★★ Rini ★ 28 ★ AUSTRALIA ★★ Cosplayer/human disaster based in Wollongong. This blog is for sharing cosplay tips, general cosplay appreciation, as well as to document my own cosplay creation process. ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ If you would like to support this blog, shop at my Teepublic store below!
Please watch professional figure skater Keiji Tanaka make a very special JoJo themed performance at All Japan Medalist on Ice - a gala exhibition held after the national figure skating championships in Osaka!!
As of yesterday this has now been fully animated. Additional choreography between the poses and softening of extreme angles now makes it 50% more physically possible! My old tips on posing mostly still stand (heh) but as of right now I haven’t tried the new version.
Itabag construction on a budget: faux pins/charms and recycled jewellery.
Are you broke?? Do you still want to show off your love for your favourite anime or waifu?? I’ll tell you how to put together an itabag without selling your kidney for anime merchandise!
Note: If you’re interested in reading the pathetic sob story behind my itabag, you can read it here !
If not, keep reading below for the tutorial!
Materials you need:
The great thing about this process is that it uses the materials you probably already have lying around the house.
Inserts:
cardboard
fabric
hot glue
paper (or preferably something see-through like baking paper)
Faux pins/charms:
thin craft foam sheets
printed out images
glue stick
old jewellery or old keychains (old necklaces, bracelets, anything with cute charms and jewellery/keychain fasteners on it)
pliers
safety pins
hole puncher
mod podge
Inserts
1. Using your baking paper/regular paper trace around your bag, also trace around the clear window area.
2. Cut down to size, also cutting out the shape of the clear window you just traced out. We’re going to use this as a template when laying out your images later.
3. Take your cardboard and using the paper template we just cut out, cut the cardboard down to size.
4. Take your fabric of choice and lay it out on the cardboard, make sure to have bits of fabric hanging off the sides so we can glue these down with hot glue.
Faux pins
1. Gather images of your chosen waifu from the internet. Edit them down to size if necessary. I just edited mine using the crop tool on Microsoft Word, no need for anything fancy.
2. Print your images and cut them out. Then glue them on to a piece of thin craft foam. Cut them out once they’ve fully adhered to the foam. Doing this makes the images pop and not flat, remember that we’re trying to give the illusion that we’re not poor.
3. Once you’ve done the above step for all of your images, take the paper template and the cardboard insert we made earlier. Pin down the paper template over the cardboard insert, and lay out all of your images until you’re happy with the layout.
4. Glue down the images onto the insert.
5. At this point, feel free to add any other decorations as you please. I’ve added a chain that I salvaged from old jewellery, as well as charms from an old necklace. I also salvaged fasteners from old keychains. I attached the chain on to the insert using safety pins.
Faux charms
1. To make charms, repeat step 2 above only this time we’re gluing paper on to the back as well. Doing this will make sure the charm is extra strong and durable.
2. Using a hole puncher, punch a hole on to the image. This is where we’re going to attach our keychain fasteners later. Alternatively, you can keep the image intact and hot glue a safety pin on the back later.
3. Add coats of mod podge on both sides. At least 2 coats on both sides is enough. This is to make the charm look shiny as well as making it feel rock solid.
4. And again, salvage parts from old keychains or jewellery for chains and other bits and bobs.
Channeling sadness into creative energy: Itabag construction and how it’s therapeutic.
If you’re an anime nerd like me, you’re probably aware of the itabag trend going around lately. Not only are they hella fun to make, but I’ve also learned that it also serves as a form of therapy for me. To illustrate my point, I have to give you a bit of background first:
I’ve had a shitty week. I’ve had finally mustered the courage to ask someone out on a date, only to be turned down. To make things worse, this person is a friend of mine, and I’ve possibly ruined our friendship forever. I was feeling embarrassed, horrible that I’ve placed a friend in this situation, mortified, among other things.
So I decided to take my mind off things and start a little fun project. I’ve always wanted to start an itabag, and what better time to start one while being on the verge of jumping off a cliff! And so I bought myself my first itabag and dedicate it to one of my favourite manga/animes: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
(Photo from ebay seller Superfattybunny).
