Iron Cosplaying at Calgary Expo 2013

After a pretty rough start, I'd have to say that I had an amazing time at Calgary Expo 2013! Got to show off some pretty amazing costumes, got to see some pretty spectacular costumes, and got to see the likes of the Lannisters; Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey, and the great and wonderful Nathan Fillion! 

My Weekend looks at Calgary Expo: Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Friday was a little confusing... For the first time since the 2013 guest announcements I forgot to check the Twitter feed and got completely turned around... Needless to say, I missed the Princess Bride: The Hero, the Villain Panel. The room was full! Apparently I wasn't the only one. I ended up watching it on the Calgary Expo FlipOn channel and learned something heartbreaking... My dearest Westley chews with his mouth open!!! Seriously, other than that, that panel broadcast gave me all the feels. I really wish I could have been there...

Chris Sarandon and Cary Elwes

Friday we also took the opportunity to head on down to the Unicorn, where if you showed up in costume, you would get 25% off you bill... With all the other events going on that night, we were the ONLY ONES in costume... You would *think* that would be awkward, but a lovely couple bought me and Dejathoris a drink so it all was worth it! 

Dejathoris' Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Saturday morning we headed out early. Or at least in my mind what's early for a Saturday. There was an Special Effects panel in the Roatary House that we both wanted to go to.... In all the years I've been going to the Stampede grounds, I have NEVER.NOTICED the Rotary House... That's not weird right? Either way, I was a little disappointed in the panel itself. I think the presenter was more focused on SPFX jobs rather than teaching techniques. Or I misunderstood what the panel was about. The panel was 3/4 of the way through before they even started doing makeup on people, and they weren't really explaining what they were doing. However, got some great recommendations on some books to pick up. 

The day then transitioned into watching the folks battling out where the Coke Stage is in full armor and having lunch. This was one of my favorite add ons. Outdoor entertainment! People/Cosplay watching! Food Trucks! Just delightful! Whilst said people watching, I took a snapshot of what I think was the BEST Link & Zelda all weekend (and there were a LOT people!)

We then headed back to the Roatary House to watch the Iron Costumer competition. We've heard about these before but have been unable to attend. HOWEVER, one team didn't show up, so Dejathoris and I teamed up with this delightful couple in line behind us and put together a team! 

That's a chopstick horn helmet, by the way

The Theme: Time Travel

The "Special Ingredient: Chopsticks

Our Team Name: Tag You're it!

Our Costume: Flava Flav from 1992

Iron Costumer winners 2013

What do you think? We were up against a time travelling alien and a black hole with the Planet Express. Both were also awesome and some how WE WON! 

Our Iron Costumer Prize!

Saturday finished up at the Con by watching the Stargate Panel, in which I've learned that Michael Shanks' ALSO CHEWS WITH HIS MOUTH OPEN and that Richard Dean Anderson really doesn't give a shit. That second part, totally, totally awesome.

Screenshot from the Stargate Panel

Eliza Dushku really knows how to handle a con crowd. She was delightful while still promoting her projects and her social media outlets.  I really loved her panel. Plus, she said "Five by Five" SQUEEEEEEEEEE

Other than the adorable Link and Zelda I posted, my other major fave costume from Saturday would have to be this one: 

The Dread Pirate Roberts!

I was so excited when I saw this guy that I think I ran across the aisles and smacked him on the shoulder... 

There were also some amazing Game of Thrones cosplays... A spectacular Robb Stark/Dany/Melissandre group and a great Dany/Drogo pair. Loved them!!!

Sunday was all about the panels. Other than the fact that I was REALLY excited to show off MY Melissandre on the con floor. We saw the X-Files Panel, where Gillian Anderson raised $800 for a signed script and a kiss. This was just a delightful panel. The whole group of Robert Patick, Mitch Pileggi and Gillian Anderson were so wonderful and chatty.

This lead into the Game of Thrones panel with Lena Heady and Peter Dinklage. There were awesome! And they were not expecting the crowd of people... There was no seating left by the time they started. It was so intense that they requested beer. The highlight would have to be when a fan asked what was going to happen to Joffrey this season and the crowd split into hissing "SPOILERS!" and laughter. Lena handled this beautifully by just saying "That's my son!"

Finally we watched Nathan Fillion's panel. Who was delightful. Between talking about Edmonton and LA, Castle and the Whedonverse, he was just a phenomenal speaker... He also had a twitter challenge that two people in the audience flat.out.ROCKED. 

This sign deserves a stand alone PRO!!!

So overall pros: Almost all the panels I wanted to see were in the Coral (This is a major pro). And because of Princess Bride fiasco, I decided not to go to the other smaller rooms so I didn't have to miss the ones I really wanted to see live. (The rest of this week is going to be dedicated to watching everything on the FlipOn feed!). The use a space was delightful  Having a space outside where people could wander was really needed. I had no desire to fight the shopping crowds in the early Saturday since that was the craziest time of the whole day. It was a little cold and windy, but the space was worth it. The Photo Ops were in a different building and because I wasn't getting any autographs I was able to stay away from those areas. (I now find out that one of the booths I was looking for was in fact, in the autograph section!)

Overall Cons: None of the bank machines worked and sadly most of the food stands in the Corral and area were Cash only. Also, there was no where to just buy/get water. You'd have to wait in a line up 20 minutes long with hungry hungry people when all you wanted was a drink! 

However, there were so many many many improvements over the year before that I can't imagine the Calgary Expo not getting better and better each year! Here's to next year!

