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#TutorialTuesday: WIRRU’S CON CRUNCH SURVIVAL PLAN

G’day Tutorial Tuesday!
This week I’m going to share my personal strategy on how to work under the impending doom of a cosplay convention deadline!

We’ve ALL been there. Your local (or not local and you just love pain) event is coming up something ridiculous like THIS WEEKEND and you realised your the costume progress is woefully behind… or worse not even started maybe because you been procrastinating with Kingdom Hearts 3…

Here are my personal process during a con crunch written up into a
CON CRUNCH SURVIVAL PLAN:


1. PAUSE
As soon are you realise you’re heading into crunch time, stop ALL progress for a second to take a step back and look at your upcoming crunch as a whole.

Answer these questions: How much time do I have left? What components of each costume do I have left to make? How fast am I working? How well am I working? How nice does this costume need to be?


2. RANK YOUR CHILDREN
If you have multiple costumes planned (eg. them crazy American cosplayers with over 3 costumes per day per convention like are they immortal), look through your lineup and rank them from most important to least important.
It’s up to you how you prioritise.
Eg. by how close to finished each costume is, by how much you want each costume done, how much each means to you, by who you’re cosplaying with, by competition. Whatever floats your goat. Yes goat.


3. MAKE FOCUSED PROGRESS
Once you’ve ranked your projects, list out all incomplete components for each costume and sort them into task groups like machine sewing, hand sewing, wood work, casting, painting etc.

Then focus all your effort on getting ONE TASK GROUP DONE AT A TIME.

eg. style EVERYONE’S wigs, then do ALL the sewn components across your line-up, then paint EVERYONE’S props and so on.

This way, you can set up a specialised workstation with all the relevant tools and the mindset for a single focused task ahead. It also means you can also PUT SHIT AWAY FOR GOOD after you’re done with each step and set up the next work station rather than skipping back and forth between set ups and end up with an explosion of random tools and supplies that eventually disappear into the abyss of your con crunch mess.

This approach is pretty ‘all or nothing’. Because you’re simultaneously progressing on multiple projects, there’s also the risk of all the projects simultaneously not making it.

This is where that ranking earlier comes in.


4. SYSTEMATICALLY GIVE YOUR FAVOURITE CHILD MORE LOVE
Yes. Fuck the other children.
We say “do everyone’s sewing, make everyone’s wigs”. But what we really mean is “do everyone’s sewing but sew your top ranked project first, then work down the rankings if you can be fucked keeping everyone”.

i.e. Try to avoid making one character’s wig first when you style everyone’s wigs, then another character’s sewing first when you’re doing everyone’s sewing. Use your ranking to stay consistent in who you work on first during each task so you can maximise the chance of getting SOMEONE done.


5. EAT, DRINK AND REST
Put. Food. And. Water. Inside. Your. Body. And. Let. It. Be. Unconscious.

When a deadline is approaching quick, it’s so easy to feel “if I stop for anything I’m wasting what little time I have”. If that thought starts crossing your mind, it’s time to put everything down, grab a bit to eat, take a shit and have a shower because that’s panic.

You’re already putting your body and mind under a lot of stress by even getting into a con crunch. The worst thing you can do is to bake it in that stress by starving and fatiguing it! Don’t feel bad for needing to rest.

Set an alarm for a 20-30 minute shut-eye or at least just sit down and do nothing once every couple of hours.
A quick meal doesn’t take long. 15 minutes tops. It’s not a feast with a toast to the family.
A quick shower is even shorter. 10 minutes tops. You’re not contemplating the universe in there.

You’ll find that regular brief resets will do your energy level, focus and productivity wonders even though on paper you are spending time not making progress.

Besides, realistically speaking, what significantly groundbreaking amount of progress are you possibly making in 15 minutes that it can’t possibly wait?
ABSOLUTE JACK SHIT. That’s what.
Go eat something. Come back when you’re less of a mess.


6. WORKING FAST vs RUSHING
The key to producing quality work under time pressure is to work fast without rushing. Many people think “but working fast IS rushing” but they’re quite different.
The differences between working fast and rushing is procedure and mental awareness.

