Completed: Detangling a long wig (and preparing it for future project)

There has been some time since the last post. I've been writing a long report about our experiences from Tracon and it is starting to seem like a forever project. I will try to step up and finish it on Sunday or Monday at the latest.

In May I started and experiment with silicon spray and a long wig. I had to put it aside, because we needed to work with costumes for Joxter and Muddler. Yesterday I had a day off so I went back to it. The working was a lot easier, because I had a stand for the wig head. It is actually from my fitting dummy, which I picked up from Yoki's place after... two years? I had planned to chech out the local flee markets for an cheap and old floor lamp, but then I realized that it would just take space and be somewhat unnececessary item laying around. Before I tried to use my table as a platform and my legs to keep the wig head still. Not succesful I assure.

Before, after and bundled.

I was really happy with the result after finishing the whole wig and it looked rather wearable as it was. For my purposes, I wanted to solve the fibers as well as possible. I'm going to use most of the lenght for wefts for a ridiculous ponytail. I also used pretty thich comb, which for some might sound horrible. But really, there were not too much of hair loss and with patience the fibers didn't get streched, which usually causes the wig to look messy.

The fibers doesn't get greasy looking when you take your time with the comb and remember to spray the silicon far enough. I haven't tried how the silicon will react to hairspray and other styling products so I can't guarantee that they will work normally.

After the detangling I prepared the wig for later projects, in other word cut it shorter and stored it and the material for the ponytail. Next week we are going to continue the making of the Snowtroopers and finally finish them. I hope that next week the weather would be bearable. I'm not designed for 32 Celcius for long periods of time. My productivity suffers greatly.

Because I didn't have a pair of helping hands I used yarn to make the cutting little easier.

Red rubberband marks the spot. I took off the gray yarns and cut the ponytail just over the rubberband.

Wig after the excess lenght has been cut out.

Trial for the placement of the base of the ponytail. Needs to be higher.

Wigs, wigs the magical fruit, the---wait, whaaat?

Hehe. I love wigs. I REALLY do. I believe they chan either make or break a cosplay. Seriously. Investing in wigs is a REALLY good thing. Even though they may cost a lot, there are sites that offer very good prices such assss.......---> http://stores.ebay.com/CosplayDNA-Wigs-for-Cosplay & http://www.epiccosplay.com/ . They have awesome wigs for prices that definitely are cheap considering the QUALITY you are getting. Sooooooo, I definitely recommend them. Anyway. Wigs can make you look so different, thus...making cosplay so much better when you own them. I agree, contacts can really help a costume out but the wigs definitely take the cake. They are what people might see first. Now I'm not saying you suck if you don't have one, I'm just merely sharing some cosplay advice for all you cosplayers who read this or just happen to read this. ^___^; If you have any questions on wigs, please ask me. I will be happy to answer your questions.

I'd really like to get more into styling wigs but it can be quite frustrating. Ahhh....anyway. That's it for my random tip-blog thing. :3 I don't normally do this but I find it fun!!

CasualtyCosplay FAQ

Nothing much have happened on the costume front and my brains are on a summer mode, so I will take a hold of Yoki's suggestion of answering the frequently asked questions. The questions are collected from the comments on our Youtube account.

Where do you get your outfits?

This is the most popular question of all. I think I have answered this regarding most of our costumes here on the blog. But presumably, if I have not mentioned commissioners then the costumes can be labeled as our own creation. Information about the wigs or the shops we have purchased them I have seen quite pointless to share until now, because most of the queries came from other countries than Finland and we tend to buy them locally. But I know we have some Finnish readers, so this is all for them.

I might get some of those mentioned Finnish cosplayers gasp with this confession... If we buy the wigs new, we buy them from Finnish costume store Punanaamio. Now, now... Hold your horses! One error with cheap plastics wigs taught us to buy washable XTPRO-quality wigs. They are not as good as kanelon wigs, but for our purposes they have worked well. They can be dyed to some extent and styled easily. I have worked with few types and can recommend shoulder to short wigs as they are. They are thick enough not to expose the net underneath. The longest possible XTPRO needs weft add-ons for my tastes. The size of the wigs suits us pretty well, which is quite crucial, because they are not adjustable. Our head sizes are between 56-57.

Contact lenses we purchase from Cybershop. They sell lenses for cosmetic use only! I have always been really pleased with the shop, so I highly recommend their services.

How did you make Mayuri's hat and ear-chin piece/Deidara's scope, ponytail and palms/Sasori's body?

