Friday, December 30, 2011

Bleach Kurotsuchi Nemu Cosplay Costume

When speaking of the female bleach characters, the sexy ones we have Orihime and Rangiku, the cool one we have Shihouin, the cute one we have Rukia and what do you think of Nemu? Well, to tell the truth, it is hard for me to describe her, but I will try. Bleach Kurotsuchi Nemu is the lieutenant of the 12th Division, she is a kind-hearted girl, soft, reticent and passive. But, maybe just because of her quietness, others are active in Bleach at the same time; we have the chance to notice her existence together with her special traits.
We want to cosplay bleach Nemu for that we want to feel what she feels and act what she acts, and we are eager to bring her to our life and to be the same as her. In the matter of portraying her, this bleach cosplay costume is of course the first choice for us. The image of Nemu in the short Kimono with belt would firstly come to our mind when referring to her.
So, now if you want to know more about Nemu or want to display a cute and soft image in the show, put on this cosplay costume.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Bleach the Segunda Espada Barragan Luisenbarn Cosplay Costume

As one of the powerful Arrancars, Barragan Luisenbarn is not a handsome or adorable guy at our first sight. However, there is really something attractive in the eyes of some of the cosplay boys. This bleach cosplay costume is his typical accoutrement and the popular cosplay outfit to the imitators, which is in the form of white coat with black fur, skirt, belt, hair piece and yellow arm protectors along with three black fur stripes running along the bottom, actually a cool piece for portraying.
We could clear see the image of bleach Barragan Luisenbarn from this suit. When it comes to the outside of his appearance, he is an old man with white moustache and hair. The large scars across his right eyes are somewhat of impressive and awful. Well, anyhow, he is a muscular man with stubborn, arrogant, prideful personality.
So cosplay bleach Barragan is extremely cool and imposing in this cosplay costume. And it is suitable for any of you, boys, as long as you are into such type of clothing style or this bleach character. Maybe it would be more suitable for fat or big guys.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Bleach 6th Division Captain Kuchiki Byakuya Cosplay Costume

As the typical bleach Byakuya outfit, the 6th captain Byakuya cosplay costume is also somewhat the same as the other captain uniforms, but it has its own specialty feature, namely the number of his division and the white scarf that adds a kind of elegance to the whole attire.
Cosplay bleach Byakuya Kuchiki is not only popular in the eyes of the cosplay boys but also include the cosplay girls. Byakuya always calm, quiet, extremely serious and protects the Soul Society with his heart and soul, of course as the captain, he is extremely skilled, in addition, he is a handsome guy. In a word, he is a charming young man. Hence, we could find so many bleach cosplayers all over the world all the time.
This captain Byakuya outfit is made of sleeveless gown, Kimono, scarf and belt, which is the cool and powerful apparel for cosplay.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

how to create a back parting using epic cosplay 15" extensions

I admit I am not a wig-styling expert and had to do a lot of research / trial-and-error in order to feel confident enough to write this tutorial as well as show what my wig ended up looking like for my Kagura cosplay. I thought writing this would also be helpful considering I only found 1 helpful tutorial on creating a back parting :( But since we all buy wigs from different places not all tutorials are applicable, so whenever possible I will try to explain how I worked on each wig (if somewhat complicated).

My technique is based on Katie Bair's excellent tutorial on parting wigs. She has tutorials for everything in case you are a wig n00b like me. I did not have those uber long extensions she uses though. I also do not have a heat sealer. I eventually ordered one through her website but I didn't get it on time =_=

For this cosplay I used a medium-length wig from Epic Cosplay. All my wigs prior were purchased from Hollywood Wigs in Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd. Their synthetic hair is amazing for the price. About $30-$50. I also like to try my wigs on before buying them because I had a terrible experience with buying wigs on eBay -- scarred for life. But I heard good things about Epic Cosplay, and my wig shop didn't carry the shade of orange I wanted for Kagura (yeah, I know, cosplay problems...) so I took a risk on the internet again. Let me just say that this is one of the best quality wigs I own, it's also heat-safe so you can do whatever the fuck you want with it and the fibers probably won't melt unless you stick the wig into an oven or something. Luckily I didn't have to do anything crazy with this wig so no heat was required.

This is what the wig looks like:



If you're going to be doing any kind of wig styling you NEED to buy a wig head. I buy mine from the wig shop in Hollywood. These styrofoam ones are $6 and great because I can pin them, toss them on the floor, and not care about breaking them because they were $6. Needless to say I have quite a few of them in my apartment which might be kind of creepy.

Kagura has her hair pinned up on both sides in a pigtails manner--I pinned the entire center as below so I could create a perfect center divide once I tied the pigtails.



