massive commission update

[rose_of_pain]

I meant to do this a while ago but then forgot and got busy. ^^;; But since I'm feeling a bit blah and don't want to do anything right now, might as well do this. So here are all the commissions I've done in the last few months that I hadn't posted on here yet. Most of you have probably already seen them on my facebook but at least here I can write more notes about the construction and whatnot...

Alois Trancy - Kuroshitsuji II:
- Made for makokitten
- Jacket + Waistcoat + Neck Bow


This was actually made all the way back at Otakon and I know I mentioned it on here before. I just stupidly deleted my photos of it on the dressform and then totally forgot to post the photos of her in it. So here you go. XD; I made only the jacket, bow, and the waistcoat. The rest was provided by her. Jacket is fully lined and has those little pleats he's got going in the back though you can barely see them here. The waistcoat in the design has black stripes on it and I couldn't find green fabric with stripes anywhere. So what did I do? I embroidered the stripes on. XD Was pretty proud of how straight I got them too. Sadly this thing was a bit of a rush job 'cause it was a last minute commission and then the power went out for a few days so I had barely any time to work on it. So its not as good as I'd like it but she seemed pretty happy with it. I offered (and the offer still stands if you ever see this, Chelsea XD) to fix it up a bit for her if she wanted though. Its mostly just the bottom of the jacket I'm not happy with. But turns out it was more the fabric that was an issue as I learned later on...

Hyuuga Hinata - Naruto Shippuden - "sexy" omake version
- Made September, 2010


This was a bit of a challenge. Mostly because I was not a big fan of the original design given to me. I felt the way they had done the ears was rather ugly and that the outfit itself was just a strange design. So it was a bit of a challenge to come up with a way to make this look...not so funky. So the ears are completely different than the original design and far cuter in my opinion. The skirt was done a little longer...though ended up being too long (oops) but luckily the customer's mother was able to take it in for her. There is also an underskirt which is a little hard to see in the photos but its a cream color that has a triangular cut around the way around the edge which was obnoxious 'cause I had to do a zig-zag sticth and fray check (for extra reinforcement) all the way around that and yet you can barely even see that's there. n_n; lol Gotta love my anal attention to details. The ruffles took the longest and went on forever as I made them myself. The bodice and jacket are lined. And the pink sash bit velcros on around the waist. The bunny ears are clip-ons. And the cuffs snap on. The customer only gave me a video clip of her wearing it instead of any photos which unfortunately is a little difficult to use. So you'll just have to trust me that it actually looked pretty good in the end.

Muraki - Yami no Matsuei - young schoolboy version, from doujinshi
- Made September, 2010


Yeah, nothing too exciting with this one. Just another gakuran top. After I made the first gakuran commission and put up the extra top for sale on cosplay.com, I got quite a few people asking me for them. So at least these babies are easy to pop out. Even though I've decided not to use twill anymore because the black picks up lint LIKE WOAH! And I nor my customers have figured out a way to really combat that yet so I figured it's safer to just use a different bottomweight from now on. >>; Sadly I did manage to make the sleeves slightly too long. Pfft. Which I've done several times now. I think I just keep overestimating how much to put in the sleeve. I tend to add a little extra just in case and I guess I should stop doing that and just trust their measurements. ^^;; Or if the measurement is close to my arm length, I'll just go off my arms for reference. But I guess my arms are longer than I thought? O_o; Though it could be the shoulder area so perhaps I need to ask more often for shoulder length too.

Takashi - HighSchool of the Dead
- Made for Prince Draco
- Gakuran Top only
- Made September, 2010


And yet another Gakuran top. XD; Nothing too special about this one other than the fact that it's a bit of a longer style since it was made for a taller guy. Though I'm not quite sure why he decided to fold the edges of the top in a lapel style there 'cause I'm pretty sure the character just wears it straight with the collar up and all. But it looks to me from photos like he purposely folded it down. *shrug* I have no idea. lol

Alois Trancy - Kuroshitsuji II #2
- Made for ravenwalker
- Jacket only
- Made September, 2010


So these photos kinda suck ass but I was in a hurry to get it out at the time. ^^;; I actually have slightly better photos but those were taken before all the buttons were put on. 'Cause you see, I had an issue trying to find 4 more buttons as my JoAnn's didn't restock them when I thought they would and so I ended up having to put them on hold at the Super JoAnn's an hour away and go there and then rush to put them on and send the costume out. And the worst part about that? The buttons they had weren't exactly the same as before. They like changed the style so it was more bronze looking than gold. n_n; Argh. Tis what I get for being determined to make it the same as the first one. But anyways, the customer really liked makokitten's coat so thus why I was trying to make it the same as they really wanted it like that. The only difference is that I added the cuff buttons too which weren't on the first one. I offered that with a slight in crease in price to cover the cost of the buttons. Otherwise, exact same thing and once again I had issues with the bottom of the jacket not wanting to cooperate with the lining. So thus why I said I realized it was in fact the fabric that hates me since I had a bit more time to work with this one. Drove me crazy. n_n

Embroidery Patch Set - Japanisches Kaiserreich Mitternacht Marine (say that 3 times fast O_o)
- Made for yeu
- Made October, 2010


Not much to say on these as they are what they are. lol And I doubt you all would want to hear the details of how I do these as its not that interesting. But we did have a little battle against time here with these due to Yeu's group changing their minds on when they wanted to wear these costumes and so suddenly I had to get them out a lot faster than I thought. So was on pins and needles whether they would arrive in time but they did.

