Katsucon 12 Highlights [My... Special Coffin?]

Good morning, everyone, aaaaaah what in the world am I doing here so early? Well, if I have to be up, then let's make the most of it [this is disregarding the fact that a) half the time my usual goal is try and salvage semi-sleep when awake this early, and b) that I could be doing something else a little more urgent at this moment]. Also, since this is a derailment from the norms of the blog, I didn't want to put this off too much before it became overly irrelevant [like a birthday post did... eheh heh...]. Saa~ minna, if you will, a brief memoir of Katsucon 2012.

Like last time, I only went for one day. I'm okay with this, because the one day pass is cheaper, and realistically, I'd only go on Saturday and maybe Sunday anyway, since I'd usually have class on Friday. I also drove myself; I'm terrible with directions and wary of misinterpreting signs, but I made it alright [then I remembered I need directions going back, ahaha...]. Also like last time, I didn't dress up in a full cosplay; I wanted full mobility, and not be detracted as much with being photographed myself [I will do a full cosplay if I go the whole weekend though]. The majority of the day was spent standing in the registration line, photographing [yaaaay~ a Sengoku Basara group was there~], Streetpassing with other 3DSers, and shopping like a psycho otaku that I am. I had quite a haul for just one day [equivalent to roughly three days at Otakon]. 

MORE PINS~ MUAHAHAHAHA~! Also a new bag at last [though I still use the Hellsing one.]

But truly the best finds of the day were the face mask down in the front, and that big old red book in the upper right corner. Why you ask~?

And yet another thing on my person that jangles.

Well, first, the face mask. It wasn't terribly expensive for what it was [$10], has given me some inspiration for the one I still plan on making--in terms of design, accessories, and material--, and perhaps the best of all, it does not fog up my glasses when I breathe. This is a very important point for me, as one might guess, because if I'm wearing a mask for when I'm actually sick on top of wanting to look formidable, I tend to be even more miserable having to deal with not being able to see half the time.

It's probably because of the swimsuit-esque material.

This one will be going out with me a lot for weekends in Visual Kei. Since the safety pins are removable, no da, I might substitute them with a lighter brooch if I want to add some sort of neo-Aristocrat touch to it.

As for that big red book? That, my friends, is 'Coffin: The Official Artworks of Vampire Hunter D' by Yoshitaka Amano [gamer fans may know the name as the illustrator of Final Fantasy artworks]. 

Includes color pages not shown in the novels, and an exclusive short story.

I saw this book in a Barnes&Noble several years ago while window shopping on a double date or summat, and immediately desired it. I didn't even know what Vampire Hunter D was; the author of the novels, if it was a movie, whatever, nothing. I just wanted to have it. It was $60, which I didn't have on me at the time. So I lightly thumbed through some of the pages, probably gaping like a fish, then put it back on the shelf, and forgot about it after a while.

 

In that time, I've acquired the VHD movie and several volumes of Takaki Saiko's manga adaptations, and in general become a fan of Hideyuki Kikuchi's legacy work [my shadow has even told me I should cosplay as the titular character D]. So when I saw this artbook in a booth at Katsucon, those dormant desires from way back when flared up ten-fold in combination with my fandom. 

Needless to say, if I ever did cosplay D, it would be one of the most intensive ones ever.

I would've bought it no matter the price, but the conventions gods loved on me; the seller put it out for $30. He also mentioned something about it being out-of-print, so if that's true, it'll probably be worth hundreds somewhere down the line. Maybe. Who knows? Even if it's not, I'm happy to have it.

Do you have any special promotional works for books or movies you like? Have an autographed piece that you'll hold onto forever? Any series that you love enough to buy a collectible item for? Hahaha, that pretty much defines otaku.

My this week flew~! What on earth have I been doing? Class? Eh?

I thank you for your indulgence, everyone.

Eternally yours,

Il Ruinante Isaak

Monthly Theme: Spot the Lace

Koncha, minna. Well, this is a little better, mmm~? Perhaps it will still only be a one time thing, despite my best efforts [che sigh]. But nevermind the details~ it's finally become October~! Surely, October is probably my second or third favorite month ever. Good things happen. The weather--like today, oh yes--becomes cooler, Halloween looms, there's inevitably another show, and, oh yes... If you are the lovely Victorian Kitty-tan of Sophistique Noir, you have the first-day-of-the-month theme. For this October, behold....! Lace~!



