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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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
I know that I'm super late with this summary and I'm sorry about that - as you've read I've been quite busy for a while now... ^^"
But yeah, Matsuconwas held at Pohjankartano, Oulu at the beginning of March. I remember someone mentioning it already during Skecon (I think that it was Sacchan) but back then I thought something along the lines "Nah, I won't be able to go there anyway so there's no reason to get all hyped about it".
Then I saw that the con was looking for cosplay contestants and panelists, lecture hosts etc etc etc - and for some reason decided to apply for two of the positions: cosplay contestant and a lecture host. I had no idea back then would I have even enough money to travel to the North. Luckily I had - and that meant yes for Matsucon~!
My con squad consisted of Shiro Samurai, Sacchan and Sacchan's little brother Joni. A night before we were supposed to leave to Oulu we faced a problem... A problem called bus tickets. You see, there's a bus company called Onnibus in Finland and if you order tickets early enough, they're cheap as fuck.
Guess if we ordered them early enough?
Nope.
Some of us even considered not going to the con (even though the other three were working there as volunteers) but in the end we found a few cheaper bus tickets and decided to go for them, except Joni who told us that he'd take a train. We had to split our group up in two though; Shiro Samurai and Sacchan took the earlier bus and I decided to take the next one. Problem solved!
The Friday morning came and that meant something very nice: dragging our luggage through the city to get to the bus station. And the amount of our luggage was pretty much as big as Mount Everest... My back didn't thank me later.
It took us a while but we managed to slip walk to the bus station without breaking anything, it was damn icy and some of us almost fell a few times.
Shiro Samurai and Sacchan caught their bus quite soon and I was left to wait for the next one. I played MH3U while waiting for my bus and almost got killed by the damn Lagiacrux. Eventually the bus arrived and I was able to begin my journey towards Oulu!
2/3 of our trio was waiting for me at the bus station of Oulu and when I arrived we begun to drag our stuff towards the place in which we were supposed to sleep etc. I had no idea how long the walk would be but I can tell you that with that amount of luggage every meter killed my back, slowly but surely.
(And I was supposed to do the military service at some point, oops.)
When Joni arrived (a bit later in the evening) we just hanged out, I was raging at my computer because it didn't want to co-operate with me... And listened to the different versions of "We Are Number One". :'DD
Saturday
When I woke up I already knew that getting up would be a huge problem. Literally - my left leg felt like it would rip itself apart from my body any minute! Very nice, especially when we consider the fact that I was supposed to jump and run on the stage later that day... :I Luckily the pains subsided a bit later, at least the major part of them.
Sacchan left to Pohjankartano a bit earlier than we did; her working shift started earlier than Shiro Samurai's and I didn't have to be present before 11 a.m. Pretty good thing, it took me a while to put on my cosplay - which meant Teutonic Knights!Prussia from Hetalia: Axis Powers. I like how the costume actually turned out to be but gosh, I almost lost my mind with the cloak. Well, problems are meant to be solved.
When I had gotten into my costume and Shiro Samurai was over the make-up crisis I feel you, make-up is sometimes a son of a bitch we and Joni begun our short journey to Pohjankartano. It took us some time to find the building itself though... Or, more specifically, how to get into the building. Finally we found the main entrance and I went to fetch my lecture host badge and my contestant badge.
The entrance hall.
The café and some con crowd!
The dealers' hall from above.
Quite soon it was time to go to take the viral contest photos and after that it was time to go to practice all the poses and see the stage for the first time! At the backstage I also met new people; it was so nice to get new friends! <3
I had plenty of time before the contest itself and I decided to go to sing some karaoke (lost my voice in the middle of Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend", damn that chorus)... And, I have to say: if there are clear rules about singing (how many songs one can sing at time, one long or two short songs) why must one break those rules? x__x I mean, in my opinion it's fine if there aren't any others who want to sing at the time but the room was practically full of people who wanted to sing...
After that I decided to play some Monster Hunter & play with cards with Joni - and at this point I noticed that my dear friend Joona was also sitting in the café! He seemed to be pretty surprised about seeing me there... Well, I'm from Southern Finland so I can't really blame him :DD
On Saturday I spent most of my free time just hanging out with my old and new friends~
Oh, and I also went to see a panel called "Yaoin normit", "Norms of yaoi". Even though there were funny moments too, the panel itself was focused on the norms of yaoi - in other words sex, violence and ignoring the emotions overall - and on the moral questions about them. The panel was really worth seeing!
I have some proof that I actually was there - Shiro Samurai happened to photograph that panel and I made quite clear photobomb... :'D
Hiding behind my wig lol.
After the panel I still had some free time left but I have no memory what I did during that time... I was very nervous because of the competition. Quite soon it was time to go to the backstage again - and then I went to face my destiny.
Oh, one person asked me about the soundtrack I used. The song was "Teutonic Order Anthem".
