Announcement: Commissions Updates!

Recently we've just completed our very first client commission above - FFXV Prince Noctis's Engine Sword and had received positive responses with regards to it. I'm quite pleased at the results actually, as I quite like the handiwork we've rendered on this sword. Making this type of fantasy swords like the Engine Sword here is considered a first for us and to be honest, it was quite a challenge as it made us delve even deeper to more possibilities and solutions with the staples we've been working with up till now.

Of course, this made us worked with new reagents, which produced stunning and unexpected results and new combinations, which gave birth to the final result shown above. I hope our client will like the Engine Sword we made as much as we do!

In view of the above, if you have any enquiries or requests for prop or accessory commissions, do email us at guildofbonds@gmail.com or simply PM us via our guild's FB page!

And since I do my own costume dissections and breakdowns, we've decided to offer commissions with regards to costume breakdowns as well!

Post Mortem (Belated): Gamestart and AFA

Photo courtesy and post-processing to Tan Lum Hoe

Now that I have a bit of time on my hands, here's two very brief snippets of our Gamestart and AFA experience this year.

Initially wanted to push out my Blazblue Chronophantasma Izayoi for Gamestart, until I started to pick up Code Geass: Akito of the Exiled again and got the feels for Cornelia when I re-watched the main Code Geass series.

That and with the boy having a chibified Emperor Lelouch in a perpetual OTL pose for his Whatsapp icon, I managed to "cajol" him into finally pushing out his long overdue Emperor Lelouch cosplay.

Was searching for at least one more member to join us for our Code Geass scheme (haha!) and while trying to persuade Jade on one hand, I managed to convince Icetea to come on board as Euphemia. Initally she wanted to push out her C.C (the gothic dress version which you see at the end of Season 2), but since Cornelia and Lelouch are of the Britannia Royal Family, she finally decided to remake her Euphemia (Viceroy version) which she had first debuted almost a good nine years ago.

Thanks to her help, since she's much more familiar with the Code Geass series, we managed to get all our cloths together. But with this amount of white cloths in different textures, our poor tailor almost got our cloths mixed up haha! I've to say Lelouch's costume dissection was the hardest this time round because who the hell wears a cloak that's split into half?

It was quite a hectic time during the costume checking phase because I was having my Jap school's final exams within the week of Gamestart. Most of my time was spent drafting out Lelouch's costume patterns to scale and aiding our tailor in making his eagle beak patterned shoulder armor at her shop, while studying my Jap notes of 20 plus chapters in between. All I can say is, Keigo (敬語) and I can never see it eye to eye.

However, somehow, we made it alive through Gamestart haha! It was interesting to see how Icetea "came alive" as Viceroy Euphemia again in her re-made costume. Our tailor followed the exact model of her old costume (but which Icetea was careful to advise her not to follow the collar pattern as the one on her old costume was wrongly made due to time constraint then), whereas the new one had a more royal feel to it due to the cloth combinations used this time round.

Cornelia's cloak "feathers" weren't able to stand as much as we had expected and kept falling because the corset boning used for it was not strong enough. Had to remake it with the more sturdy wire used for clothes hangars. Not to mention, the cloak trails were too heavy to have a flowy effect due to the honey-coloured beads I used. Already gotten gold velvet stickers to replace them soon (yay to Daiso haha!).

Learnt an efficient method to holding up Cornelia's cloak by rolling it up and tucking it into the crook of one of my arms, kudos to Icetea haha! The 3 of us went in to have a look at the convention but didn't manage to see much because the interior was much too dark. I understand they want to have that LAN shop kinda feel to the convention, but still, I think there could have been a bit more lighting. Managed to catch a glimpse of the retro section and man, those games there sure reminded me of my childhood haha!

Again, I must say the husband and I must really buck up for our makeup skills. And to check our wigs before event day. We both forgot that Lelouch's wig was yet to be trimmed and Icetea had a hard time trying to trim his wig on the spot (with it worn on his head and he forgot to wear his wig cap too haha!). End up it didn't look too bad, just that signature fringe in the middle of his forehead needs a lot more working on on our end.

Yes yes, I'm looking at Botanic Gardens for a proper photoshoot already.

Photo courtesy to Jade, Post-processing by me

Made the last minute decision to finally debut my long overdue Asuna for AFA. My costume base and all was already ready 3 years ago, but because we had some problems creating Lament Light then, I didn't bring out this costume until now where Hubs's weapon-smithing skills had improved by leaps and bounds since then.

Her chest armor and belts were already made by STGCC and her wig was already styled, but we also didn't make it for STGCC because Hubs fell sick on the morning of event day itself.

So what I had left to do was to stud the borders of her top and shoulder harness with 6mm and 2mm ruby and topaz acrylic iron-ons. Hubs on the other hand, was busy building Lament Light from scratch. Her old body was now used as a base for Dark Repulser instead. It was a miracle that we managed to create Lament Light within a short span of two weeks, paper-mache work, setting, painting and all, sans the sheath.

