Old but new: casual!Prussia mini-photoshoot!

Hello~!
If this post seems like a Naruto filler episode... You're right, this is definitely a filler. Sorry.

Well, like the title says, this post will include something old but at the same time something new. I haven't posted these pictures anywhere else - yet they were taken during the winter 2017. Woah, it literally feels like they were taken just a few months ago...

I was actually going to take pictures for a circle lens review (EOS New Adult Red) at Gure's place and for that I was going through my wigs and my wardrobe. Then I suddenly got an idea: why wouldn't I have a small photoshoot too? I had pretty much the right clothes and Gure had time to be my photographer so a photoshoot we did!

After these pictures were taken I promised myself to never publish these since I thought I looked fat in them. Well, I might not be slim in these but c'mon, past me: clothes too small (in this case, my T-shirt) never do anyone justice.
I should probably call this a mini-photoshoot since it was quite cold outside and inside we had this horrible yellow light so we didn't take that many photos... But here are at least a couple of pictures of the said "cosplay"!

Yeah, seriously - it's a mini photoshoot. :'D

And why am I publishing these pictures?
Because, when I finally weight less than... Well, now, I'm going to make a casual outfit for Prussia. Better this time, mind you - I had to go with what I had in my wardrobe back then. I doubt that I'll make his uniform version, at least not anytime soon; I'm still not interested in sewing uniforms again. Maybe someday but that's not happening anytime soon.

I'm going to make at least one new cosplay this year. My partner in crime, also known as Gure has showed some interest to make some projects with me and I'm beyond excited about those costumes we're gonna make. Not gonna reveal them yet though, except for Chloe and Rachel which you probably knew already.

Until next time.

-Firith

Cosplay year 2017

I just noticed that I've completely forgotten the birthday of this blog. Well, going to publish my "birthday blog post" later - I still haven't edited all of the pics for it.

But.
Cosplay year 2017.

This year I concentrated more on photoshoots than conventions. Despite it I managed to host my first convention, Euran Mangapäivä II. And yes, it still feels surreal.
I made three new costumes, borrowed a few and photoshooted a couple of old cosplays. x)

I won't make a cosplay compilation pic because I'm lazy and studying InDesign at school right now, oops but continue reading, please - I will list all of the cosplays from this year.

My favourite cosplay this year

Avalon from StarStable Online. Photo © Picair.

Avalon - definitely my favourit one from year 2017. I spent a lot of time sewing and painting the robe and I'm very pleased with the result.

I actually would've wanted to compete with this costume but sadly my version isn't the most original one. In the game itself Avalon's face, hair and hands can't be seen. This is how I pretty much imagined him to look like.
I debuted this costume in Yukicon and wore it again when I modeled for my classmates.

The only contest cosplay this year

Teutonic Knights!Prussia from Hetalia: Axis Powers. Photo © Shiro Samurai.

Oh Prussia, Prussia...

I don't really like this cosplay that much. So many mistakes, I failed the make-up when I was in a hurry, I should've cut the wig... -__-"
But, well, I've made worse cosplays too. *looks at Conchita Wurst from 2015*

I borrowed the costume for Shiro Samurai at NärCon Sommar 2017. I've only worn this costume once and it was at Matsucon in March.

For a Swedish convention

Lord Cob from Tales from Earthsea. Pic © Shiro Samurai. edit by me.

 Yeah, lord Cob... I just wanted to make something simple for NärCon because making a huge costume wasn't even an option (lack of space) and I was too tired to make something difficult (I was working for the whole summer in a factory) so I made this genderfuck beautiful sorcerer from Tales from Earthsea.

Mainly making this was just a joke between me and Shiro Samurai but well, I like this character a lot anyways.

Costume is made by me. My uncle helped me to make the staff. Going to wear Cob for another photoshoot, hopefully in the near future! And probably for some conventions too, not sure yet. 

 

So, those are the costumes I made myself... Then the borrowed ones! x)

Just for photoshoot

Japan from Hetalia: Axis Powers. Photo © Shiro Samurai.

