Sakabatou + Kenshin make-up test

Today I got a sakabatou sword from one of my best friends. She had planned to use it for her own Kenshin cosplay originally but the sword is pretty... damaged/derp/I don't even... so she wants a new one and when I told her I will cosplay Kenshin this year and have everything else ready except the sword, well, I got it. xD It doesn't have the same tsuba and stuff like Kenshin's sword but it is reverse bladed so it's okay. I've been trying to figure out if there is any way to fix the many errors it has but I'm drawing blanks. It seems to be constructed very weirdly (read: not like your usual katana) and it also seems there is no way of taking it apart to reassemble it and check where the faults are. *shrugs* Oh well, it looks decent half-way out of the sheath but if I draw it I will have to check so that it doesn't go major herpaderp.

le sword ~

Oh, and because I now have everything I need for Kenshin I decided to try on the wig for the first time and do some kind of quick make-up test. Also did the scar but I didn't make it looks as deep as that scar test a few days ago; I didn't have patience enough to make it awesome just to take some test photos. I'll do the scar better for the con of course. This was also for experience... I must say it felt a little bit different having Rigid Collodion on your face compared to having it on your forearm. I was more aware of that it was there because I noticed I couldn't smile too much and such or I'd risk screwing up my scar. Good to know before the con. Guess I'm gonna be a pretty serious Kenshin..

I'm not sure if I suit him though.. it was hard to do happy/cute Kenshin-like expressions, I kept looking like I was about to kill someone maybe I should just settle for Hitokiri Battousai LOL and when I tried to look happy I looked way too derp. When I tried to look cool I ended up doing expressions Sanosuke would do rather than Kenshin, dafuq man. OTL

Oh well, here's my first try!  

I was lazy doing the base make-up.. mostly just focused on eyeliner and the scar.

Eye close-up

Scar close-up

My wig doesn't have a thick ponytail currently. I think I might add some volume to it later.. I don't really have time to do it right now (and I need to save money haha... ha...) so this cosplay will be upgraded sometime after its debut.

Also before I put the cosplay on I noticed I had nothing at hand that I could use to make my eyebrows orange. But then I remembered that back when I started cosplaying and did Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, who also has orange hair in about the same shade, that I didn't color my eyebrows either lol well back then I didn't even know you could do that and it looked surprisingly okay. I'm not sure if I should still opt to color them though... any opinions?

Oh, and before I say goodbye for today I must share with you this..

... BONUS PHOTO!

KAORU-DONO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That's all for today.

Stay tuned for a possible Kenshin preview photoshoot during the coming weekend!

Cosplays for Närcon Vinter

I think I finally settled on what to cosplay at Närcon Vinter, 22-24 February 2013, my first con for the coming year. My Saturday cosplay has been decided for some weeks now but the Friday cosplay has been a question mark... until now. Here goes!

Friday

Series: Rurouni Kenshin

Character: Kenshin Himura

I finally started watching Rurouni Kenshin late yesterday and I'm already hooked after 5 episodes... I had expected nothing less haha. As you might know I got myself a (manga color) Kenshin wig not too long time ago and I already happen to have passable clothes, for a blue kimono version Kenshin, thanks to previous cosplays so... why the hell not? :'D Besides I'm itching for a new make-up/special effects challenge.. namely creating his cross-shaped scar. This will be fun.

Saturday

Series: Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan
Character: Toshizo Hijikata

The Hakuouki roll continues. I'll probably never get tired of cosplaying from this awesome series. <3 Why Hijikata? Because two of my new-ish Swedish con friends plan to cosplay Chizuru Yukimura and Kazama Chikage and they really wanted me to join in as Hijikata so that we would have the complete trio. I happily accepted!
and it seems we will have a few more characters too, a group yay!

What I will cosplay on Sunday, if anything at all, remains a mystery for now. The con ends pretty early on Sunday morning (as far as I remember) so maybe I can't even attend it the last day.. it will depend heavily on when I have to leave Linköping; after all I have a long journey home. We'll see.

