Colossalcon has been consistently one of my favourite conventions every year. I ran into a few issues leader up to this year but the overall experience was great and I am very happy that I was able to attend. I met a lot of new people which gave me that old school con feel where everything is new again but you are also surrounded by old friends.
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Want to be a villain in the Once Upon a Time universe but you don't want to get your hands dirty? Well, I have to tutorial for you! MATERIALS
I've been cosplaying for close to 12 years now, and I must say with the latest initiatives like #29daysofblackcosplays and photographers taking an active role in showcasing black cosplayers has definitely helped in giving black cosplayers a chance to shine. For many years it was if this group was a subculture within a subculture, and in many ways it still is to this day. When I hear about some of the vitriol people get for simply dressing up as characters they like it just boggles my mind, but it is also a sobering reminder that there are close-minded people everywhere and that geekiness does not cancel out racism. My Story I consider myself very lucky to be part of my cosplay community. Over the many years I have been cosplaying within Southern Ontario and Western Quebec in Canada, I have yet to face any overt discrimination within the community. If it happened, it certainly was not to my face. Online, I have also been fortunate that I can only think of one instance that people needlessly brought up my skin colour when it came to costume choice. Ironically enough, someone thought I was too pale to be Korra. Although, "lucky" and "fortunate" may not really be the right words to describe it. I realize that I am a light-skinned person of colour and often times people cannot guess what my ethnic background is (half black, half white if you haven't guessed yet). Also, my lighter skin tone means the range available characters with a similar tone is much wider (although in general very limited compared to the amount of white/pale-skinned characters out there) than say someone several shades darker. From what I gather from fellow POC cosplayers, the darker you are the more of uphill battle you have against haters. When I first started posting cosplays online, I would often get people inquiring about my ethnic background and it would irk me. I know people were just curious, but I found that it was an irrelevant question to work I was putting out there. Back then, about 7 or so years ago, it was so difficult for me to find other people of colour or dark-skinned cosplayers online. It was like a wasteland, and whenever I would find anyone it would always be the same 3 costumes - Yoruichi from Bleach, Storm from X-Men, and Anthy from Utena. Why those costumes? My best guess is that these were the only ones that were from popular enough series that they would be praised for wearing because they looked the part. Although I have made 2/3 of those characters' costumes, I still find it important to cosplay what you want. Nothing has brought me more joy than when someone messages me to tell me that they didn't know that black people can cosplay outside their race so now they will do it or that seeing my work inspired them to give it try. The State TodayI feel that many things have changed for the better in the last few years, thanks to these kind of initiatives. Black cosplayers are stepping out of the background and getting to stand alongside everyone else. But that is not to say that there is not progress to be made. Here are some issues that I have experienced that could still be worked on as a community. I know for a fact, that if I cosplay a character with a different skintone than mine, it has less impact online. Less likes, comments, shares, less everything. At conventions, it has a lighter impact, but mostly results in less photos and interactions with congoers. Often times I'll cosplay a character and it doesn't matter what I'm wearing I'll be asked "You're cosplaying Storm, right?" As if that is the only black woman in fandom that exist and that I couldn't be cosplaying from anything else because of my skintone -_-. As a general rule, and most cosplayers will agree with me here, if you are not sure of the costume just ask instead of guessing. just like everyone else, POC cosplayers are a varied bunch that cosplay a wide range of characters. If you ever want to find out about all the obscure POC characters in geekdom, just ask a POC cosplayers for an open call for costume suggestions. Whenever I make a call to followers to make costume suggestions I get this nice long list of dark-skinned characters, and what boggles my mind is that it is rare for anyone to suggest anything else. A year or two ago I asked which League characters people would suggest and lo and behold it was all the dark skinned characters even though the game has full body paint characters and monsters which I can also portray. Luckily, my friend VickyBunnyAngel threw in some other suggestions that helped me keep my cool that day. It is just strange since anyone follows my work knows that skintone doesn't dictate my costume choices. However, I will admit I still think twice about doing any popular light-skinned characters because I know the reception will be lukewarm at best. I have to think about whether am I ready for whatever the internet has to dish out if I do this. Which is sad when you think about it. If I like the costume and the character I just go ahead and do it anyways. And that's what I tell anyone who is uncertain about cosplaying outside their race, shape or whetever. Just do it! Your happiness outweighs whatever a random person on the internet has to say. So let wrap up with a little story from my childhood. When I was growing up I loved the Spice Girls. I used to sing all their song and collected stickers and albums. When it came time to play pretend, guess which spice I always ended up being with my full head of curly hair. Scary Spice EVERY.DAMN.TIME. even though Baby Spice was my favourite. And that is what it feels like when you are wearing a costume outside of your race. You can have to most well constructed outfit an be 100% accurate but there will still be someone there saying you would make a much better Scary Spice. To put is simply, it's exhausting. It's not fun being typecast so I ask that when you are looking at cosplayers at an event or online to truly appreciate what that person is bringing to the community especially considering how much crap they may be going through just because of the colour of their skin.
