cas-u-al cos-play

[kazh-oo-uhl kos-pley]
1. the art or practice of wearing costumes to portray characters from fiction, especially if appropriate for wear or use on informal occasions.
2. the costumes created for such use.

(With help from Dictionary.com's entries on 'casual' and 'cosplay'.)

So basically, I like cosplayers. I do. They're awesome and amazing for what they do.

But me? I'm not the sort of person who has the space for wigs, huge costumes, random props, etc. I'd still love to cosplay, but... it's hard.

What I do have space for is things I can use, and will use. So that's when this idea was born. Casual Cosplay, where everything can be used when you're not cosplaying.

This cosplay includes:
(1) Hat that looks good on me, purchased from Manoosh in Newport, OR
(1) Green Tunic, found at Goodwill
(1) Brown Belt, found at Goodwill
(1) Pair of Pants, previously owned
(1) Pair of Brown Boots, previously owned
(1) Hylian Shield Backpack, design, pattern, and sewing all done by me
(1) Master Sword Umbrella, purchased umbrella fitted with custom Sculpey-painted-Acrylic handle
(2) Fireshield Earrings, findings from old earrings and made of Sculpey
(1) Water Dragon Scale and Necklace, with real coral

Whew, that's a lot! I have to say, making that backpack pattern and then sewing it together was probably the most difficult thing I've done this summer. Most of it is machine-sewn, but the divets and rivets in the shield's rim had to be hand-sewn in. And it probably wasn't the best for it to be machine sewn by my sturdy ol' Singer, 'specially the detailing on the front, but I'm running out of time before I go to college and thus handsewing that was not an option. Besides, I'm sick of handsewing from my dress embroidery still. Anyway it has pockets on the inside, and the straps are adjustable. The side strap actually velcros onto the main one, which makes it easier to put on and take off. Those are made of pleather, as are the triforce triangles; everything else is made out of a canvassy fabric I forget the name of right at the moment. And the back has a hard piece of plastic in it, to help keep its form; cut with great difficulty from the top of those plastic storage containers. There's also foam all over the back and in the sides, but not the top or front. ...I do have the pattern for the backpack still. Well, everything for the front, anyway. The rest of it I pretty much did by pulling it outta my hat. Not that hard for such geometric figures and such.

The sword was inspired by the Sword Handle Umbrellas that thisiswhyimbroke.com introduced me to. You can see them here. After all, those are cool. Mastersword handle, however, is geeky. Which is 20% cooler in my book. I was amazingly lucky to find the color of the umbrella earlier this summer, and I bought it on the spot. The handle was very tough to get just right, and I kinda gave up at the end of sculpting, so if you look real close you can see the wings aren't as polished as they could be. I don't care anymore. Close enough for me. The gold for the gem thing was painted on with nail polish from my mom's collection. A very pretty gold, I think.

The hat isn't a perfect match-- but then again, nothing is in this cosplay; except maybe the jewelry. I got the hat because it was the right color, and more importantly, I can use it outside of cosplay. Which is the entire point of everything in this cosplay. The store I bought it from is run by the absolute most adorable older woman, Manoosh. She helped me find it. A pretty cool store. If you're ever in the area do drop by; it's in the Nye strip by the public beach access in town.

I cannot believe I found the perfect tunic at goodwill, nor can I believe I had bought the perfect boots a year before I'd even dreamed this up. The pants I had are perfect, too, and overall I just think that fate has been helping me out on this one for some reason.

As far as the jewelry goes, all made with sculpey, basically. My mom had some earrings that used to be silver but kinda degraded into an icky looking mottled gold-ish and I used those as the base for the Fireshield Earrings. I know there's a tutorial out there for the Water Dragon Scale Necklace, but I didn't use it. Mine had a form of old tinfoil, and I brushed some of my mom's fingernail polish on it for the finish... even though I'd already used glitter clay wHICH WAS VERY HARD TO WORK WITH. *ahem* All the sculpey was coated in a fixative afterward.

All in all, HIGHLY please with how it all came together. I've worn the Fireshield earrings more than any other earring I have in my life, at this point. And it's allllll coming with me to University of Oregon this year.

If you're really interested in any of this-- and by that I mean the stuff I made-- I suppose I MIGHT be willing to part with them for the right price, since I can always make myself more. Or you could commission me for them. I'm telling you right now though I'm not underpricing myself one bit on this stuff. That backpack is a monster. And the handle took me a good day and a half to carve; and that was without doing anything else except eat and sleep.

Anywhoodles. Now I wish I could go to Kumoricon. Ahaaaa... But that's not coming together this year, looks like. Ah well.

It's finallly dooone yeeeey

Photography of me done by my lovely sister, ~MyNameIsKaliK. The rest of the photography is done by me.

Link © Nintendo
Interpretation © *pahein