Working fast is:
– result of practice
– Taking a second to plan then execute the plan.
– Taking the care to go through each necessary step of a method but doing each step quickly
– Realising the current method might be time consuming for the approaching deadline and switching to a faster alternative that can be followed through and finished properly
– Multitasking to keep production moving (eg. sewing while paint on a prop is drying)

Rushing is:
– Result of panic
– Going in without a plan and making blind progress
– Skipping steps to for the sake of shortening production time
– Sticking to a time consuming methods for the method itself but shortening each step because there’s no time to do it properly
– Doing whatever comes to mind at the moment

Ironically, the best way to work quickly is to take your time.


7. PAUSE 2
3 or 4 days before leaving for the event, do another drop-everything stop.
Note: This is 3 or 4 days before leaving your house to travel to the event and NOT 3 or 4 days before convention Day 1!

Ask the same questions as before during this pause.
Then add this question:
Do I need to cut any projects out of my line-up?
NEED. Not WANT. 


8. KNOWING WHEN TO CALL IT OFF
It’s really hard to let go of the grand expectations you might’ve had for your cosplay plan, especially if you’re just crunching one new costume for an event.
But sometimes it simply is not worth pushing.

I can promise you the disappointment of missing half the convention because you’ve been holed up the very hotel room that you paid money to enjoy being in just to barely finish something that’s you know is not up to your standard then going out to show it off late, tired and not happy is INFINITELY more devastating than the disappointment of not having something new to wear.

For each cosplay that don’t involve competition or work, I ask myself the following questions 2-3 days before the convention:
Is this costume absolutely necessary particularly for this convention?
Will I be okay with this costume being rushed?
Will I have a good time at the event as a result of pushing for this costume?

For a competition costume I ask myself 5 days before competition:
Is this particular competition so important that it’s “now or never”?

For promotional cosplay work where I need to make a new costume, I ask myself at before accepting the work:
Are they paying me?
Is the deadline achievable for me?
Does the budget allow and/or motivate me to make something quality?

If I answer “no” to ANY of the questions… then con crunch for that project is CANCELLED.
Don’t be ashamed of calling off a cosplay. It takes courage to step back, admit defeat for now and pick up the project for a later deadline.
Besides, it’s simply common sense to put your well-being over a mere costume.


9. FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS
Bless all friends and helpers and handlers out there who keep us crazy masochists known as cosplayers alive.
Always show them your appreciation for supporting you whether they’re spending hours putting you into costume or coming to your house to make sure you drank water, or just messaging you to say “you got this”.
Just because you’re the one dressed up in the spotlight on the day, don’t ever forget everyone who got you there in the first place.


10. Lastly and most effectively…DON’T GET INTO CON CRUNCH!
This last one is just common sense but somehow genetically incapable of accomplishing.
But try: 
– Make costume plans for deadlines that are achievable for your skill level and working speed.
– Start costumes early. Once you start, do whatever you can to make sure your project never gets to a stand still.  It doesn’t matter how tiny, make some sort of progress every single day. It could be a small as applying a single rhinestone or as abstract as merely thinking about a skit.
– Avoid “leaving it for a day” because leaving it for a day usually leads to 2 days leads to a week to a month and then suddenly the convention is this weekend.

THAT’S ALL I GOT!
Remember that none of the above are RULES. They’re simply how I work best and how I’ve managed to keep meeting deadlines for over a decade.
I only hope my con crunching approach will help you tackle your own deadlines!

Thank you for reading another one of my #TutorialTuesday blogs.
If you appreciate my work please consider becoming a Patreon supporter or purchasing a book from my Store.Happy crafting and REPEAT TIL CRY!

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Guest announcement!

AYYYY DIOS MIO HELLO Chile, Santiago!
I will be guest at J-Night Party in April thanks to J-HIT Producciones!
I can’t wait to see you all!!

At the beginning of the year I dropped some clues. Did anyone guess it right?


