Amira at Animatsuri

This is a post about my experience in Animatsuri in September where I first wore my Amira costume for local eurocosplay qualification.

"Some" stuff

Despite the event starting on Friday, for me, I had to finish major things for Wednesday as the driver who was taking my one million bags so generously with his car had a little party on Thursday evening and did not want to drive on that day. I was so rushing and I totally hated it. I like doing everything with a lot of care and I do not like cutting corners. So, I felt slightly like this is not what I want. Anyway, the driver actually arrived to collect the bags and I was still like cluing my last things and they waited a little bit but in the end, most of the stuff was in car.. (not an easy task as there was four of us and there was another cosplayer. You know.. cosplayers "love" having many bags)

Anyway, comes Friday. I had taken day off work to drive to Tartu early to have some time to spent with my childhood best friend whose place I will be crashing. As I expect Animatsuri to be full days, I wanted to have at least some time to chat and catch up.

While I am still in my home packing, I read from instagram that the main favorite for EC (who had very ambiguous and gorgeous costume in progress) has decided to drop out as she did not finish the costume (considering how I have been rushing in the end, I know how it must have felt. I actually hoped that maybe she can still do it as being rushing in last minute myself, I would have known how horrible it had felt if something would have not been finished.. and I know people put lot of time behind their costumes. So, I felt really bad that someone has not managed to finish.) Also, this meant that there would be very few of us in EC preliminaries. I know one of the names, I managed to google the second one but the third one was unknown for me. Total of four. I think until that moment I had not considered that I even had a change. I mean, I had done the costume for so long and with lot of care but I had always thought that the two main favorites will go and take the price and I actually did not thought too much about the competition while doing the costume. I knew from the start that I will try EC and I prepared the costume with that on mind but I never thought for sure that I must win it. I think if that had been my only goal, I would have not enjoyed making the costume or would have been too stressed or.. I mean, there are some aspects that make costume more likely to have success. I think Amira costume has many of those aspects (like very complex details, many different techniques needed) but I was never "fixed" on idea of winning. (At one point in London, I actually felt bad as it felt like so many people wanted to be in EC so badly that my "I just decided to try" felt very lame.. compared to other peoples years of dreaming of participating in EC).

Anyway.. my thinking, with Amira, was that if I can improve from judges favorite to getting like a placement, I would be super happy.  On that moment, I actually started to worry that what will happen if I should win EC preliminaries. I would be able to go to London as I actually put the start of my postdoc so that it would be possible (so, some part of me probably dreamt about it but never too seriously) but it would be very inconvenient... like London, day back home, and off for Japan for more than a year.. so I actually considered whole Friday and Saturday to take myself out of EC competition as I felt I do not want it probably as much as some others might. My idea had always been take part, enjoy it and let someone else win it.

Okei. Tartu. Friday was the ball day. I must say ball is something I love a lot about Animtasuri. So this was my third Animatsuri. First one was 4 years ago? and then it was the ball I think I liked the most. Then I missed a year because I was in Japan doing my research and last year thanks to conference I only managed to do Sunday that fully went for the competition. So, this time I was glad I had all days and nothing else (expect the conference on following Monday but this time it was after luckily :D).

I wore my Widowmaker dress to the ball. As I spent the whole year doing Amira, I had no time to anything else and as I finished my PhD, I thought, I could treat myself with amazing dress from one of the most amazing designers I got to know in Deviantart. I mean, when I started there, she also started and it is amazing to see how far she has gone. So, I am totally hyped about my Widowmaker dress. I had worn it once in small cosplay event and in Unicon in Latvia but actually I had heard rumors that people thought bad things about this dress.. like why do I even wear it.. it is bought.. I am not sure but I think a lot of people actually wear bought cosplay (and is it bad? I mean, not all of us have all the skills and if they want to look good, should we say bad things about them?) and I would have loved making that dress myself but I just did not had time and I wanted to have some variety for my cosplay (the drawback of doing year long projects and being "starting cosplayer".. I actually only had three outfits if Irisviel can be counted.. with Widow, it is four... and Rait told if I ever wear Lucrezia again, he will just not help me. that dress is a nightmare for him as an assistant).  I think Animatsuri ball was always the event I thought I will wear this dress.

Photo by Visual Culture Club

What I had previously learned from this costume in Latvia was that the wig is nightmare. The pony tale part is too heavy and I need lot of assistance with it. Luckily I had a fellow larper who was willing to attend the ball and help me with it. I warned her that it is not easy but she thought like: "How hard can it be.." Surprising, for her, it wasn't hard at all. So, I enjoyed chatting with people, meeting some old friends, making new friends. The socializing was the best part, I think. I did enjoy a lot of the dance performance that was organized. It was very nice and I liked how those dancers super quickly changed their costumes. Dancing the ballroom dances... ee.. that is probably the weakpoint for me. yeah, sure, at school I did learn ballroom dancing and I actually took some extra courses but that was so long ago.. now I can only waltz...

