Current mood:

working

Right, so...
After a week of not updating, and weeks more of not actually updating, I thought I'd let you guys in on a little something I've been working on. Since the folks at Gaia are probably all sick and tired of me talking about it by now.

Five months ago I decided that I would like to do a quality Gambino cosplay for AX (anime convention, July 3-6). I emailed a couple of custom cosplay places, one of which closed soon after I sent my email. The second was limebarb, a relatively well known cosplay group. They had their good and bad reviews, but overall, I think the quality of their costumes was enough to try.

The quote that I received for a premium cosplay was:

Undershirt wth gold cuffs: $75
Ribbed vest: $100
Cravat with jewel: $35
Fully-lined cape: $100
Pants: $65
Tights: $30

Good God! That is so expensive! I mean, for each item, I can understand why it would cost that much (the tights he wears are really weird), but for a whole outfit, $405 is way more than I was willing to spend. I'd have to do five months cleaning bathrooms and not spending the money I got from it... and where's the fun in that? So the whole limebarb idea was tossed.

A couple of weeks ago I figured out that I could probably make a good cosplay with items bought cheaply from separate places...

So this is my progress on that. The three things at the top that don't have their prices listed, I was able to convince my mother to buy for me, as I will wear them pretty frequently.

Pants
http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=5662&pid=535414&scid=535414002

Belt (Auction ends tomorrow morning at 11:30am.)
http://cgi.ebay.com/NWT-Charter-Club-Black-Leather-Belt-with-Metal-Studs-XL_W0QQitemZ230208779144QQihZ013QQcategoryZ45214QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Shirt
http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=5441&pid=502967&scid=502967002

Vest
http://www.sixstaruniforms.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=UV&Product_Code=317 --$24 total, L, in Grape

Cravat
http://cgi.ebay.com/Victorian-Ascot-DAY-Tie-Cravat-RED-Dupioni-SILK-40_W0QQitemZ190187141783QQihZ009QQcategoryZ19255QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem --Willing to pay up to $20 total, it would currently cost $10.51 total

Cape
http://item.express.ebay.com/Mens-Black-15-Halloween-Cape_W0QQitemZ330159788451QQcmdZExpressItemQQ_trksidZp4065.m7QQ_trkparmsZAlgo%3DLVI%26ITS%3DQ%252BD%26ITU%3D%26OTN%3D3%26PM%3DA%26PO%3DOp2
--$8.10 total

Pin
http://cgi.ebay.com/Letter-G-rhinestone-brooch-pin-gold-tone-1-across_W0QQitemZ190108258393QQihZ009QQcategoryZ110984QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118 --$3.40

And I'm going to commission a friend of mine on Gaia to make the G buckle and possibly the cuffs/bracelets for me. She said it wouldn't cost that much, and I figure "not that much" would be about $30, give or take. So overall, this outfit will cost me $75 to $85, instead of $405. Niiice.

The vest is a little plain for my tastes, though, so if I get enough spending money from cleaning bathrooms and don't have time to spend it, I may commission limebarb for that vest, because I know they'd do a really good job. That would be in time for AX, though, not in time for Sakura Con. Limebarb does fill up very fast though, so I may not be able to do that. Oh well. I'll just get a quality vest somewhere else. Possibly the cravat, too. I need the jewel for that. Maybe I could commission limebarb for just the jewel... XD

Another great thing about getting this costume is that it means I now have a far better dress shirt for my Hufflepuff cosplay. Far, far, FAR better. My old one was from like the eighth grade or something. From my Salvation Army outfit, actually. I don't know what some of them would think if they knew I was using it to cosplay as a witch. P:


I think I had more to say, but I forgot what it was. Oh, sorry Lumos people, I never got around to transferring my fonts from my old computer to my new laptop, which means I couldn't finish all of the tags. Me = bad.