Sunday, AnimeSupercon [2] 2007. [Nov 30th - Dec 2nd]

Photographer:

FAQ/FUN FACTS
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS, THE ANSWER MAY BE RIGHT HERE.

· Yes, that is a wig, though not the same exact one used in the Megacon photo. I like that wig a lot but sometimes I feel it isn't quite red enough. A few months after Megacon I set off to purchase a new one from perihair. Alas, they do not have any in the particular shade of red I wanted. I purchased a light-brown wig from them instead and painstakingly colored it by hand in permanent red markers. Darker red at the roots blending into bright red near the ends. I washed it thrice so there was no risk of it rubbing off on my skin. The whole process took about 5 weeks on and off. If I had worked on it constantly, I say it might have taken only 6-7 hours? Luckily the wig bounced right back into shape after all that abuse and didn't need any styling. I do need to trim the bangs a little bit more, I think. They're a bit long. >_>
· I also ALWAYS, ALWAYS use Neutrogena compressed face powder. I used to have terrible acne only a few years ago, so I try to take good care of my face now, and Neutrogena has worked best for me. I use 01 fair under my eyes to take away the dark bags I naturally have, and 02 fair around the rest of my face and cheeks especially to create an even skin tone. Make up takes anywhere 5-15 minutes, depending on how anal I get/how many blemishes I may have to fix. :/
· I DID MAKE [most of] THIS OUTFIT. It's nothing incredibly fancy, but the vestbelt it made out of brown suede, gold square buckles and rather crudely fastened gold eyelets. Some areas of the vestbelt are 4 layers thick [when folded over and turned inside out, ect], and I ended up chewing through 2 needles while sewing it together. I used a small Singer sewing machine that I borrowed from a friend. Lessons learned; be frugal when working with SUEDE! I'd like to make an improved one in the future with stiffer and thinner material, as much as I like the look of the suede.
The shirt and pants I purchased from Bell's Outlet and modified to have a tight cuff around the shin.
the white sash is a loooong, long single piece of... I believe the material is called 'jet set'? It's sort of like a stretchy cotton. It doesn't shear/fray, is difficult to wrinkle, incredibly lightweight and 'sticky', as in it behaved and stayed perfectly in place without the aid of safety pins.
The shoes, 3/4 sleeve fishnet shirt, and as mentioned the wig were all purchased off of eBay. Around my legs and on the left shoe are plain white ace bandage wraps.
· A personal opinion, I think I make a better Kazekage Gaara rather than chuunin-exam Gaara. However, I enjoy wearing the chuunin outfit much more; it is FAR more comfortable, less hot, easier to move around in, easier to hide the binding, ect.
· This was the first con I wore the gourd to, despite it being complete since March of 2007. I blame technical difficulties; I still have yet to sit down and figure out/take the time to fasten the gourd to the Kazekage outfit without it being obvious. With the chuunin outfit, there is a black rope/belt in-between the red sashes in the middle of the gourd, and easily hidden under the white sashes/brown vestbelt around my shoulder.
The gourd itself started out as two bouncy balls, purchased at Wal-Mart and toys r us, one slightly smaller than the other. First, they were completely wrapped together, from top to bottom in silver duct tape. I made a small ring out of air-dry sculpy and super-glued it on the designated 'top'. Then I paper-mached that son of a bitch about 4-5 layers thick. This took a long time, required a lot of patience and made a large mess. I purchased an extra large cork from a craft store and made sure to paper-mache around the top ring so it would fit snugly. I sanded out large bumps, applied more mache when needed and then covered it all in a final layer of a thick glue mixture, to make it ultra smooth. Then I applied a white base coat of acrylic paint. Then I applied a second base coat of white spray paint [non glossy]. After that, I applied a textured 'sandstone' spray paint from Home Depot. It's the perfect color and actually has a sandy texture. After that the little details like the cracks and MWM's were painted in by hand in acrylic paint.
It's large, weighs about 10 pounds and is incredibly, ridiculously cumbersome. It would bump into anything I couldn't see. It's easy to see why Gaara hunches forward all the time when he walks with it on. ._.
· As mentioned, my super special super awesome photographer is a good friend of mine, Tiina. She was very determined and patient to sit out in the incredibly bright, hot South Florida sun with me to get good angles like a real pro. Thank you so much Tiina, these photos are sexcellent and will be treasured. :3
· A side note to that; I am NOT wearing contacts, my naturally brown eyes [admittedly, they were like, a bright orange-red in the sun and they looked pretty cool in thier own right...] are photoshopped green in this picture. Tiina did such an awesome job taking the photos nothing else had to be done with them. Interestingly enough, inside the dealers room at this con, there was a lady selling theatrical contacts a reduced prices and I came VERY very close to purchasing a pair. I regret I did not try harder to get back to her table in time with cash in hand before she left that day. Oh well. Next time.



For additional questions/details/fun facts so I'm not repeating myself everywhere, PLEASE ALSO CHECK OUT THE MEGACON FAQ HERE.