swordsandswordaccessories

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Hello it’s been a while here’s a progress post

After a far-too-long hiatus, I’ve finally gotten decent sword work done! This project is Advent Cirno’s six swords that all combine into one big sword. Honestly part of the reason for such a lengthy hiatus is that I was a little intimidated by the scale of the project, it’s been way more work than I anticipated. But it’s getting somewhere now!

This comprises one large watermelon sword made of pink insulation foam covered in Worbla with aluminum handles, which slots onto the front of the combined sword. Two straightforward long chocolate swords that slot in behind the watermelon, these are mostly just sharpened boards with a handle. Two waffle short swords that fit in on the sides, with a rotating handle and rotating handguard - CNC milled from MDF, with bearings for the articulation. And one big popsicle stick sword and a CNC milled hilt which holds all of the smaller swords. Many layers of MDF and wood glue went into that one.

Proof of concept stage is complete, since everything all fits into the right places more or less as expected. Finishing stages to come!

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And now for something completely different. Touhou cocktails!

There’s this really neato thing called Bar Eastern that has character drinks for all of the 2hus from EoSD up to PoFV (not including Aya for some reason). A while ago, I decided that I was gonna make a few, and then I decided I was gonna make all of them. So here’s (in order) Sakuya, Mokou, Reimu, Chen, Ran, and Yukari, Reisen, Eirin, Cirno, and Letty! 

Links are to more full build descriptions and such. Aww yeah

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sPlatoon. Just a silly quick thing I did a couple nights before con

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And now I’m back!

From outer space! 

Sorry about the year-ish hiatus, I was a bit busy between graduating and finding a job and moving into a new city and getting situated and all that. But now I’m all set, and kinda fired up for making things after ACen this weekend. 

Next on the agenda: Reisen for Colossalcon (hopefully; it’s only a couple weeks away!), then either dio-Sakuya or power-drill Iku, and things of that nature. Woo!

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I'm not dead yet. There are still things to come.

But not right now.

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Making swords and sword accessories is awesome and all, but sometimes you just gotta borrow a Cirno cosplay and be the strongest.

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Here's the story of how I made the gems for Kyoko's worn soulgem thing.

Problem: I need something to cast the gems out of.

Solution: Oh hey, there's a plastic spoon!

Problem: Can't get the dang resin cast out of the spoon.

Solution: Make an actual mold of the spoon like you should've done in the first place, nimrod. (The smaller one was a cast of a bolt on a teapot, heh.)

Problem: The spoon is a little egg-shaped, while the gem is supposed to be symmetrical.

Solution: Plumbing wrench to save the day with a slight bit of pressure on the wider end. I'm surprised this worked so well.

Then after the casts were made, is the standard sanding and polishing and so on. Good stuff, it turned out pretty well. Now I just gotta figure out how to make the gold thing they're inset onto... I've got clay, and I've got craft foam, maybe one of those?

Also, finished off the skirt, got the armwarmers done, and I'm working on the cuffs now too. I scrapped the one in the pic in favor of longer cuffs, though.

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More progress, woo! The vest-undershirt thing is done except for the appliqué (which I have no idea how to do but oh well), so that's good. The first picture is the template for it. I wish my phone had a better dynamic range (it's hard to get black and white in good tones on the same picture), 'cause then I could show the interfacing at the bottom more clearly - oh man the inside corner turned out crazy well despite the fact that it was the first time I'd tried such a thing. Seriously, dang... actually, the bias tape in general turned out super well, I kinda want to go back and redo the bias tape on the dress's shoulders now. Probably not enough time for that though.

Now that I look at it, wearing those shorts and the vest-undershirt kinda reminds me of Polnareff. Hmm.

And now, the pleated skirt. Oh god, pleats. I had no idea. I was all "Eh, I'll knock this out in an hour or so," but no, it takes soo long, and it's kinda mind-numbing too. I'm titling that last picture "the exact moment at which I begin to despair." Ergh...

Almost done with the ironing now though, probably 75% done. Then the rest of the skirt should be pretty easy, nothing I haven't done 5 times before. (Which, besides swords, is probably the one thing I've done the most. Skirts and swords, how 'bout that.)

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Finally put together the chain-staff configuration of the spear. Seems to work pretty well, though I can't stress test the links until the eopxy finishes drying. dang 24 hour curing time

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Ahh, wish I could've gone this year! The big Touhouvania ensemble last year was awesome.

There’s never that many Touhou cosplays in North American Cons, but when there is I must take all the pictures. Except that one Sakuya Cosplayer I wanted to get a picture but she disappeared the second I looked away.

