The  Angels  Take  All-Con!

3/11/2013

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WOW I haven't updated this in forever! I'm such a slacker! We have been anticipating an overhaul of this entire website, but we're running into a few issues. I'll try to get back on schedule with keeping things updated until then!

We just returned from All-Con where we had an awesome time!! We wore our Steampunk Gotham cosplays, and our Doctor Who costumes. We did a Cosplay Intermediate panel and a Props and Armor on a budget panel. A huge thanks to every photographer who took our photo, and every person that attended one of our panels. We appreciate you all so much, and hope that we entertained you or taught you something!
Our wonderful friends Joe and Ashly joined us for this group as Batman and Poison Ivy. I (Mika) made my costume using patterns I created. My hammer is made from craft foam filled with expanding spray foam. Shaun's Joker is mostly modified from clothing we already had lying around. Demi's Catwoman was made using 2 way stretch pleather. Ashly made her costume and Joe's in like 2 days because she's crazy and awesome.


Yay Doctor Who! I am the lighter angel, Demi is the darker angel, Shaun is the Silence, and our amazing friend & handler Keegan is the 10th. Here's a quick run down of how the Angels were made! In the next blog, I'll explain how the Silence was made. 
We bought plastic masks from hobby lobby, cut the eyeholes to be larger, and sculpted details onto them using paperclay. 
We sewed an underdress and stitched a hula hoop into the bottom of it to hold the basic shape. Then we sewed the top dress. We hand gathered it to make it "bunch" properly. The third photo is what we wear under both of the dresses. It covers our neck, heads, arms, and hands. This saves us from having to paint ourselves and matches our dresses pretty well! They were made by stitching women's tights onto old tank tops. We painted the dresses and arm/head/neck/hand covering using spray paint and acrylic paint mixed with a fabric medium. We painted it all one medium shade of grey then painted on highlights and shadows to give that stone look.


We sewed the gloves by pinning between the fingers, cutting between the pins, and hand stitching. We put clear nail polish on the seams to keep the hose from running. The first pair we used were too thin, so we switched to the thicker pair in second photo. Then we added fake fingernails. 


We made the wigs by stitching yarn down the middle, then styled them into ponytails. Next we glued little curls on the front for the bangs using clear tacky glue. Once they were styled we covered them in modge podge to harden them.
The wings are made from two layers of tri-fold foamcore poster boards. The feathers are made from craft foam. In between the two layers of foamcore are 3 wire pieces with fabric glued over them. The fabric helps give the glue something to hold on to. 
The eyes were made from little plastic containers that you get from 50 ¢ machines. The middle photo shows the wing harness and the last photo is the finished product!



Until next time, here's an entertaining video including a quick interview with us at All-Con. We appear at 19:03. A big thanks to the awesome people at SCNS Live for the interview! You can check out their facebook here! We have so many exciting things planned for the future, and can't wait to get started on them! We also have a few new tutorial videos in the works. Again, I'll put up the Silence info in the next blog! 

To keep up with our current projects please check us out on facebook: www.facebook.com/xkhemiacreationsx

Thanks for reading!!~

Written by Mika Nicole

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World of Cosplay

6/17/2012

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written by Mika

There is light at the end of the tunnel! Our WoW cosplays are getting closer! We hope to be finished with them by the end of the month!

Sylvanas' trim has definitely been the biggest challenge of this costume. I tried using a technique I found that involves stretching foam over fabric but I just couldn't get the results I wanted. I decided to try using paperclay. First I covered my armor with painters tape to keep in from getting all messy from the paperclay.


Next I Sculpted, sanded, and added more paperclay as needed

                                                    (Kitchen counters are for cosplay, not cooking!)

The paperclay broke when i pulled it away from the armor. When that happened i would hot glue the pieces back together and add more paperclay on top to smooth over the crack. I decided to try something new and coat all of the trim pieces in resin to give them strength. It worked incredibly well, and added a very metallic look to the paperclay. During this process I discovered that if even the tiniest bit of resin touches two things at once, those things will never separate. Ever again. This is unfortunate when a piece if that happens to be the trim you worked so hard on! I ended up having to break a tiny piece and re sculpt it. So don't let two pieces touch if you use resin! On the plus side, i think i found a new way to glue my trim to my armor! I'll let you know how this new gluing method works once i try it out.
They aren't 100 % finished yet, but so far I am really happy with the results!
I have also been experimenting with LEDs for the first time! Here is a terrible quality photo of my Sylvanas glow eyes! I will have these LEDs hidden in my wig to give a glow effect. I will also be wearing red contacts! This is another of the many things I learned from the wonderful Kamui Cosplay. Seriously, go check her out!

Demi and Shaun have made tons of progress in their Dreadguards. They are using expanding spray foam for their bones. They are making black spandex body suits that they can wear under their clothing. They will glue the carved bone pieces to the bodysuit to get that undead look
Next they carve out a bone shape. Soon they will add paper mache and attach them to the bodysuit.
They've finished sewing their tabards and will now start painting and adding details.

