2004: This year was when cosplay would finally became a part of my life. Not really an active part, but still there. I started my cosplay career with InuYasha. I was CRAZY obsessed with the show at the time and I thought my first con would be better cosplaying from my favorite show. Mei-Fun, my partner at the time, and his mother made the belt, haori and hakama for me with a rayon blend, while I slightly altered them to look a bit more accurate. I purchased cord for the black string in front and a Halloween prop for my sword. Shortly before the con, I would buy a fake pearl necklace and paint the beads accordingly, along with fake nails for claws. My egg donor would help with dying a wig for me, but it all went horribly wrong. I also made my own ears with a headband, cardboard and felt. Used a white T-shirt for the undershirt, pinned and cut to look a bit more accurate. This was also during my weaboo phase, so the name I went by was my birth name, followed by -chan. 2005 - 2007: During these years, I was upgrading InuYasha, as he was my only cosplay. My sword broke, so I obtained a (still crappy) better one. I purchased stronger cord for the black string when the one I had frayed and pulled apart. I would also hand stitch the slits I had cut in the sleeves and pants to look a bit cleaner. I had also purchased the season 1 box set of the series, which came with a replica necklace. I also had to junk the wig and, in a fit of VERY bad judgement, attempted to use my real hair, since it was the proper length. This would also be the time frame in which I started puttering around with makeup, both feminine and otherwise. But during this time I had come across a new cosplay by accident. My egg donor had been given a genuine kimono by a friend of hers. It was purple with white cranes. Both my partner at the time, Battousai, and myself thought it reminded us of Kaoru. Since he had plans to eventually cosplay Kenshin, we decided this needed to happen. I would be using my real hair and made her ribbon out of an old pillow case that was about to be thrown out anyway. During my sewing class in high school, I would make a purple and black obi to go with it. I made it incorrectly, but it's not bad for something I can say I made with a sewing machine. For a long time I went without socks and just wore black flip flops. These were the years I went by the name of an OC, Ashira. 2008: Venturing outside of my own closet, I began searching for a new cosplay, as I had retired InuYasha at the end of 2007. I began to compile a list of characters I wanted to do with Battousai as a couple. We had narrowed it down to Rick and Karen (Harvest Moon), Gohan and Videl (DBZ), Miroku and Sango (InuYasha), Joe and Mimi (Digimon) and, with some coercion for a same sex couple, Kuwabara and Kurama (Yu Yu Hakusho). Since our focus was the one that was already done (Kaoru, he hadn't purchased Kenshin yet) and Videl was simple enough to do on my own on a budget, he went for Gohan. I told him to pick a back up that was cheaper, just in case. We ended up with Miroku and Sango. Knowing she was beyond my limited skill set for making it, I poked around online to see what I could find. I was suggested to go to Cosplay Magic and found the cosplay I ended up buying. It wasn't without its issues though. The garment had been ordered as an XL. An XS was sent with some missing pieces. Returned and refunded, we reordered it and the item was received two days before the con and still with no footwear. Decided to say screw it and bought flip flops from Target. I would end up buying a Kirara plushie for someone else that accidentally turned into a prop for myself at a later time. I didn't have an alias this year, as I was just puttering around with what kind of cosplayer I wanted to be. 2009: This was the year I would make my debut as Kurama Babe. Battousai had scrapped doing Miroku sooner, as he began to love the idea of cosplaying Kuwabara. Shortly before we broke up, Kurama had been purchased and received. This year would also be used for upgrading Kaoru with a parasol, better ribbon, Kenshin plushie, tabi socks and better sandals. I would also receive Aerith (FF7) as a gift from a fan that summer, for which I would constantly be learning and using new techniques to style my own hair for her (LOTS of hair spray, teasing and curling irons). In the fall I would begin working on Raimei and raver versions of England, Kurama and Raimei (the latter of which got scrapped). Just a couple days before the end of the year, I would get another Aerith cosplay (KH2) from my friend Phantom, since it didn't fit her. It seemed that, as soon as I began using an alias that resonated with me, this year was the one where cosplay became an active part of my life. I would attend my first out of state con, AnimeIowa, that summer. 