good luck at the 7days 6 nights camp, to all NTu freshies. UGH. just the thought makes me curl with apprehension. i can't even stand 1 day of camp for goodness sake...
ah well, zhifu carved his heart and soul into the emblems before he left and i thought they look pretty nice! now i have 4 of them but i'm only gonna use 2. some of the undersides are still burnt and bubbled, but it's not very obvious. ok, i'm not a sucker for detailed details such as these, i am not a perfectionist... for now at least.




i bought these paper clay and it turns out to be so much softer and usable than that stupid white clay which hardens in a minute and chips in seconds. at least i could knead this one for about half an hour or so before it hardens slightly. i guess this clay is usable only on this kind of supposedly large and flat surfaces. the surface is not smooth, but then again, i'm not a perfectionist. heh heh (ok, i'm lazy, but heck)



and finally i went to daiso to get this material which i thought might be suitable for my armour base instead of the foam (foam is so expensive). this costs only $2 and enough to make 2 armour base.


however, it is feeble and tears easily. at least it's still better than my newspaper base. haha.





go on, laugh all you want (-_-`) i know it loooks disgusting and eeky, you can't imagine how i have to put that on and strut around for my measurements (i seriously don't know how to measure with a measuring tape). (gosh, why does lenneth hav big boobs??) i've done some sketches so i know where i can roughly cut and where i can put the transparencies to toughen the exterior... just hope it works.

i just realised that i took some very funny pictures for my cosplay. haha.

rhode and tykki performing magic tricks: (nemo looks in awe)































gaara using lero and rhode hiding behind his gourd:

i've just added amethyst angel's url on the side bars, she has some really really good armour making tutorials and stuff, super pro! but most of the materials she use can't really be found in singapore. sighs. i wish someone would import them cheaply. boy are they expensive.
and mine are really not tutorials, it's just a record of my work, so it CANNOT be compared to hers...!

ok time to go back to my PVC. i did this papier marche balloon quite a few days ago, and the balloon shrunk so much that it was pretty easy to cut and remove everything into my pauldron shape






most sites i've been to don't really teach how you can measure and cut the stuff. mine's not really accurate but i sorta used aluminium foil to get the basic shape to draw onto the balloon, then cut them out. after that you can just imprint one onto the other and cut the outline so make sure both are the same sizes.



i realised i have this as a leftover, and i might just redo my helm if i find that the papier marche method is easier...



i just bought this paper clay thing, a small slab for $3+, hope it works better than the white clay. and i got myself some transparency-like transparencies, 3 A4-sized foam (that's the only size it has, $1 each) and sandpaper ($0.21). can't wait to start putting clay on the pauldrons!

3rd day of cosfest
i spent the least time on this costume, seriously, because i already have the dress i bought in malaysia some time ago ( i have the dress that's why i was gonna do misa haha), and the only thing i really needed to work on was the lan pok gloves, hair and make up, which is really not much. well, most effort was spent on walking to the supermarket to buy the apple with my mom (and her groceries of course) in the morning. my camera had to run out of battery after about 20-30 pictures. (-_-`) boo hoo hoo.

here's the poor gundam who couldn't really go up stage to take pictures... he is soooo cute!! (i think it's a he...)



i met them in all 3 days in different costumes. love her harp!



anyway this is my idol, kakashi, whose group did dragon lance. her golden face and her $300 hourglass contacts are... whoa! love her silverish hair. and frank looks good as an elf, while christina rocks as the gorgeous princess (i have no idea who the characters are actually, correct me if i'm wrong)! and that bike shop armour really works wonder. i took photos with them but i look fat and ugly so i shan't post it ;p


ehh i seriously don't like acting cute. and this was solely for convenience sake. (-_-`) i think i shall stick to vampiric characters next time.

2nd day of cosfest at d'tent.
we got cheated by the malay uncle at the entrance of the chalet who directed us to the opposite end when the real d'tent was just to walk straight ahead. i'm gonna turn rascist man.
well anyway i got this picture from the forum... and it seems like the best picture out of my entire collection:


and then we took with astarte from angel sanctuary, who did juclesia from magna carta the next day. ARGHHH i didn't take with juclesia!! i'm so sad. and tykki looks good with astarte. wedding no maru de ne~


too lazy to upload so many photos. eh heh

here's a picture of rhode with her pink umbrella and tykki... looks like you need a pack of cards indeed, fritzooo...

