Friday
=====

Left earlier than we was gonna leave, about 8:30am, after stopping at stanstead welcome break and havin a very yummy KFC we headed off to Custom House at the Royal Victoria docks. on arrival i could see a group of cosplayers outside the front of custom house, and i believe this is when my actual excitement got to me. after signing in we went to the hotel rooms, only to find out they had'nt given us a superior room, so 4 of us had to squeeze into a ultra small twin room ><. after having a quick wash, getting a drink and unpacking the "P.P.P" (my little cosplay group - PawPrintProductions) decided to go for a walk on the bridge goin over the thames, and waht a beautiful sight. after frolicing on the bridge myself, lee and jazzy decided to get into our full costumes for a mini personal shoot by the cranes near the river. We got some really good pictures and then went to the Fox pub for roughly 12 cocktails each ><>nged and ready to go over to the PTI for some lolages and food with Luna. After eating myself and lee decided to stay out for a little longer and ended up outside the ibis drinking on the wall with tony,vinnie,joseph and cat. At around 1:00am we decided to go back and try n get some sleep.

Saturday
=======
Alarm went off at 5:45 to which i didnt hear, so was awoken by dad tickling my feet. I was NOT amused. lol. went and had breakfast at 6:30, which wasnt to bad, but made me feel ill all morning (i dont usually eat breakfast, but thought it might help me for the rest of the day. i was wrong) then around 6:45 me,lee,dad and jaz went and got changed we then waited for tristan and rob then went over to excel, only to see the huge queue. Again it seems that expo cant control their queuing systems, and REALLY need to sort something out for the ever growing crowd. cosidering dad was in his gizmo suit, i had my huge wings they didnt even think about asking us to go to a special little bit. i actually felt really bad for Phoebe in her gundam. By the time we got into the hall it was already packed out, and this was by early bird standards. So the first things we did was go to the neo stand and get photographed, and then sign up with Cosplay Fever. we had a walk around the hall but couldnt be bothered to buy anything on the saturday. sunday was my buying day. After a while dad asked to go out to get a drink n sit down, this time i think Gizmo was a lot hotter than Kon, so i was so proud of him when he was walking around in his costume, it must hve been killer for him. As for the standards of cosplay, they are deffinately goin up, but there was so many generic cosplays, and so many i had seen done before that most of them i didnt even look at, tho some of the ones i did see, the amount of work that must have gone into them was amazing, there are too many to name, but i have already co0mmented on a few. Unfortunately there was ANOTHER convention on at the time "muay thai" most of the fighters was fine and was having a laugh, but there was a horrible amount of Chavs making a lot of trouble for cosplayers and fighters alike. luckily enough i only had one incident, but my wings was hidden with something special which stopped them from actually hurt me but ended up them hurting themselves. all the P.P.P decided to leave around the 5PM mark to get changed and washed, and boy did i need that shower. Being cursed howl was not easy ><. Myself and lez then met up with ryan and luna at the japanese restaurant and after that i said good bye to lez and met up with lee, we then had a seat inside excel and had lots of lolages with Tom, Gem, Ash, Joey, Luna and ryan. Me, Lee, Tom and Gem then walked back to the hotel at about 10:00pm said our goodbyes and then went to bed.

