Some WIP pics and Yukicon 2019!

I'm so, so late with this post again, sorry about that. 

Originally I was supposed to write a separate WIP post about Alex Cloudmill's riding gear but shitty scheduling happened and I didn't have that much time to take WIP pics. :/ Luckily I managed to get some. Well, here's the reference picture:

As you can see, this is just a concept art and thus I have no idea if the costume will be the exact same in the game. Anyway, this was my reference picture (which I screenshot from Star Stable Online's Instagram account).
The costume is still missing some of the details, for example the belt and wool socks - I simply didn't have time for those.
I just want to thank my grandmother and godmother who gave me wonderful advice and prevented my sanity jumping out of the window. <3

Here are the pictures - I'll just leave them here since I don't have much to say about making this costume, except that it was kind of hard to make. ESPECIALLY FUNCTIONING RIDING PANTS FFS. It may look simple but trust me, especially the shirt was just a big puzzle at first :'D Sadly I don't have WIP pics of it. :c

And then: Yukicon 2019!

I begun my journey towards Hyvinkää on Friday, day before the actual convention. I had already decided to spend just one day at Yukicon since, well, I've been there quite many times and I have a feeling that I've pretty much seen it all... But despite that, this Yukicon was one of the best cons I've attended!

I stayed at Merezone's place since we had decided to host a lecture/panel about Star Stable Online and, well, it turned out to be a good idea that I spent the night at her place; you see, I had been in quite a hurry with making the lecture and... Well, when we opened it in PowerPoint it didn't look that good thank you so much LibreOffice. After an hour or so we were finally happy with how the lecture looked like visually so we could do something more important: play Detroit: Become Human. And I became addicted to it. :'D
We slept way too little but both of us managed to wake up in time. You know that feeling you can only describe as "a morning hangover"? If you know, then you know exactly how I felt while putting on my costume. Luckily Alex doesn't require that much make-up so dressing up as her was quite quick.

...pretty good thing since we left Merezone's apartment in a little hurry but we managed to catch our train and, in the end, weren't even about to miss it. Woop woop.

When we arrived at Pasila we walked our way to Kokoustamo and saw this growing queue of people who wanted to get in. I don't blame them, it was fairly cold outside. For a while we wondered if we should get in the line too but in the end we understood that people who worked for the con in one way or another could get past the queue and that's exactly what we did.
Inside we just went to fetch our panel holder badges (and Merezone fetched her AMV competition finalist badge too, of course) and then we went to wait for the opening ceremony of the con to begin. Truth to be told I hadn't been in any of those opening ceremonies before so it was quite interesting to go there. In the beginning of the ceremony I felt a little bit nauseous but luckily that feeling passed quite soon.

Our panel/lecture went very well! <3 Merezone also recorded it for her YouTube channel so here's the video! NOTE: we held the panel/lecture in Finnish since holding a panel in English is out of question at least for now. 

There you go!

After the lecture we went to eat something - we had access to the Green Room so we didn't have to take a walk any farther than that. We (or at least I) got something to eat and drink, and then we started talking about photographing our costumes. We checked the clock and we had some time before the AMV meeting was supposed to start - yes, I attended it even though I don't make anime music videos. Had fun there though, saw a couple of familiar faces which surprised me positively! :)

But, the photos. Here you go.

Characters: Alex Cloudmill and Linda Chanda
Series: Star Stable Online/Starshine Legacy
Cosplayers: yours truly and Merezone
Photographer: btloov (find him on Instagram and YouTube )

"I would give anything to bring her back to life..."

"Together 'til the end."

 

Linda doesn't approve Alex's new style, apparently.

"Luckily there's always Aideen's wisdom to guide us."

After the photoshoot (I froze my ass off) we went to the AMV meeting and pretty soon after that I was ready to get out of cosplay since my train back home was about to leave in an hour to so. When I went to change to casual outfit I bumped into Trixena from whom I bought Soul Calibur VI. She didn't need it, I felt like I definitely needed it in my life - problem solved!
We chatted for a little while before I had to leave and I left in quite a rush. The train station of Pasila isn't that familiar to me so it took a little while to figure out from which track my train would leave. In the end I found the right track and pretty soon the train arrived to bring me back home.

So, Yukicon 2019 was definitely worth visiting and I was very sad to hear that the event won't be held again, at least not as big event as it used to be. So, thank you Yukicon for many, many good years! <3

I have no idea which con I will attend next or which costume I'll make. I have a few costume ideas, for example Belle French from Once Upon a Time (and Zelena from the same series) but I have no idea if I'll make those costumes this year or not.
But I'll try to become more active here again~! I also got my photoshoot pictures from last Eura's Manga Day which, unfortunately, won't be organized this year at all but I have a good reason for that so yeah, maybe in the future!

...did you really think that there weren't any derp shots among the good photoshoot pictures? Well, if you thought so you were definitely wrong. Here they are! :'D

My gaze is so maniac in this picture... I don't even.

