Friday, November 16, 2012

11.16.2012 Project Idea!


      I've got a couple weeks before I can order the violet and dusty pink broadcloth for Patchouli, so I've been going through the fabric I have currently and deciding if there is anything I can do with it. I have enough felt left over from Cynder that I could probably make a jacket if I really wanted to and I also just have lots of scraps from fabric my mom has used in the past and scraps of my own fabric all in this large, purple tub.
     Whilst on my search, I found black crushed panne velvet (from a panda costume mom and I worked on for Halloween a few years back) and I found this upholstery/tapestry-like fabric which is a beautiful gold colour with a floral pattern that my mom had used to make Christmas stockings and a robe for a St. Nick doll a long time ago. The gold fabric has been around for quite some time but is nice and sturdy and the velvet is slightly stretchy so it'd be wonderful for movement.



      The crushed panne velvet ~ I'm glad I was able to get a shot where you could see the texture. It stretches in only one direction so if I were to use it and want that give, I'd have to keep checking the grain while I was sewing since I've never really worked with the grain in mind.

     The upholstery-type fabric ~ as you can see, it's a really nice Christmas fabric and looks great against our fake pine branch lol this is another fabric where I'd have to be more conscious of how I sew since I want the pattern to look nice. It's a bit of a free form fabric, but I wouldn't want it to look completely hectic and uneven.

      Finally, a look at what the two fabrics look like together! I'm still unsure if I have enough of the velvet to really do what I want to do, but I think I can search a little more and work with the patterns I have to get the best results.
     I really want to make a vest! Even if the textures and colours are more wintery, I'd probably wear it even in warmer weather with more spring or summer like pieces to offset the wintery/fall effect. The floral gold would be the front of the vest while the velvet would be the back so I could have a little bit more movement than I would if I managed to make the vest entirely out of the gold fabric. Hopefully I can begin work on this and come back with the results, especially since I can't work on my next cosplay just yet.

     Wish me luck ~


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Videos, Tutorials and Cosplay

     Yeah about those videos.... :/

     I have videos recorded regarding FOAF's upcoming plans and a tutorial/watch me do this makeup video for my own personal YouTube. I would have them posted already, but my phone, being the only source of high speed internet, says the files are too big and cannot be posted without wifi. I don't have wifi...thus my dilemma.
     For this blog, I'll probably do step by step in photos with pictures of my products which honestly will probably work out better for those interested than the video of me doing it. It took me about 6 and a half minutes and there wasn't much in the way of actually tutoring any of you. I sped it up to about 3 and a half minutes, gave it a little music track - I was pretty proud of it lol
   Anywayyyy ~ for the step by step photos, I'll be sure to take my time. I couldn't tell you why I rushed through it - I can speed it up so the video is shorter etc etc; I suppose it's just my own habit as I'm usually speeding to get ready as to not keep anyone waiting. The video I recorded may still be posted on my personal YouTube, but a nicer, more "professional"(lolwut) video will probably be done at a later date as well as more of my tutorial ideas being posted here photo by photo.

     As for FOAF (Freaks Of A Feather), as much as we want people to help make it a bigger group, it really has been just me and Taka (I guess that works out for Trinity Moon Commissions - our little duo work set up). We have had a decent amount of friends becoming interested in commissioning us and joining in on current and future plans which is great! Now if only they would give us a definite yes or no so we don't get too excited and too ahead of ourselves!
     Ohayocon 2013 is closing in and within the coming weeks, I will be purchasing fabric to begin work on Patchouli Knowledge from Touhou (along with Taka's fabric as she's a bit short right now; she'll be paying me back later). One of our friends has commissioned Remilia Scarlet and Taka will be taking that up while I talk to one of her co-eds about a Jet Black (Cowboy Bebop) cosplay for Whittcon in March. QUITE A WAYS I KNOW! But best to plan much too soon than much too late, right?