Photo by Visual Culture Club

I sadly did not managed to stay till the end as I was so tired from rushing days before con that I think I just dropped after 10 or so? So, back to the friends place and off to sleep..

Saturday - first day in con
I was dressed up as Irisiviel. I could not find her brooch so actually day before I had quickly made new one and it broke like in first hour. Ups. I totally enjoyed Saturday by going from one presentation to another. I felt like in conference - looking on the program and deciding what to listen.

Some of the things felt real musts.  Pandemonium from Latvia had super panel about different tips for cosplay. Using black tea for dying actually came from there. Also, the idea of recording the performance and reviewing it... oh, too late for that back I will keep that in mind.

Fleur had super helpful panel on wigs. I think I got ideas how to save my Widowmaker wig. I need time to practice but I did not had it before leaving so.. I hope when I get back home I oneday will remember all the useful hints and I will style some amazing wigs :D

 And then one of the judges had panel on pvc. That was probably the one I was waiting for most. I had use pvc for Amria costume but I had to say - I had no idea what I was doing. I had never heard about filler (and I am still not sure what it is in Estonian. I got something that I thought was right but it did not behaved well when I was redoing the jewelry).

I was so busy that I just had to take a forced brake in the middle of the day to have lunch with bunch of other cosplayers.. it was fun but I am so sure I missed something I really badly wanted to hear. And I think around five-six, I left the con, ate dinner with another friend (I love how con brings together people I had not seen for so long) and my hope was to catch early sleep.

During Saturday, I actually talked with few people about what should I do (about EC) and basically they told me I should participate but I was so unsure.. I did not slept at all during that night (I mean.. I never have this.. I do not remember when I was so nervous? Not before my PhD defense.. not before.. I do not know.. so it felt so weird I was so confused about something like that...) Anyway..

Sunday

For me, the day started very early. My plan was to be at con site at 11 and I was supposed to be at make up at 9. I tried ordering taxi but apparently Sunday morning is bad time for this. I managed to be on time on the make up (another little secret - I actually have skin that does not like makeup at all. Even the natural one. Like.. not at all. I can put makeup on but next day I will be red.. like totally red. It was even worse when I was younger.. now I am not tomato red.. so I never wear makeup in everyday life.. For cosplay I suffer.. I can be red day after the con. It is fine :P But thanks to that I never even learned how to apply makeup. Because I knew I could not use it and it will be very painful later.. For cosplay I actually started to learn. I even did a makeup course (that was waist of time, to be honest) but I am miles behind everyone else... So to have even slightly okei looking makeup, I need someones help as I learned last year from the competition when judges told me the costume is fine but the makeup....) So.. I have really amazing friend who is makeup artist in Tallinn who has helped me with makeup for cosplay. And after I have seen what she does, I can copy it (I mean. She did Lucrezia for me for Mängudeöö and after I tried to copy that for Latvia, I even got complimented from judges that my makeup looks so similar to the char.. I was so surprised and so happy).  In Tartu, I knew noone and many people I would have considered for help, had other things they needed to do this morning.. like their own makeup :P So I ended up with this lady many people recommended me but who had no idea about cosplay or anything. When we talked before hand, she was so confused that I gave her that drawn picture has a reference and she kept asking me for something else. She also worked on me never showing me what she did.. so when I finally saw the mirror.. wow.. It was not what I expected but it was... makeup.. definitely and impressive.. so.. trying to get taxi again to get to the con and I arrive only slightly later.

I can only imagine what the taxi driver must have thought as I stepped in half costumed and with this make up

One aspect about Amira costume that I loved, was how practical it is. No worries about things falling off (mostly) and it was very comfortable. And it does not take too long to put it on. So, despite getting to the con later than planned, I was soon dressed, ready with my props and off to the judges. It was little queue but then I got it.

I do not remember much about the judging. I think the problem with Amira is that there are so many aspects and I just try to remember to talk about all of them. So.. I just talked and talked and talked.. I think after Latvia where the judges asked almost nothing, this felt good that they actually had questions and they wanted to see some aspects more closely. Overall, I had very good feeling and if I was nervous before, I wasn't anymore. Like judging was the point when the nervousness was replaced with enjoying the con. I would have preferred if I had not been nervous at all but..

Then was the stage rehearsal. I had wayyyy too much props. The poor stage guy had to write it all down and my assistant was worrying so much about if they got it right where things should be. So, I left most of my props there (and let my assistant go and enjoy the con) and I queued for the photo corner (I mean, it was so lovely to see the same photographer I had seen in Latvia and despite being in totally different costume, he was able to recognize me.. like: "You were Widowmaker, wasn't you?"). That was long wait but I actually enjoyed chatting there with fellow cosplayers. It was actually really nice to learn how other people had ended up in cosplay and learn from their experience. I mean, I can analyze everything but I so feel that I lack the experience. I am just glad I had competed once in Animatsuri as this time I knew what to wait for.

