how it all played out...

as i write this, i envision that this shit should not be hard. the white is easy, the eyes, nose and whiskers are easy ( i can't believe i found black whiskers *fist pump*). the only complication (and potential tears of frustrated fury) i foresee is the ears. i have to cut slits in the hood an make them stand up. now i have some pretty good material for the inside of the ears that i think should stay up: i yanked the weird pastie cups out of my white Genie bra

yeah, we're doing this...

*and then three days passed*

and yes, the ears were a 6 hour nightmare. i started on the ears first (probably mistake number one). i'd shaped them into perfect little ovals and positioned them on the hood with the rest of the face. then i had to mark their positions to cut (enter mistake number two). since the material is furry, i had to find something strong and dark enough to mark it. i end up using a pen. thus every place i cut had pen mark all over it. un. professional. then the horror started.

i'd positioned the ears concave side down. so they would would be concave side up when i attached the cups. i should have done the opposite.  so now i have pen marks all over the hood that are going the wrong way. it ultimately made the cups really hard to position and attach to the flaps i'd created. so while they are "up" they don't have any cute definition. they are just flat. honestly don't know what i could have done different. i considered stuffing a little batting that i had behind them for body, but that would convex the cups, making the whole situation worse. 

i eventually just got the damn cups on there and dealt with it. attaching the white face, eyes and nose were a cinch. an absolute fucking joy. and then i got to the whiskers, which i figured would be just as easy as it was the finishing touch. it was the damn ears all over again. the whiskers are just these thin, black  little fiber optic looking things. which is no biggie, but i had no way of attaching them besides sewing them. or at least that's what i thought. hindsight is a bitch (mistake three!). i dug some holes in the face and stuck the whiskers through, then used the transparent thread to sew them in. this worked great. till i pulled to make sure they were secure and the little bastards pulled clean out. so i had to sew around, and around, and around and around them to get enough string layered to keep them in place. what i should have done was dug the holes, stuck the whiskers in and used some tacky glue on the inside to keep them in place. it was wednesday night, i had plenty of time to test it and try it again before i had to wear it. but it was wednesday night, i was tired and not thinking straight. 

so around two am and several episodes of archer later, the beast was done. 

i decided not to fix my Kanaya cosplay, as i had no desire to get into that get up. plus i got no body paint. so there's that. thursday i went to the part time gig, then came home an did my hair. the game plan was to bleach it to a warm brown to match the cosplay. what i go twas a bizarre light brown blond nightmare. (what mistake am i up to now? damn shame i keep fucking up like this...)

the roots took too well while the ends didn't want to take all all. and i think i left the bleach on a little too long. another mistake (made weeks ago, but i still count it as what, five?) was picking up the wrong developer. it was the wrong strength, then i tried leavinge it on longer to get the ends to lighten.  i've developed mostly good hair over the years, so it will grow out and a color rinse will calm the fury. what i now worry about is my hair getting crazy brittle. if that happens, gonna have to be a year of weave till it gets back to a decent length. let's hope it doesn't come to that (hope, fast, pray... i love my hair!)

so the con started today, more on that in another post...