-humadumdrum-

Guys! Guys Hi!

I'm back again! ;D
Okay I'm a horrible person, yada-yada-yada...but I'm here for now. You guys should totally expect only a few posts a year at this point. -leshrug-

Anyways, here's what's going down:

I went Ikkicon. I went to Ikkicon and got a fabulously oversized room on the executive floor. My friends and I were melting in pleasure over the whole situation and we enjoyed cake and frenchfries and all sorts of fun stuff.
Aside from that Kaasan, Margot la Rue--look her up on facebook, y'all, she's fabu--and I were ponies and it was grand. I'm trying to dig up some photos of my Rainbow Dash but have been unsuccessful so far, and when I get it I'll be happy to share.
Oh, and for any of you who enjoyed Ikki Idol this year... -thumbs to self- Kaasan got saddled with the work and yours truly helped out by being a lovable turd. Aka yelling a lot. -sagely nod-

So there's that and if I find images to share you'll see them soon.

Now let's look foward to the future, shall we?

Too much sass to be contained.

For those of you who are interested in competing in Ikki Idol next year, the three of us are planning to host it again. We're leaving it up to Kaasan to volunteer and we'll follow her if she wishes. If we do host the show again--which if its anything like this year, we'll have little choice--you'll be enjoying our presence in the garb of Once Upon a Time.

Our wonderful Kaasan is hiring me to work on Belle, Margot la Rue will be twisting our minds with the lovely Rumpelstiltskin  and I will be strutting my stuff as the only-slightly-manic Hatter. Look forward to that, ladies and gents, and also look forward to Rumple and Mr. Gold courtesy of Margot and her MarylandFriend.

But as gorgeous as those costumes are--and as much as I'm going to want to kill myself over that motherfudgin' coat..... -distant scream- ..--they've got very nearly an entire year before they'll be makin' their debut. In the meantime we have other plans.
I'll be doing some more work on Rainbow Dash--a custom tank top, customized jeans with a rainbow of safety pins 'cause I rock my own socks--but my first priority will be my costume for A-kon or A-fest depending on which comes first; Jack Frost.

New definition of blueballs...comin' right at ya.

At first glance the costume seems pretty simple, but there's a lot to this one and that's probably why I like it so much. That and let's face it Jack is such a little turd and I LOVE being a little turd. So that's on the plate; Jack Frost to match Kaasan's Tooth Fairy.

If we're lucky we'll have a Sandman or a Bunnymund to match us, and I'm still holding out on trying to trick/convince/brutally force a certain Irish boyfriend--not mine but someone's--into being a young and classy North. -browwiggle-

So that's A-kon/A-Fest and Ikkicon smack dab and on the table. Because of the time required for Jack and the time AND money required for Hatter, I likely won't be making any other costumes this year...for myself. I'm already planning to make Belle for Kaasan and might be doing her Tooth as well, and we'll see if I get any other commissions. If, and only if, I manage to finish BOTH of these lovely boys and have money to spare, however, I have a third I am so very insistent on doing. . . . . .

Party don't start, bitches.

Hehehe~ Welp, I'll see ya next time, ladies and gents. Be sure to stay tuned for a breakdown of Jack Frost in the next day or so.

And also, keep a lookout on our group's page "Cosplay in a Nutshell" for a breakdown and in-progress of Tooth Fairy; CiaN style!

Avengers. Dude.

Okay so...I've seen Avengers about three times now...and is it one awesome movie or what?
So awesome, in fact, that its been messing with my ability to do anything that isn't related to it in some way or another.

Which has caused some...interesting results.

This is the LokiScarf, the first doubleknit I ever did!

Getting more to the point, I've opened an Etsy account.
Its nothing big or shiny or awesome, but its hopefully going to be worthwhile in the end and I'm rather proud of myself for going out and doing it.
You can find it here, at LokiKnits!
Currently the only thing available is custom, double-knit scarves, but that will be changing very soon. I'm in the process of figuring out how best to do my reversible wrist warmers, and once the basic pattern for those have been figured out they'll be available as well. Unlike the customs, however, they'll be more by what I've already designed.
The first ones will be Captain America themed at the request of my besty and they should be available by next week if I'm able to finish the prototype and modify the pattern in time.