Demi is most excited about these costumes because she gets to "walk around like a dead girl all day and be gross". Tokyo in Tulsa, I hope you're ready for our gross undead girl! We sincerely apologize in advance ...
Lastly, We wanted to take a moment and thank our Waltz in Wonderland cast members. This is the first event we've done where we reached out and asked others to guest cast for us. Going in to this we had no idea what to expect. You guys have blown us away! Some of you are incredibly experienced in the theater world, some of you have absolutely no experience but you have all amazed us. You have worked so hard to learn the dances, develop your characters, and put your  costumes together. We can't wait to show everyone who attends the ball how amazing you are!!


To our readers, thank you very much for keeping up with us! We will be adding guest cast info for our Waltz in Wonderland cast in a few days. Also, check our Planned Cosplay page or our Facebook for more progress pics!
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Busy, Busy, Busy!

3/4/2012

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Written by Mika 
    Con season is rapidly approaching!! We have been busily preparing for this year's conventions! Our first convention of the year is A-kon 23 in about 3 months. This year we are really challenging ourselves with techniques and materials we have never worked with before. We are really excited about this year! Here is what we have so far!
                      We are getting close to finishing Panty and Stocking!! For these we used Satin fabric.
    Demi's Stocking is looking wonderful! She appliqued her blue stripes onto her dress to avoid seam lines. Next she will start on her bodice. Below is my Panty progress. The wings on the shirt are craft foam. Next I will start altering the heels I bought. We still have some details to add to these two, but we are pretty excited about our progress so far!
We used craft foam, wire, and gorilla glue to create these cute cartooney wings!!
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    I was able to make some progress on my Sylvanas cosplay as well! I have been working with Wonderflex for the first time and I am loving it! I have been usuing a few helpful tutorials from Kamui Cosplay. If you haven't heard of her, go check her out! She is amazing! Here is my progress so far:
    First I made a pattern out of newspaper. Then, using my patterns, I cut out 2 pieces of Wonderflex and 1 slightly smaller piece of craft foam. Next I put the piece of craft foam in between the wonderflex and heated it to the correct shape. Once the Wonderflex was dry I glued purple suede fabric onto the Wonderflex using contact cement.
The next step was to trace this pattern onto the armor pieces.
                                      Then I used a soldering gun to melt the pattern into the fabric.
                        Finally, I used a copic marker to give it the proper shading and add a bit more detail.
    All of the armor pieces (except for the shoulders) have been started. The top part was a little difficult and took a few tries. I ended up making a duct tape and newspaper pattern using a strapless bra. I used 2mm and 3mm craft foam to create the top. My next step will be to add the silver trim and detail pieces to these!
                    A few days ago I was able to trace the pattern for the weird shield thing on her bow.
                   It is all covered in foam now! I will begin carving and working on it sometime this week!

    We had a great time at the midnight launch for Soul Calibur V in late January. Another big Thanks to OKgamers and the Tulsa Hills Gamestop for having us out!  We got the chance to play the game a few days later and fell in love with it. Both of us find Patroklos and Pyrrha unfortunately irritating, but thankfully most of the other characters are pretty cool. We absolutely love Tira's new look. We miss Cass, but all in all it is really fun game!
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Soul Calibur V Midnight Release and Cosplay Progress!~

1/27/2012

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_ We will be attending the midnight release of Soul Calibur V at Gamestop in Tulsa (the one right off of Highway 75 and 71st) as Cassandra Alexandra and Jester Tira. If you are in the area and a fan of the series come in, say hello, and pick up your copy of the game! We will be in costume from 9-11pm. Many Thanks to Saif from OKgamers for inviting us along!



In other news, we have started working on our first cosplays of the new year! We are currently working on our Panty and Stocking costumes! 

_Mika will be angel Panty, Demi will be angel Stocking, and our friend Shaun will be guest casting as Briefers Rock! We are really excited to have him join us. This will be his first cosplay! We've completely fallen in love with these characters and are very eager to put the finishing touches on these costumes... However, we still have a little ways to go before we are finished. So, until then, here are a few progress shots!
Luckily it's so close to Valentine's Day we were able to find some cheap decorations to destroy in order to make the hearts for our costumes!
We peeled off the sequins, cut the hearts in half and filled them with expanding spray foam so that they wouldn't be hollow (that part isn't pictured yet).
Last shot of the night! This is the beginning of one of Panty's bracelets. We used the same method for the arm bands as well. We cut craft foam into the correct shape, and glued stretch pleather fabric (purchased from mjtrends.com) to the back of it. It's cut like that so that it will lay correctly and not bunch up. We're pretty happy with the way it turned out!

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We have also started on our World of Warcraft group! Mika will be Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, Demi will be a female Undercity Dreadguard, and Shaun will be guesting again as a male Undercity Dreadguard. We have a lot to learn for these costumes and tons of new techniques to try! We hope to debut both groups at Anime Matsuri in April. That gives us about 2 months, wish us luck! We will post progress pics as soon as we have them. For more info about our planned cosplay list for 2012, check out our cosplay page. Thanks for reading!
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