As far as my trifecta of styles go [Aristo, V-kei, cosplay], the sharp dressed lady of the Aristocrat may find the touch of lace on blouse sleeves, or the top-layer of a fine blouse, along with lace gloves for the warmer weather. However, since on a whole, the three mostly do without, I seem to have sublty reflected that in my own wardrobe. In fact, I nearly forgot the lone piece of lace something or other that I do have until I just looked around the room and spotted it hanging on the doorknob. You've seen it before. It continues to serve me well, even into it's slightly 'broken' state. I'm of course talking about the ever fashionable rose lace zip-tie.

As aforementioned, it was delightfully cool today, as I threw myself out of the house to run to the bank again. The new long jacket--that when buttoned reminds me of a Japanese delinquent, hence the armband [which reads 'gang leader']--is one of two given to me over the summer by Nobu because they're too long to look right. It makes me favor windy days, too, for the billowing effect [who doesn't love that~? ^_^]. The hair is a mess and got rained on while coming home, aaaaaaand... hooray for my diligent tie, it didn't slip too much.

I'm still sick; the ear infection I had earlier this week transformed into a regular cold and cough. By transformed I mean that I didn't get any sort of lapse in between them, one turned into the other. But I can crack my neck again, at least, so that's good. Usually, since I don't like being a pain and getting up to leave class when I have a cough, I'll don the mask. Same for everyday happenings, since the mask is a staple of Visual kei fashion. This one also serves me well, it needs a new protege though. It's mostly little kids who will stare. I've yet to have anyone call me out on it or say a rude comment, and of course, when it is needed [like at my bank for example], I remove it, no problem. I have a feeling it's because I leer a lot when I'm out and about by myself [default expression].

I swear it seems way bigger in proportion to my chest. The picture in the linked post above shows it better than this one, the seeming difference in size... All in all, the tie itself would be great, to me, even without the rose or lace [or just one or the other], because of the material, and that it's neither a regular tie or a clip on, it's affixed via a zipper. Easy to adjust, no worries for length, and fits under even the smallest of collars like the long jacket has.

The mother-person has more lace things than I do... I have considered making a pillbox hat and adding a nice half veil to the front; it's good to remember that fashion goes from head to toe.

Do you prefer whole lace pieces, or lace accessories? Colored lace, or tradional black and white? Do you make your own lace? [if so I bow to your immense prowess~!]

Stay well everyone, and have a wonderful October all around.

Eternally yours,

Il Ruinante Isaak

Revive Kills Zombie!

Hello, hello, minna~! This is a 'Sorry-I've-been-away-apology-assurance-I'm-not-dead' post. All of those things, I am not [hence the zombie joke; from Final Fantasy X, I believe], and I am very very sorry for not following the slightest of blogger ettiquite to post something, anything, for the past three months or so [really, it's been three months...? Ah!]. Summer was really productive, in lots of ways. It was blistering hot. Sooooooo hot. I hear it's still warm in some parts. Anyway.


Since so much has been happening, there's a lot I can post now. I'm saying to myself to try and post at least on Saturdays. I'll do my best. Today is a good day though, so here's a mini-post because I love you all.


During the last week of summer before classes, I had the week off pretty much, so I was made to run errands and things. All well and good. Bought lots of stuff [notably a PS2, his name is Thunder Silhouette]. Among the outings, a few trips to Hot Topic; now I have more nailpolish and Dir-En-Grey [perhaps I'll do a CD review]. Since my nails were to be shortened with the resumed rehersals of the Gamer Symphony Orchestra, I did an alternate color scheme French manicure while I still had them long.

The purple was the new color; I now have five or so shades of purple [if I had remembered I just bought another shade of purple from Target, I would've gotten red instead, I think]. The blue is the same brand, and it's getting thick, unfortunately... Since I don't have clear nailpolish, but since it starts out clear, I used a Del Sol Change-Color-in-the-Sun nailpolish as a topcoat, as it were, just for the sake of preserving the manicure for a little longer. So extra sparkles. I got used to it. This will probably last for a month, and not look too bad [although, when I paint layers of this brand, they seem to chip off in chunks; all layers at once].