In the future I also play to sell legwarmers--probably not knit, unlike most everything else--coaster sets with favorite logos on them, possibly some messenger bags...and various other little things from a polymer clay, FMA themed chess set to Cutie Mark Crusader capes.

Did I mention they'll be shiny gold on the inside~? Shiny. Gold.

Aside from my new shop, which is taking a good chunk of my energy, I'm also beginning to spend more time out at the barn as well. I'm working for my trainer by tacking up her horses and cleaning tack for her, which makes it so I can get "free" lessons. ;P Which is great, 'cause I've got a show coming up in July that I am crazy excited about. So much so, in fact, that you guys might have to deal with the occasional grooming/braiding/horse-related tip every now and then...sorry ahead of time?

I couldn't find a good picture of my horse where he wasn't looking derpy...so have this instead!

But lucky for you guys, I haven't COMPLETELY forgotten about cosplay...and what this blog is...ya know...about.
In fact, the next few months are gonna be pretty cosplay-tastic.
Funds wise I'm treading on eggshells, but I'm pleased to say that I haven't forgotten Penelope Spectra, and am basically just waiting for enough money to pay for the wig materials before I continue...so her costume has kinda been put on the backburner.
Rainbow Dash, however, will be done by this winter, as I will be presenting her at Ikkicon in Austin this year. ;] With me will be a hipster!Twilight Sparkle, as well as a lolita!Fluttershy and a very possible Pinkie Pie as well. As for the others...to be honest we three just don't know. It will depend on how...enthused our group decides to be.

And for those of you who recognized my friend's Clockwork Droid mask--I am sorry that I never continued the "GUESS WHO" dealeo, but things moved quickly and we all literally got sick the days we were supposed to do the photoshoot anyways...--there will be a Doctor Who themed group con pretty soon. I'm not entirely sure when I'll be presenting my character--End of Time Master, ladies and gentlemen!--but it will likely have to wait until when Walmart starts selling hoodies again. xD They are...surprisingly hard to find in the summer. Every place we went--including some awesome thrift stores, one of which presented me with my fabulous new friend Cow, who I will give pictures of next time--had literally everything but a hoodie. And yet I still ended up with short blonde hair by the end of the weekend.
Oh well.
Now that my roots have come in I look awesome so its all good. -thumbsup-

The huge wall of text scared me so here's a moose.

More in my line of "Must. Have"s, however, is the costume I've been designing for the last couple of days.
Several of my friends are doing Avengers cosplays--one genderbend and two normal-gender--and...as we are all disgustingly in love with the movie and the characters...it kinda...grew.
And got corrupted somewhere along the way.
So now we are in the process of planning an all-gender-bent Avengers get-together...and it looks like it actually might get done. Included in our cast is a female Banner--who, I must add while staring threateningly at the screen in a warning manner at her, will be letting me at her costume and will be wearing a motherfuckin' skirt with a motherfuckin' shirt that shows off motherfuckin' cleavage on this motherfuckin' pla...er...at this table. We also have a girl Tony, a girl Cap, a lady Thor(potentially...we should...probably ask her first), a chickie Hawkeye and a male Widow. Ironically our Widower is actually gonna  be cosplayed by the cutest member of our group...who is very much a girl. She is also making a true Widow, which I know for one, I am bouncing on the balls of my feet to see. She's gonna look incredible.
...I will probably have to handcuff my hands behind my back to resist the urge to squeeze her at regular intervals.
Its like one of those really really really cute things you just...you can't not touch.
Think of me as Patrick in a jellyfish museum.

That too.

Aside from the not-touching thing though, its gonna be pretty awesome. I've been cast as the female version of Loki--interestingly, the girl we're asking to be my lady-Thor is also cosplaying a male version of Loki.....and we're pretty similar in height...so...that could be pretty fun too--and I'm knee-deep in the redesign of his costume.
There are a lot of pretty good lady Lokis that are made to match the comic book version of her--and is she a doll or what? Look at this picture for a second.

Is she not class on a bass? I mean...look at that crazy crazy lady. Geez.

