MSPA Cosplay 4: Breaking convention centre fire codes ...fashionably

[ghostie]

hi everyone~*
just wondering, are any of you homestuck cosplayers going to i-con on long island? i'm cosplaying john (in his normal outfit), and my homedawgs are cosplaying dave and feferi. c:

so today or tomorrow, i'm heading to the thrift store to buy stuff for the costume.
would it be totally weird to wear a long-sleeved shirt for the john costume?
i mainly see his shirt drawn and cosplayed as a t-shirt, but in the actual comic he seems to be wearing long sleeves when he's drawn with arms.

[UkiTheMaid]

@ghostie: I see no problem with wearing a long sleeved shirt, since it's 'canon'. Besides, sleeve lenghts on the HS fandom seem to fluctuate a lot *lol*

[Love Me Cancerously]

Good evening/morning/whatevs, guys!!

Update on Kanaya cosplay: I HAVE DONE LITERALLY NOTHING HAHAHAH

But here's a little question for all you clothes-savvy people (I.e. NOT ME). Kanaya's skirt, to me, looks a bit like this:

Does anyone know where I could get a skirt like this? I've been frantically searching the shops on the Island I live on (Missed a fantastic Nepeta coat the other day.. sniff). I live in the UK, and I'm also pretty broke, so.. If anyone could help, that'd be absolutely gr8! }
I would sew buttons and other Kanaya-esque stuff on after I bought it, so no biggie in that department. Buttonsare about the only sewing thing I'm good at! xD

[AnatidaeCollector]

@Ghostie: Not sure, but I might be going to i-Con. I'll probably go as Terezi one day, then maybe do a Jade closet cosplay, then maybe go as Eleven from DW. That is, if my con-visiting group agrees to shell out money for that con. 83

[ghostie]

@UkiTheMaid--okay, thanks. i just wanted to get a second opinion on that. C:
@AnatidaeCollector--oooh, awesome! my friends and i are doing our homestuck cosplays on saturday. i'm overly excited, tee hee! >W<

hopefully tomorrow i can go to the thrift store and the craft store and start to work on my costume.

[Miiko-chan]

Hello! I found a dress for my Jade cosplay in my moms closet (She has everything. Shes like Kanaya.), my eyes are already green, I have a some idea of how to get the ears, I WEAR GLASSES anyways, so only two problems are left. The store I was getting my wig at closed, so I need a cheap Jade wig. Would it be bad if I got a short black wig and some extentions so I use for several cosplays?
Second, how you make a witch hoodie hood?

[UkiTheMaid]

Oh yeah, I completely forgot to ask you guys opinion on this. I already ran this question over tumblr and my peeps there thought this was a good idea, but see if you agree with me.

So, I want to cosplay Sis! Strider on some upcoming convention.

Naturally, I don't have a creepy doll lying around to carry with me when I finally put everything together and go to a con. BUT, I do have this:



This long legged/armed forever blank starring cat plushie I bought MONTHS AGO because I thought it was cute. By asking around tumblr, my friends suggested me it would be a good idea to use it as a Lil' Cal replacement. One of them even suggested me to give it an orange/blue ribbon + white mittens combo to get it more 'in character', which I think is a SMASHING idea.

So? Should I go for it? I'm actually pretty stoked about this idea

[SDM]

Are there any sollux cosplayers here that ordered the black Jett from Arda wigs? It was suggested in the forums here, but I would like to warn against getting it. I'm not happy with the quality of the wig I recieved. It doesn't really look like the picture they advertise. I'm trying to figure out if it's salvageable or if I need to order a new one.

On a brighter note, I am almost finished with my Roxy cosplay! I need to order her skirt and to style my wig with the curl, but hopefully that will be easy!

[KittenPajamas]

That would be such an awesome idea! it would be a...kitty cal. perfect.

[Love Me Cancerously]

That cat.. It kind of looks like Jaspers, actually.

[ghostie]

@Miiko-chan-- i found this tutorial, i hope it helps~* :3
http://kitchenkind.tumblr.com/post/1...-hood-tutorial

[UkiTheMaid]

Maybe I should give it a suit?

[codydog0317]

So I edited the Queen's Emblem to match the one WV used on the flags on Skaia...

