Character: Cardia
Anime/Game: Code Realize
Year Worn: 2018
Conventions: Debuted at Anime Festival Orlando 2018
Upcoming: N/A – Available for Photoshoots
Awards Won: Best Masters
Photos Coming Soon!
Character: Aqua
Anime/Game: Kingdom Hearts
Year Worn: 2018
Conventions: Momo Con 2018 & Anime Festival Orlando 2018
Upcoming: N/A – Available for Photoshoots
Awards Won: Not Entered
Photos Coming Soon!
Character: Thumbelina
Anime/Game: Thumbelina
Year Worn: 2017
Conventions: Debuted at Holiday Matsuri 2017
Upcoming: N/A
Awards Won: Not Entered
Photos Coming Soon!
Character: Princess Peach
Anime/Game: Super Smash Bros; Super Mario
Year Worn: 2017 – 2018
Conventions: DragonCon 2017, Wasabi Con 2017 & Momo Con 2018
Upcoming: Possibly Wasabi Con 2018 – Available for Photoshoots
Awards Won: N/A
Photos Coming Soon
Character: Symmetra
Anime/Game: Overwatch
Year Worn: 2017 – 2018
Conventions: Holiday Matsuri 2017 & Anime Day Jacksonville
Upcoming: Retired – Available for Photoshoots
Awards Won: 1st Place Anime Day Jacksonville
Photos Coming Soon
Characters: Sakura
Anime/Game: Card Captor Sakura
Year Worn: 2017
Conventions: Dragon Con 2017
Upcoming: In Need of Repair
Award Won: N/A
Photos Coming Soon
Character: Sailor Jupiter
Anime/Game: Sailor Moon
Year Worn: 2017
Conventions: Metro Con 2017 and Wasabi Con 2017
Upcoming: Retired for now
Awards Won: Not Entered
Photos Coming Soon!
Character: Princess Kakyuu
Anime/Game: Sailor Moon
Year Worn: 2017
Conventions: Debuted at Anime Festival Orlando 2017
Upcoming: Anime Festival Orlando 2017 – Retired
Awards Won: Best Intermediate/Journeyman – Anime Festival Orlando 2017
Photo Courtesy of Kiki Kannon
Character: Yami Yugi 2.0
Anime/Game: Yu-Gi-Oh
Year Worn: 2017
Conventions: Debuted at Anime Festival Orlando 2017
Upcoming: Anime Festival Orlando 2017, Metro Con 2017
Awards Won: Did Not Enter – planning on making more items and then enter.
Character: Sailor Cosmos
Anime/Game: Sailor Moon
Year Worn: 2017
Conventions: Debuted at OmniExpo Orlando
Upcoming: Permanently Retired
Awards Won: Best Prop – OmniExpo & 3rd Place – Collective Con
Comments: This cosplay was squeezed into the 2017 lineup. I was so honored to be accepted into the Sailor Scouts of Jacksonville group back in December and I volunteered to be their Cosmos/Princess Kakyuu! I chose to do Cosmos first since she isn’t too difficult (lie) and I already have experience making Sailor Fuku’s. Kakyuu is scheduled for the summer. She will be worn at many more conventions in the future with these lovely ladies, go check out their Facebook and instagram page! ->@sailorscoutsjax
A few tutorials will be up on youtube for this cosplay: pendants, wig and staff. Be patient as I edit them. They will be found in the Cosplay Tutorial section and my youtube page soon.
Group shots with the group!
Single Shots Courtesy of NJarvis Photography
Group Shots with Sailor Scouts of Jacksonville
Character: Dark Magician Girl
Anime/Game: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Year Worn: 2016
Conventions: Debuted at MomoCon 2016
Awards Won: Judges Award – Anime Festival Orlando 2016
Comments: So I can officially say that this was my first 100% made cosplay! (Big applause!) Usually I would create about 90% of my cosplays and this is because of the shoes… I never created my own shoes until this year. However, now that I now how easy it is I can probably do this every year! Maybe…
So, of course I had to make a cosplay from Yu-Gi-Oh! this year. We are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the anime! Not only has merchandise been flowing out of Japan but a new movie was released for this special occasion. Because Yu-Gi-Oh! is one of my favorite anime’s and part of my childhood, I had to do a cosplay. The problem was the availability of female characters. I decided on the Dark Magician Girl because I saw it as a challenge and a very familiar character that any fan would know. Plus she is adorable.