The Fifth Doctor - Doctor Who
- Made for Jim Barry
- Coat + Pants
- Made October, 2010


This one was fun to do. Though I did have a little issue with the back vent not wanting to lay flat. And I must admit the stitching on the bias tape is not my best job but I didn't really have the time to do the nicer methods as this was given to me with not much time at all before the due date. I'm also annoyed I couldn't find a better patterned fabric for the pants. This was the closest I could get. But the customer absolutely loved it. ...even though I totally got the length wrong. I misjudged a little 'cause I was going by memory on how tall he was and I thought I added plenty to the length but on him, it looks a little short. ^^;; He doesn't seem to mind though but it does bother me. lol However, I do take pride in the fact that I made sure to construct this the proper way. Its not 100% accurate to the actual jacket but to be honest, I just didn't have the time to figure out all those seams. But the ones in the front are all there. Just missing a few from the back.

Himura Kenshin - Rurouni Kenshin
- Made for Adam - griffti6
- 2 Layered Kimono + Hakama
- Made October, 2010


I did my best to make this as historically accurate as possible. Not sure if I did or not as I got a little confused in all my research as I was having various sources telling me different things. lol Since this was my first time constructing hakama and I've never even worn or seen hakama much in person so I didn't even know how it went on. So this led to a lot of watching videos of how to wear it, etc. Pretty proud of the hakama even if I'm not sure if I did them 100% correct or not as I'm still not sure if I put the pleats in the correct positions. I hope I did. The ties aren't quite right as I didn't have enough fabric left and was like "ya know, he probably doesn't need them to both tie that way since its just a costume". Had to help him get into it 'cause its just hard to put it on yourself in general as I had a hard time when I was checking to see if I did it right. Though lol I love how he was all "Wait...you made both layers as full kimonos...I thought it'd be shorter..." Me: "...you told me you wanted them accurate so I made them accurate, dammit! This is how they work. I thought about cheating and making them basically just Gii tops but decided you'd probably want the full thing..." Him: "...n_n but I didn't realize it'd be this hard to get on." lol But we managed and it looked pretty damn awesome and he got a lot of attention so whoo~

Kisaragi Jin - BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
- Made for Prince Draco
- Everything but the gloves and sword
- Made October, 2010


Oh my lord. This costume. Definitely one of my most challenging commissions to date. The design for this outfit makes no freaking sense. XD; Drove me crazy. Oddly enough the hardest part was the white top. Everything else wasn't too bad. It was mostly trying to figure out how to make it and make it so it could still come on and off as the bottom doesn't open up so I had to get...really creative with that. n_n As a result it is a little confusing on how to put it on and I wasn't even sure how at first so took a little bit of struggling to get it on him the first time lol as it was a whole "oh wait no no, move your arm back, ok, try this way..." but once we figured it out, it wasn't that bad. Just a means of how to bend ones' arms when sliding it on. But yeah I don't think I could do this for anyone I'm not going to see in person as the directions of how to put it on may be a bit too confusing. That and I'd be terrified of the resin pieces breaking in transit as I ended up casting all those little silver pieces. And the boots was an interesting ordeal as well as I ended up just having to buy white boots to modify and I was worried the fabric wouldn't stay on as its just glued on but it seems to be holding up pretty well. Oddly enough. Considering it came undone after being in Adam's car but after I re-glued it, it never came off. Huh. lol I was really frustrated that the one shoulder piece refused to stay up though. And it was odd as the other one was fine. Ended up taking it home with me and adding velcro but Jason said it didn't really work. Granted he said this to me and I'm looking at him with it on and it looks like it's working better than before so not sure what he meant. Also redid the belt a bit as the first time it was a little too loose so here its actually just ghetto-ified though you can't see that. XD I took it and just folded back part of it and stitched it real quick by hand so it wouldn't show. Then later corrected it for the next con.

Kururugi Suzaku - Code Geass - Ashford Uniform
- Made for Prince Draco
- Top + Belt only
- Made November, 2010


Another last minute outfit. lol Like he gave this to me when I was already rushing to get Jin and Kenshin done. I took it anyways as I needed the money and he was offering me extra for the time limit (like A LOT extra lol) so this was what I worked on all Halloween night. Was a looong night. lol I forgot how hard the gold fabric is to work with was my main issue here as I was using it for the bias tape because I hate the gold bias tape they sell in stores. Well. Forgot the fabric frays to hell and back. Pfft. So I gold EVERYWHERE oh my god. n_n Stupid freaking fabric. lol Its nice but I usually only use it in small quantities. But anyways, not much else to this other than the fact I embroidered the Ashford design, which was the made reason he wanted me to make this instead of going to ebay 'cause he liked my embroidery on some of my other stuff I had done.

