Hanadoki Con 2016

I attended Saturday of Hanadoki Con this year, and participated in the Masquerade competition with Utena. It was my first real Masquerade experience, and I'm glad I chose a small convention to do it at. And guess what? I won an award for Best Craftsmanship!

SDCC 2015 Cosplay & Fourth Annual Fashion Walk

I was super exhausted for San Diego Comic-Con this year, because if it being back-to-back with Anime Expo. I only had two days between the two cons to recover and get ready! The only new thing for SDCC was my Jedi outfit, but it was a great opportunity to bring back some favorites.

Keep reading for my con reflection and more pictures!

Anime Expo 2015

Anime Expo! The largest anime convention in North America, with the highest level of cosplay content on the west coast! For me, it's the convention where I debut new cosplays, and meet up with friends that I only get to see once a year.

This year, I brought three new cosplays--Assassin, Homura, and Benten. Unfortunately, I wore Benten on Sunday and didn't take any pictures. Homura was part of a mini Madoka group, with my friends as Sayaka and Madoka.

This is a picture-heavy post! I didn't take many pictures myself (and my husband didn't, either) but I got a lot of great photos back from various photographers throughout the weekend.

Summer Cosplay Sewing Projects

The whole reason I was basically missing the last two months was the huge number of cosplay projects I was working on before Anime Expo! Lots of commissions, and three brand-new costumes for myself.

Cosplay Update: Kikyo and Utena Construction

For Wondercon in April, I finished two new cosplays--Kikyo from Inuyasha, and Utena from Revolutionary Girl Utena! I had a ton of fun with both of them, and learned so much from making all the various accessory pieces for Utena. Follow the cut for more pictures and details.

2015 Cosplay Plans

Now that 2015 is here, it's time to put some of my plans into writing! I've had all of this in mind since late last year (and have been updating Facebook accordingly), but there's something about putting it on the page properly that makes it feel a bit more real.

Read on for character notes, group plans, and my tentative convention schedule~

2014 Year in Review

Last year, I had a lot of fun going through old posts and picking the events that were the most memorable and enjoyable, so I figured I would do it again this year! I picked out ten of my favorite fashion or cosplay-related activities from last year to remember. I also shared ten of my favorite coordinates on tumblr, if you want to check them out~

Melisandre of Asshai [Cosplay Photoshoot]

The truth is all around you, plain to behold. The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope. One is black, the other white. There is ice and there is fire. Hate and love. Bitter and sweet. Male and female. Pain and pleasure. Winter and summer. Evil and good. Death and life. Everywhere, opposites. Everywhere, the war. 

So tell me, Ser Davos Seaworth, and tell me truly - does your heart burn with the shining light of R’hllor? Or is it black and cold and full of worms?

I did a photoshoot with my sister while I was up north over the holidays, and I am so pleased with how it came together! I restyled the wig to make it look more natural and more screen-accurate from how it was at Halloween. It's all ready for SDCC this summer!

Read on for the full photoset.

Sewing Project: Melisandre from Game of Thrones

For Halloween this year, I wanted to do something that was fairly mainstream, but still relevant to my interests, and still a legitimate cosplay. So I took the plunge and did my first television cosplay--Melisandre from Game of Thrones!

More pictures and construction notes under the cut.

Commissions @ Otakon 2014

Earlier this summer, I did two commissions for Otakon attendees, and now that the con is over and people have had time to recover, I got some pictures back from both of them! I love seeing happy clients--it's so much fun to be part of a collaborative effort to make great-looking cosplayers.

The two cosplays were Sailor Snow White, based on Drachea Rannak's fanart, and Kiritsugu Emiya's overcoat from Fate/Zero. More pictures and my construction notes under the cut~

Sailor Moon @ Anime Expo 2014 [Part II]

Saturday of Anime Expo, or "Sailor Moon Day" as we started calling it, was not only the day that we did our photoshoot (see the previous post) but also the day of several different Sailor Moon meetups! There was the huge official VIZ one, and then there was also a slightly smaller (but still large!) one for Cosplay.com, hosted by yours truly. There were some location issues, but eventually we were able to find a place large enough to accommodate everyone.