Sunday
======

sunday was a day of mixed emotions, Excitement, sadness, worry the lot. The queing still had'nt been sorted but this time i was in normal human clothing ><. when i got into the hall i went straight to the cosplay desk to sign in Gizmo, Baron and Howls Moving Castle Group, said hellp to joe and james (who i must give a big thank you to for just being awsome as always). Then came the shopping part, got the usual Neo Mag subscription, and then went to 2 of the best stalls in there. Super Junior, Big Bang, DBSK and Bi Rain merchandise was everywhere! it was like a heaven to me, i managed to buy 3 Super junior Posters, 1 Big Bang Post, 2 Super Junior Sticker Albums, and 1 Big Bang Sticker Album, aswell as buying Bi-Rain's - Rains Coming Tokyo tour DVD, i spent roughly £30 on the lot, but it was the best spent money all weekend! i then went outside and lee and jaz had bought me a Super Junior Super Show 2 Fan, obviously i was over the moon with it. Mum had bought me my £15 pack of Pocky, and a Coco tokyo Toys bag. i then headed back to the hotel and got myself and dad changed ready for the usual walk around, after walking around for many hours it was time to get judged by the judges, and then queue for the Masquerade. Luckily enough mum n lez got front row seats due to mum bein disabled, and with a little help form Joey. Round the back of the masquerade i was talking and trying to calm down Emma, whose first masquerade it was, aswell as tlking thru what to do with katie aswell (which i must say, emma's and katies costumes was one in a million) i managed to tlk to matt,tab and stuart... but missed so many more people. Then came the moment of goin on stage, luckily it wasnt to bad, i didnt have all the nervousness i had the first time, i was really proud of our group, though when goin on joe did mess up and say that all the howls moving castle costumes was made by me. which isnt the case, katie made her heen, emma made her sophie and turnip head and i made my howl and calcifer. then it was lee's tunr in the baron, and he actually did a wayyyyyyyy better job than his first masquerade experience ><. then it was dad, again i cant express how proud of him i am, i love my dad so much and really he was possibly the cutest dad around at that time ><. unfortunately we couldnt stay till the end and left about 2 mins after coming on stage. I wasnt sad, yet i was, i had such a mixed array of feelings coming home and i was so tired that i just kept quiet.
Summary
=======
This expo i must say was fun as i got to hang with many other people who i never got the chance to even say hello to before hand, but then again i only saw a few from the other groups i hung around and missed seeing a lot of people. this made me sad, but then i know i will always be talking to them on facebook or deviantart :). My post expo blues didnt start till the tuesday night when having a conversation with tom, and i realised how much i actually enjoy this expo.Let me reword it, How much i actually enjoyed the company and cosplays, not the event. The cosplays this year seemed a little too generic, and not much variety, but the standards of handmade cosplays seems to have definately gone up. i just wish that there wasnt so many narutos,soul eaters,bleachers. we need to see something a little different. unfortunately the event has either changed hads or they are becoming more about making money. i used to enjoy the event as much as i enjoyed seeing peole, but know i go just for the people. its a shame but its a definate that next year WILL be the P.P.P's last expo for a little while. be it may or october being our last, we do intend on goin to more private cons like Kita, Ame, Aya... aswell as aiming to go to the Paris Anime Expo next year in 2011.
well thats my report on the London MCM Expo May 2010, please dont take offence to anything i have said as it is only a opinion, but i do hope to see u at the next MCM Expo in October 2010 ============================================================

Future
=====
this is my future cosplay plans these will NOT be changing, and will be goin on, unless i cant afford materials, or if something comes up. ALL these costumes mentioned will be hand made by me again, so if i have time i may be taking some small requests on making props.

London MCM Expo October 2010
========================
Dad - Rambo Gizmo (Gremlins 2) - Full body Fur Suit
me - Gremlin*scaled version* Mohawk (Gremlins 2) - Full Body Leather Suit
Leslie - Po (Kung Fu Panda) - Full Body Fur Suit
Lee - Flick (Disney's A Bugs Life) - Full body Foam Suit
Jaz - TBC
mum - NormalLondon MCM Expo May 2011
=====================
Dad - Sully (Disney's Monster's Inc) - Full Body Fur suit
Mum - Mike (Disney's Monster's Inc) - Full Body Fleece suit
me - Roz (Disney's Monster's Inc) - Full Body duvet suit
London MCM Expo October 2011
========================
Me - Ashlotte (Soul Calibur 4) - first ever feminine costume.

All the above events apart from october 2010 are a maybe, as we may decide to do smaller cons. but the costumes are still being made.!!~Kimi-Chan~!!

XxXxXxXxXxX

Sorry Sorry! It's My Time Again!

Well as most people know im absolutely obsessed with Super Junior! And so my obsession has led me to blog a small section about them. Today is a very special day for all E.L.F's (Ever Lasting Friends aka Super Junior Fans) as at 1:00am (GMT) or 10:00am (Korean Time) Super Junior are releasing their title single "Miinah (Beauty)" and then in 3 days time they are releasing their 4th album "Bonomana". Now dont get me wrong im completely Estatic about this, and have been on a Suju binge for like 2 weeks. But a little part of me is sad, as only 10 of the members participated in this album due to Kangin goin to the army and with his driving offence, Kibum working on his acting skills more, and the whole drama of Hangeng and the court case with SMEntertainment, but another part of me saw all this coming due to the fact the three mentioned havent done any promotions,concerts or even been in the news recently. Ah you all might be thinking "Why is she saying sorry sorry for?".. well the 3rd album of Suju's and their biggest hit so far was called "Sorry, Sorry" so all the fans/elf's got together and made the slogan "Sorry Sorry! It's Their Time Again!" which is baisically meaning that Suju will take the number 1 place again for many more months to come >< size="3"> post the link up on here, and be happy Squeeing all night.

