TITAN AND HOBBIT

Once upon a time, we promised to make a proper introduction thingamalingie when our facebook page hit 100 likes. That was a long, long, long time ago... Which means couple of weeks. We've been crazy busy (lazy)!But at last, here it is!!

Behold, our great thingamalingie introduction thingie! Enjoy! Or not!

WHO AM I?

RINDALIN: As someone who has a small existential crisis going on let’s go with something I know at the moment. 

I respond to the names Rindalin, Dalin and Linda. Also the names Amazon woman, Titan or Menos Grande which are more or less references to my towering physique.

I’m 23 years old and live with Ennah as roommates in Riihimäki. We have a cat called Neomundur von Furpants, also known as Neo. Our apartment could be called as Cosplay Cave, Sparta Cave or Spartacon.

I was three years in Hyria vocational school studying as seamstress and clothing designing. After that I went to LAMK to study fashion designing and …I’m still there.

ENNAH: My first name is Henna which is an anagram of my nickname Ennah (because I’m clever like that). I’m 23 year old fashion design student. I have a background as a seamstress.

I am a silly girl who stresses about everything in life. My main concerns in life are how to balance my school and my hobbies (mainly cosplay), can I get a job when I graduate (preferably in the field I’m currently studying), am I good enough for the world and etc. Light topics like that…

I’m socially a bit awkward and shy. I am also a crazy cat lady…

WHICH CHARACTERS/COSTUMES AM I DRAWN THE MOST?

R: The costume needs to be massive! I have made some more minimalistic costumes, but also some huge things that are pain to wear. Somehow I’m really masochist when it comes to cosplay (…aren’t we all?). Also the design needs to be a fitting for my body type.  I try to think that okay, I probably don’t want to show my legs or belly too much, so I search character that has dress or skirt and shirt/jacket, armor etc. that doesn’t reveal too much for my liking. 

The character personality also almost every time reflects my own on some part. It’s easier to identify with the character like that, but it can also be a bit monotonous. It doesn’t challenge you to try new personalities. Also when you are competing it’s really difficult to identify with the character if it’s completely different from what you usually cosplay. For me at least.

E: I love details, color and variety. I don’t like to do a same thing twice, so my cosplays tend to vary a lot. I do love cute things so that’s definitely something I’m drawn to. When it comes to personality of a character, there’s not really a special kind of a character I’m drawn most to. I do tend to pick characters that are fun and annoying at the same time! Emotionless badass- types don’t suit me at all, because well. I’m short as a hobbit…

  

To sum it up: I HAVE NO IDEA, as long as it’s something I like! 

MY FAVOURITE PART IN COSPLAYING

R: The best part is probably the making part and showing your costume in conventions. I’m really introverted person, but if the topic is something I’m really into (like cosplay or various TV-series) I can talk and talk and talk. So meeting other cosplayers is really exiting as long as we are on the same wavelength.

I’m really analytical when it comes to cosplay. I like to break things apart and study how everything is made. Sometimes I just like to look others costumes and wonder how they made it and if I’m not too anxious I’ll just come and ask. I also like to give comments and help other people with their costumes. If there is something more satisfying than analyze someone’s costume, it’s to give constructive criticism.

E: Some may think it’s weird, but I really like patterning. It’s something that comes somewhat easy to me nowadays. I like it because it’s so mathematical. When you know the fundamentals of patterning, you can basically do anything you desire. We make a really good pair with Rindalin because she HATES patterning with passion. So I basically get to do some her patterning as well which suits me fine. :3

I also love the way cosplay gives me an opportunity to experiment with new materials and shapes. I can always learn something new while cosplaying. I think that’s one of the reasons why I cosplay.

At the end of the day, when you make a time consuming costume, it’s always nice to show it to other people and be the character for that one day. 

HOW DO I CHOOSE MY CHARACTERS?

R: What I look first in choosing a character is the design and personality. Most of the characters I have cosplayed are more or less emotionless, powerful, distant, proud, arrogant or elegant. Or they have huge boobs. I have also crossplayed, but with my big boobs and feminine body shape it’s really difficult to do it.

I also like details. Be it print, accessories, jewelry, etc. it’s always nice to just sit and create something small and constructive with your hands.

It also depends on my mood... Is the con at summer or winter? Where is it, and how huge costume can I carry? Am I participating on some competition? Do I feel like working with dark or colorful fabrics? How much time I have? …I think a lot of stuff before finally deciding the character. 

Like most of the cosplayers (or so I think) have theses folders full of characters of who they are going to cosplay on some beautiful day in the future. I also have those and if I see some interesting character I instantly search it and save it for the later inspection.

E: Usually when I’m choosing my next project, I look at my last costume and decide to do exact opposite of it. Repeating the same is the simplest way for me to get bored with this hobby.

I don’t want to do something I can already make. There has to be some sort of challenge in every costume that I do. I always think of what kind of a challenge a certain kind of a design could give me. When I made the Witch from Moomin, I decided to make the costume from recycled materials just because I thought it would give me a nice challenge. I don’t want to make things easy for myself. Easy means boredom!

I think it’s important to think about the occasion as well. It’s bizarre to choose something insufferably hot for summer convention.  

WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT MY COSPLAY PARTNER?

R: Ennah…well, Ennah and I have known each other from junior high school through our mutual friend. Then we went to same school for three years and now we are living in the same household. I think that says something about how good friends we are. She’s kind of an airhead most of the times and in contrast I’m really neurotic.

She also likes to rage about things that are pissing her off for a long time and if she’s reading and you start to speak her…it might take a couple of minutes before she registers that someone spoke something to her. Thank you overlord above, that I am a patient person most of the times.

(And it’s my kitchen!!)

E: Rindalin has been my closest friend for seven long years! We started our amazing cosplay journey with the Alice in Wonderland-project and have been cosplaying together ever since. She definitely has one of the most innovative minds I know when it comes to cosplay. I think we complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses well together. I could never think of competing with someone else, even though she is a neurotic asshat who dictates our kitchen most of the time! I know how to cook rice, back off for fuck’s sake!!!

MY SRONGEST AND WEAKEST POINTS

R: My strongest points in cosplaying, are probably the craftsmanship and the ability to think and make things into a three dimensional shapes. I use my own thinking before I go and search tutorials, because I like to study and test new materials and techniques by myself.

The weakest points are probably my disinterest to make patterns and scheduling.I almost always make my costumes week or two before con. Not good.

E: I have an amazing talent to fuck everything up if I’m not motivated. But if I am motivated, I can pretty much do anything. Except props. I don’t like doing props. I’m not good at being in front of the camera either. Also my patience is non-existent.

I feel that one of my strongest points as a cosplayer is that I know how to pick good materials and color combinations. I feel that if you have picked out just the right textures and hues, it will make your costume so much better. I always think about my characters background before going to the fabric store. Where does she/he live? What does she/he do for living? etc. To me, it’s important to invest some money in materials. If you use materials that are cheap looking, the end result will probably be cheap as well. 

HOW DO I MOTIVATE MYSELF?

R: I need to remind myself constantly of the thing I’m working on. Be it with pictures, listening music from the series (etc.) where the character is from or simply putting some episodes or videos playing as a background noise. 

I’m also one of those people that can make the whole costume in the shortest time possible to a point that it’s not healthy anymore. I recall this one horrible project when I stayed awake for about 60 hours making costume and performing a skit in front of a couple thousand people.

E: I lose focus really easily and sometimes staying motivated the whole process is difficult for me. Motivating myself begins from the character choosing part. I’m always thinking of new ways to improve my craft and choosing a character that allows me to experiment new techniques usually keeps me motivated. I try to choose characters who I really like as well, that helps too.

WHY DO I COSPLAY?

R: As a kid I made almost half of my toys by myself (doctor Frankenstein style) and played dress up with every cloth and fabric or sheet I could find. I also had this part in myself that told me that I’m going to be a fashion designer. Now with almost eight years’ worth of seamstress and fashion designer schools I think the costumes are way more interesting. 

So, by cosplaying I can express myself and my skills more than in I could anywhere else. I’m not that amazing in performing or posing (I’m still learning) but  my craftsmanship is something I’m proud of.

E: Cosplay to me is a really great hobby. I get to make and learn a lot of different things, escape the reality for a while at the convention and then get back to my normal routine and start to make new projects. It’s a never ending circle! I really like the way I can see my own improvement in every costume I make.

I also feel like it’s really easy to make new friends while cosplaying. Socializing with people has never been easy to me (because I’m really shy), and somehow wearing a costume makes it all easier for me. 

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Some of you might already know that Rindalin is participating in NCC preliminaries at Yukicon! Today we got all the fabrics and other equipments for the costume, which means about 200 euros went flying all over Helsinki. Goddamn you HobbyPoint and Eurokangas. You are our kryptonite! Rindalin's feelings are all over the place, like that beautiful gif below. 

We'll post some WIP pictures of the costume soon! There's going to be epic amounts of PINK! Rindalin's going to screen print the shit out of those fabrics.

-R&E

MAKE IT WORK!!! 

MUUMIMAMMAN LÄMMIN SIPULIMAITO

Liirum laarum everyone, it's Ennah here!

So, I kinda might have participated in Hypecon's cosplay competition. This post is all about the Hypecon-Saturday and my all over the place emotions.

I was so unsure about participating to the competition, and actually chose to do so after the official participating time was over. Gladly, I was still accepted. Dalin was supposed to participate as well, but sadly she didn't finish her costume in time.

I had wanted to do a Witch-cosplay from Moomin for so long, and already had all the materials I needed. As I am a cosplayer that enjoys challenges, I set up myself a little different one this time; to do the cosplay as ecologically as I can. All the materials were either given to me, leftovers or bought from the flea markets. Apart from the three buttons in the jacket, the only bought materials were the yellow contact lenses. I will tell you more about the process itself in other post.

The witch - Moomin

I finished the costume at 2am, and woke up 6am, because of the text message. It was Dalin. She was, at least wrote so, dying, feeling sick and dizzy because of her costume. She had been awake for the whole night, trying to finish her costume in time. She said that it was going to take a hell of a miracle straight from her ass to finish the costume in time. I felt really sad for her, as she had worked really hard for the outfit.

I started to put my make up on, a bit scared, because make up isn't really my forte. But when I started to put it on, something happened. I found it much easier than usually, even the contacts went in easily.

Finally at 8am, Dalin gave up, wanting to spare her outfit from any hazard mistakes she could make. I was happy that she still wanted to come with me to Hypecon and calm my nerves. We agreed to meet up here at my place, and when she came, looking like a zombie that hadn't risen up from the grave in time, the frustration and tiredness were oozing from her.

I borrowed Dalin's prosthetic adhesive and glued my wigs hairline to it's place and then it was time to hurry to the train. Typically, it was raining, so I worried a lot over my skirts hem, because it was hardened with sugar. Water could have ruined the effect in the hem. I was happy to realize that the costume was still in one piece when we got to the Hyvinkäänsali. (I will make a tutorial about sugar starching later.)

Sneak peek of the sugar starching.

The place itself was full of people, and for someone who loves their personal space, it was little too cramped. Otherwise the convention was small and nice, and the staff was really warm and helpful. Some information about the competition didn't get quite through everyone, but I think that it was mainly because the competition was first one ever held in Hypecon.

Before I knew it, it was time go to the judging. Dalin went to listen a panel about how anime series are shown in cosplay and I was so scared, because usually she had always been there with me. Now I had to go all alone. ;-;

There was one contestant before me, and I had to wait there in the empty hallway, trying to calm myself down before the judging. I was really worried that my fake teeth wouldn't stay on when talking and would fall off. Plus with them on, I stuttered very similarly to my character.

The judging itself went really fine. I was really nervous to realize that the judges were people who's work I admire, but they were so nice that I soon forgot to be nervous and just started babbling everything about my cosplay.

After the judging, we had a little time before the competition itself started. We went to eat food in the nearby shopping mall, and then it was time to go behind the stage.

I started to talk to the other contestants so that I would forget my nervousness, and found many of them really nice. While I was talking, I realized one of my fake tooth started to fall off right before they were going to start the show. It was so horrible, and the other contestants must have watched me like I was crazy, shaking and holding the tooth in place, hoping that it would stay on.

When they said my name, it was time to go to the stage. Walking to the stage was so nerve wracking that I thought I could die. I was really happy to hear later on that my poses were good, because thinking back, I didn't have any idea what I did.

I was really happy to be one of the first ones to go on the stage, because I got to watch the other competitors that came after me. Last time at WCS, we were the last pair to perform, so I didn't get to see any of the performances. :(

Group picture of all the contestants

One of the reasons why I chose to compete, was because I wanted to get more comfortable on stage and gain more confidence. It wasn't to win, I didn't even think I could win. Still, being me, I really hoped that I'd get an honorary mention.

I was so dumbstruck when the last name they called was mine. I had won. What? Really?? ME??? I was so overwhelmed that I started to cry while walking back to the stage. Even though it was a little competition, it was my first costume competition and to win that means the world to me.

On the left; the top three and on the right; the honorary mentions.

After I got off from the stage, many of the other contestants came to hug me. I was still in such a huge shock, but there's one thing I remember that still warms my heart. Snow, who got the second place, said that I bring back his childhood memories. To me, that's the best complement a person can have, cosplaying a character like this. So, thank you so much!!!!

Later, we went to take some crappy photos with Dalin's phone. We forgot to take a good camera with us, but for now, these will do...

