Wondercon 2012!
Posted by Vash Fanatic | Filed under cosplay, Updates
Wondercon 2012 was a really good con! I had never been to a comic book type convention before, so this was all new to me. A different crowd than an anime convention, that’s for sure! But it’s a welcomed feeling. That’s what happened with me at Blizzcon too, different nerds, different type of awesome.
Anyway, the con itself was pretty cool, the panels…well, those weren’t really that interesting at all. The only one that I did go to and actually enjoyed was the “How to Get a Job in the Video Game Industry”. I actually learned a bit from it…but at the same time, it sounded like they were just screaming, WORK AT CAPCOM. Most, if not all the guest speakers work for or worked for Capcom. xD The booths in the dealers hall were pretty insane. I saw comic books people were selling for thousands of dollars. One I saw was worth $5,000. A sketch that I saw was worth $12,000. Needless to say, you needed some bucks for the most part. It was fun stopping by the Cryptozoic booth! I don’t play card games, but I do find them interesting. Maybe one day I will finally play the World of Warcraft TCG. MAYBE.
Had a wonderful time hanging out with my boyfriend. He was kind enough to put up with me in my cosplays. I also saw the lovely Tracy, the amazing Vensy and her man ShadowGlaive Cosplay, along with a few of my friends, Lane, Jarod, and Joe. I also got the chance to finally talk to Christina Sims! That was exciting. And…people that I didn’t expect to meet: CHRIS (FREAKIN) METZEN, Patrick Seitz (Voice of Arthas) and Samwise (Blizzard artist). Weekend was full of so much epic Blizzard WIN. YUS.
Cosplay wise, Friday I was American McGee’s Alice once again. What can I say? This costume is really comfy to wear. This time I added the wrist bandages because I had a bunny with me. He’s a bit big, BUT CUTE. Made him 2 hours the night before…Hobby Horse prop was dead to the world!
Saturday, I wore my Female Arthas. The morning did not start out right at all. The glue didn’t dry (why the hell was it so cold and raining? I don’t get it. It was 80 degrees a few days before xD) so we had difficulties figuring out how everything was going to stay. My boyfriend is a saint for putting up with me and those situations. Continuing on, got to play with my latex Frostmourne. It had to be the best con sword ever. Light weight and very pretty! Had lots of fun bumming around with Vensy and ShadowGlaive in their Warcraft costumes! Here’s an awesome video:
http://www.craveonline.com/videos/featured/185061-video-the-cosplay-of-wondercon-2012
I wish he put in the part where I was walking after him, clearly trying to take his soul!
Wondercon was fun! I hope I can go to it again some time. Gave me a taste of Comic con….and now I want to go more than ever.
Coming soon: A tutorial on sewing wefts to a wig, using liquid latex as a scalp.
Thanks for reading!
February Update
Posted by Vash Fanatic | Filed under Uncategorized
This quarter is almost over, thank goodness! Things are starting to settle down and I can finally start to get ready for Wondercon. Gotta fix up Arthas and then work on Legolas. So excited for Legolas because I will be learning to work with leather! Yay! Hmm, that’s all from me, but, check out this amazing website. So may amazing cosplayers are apart of this website, check them out!
Thanks guys! Happy webbing!~
Lady Arthas Project
Posted by Vash Fanatic | Filed under cosplay, Updates
So, you’re curious about my Arthas costume, eh? Well, let me tell you, it was A LOT of work, there were A LOT of errors, and A LOT of lessons learned 
Arthas is one of my all time favorite characters out of any game. I had always had an interest in him, but never had any idea that I would be making a costume for him. I had seen the fan art of Female Arthas and Female Illidan fighting each other and thought that that would be a cool costume to make, but didn’t really want to make it. 
Then I read Arthas by Christie Golden. Inspiration hit me. I based most of this costume off of Arthas’ actual armor, but used the ideas for the Female Arthas fan art. Thus began the very long process….
At first, I was going to make the armor out of expanding foam and plaster…but that technique is very fragile and I couldn’t really get the results I wanted. Plus, it didn’t really look like plate armor, even when painted.
First, I actually did make expanding foam shapes of my shoulders and a foam model of my breast plate. It really helped to do this because I could see just how everything would look and fit. After seeing it on me, I decided that the shoulders were a bit too big. I loved the shape, they just hung too far back. As for the breast plate, the shape was just what I wanted, and I had just taped them together so I could use them as patterns for the wonderflex pieces.