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Alrighty, I got the ruffles on and it's good times now. That first picture is with a heavier white fabric, but I realized it was weighing down the dress in a weird way and was all around awkward so I had to do all the ruffles again, fun times. But now they are on and turned out decently and also the back of the collar is done as well, so now it's just the front cutout and buttons and I'll be done with this part. The back needs some more ironing but that doesn't really matter at this point! 

Also, I didn't realize this before I made it but this design, especially with the ruffles, really really catches the wind when you walk forwards. It's kinda cool since it billows out back neatly but also is kinda weird since the top of the V keeps trying to escape. Very strange.

Sorry about the pictures being kinda washed out I am not good at camera

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A short break before continuing progress.

Idea for next Touhou cosplay: Dio-Sakuya. It'll be based off of Sakuya's Dio-colored palette swap in Hisoutensoku, naturally; however I kinda want to incorporate some of Dio's design into it as well. I'm thinking the green undershirt and jacket, except replace the sleeves of the jacket with the short poofy and winged meido sleeves. Also probably the belt too, 'cause that thing is sweet. Other than that it'll be Sakuya's maid stuff.

Alternatively, I could just do your bog-standard Sakuya palette swap, that would also be fine. Might be a touch less recognizable as Dio than the modified version, though more recognizable as Sakuya.

Thoughts?

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COSPLAYER QUESTIONS

1: What was your first cosplay?

2: Favorite thing to cosplay?

3: Have you ever been in a panel at a convention?

4: How many people do you think you met because of cosplaying?

5: What do you think makes a 'good cosplay'?

6: Have a cosplay blog?

7: Ever done a group cosplay?

8: Couple's cosplay?

9: When did you start cosplaying?

10: Would you consider yourself good at cosplaying?

11: Which cosplay took you the longest time to make?

12: Shortest time to make?

13: Do you like Genderbent/AU cosplays?

14: List all of your cosplays.

15: Are you currently working on something?

16: Would you, if given the chance, cosplay at school/work?

17: Do any of your IRL friends cosplay?

18: What does your family think of it?

19: Do you consider cosplay an art?

20: Have you ever had to get help with a cosplay?

21: Least favorite thing to cosplay?

22: Ever been in a cosplay contest?

23: First con that you cosplayed at?

24: What's your definition of 'cosplay'?

25: Favorite tumblr cosplay ask blog?

26: Ever cosplay an inanimate object?

27: Who is your cosplay headcanon of your favorite character?

28: What is your 'Cosplay First Aid Kit' (what you use to repair a cosplay)?

29: Would you go pro?

30: Who is your favorite professional cosplayer?

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I just spent all of today making the ruffles at the bottom hem of the dress, scrunching them and pinning them down, only to realize the fabric I was using is going to be too heavy and it'll weigh the dress down really strangely. So, alas, no progress for now.

Also, cool story - playing Initial D saved my life yesterday (100$ serious). I was driving on the interstate, when the line of cars and trucks kinda compressed a bit towards the bottom of a hill (though still going 65 or so). I didn't think much of it until the pickup directly in front of me swerves around at the last second revealing a damn table smashed right in the middle of the lane. 

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

This being at speed on the highway, and the car in front of me choosing to take the very last second to move around it, I had no idea it was there until I was pretty much right on top of it. Couldn't move to the left since there was a truck in the other lane, and couldn't swerve too far to the right since there was a retainer wall at the edge of the shoulder. But, thanks to my experience in Initial D, I was able to do a fucking powerslide around this table in the lane, and compensated perfectly (tires squealing) to slide back into my lane and not spin out of control into truck or wall. It was so awesome. 

My only regret is that I wasn't listening to eurobeat at the time.

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The sewing situation has improved somewhat, though obviously not enough to be finished in time for ACen (tomorrow lol).

Also, I just now realized that I won't be able to wear that undershirt because the cutaway part (where her soul gem jewel-version is) is pretty much right there... also you can see the outline since there's not much ease. Oh well.

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I am not good at sewing

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It's... not exactly a mechanism, more like a couple of slots that I can pull the tips out of and back in, and some magnets to hold it when not reconfiguring. Check http://swordsandswordaccessories.tumblr.com/post/73262396793/its-happening-finally-got-the-design-of-this for a better view.

Kyoko’s spear is done! Kinda, mostly. I still need to epoxy the gems on, and I guess clean up the base of the spearpoint a bit since getting it into and out of configurations is pretty rough. But other than that, it’s pretty much finished now, at least with the solid haft. Still have to chain up the chainstaff version of the haft, but other than that, woo!