Here we go 2019!

As promised 'I’m back with some 2019 updates! Mostly just my new cosplay lineup for 2019. Granted we all know I have ADD when it comes to doing new cosplay so I’m sure there will be a bunch of other random new stuff within, like, 3 days of me posting this but that will be then, THIS IS NOW!

First I should probably point out that my Con Schedule page has been updated for 2019! Obviously it’s a bit early for me to be planning most of this but you’ll see some tentative cosplans in there, and you’ll see what all I’m presently planning on attending!

Now, on to cosplans for 2019! I’m not making anything new for Ohayo cause that’s next weekend and I have enough other projects that need work right now, but I did finally put together a lineup:

Photo by Robert Tate Photography
The major one is Fran, which I’m bringing comfy shoes this time. I do need to do a few things so she’s ready so hopefully I remember that.

And last up is my witchsona because I want it to be very magical this weekend. There will be a few updates to the look, perhaps a fabulous hat… we’ll see.

Second is Newt Scamander… like actual Newt not my cryptozoologist OC. The friend of mine who won a free badge with me will be hanging out in Dolores Umbridge so that’ll be fun. I will of course have a few creatures with me.

As for the rest of 2019, here’s the stuff I’m hoping to get put together:

First up is Frog/Glen from Chrono Trigger. Almost anyone who knows me knows I have a fondness for amphibians, and particularly anurans (frogs & toads) so I’m sure this comes as a surprise to no one. I played through Chrono Trigger for the first (and only, as yet) time a couple years back and I fell in love with the game. At some point I’ll have to replay it but I doubt I’m going to have time to do that between now and April, when I’m planning to debut this cosplay. I’ve already started working on the head, which has been an interesting experience. God bless Tionniel on deviantArt for posting WIP photos of the head because I was at a loss of where to even start.

It’s obviously nowhere near being done but you can be sure I’ll post progress photos as it comes together. Unfortunately it’ll be a bit before I can get to that since I have other, more pressing projects to finish first.

Second on the list with an actual debut date is Shigure Rangetsu from Tales of Berseria, who I plan on having done for Tekko. Berseria was the first Tales game in a while that I really got into since Symphonia. It took me a while to figure out who from it I wanted to cosplay and ultimately I decided on Shigure. I like his design (I can only pray to have half those abs by the time I cosplay him), I like his character, and I have a friend who cosplays Rokurou. I promised them a while ago that I’d make this and I’m finally resolving to do it, and setting a debut con of Matsuricon this summer so that I can have proper motivation (both internal and external) to get it done! And don’t worry, I plan on having a very fat Morgrim plush with me.

Next on the list is a new pair for Jordan and I. It’s been a while since we’ve cosplayed together (I really need to get some real photos of Ruby & Penny together because we have zero), and our two options are Kamille & Quattro (Jordan & I, respectively) from Zeta Gundam, or the Fischoeder brothers from Bob’s Burgers. I’ll let you guess who’c going to be who on that second one ;-)
If we do something new, it’ll likely be for Colossal, cause that’s really the only one Jordan comes to with me.

The last “for sure” cosplay I plan to do this year is a new Christmas cosplay. I’ve been having a lot of fun with that over the past few years and I want to do an entirely new one this year, rather than just festive-ifying an existing cosplay. I’m keeping the specific character a secret for now, but I will say it’ll be someone from Fire Emblem.

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The rest are “maybes” that I don’t have solid plans for yet but I would love to make them happen this year!

First up is Saber from Fire Emblem: Gaiden/Echoes (the Echoes design, obviously). This sultry rogue really did it for me in this game and he anded up being one of my favorite (and strongest) characters. I also finally managed to get him in Feh so I am determined to cosplay him this year some time. Also it just doesn’t feel right not to have at least one Fire Emblem character on the list. Beyond that, it’ll be nice to have representation from a new FE game I haven’t cosplayed from yet. And it’ll get me closer to having a cosplay from every FE game in my repertoire (Shadow Dragon/Sword of Light is the only one I’d be missing once I do Saber), and of course I’d love to expand my repertoire too by watchig Let’s Plays or emulating some of the ones not available in the US. Or maybe we’ll get lucky by then and we’ll have more Remake/Updates like we did with Echoes.

Next on the list is a character from a game I haven’t even played yet, but I already promised my friend I’d cosplay him. This is Eve, from Nier: Automata. I do own the game, I just haven’t gotten around to playing it yet. But I liked the design enough that I’ll gladly cosplay him regardless of how I feel about his character in the game.

Adventures in a New House

Welcome back!

As promised I wanted to show off my new crafting space now that we’re settled in a bit more. Things certainly aren’t all put away yet, and we haven’t even decided which rooms what furniture is going in yet, but I’ve had some time to stake out and organize my crafting areas!