Yep, we photoshooted Japan again in 2017, in March (if I remember correctly). Costume was borrowed from Shiro Samurai. 

For Euran Mangapäivä

Sasuke Uchiha (own design). Photo © Shiro Samurai.

I borrowed this costume from Shiro Samurai, except for the kusanagi which I made myself back in 2013 (...it's almost five years old...). Because Shiro Samurai had wanted to wear his kimono!Itachi costume I decided to be the lil' bro for him. 
And I didn't have any costumes I could've worn... Ayame was my first choice but the jacket is in very bad condition and I'll repair it this year. I want to cosplay the awesome snek again! <3

(Believe it or not, Sasuke and Japan have the same wig.)


I also cosplayed mafia!Francis Bonnefoy in NärCon. I have a pic of him but, well, guess do I have the photo in this PC... Nope, it's in my crashtop laptop. -__-"

At Tracon I didn't cosplay anything - the lecture I was supposed to keep with one of my friends had to be cancelled and my grandfather died just a day before Tracon so... Yeah, I didn't have the hype to make that lecture myself and I'm very sorry about that.
I didn't have a ticket so I just hung around in the yard and gave photoshoots for the few of my friends. I'm going to publish some of those pics at some point - I still haven't had time to edit all of them and I'm very, very sorry about it too! D:

I know that I haven't been very active with blogging these days but well, personal things. Nothing bad but something that takes time - and money - a lot.

But I'll be back in business sooner than you think - and I promise that! <3

Sincerely yours,

Firith.

Among the snow shines the rising sun - Japan photoshoot #2!

Hello~!

A while ago I - once again - traveled to the north and more specifically to Shiro Samurai's place. You may remember that he borrowed the Japan cosplay to me for Skecon but the costume wasn't complete back then (it was missing the lenses and it bothered me to no end tbh). That's why I wanted to photoshoot that cosplay again - and Shiro Samurai was willing to photograph me~!

And here are the pictures!
...I just noticed that my hands are in the same position in almost every pic - even though it wasn't very cold my fingers were freezing. Oops.

Character: Japan
Series: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Cosplayer: yours truly
Photos & photo edit: Shiro Samurai

Fun fact: I still need help with dressing up in this costume... I'm not very used to wearing these kind of clothes wish I had money to do so though.

Of course there's the bonus pic... xD Also known as "don't be aware that you're being photographed before your photographer mentions that your face actually looks decent even though you're not even trying to look clever" :'D

Don't start smoking, kids. Says the one who is trying to quit it. :I

But yeah, there you go~!
I'd also like to cosplay 2p!Japan (also known as Kuro Honda) at some point... I'm really starting to like this character! <3

That's all for now - but there are many blog posts to come quite soon~!

-Firith

I'm awesome! (Teutonic Knights!Prussia WIP)

It was pretty hard to decide which version of Prussia I would make first; man, I love all those designs! In the end I decided to begin to make his Teutonic Knights version - it isn't so popular and it's pretty easy to make. I will make at least one of his uniforms in the future though (when I have more money and time, that is).

The challenge #1 was to find some reference pictures of this version.
...guess if there were any?

Nope.

I decided to take a couple of screenshots of the anime episode in which Prussia appears in this certain outfit it took me an eternity to find out which episode it was.
The quality is quite... Well, hideous, but at least I was able to figure out the parts of this costume!

As you can see the costume is almost completely white, excluding those black cross details. A tunic, trousers and a cape ( + shoes of course) - seems quite easy, doesn't it?

Let's get into business~!

The trousers and the shoes

I didn't really bother to make anything new; my Levi cosplay provided me both of these! Since one can't see the shoes clearly I'll just roll with what I have and those boots are the best option - at least at the moment.
Oh, the Levi costume provides me the belt also, I didn't have to worry about sewing it either! 
I might make new trousers and shoes for Prussia in the future, I don't know yet.