Do you have a steady hand? Do you prefer simple, or more complex nail designs? Are you an acrylic nail person, or like all natural growing them out? Favorite colors for nails that you find don't work for anything else?

Ohh, I am compelled to change the page music as well. I'm open to suggestions~
I'm ready for Fall, oh yay~ cooler weather. ^_^

Eternally yours,
Il Ruinante Isaak

Osaka -- Visual Kei Summer

Good evening, minna-sama~ and I apologize for the long gap since we last spoke, as it were. The title takes inspiration from 'Osaka -- Tiger Summer', a location level in Sengoku Basara 3; this is part of the reason I've not been allotting myself time to post. That, and the weather has finally taken a definitive turn into the hot, with a side of humid with all the off and on rain we've been having, so I've been going to my old stand-by, graphic t-shirts and whatever pants I feel like [I don't wear shorts].


But, as luck would have it, today, I had the day off from work. And the mother person suggested [read, forced me to] that I go to SAM's Club along with the bank to take care of some transferring of funds. What the hell, I might as well have more of a reason to get dressed than running up less than a mile or so to cut a check. But since it is still ungodly humid, today was definitely a day for some light Visual-Kei wear.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night shirt: Hot Topic
Black and white suspenders: Hot Topic
Wallet chain: Hot Topic [damn... what the hell...?]
Platforms: Demonia via Otakon

A long time ago~ in a world where I cared even less about things than I do now [odd. very odd, considering], I wore T-shirts at naseum. Then along came my sense of humor, and fanaticism with video games and anime. Thus, my T-shirt collection expanded into the graphic T land. Now anytime I can't wear the things I would prefer, including enladen Visual Kei things, I will wear a graphic T. Because everyone needs to know I'm a Jenova's Witness, from the Church of the One-Winged Angel of the Latter Day Summons. So, along with the magnificent makes-me-want-to-touch-myself Castlevania shirt, I paired it with my stand by V-Kei pants which I modified from a regular pair of black pants.



Just to mix things up, I also added two boot straps from my Undertaker cosplay to the bottom of the pant legs. Up close they look great in my opinion, but they are probably very subtle from afar. So in the future I might add more, and wear different shoes, or, instead of decking out my "leg" half, when it gets to be that season again, I may instead put them around my arms. I had meant to wear my 'gang leader' arm band, but I didn't think about it until after I had already gotten back; besides, I would've had to pin it to the t-shirt sleeve, since it's too loose to stay up on my arm, unless I perpetually flex. My hair is univentful because of the humidity; left to it's own devices, it would've been a flyaway mess from all the windows-down, sunroof open driving I did.


Alternately, as I've been going along, I've been thinking how the bootstraps around the leg might look with the Aeon pants [the eyelet heavy ones]. Definitely, I think I need both more wallet chains [or chain link belts in general] and some other colored suspenders. Fingerless gloves would be fun, HT has some in silver that look great.


I got some new musics--notably some songs by Lisa Komine--to keep me preoccupied between... everything, nghh... oh well. It'll be eventful from here on out, everyone~ I hope I can help keep your summers entertaining. Coming up, hopefully along with some more V-kei, will be the adventures of handmade cosplay. If you are a veteran homemade cosplayer, I welcome all wisdom~


"Lonliness fighting back again, seems to be like it never ends. Give us hope through the love of peaceful shine on me~"


Eternally yours,
Il Ruinante Isaak
p.s. While I was out, I bought Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. If I don't post for another month, even with my best intentions not to have that happen, Dissidia 012 is the reason why.

Gift Card Dilemma

Good morning, minna-sama, have you been keeping well? The world environment all around seems to be getting more and mroe difficult, but don't get down on your luck yet. Remember well wishes and prayer, and move forward into your aspirations always. Spring is coming around the corner, so I am in the hope that the warmer weather will help shape up a better attitude all around. I'm also hoping to play the Spring Aristokei card. Which brings me to my dilemma.

