Just a quick note to say congrats to the southern regional winners at Metrocon, for WCS 2010 - Laura Hale (Tranquility6487) and Hannah McCue (hanamaru)! They were shiny and blinged-out as Hermes Costello and Jolyne Kujo from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure! Congratulations ladies! :D

In other news, Elizabeth and I have been super quiet around here because we're super busy with our performance costumes! Somewhere in this busy time, I managed to run by Kinokuniya and pick up the June issue of COSMODE, in which we have a two-page spread! If you follow us on Twitter (and you should!) you may have already heard about this, haha.

Back in May, we were fortunate enough to do a shoot with Kyle Johnsen, owner and admin of Cosplay.com and US photographer/associate of COSMODE. He flew out one weekend and we had a great shoot at a Victorian-gothic themed gallery in Brooklyn. It was an absolute joy working with Kyle, and we had a lot of fun swanning about in our fancy outfits in the fancy gallery. Huge thanks to Kyle and COSMODE!



( Full-size and more information behind the cut! )

Just a quick little update to say that our interview with TV Aichi's Edo-san was just posted on the WCS blog! If you want to read some more of our yammerings, please check it out!

http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/blog/wcs_e/
http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/blog/wcs_e/
http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/blog/wcs_e/

To make this entry a little more interesting, here's a goofy photo from the Sakura Matsuri at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens last month. Cameo appearance by our darling friend Jessie!

https://twitter.com/WCSTeamUSA09

We have a Twitter now. Follow us and we will follow you!

India and I did a shoot of our press costumes from Kuroshitsuji a few weeks ago, and we totally forgot to post them. These photos were taken by Anna Fischer of Cosclips at an amazing bed and breakfast called The Inn at Irving Place. It's a gorgeous space designed to evoke an Edith Wharton novel. These pictures were taken in the Madame Olenska room.

It was a fantastically enjoyable shoot, in part because that's not cider in those glasses.

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Things have been really busy for Elizabeth and me lately! Yesterday, we participated in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Sakura Matsuri, which was a lot of fun. Our darling manager/friend Anna (of Cosclips fame) did photos of some of the cosplayers in attendance, and then we all got together for a huge shot of everyone. Elizabeth and I also did an interview with Megumi Sato from Samurai Beat Radio, which was also broadcast in Japan!

Earlier last week, I went to the Botanic Garden to participate in the Sakura Matsuri Press Day (Elizabeth had an important work meeting and sadly couldn't attend) - a lot of talented cosplayers from the tristate area were there to show the press what we can do. Even though it's only at about 75% completion, I decided to wear for the first time Madam Red from Kuroshitsuji, which I adore. It was a beautiful day, so Leonard was kind enough to snap a few photos for me!



( More behind the cut! )

(crossposted to http://fatwetdog.livejournal.com/)

Everything is finished on my Ciel costume, except the most important part: The hat.

I have one I can use in a pinch, but I'd rather have one that is just right. Also, I've always wanted to try my hand at millinery, so I'm going to see about making it myself.

Now the part that will probably be fun for everyone who is not me is this: I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. I've never made a hat before. Hell, I've almost never even worn hats before. So I'm going in blind and we'll just see what happens. Either I'll wind up with a hat, or I'll have a monumental screw up everyone can laugh at. Let's find out!

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Extremely massive work-in-progress photo dump after the cut. ( Read more... )

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This is turning out to be a really busy month for cosplayers in NYC! This Saturday, Elizabeth and I will be attending the Cosplay Party at the Japan Society, as part of their KRAZY! Exhibit. There's a costume contest with some really fantastic prizes, so you should all come by and have fun with us! Also, be sure to check out the exhibit - the Japan Society has had some fantastic exhibitions over the years, and this is definitely one of my favorites.



More info available here!

Like we mentioned before, this past Sunday, Elizabeth and I (with Super Special Guest Renee) were asked to do a little panel on cosplay at Kinokuniya's Anime Day event! It ended up being a little bit rushed, as we had a hundred things to take care of and not much time, but we had a lot of fun! I've only done one panel before, so it was a great time for me, especially. (Now I want to do more, haha!)