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The middle is off white so that when I printed on tattoo paper it would show up.
Any one is free to use it...

[Lexa]

Alright! About time I made a long post on here. TUTORIAL TIME.

So I wrote an armsocks tutorial quite a few months ago with the grievous error that I didn't upload pictures! In the remaking of my own, I decided to take some snapshots this time. So here it is, updated! The pictures come AFTER THE TEXT, so read the text and then look at the picture.

When you cosplay a troll, you typically have two options for your arms: makeup, or tights. Making trolltights involves taking a pair of tights for your legs and making them into skintight gloves. While it's not overly hard or complicated, it takes a copious amount of time and most people don't have the patience to finish. HOWEVER, when done right, they look like makeup and allow you to hold, touch, or do whatever you want with your hands. Which is awesome.

The original tutorial was from a Weeping Angel cosplay and isn't exactly specific, so in my rage at not knowing what to do (and going through two pairs of tights before success), I made a "How To Make Armsocks For Dummies" tutorial. In 10 easy steps, you too can learn how to armsock!

Please read the WHOLE THING BEFORE YOU START, or you'll probably mess up.

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For this tutorial, you will need:

- a pair of grey tights (I like www.welovecolors.com and their solid opaques; you want LIGHT grey.)
- grey thread (I used Dual Duty All Purpose, color 450)
- a sharp sewing needle (use "sharps", pick the smallest)
- scissors
- clear nail polish
- superglue
- fake nails (I prefer Broadway Nails "Fast French" in the Super Short; they're regular fingernail size)
- yellow nail polish (for the fake nails)
- the willingness to not put a bullet through your brain during this tutorial and the process

1) Take your tights and cut a hole in the crotch. This doesn't have to be large or a hole at all (I just cut out the seam where the crotch was) and put your hands through the legholes of the tights, and your head through the hole you cut. Pull the band down over your chest until it fits (should fall right under where your breasts are, mid-ribcage). That should tell you if your tights fit to your arms well- remember, they have to be skin tight. It's okay if there's a little give, you'll need some space to sew and stretch the fabric.



‎2) Turn the tights inside-out on the arm you want to work on first. Cut the seam at the base of the foot, because it will get in your way later if you don't. Make sure not to lose a lot of fabric here, just enough to get the seam off because otherwise it will try to kill you (not really, but it's a pain in the ass and gives you finger-nipples. Which suck.)





3) With your hand, measure where your top 4 fingers are. Take pins and put them in the separations between your fingers; you should have three. Make sure they go through ALL THE WAY to the other side, and leave the base of the pin right where your fingers divide. I've found safety pins do this the best.

NOTE: IF YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO SAVE YOUR LIFE (like me), you can guess where your fingers are and edit from there. If you can't, try to measure it. I've done well with just guessing because I have fat fingers, but I don't know your hand shape, only you do. So yeah. If you want to do it simply, just put pins at the opening at the top where your fingers are and cut straight down from there. Make it longer than you think you need it- you can fix length later but it's harder if they're too short.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT CUT THE THUMB WITH THE OTHER FINGERS, IT COMES IN A LATER STEP.





4) Turn the tights inside-out (assuming you haven't done this already) and begin to sew. What you want is a whipstich; which is basically a circle motion. Thread your needle and knot it, and pull it straight through the fabric; if you start on the pinkie (which is going to be a folded over piece), run the needle through the corner and then once it's pulled through, circle around and put the needle through the bottom and come out the top. Rinse and repeat. You'll have one line from your pinky to pointer, and then another to sew up your thumb. These stitches need to be AS SMALL AS YOU CAN STAND THEM, while still keeping the tights together. I recommend a small needle so as to make less holes in your tights, especially if they're thin. The smaller your stitches, the less apparent they'll be and the better the tights will look. Make sure only to sew on the inside of the fingers, so the stitches won't appear in pictures.

WARNING: THIS STEP TAKES THE BULK OF THE TIME FOR TIGHT-MAKING. THIS STEP ALONE, BETWEEN THE TWO HANDS, HAS TAKEN 8-10 HOURS.





As you can see, it'll start looking kind of shriveled, but it's seriously how it's supposed to look.