Kenshin wig + Masamune chainmail brainstorming

Remember my Cosplay Challenge from earlier this year? Well, some few days ago I received the wig I ordered for a future Kenshin cosplay. I bought it because the site had a sale and I just couldn't pass it up.. and I already know pretty dang sure that I will end up wanting to cosplay Kenshin anyway after I've read the manga and/or watched the anime. It's just one of those series I've been highly interested in for years (I'm a samurai/history/kimono/sword geek.. how can I not be interested in Rurouni Kenshin when it's such a praised classic?) and.. I just need to start reading/watching it. I plan to do it soon enough. *looks at the 5 first volumes of the manga in my bookshelf that has been there for over a year now*

Kenshin Himura

The wig looks like this right out of the bag and I must say ME GUSTA MUCHO!! <3

Just looking at this wig makes me so excited to read/watch Rurouni Kenshin haha. I love how I pretty much already happen to have everything I need for a blue kimono version Kenshin cosplay except the reverse blade katana. You all can be pretty sure I will do it next year ~

And now over to Masamune. I've been wondering about one part of the costume for quite some time.. namely the chainmail.

Masamune Date reference

As you can see he has chainmail covering his arms. Well, I surely don't have the time, money, knowledge nor the dedication to make my own chainmail from scratch.. at least not right now. It would take months and be very tedious.. I don't have that much time to put on a single part of the costume which isn't even that noticeable. So I thought about cheaper, less heavy (chainmail weights a ton, no lie. lol) and faster options.. I read around on the internet and found that you could buy a knitted shirt and spraypaint it silver. It would only look believable from a distance though. Seemed like a good idea until I realized it would likely be way too hot to wear during the summer time (main con season) and probably too bulky too. Then I remembered seeing in mom's fabric attic this one fabric that looks like.. silvery netting or something; I don't know what its proper name is. But I thought maybe it could work if I backed it up with some silvergray-ish base. The problem was that mom's version of that fabric had too big "holes" so it wouldn't look right even if I folded/layered it double...
So uhm, today I went to Eurokangas after school. I saw that there was a 20% sale on all fabrics currently and there I found this same type of netting fabric although with smaller "holes", more dense. Bingo! Truth is, I had seen it before but didn't buy it because I wasn't sure back then...

the net fabric in question

I just hope that this idea will work and look as nice in reality as it seems to do in my head. I bought half a meter of it, I hope that's enough... I'm not good at calculating how much fabric I need. xD

That's all for today. I really need to progres further on Masamune the coming days.. I've planned to do a mock-up test of the coat's upper half to see how it sits before cutting the parts out of the real fabric. Oh well, stay tuned for more updates!

THE CHALLENGE IS ON!!!1

So for quite some time now I've seen pretty many Finnish cosplay bloggers do this one cosplay challenge so I decided to give it a go because it seemed so much FUN!!

Sorry guys, for now this will be in Finnish, I will add a short description about the challenge in English at the end!

Säännöt:

1. Kuka tahansa halukas voi ottaa haasteen vastaan riippumatta siitä, harrastaako hän cosplayta. Kokoa kolmenkymmenen (30) minuutin aikarajan sisällä cosplay-asukokonaisuus materiaaleista, jotka löydät kotoasi.

2. Saat käyttää vaatekappaleita, peruukkeja, meikkejä ja maskeerausvälineitä. Jos olet nopea, saat myös ommella/askarrella jotakin uutta (esimerkiksi rusetin kankaasta tai propin paperista). Et saa käyttää sellaisenaan valmiita cosplay-asuja, jotka olet jo joskus tehnyt.

3. Kun olet valmis tai 30 minuuttia on kulunut, ota asustasi kuva ja laita se haasteen sääntöjen kanssa esille blogiisi. Kerro myös, kuka hahmosi on ja liitä mukaan lähdekuva.

4. Haasteen tarkoitus ei ole luoda täydellistä pukua lyhyessä ajassa, vaan testata haasteen tekijän mielikuvitusta ja pitää hauskaa.

Okeei, eli mun valittu hahmo oli Kenshin Himura (Hitokiri Battousai versio) Rurouni Kenshinistä. En nyt ole ihan 100% varma ku en ole sarjaa vielä lukenut ku muutaman random chapterin ja yhen leffan katsonut joskus vuonna nakki ja muusi. Mutta normi-Kenshinillä ku on vaan se reverse blade katana ja Battousailla mun logiikan mukaan perusmiekat + ei oo arpea joten menkööt näin ~

PS. Joku enemmän tietoinen fani saa korjata jos puhun ihan sontaa!

