Cubone Cosplay

Cubone.  The little ground-type Pokemon that could. His back-story is tragic - as he wears the skull of his deceased mother upon his head. And yet he still manages to be cute. Go figure.

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My sister made a clay cubone pendant, which combined with my recent $38 purchase of Pepakura, inspired me to go searching around for cubone 3D models.

bad angle, but her clay pendant is quite cute.

I found one, erased the body portions, scaled it up, and printed it out.  I was very close to making the file silhouette-friendly for easier cutting and scoring, but I didn't want to deal with file set-up and registration marks, so I ended up just cutting the pieces out by hand. Penga-sis helped, though I do recall a fair amount of whining.

16 pages or so of pieces.

Together with Sak and my sister, we glued the pieces together, one tab at a time.  My preferred method of gluing is to scrape a thin layer of Tacky Glue to the tab with a toothpick, and then press and hold together.  We finished in one night, watching Youtube on the TV in the process. (Sidebar, but seriously, I love that you can remotely connect multiply phones to the PS3 Youtube app and just have many people fill up the queue with things to watch. So useful.)  Once finished, we had to cut out some of the paper from the "neck" region in order to fit our head inside. No biggie, just enlarge the circle until it fits.

That bone club was a PAIN. It's hard to glue something that's completely enclosed!

With a can of Rustoleum Matte finish clear spray, Penga-Sis protected the paper surface.  Though she apparently didn't protect her face. :P Please wear a mask when spray painting! ..At least we were outdoors?

Thinking we'd complete the process just as we did with the Vegeta hair, we bought a can of white Plastidip spraypaint and Sak gave the skull several coats (while wearing a spray paint mask for protection!).  Unfortunately, even after 2(!!) cans of spray paint, you could still see the printed tab numbers underneath.

The paint must not be that opaque or something.

So the skull sat for a few weeks until my sister visited again.  When she did come back, she painted the inside of the skull black with cheap acrylic paint. That really seemed to help, but now somehow there were black smudges on the outside of the skull!  A little touch up with white acrylic paint fixed the problem.

I just love the rubbery texture from the Plastidip, so nice.

For the rest of the cosplay, my sister originally wanted to do parachute pants and some sort of tube top.  But she didn't want to sew it, and I didn't want to sew it either, so we did the next best thing - thrift shop.  I eventually found a nice Anne Taylor tan dress for a few dollars, which would also be good to wear to work. WIN WIN.

Miss Cubone in all her glory:

Overall, I think the skull/bone club is pretty awesome, but the rest of the cosplay could have been better executed.  better shoes, some arm guards, or something.  She pulled it off well enough in any case, and even got asked for her first "photoshoot" at con! In all my years I've only been asked for one once - and that was in a giant Diglett costume.  So we're quite proud of her.

If you'd like to make your own cubone skull hat and bone, and don't feel like modifying the original file, feel free to email me.  My address is on the "about" page at the top.

Dangan Ronpa Monokuma Greeting Card

My sister, a hip teen ever in sync with the pulse of what's popular these days, made me watch Dangan Ronpa.  It's an anime based on a videogame, and the genre..well - think Ace Attorney meets Battle Royale.  There are teens locked in a world where they have to kill each other to escape, and there's also a heavy element of "who dun it" courtroom drama.

Though interesting, it's also kind of gory/morbid, so I have yet to finish the series. Though all the blood is like, bright pink, so I guess it's not that realistic :P

Anyway, there's a creepy evil bear named Monokuma in the show, and I thought he'd make a great cut-out card.

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Pupupu!

Such texture! 

His right eye really should be red, but I didn't want to glue extra paper in. I guess you could just color it in. Glitter would be cool too.

Perfect greeting card for skeeving your friends out, just a little.  Like a sister card to the Kyubey card, really. Looks like the beginnings of a creepy-cute mascot line.

(And a repetitive note: this is card 3 of 4 of my new designs.  After memorial day I'll show all the designs and you'll be welcome to request them if you like. Freebs, naturally!)

