MYSLIPATUKKA - Yukicon 2.0 and NCC preliminaries

Hi homies!!!

It's been two weeks since Yukicon 2.0 and the second NCC preliminaries. As most of you probably know Rindalin participated on the preliminaries and got second honorary mention (or second place, we're not exactly sure how it was in the end).

Anyways, it was an really exiting day! We arrived to Espoo Cultural Center somewhere around 10 am. Rindalin slept the whole car trip because she (yet again) had to stay up the whole night finishing her costume. We had so much stuff that in the end we needed four people to carry them to the dressing rooms. After meeting our cosplay mamma and all the other staff who were responsible of us competitors, everything started to go really smoothly and most of the stress melted away.

The stress came back just before judging, even Ennah was almost as stressed out as Rindalin. This was Rindalins second cosplay competition ever and the first one she had to do alone. No panic! The judging was held in English because one of the judges was this amazing cosplayer from Poland, Shappi Workshop. It went quite well, even thought Rindalin was shaking afterwards at the backstage because of all the stress.

After that it was time for the rehearsals at the stage. There were a lot of problems with technics and even thought all the light- and video instructions were sent beforehand they somehow managed to get everything wrong at the first time. Thank god the second time went a bit better.

Photo by Nyymix

There was some free time left after the practice, so we went to the actual convention halls and met some of our friends. People were really impressed of Rindalins costume and she talked quite a lot with some random people. She is really reserved on social situations most of the times. But somehow the convention situations are really different because these random peoples have the same interests as her and it's more easier to speak with them. Ennah is probably even more reserved than her some times.

Just before the competition we were informed that the program is going to start little late. We were waiting patiently in backstage, some of us trying not to sleep while standing. People were reading some tweets about Yukicon "to go and gather the fuck up themselves". At the moment it was kinda hilarious on some twisted way, but the staff was really anxious because of all the negativity. No worries dear staff and all the cosplay mammas! In the end it all went quite well and nobody got hurt or anything. These things happen all the time!!!

When the competition actually started Rindalin was munching away anything with sugar to keep herself together and aware. When it was time to go to the stage Ennah went to her place behind the clothing rack and Rindalin to her corner at the stage. Our friend Bardiel filmed and uploaded the skit on Youtube!!

We were at the stage about 3 minutes but especially for Rindalin it felt like 30 seconds!!  There were some screw ups with the lights, sounds and timing. Rindalin recorded the whole performance herself, timed the music and video so there were some mistakes. She had to make the video for the tape from the beginning three times, because her laptop kept crashing.

I love you too Premiere Pro

Also the lights came back up too quickly when the music changes halfway. But that's small mistake compared to what it could have been if not for the rehearsals.

For Rindalins second cosplay competition this went really well! No first place this time, but there's still time to practice both our performance skills and costume making. Rindalin got a medal and was quite happy with it!!!

Rindalins "I'm happy" face...even if it looks like she is sneering or grimacing.

We found some absolutely amazing pictures of the competition and we were both surprised how good the costume looks on stage.

Photo by Konsta Väänänen

Photo by Nyymix

All the NCC second preliminaries competitors.
Photo by Nyymix

The Top Three
Photo by Konsta Väänänen

See you all at the Desucon Frostbite! We will be there and come say hello if you recognize us ;D

More updates and pictures can be found on our Facebook page.

- Rindalin & Ennah

VADELMASORBETTI - Josephine the Fashion Diva

So much pink!

I can't believe I actually made the Josephine cosplay. She is ironically everything I hate about the fashion industry and fashionistas. The amount of pink and red was something I thought I would never wear. Still, it was kind of refreshing to cosplay her. Especially the skit was somehow really fun to do with all the parody towards fashionistas.

Josephine from Suikoden V

Photo - Kyuu Eturautti

For the fabrics I mostly used Tanjore -curtain fabric that looks really similar to raw silk. In reality it's just viscose- polyester mix. First I bought 7 meters of light pink and I thought it would be enough for the jacket, cape and parasol. Oh, how wrong I was. I had to buy two meters more and even then I had to do some hard thinking to get the fabric last. In the end I used 9 meters of the light pink fabric, 1 meter of the blue fabric and 5 meters of  the red fabric. The total price for those was 148,50 €!!

Making the patterns for the jacket was a really painful experience. Usually I just use my intuition and experience when making the patterns, but somehow non of that helped me with this! Every piece was different so you had to think hard about which piece had which print and whether the sleeves were correct or not! The sleeves were the most problematic. I had to make about six different patterns (in which Ennah helped me, because my brain just wasn't comprehending some things) and three prototype sleeves. Horrible I say, horrible.