Leonard and Anna were kind enough to snap some photos of us making silly faces while talking - ( check them out behind the cut! )

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/own-this-city/72336/cosplay-101

OK, not really. But India and I were interviewed for Time Out New York this week. The article by James Y. Lee is called "Cosplay 101" and is basically 5 tips for people getting into cosplay.



_{Just to clarify, though: I did not ever use the word "slut." I really object to that word for plenty of dull, academic reasons, so I generally avoid it. That headline was written by TONY, not me. Basically, he just said: "Is it true that the shorter the skirt the higher the score?" And I said, "No, not really. The judges [at the event] are me and India, and skin doesn't impress us. Hell, longer skirts are more likely to win, because you sewed more. But it is true that the shorter the skirt the more people will probably take your picture."}

Hey all you NYC locals, listen up! This Sunday is Anime Day at Kinokuniya! Elizabeth and I will be there, along with the darling Renee from Team USA '08, to take questions about cosplay and chat like silly girls. They have a lot of fun events planned, and you can win some rad prizes, so please come by and say hello!
I'll have some silly green hair and Elizabeth will be a galactic fairy, so keep an eye out!

First, a hello to everyone we saw at New York Comic Con this past weekend! It was kind of crazy, going from place to place and trying to do photos and judging the Costume Contest, but we had a lot of fun being silly ladies in white dresses. The Costume Contest was an unexpected delight - lots of people brought their best stuff, and we had a great time judging!

Second, in other news, I had a bout of productivity last night while watching the Grammys, and got a little something done on a costume that I haven't really talked about, but has been hinted to in one of the wig posts - Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier! I went ahead and did the boots first. I love making bootcovers - these took about 4hrs.

They went from these...



( ...to these! (Also, wig photos behind the cut!) )

So, any of you guys going to be in NYC this weekend? If so, clearly you should be at New York Comic Con at the Javits Center! They always put on a great con, and there are lots of exciting guests, but mostly you should come to the Costume Contest on Saturday at 5:30pm on the Variant Stage! Why is that? Because Elizabeth and I (and also Renee from Team USA '08) will be judging! It's really informal and fun, so if you want to show off your costume and maybe win a prize, you should stop by!

Elizabeth and I are cosplaying Zatanna and Black Canary with a big group of friends, dressed as the Women of DC from the artwork of Adam Hughes - if you see our brigade of classy ladies, please say hello!

I've been pretty busy with non-cosplay related stuff lately (such as getting a cat!) but I decided to take a break and cut my Madame Red wig! I threw it on today and did a little makeup test, and I'm showing off the gloves I got for the costume, too.



( What's this now? More photos of my big stupid face behind the cut! )

Wigs, lots of them!

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Four-day weekends are awesome. I think we should have them every week. I'm back to work tomorrow with a couple new articles over my head, but at least I got this jacket finished up while I was being lazy.

Elizabeth and I did a little fabric shopping yesterday, and despite nearly being blown off the island of Manhattan by gale-force arctic winds, I found some great stuff! One of our favorite stores, Paron Fabrics, has a great selection of wools and woolens, and we came across something perfect for my Madame Red costume from Kuroshitsuji. It's a spectacular wool suiting with a sateen weave that gives it a very subtle sheen, by Dormeuil. Of course, this meant it was a billion dollars a yard (actually, $36) but it was so worth it! They gave me what was left on the bolt, 7yds, for the price of 5, too, which was great.


Clearly I am a paragon of class and elegance, just like Madame Red.

I also did a sketch of what I'm going for with this outfit - it's pretty big, so ( it's behind the cut! )

Happy New Year!

It is freezing here! I have a 4-day weekend. I turned in my last article of the year, and everyone I would need to talk to for my next two is on vacation as well, so I basically get to hang out till Monday. I like when it's freezing and I don't have any real responsibilities, because now I get to sew.


Today I draped up my jacket and procrastinated by taking pictures with my cell phone: ( Read more... )