 

Overall, for me, Hypecon was amazing convention filled with different kind of emotions. I can't thank the judges, contestants, staff and audience enough. I'm still so ridiculously happy about this that I can't even...!!!! ;;--;;; <3

-E


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.......HI GUYS, Dalin here !! I came to hijack this really emotional post to announce that we have a

FACEBOOK PAGE

Follow us if you want to live !! That's all, see ya' soon ;DD

RIISIKAKKU

Hello everyone!!

So Desucon was held in the beginning of June. Even though we didn't have any major cosplayplans, we had to, yet again, stay up for the whole Friday-Saturday night working our asses off. We feel like this has become a thing for us lately, not in a good way. Time management is definitely something we have to work on in the future, because there's only that much stress human being can handle. Dalin also realized this while making her Hypecon costume (which she never finished in time). :((

Ennah didn't actually do anything new for this convention, mainly because in these last couple of weeks, She had really though time with school application thingies and stuff. So, she did some repairing on Chacha's costume and wore that and Koban on Desucon.

Chacha from Sengoku Arashi - Nobunaga no shou
Photo - Kyuu Eturautti

Dalin however, had to make two costumes. One for herself, and one for her little brother "T". T is crazy for Kuroko no Basket, and it's really great that he came with us, because the last time he was in any convention was about two years ago. He wanted to cosplay Kuroko when he first started watching the series in 2012, but because Dalin was out of country and going allover Europe, she didn't have time to make it.

I think one of the things people should consider while choosing fabrics for a cosplay that's from sportseries, is to really look what kind of materials are used in real life sportswear. We did some research in local sport shops and got pretty good idea of what should be used for Kuroko. Eurokangas doesn't have a good selection in sportfabrics, but we found great fabrics from Kangastukku. We recommend it to everyone, it has such a nice variation of fabrics and the prices are a bit cheaper than in Eurokangas. And you can get a student discount there too!!!

The costume itself was easy to make, but few mistakes did happen this time. When making the simple cosplays, it seems that mistakes do occur more often than not. This time it was with the jersey. We did the letters too big, and they didn't fit.

The letters were hand cut from fabric that had buckram fabric ironed to it. After that, we used the double sided buckram fabric on the letters and ironed it so they would stick together. It took really long time to cut all the pieces, as we needed to have 5 layers of different fabrics and buckrams to get one letter.

Otherwise the costume did come along fairly quick. It was nice to see T's enthusiastic face when he tried on the costume.

Ennah managed to get a pose picture of T. 

We found an amazing 2 meter tall Murasakibara cosplayer and just had to ask him if he would pose with our Kuroko.

Dalin made herself Akane Owari cosplay from Super Danganronpa 2 game. It was probably one of her easiest and simplest cosplay ever. Almost all the materials were from Ennah and the shirt was recycled from her vocational school thesis work.

The wig was the most infuriating part in this cosplay to do. Originally the wig was long and straight so getting it to stay up was pain in the ASS.

The pin Akane had in the corner of her breast pocket was made from fimo clay and painted with acrylics.

Photo - Kyuu Eturautti

Akane and her light lunch.

So overall this year Desucon went quite good... If you don't count the last minute panic and the point that there were four people living and making costumes in Dalins 34m² appartment.

We'll probably do the Hypecon-post in the following days! It was one of the most emotional conventions we've been in this year. At least for Ennah! ;-; <3

-D&E

HATTARA - Cosvision

YO !!

We've been struggling lately with this one issue. After we wrote the serigraphy-posts in finnish, it made us think more about the language we are using. English is great, because we can learn more when writing, but can we express ourselves as we should while writing in something that isn't our mother language? We are wondering that maybe it would be better to write in finnish. Tell us your opinion on the subject and help us decide!! ;;-;;

To the subject itself.

Cosvision was held last weekend at Turku, and of course we attended. We told you before about our Hôzuki no Reitetsu -cosplay plans, and we wore the costumes there for the first time.

The week before Cosvision was to say at least, hectic. So much to do, so little time. We started our projects already in Easter, but Dalin's outfit was completed by Saturday night. We sewed the outfit together by hand while watching Eurovision Song Contest and cheering for Austria. Because we managed to get the costumes ready so late, our group cosplay was held in Sunday.

Let's start from Thursday because it's the same thing as Friday. We were so much in trouble by then, there were too many things to do for a healthy person who want's their beauty sleeps. Because of that, the Thursday-Friday night was sleepless for both of us. We kept ourselves awake with the sound of sewing machines and idiotic anime songs. Sorry neighbors...

In the morning, we were sailing through tired moods of depression and hysterics. We were still so behind our schedule, and it seemed then that the costumes wouldn't be done in time.

The bus from Lahti to Turku left after three in the afternoon. We were dead tired while walking with our heave luggage for three kilometers to the station. After spending 30 hours awake, we just wanted to fall to the ground in x-shape and turn off the lights.

We slept through half of our bus journey to Turku. We actually met our hotel roommate, the lovely Elina, in the same bus. We had never met her or our other roommate Ilona before, and we were so worried how sharing the same space with them would go. Luckily for us, we got friendly really quick as they were such an awesome people! Thanks guys!!

On the Saturday morning we woke up with fresh eyes, while listening Dalin's alarm clock tune, Erasure's Always. We were almost ready to go to the convention, when the fire alarm started ringing in our hotel. We hurried outside, Ennah and Elina half ready in their cosplays. We stood there with this group of guys that were having the hangover of their life and waited a bit scared for what was going on. Finally one of the firefighters informed that there was a little spark in the basement, and that it was safe to go back inside. We packed our stuff properly and headed towards Logomo.

Logomo as a convention place was really nice and spacey. The whole area was full of wonderful photoshoot places and we bet every one founded a fitting place to go with their cosplays. Ennah was having a time of her life with cosplaying as Koban, even thought she didn't see anything really.

We went to see the cosplay shows and especially the guest of honor competition was awesome to see! All of the costumes and performances were great and lit a new fire of inspiration and motivation to our tired souls. Congratulations to all winners and participants!!

In the afternoon we went to photoshoot with our two new friends which we met. Our sweet and wonderful Hôzuki cosplayer, Ane-ue, was really fun and we had a great time while shooting and filming.

...some annoying journalist is disturbing Hôzuki's precious work time
Photo - Marika Taam 

On Sunday Dalin got her Okô cosplay finally ready. We went to see the lecture "Mikä mulle oikein tuli?" (What in the world came over me?) and Dalin got really good material for her university thesis. While listening audiences comments and sharing also some of our own experiences, it was kinda strange to notice how many cosplayers have to struggle with telling their hobby to their parents. Both of our parents have always been really supportive and have accepted all of our weirdest and most bizarre things we had to do to get the costume ready, as long as it is legal. It would be wonderful if there were more these 'deeper' lectures like this held by some outsider professional.

