WHY AM I DOING THIS

But yeah, heading overseas in a couple of months means I have to shift a few things...even my dearest Punzie wig. So. Punzie wig. Not gonna lie, it's not in tip-top condition (the underside is quite matted from brushing against my back, for example). As a result I'm including an extra wig in the same colour to cut apart and use as additional wefts if needed, as well as some extra flowers for those pesky gaps. The photos in my sales album on Facebook were taken recently and show what's included (not the head though ). My sales album on Facebook is here, but please PM me here with any questions! I'm also selling a couple of the costumes, including Yuffie and Touko, so head on over to check it out.

I can't possibly put a price on it, though I'm hoping to at least cover costs (about AU$170-$180). Because of that I'm essentially running a blind auction - if you're interested, PM me with a bid.

I'd prefer Sydney-siders for the obvious reason, but if you're willing to pay buckets for shipping I won't stop you!

aarrrrrggghhhh

SO EXCITED :'D

I'm thrilled to be organising Hogwarts High Tea as a fundraiser for the Starlight Foundation. It should be an amazing day; potions and duelling and trivia and all! Not to mention, there's a Quidditch tournament happening on the same campus on the same weekend, so even outside of the Great Hall there will just be amazing people everywhere. <3

For more information, trundle along to the Facebook group. Otherwise, you can buy a ticket over here. Be sure to get in soon for early bird prices!

SEE YOU AT HOGWARTS. <3

PS. If you're an interstater looking for a strong excuse to make the trip, we're probably going to schedule a Disney-themed farewell event for the Sunday of that weekend. Nothing over the top (most likely a picnic or similar) but a lot of fun anyway.

PPS. If you're not sure why I'm having a Disney-themed farewell event, since I just realised I never posted it here: I'm going to work at Walt Disney World (Florida) for a full year from January 2013. Couldn't be more thrilled!

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I last checked in. In fact, it's been so long that I just realised I never posted the cosplay interview I did here (and that was in January!). Japan Cinema invited me to chat to them for a while for their cosplay corner - if you're interested, you can read about it over here.

In other news, I have finally gotten around to doing a photoshoot for Rapunzel! Thank you so much to for being such an amazing photographer...you're so nice to me :'D And so, since I'm about to attack you all with photos, I figured it would be a great time to finally, finally post the FAQ I've been promising for her wig. Here we go!




RAPUNZEL'S WIG - THE FAQ

Oh my god, is that your real hair?

Er, no. Really, really no.

It must be really heavy then! How much does it weigh?

This is hands down the most common question I hear. I finally, finally weighed it today: 1.48kg (or 3.26 lbs). Actually not as bad as I might have guessed!

That's still pretty heavy. How does it stay on your head?

Just a few bobby pins! Sometimes it slips backwards a little, but that's only if I've been in too much of a hurry to pin it properly.

Does it hurt?

Ha ha not at all! I get a little paranoid about moving my head around too much, so I might seem a little stiffer than usual, but that's the worst it does. I always pack pain killers just in case when I wear it, but I haven't needed them yet!

How on earth did you make it?

I heard this question so often I actually made a tutorial for the process. You can find it over here:


Wait, five wigs? Why on earth didn't you just use fewer, longer wigs?

For me, colour was the absolute priority. Rapunzel has gorgeous, shining, golden blonde hair and I wanted to capture that - platinum, ash, white or orange blonde just wasn't going to cut it for me. So I spent a long time wig shopping, but in the end was only happy with the colour of the one I chose.

If you don't mind so much about the colour (or if you're luckier than I am and find the perfect colour in a longer wig!), you can of course use longer wigs. I have seen some do exactly that...although sometimes they warn that longer wigs are much harder to comb/manage! So that's something to keep in mind too.

Which wig, exactly, did you end up buying?

I bought it off ebay, where they still sell the exact same wig for a little over $20/wig. Another lovely cosplayer () mentioned that you can haggle to get five for the price of four!

My extensions were from ikickshins.net. They're super cheap, at $2.75/bag. I bought three bags of KK Jumbo Braid in #144 Gold. I think they're 48" long - I didn't trim mine at all, but obviously it will depend on your height.

Hmmm, those prices don't seem too bad. How much did it cost you overall?

Including all the fake flowers, probably between AU$170-$180. Which, admittedly, is better than I was anticipating!

Good god, did you just use glue on a wig?! Why on earth would you do that?