It was surprising that the FolkArt Sky Blue pigment, initially bought for Dark Repulser, totally fit the bill for Lament Light's handle and sword guard as well. Not to mention, Hubs had very cleverly made the blade of Lament Light detachable from the handle and sword guard for easy transporting. Both swords fitted very nicely into Hubs's guitar bag as a result haha!

First time trying to do makeup ourselves and I think we spent 2 hours over it? Candy came to the rescue for our eyeliners and contouring, which was a real life-saver! Thank you so much Candy! And we were thankful that Jade were there for us as well otherwise we would have no event photos at all because we were busy running around looking for people haha!

Now that our 2015 cosplans are all wrapped up, it's time to start working hard and fast for our 2016 cosplans! Already started making our Owari No Seraph's cos stuffs so must get them up and ready as soon as possible because that is slated as our first cosplay plan for next year haha!

Seeya in 2016 peeps! Looking forward to more new works, new crafting techniques and meeting new people!

First Post! (And the only one for the time being I think ha)

Ok, this was something the husband and I had been twirling about in our heads.

At least well, that happened a week or two back.

We love to make, well, our own props, accessories and stuffs. Sometimes, the husband says Imma crazy because I go to the length of studding and putting in alot of effort into the smallest of stuffs (can't help it, I'm an anal person into precision). I was at the point of suggesting that I should go into embroidery, just for his upcoming Emperor Lelouch cosplan because those patterns on the emperor, well, only embroidery with gold thread suit him best (to which Hubs had to kindly remind me that we were pressed for time for our upcoming Code Geass cosplays).

I know Taobao offers the option of prop-making too, but somehow, I don't know why, maybe it's a crafter's thing? I can't "feel" for the props and being a colour sensitive person, the colour balance actually looked off for most of them. And as a jewelry crafter for so many years too, most of the accessories could work a little more on their material and colour balance too.

So Hubs and I finally decided that we should open up commissioning, not only because we would like to offer an alternative for our cosplay friends out there, but as an avenue to advance our skills in prop and accessory making.

In any case, do drop us an email if you are keen and in advance, pleased to make your acquaintance too!

An AFA Post (Belated)

Welp, just hit 51 a few days back and I'm loving the new orange gear I got from Akasha's Hideout! First, it's dark sapphire blue - one of my favourite colours in fact and two, it's got a fierce-looking spiked collar (feel free to say that I've got quite a weird and acquired taste haha!).

Not to mention, the key point here is, it's got good stats and helps pump up my overall damage.

But still, I want that ring from Akasha's Hideout! It is just so frustrating to see it drop TWICE and you lose the roll TWICE. Argh, I really really need that upgrade man!!!

Frustrations aside, I've had my share of randomness in dungeons today. Like, a notice just suddenly popped when I was running Golden Labyrinth and I got awarded a raptor mount (quite a cool-looking beauty, just a pity that it only lasts for 21 days).

Just.like.that. I don't even know which achievement I completed to warrant this reward.

To be honest, TERA has pretty nice stuffs, you know, like awesome-looking costumes and all that jazz. Though, I'm not really into the Castanic's ones (although my sorceress is of the Castanic race...) because they tend to get more and more revealing as you progress in level.

The Elin's ones are pretty cute. I saw TERA's blog post on one of their cosplay contests last year and most of the cosers who participated are well, Elins haha! Well, you have to give it to their race for their cute bunny ears in all shapes, sizes and colours.

I did toss the idea of cosing from TERA to Hubs, but he's not so keen so, nah, gave up on the idea in the end ha.

Speaking of cosplay, I think I have yet to type out my AFA 2014 entry hur hur. So ok, here it is.

This year's AFA is slightly more different for us because yes, we have a team! Of three people, which includes me and Hubs haha!

And yes, very much less chaotic than 2013's because of our experience at ICDS, where instead of doing makeup and suiting up at home, we were doing it at my booth at the event grounds. That, was honestly a first for us, but somehow after that, we kinda got past the hassle of our cosplay makeup routine (since Hubs is a guy and I seldom put on makeup on normal days so...).

The morning started on my end with an early bath at 7am (am very used to waking up at such a timing due to my daily exercise routine and weekend work) and a quick breakfast after. Had to head over to Hubs to wake him up since he's not much of a morning person.

Most people do ask me why I take so long just to get ready to head down to an event. First, I need to handle the makeup and preparation load of two persons and second, shit always happens and tempers always catch fire at the last minute.

Murphy's law so.

That and Hubs always take quite a substantial amount of time to get his contacts in.

But, we're still working on it - to try and get our asses out of the house before 2pm.

Hubs got his basic makeup on while being almost fully suited up (we made sure to turn on our room's aircon to full blast before that) and waited while I got my finer details in place. Honestly, I need to learn how to draw my eyes properly.

Eversince my eye operation earlier in 2014, I made sure to keep both our makeup essentials separate from each other because I refreshed mine to those which doesn't make me allergic to them in any way.

