Cosplay Experience
London Expo October 2006 was my first experience at cosplaying. I didn’t want to buy a cosplay and decided to make my own. Unfortunately, at that time, I didn’t have a sewing machine so resorted to hand-sewing which was fun but tedious at the same time. I liked unique cosplays, so I did a lot of research to find out what cosplays were common and what was not. I wanted to cosplay as something no one would do at the time.
My first hand at hand-sewing a cosplay wasn’t as simple as I thought. Although I had good reference pictures, I wasn’t sure how I would go about making it. I was toying between making it from scratch or modifying existing clothes. I decided to try to modify clothes that I bought from a sale. I made the main dress but the look and feel of it didn’t look right, so I scrapped that idea and was back to square one.
I did more research to see how other people have made this particular cosplay. In the end, I resorted to making it from scratch, bought the fabric from my local fabric store and attempted to make my first cosplay by hand. It took a lot of time to make it look right and a lot of pain. Pins were going missing because I kept dropping them on the floor.
The London Expo October 2006 was my first; I’ve never been to an anime expo before, even though I was a fan of anime. My first cosplay was Rabi-En-Rose from Di Gi Charat. She’s one of my favourite characters. I was really pleased how it had turned out. I was skeptical at first as I had problems during the making of it. Things were going wrong, had to do a lot of unstitching and re-stitching but in the end, it worked perfectly. I know I could improve on it now that I own a sewing machine. The main item of this cosplay was the bunny ears. It was heavy. I used clothes hanger wire to hold the ears in shape, a couple of dice, and a head band to keep it on my head. I had to be careful not to look down as it would fall off my head. I entered the Cosplay Masquerade as well, didn’t win but it was fun and good experience too.
The next event I decided to go was the London Expo October 2007, a year later. This time I had the use of a sewing machine and decided to make another cosplay for this event. My cosplay for this event was Shinku from Rozen Maiden.
Making this cosplay was more challenging that the first. Not only did I make the costume, I also made the plushie that this character was famous form. This was my first attempt at making a plushie. It was also the first time I would wear a wig. The wig was specifically made for Shinku. The shoes were my next agenda and after searching online for similar styles, I found the perfect pair from Camden Market. I got a lot of photos take by other cosplayers at the expo and that was fun, never had that much attention before. There was one guy who was following me, I got a bit worried but all he wanted was a photograph. Another guy yelled out “SHINKU” and he also wanted a photograph. It was rather funny though. I would say compare to the two cosplays I had then, Shinku was my favourite.
London Expo May 2008 was my next event and I decided to make yet another cosplay. This time I wanted something different, same as the last event, something that no one would consider. I chose Nanoha from Magical Girl Lyrical. This cosplay had no plushie but a weapon. I had my husband, Vince (aka k4tt) to make it. We found a lot of reference pictures, looked through art books and the official website to see how we would implement it. I had problems making the costume. It was harder that Shinku’s costume, only because I was rather frustrated when the skirt went wrong. Cut the wrong pieces out so had to start again. Used different fabric to Shinku’s one as I wanted to see how it would work. Bought some shoes and modified them to look similar to Nanoha.
Nanoha’s staff took the longest to make. It wasn’t 100% by the first day of the expo but it was usable. But overall, I was happy with how it looked.
My most recent cosplay was for the London Expo October 2008. I cosplayed as Hina Ichigo from Rozen Maiden with the Crocodile of Truth. Hina Inchigo is the sixth doll from Rozen Maiden. She is known for her childishness and her energetic personaility. Her artificial spirit is Berrybell. She also owns a crocodile.
I wanted to make a cosplay that has a mascot and I thought of Hina Ichigo because of the Crocodile of Truth. Her costumer was relatively simple to make. It didn’t take me long to complete the costume and I was 1 week ahead of scehdule.
The biggest task was the Crocodile. I wanted to make it in proportion to myself as in the Anime, the crocodile is as big as Hina. I went through a lot of stuffing to fill him up. I spent a lot more time finishing of the Crocodile. Whilst making Hina’s costume, I didn’t think I would have time to make the plushie, but I gave it a go and I was pleased how it had turned out.
The only things I did not make were the wig, socks and shoes. The shoes were difficult to find as I wanted it to be exactly like Hina’s shoes but no one sold them.
To complete the outfit, I made Hina’s bag as I didn’t want my husband to carry all my things. Also, I made a Strawberry Unyuh, since it was Hina’s favourite food.
Overall, I would say Hina Ichigo and Shinku are my favourite cosplay. I would definitely be continuing with cosplaying at Expos.