I have to find a way to attach the ears to the wig - my best guess is that I'll get some broad, flat clips and glue them on, and then just get creative with the wig. I had originally thought about putting them on a headband, but the ears aren't conformed to the curve of a headband and even if I glued them on they probably wouldn't stay. Yeah...not really looking forward to fighting with those.

At any rate, I need to start making a list of everything that I need to remember (beyond the usual of a couple of pairs of pants and a couple of shirts and the usual safety pins, make-up, and hair supplies) to bring with me. I'm tempted to even bring my computer, for the sole purpose of being able to charge my iPod. (And you never know when I'll reach con burn out and need to retreat to the relative safety of the hotel to play on Facebook for an hour.) I also need to talk to my friend who lives in Seattle about the possibility to meet up and get something to eat, granted he doesn't randomly decide to attend the con for a day (in which case I would totally insist that he take me out that night - any day I don't have to eat con food is a good day).

I suppose that after I get home and get work squared away, it's time to start getting everything ready for con.

Augh.

I got the notice today that my wigs had shipped from Amphigory. I ordered my wig for my My Little Pony and a my wig for Sheena. They should be getting here sometime next week, when I'll have to spring four a couple of wig heads (I'm sure I can pick those up at Sally Beauty Supply) so that I can get to styling. I'll also have to pick up some styling products as well. I don't actually own hair gel (well, gel that doesn't react to black light, that is), so I'm going to pick up a bottle of Got-2-B, which is what sideshow_ericka suggested because it'll wash out should I need to restyle. However I think Sheena's wig will just be Sheena's wig and unless I don't have another choice for a wig, I won't restyle it. I don't think I'll be doing much styling with the My Little Pony wig, probably just combing it out and getting it to lie the way I want it.

I also got the notice that my saree had shipped and it should be arriving on Friday. I'm really exited about that, as Friday is the "last" Bollywood night before Maria gets married. If the saree does arrive before I head over to her place, I'll probably take it with me so that I can try it on (and show it off, because I'm like that).

I think that about wraps things up here. I still don't know how my grandpa is doing, but hopefully I'll be talking to my mom this afternoon and I can get that all sorted out. I also get to deal in invoices, which is always very intriguing and fascinating. Please note all intended sarcasm.

I suppose I should eat because it probably won't be too much longer before my mom calls to ask me to come in.

Yesterday's BPAL scent was Oneiroi from the Somnium collection. It smells pretty good, though the gardenia is a little overpowering at first. But it does mellow quite nicely on me, so it's one of those things that I'm happy to get as an Imps Ear and will probably use sparingly. The inspiration, of course, comes from the Oneiroi, the Greek dream deities. (Those of you on my F-list who read Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series are familiar with this particular subset of gods, known in the books as the Dream-Hunters.) The scent is clean and fresh (and to me sometimes overwhelmingly gardenia), which seems sort of counter-intuitive as to how it's described on the web site.

Also, I'm going to write a bit about video games. :) Because I can.

( In which I ramble about video games. I can't promise that it makes any sense, though. )

Errr...I think that's enough rambling for now. I really should make those deviled eggs. ^^;;

But I love the video games and could spend all day talking about them!!

So I finished sewing Sheena today. All that's left is painting the shoes, so when I get the chance I'll be running over to the fabric store to buy the paint, as well as looking to possibly buying the fabric for the Christmas party dress and Lydia.

I'm glad to be done with the bulk of the sewing, especially since I started having troubles right up at the end. Apparently the thread I was using is weak in places, so instead of the stitches catching like they should have, they were breaking and clogging up my machine. I finally pulled off a yard or so of thread and started over with success this time.

I think I'll take this little down time to make the banner for my pins. I like the idea of making it out of the leftover blue fabric from Sheena's costume. It'll match the decor of the rest of the room that way.

Hopefully my time swearing at my sewing machine is over.

No, I'm not done. However, after three attempts, I finally have the pattern for the gloves worked out. Tonight I'll probably cut out the fabric and sew them together which will leave, you guessed it, the boot covers.

I'm thinking that the best way to start on the boot covers is to just take some scrap fabric and mark and pin in places, then measure between marks and pins and try to figure out how that's going to translate on a piece of paper which will then serve as the pattern.

But, the good news is that I'm about 75% done with the costume. The shirt is done. The robe is done. The obi is done. The bow is done (but needs minor tweaks). I bought pants. The glove pattern is done and I just need to cut out the pieces and sew them together.

Of course when this is all done, I have to get the fabric for the Christmas Party dress and I need to get the fabric to make Lydia's cape for the funeral. Yes, you read that right, the funeral. (But more on that later.)

Anyway, I have a head ache and I need to figure out what the hell I'm doing for dinner.

So I have everything that I had previously cut out sewn together and I'm now doing the requisite slip (read: hand) stitching. I'm about halfway done with the slip stitching on the robe, and only have a little bit to do on the shirt (total). I'm happy that everything fits over my bewbs, and it now becomes a matter of getting everything to fit together and not blouse out or slip down. That may require pinning the sleeves of the shirt to the robe. Or fitting them with snaps. Either option is completely viable.

Once I get the top half more or less figured out, it becomes a matter of sewing together the obi and the bow. I figured that I would separate the two parts, but I wasn't sure how to logically pull this off. desertkitsune pointed out that I could easily pull this off by making the bow a separate piece from the obi itself, and have it tie on with the obi-jime which was looking like it was going to be sewn into place. Instead I'll put a couple of small loops for the obi-jime to be threaded through so that it stays centered on the obi, and it'll serve the purpose of holding the bow (which it'll be sewn to) in place in the back. I didn't really relish the idea of trying to tie the bow just right and I'm all for cheating when necessary.

Of course, once the obi and bow are figured out, I'll move on to sewing the gloves and the boot covers. I have quite a bit of spare fabric floating around, so I'll do a mock-up of the gloves to see if the pattern works, and then tweak where necessary. I'm still wracking my brain on how to turn that sketch of the boot covers into an actual pattern. Or I'll just do mock-up with spare fabric until I find something that works.

So there's still quite a bit left to be done, but the fact of the matter is that I've already accomplished quite a bit, so now the task seems a lot less daunting than before.

So for Halloween I figured that I would do my Sheena cosplay. I've got the pieces for the robe and the shirt cut out, and I need to make a pattern for the boot covers and gloves and buy pants. I think I'm going to take my old, beat up Sketchers that I got for work years ago and modify them to be the shoes, partly because they're ridiculously comfortable and partly because that means I don't have to go and buy new shoes. :p

As it turns out, I went and bought fabric and notions, going off a check list that I had made, hoping that I had gotten everything that I needed. Except... I needed bias tape and quilt binding. And now I need MORE bias tape and buckles. >_< Apparently I should have made my check list while studying the character artwork rather than from memory. That way I could just sit and sew today. Or mostly sew. That whole making patterns thing is also going to take some time.

( A memo to new friends who are probably looking at this entry going, WTF is with her?! )

What I need to do next is get the small load of laundry I did yesterday folded and put away, followed by getting the dining room table cleared off except for necessary materials to either make the patterns or start sewing the costume. And at some point in the near future I need to cut out the pattern pieces for the Christmas party dress. I suppose it's not the most exciting way to spend Labor Day, but I'd rather feel like I accomplished something rather than doing nothing at all.