Clammed Wings

Just a little place-holder note that this journal's pretty much friend's only now ;D

I thought we would've been able to have this shoot up sooner...but because of it's awesome epicness, we got so many amazing shots and going through and editting them all has been an insanely hard task. But it's finally here! This shoot was taken after a con at the end of January, and has been in the planning for about 6 months, or something insane like that...it's also something very special to me and will be incredibly difficult to beat. We got to work with gorgeously amazing people, AND be in a circus for shooting the Noah's Ark Circus Arc...what's there not to like?! A wonderfully big shout out of love goes to Chrystal, who works at Circus Joseph Ashton, for being able to get us in and make this shoot work. Not only did we get to pose in the ring, but we also got to use the equipment there - throwing boards, tight ropes, death wheels, horses and carriages! Thank-you so SO much for being phenomenally awesome Chrystal! <33


( Let the Show Begin! (+20 large images ahead) )

On devART:
Doll - High Above
Joker - Let the Show Begin
Snake - The Snake Charmer
Black - Final Act
Joker - Shadow Trickery
Doll - Lady Doll
Doll - Doll Princess
Black - That Butler, So Black

Cosplaying from Kuroshitsuji - Noah's Ark Circus Arc (manga only).
Joker - Aly (cielrose ) at devART
Doll - Siera (clamwings ) at devART
Snake - Star at devART
Black - K (k_chan009 ) at devART
Epic Photographers and Helpers - Lisa, Will/amenokitarou , Tsubaki/tsubakichan , Chrystal , Sab and Cathy.
Make up by K and Aly, costumes and styling by individuals with Snake's wig by K.  (And epic thank-yous to imuin  who let me borrow her petticoats on such short notice for the shoot <33.)
Post processing by Aly, Will and myself.
Location: Circus Joseph Ashton, Perth.

 Just letting know all is well and I am still alive! Was meant to post a little message before disappearing over to the west but OH GOD TIME - THERE WAS NONE.

Had a wonderfully fantastic, amazing, brilliant and tiring time, with the only damper being that my phone was lost and/or stolen on Friday night. So any messages I haven't received. I know these things happen, and I've done everything that I can to try and get it back, but to no avail - so I've also lost all of 5 years worth of contacts, which is really pretty depressing for me.

So, if possible, I would really super appreciate if people's phone numbers could be left here in the comments, and I can let everyone know when I have a new number.

Posts are screened. Thank-you!

A week and a half late for a shoot that got re-scheduled four times! Seems about right, doesn't it? But all the build up was most definitely worth it. Finally getting around to this crazy 699618 train hotness with the fabulous photographer that is Mon! She is so much love to work with, though the results really speak for themselves - which is all backed to Lady GaGa and FSTs~

SO! Who wants a ticket for the train? 8D


( The Bad Romance/Love Game photoshoot )

On devART:
Do Not Accept Any Less
As Long As You're Mine
Mukuro - TYL
In Cold Blood
TYL 699618 - A Bad Romance
TYL 9618 - I belong to you
TYL 699618 - I Want Your Love
6918 I don't wanna be friends

Mon's post over here.

Cosplaying from Katekyo Hitman REBORN! (based off of this, this and this).
Rokudo Mukuro - K (k_chan009 ) at devART
Chrome Dokuro - Siera (clamwings ) at devART
Hibari Kyoya - Aly (cielrose ) at devART
Photographer - Mon (kawaii_mon ) at devART
Make up, costumes and styling by individuals with Chrome wig help from Aly and Hibari's shirt borrowed off of Alex's back. 8D
Post processing by Mon, Aly and myself.
Locations: William Street, Melbourne Immigration Museum and GPO, Melbourne.

And to those that missed it (and because it looks like I'm never going to put this up OTL) our Kuroshitsuji Circus Arc shoot can be found here!

(The Circus is in Town shoot)

Oh wow! I really can't believe it's taken me so long to put these shoots up. I kept putting if off, and then I got stuck into editting and was reminded of how much I love this costume, and character and design. Maya's one of those characters that I've been wanting to make for a really long time (like a few others still waiting to be made n_n;) and although I somehow crammed her into 5 or 6 weeks, the results are incredibly rewarding - not just with the amazing photos I've manage to collect of her, but also because the lead up to wanting and eventually making her was so long.

