Malta Comics Expo 2014

Yeah, I'm a week late with this con report. It was a 3 day long convention, starting 31st October and ending 2nd November. I didn't get much sleep, was rushed off my feet while simultaneously waiting ages for things to happen. I'm not going to do a detailed summary of the Expo. I recommend reading this blog: the guy writes it better than I can: http://ryanattard.com/ 

I will say that the pre-party was quite fun, but it took a while for me to start chatting because I didn't know many people there. On the other hand, by the end of the evening my friend and I managed to teach some of the Sailor Moon voice actors Maltese swear words :) The crowning achievement of my life, ladies and gentlemen.

 For the first day I wore my new Sailor Mars costume: totally redone. It looks great except for the skirt, which needed a good ironing. The gloves were also a bit fiddly because I had to take them off if I wanted to read.
I got to Valletta very early in the day in order to find parking. So I was there at 7am and was very lucky to find parking near the MCC. I killed time by walking around Valletta and read my Animal Ethics book (this is one of my favourite subjects - it's so interesting).

Then I had a mad rush to get my table set up. They put all the cosplay related tables together, so I had an amazing makeup artist on one side and a fantastic prop maker on the other. These guys are incredibly talented (the makeup artist took first place in the group cosplay contest, and it was a well deserved victory).

One thing the Expo needs to work on is organisation and allocation of tasks, because I get the impression that everything was in the hands of a few people, so things were a bit chaotic. On the first day there were no printed schedules so no one knew what time or where things were happening. Some panels were cancelled, or very few people turned up to the existing panels because the PA system didn't extend down to the artist alley. I was moderating the Sailor Moon panel on both Friday and Sunday, and the audience on both days was tiny - and I don't think it's because people aren't interested in Sailor Moon.

Having said that, I had a real blast at the Sailor Moon panels. The cast members were all so funny and interesting to listen to, and have a great group dynamic. They really didn't need me moderating - they would have been fine on their own. It was really interesting to hear them talk about their work. There are a lot of great clips from the panel on Youtube, which I'll link below

It was also a really good day in terms of sales. I sold all my Adventure Time hats! Score for me! I actually did quite well that weekend. I sold some flower crowns too, but only one steampunk necklace. I made enough that I could go for sushi on Friday night.

For the second day I wore Bombshell Harley Quinn and Rat Queen.

Harley was a popular costume that day: there were about 4 Harleys in total, and all different variations. There was me, this pirate Harley, Arkham City Harley, and classic Harley. There were a lot of great cosplayers: I saw an amazing Elizabeth Comstock, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Jack Sparrow, Umbridge (A Very Potter Sequel), Korra, Assassin's Creed and more. The turnout for my panel was low: only 4 people, and my slide show didn't work, so I just showed them my laptop screen.

Interestingly, only two people knew the Rat Queen, and neither of them were Maltese. One of them was Arkham City Harley (you looked so amazing as Harley!). I had to keep explaining Rat Queen and Emilie Autumn, which can be quite tricky: I mean, where do you begin? 

Off topic, but I had an amazing vegetarian burger on Saturday, made from mushrooms. SO GOOD.

The third day was an exclusive Rat Queen day. I was originally going to wear Vastra, but I just didn't have the energy. I felt pretty tired that day, and wearing the corset didn't help. The choker also felt tight, even though I could fit two fingers between it and my neck quite comfortably. I think the corset was on a little tight. I got a lot of compliments on this costume, even from guests. Thanks so much to Jennifer Cihi, the Sailor Moon voice cast, and others who were so nice about my cosplay.

I entered the cosplay contest, but didn't win. The winner made this amazing Diablo costume with Worbla armour. I think she definitely deserved to win, because the armour looked fantastic.

Before I wrap up, I'd just like to thank all my friends who helped to look after my table, and the organisers who managed to organise such a huge event. There were issues which do need to be sorted out, but I think it was quite a successful first con, and hopefully these issues can be smoothed out in the future. 
Much thanks also to Capture Me Photography for these incredible photos. Check out their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CaturemePhotography?pnref=lhc 

Sy fy Alice dress: pleats

I added pleats to the back of the dress for more accuracy. They aren't entirely accurate, but since I've never added pleats to a dress like this, I'm still pleased with them.

The pieces are triangular, and inserted into slits that were cut into the back of the dress. The photo shows the dress after being hemmed. It's progressing very well: all it needs is the ric rac trim, some facing, and a zip.

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FOR SALE

Sailor Mars costume for sale

Sailor Moon sewing marathon

Back in blog-land . . . with many updates. First of all, a charity shop haul. My favourite is this skirt-similar to J-rock style, and it cost only a few euro. I also got a plum acetate jacket and skirt, which I will probably use for my Dinah cosplay, a blue dress (Sailor Moon's costume) and an orange dress (Sailor Venus's costume) 

 Here's a photo of the work in progress. The shoulder pads were ridiculously easy, as was the tiara (mind, it damages easily, so I will have to figure out how to prevent that with future tiaras).

 The other Sailors and I spent one mad Sunday sewing as much as we could. No easy feat, since not everyone knew how to sew

This isn't even all of the costumes. My poor bed!