We also meet some familiar faces from last years WCS preliminaries. While remembering all of those painful memories from that experience we started to stress a little bit about this years Tracon, because there's sooo much work to do!! But before that, there's Desucon and Animecon where we are gonna be next. To Desucon we were planning on making new cosplays, but for Animecon we are probably recycling some old ones. Just because Tracon is coming closer really fast and we need to focus on that project!!!

So, overall these two Cosplay Spartans want to say huge thank you for all of you amazing and sweet people whom with we spent time last weekend !!! We had suuuppeeerrr~ (install Franky voice) fun and in the middle of all this stress it was really wonderful to get to meet your own kind of people.

Koban ja Okô
Kuva - Elina Nokelainen

Kuva - Elina Nokelainen

Kuva - Elina Nokelainen

Silkkipaino 2/3

Tässä osassa silkkipaino-tutoa käsitellään seulan valmistuksen työvaiheita. Tärkeää olisi lukea ohjeet muutamaan otteeseen tarkkaan ennen kuin rupeaa itse kokeilemaan, sillä joissakin kohtaa työvaiheita on syytä olla ripeä. Olkaa tarkkaavaisia, ja jos jotakin kohtaa olen selittänyt mielestänne huonosti tai tarvitsette lisätietoa, niin alle kommenttia vaan!

Valotusemulsion levityksessä käytetyt kuvat ovat Dalinin piirtämiä, sillä pimeässä tilassa on hankala ottaa kuvia. Nauttikaa niistä!

1. Kuvion teko

Ensimmäiseksi voitaisiin perehtyä kuvion tuottamiseen eri tavoilla. Olen itse tehnyt sekä kartongista leikkaamalla, mustetulosteen kuin pigmenttitussin kanssa kuvia ja kaikissa on tietyt hyvät ja huonot puolensa. Tärkeintä tässä vaiheessa olisi saada kuvio tehtyä siten, että painettavaksi haluttava kuvio olisi valon alle nostaessa valoaläpäisemätön.

Kartonki on siitä hyvä, että se peittää mainiosti ne kohdat seulalla, jotka halutaan jättää auki. Kartongista leikkaamalla on kuitenkin vaikea saada yksityiskohtaisia kuvia. Yksinkertaisten kuvioiden tekemisessä kartongin käyttäminen vie selvästi vähemmän aikaa kuin piirtäminen. Kartongin kappaleet voi myöhemmin liimata vaikka kalvon päälle.

Mustetuloste on siinä mielessä hyvä, että koneella saa piirrettyä kuvan helposti täysin symmetrisesti. Tällöin kannattaa vahvistaa mustetta tussaamalla vielä siihen päälle että kuva on varmasti peittävä. Joskus kuitenkin mustetulosteella valottaessa käy niin, ettei kuva meinaa kunnolla aueta valotuksen jälkeen. Näin käy usein todella pienten yksityiskohtien kanssa. Tätä voi kuitenkin myöhemmin avittaa valotuksen jälkeen mäntysuovan kanssa hempeästi hankaamalla.

Omasta mielestäni paras keino yksityiskohtaisten kuvien tekoon on tehdä se käsin läpinäkyvälle kalvolle. Itse teen yleensä ensimmäisen kunnon luonnoksen paperille, jonka päälle teippaan kalvon. Sitten tussaan pigmenttitussilla auki jäävän kuvan kummallekin puolelle kalvoa. Kuvan valon läpäisemättömyyden voi tarkistaa nostamalla kalvon ikkunaa vasten (päivällä...). Näin on helppo nähdä, jääkö kuvaan haaleampia aukkoja. Jos sattuu valopöydän omaamaan, niin ehdottomasti kannattaa sitä vasten kuva tussata.

2. Seulan pesu

Kun kuvio on valmis painettavaksi, on aika valmistella seula. Ensimmäiseksi seula on puhdistettava. Tähän soveltuu hyvin mäntysuopa (ja miksei fairykin). Pääasia on, että aine, jolla puhdistat, on rasvaa poistava. Emo-tuotanto myy myös erikseen rasvanpoistoon tarkoitettua ainetta, mutta mäntysuopa ajaa saman asian ja on muistaakseni halvempaakin. Mäntysuopaa levitetään molemmille puolille seulaa esim. puhdistussienellä. Tärkeää olisi, että ei käytetä mitään karheaa seulakangasta vasten. Tällä estät kankaan kuitujen hajoamisen, jolloin seula kestää pidempään. Tiskiharja on siis suuri ei! Nyt kun on mohlät levitetty ja seula vaahtoutunut, huuhdellaan seula puhtaaksi ja laitetaan kuivumaan. Seulakankaaseen ei saa käsin enää koskea, ettei rasva ja lika leviä puhdistettuun seulaan.

On tärkeää odottaa, että seula on täysin kuiva. Seuraava vaihe muutenkin tarvitsee valmistelua ja sitä ennen on hyvä keksiä seulalle ns. "pimiö". Vessa käy mainiosti tähän hommaan. Tärkeää olisi, että seuraavan vaiheen jälkeen seula saa kuivua rauhassa muutaman tunnin ilman valolle altistumista.

3. Valotusemulsion levitys

Kun seula on kuivunut, tarvitset seuraavia välineitä; valotusemulsio, seula, lusikka ja kalvostuskouru (tai raakkeli). Valotusemulsion levitys on tehtävä pimeässä, sillä valottamaton emulsio ei saa olla valon kanssa tekemisissä. Suosittelen myös lämpimästi joko levittämään suojapaperia lattioille tai tekemään tämän vessassa, sillä pimeässä siisteinkin tyyppi sotkee. Tätä hommaa tehdessä kannattaa myös laittaa huonot vaatteet päälle, sillä kuivunut emulsio ei oikein meinaa vaatteista irrota edes pesussa.

Hienot grafiikat on hienoja!!! ;DD

Ihan täysin pimeässä ei tarvitse töitä tehdä, itse esimerkiksi tykkään laittaa suihkutilan kauimmaiseen seinään taskulampun päälle siten, että valon päällä on ohut kangas. Hieman valoa pääsee läpi, mutta ei niin paljoa että tarvitsisi pelätä emulsion valottumista. Myös esimerkiksi oven jättäminen pienelle raolle on ok juuri sen verran, että itse hämärässä hieman näkee missä on mikäkin purnukka.

Nyt olisi hyvä, jos saisit jonkun toisen ihmisen pitämään seulaa kun itse levität emulsiota, asiat helpottuvat näin kovasti. Ensin valotusemulsiota laitetaan tuhdisti kalvostuskouruun. Ylimääräiset voi aina laittaa takaisin emulsiopurkkiin odottamaan seuraavaa kertaa.