Magikarp Evolution Pokemon Greeting Card

In the beginning of the year, Friend E somehow persauded me to think about doing Artist Alley again at Fanime this year. I was lured in by the promise of short lines and a utopia of all our friends in nearby booths.  Somehow I forgot about how nerve-wrecking the process was last year.  And I started designing some new cards to put in my portfolio, since they did pretty well last year and also didn't involve days upon days of sewing.

However, this year Fanime announced that they'd be having a judging panel for artists, since there isn't enough room in the new ballroom for everyone.  So we didn't apply. Friend E will say it's in protest of the new system, and I will say it's because I'm too chicken to try.  Honestly, reading the posts of artists that were rejected makes me really sad.  At least with first come first serve, there aren't as many hurt feelings, I'd like to think.

But even though I won't be selling - I'm still pretty proud of my designs, so I'll share them over a few posts with you :) After Memorial Day I'll do an open card giveaway, so stick around if you like any of them :)

The first card is a dainty Magikarp on a crisp white card.

verrry tiny cuts. Didn't work with linen paper.

Oh my stars! It's evolved into a raging shiny gyarados!

Perfect for a graduation card, eh? The concept was friend E's idea, and I think it came out really well! Gluing the gyarados down is a pain though because of his small whiskers.

Speaking of Pokemon, I've finally weaned myself off the game with the help of Bravely Default. BD is seriously awesome.  It's an RPG by Square Enix - but it plays like it was built for the busy adult commuter.  You can play with one hand, skip all the scenes and replay them later at your convenience, speed up the battles, change the encounter rate for random monsters up or down, and even auto battle! SO NICE. And despite all the convenience, it's still a pretty tricky game! I'm max level and still need to look up the FAQs for bosses :P

Pokemon Chistmas Card

Another oldie, but here's a look at this year's Christmas card:

They are pokeball ornaments!

I didn't make too many of them because I was *cough* too busy playing Pokemon *cough*. >.>  I wasn't even sure if I should send them to my grandmothers or not because they are kinda, well, not cute or normal.

But my grandmothers would love me even if I sent a blank piece of paper, I'm sure, so Mom told me to send them anyway.

Anyway, originally I was going to draw all the ice cream pokemon on a postcard, but I ran out of time to get them printed.  Cut cards are nice and all, but they are very difficult to make in bulk!

Also, thanks to everyone that sent us cards this year!

DIY Espurr Felty

Since Pokemon X&Y have come out, I've logged 216 hours, and gained many pounds. I stopped crafting and blogging. It's not pretty, people.

In an attempt to find balance again, I spent all day today playing blog post catch up.  So there will be a sudden influx of outdated posts, ha. Sorry in advance.  I also put myself on a mild diet to hopefully fit into my pants again, and I tried doing a small craft to get back into the swing of things.  Pokemon related, naturally.

Espurr, psychic pokemon - cute but with creepy, vacant eyes - is one of my new favorites.

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Actually I have to credit Penga-Sis for pushing the felty idea.  She wanted to make half a Marco (AoT reference), and once the felt box was out I couldn't resist.

2 grey body pieces

Sew on details of the top piece.

And then blanket stitch the two body pieces together.

I'll probably make him into a hairclip or something.  I know the eyes aren't quite the right color but I improvised with the felt I had on hand.

I'm not going to stop playing completely - I've got a pokedex to finish and I find IV/EV training and trading pokemon much too enjoyable.  But maybe I can slow it down a bit and try to alternate gaming and crafts? Here's hoping!

DIY Zelda Heart Soap

It's been ridiculously hot (for the bay), but with Penga-sis over for a visit we couldn't help but fire up the stove for another round of soap molding.

This particular one, a classic Zelda heart container, uses some pretty standard silicone molds.  A small heart ice cube mold and a large heart baking mold.

