Beware of Ninja

It’s not a con without stupid dancing, is it?

We’re in there about halfway, rockin’ out.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Ice Climbers

Name: Nana and Popo

Series: Ice Climbers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Debuted: Katsucon 2009

Status: Active

Notes

I thought we were going to sweat to death.

Popularity: 65% [?]

Sorry for so few pictures this year, but we had so many picture requests for us that we didn’t have a chance to get all the awesome cosplays we saw.

Katsucon 2009 Photos

Popularity: 29% [?]

I am taking new orders, but I will only accept orders with shipping dates after February 15th.

I apologize, but my serger hasn’t arrived yet and my sewing machine was damaged during my move.

Popularity: 17% [?]

We will not be taking any orders that need to be shipped before 1/01/08.

I’m moving to a new home where I’ll have 500 square feet to work with, which means I will be able to work with larger props, resin casting and all sorts of fun stuff I wasn’t able to before.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Diastelo wore Engineer and Yomiko Readman. I had Dr. Horrible, Medic and Wendy Earhart. Alas, my camera was made of fail and we only managed to snag a few shots on Saturday.

Popularity: 56% [?]

T-Mode was this past weekend (9/5-9/7) in Arlington, Virginia. I was volunteering most of the weekend, so I didn’t get as many pictures as I normally do, but what I did get has been posted up in the Convention Galleries.

Shout Outs

First off, the staff was wonderful and it was a pleasure working with everybody. Renee really pulled together everyone to make this con into a wonderful tribute to Lawrence.

The VA guests (Johnny Yong Bosch and Stephanie Sheh) were so much fun to see. I haven’t laughed that hard in a panel in a long time.

The Itachi cosplayer who I monopolized on Saturday evening: I hope I didn’t bore you to death and hopefully I’ll see you at AnimeUSA. Congrats to the rest of the Naruto cosplayers on the Masquerade win.

Geeks Next Door! Not only is the comic awesome, but they are very awesome people.  I love chitchatting with you guys.

The Geek Comedy Tour! Always fun to shoot the breeze with and as hilarious as ever.

The Game Room was awesome (so was the Gaming Director). F-Zero in the game room, I almost shed a tear. Also congrats to the fantastic Snake player in the SSBB tournament. That was amazing.

And to just about everyone else at the con: You guys made the con!

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Popularity: 27% [?]

First off, don’t be an idiot like me and decide to make the costume at the last possible second. While I ordered the boots, gloves and goggles a few weeks before, I didn’t actually decide to make the costume for the convention I was going until the day before.

So…

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Popularity: 80% [?]

Do you style wigs?

I’m not sure why people are under the impression that I don’t. I will happily style a wig for you, at the same rate per hour ($10) as my costume commissions.

I’m a crossplayer, can you make me a costume?

As long as you provide me with accurate measurements as well as information on whether your will be padding/binding, I can make a costume suitable for either gender.

Why are your prices so high? I can get a costume off of ebay for less than $100.

In reality, my charge per hour is much less than most seamstresses. Even so, I won’t work for less than a living wage. I also use quality materials and don’t use the ultra-cheap fabrics unless I am requested to do so.

In regards to ebay costumes, you get what you pay for. Sometimes you can get a great deal on a decently made costume. Sometimes you’ll get a poorly made costume out of cheap materials that take months to be shipped from China.

My budget is really small, what can I do to negotiate a lower price?

I will not budge on my charge per hour, but there are some ways to negotiate a lower price.

1. First off, let me know what your budget is so I can start coming up with ideas.

2. The materials fee is variable. You can request broadcloth cotton instead of the materials I would normally use, request that I don’t line an item, etc.

3. You can ask for different techniques to be used. Instead of having me embroider a border, you can request puff paints instead, which is faster. Instead of making an under-kimono or dress, I can use padded hems or panels to create the illusion without doing all the work.

4. You can ask for me to skip some details. If something is quilted in a reference image but it doesn’t matter to you, I can skip that detail and lower the amount of man hours needed for the costume. The same goes for embroidery, beading, and other time consuming work.

Why can’t you make *ridiculously complex costume* in two weeks?

I get a lot of requests for costumes with lots and lots of detail to be done in a matter of a few weeks. Please understand that not only do these costumes take a lot of time to complete, but I often have to order specialty materials online which take a week or two to be delivered. If I have time in my schedule for a rush costume, I will do it, but you will pay the rush fee.

A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. Please start the commission process at least 2 months before you need your costume and even earlier if the costume is particularly complex.

Why don’t you have ‘ready-made’ costumes?

I prefer to make quality, well-fitting costumes rather than ‘off the rack’ costumes. On occasion I will sell a completed costume that another customer defaulted on or a used costume that I no longer need, but this site will never become a costume warehouse.

Popularity: 19% [?]

In all the chaos and confusion of Otakon, you may have missed the new links in our sidebar.

First off is Cosplay Classes, an up and coming cosplay blog.

The second is the Beware of Zombies Gear. If you spotted our new sticker at Otakon and wanted to snag it or our t-shirts, hop on over. And you can still get our Beware of Ninja Gear, of course.

We’ve also simplified the costume ordering process by way of a handy, dandy How To Order A Costume page.

And we also now have a handy How to Order A Custom Parasol page.

Popularity: 17% [?]