i finally finished my rero. the color is still wrong and the leaves shape a bit different, but ARGHH i'll change it IF i am bored enough. drew the pumpkin lines and wrapped the green thing around the stalk... in case no difference is spotted. oh! and the face is sharper on the sides now.

finally found someone who posted our hellsing pictures up! and it was of great quality too! yay! i totally love this one! don't have many of alucard and hellsing only pictures lo... and i remember this, a whole horde of photographers just went on snapping away, and some photographers were lying on the floor trying to capture special angle photos... it was pretty funny but this is a very nice angle i'd say~

I AM STUCK.
after i'm done spray painting these handguards, i really have no idea how to proceed with my other armour parts. may have to be suspended for a while. *sighs*

oh and i sort of worked a bit on the armguard of valkyrie's while waiting for the paint to dry. basically i'm just gonna stick with using hard paper, so i started cutting out some of the shapes to be ready to be spray painted...

ok... time to work on my next project - d'gray man! i'm gonna be doing rhode kamelot / road camelot whatever the name is spelt as... i prefer the former though. i'll try to find a colored picture of her, but man, her pictures are rare! but here's a video of her singing!







tried doing the little pumpkin called rero on her umbrella yesterday.



i'm doing the evil face but that's the only shot i got that's big enough from the anime. i have lots of orange paint but they were so bright i tried mixing with brown, and it turned dull, so i painted some more orange over again. so this is how it turned out...



mashed all the paper and masking taped it into this form...





think it looks a wee thin, don't ya think? and i need to work on getting the right shade of orange. maybe i'll just paint again later in the evening... or tomorrow.

OH MY this is my 1,000th post!!
well anyway i've finished my alucard! taka cosplay was a smasssshhh... except for the policemen who just wants to ruin our weapons by pasting silly stickers on them... pointless stuff.
here's the finished hat! i changed the strips so it looks more like the picture now:



well are you DYING to see how i look as alucard? i'm not gonna post many... only selected those that i look nice in... don't view in the night! HAHA.
and zhifu did a great job as father anderson! YAY. some people mistook me as edward elric (ok, i'm short) and jiro (black blood brothers) but it could have been worse without anderson! oh, and spray paint DO work on hair! zhifu has just proven that it is easy to wash off since it will turn to bits. WOW.




with akito (peggy) from air gear she did a pairing with kyoist... oh my god she looked damn hot too bad i didn't see kyoist that day!


hollow ichigo from bleach, heard there's a very good zangetsu, but didn't manage to take with him!


with ouran and nana (i think?) shinigami

well if you wanna see more, tell me heh heh i'm too lazy to put all of them.

it's almost done! used one of my sister's old red tshirt and cut the correct size this time for the underside flap. did all these using white glue! haha! i'm just too lazy t sew.



added the white strips and managed to sew a few buttons around the brim of the hat. it still lacks strippy patterns though...


here's how the original hat is supposed to be like:


hope i have time to touch up today... it's the freaking production day of lao jiu man... sighsss

ok i can't believe it but i'm overspending again! i really should not go shopping. this was from shopping at orchard with my sis the other day...

from spotlight sale! can't help loving art!
$3.95 on a huge bottle of white glue
$12 on a set of basic acrylic student paint (well, it was on sale k!!)
$2 on 1m of lace

$32 on a top from ebase... so much for the 40% off it's still above $30 man...

.................................... total: $50 for the moment

$28 for driving this week
$40 on contact lenses (twice more from what was expected)
$1 on a piece of potato

.................................... subtotal on miscellaneous: $69

..................................... so for this week: $119

ARGH i can't believe i overwrote my alucard post with my contacts post. well, anyway for my hat update... AGAIN (for me, ok?).
materials: denzyl's food collection drive red tshirt, corrugated board, president's challenge cap (with the front flap snipped off, it was too zhor teng) - can see all of these from the underside!



used white glue to paste the cloth (not pasted very well, will fix again), and sewed the board, cloth and hat together in the holey area around the rim. kept having to enlarge the hole cos my head was too big. haha. wasted my other half of the red tshirt by cutting the underside cloth too small! damn, i need another shirt now. this tells me i should always draw before i cut!

oh yes! second time i succeeded putting my contacts. this is taken with flash from my phone by the way... while i'm at work! i took half an hour in the morning to do it. so proud of myself. the side areas are a bit blurred for now. maybe too much contact with my fingers... gonna take them off at noon since my opto says 4hours 1st day, 6hours 2nd day, 8hours 3rd day and so on. so consider this my first day!
oh ya, i used blogger to upload this picture. sweet!