Annnnd that pretty much brings us up to date. lol As I haven't actually started on the new bunch of commissions yet. Am about to. In fact going to start on Archer as soon as I finish this entry. 'Cause I got. A LOT. And I really need to get my butt in gear. Uggggah.

~Lyn

Comments

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

It literally blows my mind that you can produce such a huge quantity of this stuff and have it all come out so nice!!

[rose-of-pain.livejournal.com]

Well, granted keep in mind I haven't really been doing much else besides these costumes in the last several months. I'm not so sure I could keep it up with an actual full time job or even with a part time job. Though I'd still like to do at least a few here and there even when I do. I just gotta figure out how to pace myself when that happens.

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

Loooooooooove the 5th Doctor coat!

[rose-of-pain.livejournal.com]

Hee~ Had a feeling you'd like that one. XD And yes, your comments on the previous post was what lead to me finally doing this. lol

...also I'm slightly freaked that the girl in your icon looks a lot like a friend of mine. Might just be the expression but its kinda eerie.

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

I am glad to be a point of inspiration for cosplay posts!

And that is Olivia Dunam from Fringe in my icon which is an EPIC show which takes the place of my childhood X-files! I may also want to marry her... a lot.

[starlitrose.livejournal.com]

It all looks so good! You've really gotten better just through your commissions. I especially love the Jin costume. Keep it up!!

[rose-of-pain.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you. ^^ Yeah, my skills have changed a lot in just the last 2 years. To the point that I look at things I made not even all that long ago and am like "Egads, what was I thinking!" lol I've learned a lot and am still learning. Also hoping that if I get this internship I'm going to try for, that I'll learn even more and get a lot better as the whole point of said internship is to learn how to work professionally with costumes.

[ihito.livejournal.com]

You were the one who embroidered the patches?! 8D my friend who's in the group told me some awesome person did the embroidery; what a small world!!

[rose-of-pain.livejournal.com]

Heehee XD Small world indeed. Though not surprised since I already knew you knew some of that gang.

[ihito.livejournal.com]

yahhh cosplayers all know each other one way or another ;)

You know, I've known you on lj for a loooonnngg time, yet we've never met IRL. :C I think that has to change.. I actually want to try going to an east coast con, do you have any recommendations?

[rose-of-pain.livejournal.com]

This is very true. Hmmm. Hard to say 'cause each con has its pros and cons and I mostly just go to them 'cause they're in my area or because I have a lot of friends at them. lol I guess if you like big cons than Otakon is the best to consider as its most likely to have the better guests and events though you gotta plan ahead of time for it as hotels sell out fast and all. Katsucon is another popular one but it varies year to year and now its kinda expensive due to being in a super fancy hotel.

I've heard good things about Anime Weekend Atlanta and Anime Central which are both semi big but I've never been to either. Though I guess ACEN can be considered a little more central US than east coast.

The cons I go to these days are just Katsu, Ota, AnimeUSA, sometimes Animazement and sometimes Nekocon but the latter two I only recommend if you know people going as they're both small cons but I like them 'cause they're laidback and all. I've also been to AnimeNEXT and New York Anime Festival but haven't been to either in a while. NYAF is only worth going to if there's a particular guest or event going on you want to go to or if you just want to have an excuse to hang out in NYC 'cause the con itself isn't that great.

[ihito.livejournal.com]

If I don't get tickets to comic con, I might think about attending Otakon but the only problem is that its 2 weeks after Anime Expo ahah;;; I just checked out NYAF and the guest list looks pretty amazing! Thanks for the info! I would really like to try to make it to at least one of these cons next year :))

(maybe you should try west coast cons too ;DD )

[rose-of-pain.livejournal.com]

Welp keep in mind the guest list currently up on the site is just the one for this year's which only occurred about 2 months ago so they haven't started changing things yet. As I just peeked and yeah those are still the guests from this past con. But as you can see, they do tend to have a lot. One of the years I went, I went mostly just 'cause Amano was there. XD;

And yeah, that does tend to be an issue with scheduling. Granted I can't really afford to attend any far out cons right now but maybe some day. Though I've been saying that for a while now. ^^;;

[ihito.livejournal.com]

I see I see, but the guests invited are usually pretty big names, so I have hope! I just wished some of these cons were on long weekends or something so I won't have to take days off of work or whatnot;; sighh~

I totally understand about how expensive a trip can get especially if its only for the weekend.. One of these days we'll finally get to meet each other haha~ and when we do, we should do an Angel Sanctuary cosplay for old times' sake xDDD <3