Seulaa pidetään levitysvaiheessa siten, että se on ylhäältä hieman itseesi/levittäjään päin kallellaan. Kouru asetetaan alhaalle, valotusemulsion annetaan valua kourun keskeltä seulan pintaan. Tämän jälkeen kourua vedetään seulaa pitkin suoralla vedolla ylös asti. Kun sinulla on joku auttamassa tässä vaiheessa, voit käyttää kumpaakin kättä jolloin lopputuksesta tulee tasaisempi. Emulsiota ei saisi tulla paksua pintaa, sillä sen valotus on hankalaa. Tämä estetään sillä, että painetaan kourua todella napakasti seulaa vasten kun emulsiota levitetään. Mikäli huomaat, että seulaan jäi reikä, voit toistaa toimenpiteen. Tärkeää olisi, että seula saataisiin tehtyä yhdellä, tai muutamalla vedolla ilman pysähdyksiä keskellä, sillä tästä saattaa tulla ei-haluttuja epätasaisuuksia.

Kalvostuskourulla tehtäessä on emulsiota levitettävä kummallekin puolelle kangasta. Jos levität emulsiota raakelilla, voi olla, että yksi puoli riittää mainiosti. Raakelilla levittäessä seulan pintaan tulee väkisinkin hieman paksumpi kerros. Emulsiota on tärkeää levittää ainakin ns. "nurjalle" puolelle, eli sille puolelle, mikä tulee kangasta vasten.

Suosittelen ensimmäisellä kerralla raakelillakin tehdessä laittamaan emulsiota kuitenkin kummallekin puolelle seulaa. Sitten oman harkinnan jälkeen voi sisemmän puolen jättää pois.

Mikäli huomaat seulan kuivuttua, että siinä on reikä, siihen voi vielä laittaa uuden ohuen kerroksen ja antaa kuivua. Jos kuviosi on pieni ja mahtuu hyvin seulalle reiästä huolimatta,  voi pienen reiän teipata kiinni esim. maalarinteipillä tai levittämällä emulsiota pensselillä reiän päälle. Suosittelen reiän peittämistä emulsiolla siinä vaiheessa, jos kuviota tulee pukuusi useamman kerran. Teippi voi nimittäin ruveta irtoilemaan muutaman painokerran jälkeen.

Emulsion levityksen jälkeen seula kuivataan aina vaakatasossa kangaspuoli ylöspäin, ettei seulanpintaan synny valumajälkiä. Muista pitää valot kiinni kuivumisenkin ajan!

....yksinäinen seula.

Mikäli siirrät seulan "pimiöön" kuivumaan, kannattaa pistää reitin varrelta valot pois. Seula ei sekunnissa valotu, mutta kiirettä on pidettävä! Seulan täytyy antaa kuivua kunnolla, valottaa et voi märälle seulalle. Lopuksi kouruun jääneet emulsiot voi siirtää takaisin purkkiin.

4. Valotus

Seuraavassa vaiheessa seula altistetaan UV-säteilylle siten, että kuvio on asetettu seulan päälle. Kun valotuksen jälkeen peset seulan, kuvion alla ollut emulsio lähtee irti.

Tässä vaiheessa tarvitset seulan (joka vielä on pimiössäsi), kuvion ja valotusmenetelmän. Kuvio asetetaan seulan nurjalle puolelle, eli sille, joka tulee kangasta vasten. Kuvio asetetaan siten, että se on seulan nurjalla puolella väärä puoli ylöspäin. Kun valmiiseen seulaan levitetään kangasmaalia sisemmälle puolelle, on kuvio tällöin oikein päin. Kuvion voi laittaa kiinni esimerkiksi läpinäkyvällä teipillä, mutta jos sattuu omistamaan kirkkaan lasilevyn, joka on vähintään seulan kokoinen voi sen laittaa kuvion päälle pitämään kuvion tasaisena. Pääasia on, että kuvio pysyy valotuksen ajan paikallaan.

Mikäli haluamastasi printistä tulee jatkuva, on ensiarvoisen tärkeää, että asettelet kuvion seulalle symmetrisesti reunoihin nähden. Näin sinun on helpompi laskea kuvion etäisyyksiä sitten kankaalle printattaessa.

Nyt kun kuvio on paikallaan on aika valottaa seula. Tässä on kolme eri käytäntöä, joista yritän kaikista selittää mahdollisimman paljon tietämykseni mukaan. Vasta valotuksessa seula saa altistua valolle!

Valotuslampulla valottaminen

Valotuslampulla olen itse valottanut serigrafia-töitä eniten. Mikäli tällaista printtausta alkaa harrastamaan enemmänkin, suosittelen tämän hankkimista. Seula asetetaan telineen keskelle noin 20cm päähän valosta. Tämän jälkeen räppästään valokatkaisijasta lamppu päälle ja otetaan aikaa. Valotusaika lampulla on 8 minuuttia.

Valotuslaitteella valottaminen

Valotuslaitteesta minulla ei ole kuvaa, mutta se on suuri, muutaman metrin leveä laite, jonka sisään seula laitetaan. Tällaista laitetta käyttäessä tutkikaa ohjeita, sillä en itse niitä ulkoa muista. Valotuslaitteen valotusaika on lyhyempi kuin lampulla tehtäessä, noin 4 minuuttia.

Auringonvalolla  valottaminen

Auringolla valottaminen on alussa usein hieman arpapeliä, kun valotusaika riippuu täysin sääolosuhteista. Täysin porottavan auringon alla seula voi valottua kymmenessä minuutissa, kun taas auringon laskiessa puolivarjossa valotuksessa saattaa mennä yli tuntikin. Auringonvalolla valottamisessa olisi tärkeää omistaa painepesuri, jos seula sattuu ylivalottumaan.

Olemme itse valottaneet auringolla seulan kolmesti. Ensimmäisen valotimme ilta-auringossa siten, että aurinko ei paistanut suoraan seulaan. Seula oli ulkona kesällä puolentoista tunnin ajan, ja kuvio lähti pesussa vaivattomasti auki.

Toisen kerran kohdalla ylivalotimme seulan, kun pidimme sitä liian kauan suorassa auringonvalossa. Tällöin valotusaika oli 30 min. Kuvio lähti auki pienen vaivannäön jälkeen, mutta printtauksen jälkeen täysin puhtaaksi seula lähti vain painepesurin avulla.

Viimeisemmällä kerralla puolitimme valotusajan, ja pidimme seulaa auringonvalossa alle 15 minuuttia. Tällä kertaa seula myös lähti näppärästi auki.

5. Kuvion aukipeseminen

Nyt kun kuvio on valottunut, täytyy seula saada veden alle nopeasti. Kalvot otetaan irti ja sen jälkeen vedellä suihkutetaan seulaa kummaltakin puolelta. Kuva alkaa lohkeilemaan niiltä kohdin, missä kuvio on ollut. Suihkuttaa saa ihan täydellä voimalla, mutta painepesuri on tähän hommaan liian voimakas. Itse olen saanut kaikki seulat  auki viimeistään pidesuihkun avulla. Avittaa voi myös pesusienen kanssa. Tässä kohtaa kannattaa olla kärsivällinen, sillä seulan aukeamisessa voi vierähtää tovi. Itse olen erästä vähän ylivalottunutta seulaa pessyt tunnin auki. Normaalistivalottunut seula pitäisi aueta noin kymmenessä minuutissa.

