Caffeinated Crafting

Select pictures from ACEN 2016!

The full album with the friday fire emblem and saturday pokemon shoots can be found here on my facebook. If any of you are in these photos please let me know so I can tag for credit.

Kaden - @caffeinatedcrafting

Managed to snag a selfie with Max Mittleman at ACEN this past weeked, first time I've run into someone who did the voice for a character I was cosplaying.

Only a few hours away, plans for the con are set and its likely to be a busy one.

Thursday - Chicago Bar Crawl + Party

Friday - Kaden/Sakura Photoshoot with @hime-photos, followed by the Fire Emblem shoot. After that I'll be changing into Latios for the pokemon shoot and the evening party.

Saturday - 'Leveling Up Your Cosplay' at 10am, if you don't know a lot about sewing or construction swing by. I promise I'll make it worth getting up so early.

After that Fierce Deity Link, have not been posting WIPs as I've been pretty dissatisfied with how its come out. I've learned a lot about armor making having never done it before, but you gotta start somewhere.

And finally the big party :3

Sunday - Chill and pack out, might cosplay as ORAS Ruby

Best shot that came out of the con of the updated costume

In my haste to get my photos up I really didn't make too much of make a proper con write up. Definitely had a blast this year, there was a lot of running around, and not nearly enough time to do all the things I had wanted to.

Friday RoseSpirit and I ran around as Latios and Latias and I ended up helping run the Nintendo shoot. I've ended up running a shoot unexpectedly at the last three cons and a few have been several years running. I should just start signing up to run them in the first place, or maybe running a panel on them. Saturday was the busy day, gave the panel presentation on basic sewing. If anyone was in attendance and has feed back I'd love to get some. I've got slots confirmed for ACEN and Fanime to give the same presentation and would love the chance to make improvements.

Also got to finally show off Kaden with some remade pieces now that Fates is finally out it got a lot more attention than at Youmacon. I have one change I plan to make before ACEN, but other than that I'm very satisfied with the costume.

Judging for the first time was also a blast, gave me a completely different perspective on masquerades and its most certainly a lot harder than it looks. Best part was getting to see all the entrants close up.

With Detour over I only have a few scant weeks until ACEN/Fanime on back to back weekends. I should have Link done for ACEN, though I know it won't be fully up to the standards I like for a costume it will have been a good armor/prop exercise, the only way to get better is practice. I will be spending a lot of time as Kaden at both cons.

Select photos from Anime Detour 2016

The full set of photos including all of the masquerade entries can be found on facebook.

I’ll have a more in-depth write-up of the con tomorrow, was a ton of fun. If you know anyone in the post please let me know so I can tag them!

Latios - @caffeinatedcrafting

Latias - @rosespirit

Kaden - @caffeinatedcrafting

Dr. Alphys - @rosespirit

Anime Detour starts today!

Well, technically day zero, but I will be up in Minneapolis for Detour this weekend. This year I will be doing worksmanship judging for the first time at a masquerade and I'm really looking forward to it!

Additionally I'll be running a panel on Saturday morning titled 'Leveling Up Your Cosplay' which will be a sewing-focused presentation on how to construct your first costume with little to no prior knowledge.

Remade the tail for my Nishiki / Kaden costume, previous tails for both this and the Ran costume were just a front and a back, basically a straight tube.

So...I tend to learn best when I screw up making something. Ideas that seem good on paper sometimes don't translate, or guides that you think might work. I'm not necessarily behind schedule, but sometimes coming up with something you're satisfied with takes a little more time.

First iteration - I thought I could have a back piece that I'd velcro on separately, I used way too much worbla and it wound up extremely stiff.

Second Attempt - Much better this time, but having the shoulders flex was a bad idea, the smoothing glue cracked horribly and overall it wasn't fitting properly.

Third Attempt - Much happier with this one, and apart from the ties in the back, none of the worbla flexes much which should eliminate the cracking issues.

Last set of this costume as I put it into retirement, was a blast to wear, if very tiring.

Photos by Dirt and Dreams