You can now see why we need to create a back parting. This is not pretty. I unpinned the wig and flipped it inside out. Because I don't have the crazy long extensions Katie uses in her tutorial or a heat sealer, I ended up buying the 15" extensions from Epic Cosplay in the same color  to work with. I realized I could simply cut the extensions into very tiny 1/4" sections and pull them through the lace trimming along the inside of the wig using a needle with a large eye. I didn't have a yarn needle on me so I used a leather sewing needle. I very carefully cut 1/4" sections making sure the wefts did NOT unravel or break, otherwise you'll have loose hairs everywhere. Keeping the weft intact is very important. I used embroidery scissors to cut for precision. Because I do not have a heat sealer, leaving the weft intact is how I "sealed the ends" of the extensions while not really sealing them. I sewed each extension through the CENTER LACE TRIM starting from the join seam of the lace front (right in the middle of the wig at the top)


 
What the individual extensions look like
 
You need to very carefully cut these pieces
 
What it looks like in the beginning! See the little holes in the lace? Sew through all of them.
 
I patted all the extensions down to no more than 1/2" otherwise you'll have different lengths and extra bulkiness along the inside.


I didn't have a LOT of time to work on this wig, so I will tell you now that you really need to sew extensions through each hole in the lace trimming and the sides need to be perfectly symmetrical. I did not do this in each row so it looks a little funky, you'll see below. TAKE YOUR SWEET TIME. This took me 4 hours. This is what it will look like when you're done (inside). I patted these "ends" down and gently pulled the extensions to make sure I only had 1/4-1/2" sticking out from the top. I checked my extensions occasionally on the right side to make sure they looked "even"-- one side doesn't have more hair than the other. I put the wig back on the wig head and pinned it down at the top. I had leftover nude stretch fabric from one of my costumes so I cut a 1" strip wide enough to cover all the extensions just like Katie explains. I did not use caulk though because I actually don't have caulk. I squeezed out some tacky glue on the extensions ONLY (MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT GET ANY GLUE ON THE ACTUAL WIG because having glue on the rest of your wig unintentionally will be bad when you need to style) I made sure I only had glue on the lace trim and extensions. I gently pat down the fabric piece and let this dry for a day. I tried on the wig the next day and it was comfortable along the inside.

Next you have to part your wig. Place your wig on the wig head again and make sure you have a lot of pins ready, just like before. I actually worked on the wig with it in my lap so it wouldn't move while I made the back parting. Now you can see why the extension HAVE to be sewn in a symmetrical manner, and all need to be about the same width. You can see some of the inconsistencies in how I sewed in the extensions.


^This is what happens when you don't sew the extensions in symmetrically :(


I'm not going to go into stubbing because Katie Bair's tutorial on stubbing is excellent.

I do want to point out something else I did on this wig that is helpful for wigs that require high ponytails or hair being pulled away from the face/head. Obviously when you pull a wig up you're going to see the elastic band. This is very simple to fix. I referenced this tutorial for styling high ponytails (Kenshin hair). After I tied my pigtails and cut the rest of the hair, I pinned the wig down along the sides, all around. This way I could see where the elastic band was exposed. I cut the extensions the appropriate length to "cover" the elastic and sewed the extensions onto the band from the inside.


 
^ No bueno
Now you can see in the same area that the elastic is hidden!

keep calm and carry aru

I won't go into too much detail into this cosplay because I made it in 2 days, YIKES. But I thought that I'd have time to make something for ALA (Anime Los Angeles) in addition to my Kyoko outfit so I decided WHY NOT. The hardest part of this cosplay was styling the wig. Usually I don't like to work on "easy" cosplays because I like a good challenge, but I just love this character way too much. It's difficult for me to choose a favorite female character in "Gintama", but I think Kagura definitely delivers the most laughs, and she is one tough cookie. Also kind of brainless but she's a kid. She also likes to eat rice all day so that is something I can easily accomplish. Cosplays you can eat in are quite good. It's also fun for me to have an easier cosplay to wear at a convention because sometimes I don't want to worry about a prop or my outfit being damaged if it's delicate or slightly ... unwieldy. I also don't run into that many Kagura cosplayers at conventions these days and it makes me kinda sad because she really is such a great, memorable character and I wonder how a Kagura cosplayer would act at a convention--would she be walking around with a piece of sukonbu in her mouth while picking her nose? If so, I would applaud and cry otaku tears.





Before I get into how I made this cosplay, I want to share that I got the opportunity to wear this cosplay on Crunchyroll's Live Show along with my friends Kakyokuhime, Imari and Vivi. Vampy interviewed us during the cosplay segment and it was so much outrageous --and at times-- awkward fun. I usually don't make anime costumes either, but how can I say no to a character who picks her nose half the time!? Awesome. So I don't really have any work in progress photos this time, just our backstage photos showcasing the costume! I'll probably end up wearing this cosplay sometime when I feel like giving less fucks than usual.