Photo - Nyymix

One part of the costume I really stressed over was the wig. I googled lots and lots of tutorials about how to make the Marie Antoinette styled wig or something similar like that. In the end I ordered two long white wigs from ebay and sewed them together.

I made this hairball as base structure for the curls. I made the base using some soft foam sheet that is used to soften couches, chairs etc...

After that came the real question; How on earth am I going to make these tube curl thingies?!? After couple of tests, thinking and sleepless nights I found the solution to my problems! I used wadding pieces, folded the ends of hair flocks between them and just rolled the hair around them. There are almost 50 pins inside that wig to keep the rolls in the right places. Afterwards I also sewed them by hand into the wig base structure to ensure that the tube curls would stay in place.

The hat and feathers were fun to make. I like to make small things like these so they were almost non-problematic for me. Except for the fabric roses. I looked up some tutorials from YouTube and I found this best fabric rose tutorial ever! I found this tutorial really good and easy, except for the part where she just folded the fabric in half. I sewed it shut like a tube and ironed it. It looks more cleaner and there will be no threads sticking out everywhere! Here's the link to the tutorial;

I watched the tutorial like 20 times before I got a hold of the technique. I'm slow leaner if I have to learn straight from tutorials!

Mustache hat! 

I made the huge feathers from white felt. For one feather, I cut two identical feather-like shapes and stuck them together. I needed something in the middle to hold the feathers up, so I sewed a tunnel for this aluminium strip and just stringed the strip inside the tunnel. After that, I spray glued the felts together. I wanted to give the feathers more realistic look, so I painted them with acrylics.

One thing I also had so much trouble was finding the right shoes for Josephine. It was maddening to try to find right-sized high heels in the middle of the winter. I was so relieved when I found just the right shaped shoes! The color didn't matter, as long as they were somehow comfortable to wear and didn't cost too much.

The hot red color had to go, welcome baby pink! I used acrylics to paint the shoes and because the material was suede fabric the paint attached really well and didn't start to crack when it was dry.

The earrings were simple enough to make. I had already made the earrings for Okô and Dakki using fimo clay and I decided to use it for these ones also. It's pretty light material and really easy to use. I didn't want to use real mirror for the earrings so I bought this mirror plastic from Hobby Point in Helsinki, this was the best choice ever!! The earrings are so light even thought they are so big.

Photo in the right side by Kyuu Eturautti

The parasol was made from another umbrellas metal skeleton. I took it apart and made an extension for the shaft using metal shaft from dustpans brush. I had to go to our bicycle storage to spray paint the skeleton because it was sleeting  outside. Just cover the floor and no one notices anything ;D The white rose (which looks a bit like pine cone) is made from worbla!

The canopy is made from the same light pink tanjore fabric as the fabric used on the jacket. The pink polka-dot prints are made by using stencil. I also used french seams for all the canopys seams. It's really, really handy technique if you want to make neat and clean seams. I had some problems with fitting the skeleton properly inside the canopy and some of the ribs folded a little bit. Well, not everything can go perfectly.

When there was about a week left to the event I had all the accessories and smaller and simpler parts ready, but the jacket was still in pieces. I had to be really careful with the jacket pieces so I knew exactly which piece goes where and which print goes which side. There was a lot of printing using the old school method with tape to make the stripes. I made the white swirly pattern using silkscreen technique.

The stripes really suit you dear Neomundur von Furpants.

After this part I don't have much of pictures because I was working on the super mode and had to focus for anything else. What I can tell is that I had a small fuck up with the prints on the left sleeve. I had accidentally printed the swirly print on the wrong side of the fabric and had to cut and print a whole new sleeve. That was only about 30 minutes work, but still.

I have some serious problems with deadlines and planning schedules. I have noticed that when I have my project wall full of things that I need to do to complete the whole project I get the job more easier done. This is my project wall for Josephine. It contains some vague procedure lists, print testings, skit plans, materials, receipts and the jacket prototype.

This is seriously the best method to keep up with your work and to remind what needs to be done and how. I get really anxious if I need to work with overly strict schedule. Not good, but I'm working on that.

Despite this glorious project wall, I went one night without sleep while working with the jacket and even then I had to sew some parts by hand at the competition day. NOT GOOD YOU GUYS!!!

I leave this here and the next post is about Yukicon 2.0 and how the NCC preliminaries went for us ;D

- Rindalin

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. 

------

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


....
......

.......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)