First up is the armory! I already have plans to put in pegboard in the left area to hold most of these props. This is also the only area with concrete flooring so it might serve (at least to start) as my woodworking/dirty workspace. If that happens I’ll tent off the section where I work so sawdust doesn’t f*** up our utilities…
Needless to say it’ll be a bit before I can start doing much propwork again, which is fine because it’s almost December so xmas orders of other stuff I make will be picking up here shortly.

My other main crafting space is a large, rectangular room, also in the basement. Benefits include lots of built-in cabinets/drawers and counterspace!

On opposite sides of the room there are these weird-shaped desk…. things. They work fine, and I can set up a machine on either side and store stuff on the weird middle angle! The lack of drawers means that I’m gonna have to keep that space organized or it’ll just avalanche out of there.
I’m also looking for more of those sewing stools like the one in that photo; ideally one for each spot where I’ll normally sit. That way I don’t have to move that one around (since it is full of shit) and I’ll have some extra storage that is also practical!

The weird desk on the other side is going to be crafting space! I’m gonna set up some shelves to hold things like paint, adhesives, etc. It’s also going to work opposite the sewing desk, I’m gonna store stuff under the side wings and sit in the center diagonal part because the shelves underneath are set back a bit so my knees will fit under there.

This monstrosity is set up along the wall with the sewing desk. Yes the fabric is all color-sorted. I’ve been wanting to do that forEVER and I finally have room. This doesn’t include fleece or the prints I use to make my ties because I have too many so they all live in totes elsewhere.

I also sorted all of my buttons and other closures into this fun drawer-storage thing! It only took, like, 4 hours X_X

The last thing in the crafting room is this large white storage cabinet. Right now it’s housing a bunch of aror bits, props, and other random cosplay bits. My cosplay closet is a good bit smaller than the one I had at our old house so I had to find somewhere new to put all this junk.

Speaking of which, here’s the overcrowded closet! Not much to say here except good god I have so many cosplays XD

So, that’s the new setup! I’m super excited to start using it more regularly now that we’re more moved in and I have some time to work on projects again.

Youmacon (at last)

Hello friends!

Sorry for the long hiatus… I realize you’re probably used to that at this point but I’d love for that not to be the case lol. Since I last posted a bunch of stuff has been going on, which is mostly why I haven’t been posting. Youmacon was a couple weekends ago, and it was super fun! I have a couple photos to share from that, and eventually I’ll have my hands on some more when I get photos back from the shoots I was involved in.

The other big thing that’s been going on, and the main reason I haven’t been super active online lately is that Jordan, Donner and I have moved! We didn’t move far, we’re just a few minutes down the road from our old place, but the new house has a bit more room, which will hopefully be filled up in the not-too-distant-future with an expanding family. We’ll see how that process goes. Anyway, things are kind of a mess right now but when I have most of it put away I’ll make another post to show off my new craft areas!

So Youmacon. I had a blast at Youma; despite having a pretty full cosplay schedule it was a pretty chill con, which is always nice. The impromptu Fire Emblem gathering we had was waaaay better attended than I was expecting! Look at all these folks!

And look at the wealth of game representation we had! We planned the Tellius stuff around my friend’s Lord Ike and my Ashnard, but we got folks from Blazing Sword, Fates, and Geneaology/Thracia too!

This is exactly what we’ve been waiting for.

We also got some fabulous derp photos with all of the caped characters (and Rhys (and Reyson)).

Look, a flock of birbs!

I’ve also wanted to get something resembling this art forever and I finally made it happen!

Also, while we were hanging out waiting for the official shoot to start, we got our photo taken by the folks at MLive!

Apparently they think my friend is a very salty solution lol
Here’s a link to the article, there are lots of great cosplays to see!

So Ashnard got to have lots of fun this year, and the other major thing was my debut of Fran! I’m so excited with how this cosplay turned out and I love her so much I want to wear this all the time!

I had so much fun wearing this cosplay even though it was a bit of a chore between the somewhat unruly weapon and the giant hoops, but I was so happy it didn’t even matter.

I definitely learned some things wearing it the first time too, so I can improve my experience next time. Mainly that the horn needs to attach to the wig, because as soon as I started sweating a bit the lace front tape just gave way. I’ll still use the tape to keep it in place but I need a strap or something integrated into the wig to keep it on my face when the tape gets loose. I also need a pair of flat shoes because I would have worn this on the con floor way longer if my feet didn’t want to die in those boots after the 5-6 hours I was in them. When I took them off to eat some dinner my feet were so happy lol.

We had an awesome Apocrypha group and did some shooting with Robbie; I’m super stoked to see the results since he always does an amazing job. It was cold as shit out by the river but it was so beautiful! You know I’ll share them as soon as I have them but for now, ta-ta!