Better question: why not? It worked, didn't it? I knew from the start that I wouldn't be retrieving these wigs to use them for anything else, and hell if I was going to take it all apart to wash it - I would just have to take good care of it instead.

Some of the earliest and best advice I received in wig-styling was this: wigs are not real hair, and the earlier you realise that the further you'll be able to take them. I used to be very tentative in how I styled/brushed/managed them, which always took a long time and saw pretty average results. Eventually I just went "STUFF IT" and now...well, I'm happy with how Rapunzel turned out.

I would not recommend using glue on real hair, for the record.

This seems like an awful lot of work. How long did it take you?

Maybe four to five days? Mainly though it just needs the time for the caulk to set - the actual work you could probably fit into the space of a day, if it was intensive! And an extra day for clean up, ahahahahaha.

What...what is caulk?

Yeah, I barely know either. It's one of those DIY home repair things, but I've only ever used it in the context of wig styling! It's a thick, white paste that dries clear. I ended up using DAP Kwik Seal Plus Kitchen & Bath Adhesive Caulk. If you're having trouble finding it in the hardware store, Katie Blair often uses it in her wigs and sells it over here.

Soooo...can I just pay you to make me one?

My flatmate would actually murder me, and that just wouldn't work out well for anyone. Honestly, give it a try - you may surprise yourself!

Can I translate this tutorial into another language?

Knock yourself out - I think it's amazing! It's actually already been translated to French, which you can find over here.

I don't like how you made the wig.

That's fine! By no means do I think this is the only way to make Rapunzel's lovely hair - it just worked for me, so I thought I'd share.

I would actually love to link to alternative methods to making Rapunzel's wig. If you have a tutorial that you made (or if you used this one with some alterations) and you'd like to share your experiences with me, please do so! Let me know as well if I can link it here and I'll add it on - we'll compile a bit of a reference list for those seeking help.

Good luck!

And what a year it's been. Since I'm absolutely terrible at keeping up with journals & haven't done a single proper recap of an event that actually occurred this year, I'm doing a fly-by recap of aaaaall the events.

Er. Sorry.

Sydney Armageddon (February): Gabrielle

Wow so long ago now! This was Sydney's first proper Armageddon, which meant it was a little quiet. It also meant the cosplay competition was absolutely tiny & kind of embarrassing. I entered alongside , & with a Xena/Tron crossover that ended up winning, lmmmaaaaooo. The three of them went on to win again in Melbourne, which was all very exciting. Honestly I'm a bit sad Armageddon isn't returning this year - though it was really quiet, there will never be enough pop culture conventions!


Sydney Mini-Animania (March) was a bit of a non-event really. It probably will be this year too - chances are I'll be getting my feet broken around that time, so I'm not sure I'll attend (we're thinking of having a lovely picnic instead). I certainly won't be cosplaying! So skipping right over thaaaat one, to:

Melbourne Supanova (April): Rapunzel



Where do I start with this one? Getting to cosplay a Disney princess again would have been enough all by itself, but then the con went and became one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I was able to be a part of an INCREDIBLE group:



Be in a photo that went completely viral:


And be serenaded by the entire Ouran High School Host Club (oh my!):


We also had the pleasure of meeting Nick Frost & Simon Pegg who apparently sought us out I can't even.

An unusual but most welcome aspect of Melbnova 2011 was that I was able to spend it with my brother. We had never managed to attend a con together before, but kipping on his couch for this one was great. My brother and I had a pretty iffy relationship when we were younger (understatement), and this weekend honestly felt like reconciliation. It meant it was a wonderful weekend for both fannish and personal reasons, and that makes me all the happier.

Shame he's moving to Noosa now. I might need a new home next Melbnova! Any takers? xD

Supanova Sydney (June): Rogue



I saw pretty much none of Sydnova this year – I was too busy organising! Sydnova 2011 was the culmination of everyone's efforts into getting an X-Men group together...and what a group it was.


Rogue has been my idol since I was roughly seven, so finally getting to cosplay her pretty much made my life (ridiculous hair and all). I have to admit though, I was stressed to the eyeballs on this particular weekend. I don't think I'll be organising a group again. I'm not even certain I'll be in too many more skits! Competitions and skits just aren't what I enjoy about cosplay, and I always feel like I've missed out when my day is taken up by them. So while I'll still be making costumes for a good long time yet, don't expect to see me on stage too often!

