Throwback: Babydoll

I haven't done a post like this for a while. I've been cosplaying for about 5 and a half years now, so I suppose this is technically an old costume.

I actually remade this costume about 3 times until I was happy with it. \

 Made this before the film came out. I was quite inexperienced and tried making it out of jersey. The stripes were painted on. The skirt and top didn't even match: I tried dying the top blue, but it was the wrong shade. The wig was a cheap carnival wig, and I'm not sure what happened with the hair band. The shoes are on point, though, as was the sword belt. Oh, and I think I had a cardboard sword, which really wan't up to fighting ninjas.

I totally remade the costume out of cotton drill. I had to make the skirt twice because the first time I made it too short.  I used SecreLifeofaBionerd's tutorial for the skirt, and made the top from an altered Burda pattern.

The stripes were made from white bias tape. I used muslin to make the sailor collar and neck scarf. i actually dyed the scarf with watered down acrylic paint to get that strange bluish tint. The stripes on the collar were painted on with acrylic paint.

  I upgraded to a slightly better wig (not much better. Paid 30 Euro for it, and it shed a lot and the wefts showed a lot. Not a good investment). Whoa, my wig styling skills need improvement. Those ponytails ae very bunched up at the top (probably to stop the wefts showing).

I made the gun and holster too (can't find the holster, and sold the gun and costume so no photos of the whole ensemble). The gun was a simple toy gun with gold cor to tie the charms on.

The charms are not pretty. I used spray paint, nail polish, and acrylic paint to colour the polymer clay pieces. They were fragile, and the spray paint/varnish didn't dry properly, so the charms were quite sticky. They are also quite ugly pieces.

Despite the costume's flaws, I think it was a good piece of work for my skill level at the time (even if I sewed the sleeves on upside down by mistake). I finished all the edges, and sewed everything neatly. The buttonholes were neat, and I was recognizably Babydoll. Not 100 percent accurate, but I was working with limited images of the character. I don't know if I will ever revisit Babydoll; perhaps the glamorous show outfit she wears, or the amazing coral corset.

Photos, photos everywhere: Rapunzel, ALice and Sweet Pea

Rapunzel is done!

For some reason, blogger thinks this image works better on its side. But you can tell that it's done. The last step was to finish all the grommet and the sleeves, and to lace the bodice up. Hopefully I will be able to organise a photoshoot with this dress, because it deserves some good pictures. 

I have also had the opportunity to update my Alice Liddell (American McGee) costume. This was my first ever cosplay, so I didn't sew it myself. Instead I asked a local seamstress to make it out of the materials that I bought, which consisted of a lovely blue linen, and an old white apron.

Here is what it originally looked like.  I had to remove the skull at the back because it was too heavy (I used polymer clay!)

Wanton cruelty to evil bunnies is not advisable

Not bad, but not entirely accurate either.

So I decided to make it more accurate. The dress is more or less perfect, but the apron needed alteration.

Once again, blogger messes with my images.

To get the apron the right shape, I place it on my dress form. On one side, I drew a diagonal line to get the shape of the apron. I unpicked the stitches that secured the skirt of the apron to the waistband, and cut the diagonal line. I did the same to the other side. The raw edges were sewn over with a zigzag stitch, then I folded them over and top stitched. This process was repeated for the top front and the back of the apron.

For the bow, i first altered the waistband so that it closed with snap, then I made a bow out of an old white shirt. The bow is attached to the waistband with a snap. The skull is paper mache: loo paper soaked in PVA glue and moulded into the right shape. I then painted it with acrylic paints, and added a coat of spray varnish.

I also made the pockets out of scraps of white material, painted on the symbols, and sewed them on.

The blood is watered down acrylic paint. I made it too runny, so I had to touch up the blood spots to make them darker red.

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to get some good photos of two of my costumes at a local cosplay meet up. The one thing that irritated me about the meet up was the sheer lack of people in costume: is it really that hard to dig out a steampunk themed costume? To be fair, my costumes weren't exactly steampunk: Sweet Pea and Dinah Wherever; but at least I made an effort.

This is my Dinah Wherever (Bizenghast) costume. I've mentioned it before on this blog, but never had any good pictures of it. The dress is made of a skirt suit, and the apron is made from an old long sleeved shirt. The skull is painted on with acrylic paint.

These pictures were taken on the bastions of Mdina.