2010: I would debut 5 cosplays this year: Shizuru, Aerith, Raimei, England and Olette, with upgrades to Kurama, Raimei and starting work on Canada and China. Shizuru was an ongoing project with Chi. The cosplay was delivered at the con, was ill fitting and terrible quality. I'm usually not a stickler for accuracy, but this looked like she didn't know how to sew and was charging for it. England was made by my partner at the time, Ammy, with the pants being from her old Germany cosplay. Olette was mostly alteration work. An orange tank top was bought and painted on, while the old pants for Shizuru were tailored to fit and had drawstrings installed so I could easily turn them into capris. Kurama's upgrade was new shoes and my first pair of contacts. My first purchase for Canada was a red sweater while out on a date with Ammy. I also had to remake Raimei's bracelet, since the old one fell apart. China was an accidental cosplay, much like Kaoru. I was out with con family and one of them bought something and was able to get another item for free. She let me take the free item, which I chose a green, Mandarin top, only realizing it worked for China a couple weeks later. This would also be the year I finally got to toy around with the idea of mpreg cosplay. I'd been a fan for years, but never really found anyone in person that enjoyed it too. 2011: I would debut 4 new cosplays this year: Elena, China, Natsuo and Canada. This is also the year I would find that Ukraine was my spirit animal and be doing many different versions of her. I would dye a wig with Sharpies and do the same with some other cosplay items. I painted formal ballroom masks and made cosplay pieces for other people. I got to mess around a lot more heavily with mpreg cosplay and get other people involved with it. I would go to Wisconsin for the first time to attend Geek.Kon and Daisho Con. This was the year my cosplay list exploded, as Velocity, my partner, and I were getting each other into animes and such that we liked, as well as wanting to cosplay many couples together. 2012: This year I would debut 4 cosplays, one of them being from my favorite video game series: Leon, Poland, Toboe and Kumajiro. Leon was a work in progress that had started right after the new year. It would be my first time using Model Magic. I also did a lot of painting work and hand stitching. I would style my first wig, as well as cut and dye my hair for a specific character. Poland happened by accident and on a whim. It was just supposed to be something silly. But with some sniffing around and Velocity offering to be Lithuania, it came to life. I would also start making plans for gijinka designs of Houndour and Leafeon and start collecting things for them. I would attend my first furry con and get addicted to them but not being able to get my fix due to price and distance. I would make many more formal ball masks. Kumajiro, as much as I wanted more, was a one time cosplay, put together with things from my closet. I would also start my long process on beginning to get things for Ash. Kurama would go on hiatus this year, as I just felt I needed a break from him. 2013: Only 2 new characters this year would be debuted and only one was super legit: Kevin and Austria. Kevin was collected in one day of shopping (minus the wig). Austria, since I had gotten him in shitty make and condition in the mail, had to go with another outfit that made me look more like, unintentionally, Bruce Banner. I would also dabble in mpreg again. But it was QUITE a year for cosplay progress. Styling wigs for Leon and Kurama, starting work on Wataru, upgrades for Leon and random progress on Leafeon. Leafeon would be my first venture into using liquid latex and making my own jewelry. Made a couple masks for various Eeveelutions and hoping to make more. Bought materials for a tail that I have yet to mess with XP By the end of the year, I would start making progress on Mary by getting a wig and glasses. I would also start the long timeline of starting another secret cosplay. Sadly, this would also be the year I retired Kurama, though I'm constantly on the search for easy, official outfits to do for him, since he's still my baby. 2014: 4 cosplays to be debuted this year: Ash, Namine, Wataru and Ashira. Ashira, due to a technicality, is actually my first cosplay, as I dressed as her for a school function 2 or 3 years before I would actually start cosplaying. She is an OC of mine that went disused for about 10 years as I grew out of my Mary Sue/weaboo phase and I just never picked her up again for a while. Then the pieces fell together for me to debut her at a con, even though she wasn't perfect. It was great timing, as I had just revamped her character to be stripped of all fandom ties. Namine was my first secret cosplay that I ever planned and my first secret cosplay to ever be debuted. Wataru was to be done due to a funny bit of coincidence with the rings Velocity and I share as a matching set. It was too perfect not to and she already had Kazuki on her cosplay list. As for progress: new wig for Leon, my first jewelry commission (a Nuktuk necklace), a new kimono for Kaoru (deep purple with mid purple and white flowers), styling Mary's wig and a new tail for Natsuo. I would also start working on Mako and Makoto, as well as commissioning Prismatic for Seishun.
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KB's Ramblings
Just writing here about my adventures in the cosplay scene. Archives
December 2016
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