Smash! (July): Utena


This was much more like it for me: a small group with absolutely lovely people, a quiet con day with plenty of time for photos and hanging out. Still cosplaying my idols though – I have such a thing for strong female characters, and Utena definitely fulfils that. It was lovely to see such a well-run convention in such a beautiful location, as well...it's not often these days that a con actually makes for a decent shoot backdrop!



Ha ha that is as much leg as you will ever see from me! We're planning a proper shoot for this in February though, and I am so looking forward to it. :3

Harry Potter Shoot/Release of the Final Movie (July): Harry Potter


OOOOHH MAN I've been in this fandom for more than a decade now, so this day meant a great deal to me. We had more than thirty people attend the shoot and the screening in costume and it was an absolute blast. Despite originally intending to do Remus (it suits my nose, lol) I somehow ended up as Harry. Not sure when that happened!

Anyway, apparently this shoot meant spending a lot of time in the bathroom.


And then we filmed this video, oh god.

Animania Sydney (September): Hikaru & Touko


Another con full of lovely people (even though there were some dramas about the venue). And awesome groups. MKR - god, one of the first anime I ever watched - and Pokemon B&W.



The gorgeous Chantelle. I think it's rare to find a family member at this point in life, but Elle has firmly lodged herself as a found sister. I'm lucky to have her – aside from being an adorable Nurse Joy, she's one of the kindest and most gracious people I've ever met, and I'm allowed to be sappy because she likely won't see this so ne'er.


I managed to run into another B&W trainer and nabbed him for a few photos...only to discover he was the younger brother of someone I already knew! Small world.

Brisbane Supanova (November): Supergirl & Robin

DC WEEKEND FOR THE WIN! I'm definitely having the most fun at Supanovas these days, and Brisnova was no exception. In fact, it was probably the best con of the year. As much as I love Kara, getting to cosplay Dick pretty much made my life. He's my favourite Robin (and I will defend that till I die, I'm looking at you Tim fans!) and I'll probably end up cosplaying every version I can actually pull off (sadly, this does not include Nightwing D'.

Oh god, I just realised I may have been lying about never showing more leg than Utena, if/when I get around to Dick's scaly panties lmfaoooooo


We were hunting Batmans all day.


And besides, I was able to be a part of YET ANOTHER goddamn epic group. YJL, ILU guys so much. :'D


I can't tell you how hard I was shaking. xD


...*on floor*

A huge thanks again to J for letting me stay. I couldn't have made it without you, and you're a wonderful host. THANK YOU! <3

Harry Potter Exhibition Fan Media Preview (November)



Yeah, you heard me. PREVIEW. I was lucky enough to be invited to see the Harry Potter exhibition before it opened to the rest of the public here in Sydney. I dragged into it as well, ostensibly to take the pressure off me as a photographer but mostly to be a victim of my fannish clawing and weeping.


The rest of the fan media!


I JUST. It was amazing. We were able to hear the two exhibition curators, as well as the Phelps twins, talk about the exhibition & their experiences on set. There was a Q&A, and then we were taken on a tour of the exhibition, with the curators as our own personal tour guides.


After, of course, the photoop.

...and then I started working there.

Because I can. Working there is an amazing experience in and of itself – I've walked the exhibit a dozen times or so now, including when it's completely empty. The best part though is that we get first dibs on all the merchandise, ahahaha!

From One Stranger to Another

A few years ago I spent Halloween handing out flowers to strangers while dressed as a fairy. It was an amazing experience, and a lot of the reactions I received - one army guy in particular - stuck with me right through until today. So when I saw this video, I thought "that's enough of an excuse to do it again!".


There were only about six of us, but we managed to hand out 232 flowers & presents to complete strangers on the street. It was wonderful. <3


Seeing all this go global is absolutely amazing - search on youtube and you find so many videos from those who participated around the world. Hopefully we'll be adding our own soon.

FOSTA (and 2012) marks the beginning of something beautiful, as well. Elle & I had so much fun on the day, and were so touched by how things went, that we're setting up a charity organisation with which we can launch more events just like it. We want to use our hobby of making costumes to reach out to others and make a few lives a little bit happier. At the moment, we have things like a Beach Quidditch tournament for the Starlight foundation on the cards, as well as a Mad Hatter's Tea Party for the Cancer Council's Biggest Morning Tea next year. At the moment we're looking for both ideas and volunteers, as well as any advice - let me know if there's something you want to contribute.