She's definitely my costume that I'll remember 2009 by, and has definitely earnt a place as one of my favourite costumes. Looking back, I also had my most enjoyable, fruitful and loved photoshoot in Maya, with kawaii_mon . She's been a great friend, support, inspiration and encourager-of-insanity over the years and...I honestly don't know why we didn't think of shooting together before. XD; It was so much fun and I'm still staggered and amazed by the results - you'd never ever guess it was her first shoot with people, let alone cosplay. Mon, you're such an amazing person and I love you to bits, I totally want to go and re-live this shoot/exercise regime. XD <33

Maya was 10 when she witnessed the murder of her family members by the Yason. From shock, she became aphasiac - she doesn't talk, so she rarely stands out in a crowd. Since she was born with the ability to use healing magic, she worked on the battlefield to survive. It's from here that she joined the alliance: 'Tears of Blood', and has begun to open herself up and occasionally smile.

She carries a Ginseng plushie which I've nick-named Ginger (he doubles as a bag...a heavy one! 8D) and uses various staves to channel ice and water elemental chii into her magic.


( In a muted existence (image heavy, 3 shoots!) )

On devART:
Maya - Wandering Wonder
Maya - Muted Existence
To the Sky
Maya - Magna Carta
Check Out Them Bells

Won First Place Best Female at AV Con 2009.
Maya - Siera (clamwings ) at devART
Photographers:
Mon (kawaii_mon ) at devART
Bryan (floatyman ) at devART
Neil Creek at devART
Costume, plusie, wig et al made myself; staff with help from my father.
Post processing by Mon and myself.
Locations: Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide and Melbourne.

A year and a bit after Yumi and I made these costumes, we finally got around to having a photoshoot with them - our timetables hate each other with the fury of 100 exploding velociraptors.

The game is Okage: Shadow King. The story line is absolute crack - and it knows it. What's there not to love? Oh, maybe that it's 9 years old and never got released in Australia.

The game revovles around softly-spoken, 16-year old Ari who has a shadow so thin that most people overlook him. However, it's also what enables it to be possed by the Great Lord Stanley Hihat Trinidad XIV...or just Evil King Stan. Eventually becoming Ari's love interest is the Princess, Marlene. She's snobby and pompous and seeks out Ari to be her man slave, as well as to make her life more 'fun'. They originally meet in a dungeon where Marlene is held hostage by the Bubble Evil King, and are properly introduced on the piers of Rashelo.


( A boy and his doll )

Thanks for looking~

Won Best Group at eGames Expo 2008.
Ari - Yumi (rurumi ) at devART
Princess Marlene - Siera (clamwings ) at devART
Photographer - Oscar (syntax_oscar ) at devART
Wigs dyed and styled by discardtheold and myself.
Post processing by Oscar and myself.
Locations: Melbourne CBD and Port Melbourne.

No, you're not getting a cut for this.

I've pretty much just crashed from the most amazing cosplay experience, if not the most wonderful week-end of my life. I've surely made and re-connected with memories and people that I'll treasure for life, so a million thank-yous to everyone who came to not just support me, but the other finalists, and everything that the event stands for. It was simply amazing to see everyone there - it'll be *incredibly* hard for anything to ever top this.

I'm so honoured to receive this, because really? Places may be ~*~everthing~*~ to some people, but just getting to the hotel on Friday night, and spending time with everyone on Saturday, I was just so insanely thrilled to be a part of this and to share the same stage as Min, Christie, Jenita and Robyn - you ladies are so amazing you have no idea <3

And on the 'SHIT I'M EXTREMELY TOUCHED' frontier, is this...

I've never hated or loved you all as much as this. I knew there would be tears on Saturday, but I had no idea it'd come in this form...you guys are the greatest. And in case anyone didn't hear, yes, you all made me bawl my eyes out in the middle of the con because of this, which I had to eventually stop reading because I a.) didn't want to ruin Annie's make up and b.) couldn't possibly read through my tears. But thank-you all so so much.


And my lovely ladies? Min/twinkl33 (Perth/WA) as Suzaku from Code Geass R2 (3rd place); me (Melbourne/VIC) as Rue from Princess Tutu (2nd place); Jenita (Adelaide/SA) as Laputa Robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky (5th place); Christie/moonblader (Sydney/NSW) as Alice from Pandora Hearts (1st place) and Robyn (Brisbane/QLD) as KOS-MOS from Xenosaga: The Animation (4th place).

Min: You know I luff you so SO hard, don't ever stop being so smexy awesome and giggling at all my stupid silly accents jokes <3; Jenita: You make RADelaide even radder than it already is, if I didn't already want to go to AV Con again, you'd *totally* be my reason~ Christie: my adorable spunk muffin - congratulations SO FUCKING HARD lovie, you deserve it so much - ENJOY JAPAN! It goes without saying...but I'm going to miss giving you my toothpaste visiting you every 20 minutes and whining when I accidently make cocoa when I *really* just need to go to your bed. Robyn: It's such a pleasure meeting you, and you're so wonderful and assalicious vinalycious. Will totally be crashing BrizNova for you with my dying will~

Oh, and here's a little snippit/preview of my skit! I haven't gathered enough courage to see if anyone's uploaded it yet...I don't wanna see myself on stage again! D:

For the greater love of this costume and not making a fool of myself, I'm holing myself away for the next week. The two days after that will be spent in some sort of alcohol and/or sugar induced state, and two days later, I will have a part time job for Christmas (Oh god I love you MuKuro ;~; <3)

So uh, leave messages/macros/photos of inspiration/encouragement/love/support/hate here? They're so desperately needed like you have no idea.

As always, if you need/want/desire me, I'm contactable on thepsychoticbugis@gmail.com. I'd give you all my phone number as well, but that...thing is resembling a large hard dustbunny with mild-electricity channeling abilities more than ever these days.

Also, suggestions for new phones (NOT a fucking iPhone) songs/bands/groups etc. would be a God send...I'm getting so incredibly sick of listening to the same monotonous shit.

Luff you all! Stay sparkly!

So in this 2-week hiatus that's been dedicated to school work, I also kinda maybe perhaps made a costume for Armageddon which, co-incidently, was the day *after* all my assignments were due in. Let's just say I've definitely gone up a few levels in multi-tasking.

Falling head-over-heels in love with Kuroshitsuji's Circus arc earlier in the year, Annie and I cosplayed Dagger and Doll for Armageddon! Doll's still only about 85-90% finished, but she was at a wearable-enough stage. So Saturday night I hauled ass to Annie's house to finish (haaaand x_x) sewing trimmings onto her parasol whilst Annie made Dagger's taco hat and finished his other bits - poor dear didn't get much sleep ;___; Because of train works, we had to take a bus part of the way to the con in the morning which was an experience. Annie did her make-up whilst I sewed press studs to her vest and tried not to let my costume bag thwack the (ever so lovely ;0;) guy next to be in the head n___n; (A cosplayer inconveniently taking up masses of space on public transport? Must be Siera. OTL)


( Of Armageddon, tacos and Seth Green )

Ignoring the fact that this report is now 4 weeks late, here's my whirlwind one day trip to Sydney for Animania! It was reaaal short notice with me booking tickets on the Wednesday before the week-end of the con, but sooo SO absolutely worth it. Despite the "DID NOT KNOW YOU WERE COMING D:" from people, it was awesome to see so many people from Manifest et al again. Much love to you all <3

So I guess that SydMania started on Wednesday for me with driving up to Hope/charliequinn , Luka/silvite_rewrite , Aly/cielrose and K/k_chan009 's place to aid in finishing/supplying sustinence for K and Aly's awesome WCS entry. So so so much win and awesome! Sadly couldn't make it up to Sydney to see the WCS 2010 Australian Finals on Saturday because of a Calisthenics competition, so next best thing was a day trip on Sunday, and that's how it went! Re-wore Chrome from Manifest on promises or reprising our Reborn group...also because it's the only costume I own that travels/wears easily nevermind that I had to section up the trident's pole to fit in my carry on luggage. Decided to be the biggest dork in existence and take the plane wearing a mafia 'suit',  with a zig zag part, purple eyebrows, Chrome makeup (complete with one false eyelash) and Mist ring. Character faggotry is serious business! But also practical considering I only had to get changed once in Sydney XD


( 12 hours of Sydney? I think I can handle that )

Please excuse braindead-ed ness! I had this all typed up and then Firefox crashed for the first time in aaages. So, guess who's doing their Manifest write-up 2 1/2 weeks late?

( This con's gonna be a good gon )
All in all. Manifest was awesome. I think the move to the showgrounds has really benefitted it and I'm looking forward to it growing and expanding and getting better than before in the years to come.

Hourray! That's finally done. Now I can type up Main Animania report...sometime XD Also, yay for photo fluffing tomorrow and catching up with epic fail back log of e-mails and f-list entries n_n;

Quick post before turbo-ing off to dance!

Somehow I never got around to finishing/taking pictures/doing anything with Lilly's Gwendolyn cosplay that I made for TDA in Singapore last year - that was rectified yesterday! I finished her gauntlets and tied up a few other things and it makes me really happy x3 But man...doll photography's one thing, cosplay photography's another, and put them together and it's like a woooorld of pain.

It was really tricky to get everything that I wanted in focus, and I'm so greatful for the pretty pretty sparkle afternoon lighting, it definitely made things a smidgen easier - as did changing backdrops. I started with a plain black and the her wings and under-gauntlets and thigh armour just got loooost in it. Enter the left over fabric from my Myobi wings last year!

I'm also finding it kind of ironic that the thing that I seem to be neglecting my dolls over (cosplay) is what's gotten me back into loving them. Don't know about anyone else, but I got serious cosplay cravings and thought getting around to doing something about Gwendolyn'd could be half-productive. And then I just looked at Lilly's tummy and the sculpting and detail and pretty and it was all "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"


( Enter the Princess of Ragnanival )
Will edit with more info later! Done! Now, just to figure out which to put on devART XD

HOMG. I completely forgot about this! I think it was meant to come out a couple of weeks ago...BUT CONFUCKINGABULATONS TO SEFIE, TANNIE, MINH, ANDREA AND LARIIISSAAAAA who along with Louis Dai made me squee like an idiot on the train. Good job, guys. Good job.


Laaaarger (readable!) version here. I did my best to scan and touch up whilst still spazzing! XD And now I'm going to go make Banoffee pie for dessert!

EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME FANDOM GO!

Late posting photos because I was still waiting on a few of them. And please to be ignoring my cuts while they refuse all the stuff that I want them to cut -__-'

Anyway, couple of weeks ago Annie sent me a txt that was pretty much 'Photoshoot. This Sunday. 1pm. You're coming.' and that was just about that. So one Sunday afternoon and a near-spilt soy chai latte later found us chasing after a missed tram to the Carlton Gardens. I was a bit apprehensive - I haven't been to a photomeet in a good two years, but despite getting ripped off for a "large" hot chocolate, everything went pretty well. The fridgid weather couldn't really be helped, and it was a really awesome opportunity to give my hand a try out shooting some people >3


( Papa-paparazz-ee )

And then the shot-at became the shoot-er!

( before paparazz-er ) 
Dress: Baby the Stars Shine Bright
Hair: IS A LIE
Stockings: Voodoo
Shoes: Imagination
Headband + Pearls: Diva
Fur muffler (fluffler?): Alannah Hill
Gloves: Vintage store in Bendigo

clamwings 
Hair clip: Victorian Maiden
Blouse: BARKINS
Jumperskirt: selfmade
Cardigan: Garfunkle
Pin: Angelic Pretty
Stockings: Sock Club
Shoes: 7Angels

Location: Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne Museum and the play ground at the back of the museum

Photocredits:
Neil Creek
Andrew Mcdougall
Rebecca Webb
Alexandre Barreto
Elias Lopez
Me?!</div>

And Annie's (better) post on egl  can be found here and Neil's gallery with the rest's here.

So I think I've only just managed to recover from AVCon today - which must totally say something for how awesome it was, amirite? But I'm still really tired so...this will be a very tired review XD It was fantabulouosly awesomely amazingly GOOD to hang with my homeslices kawaii_mon /Mon, bankevair /Celeste, 5hi_tenshi /Danni and hitoritengu /Lex. Though in some ways it was kind of weird/interesing going to an interstate and seeing so many familiar and friendly faces - WINBOURNE LOVES RADELAIDE!

I did expect a larger turnout/con for it being (until recently) SA's only con and having run for so long, but I think the fantasticly relaxed and friendly atmosphere and feeling the entire con had definitely made up for any doubts I had. It...really was great. Not cluttered at all, finding where things were was easy, volunteers were insanely friendly and helpful plus PLUS it was just good.



OKAY. THAT'S ALL. I'm sorry it's so long+boring. And I was so tired I missed Matt Preston on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. ;___;

In-jokes of the week-end:
 - Continental toast
 - 8 people live in Malaysia
 - Brendon/me dating a toilet...but not at the same time. We tag team.
 - RADELAIDE
 - Souffle hat
 - Marshmallow cosplay
- cosplaying a dolphin (it could totally be doing flips and shit)

Two and a bit weeks ago, annie_chan  and I had a vintage-y themed photoshoot with the lovely Sam. I'm a bit late with getting the pics up but uh...better late than ever? Doesn't help when LiveJournal coding keeps butchering itself.


( Here, we find words have no meaning ) 
Hat: Forever New
Scarf: Vintage Store in Bendigo
Blouse: Sussan
Cufflinks: Armani
Skirt: Tightrope
Stockings: Vintage Kayser
Shoes: ...don't remember D8

clamwings ('s embarassing co-ord)
Beret: Alice and the Pirates (BtSSB)
Cameo: Very special gift from discardtheold 
Capelet whatsis: Far East Plaza in Singapore
Blouse: Op shop
Skirt: Op shop
Socks: Target
Shoes: Target

Location: St Paul's Cathedral, Fitzroy Gardens and La Trobe Street in Melbourne.
On Flickr here.

Slightly off topic, in the last 24 hours I've been impaled by a pencil, pierced by a needle and slashed by my  bag...but I've finally gotten this monster of a plushie finished. Will try and get back to deviantART and upload some close ups tomorrow.
</div>

Also, for those not in the devART loop, our Madam Red x Grell Kuroshitsuji shoot can be found here.

Prepare youselves for a spam pic heavy post.

I didn't take many/any pictures, so for more stuff head over to Mon - speaking of which
( Spammedy McSpam, much? )
Also, cosplay.com...generally good when I can work it...not so great when those Amsterdamians start throwing PMs around the place:
Hi,
Beautiful Cosplay, like it very much.
I have a strange question hehe
I'm love female feet really much! Could i ask if you ever wear heels/flats in real life or in cosplay? And..do you wear tights/pantyhose often?
Just a crazy question by a crazy person!
Greets!

And lastly, preview of tonight's Sivi shoot:

See kids! Colours are good!

Edit: Why won't YouTube work?! D:

Mine and Biccy's teacher/lecturer/organiser at RMIT is writing up a paper/presentation on transnational fan culture and is wanting to explore the views of cosplayers in Melbourne. She's put together a short questionnaire and would very much appreciate it if as many Melburnian Cosplayers as possible could fill it out. Comments are screened, and if anyone interested could reply with their e-mail, I'll send the survey to you in an attachment.

In other news eGames Sunday was quite enjoyable. There was plenty of space to move around in, lots of places for photos and tonnes of games to try (Annie and I need a wii-match at Wii Golf to wii-cide who is the wii-sounding wii-nner). The Manifest cosplay come Armageddon cosplay-that-never-got-done finally got done, though only Biccy's put her photos up yet...I think?

More here + here

That Amy-hair made me really realise that I need a hair cut...aside from copius amounts of people saying "Heeey...you're hair's kinda long"...so, shorter hair for Siera sometime (hopefully) soon.

First of all, I think I can only begin with what I will always remember Manifest 2007 to be:

photo by Neil




I think that that's about all now...BUT
5hi_tenshi - I'll be kidnapping your (resin) boy sometime soon, kayz? Is it alright to meet you in the city somewheres?
mparf = brandwhore
rouge_usagi - where were you all Saturday + Sunday?!
nikki_mischief = brandwhorem
kawaii_mon = made of win

ARR! Aie be the fiersome and almighty Cap'n Siera here! Arr!

Um yes...new journal people arr! Pourquoi? Because I missed being an El Gay whore.

But no, this journal shall be 100% wangst free and updated reguarly so that the LJ addicts out there have some fuel for their drug.

I t'was going to make this first post all nice and pirate-y...but I'm too tired right now x_x'

T'has also been created in the middle of my Maniacly Mad Mayhem Sewing Week, or MMMSW, and shall post something else about this in a few minutes which shall remain at the top of this page until Sunday when all shall be finished and completed. =)