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!

Falkner wig

On Monday this week I went to the post office and picked up my Falkner wig. It arrived some days earlier but I couldn't go get it then. I didn't have time to open and try it on until recently but I must say I love the color; it's this awesome mix of a lot of different colored fibers like different shades of blues and grays.
The bangs could have been a bit longer but I don't mind because they're good enough (aka they cover my eye) and I was expecting them to be a bit shorter than what the character has anyway because this wasn't a wig specifically meant for Falkner or anything. XD

Now some try-on photos. I woke up pretty recently so I look like a mess.. oh, and I'm wearing my silk robe as usual.. I'm always wearing it on mornings and some hours before going to sleep. lol

Outdoor light

I don't feel a need to style it because it looks pretty good as is. It is very easily fluffable too so I can arrange the fibers, tease them and have them keep the wilder style without falling flat directly. I'm wondering though, should I roll with black eyebrows (like on photos) or should I go get something blue instead? I think black seems to look just fine but.. I'm not 100% sure.

Hijikata wig

A wig for Saitou wasn't the only one I ordered from Moemall, ordered a wig for Hijikata too because I know for sure I'll cosplay him someday too... although when and what con is a question mark. I've been thinking about Animecon in Kuopio this year, but I have no clue if that's even possible.. so expensive to travel to the south... train tickets to Kuopio and back would cost me around 120 €... ugh. I probably won't have any summer job (lol never had) and thus no income.. and it's not like I can fart out money either. Too many cosplays to do but not enough cons to wear them too... and not enough moneeeeeeey.

Oh well, have a Toshizo Hijikata WIP photo.

derp

It's mostly just a wig and make-up test. I need to make a dark purple kimono.. I used a light one I had from an earlier cosplay as a substitute. I also need gray hakama and shinsengumi haori for this one too. I might need to trim the bangs... we'll see.

Got my wig for Saitou

Whoops, just realized I forgot to make a blog post yesterday about my Saitou wig... sorry about that, ahah I will do it now instead. Two posts a day, wow.

So err, what to say... Got my Saitou wig yesterday and because I got home pretty early I had to try it on. Hey, no one was home and I was simply too excited, couldn't resist!

Most of this cosplay is actually done, I just need a juban/shitagi/under kimono/whatever (I'm just using a random white t-shirt as a substitute on the photo) and fix his white hair tie... I had one but it fell off after a while and I didn't bother to tie it back again. I do have the scarf too, but it kept being mildly annoying so I took it off.
I still need to make the iconical sky blue shinsengumi haori of course and the headband thingy that he only wears when wearing said haori. Otherwise than that I'm done. It was a pretty easy cosplay because I managed to find a good condition cheap vintage tsumugi silk kimono.. and a black one at that that was of a decent length for me to wear. Yay. You know, men's kimonos have incredibly boring color choices 85% of the time, if you find anything else than blues, grays and browns you should grab it. Black kimonos are often formal and have kamons on them.. but I found one without.
I already have two swords (metallic, but dull) that should work decently for it even though they are dark blue and not standard black and I have shoes and the sash too. At least it seems that the con where I'll debut Saitou at accepts dull metallic weapons (seems most cons don't) as long as you only unsheath it for photos and yeah, not swinging it around and being a threatening noxious idiot. Common sense.

SDotP: Customizing a wig and torso armor

Thursday the wigs finally arrived, and of course.. the wig-craze that I am, I had to start styling it up as fast as possible.

The blue wig I had gotten, is long by itself, but not long enough to have the ponytail that Kaito has as the demon, alas; sewing on extensions.
The wig itself is heat resistant, and the extensions I got wasn't, so I was very lucky that the color matched up as well as it did. I got myself five single-strands of clip-on extensions, removed the clip and have sown them on were I thought would look the best in layering.
Since I'll removed them again at some point, I used black thread, so it'd be easier to spot.

 

The wig, inside out on a Styrofoam head, so it's easier to work with.

Today, I helped my lovely cosplay partner, with her torso armor.
Since she wanted something body tight, that would fit properly, we had to make it directly on her body, and so we wrapped her like a turkey (her words), and got cooking /see what I did there? 8D
We only added one layer of paper-maché, since it'll also be covered with chicken wire, and other very fun stuff, so it'll be sturdy for the stage.

As I've already said on this dA Journal, I've started scripting a few CMV's, and right now I'm working on a major one, with Ao No Exorcist, I've written down a few scenes that'd I'd like to use, but that it thus far, needs more time.

Frickin' artistic picture, because you're not allowed to know what'll happen 8D

Sheryl Nome: Shading a wig.

I've just finished shading my Sheryl wig, since the wig I got, I felt didn't really relate to Sheryl's hair, as much as I wanted it to. So I got cracking with the markers, which I borrowed from my lovely room-mate Nadia.

Putting streaks and shades into a wig, is really the easiest thing in the world, though very time-consuming.
If it's your first time, shading a wig, you should use a tone slightly darker than the wig's actual color, just to test it out, by doing some vertical stripes on a layer that isn't too visible.
Once you get a good technique working for you, continue with the rest of the wig, with the actual color you need. Though it's always a good idea to go lighter at first, and then layer the color if you must.

When I finished putting in the pink shades into the blonde part of the wig, I moved on to the solid pink, which looked fine underneath the shades blonde, but I wanted a more real look to it, so I used a marker, a few degrees darker than the actual color, and put in very few, very thin and separated streaks.

At last, remember... when using markers and other sorts of pens, which is used for paper... Know that the color most likely won't stick in water (some will though).
You are, in actuality, drawing on plastic, which most inks (unless designed for it), don't stick on.
Markers will stick better to a heat-resistant wig, because of the different texture, but I do not recommend doing shading, the night before the con.

Space and Wigs

So I'm really bad at updating, huh?

Cosplay stuff is happening in my life, but I don't really get around to take pictures of a lot of it, also because it's pretty boring for you all to watch, but here's some stuff.

A week ago, I was out with a friend to buy groceries, and I stumbled upon this portable closet, and was like.. I NEED THIS UGLY THING IN MY LIFE, since my cosplays have been pretty much packed down, whenever I haven't been using them. /big no no

All of those. In that small suitcase, can you even believe it?

Yesterday I got the wig that I've been commissioned for, Bára wanted a wig for her Ace Crash cosplay. So I got working on that, as soon as I got up.
I spend almost exactly two hours on this wig, I could probably spend more time, but it's not easy when it isn't a wig for the average head.

I can't wait to see how it fits her, omigosh!! /and yes, it's a mustalicious foam head.


And lastly, I just purchased these two wigs, for very cheap on eBay. Since the last place I ordered my Sheryl wig, didn't turn out too great.
And since I will be doing Klein sometime in the future, I thought I might aswell get that one too.

Roxas and different wigs.

Pressure is on for finishing for Desucon.
Two days ago, I went out with Nadia & Killing to get some fabric in Roskilde.
And I found most of the stuff I needed, less than I expected actually, we like that. Today I got some stuff for my shoes with mustachefriend.

And just to make it a little interesting, here's some wigs that I've fixed up.

Simple games

I just wanted to wear a little on my brown wig, and I figured Sora would be a good way to go about it.

Keep in mind, the wig hasn't been cut at all, and it really just is a 'play around' thing, and the get-up is just to see how it'd look with the character (Thank you Zuum for letting me borrow it)



The one I made for my DeviantArt



A better view of the overall wig



and just a picture I liked XD

If I really should make a Sora wig, it'd probably not look like this at all, I'd stick more to the actual spiking that he got, not with the waved ends, but oh well. Gotta try different things, cha know?

From Italy to America

If you know me.. and how I get around with doing my cosplays.
You know that I need about 2-3 projects outside the main ones.

I've done a little 'wigswap' thing, with Zuum's and got this orange wig. And I was browsing around for characters with orange hair, unfortunately.... there's not alot that I actually like, or just want to cosplay XD
So I settled for Italy, of Hetalia. He's portrayed mostly with brown hair, but on alot of photoes it's very lightbrown orange-ish, so I'm putting in brown streaks all over the wig.
So still VIP.




Also not making the 'official' outfit, but the Italian school uniform XD <3 (which means I'll make his hair more femme, due to him looking like a girl when he was younger XD)


 And also I'm playing around with how I want my wig, when I make Jake Long of American Dragon, it's a show I watched when I was a little younger and had Cartoon Network. Hayes pushed me over the edge to actually say "I'm gonna do this." So yeah XD



I'm probably going to buy a new black wig, and then some green extensions, cut them up and then Hairspray them onto the ends of the spikes, to get that green effect that he also have, I think it's an important point of his hair.



I've never noticed I get that twirl thing, when I smirk .__.

Making more natural roots on wigs.

I started on a new project today, and it involves a VERY OBVIOUS PARTING, so I figured... I'll snap a few pictures, and show you guys how I make wigs look more natural.

Firstly.
You need your wig of course XD
Some wigs have more color tones, so for those, this is rarely a must, but this wig is solid orange, and the 'crown' is very much visible, and looks very unnatural.







Secondly.
Magic sharpers (Using a brown one here), I know this isn't something that you don't really have around, unless you have more creative streaks (This one is happily borrowed from Zuumie xD)
the easiest way, is to use the light end, to softly stroke against the hair. Some sharpies doesn't 'stain' all that well, some does, so it's really about trying out what's best for the wig you're using.




*I'm pointing this, it's not flat on the wig!*


Thirdly.
You can see I've stained the roots in choppy patterns, and also the small cap, just to darken it all a little.
You should also remember to layer, so you dye roots that isn't visible just now, but will be with movement, this gives depth to the wig.







And here without a flash, in natural light.




As you can see, I've also dyed in streaks, but that's another tale for another time.

Hope this is of help to some of you, there's alot of different ways to go about this, so you gotta be patient, and make your own way :3

Dark and Krad wig commissions

Here we go, proper pictures of the Dark and Krad wigs I made for Lea and Zuumie.
This was my first time at doing wigs that had to be able to get rustled on stage, without going out of style.
Also they wanted a more "realistic anime esque" look, not too natural and not too anime (hardcore spiking)





The Dark wig was borrowed, therefore it was very limited as to how much I was allowed to play with layers, and really perfect it. It had alot of fly-away leftovers (cut off the ones I could get away with), and the neck was too straight, and the sides too uneven, but all in all. I think it turned out good still.
But definite need of improvement on the next one that Zuum's ordered (can't wait), especially more layering on the top (Hello single spike, doesn't anyone like you?)




Krad's wig was pretty easy and I finished it alot quicker than I thought I would.
There was alot of hair on this wigbase, so I had alot of hair to work with, and it was easy to move around, (can't say the same about the ponytail though x__x)
The long part of the fringe is one of the things I'm most satisfied with, it turned out really good, and it actually looks like it've been there all along, when it's actually a glued on strand :D
Also I love the bottom back part, since I had to make a little "Faggot tail", for the larger one to cling too, the net was VERY visable, so I had to pull small strands into the back, to cover it, and also it gives a really good texture effect.




The wigs together (Here you can see alot of Darks flyaways x_x;;)
Since Dark and Krad are mirror images of eachother, I felt it was very important to give them a very definite likeness, and I think I've pulled it off pretty well. (look at top fringe 'spike')


But that's actually all I have to say about that. Sorry for the watermarks ^^;
I'm excited for upcoming projects, hooo yea~

(Btw... should I do this for every wig that has a little more advancement in it? you guys wanna see that? huh?)