Read on for many, many more pictures!

Sailor Moon @ Anime Expo 2014 [Part I]

A lot of my friends have affectionately nicknamed Anime Expo 2014 "Sailor Moon Expo" because of the huge amount of Sailor Moon events! Saturday was the most concentrated, with tons of different panels, meetups, and more, so of course that's the day that we all wore our Sailor Senshi cosplays. We somehow managed to squeeze a small photoshoot in there, and here are the results!

Brian Calilung was the photographer again (same as last year for Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune), and we were able to get quite a few really lovely shots from it despite the heat and limited time! Unfortunately, we were unable to get a full group picture due to scheduling conflicts, but we're planning to do another set of photos soon! Until then, read on to enjoy what we were able to get from AX 2014.

Kill la Kill @ Anime Expo 2014

Anime Expo 2014 was an amazing, busy weekend filled with cosplay, panels, and hanging out with friends. One of the things I did during the convention was help host a Kill la Kill cosplay meetup before the big special event panel and concert! It was my first time running a gathering, but it was a lot of fun (and I learned a lot for next time). I didn't have anyone there with me to take pictures, but reddit user noodleknight (tumblr) was kind enough to let me use some of his photos from the event! You can see his full album here.

I also worked with some great people, including photographer Eric Millan (tumblr) and cosplayers Aira Masquerade and Toshiyasu Cosplay.

Lots more pictures following the cut!

Anime Expo 2014: How to Find Me!

If you're going to Anime Expo this year, look for me in the following cosplays!

Thursday (Day 1): Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi
Friday (Day 2): Satsuki Kiryuin from Kill la Kill

Saturday (Day 3): Sailor Uranus from Sailor Moon

Sunday (Day 4): Lolita coordinate

Satsuki Kiryuin [Photoshoot]

Fear is Freedom! Control is Liberty! Contradiction is Truth!

Listen well, you pigs in human clothing and submit to that reality!

I was able to work with the talented Eric of 3slycePOP again for Satsuki, and it was at ton of fun with great results! Read on to see my favorites from the shoot~

Cosplay Construction: Satsuki Kiryuin

During the process of making Satsuki's dress "Junketsu", I took more progress pictures than usual (read: more than zero) so that I could get feedback from various places. I realized that this meant I could share those process photos with all of you, so that you can see a little bit of what goes into making a cosplay from scratch!

There are still a few tweaks to be done before Anime Expo, and I'm still working on perfecting the eyebrow makeup, but here's a little peek into how I get things done.

2013 Year in Review

I wanted to do a "Year in Review" post, highlighting some of my favorite events from 2013. I picked out twelve photos from various events throughout the year that I feel represent my best fashion and cosplay memories.

November: Modeling for Haenuli at PMX

Read on for my choices!

Cosplay Plans for 2014

It seems like my year is pretty evenly split between cosplay and Lolita--Lolita takes up most of fall and winter, and cosplay the spring and summer. January is when I start to seriously plan the year's cosplays, including research, reference image collecting, tutorial reading, and budgeting.

This year, I have three new costumes planned (well, really closer to two and a half), plus last year's classic Sailor Uranus will get some time as well. I'm really excited about all of these! There's something new, something old, and of course my favorite Senshi.

Read on for more details.

Pacific Media Expo 2013 Fashion Show

This year's Pacific Media Expo was a mix of cosplay and Lolita (though mostly Lolita), and as always, tons of fun. I spent way too much  money in the boutique, modeled in the fashion show, and ran around as Sailor Uranus.

This post is VERY image-heavy with all the fashion show pictures, so be warned! Carry on for the full set.

Steins;Gate Cosplay Commission

In September, I was asked to make a couple of cosplays from Steins;Gate by a member of one of the cosplay communities I'm part of. I was very pleased with how they turned out, and the customer said it was cool to share pictures, so here they are!

Read on for more pictures and some construction notes.