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I started documenting my cosplay stuff on Tumblr because of the ease of posting short posts and mixed media posts (text and pictures, for example). And then I started actually writing about costumes and costume-making and it basically turns into GIANT ESSAYS and then I think I am maybe missing the point of Tumblr.

(do I have a thousand-word draft of working with plastics saved to finish off at some point? Yes I do.)

So I made a cosplay tumblr so I can stop spamming the shit out of Plurk and my blog with WIP photos and ramblings and tutorial links. Is there any interest in me setting up a syndicated feed account for it on DW, for non-tumblr users?

Finally! For those interested in browsing on their own, the main gallery starts here, Turks photoshoot stuff starts here, and Bleach stuff starts here.

Going to go ahead and embed some of my favs, too - just a warning that it'll be image-heavy. I know some of the resized versions are a little artifact-y, but the page links have the big version too.

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-Turks cosplay semi-saved by mad dash to Dressew to pick up cheap blond wig. It's rather Lady Gaga, but...better than nothing?
-We had an epic shoe failure - Jon forgot his dress shoes and only had his black hiking boots, and then I left my nice boots for Rufus and my boots for Sailor Uranus sitting in my kitchen.
-Luckily I failed so much that I actually left the house in my old scrubby Rufus shoes, which I wear when I'm just going out really quickly (such as back and forth trips to load luggage), instead of changing into my sneakers. Unfortunately this means I have no comfy shoes here.
-FOUR HOURS OF SLEEP LAST NIGHT YAY only not really yay at all
-Missed the FF photoshoot (AGAIN) because the line up for people who had pre-regged was two and a half hours long
-"Wow, I think those are the best Turks I've ever seen!" "Nah, it's cheating because they're Asian." (3/4 of my Turks are Chinese)
-Many mad props for the group in general which filled me with glee
-Bought pretty Jade doujin! And BPAL. And I will probably buy more BPAL tomorrow and...maybe some doujin from the Annoying Yaoi Guy (although the really annoying one isn't here - some other slightly less shouty dudes are manning the booth this year it seems)
-The amount of eBay Bleach cosplay at this con depresses me. Particularly the people who bought captain's haori and look nothing like the captains they're supposedly cosplaying. Like...not even trying to look like them.
-Awesome cosplay of Friday, though: big Tales of the Abyss group, Sode no Shirayuki with an amazing wig, MASTER CHIEF, Izanagi
-Using and abusing the power of eight seatbelts in one car. The abuse mostly because my car rides looooooow.
-Went here for dinner. Ate two dozen eggs between four people (another nine eggs were eaten by three people - almost three dozen eggs total)
-"So, the cure for homosexuality is to suck a whole carton of dicks."
-The answer to life, the universe and everything: 42. The question: What stall did I park my car in?

Posted mostly for the edification of Mara-cookie, who understands how I feel about these things, but also because eeee fancy fabric. So. Fabric I've bought so far for AC!Rufus (yes, I am going to make the absurd pants):

- 2 yards of black cotton/linen blend
- 2 yards of white pure linen
- 5 5/8 yards of ivory tricotine wool
- 1 yard of heavy black satin
- 1 yard of heavy black polyester lining

It turns out AC!Rufus's suit jacket has a subtle white-on-white pinstripe - so subtle that you can only see it in a five second shot in the high-def version of AC. I decided that there wasn't any real way of capturing that in the real world (if the pinstripe is there it's going to be really obvious), not to mention that finding a fabric like that would basically be impossible, so I am skipping out on it, though it makes my accuracy-minded soul burn. I also think I'm going to do a very narrow zipper like the Turk suits have in the interests of preserving my own sanity (the jacket appears to have no fasteners at all in the few clear shots of it)

Stuff for AE, mostly, as that is next in line.

Super Sailor Uranus (which I have been working on all week)
-Back bow, collar and choker are all done
-Skirt is lined and ironed but not pleated and attached
-Front bow needs little heart charm, otherwise done
-Have (hideously expensive) leotard fabric, must find a store that actually carries Green Pepper or Kwik Sew patterns
- Boots and gloves - not started. Couldn't find any good base shoes for less than $30 at Payless, so it's thrift store time