For me, 2011 has seen dozens of mind-blowing fannish moments, a thousand opportunities, new friends and a family reconciliation. I've been fully registered as a psychologist, seen dreams set in motion, and I've developed as a person. It's been one of the best years of my life, and I'm more grateful for it than I can say.

Otherwise known as the "knock that ridiculously long journal entry off my front page" post. All that scrolling was getting to me!

Someday soon I'll catch up & do a massive rundown post of all the cons I haven't posted about so far this year (read: all of them), but for now I just wanted to say

YOU GUYS ARE ALL AMAZING

Everything about the past week - from flailing at a STARISH concert last Saturday through to stumbling into spiderwebs this Saturday - has been utterly spectacular and it's all because of you. I've bruised my knees learning a certain dance, thrown pokeballs at people's faces, eaten out more often than I can count, hidden out from the rain in Apple stores, consumed my bodyweight in chocolatey substances, broken 10m on QWOP and generally had a blast. Thank you all for your company throughout it all - I already miss you. <3

See you at the next con!

(or sooner ;D)

SORRY ABOUT THIS GUYS I'm trying to do them quickly so they'll stack & you can delete them all at once, so I'll save making all the images smaller till later. -___-;;


Here's the thing: I'm apparently incapable of wearing a costume and taking photos at the same time. I have like nil photos of Saturday when I was steampunking it up - just the Madman Nationals, my photos of which are 90% crap because they moved us at the last minute and then some douche sat in front of my. DOUCHE. Here's what I looked like on Saturday, anyway:


(photos by )
The reactions to the backpack were hilarious - I kept turning around to see people hurriedly looking away. XD Also I've discovered I apparently can't wear corsets, since I had this laced up properly for like a half hour before I prompted SWOONED ALL OVER MY BED. Kept it on loosely though, and the day was a blast. Just. No photos.

So, by "Supanova Report", I essentially mean "That Time I Stalked the Star Trek Group". And, since I promised them the photos at some point,

BE WARNED. Most of these don't make any sense whatsoever.


The group! as Uhura, as Spock, :icon as JTK, as Bones and Steve as Sulu. :3 You'll notice throughout that it is VERY VERY difficult to get these guys to remain serious for any length of time.


+ Chekov, the amazing vampiric hand puppet.


They even brought their own Captain's chair!


Some managed to stay surprisingly in character (Kirk, what happened to your shirt this time?)...


...others, not so much.


There were srs moments


(but they never lasted long)


(and once they were gone they were hard to get back)


(in fact it might have been just the one srs moment)
HORRIFYING TRANSPORTER ACCIDENT?


BONES DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS, DAMMIT


Best moment of the weekend! (these guys seem to get beaten up a lot?)


It wouldn't be Star Trek without some DRAMATIC PHOTOS!!!!!1!!


Best part of the day was Sulu's aviators. XD


Skit rehearsals are always inherently hilarious.


SORRY GUYS, COULDN'T RESIST.


SENSE.


NONSENSE.


THE SKIT. There more up at the album, here, or you can watch the skit on youtube.




Things steadily degenerated from there.


Mutiny with a hot glue gun.


HYPOS: THEY'RE WHAT PHOTOSHOP IS FOR


Getting the traditional Kirk&Spock shot, ala these.






Kirk can only pet so many subordinates each day, you know.


I manage to get another serious shot...


...which of course means they're uncontrollable for the next ten.


But at least they're very happy about it?


I swear, there's a distinct pattern here. Serious.


Not serious.


Serious.


Not serious.


I do love the handy little transporter lights though.


Even if Bones doesn't. ;D


Aaaand we're done here. Beam us up. :3

Okay so yeah, anyone who has an LJ knows EXACTLY WHY I'm offloading a few old entries here. Who wants to go for a walk down memory lane with me? XD PICSPAM AHEAD.

The shoot that had to happen so that I could cut off all my hair: AVATAR. Chinese Gardens, Sept 27th, with:
Ty Lee
Fahye (Mai)
Azula
Suki
Toph
Sokka
Zuko
Katara

These photos were all the ones on my camera, but I've lost track of who took what over time. If I'm not in it, it was probably me, otherwise it's anyone's best guess. If there's one you know you took and want to be credited for, HOLLA.