I'm in love with most of Loki's designs--I have a few favorites...like the wolven Narnia coat I'm too lazy to dig up--but for the most part, you see that one of up there being cosplayed...and I won't lie, they're pretty awesome. But I've only seen a couple people even take it upon themselves to design a new lady Loki based off of the Avengers' design of the costume, and I haven't even heard the slightest bit of murmur about a full costume off it. Well...except for some half-assed stuff that, I'm sorry you guys, but it just doesn't cut it. Putting on a store bought version of his movie costume, refusing to bind, wearing the wrong wig and heels...does not a Lady Loki make.

So I've been doodling a redesign of my own that tries to maintain the basics of Loki's costume in the movie, but that isn't a cookie-cutter exact replica. I'm also using some influence from the women in the Thor movie, as well as the Valkyrie and Enchantress just to get a feel of how the women dress and how the men dress and the big differences...aside from ya know...boobs. I'm going to try and stay away from the comic version, though. I love it, but it ain't what I'm after this time.

This is what I've come up with so far. It still has a lot to go, but I'm pretty fond of it so far. I plan on modifying a lot of the individual pieces of his costume, but there's a heckuva lot I'm working hard to keep. Like his chaps. I bloomin' love those things. They're awesome. I want to make some just to ride in they're so awesome.
This is just version one of who knows how many though so...I'll be posting a few updates on it I'm sure.

And last but not least in the cosplay world, I have a dream.

Uhm...close..? ...but no cigar.

I do have a dream though.
And while it does not include cupcakes or puppets or seeing glowing lights or playing piano...it does involve unicorns.
Well...
Kinda sorta..
Changeling close enough to a unicorn?
...Yeeeaaah.

Queen Chrysalis is currently my favorite pony of all time. I mean...c'mon. She's incredible, right? Right. Anyways, it is nothing more than a dream at the moment, but I really want to cosplay her. I say a dream, however, because I outright refuse to cosplay her without full freedom and the absolute ability to do like...whatever logic-defying thing I want.
As in...I need to be rich.
So when I'm rich, I'm digging this baby up and making something awesome.

This is a version and a half of what I'd do...these with heels. There's a HUGE part of me that wants to use digilegs to do this though, which would give me some crazy-awesome looming potential...and would give me the freedom to do some really manic stuff with her legs. Unfortunately digilegs cost around 700 US dollars...without shipping...so the chance of that is slim as they come.

Which is too bad...'cause digilegs are awesome. And stuff. Plus my friend is actually planning on doing Cadence.....as in the beat-up-i've-been-living-under-your-house version...and being able to stand and just loom over her...behind her...around her...all of that would just be amazing. But hey. I gotta get rich first.

Aaand I may have lied as I have one more thing to mention. Just a tiny mention though because I'm gonna be good and wrap this baby up...but here it is;

That's right. The Once-ler. A dear friend of mine is comissioning me to make this costume for her--and I am dying with excitement not only because the money would mean I could actually...ya know...make some of my costumes, but also because I mean....just...just look at him. Gawdyes--and I am very excited. So there.
As a side-effect of her and her mega-heels for her mega-long legs for me to make mega-pants I will be cosplaying the less-psychotic version of him at some point with her...if one of her sisters doesn't take the part. -le sigh/le shrug-

But yeah. That's what's goin' on in the world and its pretty awesome.
Stay tuned and sometime this week I'll do something useful and maybe hand out some kind of tutorial....or more likely I'll do a breakdown. ;P
In fact, I'll definitely do a break-down along with a bit of a 'why break it down' and a 'how break it down' to go along with it~
See?! I can be useful!

See ya Space Cowboy!

Guess who's back?

Ladies and gentlemen!

..I'm back.

Yeah, I know. You're probably looking at me with a brow arched and that "what the hell happened to you?" face...and I could go on about nameless adventures and chaotic sidestories and a rather interesting affair with a giraffe...but instead...I'll just smile and wink and shoot ya my quote/unquote "mutated peace sign rock-on sign baby" and get a song stuck in your head.