The tunic

You know that feeling when you think that you don't have any of those fabrics which you would need left and then you find a shitload of that fabric?
Happened to me with this costume - I thought that I didn't have much left of the white fabric I wanted to use for this costume but then I found something like two meters of it o__O I'm not complaining, I don't have to use extra money on this now (since that Avalon guy from StarStable Online pretty much ate half of my cosplay budget for this spring)!

This was easy one to make - as you can see from the pictures (it's been such a long time since I've actually taken WIP pictures)! 

I used the patterns of a sleeveless top... 

The tunique without sleeves. I decided to attach the cross to the shirt by zigzagging it.

A close-up of the zigzag. Guess if I really want the new sewing machine and new threads? -__-"

Aaaaand then happened this...

The zigzag killed the needle... :<

Luckily I had more needles left but guess if I cried a bit when I understood that there would be two more crosses left (I attached them to the cape)? Aaagh!

Making the sleeves. They were too wide at first so I had to make a quick decision about how to continue making them and the result is worth a cringe... But hey, it worked!

After the sleeve width problem I just attached the sleeves to the tunic - and here's the final product!

Not ironed in the pic though.

The cape

 For some reason I didn't take any WIP pictures of the cape... x__x Well, I made it in a hurry and didn't have time to think about taking pictures, sorry!
I'm likely to re-make the cape in the future so you'll get the WIP pictures then!

And why am I already considering re-making it?
...let's just say that this is the new episode of "Firith and the random materials" show. This cape is made out of enstex.
Enstex.
Well, it isn't too bad... It'll work for now.

Make-up test~!

Without lenses though... .__. Pic (c) Shiro Samurai.

I will phostoshoot this costume quite soon actually - and I have a lot material to post so stay tuned~!

-Firith

Some plans for 2017!

I could place a bet that even half of these aren't actually going to happen but I will try.

In 2016 I got almost nothing done. I couldn't follow my plans, I didn't even want to look at my sewing machine and when I finally did I cried blood mentally. I could say that everything I made... Pretty much failed (well okay I think that my Italy cosplay was okay).
I would like to change these things in 2017 since I love this hobby very much. The greatest problem here seems to be my attitude ("I'll just fail so why should I even try, seriously?") and luckily I can affect it!

But yes, some plans...

Avalon from StarStable Online.

I'll try to make this druid guy for Yukicon but at the moment I'm facing kind of huge problem - I can't find fabrics for this. Yes, I know, it's just fifty shades of gray but I've only come across way too thin fabrics by far.
I so hope that I'll finish Avalon in time - he's such a cool guy!

Chikane Himemiya from Kannazuki no Miko.

...I don't even know what to say about her anymore. God damn it, I've tried to finish making this priestess costume for almost two years now and I'm STILL stuck with it!! *insert some rage here* My frustration is actually one of the main reasons why I want to make this costume ready... And guess what - I finally came across someone who wants to cosplay Himeko Kurusugawa! <3

Prussia from Hetalia: Axis Powers.

...though I don't know which version of him I want to make. I love Prussia as a character a lot and his outfits are just too cool! I might stick with his most common uniform, but I'd like to cosplay Teutonic Knights!Prussia too. Decisions, decisions.

Yang Jinghua from Ling Qi.

I watched this Chinese anime quite recently and I fell for this character in no time. Yes, he's quite foolish at times but when he actually takes action... HOLY F*CK. It will be quite interesting to cosplay him alone though (he always protects Duanmu Xi though in this version he's also connected to Duanmu Luoye).
And I just might have started to make stuff for this character already, oops...

Nasu Suketaka Yoichi from Drifters.

I begun to watch Drifters a while ago. When this young man appeared for the first time I practically fell from my chair - this guy is just too awesome.
He's actually based on a real historical character but I don't think that that guy was this... Derp. Because yes, the animated version of him can be a bit silly sometimes but that just brings some happiness and joy to his character!
I'm quite sure that I won't make this cosplay anytime soon though; perhaps in the summer or in the autumn.