     After Touhou - Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil, we want to work on costumes FOR Whittcon - Taka's probably going to do a Sailor Gijinka group with the "Remilia" as Sailor Zapdos (I believe?) and another friend as Sailor Moltres while she's Articuno. I wasn't quite sure I could swing that many costumes in a year as we hope to attend Colossalcon for the first time and are definitely attending Ikasucon 2013, I decided that I would work on the costumes we intended to wear for Colossalcon from the series:









     (~*^*)~ digimon!! As of late, Taka has been extremely excited to begin work on Sakuyamon from the Digimon Series. I was stumped for a while before deciding on Wizardmon (just this past weekend actually). The character has been portrayed with varying shades of hair colour so I was thinking of purchasing a burnt orange wig to be later used for Fujimoto from Ponyo. If I work on Wizardmon for March AND June, I'll be saving myself personal work AND money as I'll be eliminating one costume - an idea that has been increasingly appealing to Taka aside from the fact she's unsure she'll have the money to work on Sakuyamon around Whittcon time.




      I think the most difficult part for Wizardmon will be getting the small details like that of the inside of the coat and the zippers etc etc along with getting the hat to stand just so and have the cape cover my face in a certain way. I'm most worried about the designs on the lining, but that's to be thought upon on a later date ~
     I hope to be better with progress photos and fabric shots with Patchouli and maybe even Jet since I'm excited to work on him and will be asking around for help with the boots and arm, but until I get the fabric, I won't really be sure! Until then, I'll just keep telling myself to photograph progress so I can continue writing and hopefully review some wigs, fabric and maybe even contacts soon *^*

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Spyro the Dragon: Cynder

     I was a humanoid adaption of Cynder the dragon from the Spyro the Dragon video games for Halloween while my friend was a humanoid adaption of Spyro. This was the first time either of us had done wings - she had her father's help while I did them myself and had his help later on. Her dad heated the PVC and bent the wings into shape while I cut the PVC into pieces and connected them with elbows. My downfall was not having the glue - while they stayed together at home, fast movement and the wind conditions on "release day" proved that they weren't sturdy enough without it. Before beggars night in my friend's town, her dad screwed the pieces to the elbows to give it a little more sturdiness

.
                              (sorry for the image quality; most of these photos were taken from my phone)




     The horns gave me issues as well - the first set was made of Softee Dough and the next with Crayola Model Magic. They were glued to a headband at the base; the larger horns had a floral foam base while the smaller horns were baseless. They lasted through the evening on both accounts, I just know for next time to use model magic and definitely have a sturdy/sturdier base for all horns. My friend used Crayola air dry clay with a foam and wood base and screws were drilled through the headband and wood to keep them in place.
     The flesh of the wings and the tail were made of black felt and the lining of the wings was red costume satin - my friend had wire for the fingers while I went wireless just for ease of sewing and lack of supplies. I used a shirt I already had but made the coat and skirt - the base of the skirt was black broadcloth as was the outer part of the coat. The lining of the coat was more red costume satin and the mesh pieces of the skirt were black and red netting.





     Thank you to the photographers at the Ikasucon 2012 Rave - a few others took our picture, but these were the only two posted. This was the first time I had done the makeup for Cynder (and you can tell the claws on the wings weren't sturdy yet either; my friend's dad added wires to them for me later so they actually stood up). On beggars night, I tried something new and was much happier with it, but I wasn't able to get any shots that night either. I also had a black tank top for beggars night which made me feel much more comfortable along with red fishnet tights after being unable to find them for the rave.
     The wig I wore to the rave and for beggars night was a wig I received from a friend - I haven't a clue where she got it or for how much, but it came in handy to me despite how shiny it looks in some photos.

     Overall, I'm very pleased with the results - this was our first time doing something like this and it turned out rather well for a first attempt. My friend wants to remake most of her outfit - it turned out nicely, but some mishaps took place and rips kept appearing at the seams (costume satin is cheap and it really shows but on a tight budget it suffices).

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Plato's Closet

     I went to Plato's Closet in Huber Heights with a friend (second time going; her very first visit) - we spent a decent chunk of time in there and came out with a pretty good haul. I have new shoes (flats! I desperately needed fashionable shoes that weren't heeled) and a few tops (spent about $40) while she faired amazingly and basically gave herself a new wardrobe ~ good thing she had a nice paycheck ~
     I'll probably post pictures AFTER this thursday as we're planning to go back and bring her mom with us this time. I'm getting some of the nice/brand name clothes and shoes that just hang in my closet in hopes to make a little money - I'm really hoping they take some of them and I can make my $40 back and then some lol

     In the mean time, I started work on my halloween costume. I'm doing a humanoid Cynder of Spyro! I have a Spyro and we want to make my niece Sparx (she's only two and a half; we'll just dress her in all yellow with some wings and put her hair up in little pigtails atop her head lol). I started cutting the pattern for the coat and found myself missing the sleeve flange (a little cap that extends the shoulders and gives the sleeves just slightly more Victorian style and a little more pizazz lol).

   The wings will be made from PVC for the boning, felt and costume satin for the fleshier parts and probably backpack scraps for the harness that keeps the wings on me. My friend and I are trying different ways to make the wings as this is our first time doing it. I hope to post progress shots for you all and give you a good idea of how to do it when I get it done. (It took me FOREVER to find helpful tutorials and tips).

     Hopefully next post will have photos ~ this was just a little update ***

Monday, August 20, 2012

Pantene ProV Breakage to Strength Product Review





     I've been using Pantene Pro-V Breakage to Strength for a few months and I'm quite surprised with how well it's treated my hair. In the months that I've used the shampoo/conditioner combo, I've coloured my hair, thermal styled, backcombed, and have generally just been rough with my hair lol
     I'm beginning to run low, both bottles nearly empty, and I would definitely recommend this to someone. This past month, I've been able to get away with just shampooing my hair and towel drying my hair to find that it is soft even without conditioner or any leave-in treatments.
     This set isn't really needed for those with healthy hair; you'd probably just end up weighing your hair down with the extra nutrients then be lacking the volume most people desire from their hair. It is definitely for those who need a revival from a breaking state. Don't go thinking this will work overnight; I used this Pantene product for at least 5 months (though started to really feel results around the end of the first month, further into month two) - just to note, I go through shampoo and conditioner pretty slowly lol it takes forever for me to run out.

At about $4-$5 per bottle, the price is pretty good on the wallet - there are cheaper products out there and sometimes you gotta do whatcha gotta do, but it's best to steer clear of the $1 VO5 and White Rain, especially if you're looking into this product to save your hair.It also smells great, in my opinion. I was walking outside today and the breeze wafted my shampoo smell into my face. I was pretty pleased with how clean I smelled hahaha

All in all, I'm happy with the product; I'm sure most of you have longer hair than myself and will probably get to the bottom of the bottle more quickly than me but definitely give it a few washes before making an opinion yourself.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt - Chuck and Brief too~


This is about a month late, but here is me with my Panty and Stocking group! I made the costumes for Brief (the ginger cosplayed by me) and Panty (the blonde cosplayed by a friend ~)

For the most part I used cotton or cotton blends, even with the protopack - it is sagging in this picture since I really wasn't sure of what I was doing; it was my first time really working with props.

Taka (my friend and fellow sprouting seamstress) made her Stocking costume (purple and pink hair) along with our friend's Garterbelt costume (afro lol). I'm pretty sure she used cotton and/or cotton blends as well lol



Finally, we have a humanoid Chuck who is actually a zipper dog in the series; our friend made her costume and the tail and ears herself - I think they came out rather well lol

Our Garterbelt is actually white lol Taka did most of his makeup while she, our friend who was Chuck and I all had a hand in the facial hair at one point or another ~ There were many compliments on his makeup and a few people in disbelief that he is caucasian lol



For Panty's dress, I used a simple halterdress pattern; I had to estimate measurements then finally take it in to fit her when she came for a visit. The dress was a birthday gift of sorts lol

With Brief's outfit, I used a hoodie pattern and a scrub bottom pattern - his design in the show is similar to Ghostbusters so the outfit should have been more like a mechanics uniform, but I had no pattern for that or really any general idea to go about it. I have, however, been given the advice to look for the Kwik Sew 3389 Pattern which is a jumpsuit I assume lol I intend to look this up in the future if I ever want to recreate Brief or just work with more jumpsuits lol
His protopack was made with an altered backpack pattern but next time I want to see what I can do with papier mache - someone who I was talking to before tackling the protopack had actually used a styrofoam cooler lol

Given the things we, as a group, knew could have been done better, we are still quite proud of ourselves as we received an honourable mention; it means a lot to us to get recognition for our hard work. I don't know what we plan to do for Ikasucon 2013 if we rally to go, but I hope we just keep working and improving (:

(photos aside from the first group shot taken and edited by me)

For a further look at Taka and what she does, venture here:

https://www.facebook.com/KagakuCosplay

For a look at our group work visit these:

www.youtube.com/user/FOAFproductions

www.facebook.com/TrinityMoonCommissions

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Uuhuu

This weekend is Ikasucon 2012 and I've been working on two costumes, hotel booking, and just getting the money from all the people in our group to help pay for the hotel lol. I completely finished all the work for my costumes last night and bagged up the costumes in "garment bags" and have the backpack that I made sitting beside me. I do hope to post photos of MY costume, but I will certainly get photos of the bag and the dress that I made for my friend's birthday present.