Photo by Kirill Dogadajev photography

And when photos were done, I had like 30 minutes of free time. It had all gone. The day just went so quickly before the competition started. I managed to meet with other EC candidates and I must say it was very friendly bunch of cosplayers. I totally enjoyed our chats. Somehow we all were in the same boat. They also told me that they just wanted to have fun and let someone else win and they also thought I am going to win it now.. Everyone was like thinking that and saying it to me. Expect my assistant :P He was very pessimistic like: "No, this is not going to happen". :P

My performance was somewhere in the middle. It was not the first one in EC block but like third or second? Anyway.. I am actually never nervous on stage. When I am there, the only thing I think is hitting my marks in music and thinking what is the next move.. Now time to think if something is off or how many people there are.

Before the con I had realized that the earrings are very heavy and they keep falling off. My plan was to clue them to my ears (I do  not have piercings) but as during the con, they did not fell off, I thought I will be fine.. and then, on stage, during the performance.. one of them fells off. Noone actually saw that :P but yeah.. and it was the reoccurring event..  the same happened in EC :P

Photo by Denis Signarskis

Anyway.. I was done with my performance, I sneaked at the back of the hall and enjoyed rest of the show. And then it was done.. it felt.. slightly weird.. no big cosplay photo like in previous years..

I actually wanted to go eat pancakes as I had not had lunch yet and it was like 5 pm but we were told the judges only need like 30 minutes or so.. so, no time.. I was thinking if to take costume off or not (as the car wanted to leave as quickly as possible after the finishing ceremony) but I decided to keep the costume on. I managed to get down to the photowall and get few more shots, meet more friends.. do some compulsory "Our overwatch playing group" groupphoto.

Photo by Visual Culture Club

 It actually took longer than they had said first. I met another really superb cosplayer in a really superb costume. And she was from Estonia. I had not known about her before. I looked at her page and was amazed. Wow. And if I got correctly, she also larped.. Like? wow.. :D

Photo by Visual Culture Club

Anyway.. the final ceremony. I think it is not the spoiler to say I did win EC preliminary. I was super happy but little bit of my was doubting that did I win it because there was only 4 of us and we were little sad bunch or was the costume really worth it.. that's why I would have loved to have more participants and let the best costume, whoever it would be, to win. So yeah, I think I had a lot of self doubt that I only won because there were so few of us. I was super glad that Vega got first place for her green man. That costume is amazing and that girl I just met.. she got first place in performance. I mean. All the winners totally deserved it and there were so many great cosplays that did not got a prizes but I think that is always the case with every competition.. but yeah.. I saw some people being sad and it always makes me sad..

And off we went to the car and long drive back home. I think I texted my parents that I won and my mom was happy but dad was like: "Did you really needed that? And how will you handle London and moving in the same time.." (And mom was like: "oo.. she will go to London? I had no idea.." somehow I had managed to talk more about cosplay to dad than to mom that is weird as dad always says like: "why do you not want to have more normal hobby", when I am asking if he has that or that tool.. so far he has had them all.. why, and what he does with them.. I am not sure :D)

So.. after spending year on this costume, I had though Animatsuri will be the end of this "struggle". No... But hey, I actually was super happy that my costume won and I was so proud that this, my second serious cosplay, can go to London and I can represent Estonia there. I just wanted to be sure I can do my best and I knew I only have a month.. and one week of that will be in conference.. and there will be lot of pressure with Japan (like finding an apartment that is willing to rent for foreigner.. brrrr.....) but I think I enjoyed it.. maybe not on that moment but now when I looked but, it was amazing opportunity and I am so glad I decided to risk and take a part. :D

Amira's accessories

Amira has so many nice little details that appear with her in the manga that I was choosing to create. Some of them were "must" - like bow and quiver, others were little more "oh, I like that detail. I want to create it".

Bow

Let's start with the bow. Before I started this costume and I was mapping all the things I will create I think the bow and boots were the things that scared me the most (instead of all of this embroidery :P). I feel quite alright with sewing (despite failing to make straight seams.. like the joke around the house is that I can make fancy historical costumes.. but when I was sewing curtains for the living room.. I try to hide all of the horrible seams there.. but sometimes when I have guests over.. you know, they still notice :P) but props and leather felt like unknown territory. That's why I was super surprised when I was working on the bow that it felt so easy and it felt so rewarding.