Joissaki kuvissa Kenshinillä on harmaat hakamat joten en nyt oo ihan varma kumpi on se 'oikee'

Sori peilikuvat, en ole arkusta noussut zombie!!

Cossin sisältö:
• Budo alustakki (jota myös käytän muihin cosseihin jotka vaativat valkoisen kimono-kauluksen)
• Ichiton tummansininen kimono
• Hijikatan vaaleanharmaat hakamat
• Hijikatan miekat
• Random tekkout/käsisuojat jotka ostin eBaystä aikoja sitten ihan vaan random käytöks
• Mustat tabi-sukat jotka olen ostanut mun kimono harrastustani varten
• Puiset geta-kengät jotka olen myös ostanut mun kimono harrastustani varten :'DD Problem?

Hijikata parka jäi ilman housuja ja aseita... 

Jooo-o, mitäpä sanois, oli hurjan hauskaa ja en paljon kiirettä tuntenut ku tä oli tämmöinen ultimate kaappicossi koska kaikki tarvittavat löytyi valmiina jostain huoneeni kolosta.. ongelma oli vaan löytää kaikki ajoissa ja pukea päälle. XD Tosiaan peruukin kävin pöllimässä lainaamassa Jäätyneen Enkelin vaatehuoneesta koska en itse omista ainuttakaan punaista peruukkia.. lähin (värillisesti) mikä olis mun kaapista löytynyt olis ollut Ichigo Kurosakin peruukki... eiiii. Tai muuten olis tullut joku ihmeen rasetsu!Kenshin valkoisilla hiuksilla... koska pitkiä valkoisia peruukkeja multa löytyy!! >8D Joo... *kröhöm*
Tää peruukki oli siis ainoo edes jotenkuten sopiva tähän hätään, vaikka väri on aika räikeen punainen IRL ja en kyllä käyttäis kyseistä peruukkia Kenshinille sit sinä päivänä kuin kyseistä herraa sitten ihan kunnolla cossaan. Joo, on tarkoitus ihan oikeasti cossata Kenshiniä joskus. Sitten kyllä ostan kunnon hyvävärisen peruukin ettei herran hiukset muistuta punaisia liikennevaloja...

Ai niin, meinas unohtua, mulla tuli paniikki ku en meinanut löytää ihan perus hiuspampulaa vessan kaapeista, olin sillee hetken "midä vidduu, pakko niitä on jossain olla!" kunnes kaivoin kaappia tarpeeks syvään ja sit löytyi semmoinen mursun kokoinen musta pampula... sai luvan kelvata. lol

Mutta siis...

CHALLENGE SUCCESSFUL!

Jaahas, ja äidin ruutuiset aamutossut paistaa mun hihan/käden alla... ihanata.

Mulla oli cossi päällä ku oli viel 10 min aikaa jäljellä, like a boss! Paitsi että melkein kaikki meikit jäi laittamatta koska laiskapaska.com ja naama kirvelee ku meikinpoistoainetta jo käytin aiemmin tänään ku cossasin Okitaa.. ja naama hieman vammaisen tuntoinen sen jälkeen joten annoin olla ihan suosiolla.

 - lalalalala -

And now a quick description in English for those who didn't go to Google Translate lol already ~

So yeah, basically this challenge was to find a character and cosplay them in a time frame of 30 minutes. So you had to make/find everything for it and put the costume on and when 30 minutes had passed you had to take photos of what you had created. You were allowed to use clothes, make-up, wigs and if you were fast enough you could craft something quickly... basically you had to do a closet cosplay. XD You weren't allowed to use already made cosplays aka a character you had cosplayed before. This challenge wasn't about making a perfect costume, it was about having fun and being creative.

My closet!Kenshin consisted of Hijikata's hakama, Ichito's blue kimono, a white budo/martial arts inner jacket, Hijikata's swords, black tabi & wooden geta I bought for my kimono hobby and tekkou I bought from a private person on eBay long time ago just for the heck of it. The wig is my twin's because I didn't have anything even remotely right-looking myself. The wig is actually bright red IRL (not orange-y like photos show) and I won't be using it that time when I cosplay Kenshin for real. Yes, I will do him someday.

And I guess that's it ~