It's done with mirrors!

[ladyofthethread]

Yay! I now have a full length mirror for my sewing room! My father had a big piece of plastic mirror cut at the store and even made little plastic brackets so he could hang it on the back of the door without drilling holes into the mirror itself. ^_^ My brother was complaining that it’s not completely flat against the door though and that it makes me look thinner as a result. :-P Also got some pretty curtains on sale for the sewing room but haven’t hung them yet.

The clothes for D’s new costume are nearly done and they look great. ^_^ I finished the tabard and now I just have to make the sash.

However… ARGH! I’m having pearl issues again and wondering if I picked the wrong thing when I got those light blue pearls. >_< I figured I should get a lighter color after finding the medium green pearls I did my first set of necklaces with came off looking very dark on camera. But seeing everything that I have now, the light blue kind of looks out of place with all the rich colors; I think it’s too pastel next to all the more saturated colors in the fabrics so I’m wondering if I need to go out and get another color.

And I’m finding that the weight of the pearls is making my layers bunch up unattractively on the right side of the costume. -_-; Going by the reference , the shortest strand should loop around the skirts with the ends at the left side of the waist and the center dipping down to about knee level while the longest goes down to the lower calf. That’s how long I’ve made my strands and the weight, especially on the longer strands, is pulling all the fabric against my legs and wrecking the A-line shape the skirts should have.

I’m annoyed because stringing pearls should have been one of the easier parts of the costume. >_< But I need a few sizes and resin pearls don’t seem to come in color larger than 8mm, which are too small to be the proper scale. (I’ve only been able to find the bigger ones in white, cream, and black and I don’t think any of those would be the best with my colors either.) So, that only leaves me with glass and Swarovski since they come in larger sizes and colors. My options seem to be either shorter strands or smaller pearls, neither of which would be as accurate. Suggestions on what to do, anyone?

Still tempted to try to put together that Kaleido Star costume I mentioned last week in time for NYAF. It’s this one:



I doubt anyone would know who the heck I’m supposed to be since Sarah doesn’t get much screen time in her stage costumes. XD; (Hmm… I wonder if anyone has even cosplayed Sarah before. I’ve never seen one and Kaleido Star cosplay in general is rare.) But it’s a pretty design and possibly doable within a few weeks. Plus, I should be able to cosplay the series with Carrie at some point in the future since she’s making a Sora costume. ^_^

Comments

[mellifluous-ink.livejournal.com]

'Suggestions on what to do, anyone?'

I would suggest wooden beads painted to look like pearls. I imagine they'd be much lighter in weight, and therefore not bunch up the skirts.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks for replying. That idea was suggested before when I was initially hunting for pearls and although it’d solve the weight problem, it’s just not a solution that appeals to me much. ^_^;;; I cosplay and do crafts mainly because I enjoy making things. I can spend hours embroidering or embellishing but I hate excessive preparation work and individually painting the hundreds of beads I would need for the strands is just not my idea of fun. :-/

[mellifluous-ink.livejournal.com]

I googled it, and they sell pearlescent spray paint, which of course makes painting the beads a snap.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Hmm... Do you have a link please? I've only seen it in white before and I'd like colored beads for this project.

[mellifluous-ink.livejournal.com]

Testor is a hobby brand. My dad suggests going to a hobby/modelling store--they will have all sorts of colours.

[cutewishes.livejournal.com]

SARAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Kaleido Star has too many awesome outfits...urge to watch again...rising *_*.
And I need to cosplay May or Rosetta >.> lol.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Yep, lots of outfits! There are a few others I'm thinking of cosplaying but not sure when I'd get to them.

[lithiumdelusion.livejournal.com]

Uhm, I don't know much about cosplaying, but what about adding some support under the skirt, like a petticoat or something?

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Hmm… That idea actually did cross my mind but I’m not certain how effective it would be; the three outer layers of skirts are all split to waist level on both sides so a petticoat might end up only pushing the underskirt out. :-/ I’d rather not have to add more when I already have so many layers but might try it if nothing else works.

[sailor-asteroid.livejournal.com]

That'll look so beautiful! Sarah really doesn't get enough stage time^^

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Ah, I didn't realize you knew Kaleido Star, too. ^_^ Yeah, Sarah doesn't get much stage time but I guess it's understandable since she's just a singer and the focus of the series is really on Sora and the other acrobats.

[sailor-asteroid.livejournal.com]

Oh pfft, Sora is overrated! xD

[novaraven.livejournal.com]

um, maybe if you string the pearls on stiffer wire they'll stand out away from the skirts better? Personally I'd just go out and find acrylic (plastic) pearls that are lighter and not worry about the size thing. In the end pearls are pearls and at least you'll have some regardless of how well each individual pearl shows up in a full length photo.

Do you have an underskirt already? Cause I agree that it could be made stiffer as well to keep things from collapsing under the weight of the pearls.

Sarahs costume looks very warm with the fur hood. It'll be fun to make with all the layers and patterns too. I don't know why Kaleido isen't cosplayed more since their outfits are designed to be costumes and look so pretty!

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

I wondered about using stiff wire but I think it would look awkward if I ever wanted to sit or do another non-standing pose. ^_^; I’m not that worried about how well individual pearls will show in full length pictures but about whether the entire strands are reasonably visible. From the costumes I’ve done before, I’ve found that even half inch wide trims can become barely visible in photos and it’s been a point of frustration for me. :-/ I might try going down to 10mm beads for the waist strands (the ones I have now are 12mm) but I really don’t want to go smaller than that.

Yep, I have the underskirt already. It was the first thing I made for the costume. I made it huge though so that I could do kneeling poses like the one from the manga. I think it was something like 90 inches of material gathered with an elastic waistband so I’m not sure how effectively I could poof it out without it showing a lot through the slits in the outer layers. I don’t want to come off looking like I’m wearing a ballgown. ^_^;;

The little capelet/hood is one of the main reasons I’m thinking of doing that costume now. It’s been getting cold here and that looks like it would be cozy to wear. ^_^ Kaleido Star does have a lot of nice costumes but yeah, it doesn’t seem to get cosplayed much.

[novaraven.livejournal.com]

To be honest I haven't even looked for pearls for my robe yet. I'm assuming the usual bead store will have what I need in ivory since it's a common colour. Last time I used the cheap plastic Xmas ones (10 mm size) because that's all I had around. It was a week before thing for the xmas con last year. ><

Do you really think 10 mm is too small to show up in pics as pearls? http://images.cosplay.com/showphoto.php?photo=933840

I though they were ok, but I do agree that nicer pearls would be better for a hall cosplay. Especially if it's entered in judging. ^^;

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Well, I think 10mm is the smallest I should go for the waist strands. I seem bad at guessing how things will show up on camera and usually end up doing my details too small to show well so I really don’t want to use anything smaller than that. It’s annoying because the colored plastic ones I can get here only go up to 8mm, just one size smaller than that. -_-

Yeah, I definitely want to get it judged at some point since I’ve put a lot of work into it. Probably at Boston since I’ve decided against doing it at NYAF. And I’d like to take it onstage so larger pearls would be good in that case so that they’re more visible. ^_^;

[novaraven.livejournal.com]

coloured pearls seem to be a pain to find. I've been checking out some of the wholesale places online but I can't find anything in colours that size unless they're glass. I think you may be stuck with painting them yourself to get the colour or just living with the hazard of adjusting your robe every five seconds.

I'm having a problem with my dragon. He wants to coil his tail the same way as the waist pearls are hanging and I think he'll get very tangled. Right now his head is over my right shoulder and his tail wraps around me on the left. I can't have his head on my left shoulder because I need to have him attach for supporting most of his weight on that shoulder since I'm right handed. If his head was on my left that means he'd be supporting his weight on my right and I wouldn't be abel to use my right arm much.

*head desk* Pets are such a challenge! I may have to attach the pearl strands via a brooch that I can remove when I have my dragon with me. Thats the only solution I can think of right now.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Sorry for taking so long to answer. ^_^;

The way I’ve done my pearl strands is that I’ve put a huge lobster clasp on both ends of each strand. Then, I wear a tightly cinched belt over my robe and thread a metal ring (one of those “D” shaped ones you sometimes find in the sewing notions section of a store) onto the belt at the side. I use the lobster clasps to clip the strands to the ring on the belt and everything gets hidden by the sash. Doing it this way also prevents the weight of the beads from pulling on the robe at the left side and dragging it down. ^_^

Yeah, larger colored pearls are a pain to find if you don’t want them in glass or crystal. -_-; I’ve looked around a lot and they don’t seem to exist in plastic. Sometimes, I’ll see some in costume jewelry but it’s too expensive to buy and tear up for the beads since so many are needed for the strands. I just gave up on the pearls and bought gold acrylic beads instead. I got 14mm for the long strands and 8-12mm for the necklaces. I hope it doesn’t look too gaudy but they seem to show well.

Hmm… *tries to picture the dragon problem* Could you maybe attach a bracelet to his tail and slip it onto your wrist after coiling the tail around your arm? Having something to help hold the tail in place might prevent it from getting tangled in the pearls.

Pearls

[spookloops.livejournal.com]

Gah, my comment got eaten when I went to look at the reference again...

Perhaps you could put a buttonhole in the underlayers that will be covered by the sash, add a bit more wire to the strands, and run that excess wire under the costume and over the shoulder? Your shoulder would hold and distribute the weight easily, but all that's seen from the outside would be the strands hanging at the waist.

Re: Pearls

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Hmm… That’s an interesting idea. I probably wouldn’t even need a buttonhole since all the layers other than the underskirt are split up the sides to the waist. The downside is that it would be difficult to put on properly. The costume is already a bit hard for me to put on because of the stiff collar and it would be very difficult to adjust if the wire slipped off my shoulder considering all the layers. ^_^;;

Right now, I’m clipping the ends of the pearl strands to a belt which I’ll hide under the sash so that the weight of the pearls doesn’t drag the costume down at the waist. (When I got it, the package with my pearls was labeled 3 pounds although there were a few other little things in there, too!) I thought about possibly dangling down a wire from the belt on my right that I could clip to the middle of the strands which I suppose is the same premise as your suggestion. I think it would look better if the individual strands were able to move freely though so I don’t know if I actually want to do that.

Re: Pearls

[spookloops.livejournal.com]

Hmm... perhaps something akin to a lingerie strap ribbon at the shoulder would keep the wire in place? (and a little something so the wire doesn't dig into your shoulder after a while)... For the putting the outfit on, I definitely empathise. Bird's wings fit UNDER the very stiff and wide collar. Not sure how to work all this out unless you have an assistant (Goes off to think about it....)

Re: Pearls

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks for trying to help! In the end, I decided I was better off just giving up on the pearls and buying gold acrylic beads since the costume is already tricky enough to put on. ^_^;;

I've found the collar gets in the way if I try to raise my arms so I'll probably need to get all my makeup and the wig on first. Plus, the tabard closes with snaps across one shoulder and under the collar. I've managed to get it on myself but it's kind of difficult and going to be even more tricky if I'm wearing makeup and trying not to smudge any on the costume.

[neoangelwink.livejournal.com]

^_^ getting better look at the outfit it so pretty ^_^you going to look so great. i am maze how found art pic they are really hard to freind.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Ah, I got that picture off one of my DVDs. It was included in the extras under production sketches. If you ever need one for a certain outfit, let me know and I can check for it. ^_^