Serizawa Reira (vocal)        Rainer               
Ichinose Takumi (bass)      seras-v
Honjo Ren (guitar)               Stanman
Fujieda Naoki (drums)       deathjok3r

Photography                          Nik Yan
Special Thanks                      Kirisaki, Risuchia, Holydust, Sihan & Zander
   

I was pretty excited when Kasumi was announced as a playable character in Ninja Gaiden Razor's Edge, so I figured I'd attempt a costume. Chose the white because.. well.. I like white.

I thought it'd be a reallyyyyy easy costume, but sadly I was wrong as usual. I had to re-do the top once because the initial draft I came up with wasn't form-fitting enough and kept gaping open lol. In the end I took it apart and cut it like a swimsuit, moving the front darts to the side ish for more support, all the while very thankful that I chose a fabric with a bit of stretch. While looking for fabrics, I found this uber pretty, textured red idk-what-fabric. It was embossed with red peonies and was so pretty and everything and I just HAD to have it for the costume. So I bought it and regretted it forever lol. It was really soft and flowy and just went every damn where, ironing it was a nightmare, trying to wrangle it into a bias was a nightmare, prewashing it was a nightmare, it was just disgusting. In the end I pushed a light fusible interfacing onto it and managed to sew it on, VERY SLOWLY.

..Okay, so the costume wasn't like insanely difficult or anything, but I was just really annoyed because it turned out to be more work than I initially expected lol.

I also made the long gloves and leggings from spandex, the pink wrap-around sash from a heavy jersey, and the arm and shin guards from craft foam covered in heavy cotton. The bracelets were sewn from gold pleather and attached to the arm guards, with velcro closures.

I hand dyed the pink gradient onto the front and back panels, and also hand painted the falling cherry blossoms and KASUMI motif on the back of the top. I enjoy painting stuff so it was really therapeutic. Bound the panels in a broad red bias binding of the same shade because I couldn't bear the thought of wrestling around with that horrid fabric from hell again. ;_;

Besides her short sword, I also prepared a set of fuuma shuriken, the personalized projectile weapon that she uses in Razor's Edge. I made the individual blades from plastic and foam, with metallic card stock for the blade edges. They combine to form a super lightweight foldable prop.

Komatsu Nana        Rieyn
Oosaki Nana            Rainer

Photography            Nik Yan
Special Thanks        Kirisaki & Isaac

Finished the last paper of the semester. Best feeling ever.

So, I'm back! Until the next academic peak-period, that is. I have so much backlog to clear, it's insane. But I'm looking forward to going through all our photo sets all the same.

We had our Type-0 photoshoots about a month ago. I have never ever had to coordinate such a huge team before, omg. A few hiccups along the way, but we pulled through in the end. Incredibly pleased with how the photos turned out so far, and hoping to receive more from our photogs over the next couple of weeks! Good job, team! <3

After that I kind of went into hiding for a while for submission week at school, and after that it was the exams. Psycho Pass photoshoot right smack in the middle of exam period, so I was pretty frazzled and chui but it was such an epic shoot with epic fun people. I love Psycho Pass, I really do, so I was just having a lot of fun and taking in the atmosphere. Many thanks to our epic Kagari for all the running around scouting locations the week leading up to the shoot, and basically getting everything in order. Haven't really seen any photos from the shoot yet, but I'm praying I don't look too bad lol.

So today, I finished up my stats paper and high-tailed the hell out of the exam hall. FREEDOM. I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE IT.

Anyway, Cosfest is coming up soon, which I'm pretty excited about. I hadn't planned to cosplay at all initially, but seeing as this semester's been a total bitch and I'm as burnt out as feck and I wanted to have some fun, I decided I wanted to do something after all. Really simple stuff though, so I can just wear them and walk in and out of the chalet room at leisure, without worrying about armor or props or irritatingly uncomfortable footwear. Also, the weather in Singapore is reeeeeeally shitty this time of the year, so I didn't want to burden myself with elaborate costumes and then melt and die in the humidity and the sun.

Whatever, what is cosplay. I'm just going to spend the week celebrating and eating and gaming and going to karaoke.

Kuran Yuuki         Rieyn
Kuran Kaname    Rainer

Photography         Vaxzone
Special Thanks     Sihan, Mitsuki

Went on a short cosplay hiatus due to the ridiculous demands of student
life.