I was so happy for the winners of the competition (and the Hall Cosplay competition too) - they really deserved their placements! <3
After the competition I went to ask the feedback from the judges. I learnt a lot - for example my poses were too static (I totally admit this, I could've done much better) but practically jumping to the stage in the beginning seemed to be a good idea since they liked it and said that it's a good base for a better performance. Thanks, now I know what I'll start to practice! ^__^
When I had gotten the feedback I walked out of the corridor - and ran into Shiro Samurai and Sacchan. I had been looking for them but seems like finding them was easier than expected :'D Shiro Samurai also asked me if I wanted some photos of my Prussia cosplay, and of course I was up to it! I can tell you, it was quite cold outside and in less than five minutes we were freezing. Reminds me about a certain Itachi Uchiha photoshoot tbh. xD
But here are the pictures~!
That cape was everything but practical, I can tell you... I didn't even count those times when I got stuck somewhere because of it! D:<
During Saturday we also met Karri - damn it, I hadn't seen him after Desucon Frostbite 2015! ;__; It was so nice to see him again and hang out with him <3
...even though we spent time outside since Karri didn't have a ticket for Matsucon.
We left the con quite early - I still had stuff to do for my Fruits Basket lecture which I held on Sunday.
By the way, you should've heard that amount of swearing when Shiro Samurai and I tried to take more photos of my costume later in the evening... You see, his trusted camera was low on battery and he had to use my Canon xD The situation got on our nerves but it was hilarious at the same time (at least in my opinion) :'D We didn't get any good pics taken though, it was way too dark and my camera didn't co-operate at all.
And when we got back to the place in which we slept etc...
"Firith?"
"...well..?"
"Guess if the battery of my camera is full now."
FFFFUUUU-- x"DDD
The rest of the evening we just derped around before going to sleep.
And I fell asleep on the carpet... Slept on it for an hour or so before I woke up like "What the hell am I doing?" :D
Sunday
Oh, Sunday... Everybody else decided to dress up in their casual clothes but since I had a lecture to host I had decided to dress up as Ayame Sohma. It's not like I wouldn't enjoy cosplaying him but I felt very laggy and putting on a cosplay felt awful...
After taking a shower I felt like I was actually alive and not a brainless zombie - pretty good time to actually wake up since I had to put on my cosplay quite quickly. You see, Sacchan and Shiro Samurai had working shifts in the morning too so... Yeah. Thank goodness I'm so used to cosplaying Ayame that it doesn't take me an eternity to put on the said cosplay.
A funny thing happened when we were walking to Pohjankartano. You see, the road was slippery and guess if I slipped and started to fall backwards? Yes. In the middle of falling my body was like "NO YOU'RE NOT GOING TO FALL" and somehow I managed to make a ninja jump forwards - and didn't even fall xD
...pretty good thing since I had my camera and 3DS with me... No, I actually didn't even worry about the fact that my skull could've cracked etc., priorities much?
On Sunday I mostly hanged out with my old and new friends and took pictures of the con area etc. I also wanted some proof photos that I actually had a cosplay on, and here they are~! Both photos are taken by Sami Räbinä.
Probably one of my favourite shots of this cosplay by far. <3
At some point Joni and I went to sing karaoke again - yes, my voice was still gone (I've had this damn cold for the whole winter & the beginning of the spring now) but we had a good time! ^__^ Apulanta ftw. <3
Gotta love that cat drawing. <3
I also visited the artists' alley but didn't buy anything...
...even though I was interested in buying this artist's art. I just didn't have money (I'm quite broke).
In the afternoon it was finally time for my lecture! Guess if I was nervous? Yes. I always am before a lecture... At least this time I didn't have a panic attack or anything.
I talked about Fruits Basket, its characters and how the curse of Zodiac could have affected their mental health. Even though the anime was all sunshine and happiness, the manga has very many darker shades in it...
Here are a couple of pictures, taken by Shiro Samurai. Thank you very much! <3
"Do I really have to do this?"... I know, my facial expressions are pure gold sometimes. xD
I guess that there were something like 20 people listening to my lecture! Thank you everyone, especially for being so interactive! <3
Quite soon after my lecture it was time to fetch some bread, especially rieska fetch our stuff from the green room and leave Pohjankartano - in other words, Matsucon 2017 was over! ;__; Guess if I wanted to cry a bit?
This convention was one of the best I've attended in two years, for real.
If Matsucon will be held in the future too, I'll be glad to attend it~!
Some photospam~!
The awesome Kuroshitsuji group! <3
This Gandalf guy was sitting behind Kummacon's desk. Check out Fandomelokuva's website too, they have awesome stuff in there!
I would have wanted to buy the Dark Souls game from this guy (I MEAN ONLY 20 EUROS??) but guess if I had money...
...and of course there are bonus pictures too... :'D
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~!