Keisuke Sannan from Hakuouki.

I begun to watch Hakuouki quite recently... And when I saw this character it was love at first sight. I just love his personality and design! ;__; This character is also based on a real historical character, Keisuke Yamanami, and that makes this guy even more interesting!
I'm not quite sure when I'm going to make Sannan-san but I really hope that I manage to make it in 2017.
(And this was, once again, one of those "where in seven Hells are your reference pictures?" characters, that's why I chose this pic even though I'm not likely to make that haori. Note: likely.)

There's one more character on my cosplay list but I'll keep it secret yet~ don't worry, it's a character I will definitely make during 2017. I just don't want to tell about it just yet.

But yeah, here are my plans for 2017!
...and I didn't even list my own characters here...

Looks like I'm going to be busy this year! :'DD I really hope that I'll manage make at least some of these costumes - these characters are very dear to me and I want to cosplay each one of them as soon as possible. ;__;
Oh, and the cons that I will definitely attend this year are Yukicon, Tampere Kuplii, Tylycon and Tracon. I think that I'll attend more conventions but those are on the "must attend" list.

See you next time!

-Firith

Tracon 2016

Friday, 2nd of September

A few days before Frozen Angel had come to my place and we had decided to go to Tampere on Friday, a day before the con actually begun. The reason for this was that changing the e-tickets to wristbands was possible already on Friday and since Frozen Angel wanted to skip the long queue and I wanted to have my badge as soon as possible... Well, that's why we went to Tampere earlier.
We had talked with our now common friend Gure if we could sleep in her apartment and luckily she said yes. Unfortunately she wasn't able to come to the center of Tampere when we arrived but Rikari happened to be around at the time. She was also going to Tampere-talo to fetch her badge so we walked there together.
I had no idea which bus we should take to get to Gure's place (she has her own apartment now) but luckily Rikari knew the way and helped us. Thanks, I owe you one!
At Gure's we pretty much just derped around, listened to the songs linked below (don't even ask), did some make-up tests and Gure and I spammed silly stuff to people on Snapchat. At some point we decided to get some sleep because all of us knew that we should wake up quite early.

Saturday, 3rd of September

Gure and Frozen Angel were both up before I had even opened my eyes - mornings just aren't my thing at all. On Saturday I cosplayed North Italy, Gure cosplayed casual!South Italy and Frozen Angel cosplayed Germany - all of the characters are from Hetalia: Axis Powers, if you didn't already know that.
At some point (I think that it was past 11 a.m., oops) we left the apartment and went to Tulitikkutehdas. It used to be a factory back in the days but then it was destroyed in a fire. Nowadays the building just... Exists. We didn't have luck on our side though; when we arrived there we noticed that some sort of airsoft game was going on there so we gave up on one location and went to another building. I must say that the building is pretty spooky and if one moves around there (s)he has to be careful - the tiles might fall from the walls any minute and even though I'm a hard-headed person, I don't want any tile to crack my skull.
Anyway, Gure had promised to be our photographer. We took a few pictures there but since the light wasn't on our side we decided to change location. Other pictures are taken around Näsilinna.


Note; Frozen Angel and I are just friends. Very good friends indeed, but just friends. And if you definitely dislike GerIta pairing, scroll past these pics. I'm not forcing you to watch them. Thank you.

After the photoshoot we decided to go to the con place since the clock was already... Well past 12 o'clock in the morning and since I was hosting a Hetalia-themed lecture/panel this time, I wanted to find the room where I should host it. At first Frozen Angel and I (Gure had already left since she didn't have a ticket) decided to go to check the dealer's hall and the artists' valley - and I was so happy to see that Lumissa's Purple Octopus was there again selling the amazing hand-made jewellery (I bought a necklace from the collection on Sunday)!
In the dealers' hall we ran into Trixena and decided to hang out with her for a while. For my bad luck I wasn't able to spend time indoors almost at all since the uniform was so damn hot - really, the breakfast bacon effect happened again. We went outside and soon after Frozen Angel and Trixena decided to go to the local Subway restaurant to get some food. I didn't feel up to it and instead decided to stay at the convention area and meet people.
When I was drinking an ice coffee I heard someone say "Italy!" and saw a couple of other cosplayers coming to talk to me. They asked if I could hug them and of course I said yes - my ice coffee wasn't so important that I couldn't hug somebody and chat for a while.
I also spotted quite many Hetalia cosplayers and chatted with some of them. It's so nice to see people still cosplaying from Hetalia even though the highlight years for those series have long gone.