The work with bow started figuring out the shape. Luckily, on the second volume cover Amira is nicely holding the bow that gives me nice shape and compassion how big it should be. So I tracked this shape in photoshop and realized that Amria was not holding it exactly straight as it wasn't exactly symmetrical. Anyway, after some very slight shape corrections I had the shape on file. Then - printing it out. It took few tried of printing, cutting and taping and looking myself at the mirror to get the right size. I was never totally off but I wanted to get exactly the right size. Basically, as I saw how far the bow is reaching for Amira, I measured similar height on myself and then enlarged my file. I think it was mostly playing with cm here and there.

I had the shape. Then it was deciding on the what kind of wood to use. I had never made any weapon for cosplay so I was little unsure what is considered "safe weapon" and what not. Just to be 100% sure, I decided not to make "functional" bow.. So, basically - bow usually is made of bending wood and the bowstring is very stiff and the strength behind the bow comes from how much force it needs to cock the bow (yeah.. I actually own a classical longbow I got myself many years ago for larping purposes and when I was getting it, I did a lot of research before committing a lot of money into buying myself a bow.. and I have been practicing this classical longbow archery during the summer outside larp... as I do not like bow in larp - I am so afraid I will hurt someone even with very safe arrows.. it looks cool but I do not want to be responsible for hitting someone in the eye accidentally.. so I rarely bring the bow to larp.. despite it being very "light" bow in bow standard.. ). So. I decided to go with stiff wood and elastic string to make it look like a bow but not actually being able to shoot anything with it.

During a local game event at the spring, I actually had asked one fellow cosplayer who had made sword out of wood what kind of wood he used and my first idea was going with something similar but then, I decided to take the wood I had lying around in summer house instead of taking a trip to construction material shop. So, I used three layers of most common plywood. It gave me enough thickness to have the areas that are pointing out (later, ofcourse, I realized, I could have made most of it with one or two layers and then clue the larger parts there in smaller chunks not the whole blank :P Less sanding!).

Anyway.. I first traced the pattern from printout to the food and used that jigsaw to cut it out. I ended up with some like this:

Then came the sanding it to the shape. Most of this was done with electric sanding machine. I actually tried different sanding papers as the first one that was said to be "the best" was just destroyed by hitting the wood once. So in the end, I used something that was meant for very rough things, but it sanded the wood superbly and it did not left too rough surface at all.

Making those bottom/upper parts of the bow was hardest - they had this kind of triangle shape that was not possible to make with the sanding machine. So basically I used just a usual saw and cut out the central piece and then used sanding paper to make it into the proper shape. Yay! That was so much easier than I expected. The main shaping of wood took like two days and it was few hours then and there. The sanding, on the other hand, produced horrible amount of sawdust that was everywhere... in my eyes, in my hair.. on the ground.. I mean.. it looked like it has snowed afterwards. I was glad I did the sanding outside in the summer house.. I would have not imagined doing this indoors or in the city.

 

Later, I actually decided to sand in "arrow rest". I do not see it in the cover but it is visible in some other drawing inside the manga and you need it to aim and stabilize the arrow. Then some filling and priming and ready for painting.

 I actually had some troubles finding right kind of color. I ran around in the coloring section with the manga cover. One color was too warm, other one too red, too cold.. hundred troubles. Finally I found a color that looked almost right but it was meant for metal and apparently had some special super nice finishing effect. I was slightly skeptic but bought it and decided to try this before going to my final option - ordering custom mix color from the store. But it looked superb when it had tried and somehow this metal painting paint was easier to paint for smoother surface than usual paints. So, I think it worked out nice.

Then I spent some evening weathering it with common acrylics.

I had nice leather leftovers I got very cheaply from fabric shop and that worked really nicely for the grip part. And then I spent little time figuring out the decorations on the top and bottom. I went with leather and basically just clued it to the bow as it had no visible "start/ends" in manga. The string was elastic string.. but the triangle shape I was talking before - it forced the string into two parts.. okei.. I made the string so that it would be possible but how to "fix" string to those triangles? In the end I used earring making bins with round top.. I drilled in small holes, clued the bins to the holes and put the string through the round tops.. From the distant it can't be seen but basically.. I thought it was neat solution.. I think I was only "slightly" nervous when I drilled the wholes thinking that if I make some horrible mistake.. I will have to do it all over again. Luckily everything was fine..

Some details on the bow ends.. the "keeping strings appart" is achieved my those earring thingies.. leather is used for decoration and the closure/finish of the string to make it look as similar to manga cover as possible

So, that was basically the bow.

