Ragdoll Prints: Arts and Crafts and Commissions!

       So I have a facebook page dedicated to my art and sometimes cosplay, photography etc; I originally wanted to use this blog for that but haven't kept up with the art aspect very well soooo....if you're interested in my art or commissioning me or what have you, please have a look around!! Depending on the day, I may take requests as well since I'm trying to build my portfolio!

     Currently, I'm working on Strength from Black Rock Shooter for Ikasucon 2014 and I'm hoping I can get those ogre arms done in time! I'm planning a Biker/Street Fujimoto from Ponyo that Friday with my friend as NuGoth/Biker Granmamare because we're cute! [We also have a friend planning on Biker Kiki if she has time lol]

     Soon I'll have a Choji Akimichi cosplay blog post BUT that'll be a bit because last time I tried to do it, I got so gosh darn frustrated because the photos weren't doing what I wanted them to ha! So sometime, sometime soon!

Come visit the Ragdoll Prints page and enjoy some art and puns!


See ya later Space Cowboys
And Thanks for Readin'!

~ Jack "Hachi" Hallow ~      

Seth Knightlord Appreciation Post - Ikasucon 2013

 This wonderful cosplayer had me so excited to be a Trinity Blood fan. I haven't really been able to talk to many Trinity Blood cosplayers, much less make friends with them, so I'm pleased that she was Seth and motivated me to be Ion.




I took a lot of shots of her outfit and of course there's always the mandatory, mouth open, middle-of-the-sentence shot that I seem to get with people.

 She made the earrings and choker - I found them to be nice touches.

She had other rings as well but one had broken sadly UoU still, the minor touches were nice.

Thank you Emily for letting me take your photo! I loved hanging out with you and talking to you about Trinity Blood!!


Thanks for reading,

Hachi

More Absences But Work Has Been Done!

     I've gotten much done in the ways of cosplay - good thing too considering Ikasucon 2013 is next weekend! I ended up sticking with a last minute decision to do Ion Fortuna's "Iblis Desert" outfit along with working on my two commissioned costumes and Beelzemon for the masquerade.
     Beelzemon's helmet is finished, as is the jumpsuit; I have the jacket, gloves and tail to do (and the "steel toe" covers of his boots ;A; how do!?!?!) I hope to get a lot of pictures taken of all the work I've put into everything this time around!!!

Today, Taka and I are working on her jrock panel for which I'm a co-panelist. I wish I would have thought to print business cards earlier in the game, but maybe next time (and maybe next year I'll host my own panel and/or have an artist table? We'll see lol)

As of now, I have no photos, just listing things out for myself and giving a heads up as to why it's been so quiet!

Thanks for reading,
Hachi

Apologies for Absence

     I haven't had anything interesting to tell you all thus no posts. I've been working on commissions and will soon be charging ahead with my own costume. I don't tend to post work in progress photos, but I'll do my best to give you some idea of the work that went into everything I'm doing.


My current workload includes:
Harley Quinn from Batman inspired hoodie and shorts
Panty dress from Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt (Yes. Another one! Different Panty cosplayer this time around but still a friend lol)
Gatomon from Digimon - gijinka - (same friend who is cosplaying Panty) 

 A fur suit didn't sound appealing to any of us so we went with a gijinka version based off this image - if anyone knows the artist, please be so kind as to inform me so I may credit them!

     The main difference in this design is the change in hair - we're going with a short, white hairstyle instead of a long blonde one. I think it was due to ease of care throughout the convention we're all attending and of course what my friend wanted lol

Beelzemon hasn't gotten any farther - I've started the helmet but have been too afraid to carry on with the foam for fear of messing it up. I do have more flexible cardboard though so I might as well man up and go on with it lol


I've been trying to do more writing and artsy stuff though I never post my writing anywhere since I feel uncomfortable with people reading it lol



To see my art though, you can check either of those links - I go through spells where I don't post anything, but I do try to get something up before a year passes lol

deviantArt
deviantart will have some cosplay photos as well *clap hands*
y-gallery  



Well that's it really, boring boring boring


hooray for summer though *shake maracas*


Thanks for reading,

Hachi



 

Murphy's Law Sort of Day

                                                                 (image (c) me)
     My mom dropped her tablet today and shattered the screen and my sister's radio and mp3 player took a pewp. The tablet still works (and I believe we can just get the screen replaced but I'm not sure where we could go in all honesty. We bought it from Verizon but don't use them as our phone service anymore due astronomical costs for very little service where we actually live), but my sister's main sources of music are gone so I am on a quest for a new radio/boombox/stereo whatever you may call it lol I think our best bet is going in store because I'm having a pain in the butt time looking online - oh dial up, you're so cute *glares*.


      In other news, in a previous post I mentioned being Wizardmon for Ikasucon 2013. This was before I really did any pricing and pushed back some confidence issues lol Beelzemon was the original plan but self esteem issues made me veer from him for a while until the urge to make the outfit came back to me. Before I truly decided, I went through the process of comparing material costs and somehow Beelzemon won in the end (even if I were to splurge $70-$80 on a pair of boots, the materials for Bee would still be less than Wizardmon. Strange isn't it?).
     I'm actually quite excited and have even begun doing his helmet prototypes in card stock - though any helpful tips on how to be successful in my endeavor would be glorious! Currently my hair is a decent color for Beelzemon, but I think I'll end up buying a wig once the convention date is closer since I have plans to change my hair as we speak. Nothing harsh and drastic so I COULD change back to the yellow tones if I wanted                      (image (c) Santiatier on deviantart)
but still something different than Bee's hair lol

   I'm excited for this as it's the first time I've tried anything with armour bits and even a helmet/mask piece (or even fur and leather for that matter lol) so I wish myself luck on this and hope I can show you guys something nice lol

Thanks for reading,
Hachi

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 *^*

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).

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

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