I was supposed to look like I was trying to hold back tears, not sneeze! XD

I tried to take a selfie at the opening ceremony. Seems like jansutti (the one with pink wig) noticed it xD

A couple of cosplay plans for 2019!

So, yeah, hello again! I know I've been silent for a while but seriously, there hasn't been anything to write about ^^" Or, well, I'm still writing my summary of Eura's Manga Day (which took place in the end of September so it's been a while) and I attended Kitsunecon as a cosplay contest judge but I'm going to tell more about that in my 2018 wrap-up post!

But now...
Some cosplay plans for 2019!

Yukicon

Those who follow me on Instagram (or have read Yukicon's post in which some con programs are revealed) already know that I and Merezone are going to host a lecture about Star Stable Online - and that means dressing up as a Soul Rider to me! My plan for Yukicon is...

Picture found on Google.

...Alex Cloudmill, newly designed!

I have to admit - at first I was very, VERY much against all the changes they decided to do to the characters but Alex's design doesn't bother me that much anymore instead of that, Anne's design is bugging me to Hell and back and that's why she found her way on my cosplay list again~! I've already ordered a wig for this one, everything else will have to wait. This will most likely be a closet cosplay - at least mostly.

At least for photoshoots

This girlie will probably show up next year at least in photoshoots - I'm not sure how many cons I'm going to attend since nowadays I don't enjoy attending cons that much, it feels like I've seen it all. But maybe you'll see her in a convention too, never say never!

Anyway, I bought Life is Strange: Before the Storm a few days ago. I had watched a few gameplay videos of it and already back then I was in love with this character and now my love for her has just grown and grown <3 And she, of course is...

Picture found on Google.

...Rachel Amber!

I'm quite sure some of you expected me to say Chloe Price but nah, not my cup of tea even though she is a great character too.

Like I said, I'm not sure if I'll debut her in any con - we will see. This is probably going to be a closet cosplay too - I don't seriously have the time or money to look for the right fabrics since I can get these products cheaper by buying them from Tokmanni's sale :')

But yes, here are at least a couple of new cosplay plans~! I'm not sure if I'll debut Keisuke Sannan next year - he's been on my cosplay list for a while but I'm not sure if the costume is way beyond my skills...

Until next time,
Firith

Tampere Kuplii 2018 - Save the poor dog!

It's been 84 years since I last updated this blog.
Or at least it feels like it.
And this blog post is SOOOOOOO late. For some reason I didn't even want to see a computer after a school day during spring so... Yeah. And my crahstop didn't even work properly.

But yeah, on 24th of March I visited Tampere Kuplii and attended its cosplay competition too! At first I considered taking part to the convention on Sunday too but in the end my fiancé (who wanted to tag along) and I decided that we wouldn't do that.
For me Tampere Kuplii has become a festival I only want to attend on Saturday since that's the main day for cosplaying.

But, anyway.
We started our trip to Tampere on Friday. It was quite hectic, leaving itself I mean - we were just chilling like "okay, we have a lot of time" and all of sudden many people contacted us like "Could you please bring some stuff with you when you leave?". Yeah, not as chill as we thought it would be...
Anyway we managed to catch our train. The trip went well (except both of us being a little nauseous since we hadn't slept too well - the week before convention both of us worked during the night) and soon we reached our destination! TheOneAndOriginal contacted me during the train trip and confirmed that we were going to spend a little bit of time with her and her friends during the evening.

We slept in the Torni hotel - if you've ever visited Tampere, it's the enormous building right next to the railway station. It wasn't very cheap but well, we could literally see Tampere-Talo when we looked out of the room's window so yeah, talk about staying near to the convention place. :D

The evening went quite well, just relaxing, eating and meeting TheOneAndOriginal and her company. She had also promised to help me during the competition since I cosplayed Avalon and couldn't see literally almost anything - I had covered my face since Avalon's face doesn't show. Usually I've worn a wig with that cosplay but, since I was competing, it was out of question.

And, because I hadn't competed in a long time, guess if I was nervous in the Saturday morning?

...Yup.

I decided to not to put my costume on in the hotel; the streets were full of snow and water (thank you Finnish spring!) and since Avalon's robe is so long that I always step on its hem... The costume would have been ruined during that 300 meter walk so I decided to put on my costume at Tampere-Talo.

When we arrived there I rushed to the dressing room and begun to put on my costume. After that it was time to get photographed!

Photos & edit: Santtu Pajukanta

As you can see, I didn't see anything...
It's been quite a long time since the convention so I don't actually remember that much of it and I'm sorry about it. The whole morning also went in some kind of a blur - I couldn't walk properly, the costume was too hot and I just didn't feel good. And, since this was my fiancés's first convention he has ever attended so I felt kind of guilty that I didn't spend that much time with him...
But soon it was time to go to the stage!