I have a new camera - a model by GE that was about $170 all together for the camera, a new SD card, a camera bag and the warranty. I can return it in fifteen days so I can take all the pictures I want and, if I'm not satisfied with the results, I can trade or return for refund by the 18th - just enough time to go to Ikasucon and get home lol I don't think I'll be returning it, but it's great to have that for safety. I never knew GE made cameras and I did do quite a bit of research on it before deciding that I'd purchase this particular model (my first choice was a fujifilm but they didn't carry the one I wanted; they only had one that was $200 and I didn't have the funds for that lol). I sacrificed most of my spending money so I more than likely won't make any purchases at the convention but a new camera was truly what I wanted - my Nikon L20 was sufficient but the battery door snapped right down the center and wouldn't stay closed for anything. I could duct tape it and it'd somewhat work, but it just wasn't cutting it for easy use.

I hope to have quite a few decent pictures to post so I can do the cosplayers justice. I'll admit now that some fandoms I don't really like, but if I think the costume is good, I'll probably snap a photo of it.

Sorry for being silent so long - not too many people read my blog but if I kept up with it, there'd probably be more traffic lol I want to do more makeup and art supply reviews or tutorials. I'm not sure if these will go on youtube or if I'll stick to blogging instead of vlogging lol ahhh such is life.
I'm excited to actually be posting more so I hope that I can actually make it exciting lol

Sunday, May 13, 2012

So Tired

I was unexpectedly allowed to stay with a friend this weekend and went garage sale browsing with her on saturday lol We found a painter's mask and some pyramid studs and immediately decided she had to buy them so she could paint the mask then deck it out with the studs and some possible tubing if I can get my hands on it - all together the studs and mask were only $5.25 which is a really good deal lol
I found a really pretty credenza and some nice book shelves but left my money at home so I wouldn't purchase anything lol (though I really wanted that credenza * ^ * )

That night, we went to the movies ~ Dark Shadows! I was really pleased with how good it was and really wanted Barnabas's wardrobe haha
We went for the 10:35 showing and didn't get out until 12:36 or so then went to eat at Waffle House lol so many drunks there at one in the morning.

On another note, I've been trying to draw recently and nothing seems to be coming out right ._. I was able to paint a rose for my mom for Mother's Day, but I haven't really been able to do much else aside from unfinished doodles. I feel rather dissatisfied by this to be honest; I wanted to draw but my tablet and my hand don't seem to be cooperating with each other *pulls out hair*

My artistic abilities must be failing me -.- maybe when I'm in a slightly less stressful environment I'll be able to draw again. Or just continue painting flowers lol (which is odd because I don't like to paint/draw flowers)

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Watercolours

      Ahh - I've recently purchased new brushes and card stock along with a new set of watercolours. I've been contemplating what I really want to do before getting down to it (and reading up on how to use the watercolours to the best of my abilities since I'm more used to acrylics). I have a general idea, but just haven't gone through with any of them - lack of motivation I guess.

     I have been doing many fashion sketches lately, just to scribble outfit ideas down, and I've been trying to draw people of all sizes in the little outfits I think of. I guess it is mainly due to the fact that I myself am not thin in any sense of the word and don't want to be a hypocrite - if I were to only draw thin models in my work, I feel as though it'd be taking away my whole view that fashion is for everyone (like plus size magazines who showcase their clothes on thin models - not very accurate lol).
This sketch is really just anatomically gross. I think it has to do with the long arms and seemingly short legs (or just that it was a badly drawn sketch ghgh). This is a traditional piece that I just sketched in marker last night; I took the photo with my phone then sketched over some of the lines in photoshop.

