Volume 2 x2

    I guess it goes without saying that I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and I went to see it in costume...

Before the film

Inside the theater

After the film

...but I also went back a week later and saw it again! I loved it that much! (I mean I'm pretty darn broke since I bought the cosplay and all)

Second time around. I look like I'm in pain but it's really just the FEELS

   Our local theater is about an hour away, but really cheap, so I took full advantage and saw it in 3-D. No regrets. At all. Also, no one thought it was remotely weird that I walked into the theater in a leather-armored jacket, but my friend in a totally normal trench got comments.

    I don't understand, but whatever!

New Project: Star-Lord!

    It's been aaaages since I posted here, but I'm far from inactive! I've recently re-discovered my absolute love for all things Guardians of the Galaxy. Peter Quill is a costume I've long lusted after and I finally decided to just go for it!

     The process of gathering materials for this costume has been intense. Everything is either custom-made for the film or obsolete/super expensive or both. Also he wears like 10,000 different jackets. Seriously, the man has a closet somewhere of just red leather jackets so he can wear a different one every single day. What the actual, dude.

    Many many hours of scouring eBay later, I came up with a quick solution that could arrive in time to wear to the theater for opening week of GotG vol2. I snagged a red pleather jacket in my size (amazing!), a pair of cheap headphones, a set of orange headphone pads, and a used/nonfunctional Panasonic cassette recorder (stand-in walkman) as well as a pair of shoes that could be easily converted to some crazy space cowboy boots. All for under $90 including shipping! Score! I also chopped my hair, but that was half for cosplay and half because it's heading into summer in the hot and muggy swampland I live in, and my hair is thick like a wool hat.

    When the jacket arrived, to my dismay, it was already disintegrating. Pleather does that (which is why I typically do not buy it). My beautiful jacket was already ruined before I even got to wear it! This is the solution I came up with. It is a temporary solution, but a fun one! I pulled out my leather, my deadly e6000 glue, some rivets, and leather dye, and went to town.
   

     I think it turned out really well.
   

Ravager style!

    The edges are still falling to pieces, but at least it slowed the decay for a while. I'm still considering turning this into a Peter-holding-the-infinity-stone cosplay someday. I only wish I could wear contacts because how cool would it be to go to a con with glowy purple eyes?

    Anyway, here's the result so far.

    I still have a long way to go on my hair, and I need to get some makeup because I'm gonna do the beard. Also I do have the guns, gonna paint them. Need to make the earpiece for the mask (I have the mask but...not gonna wear that to a con). Need to make the spats for the boots, holsters for the guns, and paint the Panasonic to look like a Walkman (and maybe mod it to play music?)

    It's a work in progress, but I already love it!

The Singing Canary

This costume consists of stuff out of my "normal" closet, Loki's leggings, Black Widow's widowbite gloves and boots, my Colonial Warrior belt that is safety-pinned together currently, a brand new blonde wig I bought for a totally different character, and a leather mask that I threw together in a couple of hours last night. It's just a quick little outfit. I was just planning to walk around, have a few laughs, talk to people, chill. Nothing stressful, nothing major. No contests, no vending, no really heavy business stuff today.

I figured it was a basic enough outfit to be mostly overlooked, and that was totally fine with me. I was so pleasantly surprised by the many people who either guessed my character right, or made a good effort. But then I start to get asked if I'm entering the cosplay contest. What? I'm not wearing a cosplay! I'm barely wearing anything! Last year, I spent every con with thirty tons of resin horns perched on my head while draped with robes of pleather, velveteen, and half-encased in craft foam armor. I'm used to being sweaty and unable to effectively move most of my body in cosplays. How can I enter a cosplay contest in a denim jacket and a pair of leggings?

But the lady practically shoved the sign-up sheet in my hand, so I signed up anyway. What the heck. I've always had fun getting on stage in-character. Probably most people wouldn't have signed up for a contest with a closet cosplay of a character they only had a passing familiarity with due to Netflix binge nights...but I'm not most people, I guess.

So there I was after the first round of judging (where I stumbled through the questions like "what was your favorite scene with your character" and considering I can barely remember the weekends I stayed up till 3 am watching said Netflix binge...I guess I did ok). I stood there, just 30 seconds from getting on stage, and suddenly realize I'm about to get on stage. I need to do more than stand there and look pretty.

"I'm gonna sing!" I blurt to the sound guy.

SING.

Apparently, Black Canary sings now. The first verse of "I'll Follow You Into The Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie because that was literally the first thing that popped into my head. Apparently, this doesn't paralyze the audience, because there was applause.

I didn't win anything (which was fine, to be honest I would have felt really weird winning anything WITH A CLOSET COSPLAY and an impromptu a Capella concert) but the girl standing next to me in line told me that I have a lovely voice. So that was awesome!

 

Loki in the Snow Photoshoot

Loki found snow and got so excited his hair fluffed out

Two photoshoots in two days! I am just enjoying myself way too much!

I woke up to a bright white winter wonderland outside, so naturally my first instinct was to get dressed in my Loki costume and go tromp footprints in all the fresh powder lying tantalizingly everywhere.

I honestly thought that would last about 2 seconds before I would be running back inside for blankets and hot cocoa, given that my costume is not exactly designed for winter weather. I was worried that I would ruin my boots in the snow. But the costume performed beautifully. I didn't even get that cold.

Oh Thooorrr, I have something for you...

Action shot

I really put it to the test...

That'snow angel.

Dashing through the snow

The full version read "Loki is Better Than Thor"

It had just really been a long time since I went and ran around in the snow for no reason besides skiing. 

Epic shot.

And I think Loki really enjoyed getting outside. 

I love this costume.

Black Widow WIP Photoshoot

A whole bunch of cosplay packages arrived for me today. This prompted a photoshoot...

It's still very much a work in progress, but it's starting to come together, and I'm excited!

Oops

Adventures in cosplay: It turns out that the belt I ordered was a size too small. I ended up ordering another one. So glad I caught that before it was too late!

Also, here's a look at one of the Widow Bites after yet another coat of Mod Podge...

The hard coat is actually hardening, so I think it should work. I had an interesting idea for how to make my Bites unique, but I have to wait for another package to get here before I can try it! Also, the gloves accidentally got ordered from China, so they may not get here until just before the con (hopefully sooner though, if I'm lucky!)

I found a pair of chunky heeled combat boots in my wardrobe (I know it sounds weird, but it's true) that I may use instead of my Loki boots...I haven't decided yet, I still need to get some test photos!

I located my nylon webbing, so that I can make the utility belt, now it's just a matter of waiting for packages and time...

Widow Bites

I will begin by saying please don't read this blog thinking this is a tutorial. If you want to know how things work out, read ahead before trying anything. For example, I attempted to glue the bullets to the links with Krazy Glue, but that didn't work at all, so I ended up re-gluing them all with my trusty E6000, which seems to hold them a lot better.

I also sized them up a couple of bullets so that I could slip them on and off without having to remove bullets every time. Once the glue was dried and the bullets and links were assembled into two "bite" bracelets, I started painting.

 And clearcoating...

And painting...

 And clearcoating...

I'm using this stuff for the clearcoat, since I can't use spray paint.

It isn't turning out to be as "hard" a coat as I would like. I'm hoping that it can withstand the stress of a convention.