Showing posts with label Seras Victoria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seras Victoria. Show all posts

Monday, October 18, 2010

I live!

Seems like my last post started this way, but apologies for the lack of updating, hopefully I can get myself back into the habit.  Life has been … hectic to put it mildly.
First and foremost I feel like I need to apologize for something else, unfortunately life got in the way and it became unfeasible for me to attend Dragon*Con.  I feel rather bad, guilty to be exact.  I had told a lot of people that I would be there and I feel like I flaked out.  But I was having a severe eczema problem so I would have been probably as un-photogenic as I’ve ever been, my costume that was to debut was not as far along as it needed to be.  Part of that was due to the medication I was taking to try and help my skin which made me very tired, part of that was due to the hours I was working.  Another thing that didn’t aid in our trip was the vehicle we were going to be taking was having a/c problems and I dunno about you, but I had no desire to drive 10+ hours in September weather with no a/c.  Especially to Georgia.  We could have possibly rented something but I know I didn’t really have the spare cash to do that so in the end we opted to stay home and let me get some more R&R in and just enjoy the time off together.  Again I feel terrible I was unable to make it and feel kinda like a failure but theirs nothing that I know to do but apologize and hope that next year we’ll not have any hiccups and we’ll be able to attend without my skin throwing a fit and with a vehicle that won’t double as an oven.  So that said, lets move on to less depressing things.
I suppose I should talk about OMGCon as that’s the last thing I attended.  It was fun, overall.  We weren’t planning on any meet ups or photoshoots with other people which was sorta a bummer but also gave us the time to do some other shoots of our own.  The first would be the more unusual Seras I wore.  Pip opted (at the last minute, at the hotel) to not wear his Pip costume.  (*laughs* that sounds so awkward) so I grabbed his hat and scarf, and went as “Captain Seras” kinda a hybrid idea.  I mean she did eat him and then bring him back later… seems logical that she’d take on a few of his quirks.  Here’s where the photo’s begin.  I still have probably 20 or 30 to edit but hopefully I’ll have them done before the end of the year.
The second day I debuted Revy.  Now I was very self conscious in this costume.  Not because it’s revealing (though I did wish I had heels to make my legs look a little nicer) it was my skin.  I’ve been able to photoshop most the redness out, but I felt it was very noticeable.  And such I had to really concentrate and rely on Pip for pointers for tweaks to my pose.   I still have a LOT of Revy pictures to work on, and as she doesn’t have nearly as many pictures as my Seras I’ll probably work on hers first.  You can take a look at this page if you’re interested in the ones I’ve managed to get uploaded. 
But I did say life has been hectic, here’s a quick rundown.  Two of my close friends got married about a month after OMGCon.  Since Pip was a member of the wedding party I became the photographer, it was a fun role reversal, and an exercise on how hard it is to get a ninja on camera.  I did manage to get some really neat shots, and that’s part of why I don’t have my OMGCon pictures up, I had to get those done and uploaded first.  If you’re interested click on the link to my flickr.  I think it’s the most recent set I’ve created. 
Outside of that, I’ve been working… a lot.  Lots of drama there (as usual).  But drumroll please!  Pip and I are getting an apt!  *squee*  We have one that we looked at the other day that I really like, and another that’s not sending me but it did have a massive living room which did kinda make up for some of the other things I didn’t like.  So I’ll post which we get but cross your fingers for us that its our first pick!  The best part of this will mean I can work on my costumes anytime, currently our spare bedroom doubles as my dad’s room some nights (when Mum is up at 4 am for work you’d sleep in another room too) so I can’t sit up till the sun comes up working on this and that.  That and I’ll finally get to use my dishes, decorate my own place, and best of all get to annoy the holy shit out of Pip whenever I please.  ^_^
On a completely un-related note, I have been working rather hard on one of my fiction pieces.  Not fan fiction for once, one totally in my head.  Unfortunately I don’t have anything really up and available for people to read just yet, I’m still mapping out a lot of things and learning the world.  Yes I know I have to ‘learn’ the world that I made up.  Its not quite that simple.  I see it, I understand it, but even then I don’t always explain so that other people can.  Pip has been privy to a lot of the stuff I’ve read and that’s one thing he’s pointed out, is the world feels small and that he doesn’t understand what drives my main character.  When in fact the world is rather massive and her motives, while not just one thing, should be fairly clear.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get a sample up sometime soon, actually I think I’ll go see if I can find anything that’s been edited and post it. 
Alright here we go, for those of you who have never had the opportunity to meet his character you can read a bit about here on my fictionpress page.  For those of you who’ve met Camina, well, enjoy.