5) Once you're done with your stitching, coat your seams with the clear nail polish; this will stop it from running or pulling. Also cover any runs that may have appeared between fingers. CAUTION: DO NOT DO THIS WITH THE TIGHTS OFF. Clear nail polish sets things and can make your seams shrink just enough to make sure your tights no longer fit. Make sure the tights are on your hands for this so this doesn't happen. Do NOT take them off until the nail polish is dry! This can be achieved by blowing on it, waving your arms around like you're Gamzee, hairdryers (no heat), anything like that. Just make sure it's not wet.

6) On whatever side your pointer finger is on for whatever hand you're working on, move down about an inch or two and make a curved cut from the side of the tight inside. It should look like an apple slice, but WITHOUT cutting it off the hand. This will end up being your thumb. If you can trace on the tights in chalk where your thumb is in relation to your hand, it will help you with spacing. This is where I've messed up the most- I've always given myself too much space and now it's getting runs on the space between my thumb and the rest of my hand 'cause I'm an idiot. 8D KEEP IN MIND THAT YOUR TIGHTS ARE TURNED INSIDE-OUT. IF YOU NEED TO TURN YOUR TIGHTS RIGHT-SIDE UP FOR THIS, GO AHEAD, BUT DON'T FORGET TO FLIP THEM BACK. Make sure you sew this line up, too.



*** Congrats! You've made it halfway through. By now, they should look like this ***





Now, keep going!

7) Once the tights are sewn up, put your hand back in them, with the tights still inside-out. If the fingers you made on the tights are longer than your actual fingers, mark a pin about a centimeter above where your finger ends and cut off the excess. Sew up the tips of your fingers again. If you want to be specific, cut the corners off of your fingers and curve them; it makes it look A LOT more natural and very, very nice.

WARNING: YOU MAY SEE RUNS IN YOUR TIGHTS AT THIS POINT. TREAT THEM IMMEDIATELY WITH CLEAR NAIL POLISH. MAKE SURE IT'S ENOUGH TO STOP IT BY STARTING WHERE THE RUN HAS SPREAD AND GO UP TO THE SOURCE.









This is how the corner-cut looks. If you're doubting your skills at this point, this is how it'll look when you turn it right-side out.



I promise, you are not doing it wrong. Continue on! Don't forget to turn them back inside-out for the next step.

After your fingertips are sewn up, look below your thumb to your wrist. If your tights are not skin-tight where your wrist is (which they probably will not), put a pin right at the curve where your palm connects to your wrist and another further down on your arm; a good place to do this is pinch the fabric further down and see at which point it smooths out any lines or wrinkles in the tights. Cut a small circle between the pins (apple slice like before, but this time all the way off) and put the tights back on. If you can stretch the tights together and it becomes skin-tight, take the tights off and sew that seam up. This should be on the inside of your wrist. If it still has give or is still too big, cut a bigger circle. Repeat until you have it skin-tight. Whipstitch closed on the inside of your tights.







Last pic is the hole-recut should you not go deep enough.

Coat all the new seams with more clear nail-polish.

Now, all you need to do is add the nails to the tights! By now, they should look something like this:





9) Turn the tights right-side out and put them on your hands. Make a dot in the center of each of your fingernails with Sharpie. This will be a marker for your fake nails. When this is done, take your Sharpie and slide it into the first finger of the tight. Take your first nail (make sure to fit these on your fingers BEFORE you try this; make sure they're the right size) and make a small vertical line of superglue from the base of your nail to the exact center (or about halfway through). Press the nail onto the tight and sharpie and begin to spin the sharpie slowly in the tight. This will stop the glue from getting on the Sharpie while still giving you a surface. (I tried this earlier, it actually worked). If you don't want to spin it, pulling it in and out of the finger also works, but be careful not to stretch the fabric.

CAUTION: PAINT YOUR NAILS BEFORE YOU ADD THEM TO THE TIGHTS. IT WILL JUST MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER. I'll talk about an easy way to do that a little farther down.

‎10) Let them dry. CONGRATS, YOU'VE FINISHED ONE. HAND. Try them on and see how it looks!