At some point I ran into Frozen Angel and Trixena again (after a couple of hours or so). I decided to go to eat at this point and immediately ran into Hant and his friend. It was so nice to see him and meet new people! I ate at the canteen since, well, the workers/lecture hosts etc. get some privileges and that was one of them, eating in a canteen. The food was damn good though.
At some point we - Trixena, Frozen Angel and I - also went to check out the Harry Potter meet. I've been a Potterhead for over ten years now and it was so nice to see and meet other Potterheads! We also ran into Frozen Angel's friend and I also managed to greet Saga Cosplay whom I have followed on Instagram and Twitter for some time now. It's always nice to see people outside the Internet.

Then it was time for me to host my lecture.
I was expecting for max. 20 people to come to listen to my explanations but, to my surprise, over 40 people were there in the end. The AMV competition was being held at the same time so I could say that I was very happy to see that amount of people.
I'm also happy that the audience once again discussed about the topics of the lecture with me. Thanks guys, you were a great audience! <3
If somebody took a video etc., could you send it to me? My e-mail address can be found on my contact information.

Almost immediately after the lecture Frozen Angel and I decided to guy back to Gure's place, change out of cosplay and then come back to the center of Tampere, We also met Vivian, one of my and Gure's common friends. It was so nice to see her too!


Sunday, the 4th of September

I woke up at some point during the morning. Frozen Angel had woken up a bit earlier and I accidentally woke up Vivian who woke up Gure - yet only Frozen Angel and I went to the con. This time I had my Ebony cosplay with me, once again. I still hate the character pretty damn much, but well, at least I don't have to take everything so seriously in that costume.

Since it was Sunday there wasn't much to do. We just took some pictures, Jarkko and I decided to have a photoshoot of my costume and Frozen Angel, Joona and I also went to the Maid Café. Somehow I just like those places and our maid was very nice!

Just have a couple of pics and a photoshoot about my Ebony costume since we didn't do that much on Sunday, just enjoyed the con atmosphere overall.

Photoshoot
Photographer: Jarkko
Character: Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way

(Quality © my mobile phone's camera since that camera is better than the camera I had with me...)

Other pictures

I might have fanboyed a bit when I saw this costume... Cosplayer: Awaek cosplay

My friend Asuka cosplayed Takahashi Minami.

A random picture from Maid Café.

I also know that I haven't been blogging pretty much lately. The reason is this: I haven't had anything to blog about. Yes, I have lenses I could review but my eyes still have the Sahara effect for some unknown reason and inserting the lenses into my eyes feels quite uncomfortable. I also haven't sewed that much - I have projects I've already started and I'm about to start a couple of more costumes quite soon. It's just that my blogging motivation has been quite low for some reason now, but I'll try to be more active when I finally get something done.
(And my sewing machine is still quite a bitch.)
A lot has happened during my silence. Please, forgive me.

Trying to become more active with blogging again,
Firith.

Vee~! North Italy WIP & preview

A few months ago I decided to cosplay North Italy from Hetalia: Axis Powers at Tracon 2016. At some point I almost cancelled this plan since, well, I really thought that I couldn't make this costume - I've never made military outfits before and I thought that they would be too difficult for me to make, especially when I haven't made almost anything myself this year. In the end I decided that "fuck it, I can do it", called my godmother and she was kind enough to help me with the patterns etc.

So, let's begin~!