New photos will be coming soon, though! Stay tuned
over the next few weeks!

- EDIT - 28/03/2013
Nose Secret has very generously offered a discount to my readers, simply quote the code COSPLAY when ordering to enjoy a 20% discount! <3

They've also assured me that the splints should not be uncomfortable to wear daily as long as you pick the right size! Therefore before you order please make sure you measure your nose (following the directions on the nose secret website) carefully to ascertain which size you should be wearing).

--- --- ---

Ya'll know I hate my nose when I cosplay, right?

Anyway, I've been making do with a combination of makeup highlighter, sucking in my nostrils when I pose, and photoshop when I cosplay, but recently I stumbled upon this gold mine of epic nose-saving.

NOSE SECRET <---- THIS IS THE LINK. CLICK ON IT. <3

I looked through the site and did a bit of reading, and at first I was kind of skeptical, but at 35USD, I thought it wasn't too expensive to try out. They have that 2-week refund policy going on, anyway.

My package arrived quite promptly, within a week of payment.

I ordered the SML kit, just to be safe. The kit came in a cute little organza pouch, with instructions, a little card calendar, and with each pair packed separately.

What nose secret is is basically a pair of flexible plastic splints that you insert into your nostril, and it pushes the tip of your nose up and out, making it appear sharper and more refined.

The scary looking hook thing is for removal of the splints from your nose.

I took one look at the M and L sizes and decided that they were not going into my nose lol. So I tried the S, and luckily enough, it was a decent fit.

I'm not going to lie. They are as uncomfortable as fook. Wearing the splints isn't painful, but it literally feels like someone put a hook into your nostrils and is gently tugging on it.

However, the results are instant.

OMG. I can haz sharp nose. <3

These photos haven't been shopped, you can see how my nose has become all pointy. I did apply a filter to save my horrible complexion though, many pardons. Haven't been sleeping enough recently.

I'm super pleased with the results, though I'm not sure if I'll be wearing them for every single cosplay. Probably to events, so that at least I won't look entirely ugly on camera, especially since you can't shop every single event photo of you there is. LOL.

So anyway, I really recommend this for cosplayers especially, for once-in-a-while use. Daily use.. Probably not, unless you can get over how uncomfortable it is.

Don't wear these to the gym, while you're out on a run, exercising, swimming, sleeping, etc. Do not prod or pinch or pull your nose forcefully while wearing the splints, they will hurt. Also do not allow anyone to prod or pinch or pull your nose, and most certainly not punch you while you're wearing them, although imo the splints should be the least of your concerns in that sort of situation. Either run, or retaliate with great fury. Or you can retaliate, and then run.

Or you could dodge..

This cosplay is taking way too long to complete. School term's started, and besides coursework and the other little technicalities of life, I'm spending most of my free time gaming or exercising to blow off steam. Which leaves me with an hour or two each night, should I actually feel like working on anything cosplay-related lol.

Decided to try something different with the headpiece, instead of the usual craft foam. These are made almost entirely from 3D puffy paint, which I hoped would look more like metalwork and less like, well, craft foam.

It's a really simple process. I sketched out the pieces on a piece of paper and traced them onto a clear file. I then went over it with puffy paint. The stuff kind of like sinks and spreads out, so it created a nice raised surface with rounded edges, unlike the boxy sharp edges that craft foam would give, if that makes sense. After the first layer dried, I went over with another layer, and then after that dried and set, the raised details were drawn on in thin lines.

If I'd embedded thin wire in the paint, I could have just peeled off the pieces and used them as they were, but alas I didn't, so instead I cut them out with a craft knife together with the plastic file.

The main piece aka that birdlike thing needed extra reinforcement, so I cut a length of stiff wire, bent it into shape, and glued it to the back, adding a copious layer of hotglue over it to conceal it. The body of the bird (that just sounds so weird, Idek) was cut from two layers of craft foam and then glued onto the wings.

These are just going to be glued onto a thin hairband so they can be worn easily. I should probably get started on the costume itself soon. LOL.

Managed to set aside some time over the weekend to finish up my SSX chakrams, as well as get started on some small accessories to go with the costume. In my opinion the chakrams took waaaay too much time, I was hoping for it to be a simple project, but alas ;_;