    It took hardly a conscious thought to extinguish the flickering candles in the tent.  The guards that had been stationed out front yet remained but were glamored, both would venomously deny seeing the black wraith enter their commanders quarters, and neither would hear the ensuing conversation.  The Paladin’s themselves were hard to glamor, their unyielding faith made fudging fact difficult but fortunately for me, the bulk of the armies they lead lacked that blind of a devotion.
    The tent was large, it was three tents really, interconnected.  High Doyen Daryun’s war room, study, and sleeping quarters.  Of course the leader of the Eshire division of Royal Paladin’s would not fall easily into my influence, but I did not go to harm charm him.  I wanted to meet my enemy, for once this one was competent.  Most tried to use their numbers or their faith as their primary weapon, and we’d developed strategies to deal with their feeble attacks however they came.  But Daryun was smart positioning all of his troops in a perfect formation.  For once my men had been forced to rely on their demonic nature to survive the fight, not waltz though it as we usually did.
    My eyes could see in the void I’d created.  Maps and parchments laid haphazardly across the main table, part of me wanted to pause and take in my enemies tactics, but I wanted the challenge of a fair fight.  To my left I could hear the High Doyens steady breathing.  He was still asleep.  I could kill him where he laid, but that would be no more honorable then killing an infant.
“High Doyen, please wake, we have some things I wish to discuss.” He started awake, grabbing a crossbow and aiming it at the entryway, at me.  He was dead on, if he released the arrow then it would hit me, strange how accurate it was as I knew full well he couldn’t see.
“Who’s there?”
“We have yet to have a proper introduction High Doyen.”  I let the candles light slowly begin to return to their former glow.  Not so much so his eyes could slowly adjust, but for mine.  “Please put the weapon down.”

“How did you get in here?”
“Well I walked by your guards of course... Don’t bother yelling, I’ve gone to some length to ensure our privacy.”
“What do you want?”
“Just a conversation, nothing more.”
“Who are you?”
“I suppose an introduction is in order as I do know of you but not vice versa.  My name is Camina Wistar, daughter of his highness Casimir Wistar, King of Pulsia.  I am his heir and his equal.  He has charged me with the leading of the campaign against the Paladins.”

“Their is no way that a woman, that your a ...”
“Not human?” I smiled.  “I get that a lot.  We come in all sizes and colors High Doyen.  My flesh is meant to mimic the most desirable traits in your kind.  Others are modeled after animals and plants still others seem to have no similarity to anything.”
“You cannot be the one I saw today.  You’re a woman.”
“For us gender does not play the role it does among your kind.  A lioness is at its most fierce when its protecting its cubs.”  He started seeming to take in the information.  “Please, get dressed, let us talk.”
“And why would I want to talk to you?”
“Wouldn't you like to pick the brain of your enemy?”
“Why are you doing this?  What are you up to devil?”

“My reasons are my own High Doyen, but if I didn’t come here to talk look at it this way, I could have killed you in your sleep.”  His eyes narrowed, hearing the challenge.  “I’ll be in the other room.”

Friday, May 28, 2010

Lots to say



Been awhile since my last update, my apologies, life has been wild.  A combination of being laid off, working on costumes and a commission have taken their toll on my time to post anything.  So lets see if I can get you up to speed.
First, I'm sure you've seen my Motoko Kusanagi pictures, if not here's a link to the set on flickr.  I sent a few to the company I bought the jacket from (Abbyshot) and was featured in their blog.  You can see the article here.  I was floored, both from their compliments and the fact that's the first time any of my costumes have received anything like that. 
I just booked our rooms for InvaderCon next year.  Yes next year, I'm already working on costumes for next year, even when this year isn't finished.  I figure for one day of the con I'll wear a Gaz costume, the other day... well that's a suprise for now, I have plans but I'm still at the planning stage for the moment.  Looks like Pip is going to have a Gir costume for one day and we're still in debate for the other, I'd like to have a full cast of characters, so if anyone is interested shoot me an e-mail and we'll see what we can work out. 
I did attend the local con this year, and got to meet up with a fellow SCF person, actually we met last year but didn't know who each other were, of course I wasn't a member of the site then so its not surprising.  But I do have some pictures from that convention.  Not many of me though, most were of the costume contest.  I didn't have the new version of Ivy done in time so I wore the old classic Ivy costume.  I did find a place where I can get the tights so before Dragon*Con I'll have to grab a pair.  Fun part of the whole thing was after we left the convention Saturday we ran by Pip's so I could change then went out to eat, and ran into the Con Chair for KawaKon.  So we ended up talking with her and her table for quite awhile.  And looks like I'll be seeing her at OMGCon too.  ^_^ 
Speaking of OMGCon, I ended up cutting one of my costumes for it.  I'm just not going to have the time to get my 1st GIG Kusanagi done.  And done right.  Trust me I will have it done, but Revy got very expensive very quickly.  Thankfully Seras just needs some tweaks.  But Revy will be kickass.  I still need to cut her shorts and her top, but her holsters arrived today, real leather.  And yes they are gorgeous.  I will definitely be going to him for any other leather costume related stuff I need.  NyghtCraft Custom LeatherCraft, is the company in case anyone else is needing something made.  Be prepared for a nice price though, he's totally worth it because its the really nice saddle grade leather he uses, but it isn't cheap.  
As for the costumes I'm taking to Dragon*Con, they haven't seem much progress, I've been trying to save a bit of money for OMGCon.  But I did run to Lowes the other day and get a piece of PVC pipe and some paint for Hawkeye's staves.  You know the ones she totally ninja'ed from Mockingbird?  I was asking my dad about how to cut them to size, and wouldn't you know?  He has a special saw for PVC.  I love my Dad.  I just have to figure out how to seal the ends.  It can't be something that is like a cap, so I'm not entirely sure, I have a couple of ideas and PVC piping is only like a dollar or two for a 5 foot section so if I mess up I'm not concerned.  Its not like its gold. 
Now I do have a new costume that will be going to Dragon*Con, at my nagging Pip decided to do Evecutioner for us.  Yea this guy:

I pretty much went 'Honey, look at all the guns, and you get a mask!' and he was !!! OK!  I'm psyched.  First time we've costumed as a hero and villain from the same series.  We usually do the couple thing, Seras and Pip, Revy and Rock.  So this will be a fun change. 
Only other thing I can think of at the moment is how grossly overpowered my Paladin is in WoW.  I mean yes, she has 1 piece of Heirloom but still, she's sick.  Taking on 4 things 2 levels above her and raping them?  Yea I'm OP, and I love it.  Its a big change from how she was when I quit playing her, that was Pre-Litch King but still.  Its just night and day.
Ok at the beginning of this post I was talking about costumes for next year, here's what I have lined up.  No idea which costume I'll wear any of this two but ... Kasumi from Dead or Alive, Pip being Ryu Hayabusa (The Ninja Gaiden version).  Starfire, the animated Teen Titans version, I'm batting the idea of finishing my Nariko costume but I really want a Kai for that.  I know the boys are wanting to make Space Marine (Warhammer) armor, if they do then I'm going to try to find the most dainty, girly costume I can... I'm thinking Princess Aurora from Disney's Sleeping Beauty or maybe Kaylee's pink frilly dress from Firefly.  Not sure yet.  They have to do something other then talk about it before I'm going to dedicate the time to it. 
Someone on the forum was talking they had 30+ costumes they wanted to do, here's my 30+ list, mind you these are in no order then alphebitical.

 
Alice (Resident Evil: Extinction)



Arslan (The Heroic Legend of Arslan) Yes, a male character.

Ayame (Yotoden AKA Wrath of the Ninja)
Black Widow (Black Widow)

Char Aznable (Mobile Suit Gundam)

Columbia (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) This one only really works if I'm going to the movie, and if who I'm going with will dress up with me.

Ed (Fullmetal Alchemist)  I know its been done, but I want an Al that has the suit, so I doubt I'll ever do it.

Farah (The Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones)  Yes the game, not the movie, though I am curious about it.  I'd really like to have a Prince too.

Faye (Cowboy Bebop)

Haruka (FLCL)

Howl (Howl's Moving Castle)  This one is about 90% complete, I just need to finish the jacket and find a Sophie.

Igunis (Jingai Makyo)

Iria (Iria vs Zeriam)

Julia (Cowboy Bebop)

Kagura (InuYasha)

Kurama (YuYu Hakusho)

Lacus Clyne (Gundam SEED)

Leila (Vampire Hunter D)

Lina Inverse (Slayers)

Mireille (Noir)  The costume is acutally almost done, I just need a Kirika.

Queen Emeraldas (Queen Emeraldas)

Rally Vincent (Gunsmith Cats) Need a May for this costume too.  (Anyone noticing a trend?)

Re-L (Ergo Proxy)

Riho (Nightwalker: The Midnight Detective)  Need a Shido for this.

Siryn (Marvel) Very much a possibility as my big costume for D*C next year...

Talho (Eureka Seven)

Tifa (Advent Children)

Violet (Ultraviolet) Yes I have a bit of a crush on Mila Jolovich 

Yuffie (Final Fantasy or Advent Children, not sure)

Monday, March 22, 2010

KawaKon Review (Sunday)

Alright, sorry about the delay in posting, guild weekend and all, I may have been at a computer but I was otherwise occupied, I'll get to my weekend later, first I'm going to finish the KawaKon reviews. And I am going to make a separate post about the masquerade, I'm currently working on it, so I haven't forgotten.