First we made some small hearts with shea butter soap.  I screwed up the food colors though, so it's not quite the bright red I was going for. :P  After the soap cooled we put them inside the larger molds (sprayed with rubbing alcohol to reduce bubbling).

Next we used some clear glycerin, some honey almond scent, and some blue color.  Again, the colors are not quite right.  It should be a much more subtle blue color.

Poured into the mold just over the red hearts. Cool and pop out!

This is in full sun.  Kinda pretty eh? The back is not so great though.

At night, backside of soap.

I should have put a layer of blue before putting the red heart, so that itd be "floating" in the middle. But then there'd be a line? Hmm.

Well, until next time, it's kinda cute!

V-Day Card 2k13: Zelda Heart

Wow. Where did January go?! Typically Jan-March move pretty slowly for me, but this year is different! A lot of things have been happening at work and at church, some of which I'll share later, but it's been keeping me pretty occupied lately! Hopefully February will be a little more moderate :P

Anyway, V-Day is around the corner, which is one of my favorite excuses to make fun cards!  Check out this year's design, which is a lot more sophisticated than the onion and farting guinea pig from past years. Haha!

Silhouette cut on cream linen paper, with a thin red liner.

The discerning eye might recognize the heart as the (new) heart container from Zelda.

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But even if you don't play Zelda, it's still a pretty cool looking heart, yeah? :)

Anyway, I'd love to send you a card! It'll be blank so you can give it to someone you love (or like, maybe a little). The card is about 6.5" x 4.75" or so, and comes with a plain envelope. Just let me know in the comments or by email if you'd like one! (pengawenga{at}gmail)

By the way, have you seen the new love stamps? It sucks that postage prices went up, but these are really cute!

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*Update 2/10/14*
Thanks for finding my little blog and for your interest in my card, however this post is a year old and I don't really have any cards left :P  I do giveaways every once in a while though so feel free to stick around in the future :)

DIY Pokemon Skirt

So I have at least three sets of Pokemon bedsheets found during multiple thrifting trips, and Penga-Sis requested a skirt similar to the Power Ranger I wore to Fanime earlier this year. This is such a simple skirt, it takes like 30 minutes for me now to finish! I'll have to challenge myself a bit and add pockets in the future or something.

I used the same dimensions as in the last skirt, only this one was a tad shorter (length 1.5') and I lined it with a layer of white muslin since the sheet was a little see-through.  I also used double fold bias tape which was wider and much easier to work with.

The pattern is so fun :)

And the other side..

And here's the model. I think she should start a fashion blog, she's a natural.

DIY Zelda Kikwi Felty

So... *grin grin grin*

Praise the Lord (quite literally), I passed the PE exam!! As soon as I get my license in the mail I'll be able to add those two precious little letters after my name, yaay!

To celebrate, my family came over for a night of North Beach Pizza and beer. And then, because I don't drink beer too often, I was feeling manly, so I convinced my sister to turn off Portal 2 in favor of a rousing game of Shoot Many Robots, a PS3/compy downloadable game that does exactly what the title says. Get gun. Shoot robot. It's a fun co-op game, manlier than my usual fare, but a girl's got to diversify every so often, yeah? And since Alvina's husband was one of the game developers, I think you or your game-playing other should check it out. ;)

Anyway, in other news, Friend E let me borrow Zelda Skyward Sword.  I'm not too far along just yet, but already I'm really liking it. I love Groose's gangsta face and Ghirahim's fabulousness.

There's also cute little Pokemon-esque creatures in it called Kikwi, they have shrubs on their backs and make squealy little noises.

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Couldn't resist making a felty of one :)

For eyes, I thought it'd be easier to make them with white thread rather than try to cut small holes out of the black "mask" area.

Coaster time!

I didn't bother with his feet or hands because I got lazy. Or I was going for a minimalist approach.  That sounds better, right?  I think I will stick him in the game case for Friend E when I ever finish his game and give it back. Haha.

Kyuu!