So... much... work... and money too. My beiggest project so far as cosplay goes. Although it took so long to make, and it wasn't the most comfortable, I think its my favourite now...

--Worn To...--
Sakura Con 2006

--Creation--
Okay, there's a lot to it so I'm going to break it down from top to bottom...

-Hat: Using my experience from the Vivi hat I once again started with a wire frame. This time it was made up of two pieces, the base and the front dealie. The ears were craved from really crappy insulation foam and took countless hours to complete @_@ I'm serious. I then shoved the ears on after making groves for the wires to fit into and then hot glued the hell out of it. After teh ears were attached I cut out the three fabric pieces for the hat, hemmed them (unlike Vivi) and then sewed some pieces on where you'd see the stitching and hot glued the rest into place.

-Collar: Although it I wanted it to be authentic it would've been tucked in instead of tied I knew for a fact it wouldn't work that way. I used interfacing and folded it into the shape I needed and then sewed away. I folded it over on the top to create a loop for the actually collar part to feed through and tie at the back.

-Coat: First off I have to thank my wonderful mum who whipped up this pattern for me in minutes and also payed for the red fabric. The coat pretty straight forward, it has a slit in the back for my tail, it closes with hook and eyes, the shoulder guards were made from real metal with help from a friend... The collar was the hardest though. I had to remake it three times! Eventually it was sewn on on my shoulders where it stayed.

-Harness and Coat of Arms: This became hardest that expected. The harness is made from leather belts, all hand sewn. It buckles in the back while the shoulder straps that fed through the collar were supposed to be velcro-ed ended up being glued on with me in it >< The coat of arms was made from two layers of a nice stiff fabric, the symbols and colours were all hand painted with many many layers.

-Tail: This was tricky, but with a little research it came out easy. I used some 5 cent wiring (And I learned to ALWAYS tell people at the hardware stores what you are making, the moment I said tail the worker rushed me over to the perfect materal!) and sewed a not so good covering for the tail which I slipped on and glued into place. Then I took some cardboard to use as a basef or the wire and sewed a belt from the some fabric as the pants, with the cardboard base inside. It kept from slipping that way <3

-Pants: Easy. Altered pajama pants pattern, fed elastic through the bottom to achieve the right affect. I was so happy I got the *perfect* fabric too!

-Shoes/Leggings: I bought a pair of cleared heeled stripper shoes on sale for $30, I had planned to create the toes but my plan failed. No biggie. I then sewed the leggings with no pattern to fit my legs and then sewed and glued it into place on the shoes. The clear heels made the affect of me looking as if I was walking on my toes like Freya.

-Spear: Which... doesn't exist anymore! After spending countless hours slaving on the insulation head piece it broke mulitple times and refused to stay fixed until I took my stripper heels to them. Anyways, the shaft was made from a shovel stolen from a construction site (they had lots.) and spray painted while the head was made from insulation foam and hand painted. Grr.

--Good Stuff--
This costume turned out so well. The hat was comfortable and I was able to see. The costume was fine to wear and wasn't uncomfotable. The best was how much I was recongized! I had so many good comments on my cosplay, thanks everyone <3

--Bad Stuff--
The coat closure of hook and eyes, liked to come undone! I had to keep asking my friends to redo it. The collar would puff up funny. I ended up getting glued into the harness. The nails made me unable to do anything and the shoes hurt so much to wear *sniff*

--Memorable Moments--
>SC 06
I competed in the cosplay contest for the first time! I went for a walkon but unforunately didn't win any awards. I was later informed by a judge that had I entered the Veteran level instead of the Novice, I would have had a better chance of winning. And that she loved my cosplay and if I came back next year she would be sure to bump me up <3 I also got to meet a few of my idols while in this costume including Yaya Haun! I also smashed my spear on saturday night, mocked battled with Beatrix and was part of a huge FF photo shoot with a ton of people who knew/recongized me from online!

I *love* this costume.

Kei-Kon

Anime Evolution

Sakura Con