So after slapping on my eyeshadow, eyeliner and what nots, I scrubbed my hands clean before I started on Hubs's finer details with his 36 Coastal Scent eyeshadow palette. Sorcery King's eye shadow was honestly a challenge to me because first, Hubs is already tanned in a way and Sorcery King is well, tanned. Took me awhile to get it decent with a rather messy array of browns, bronze, dark yellow, antique gold and gold brass.

His eyebrows were mostly hidden by his wig so I just left them black. For mine, I took quite some time to dab BB cream and foundation mixed with yellows and golds to get somewhat blond-ish eyebrows.

Sorcery King got his wig on just fine, although the fringes and the back are still too long (but still can be hidden somewhat). Mine was a total disaster because I miscalculated the paper-cut fringe's length. I had it cut too short to the point that I could hardly hide my black hairs in.

I was honestly panic-striken (because I really, really didn't want to screw up on Technosmith), but in the end, I just told Hubs I'll heck it and just wing it with whatever I had already don on. Hubs looked really worried because I was really really stressed out. But I wanted to keep the promise I made to my friend Mordred (I had already "flown kite" on her for STGCC earlier in the year), so I just kept quiet and headed off to the event.

But, as the balances of life would have it, I thank the stars for IceTea and Jade Sis who were both there to set things right, somewhat. Jade Sis helped us get tickets, while IceTea fixed us both up. Thank you so much for saving my wig gal! I honestly can't thank you enough for it! Now I know how to use eyelash glue to hold down my side fringes too ha.

And fixing my makeup too with your Nyx Mosaic powder!

At the same time, I guess we were having a lot of fun trimming down Sorcery King's wig too ha!

Managed to get some photos with our Mordred at the Canon photo booth (their booth setups are huge and varied!) before she had to head home to rest. I feel really sorry for the poor girl who had been waiting for us for such a long time.

Jade Sis had to head home too because she was out for too long and her energy was like sapped for the day. That and luckily I reminded her that the very next day was our JLPT N4 exam before she head off.

Felix and Buddy tagged along with us while we toured the AFA halls. Felix had a hard time recognizing us in costume (and the first thing which came out of his mouth when he saw my Hubs was, "OMG you look like a girl!") and Buddy, on the other hand, had a hard time finding us because first, crowd and second, it was a little hard communicating with our phones in costumes, since the both of us don't have pockets or whatsoever.

I managed to take a look at the Saber Nero dollfie Jade Sis was telling me about. She looks really really well made and her eyes looks eerily life-like as well. S$900 for her, wow, just WOW.

And of course, we made our customary trip to the Million Arthur booth, where we picked up our AFA cards from. Hubs and I had to exit the halls just once to pick up the AFA brochure with the Million Arthur AFA card redeeming voucher (an insignificantly tiny green triangle amongst the numerous event and booth line-ups) because the Million Arthur booth ran out of it.

I think one of the AFA staffs outside is our neighbour's son, who kinda recognized us but wasn't sure if it was us, from the way he reacted to us ha.

What a small world really.

As there weren't many photo requests this time (Million Arthur, though a famous Square Enix mobile game, ain't exactly that well-known with widespread popularity on our local soils), we were able to see more of the event. We had exceptional fun watching the fighting game where there's a mish-mash of our fave characters from "Shakugan no Shana" and "Sword Art Online". It feels especially gratifying to see Asuna beat the living daylights outta Kirito because the both of us are going to cosplay as these two characters later in the year hehe.

While heading out of the fighting game area, the Nico Nico booth was nearby and one of their staffs (she was really polite and nice) asked if we wanted to take photo with their Nico Nico photo booth. Needless to say, we had fun posing and she really took very nice shots for us even though my phone was running low on battery ha.

And wow at the Mirai series characters at the event (because Danny Choo's one of the invited guests), where Hubs and I were contemplating on getting one of them T-shirts printed with a cute sheep design of a Mirai series character, but gave up on the idea in the end because it was abit pricey (S$35 for a T-shirt).

Good Smile Company was there with the better quality Asuna figurine (amongst the other Asuna figurines which were released so far) Hubs was telling me about, but she was like sold out, along with the other Kancolle and Love Live figurines I think.

Like Cinderella at the ball (this is honestly the closest description I can find for us in costume), when the digital clocks on both our phones struck 6pm, the fatigue kept at bay by our earlier running adrenaline started to creep in steadily upon us and Hubs was starting to experience dryness and discomfort from his FreshKon green contact lens.

A good dinner is in order then.

Swiftly changing out of our costumes and makeup in our car (we looked remotely presentable in our plain clothes, or at least tried to, especially for our messed up hair), we wrapped up the day with our guys at Yayoiken at Liang Court.

Before I forget, I bumped into Luel in the lift while heading down to the carpark. Nice seeing you gal! And your stinky guys ha!

"Tiring but fun," is the usual that I would say after every event and I'll say the same for AFA 2014 too. One thing to improve for sure, is my time and event stress management. がんばってね！

Next event, Cosfest 2015? This time, chalet maybe?