Anyways. I'm back, and I should be here to stay. With any luck my lit-major buddy will send me on enough casual guilt-trips to make me keep up with this thing, and even if he doesn't I'll end up back here somehow or another.

For those of you who've actually stuck around--..oh hey. I've actually still got a couple followers. Excuse me as I poke you profusely to make sure you aren't a corpse.

Oh...oh my...uhm...hm.

... -withdraws hand slowly-
Right.

Back to you poor souls that are still around...I guess I'm sorry for my absence..but to be honest, it was for a pretty good reason. xD; Last y'all heard from me I was moving to Missouri...well..since then I've moved back. Yeah, yeah, little weird. But it is what it is. I'm now living in my hometown--for me to know and you not to, sorry loves--in lovely rental home with my army of fish and my dutch shepherd/lab mix Lal.
Lots of drama has happened both in real life and in the cosplay world since this whole shebang, but I'm leaving it where it belongs--in the past. All that matters is I'm back, and I'm happy.

I have a sewing room all my own now, and the only thing hindering my work is the shedding monstrosity that likes to steal my pins. Yeah, weird dog is weird.
I'm not currently in school and I am not too sure I'll go back, for now I'm spending my days working out at my barn and getting my jumper back in shape. Will also be training my three year old soon, so look forward to "oh my god I'm dying he's too tall I need a bigger ladder" complaints in the near future.

Lazy Halloween

Some of you may remember my promise to show y'all photos from our Ouran shoot way back when? Unfortunately, I can't show you those due to a contract we signed as models for it. They're copyrighted under his name and while we've all posted them on our facebooks, any more than that is stealing his work and, believe me, I don't wanna do that. I will eventually post a link to his work, but for now how about some older pictures I never posted here? ;]

This was a great day to be in a graveyard too. Dim sun, crazy clouds...very nice. And the temperature was AWESOME. Plus WIND.

The "Bustle" shot, as Kaasan so cheerfully calls it.

Anyone who's seen my photos has seen this one; its a favorite.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING SEMI-COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
All of the above--with the exception of the Halloween shot--are casual Undertaker. They were taken because I needed to get used to wearing that wig, as well as get used to the coat and its butt-long sleeves. I was also testing a pair of pants to see if I could get away with using them temporarily...and decided I could despite them being navy rather than the deep gray or black I was planning on getting.

The following are con-photos. ;P Some are walkin-clothes--appropriately named when my heels for the weekend were ruined and replaced with riding boots--and the rest are Undertaker. I must apologize for my eyecolor, as I was unable to afford the contacts I needed. On the plus side I need them for another costume, so if I suddenly get rich I'll be purchasing them soon..ish. xD;

Kaasan and I; she was in her Christine Dae dress...which was a butt to get through doorways...but so worth it.

Me'n Kaasan again! She was about to laugh the entire time. I couldn't hardly keep a straight face either...I blame those nails. They are too easy to have too much fun with.

DEM NAILS. I got them caught on things. A lot. Interestingly enough, though, they were never caught on the sleeves. Just...walls. And food. And soda bottles. My god it was hard to get into a soda bottle..

This wig is being replaced at some point, by the way. When I can afford it I want a much longer one because I have a thing for getting my head wrenched backwards when it gets caught in elevators and car doors.

I spent the majority of Ikkicon 12 in this get-up with various different pairs of pants and shirts beneath the corset. The jacket is my pride and joy, and all those stars? Yeah. They glow in the dark. Yeah. The top hat has since been semi-destroyed by mishandling and a dog...but I may fix it yet...we shall see..

Well, there ya have it. Enough pictures to hopefully keep you folk satiated enough to not want to see me for a while.
This year I will not be going to A-kon, nor will any of my group unfortunately, so this is probably the newest pictures you'll get to see for quite a while. The next con we have semi-plans for is AnimeFest, but we'll see if that happens or not. Ikkicon will be the only certainty this year...er...well..I guess that one's next year. Ah well. You get my meaning.