She has a couple outfits that are fairly basic/standard China girl wear, but I decided to go with her regular outfit because I wanted to be very comfortable and not worry about fit for once.

I started with a cotton/poly-blended stretch fabric--I thought cotton would wrinkle too easily so wanted some polyester blended into it to help the fabric stay smooth when worn throughout the day. I didn't make the bias binding this time because I didn't need to. The pants are made from the same fabric, the pattern I knocked off from a pair of my sweatpants.

The top actually has a faux closure at the top--it only opens to allow my head to fit through.

So that's about it for the outfit. Simple stuff!



 
Yes I am wearing blue contacts!

with Vivi :D (as the AC Paradise mascot) I LOOK LIKE A KID. GYUHHHH

with Kakyokuhime as Chun Li!!

For the hair pins, I started w/ styrofoam balls and cut them in half. I painted them over with layers and layers of gesso (I kid you not there are about 20 layers of gesso, I started this first because I knew this process would take a while--it SERIOUSLY TOOK FOREVER but so worth it....) to make sure the surface was smooth. I sanded the surface a little with a very fine grit sandpaper because after so many layers of gesso the paint got a little globby.

This was then painted black. I ran out of time so I had to paint the designs :( I really wanted to cut out craft foam and form them with heat but perhaps when I have more time I will do so.

I made the tassels from fringe that I sewed together. There was a lot of work put into the wig, which I am writing a separate tutorial for -- it'll basically cover creating a back parting using Epic Cosplay's extensions (15").


Again, thank you Shun for the photos!!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Bleach Soi Fong Cosplay Wig

As for bleach Soi Fong cosplay, apart form the cosplay costume, the wig also plays an important part in this bleach cosplay. This wig looks really great and as if it is the real hair of Soi Fong in the picture. Do you think so? It can be said that any of us put on it would be looked the same her, and others can not figure out it is our real hair or the wig.

Soi Fong is one of my favorite anime girls. I don’t know the exact reason, but I am really into her as I see her in Bleach. She is sexy and attractive in my heart. I’ve got some Soi Fong pictures and now I want to share them with you.




Sunday, December 11, 2011

Bleach Girl’s Cosplay School Uniform

As the whole story of Bleach start from and centers on school students, and the cosplay school uniform is of course one of the popular choices for cosplayers. And today’s topic is the girls’ uniform. As the main members of Bleach, Rukia Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue are the hot cosplay choices, hence this cosplay suit is right for cosplay girls. At the same time, there are still other bleach female characters wear this dress. It does no matter who you choose, this cosplay costume is a good choice and we could feel the same as the imitated character in Bleach.
We could have a clear mind that this school outfit is composed of jacket, plaited skirt, bow and socks. It looks so attractive to me and it seems I am one of the members of Bleach when I put on this piece. And I believe that anyone have this suit on would feel the same way as me. This is the fascination of this cosplay dress. Do you want to have a try?
To bring Rukia or Orihime or any other girls into the reality, it all depends on you. What I am sure is that you could do that as long as you put on it.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Dolorosa







The Dolorosa cosplay costume is one of our newest cosplay costume commission this month. Hope everyone like this costume. For ordering please contact us at our main cosplay site cosplay1.com

Bleach Yadoumaru Lisa Sailor Uniform for Cosplay

     Bleach Yadoumaru Lisa sailor uniform is in the form of and white shirt with long sleeves, light blue ruffle skirt and red tie. This bleach cosplay costume is one of the typical outfits for our cosplay. Lisa is one of the best cosplay choices for those girls who wear glasses and have long dark hair.
Without doubt, as one of the member of the group of The Visored, Lisa is a characteristic bleach character with her lustful nature and braided hairdo. It seems that she is easily irritated and apparently into reading erotic manga. Bleach Lisa Yadoumaru was the former lieutenant of the 8th Division. She is also skilled. The same as the other roles, she still has gained her followers all around the world.

Cosplay Lisa by means of dressing this Seifuku in the show would be something different from the other bleach cosplays for that most of the bleach clothes are in Bleach styles. In this way, we would stand out among the cosplayers if we put on this uniform in the activity. Why not have a try?

Saturday, December 3, 2011

of contracts and magical girls - kyoko's spear (1)

This cosplay is surprising for me for 2 reasons:

1. I don't usually make anime-derived cosplays
2. This is a magical girl cosplay. I don't make those. (usually cannot relate to magical girl stories or characters)

But as you've read on my previous post about Madoka Magica, this story is unlike any other magical girl story I've ever experienced, and a huge part of me wanting to make this cosplay was because I am cosplaying with my sister! And one of my best friends! So of course I wanted to participate! I do also like the Kyoko character very much, even though her screen time in the anime was a bit short.


