Three cons in a row

May was a very busy month for me (as well as many other kigs), with cons on three consecutive weekends. The first was Otafest in Calgary. There were 5 kig performers in attendance (Hikari, Ichigo, Niku, Misk, and myself) although we were never all in kig at the same time (on day 1 only Misk and I kigged but not together, on day 2 Misk didn't go at all, and on day 3 Ichigo didn't kig). This was the first con where I had Homura's cosplay (now, I just have to make her shield and gem, as well as getting her tights; I do also plan to re-print parts of Homura because her jawline ended up being too squarish for my liking).

Next was Anime North in Toronto. This was my first con outside Alberta. There were around 30 kigs in attendance (a new record for most kigs at one event outside Japan) although not all were in kig at the same time. I got to meet a lot of people who I had only talked to online before. Overall the con went well and I enjoyed kigging there (although myself and some of the other kigs ended up coming down with a rather nasty cold after the con was over). I'm hoping that I can go to AN again next year but that's still a long way off. At least Otafest will be on the first weekend of July from now on so it won't be so close to AN next year (it has also moved venues from the U of C to Stampede Park).

Finally, I went to Eek! (which is a small local comic con). I only went there for one day and wasn't in kig for all that long.

150421 Mask progress updates

I finished Hibiki and shipped her a week ago.

I am almost ready to start printing Sayaka. The hair still needs to be smoothed, segmented, and fused, but I'll start printing the base shell while I finish working on the hair. Sayaka is very likely to be the last extrusion-printed mask I make. I am going to try out a new process combining resin printing with casting, which should allow me to make all-FRP masks with less work and only a slightly higher materials cost than my current process. I already have ordered most of the parts to build a resin printer.

Plutia's hair is finally styled (thanks to Michelle Everett for styling her hair; she also styled Hibiki's hair as well)

All of these masks have taken longer than I would have wanted. I am going to make sure that no mask I make takes this long again (the new process will help a bit with that).

Hibiki is now mostly complete; several other updates

I finished printing Hibiki and have her to the point where she's wearable, although she still needs her hair styled and her pads still need to be covered with fabric. Her headset is still unpainted and needs some more sanding and filling.

I have started adjusting Sayaka's hair in preparation for printing it.

The Edmonton Cosplayers Facebook group had a Christmas party on December 13. I did kig there for a bit but there was only one picture taken of me that I could find. Some people did go outside for a photoshoot but they split up as soon as they actually got outside, and I lost track of them. I didn't want to be wandering around outside in kig without a spotter so I headed back inside.

I created an account on Twitter recently.  Japanese kigs seem to be most active there, and a few Western kigs are only on Twitter and not Facebook, so I decided to join there as well.

I am planning to start selling masks on eBay soon. At least to begin with I am only going to sell generics there. I have to tweak the Erika model first though (the jawline is a bit too low near the temples - I made this mistake on several of my masks; also, the wall thickness should be made thinner because I'm fiberglassing my masks now). I am also planning to start making cast masks soon (these will be made using printed masks as patterns; the next order I get for an Erika shell mask, I am going to make a mold from her). For generics this will be the way I make them most of the time (should be less work than re-printing every time); for customs this will be an extra-cost option (since I will have to make a printed mask first to use as a pattern).

Also, January 12 is my 2 year kig anniversary (I'd been working on the original version of Erika before that, but that is when I wore her for the first time). I've definitely improved quite a bit since I started (although there are places where I can still improve).