You can, however, look forward to more construction pictures and what-I'm-up-to work. I'm beginning to make saddlepads and the like for my barn, as well as saddlecovers, and I've taken up knitting as well. I currently have two finished scarves that will be up for sale on Etsy.com when I get my butt in gear, and am working on two more right now. One of which is on hiatus until the company actually dyes their yarn correctly. -sigh-
Most of that is to fund the infamous Tom Baker scarf, from the old series Doctor Who.

For those of you who have no idea what I"m talking about, that's this guy:

Because antics in front of Daleks are Safe!

Who is my mom's favorite Doctor as well as the one famous for his crazy-long scarf. The shortest one was 9ft, and the longest a whopping 26. The one I'm doing is the 2nd-3rd longest and will take over a dozen skeins of yarn--multiple colors--and almost $120 to make.

Aside from scarves and saddle pads and covers, oh my...I'll be posting my progress on a few other things as well. I'm currently in the very beginning stages of making Penelope Spectra from Danny Phantom--i.e. making a mock-up of her jacket to figure out dem bloomin' eye-takin'-outer shoulder pads--as well as continuing on my old Wrath. Wrath is a project I really can only work on when the mood takes me--one of the many reasons I am more hesitant to do groups these days is because whenever I put the effort in the group disbands before it gets anywhere--and even then its hard to stay actively interested in it, while Penelope is entirely fund-based. I have the materials needed for her clothing, but I have to save up to get all the materials for the wig and other accessories before I can hope to premier her. I luckily have a pretty simple plan for the damn hairpiece of doom, which I'm actually looking forward to. When I have the 50-ish bucks necessary to buy everything I'll get right to it. (For those who wonder, I have a wonderful family member who allows me to buy fabric and patterning.)

I also have a continuing plan for Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo from My Little Pony:  Friendship is Magic. I'm pretty sure RD will be taking precedence as Kaasan is currently working on Twilight (I made her a hipster scarf!) and our crazy midget-fearing monkey is making headway on Pinkie Pie. For those who think there's no such thing as a human quite like Pinkie, I present to you our monkey:  she is tiny, hyperactive, bubbly, makes up songs and drags people around...plus she makes amazing cupcakes...and sings about them. And this was before she decided MLP was the bees knees.

 For your patience here's a preliminary sketch of my RD. ;P I'm going away from the whole 'athlete' thing and going more towards the toughie she is with a mixture of pilot, biker, and rider. I say rider because, for those of you who've never seen a jumper or eventer's gear, we're pretty tricked out. I plan on making a pair of chaps as well as a blue jacket that'll either lean towards Biker or towards Fighter Pilot, depending on patterns available.
RD will not go into production for a few months, as she won't be even possibly premiered before Ikki. And even then, it depends on whether or not I have a job capable of funding it. So..we shall see.

Thanks for sticking around, guys, and thanks for reading my MEGA post! I'd love to hear from you guys and love suggestions, so feel free to comment away.
Oh, and as a reward for those of you who stuck with me...

..I'll tell ya a "secret".

On the 26th of May I'll be going to Dallas.
I'll be getting a hair cut and our amazingly professional make-up artist the Lady M will be messing with my face.
The next day she, Kaasan and I--schedules permitting--will be going out on the town as three characters from Doctor Who.
I won't tell you who as, but I'll start dropping hints as we go along.

And your first hint?!:

The magnificent Kaasan will be wearing this...hm..what could she be..?

Spin Blam Whatafucka BAM.

Its interesting how life experiences can slowly but surely turn your habits into those that you hate. So here I am, a hater of a certain habit of a certain person who pops off the face of the earth for a month or so, and yet I'm wanting to do nothing but the same thing. Bah.

But earth-plopping and mars-popping aside, life right now's okay. I'm currently in Missouri and I've lived through the first day of school, getting ready for the second in...eh...eight hours or so.. Yeah..I should get to bed. Before I do that though, I wanted to get my butt on here and let you guys know a bit of what I've got planned.

I'm now a member of a cosplay group--Cosplay in a Nutshell--which can be found here on blogspot under...well...cosplayinanutshell.blogspot.com. Our group is just getting off its feet, obviously, and are debuting as a "group" at Ikkicon this December/January. Currently we have two large groups planned and a several other smaller groups and duets, as well as singles. Our main groups are a modified Black Butler--basically its what happens when Lady Elizabeth dresses everyone--and a steampunk group called SDS:  Seven Deadly Sciences.