I used 1/2 a pattern for this whole cosplay. The rest I had to create on my own. I used a bathing suit pattern for the main coverage and then adjusted it to be a sleeveless suit. All the blue that you see is spandex (so don’t iron it!). After the main coverage was completed I moved onto the shoulder pattern where I literally just experimented with fabric cutting. I measured around my shoulders to see how much room I had to work with and then created the pattern on interfacing which was then sewn to the blue fabric. The back is easy since it is basically one big triangle going down your back. The front however took a little bit of adjusting until it hugged my shoulders enough so that the cosplay wouldn’t fall down (fan service!). This was then sewn onto the bathing suit piece. Just in case I added translucent straps to my cosplay to make sure it would stay up (even though it was perfectly tight). The arrow piece in the front was fairly easy to create. A little bit of geometry over some interfacing and then sewn into the blue fabric followed by pink bias tape. Now the bottom of the outfit is actually a separate piece. I call it the skirt piece. Using a gold detailed fabric I attached the pink skirt to the underside of the gold as well as the front triangle piece. The boots were created using a simple boot cover technique (you can easily find a tutorial on YouTube). Basically you trace your foot and sew the two pieces that you traces together. Get some old shoes and attach the bottom of your fabric piece to the bottom of the shoe (use E6000 glue, works very well). Finally, all of the gems that you see are cast from resin and dyed. The gems were then wrapped in pink piping and attached directly to their appropriate spots using E6000 glue. Let this dry for at least 48 hours! I have some progress pictures in one of my blogs showing the process I went through each day with this outfit: -> click here
Props: I will have a small hat tutorial as well as a staff tutorial up in the next few days. I have to stress though, the hat is not the best tutorial and difficult to explain. A lot of what I went through was trial and error but maybe you guys will gain some insight on how you would do a dark magician girl’s hat 😉 For the moment though: the hat is created out of craft foam, covered with blue spandex fabric and the pink is (drum roll) hair curlers!!! I came across a cosplayer who did this and it was so brilliant! It works so well! The staff is created using a wood stick, carved styrofoam, plaster, transparent Worbla, and LED lights (click -> here for the tutorial on the hat and staff).
With LittleKuriboh! The Creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series
Pictures below from the amazing James Cacciatore. Check out his Facebook page -> here
Character: Eternal Sailor Saturn
Anime/Game: Sailor Moon
Year Worn: 2016
Conventions: Debuted at MomoCon 2016
Awards Won: Best Anime – Ancient City Con
Comments: It was about time that I created a Sailor Senshi cosplay, and with the debut of Sailor Moon Crystal I thought this was the perfect time. Luckily for me I created this cosplay right when Sailor Saturn was being introduced in the new series. She was always one of my favorite scouts and portrayed me in a lot of way. I tend to be quiet and reserved. I’m also a fan of destruction (in the sense of natural disasters). She always seemed to be the perfect scout for me. I learned from last year that satin is not always the answer when it comes to cosplaying, however, for a sailor scout this is the best fabric to use in my opinion. Very pleasing to the eye. I started out by using a sailor moon pattern provided by “Simplicity.” ->
But for anyone that has used this pattern you will run into a couple of problems, especially if you are doing the “eternal” sailor scouts. The skirt was perfect but I wanted to add more waves to it. I ended up adding an extra skirt piece and extra horse hair interfacing to create the wave look. The bow pattern was… Terrible to say the least. I ended up creating my bows separately using many own pattern. Same with the gloves. Although featured on the cover of the pattern this pattern does not contain a glove pattern. This wasn’t too bad though. I have created many gloves in the past using a very simple technique of literally tracing your hand over freezer paper and stick it to your fabric (I will have a tutorial on this in the near future). The skirt, bows, chocker, puffy sleeves, and top glove were all made from satin fabric. The light purple areas I covered with a bit of clear mesh fabric for a little bit of detailing (totally optional). Now everything white is strictly spandex fabric. Due to the fact that sailor Senshi have a tight fighting outfit this is the best fabric to use. Sart out with a bathing suit-like pattern and then build your cosplay from there. This is also the same for the gloves. Gloves work best if the material is stretchy. Warning: DO NOT IRON SPANDEX! I am not joking, it will melt and your outfit will be ruined… Along with your iron…. Finally the belt area and the bust area I added in some beaded pearls for some extra fun 😀 each one had to be sewn in one at a time… This took a long time… Finally the top belt detail is from a yard of chained gems I found at the fabric store. They bent well and were easy to sew on. Very easy to find. Finally on the bow and boots you will see some purple star gems. These stars were cast out of resin and then glued to the back of pins which were then attached to the outfit.
