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character: kaldea game: the bouncer made for: nan desu kon '02 worn at: nan desu kon '02 status: active |
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| why? the above reference picture was stumbled upon by me quite some time ago, probably when the bouncer first came out (at the time, i had no clue as to who kaldea was.) there was something about that picture that i found touching, in a way. she just looked so beautiful and tragic, standing by the window like that. after i came back from ax '02, i was scrambling to find another costume project to work on for ndk. i had rented the bouncer more or less out of the blue and as i played it i noticed that this black-haired lady looked awfully familiar. i fell in love with kaldea's character and started looking at her as a costume possibilty. well, as i was online searching for pictures of her, i managed to dig up the afore-mentioned one and was delighted to find out that the beautiful woman was kaldea. ^_^ there's so much about kaldea to love. she's very caring, sympathetic, understanding, turns into a panther, has a great set of boobs. *cough* did i say that last one aloud? ^^; | ||
| how? jacket- made using butterick pattern 3274. and constructed out of a material called "peachskin" (slightly pricey, but nice effect) that i dyed using yellow RIT-dye. i altered the pattern by lengthening it, getting rid of the side slits, taking it in, and adding lining. the lining was made with black satin for the main body and green cotton for the sleeves (for the green cuff effect.) along the front edges of the jacket, i sewed on black, single fold bias tape. belt- the "belt" is actually two seperate garments, so to speak. they were made with the above-mentioned green cotton and the pattern for them was totally improvised, consisting of a process of holding the cotton around my waist, looking at a reference pic, and making the approriate cuts on the fabric. they fasten in the back with velcro. for the silver button, it's just one of those round buttons with the pin on the back that i had lying around and i took the cover off of. the red dangley thing is cord i braided and the gold thing is a piece of scrap gold lame. cape- i originally made one out of red satin but when i held it on to my shoulder i realized it totally lacked the drape that kaldea's has. i picked up a piece of scrap red satin and held it up to my shoulder for kicks, but quickly saw that (with a little hemming) it could work. ^^ i'm not totally pleased with how it looks, but it's a definite improvement over the first one. it attaches to the jacket with a waistband hook-and-eye. everything else- the gloves were purchased at claire's (i'd like to get some vinyl ones someday, as her's are blatantly vinyl) and the boots, skirt, and hosiery were already owned. and for the hair, i wore my black mana wig. ^^ |
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| thoughts i picked this costume 1. because kaldea rules and 2. because i thought it'd be fairly easy. wow, was i wrong. -.-;; it wasn't a killer, but it did turn out to be quite the pain in the ass. the pattern for the jacket was designed to be baggy, so i had to keep on taking it in to make it fit properly (add to the fact that i had to make sure both jacket and lining were taken in the exact amount at the exact places.) and i don't like how short it turned out either. oh, well. i really like my job on the belts (maybe a little too much. ^^;) it should be known, however, that i absolutely hate the pictures taken of me in this. it's by no fault of the photographers, of course. (i'm very grateful they saw my costume as photo-worthy! ^^;) i was in a desperate time crunch to get through con registration and then get through costume contest registration, so i pretty much had to throw it on and go. eventually i'll do a small photoshoot with this costume. and i'll be sure to put on some make-up and actually practice my poses. ^^; |
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| pictures so much for the "distanced and depressed look." at least you can actually see the front of my costume. *was always posing to the side. >.<* see why i like cosplaying mana? i don't have to flash those ugly-ugly braces.. credits: picture 1 courtesy costumeplayers.com; picture 2 courtesy usagichan.com |
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