Valottamatta jääneet kohdat tulevat ensin esiin haaleampina

Joskus etenkin pieniä yksityiskohtia on vaikea saada auki, tällöin kannattaa ottaa pesusieneen hitunen mäntysuopaa ja hinkata sitä yksityiskohtiin. Jos tämäkään ei tepsi, voi valotusemulsion poistoainetta pistää ihan pienen tipan pesusienelle ja hyvin varovasti hieroa kiinni jäänneisiin kohtiin. Tässä kohtaa pitää olla hyvin kärsivällinen, sillä äkkiä hankaa liian kovaa ja vahingossa seulasta lähtee emulsiota enemmän kuin piti. 

Auringonvalolla valottamisessa näkee kuvion aukipesemisvaiheessa sen, jos seula ollut liian vähän tai liian kauan valossa. Mikäli seula on alivalottunut, emulsio lähtee myös muualta kuin kuviosta ympäri seulaa. Ylivalottunutta seulaa on vaikea saada auki myös kuvio-kohdista. Kannattaa aina pitää muistiinpanoja ylhäällä siitä, millainen sää oli kun valotit ja kuinka kauan altistit sitä säteilylle ulkona. Näin muutaman kerran jälkeen sinulle tulee parempi käsitys sääolosuhteista. 

Nyt kun emulsio on lähtenyt kuvion mukaisesti, annetaan seulan kuivua ennen printtaamisen aloittamista. Selitän seuraavassa, eli viimeisessä osassa, miten seulalla printataan ja mitä olisi tässä tekniikassa hyvä tietää erilaisista kangasmaaleista. Lisäksi käsittelen myös seulan puhtaaksi pesemistä emulsiosta.

-E(&D)

Silkkipaino osa 1/3

No niin, ensimmäinen postaus sitten tällä kotoisalla suomenkielellä. Syy tähän on yksinkertaisesti se, että tämän kerran aiheen termit on niin suurta kysymysmerkkiä englanniksi, että hyvä kun ymmärsin itsekään mitä kirjoitin kun tätä siten yritin sepittää.

Eli se kauan odotettu(?) serigrafia (valotustekniikalla) postaus olisi nyt luvassa. Lupaan selittää pitkään ja hartaasti, tämän aiheen kartoittamiseen kun ei menekään ihan pientä hetkeä. Aihe onkin jaettu kolmeen eri postaukseen, ensimmäisenä kerron mitä tekniikalla oikein tarkoitetaan ja mitä kaikkea pitää ottaa huomioon välineitä ostaessa.

Mikäli kysyttävää jäi tai joku kohta muuten vaan oli epäselvästi, niin ehdottomasti kommenttia alhaalle, vastaan mikäli osaan. Joillekin on varmasti joitakin kohtia saatettu opettaa eritavalla, mutta itse olen todennut nämä hyviksi ja toimiviksi. Kannattaa ottaa huomioon kuitenkin eri merkkien ja laitteiden toimintaerot, joita tässä jonkun verran pyrin avartamaan myös. Pakkauoshjeita on syytä tämän tuton lisäksi tutkia huolella.

Mitä tämä ihmeen serigrafia sitten on ja mihin sitä käytetään? Serigrafia, muita nimiä mm. silkkipaino ja seripaino, on painomenetelmä, jolla kehykseen pingoitetun seulakankaan läpi väri painetaan painopinnalle. Tekniikkaa voi käyttää muun muassa kankaalle, kuten tässä esimerkissä nyt teemme. Taidegraafikot käyttävät tätä tekniikkaa lisäksi esimerkiksi paperiin, puuhun, metalliin, jne jne, melkein kaikkeen vaan mihin maali voi tarttua.

Moni varmaan pohtii miksi ihmeessä tätä nyt rupeaisi tekemään kun tavallisella sapluunatupsuttelullakin selviää. Seripaino on siitä erinomainen, että painojälki (muutaman ensimmäisen harjoittelukerran jälkeen) on tasaista ja harvemmin leviää, kuten sapluunatekniikka tuppaa tekemään. Kun sinulla on seula valmiina, printtaukseen ei mene kauaa. Lisäksi tekniikkaa on törkeän kiva käyttää ja saa huomattavasti yksityiskohtaisempia kuvia (esimerkiksi rasterikuvat onnistuu)!

Tarvikkeet ja mitä niillä tehdään

1. Seula

2. Raakeli 

3. Valotusemulsio

4. Kalvostuskouru

5. UV-lamppu

6. Kuvio
7. Valotusemulsion poistoaine

Seula

Eri kokoisia seuloja viime WCS-projektista.

Seula on kehykseen pingoitettu painokehä, jonka läpi maali painetaan. Sitä ostettaessa on muutama juttu hyvä muistaa. Koko kannattaa valita painettavan kuvion mukaan siten, että kun kuvio on asetettu seulalle, ympäriinsä sitä jää vielä kauttaaltaan ainakin sentin vara. Tämä helpottaa etenkin silloin kun raakelin vetosuuntaa vaihtaa ja maalin saa hyvin kerättyä seulan reunoilta.

Seulan tiheys valitaan kuvion yksityiskohtaisuuden ja maalin mukaan. Itse olemme todenneet perushyväksi tiheydeksi 42s/cm kankaaseen painettaessa. Sillä saa hyvin yksityiskohtaisia kuvia, mutta se kuitenkin läpäisee helmiäis- ja peittovärit, eli sellaiset metallinhohtoiset ja tummalle kankaalle sopivat värit.

 Halvimmalla tietenkin pääsee, jos seulan tekee itse. Se on helppo valmistaa ostamalla esimerkiksi taulupohjan, irroittamalla kankaan siitä ja käyttämällä sen kehikkoa. Eurokankaasta pitäisi saada silkkipainoon soveltuvaa valoverho-polyesterikangasta, joka pingotetaan sitten kehikkoon niittipyssyllä. Kannattaa muistaa pingoituksessa se, että ilman oikeita pingotukseen soveltuvia työvälineitä on vaikea saada seulakangasta niin tiukaksi, että painojälki pysyy hyvänä. Valoverhokangas on hitusen luirumpaa kuin ostetun seulan kangas ja tekeekin näin pingotuksesta hieman vaikeampaa. Kun kangas on kiinnitetty kehikkoon, muista suojata seulakangas ilmastointiteipillä parin sentin levyisenä ympäri kehikon siten, että se taittuu kehikkoon saakka. Tämä estää maalin valumisen niittien välistä painettaessa. Ostetussa seulassa kehikon ympäri menee sininen silikonireuna, joka ajaa saman asian. Ajan myötä silikoni saattaa kuitenkin lähteä halkeilemaan ja sillon kannattaa ostettuunkin seulaan laittaa teipit reunoille.

