So.... as a total aside from the costuming stuff I usually post. I've been cleaning and reorganizing my house / life / craft closets and that includes *hacking* this nice piece of IKEA furniture for my kittehns! YAY!

Click here or the photo to open the Instructable!

Lol my kitty was poopin' as I took this ^_^

I am a coupon fiend - Eventide Cosplay will tell you - I never pay full retail price if I can help it. If there is a Joann Fabric store near you here's how you can stack your coupons:

1.  Sign up to receive a mailer (yes, that's snail mail!) which will contain sales coming up & coupons. Cut out coupons.
2. Sign up to receive their e-mailer. Print coupons.
3. Print coupons from their website.
4. Download theJoann mobile app if you have a smartphone. Access coupons in store.
5. If you are a teacher sign up for their teacher rewards. They will give you a scan-thing that you can hang on your keychain, and it's worth 15% off EVERY TOTAL PURCHASE. (If you're not a teacher there are always deals like their "20% off total purchase" around major holidays, or even the "15$ off a 75$ purchase." You just have to be savvy and do some math to see which will save you more on your trip.) 
6. Competitor's coupons are now accepted (print from web, mailers, etc). That means Hobby Lobby, Hancock Fabrics, and any other craft stores in your area!

THE SECRET SAUCE: All of these options stack (except for #5, you can only use one of those). You know why? Because they all have different barcode numbers. This is totally ok.

• Don't forget their remnants section is always 50% off, and the percentage off gets even higher around major holidays!

• Sometimes it's a GOOD thing if something is not on sale if you have a coupon that is a greater value than the would-be sale itself. Ex: 50% off coupon off 1 cut of expensive fabric versus that same fabric being on sale for 40% off
• Only purchase as many items as you have coupons for. It may be hard to hold back at first, but if the store is along your daily commute it would definitely be worth it.

• Yes that's a real receipt from my awesome haul where I bought A TON of remnants!

OH HAI COSPLAYERS! 

There is a new tool out there that simplifies scaling of characters to better suit you! It's quite good, and will definitely be using this in all upcoming projects. Sure you could use Adobe Photoshop or Gimp or Inkscape or any other vectory program, but honestly most of the time it's a headache and this simplifies everything. The creator is currently working on clarifying some steps, but for now this is how to get an accurate scale:

1.) Select a good profile-pose of the character
2.) Set the baseline length (editable) to your height converted to inches
3.) Draw your first line through the entire length of the character's "height"
4.) Add new lines, name them, and begin measuring props and clothing! The new length on each line will depict the size of the prop to scale.

Happy crafting! And show Nifegun some love! Donate if you can and if you can't, spread the word! 
He deserves many accolades for making our lives easier
... and by accolades I mean $$ and share this everywhere so that Nifegun is a household name for cosplayers.

You may remember that I have made a couple Game of Thrones patterns and tutorials last year. They were rudimentary but got the point across, and have helped several cosplayers achieve a Daenerys Targaryen Qarth costume. 

Well I am proud to say that I am re-releasing my first 2 Game of Thrones patterns in a smooth, clean, user-friendly and dare I say... printer-friendly format with optimization in US Letter sized paper (8.5" x 11") and A4 sized paper (210mm x 297mm).

And with watermarks! 
HA HA!
Take that, internets trolls! 

I have plenty more drafted up ready to undergo the digitizing process... including some breastplates and an Assassin's Creed Konnor Kenway sewing pattern. I'm always looking for interesting ideas, so if you have one pitch it!

You know how you picture something in your mind's eye and usually you fail horribly but other times it comes out exactly how you imagined it? Well I have finally FINALLY gotten around to learning some new things and I am very proud of my new work! Using a combination of several programs I pieced together what I consider a solid pattern, worthy of providing costumers with a good template to work from.

Full patterns available for download:

• Daenerys Targaryen Qarth Dress here
• Daenerys Targaryen Qarth Breastplate Armor here
• Cersei Lannister "Battle of Blackwater" Breastplate Armor here

I've had my KNK Zing for maybe about a year now, and with every new project there is a learning curve involved, especially when it comes to figuring out the machine and finding the right settings.

Materials:
Took me awhile but I figured out how to emboss tooling leather, and have yet to attempt to cut it. This was the big selling point for me on this machine and was having rotten luck with it until today. I thought this may help others who also have the same issue. I use craft-store tooling leather - the kind that comes in a 8X11 sheet (approximation) and is about 2-3mm thick. I typically find these at craft stores like Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and even Joann for about $10-$14. The thickness of it is key, because as we all know the roller area of the machine only has so much space.

Prepping the leather:
After you have made your design in MTC and are ready to emboss, you should have a spray bottle of water ready to saturate the leather piece you will be working on. This is key because if you try to emboss over it without "getting it ready" first the leather will retain very little of the emboss. Saturating it with water preps the surface. I spray the whole surface 2 or 3 times while waiting in between for it to soak in (it doesn't take long). If after drying the leather becomes cracked-looking than it's possible you over-saturated it, and became distorted in the drying process.

Machine kinks:
Here's the interesting part - before I couldn't figure out how to insert the leather piece. It has to be in between the gray prongs that help move the mat around, and also the two soft plastic rings that guide it have to be moved as far to the edge as possible or else those will also leave an impression in the leather. You can see in the photo the long vertical line - that was made by the teeny rollers. Slide them to the side.

Settings:
I used the KNK embossing tool (with the smaller embosser) and the settings are as follows: Speed 12, Force 160, multicut 4, 0 offset, and I let the tip of the embosser attachment rest directly on the leather as I was tightening it.

Finish:
To finish off your leather piece you can do a number of things, like dyeing it, staining it, or doing any additional hand-tooling. Just make sure the leather has dried first. Tandy Leather has a lot of video tutorials on Youtube for just about any project. I would also suggest using a gloss coat to make it shiny. Everyone likes shiny. To ensure the leather is well taken care of and has a nice life you may want to condition it with some leather conditioner.

Hoped this helped someone, let me know if you have any questions! I may in the future even make a little video tutorial, I had so much fun watching the embosser go!

As far as integrating tutorials on Tumblr… what do you guys like seeing? Text with photos under a cut? Photo album on an external site?

This is my first time really utilizing Picasa online. I love the desktop interface, but online I’m just not sure yet. What do you guys think? I use a ton of apps and sites, but I am pretty Google-loyal… ;)

As far as integrating tutorials on Tumblr… what do you guys like seeing? Text with photos under a cut? Photo album on an external site?

Read & view below my tutorial on how I created my Drogon egg!

1. Materials: plastic easter egg, medium to large size, round paper punch, and several thin sheets of craft foam. I used 2-3 packs of 32 sheets. The thinnest I have found have been at Dollar Tree.
2. Begin punching all the sheets! Once you get in a groove it becomes easy. If the craft foam sheet is too thick using the circle punch will not work.
3. Cut each of the circles into a tip. Because this part is done by hand, a more organic look is achieved and each scale does not come out exactly the same. This is why I do not use a guitar pick shaped punch.
4. Begin hot gluing! Cover the top with a round bit on each end. I messed this part up, and I should have started on the other end. Dragon scales will point downwards from the pointy tip of the egg, not the other way around! Ooops!
5. See what I did? Just reverse it. :)
6. Covering up the round bits you placed at each end of the egg with some more scales.
7. I did a little bit of distressing to the craft foam by taking a medium sized jagged rock I had and started started raging on it! I drageed it a bit, but mostly started just punching it. If you used sufficient hot glue the scales will not budge!
8. I used a few layers of Mod Podge (the finish here doesn’t matter. I think I have a gloss.) The great thing about using Mod Podge is that when it dries it makes a nice and organic seal around the edge of each scale. I just used an old paint brush to apply it. The blah thing about Mod Podge - it’s pretty great at covering up small imperfections - so a lot of the distress marks that I made do not appear as pronounced after a few layers.
9. Take your egg and start priming it! I use an IKEA bag and a dish or sink strainer/dryer thingy for all my spraypainting. Make sure you are outdoors, and wear a respirator if you got one!
10. These are the primers and paint I used.
11. Obligatory POP! photoBefore gradient painting.
12. The final painting: I used the same technique Kamui talks about in her book on Cosplay Painting. I mixed black and red acrylics, and went to town on it. It may not look like it in the picture, but after I had spraypainted it a basic black, I went over it with a mixed dark reddish brown. I then added some red to the base of each scale, and black on the tip. This created a much more organic and natural gradient. This part took about 2 hours to complete.
13. I turned up the contrast a bit, this is much more true to color! One option I thought about trying was adding the crusted texture to one end. There are numerous ways to adding texture to paint such as salts, sand, or any other kind of grainy texture depending on what effect you want with it. I think I will try that on my next egg - when I will also make the scales to face the right way!

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Craft foam has numerous application in the cosplay world. You can cut it, shape it with heat, paint it, stain it, whatever! Even throughout its wide application, I haven't really seen many tutorials or references about sewing with craft foam. 

I have used this technique when a garment needs a good amount of stiffness and flexibility, such as collars, bows, shoulder pieces, etc. 

This tutorial will walk you through creating a bow (aka a Sailor Senshi bow). I am creating this piece for my American McGee's Alice cosplay. What I love about using craft foam as a stiffener is that it holds its shape and it still remains rather flexible. 

Click through the slideshow below to view the tutorial!



Materials: 

• fabric
• sewing machine (or needle & thread)
• craft foam: 1 2mm 12x18 sheet (Find it at your local craft store for about ¢.50 a sheet (or buy in bulk). 

This tutorial depicts my process of how I created Daenerys's speckled dress. Finding the right fabrics can sometimes be a hassle, and even above budget. Ordering online where you can't touch or see details well is sometimes also not the best route. And sometimes you just want to do it yourself! If you don't want to draft out a pattern for the garment yourself, check out the one I have available at my Etsy shop!

Step 1: Gather materials
*2 plastic gloves
*1 medium-large art sponges
*Valspar Metallic Silver spraypaint
*shoebox to avoid overspray 
*cardboard
*the dress (silk)

Step 2: Lay out your fabric
Make sure you have a plastic tarp, cardboard, or plastic bag laid down to protect your flooring.
Take a couple of pieces of paper (magazine paper, newspaper, printer paper, or cardboard works well) and place them in between the layers of the garment. This will keep any spraypaint from seeping through on the back of the garment (and trust me - IT WILL SEEP THROUGH!)

Step 3: Begin Dabbing
Practice on a scrap piece of fabric first! Spray directly onto your sponge, and begin dabbing your fabric with it. You don't want too much or too little spraypaint on the sponge. Dabbing the sponge gently will end up in a speckled finish. Dabbing it roughly will end up with larger blots. As you can see, I used a variety of those. See what works for you. 

Step 4: Drying
Dry the garment one side at a time!
I began the process of sponging on the spraypaint after I had sewn the piece because I did not want to waste time or material doing more than the pieces of the dress. After the spraypaint had dried, the material (silk) had also stiffened the garment.

Step 5: Caring
Make sure you know how to care for your materials. Washing suggestions are always listed on the bolt of fabric. I like to snap pics of these with my phone so I don't forget! Some materials may have specific ways to fold to ensure storeability. For example, silks like to be rolled. Because of the spraypaint, for pretty much any material I would suggest handwash cold.

I wanted to release the tutorial for my breastplate pattern for a while now. There are many tutorials on the internet for creating props and costumes, but not any (that I've seen to date) for creating this specific piece. This is a step-by-step walk-through, the only catch is that it follows along with my pattern. 


For this you will first need the pattern.


Now, you can approach this one of two ways:

1. Make your own pattern, and use my guide merely as a reference.
2. Or you can purchase my pattern and follow assembly instructions.

My purpose for releasing this is to give the people who do buy my pattern a concise preview of the difficulty of assembly, as well as tips and tricks before they get started on their own. I am not affiliated with Game Of Thrones. This is something I created for a costume I cosplayed. 

If you liked this, check out my Daenerys Qarth Dress Pattern too!
Warning: Picture-heavy!