Clues deciphered:
Top left: Amy Santiago from B99 = Santiago
Top right: chilli = Chile
Bottom left = sign language for letter J = J
Bottom right= stock image for “night party”

Santiago, Chile, J-Night Party~

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#TutorialTuesday: Sora Cosplay Write-up

Happy Kingdom Hearts 3 launch, everybody!
We’ve waited SO long for this main story to continue – the last time I was really into Kingdom Hearts was when I cosplayed Sora from Kingdom Hearts 2…10 YEARS AGO!!

with Tsubaki Costuming Australia Photo by Pireze

To celebrate this new installment, I’m going to make an epic 10-year throwback to my KH2 Sora cosplay and attempt to make a Sora tutorial for you.
(I say attempt because 10 years ago I didn’t really take work-in-progress pictures…so it’s going to be closer to a write-up than a step by step tutorial).

 

Photo by Pireze

Costume:
Breakdown: Standard pleather hoodie jacket cut short + standard inner shirt with a tummy pocket + a fat balloon pant with random shit stuck all over it. The giant zipper was made from EVA skin sheets, for the EXTRA GINORMOUS teeth. The shoulder pads were silver vinyl fabric trimmed with white bias tape.
The balloon pants were lined with heavy fabric to give it some mass. I left gaps in the lining to allow airflow, so the pants actually inflate like a balloon when I bend my legs which was pretty fucking cute.

Photo by Risachantag
Photo by Risachantag

Necklace and Buckles: all modeled from Sculpy oven bake clay.

Gloves: Nothing special here.I bought a pair of gloves and stuck belts and pads onto them.

Shoes: These were my pride and joy back then. I got a pair of CROCS, taped a massive amount of Hobby Fill to the front then covered the shoe with spandex for the big round look. Then I just stuck all the random zippers and belts onto them.

Wig: Before the time of quality wigs… I styled my Sora wig using a punky party wig. I just spent a night with a can of hairspray and a tube of got2be hair gel and a blow dryer. Completed in 5 hours. Destroyed by the wind at the beaches of Perth where we did our first photoshoot in 2 seconds.

Oathkeeper Keyblade:
First I drafted a stencil by hand onto several sheets of baking paper.
Then I transferred the stencil to sheet of 12mm ply wood and cut that shit out with a jigsaw. Then I ran a table router along all the edges to give it some beveled edges.  Further details and contours were then built on with DAS modelling clay, and sanded smooth once dry. Nowadays, a more lightweight and quicker drying option is foam clay from luminsworkshop.com.

The paupu fruit is a hand sewn plushy. The leaf that’s attached to it was a real leaf that I picked from my garden.

The paint job was done with several enamel spray paints. I chose a metallic sky blue for the center of the colourful detail to give it a much more elegant shine instead of the rather kindergarten colours that a dark blue gives off when applied next to yellow. The wings were done with a gradient of dusk gray and beige to enhance the smoothness of the feathers. I didn’t own an airbrush, so all the gradient effects were done by extremely careful spraying with the spray can that the paints came in.

Oblivion Keyblade:
First I drafted a stencil by hand onto several sheets of baking paper.
Then I transferred the stencil to sheet of 12mm ply wood and cut that shit out with a jigsaw. Then I ran a table router along all the edges to give it some beveled edges.
All details were molded on top with DAS air dry clay. Once again, foam clay from luminsworkshop.com would work now too.
I made the chain that runs down the middle of the keyblade out of oven bake clay.
For the painting, I mixed Metallic Grey and Black to give it realistic colour and weapon-like shine. The center gem was colored with silver with a layer of clear blue on top.

THAT’S IT! That’s how I made Sora 10 years ago.
I hope you enjoyed my Baby Wirru crafting and I hope it gives you some crafty ideas for your own cosplays. Happy KH3 launch~

Please support my ongoing supply of cosplay tutorials by either becoming a Patron on Patreon or purchasing a book from my Store.

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Guest Appearance CLUE~

Hi everyone!
I’m so excited to start this weekend with ANOTHER international guest appearance CLUE~!

I think I made it a little easier this time. Let’s see if you can break the code:

Clue 1:

Clue 2:

Clue 3:

Clue 4:

Announcement coming soon. Meanwhile, happy decoding!