After I figured out patterns and correct sizing, it was finally time to start working! The materials I chose to use were: Craft Foam, Wonderflex, FIberglass, Resin, and Sculpey. I really wanted to use SmoothCast to make all the spikes and skulls, but funds were rather low at that time.
I had all the pieces and patterns ready, so then it was time to put everything into motion. I had never worked with fiberglass before…EVER. So this was a real challenge. I watched various videos on YouTube…lesson number one learned: BUY A RESPIRATOR. Those flimsy masks don’t do anything, well, they are good for sanding. Instead of experimenting, which is ALWAYS a good idea, I decided to jump right into my project and start fiberglassing with the breast plate. I ended up messing up on the breast plate, making it way too small. At that point in time, I realized that I needed a form for the breast plate to be on that was my size. The fiberglass was heavy and warped the shape.
Here is an example of what I mean by having a form. For the shoulders, I was actually very lucky and already had the forms made. Remember the
expanding foam ones covered in plaster? They were perfect. But first, take heed, fiberglass resin sticks…very, VERY sticky. What you want to do before covering your shape in fiberglass, you need to cover it with tin foil. By doing this, the fiberglass mold will come off easily! However, your old mold will probably be destroyed. There is a picture of that in my photo stream…so remember, there will most likely be no second chances.
So now that your piece is covered in foil, it’s time to put on the fiberglass! Be sure to wear gloves when you are cutting the fiberglass cloth, the shards could get stuck in your fingers and cause a great amount of pain! Do this ahead of time too, because you only have a short amount of time to use the resin you mix. It does harden after about 5 minutes (really depends on weather conditions).
Here is an idea of what it will look like with the fiberglass. (Sorry it’s the other shoulder, I forgot to take a picture of the skull one). After you fiberglass it, you have to take out the form underneath. This can be a very long process. It was very difficult for me to take out my mold because some of the resin had gotten through the tin foil. (Sloppy work on my part xD). After everything is dry, it is time for the longest part…bondo and sanding, followed by more bondo and sanding. This can get very expensive, so just be sure to do a smooth job on your fiberglass work. This can save hours and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Finished result:
After all the bondo work on all my armor, I added all the minor details, which were mostly made of Sculpey, and then I added a couple of final coat of resin over the finished product. Then I sprayed a coat of primer and double checked for anything that may have needed more bondo work. You get the idea. Lots of hard and tedious work. You can check out progress photos in my photostream!
I do want to show some of my detail work though! This part was super fun for me!
I am planning to revamp a few things on this costume. My belt, Frostmourne, and some sort of helmet is on my mind! There will be more posts on this costume in the future!
I will be wearing this to WonderCon 2012, Anime Expo 2012, and maybe Fanime 2012. See you soon!
No Blizzcon 2012.. :(
Posted by Vash Fanatic | Filed under cosplay, Updates
I’m sure you all have heard, Blizzcon 2012 has been cancelled this year. I am sad about it, but at the same time, I do realize why Blizzard made the decision they did. Here is a link to the article:
http://us.battle.net/blizzcon/en/blog/4338369/2012_Battlenet_World_Championship_Event-1_25_2012#blog
Oh well, you know what else Blizzard announced today though? CUPS AT AMPM.
Wewts!
Aside from that news, I am pleased to announce that I have finally started work on my projects for 2012! It’s going to be an exciting year~
For Those Who Read..
Posted by Vash Fanatic | Filed under cosplay, Updates
I would highly recommend reading the World of Warcraft book series. I don’t think that many people really look into the lore of Warcraft, but it is just deep and full of amazing things. My favorite author so far has been Richard Knaak. He wrote Stormrage, the War of the Ancient trilogy, some of the Diablo books and a couple others. Amazing author. Of course, the other authors bringing the lore to life write breathtaking stuff as well. Read!! 
Slowly Getting There!~
Posted by Vash Fanatic | Filed under cosplay, Updates
Hey guys! This is Vash Fanatic coming to you from her desk in her room. This site has been so fun to make! However, I am lazy..and it’s taking a while! No worries. Probably gonna start using it as a blog more though and then continue to add all the info that I wanted to on the site. I have some of the cosplays that I have done up! Descriptions are trickling in. For some reason, I would much rather be reading this book, Stormrage, than work on the site.
<3 you guys!
-Vash Fanatic~
Kamui Cosplay
Vensy.net