I also managed to get some good Sweet Pea pictures.

I added a gun belt, a leotard and new tights to the costume. I also borrowed a pellet gun. That darn gun weighs a ton. I am so glad my friends helped me carry it around, especially since I already had two costumes to carry around for the photoshoot.

Sweet Pea's leotard

Okay, I know she isn't actually wearing a leotard, but more about that later.

Fasten with hook and eye tape at crotch

 In all the stills, footage, and statuettes, Sweet Pea appears to be wearing a bikini under her coat. I'm not comfortable wearing that little, so I decided to make a leotard to replace my stretch velvet t-shirt and shorts.

This was quite simple. The top part is a tank top; the bottom was made by tracing some underwear and adding a trapezoidal shape to the top, to make high waisted hot pants. Then I sewed up the pants, and sewed them to the top. The leotard has hook and eye tape at the crotch for convenience's sake. The silver writing is there because the pants used to be a t-shirt (so this project is technically a t-shirt recon).

I also found time to make a bullet bandoleer for my boot. This used to be a choker: I sewed a strip of black pleather on top, making sure to leave loops for the bullets. The bullets are made from card, thin black tape, and red paper, stuffed with crepe paper to make them tougher.

Babydoll's Gun

My lack of good props for my Babydoll cosplay has always annoyed me a little. The first props I created were AWFUL: a felt scabbard, a belt looped around my shoulder, and a felt pouch for the gun. It looked very messy: mind, my whole costume was messy the first time I made it.

So very slowly, I have been refining this costume, starting with the clothing, and moving up to the props. I'm not a dab hand with power tools, and coursework means I have restricted time to practise using them. In addition, I'm working on a tight budget, so for me, the best option is to alter what I can find.

 The Bird and the Bee's pistol and charms inspired me (if you have a bigger budget than me, I recommend it). Mine are a little more crude looking, but I think it adds to the rough and ready side of Babydoll's character. The charms are made from Polymer clay, painted with acrylics and nail varnish. The gun is a normal toy gun from a costume shop. All it needs is a holster and the gun is good to go! The katana is already in the post: I ordered a toy sword, which needs some fixing to make it look the part: spray paint is already at hand for that.

I'm also working on refining my Sweet Pea costume. The leather jacket turned out just how I wanted it, but the shorts and top annoyed me: velvet is the wrong material for Sweet Pea's warrior look, plus the top kept riding up. So . . . leotard time! It's actually going to be a black tank top, sewn to a pair of high waisted hot pants (which I still have to sew).

Malta Comic Con

The Macarena

I should have typed this up a while ago! Well, Malta Comic con has come and gone for another year, but what an event it turned out to be. It was easily the best convention yet. The talks were interesting, the guest artists were wonderful, and there were so many cosplayers (my favourite is probably my friend who wore Alice's costume blue dress, made by the Mad Hatter, from the Tim Burton film). I had so much fun.

My table was one of the trickiest things to prepare. The first time I put the pictures up, it looked a little plain. I added my steampunk costume to the wall, and a tree branch-a real branch that my mother found out on the Victoria Lines! I also had some nice fake velvet to drape over the table. Unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of the stand.

I got a really good table this convention, in one of the main exhibition rooms. I also had a lot of really great artists in the same room: David Lloyd, John Haward, Susan Waitt (a really great local artist), and down the steps there was Sonia Leung and Emma Viceli, as well as many other local artists.

For the first day I wore my Babydoll costume. something has been bugging me about that costume for a while and I've finally found out what: I set the sleeves upside down! Oh well, it looks good. Though quite a few people asked where i had left my weapons (I was lazy and didn't bring any).

This is the first year that i have actually made any profit, thanks to the steampunk and bottlecap jewelley, and Soulcakes. I don't think I've mentioned Soulcakes before. This is a little project I worked on through the summer right up until comic con. It's a simple photocopied comic (I think they are called ashcans).You can read it in its rough form on my deviantart account , or order a copy from me (1.30 Eur per copy), but the basis of the story is as follows: would you sell your soul for a pancake?

Trade was slower on the second day. I managed to sell most of my necklaces (I gave the last two away as presents), two mini tops hats, almost all the copies of Soulcakes, the bunny ears, the kitty hat, and numerous post cards. I wore my Sweet Pea costume for the event. The hood is smaller than I would have liked it to be. My own fault: I should have made a mockup.