So let's get to it! I actually spent some time in my parents' house today and I have very poor wireless connection on my phone for some reason when I am there, so I don't get all my work emails, text messages or notifications of any kind. But it's nice in this aspect because I can work on stuff and also not have to think about replying to emails all day since I do that at work already :( I didn't plan on starting on her spear at first, but I had a lot of time to kill while at my parents' house. I headed over to Lowe's with my dad and we picked up some of the basic parts--PVC pipe, PVC plugs for the pipes, PVC caps, 9' of plastic chain... I decided to go w/ this variation of Kyoko's spear. Unfortunately mine doesn't actually pull apart as it does in the anime, and I have seen someone make a version that pulls apart, pretty damn cool but definitely more complicated and because I only had a month to make this cosplay I wasn't sure I could execute such a contraption within my limited time frame. Anyway, excuses aside, I figured out all the lengths for each section--both the pipe and the chain, and my dad went and cut all the pipe pieces on his radio saw. The great thing about going to my parents' house is, my dad has every single power tool you can think of--he's a furniture designer so YES I AM LUCKY. I am very lucky I have access to all of these special tools. On the other hand, my dad really likes to make props too, so he sometimes will take over a prop project I'm working on T_T

We thought the neatest way to attach the chain pieces to the pipe would be to glue the plugs into the pipe ends, and screw in a screw hook through the top of the plug, then connect the chain link to the metal screw. (not in that order, see the photos below) It was a good thing we worked on this in the early afternoon--the gorilla glue takes a good 24 hours to properly cure so I will be going back to my parents' house to finish the rest of the spear next weekend! You are probably bored of reading this wall of text now, so I shall supplement the photos below w/ some captions to explain more of the little details.



 
The plugs we bought didn't fit snugly enough into the pipe, 
so I wrapped some masking tape to add thickness

 
my dad, in his element. lol. 
Cut chains
 
CLAMP EVERYTHING. LEAVE FOR 2-3 HOURS. 
The longest pipe piece is the actual spear.
You may notice that the rim of the plug is hexagonal. It needs to be flush w/ the cylinder of the pipe, 
so after the glue is dried, bondo will be applied and sanded.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

neo-japanesque magic?! (part one)

Well. I never thought I'd be making any magical girl cosplays anytime in the near future but here I am talking about a Madoka Magica cosplay! Er, sort of. Inspired by, I should say. My buddy Ashli finally convinced me to watch the series, which... actually has a huge twist and is NOT your typical magical girl anime. I highly suggest you watch it despite the "cute" style of the animation, and the horrifically misleading trailer.

Ashli posted a beautiful picture of some Madoka fan art on her tumblr, and next thing you know the both of us are oogling and trying to figure out how the hell to integrate these outfits into our schedules. Since I actually have pink hair now (and Ashli has blonde hair) we talked about doing a photoshoot with these outfits, inspired by this concept art and our love for Madoka. It worked out that she was in love w/ the Mami outfit and I love the colors from Madoka's image.

Anyways, I was excited to finally not worry about being accurate to reference images for once, so I set out to buy fabric right away. Once again this fabric DOES NOT EXIST IRL (-_-) so it was back to hours and hours of painting fabric again.





I bought this cool printed cotton fabric (printed on both sides) for the kimono dress. I have to bleach the sleeves (that's why I specifically looked for 100% cotton fabric) and dye the edges orange so the fabric can somewhat resemble this reference image. How this dress will fasten is with inside ties and outside ties--it's basically a wrap dress. I wanted a cascading circle skirt with a shorter front and longer back. You can see that the pattern looks like a lopsided donut. Cutting circle skirts is generally a waste of fabric but you'll see what a difference it makes instead of cutting a rectangle and gathering at the waist.





I actually draped my sample on my dressform to make sure the hemline was to my liking. You can see how I marked the side seams on my dressform in green so I could make sure the bodice would line up to the skirt portion.

I decided to line the skirt in charmeuse so it would look more luxurious along the inside.

The skirt "trim" was 2-1/2" wide bias binding that I also painted the design on. The width I actually cut was 6" -- 5" folded to 2-1/2" finished, 1/2" seam allowance. I painted the designs before sewing to the skirt so it would actually look like a print. I used a poly/rayon blended gabardine--sturdy and heavy enough to weigh the dress down, but lightweight enough so it wouldn't be bulky when folded in half.





For the skirt patterns I used a mix of Jacquard Lumiere paints (I have every single color in existence now) and NeoOpaque paints - dull/shiny. I didn't like how metallic the colors looked on my Oriental Alice dress so I tried not to use as much as the Lumiere paints this time. I still wanted the designs to pop so I used the metallic paints as accents. I always freehand the patterns because I'm too lazy to mark anything. I do take my time though.



 
I think painting the entire skirt took me at least 6 hours?
^the trim that has yet to be sewn together!