In the BB group I will be a Lizzified Undertaker. Now SPOILER...I will be doing the most recent version of Undertaker, which means I get to ditch that godforsaken hat and shawl and leave my coat open to show my AWESOME MANCHEST....or rather a nicer more fitted outline of my manchest. I'm also considering doing the Charlie Chaplin version as well, with the bowler hat, hilterstache, and suit. That all will boil down to funds though. SPOILER.

SDS is a bit different. Everyone comes up with their own characters and designs, following only a basic guideline. Every member has a science, a sin, and a color to represent. My science is the only false science--Wumbology--and I will be representing Wrath, with a rich red as my color. ;] My costume is already past the planning stages and is in the beginning construction. Thankfully an incredible lady at our school--she's a draper by craft and a good one!--is going to help me modify some of my patterns to better suit what I have in mind. I'm so excited!
The basic idea is to have a red bodice with black trim and--if possible--a double breasted closure. Otherwise it will be a basic square neckline with an upraised collar and a simple down the front closure. My skirt will be the basic walking skirt in a black fabric, with a much more ornate bustle out of two different fabrics. I have a black with very faint shinier black circles and a slightly see-through black with beautifully done flowers on it. I also have some red lace, which will go on certain parts of the bustle.
If possible, I'd like to get some great lace-up heels, but that's all gonna be about the budget.
To top it off I have some fake alligator leather I'm going to be making two large belts out of; one to have vials of misc. goo, and the other for smaller empty vials. I also will be making a polymer clay brittle starfish to be a fascinator...as a joke about Patrick Star being the epitome of Wumbologists.

So yeah...that's what I'm currently up to. Also in the works is a demon-form Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist, but that isn't the most important thing right now. We'll see what happens and whether or not my robotics king can help me with that effin' tail. ;]

By for now~
[Sorry for no pictures, btw~! I might add some more when I'm feeling less...anti-social / lazy.]

A Wandering Mind

Okay, so I honestly have been doing a little bit of work.
I've been studiously reading up on how to do my wings...
Reliably researching horns and animatronics...
Stubbornly playing with models and tests to understand the mechanics of such animatronics...
I've been good.

But for every time I am good, I have to be bad...so aside from the cosplay work I've been doing, the house work that I've been doing, and the general shirking of work that I've been doing, I've also been letting my mind wander...and its been wandering through X-Men!

For a while now I've wanted to do a cosplay from X-Men.
I've loved the series since I was a kid, and used to love the 90's cartoon more than anything in the world. As I grew older, that love stayed with me through X-men Evolution and the X-men movies, and more lately, Wolverine and the X-men. Only recently, however, did i start to read the comics. Its kinda a huge deal when you think about it; the cartoons can be hard enough to understand, especially when you try and fit their mutilated timeline together, but the comics are a thousand times worse. Not only is there no steady time-line, there's a billion different artists(which for a manga fan is a little confusing) and almost that many different versions. There's alternate universes...what-if scenarios, age-changes, time-line gnawing...there's even a story called X-men Babies.
It was confusing.
Nevertheless, I'm sticking with it and enjoying it more than ever. Of course, this new obsession with the series and shows causes some old wants to resurface.

When I was a kid, my favorite character was Gambit. I effin' loved that crazy cajun.
When Evolution was on TV for the first time, Avalanche was my favorite. That changed when I grew a little older, and became infatuated with the character Quicksilver.

Not infatuated like, make-out with the tv sort of infatuated, but an absolute adoration for his mannerisms and completely annoying nature. I've been wanting to make a cosplay for him since...a long time. xD He's just such a snarky little twit-head!! I love it! xD

One of my best friends--while not as obsessed as me--also wants to cosplay X-men...so that's when we began to really look into this. One of her favorite outfits is worn by Jubilee, so we began to search for one of the series that had Jubilee in it, but also allowed me to wear a costume I enjoyed.