So we got up a little later then we should have Sunday, but we were scheduled for a photo shoot at 10 which meant we had to get our shit together and get checked out and get into costume. I know checkout was 12 but we figured we could get it all done so we could just leave when we got bored... or more likely when the calling for IHOP got to strong. (I will try to remember the whole IHOP obsession later in the post.) We failed at getting checked out but we figured the person we were supposed to meet would understand if the photo shoot ran long cause they would need to checkout too, and if so inclined then we could resume after we were all done with that. So I think it was about 10:20 when we got to the lobby. Now mind you none of my costumes had I gotten the chance to wear, so I may have tried on pieces but I'd never seen it all together until I got it on. And let me tell you, their is a draft in Seras's skirt. Yes, you read that right. V's skirt wasn't that bad. I think I'm going to tweak it a bit before OMGCon, I need to work on the collar of the shirt anyway.
But we got down to where we were supposed to meet and couldn't find who we were looking for, we figured since we were late that we missed them and they were in the dealer's room or a panel or someplace. Well we, or well I, had plans to glomp Alucard all the while screaming "MASTER!!" .... only to find no Alucard. We were supposed to have an Integra too. Only we couldn't find them. I pouted awhile. I found out when I got in that night... or well Monday morning that some things had come up and kept them from meeting us. She was at least nice enough to pm me about it, but I was still kinda sad, we're going to try to do a shoot later, but I don't know when Pip and I will have time off again where we can do something like that.
But not finding Alucard we wondered around the con some, he bought a knife and had the Hellsing crest engraved on it. It doesn't look bad, I think in pictures it will be really neat, up close its not bad, and considering the girl free handed it its nice. I think I'm going to contact her about engraving a couple of Hawkeye's arrows. Just for pictures. I think a shot of me going to shoot, and having the camera focused on the arrow then seeing "Hawkeye" or something written on the arrow would be cool. I'm afraid it may effect its flight though, I may buy one extra for it or something. Leave it blunted so I can use it for photos. Unno, we'll see. Cliff maybe able to do it for me so I won't have to send it to her. But we bought some other stuff, I'll post pics on flickr once I get all of them edited. (I'm though Kusanagi and about a 1/4 of Seras atm, just got V's from Pip this weekend.) He got a pic of Optimus Prime, it looks really neat, and its the original art, not from the movie. Then from the same vendor we got some badges, two Repo! ones and one of someone in a Gir hoodie holding Gir. It's cute, we're going to take it to InvaderCon next year. I love my Repo! one, shows Graverobber holding the Zydrate gun and across the top it says Zydrate and next to him near the bottom is says "Comes in a littel glass vial". And its good artwork on all of them. And since we bought Sunday we got a deal on it. ^_^ We thought about getting some tee's, if we hadn't been starving then I would have gotten a pic in my Seras costume with the "Team Alucard" shirt.. I may see if I can find it online, it could make for a fun prop in a photo shoot. But other then that it was a rather slow day there, at least to me. I know Pip and I were two of the oldest there, but we were some of the only people in costume, and awake and not zombiefied and we got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep.
We got our shit together and checked out. I think it took like 4 or 5 trips to get it all out, it took us less to get it in, strange. Anyway once we got the car repacked we did a quick photo shoot in the parking garage, we stopped when I started shivering, it was cold and misty, and although the overcast worked great for Seras, I can't tolerate the cold that long, especially in such a short skirt. We did get a couple of neat candid photos, I ran back in after we were done with pictures to get my jeans on, so think Seras's top with jeans, came off really neat.
After that we headed to IHOP, only to be thwarted by the lack of parking. I swear that was the most jacked up IHOP I've ever seen. People were parking illegally to get into it. So we said fuck that, and found another one on the gps and went there. Now I got some funny looks going in because Pip took off his jacket and was just in his green shirt and khaki's. But I refused to take off my wig because I knew my hair was a mess because it wasn't 100% dry when I pulled it up in the wig cap. Being a blonde was kinda fun. And the waitress complimented my eyes (the orange contacts). And side note here, I used fixodent to hold my fangs in. And OMG I wish I would have done that years ago. They were so sturdy and held so well. I wasn't slurring in my speech because I was afraid I was going to loose my fangs or anything. It was definitely worth the 3+ minutes it took to set. I think I'm going to get some sort of paint or something for them before OMGCon though, they were to yellow to match my teeth. In pictures they look fine but if you were next to me they weren't so believable.
I don't know what time we got back to town that night, I know I wasn't crawling into bed till after 1 that morning. And I'm still not unpacked. All in all it was a fun weekend. The quality of costumes didn't seem to be on par with what was there last year. And the crowd was younger, or maybe I'm just getting older and pickier. Don't get me wrong their was some nice stuff there, but nothing sent me, none of my fav characters or anything. So if you're looking at my flickr and don't notice a lot of pictures of other characters, we weren't that egotistical we just didn't see a lot that wow'ed us. A lot of VK people and I'm sure those costumes are a pain to make, but you see one and you've seen them all. I think that's part of the reason I pick unusual characters, is just to be the only one. That said I don't know if we will be returning next year. We may check out animestl, or maybe or Memphis con. Depends. We didn't care for the venue and none of the panels really interested us, and since their was a very limited area to do pictures we had a lot of down time where we were just like umm.... what do we do now?
Ok I said I would explain the IHOP thing. You see we *gasp* live in a town with no IHOP. Now to most of you that doesn't seem like a big thing. But you try it, just a Denny's and a Huddle House. I'm sorry but I have never been desperate enough to go to Denny's and I have been to Huddle House once, they weren't bad, but they don't compare. So when I found that their was an IHOP less then 1/2 a mile from the hotel you better damn well believe that we were going. Of course we only went once and we never made it to Bellachino's but oh well, that's for another trip.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Update!