!~ COSPLAY AND EXPO~!

Yippee well what can i say im so very excited! who wouldnt be? >< i have been asked by my good old friend to do a expo blog, well she put the idea out there and i said i would like to do it. so when expo is over i will be blogging about my three days in london starting from the Friday 28th - the Sunday 30th. Another good anouncement to make is the fact that myself and the Howls Moving Castle Group, Lee, and dad have been accepted into the Sunday Masquerade of the London MCM Expo... so if anyone gets any videos or pictures please do send them to me :)

Gizmo - Gremlins (100% Complete)
Well i finished off the whole suit a while back, and just finished off the stupid little things like making braces for the frousers, and sewing on some velcro to the bottoms of the trousers and to the top of the boots/feet. We had a dummy run and everything looked ace! So please if you see Gizmo please be a little careful as he is a little fragile, but he is always up for hugs!!
(Dad will be in Gizmo! and will be on the Sunday Masquerade!)

Cursed Howl - Howls Moving Castle (100% Complete)
I had completed the costume a while back aswell, but the only thing i had to do was just plump out the wings a little more with some fabric feathers. I also had to add loads more feathers to my back brace/harness, but luckily nothing major was need to be done. I have been doin some different styles of make up, but am really just waiting on Jazzy to find his red contact lenses, which i think will just set the whole costume off well. I even got boared one day and made a mini Calcifer which will be velcro'd to my costume so im hands free. Again this costume is VERY fragile, so if u want to hug, by all means do but please no glomping me.
( I will be in Cursed Howl! and will also be in the Sunday Masquerade along with my Howls Moving Castle Group)

The Baron - The Cat Returns (100% Complete)
yay! One cosplay im happy to be done with, to be honest there wasnt alot to do with him, just a few tweeks. Worst part of doing this costume was the hat, it was a nightmare to finish, if i could change anything on it, it would be the weight of the head, i think i might shave some more foam from the mouth area so lee can breathe a little, oh i also added some wiskers which arnt in the picture unfortunately. Please take no notice of the trousers or shirt he is wearing in the picture. On the day he will have black suit trousers and a crisp white shirt, along with a red bow tie! (Lee will be in The Barron! and will be in the Sunday Masquerade)




Male Na'Vi - Avatar (98% Complete)
Yes, still some painting to do but that will be done the wednesday before expo. I know own all the accessories needed for him, he has a loin cloth and his hair is 100 times better than it was before.
I also have given him some eyes, its now just a quick paint up and then he will be ready, the only one not complete!
(Jazzy will be wearing the Na'Vi costume)

Butterfly Fairy - Own Character (100% Complete)
Mum isnt really into anime characters but really wanted to cosplay something. At first we was goin to do her as my own steampunk character Excelda Gastra, but she couldnt give the attitude needed for her, so i created a different character. Mum wanted something lolita-ish so i heavily modified a old dress we had, aswell as added loads of netting and lace, with a theme of butterfies. We dont have any pictures of mum in the costume as she wants it to be a suprise, but i have a picture of her staff i designed and made especially for her character.
(Mum will be wearing the Butterfly Fairy Costume)

Well there you go. If you see any of us walking around, please dont hesitate to come over and say hello, tho i will say i wont know every one of you from face looks as i have many followers on many sites and cannot keep track, so if i look puzzled at any point please dont be offended. Tho i do have one request, and that is that could you possibly sow a little respect, not just to these costumes here, but to everybody at the Expo, and not over glomp people. A simple hug is acceptable, but to run and jump around them is very annoying, especially when something you have been working on for over a year suddenly gets broken because someone has run into you.

Anyway, enough of that. This will possibly be my last update before expo, might do one just before we leave on the friday, but until then i look forward to seeing you. again if u want to ge tin contact there is all my info on the right hand side.

!~Xx Kimi- Chan xX~!

!!~ FOR SALE ~!!

