Miss Fortune Cosplay Part 2

Hi GGG Readers,

Other Miss Fortune Cosplay posts:   Part 1

I am back with part two of my Miss Fortune Cosplay.  I have finished my top and I have started on my hat.  I still have a lot to do, and I feel like I am running out of time.  My guns are coming along as well. My next post should focus again on my gun progress.

Miss Fortune’s Top

In order to make Miss Fortune’s top (if you can call it a top LOL) I bought a bra from La Senza.  It is a white lace strapless bra.  I wanted to make sure the bra was lace in order to give it more detail.  I then bought faux leather fabric from fabric land.  This fabric was actually found in the section that is used to make drapery, curtains, and other things.  It wasn’t in the regular clothing material section.  I then took the following steps to make the top:

1)   I first cut out triangles that fit perfect onto the bra cups

2)   I then cut a shape that would fit perfectly under and around the cups.

3)    I hand stitched on the triangles first, and then the bottom piece.

4)   I then cut out two rectangular pieces that are the same height as my bottom piece.  I hand stitched this onto the sides of the bottom piece.  I made sure that these pieces were not attached to the actual back of the bra.  This is so that you can still stretch and hook the bra on in the back.  These rectangular pieces will then lay on top.  The back is attached with black velcro that was also bought at fabric land.

5)   Next, the detail was added at the top of the bra cups.  This was made by purchasing a white lace trim and black ribbon.  I cut slots into the lace trim, and the black ribbon was weaved through to give that striped effect.  This was then hand stitched onto the top of the bra.

6)   I then created my own bow with the same faux black leather material.  This was hand stitched together and then onto the top.  I then added a gold/black button to hide the stitching and give it a more finished look.

7)   Lastly, the arm straps were sewn on.  The material I used isn’t stretchy, so I had to make sure these were long enough so I could lift my arms.   The problem is now when my arms are down, they hang pretty low.  Oh wells!

Cutting out first leather pieces

Pieces sewn on initially.

Supplies

Ribbon added

Bow and Button

Final with arm straps

I might still add some detail onto the top.  Not sure yet.  It is not in the splash page, but I think it will add more to the look.  I’m thinking of adding a gold pattern along the side bands of the top.  I guess I’ll decide later.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and stay tuned for more updates on my cosplay progress.  I should have a tutorial on my hat shortly as well.
Remember to like us on Facebook as well!

<3

Super Adventure Box!

Hi everyone!

I was going to post about this a few weeks back but I found myself encumbered with other important stuff so I didn’t really get around to playing Guild Wars 2 until just recently. I still want to share this with you because I thought it was awesome. So, for the month of April, Guild Wars 2 released the Super Adventure Box. It’s a GW2 dungeon with SUPER AWESOME GRAPHICS! I got the opportunity to run around in this dungeon with a few guildies and these are the screenshots that I took.

Picnic with the Princess…

Miss Fortune Cosplay Part 1

Hi GGG Readers!

Other Miss Fortune Cosplay Posts:  Part 2

Anime North 2013 is fast approaching, and as predicted I am procrastinating on my cosplay. LOL.  I’ll be going as Miss Fortune from League of Legends this year.  So far I have my wig, my contacts, started on my guns and top/shirt.  Still have a lot to do and not enough time!  In this post I want to share with you how I am making my guns.

Wig and Contacts

Lets start off with a preview of my wig and contact lenses.  I just got my contacts from PinkyParadise.com.  They are the Vassen Bambi Queen Blue circle lenses.

Miss Fortune Wig and Contacts

Guns

I started off by making my guns similar to my Riven cosplay props.  I started with layers of foam board, with the intent of covering with instant paper mache.  Please see my link for more details.  After finishing the base of the first gun, I decided to stop this method and make my guns out of wood.  I decided on this for a couple reasons.  First I wanted my weapon to be a bit more sturdy than last year’s, and I think I am able to make it look better and provide a smoother surface to paint on with wood.  I will be sharing both methods for you, as I know a lot of you cosplayers out there may not have the equipment or time to do wood work.

Foam Method:

1)   First I bought foam board from the dollar store.  Each board was $1 each I believe.

2)   I traced out the basic shape of my gun and cut the foam board out with an exacto knife.

3)   I bought a pylon from the dollar store and cut off the base to give me a cone.  This cone I used as the opening of the gun.  I traced the pylon onto the foam boards.  I then cut out this shape so that the pylon would fit nicely onto the end of the gun.

4)   I cut out many layers and glued them together to my desired thickness.  Some layers I cut off the trigger part, so that this part would be thinner than the others.  The barrel layers (outer most layers) did not include the handle.