The con is less then a week away, I need to attach V's cuffs, and give the masks a coat of poly.  Kusanagi needs to have her zipper put in.  Seras needs buttons and some tweaking to her collar plus a hem, and Tuxedo Mask needs a jacket vest and cape.  Yes I'm stressing.  However I'm not going to think about it for a few minutes. 
I know I have posted saying we are going to Dragon Con but I thought I would update you on what costumes I will be taking.  Obviously Hawkeye will be going, but I have one new one and one update.  The update is Ivy.  I have a couple figures of her in a bikini rather then the leotard type thing, and I've really wanted to do the bikini version.  I think I'm going to take both versions though.  One night the group I'm with is doing a villain get together, but it has to be from the comics no movie or cartoon editions.  So no bikini Ivy for that.  But for a Superman/Batman type photo shoot I'm going to wear it.  ^_^
The big one I have to announce is Nahrees of th Inhumans.  Now I didn't know who she was, I simply asked if anyone needed someone for a group and after a few minutes of deliberation they all said I would make a good Nahrees.  Best thing about her costume is that I'll be able to wear the same wig I'm wearing for Hawkeye. 
Lets see, currently I have a commission I need to get started on next week, plus Hawkeye to get going on once this con is over.  Her debut is a local con so if its not 100% I won't be to upset, I mean I will be but I'm more concerned with her for DragonCon.  I think I've already said I'm going as Revy for OMGCon, Pip is going as Chang/Rock.  Speaking of Pip I dunno what he's wearing to DragonCon.  He wants a Shadow costume and I know someone in my group was talking about brining a Margo if he decided to.  And wow I'm totally scatter brained.  -_-" I have 3 things to organize at KawaKon, costumes to do and the brakes on my Jeep just went to shit.  Yea I'm swamped. 
Hopefully the Jeep won't be to expensive to fix.  I was wanting to use my tax return for a netbook, and since the government saw fit to take $400 more then they did last year I'm not exactly hurting for money, but the little amount I had saved up for KawaKon looks like I will have to use for something else.  And of course if one thing goes wrong with the vehicle 5 more things will.  >.< I don't make enough to pay for all this shit!!!  Ok rant over.  If I quit sleeping and keep breathing I may make it though.  Cross your fingers. 
I probably won't have the time to update till after the con, I'm at work and posting atm.  If all goes will I will have the chance to update my flickr during the con but we have a pretty set schedule so no promises.  Otherwise next week I should have a ton of pictures. 
We do have another guild weekend planned for the weekend after KawaKon.  I'm working a local home and garden show though, I will probably pop in for the evening though.  I'm sure we'll have more pictures from that.  Busy, busy, busy!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Progress

Forgive me the lack of update, as they have been a bit sparse in the past week, and will probably continue to be until the convention.  I have a lot left to do and not much time to do it in.  lol  If you're dying to see my progress check Flickr, I tend to upload pictures long before I sit down and type it all out.  But lets see V's bow and hair bow are done.  I just need to sew her other sleeve on put the cuffs on it and do a bit of tweaking on the red below the bust-line and she's done.  I finally figured out what to do to get Seras to work so I'm kinda psyched to get going with her again as the patches are in!  And I think tonight I'm going to throw myself into Kusanagi and see how much I can get done.  Logically she shouldn't be that hard but logically V shouldn't have taken me this long.  >.<  Plus I have Tuxedo's stuff to do.  And I still need fabric for him.  Hopefully he gets it ordered Thursday when I give him his laptop back.  (He left it at my place, on purpose but still.)  We're running out of time and while it won't take me long it still will take some time.  I do have all the fabric for the lining for it so I can get going on that, and figure out where the kinks will be. 
My wigs for Kusanagi and V arrived this weekend.  Both are gorgeous.  I absolutely love Kusanagi, I'm not sold on V but part of that I think is just the way it looks without the rest of the costume.  I think it will work and look amazing, just solo its odd.  I don't have time to upload them here, so seriously go to flickr and look at Kusanai's wig.  It's freakin awesome.  And we got a great shot of me in it.  The first of many I hope. 
Also Revy is a go for OMGCon, not sure who's getting kicked but I want to wear that costume.  I think Pip is going as either Rock or Chang... probably both, only difference are a few details...
We'll my replacement will be in soon so going to shut up now so I can head home grab some food and see how much I can burn though.  Wish me luck!!

Monday, February 15, 2010

More good news.

Gimme a minute, I have to chatter, then I'll get to the good news.  Ok, so I worked till close Sunday night.  No biggie, we close an hour early so I get home at a decent time to go to work in the AM Monday.  I'm not insane about the idea but its better then midnight like I did all Christmas.  So here it is Sunday night, maybe five or six, and it starts snowing.  Now it wasn't just snowing, oh no, it was doing that freezing rain, sleet, bullshit.  So what happens?  We get a layer of ice on the road and then a layer of snow.  Assuming no one has driven over the snow you can get traction, but if they have, well it turned into an ice skating ring.  So I call Da before I left and he said my mother had taken well over an hour to get home in this mess, so he advised that I stay at Pips.  Now that wasn't really a problem to me, it was Valentines Day and I got to spend awhile longer with my Valentine, but that also meant that I had to get up at the crack of dawn and hope that the road crews had gotten the road cleaned.  Now mind you I had no clothes with me, no makeup, thankfully I leave some of my stuff at his place so I had a toothbrush some mascara and I found a clean tee in the Jeep.  (And oh lord is that thing full of random jackets o.O)  But that also means I have to be at about six in the morning (which I don't usually see unless I haven't been to bed yet!) shower, and get on the road.  Best part was I wouldn't know how the roads were until I got going, so their was no way to predict exactly how long it would take me to get home.  Could be that the crews had it all clear, could be a lot worse then it was when Mom started home.  So I had intended on getting on the road about 6:30-6:45 it was a little closer to 7 then that when I actually did, sorry I had to have some coffee I was running on less then 6 hours of sleep.  And thankfully I the roads weren't too bad, I mean they weren't great by any mean and I had to take my time, and I saw where PLENTY of people had gone off the side of the road.  But I made it home a few minutes after eight, had enough time to throw on some make up and grab some clean clothes (thankfully I thought to shower at Pip's) and skid into work right on time.  >.<  Stupid snow!  I'm tired of it.  It can go away.  It's against my will!!
But on to the good news.  I have the hotels for DragonCon reserved!! *squee* We will be arriving on Friday about two or three and leaving Monday sometime, probably three or four in the afternoon.  Atlanta is a seven hour drive from here so we had to factor that in.  That was actually something new for us, most con's we've been to are only a couple hours drive.  I dunno what we will do to entertain ourselves.  I know he's never been there, I myself have only driven though on my way to Florida, and that was at four in the morning so I didn't exactly get the best feel for the place. 
As for costumes, with me getting snowed into town yesterday, and being so worn out today I haven't done much.  I cut out a couple patterns, one for the formal of Sailor V and another for Kusanagi, but that's really it.  I'm going to be heading to bed here in a few so that I can catch up on a few hours sleep so hopefully I will be rested enough to get some things accomplished tomorrow.  Hopefully my girl will be in on time to work tomorrow so I can get going early.  We'll see though, seems like she's usually a bit later on Tuesdays then she is on Wednesdays....   I did upload a few new progress photo's to my flickr that I'll post here.  Just to show them off a bit more


This is (most) of what I have done with V.  I'm working on her top at the moment.  After that I'll just need to get her shoes and get them dyed, then tweak both the shoulder guards and mask a bit more.  ^_^ So close to the finish line!!


I know its no Harkonnen, but it will have to do till I have the chance to make one.  It's not entirely painted in this pciture but its a good idea of what it will look like, assuming I have time I'll go ahead and paint Hellising Arms or whatever is on her gun in white down the side.  *needs to research that more*

And notice a difference between eye to eye?  Yea that's the orange in one eye and my natural color on the other.  It's really nice for Kusanagi, not spot on for Seras in my opinion, but I don't have the $75 on hand to buy the red ones I want.  Maybe before OMGCon, or at least before the proper photoshoot.  And mentioning Seras, as today was a holiday the mail didn't run but hopefully tomorrow my Hellsing patches will arrive...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Update!

Yet again more snow. Joy. Exactly do I have to slaughter to get rid of this stuff? I’m tired of it ten times over. It makes getting to work a pain, it makes getting to the gym even more of a pain, and it’s messy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty but I can do without it. I vote we just skip to spring. Anyone else with me?
But on to better things. I’ve been working diligently on the costumes. V and Tuxedo’s masks are nearly finished. They need another couple good sandings and we need to get one more piece around the eyes cut out on each, but the tool we had been using couldn’t get into that small of a spot so I think Pip found something else that will work.






 If the weather isn’t to yucky tonight I may try sanding on them… unno Mom is home I still need her opinion on Seras. Ok I’m rambling. Back to V. Let’s see I still need to buy some gold spandex for her costume and her shoes, if all goes well I’ll be doing that this week sometime. I started sketching out a pattern for her collar, I’m having issues getting it even though. I figure I’ll have to scratch my current sketch and start over, I can’t tell where my new lines are and my old ones are >.< And I need to get going on Tuxedo, Pip finally bought pants so I need to have him wear them and go to the fabric store with me so I can find something to make his jacket and cape out of. I mean I could use anything so long as its black I guess, but I want them to be at least close. I did work on V’s shoulderguards this weekend. Have a coat of primer on them and gave them a good sanding, but they will need more.
Kusanagi has finally seen some progress, I found a pattern online that I think I will be able to mod, so while I’m at the fabric store I need to get some white gabardine or something that I can use as a base for the satin. But that being said I did get her contacts in last night. They look a little orange in the pictures here, I promise they aren’t in real life. Or at least they won’t turn that way when I put them on (I haven’t yet).