i skipped stage-it to go practise putting on my lenses... and i didn't regret it! yay! after 2 hours i successfully touched my eyeball and moved the lens around. i think my eye may have grown bigger after all that stretching. here's how the color looks:


looks more brown than red, but i think it would have that added effect, eh? the sense of achievement when i finally put the lens in... wow it was like the whole shop was cheering for me (-_-`)
oh and i think i got my retribution... woke up at 4am having a bad diarrhoea. oh well, at least i'm purged of all evils now. bluarghz. the sacrifices i make for alucard. brrrrr.

ok i can't believe i did these at work! i think my colleagues must be thinking i'm some kind of witchcraft practitioner now. bluarghz... the things you sacrifice...!! haha. well, spot the difference! (there's a lot by the way, aside from the angle taken heh)

right hand:



left hand:



eee my phone is taking blur pictures now. pffftttt....

i just received my emblem yesterday, it was burnt, but better than expected! i could skip the bubbles. maybe it would even the spray if the whole thing is burnt, since black is a good base. thank you so much zhifu!! you're the best crafter in the world! yay! i'm so glad i found a cosplay partner, and a skilled one at that. ok, handsome (ughh).

oh ya the other time denzyl came to have lunch with me and he bought a green tea red bean ice cream from opposite my work place the 7-eleven. i thought the shape was pretty funny. it has a weird tast. i think it's expired ice-cream. hoho.


and i finally cut my hair! yay! it feels like i have lesser hair now though. i wanted it to look like this from the front:



but turns out it wasn't short enough, really. when i tie my hair the strands didn't fall down as expected. i hope it's better with a little styling. i still have my back long hair, and my trademark extra long hair at the side. haha, no worries.

oh i decided to do alucard for the coming cosfest. in case anyone's interested, it's on 7th (ngee ann city), 14th & 15th (downtown east) for july! here's how he looks like:


i'm doing the one without the glasses and the hat though... unless i'm able to make the hat or find the glasses. or else i'm going with red contact lenses... which i'm still having trouble finding since i don't have any experience wearing contact lenses..


here are his props:


i've actually already almost finished the costume except for the pentagram on the gloves, which i tried drawing last friday but realised the placement was incorrect, so i had to bleach the gloves to restart. might try drawing again later since i've brought it. i'm also gonna be holding one gun... well 2 is too much for me to make, besides i don't have black spray paint!
i used leftover corrugated board (from cutting the vp helm) with newspaper in between to give the thickness, then masking taped it all over the place for the uneveness and whatever wa poking out from the gun.


after spray painting it for 1 layer, i thought it wasn't really thick enough.

so i sprayed like 2 more layers after it dried. i won't mention the passerbys that gave mstified looks at the 'gun' i laid outside my house, as well as the strange indian music.

and it's done! well, it looks pretty good in photos but in reality it still looks like a paper gun. i had a terrible time finding the words i should put on the silver gun, since most only showed what was on the black gun or that the wordings were too small. magnify didn't work since it was still pixelated! oh well. at least i think what i wrote should be correct on 1 side... and 90% correct on the other... hope no one has a sharp eye... i'm not gonna take out the gun unless necessary anyway. bluarghz.
oh and about the big red coat. i got 2m of red cloth for $3.99/m, spotlight again. managed to make the coat AND the tie. not very fantastic. the collar is a bit weird but it's still wearable. and my toy sewing machine aka fashion centre didn't work very well cos the stitchings came loose easily, so i had to resort to alternate stitchings heh heh (cheaterbug way, but who knows?). and i did a vest from my sister's fitness first black tshirt. wahahah i may even wear it out, but my sewing is HORRENDOUS. i know it, don't tell me.
oh ya, i hope zhifu can do anderson with me!

wonder how's it going...

i managed to cut out the twirly patterns on the side of the helm and stuck it to the sides! it looks pretty good!




then i realised my linings and stuff kept peeling off, and plus i used like 3 layers for everything so the top layer kept uncovering to reveal the unpainted layers underneath, so i had to keep glueing and glueing it, and glue gun SO TOTALLY DIDN'T work. don't buy the mini boston trigger thingy.
then i experimented with the plastic cover thing which i bought a roll at popular for $2.50 (spotlight having clearance at $2, so i've 2 rolls now which i doubt i'd use). it wasn't very sticky because it didn't stick properly (duh).



eventually i removed it because although it looks pretty normal on camera, it's weird to have a waterproof plastic helm. and the removal process was pretty easy - it's like removing post-it notes, just that this post-it was a little stronger. i'm glad it didn't take away any paint or tear anything! i bought this huge chunk of crafty white glue from spotlight at $3.95. hmm hope it sticks well. no drastic effect but i'd go home and check if it's still peeling. it looks better without the plastic i think.