Props: I have a step-by-step tutorial on how I created the Sailor Saturn’s Glaive: click -> here.
Pictures below from the amazing James Cacciatore. Check out his Facebook page -> here
I hung with a Sailor Scout group on this day very lovely group of ladies. They are known as the Sailor Scouts of Jacksonville. Check out their Facebook page -> here
Character: Jack Frost
Anime/Game: Rise of the Guardians
Year worn: 2016
Conventions: Debuted at Toronto ComiCon 2016. MomoCon 2016.
Awards Won: Did not enter
Comments: Gave this baby a test run at Toronto ComiCon and it was a hit! Very comfortable and easy to move around in. I will try and find some flip-flops with transparent straps before the next convention. Simple cosplay to make if you do not want to spend time making the garments. Find a dark blue/navy hoodie and brown/dark tan pants (try not to get them in the skinny version, I was suffocating… can’t stand skinny pants). With some adjustments to the hoodie and pants I used fabric paint (white and silver) to draw snow and ice crystal designs all around (Tutorials can be found on my YouTube page or my Cosplay Tutorial page). Staff was created with paper mache and PVC piping. Spray painted and designed with acrylics. I am still debating on styling the wig to be exactly like Jack’s hair in the movie. I really like the wig as is but I might experiment with it and then brush it all out if it doesn’t look good. Super easy, looks fabulous, and very comfortable to wear to a convention for a change!
Character: Milla Maxwell (Version 2.0)
Anime/Game: Tales of Xillia 2
Year worn: 2015
Conventions: Anime Festival Orlando 2015
Awards Won: N/A
Comments: Why Version 2.0 you ask? I learned a very important lesson from my first Milla cosplay: Satin fabric is not always the answer! I finally gained respect for working with other fabrics such as cotton and spandex. My old Milla costume frayed so much due to all of the embellishments rubbing against the satin fabric that I had to retire it after Anime North 2015. I remade the whole dress and re-used the belt (loved it too much) and the end gloves from the first Milla cosplay. I love everything about this cosplay. It fits perfectly and the blue part is gorgeous. My new best friend is “Heat and Bond” which I used for various appliqués throughout the dress. Also, I made a new weapon, this time out of Wonderflex. Originally the weapon is for Rowen in the game (secret unlock weapon). However, this was so gorgeous I had to make it a sword for my cosplay. Did I mention is lights up pink? 😀
Character: Milla Maxwell
Anime/Game: Tales of Xillia 2
Year worn: 2015
Conventions: Anime North 2015
Awards Won: Stage Award; Best K.O.
Comments: Although I was more of a fan of the first Tales of Xillia game, when I saw Milla Maxwell’s new outfit in the second game I was stunned. Absolutely gorgeous. Like most of my cosplays the main fabric used was satin for the white, black and blue. I used one pattern which was a traditional chinese dress. However, the pattern was terrible! So many steps that made no sense. I even brought it to three different seamstress’ and none of them could help. This was where creativity came in and you figure out how to conquer your barriers on your own. In the end it did turn out like a traditional Chinese dress but it did not hug my figure to my liking. The belt helped a lot with this (which I styled to make it look more bellydancer-like. It seemed appropriate). Sword was made out of simple craft foam with wood on the inside to hold the shape and provide more stability.In a few of the images below I am posing with Ludger’s hammer. While I was making this cosplay I was making a Ludger cosplay for my cosplay partner. More info on the Ludger cosplay “here.”
Character: Rosalina
Anime/Game: Super Mario (I did the Super Smash Bros. Version)
Year worn: 2014
Conventions: Anime North 2014, Unplugged Expo 2014, FanExpo 2014, Anime Festival Orlando 2014
Awards Won: N/A
Comments: I have wanted to do a Rosalina cosplay ever since Super Mario Galaxy came out on the wii. I was happy Nintendo created another princess for the series and very happy that she wore a beautiful blue dress. Lucky me, I started this cosplay right when Nintendo announced Rosalina for Super Smash Bros. 3DS/WiiU. There was not much of a difference except that I had to add stars to the bottom of the dress, which I was very happy to do. Bottom layer of dress was made from white silk and main part of dress was marine blue satin. Collar and cuffs were made from see-through blue silk. I used Swarovski crystals for the stars and applied them with a hot fix iron. I wanted the stars to be more visible so I used my motto of: “When in doubt, add more glitter.” I created the crown, wand, brooch, and earrings out of craft foam and added various glitter coats and gems to make them pop a bit more.