     I have been really loving the idea of red blazers recently and honestly want to own one myself lol I've also fallen in love with frilly shirts 'old lady' shirts.
     This is a drawing of a friend's character; her raised arm is off, I believe but not too badly, I hope? She didn't request this or anything, I just felt the need to draw a woman after drawing so many men. I'm personally pleased with how she turned out regardless of some mistakes - I was in a ruffle phase a while ago and just loved drawing lots of folds. I tried to portray the chest piece of her dress as lace - I hope everyone who has seen her has caught on to that fufufufu.
     For a while all I really did was digital work, but my monitor is so off with it's colour (I need a new monitor lol) that I just haven't been using my tablet as much. No one really sees my traditional work because it doesn't have that great of a quality (i.e. the first picture lol).

I've been sleeping so late into the day that I'm surprised I get anything done - o - I don't feel motivated ugh ugh

I need to record a new video for youtube account I share with a group ... I just have no idea how to keep the video relevant to the group lol
Maybe I'll do a tutorial of sorts someday.
I may blog a review of products for this blog - I don't know, a bunch of ifs lol 

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Ragdoll Explanation

This isn't my first time using blogspot, but I completely forgot all my original information so it is best to let that original blog continue dust gathering hehh.

As a first post, I figured I would try to give a short (as short as I can make it lol) explanation about my blog name and what the whole deal with 'ragdoll prince' is.


To be honest, the prince part is just simply because most of the characters I draw are male and, regardless of gender, it is fun to dress and regard oneself as a prince.
Now, most see ragdoll and think of rag dolls the literal dolls, but that really isn't where I'm coming from with my choice of the singular word 'ragdoll'.

I was feeling rather creative a few years back, redesigning some original characters of mine when I began to think about their species. Originally, they had been wolf demons or something of the sort (I grew up watching Inuyasha lulul so lame I know) then I began to think about what I'd REALLY prefer them to be. I didn't want werewolves or vampires - already had those and they were very common anyway - and nothing else really seemed to fit my idea of who they were.
Thus began my musings on creating a completely new race for them to be. Yes, I'm sure with a bit of researching I could have found an existing species, but I was really wanting to create something for myself.

Ragdolls are a rather carnivorous species though they can live omnivorously like humans and such; it is a species that devours other species just like anything else in the food chain. They tend to avoid humans because they aren't much fun to lure in (it's an easy kill I suppose?). They appear a humans on a normal basis but do have true forms which requires the bones to shift, crack and move which is a painful experience.

When they HAVE to hunt, they use their bodies hormones to make themselves smell more appealing to their prey. They are also extremely sexual creatures so, if said prey is lucky, they may get laid before they die ;D

Ragdolls can survive on normal meats and vegetables (and even vegetables alone) and sometimes even blood as they do have some characteristics of vampires in that respect, it's just that eating certain creatures' flesh/drinking certain bloods increases their healing greatly. So it's always good to keep on those huntings, even if it's only once a month or so, just in case something hazardous were to happen to them lol

Now, these are some bits that are for my personal pleasure over making sense:

1.) Ragdolls can only die when they're heart is completely crushed or devoured etc etc but can continue living if their heart is out of their chest.
I could attempt to explain the last part, but, like I said, it is more for my pleasure than anything lol I figured if a vampire's heart doesn't have to beat, my ragdolls could technically live without hearts.
When other organs are removed, it is very painful - for example, if a ragdoll were to have their lungs damaged or removed for some reason, they'd be in agony until their lungs were healed or returned to them. As does it go for any other organ lol


2.) Ragdolls can change their sex. That is an extremely painful process just like their change into their full form as bones have to shift and crack to better represent the opposite sex. Just because they can, doesn't mean they will obviously - some just care to be one gender over the other and will only change into that opposite gender if their partner begs. As a species, they'll have sex with any gender (as mentioned early, they are pretty sexual as a whole lol) so the terms homosexuality and heterosexuality really don't make sense to older generations as it's all sex to them lol

Ahh so yes, to say that ragdolls are a species that changes to please, can be overindulgent and yet self loathing I think is a rather good ending point.
There is so much more I could go on about, but this was already boring haha

FYI my blog header is actually a quick sketch of one of my ragdoll characters that I just quickly edited for this blog - I found it fitting.

Thank you to all those who made it this far haha Sorry that my first blog post was so lame *0*