Traditionally, you would stick anime merchandise inside an itabag (charms, keychains and other stuff). But I’m too poor to buy a bag’s worth of anime merchandise, so I’ve put mine together with pictures I collected from the internet and edited/printed myself. This part of the process is the most therapeutic part and I’ll tell you why:
Because it took my mind off my situation and focus my mind on which picture would look good on my bag instead. Organising them in a way that fits the aesthetic I want also took a lot of brain power, to the point where there’s no brain power left to worry about negative vibes. This process also made me smile, because looking at these pictures reminded me of the fun, bizarre™ moments of the series. Not to mention the memes I came across while browsing for these pictures.
And here is the finished product:
(I will write my full process on a separate post, so keep an eye out for that if you’re interested).
So the moral of this pathetic story is:
Channel your sadness into doing something creative. Putting together an itabag using this process is the equivalent of looking at cat videos; it’s mood-lifting and takes your mind off whatever shitty situation you’re having. Except this is better than just looking at cat videos, because you end up with a cool bag at the end of it. This goes without saying, but doing this DOES NOT replace professional therapy. Please get professional help if you’re able.
Boyfriends come and go, but anime will always have your back. What a weeb thing to say, no wonder I’m still single.
Okay so, I found it extremely hard to find a pattern for the Paladin armor so I made one of my own. I made this in a laser cut program cause I’m going to be laser cutting this out of EVA foam. I don’t know what the end result of this is yet but once I’ve made it I’ll post a step by step tutorial of assembly and painting and the final result (it’ll be my fav boi Lance).
[this is all size to my measurements, if you use this the ratios will probably be different]
Blue- Jetpack
Green- Chest piece
Red- Arms
Purple- Belt
Orange- Legs
Chest piece (left to right: Shoulder, Front, Side, Neck and Back, Side, Shoulder)
Jetpack
[the tabs fold down to make it 3D off of the armor (the separate triangles are tabs too I just couldn’t fit them in without overlapping) I’ve designed this so that the bottom is slanted cause that’s kinda how it looks in my ref]
Arms (top to bottom: Bicep, Elbow, Forearm, Wrist bit and Hand bit)
Belt
[the tabs on the hexagons are to be folded down cause the bits pop out. I’m doing the slit bits as just cut out cause I’m too lazy to do it any other way. This is designed to join at the front so the pentagon/diamond shaped bit can hide the seam]
Legs (top to bottom: Thigh, Knee, Calf, Ankle pieces)
[the legs will need the most shaping, espesially around the ankle]
Slowly working on some robo arm for Shiro (Voltron) in between the usual attacks of Crippling Depression™️. I’m hoping to get him done for Oz Comic Con later this year.
On a completely unrelated note, this photo looks like I’m telling that alien he can’t sit with us.
29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)
Probably Rohan’s earrings. I’ve recently repainted it since this photo was taken, it looks pretty cool if I do say so myself. I would consider wearing it even when I’m not in cosplay.
30. Describe cosplay in three words. No more, no less.
Expensive but rewarding.
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And that’s it for the challenge! It’s been a fun challenge, even though it’s taken me more than 30 days to complete :P It forced me to think about my cosplay habits and it’s been really cool! If you want to do the challenge yourself, you can find the questions by clicking here. Let me know if you decide to do it, I want to read your responses and get to know you all a lot better!
27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favourite?
I currently have 3, and 1 is on its way. I don’t really have a favourite, really :\
28. Where do you work on your cosplays and where do you store them when they’re done?
I work in my tiny tiny bedroom:
I keep all my cosplay supplies in the bottom drawer of my desk, I keep all my fabrics and sewing supplies in the round containers as well as in those baskets. I do all my sewing on my desk, and fabric cutting usually happens on the floor.
I store my cosplays in one section of my wardrobe:
I need to organise this space a bit better, I may write a tutorial/tip post about it soon.
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