 Jubilee was one of the main characters in the original X-men animated series. Because of the time period though, half of the X-men look fabulous, and the other half make me cringe a little. I'm not a huge fan of most of the female's outfits, and all the guys are so buff-tastic that I couldn't pull them off with a muscle suit. One of the ones that I could pull off, however, and actually like, is Rogue.

Rogue's got a good outfit, a fun attitude, and accent pretty close to my own. xD Her hair is a bit intimidating, but otherwise its a pretty good choice for me. However, Kaasan and I weren't willing to leave it there. As much as I like Rogue--and love Rogue x Gambit, and therefore like Rogue even more because of Gambit--her costume has been pulled off so  well by some amazing people, and its seriously intimidating. xD; It doesn't help that, of all the girls, Rogue's not my top pick...and her 90's animation-outfit is even further from my top choice.
So the hunt continued.

Eventually, and almost entirely by lucky-chance, we stumbled upon this image:

It was kinda a match made in heaven.
Not only is it Jubilee--who is my Kaasan's costume choice--its a vampire Jubilee wearing slimming black and that fabulous yellow coat we all know and love. I started reading the new X-men series immediately. And what do I see on one of the first pages?

Pixie! Her character design is one of my absolute favorites, and while I actually dislike the color pink, I am ecstatic to find that her and Jubilee have such great designs right off the bat of this series. I'm super excited about potentially making this costume and wandering around with Kaasan in it. I'm already trying to recruit others into this, and with some mega luck, might be able to have this as early as A-kon 2012!

Okay...so it isn't what I should be working on...but  can you blame me? Its effin' X-men, yo.

Jackalope over and OUT!

Current Projects!

I'll be moving to Missouri in just a few weeks now. I've got an entire semester of make-up and costuming between me and the next con, and yet...its the convention I've got my mind most acutely locked on. Sure, I've got a nine hour drive, delicate packing, school work I have to concentrate on and at least one theatre production to do before it...but somehow...I can't help but scheme and plan that con before I even begin to think about homework.

Perhaps that's a good thing though...settling things now means I can steadily work away until the convention...with lots of time to actually do my schoolwork. xD;;;

So for the convention we've got a few planned groups...and few maybe groups.

One for sure is My Little Pony:  Friendship is Magic. Yes, I know at first glance taht's...odd. But its a hilarious show and I'm effin' excited, yo! xD

I'll be bringing a humanized version of Scootaloo, and I'll be joined by my best friend Kaasan as Sweetie Belle, and our adorable Grell as Applebloom. Together, we will be the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS.

Our plan is for all ponies to have latex ears matching the color of the ponies' hides and tails made out of wig hair to match the wigs on our heads. :D Sweetie Belle will also have a horn, and I will have a set of orange wings. Our outfits will vary...we haven't fully decided who'll get what.

We'll also be joined by Dr. Whooves. 

Shortstuff will be taking part as our good Dr., as he apparently already looks like David Tennant. xD; I personally wouldn't know, unfortunately, as I've never seen any Dr. Who episodes with him in it! Thanks to this though, I'll probably have to get into it. ;] The plan for Dr. Whooves is to mimic Dr. Who's basic, normal outfit...but not replicate it. We'll have Dr. Whooves's cutie mark on his pants as well as on his overcoat. Its gonna be pretty flippin' epic. Just sayin.

Aside from MLP:  FIM, our little gang has decided to do a different version of Black Butler. We plan on doing a "cute" version, as though Elizabeth had gotten her fingers on everything again. xD Included in this group will be a Lizzified Ciel, Lizzified Grell, Lizzified Madam Red, Lizzified Undertaker, and possibly a few others. We're still not sure entirely of who all will be joining in.

I'll also be working on a Soul Evans from Soul Eater, if only to escort and help Kaasan wander around as Excalibur. There is talk of an Alice in Wonderland group, in which I'd be the Jabberwock, but that's very much in the air right now. I'm not really sure who is doing what, or when, or whether or not its even for this con. oxo;

What I'm probably most excited about, however, isn't actually a group cosplay. I plan on making Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist.

