#caitsbooks cosplay

[caitsbooks]

PREPARING RAPUNZEL + ANASTASIA FOR NEW YORK COMIC CON – COSPLAY CHECK IN

New York Comic Con is swiftly approaching and I made a bad decision.

First, let’s back up. In case you don’t know, New York Comic Con is October 3rd – 6th at the Javit’s Center. It’s a huge convention, with countless panels, autographing sessions, and, of course, cosplayers.

I’ve been going every year since 2015, but usually, I only get tickets for one day. Last year, I was lucky enough to sneak away for two. This year, I’m going for three.

Since I’m going more days than I usually can, I wanted to have a new cosplay.

This is where the bad decision comes in.

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[ Related: BookCon & BookExpo Survival Guide ]

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My original plan was to create – from scratch – Anastasia’s “Once Upon A December” dress and have that be my new cosplay this year. When did I come up with this plan? The 3am on September 2nd.

I realized that that probably isn’t the smartest idea, considering I’ve never made a ballgown from scratch, styled a wig, or tried to start and finish a cosplay in only a month, so I changed my mind.

Instead, I was going to do two new cosplays: Anastasia’s yellow and pink ballgown from the end of the movie, and Rapunzel in her classic dress and braided hair.

Why is this less of a bad decision? Because I’m not making the dresses, I ordered those online. All I have to do is make the accessories and style the wigs. Should be easy, right?

Wrong

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Read more to see just how wrong I was!

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I made this decision the day before my semester started, so you can already tell this won’t be good.

I ordered a Rapunzel and Anastasia dress online from a trusted cosplay maker. It was my first time ordering from them, so I was a little nervous, but their reviews looked good and I know some people who have gotten dresses from them and loved them.

It would take 15 business days for the dresses to be made and shipped, so in the meantime, I started looking at the wigs.

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RAPUNZEL

Rapunzel required a lot more things than I anticipated.

What I Used:

Pascal plushie

2 strong magnets

Ballet slippers

2 Rapunzel wigs

Needle and thread

Alligator clips (no teeth) & bobby pins

hot glue gun

wig combs

detangling spray for synthetic hair & a wide tooth comb

a whole lot of flowers

My first mission was making the wig. And this wig was quite the challenge.

I ordered two simple Rapunzel wigs off of Amazon. They were both 47″ long and not horrible quality. They came already braided, with three mini-braids in the main braid. I picked one wig to be my main wig, took out the main braid, but left the mini-braids.

Then I went to detangle.

Yeah, the movie is called Tangled for a reason.

This wig took FOREVER to detangle. It took several days of (not so) patiently combing through the hair to finally get it presentable. Once it was detangled, I cut wefts from the second wig and sewed them into the main one, making it thicker. If you want a full tutorial on how I did this, and how I styled this wig, let me know!

For the styling part, I did a dutch braid on each side of the wig, where they would join into the main braid. I used some gel to keep the hair from getting too messy as I braided. Once I got to the end, I tied it off. Then, I took some remaining hair from that spare wig, and used it to extend the wig. This hair I left simply hanging. I plan to trim it a little and maybe put some little braids in it later.

Speaking of little braids! I covered the area where the extension was sewn in with a mini braid from the second wig. I also took the other two mini breads and weaved them into the braids on Rapunzel’s head.

Then, I took my set of LED string lights (battery operated, and they don’t get hot), and weaved them into the braid. I made sure to try to get it in the hair as opposed to on top of the hair.

Finally, I took $40 worth of Michael’s flowers and cut them off the stems, then hot glued them to alligator clips. Some I would glue alone, but I mostly glued multiple flowers together in a clump. I clipped them into the hair, using around 14 flower clumps to make the wig look good.

This was EXTREMELY stressful. Definitely would not recommend for a first-time wig styler. The detangling process definitely took the longest, but there were definitely a few do-overs when it came to braiding (I also learned that I suck at braiding).

