Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm - Asuka's wig!

Wigs are defiantly something I would love to have more experience with. When I started out on cosplay I was actually terrified at the thought of even leaving a wig in the same room as a pair of scissors. All I had the guts to do was braiding, clipping in extensions and putting in hair ties.

Now one thing I have been starting to look at is what can I do to achieve certain hairstyles. I am not gonna lie, I still lack confidence to an extent with hair in general but I guess I just need to consider it with a similar mindset to working with fabrics. You just need to be careful to cut it in the right places for the right effect!

One thing I have learned over the years is that wigs are not usually ready to wear. In fact, there is a good chance you will need to give it a good trim and cut bangs as they are often around chin-length so they can be worn by different head shapes.


The base
I decided that Asuka would be a fun cosplay to put together and although the costume itself is still in the works, the wig is now done. I have ordered a 'Alex in Milkshake pink' wig from Coscraft. The bangs were cut and the sides were cut off just above the shoulders. The longer cut-off were kept to one side while I gave the wig a good spray for added volume and a slightly untidy look.


The extension
During the earlier stages, I just simply used a hair tie for the side ponytail to give me a better idea how the wig would look throughout the process. I felt that this made the wig look very flat but thankfully the cut-offs were the PERFECT length for the extension,

I looked online for various tutorials and read a large number of forum posts and decided to go for the caulking method. Sadly I don't have any process pictures but if you looks up 'Wig caulking' there will be a number of tutorials to help you out.

It is basically a process that allows you to make your own wefts. You carefully line your wig strands evenly on a line of masking tape and pop some watered-down decorator's caulk. I had made the mistake of using the type that does now clear but shush :P the hairclip covers it! I rolled them and sewed them together to create a chunk of hair.

The hairclip
This part was actually pretty simple. I began by getting some left over craft foam and shaped then cutting them into wings.I made 2 wings, 1 with the smaller part missing so they overlap and have more of a 3D feel. I took a artist license to this as the wings should have been straighter but I felt I would like to cover where the extension and clips are so thermoformed them to be rounder. I made a cup so the wefts could fit snuggly in it for extra security and scavenged a clip from a cheap child's hairpin to attach it to the rest of the wig! it is then painted white and varnished with PVA glue!

Lets cosplay! Fate Testarossa

Mein Gott! Is Ellie resurrecting this page from the dead?

Well...I had never forgotten about my own little corner of the tinterwebs. In fact, if you have read my more recent posts I can still confirm that I have been pretty busy lately. With me working many hours these days and spending much of my free time with my boyfriend naturally the time for cosplaying has been a little cut, both productively and blogger-wise. I still do my best to update my Facebook Page but even then I still wish I have more time into these things.

Without further ado, I am still yet to write about my Fate cosplay.

When I was still in school, I have came across an anime called Nanoha Strikers. It was back before I knew the Nanoha franchise also covered days when Nanoha and Fate were younger. As much as I loved the series it wasn't until last year I have watched the earlier seasons and felt there was a little void in my life that was finally filled.

I had some black and white fabric that was lying around, as well as some red PVC so I had decided to give Fate a try. I made a basic black leotard with a zipper in the back that happens to have been where the red straps were sewn into. The bows, leggings and gloves were made of black Spandex and the skirt had a nice Cotton twill feel to it. It was only a bit of scrap material so it was shorter than I would have liked but made it work with some gathering. The front part is attached to some elastic to make it easy to slip off when taking the costume off.

Day 1 of work

The cape is what makes this usually cold cosplay more cosy and this revealing one much less intimidating to wear. It has a nice sheen to it and it is lined with some lovely Maroon coloured Polyester fabric with interfacing inside the collar.

The belt buckles and yellow triangles were some left over Worbla that was painted silver. Perhaps surprisingly the most stressful part of the cosplay was waiting for the wig as I have never been blond before. When it arrived it was a very pleasant surprise and have plans to cosplay some other of our yellow-haired friends now I have the confidence to pull of that colour!

Fate is far from my more comfortable costumes as the red straps are very constrictive and I normally have to unzip the back a little so I can breathe. She is also among the very few where I get to wear heels. Placing the extensions to the wig can be a challenge within itself but the cape makes this costume somewhat nice to wear.

Fate was worn at J-con 2015, Namsoc Halloween night 2015, LAGC Winter 2016 and Alcon 2016. I wish to wear this as I am usually ill or tired when I am in this for some reason. In fact, on the day of Fate's debut I was up until 4am, had 2 hours before the con to sleep and had to rush home for an evening shift at work. Never again!

Hikaru's headset!

For my blog I wish to talk about my experiences in costume making and attending conventions. For my first post I wish to share the progress of one of the funnest, challenging and exciting costumes I have ever made!

Back when I was in school I have began to watch an anime called Angelic Layer. Sadly it was before I have discovered MyAnimeList considering I have only gotten into anime at the time I sort of lost track where I was and didnt get the time to get back to it. Funny enough, my local anime society shown the entire anime a year ago and reminded me why I enjoyed it back then. In fact I enjoyed it more as an adult than I did when I was a teenager. My love of the series drove me to cosplay the doll the lead character, Misaki, had created.

I love working with spandex and stretch fabrics so thats some guarantee that I will enjoy making some parts of it but it is also required for me to learn to use Worbla (a thermoplastic that is manipulated by heat) and PVC if I wanted to do a good job of the costume. For this post I will just talk about the headset.

Yaaaaay selfie time!

The first step was research! It seems that Worbla would be really promising for this so I just jumped on the bandwagon as its a really popular material at the moment! I brought a large sheet on CosCraft and while waiting for it I made a simple paper pattern. I have also got myself a cheap headband to make sure it keeps it's structure!

Once I was happy with the design I have drafted the pattern onto the Worbla and used some simple scissors to cut it out. When heated not only does it start taking shape, but one of the sides gets sticky so you can layer it. Due to the bold colours, I just shaped everything for now and painted it all before glueing it together. There is also some craft foam sandwiched in to add a little thickness in some places. Like Worbla, craft foam can be thermoformed.

I found that acrylic paint works by far the best on Worbla. The white was painted used some wallpaper paint as I couldnt find any >< turned out ghetto but thankfully the worst of it was covered by the lush red layers X'D hehehe

I have used 3 different kinds of glue:

• Poundland super-glue-Agh! Hate using that stuff as it clings to my fingers for days but it does the job well.
• PVA glue-Perfect for varnishing!
• Uhu glue-Does not work as fast as super glue and gets stringy but if used right the stuff is excellent.

I have also got some Loctite glue on hand for emergency repairs. My favourite glue as it can be used for alot of things and thanks to the nozzle I can use it without worrying about making a mess.

Feel free to use this as a simple guide!