#ufyc

So I made some printables for myself and I thought I'd share them. They're for my cosplay binder and their purpose is to help organize myself. You basically print them out and fill them out following the instructions that's written on them. 

If you don't like pink you can print them in grayscale or black and white. If you think that they're incomplete let me know so I can add more to it. You can find them here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzfC_T1a4EQRT2lZYUo1Z1lfY28&usp=sharing

You can see part 1 here. 

Hey guys! Since I'm in finals I'm not doing any super hard or involved tutorials. Basically things like the pattern drafting series (good for clothes and armour) and the circuit series will have to wait a while before I finish them or write anything substantial. However it was easy to write the organization series and it helps me get my mind off stress so here goes!

P.S I'm sorry the photos are bad. It's pitch dark and I have the time to do it now and not later.

Use Pinterest; I like to use this site to organize all my tutorials. I can categorize them by characters, textiles, armour/props, wigs, etc. You can add an item from any site easily as long as you have the Pinterest Add On. You can literally press the button and automatically add the page to a board. You can see how I organized my pinterest here. 

Hang your props; Get the off the floor or that dark corner. Especially if their all clumped together and smushed to no degree. Since props are usually hardier they won't stretch or deform due to gravity. They'll maintain their shape and free up precious floor space. Complete and total unrelated side note, shoutout to the random integral I have on my wall (it's missing an x) and my fabulous Hello Kitty lgihts. 

Use a Chalck Board/ Dry Erase Board; I cannot lay claim to this idea. This idea comes from curoch​. She painted her door with chalckboard paint and usses it to orginize her cosplays. It sounds a bit extreme but I like the idea. You don't have to paint your door to do this. Buying a small dry erase board is always an option. Doing one yourself is also an option. Personally this is my favorite. Look at howcute. You can find a tutorial here. Honestly it just gives you a good idea of how to better spread out your time. You can also make a dry erase board fit your needs. So holla if you want me to make a printable for this. 

Index cards! Did you know I live index cards? Anyways one of the many uses I give index cards is to write all the items in a cosplay. When I am going to wear it I pull out the index card and gather all the things. Once I decided that I had worn that cosplay "enough" and "I didn't need the index card". Wrong. I was wrong turns out I needed it that particular time. Here's how I doand here's where I keep them I just stuff them in the back of my index card folder. If you don't use index cards as much as I do then you probably don't have an index card folder. In which case I would just put them in a binder, punch one hole in them and put them in the binder. Like I showed in part 1 of this series.

Use Amazon Wish List; I use this to keep together things from different sites but I can still access them from the same site. You can see my wishlist here as an example. You can see fabric and lenses from other stores on my amazon wishlist. This is helpful because I'm not always looking to buy a piece for a certain costume when I come across the perfect part. I also use it to keep other miscellaneous cosplay needs that I might buy in the future. Like a new sewing machine or a cutting mat. In order to add items from different sites you must have the Amazon Add on. It basically gives you a little button on your web browser that allows you to add items from anywhere. You can get the button here for google chrome and here for any other web browser. 

I'm going to be honest this tip set has been a little rambly but I still think it got the point across. If not, well, I tried. At least I'm less exam stressed. 

If you're not very careful cosplay can and will take over your life. It's fun when it consumes your time right before the con/event. However it's a little less fun when you have exams/special project coming up at the same time as the con (special shout out to Katsucon and NYCC; thanks for always happening right before or after midterms). Here are some tips to keep it all manageable. 

Use Excel/Google Forms This is great to track progress and expenses. What's great about it is that you can use formulas which makes life easier. You can also get creative and use formulas for textiles things like =COUNTIF make life easier. You can find an example of how to use it here.

If you have a smartphone use cosplanner Cosplanner is a great app that let's you plan your cosplay. It lets you input reference images, keep track of expenses and progress. The only downside is that if you change your phone or reset it you no longer have access to the information.

Start a binder/folder! This is my favourite. I make a lot of my own patterns and it helps to have a binder to keep them all together and sorted. I divide them in terms of what project they're for. I also keep my measurements on a index card. This is most helpful when I'm making things for other people.

Devise a system to organize your scraps Let's face it, you probably have a lot of spare fabric. There's probably huge and little pieces and they're usually all over the place. For the smaller scraps try using a file folder or an accordion folder to put them all in. For the larger pieces I just fold them up and put them in colour coded boxes. 

Keep all your receipts For a lot of people this can be scary. I don't really want to know how much money I've spent on cosplay. However I need to know. It's a must to have a pretty accurate idea of what you're spending on things in general. Cosplay is fun but it shouldn't be getting in the way of eating, housing, paying off debt and other important things. It's easy to throw 15$ towards cosplay here and there and see the total mount to 100$. In general I like to use an app called Mint to keep track of how much I'm spending. 

Use Facebook Groups This is only applicable for group cosplays. But they are so easy to use and help makes everyone's voice be heard. It's also easy to make announcements and it lets you know who's seen the posts. My favourite thing by far has to be the ability to do polls/ ask questions. That makes it easier to pick photoshoot dates, events to attend, times, characters, what to do next etc.