For my pictures, this is how they look without the nails:





AS FAR AS NAILS: Get a set of nails (thumb, pointer, middle, ring, pinky) for each hand. Get a paper towel and set all the nails on there, in pairs (two thumb with each other, two pointer, ect). Get some tape and make two long rolls; arrange the nails from thumb-pinky on this roll for each hand. This will keep them in place. From there, you can paint them really simply and they'll dry just fine. Make sure to apply more than one coat or however much it takes to have a clear, solid color. Also, take the nails off after the first coat and check for anything that needs to be touched up.

FINALLY, all complete, they come out like this!

In addition, if you guys LITERALLY CANNOT EVER FIGURE THIS OUT or you'd prefer, I take commissions for these little jerks. :P

Happy sewing!

[sirbuttsalot]

Good news everyone! (Who live in southern California, that is) I have recently have been recommended a great place that sells Ben Nye, wigs, and other things down by burbank. It is the Cinema Secrets Beauty Salon. I do not know if they have different colors, but hey, it's worth a shot!

[UkiTheMaid]

@Lexa: OK, that's a pretty kickass tutorial, and even gets me inspired to cosplay a troll, because my biggest worry about it is exactly the make up.

I'll save all that info for later on /save save save

[MeowCat]

Hey, everyone! I was wondering where everyone got their Pros-aide and pros-aide remover? We're gonna order tomorrow and I'm trying to find a good deal/ a site that I know is good. Thanks!

[Lexa]

@Lexa: OK, that's a pretty kickass tutorial, and even gets me inspired to cosplay a troll, because my biggest worry about it is exactly the make up.

I'll save all that info for later on /save save save

Thanks! I have it hosted on my tumblr too if you want to reblog it from there haha (tumblr username is cancerously!)

[UkiTheMaid]

Thanks! I have it hosted on my tumblr too if you want to reblog it from there haha (tumblr username is cancerously!)

OH MAN! I'm reblogging it for EVERYONE!

[killerCephalopod]

So here are two photosets of me as Roxy and Dirk, respectively. I used the same wig for both, but I think they turned out fairly well! Except for the fact that you can sorta tell I'm getting progressively drunker and drunker as Roxy.

Roxy
Dirk

This really makes me want to cosplay God Tier Roxy. But I do think I have quite a bit of Dirk potential, too bad I really prefer crossplay.

[UkiTheMaid]

Pfft at the 'progressively drunk' part XD

That aside, great pics and, welp, I do think you look great as both =3c

Edit: I'll also casually follow your tumblr now /follows all tumblrs in her way

[lenkagime]

Hey, I need some help with Tinkerbull. I have some experience with making fursuits, but none for an equestrian. Does anybody have any tips for his head (eyes mostly) AND wings. Also i need some advice for where to buy faux fur, the craft stores I go to don't have too wide a selection and it's no good for a soft cuddly tinkerbull.

*edited for a WIP shot* Help? Any tips? I had a bit of a doodle session on his face

[Gabbyv23]

So... I... found this costume store and they had aaaaaaaaall of this ben nye stuff.
and then.
I forgot what I had to buy. /sob ((General troll makeup how do.))

and um. since I'm guessing people post WIPs here too. Roxy makeup test???
http://gabbyv23.tumblr.com/post/16672363227/testinggg

bluh bluh

[Crystal Blackpaws]

Hey, I need some help with Tinkerbull. I compiled some references(shown at the end) that I think will help, and I have some experience with making fursuits. Does anybody have any tips for his head (eyes mostly) AND wings. Also i need some advice for where to buy faux fur, the craft stores I go to don't have too wide a selection and it's no good for a soft cuddly tinkerbull.

I can help with faux fur, my best recommendation is find a store that sells fabrics. Generally they have a upholstery section and those tend to have rolls of fur. Craft stores give you tiny sheets, where has a fabric store likely has tiny sheets, as well as the massive rolls of the furs. Though, since you said you have experience with fursuits one would imagine you should already know this. Either way, hope that helped a bit.

[lenkagime]

Do you know any decent places that carry fabric stores, I've been going to Jo-Anns I'm not sure is it counts as a fabric store at all ^^; But thank you! I honestly never know there were fabric stores, haha I just group stores in the "craft store" category that really don't belong there.