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Yes you did read correctly. I am selling some stuff off for me to be able to afford the hotel expences for May Expo. This means a mixture of things are goin up for sale, Cosplays, Commissions, Art work, and i may even have some Manga to sell to. So Please have a look at whats for offer, and drop me a Comment/Email every little helps. I will even take donations ><.
==============================================================

Ursula - Little Mermaid Musical Version

Wig - The wig is a cardboard base with foam strips which has been hot glued and then spray painted. this wig took about 6 hours to make from planning to creating and was completely hand made by me.
£10

Dress Base - Is a simple slip on dress with elastic on the top to stop the dress from falling. There are many shades of puple and blue circles in a simple pattern on the front to give a underwater feeling. There are also small reflective discs on the dress to give the effect of bubbles.
£15


Skirt - To keep the shape at the bottom of the dress i used a hula hoop, to which i hot glued and sewed lengths of fabric to, as well as pollestyrene pipe covers to give the effect of tenticles. To these tenticles i hot glued triangle cuts of netting (Blue and Green). there are also ripped bits of the fabric at the bottom of the skirt to give a more octopus look. The lining is made of shiney purple fabric so when the wind blows and the sun/light shines you have a very underwater look, The skirt is attached to a belt so you can wear the skirt with ease.
£25

If this costume was bought as a whole then i would be willing to sell at a whole price of

£40

Though if items are bought seperately then the prices are below each item. This costume was made for my mum who has only worn it once it was then washed and packed away. The size for the dress would be XL/XXL but if ulterations are needed not much work would be needed to make the costume smaller.


Pak-Kun - Naruto



Hood With Ears, Paws & Tail - Unfortunately my mum decided to wash my whole costume and my mask decided to disintergrate, so do please ignore the face, but instead draw your attention to the hood with ears. I am selling off the Hood, Paws and Tail of this costume as a set. Even if your not into cosplay but would like to dress up as a dog, with these items i am selling all you would need to do is paint your nose black and put on some normal clothes. All the Pak-Kun items have been
worn twice, but there is still lots and lots of life
left in them. £15

Bleach Hakama

Bleach Hakama - I have got 2 of these Hakamas in my possession. One i bought as my first cosplay which is the one i am selling. I have only ever worn this Hakama once due to the fact i couldn't enter the costume into competitions as it was bought online and was not hand made. I have decided to keep the one i hand made for future conventions. The size is absolutely Mahoosive! but again with a few adjustments you can easily get it to fit. I actually used pins to hold the costume in place, and it servived the day. You will receive the Top, Trousers and belt.
£30

At the moment i have no idea on how much Postage and Packaging will be for any of these items. Thought the only thing i will say is with the Ursula skirt it will have to be a "Pick Up At Expo" item due to the fact it is a very awkward shape, aswell as impossible to package up. As for the other items above, i am willing to post the items. I will check postage when i have confirmed someone is interested in a item. If by any chance you are also goin to the London MCM Expo on the 29th - 30th of May, and would rather pay cash in hand on the day then i am more than willing to deliver on the day. I will be at the excel centre from the Friday - Sunday.

===========================================================================

Well now that all the costume selling is out of the way, its now time to start on commission work. As soon as May Expo is over i will be starting many of the commiossions, as for the art ones im sure i will be able to do them when asked.


Art Commission - Unfortunately i seem to have broken my laminator, but it still doesnt stop me from drawing out artwork for people. The tools i use are Pencils, Ink and Watercolours. I work on a A4 Peice of paper, but am willing to halve the size. I dont really have a style, yet i dont not have my own characteristics when drawing. So if you have a certain picture, scene, character you would like me to draw please don't hesitate to send me some reference or some words describing the characters and i will work my magic. You will be shown a pencil sketch, a progress pic, and a finished product picture. These images will appear on here aswell as on my Facebook and Deviantart.
A4 Pencil Sketch - £4 A4 Pencil And Watercolour - £6 A5 Pencil Sketch - £3 A5 Pencil And Watercolour - £ 5

Gloves/Paws, Ears and Tails - Along with fursuit and mascot cospays you always need a pair of gloves or paws, so along with all the things i make i will be making items to order. Of course depending on fabrics the costs of these items may be a little more. The shoe paws will be done exactly the same as my tutorial, but of course to the animal and style you order. With the Animal ears they will be any type of animal ears attached to a head band, again you just have to give me a reference picture of the type of ears u like and i will make them, they will be wire framed and bendable so you can shape them to any shape u like. Tails will come in 3 sizes, Small, Medium and Large, again depending on the fabric thats used and the style then the prices will change.

Hand Paws With Pads - £15 (Depending on fabric) Shoe Paws - £25 (State your shoe size before ordering) Not Available Till After May Expo! Animal Ears - £20 (Depending on fabric) Tails - Small - £8 (Depending on fabric) Medium - £15 (Depending on fabric) Large - £20 - £25 (Depending on fabric Fur Suit/Mascot Head Commissions - These Commissions wont be available till after the May London MCM Expo due to the fact im still sorting some commission work, and sorting out my own costumes. When i start these commissions i will be willing to make any kind of fursuit/ Mascot head, be it a well known character or a personal character as long as i have reference pictures i will be able to make them. Obviously i wont be able to price up a head until i am given the character, but they will range from £60 - £150. For example my Kon head would be around the £100 mark, where as my gizmo head will be around the £150 mark due to using fur.


If you want any of the items listed above, i have not got the postage rates for them as of yet, though for multiple items obviously it will be cheaper. Once you are certain you want a item i will price up the Postage & Packaging and get right back to you.


====================================================================


Thank You for looking through and browsing, as stated i do take dontations :P
on a serious note, if there is anything here that takes your fancy then please conact me on :-
Kyoheikun@hotmail.com
www.facebook.com/Kyothekat
Or
www.kyothekat.deviantart.com
I look forward to hearing from you
and Thank You again
!!~ :Xx Kimi-Chan xX: ~!!
Unfortunately when i go to save the blog the nice neat layout i have is put to ruin, so if there is anything else you need information about, just send em a message.

As Promised!

As promised here are some pictures of the feet i have made using the Tutorial i have writen. I have yet to get a full picture of the Gremlin feet i have made with the furry trousers on, but like before i promise i will soon!

The Baron (Cat Returns) Feet Without Claws


Cursed Howl (Howls Moving Castle) Feet Without Claws


All The Feet Together!

Mascot Foot Tutorial

When making animal mascots i used to have a problem with making the feet, after looking at many videos and tutorials i have come up with my own way of making mascot feet. These feet making methods can also be used for fur suit feet. Unfortunately i havent taken a photo of the end product but will definately take one soon, i shall also be putting up a picture of other feet i have made in the same way.

What You Need:

• Cushion Foam
• Glue Sticks
• Glue Gun
• Old Boots/Shoes
• Fabric/Fur
• Scissors

1. First of all remove the laces of the shoes you have chosen and make sure your foot can easily slip in and out. If the shoes are old and dirty just give them a quick clean up as this will help the glue stick a little better.
(Fig. 1)


Once you have done that cut the tongue and lace holes off of the shoe, this will also give you a little more freedom and make the shoe a little looser. (Fig. 2)



2. Next step is to cut a strip of foam about 2 inches thick and as long as needed to go around the ancle part of the boot/shoe. This is really only done if you are making a mascot body and not really for fur suiting as this is helping to thicken out the legs of the costume i am making. All you need to do is position the foam so the heel of the boot/shoe is covered but then resting on the top part of the boot/shoe. Once placed where you want it hot glue into position.
(Fig.3)


3. Once the glue has cooled and dryed, place the boot/shoe onto some more cushion foam, mine was about 4 inches thick, and draw around the base of the shoe. Carefully draw out a paw shape around the outside of the base of the shoe, this will give u the individual "toes". (Fig. 4)


4. When everything is drawn out you need to cut out the base of the shoe and then cut out the paw at the moment it doesnt matter that it looks all squared or rough, every now and then check that the foam fits aroud the base of the shoe and make sure it is in proportion to your costume. (Fig. 5)



5. At this point the feet look kind of messy, so what you need to do is gradually round off the foam, my technique for this is to trim the edges with my scissors and then keep trimming till they slowly become rounded. One word of warning though, this is a very messy part, and putting down newspaper or a plastic sheeting is highly recomended for a speedy tidy up.
Once the paws are rounded and in proportion with your costume you can glue the paws to the boot/shoe. (Fig. 6)



6. Now we have the easy sections out the way, the harder part comes in. Place your desired fabric/fur on a table and draw around the area you desire to be covered, though remember to leave about 1-2 inches all the way around as when you glue you need the extra spaces. any little pieces left over can be trimmed. (Fig. 7)




7. When glueing remember to pull the fabric tight. I personally find glueing the tips of the toes first then the sides of the toes a lot easier, and if needed you can always cut into the fabric to make it more mouldable. Once you have done the toes glue the sides of the feet and then add the fabric/fur to the foam ankleadd any accessories you like, for example claws or toe nails. (Fig. 8)



I appologise for some of the really bad pictures, and also for not showing a finaly picture *slaps wrist* i promise i will take some photos of the final product aswell as other mascot/fursuit feet i have done. I hope this helps out a little bit, and if there are any other questions you would like answered please dont hesitate to send em a message either here or on my facebook.

!!~ XxKimi-Chan xX ~!!