I don't want to end on a sad note but here's a reason why these initiatives are important and needed. I am fairly certain that the very act of writing this blog and posting it is going to mean I will lose some followers. Ain't that a hoot. Keep being awesome black cosplayers. I'm proud of all of you. Cheers to another year of celebrating your talents and let's keep the ball rolling year-round. ThursdayThe drive was long - 11+hrs - but Kudrel is a trooper for doing the long haul after our second driver backed out. After so many years of attending Katsu I finally got a room at the Gaylord and it was glorious. I settled into my hotel room and then went out for dinner with some Canadian friends. I spent the rest of the night finishing up my Kida costume and unpacking. Picture left: Mao-chan and I in costume on Saturday, acting gracefully during the fire incident. FridayKatsucon is one of those events where the venue lends so well to photoshoots, so naturally I scheduled quite a few. I got dressed in my Sakizo Cancer costume by 11am and was non-stop shooting till about 4pm. I was lucky to run into quite a few friends throughout the day and catch up with them while ogling at their costumes. I was expecting the worst when it came to crowds or getting shoot locations but it wasn't that bad. That is probably because many of the local attendees where on their way to event or held up at check-in. I grabbed some burgers for dinner with Martin, Vicky, and Patrick at Elevation Burger and chatted about the "cosplay market." To wrap up the day I went to hang out with friends in their rooms and party at Pose - the club in the hotel. SaturdayI'm so happy with how Kida turned out. I was so worried since I was a little rushed leading up to the event. I may add even more rhinestones to this beauty over the coming weeks before shooting with it again. It was another crazy day of shooting that was cut short by a fire at the venue. I was lucky since I was leaving my room when we got word, so I was able to grab my winter jacket and boots before heading to Mao-chan's room across the street at the Hampton inn. She led us to a safe place on that cold day. I couldn't feel my legs after being outside for 5 minutes, so I could only imagine how bad it was for those who were stuck outside in light costumes. :( It was a hiccup but I managed to finished all my planned shoots with a little delay. I ran into so many lovely Hannah Alexander princesses that day and they were all lovely. (See photos below). For dinner, a group of us went to Succotash. The food was good but the wait was long and I think that drained my energy for the rest of the day. I spent the night relaxing in my room like a true socialite ;) SundayLike every con, Sundays are a chaotic mess of trying to get elevators and check-out. I managed to get off my floor by riding an elevator that stopped at every other floor. Check out early if you can.