Since this blog focuses mainly on cosplay, I'll talk about the cosplayers now. Overall, a great turnout, especially for the competitions. Not everyone had made their own costumes, but for the most part everyone looked like their character. One of my friends did a great Chrono (from Chrono Crusade) cosplay, complete with wings; all of which she'd made by herself. I was rooting for her, but she and her friend (cosplaying as Rosette) lost to a Lupin group, though they were a close second.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding the contest, between some competitors and the main cosplay group in Malta. There's been friction between independent cosplayers (often former members of this group) and the group. At the contest a lot of people specifically stated that they were entering to beat this group. there were lot of technical problems, which led to rumours that this group was sabotaging the contest (it didn't help that the day before, the winners had all been members of this group). There was also controversy over certain participants not being allowed to compete because of their costumes (they were cosplaying a band, and apparently cosplays of real people aren't welcome. What does this mean for my Lady Gaga cosplay?) They were allowed to compete after complaining to the convention organisers. This annoyed me: why shouldn't you cosplay figures in the music industry eg. Gaga, Keisha, Kiss? I mean, the year before the winner of the contest had been cosplaying Freddy Mercury! Any thoughts on this issue?

Controversy aside, the overall performances were good. But GAH! Caramell Dansen was used as an entry. On the forums of Cosplay.com says this is a major faux pas in skits. This was actually one of the winning skits! I will give that cosplayer credit: she knew her dance, she made it fun, and she kept going even when the music cut out.

A lot of skits were good, but needed polishing. the Yu Gi Oh skit is a good example. Plenty of the people in the skit were not dressed as actual characters or monsters from the show. Isn't that kind of a cop out? It's a bit like cosplaying people from Pokemon and throwing ordinary soft toys around, without a single Pikachu in sight. There was a good Vampire Knight skit (the yaoi joke was short, sweet and funny), though Yuki spoke a little too fast to hear her properly.

 A few skits suffered from being too long: there was an impressive Metal Gear Solid Snake (is that the right name?), with a moving doorway (it even had a laser built into the frame), which featured the character making his way through the laser guarded door. Overall impressive, but my attention lagged: let's face it, a guy shooting at invisible enemies is not that thrilling. One of the audience also pointed out that at the end of the skit, the cosplayer walked AROUND the doorway, not through it-the whole point of the skit was that he needed to get THROUGH the doorway.

Mind, if he'd had fellow cosplayers in his skit, he would have been stiff competition for the group skit category.

Another skit with similar problems was an individual cosplayer, dressed as Cloud from Final Fantasy. The skit was a recorded interview-I think. It was a bit too long, and random-towards the end he began playing air guitar to Bon Jovi's 'Its my life'. I know squat about Final Fantasy, but is this what the character would do?

I'm so pleased that we won the group skit. the judges were all very complimentary. Apparently the fact that we continued our skit even when the sound cut clinched our victory. So happy . . .

And now for something completely different . . . photos!

Our group: Sweet Pea, Blue and Rocket; and one of the judges, Sonia Leung. She mentioned doing a Bayonetta cosplay: I'm holding her to it :) Look at the trophy (rocket's holding it)

Ahh, the smell of victory. LOL. I love Rocket's costume: it looks really professional.

blue is not happy! I need proper stockings and boots. I need flat boots, and didn't want to spend money on them, so I substituted with cool looking boots instead. for photo shoots I will probably wear thigh high heeled boots: not exactly correct but they'll look good.

Revenge is sweet!

Overall, I had a wonderful time at Malta Comic Con 2011 and I hope to return next year.

What I learnt about skits at Malta Comic Con

An update on this blog is long overdue. the madness of preparing for Malta Comic Con has kept me away from the computer longer than I thought, but I'm back now. I will be blogging about the convention, but I thought I should post this while it is fresh in my mind.

This year the cosplay contest was awesome. The organisers did a great job. The judges were Sonia Leung (I'm now her newest fangirl: she is awesome, and she mentioned that she was planning a Bayonetta cosplay!), fashion deisgner Petriski; I've forgotten the name of the third judge unfortunatley :(
We were lucky enough to be able to use the theatre in St James Cavallier for our cosplay skits.

And now for some epic news . . . my group won our division in the contest! Our Sucker Punch skit took first place in the group skit contest, even though our sound cut half way through and we had to sing the song ourselves. I'm over the moon. Even better, I feel that I'm finally in a position to post some tips for skits. So here they are.