Seras hasn’t seen any progress, at least noteworthy. I started spraying the other side of the Harkonnen and ran out of paint /epic fail. When I’m in town Friday I’ll try to pick more up, it didn’t take long at all to paint, and it felt like I had enough in the can but I guess not. And the patches should be in the mail, I can’t wait to see them. I hope they look a little better than in the pictures, I figure they will and if worst comes to worst I can always grab a sharpie or white paint and clean them up a bit. But the good news is Pip’s wig is styled! It took me a couple of hours because this wig was MASSIVE, and it tangled SO easily. I ended up giving the entire thing a really good coat of hairspray and that seemed to help. The braid was tight against his head but it looks really loose in the picture, it kinda worries me, but I think I’m going to let it sit awhile and see if it won’t take to the shape a bit before I try messing with it.




So let’s see I’m down to:

V
Make top
Make bow
Buy Shoes
Get shoes dyed
Make toppers on gloves
Finish shoulderguards
Tweak Mask

Kusanagi
Buy Gabardine
Buy pattern
Make top
Finish Tachikoma

Seras
Finish top
Finish Harkonnen

Tuxedo Mask
Make Jacket
Make Cape
Tweak Mask

And I have about a month. Wish me luck!

Friday, February 5, 2010

quick post

Alright just a quick post tonight, if I have time I'll post more in the morning.  I've gotten a lot done last night and today.  The nerf gun I'm using for a Harkonnen for Seras is half painted (had to wait for it to dry so I can flip it over and do the other side), and Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask both have painted masks.  I figured I'd take them over to Pip's this weekend so we could mark out where I need to cut them, and being the right color would probably help.  I got Sailor V's shoulder guards made.  They still need to be sanded and painted but that takes no time with the sander I have.  I think I've already posted that I have Seras's contacts ordered, I remember tweeting it... anyway here they are, they aren't red but I don't have the $75 to drop on contacts atm. 


 Especially when I just ordered a second wig for Seras.  I tried cutting out what got burned but when I did it left a funny layer way to high so hopefully I can mod that wig for something later...
But then here's the real big progress number.  Sailor V's skirt is done.  I may tweak it later if I get everything else done but I wore it around half the day and it was fine.  I started on her collar but I'm still in the pattern drafting stage atm.  The skirt took me a lot longer then I expected.  I drafted it a couple times but I was going to be all proper and finish all my seams and all that, but when I started that it ended up adding bulk and the skirt didn't flow as well so I ripped as much of it as I could back out and decided that it was spandex and really won't ravel.  ... shit I have to get my stuff together, I'm working at the other job tomorrow and I need to run to town a bit early to grab a couple little things.  Like I said if I wake up early enough tomorrow I'll post pictures of what I've gotten done, if not I will monday.  Check my flickr if your dying to see stuff now, I upload there first.  Night all!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

more progress.

I want to have Seras basically done by the end of the week... I may get there.  I'm off all day Thursday so hopefully I can buckle down and get her finished.  But I did work on her quite a bit tonight.  I ordered my contacts for her earlier today.  They should be arriving in a couple of weeks.  But lets see, I had the liner of the outfit put together from the last time I worked on her, tonight I got all the darts in it, and trust me, I darted the absolute hell out of that shirt.  But hey its fitted down to me now ^_^  Took long enough.  I'm running into a problem in where the placement of the buttons will go, if all goes well mom will be off Thursday or at least get home earlier then 1045 so she can give me her opinion.  But tomorrow I want to get the outside of the shirt put together and darted so I can get a better feel for it.  I need to decide where that hem will be too, that may need to be done before mom is brought in.  Of course as soon as I get that done then I'll be down to the collar and the sleeves (the white and red things).  So I'm getting there.  Here's a couple pics I snapped while I was working on it.  The first is of the liner (inside out I know, but the inside of the jacket will be the same yellow as the outside), the second is the liner turned inside out so you can get an idea of what it will look like when I'm finished.  The last in this set is of the darts I had to begrudgingly put in the back.  Her jacket doesn't have darts in the back but their is no way i could get it fitted down to me proper without it. 

 

  

  

I did get something completed this evening too.  For the Fox costume I've been debating on if I wanted bracelets or what.  I came up with this idea, I don't know if I'm sold on it, but I didn't have anyone handy to help me lace it so I'm going to reserve judgment till I can get a better look at it.  The anklet (second pic) is a piece I've had done since January I've just never uploaded.  



 

As always more pictures of my progress can be found on my flickr.  Theirs a lot more I'd like to say but I have to be getting to bed so I can go to work in the morning!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

This is going to be long.