Raakeli

Meidän kaunis, likainen ja paljon käytetty raakeli.

Raakeli on lasta, jolla vedetään maali seulan läpi kankaalle. Raakeli on tehty puusta tai metallista, ja sen teräpää on joko kumista tai silikonista valmistettu. Halvempi, joskaan ei yhtä hyvä, vaihtoehto on käyttää tavallista ikkunalastaa. Isoja kuvia tehdessä ikkunalasta on huono, sillä siinä ei saa painettaessa jaettua voimaa reunoille asti, joka johtaa siihen, että kuvion reunat voivat tulla epätasaisina. Eli suosittelen investoimaan ihan oikeaan raakeliin mikäli painettava kuvio on kauheasti kämmentä isompi. Sen koko tietenkin määriytyy seulan ja painettavan kuvion mukaan. Raakelin pitää olla niin pieni, että se mahtuu seulassa hyvin kulkemaan, mutta niin iso, että saat seulaan valotetun kuvion painettua kerralla.

Valotusemulsio

Ei viitsitty ottaa itse pulloa paketista pois sen valoherkkyysominaisuuksien vuoksi.

Valotusemulsio onkin tässä tekniikassa tärkeä juttu, ilman sitä ei tätä voi tehdä. Koostumukseltaan emulsio on hyvinkin erikeepperimäistä, ja vaikka emulsion värillä ei ole mitään väliä, sitä löytyy markkinoilta ainakin punaisena, sinisenä ja vihreänä. Valotusemulsio levitetään seulalle, ja kuivuttuaan sen päälle asetetaan valoaläpäisemätön kuvio. Sen jälkeen seula altistetaan uv-säteilylle, jolloin emulsio valottuu.

Kalvostuskouru

Kalvostuskourua tarvitset valotusemulsion levittämisessä seulalle. Olemme Dalinin kanssa käyttäneet pihiydessämme raakelia emulsion levityksessä, ja todenneet, että homma on aivan älyttömän sotkuista ilman kourua. Mutta toki ilman kouruakin onnistuu, emulsiota vaan saattaa hieman sottaisimmilla otuksilla ( kuten meillä) mennä hukkaan.

Valotuslamppu tai -laite

120 euron valotuslamppu... persaukiset cossaajat.

UV-lamppu kannattaa hankkia siinä vaiheessa, jos oikeasti meinaa tehdä tätä hommaa paljonkin. Lamput nimittäin maksavat sievoisia summia. Myös auringossa valotus onnistuu näppärästi, jos vaan hieman jaksaa kikkailla ja testailla. Lisäksi aurinkovaloituksessa ehdottoman tärkeää olisi omistaa painepesuri mikäli emulsio päättää jymähtää totaalisesti seulaan kiinni. Kerron näistä lisää toisessa postauksessa kun käyn työvaiheita läpi.

Kuvio

Kalvotekniikalla tehtyjä kuvioita.

Kuviolla tarkoitetaan sitä kuvaa, jonka haluat seulalla tehdä. Tärkeintä on muistaa, että ne kohdat, jotka printissäsi haluat painattaa on oltava valoa läpäisemättömiä kuviossasi. Kuvion voi tehdä esim mustasta kartongista leikkaamalla, se voi olla tavalliselle riisipaperille tulostettu mustesuihkutuloste, tai sen voi itse piirtää läpinäkyvälle kalvopaperille esimerkiksi pigmenttitusseilla.

Valotusemulsion poistoaine

Lopuksi printtauksen jälkeen tarvitset valotusemulsion poistoainetta saadaksesi seulan puhtaaksi. Kahta erilaista valotusemulsion poistoainetta löytyy sekä Emo-tuotannolta että Seriväriltä. Itse olemme todenneet Serivärin vihreän hyytelömäisen poistoaineen mukavammaksi, sillä siinä näkee missä ainetta on. Emo-tuotannon poistoaine on nestemäistä ja läpinäkyvää. Kummatkin näistä toimivat kuitenkin yhtä hyvin.

Tässä nämä tärkeimmät tarvikkeet. Lisäksi tietenkin tarvitset perustarvikkeita kuten mäntysuopaa rasvanpoistoon, kangasmaalia printtaamiseen ja suihkua seulan puhdistusta varten. Kerron lisää näistä työvaiheissa, joita käsittellään seuraavaksi.

Hyödyllisiä sivustoja silkkipainovälineiden hankkimiseen;
Seriväri Oy
EMO-Tuotanto Oy
Hobby Point Oy

-E

PARSAKAALI

THIS IS SPARTA!!!

We are bursting with enthusiasm because of our  next summers great plans! So much to do, so little time, but with our dear motto in mind, as written above, we are going to make it! Sometimes making a cosplay is like going to a war with all these intense preparations and practicing new techniques to kill the enemy (to get your shit done)!

 Because we live in different cities, we use this awesome invention called Dropbox to exchange our war plans (cosplay ideas) back and forth. At this moment, there's almost 80 different costumes we have in mind to do.  Well, at least the characters won't run out. The difficulty is to choose one though...

Usually while choosing the characters, we try to look ones from the same series. It's no fun to cosplay alone (at least in our opinion)! Another thing we like to think is what challenge will this and that cosplay bring. Can we learn something new? Do we have time to do this and that as well as it should be done? The personality, the look of the character and our own body structure is always on our mind when choosing a new cosplay project.

We are interested to know more about your character selections; Are we the only ones with these huge folders of different characters to cosplay? How do you choose your next cosplay?

---

For upcoming Cosvision we are planning to make Hôzuki no Reitetsu cosplays. Dalin will make Okô and Ennah will make Koban.

Koban

Okô

We have already collected all the materials and the next phase is to start the project. Dalin will have to dye her main fabric from white to this kind of lilac gradient from light to darker color. The yellow-green lines are going to be made with patchwork technique. As for the snakes, she's not that sure yet how they will turn out. We bought puff paint for textiles fro HobbyPoint. That is going to be used for the snakes scales to get the more 3D effect to make them look more natural. As for the wig, it's already dumped in the fabric softener to get the shininess away.

Ennah has already started the pants for Koban. She started making the patterns and has already cut the fabric. Ennah is also going to use the silk screen printing technique for the octopus print. The tutorial for that will be posted later (only in finnish though >:). The biggest part is going to be the head and luckily Dalin has made one before, so she will help as well. The collar is going to be a separate part from the top. Also, if we can find one, we will make the disposable camera as well, so Ennah can take some pictures as Koban. Our Cosvision blogpost will be from Kobans point of view, as he is a reporter.

We'll be seeing you at Cosvision! Come say hello, till then...

Ps. You have no idea how many times we have yelled this while in cosplay crisis! ;D

D&E

FROSTI TIME

So, Desucon Frostbite 2014...

We saw some amazing and fabulous cosplays, it’s always really inspiring to visit these conventions and speak with people on how they made their costumes and props! Especially the cosplay competitions are always so amazing to see. Congratulations to all cosplayers who participated to NCC and HallCosplay!

Overall, the convention was so great, it wasn't overly crowed like usually and we found the new changes, like the age limit, great. The level of cosplay was a bit higher than usual, but that is to be expected for a cosplayers who have had more years to polish their skills.

We also told you that there was supposed to be three of us dressing up as these hybrid creatures. Only Dalin made it somehow. Ennah managed to get half of the materials for the goat/lamb costume and our friend S didn’t have time to finish her dragon costume on time. We are trying again for summer Desucon. We are still bit unsure which cosplays we are going to make for Desu. We were thinking about making something from Hozuki no Reitetsu or Moomins. Dalins little brother wants a Kuroko Tetsuya cosplay from Kuroko no Basket.

We met a cool Team Flare cosplayer at Frosti and discussed about the chances to have a Pokemon X and Y groupcosplay for Desucon. Everything is still open, but at least Ennah is pretty hyped about that. 

Many of you are probably interested in Dalins wolf costume;  She had to make some quick compromises regarding the corset, gloves and rest and the accessories. Corset was supposed to be completely different and made out of black leather with straps. Gloves were sewn on Friday evening with Ennahs and S’s help and tail was strapped and sewn on Saturday morning. There were also supposed to be more accessories on the wrists. She ran out of time, but it came out quite good.

Sadly the Saturday didn't go painfree, as Dalin was sick inside the wolf costume, sweating her brains out because of the fever. It seems that the overly used motto "Cosplay without pain is pretending" is almost always true.

The whole costume is in parts to make the dressing up more convenient. There’s head, gloves, shoes, shirt, corset and pants.  The head is fairly easy to take off and put on. There’s a strap holding it steady and tight at the back of the head. You can see out of the inner corners of the resin eyes and partially from the mouth when it’s open. The shirt is just a pullover and the pants stay up properly with suspenders and elastic band on the waist. The corset hides the seam of upper and lower part of the costume and brings more shape to the costumes silhouette. The tail is strapped around the waist with belt and some strings. It’s also partially sewn to the pants.

Kyuu Eturautti / Creative Commons Zero

It was really hilarious trying to fit Dalin in to a car with the costume on… She was half sitting half lying in the backseat and barking directions for  the driver.

Dalin made some really weird acquaintances while wearing that costume. Even though the costume wasn’t a stereotypical furry costume and more like realistic looking creature, surprisingly many people wearing furry costume came up to her with such familiarity and kindness that it was kind of weird. Not to offend any of these people, but Dalin is too dedicated to regular cosplay and isn’t going to join to furry-clan, even though the furry camps sounds fun. They put up a “wanted poster” for her on the wall. (Or so we think, considering the situation where we were.) Unfortunately Dalin’s emotional level for another human beings is somewhere below worms, so flirting with her is a final boss battle level stuff.

Dalin also made it to a cosplay music video and she’s really hyped about that. You can check that here;

Now when Dalin is partially done with the wolf costume, it’s time to think about our next bigger and more important project. You dear followers probably want to know what it is, but we are going to keep it in secret until the time is right. The only thing we are going to tell you right now is that is going to be EPIC!!

Ps. Thanks to everyone that commented and took a picture of Dalins costume, she's still a bit hyped about the response it got.


-D&E

KARJALANPAISTI

Well hello fellow cosplayers, it's Ennah here!

Desucon Frostbite 2014 is sadly over. I saw many of my dear friends, met cool new people and had an overall blast weekend. It had been over a year from a last 'real' convention  experience, since my whole Tracon was spend doing WCS-stuff.

I was going to do the major animal hybrid-costume project we had going on with Dalin, but decided that it might be wiser to do that one later when I have more time to do it. Better to do it in peace than hurry, right? I will be doing the goat-costume next summer!

I got Nintendo 3DS for Christmas present from my lovely parents. The first thing I did, as a hardcore Pokemón kid, was buying the new Pokemon Y.  I got so obsessed with it that I finished the game in four days. I have always wanted to cosplay someone from Pokemón, and I really liked one of the Elite Four trainers outfit. I'm talking about Drasna, who is a dragon-type trainer.

Drasna from Pokemon X and Y

I thought her bracelets and other accessories would be fun to do. I haven't really done much stuff like that, and my 3D perception is definitely not the best, so I thought this would bring me some challenge. I am more comfortable working with fabric, but getting away from my safe zone has always been one of the things that motivate me as a cosplayer, because you really can't learn too much.

I started of doing the shirt, which was ridiculously easy. The skirt was a bit of a challenge, but the main challenge was to find the right shade for the fabrics. For the shirt, I had to have a bit of elastane there to give it the right look, but for the skirt, the same material wasn't right. Finally I found this velvet fabric, which wrong side was the right color and shade. For the more reddish brown I used linen.

Most interesting part was definitely making the shoes. I bought some second hand shoes from flea market and started to build stuff around it. I was surprised how easy it really was! You can almost make anything with a creative mind, masking tape, newspaper, glue and wall filler. It might sound that I'm using weird stuff for making these things, but they were durable enough for me. I really don't watch much cosplay tutorials, so the stuff I'm using comes from what little experience I have.

Making the shoes.

I really enjoyed making these shoes, and I'm pretty happy how they turned out. The only damage I really had was on the heels. Walking for one day in the heels was maybe bit too much, as small pieces of filler broke off at the bottom of the heel. Oh well, nothing that I can't fix later.

Shoes with the first coat of paint and the neck pieces

I did the bracelets and the other pieces with the same technique as the shoes, doing the shape in cardboard, gluing newspaper and mask tape around it, and finally covering the whole thing with thick layer of wood filler. I was a bit sad because my usual wood filler ran out, and I had to get another brand, which wasn't as good as my normal one. As it dried up, the filler started to crack, and I had to do many layers of it before I could even think of sanding it. One thing I found out though, was that as the filler dried up, it was more durable than my usual filler. 

Bracelet pieces

Sanding all the pieces was hell, because I had to do it inside my house. It's been really cold here in Finland, and sanding outside wasn't an option. It definitely isn't healthy to do that, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I had to vacuum my whole room every time I stopped sanding something. 

Bracelets

I had so much trouble with my wig for this cosplay. I bought one from eBay, and found out that they hadn't even had sended it month later. Luckily Dalin was in New York with her class, and she bought me one there. I really can't believe my luck and thank her enough for getting me the wig I needed. 

All and all, I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I've got more confidence in my abilities and even though there are always imperfections (like the wrong order of pearls in the neckpiece -__-), I do think that in this cosplay, the good things override the bad parts. 

Kyuu Eturautti / Creative Commons Zero