Darcia (Wolf's Rain) Ver. 2

I just thought that it would be fun to share what Im going through at the moment to improve on one of my all time favorite costumes. Im always of the feeling that I can always do better, so Im in the process of working on improving this costume. Throughout this blog, just click on the images you see to see a bigger version.

If you dont know who Darcia is or what he looks like in his costume:




For this one, I am completely redoing the entire outfit, including his coat. Some of you remember me from Kawaii Kon 2005



I always felt that I didn't like the way my original wig turned out. It didn't have that "body" that is apparent in the anime or the images of him, so after fiddling around, I finally decided to do something about it.

In this post, I'll go through the process in which I am attempting to make the wig better, and later through the rest, I'll even describe how I am redoing the coat and the headdress he wears.

So first off, the wig.

This time, I decided to go with what I had originally done, cutting 1/4" strips of Stiffened Black Felt.


There are three sizes that I plan on working with. The full 14" length (that the stiffened felt comes in). The 9" length (which is the other way the stiffened felt was cut) and 1/3 of 14" pieces. The 14" and 9" lengths will all be wefted together with strips of extension hair. The smallest pieces will just be added to the wig to give it more texture and depth.

Also, I am using 22 guage Floral Wire, that I spray painted black:



Now with both felt and wire ready, I sewed the wire to the felt so it can give it strength:




Once done, I took wefts of extension hair and hot glued the tips to the wired felt:



So, soon, I'll have a bunch of wefts stuck to a cardboard box in my kitchen:



(make note, Dani, buy a lamp for your living room so you can do this there instead of the kitchen)

Once the wefts are ready, I took the Got2b Glued hairspray and began spraying and blowdrying the wefts so they would hold their shape and be stiffened:



I highly recommend this hair product for any type of spiking, wefting, or sticking hair to some other object. Its a miracle worker.

Now the wefts are ready, time to sew them into the wig:



Side view:



Once sewn in, you can see from the photos above that I already am attempting to give them the curved looked as referenced from his images above. I've only sewn in a few, but I am pinning the rest of the wefts into place so that I can guage to how much wefts I'll need to make, of which size and where the smaller strips of felt will go once the bulk of the hair is sewn in.

As it is now, its a work in progress, but keep visiting as I continue to add to this project.


Update: Well, after 24 hours of wefting, sewing, and hot-gluing and hair spraying, I've managed to finish this little recreation. Below are the images of the completed wig.

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Update: I've edited this blog so that you can see how to cast the accessories in the Nov. 2nd post. Please view that post as to how to make your own accessories by using Hot Glue (Thermal Adhesives).

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Update: After painting the castings for the headpiece, I assembled the accessory together. So here it is , Darcia's head....

AWA 12 Atlanta Georgia

I had the pleasure of attending AWA this year, as I wanted to experience what a "mainland" convention would be like, since the last one I attended was AnimExpo way back in the 90's (then, the total attendance was like 5,000 visitors). Struggling to find a room, I had the pleasure of sharing a hotel room at the Waverly, where the Convention was held, with a couple of Canadians, who were as friendly as they can be! So, this is a shout out to them, for letting me camp out . To Kevin and Vessa, much mahalos!

What was nice was that I was able to see how a bigger convention than Kawaii Kon is run and the different panels they had going. Interesting enough, the Waverly and the Cobb Galleria Center was mind numblingly huge. So, Kawaii Kon is definitely going to improve when it is held in the Hawaii Convention Center next year.

I also had the pleasure of meeting up with Michael Sinterniklaas again. Last I spoke with him, he was celebrating his birthday (Happy Birthday dude!) in California, and I had just missed his visit by only a week. So it was great to see him there (and get a really big hug from him). He's still as funny as ever!

Oh and I can't forget Jennifer Sekiguchi! It was awesome to catch the premiere of Paradise Kiss with her, since she directed the dubbing for it. Great job, girlfriend!

Okay now to the pics. Im only post a few, since I dont want to weight down with the load times!

California DMV Fun! - So what Vanity plate should I get?

Well, I went into the Torrance DMV to finally get my California Driver's License. Studied their handbook the night before. And prepared to be faced with waiting to stand in long lines to get my license.

I only had to wait 15 minutes, but then it took three hours to finish all that I needed to do. Word of note, if moving from out of state, contrary to what is on the CA DMV website, get a smog check done for your car! I had to leave the DMV for a bit to go get a smog check.

Written test for the DL was easy. The only thing I missed was the specific form you had to fill out (and TURN in yourself - the police wont do it), if you're involved in an accident that has less than $750 worth of damage to either party. Other than that, piece of cake.

So now I'm licensed in California to ride a motorcycle and drive a car! BTW, for those of you who think that Registration fees in HAWAII were expensive, think again. My reigstration fee for my car in HI with a VANITY plate was only $180. Here, its $200 without a vanity plate. Great. In the space of two months, I've spent $380 on just registration alone. EEK. Add on the $45 per year smog check fee, and well, its just hella more expensive to drive here. I've yet to see what insurance is going to cost me.