We got a fair ammount done: we cut the foam for the shoulder armour, glove rolls and hip rolls, covered these foam pieces in the requisite fabric (except for the hip rolls-the fabric was pinned over those, and then I finished sewing them later) 

Adventures in foam land

We used upholstery foam for our costumes, since I had a lot of it lying around in my stash-I knew it would come in useful one day (not really, but I can pretend that I did ; ) ) Great stuff, but cutting it to shape is very messy. Whenever one of us was cutting the foam scraps floated about like snow. Very annoying snow that liked to stick to all surfaces, particularly people's trousers.

More foam

Sewing space

For anyone thinking of making their own Sailor Scout costume, here are some tips. Use foam for the hip roll and shoulder pads: it is less of a hassle than stuffing it with wadding would be, not to mention that the foam holds the shape better, since the foam can be sculpted, as such. For our skirts, we used two metres of cotton by roughly 35 cm (including hem allowance), gathered the longest side at the top (I used the method where you zig zag over a piece of wool that has been secured at one end, then pull the wool to gather the cloth), then sewed the skirt to the hip roll. The resulting skirt will be a very full skirt that drapes nicely. For me this was an easier method than using pleats-weirdly enough, the gathered skirt mimics a skirt that has been loosely pleated.

One thing I am considering changing is the skirt openings. They fasten on the hip roll, with a length of velcro down the front of the skirt, but it is difficult to hide the hooks and eyes, not the mention that I'm worried that the hooks and eyes aren't secure. One thread on the cosplay.com forums suggests sewing the skirt to the bodice-you would pin the skirt on to the bodice while wearing the bodice, then carefully take the bodice off and sew on the skirt. This seems like less of a hassle than constantly worrying about your skirt fastening exploding in public.  

Totally off-topic, but here is the stripey goodness apron from Bizenghast : )

The skull was painted on with acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium, the outline was drawn in permamenet marker. I made this apron from an old shirt-sadly I didn't realise that there was some elastane in the shirt, so I had to buy more ribbon for the hem. Aprons really aren't that hard to make-well, this one wasn't. It's basically a lot of rectangles. The apron skirt is made from the bottom part of the shirt, cut from under the sleeves. The sleeves themselves became the straps and the top section of the apron. The pockets are simply little rectangles sewn to the apron skirt-these will be very useful if I wear this to Malta Comic Con 2011. The eyelets are the kind you hammer in, but I just used a setting tool. Unfortunatley the tool tends to tear the metal, so the eyelets aren't very neat on the wrong side. One day I will buy my own hammer for eyelet setting.

FINALLY I CAN UPLOAD IMAGES

Sorry about the capital letters, but I'm just so glad that the silly error that prevented me from uploading images is over and done with. And about time too-now you can see my upcoming costumes: not one, not two, but three news costumes!

Firstly, Rei's (Sailor Mars) school uniform from the live action series. Mine is mostly done, except for the pocket with the school crest. The stripe on the collar was a pain: I paint the stripe on the wrong part nad had to try and get rid of it: THe fabric still has a reddish stain: not sure what I can do about that. My stripe probably needs to be wider too.

The photo makes the stain look better than it really is

The skirt turned out quite nice: it's a very simple loosely pleated skirt. in the same fabric as the collar. This costume is a perfect example of cosplay on a budget: all I bought were four black button for the front of the uniform. The darker grey material came from a dress that a friend of mine no longer wanted, and the top is one that I had in my wardrobe. Socks and shos I already have, so all in all this was quite a simple costume.

Mars' sailor fuku is much harder to make. Since this will be worn for a group cosplay, we all want to match, so our gloves and leotards will be bought. I've already made the purple bow-mine is more of a reddish purple than the bow in the photo.

My bow

Moon and Jupiter's Tiaras

 The gems are a lot of fun to make: just hot glue and markers for colour, with clear nail polish to make them shine. The skirt and hip roll will be one piece, separate from the leotard. The tiara is simple: craft foam and gold fabric paint. The only problem is that it creases very easily.

And finally . . .

To protect the world from devastation . . . to unite all peoples within our nation . . . Team Rocket Cosplay is blasting off at the speed of light!

I never really liked Pokemon-the concept of sticking an animal into a ball didn't grow on me- but I like Team Rocket. Jessie's outfit is a little tricky, in that I have to figure out how to make thigh high boot covers (and find shoes to pair them with), make a white miniskirt that isn't transparent in bright light, and figure out how to make her collar (I suspect it's a roll neck, in which case I will hack a poor roll neck T-shirt to pieces). I found a gigantic white sweatshirt in my stash which is perfect for this costume. Here is a poor quality photo of the costume so far. The sweatshirt has been cut in half, the sleeves caps altered to fit my shoulders betters, and a litte mini skirt made from the excess fabric. Nothing is sewn yet (no time-still studying law and IR) but when I have a moment everything will be sewn in place and a zipper added to the skirt. the top will fasten with poppers. I got lucky and found a black tube top and a pair of long black gloves (my grandmother's. Her hands were tiny: the gloves barely cover my hand)-shorter than Jessie's but beggars can't be choosers.

It looks worse than it is

Sadly doing a proper Jessie wig is not feasible, due to lack of time and money (though if I ever do make it, it will be made of cheap Halloween wigs and not quality wigs). I'm borrowing a burgundy wig instead. Oh, and I need to make her earrings.