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Cisolay Carnival PH line up

Hellooo Cosplay Carnival PH

Here is my costume line up for the event:

It’s going to be ninja granny and ninja grandpa!!!

Merchandise information coming soon.

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Guest Announcement: HELLO, COSPLAY CARNIVAL PHILIPPINES!

Hello PHILLIPINES!

I’m so excited to announce my first international event of 2019: Cosplay Carnival in Manila! 

Who guessed is correctly from my clues? Here’s a decoding:

 1. Sailor Mars = Mars = month of Mars = March

2. King Phillip II of Spain, whom Phillipines was named after.

3. Litmus paper = pH levels = PH = Phillipines

4. Filo pastry = Filipina

5. Carnival Phantasm = Carnival = Cosplay Carnival

The event will be on March 23-24. It will be my first time visiting the Phillipines so I’m very excited to interact with the community, experience the convention culture and eat local foods, as well as share my knowledge and passion for cosplay with everybody.

Please look forward to further announcments regarding my scheduled activities.

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6 Places You Can Hide Snacks in Your Cosplay

Happy New Year, first #TutorialTuesday of 2019!

Cosplayers… Let’s all hold hands and admit what we do is some sick form of self torture.  It seems no matter what costume you wear, whether it’s hand made or bought, a giant mecha or a goddamn sports jersey… as long as you are cosplaying, physical suffering will eventually find you. (I once got shoulder pains that lasted A WEEK from wearing a BASKET BALL UNIFORM. WHAT THE FUCK?!)

So as a craft-based cosplayer, I decided to be a fucking survivor and started building ANTI-DEATH features into all my costumes so when my costume and/r my life starts to fall apart at a convention… I’M READY FOR IT.

My favorite anti-death feature is THE SNACK RACK (also repair rack…but mostly snacks). A.k.a. storage compartments, places to hold shit.

Here are my 5 favorite places on my costume where I’ve made a snack rack so far ranked by their RACK STATS.

The Rack Stats are:

Easy to make: how easy it is to make.
Functionality:  how easy it is to access the stored supplies and how little it affects the comfort/mobility of the costume.
Stealth: how unnoticeable the snack rack can blend into the costume.
Repair kit storage: how much cosplay repair related supplies it can store.
Snack storage: how much food it can store.
Novelty: fun factor.

Here they are !

6. IN THE CORNER OF A CAPE 
(Endymion)

It’s an invisible zipped pocket in both corners of the cape.

PROS: It’s completely out of the way AND can act as a cape weight for MAXIMUM CAPE FLINGING. They can be unnoticeable if you take your time sewing the pocket in neatly. It’s an unexpected place to store things so novelty value is high! I mainly used my Endymion cape to store cookies and bobby pins, safety pins and a small powder compact.

CONS: the pocket have to be small. Requires very clean sewing. Mostly limited to storing small, flat items. Or else cape will become a sack.

RACK STATS:
Easy to make: D
Functionality: A,
Stealth A
Repair Kit Storage: C
Snack Storage: D
Novelty: S.

5. KIMONO SLEEVES
(Venusaur, Mutsunokami)

A.k.a. Snack Arms.

PROS: it happens naturally. You don’t even have to do anything. When you make a kimono sleeve, you’re actually just making a giant bag on your arm. All you got to do is use it. Lots of space.  Super easy to retrieve items and put them back.

CONS:  despite the amount of space available,  you have to be careful about how much you carry. Keep items light or the sleeve will become a visibly heavy sack that could swing around and hit things around you.

RACK STATS:
Easy to make: S
Functionality: B
Stealth: A
Repair Kit Storage: C
Snack Storage: B
Novelty: D

4. Leather Pouches and 
Bottle Holder 
(MHW Field Team Leader) 

They’re just… pouches.

PROS: They’re a no-brainer. No imagination needed. All you need to do is make any and every pouch functional on any and every character that has pouches. It’s a pouch so if it’s not functional what are you even doing to yourself. And pouches are EASY. If you’re working with EVA foam, it’s just a box with a flap. If it’s fabric, you’re just sewing squares to each other. I prefer hard leather pouches because 1) they’re aesthetic AF, and 2) they’re tough AF too so you can really cram a lot of shit in without warping the shape of the pouch or fear of it ripping. In my FTL rack, I was able to store a full repair kit (glue, pins, tape, make up, sewing kit) in the large pouch, coscards and candy in the small pouch, and a bottle of coke in my holster.