1. Be original. Our skit was unconventional.Instead of focusing on the action in Sucker Punch, we framed our skit around Sweet PEa, Rocket and Blue working on routines for the show. We didn't use music from the film, but instead parodied Liza Minelli's routine in Cabaret and Catherine Zeta Jones first dance in Chicago, followed by our rendition of Two Ladies from Cabaret. It worked, which proves that there's no need to stick to tried and tested routines, such as yaoi jokes, slapstick and internet memes. Come up with an idea and run with it.

2. Be prepared. IF you're going to record your skit, do so a week or so in advance. Practise, practise, practise, and be ready for problems to crop up in the actual performance. There were sound problems for almost every skit, and if we hadn't known the routine off by heart and known our lines and the lyrics of the song, we would have been in trouble. We knew them, so we were able to keep going. The judges actually told us that this was a major factor in our victory. The same thing happened to the winner of the indivudal skit: she kept on going, even though the music cut.

3. Keep the audience interested. A few skits at the Con shared a common problem: they didn't keep the audience interested long enough. One skit feautured a monologue, which just wasn't that interesting. Another skit began well but went on a bit too long. In general, audiences do not have long attention spans. Grab their attention, and once you have it, keep it. Keep the skit short and sweet, or have the skit develop in a manner that will have them hooked.

4. Do it well. If you are acting, make an effort to act well. Keep in character, project your voice, and face the audience. Practise dance routines and songs until you are sick and tired of it, choreograph our fight sequences to perfection. Seek critique, and strive to improve.

5. Mind the props: if you have them. Props are great: they give you something to interact with on stage, which makes the perfomance all the more interesting, but be wary of malfunctioning props. During dress rehersals I quickly discovered that my paudron and 'holster' were not going to stay on during the dance, so the moment I got on stage I took them off, trying to make it look like part of the show.

6. Be polite to your fellow competitors. You're all there because you love cosplay, so don't bitch backstage.

7. Get someone to have a look at your script to suggest improvments. Actually, get someone to watch your whole skit. Critique is invaluable.

8. Don't compete to defeat other people or make them feel bad. Compete because you love cosplay. 

Shock!

It is amazing how much difference the correct needle makes. The moment I swapped the ordinary needle fo a leather needle, the stiches became perfect! Shame I'v already sewn a large part of the costume by hand.It actually looks quite good.
And in other news, here is some Steampunk jewellery, inspired by this lovely tutorial

Very simple to make: I used polymer clay, and pushed bits of paper clips into the clay while it was still uncooked (is this a real word?). The little charms and decorations are what I found lying around (I have a surprisingly large number of fake pearls and flower decorations)

Sweet Pea



I'm already worrying about accuracy! What's that belt around her middle? Wasn't she wearing suspenders in a different image? That sleeves looks longer than I thought! Is the gap in her coat lacing meant to be that wide? Oh darn her coat is longer than I thought!

The Sweet Pea cosplay construction has begun in earnest. I already have a dark blonde wig, suitable boots (not exactly as they were inthe film, but close enough), and shorts and a tank to to wear underneath. I splashed out on fabrics and bought some two way stretch pleather. I was originally going to use cotton drill, but I think that the pleather looks better. I also bought some faux sheepskin/shearling to line the hood. That is actually a bit too white, and will have to go through a tea bath.

The muslin is more or less done too. I only made one half of it, in order to save on fabric while I was altering it. This was a good thing, since i cut huge pieces of fabric from the muslin during alteration. I might make a second half, but I'm not sure if I want to bother. This probably means that I should bother.

The McCalls' pattern that I own is incredibly versatile. I originally planned on using it for an Arwen costume, but with alteration it seems to make a good coat/jerkin.

Starting Sweet Pea and finishing Steampunk

I've started my Sweet Pea cosplay. It's hard work-and i haven't even begun sewing.The pattern I'm using is printed on very thin tissue paper (thinner even than what Burda style print their patterns on) which refuses to lie flat. I had to weigh it down with several shoes to keep it in place while I was tracing it on to my baking paper (love the stuff. I think I will use it for all other patterns). The only problem is, I've run out of baking paper and the shops are shut.