The collar shirt I used in my second Walter photoshoot is actually meant for Italy. I bought it from Tallinn in May since it cost something like ten euros and I wouldn't have had time to sew it myself anyway. Well, in that point I might have had time, but.. I know myself too well.

The first self-made thing for this costume were the pants. I used the same patterns which I used also for my James and Levi pants, just modified them a bit. Nothing too difficult, only took me a few hours to make (I think it was something like four hours). Note that the fabric I bought isn't legit for the uniforms but North Italy's uniform in Hetalia isn't legit either so I decided not to be too strict about it.

The next part on my "must to do"-list was the jacket of the uniform. I know, it's missing some details but I ran out of time (probably my own fault this time AGAIN) and since the uniform isn't legit I was like "nah, fuck it, it's good enough". I'll probably make those details later.
Since I hadn't done anything like this before I quite quickly contacted my godmother again and asked for her advice. And today, a couple of days before the con, she had time to help me. It took us 8 hours to make everything ready, and I had already made the lining, half of the jacket and some things for the pockets! x__x
One can't see the buttons in the jacket since the buttonholes are hidden under the facing - we decided to be ninjas since the buttons can't be seen in the reference picture either.
The most difficult thing to make was probably the collar. I've tried to make a similar collar before but without good results. This time, however, I managed to make it quite well!
I didn't have time to take pictures during the making process but there really wasn't much to photograph (and at some point the whole costume got on my nerves and I was ready to go into the rubbish bin).
Anyway, here's the end result (some kind of preview at the same time)! Pictures © my brother.

I'll wear the same shoes which I wore when I cosplayed Levi in 2014. I had no time to search another shoes so those will do this time.

But here it is, the blog post about my North Italy! See you at Tracon, vee~!

(Oh, and I bought my Italy wig from Lucaille WIG. I had a huge headache while doing the preview so I decided not to wear it but you'll see it in the photoshoot pics - and probably in a bunch of stupid selfies I'll post on FB and Instagram.)

-Firith

Cosplay plans for Tracon 2016!

Hello folks!

Since I'm not going to any summer conventions this year I decided to tell my final cosplay plans for Tracon. I just didn't feel like going to Desucon or Animecon so I just decided to skip them this year (which actually doesn't bother me that much since this summer I have A LOT of work to do so I'll probably be dead tired all the time).
But anyway, those plans for Tracon!

Saturday

North Italy (Feliciano Vargas) from Axis Powers: Hetalia. 

Since I'll keep a lecture about Hetalia on Saturday I decided to cosplay someone from the said series. Usually I cosplay France - as you know pretty well - but this time I decided to cosplay somebody else. 

North Italy's personality is quite different from mine but that's exactly what makes cosplaying him so funny! Making that uniform might not be so funny though, I can already see myself banging my head to a wall... 

I won't be a "forever alone Feliciano" but I won't tell just yet who will belong to the group - I think that they might want to tell it themselves.

Sunday

Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way from a fanfic My Immortal,written by Tara Gillesbie.

Oh yes.
OH YES.

I will cosplay this "omg I will love Draco Malfoy forever but Vampire Potter is the second best boy in the world!!1" lady once again, this time in a different outfit though - I read the fic through once again and despite my constant cringe I managed to find some information about her clothes. We've also been talking about a My Immortal cosplay group with my friends and I really hope that we will make it to Tracon! 

This time I'll sew some parts for Ebony's costume myself.
I still hate the character to nuts (and I hate her clothes ((not her style though)), those pieces of fabric will be so uncomfortable to wear) but since it's pretty funny to derp around as her I decided to cosplay her again.

But, yeah, these are my cosplay plans for Tracon!

At the moment I'm waiting for a couple of wigs to arrive and I should also review Italy's lenses - that might not happen in a while though since my eyes have been so dry lately that they could become a part of Sahara without anybody questioning it.
The lecture I'll keep will be in Finnish. Like I've said before, I won't keep lectures in English yet. I write and speak it quite fluently but... Nope, not yet. 

Still alive,

Firith.