Coconut

Coconut Water contains organic compounds possessing healthy growth promoting properties that have been known to help:
Keep the body cool and at the proper temperature
Orally re-hydrate your body, it is an all natural isotonic beverage
Carry nutrients and oxygen to cells
Naturally replenish your body's fluids after exercising
Raise your metabolism
Promote weight loss
Boost your immune system
Detoxify and fight viruses
Cleanse your digestive tract
Control diabetes
Aid your body in fighting viruses that cause the flu, herpes, and AIDS
Balance your PH and reduce risk of cancer
Treat kidney and urethral stones
Boost poor circulation Coconut Water Information complied by John Kohler The English name coconut, first mentioned in English print in 1555, comes from Spanish and Portugese word coco, which means 'monkey face.' Spanish and Portugese explorers found a resemblance to a monkey's face in the three round indented markings or 'eyes' found at the base of the coconut. On the Nicobar Islands of the Indian Ocean, whole coconuts were used as currency for the purchace of goods until the early part of the twentieth century. Coconuts are the fruit of the coconut palm, botanically known as cocos nucifera, with nucifera meaning 'nut-bearing.' The fruit-bearing palms are native to Malaysia, Polynesia and southern Asia, and are now also prolific in South America, India , the Pacific Islands , Hawaii and Florida. The light, fibrous husk allowed it to easily drift on the oceans to other areas to propagate. In Sanskrit, the coconut palm is known as kalpa vriksha, meaning 'tree which gives all that is necessary for living,' since nearly all parts of the tree can be used in some m anner or another. The coconut itself has many food uses, including milk, meat, sugar and oil as well as functioning as its own dish and cup. The husk was also burned for fuel by natives, but today a seed fibre called coir is taken from the husk and used to make brushes, mats, fishnets, and rope. A very potent fermented toddy or drink is also made from the coconut palm's sap. Coconut oil, a saturated fat made from dried coconut meat, is used for commercial frying and in candies and margarines, as well as in non-edible products such as soaps and cosmetics. Although it takes up to a year for coconuts to mature, the trees bloom up to thirteen times a year, so fruit is constantly forming yielding a continuous harvest year-round. An average harvest from one tree runs about 60 coconuts, with some trees yielding three times that amount. The coconut's name is a bit of a misnomer, since it is botanically classified as a drupe and not a nut. It is the largest seed known. If you've ever opened a fresh coconut, you will have seen the thin, opaque almost clear coconut juice or water which has a slight almond flavor. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the coconut milk. However, the water is consumed as a drink fresh from the coconut by many, and it can also be used in recipes. Here is some information about Coconut Water:'It's a natural isotonic beverage, with the same level of electrolytic balance as we have in our blood. It's the fluid of life, so to speak.' In fact, during the Pacific War of 1941-45, both sides in the conflict regularly used coconut water - siphoned directly from the nut - to give emergency plasma transfusions to wounded soldiers. Most coconut water is still consumed fresh in tropical coastal areas - once exposed to air, the liquid rapidly loses most of its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics, and begins to ferment.
Coconut Water is More Nutritious than whole milk - Less fat and NO cholesterol!
Coconut Water is More Healthy than Orange Juice - Much lower calories
Coconut Water is Better than processed baby milk- It contains lauric acid, which is present in human mother's milk
Coconut water is naturally sterile -- Water permeates though the filtering husk!
Coconut water is a universal donor-- Its identical to human blood plasma
Coconut Water is a Natural Isotonic Beverage - The same level we have in our blood.
Coconut water has saved lives in 3rd world countries thru Coconut IV. Coconut water is the very stuff of Nature, biologically Pure, full of Natural Sugars, Salts, and Vitamins to ward off fatigue... and is the next wave of energy drinks BUT natural!', according to Mortin Satin, Chielf of the United Nation's Food & Agriculture Organization. Coconut water contains more potassium (at about 294 mg) than most sports drinks (117 mg) and most energy drinks. Coconut water has less sodium (25mg) where sports drinks have around 41mg and energy drinks have about 200 mg! Coconut water has 5mg of Natural Sugars where sports and energy drinks range from 10-25mg of Altered Sugars. Coconut water is very high in Chloride at 118mg, compared to sports drinks at about 39mg. Data is based on a 100ml drink.