After the local qualifier I realized that I have to take the bow to London (I did not consider that beforehand as I never actually really considered winning it :P).. so.. I needed some creativity. Okei.. I took the leather off from the grip, saw my bow into two (that felt horrible).. and then I used the jigsaw again to make a cut in the center of the wood on both sides.. I attached metal plate in the center (some more drilling).. so basically there is metal plate in the center that used bolts to stay in place. It will be hidden with leather when "finished". I was slightly worried how stable this construction is but it was fine. One side got clued and I even clued the bolts.. the other side was detachable so I needed to finish it on sight in London, clue the leather back on and fix the weathering. I was slightly worried about it but it worked fine. (Just.. I hate when I have to drill or cut my bow.. I was always so worried like.. if something goes wrong.. my hand shakes or..)

Oh.. by the way - why I decided to make it out of wood? I think many cosplayers actually use foam. I had never worked with neither foam or wood before. Okey, if making larp swords (that I was horrible) is working with foam then I had some experience there but yeah.. I felt wood would be more stronger, easier to transport and I could like support myself on the bow.. plus.. I tried to be authentic.. so.. wood.. and I do not regret this at all.

Next step: quiver

This was fun little thing that was some challenge but I totally enjoyed making it.

It all started quite early when I was painting the leather for boots and I knew I need quite a lot of the same blue for the quiver. So, I painted just enough extra to make right size quiver.

The decoration. It suffered from the same problem as many aspect in manga - it was never the same. Actually, none of the three covers I had showed the quiver clearly. So I found some promotional art by the author where the quiver was very nicely drawn out:

 So I decided I will go with those colors but in manga, the design was always much more simple and in most manga drawings, most of the design was in top part and less in bottom. In the promotional art, it was the other way around. In the end, I stuck with the promotional art version fully.

I went with familiar method: I cut the design from felt and then did the embroidery over it. The yellowish glow was problematic. I first planned to stitch it but after doing some of the embroidery I realized that no.. this is not the way to go.. So I mixed the color and painted the glow on the quiver. I think it looked better but it meant I had to paint on the areas where there already was embroidery. Some very surgical brush actions and later some "hiding mistakes" with red fabric marker.

Embroidery itself was.. fun but time consuming. This leather was quite strong so it hurt my fingers much more than rest of the embroidery. I always like to sew and finish embroidery after that but in this case, with the top, I just had to hope I can sew as precisely that the top part embroidery finishes at seem. The side little white marks where quite easy but there were many layers of this stir leather now so I actually had to had metal plate to force the needle through.. but somehow I managed.

And after this it got some weathering.. I always thought I went slightly too far with it o the quiver as it looked like "too dirty" from some angles

The top was turned down and clued to place in the end. I planned to have neater solution but the leather was too thick for it and in the end, I just gave up - as I was rushing to finish things for local qualifier.

Photo by: ManyLemons

At the back side of the quiver I made two loops and thing leather band can be used to tie it to the hip.

The arrows:

As I was saying - already with the quiver I was rushing, then arrows were even more rush. The first drawback was then I went to construction shop and they did not had small enough diameter wood sticks. Like.. All my larp arrows - I have always gotten the wood from construction shops. No ordering, just go there, get it. I remember when I was still at school and made my first arrows.. how I went to the shop by public transport and then I brought those two meter or longer stick to bus later.. :P Must have been crazy. Anyway.. they did not had it. I went two more shopes - same story. We do not have this is stock. We can order but that would have taken more time than I had. Damn! I bought metal sticks instead. So much about my authentic approach :(

Okei.. I painted them with the same color at first as bow that was too dark for them. I then painted them over and over again with acrylics.. first to get them lighter and then I used different colors to get more of the wood look.. ala lines of darker or lighter colors.. plus some general weathering (I fell in love with weathering.. I want to weather everything :D).

Okei.. then came the arrowheads.. I had to go to the foam. I had some 3mm foam lying around so I cut the pieces, clued them, sanded them with dremmel.. they.. did not looked good at all. All my worbla was still in summer house and I was in the city working again.. so.. I should have thought ahead but I had cosplay flex lying around and I used it. I bought it like year ago after someone advertised it as "much better than worbla". I did not like worbla.. and I definetly did not like this cosplay flex. It was harder to work and I do not think it was smoother as advertised. Anyway, it was something and I had my arrowhead.

 

Priming them for few days to get them smooth.. but as soon as I painted them.. and added silver/weathering for the black, the iron came alive. That moment they looked awesome :D

 

By the way, I forgot the tops :P Ups.. I think in this point I realized I should have cut the tops and went back to the workshop to do it. Cutting metal.. eee.. much more complex than wood and they are maybe not as neat as I would have wanted. I needed to fix the paint at the top that I broke.