5)   This is where I stopped, but to continue you would shape the gun by carving it with an exacto knife.  This would give it more of a rounder shape.

6)   Cover the gun in instant paper mache (Purchased from Michael’s craft store for approximately $30.00.  Remember to use your coupons!)

7)   Let the instant paper mache dry.  Do not make the layers too thick as they might not dry completely.  Add more layers if necessary.

8)   Sand the paper mache down and paint.

Please see our other tutorials on how to finish your weapons.

Wood Method:

1)   Trace gun shape onto wood board.

2)   Cut out shape.  I used a small table like saw to cut out my guns.

3)   Wood can be a bit more heavy than foam, so to make my guns a little lighter I hollowed out the inside layers a bit.  Be very careful to not go all the way through the wood.  I used a hammer and a chisel to do this.

4)    Use wood glue to glue together the layers.  I used two layers of wood for the handle and base of gun.  I added an additional two layers (rectangular shaped) to the barrel, and a few additional pieces to the end of the gun so that it can be sanded flush with the end funnel.

5)    I bought a plastic pot from the dollar store to use as the end of my guns.  This turned out to be a perfect size.

6)   I used a sanding tool attached to an air compressor to sand down my gun and make the barrel more rounded.

Still to do:

- Attach plastic pot to the end- Finish sanding
- Adding Trigger area
- Using wood filler to fill in gaps
- Painting
- Adding detailed designs

Basic shape cut out

Hollowing out the guns

Glued together

With the end piece

Sanded and rounded

Rounded barrel view

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and stay tuned for more updates on my cosplay progress.  I should have a tutorial on my top shortly as well.
Remember to like us on Facebook as well!

<3

Diana Cosplay: Part 2 (Making a Bustier)

Hello Everyone,

Here is a little part of my Diana clothing cosplay progress. I decided to do a part on how to make my bustier since many people asked about my Shyvana bustier cosplay. I will be doing a full body suit underneath the armor. It is a bit comlicated I tried my best in doing a sort of beginner tutorial for those who know nothing about pattern making or sewing. Its not professional but it should be enough t get you through making a good buster =).  Here are screenshots of the steps, the video is at the end:

Create the pattern. If you have no pattern to follow, go buy a pattern close as possible to what you want. and then modify it:

The some of the piece are on fold so that it opens up without a seam:

Here is the part where I start creating the pattern for the Bustier. I took a screenshot of the model from LoLKing. You can see what the design looks like, So I tried to copy it onto the pattern:

You need to drape fabric on a molded cup to get the right shape:

After you have the right shape from the fabric you can transfer it to paper. Don’t forget to add seam allowance!

Next I highly recommend a sample! Even my sample isn’t perfect after 4 years of sewing -_-. There are always small adjustments. So anything weird on the sample just fix on paper for the final.

Make sure to do the whole sample to make sure everything fits. It would suck to waste fabric and all the time and effort for it not to fit properly! So here is the final front sample. It’s pretty ugly with the colours XD. I was just using fabric lying around. I’m hoping the rest of this sample works out.

Check the video for more explanation.

If you have an questions about making patterns or sewing just ask below. It’s really hard to explain everything and show everything. Sewing and pattern making takes practise so don’t get discouraged. The key is trial and error and samples!

League of Legends at Boston Pax: SKIN CONTEST [CLOSED]

Hello Everyone!

It just got back from Boston Pax and there is a lot to talk about, so first I will talk about League of Legends at Pax.

It was so nice to see a huge display for League with fans, and displays! Totally different from going to Anime North and Fan Expo.

These statues were amazing!!! Worth seeing in person. I did enjoy Pax, but it wasn’t was I expected. It’s definitely more of a gaming convention. I will go into detail in another post. Here is another one I took of a Ziggs sculpture.

I was super excited with all the League events going on. I got a lot of loot including role specific lanyards. I saw some people with all of the roles but I just wanted Support and Mid XD.

As you might have noticed I got them signed by TSM! I was sooooooooooooooooo excited when I ran into them. It was weird because I was walking by and they were just sitting at the table XD. I came at the best time when the autograph rush was gone, so I was able to ask for a photo. Dyrus looked pretty pooped so I didn’t want to bother him with a photo -_-. I got the rest of the team though! They were super friendly, even though they  met a lot of fans before me XD.

I also saw Nikasaur!!! She’s super cute in real life XD.

CONTEST RULES:

I also got skins! Which leads me to me to my next topic:

I will be hosting a very small contest. It is very simple! Just comment below with your email and your favorite role, champion and which skin you want to have! I have two skins available. One is the Full Metal Rammus and the other is Riot Graves. I will put the names in a draw and pick a random name for the two different skins. You can only enter for one skin, so choose which one you want.

