Yesterday SlashGear cued me in on a costume I missed two years ago at Dragon Con. Made me a little sad as this is one of the best costumes I’ve ever seen. Penwiper wrote a great tutorial for her costume. She also wrote the foam to armor tutorial so many cosplayers use.

Here is the fantastic Weeping Angel from the Doctor Who episode Blink. Read her tutorial. Her tricks on making herself look like stone are inspired. Enjoy her story of meeting Jewel Staite. (more…)

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I follow NASA on twitter. It’s fascinating and fun. Do you know they post live streaming videos from the space station? You can see the crew prepare for a space walk as it happens. Amazing.

If I were six, I’d fall in love with space all over again…not that I ever fell out of love.

It’s common for children to latch onto a story and base their future careers around it. There are police detectives that grew up with Dragnet. College pre-med and pre-law students that were riveted by E.R. and Law and Order. Or horse breeders who read Black Beauty. It stands to reason a few astronauts were inspired by science fiction.

Japanese astronauts Sōichi Noguchi and Naoko Yamazaki were fans of Space Battleship Yamato. Noguchi has a special shirt in honor of Yamato and the star Susumu Kodai. Noguchi’s shirt echoes the white uniform with a red arrow and red detailing.

Cosplay in space! So cool!

Here’s a short video of Sōichi Noguchi in his uniform tee.

If you were on the international space station what costume would you wear?

I think I’d go for something inspired by Col. Wilma Deering.

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I had a fun at Dragon Con this year. I was there for Saturday, Sunday and a teensy bit of Friday night. I took two new costumes and a couple of older backups with me.

Friday night and most of Saturday I was dressed as Colonel Hunter Gathers from The Venture Brothers cartoon. I used a sports top and bloomers I already owned as the base for the outfit. I painted the pieces, as is quite obvious, in a camo-like way. I wore two pairs of bloomers because I may be dressed as a stripper, but I am not a stripper and needed to feel like I was covered up. The stubble was dark eyeshadow stippled on with a contour brush. The cigarette holder was an eyeliner pencil with medical tape on the end. The hat is spare green material folded up like a newspaper hat and stitched in the corners to keep it together. I left my white gloves sitting on my bed. D’oh. Combat boots, fishnet stockings, wig, and glasses round out the ensemble. This picture includes a young lady who modified a Sexy Army costume.

I ran into the two creators of The Venture Brothers at a gonzo show. Jackson Publick laughed hysterically and never did say a thing. Doc Hammer shook his head while saying, “He wasn’t supposed to look that good.” I was nervous wearing that getup but that comment gave me all the confidence I needed to keep going. I had my picture taken more times than I could count while in that costume. Now I know how ManWithPez feels when he wears the Seymour and Audrey II costume.

Sunday was my Dr. Saunders day. You may remember my scar test. My technique improved, unfortunately, I forgot to bring my reference so the scars were a bit misplaced. Oh well. I wore the costume briefly on Saturday and discovered my subtle scars were too subtle. No one noticed them. Sunday’s scars are much darker. Dr. Saunders jacket is unique and could only be replicated if I made it…which I plan to do. Until then, I have a simple lab coat with a popped up collar. I wore a blouse, fluted skirt, and heels with the scars and wig. I heard there was another Saunders at D*C but I never found her.

My Dragon Con 2009 gallery is posted. I didn’t take as many pictures this year since I was there for two days and missed the parade. Sorry. I tried to take pictures of the costumes I loved. I hope you like them too. My recap post is on its way.

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This week Bumblebee made the rounds on the internet. It’s an impressive costume.

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This spring I fell for Whedon’s latest show Dollhouse. It started a little shaky but strengthened considerably by the end of the season. Several of my online/convention buddies are planning to dress as dolls and ManWithPez will be a handler. What shall I do?

I picked one of my favorite characters, Dr. Saunders. She is played by the magnificent Amy Acker. Dr. Saunders was attacked left with facial scars. Here is my attempt at recreating the scars. You’ll see a few differences in some of them but that’s because I was testing different techniques.

I used spirit gum, wax, maroon eyeshadow, black eyeliner, lip liner, red lipstick, and base makeup. I used the lip line to pencil in where the scars should go. Next I dabbed on the spirit gum on one line. As it was getting tacky, I rolled the wax into a worm shape and then pressed it onto the gummy line (the wax might stick to your fingers, that’s okay). I did this one scar at a time. Stipple on the eyeshadow. Draw the eyeliner down the middle of the scars and dab off excess. Repeat this step with the lipstick. Dab some more. Blend a little with your base color. Set with powder to lessen the tacky feeling. Voila.

I need a lab coat and a new wig. So, what do you think?

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Yesterday, well this week really, was hard on the entertainment world. We lost three iconic personalities: Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, and Farrah Fawcett.

Farrah was a bold young woman. She took chances and made risky decisions that sometimes left us scratching our heads but mostly left as wanting more. Her early work highlights her science fiction and costume period. As her career progressed, she opted for everywoman roles and good ol’ gals who wore regular street clothes. I’d like to note a few of her more memorable costumed moments. (more…)

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