(ALL MADE OF STARS.)

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Thu, 23 May 2013 10:02:35 -0700

tatoes: mcfong: “man has dominated over woman by reason of his...

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:41:25 -0700

mcfong:

“man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of the body and mind.”

Are you SERIOUS? I’ll rip you to SHREDS with my forceful body AND mind.

Do you guys agree with this man?
Do you agree with me?
Say something.
I want to hear your thoughts on this!

These qualities are social and cultural constructs to begin with. To not acknowledge this is making his tone sound a bit oppressive. “We’re LETTING women be assertive now.” FU dude!

You can see all of your points flying several miles over his head

I don’t know how this fool defines assertiveness if it isn’t mutually inclusive with at least some qualities of aggressiveness or forcefulness.
The statement that “women have always been strong […] in a historically different way than men” so completely fails to acknowledge men’s active role in the oppression of, and the willful lack of recognition of, women’s roles in society & history that it’s almost laughable.

And the utterly condescending parenthetical note at the end?? “Aww, look at you playing at being masculine, all strong and assertive-like! If only your timid and gentle feminine peers could be more masculine like you and I!” Go fuck yourself, douchecanoe.

Carlos Díaz

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:13:32 -0700

Carlos Díaz

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Wed, 15 May 2013 23:14:22 -0700

Sweet! I would love to know how you did your mask, what fabric you used, and any issues or problems you would have liked to know before you had started that you know now.

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:57:00 -0700

Okay, for starters I basically followed this tutorial and then OTLed when random things went awry.

Mask: Like the tutorial, my bf made the base out of wonderflex. The points you get from cutting slits and folding it on itself to create a 3D shape are REALLY pointy, and while we rolled it a bit like suggested to smooth it out, it was still pretty pointy and odd, so we covered it with paperclay and sanded that to smooth it out more. Wonderflex is a little bit difficult to cut for the eyeholes, and the bf had to use a boxcutter lol. I used spray adhesive (tacky glue specifically, if you fuck up you can peel/restick it if you’re quick) and a black knit fabric to cover the front. Trim the fabric around the edge and make slits in the eyes; flip over, spray the back, and quickly bend the fabric around from the front to the back to cover the edges. Use a strip of sheer white fabric, spray the back again, and lay it over the eye holes.
**IMPORTANT thing that we forgot is to MAKE AIR HOLES. Even with the eyeholes, since you’re wearing a hood on top, a heavy cloak under, and cons are hot, it’s really hard to breathe. I finished the masks for our journey cosplays only to found out my bf’s mask was suffocating him lol -__- I’d suggest drilling/cutting more holes around the hose and mouth area BEFORE you glue the fabric on. When you’re actually wearing the mask, if you use an opaque fabric, you won’t be able to see them and you’ll be able to breathe slightly better through them.
As for the gold band, I just used E6000 to glue some bias tape to it (for the white wanderer’s extra little V, I handstitched the angle first, then glued it on.) You can either just make the tape long enough to tie it on your head or glue velcro on to it.

Cloak: For red cloak, I used kona broadcloth in rich red. I think it has just the right stiffness and it feels very soft. I prewashed it and it came out less soft and kind of scrunched, so if you’re going to be careful while wearing these costumes, you can probably get away with NOT prewashing/washing the cloak (since you’re wearing clothes under anyway) so you can enjoy the softness of the fabric. I used wright’s bias tape in marigold for all the lines. Don’t use a fabric that’s too lightweight, I accidentally used garbadine for bf’s white cloak, and it drapes funny/is hard to sew.
When you cut out your cloak, go a good half-foot longer than you intend it to be. I cut my first cloak measuring from my shoulder to my knees, and it ended up being too short (going over your shoulders “absorbs” some of the length) and I ended having to buy way more fabric. You can always cut some off but it’s a lot harder to add.

Glyphs: Use heat’n’bond light, the no-sew kind, for the glyphs. DO NOT use steam2seam—I did for some of the glyphs on the scarf and it frays like crazy, whereas heat’n’bond does not. When you choose a fabric to make the glyphs out of, make sure it’s opaque, too. I used Symphony broadcloth in artisan gold and REGRETTED IT IMMENSELY because I found out heat’n’bond is transparent when it’s applied, so although the fabric color matched my bias tape, when placed on the red it “changed” colors a bit and now stands out. Q__Q

About the triangles on the cloak: I followed the tutorial’s measurements and if I had the willpower to redo my cloak, I wouldn’t do it again. If you look closely at ref pics, the triangles are spaced pretty close to each other and are far narrower; the measurements provided in the template make triangles that are really large, and as a result the glyph spacing (the little ‘men’) comes out strange, being spaced in pairs instead of evenly all around the hem.

I don’t know if it’s my measurements or the provided template in the tutorial, but if you want to make the cloak with all 4 levels of embroidery on it, the ones provided are much too large, and you’ll have to size them down.

Hood: the pattern provided in that tutorial works really well, but I think the resizing is a little odd. I resized it according to my shoulder width as suggested, but then the face part was waaaay too small. I ended up making 2 mock ups out of muslin before I got it the way I wanted to look. I used interfacing as suggested into the ears, but its make them REALLY flat and kind of kitty-looking, so I suggest putting interfacing just on the head between the ears. I did that and the ears look really good. *Make sure you clip your corners too when you’re turning it inside out.

I thiiink that’s everything I had complications with while working on this. I didn’t take any pictures of our masks cuz I was too busy OTLing, but if you have any other questions before your start or while you’re going, feel free to ask and I’ll try to help!

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Mon, 13 May 2013 14:45:03 -0700

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Sat, 11 May 2013 00:50:18 -0700

"Socializing is as exhausting as giving blood. People assume we loners are misanthropes, just sitting..."

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:17:11 -0700

“Socializing is as exhausting as giving blood. People assume we loners are misanthropes, just sitting thinking, ‘Oh, people are such a bunch of assholes,’ but it’s really not like that. We just have a smaller tolerance for what it takes to be with others. It means having to perform. I get so tired of communicating.”

- Anneli Rufus

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Mon, 06 May 2013 15:27:55 -0700

Worked on my Akane inspector jacket today, and it’s almost done...

Sat, 04 May 2013 20:59:00 -0700

Worked on my Akane inspector jacket today, and it’s almost done except for the chest logo. so many things went wrong though lol =___= the color diff depending on lighting is crayyyy

"It was really the world that was one’s brutal mother, the one that nursed and neglected you, and..."

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:48:19 -0700

“It was really the world that was one’s brutal mother, the one that nursed and neglected you, and your own mother was only your sibling in that world.”

- Lorrie Moore, “Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People”

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Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:43:51 -0700

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Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:18:27 -0700

louis ck ( on gay marriage ; shameless )

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:28:50 -0700

louis ck ( on gay marriage ; shameless )

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Sun, 07 Apr 2013 21:41:33 -0700

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Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:49:33 -0700

more cosplay progress! Finished all the fabric parts for...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:20:00 -0700

more cosplay progress! Finished all the fabric parts for Journey, just the mask and dying tights left. (And then doing it all over again in white for my bf).
And then the prototype dominator I made using this amazing tutorial, but I’m gonna scrap it and remake it cuz it’s too skinny and I fucked up with the glueing.

:( too bad school starts up in two days… Won’t get to spend all day making stuff

today i logged into livejournal again

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:57:19 -0700

today i logged into livejournal again

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:52:46 -0700

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

Progress!! with lots of “ajkdkwjak if only I had done _____”...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 01:46:00 -0700

Progress!! with lots of “ajkdkwjak if only I had done _____” along the way =_=