So, once my mortorcycle gets here, what vanity plate should I get? The one I used in Hawaii (and happily handed over to a DC Gal), is already taken and every variation I can think of is taken. So I need suggestions. What kind of vanity plate should I get?

Im a chick (duh)
I ride a 2005 Yamaha R6
I like to drag race (and will be looking into it doing that here)

Anything else you need to know? Just post a comment..

Thanks all

Hawaii Hit with a 3.1 Magnitude Earthquake

Wow. I can't believe that an earthquake was felt through Hawaii last night. Leave Hawaii, and I miss out on the "fun" stuff. Wait a minute...I just realized that I moved to a state that experiences a lot of earthquakes....

ohs wells.

Congrats to SCCA Solo II Hawaii

They finally had their first race after the last one in April, since the closing of Hawaii Raceway Park. The news covered most of the event and got interviews and some race footage. Aloha Stadium (not STAIDUM!) allowed SCCA Solo II a three month trial in their South Parking lot. Hopefully, the situation will allow them an extension

Open your beer bottle with paper

Yeah, its a slow process, but heck, if you're half drunk with other drunk friends, it could provide some entertainment value.

STAIDUM!

Yes, even the State of Hawaii can make dumb mistakes on road signs. Even after the "bright" airport sign debacle, they've also shown that they can't even spell Stadium correctly.

Remembering racing at Hawaii Raceway Park

Thought I post this video done a ways back, because this was one of the last few times I was able to race at Hawaii Raceway Park before it closed its doors on April 1, 2006.

Now that I'll be living in California, I hope to get more video of racing there.

My Recent trip to California

Just recently, I made a trip to California, to scope out my new state to call home. I'll be moving to Gardena, home to many displaced Hawaii folk, like myself, who have made their home in Southern California. Of course the trip was for business and to look for a new home to set up in.

After having to wait 40 minutes for a Thrifty rental car bus to take us beleaguered travelers to their location on Century Blvd, I suddenly found that instead of the compact car, I was upgraded to a Dodge minivan. Oh yeah, gas guzzler in the state whose gas prices were bordering on being even more expensive that Hawaii's. A good thing though, is the furthest I had to drive anywhere was all of 10 miles.

So, from the rental car location, it was fast drive down La Cienega to the prominently signed Ramada. Checking in was fast, though their parking was one to be desired. Remember, Im in a minivan. It aint the most maneuverable piece of machinery on this earth. So, I found a nice little space near a pillar, which was probably why all the other gas guzzling SUV's and vans didn't take it. I parked just fine and proceed to my hotel room.

The hotelroom is very nice. Bathroom was near the door. Clean, good amount of counter space. Toilet...okay, where the heck is the bathtub?

Its in the bedroom.

Its quite...interesting to have your bathtub right there next to your bed. Can't complain as it was a nice sized tub.

Word of note. REMINDER to never drink water from the taps here. Brushing my teeth was an adventure the worst tasting water on this planet. Bottled water from now on. Dont forget to find that 7-11 quick.

So, business meeting on Wednesday; meet with relatives and start the apartment hunting. I have to say that this was the highlight as I got good recommendations from my relatives on where in the Torrance/Gardena/El Segundo area would be a good place to live. Found a posting at the Marukai at Pacific Market Center and went to see my first of only two apartments / rooms for rent. Boy, this is tough place to find a decent place to live. Met with a nice japanese couple for the first apartment. They were remodeling so the floors were torn up. The bedroom was just carpeted and I got to see the new flooring they were planning on using for the bathroom, kitchen and living room. This was going to be a nice place.

2nd place was a room for rent in Palos Verdes. As nice as the house was, I wasn't happy with the fact that the women had different times of being there and it was quite noisy since Torrance Blvd was near there.

So only two places in one night. Guess which one I wanted?

Friday, I signed the contract for the apartment. Spent Friday night with my relatives. Saturday provided some time to see their family plot overlooking a beautiful view over San Pedro. I then gave my goodbye to my relatives, knowing that I'll be returning in only a few short weeks. I met with my friend for lunch, who was running late due to traffic on the 405 (thank heavens, I wont have to use the freeways to get to work!), but it was a nice lunch at the nearby Mariott. She dropped me off at the airport and off to Hawaii for last chances at good weather, good beaches, good food and taking care of loose ends.

All in all, Im looking forward to my move. Hopefully, California wont be too much of a drag.

And they say tv is bad for you!

Well, imagine being Corey Workman. Corey lives in Florida. What creatures live in Florida and are causing a major wide spread problem for that state? Yeah, you guessed it. Alligators (blog jack - did you know that Gatorade was named that because the creators developed it in Florida?)

So, Corey Workman was attacked by an alligator. This 16 year old boy was dragged to the bottom of the St. John's River, struggling to get out of its death grip on his left foot. What is a boy to do? Oh, yeah. He remembered watching a special on the Discovery Channel about how to deal with alligators. Ya POKE'em in the eye, matey!

With his newfound knowledge, this boy was able to escape from the death grip of an alligator and live a happy life in Alligator infested Florida. Good Job Corey!

This post has no real world value to no one.