Since we had a long drive ahead of us and I had work the next day, Kudrel and I decided to leave early in the day. So we wandered the con for an hour or so saying our goodbyes then we hit the road. Katsucon always has a place in my cosplayer heart and I look forward to coming back next year. I really want to have a showstopper costume for next time, so we'll see what I come up with. Being able to make your own gems for projects can be a good way to save money plus get the exact look you are aiming for. You can buy resin casting sets in custom colours, however, colours are limited (red, green, blue and that's all folks) and resin dye can be expensive or hard to come by. You can also cast clear gems and paint the backs, but the colour is not visible from sharp angles. After some testing I found this method works great. Casting resin with acrylic INK! The colour options are limitless since you can mix your own shades and you can control the opacity of the gems. It's also cheap since a bottle of ink costs about $6(CAD). In addition, the ink can be used for many other purposes such as dyeing wigs, whereas resin dye has one specific purpose. I've made a video tutorial below but you can also find all the steps and materials listed below. Materials
Instructions
ResultsAt 1 drop per 10ml of mixture the gems are relatively clear. At 2 drops per 10ml, the gems were more opaque or milky in appearance. The thicker the gem the more opaque it was. For the glowing gem look, place a metallic backing to the gem. In the 2nd and 4th photos, as well as the completed armour below, I use metallic wrapping paper. Embossing foil and silver foil will also work. The effect is very nice and noticeable at 1 drop per 10ml and visible but not as vibrant at 2 drops. Tips
Here are the gems in action. Happy crafting! What a rollercoaster the year was, with lots of highs and dark lows. At the very least I learned a lot of important lessons when it comes to both life and hobbies. 2015 MILESTONES
Noteworthy Blogs of 2015 CostumesI think I got a nice variety of costumes for the year. For more information about how they were made click on these links: | Queen Beryl | Bard | Five | Takane | Ursula | Ravenna | Dark Angel Olivia WHAT I LEARNED
Costume ExpensesTotal: Approx $1,500CAD This is the total spent on completed costumes, it doesn't include money spent on ongoing projects that will be completed next year (hopefully). Much improved upon last year's $1,800. Hooray for saving money! My costume averaged about $200. Not bad.
Favourites
Favourite Convention |
I had a great time seeing the city and attending NYCC. It was a casual tourist weekend for me so I was able to snap many photos. VickyBunnyAngel was my partner in crime and expert foodie for the weekend. We power walked through all of midtown together. I also got to meet many new talented people that I hope to touch base with in the future. Check out the galleries below to see a glimpse of my New York City trip. There is so much to see and do there. I also went to the Hunger Games Exhibit. For a full gallery of the costumes check out this blog. |
I made a fabric swatch catalog to keep track of all the fabric I have stored away from home. It can be a handy tool for saving money by preventing you from buying fabric you already have on hand. Here's how I made my fabric swatch book. Step 1: Take Stock of your Fabric Measure all long pieces of fabric and take a swatch of each one before putting the fabric into storage. I took note of the length and width and wrote a general description. Step 2 : Get to Business I bought a cheap business card book ($11) and business cards ($9) from Staples. You can also cut your own cards using regular paper or cardstock to save money. |
Step 3 : Categorizing
Step 4 : Attach Swatches
Blank cards can be used to keep track of scrap fabric - shorter pieces not worth measuring.
Step 5 : Insert Swatch Cards into Book
Order the cards whichever way you like and you are good to go! The Pros:
Happy Swatching! P.S. Nothing says unprofessional like perforated paper. If you need actual business cards, I suggest going to a place like MOO. |
There are so many ways to dye a wig and some methods are easier than others. Here’s a breakdown of several techniques including some tips and tutorials, plus some sample results. Follow the flow chart below to a suggested method, then read the corresponding write-up to find out if it's right for you. But first... General Supplies:
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- Results vary depending on the type of fibres.
- You cannot dye a wig a lighter colour. You can airbrush it lighter - more on that in the Airbrushing section.
- I highly suggest starting with a white wig or wefts. If white is not available then light colours like silver or titanium blonde.
- If you are dyeing a coloured wig, stick with colours within that range (lilac to purple to dark purple to black).
- Only heat resistant fibres can be used with fabric dyes and tea dyeing.
- For my sample results see the bottom of the blog.
MeltingMirror's Cosplay Blog
Learn more about my experiences in the cosplay world, from conventions to photoshoots and everything in between.
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