THIS IS A PRETTY CLEAR INDICATION OF WHAT IS TO COME


I had more fun playing Ty Lee than I have with any other character, ever (though I was pretty sore the next day D.


Chinese Gardens made the perfect backdrop for the day, too.


A FAMILIAR SRSFACE. Hooray for Avatar reunions!




Our amazing Toph <3 This girl knows how to pose.


<3 <3 <3


I'm hoping someone out there has this shot with better lighting. D: I wasn't messing with my camera settings at all this day, so there's quite a few badly-lit ones. THAT AND THE WIND. Like, 60% of my photos were tossed because someone's hair/costume were being blown around.


CASE IN POINT.


Fahye looking imposing. >)


THE MELON LORD.


SO. MUCH. FUN.




Seriously, I wish it was always this easy to find appropriate scenery. Rocks for Toph, the buildings for the dangerous ladies, and...


...water for Katara. I have like no photos of Bubble though. ;_________; How did I avoid her all day?!


Fun with shadows


Probably deserved it. -____- (Also, my haaaaaaaaaaaaair...)


The manic laughter and the crazy talk get a little repetitive after a while.

And since we're in a nice, romantic little space....


LET THE SHIP WARS BEGIN


Zuko/Mai was the pairing of choice -


- (being, y'know, canon).


But others made an appearance too!


And throughout it all,


only one truth was universally acknowledged:


That Sokka...


...IS A TOTAL PIMP. <3


Fishies!




Obligatory. <3


And then we ended the day by beating up Azula.

Yay! >D

THERE WE HAVE IT. Hooray for animations! XD

Hey everyone!

Just a quick heads up to warn you all of the spam fest over the next couple of days. I've written up the tutorial for Rapunzel's wig (it's currently being betaed by the gorgeous ) and the write up for Melbnova is on the horizon too (I'm just waiting on some photos).

Beyond that - those of you who use LiveJournal might be aware of the major issues it has been having lately. A lot of us are getting sliiiiightly concerned about a total crash, so I'm going to back up a few photoshoot/convention write ups that currently only exist over there. In other words, I'm going to repost them to DA. So...a definite flood!

For now, however: bedtime.

Goodnight!

We are so painfully indecisive!

It's surprisingly difficult to maintain a combined DA (so many decisions! So many lost messages! So much confusion!), so Anna and I are returning to our individual accounts.

Farewell to ! ;_____;

I know, I know, we are so unbelievably irritating. :S NONETHELESS. Expect an unfortunate amount of spam tomorrow, while I catch up on things, and then everything will return tomorrow.

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON <3

I've just moved house and now I'm moving DA accounts - right across to .

and I came to the realisation that neither of us update DA independently, so perhaps if we teamed up we might actually be able to scrape something together.

This account will stay in the water (mainly so we can refer to each other...egooooootism ftw) but all updates, both journal and deviation-wise, will be over there.

See you there!

Those of you who aren't on LJ probably won't have heard the reason why I haven't exactly embellished by DevArt yet, so: My computer has died.

Unfortunately, I'm truely awful at backing up too, so currently it looks like any and all photos I took this year - events, photoshoots, meet ups, etc - are lost. Well, we think so. The technician is still trying, but apparently it doesn't look too good.

So this post is four things:
1) An explanation
2) An apology: to those I took photos for and haven't delivered, I feel awful and trust me, I've learnt my lesson. Especially to those at the Gakuen Heaven shoot, since I was actually very fond of those photos and there isn't even a sample online.
3) A notice: there is still that teeny-tiny bit of hope, so if it does manage to pull though...expect a total flood of photos. Safer online than on my computer, apparently.
4) A REMINDER.

SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. TAKE A MOMENT. BACK UP YOUR DAMN FILES.

My computer's failure came out of nowhere and hit hard and fast: you never know. BACK UP.

Look, a whole new sandbox to play in!

Currently puttering around the site exploring things, bucket and spade in hand. Hopefully someday soon I'll be able to upload some pictures - either of my own cosplays, or ones I've taken of others (that Gakuen Heaven shoot, for example ;D).

If you've stumbled here and think I look vaguely familiar, this year's most recent cosplays were Ty Lee (Avatar), Glinda (Wicked) and Villetta (Code Geass - the one with the broken wig that argh argh argh I need to redo before the photoshoot!).

Drop me a line if we've met in the past!

~Echo