So, arrow feathers. I had ordered bunch of turkey arrow feathers from china (cheap). Turkey weathers, according to my research, were probably used in the area. There were other options but Turkey feathers were most obtainable. So, I had been waiting a month for my feathers and it was lie a week or so for the event? I got really nervous and I made local order from bow shop (it was quite funny.. the delivered the feathers but never sent me an invoice.. I got the package.. still nothing.. I actually had to write them - please, can I have the invoice :P). They arrive within few days and the Chinese ones arrived exactly the same day. Doh! The local order cost me like so much more than the cheap one and I actually got only few feathers and I miscalculated - I ordered feathers for all but one arrow. Ups.

Anyway.. as I had both sets, I decided to color the chinese ones as I had extra of them if something went of. I spent whole evening painting them.. and then I realized the natural feather absorbs the acrylics and the result when dried is so much darker than intended. Okei. Another evening spent painting with much lighter tones. I almost get the right tone. Some weathering.. I think I was on the floor painting all the time. In the evening, in the morning before work.. after work.. the drying took time and I was running out of it. So I had the feathers finally in correct color. Yuhuu.. Let's clue them on... ooo.. what?

Arrow feathers have to be straight. So you can clue them.. Maybe the feathers were more elastic before paint (the extras I had, actually weren't.. so I think that was the price of ordering "cheap from china").  but now they were very stiff and not straight at all. I tried everything.. I tried cluing and holding them at place for five minutes (I only had super clue.. maybe contact clue had worked better?).. I tried hot clue.. I tried.. I do not even remember.. That was really bad moment for me.. That kind of desperation. I had spent two-three days painting those feathers and I was not able to clue them. I cried, for sure.

Then I looked on my expensive feathers and realized that they are straight. I clued them to the arrows (just to be sure they are on) and then spent next two days painting them again. This time I knew I needed light colors and I think some of the blue lines came out nicer. I actually think I missed some important things that I had to attend so I could catch up with painting. Oh.. yes, feathers were my nightmare.

Ofcourse I couldn't paint without making mistakes.. so I need to fix the middle area between feathers... but when it was done, then came the fun part of adding thread (and cluing it to place to make sure the end of the thread do not go wondering). In the end the arrows look really nice.

For transportation to London, I actually built a really neat cover for them. They were very light and I was so afraid that the feathers will get hurt (for local event, they got a special place in the car and the driver was so worried about the feather too.. so.. we both took very good care of them). So.. basically.. the arrows were too long for any box I found.. so I destroyed two boxes, built a new box out of it. I used porolone at the bottom of the box and carved "wholes" for the arrow ends at the bottom and at the top, another porolone with places for arrow heads.. and some porolone in the middle to support the sticks.. quite neat :) It worked almost.. somehow some of the feather tops got little hurt during the transportation.. nothing too bad.. the paint dropped off. I did not noticed it on Friday in EC. Just on Saturday, like when I was going for judging.. I hope noone else noticed it as I had no time to paint it there anymore. (mm.. for weird reason I have not taken photo of it.. while writing this post I have realized that more closer the deadline, less photos I actually took)

I had five arrows for the quiver and one for stage show (without arrowhead and bad feathers as I did not had enough for all of the arrows from my local order.. - selfnote: check and check again how many of the things you need before ordering :P)

The hat:

Like most of the props (except the arrows that was rush), the hat took long time, but the final things were done rushing. I actually started the embroidery on hat in June? I was on the long drive and I just spent hours on the backseat doing the embroidery (it was not very convenient). Basically, afterwards I realized that the embroidery is not symmetrical, the size is off.. so I took everything apart.

First tip: I was first measuring the size of my head and I made my first mock-up so that it fits me. Then I realized (luckily very early) that the wig will add a lot of volume to my head. I did another mock up that fit me with the fig. It just looked sooooo big.. I was worried that when it is finished, it is too big. It wasn't It was exactly right or even maybe little too small but that made sure it was strongly on when I put the hat on.

Mock up.. sits really nice on my head but would not fit with the wig. Also, the hat should be slightly wider as Amira's hat almost touches her eyebrows.

Not symmetrical enough. Those things are no squares!

 I did the embroidery again, trying to keep the central shapes as squares as possible and in the same time make sure the nr of squares visible in manga cover fits in the similar area, the propositions are similar and... something else.. a lot of math went into planning the pattern.

This looks better

The main lines were done using chain stitch but those squared - again felt, and then some large stitches over it. The "lying eight" shapes at the top were slightly more complex and time consuming as to hold the thread, I had to have those "assistant stitches" with every eight shape. It all took a lot of time.

The bottom string of sequin was something I got very early in the project.. it had been in my "Amira bag" for a year or so.. and finally it got sewn into place. Also, everything was lined and the hat looked nice.

Then came the scarf part. I ordered many scarfs (cheaply from China).. but they were wrong colored - some were too beize, other were too pure bleached white. I need natural white color. I actually had a really neat fabric I planned to use but I did not had enough of it and it cost sooo much that I though the scarf as easier. I went to fabric shops (on my rushing to the deadline time) and they just did not had cotton or silk or.. linnen in natural white color.. it drove me mad.

Okei.. I had those cheap China scarfs in pure white color. I can work with that. The ends of the scarf has frayed edges. I know many scarf have braids and I saw many cosplayer have sued the braided scarfs but.. I wanted to try to be more precise. So, I started to figure out how to add the scarf to the hat. It was very tricky. Basically I realized one scarf is not enough. Luckily it was very wide scarf so I cut it to two, sewed it together from the center and then tried again. More luck. I hid the seam at the back center and did the wrapping from there.. but the ends.. after I cut them, the fabric started to split. I had bought some special "fabric split stopping invisible clue" for that.. so I covered the ends with clue.. oh.. it smelled horrible and needed a lot of ventilation in order to get rid of the fumes. And it made the edges very stiff and not nice looking. I considered that a fail and realized I need braided scarf. That is the only thing that can save me.

(I had tried weathering the scarf with black the at this point.. this scarf and the expensive fabric I had that in the end ended up being used for socks.. I mean.. first I had not enough black tea.. and then it was too much.. fine for socks but not fine for scarf).

Like two days or was it even a day? before the local event I went to the biggest shopping mall just thinking - I need something.  I will pay much for it. I just need two whitish scarves. I looked on all the fancy shops in autumn season. You had many scarfs but no natural white. I was desperate. Like how.. this is big shopping center.. in the end, I found one cheap accessories shop that had scarfs on sale. I found few natural color scarfs there from the summer season (I think). One of them had weird hardly visible pattern. But if it was all I had, I had to go with it. I found one that was whiter than I wanted.. and then. I found perfect color scarf that had braids at the bottom.  But there was only one of them and it wasn't wide one. I asked if they had one more as every scarf style only had one out. The lady dove into the cupboard were the had extras but there were not many.. she found a second for the one with pattern on it.. and then.. then she found the second one. I grabbed them both for price that was lower than most of the scarves I had seen earlier. The shop had weird lightning so I was not sure what the exact color was but the lady was very helpful and said if I find the color to be off, I can come and return those scarves.. like.. they were on sale and she was willing to take them back if they did not work. And the extra trouble she went trying to go at the bottom of her little shop to find if she has second scarf of the same style I wanted. That was actually one really nice moment during all this nerve wrecking experience.

On one panel in manga I saw that there were hat needles used.. so I got two for the hat too. You can hardly see them but they are there

 

So.. back home I realized it was perfect color, very similar to the cotton on the skirt. Superb! I sew two scarf together and continued with the wrapping. There was lot of fabric so it was lot of support stitches everywhere but I think I got the right style.. then sewing on the coins.. I finished when it was night as it all took much longer than expected (I almost managed to finish ER season 14 :P) That was, if I remember correctly, the night before going to the con.. Nervewrecking!!! (I mean.. when I planned everything, my schedule was to have everything finished for the end of August... con was end of September.. I was month behind and I did so much with few two weeks.. like.. how much trouble would I have been if I had planed to finish just before the con?).

Before and after. The EC picture, I feel reflects more properly the propositions in manga.
Photos:  Kirill Dogadejev and Artflower Fotografie

The hat worked nicely but after local event I realized the scarf propositions were little off - the main loop was longer than it should be.. so I undid some of the support stitches and corrected the back loop. The extra fabric went to the small loop and I actually re-sew the coins in Eurocosplay like hours before going on stage. I did not had time to do it before and I left them to their previous position so they actually weren't at the bottom of the loop... but as the stage show was getting closer, I was nervous and I decided that best way how to keep calm is sew the coins.. I did one at the time, so if I needed to leave, I could quickly do that :D

Photo by: Siiri Kumari

 Embroidery prop:
When I was thinking about the stage show.. ooh my.. I like making costumes but the performance - I am not that good at it. I do not have so many ideas.. I always feel that thanks to my Asberger, I never anyway understand what is funny for others.. so I try to be serious.. (like with Lucrezia or Widowmaker).. but with Amira I was blank. I had no ideas. With Lucrezia, I have no idea, it was so easy. I knew I wanted some effect on the stage - the chemistry and poison was brilliant for character.. With Widow, a friend gave me the idea of use emotes and I added some mystery/tense. With Amira... I had no ideas. I actually looked at more than 10 performances of other Amiras I was able to found from youtube. Some of them were brilliant. Some of them not so much.. There we dancing, there were stories, interactions with other characters.. I was on my own.. I think that in the end, it did not helped me at all and it just made me worry so much about "I hope I am not copying anyone" that I will probably never ever do this ever again for getting ideas. After I have my performance, maybe then.

