A new wig + fabric for Masamune

So today I went to the post office after school and picked up two packages. It was a white juban and a new wig I will use for season 2 (aka short hair version) Hijikata from Hakuouki. Funny thing is I was searching for a Hijikata specific wig but didn't find anything I thought looked just right so I wondered "what other characters have a similar hairstyle as Hijikata?" and BOOM instantly Sebastian Michaelis from Kuroshitsuji popped into my mind.

Sebastian Michaelis - Kuroshitsuji (aka Black Butler)

I found a Sebastian wig I thought looked really nice and it wasn't very expensive either so I bought it for Hijikata. Now I must admit there is something about Kuroshitsuji which captures my interest; I've been feeling for quite some time now that  I want to watch it even though it's rather mainstream. Also I heard from Sairu-chan not so long ago that she already has a Ciel cosplay and a Kuroshitsuji cosplay group planned with her friends who live around northern Finland. Group cosplays are always great so that is even more a reason to watch Kuroshitsuji so I could hang around with them in some northern con.. not to mention I've always liked Sebastian's design - red eyes me gusta mucho!!, hairstyle, "penguin coat" lol (seriously I want a coat like that.. if I do him a get a reason to make one hohoho~) and yeah, there just is something interesting about him. If I now watch Kuroshitsuji and end up liking Sebastian I will do him, I would already have the wig too and I need to buy red contacts anyway *coughrasetsucough* so I would get more use out of them also. XD We will see ~

I tried the wig on quickly (read: no cosplay make-up) after I got home. At first I was all "not sure if gusta" but after I arranged the fibers around a bit it was rather awesome.

I also went to Eurokangas with mom before getting home and she bought me some fabric for Sengoku Basara's Masamune Date cosplay. I will use this fabric for the coat and pants.

Masamune reference

The fabric is some kind of denim with 5% elastane and it has this.. interesting touch to the surface; a bit like it would have a thin coat of some kind of plastic on it. It is also a bit heavier and drapes rather well. I think it will be great for Masamune's coat especially. I just really need to start working on this cosplay for real; it needs to be done and documented before next summer vacation I'm going to die. If you remember it was a school project so it's really important I get this done in time before I graduate.

Kenshin wig + Masamune chainmail brainstorming

Remember my Cosplay Challenge from earlier this year? Well, some few days ago I received the wig I ordered for a future Kenshin cosplay. I bought it because the site had a sale and I just couldn't pass it up.. and I already know pretty dang sure that I will end up wanting to cosplay Kenshin anyway after I've read the manga and/or watched the anime. It's just one of those series I've been highly interested in for years (I'm a samurai/history/kimono/sword geek.. how can I not be interested in Rurouni Kenshin when it's such a praised classic?) and.. I just need to start reading/watching it. I plan to do it soon enough. *looks at the 5 first volumes of the manga in my bookshelf that has been there for over a year now*

Kenshin Himura

The wig looks like this right out of the bag and I must say ME GUSTA MUCHO!! <3

Just looking at this wig makes me so excited to read/watch Rurouni Kenshin haha. I love how I pretty much already happen to have everything I need for a blue kimono version Kenshin cosplay except the reverse blade katana. You all can be pretty sure I will do it next year ~

And now over to Masamune. I've been wondering about one part of the costume for quite some time.. namely the chainmail.

Masamune Date reference

As you can see he has chainmail covering his arms. Well, I surely don't have the time, money, knowledge nor the dedication to make my own chainmail from scratch.. at least not right now. It would take months and be very tedious.. I don't have that much time to put on a single part of the costume which isn't even that noticeable. So I thought about cheaper, less heavy (chainmail weights a ton, no lie. lol) and faster options.. I read around on the internet and found that you could buy a knitted shirt and spraypaint it silver. It would only look believable from a distance though. Seemed like a good idea until I realized it would likely be way too hot to wear during the summer time (main con season) and probably too bulky too. Then I remembered seeing in mom's fabric attic this one fabric that looks like.. silvery netting or something; I don't know what its proper name is. But I thought maybe it could work if I backed it up with some silvergray-ish base. The problem was that mom's version of that fabric had too big "holes" so it wouldn't look right even if I folded/layered it double...
So uhm, today I went to Eurokangas after school. I saw that there was a 20% sale on all fabrics currently and there I found this same type of netting fabric although with smaller "holes", more dense. Bingo! Truth is, I had seen it before but didn't buy it because I wasn't sure back then...

the net fabric in question

I just hope that this idea will work and look as nice in reality as it seems to do in my head. I bought half a meter of it, I hope that's enough... I'm not good at calculating how much fabric I need. xD

That's all for today. I really need to progres further on Masamune the coming days.. I've planned to do a mock-up test of the coat's upper half to see how it sits before cutting the parts out of the real fabric. Oh well, stay tuned for more updates!

Sengoku Basara second season finished... and Hanbei.

Finished watching Sengoku Basara's second season and it was pretty awesome.

But Jäärä trolled me, haha. At one point when we watched the anime we said something about Hanbei, I don't remember what exactly but she said something along the lines of "You will end up relating to him and liking him anyway. I promise." and I was all "Why?" and a bit confused. Well, he was kinda semi-cool and all but not like instant OMGWOW. Of course I had my suspicions what it could be but err, I couldn't really believe it would be that... but it was... and I was like "OH SHIT WHAT THE HELL MAN??" to say the least. OTL Dafuq. Totally didn't see that one coming...

Hanbei Takenaka

But yeah, I must admit Hanbei was the most likable of all the "bad guys" to me, even before knowing about  *coughcough*, he had the coolest clothes too and white hair and well, now when I know that I guess I feel a need to cosplay him. XD But one thing...

Jäärä, have you been planning all this too from the start?

I guess it's just really easy to figure out how my brains work when it comes to possible cosplay candidates... xD Oh well~

And I actually wonder if there even is any "bad guys" in Sengoku Basara, I mean, everyone were fighting with everyone for different reasons and sometimes two fighting clans would suddenly be allies. *shrugs* I guess Nobunaga and Hideyoshi were seen as the main evil ones, but about the others I don't really know... except for Matsunaga, he was a disgusting ass.

Sengoku Basara and Dokuganryū

WUUUUU started watching the first season of Sengoku Basara with Jäärä yesterday and although she have watched the show before I have not. I think it was the day before yesterday (or was it two days before?) when Jäärä even kind of brainwashed me into cosplaying Masamune Date. I didn't have anything against cosplaying him back then either because I've been interested in Sengoku Basara for quite some time already and planning to watch it.. heck, I even have the Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes game for Wii although I haven't played it yet. It just seems I ended up watching it earlier than I had thought. Date did end up being my favorite character, by far, so now I'm pretty certain I want to do him and seriously, it's almost enough reason to cosplay him just because of that smexy über awesome crescent moon helmet (hey can't deny it's effin' cool man!) and the chance to wield six swords at the same time... SIX SWORDS. AHGFDFSAFGJHS. Mom is going to kill me when I have to make all those, she already believes I have too many swords. 

Date as seen in the anime.

 I don't think I'll have time to do his iconic outfit this year seeing it's quite difficult and most of my cosplay plans for this year are already set and also to what cons I'll wear what. So 2013 hopefully for his battle outfit. Although I could maybe cram his kimono version to this year's plans seeing how simple it is.

 C'mon, it's just a white kimono and dark blue-ish hakama.. I have a feeling my kendo hakama would even work for it...

And what makes me happy is that Jäärä will probably cosplay Kojūrō Katakura, Date's right hand man. I will get my personal assistant hurrdurr.
 

Date and Katakura fighting. <3

I want to do that... spinning.
And why do I think that's Date's hater dance or something? XD

 I think that's enough for now.
Ahahah my cosplay list keeps on growiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing, must add Dokuganryū, the one-eyed dragon, to my list. Stop me someoneeeeee, I already have too many cosplay plans. XD Too many cosplays, too little cons to wear them to.. and too little money...