Rufus
-Must solve wrinkly fabric issue QQ
-Black glove still MIA (if I have to buy a third pair of those I will be angry - first pair fell victim to mold in sketchy basement suite)
-Must acquire stuffed black panther to transform into Dark Nation (Jon finally solved the 'cat or dog?' Dark Nation debate - the answer is 'displacer beast')
-Shotgun - discover who has power tools I can borrow >___>
-Order blue contacts now that I know precisely how blind I am
-Low Priority - buy a real black turtleneck (while Rufus wearing TB!Subaru's shirt amuses me, it means I can't do any jacketless photos without looking silly), sew matching vest (Three-piece suit yeaaaaah)

Leon
-Buy a new leg holster buckle
-See: gloves for Rufus
-Belt pouches? Probably too poor for this summer, though
-chest strap and and knife sheath for the shoulder holster
-fake guns that don't look like crap (again, probably too poor XD)

Also, I am totally wearing Rufus to this because Rufus is awesome and classy and would totally go to fancy concerts with his bodyguard.

Because when I want to avoid homework, I research cosplay stuff! Pants are easy now that I've got a brand, care of the too-big pair (Propper International, and they're BDUs for those interested). The thigh holster is pretty easy, too, because it's nylon and an incredibly common style, so some ebay hunting should turn up a good deal.

The shoulder harness is harder - the closest I've find in new manufacture is Galco, which is 1) really expensive new 2) not totally accurate (much as we'd all like to believe that all of this is actually military-issue, there's bits here and there where I think the designers made shit up) - I may hunt ebay for that, or possibly do horribly indecent things to some cheap leather belts. He's got a double mag pouch on the right side which looks pretty much exactly like Galco's - the left is harder to tell, it looks like it may be a single horizontal mag pouch, but it's really unclear (I can pretty much only see it on the menu screen, with the Red 9 or semi-auto rifle equipped). I also have no idea where that cross-chest strap is coming from - I've never seen it anywhere else on shoulder holsters. It's also worth noting that the knife sheath isn't part of rig - it's held on with some heavy-duty black tape XD;

Gloves and belt and accesory bags I'm still investigating (watch, I'll make another post in half an hour with those, too), although I realized the other day I can totally re-use the gloves for Rufus (hooray one official art image). Gun-wise, if I opt to buy something new instead of using my cheap-ass dollar store one (it's as nice as some airsoft ones I've seen for three or four times the price), I'm going to go with the Blacktail, which the RE fanboys with too much free time inform me is a Springfield Armory XD-9, because I can use it for Ada, too.

I also need to cave and buy an actual binder - not just for Leon, but I've reached the point where I just can't do the ace bandage thing any more (there's a reason I did Virgil and mafia!Leon all Yaoicon), and Leon's the first new one I'm doing that needs binding. Underworks is looking like the best, but I'm going to investigate further. I may also cave and buy blue colored contacts, for Leon, Rufus, kind of Sephiroth (his are green, I know - I just need something lighter than brown).

Oh, any budding Leon cosplayers on the flist looking for a pair of pant? I'm trying to figure out what to do with the too-big pair - they're medium-short, so 31-35 waist and 26 1/2 - 29 1/2 inseam (which means if you're taller than 5'8", they'll be too short), and despite being used (as I got them at a thrift store) in great shape. Dark navy, poly/cotton ripstop. Too poor to give them away, sadly, but $15 plus shipping is a lot cheaper than anywhere else online.

Managed to find awesome presents for four different people today, as well as the elusive black long-sleeved shirt I've been looking for for months now (AKA Asher-shirt). They were $10, so I bought two. New clothing quest - short-sleeved silver button-down to wear over Asher-shirt for club-type things. And because it would be awesome. I also managed to box all the cookies up, and they will be in the mail in the next couple of days. I think pretty much everybody I have an address for is getting something, save people I'll be seeing in person soon.

I also packed for my flight, which ended up being a bit of a nightmare, but it's done. I leave Logan at 5pm, get into Vancouver at 10pm and will probably take a cab home (luggage + bus + 11pm = NO). So this will be my last post before Canada, most like, unless Chicago has free wireless.

And fun fact of the day! Leon's jacket is really obviously a bomber jacket, but more specifically it's a B-3 bomber jacket, which I think was used during WWII, and Wiki tells me that most of the bomber crew other than the pilot wore them, usually. More importantly, though, there's about four or five places that do reproductions, which is nice, as I was previously informed that repros didn't exist and you _had_ to buy vintage.

AND NOW, SLEEP.

EDIT: I lie, looks like it's actually a B-6. Which it seems that there may also be repros of avalible (the difference between it and the B-3 are small - one collar strap rather than two, and shoulder straps)