I’m just glad it’s done, which brings me to cosplay #2…

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[ Related: BookCon and BookExpo 2019 Wrap Up ]

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ANASTASIA

The wig I used for Anastasia was a basic red ponytail wig from EpicCosplay. It shipped really fast and was surprisingly good quality (if not a little small for my head, but I can make it work).

In the movie, Anastasia has her hair in a fancy up-do. However, I’m really bad at styling up-dos. Really bad. So I ordered a bun extension from EpicCosplay and figured I would just attach it and be done.

Ha.

I took off the ponytail clip, and started pinning the remaining hair into a small bun so I could put the bun extension over it. However, I underestimated how much hair there was, and my “small bun” ended up too big. Luckily, I was able to try my hand at styling and made it into a cute little up-do that doesn’t need the bun extension.

For Anastasia’s accessories, I ordered her “Together in Paris” necklace from Etsy, and decided I would make her tiara.

Her tiara is almost like a mix between a kokoshnik and a fringe tiara, and I couldn’t find anything online that looked similar enough (at a reasonable price). Instead, I ordered some EVA foam, plastidip, spray paint, and rhinestones.

Now, I actually haven’t finished this yet, and I’ll explain why soon, but in case you’re curious what my plan was, it was to cut the foam into the rough shape I want then sand the edges smooth. Next, I would use heat to set the foam, then coat it in plastidip to seal it before painting. I ordered a glittery spray paint that I would do a couple of coats of, before the main event. I got 2 yards of rhinestone strands. I don’t know if it’ll be enough, but I’m not too worried about it. I plan on gluing the strands to the tiara in vertical stripes like the movie. And then I’ll be done!

But that probably won’t be happening for this con.

Why? Well, let’s talk about the dress.

It arrived, and it looked nothing like it was supposed to. Instead of being gold and pink, it was light pink and hot pink. There were also some smaller mistakes, but the color issue was the main thing. It looked nothing like what I ordered, and nothing like Anastasia’s dress.

What I ordered vs. what I received vs. the original dress in the movie

So yeah. Not great.

I didn’t expect it to be as good quality as the photo, but I expected it would resemble it a little more than it did.

I contacted the seller and I’m waiting to hear back, but yeah, there’s no way Anastasia is going to work out for NYCC this year.

That said, I still have Rapunzel and my old cosplays. But I definitely learned the hard way to not try to make two new cosplays with one month left until the con.

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Are you going to NYCC this year? What days are you going, and are you planning any cosplays?

I’ll be there Friday-Sunday. On Friday, I’ll be Belle in her gold ballgown, Saturday, I’ll be Rapunzel, and Sunday, I’ll be Belle in her blue village dress.

If you see me, be sure to say hi!!

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Follow Me: [Blog] [Bookstagram] [Cosplay Instagram][Twitter] [Tumblr] [Goodreads]

[caitsbooks]

Caitsbooks Reviews: Geekerella by Ashley Poston

I was so excited for this book when I first heard about it, and now that Ashley Poston’s next book is coming out (Heart of Iron, being released today, 2/27/18!), I figured I owed it a proper review. The second I started reading Geekerella, it became one of my absolute favorite books.

To see my review on goodreads, click here!

Overall: 5/5 Stars Characters: 5/5 Writing: 5/5 Plot: 5/5

This book is perfect for convention goers and cosplayers, as well as those who just want a fun, lighthearted Cinderella story!

“Look to the stars. Aim. Ignite.”

Geekerella follows Elle, a die hard fan of the cult-classic Starfield series.She is determined to win the cosplay contest at ExcelsiCon, and get to meet the actor who is playing the lead in the new reboot, a casting decision Elle is not happy with. Meanwhile, Darien has been casted in his dream role, but fans aren’t happy with him, and don’t believe he actually cares about the show. This book is adorable, funny, and a perfect representation of what it is to be a geek.

This book, while being a Cinderella story, didn’t feel like one. All of the Cinderella tropes and twists felt natural and organic. The characters felt real, the plot points were interesting, the pace never lagged, and the entirety of the book just made me so happy. Honestly, Geekerella is the perfect feel good read for any nerd.

If you like this book, check out: - Queens of Geek by Jenn Wilde - Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia