Otakon 2016

Hello everyone! Sorry for the late post but Otakon was not too long ago and here is our account of another fantastic weekend. Before the con, things were looking kinda grim. We had a nice hotel across the street from the convention center with all our friends for a pretty reasonable price, however a lot of people were last minute canceling due to personal reasons, Lilitare included, which left only Kuritare, Rintare and RUDEBOY. However this did mean a lot of extra space for those three!
Our line up was a little less uniform this time around because Kuritare no longer does Love Live crossplays. The first day was Rintare as Rin's Unidolized Marine and Kuritare as Djinn Equip Alibaba. We started the morning at Kuritare's house still and arrived around noon where we ate at Ekiben. It was delicious!

Kuritare featured on @ekibenbaltimore instagram!

After arriving at our hotel RUDEBOY and Rintare went to the GoodSmile booth to pick up some exclusive nendroids. Unfortunately the FightClub Mako figure ran out as soon as they arrived!! After perusing the dealers room we went to the Boku No Hero photoshoot hosted by our beautiful friend Aprile (@1paprile on instagram!). Her Bakugou was amazing! Afterward we just hit the game room and met up with Aprile and Lois (@yourfavoritedaddy on instagram) so that RUDEBOY could photograph their One Punch Man cosplays!

We had a very Hectic Saturday morning...Lilitare miraculously made it but had so much to do for her cosplay. We cosplayed Sakura, Hana, and Tsubaki from Fire Emblem Fates. This also included Kuritare because he had collabed with Lilitare and was waiting on his final piece. Kuritare and Lilitare's cosplays weren't as great as expected but we plan to work on it more to make a truly wonderful trio. Rintare worked hard and diligently on her cosplay and it shows! She is absolutely beautiful as Hana. This time around we hit up the artist alley and got some great prints! It was over 100 degrees this day so photos were tough but we managed to avoid time in the sun as much as possible and got some great photos from RUDEBOY. (Check more out on our instagram!).

Sunday was much more relaxing, but still extremely hot! The girls were part of a wonderful full Love Live Marine group where they got some really awesome photos on the harbor by the boat. Kuritare was rocking his Kimono Yato from Noragami...honestly a poor choice to stand out in the heat with but still had lots of fun! That was the rest of the day and we all winded down at Temari Cafe to conclude an awesome weekend.

How to Add Details To Worbla (Without Using More Worbla)

Please refer to this video on some basics on Worbla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZl65FRUZnw

She makes adding the detail seem so easy...unless you're like me and suck with molding materials like clay.

Here I will tell you how I achieved the ridges/trim on the edges (and this could be applied to any kind of worbla detail) without using extra worbla.

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So you'll notice in the video she actually tells you to use a double layer of worbla to make the trim, but thats a lot of worbla! So instead lets use craft foam, its way cheaper!

Materials:
-Craft foam (I'm using 4mm thick) ~ $0.90 per  12in (30.48cm) x 18in (45.72cm) sheet
-Thermal Plastic (I'm using black worbla) ~ $86 per 39.25in (100cm) x 59in (150cm) sheet
-Sharp X-acto or Utility Knife
-Contact Cement
-Heat Gun

Step 1: Cut out your base shape as well as the trim detail

NOTE: KEEP THE CUT OUT SECTION!

Piece that came out of detail

Step 2: (carefully) glue the detail to the base piece

Apply glue

Place detail onto base

Step 3: Cover with Worbla and apply heat until it sags over the foam and is moldable

Step 4: Pushes edges down to get that embossed detail

Use a tool, your fingers, or a piece of soft material (I use a piece of scrap foam) to push the outer edges down.

Now this is when you put that cut-out piece to work. It just so happens to fit exactly into the empty space! (Not exactly though, don't force it too much) What this also helps is avoids those harsh push marks from something like your nails or a credit card because the foam will slowly mold into a round shape.

You should get something like...

Beautiful isn't it?

Step 5: Trim off the excess worbla, according to the video above

Step 6: Use the heat gun again to mold the shape you want.

And you'll notice it maintains that beautiful detail you masterfully placed!

This doesn't only apply to line trims, here you can see I cut in little circular details with the same method

Of course you can stack it as high as you want, this will require you to stretch the worbla more though, so a little more might be safer. Just be mindful that its a flat piece of foam though, so you might want to modify some of the edges flush to the design you want. This can be achieved with cutting bevels or sanding.

If you have any questions, leave a comment below. Hope this helps!

Colossalcon 2016

Hi guys! It's been awhile, but we're here to share our awesome trip to Colossalcon 2016 in Sandusky, Ohio!

Last year when we went to Colossalcon everything was so new to us... we didn't even know how to get to the pool!! This year we definitely had a better idea of our surroundings. We probably also consumed about triple the amount of Blue Rhinos we drank last year ^-^; This time around we stayed quite far from the Kalahari resort where the convention is held. We stayed in a cute cabin at Cedar Point with a dozen of our friends. Even though it was a bit of a drive, it was a lot of fun being a little "family" for the weekend! We had a lot of fun cosplays for this con that we can't wait to share with everyone, so keep on reading!

We set out for Ohio super early on Thursday (3 am!) and arrived at Cedar Point somewhere around 11 am. We spent the afternoon in Cedar Point and rode roller coasters all day! It was definitely worth heading out so early. Afterwards, we settled into our cabin and had dinner at Danny Boy's, our fave Italian restaurant in Sandusky! Of course we had some cosplay crunching to do that night, but it was well worth it.

Friday was the day we wore our Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (Hai to Gensou no Grimgar) cosplays! We steadily worked on these outfits and weapons for about a month. With school and work going on for us, we really had to squeeze some cosplay into every free moment we had. Kuritare was Haruhiro, Lilitare was Shihoru, and Rintare was Yume. They were our favorite characters and we felt that they fit us pretty well! Kuritare worked hard on all of our weapons and his hard work definitely showed! All of us felt super proud of what we made because we could see a big visual improvement over time. Our friend Andrew (aka RUDEBOY) was nice enough to be our photographer for the whole weekend, and he got some awesome shots!

On Saturday, Lilitare and Rintare split up from Kuritare. Lili and Rin were invited to be part of a couple Love Live groups, so Kuri decided to take on a Alibaba Djinn equipped cosplay from Magi! In the AM, Lili and Rin were part of a Love Live mermaid group. We had a blast shooting pictures on the beach at Cedar point even though there were some decaying fish on the shore... at least the sand and water made for some good shots! Everyone in the group was super nice and we had a lot of fun together. The sun burns were well worth it!! A special thank you to Aprile for being the mom of the group who put it all together. It couldn't have happened without you! Our precious Kyo senpai was also our second photographer for this shoot. Thank you gorgeous senpai ♥! Lilitare and Rintare were also fortunate enough to be part of another Love Live group! In the afternoon, they joined a few other girls for a small Love Live marine group. Lili and Rin adore that costume very much! It's just so cute :') We were glad to see old friends make so many new friends through Love Live cosplays! Kuri's Alibaba cosplay also turned out great! It was our first time working with the thermal plastic, Thibra. It was a fun challenge that yielded some nice results! Kuri used it for his shin guards and bracers. At night we played in the game room for...too long and then got home to pack up to leave early-ish on Sunday.

For Sunday, we decided to do some Fire Emblem Summer Scramble DLC cosplays to sort of preface some future Fire Emblem Fates cosplays we wanted to do! Lilitare decided to be Sakura. Rintare and Kuritare chose to be Hana and Tsubaki as her retainers! It was a cute and quick cosplay. We were glad we did it and it was easy to change out of to head home. 

The drive home was long, but we made it back safely. Shout out to our fun cabin family for hanging out and having a blast with us during the weekend! We love you!

Now we just have to somehow get over this lingering con depression!