Never mind, I can work on the rest of the costume, like what Sweet Pea wears under her Medieval coat thing. I think I might be a romper or a bikini. I'm making a tank top and shorts for modesty. So my Bellatrix dress is getting put to good use. I cut the top half off to make a tank top. It will have to be worn back to front to hide the silver swirls: luckily the neckline is identical for both sides of the dress, so it won't show. The rest of the dress can be used to make shorts.


The white stuff is paper. I'm trying to avoid a lettuce edge, and I have hear that using thin paper helps to prevent this.

The steampunk costume is nearly complete. The corset needs eyelets and cord for lacing, and I need to make a new mini top hat for the costume. I'm also debating whether to get rid of the legwarmers and replaced them with stockings/tights/leggings. I've seen a really nice pair of leggings with a diamond print that I like.



MICA events of late

I have tons of news: our cosplay skit 'Bad Romance' was recorded by a DJ Vision at Super One studio, and will be aired 5th August. Oh the excitement! I didn't mention this before because we nearly cancelled it: our Joker was sick so we had to draft in a Joker at the last minute. Somehow he learnt the dance just in time, so congrats to him and all the other members of MICA who participated. Here are some photos from the event.

I wish I'd had a pair of tights, though. The leotard is a little bit short at the back, to the point of being immodest-probably no more so than most swimming costumes, but still too short for me.

Another recent event was the MICA Mini Expo-again, I didn't mention this because the date wasn't confirmed until a few days before the performance. The expo  began with a fashion show . . .

Malta's Next Top Cosplayer-LOL.

I am seriously tempted to use one of these as my  blog header: the old one needs updating and these photos are great. On the other hand, I'm not sure where I stand vis a vis copyright-I'll have to check with the photographer.


I can't believe it: I forgot my black hairband AGAIN

Argh-my hairband!

Followed by Caramel Dansen (this is not yet cliched in Malta)

Guess who didn't know the moves and had to make them up? Hint: someone in a blonde wig . . .

This was followed by skits. I don't have photos from all the skits, but there were a lot: Yu Gi Oh, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, X Men, Ben Ten, Naruto, and Bad Romance, quite apart from Michael Robert Jackson's performance.

I want your psycho, your vertical stick . . . These are the same boot covers that I sued for my Jessie costume.

I'd say that all this activity bodes well for MICA and cosplay in Malta on the whole. Thanks to the untiring efforts of MICA;s President, cosplay in Malta is becoming more widely known. If we're lucky, it might be possible to organise a national cosplay contest in 2012 (unless Armageddon occurs LOL).

I was planning to keep the writeup of events short and launch into a discussion on dyes (natural v man made, environmental impact etc), but I think that deserves a post of its own. Call it something to look forward to.

JapanEase

Yesterday I spent from 10 am til 6pm running around at the Point Mall in not one but two costumes (changed at around 3pm), selling handicrafts, sampling delicious sushi, coughing (I have a very nasty cough-my diaphragm is starting to hurt) and giving a lecture on Cosplay. Why? Because it was Japanease: the big fundraising event for victims of the tsunami in Japan.

As you can see I updated the costume: the top was redyed, the skirt was remade from a remnant piece of cotton drill (I love the bargain bin). I forgot the black hairband, but it still looks okay, apart from the wig: I actually got a replacement in a darker blonde just so that I at least own one good quality wig.

I had a little table to myself. I was surprised at what sold: no one touched the cute little polymer clay shape barette clips (shaped like hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades), but went for items like bows, and only a few of them sold. I had painted two containers and glued on a polymer clay gear to each: both sold, as did post cards. Bizarrley very few headbands sold, aside from a set of bunny ears. I also sold two of the mini tophats that I made.

We also had a skit: the Joker and Harley's Bad Romance, with a guest appearance by Lady Gaga (ie me). I'm the one in the red leotard, which I made from jersey. Not bad for a first attempt if I do say so myself. We used the Glee version of the song.

This skit is one of the best I've been in: we copied the dance from this excellent tutorial. What was funny is that all but one of the dancers were girls: even Joker was played by a girl. THis is because almost all the guys we know are too repressed to dance in public :P So to the guy who played the Joker's henchman, you are awesome. I wish I had photos of hte cake we used in this skit: in the beginning we were all crouched behind a cardboard cake, with only Harley and Joker on the stage. WHen the music starts (on the words 'bad romance') we pushed the cake to the floor and joined the dance.

EDIT: I've just realised: I've actually completed one of the costumes on my list for 2011
. Woohoo!