A few weeks ago, I helped Momma out by retrieving her keys from Panera [she's in Delaware, coming down to Maryland, so it was quite a stretch and she couldn't come back the day of once she was already back]. More so than I deserve, I feel, she was uber grateful, expressed in several phonecalls to myself and the mother person, and e-mails, and overall overwhelemed me with praise. I was very flattered; the mother person is theorizing it's because Momma has 'wants-a-grown-daughter' syndrome.

To top it all off, Momma sent me a $20 gift card to Khol's in the mail the other day. And while I don't think I'll be able to use it right off the bat with a spring break cruise around the corner--and with Khol's prices, I certainly won't be able to cover the cost of one thing on it--it's something to look forward to in furthering my Aristo wardrobe. I had just been thinking about getting a new blouse, and then with some more eyelets, I would recreate this little number here.

[The back of the shirt is all that really matters, and should the sleeves be so inclined to it, I may put the design in there, better seen in the red one.]

But wait... I could buy that super wide brimmed hat I saw, and then I wouldn't have to worry about making one for my Akabane cosplay...

Or wait... I could buy another pair of dress pants with pockets, and then stud them with a cut from my leather pants...

Or wait... I could buy tall platforms [with a 'heel' rather than a chunk like my Demonia ones], so I can switch things up with my current ones...

Or wait... I could buy some more cosmetic things, so I can be further motivated for smoky eyed Aristo/racoon eyed V-Kei on a more regular basis...

Or wait... I could buy those chain belts, and that would save me the trip to Hot Topic, and the multiple links go good with a variety of things...

In case I've somehow managed to disguise it from you thus far, I am a very indecisive person. Especially when the choices are all super appealing, and ultimately, I can still choose not to do anything. I am pulled in all directions. I am leaning towards the blouse, because I am eyelet crazy and the above shirt makes my gears turn in how to recreate it. But when I get there, I have a feeling all the other choices I'm debating and more will pop out at me and entice me to choose in a wardrobe deathmatch which is worth spending free money on.

So I offer it to all of you. If you had a giftcard to Khol's [even if you don't shop there] for $20, what would you buy? Blouse? Pants? Hat? Cosmetics? Other? Kohl's actually does have quite the variety, including waffle irons and Nerf Guns, so just about anything could be on your wishlist.

Ahhhhhh, ahh~ haruyasumi wa~... suteki da ne~ I hope everyone will have an enjoyable spring break, if you are privileged with it. If not, do something extra special relaxing over the next weekened. You owe it yourself.

Eternally yours,
Il Ruinante Isaak

Mini Post: Grocery Shopping [and meals]

Good afternoon minna-sama~ sorry for the delay. [I moved these pictures, and then forgot where they were.] It's getting a little warmer, little at a time. I would still like a repeat of last year's Snowmaggedon, but at the same time, because I lack a good Aristo or V-kei coat/mantle, I don't mind warmer weather coming forth if it means wearing blouses and my waist coat only. As it were, here's a little post for the weekend outing two weeks ago.

As I mentioned, I finally went out to SAM's Club with my parents for the first time in forever. I love our SAM's Club in Annapolis, everyone is cool. The ladies tend to enjoy my outfits, and my Demonia boots are a hit really.

The priest cossak, thusly dubbed [see a previous entry], the Demonia boots, and Trinity Blood crucifix [it makes me wonder if people see it and think I'm uber religious]. I really really really want a top hat now. If anyone knows a good millery or hat store, let me know.
We got peaches, and I decided to promote them. Strangely. I think if I had the Undertaker wig on, this would be more complete. [also, I didn't turn it all the way around, bad sales pitch~! Haha.]

Also, I've been making waffles with my new waffle iron I bought during Black Friday. The top is with blue berries, the bottom with cheese grilled into it; just put shredded cheese of choice on top after you've ladeled the batter in, then close the top.

I had an outing with Toriberry just this past Sunday, down to Georgetown to do some vintage store shopping. She in her new embrace of gyaru, went stylin' and profilin' in complimentary contrast to my expiremental Aristokei mash-up. I forgot to take pictures, but I'm sure to wear that combination again I believe.

Into the future, everyone~ Do your best, and look as you wish. That which we have all sworn to, shall always be my guiding light. [I love Warrior~]

Eternally yours,

Il Ruinante Isaak.\

Perpetual Elevens' [and the skirt; picture+video!]

Good afternoon, mina-sama. Did everyone have a good thanksgiving break? I had a pleasant time venturing out to the semi-countryside that is Mt. Airy to see good friends, and make merry with damn good food and delightful company. Truly, I have much to be thankful for, even without material goods. I continue to pray for the happiness and good fortune of my loved ones.

I will admit though that I did go and get up fiendishly early to participate in the madness that is Black Friday shopping [I may also see what I will see to the tune of Cyber Monday]. Semi-countryside-dom has it's advantages. Things were relatively orderly, I got a good parking space, and when it was all said and done, I was only out for 45 minutes before returning to the hotel to sleep a couple more hours until breakfast. The otaku side of me comes out as I made my largest purchase at Gamestop, securing myself a PSP at last, and acquiring Dissidia Final Fantasy, Soul Calibur: Broken Legends, and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII as my first stock [I will probably purchase Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep closer to Xmas, and at Target, since I have unconvered a gift card]. Intermitenly as I write this, I play a few quick battles on Dissidia [I'm leveling up Sephiroth]. Didn't know this marquis was a gamer too, eh? ^_^

I had a very peaceful time. I hope a similar good time was had by all.

Now then, as alluded to in the last post, I came upon a skirt from way back when as I was hanging up the skirt I bought from the thrift store. This is a pleated skirt--granted, there are only four, and it's very wide pleats [more like in stiched seams so it wouldn't be one big slate of skirt]--with a waist band if you could call it that, that has a button, and a zipper fasten. The button waist band saved me the trouble of having to add one to thread through the D-ring loops I bought, so all I really had to do was rip the seam that the zipper was on, rip some of the seam on the waist till it was 3/4 [so should I call it a 3/4 skirt...?] and then resew it back down into a nice clean edge.

The original skirt, still whole. It's a little hard to see with the black on black, but the pleats are there, if you can see them.

The above is cut out and pinned, and the bottom is with the hem finished. It was mostly a matter of making sure the folds were neat.

And for the sake of contrast, put some tissue paper between just to show. It's a bit long even if I have shoes on [only the Demonia boots make it seem appropriate length].

One of the simplest projects I've ever done that has yielded magnificent results. Now I also have some guideline as to how I want to make the skirt out from scratch--as it were--and out of the thirft store skirt. The one from scratch may still end up being my favorite since it will have a colored lining, but we'll see.

Also, it's essentially still a skirt, so I've worn it very frequently since I've made it, including out on my Thanksgiving travels. It makes a very bold and dramatic touch to my Aristo wardrobe, and anything in between. I do now have an increased fondess for windy days.

I have tried walking with skirt and the Crow in combination, and let me just say, it only looks awesome on paper.

Worn on as sundry of occasions. [it may be hard to tell in the last one, but I'm wearing the leather pants I got a the thrift store, and the dubbed "priest cossak" from the Undertaker cosplay outfit.]

As promised, I'm getting a little fancy up in here, and to show how the thing moves as I do, I made a little video. The lighting is iffy, pardon. But the essence is there. And it's just another example of how well it works with basically anything you'd normally wear a skirt with.

I'm suiting up more and more for this rumored-to-be-colder-than-ever winter season. Got anything on the ball you've been working on? Spotted a must-have winter coat? How have you all been adjusting to the chillier weather?

I've got a lot of work ahead of me, please forgive a long absence in advance, mina-sama. I'll walk tall and strong, to the best of my ability, and give all I've got.
Eternally yours,

Il Ruinante Isaak

Thrift Store Shopping

Good evening, minna-sama. I'm sorry I've been away so long, I've been... in a difficult position, really. I'm doing things I hate, and I hate them because I am bad at them. I haven't had my head in the right place to post for a while, do forgive me. The holidays are a wonderful way to brighten my spirits, as is the completion of a project [yes, another spur of the energy moment thing], and so I return with hopefully two posts back to back [or at least, today and tomorrow] as to catch up with aristocrat and visual kei related things that have in fact been happening.

Jingu Bridge has been going splendidly. Truly. We're going to have to work out a few things here and there and work on preparation, but that's all well and good; the club is just starting, and it's the latter half of the semester, so we're having a great trial run of how things will work out for the spring semester. The group project for my global literature class on Visual Kei went smoothly as well; no one wanted to volunteer to be dressed up, but that's alright, I make my own suitable manequin. Perhaps showing them Neo Ark [Phantasmagoria] was a little too scaring... but, as it were, that's updates for that.

A couple weekends ago, I went to the thrift store near me [that I readily know of]. I was reminded why I both love, and to an extent, dislike the thrift store. One the one hand, there always seems to be scores of little heathen brats running around, and either screaming their heads off for no apparent reason, or crying excessively loudly for their parents. But if you can ignore that, the upsides outweigh the atmosphere's downsides. Prices are amazing, and if you have a little more time than I did to look, you can almost certainly find something that you were looking for [or perhaps not even, and that's never really bad]. I went with the intent of buying some white blouses--ahh, white blouses? what the hell...?--and a long skirt, so that I could expirement with something premade for making the half skirt [see previous project entry]. I also happened to pick up another pair of slacks, since my trusty black ones with pockets are having wardrobe malfunctions with the zipper, and some leather pants. In total everything came to just over $30, with the leather pants being the most expensive thing of course.

Since there is no fitting room at the thrift store, I immediately tried things on as soon as I got home to see if I properly eye-balled the sizes of things correctly. Here are my finds.

A long black skirt, made out of rayon I believe, so it's stretchy compared to the sateen fabric I bought to make my own from scratch. The plan is to cut down the seams of the sides and hem the back, creating a half skirt. With the extra I cut off, I would make a waist band to go through D-loops I bought a while back to put on my slacks.

The shiny white blouse--with breast pockets--that was the cheapest thing of the day, and the pinstripe slacks. They lack pockets, unlike the black ones I adore, and they have a bit of red in them, which immediately makes me want to add a touch of red into my Aristo. I don't know why I don't think add to V-kei, although that might be because there's limited colors [excluding Hizaki of Versai] in V-kei... though white isn't excluded... anyway. I wore this some day during the week, with the tailcoat jacket. I like the shirt a lot, a lot.

The leather pants, that are just a tad too long, and just a tad too tight. So tight in fact that I took a picture as soon as I got the button closed, not trusting myself to be able to fit into these again by the time I posted it because they were that tight [coincidentally, I have put them on with much less struggle two times since then, and before now]. I'm not sure why the shirt seems off-white, pale creamy at the top there... but it's all white, as the other picture shows.

Upon hanging the skirt up in my closet, I came upon an interesting discovery; lo, another skirt. This one was from the uniform of my high school's orchestra. It's very long, and has four pleats down said long sides, along with a band that has the button fasten, and a zipper. Had I recalled before hand that I still had that in my posession--since it was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for to base a already made beforehand turned into half-skirt on--I would've bypassed the skirt at the thrift store. Be that as it may, since it's a different material, I'm going to use it as well, regardless. I may choose to sell it once it is made, but we'll see how that goes.

To be sure, since I had the uniform skirt, I chopped that up quick like, and the results I will show in my next entry. Look forward to it, I'm getting fancy with a video, desu ne.

For whatever reason, when I was younger, I was a little turned off by thrift stores, and I think it was that atmosphere--aside from the crying kids--of... fervor and scurrying around. Now it's just the tight isles and screaming kids that make me pulse point when I step foot in there. A neutral scowl keeps them at bay however...

So, if you've got one near you, and you're just plain fed up with brand or replica prices, take a stroll down to your local thrift store. You never know what might turn up, and for REAL cheap no less. For those of you who have gone there, did you ever get a great find for a steal price? Got one nicer than mine? Love to go if it's nearby.

Whether with friends in your area, traveling back home or hosting family, or with the company of yourself, I wish everyone a splendid holiday, good food, great memories, and safe travels.

Eternally yours,

Il Ruinante Isaak