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A blast from the past! I never released these images for some reason eventhough I made and wore Misty May back in 2008. I sometimes forget what costumes I've made and what shoots I've done lol.

Character: Misty May - Otaku no Video
Costume made and modeled by me
Photography by Geoffrey Nicholson
Reference images of Misty May: [link] [link] [link]

I watched "Otaku no Video", a Classic Gainax anime about a Otaku taking over the world, a galaxy even, about 15 years ago while I still lived in Germany and the anime scene was brand new in Europe. For someone like me who grew up with anime and mange in China, it was like discovering the fandom all over again. I loved the fun and cheesy way Gainax presented the Otakus to the world, and created Misty May as the original mascot girl - the original anime bunny girl even - to charm the world! BOME came out with a gorgeous Misty May figure a few years ago which inspired me to make the costume and show some Old School love.

More images and info on this costume and how I made it on my website: [link]

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My last cosplay of 2011! Litchi has been on my to do list since the first arcade game was imported to the USA at Planet Zero in Houston a few years ago!!! I was lucky enough to be in the area and was one of the first people to try my hands at it. Litchi's design and fighting style with the staff was instantly my favorite. I also really approve of girls in glasses. AND I love pandas, and she has one hanging on her head. It was love at first button push lol.

Character: Litchi Faye Ling
Costume made and modeled by Yaya (moi)
Photography by the talented Elysia of Fenyx Design

You can see the panda and glasses pretty well in this portrait!
Costume construction on this Deviation:

You can see a video collage from Ikkicon with Riddle and me where Litchi is featured here: [link]

Other Deviations of this cosplay:

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Teaser image from the Christmas themed photoshoot I did with BGZ Studios [link] Since I made this costume ON Christmas last year, I missed the chance to take Holiday photos with it. Was very glad to pull it out this year for some shots.

Darrell came over with giant bags of Christmas decorations, lights and fabrics and we created a very merry set in my living-room. I can still find glitter on furnitures and on the floor lol. Darrell does minimal post-processing so the lighting in the photo is from his awesome set up that day.

Excited to see more shots, I will share what I get back! Thank you so much, Darrell, for the photos and beautiful decorations.
Check out BGZ Studios on Facebook here!
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Costume Construction:
This cosplay is of Urd, from the classic anime Ah! My Goddess. Many anime girls have little Christmas outfits and I already had the wig for Urd (I've been planning another costume of hers for a while). The design is based on an outfit Urd wears in one of the episodes, but I changed it a little bit to fit my taste in fashion and shape. For example, the neck bow in the design is green and ack I really dislike the green/red color combo, so I changed it to red. And I made flare sleeves instead of gloves because I often have to handle money and sign things at cons, so gloves would have been annoying.
100% of the materials were found at home - the red velour is left over from my Scarlet Witch cape (I loved being able to use up all the scrap!) and the white fur was acquired at a clearance sale ages ago. I even had the boots already from another sale.
Costume constructed in a day over Christmas weekend (after much lint rolling the excess fur off the velour). I made a self-lined corset, top stitched and reinforced, with boning and eyelets for lace up, drafted a pattern for a three panel skirt and flare sleevelets. I also made a matching Santa hat and hand stitched the fur trim onto all the hems.

Other Deviations of this costume:

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Since I have been majorly supplying My Little Pony cosplayers all over the world this year with accessories to complete their costumes, it was a no-brainer to cosplay Rarity at some point myself. She is literally me in the pony-verse lol.

You can see group photos in my DA as well. Each girl created their costumes and I made the appropriate pony accessories for all of us.
Pony ears
Pony ears & Unicorns
Pony ears & wings
Wings only

Construction notes:
My Rarity dress was designed by me - inspired by the character and the show of course! I always thought of Rarity as the fashionista of the group, elegant with a sweet flair. I made a fully lined and boned halter dress and used a purple stretch velvet to make the trim and inserts. I handmade 3 tiers of ruffles from a sparkle organza by serging strips together, then hand pleating the ribbons into ruffles.
The back panel is the same purple velvet that my trim is made out of. It's my non-literal translation of a tail lol.
My cutie mark (3 diamond shapes) were rhinestone plate earrings taken apart and attached to the front of the dress. Rarity would definitely approve of blinged out diamond shapes . I found a sheer French silk with a diamond pattern on it (Hello, cutie mark shape!) and made a pattern for a bolero, then sewed it together as a little cover over the dress. My wig was a great shade but I wish I had had the time to properly style it. It's a bit flat for my taste. Overall it was so much fun to dress up in a fun little costume with friends.