Just warning you now.  Let's see they always say to start at the beginning, so the last thing I posted about was Guild Weekend, so I'll start there.  Had to do a couple things Friday before we went to Jon's.  I had to run by the gym and then I had my eye doc app.  The gym went easy, I'm not sure what to think of Cliff,  he's funny but he seems stressed or something around me.  Could have been the fact that my skin was doing.. well we'll get to my dermatologist appointment later.  Anyway he has a routine set up for me so I should be good provided I can get my ass in gear and actually go. 
The eye doc was a good visit too, he said I don't need glasses.  Not that I was thinking I would, but my eyes hadn't been checked in years so it was overdue.  I apparently do have astigmatism and I'm slightly farsighted, the interesting thing about that combination is that they cancel each other out, so he said in five years I may need something, but not now.  I do have my blue contacts though.  Ended up getting two different shades.  One as more aqua in it then the other.  I figure the one with more aqua will be for Sailor V and the darker shade will be for Seras.  I did get my prescription so when I have money again I'll order my red ones. 
From there we had planned on heading straight to Jon's then I realized I had forgotten to grab underwear and I needed to run though Victoria's Secret anyway since I found out I can wear black under Seras's costume and it won't show though.  Let me explain a bit more about that.  I went there once wanting a specific new bra that they came out with, but of course both online and in store they were out of my size in a nude color so I had kinda given up the hunt till I grabbed the boy shorts the other week and found they woudln't show though.  I'm happy, and I can't wait till we get to do a photoshoot for Seras.  Of course i have to get her finished first, but I'll get to my costumes in a bit.
Pip and I got to Jon's probably 6 or 7 Friday night after I'd done all my running around. We ran a couple Heroics and then went to to the BG's.  And I have to tell you about one in particular.  We usually run AV because we can farm some decent honor there, we don't usually go for killing the leaders we just camp one particular part of the road near a graveyard and hold it.   But this one was going to be a turtle and we were going to have to get in the fray if we wanted any HK.  So we all pushed up near their base and then WHAM!  all of us got raped by a freakin mob of toons.  I mean it looked like army of the dead only with named characters and different classes.  All of us smelled a rat and when we got back up there to take a better look our guild leader pointed out that they were staying clustered and it was sorta reminiscent of some shaman's we've seen.  Basically you'll see four toons all following each other, in the same gear, and with really similar names.  Only this group wasn't just one class, they weren't following each other and they had different names.  Putting it simply it was this swarming mess of toons that we figure one person was controlling.  BG's are fun when you PvP against other people, not one ass who's ruining it.  Then we had to deal with people in Warsong who were running Gears.  Rogues can't bubble damn it!!  But whatever, we still had a blast.  Stayed up till like 3 or 4 in the morning before all of us crashed.  Then we all got up and played more.  Pip and I ended up cutting out about nine or ten that night.  We had planned on staying though sunday but they didn't want to do anything but play Warcrack.  And don't get me wrong I love it, but I can only sit and stay at a computer screen and cuss at pixels for so long before I need to do something else.  And it didn't help that I kept thinking about all the things I could have gotten done of my costumes during that time.  I did get Jeeves though.  ^_^ I've been sitting on the mats for awhile now I just needed more titansteel, which our Alchemist transmuted for me.  I think part of the reason they were so intent on the game is because it was cold and rainy all last weekend and it's not like we could have gone out and played in the pool or done something.  Hopefully that will change this summer.  Pip said the boys tended to go out in the shop and do other stuff last year, I was only invited to a couple of the pool party's so I dunno, and that may change since Lisa and Sunny won't probably enjoy that as much as what the boys and I would.  Pip, as promised, did bring our SLR, you can view all the ones I resized and uploaded here, but here are a couple of my favorites. 

 

 



Alright gonna leave costumes for last, so fast forward to my doc appointment Thursday.  He was a nice guy but he seems to have it in his head that this whatever with my skin is eczema and urm I'm not a dermatologist or anything but you have to have dry skin to have that and urm... I have to put stuff on my face to keep it from being shiny and even when it says its good for twelve hours... it last about half the work day for me.  My mother has oily skin, my grandmother has oily skin.  I have oily skin, so explain to me how I have eczema.  He couldn't.  Its contact dermatitis, and he knows it.  I don't think he liked me walking in knowing what I had and basically just wanting a prescription.  Of course the cream he gave the prescription for was $100.  Yea it was steep.  It had better do that damn job though.  I'll be royally pissed.  Currently its faded and almost gone, but it did this last time.  Cross your fingers for me it stays gone.  I'm already self conscious about it, I don't want to be in my costumes worrying over it. 
Ok on to the costumes.  Kusanagi hasn't seen any progress (shocker isn't it?)  She's next on the list but I'm going to finish Seras before I jump to her.  V hasn't seen much progress either, I took my wig over to Krista's but her chi got a little hot and kinda melted a piece of it... we'll have to see if I can fix it.  I could possibly trim it out but then I'll have to add some extensions in it.  I unno we'll see how much money I have I may just buy another and use the mutilated one for something else.  But as for Seras, leaps and bounds.  The liner of her shirt is done and the outer piece is cut out, just needs to be sewn together.  From there it'll be hemming and the funky collar.  And then lots of buttons.  Lots of buttons.  >.<  But progress is progress.  I don't have a current pic but here's what it looked like before I got going the other day.