CONS: Your snack rack’s capabilities depend on the shape and size of the pouches on your character’s design.

RACK STATS:
Easy to make: A
Functionality: S
Stealth: C
Repair Kit Storage: B
Snack Storage: C
Novelty: E

3. Inside Weapon Prop 
(Ovan , Bakugo)

The whole thing is a container! I had a rack inside the cannon next to the handle.

Bakugo’s grenades are also two giant snack shakers.

PROS: MASSIVE storage space. The bigger and cooler your weapon, the more potential it has as a snack rack! It’s EASY to incorprate into a prop; just make it hollow! (I mean if you’re making a giant prop solid, you’re just asking for pain.) It has absolutely no effect on costume mobility since it’s a hand held accessory. In both Ovan’s cannon and Bakugo’s snack hands, I was able to store my entire repair kit, sandwiches, a change of clothes and a bag for my costume after I change.

CONS: It’s easy to get carried away and store so many things that the weapon becomes heavy luggage. It’s easy to just make a box and stuff it full of stuff. But if you want this snack rack to be organised and easily accessible, you’ll need to spend sometime designing its compartments.

RACK STATS:
Easy to make: B
Functionality: B
Stealth: S
Repair Kit Storage: S
Snack Storage: S
Novelty: B

2. Chest Cavity inside 
Larger-Than-Life Costume 
(Bahamut)

IT’S A FOAM CUPBOARD INSIDE HIS HOLLOW CHEST IN FRONT OF MY FACE.

PROS: easy to design and make! It’s as simple as making a foam rectangle and sticking it inside the front wall of the chest. If you’re making a costume larger than your house and you’re gonna be caged inside it… You might as well  make th costume INTO YOUR HOUSE! ALL larger-than-life builds should have room for a little rack!! This way you can constantly re-hydrate without having to get you handler to feed you on a stool. Besides it is HEAPS of fun and very impressive to be a giant costume that’s self sustaining! In Bahamut, I had a rack full of bottles of water, soft drink and one little bottle of vodka 😉 I drank them through straws.

CONS: unfortunately self repair isn’t possible with most larger-than-life builds so there’s not much point in storing repair supplies. Requires a secure and organised rack, making sure supplies can be accessed and put back precisely without looking and nothing falls or spills inside the costume (cause you’re stuck with it of it happens).

RACK STATS:
Easy to make: A
Functionality: B
Stealth: S
Repair Kit Storage: D
Snack Storage: A
Novelty: S

1. BOOBS (Tsunade, Mai)

THEY ARE A RACK. THEY ARE A SNACK. THEY ARE A SNACK RACK! (They’re padded pockets inside fake silicone cast boobs.

PROS: THEY’RE BOOBS. SUPER easy to make. Max fun. Pad pockets for max comfort. BIGGER THE BOOBS BIGGER, THE STORE ROOM. Because I made my pair of silicone boobies GINORMOUS, I was able to fit a convention emergeny kit consisting of enough hairspray, bobby pins, safety pins, UHU glue, contact cement, duct tape, make up compact and brush, scissors and sewing kit and a glue stick for not just myself but everyone around me 😂

CONS: accurate neck and back load. Can get sweaty so keep everything in little zip lock bags. Takes a little practice to get all the items and put them back precisely. Can’t store chocolate because it’ll melt.

RACK STATS:
Easy to make: S
Functionality: A
Stealth: S
Repair Kit Storage: A
Snack Storage: B
Novelty: S

That was my 6 favourite snack racks in costumes! I hope they gave you some ideas on how to make your costumes a little more anti-death.
Let me know your favourite places to store things in your costume, and let me know your RACK STAT!! XDDD

Please support my content on Patreon or buy a book from my Shop <3

Happy crafting. Repeat til CRYYYY!