Photos by Kevin Green, thank you!

Other Deviations of this costume:

DISCLAIMER: WE REALIZE TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS MISSING FROM THESE PHOTOS!!! PLEASE READ BELOW FOR MORE INFO.

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Since I have been majorly supplying My Little Pony cosplayers all over the world this year with accessories to complete their costumes, it was a no-brainer to cosplay Rarity at some point myself. She is literally me in the pony-verse lol.

The My Little Pony cast:
Rainbow Dash -
Pinkie Pie - Aktrez [link]
Apple Jack -
Fluttershy - Jessica Nigiri
Rarity - me
Twilight Sparkle (not pictured) -

Riddle had a previous engagement while we were doing this photoshoot. She hung out with us all day as Twilight Sparkle and looked adorable!
[link]
[link]

In fact everyone looked so cute and I was ecstatic with how this group came together. Each girl created their costumes and I made the appropriate pony accessories for all of us.
Pony ears
Pony ears & Unicorns
Pony ears & wings
Wings only

Totally dig the top photo because it summarizes each character so well in one shot. The bottom photo is us doing THE HOOF BUMP!

Construction notes:
My Rarity dress was designed by me - inspired by the character and the show of course! I always thought of Rarity as the fashionista of the group, elegant with a sweet flair. I made a fully lined and boned halter dress and used a purple stretch velvet to make the trim and inserts. I handmade 3 tiers of ruffles from a sparkle organza by serging strips together, then hand pleating the ribbons into ruffles. My cutie mark (3 diamond shapes) were rhinestone plate earrings taken apart and attached to the front of the dress. Rarity would definitely approve of blinged out diamond shapes . I found a sheer French silk with a diamond pattern on it (Hello, cutie mark shape!) and made a pattern for a bolero, then sewed it together as a little cover over the dress. My wig was a great shade but I wish I had had the time to properly style it. It's a bit flat for my taste. Overall it was so much fun to dress up in a fun little costume with friends.

These beautiful photos were shot by LJinto [link] - thank you so much!

Other Deviations of this costume:

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My favorite duo shot from this photoshoot!

as Poison Ivy - costume made and modeled by her
Catwoman made and modeled by me.

Jenni took us to this decrepit bridge right by a graveyard with all this graffiti and fences... really great location for a Gotham city shoot. I had to climb all the railings like an idiot while Jenni was all vixen and ladylike. We had a blast posing in these outfits, and the cold, shocked onlookers and low lighting didn't faze us a bit!

Thank you, LJinto, for doing the photoshoot with us, and thanks also to Judy, Adam and Cole for trucking along in the cold and darkness of Gotham.

Other Deviations of this costume:


See more info and photos of this costume on my website: [link]

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Character: Lady Sif - Thor (Marvel)
Costume made by Yaya
Photography by Kevin Green
Makeup and model: Yaya

Kevin gave me photo CDs from all the cons this year so it was like an early Christmas of piccies! I really loved these portraits of Sif taken inside the Marriott at Dragoncon. The lighting was filtered through the large windows on the 10th floor, making it a nice photoshoot location admist a huge crowded convention. Also, if you squint, the background could pass for Asgard. ^_-

Costume construction notes:
I made this costume for San Diego Comic Con after gathering materials and reference for several months. I love badass warrior girls and the color red, so Sif was a no brainer! I really liked her character in the comic book as well, from the fact that she grew up with Thor and trained along side him, to their on and off romance over the years, and Sif's strong, loyal and courageous nature.
I used a mix of materials for the costume, from suede to leather to metallic 4-way stretch to fur and wood. I drafted patterns for all the pieces and made everything within about 3 - 4 days. The corset is steel boned, and it was fun to make arm and leg armor pieces. I also enjoyed beading the wig and making the adornments on the hips.

Full gallery and thoughts on my website: [link]

Other Deviations of this costume:

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Gah, I got so many amazing BlazBlue photos that I can't stop posting them! Hope I'm not boring you guys.

Character: Litchi Faye Ling
Costume made and modeled by Yaya (moi)
Photography by the legendary Maboroshi of RisingSun.net [link]

These images were taken during Sukoshicon in Destin, FL - the con was right next to the beach!!! Of course we had to take advantage of the beautiful weather and scenery. Mab's photography is not only vibrant and vivid, but he also has an innate sense for great composition and an unmatched way to capture a moment. I wanted to do a few action fighto poses and of course Mab always makes me look more badass than I am lol.

Costume construction:
In order to translate the design of this 2-D video game character into a real life costume, I knew that I needed a lot of silk. I found this gorgeous deep red silk in the LA Fabric district for the jacket and skirt/tail and paired it with a golden yellow silk brocade for the trim. I made my own bias tape with the gold brocade and used a red Asian brocade for the lining of the jacket/skirt. For those new to making bias tape, it's really simple and can add an interesting detail to your costume if you use fun fabrics. Just by doing a quick google search you can find tons of tutorials on this technique, with photos or video. For example, here is a simple tutorial on how to make your own bias tape: [link]
And how to sew bias tape on! [link]

As usual, I created my own patterns for the garment by drafting them on paper, measuring and chalk drawing on fabric, draping on my mannequin, and altering base patterns heavily., I serged/sewed everything on this costume, making sure it is tailored to me and fit properly. All the garment pieces are lined and finished with a hand made binding.
I altered the jacket design a tad because on the character design it's loose and cut very low. Since I was already going to show a bra, I didn't want the closure to be way low on my torso, so the jacket swoops in underneath the bra and closes via hook/eyes. That's also why I have an extra set of buttons in the front, it would have looked weird just with one row.

After making the jacket and skirt, I tackled the boot covers, which are built over a pair of wedge boots that I completely butchered. I made a pattern by tracing around the boots and created the boot covers with matching silk fabrics. I even lined the boot covers because loose seams drive me nuts.

I chose a decorated bra from VS instead of a plain one because my costume has some texture to it and is made with pretty luxurious fabrics. I thought it would fit the overall look better.

I also styled the wig, with consisted of a lot of razoring and shearing of the bangs into the asymmetrical style, and butchering two long hair falls to make the floor-sweeping ponytail.
I made the ying yang hair piece with a variety of lightweight materials that were laying around my house and hand painted it carefully.
The panda was so much fun to make, and super easy. I even had all the fleece and stuffings laying around already. The leaves are made from left over taffeta from my Peacock costume, and I embroidered them.

The glasses were very carefully taken apart, and, after dremeling off the top bridges, put back together.

Last piece to make was the fighting staff which I didn't want to be too tall, since it's already a pain to carry around. So it's just a few inches taller than me when I'm wearing the boots. It breaks down into three pieces for easy transport and is made from a pvc pipe.

You can see a video collage from Ikkicon with Riddle and me where Litchi is featured here: [link]

Other Deviations of this cosplay:

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Ha! Finally a full group image of the My Little Pony group! See, we do have a Twilight.

The My Little Pony cast:
Rainbow Dash -
Fluttershy - Jessica Nigiri
Pinkie Pie - Aktrez [link]
Rarity - me
Twilight Sparkle -
Apple Jack -


Since I have been majorly supplying My Little Pony cosplayers all over the world this year with accessories to complete their costumes, it was a no-brainer to cosplay from the series at some point. Plus, I love the tv show!

I was ecstatic with how this group came together. Each girl created their costumes and I made the appropriate pony accessories for all of us.
Pony ears
Pony ears & Unicorns
Pony ears & wings
Wings only

Photo by Kevin Green, thank you!

Other Deviations of this costume:

Wishing a very merry and happy Christmas Day to everyone! I sincerely hope that you are making the best of this most festive day of the year and are enjoying it thoroughly!

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Releasing this new Christmas themed image by Darrell of BGZ Studios [link] in the spirit of today!

Character: Urd - Ah! My Goddess
Costume made and modeled by Yaya
Photography and set design by Darrell Adita

Other Deviations of this costume: