Japanese artist Sachiko Abe sits atop a building in a white gown, cutting countless sheets of A4 paper into thin, wispy strips. The performance piece known as Cut Paper

Here’s a “life-hack” for you. Apparently concentrated Kool-Aid can be used as a pretty effective leather dye. I was making a drink while cutting the snaps off some new straps for my pauldrons and I got curious, so I tried it, thinking, “ok even if this works, it will just wash out.” Nope. It took the “dye” (undiluted) in about 3 seconds. After drying for about an hour and a half, it would not wash off in the hottest tap-water. It would not wash out after soaking for 30 minutes. It did not wash out until I BOILED it, and even then, only by a tiny bit and it gave it a weathered look that was kind of cool. Add some waterproofing and I’d wager it would survive even that. That rich red is only one application too. Plus it smells great, lol. So there you go, cheap, fruity smelling leather dye in all the colors Kool-Aid has to offer.

WELL THEN!

this may be important to some of my followers *and certainly not just getting reblogged because of my costuming and my boyfriends desire for leather armor*

When I was in middle school we used to use it to dye our hair.  Potent stuff.

If you’re dying anything with kool-aid it’s best to use SUGAR-FREE ones otherwise the thing you’re dying might get all sticky

the flavor only packets where you are supposed add sugar are the best.  they will dye any natural fiber: leather, wool, cotton, hair,  flax, jute, silk and so forth.  heat the dye water so it is more potent.  let dry then rinse excess out in cold water.  there’s  a whole system to this. 

Oh my god

This will prove very useful for any future cosplays I wanna do.

Someone figured out how to make a mask that responds to eye movement! Another amazing start to a cosplay! 

Props to Lenses Factory HK

8 Cosplay Makeup Hacks EVERYONE Should Know! | Face Taping, Brow Concealing, Anime Lips

Tutorial by: iwasakamiyuki Tutorial Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgZ7Q_rqUis

Wig Hack Wednesday #7!

So, many of you guys are probably familiar with the wire+tape method to make drill curls in wigs. But did you know you can also use wire+tape for spikes? You can get more natural-looking spikes that won’t flop over time with this method. And you won’t have to spend hours glueing hair down on a foam core. This method is good for long spikes that stick outward like Axel from Kingdom Hearts, or Aigami from Yu-Gi-Oh! In this tutorial, I used a Vegas base wig in Dark Blue from Arda Wigs Here are the steps:

- Section off hair for the spike. Cut a piece of floral wire in the length you need for the spike plus extra 1 inch (you will know why later). And sandwich the wire between two strips of clear heavy-duty packaging tape. Trim the tape down to long triangle shape - Divide the hair you parted eariler into two sections and clip them away (make sure the top section has more hair than the bottom). Stick the end tip of the wire into the wig cap and have it poke out below. If you need to, use your shears to punch a small hole in the wig cap so the wire can poke through - Bend the end tip of the wire up into the main wire to create a triangle leg that will help support the wire’s position. Hot glue part of the wig cap to the wire inside the leg to secure it - Tease the inner layer of hair from each half of the spike with a teasing brush or fine-tooth comb - Comb out the outer layer of the spike to clean it up. Put glue on the wire and press down the top section of the spike first - Do the same for the bottom section of the spike - Trim more layers near the tip of the spike to create more dimension - With a flat iron on medium heat, flip the end of the spike to shape it, hold until it cools - Comb the outer layer of the spike, spray it in place with Got2B spray, and use Got2B glue or Tacky glue to secure the tip

And that’s it! Enjoy your cool spikes with minimal effort. I hope this was helpful to you guys. :D

I’m the person trying to pet it.

I HIGHY AGREE WITH THIS

STOP DYEING WIGS WITH SHARPIES AND ACRYLIC INK

USE. FABRIC. DYE. FOR. SYNTHENTICS.

I never ever ever see people talking about this, everyone understandably gets excited when they come across the holy news that is dyeing synthetic wigs with sharpies and ink but you will find out the hard way that that shit RUBS OFF on stuff.

Synthetic wigs are basically made out of similar fibers to what synthetic clothing is made out of. USE. FABRIC. DYE.

The wig won’t be crunchy, it won’t wear off, it won’t rub off.

THis is a link to a huuuge color experiment showing lots of shades dyed onto white fibres with RIT and then iDye Polyester, which is what I recommend bc it’s more predictable.

Spread this like fire I’m so tired of seeing everyone flip about ink when I know you’re gonna end up with crunchy, staining wigs.

Amen!

I’d like to add a note from personal experience. You can still have an issue with the color leaching onto your clothing. The good news is, if this does happen you should be able to wash or dry-clean your cloths and the color will come right out due to the nature of the dye. I had a wig dyed with red iPoly that left a lot of marks on a white dress. After dry-cleaning it was back to being pure white again.  This is a fantastic method and I highly recommend it. 

I must also say that in the past couple years, synthetic dyes have become way more accessible for cosplayers but it used to be that the only way to dye was with ink or sharpie.

The first time I dyed a wig was in 2012 and I used FW ink. Yes it came out powdery and crunchy but that’s all I had. I had to travel about an hour to get to the closest place that sold iDye and they only had about 5 iDye Poly options. The only other dyes sold near me we’re all “natural” based dyes like Rit Dye (which I love, don’t get me wrong, but they’re made for Cotton and other natural fabrics not synthetics). It’s only been in the past 2 years that I’ve been seen more versions of iDye Poly in stores (at least closer to me) and now Rit has their own line of dyes of synthetics.

So while, this totally should be the method used now, don’t make everyone who used this method in the past feel bad for using what was available to us.

Wig Hack Wednesday #6 ! Want to make your ponytail wig more believable with top volume? Ponytail clips are cool but they can be uncomfortable after long hours of wearing. You can make seamless high ponytail with this method for characters like Kasumi (Dead or Alive), Widowmaker (Overwatch), or Medea (Fate/Grand Order) For this demo, I used a Sandy Brown Jeannie base wig from Arda Wigs. The Jeannie comes with a tied up ponytail wig with a ponytail clip. You can use normal non-ponytail wig as a start as well. Make sure to alter the wig so you can tie it up for the stubbed part and use extra wefts for the high ponytail part.

- Undo the tail of the Jeannie base wig and re-tie it higher. Use elastic band for this instead of rubber band so that it won’t melt against hot glue later. Cut off the extra length of the tail as closely as you can to the tied area. Stub with hot glue. - Cut a piece of cardboard for the tail’s “extension”. - Hot glue the cardboard piece to the top of the tail, going around it. I used a half-piece, but if you need extra support, cut a bigger piece so that you can completely wrap it around the tail. - Add paper to the top of the cardboard using packaging tape. You can stack it higher if you wish but keep the weight in mind. - Take the butterfly clip out of the ponytail clip that comes with the Jeannie. Cut the piece in half. - Use the bottom piece from the last step to glue onto the top of the tail. Start gluing near the tied area first. - Section off the hair so it’s easier to neatly glue it down to the paper form. Start from the top area, and then the two sides. - Remember the other half piece from the ponytail clip earlier? Cut it in half again and use one of the halves to glue to the underside of your big ponytail to close the gap. - Brush the hair and hairspray it in place and you have a strong high ponytail! Since it’s heavy-back, you may need to sew in some wig clips or zig zag flexi comb inside the wig cap by the hairline to make sure the wig doesn’t slide backward when you walk around.

Cosplay tutorial pet peeves

Tl;DR: Precision and clarity is important when writing tutorials because “I glued my foam and painted it” can result in a finished prop or a melted mess. 

*You can also get EPS insulation board. You can probably still use it for props, but it’ll be easier to sand and shape XPS board.

Wig Hack Wednesday #5 ! Have you ever wanted to use the same wig for that one character who can’t decide if she wants to wear her hair in twin tails or let her hair down? (Aka Nozomi from Love Live) Or, have you found a perfect wig color for your character but the wig just doesn’t come with a back-parting? Well, here is one way you can fufill your cosplay goals on a budget! Also good for when you want to re-purpose a wig for different characters. For this demo, I’m using a Venus in grass green from Arda Wigs. I love this color and the length is perfect for Mallow from Pokemon Sun and Moon. My goal is to add a back-parting to the Venus base wig but make it detachable in case I wanna use the wig for other cosplay. - Part the wig down the middle in the back, and clip the hair away on each side. Cut the hair from the inside layers of the wig to use as wefts for this project. By leaving the outer layers uncut, when you tie the wig into twin tails or let the hair down completely, it will hide the trimmed part - Use Tacky glue (or other glue that dries clear but flexible) on the tip of a small piece of hair. Use your fingers to squeeze the hair flat to make sure the glue covers all of the hair on the tip of that piece. Wait until it almost dries - Put more glue in the back side of the piece of hair by the tip. Press the hair piece down onto a strip of soft felt sheet. I happened to find a nude colored one that matched me, but you can use acrylic paints to get the level of color you want (paint the felt strip prior to the start of the project) Also, I find that holding up the felt strip and pressing the glued hair down allow more control and help create more “curve” shape from the center part - Once you finish gluing hair down on the whole felt strip, turn it over, and hand-sew some wig clips on the back side. 1 inch spacing between each wig clip worked well for me. You’ll need about 4-5 wig clips for the whole felt strip - Now you can clip the felt strip onto the main wig in the back. Make sure you leave two small pieces of hair from the main wig at the top where your felt strip would go - Clip the felt strip in place. Make sure it doesn’t come off when you tuck on it. Take the little piece of hair from the main wig that you left out earlier, and section it in half on each side - Criss-cross the hair pieces to hide the “seam” of the top of the felt strip - Comb and blend the hair from the main wig with the hair from the felt strip, and tie your twin tails - You can unclip the felt strip later and comb down the hair to use the same wig as a normal long wig! Another good thing about this method is that you can use your felt strip for other projects if you buy other wigs from the same company later and in the same color. Or, you can turn an ombre wig into twin tail style for J-fashion shoot and wear the wig as a long wig the next time. This is not the “best” way to do back-parting, but I wanted to focus on being cost-effective and easy enough for beginners to attempt. Have fun wiggin’!

#asianproblem

there are some fics that I would sell my soul for them to become 5+ hours long movies depicting every single detail, every quote and every thought with perfect casting and 1080p ultra HD and endless refils of popcorn and soda

are you a fold the corner of a book person or bookmark person? are you a shower in the morning person or shower at night person? are you a call or text person? are you a wine or beer person?