J-Sillabub

A year and a half away! How did that happen? Actually, I know how that happened, but since an explanation would be both lengthy and overly personal, I will spare you all

Anyway. I haven't been very active on the cosplay front, in part due to the aforementioned personal reasons, and in part due to having other, real-life things to prioritise. In short, I survived the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, plus a work trip to Barcelona last summer, and while my job is continuing to stress me out in ways that it really shouldn't, hopefully there's change on the horizon. I lost my gran last summer too, and while it broke my heart to lose her (we were very close), the life she had towards the end wasn't really much of a life, so I'm glad she's at peace now. My last memory of her was going to visit, and while she didn't say much, she held my hand and kept giving me this wicked smile, like there was some big secret between just the two of us. I had just started a new relationship at the time, so maybe she could tell how happy I was

On a happier note, I've learned how to make Victorian-style corsets (overbust and underbust), and a close friend of mine got married last Autumn and asked me to make her wedding attire, which I'm pleased to say came out beautifully! She looked gorgeous, and I had numerous compliments from her family and friends, so I'm allowing myself to be proud of that. I may also be taking on a commission to make another wedding dress for a wedding in June, so we shall see what transpires in the next week or so! I'm not putting any of the work I do for wedding dresses etc on my dA as I want to keep a separation between things I do professionally and things I do for a hobby, so instead it's all going to go on my Tumblr, here.

As for cosplay, I will have some photos to put up as I just came back from this year's Minamicon, but I just have to wait for the various con photographers to finish processing their shots and put them online! I'm also planning to change the way I approach cosplay from now on, as I really am tired of rushing my costumes, trying to finish them in hotel rooms, and then never being completely happy with them afterwards. I have the right equipment and enough experience now that I should be making really good stuff, but a lot of the costumes I've worked on, even in recent years, have ultimately disappointed me for one reason or another. I want to be proud of the things I work on, and the fact is, I'm not proud of many of them! So, I want that to change. Since there's no Amecon this year, I effectively have a full year before my next convention (not sure whether I'll do London Expo or not), and I've got two costumes underway that weren't ready for Minami, so that's my plan right there. Finish those off, be happy with them, wear them with pride. I've got a year. That's more than doable. And if I find other things I want to make later on, then that's cool too