As always, more photos as I find them over at the Flickr

Steampunk - Indira

Pure Spec 2011

For Pure Speculation Edmonton (also known as PureSpec) we decided to try our hand at Steampunk. We spent endless hours extending the lengths of our creativity making three individually unique and personally reflective costumes. Since then, we've been able to wear these at several different events and even broadened our Steampunk assortment to include interchangable accessories. I'm going to split them out into three posts as we took lots and lots of pictures of our processes (yet only have one clear shot of each of us?!?!) I'm also going to focus on the original version of our outfits so that I try and stay on track.

Indira AKA Mrs Spiderman @Calgary Expo 2012

This post will probably be updated with better shots as time goes on, but the best place to look is our Flickr account....


What I really wanted to do here was create a cosplay outfit that works with my heritage...  Translation? I wanted to take a Sari and stick a crap ton of gears all over it. We started with coming up with backstories for our characters. Since Steampunk lit is mostly based in Europe and some of the Americas, we decided that Indira was an International Assassin. We made a bunch of weapons hoping that some of them would work with the esthetic.

Flash? What's a flash?

The outfit itself is Sari fabric we picked up at our local shop. We also picked up a complimenting golden orange taffeta fabric to fill out the skirt. Even though it's Sari material, it ended up looking more like a Lengha-styled outfit. Or at least what I think a Lengha would probably look like in the Steamunk timeline. When shopping for Saris, they will usually come with a length of material you can turn into a blouse. This will also have matching border pieces you can use to tie the outfit together. Mine unfortunately didn't have enough border to do all the areas I wanted so I settled on the neckline only.

Over the course of this endeavour, we checked out a lot of con floors selling Steampunk clothes and accessories. Once you check out two or three you will start to see some similar basic stock. You've got to keep an eye our for people that either sell the basic wares, like goggles for $10-$14 that you can then individualize, or people that have already done so but be willing to spend the $$. This is a LOT of detailed work and they do deserve to be compensated for it. We've found quite a few sellers online, but over time many have switched from offering goods direct to the consumer to retailers only (sad panda)... If you find a clearance sale, and you want to build up your steampunk wardrobe, purchase a few right then and there! You will be much happier.

Back on track, while searching through our local thrift stores we came across this really worn our red leather jacket. The colouring was perfect to compliment Indira's outfit. We turned this into a harness and gauntlets. The gauntlets have then the small amount of the excess blouse material added to tie the whole outfit together. One another note, I'd like to point out that gears are really sharp and whenever I forget to wear the gauntlets, I ultimatley get scratched to bits by all the gears all over my outfit.

Here comes the detail work... I purchased some watch parts from a few different Etsy sellers who were selling supplies. I then sorted out all the same size gears and glued one on every.single.flower. I am really proud of this work and if you compliment me while I'm wearing my Indira outfit, that is ALWAYS the first thing to come out of my mouth! This is where the gauntlets protect me the most. From my own skirt. I then hand stitched some chain around the skirt to give it some more dimension. There are two rounds of chain on the skirt itself. Its not something that photographs well, but reads really well in person.

Finally the goggles... I found a pair of ski goggles (what do you expect? It's Calgary). I spray painted the exterior gold. I cut off the band and attached some of the leftover leather from the harness (matchy matchy!)... Then on the goggles piece itself, I used some complimenting lace I cut off from one of my old shirts. I used some Modge Podge and adhered it. The extra "ocular" piece is actually a cut up cap from a creamer container. I then inserted a light inside for some extra dimension. Around the goggles itself I glued some accents: gears, hat pins and the

like. I really loved working on these pieces.Randomly gluing things all over the place was really fun. I wouldn't be surprised if I did this to more things in my home... It's addictive...

I've played around with my makeup each time, but the one things I really like to do is replace the traditional Bindi with a gear. I know that irritates some people but I enjoy it. And at the end of the day, I'm the one wearing it!

I keep searching for more international-inspired Steampunk ideas, so if there are any out there that I've missed I'd love to hear about them!

Cosplay does not equal Consent

So for the normal course of things we're going to keep this blog about how we make the costumes we do... But I'm a little concerned about the number of posts arising on the interwebs about Cosplay = Consent.

We are a group of three very different people that have had very different experiences going to Cons over the past 20+ years. I've watched my friend get attacked by a man wearing a Zapf Brannigan suit while she was wearing the Fifth Element Diva costume going "WHERE ARE THE STONES?!?!" ... We may not have the same experiences but we all have been placed in a situation where we have to clarify that we are not available.

Recently I've been confronted in an online community I frequent about the fact that me wearing my wedding ring is not sign enough that I don't want to be approached. This commenter has flat out said that I should wear a sandwich board over my costume to say that I'm not interested in order to ensure that I do not get approached by unwanted advances.

My husband has been attacked by both men and women over the years because being a male costumer wearing "the outfits that he does" he should obviously not be married.

These experiences prevented us from going out to other cons. Not to only to compete in the Worlds stage of costuming, but because of the world telling us that costuming/cosplay means that we should open to all "experiences".

As a small time costumer, this IS NEVER OK. Those that tell you that cosplay = consent are just flat out wrong. We dress up as people we like on movies and TV and comic books and video games because there's something about the character that we love. There is something inspiring about that person, and the have some iconic look that we want to emulate. It.is.not.for.you. Ever. As much as you would like to think so, you are wrong. And part of this community, I just want to make that clear....

/end rant