These are the questions which I usually leave to be, if they are not send trough private messages or e-mails. These inquiries for detailed information and construction tips usually consider props and costume parts which are expensive to buy, rare or they are not sold anywhere. I take pride on these particular objects, because I have found way to accomplish them. And to succeed on them I have used many working hours and my imagination, which are rather valuable for any artist. So no, I’m not going to share step by step tutorials of them publicly. I always answer the inquirer personally and try to describe the process verbally the best I can. Normally I ask them to not to share the information as it is.

Questions about clothes and patterns I answer willingly. They are the things I don’t struggle with much and have professional knowledge about. I have been thinking of making tutorials from pattern making, because it is rather popular subject on the questions I get.

Is Yoki a girl or a boy ?

Yes, this is one of the frequently asked questions. And Yoki is surely a girl.

Where are you?

This is not probably a question, but people tend to misunderstad where we are from. To make things clear, I looked out a map. And no, we don't have polar bears.

Hiron explores: Detangling a long wig

I set myself a record few months ago in fiber length, when I bought used wig from a fellow cosplayer. The price was set low, even if the wig was ridiculously long. Long wigs equals tangling, which brought down the cost. I have a cosplay in mind in which I would use the wig, but it's not likely done in near future… Unless I magically turn into well-toned bombshell overnight. Pretty please?

I had thought of trying experimental ways to detangle the wig before and today I bumped into a thread by ChilmarkGryphon on Cosplay.com forums and was like "Yeaaaah!". When we were vacuum forming we used silicone spray as a release agent on the molds. At the time I was too busy to think of anything else, but now I think I get inspired by "Detangling discovery: silicone spray lubricant" and start experimenting.

Here is the subject of the experiment. For peace of mind the design of the possible cosplay character will require the wig to be shredded to pieces. Normally I wouldn't go and try techniques I'm uncertain of in a pretty wig like this. Let's see where this ends up!

CosplayDNA = Love

Okay. Kay-chan wins at life. She found this amazing wig site where she purchased her first wig and is very much in love with it. D: She bought a long Auburn, heat resistant wig for only $30. It's silky smooth, hardly tangles and you can use curling iron/straightners on it.

I usually buy from YanKenShop or Designer Wigs and...whatever it was called but this site has won me over. I always have a slight fear of "What if this wig is totally wrong when I get it and I don't have time to switch it back?!" I also hate wasting time too. >__>; Anyway. I think this store is SORT of new because I never ran into it in the past..and I've bought 9 wigs from Ebay stores. (I've also never had a problem with eBay shopping so I am happy.)


ANYWAY. The point of this blog post was to show the wig I want! Click Here! It's the blonde wig I'm thinking I will get for my Tamaki cosplay.. ya? It should work. I haven't found anything with a good price and fine quality that will work for him yet (aside from this one).

I also really need to keep working on my Princess Agitha...and gathering more material for Mercede's crazy cross bow (What's up with me cosplaying small girls with crazy ginormous weapons? >__>)

-cough- Mercedes -cough-


She's adorable, but I won't really start on her until next year...since it's for our Fanime Odin Sphere group cosplay. But yaaaaaaaaaa. I'm going now. Need to draw some avatars for TinieMe friends. (TinierMe is so addicting...and so much cuter than Gaia. >:O)

New wig, new storage problem, new ideas

Yay, I have a new wig! Now I have a nice base to build Deidara's hairdo freshly. The previous one got partially send to where ever retired wigs go to... The part I could in anyway use have been fused with a similar one to be born as a short, boyish wig. The ponytail is from the original one and happens to be almost the right shade with the new one even though the producer isn't the same.

Not styled, only pinned to see how it would look like

After I have finished with the wig, we have planned with Yoki to do photoshoot with our crazy artists in their Akatsuki outfits. I think I will redo the undergarments also. They need some improvement and another choice in material. Current ones have uneven dye, which bothers me greatly and have suffered from seam ripping.

I don't know why, but I suddenly realized that we have some resemblance to these characters. Not only do I have long, blond hair and Yoki has short and spiky, we have some similar attributions in "art" as Deidara and Sasori. Well... I don't exacly blow up everything I have created, but Yoki is the more conscientous than me. In the series Sasori is portrayed as a teenager while Deidara looks like an young adult. I'm six years older than Yoki, but sometimes Yoki just acts more mature than I.

No wonder we picked up these guys from the bunch.