Anyway.. in the end, I went with what I wanted to show.. I wanted to show the layers of my costume. One performance actually did similar thing (and there again I was so worried.. that I hope people are not thinking I am copying it).  I tried different ways how to do it.. but basically I realized that "getting dressed on stage" takes a lot of time. So, on that time I knew my performance will start with waking up (while Per Grynt is playing :P That was as sure as the "Symphony nr 5- Destiny" for Lucrezia's entering) and putting on the coat.. and what then?
I started to think about what Amira does in her day and that reminded me the passage in manga where Paria was having trouble with embroidery. Amira never seemed to fond of it either. That gave me the idea that she has to do the embroidery but wants to do something more fun like hunting.

 Anyway.. I needed the embroidery prop for that. I actually took a design from the manga (the same Paria passage) and very quickly made this "half finished" thing I could use. (The fun part - my sister actually likes it so much that she said she will force me to finish it and she will use it somewhere.. like a for a pillow or..)

Photo by: Artflower Fotografie

 The belt

I actually made too different belts and I could not choose between them till the end.

 

 The first one was hand "marked". I found very nice fabric that felt like silk (but wasn't) that had the exact color I needed. No dying or anything needed. I got red fabric marker, I made some tries and figured out the pattern. Then, using the ruler, I tried to strip the fabric. The problem was that my hand was not steady, the flow of ink from the marker was not steady.. or.. more like.. as soon as I moved slower than other parts, it was visible on the fabric and despite having newspaper under the fabric to absorb the ink, it made "ugly dots" on the fabric. Would it have been on one side, fine.. I can wear the belt other way.. but noo.. they were on both sides.

  The second one was done using printed fabric. As it was so much hassle with the local print shop (they want you to do the test patch and see it in person and they are so badly located), I decided to use online service instead. I found nice little UK company that had online design environment and the price was reasonable. Also, i could print in nice silky looking fabric.. nice. What surprised me was that their online design environment only accepted RGB (not CMYK that I had expected) so I had no idea if the color is going to be fine or not. And the resolution. I made my design 300dpi. On their environment, when I set my resolution to 300, they made my lines two times smaller.. weird.. 

The belt from first fabric and the new printed fabric

Anyway.. they ahd a preview, so I set the resolution to 150 for my 300dpi file and hoped I get my lines the way I see them on preview. Then, few weeks waiting and I got it. The lines were fine - smooth and equally spaced (something I did not get on the hand made one). I made the second belt but it lacked the shine and the feeling I liked on the first. In the end, I used the second one as it just felt more "correct".

Photo: Kirill Dogadejev

Wig

This wig was so easy compared with Lucrezia's that it almost feels like I did nothing. I actually had one dark wig before that I got like years ago when I first thought - I want to do Amira. Let's get the wig. 

When I was trying to wind a wig for my Widowmaker, I found Arda wigs. Yeah, they were pricey but damn, they are good and nice. I got my Widow wig from there and I also ordered a wig for Amira. It was so nice and had amazing curls on it that I washed out. 

Amira's hairstyle is simple - just one big braid. Despite sounding so easy, it was not that easy to make. The pre-styling really hurt the ability to braid and on that point, I realized I need to wash it before I can actually use the wig. I then needed to comb it and hope I do not destroy the wig. Also, Amira's braid seems to get very thing at the end.. so I actually did some cutting (a thing I did not needed with Lucrezia.. I hate cutting things? Just so afraid of making mistakes.) I think in the end I got the right lenght, right kind "getting thinner". Maybe it was still too "buffy" at some point in top but I was afraid that if I remove more, I lose too much volume below. The wig was probably one of the aspects I considered easy but it wasn't.

(Oh joy the mess at the background :P)

The nice decoration at the bottom of the braid - I had saved few coins for that and after going through all the fabric shops, I got some silver thread that looked all right. The small things were done using earring stoppers, red wooden bead and silver plastic bead. I made tons of those as they always fell off as I used thread to connect them to the main support or with coins. And con, here I came.

On the con, I learned that the coins are way too heavy to stand where I want them to be. They kept falling off and I kept putting them back on. So, it was like boots - they needed constant fixing.

After the con, I am not even sure how, I ended up talking with a brilliant make up artist I know and somehow we ended up talking about Amira and I was complaining about the coins falling off the wig. She gave me the idea to have a string, sewn to the top of the wig, that is braided inside the hairstyle and that is used as a main support point for the coins. It worked brilliantly.

This is just so much stronger now

  For the photoshoot, I had redone the wig and built in that mechanic and now the silver cord and coins worked superbly.

Photo by: Eugene Art. Photography

Thank to that construction I was able to swirl around as much as I wanted without worrying that the top will fly away :D


Posts:
*Getting started
*Underwear
*Skirt and trousers
*Blouse
*Coat
*Jewelry
*Boots
*Accessories
*At Animatsuri
*At Eurocosplay