IMPORTANT: I am doing a quick contest because the skin code will expire on this Friday. The last day to enter your name below is this Tuesday, March 26th at 5PM.  I will draw this Tuesday Night and email the skin code on the next day, Wednesday. PLEASE redeem it as soon as possible so it doesn’t expire!

Good Luck! If any questions, don’t hesitate to ask =).

Pax East Preparations: LoL The Laser Cutter

Hello Everyone,

My post today is kind of an update/mess of everything I’m currently doing. I’m so busy with end of the term projects at school so I decided I wouldn’t rush my costume for Pax East. So I am still working on my Cosplay, but very slowly. I got the fabric and started the body suit pattern! Here is a small preview of the upcoming Diana cosplay post:

  Otherwise I was working on a new project for Pax East since I knew I wasn’t able to make the cosplay. I made two different designs for the laser cutter! A laser cutter can cut most materials, including wood, cardstock and leather. I wanted to try to make a cropped top with leather with cut outs. I kind of failed, but here was my experience with it.

There were the two designs I made, but I only picked one to use:

I ended up choosing the Janna only cut out. It seemed more likeable even though the other one took way more work -_-. There are a lot of ways I changed things so that it would connected the leather parts. Here is a test i did before. I did an engrave and cut test. The engraving turned out kind of ugly so I decided to try the cut one.

Here is the final result. Something I should have done, was print it out and measure it along my chest -_-. I measured the distance and made it exactly the distance I was going to make the shirt. So its really big, I don’t know if I can make a top out of it still.

I’m kind of sad I screwed it up and I can’t redo it. I might try to make the cut out go across my side so that its kind of a style. I also might put lace under to support the letters more, because standing up some parts fall over. If I do end up making the top, I’ll post it here later today =). It’s pretty cool to laser cut! You can find one in Toronto and its about  a dollar a minute, and this took the laser cutter 5 mins to make. Try it if you have access to one!

Otherwise I will take lots of photos at Pax! I’m excited to go!

Umbreon and Espeon Cosplay Photos

Hello everyone,

I was gonna post my progress for my Diana stuff, but I am sick so I can’t talk over my videos -_-. It’s okay though, because I have Umbreon and Espeon cosplay photos!!! I hope you like them ^ ^. We don’t have individual ones yet, but these are the group ones of me and NinjaBunni3s.

Thank you again Rocky from Trillance for taking these photos! Definitely had a fun time shooting these =).

I swear I’ll have my Diana progress soon DX…

Building a New Computer: Part Review

Hello Computer Geeks,

Once again I will be talking about my new computer set-up. I have quick reviews about building the computer and about the parts that I purchased.

Corsair Carbide Series 500R Mid-Tower Gaming Case ATX 4X5.25 6X3.5INT USB 1394 No PS White: I enjoy the look of my case more and more every day. At first I wasn’t too crazy about it because it pretty big and seems plain at first. I keep the fan lights on so it looks pretty XD. so far it as been working well and it isn’t as loud as some computers. You can still hear the fans, but it isn’t too bad. All together I give this product 8.5/10.

TP-LINK TL-WN881ND, 300 Mbps, Wireless Adapter: When I first used my wireless internet on my computer I had some trouble with reception. I’m really disappointed because with my Mac and other laptops my wireless internet has been flawless, but apparently it could be because of Windows 8 so it is hard to judge this product. It is suppose to be the adapter that people end up buying, but I haven’t been happy with my internet connection, so I’m not sure. I won’t rate this product, but I just wanted to say that I had this trouble for some reason.

Acer A231HL Bbmii, 23″ Widescreen IPS Panel Monitor: AMAZING BUY. I don’t think I will ever regret getting this monitor. The colour of the screen is so nice, when I go to other people’s houses, their monitors look grey. I was able to compare it to others in store and IPS really makes a difference. I highly recommend this monitor to anyone in design or arts. I give this product 9.5/10.

Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2 GB GDDR5: So far, my video card has been treating me very well! I ran Assassins Creed with it and it ran very smoothly with no interruptions. Its pretty early to say, but I think this video quality is very good. I’ve heard other good things about it as well. So far I rate this 9/10.

Windows 8: I should have listened to everyone when they said Windows 8 had a lot of hiccups. I ran into a few problems running Windows 8.  I like the set up better on windows 7 and devices seem to run way better on it.

Stick with Windows 7.

Anyways, hope that this helps some people! Maybe for some it’s pretty boring XD. Don’t worry! I have some new exciting stuff coming soon! New cosplay coming up with some new tutorials!