I'm not entirely sure which version of him I'll be doing...but I'm hoping to be able to make the full, released version. Unfortunately I'd need a lot of help for that one, so its still very much up in the air. If I do the full version I will definitely use a lot of LEDs. I'm determined to make one that actually glows. No matter which I choose, however, there will definitely be a tail. I'm already working out the mechanics for one that'll hopefully move a bit!

Whether it will be a "OMG WHOA" movement or "ha dats kewl" movement..I'm not sure. either way I'll be pleased though! Rin's one of my favorites of all time, so its exciting. ;D

Anyways...stick around and watch me wriggle my way through my first animatronic tail, yo! xD

Jack over and out~

Post-Con Runthrough

So A-kon 22 is in my rearview mirror!
It was a great con though, full of great people and great memories and less-than-great costume fiascoes that were till better to have than to not have. Despite my hard work, my Undertaker costume was yet again unable to be really premiered. I once again ran out of time, taking on too much too late in the game to manage the one thing I've been planning since the beginning. Sounds like me, huh? Ah well! Can't dwell on things like that, now can we?

Pepe de Pedro was meant to be a prop...
..but he ended up being more of a partner...
..and a Med-nin toy.

Hikaru was, thankfully, a success! Our beach Ouran gang went over well despite how little time we actually had to spend in costume. The photoshoot came and went in the blink of an eye, and everyone was out of costume almost as quickly as they got in! But we are all eagerly waiting for the result of our hard work, as our photographer should be getting back to us with our pictures in the next few months.
I'll, of course, put up a gallery when they arrive!

In the meantime, how about a run-down of our trip to Galveston, Texas a few weeks prior?
Yeah?
Fabulous!

Well, to begin with...a trip to the beach is pretty self-explanatory. Myself, Kaaan, and Hidan-kun all packed up our pretty little bums and hi-tailed it down to Galveston Island in south Texas for a weekend of beach merriment. Yep. Just like it sounds like! While we were there to waste time and enjoy the weather mostly, we also took some time to explore and took some fabulous cosplay related photographs!

Myself and Hidan-kun actually spent an entire day in partial cosplay--myself in an unbound, glasses wearing Hikaru, and Hidan as...Hidan--and that was the day we spent the most time in public. We went to a place called Moody Gardens, which are these three glass pyramids with miniature worlds inside! We went to two of the three, the Jungle Pyramid and the Aquarium Pyramid!

We actually had a couple pictures taken of us as we cheerfully traipsed about, making happy spectacles of ourselves as we just acted to our nature. Of course, with a 6'7" companion with slicked back hair and an Akatsuki cloak walking around with a 5'6" orange-headed bubble mouth and a good-part-of-Texas Kaasan...its hard not to be noticed.






While in the Aquarium Pyramid we discovered this awesome shark cage in the middle of the room that was set up for taking pictures! It was kinda amazing, and we took quite a few pictures of us goofing around in it. But aside form cool-ass shark cages, there were multitudes of incredibly well done tanks and beautiful fish.
...I'm not gonna lie. Aquariums are my favorite things of all times!

Aside from awesome fish and beautiful jungle settings, we were also lucky as all hell to get a great view from our hotel balcony. My mom really blew us away with our great room, and considering it was my first true vacation from family, it went incredibly well. My friends proved to be incredibly good friends during a mental meltdown the night before we went home, and I came back to my southern neighborhood feeling relieved...almost like the ocean air had eased all of my worries.

A shout out to my duo.
I won't forget what y'all have done for me, guys.

When we got back from our trip, and I went home, I took a long breath...and didn't work. I don't regret that action, however, as taking a step back and just...relaxing really soothed my nerves. True, Undertaker wasn't finished. True, Hikaru was literally finished the night  before the convention. True, I was making costumes while at the con, and spent more time working on things and changing then I did much else. But it wasn't a stressful thing, like it could have been. It was fun!

So to all of you guys who do what I do--take bites off of the world too big for your own mouth and struggle to swallow more than your stomach can hold--remember that its all for fun. That its okay to step away and not have everything done. Against all odds, you can have as much fun with the imperfections of the world as you can the perfection! If not more, for that matter.

As is custom in my favorite world of all time, "Breathe Deep; Seek Peace." ...then go enjoy the hell out've life, yo!