Character: Espeon (Human Form)
Anime/Game: Pokemon
Year worn: 2013
Conventions: Unplugged Expo 2013
Awards Won: Did Not Enter
Comments: This was just a fun little cosplay I did in a few hours. I only made the ears and the tail and straightened the purple wig a bit. Ears were made of felt fabric and attached to a headband. Tail was from light purple cotton fabric. I inserted a long flexible wire into the tail and then stuffed it with some stuffing (the stuff you stuff teddy bears with for example). So the tail was fairly flexible. I also made the Umbreon cosplay which turned out to be amazing in my opinion (click “here” for more info). Not a complicated cosplay, I just wanted to do something very quickly. I love the dress though. Found it for super cheap at a second hand store in Toronto. Sorry for the picture quality, not sure who was taking these pictures but they obviously did not know how to focus a camera…. *sigh*
Character: Sakura
Anime/Game: Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga Version)
Year worn: 2013
Conventions: Anime Festival Orlando 2013
Awards Won: N/A
Comments: This was the first cosplay I created completely on my own with no major purchases (minus the shoes obviously). I was rushed on this cosplay, however. This was completed in less than a week and I did not have ample time to work on certain areas. I hope one day I can improve on this cosplay. In the Anime/Manga Sakura wears a high collared shirt with puffier sleeved as well as knee-high stockings. I did not have time to complete this. This was probably ok though since Anime Festival Orlando takes place in the dead of summer in Florida. Dress and hat (which I love) made from light pink satin and bows made from a darker pink. Gloves made from white cotton fabric. The wings were made from craft foam and attached to my back using a simple elastic band that went over each arm. Finally, the wand and cards… yea I did not make those. I was just lucky to have them from my younger years Sadly, I still used the stupid blonde wig from the Tsubasa cosplay. I did not feel like purchasing another wig for Sakura so soon.
Character: Sakura
Anime/Game: Tsubasa Chronicles
Year worn: 2010 and 2011
Conventions: HyperCon 2010 and Animation on Display 2011
Awards Won: Did Not Enter
Comments: This outfit was commissioned to me. However, the costume came way too small and filled with loose fabric. I had to add some fabric to the back of the skirt for it to get around my waist and replace the gold and purple bias tape over much of the costume. The four blue gems on the front of the shirt I added a couple of cotton balls under each one to give them a little more shape. My final comment: The wig… NEVER buy a wig from a random eBay seller. I learned! The wig color was not what was shown and it came long! Not only did I have to cut and style the whole thing but the color was horrible for Sakura. Way too blonde!
Character: Yami Yugi
Anime/Game: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Year worn: 2010
Conventions: Anime Festival Orlando 2010
Awards Won: Did Not Enter
Comments: Who says girls can’t cosplay as guys? In my opinion girls that cosplay as guys make the character outstanding! The main part of the outfit is focused upon the wig. Dear lord, that wig… I still have nightmares about it. I believe I can approach it in a different way today but back then I was a super novice at cosplaying. I started with a short red wig and spiked it up using tons of acrylic spray. Something that you would not normally use for wigs but it worked very well for keeping the spikey shape Yami has. I also added a few chopsticks and weaved the hair around them to keep the support. After the red hardened, I used black acrilic paint and added the dark highlights beneath the red areas. Lastly, I purchased some blond extensions and sewed it to the top of the wig netting. I used the same procedure as the red and styled the blond into the spike shape and attached it to the red using tiny rubber bands. The blond bangs on the side I failed to sharpen into points. Instead I let them hang loose. I think all the acrylic was getting to my brain and I just couldn’t work with the smell anymore. Coat made from blue and white cotton fabric with a simple black belt strap for the cuffs. Shirt made from black spandex fabric. Millennium puzzle was commissioned to me. Did not make the pants or boots. Obviously, did not make the duel disk (wish I did, lol).
Character: Utena
Anime/Game: Revolutionary Girl Utena
Year worn: 2008
Conventions: Kawaii Con 2008
Awards Won: Did Not Enter
Comments: I am still searching for photos. Although in my mind they should be lost permanently. I did not make a single thing on the outfit. All was commissioned to me. The wig I ordered was not the correct color and came to me as a hideous bright fluorescent pink demon. Which we should all know Utena would be very displeased about. Believe the wig ruined the outfit. However, if I find photos I will post them so that the world can learn what not to buy… ever!