(c) Santtu Pajukanta

As I guessed, I didn't place but it wasn't even a wonder - there were so many brilliant costumes! <3 When I went to get my feedback from the judges (and take my cosplay off) I was told that my costume wasn't that bad and I should keep on competing - for example some materials were quite a bit off etc., but overall my costume was good.
Certainly brought me some motivation to keep on competing - and I will, I just won't attend that many contests than I did a few years ago.

After the contest I went to find my fiancé and texted Henzz that I would go to change my costume. You see, we've been role playing for a while and decided to do a pair cosplay, me as Jeremy and Henzz as Verna.
Sadly there are no photos, even though we took a bunch of selfies but crashing SD card happened. :I At least we had so much fun~!
Oh, and the title of this post... When we were walking around Ankkalampi, we saw a fire truck and fire fighters there. For a while we were like "wtf is happening here" but then it occurred to us; you see, the pond was frozen. There are small stairs at one side of the pond, and from under those stairs we heard a dog barking. I'm still not sure how the dog got there but everybody was clapping when the fire fighters finally got the dog out of there! :')

After that we went to check the Dealer's Hall... And I got a frickin' heart attack because of my fiancé! xD You see, he had told me that he'd stay at the hotel but all of a sudden he was behind me when I turned around! When I checked my phone he had tried to contact me about the Lugia raid which had been going on there but, well, I hadn't noticed. ^^"
And, of course, I had to spend some money on stuff...

The raven necklace by SirRoi, the steampunk earrings by Purple Octopus Jewellery.

(Those are for my upcoming steampunk photoshoot - I still don't know when it will take place but anyway.)

Quite soon after that it was time to say goodbye to Henzz and go back to the hotel, pack some stuff and go to eat something - gosh, I had been waiting for food for the whole day so guess if I was hungry :D
After that we watched Titanic. I know, it sounds like a cliche but it just happens to be one of my all time favourite movies. And the story behind the movie, the actual tale of the ship, it frightens and interests me at the same time, it has always done that.
And during that evening I decided to cosplay Rose DeWitt Bukater next year... :D

Well, when Sunday came it was time to pack rest of the stuff and run to the railway station - the damn elevators of the hotel were always busy and we waited for one for almost 20 minutes, damn it! D:< Fortunately we didn't miss our train.

So, it has been almost half a year since I attended a convention and I have to say that this break has done wonderful things to my passion for cosplay  - I'm actually excited about this hobby again. :') I was supposed to attend Tracon but well, didn't happen for personal economical reasons. Thanks water pipe for breaking during the summer. :I

But yeah, my next convention will be Eura's Manga Day later in September! <3 After that I don't know - I have some plans for Desucon Frostbite but to be honest, Tampere Kuplii sounds like more fun and not spending that much money.
We will see.

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.

Avalon photoshoot vol.2... At school!? (2/?)

You can read the first one here.

Yes, it's time for another Avalon picture spam! I haven't made anything for my future cosplays so... Yeah, let's just roll with these. The weather hasn't been good enough for making circle lens reviews either and I'm very sorry about that; whenever the sun is shining I've been sitting at school cursing at my computer so... No can do.

But here are the next pics of my Avalon photoshoot - once again, taken by my awesome classmates! <3

NOTE: I know that this version is a lot like a certain fan art. I would've worn different lenses but, for my great sorrow, all my other pairs of lenses had dried up (except the ones I got from my friend but I can't wear them for many hours) and I wanted to wear lenses with the make-up I had decided to do, so... Yeah. :/

Let's roll!

Photos & photo edit: Jukka Haapasalo

Photos & photo edit: Annika Malinen

Photos & photo edit: Jenina Alajärvi 

And one sneak peek!

Photos & photo edit: Photographer Lisbet Joelsson

I hope that you like these because I surely do! <3
And the best thing is that I still have pictures to post~!! So stay tuned! <3

-Firith

Avalon photoshoot vol.2... At school!? (1/?)

Oh yes.

During the autumn we had a photoshoot session at school - I modeled and my classmates practised photographing & advicing the model.
This is going to be a long photospam but I hope that you'd check the pictures since my classmates truly deserve that. They're very talented in both photographing and photo editing. I truly enjoyed working with them. <3

The costume I wore was Avalon since the campus area provides perfect backgrounds for this character.

NOTE: I know that this version is a lot like a certain fan art. I would've worn different lenses but, for my great sorrow, all my other pairs of lenses had dried up (except the ones I got from my friend but I can't wear them for many hours) and I wanted to wear lenses with the make-up I had decided to do, so... Yeah. :/

But let's go on with this post!! <3

First the pictures by Picair! <3
Pictures: Picair
Photo edit: Picair 

 Photos & photo edit: Kaisa Hyvärinen

And the last picture to the photo spam!

Photos & edits: Jaakko Pöntinen

There are so many pics that I really can't put all of them in just one post... :'D Had I done that this post would've been a bit too long - but this only means that there are other photospams coming up! Stay tuned~!

-Firith