Building a New Computer: Buying Parts

Hello computer geeks,

I recently built my own computer! It has been pretty tiring, especially since I’m coming from a Mac. I decided to get a PC, since my Mac is still running well and I wanted this computer for gaming.  I have been saving for 6 months since I new the best time to get computer parts was during Boxing week. Here is a run down of what computer parts I got:

I first ordered parts at NCIX Computers. Boxing day prices were already up on the 25th so I ordered the following from there:

•  NCIX Gaming Bundle Deal Intel Core i5 3570K Unlocked CPU & MSI Z77A-G45 DDR3 SLI Motherboard with free gaming mouse pad:  $319.99 with $50 mail-in rebate
• Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5in SATA3 MDX Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD with free copy of Assassin’s Creed 3:  $134.99
• Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 7200RPM SATA3 64MB Cache 3.5in Internal Hard Drive:  $69.99
• Kingston HyperX Blu Black Series 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9 DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit: $28.99
• Corsair Carbide Series 500R Mid-Tower Gaming Case ATX 4X5.25 6X3.5INT USB 1394 No PS White: $99.99
• Antec HCG-620M 620W ATX12V Modular SINGLE-RAIL 48A 80PLUS Bronze 135mm Fan Active PFC Power Supply: $69.99

On boxing day, a very generous person to wait in line for me at Canada Computers while I worked XD. He got me the following from Canada Computers:

• LG internal 24x DVD – Writer, OEMI Black: $14.99
• Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2 GB GDDR5: $329.99 with $30 mail in rebate
  

During boxing week and after I got the remaining parts at Canada Computers:

• TP-LINK TL-WN881ND, 300 Mbps, Wireless Adapter: $24.99
• Acer A231HL Bbmii, 23″ Widescreen IPS Panel Monitor: $139.99

I also needed to purchase an additional SATA cable for my DVD writer at NCIX:

• SATA cable: $1.99.

In total without taxes my new setup cost me 1235.89, with taxes this came to about $1396.56. This isn’t including $70 worth of mail-in rebates, so the total technically would be$1326.56 . My original budget for this computer was $1000 DX. I didn’t plan on buying a monitor however which would have brought me closer to $1150. I didn’t want to settle for less and My video card and Solid State Disk Flash Drive was an upgrade of what I was originally going to get. I decided to get it and spend more because it was a good deal for what I was getting. I also plan to get a better keyboard DX. I’m hoping for a Razer BlackWidow or a Das Keyboard, but I’m going to wait for it to go on sale or until I save more money. My monitor came with speakers built in it, so getting speakers isn’t a huge concern for me.

Overall buying the parts was probably the easiest part of building a computer. With that being said I got A LOT of help with friends and reviews online, so I highly recommend doing your research before buying your parts. I only was able to achieve this because I knew people who had built their computers before. In the next post I will show you how I made my computer. It probably isn’t a tutorial or something you should exactly follow, but it is to get an idea on how I built it and how much work you should expect.

SteelSeries Siberia V2 Full-size Headset (Special Edition Pink) Review

Hello Gamers,

I recently got a SteelSeries Siberia V2 Full-size Headset as a christmas gift in the Special Edition Pink colour!

It’s a total upgrade from my iPhone ear plugs that I use while gaming and skyping. So far I really enjoy it, and even if I bought it myself I wouldn’t return it. There are some pro’s and con’s to this headset that I’d like to sure with all of you!

The positives is that it is absolutely gorgeous. I love the look and the colour! It doesn’t make me feel manly when wearing them, which is important when you are a gamer girl XD. The microphone is retractable and bends it anyway you like it.

Its nice because sometimes I get too involved into the game and old mic, sat too close to my mouth and people could hear my breathing over Skype DX. The sound quality is really nice, the best I’ve ever head in a headset. The adjustable volume attached to the wire makes it easy to switch volumes quickly during a game, instead of adjusting on the computer itself.

The only thing that I’ve had trouble with is that you cannot manually adjust the headset. It uses a wire to adjust the headpiece, which is weird because I’m not sure how it tells when to stop. This causes the headset to sit on my ears and after awhile my ears gets sore. I’m not sure if I missed something, or maybe it does adjust and I haven’t realized it. I’m not used to these kinds of head sets ether so that could be the issue, and not the actual product.

Overall I rate the SteelSeries Siberia V2 Full-size Headset, 7/10. My ears do get sore after a few hours of wearing them so that is a big disadvantage. It’s only after a few hours I noticed that my ears are sore.  Otherwise it does feel comfortable, it rests well, and feels nice. I would say if you are interested, you should try it, but maybe make sure that it is returnable or exchangeable so that if it hurts your ears like mine you can try another kind.

Until next time!