I will go over more information regarding the two costumes I did (Kuranosuke from Princess Jellyfish and Eiger from Shadowrun: Dragonfall) in their own posts.  In this post, I'd just like to chronicle what I learned and things I hope to remember and refine in my future cons.

1. Take more pictures

     This was one thing in which I am truly disappointed in myself and kicking myself in the ass daily over.  In my excitement I completely failed to take pictures, selfies or otherwise.  I took a good deal of pics of other cosplayers, but didn't get many taken of myself.  I think that for the next con I will bring someone along to do some pics here and there or simply politely ask the people who stop me for pics to ask a couple of them to do the same.  Maybe sharing some pics of eachother would be helpful to both of us.  Or maybe I spend more time around the people with the big cameras?  I don't know.  Whatever the solution, I didn't do it at this con.  This means I didn't have a lot of "in the wild" shots of my costumes, so I have very little to pick apart as to how they actually wore.  This means I have less material to spot and learn from my mistakes.  Of course, there is also the vanity . . . we all love to see ourselves posted on other people's FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and all that other crap, right?

2.  Check, check, check, and check again

     While most of my Eiger costume went without a hitch there were certainly some next-to-last minute and totally last minute (as in climbing up the stairs to the stage) malfunctions that were frustrating.  Many of the things I was able to fix last minute in the hotel room using a carefully targeted bead of hot glue or judicious application of safety pins.  But the reality is this -had I done a more thorough job of going over the costume, working out kinks, taking it on and off many times, and fixing any flaws in design or breakages I would have had a much better experience and showing at the competition and in general.  There were things that I definitely would have noticed and addressed if I had given myself the time to do so in the couple of weeks before the con.  Instead, I didn't and paid the price.  Now, talking with other cosplayers and my own experience in costume construction in college, super last minute malfunctions WILL happen.  To mitigate such things, I plan to put together a costume first-aid kit to take with me into the competition green room.

3.  Other people will think you look far better than how you feel

     I felt pretty terrible when looking at myself in the mirror while putting on my Kuranosuke costume.  I felt even worse when I left the room, feeling I had done all I could and it wasn't enough.  But I was for damn sure wasn't going to change out of it and head out in my normal clothes.  Not after spending all that time putting it together and hunting down the right pieces.  So I walked out the door sure I looked terrible and feeling miserable, simply fueled by pure bull-headed intractability.  I was sure everyone would be laughing at me.  Instead I was greeted by people saying how good I looked, asking for pictures, and joyfully pointing out who I was cosplaying.  I still feel I looked like crap . . . especially in the professional picture I paid to have taken, but I know it wasn't as bad as I feel it was and that is something, I guess.

4.  Practice smiling

    I must not know how to smile.  This can be the only explanation for the horrendous face I made that ruined the few pictures that DID get taken of me.  Seriously, every pic looks like I seem to be making this red-faced grimace while I try to grin through the pain of having a large cactus jammed up my rectum.  Is this something practicing can fix?  How long do I need to spend in front of a mirror training my facial muscles to not become a visage of horror every time I express joy?  Thankfully my Eiger costume prevented any kind of smiling, so at least the pics of that are pretty good.  Seriously, has anyone needed to practice smiling in order to not look like Gollum about to tear into a juicy fish?  If you know . . . tell me!  I will be eternally in your debt.

5.  Practice moving in your costume

     I knew that I needed to practice this.  I did!  However, I didn't practice for long continuous periods.  I wore my boot for Eiger for about an hour or two a week.  I thought, "Hey, I'm pretty comfortable with this. I should have no problems!"  I did.  A lot.  I ended up wearing my Eiger costume for about 8 hours and I was in so much pain by the end that I have no idea how I managed to walk the stage.  Adrenalin and endorphin, I guess.  It was so bad, I actually dislocated one of my big toes. To be fair, it was the big toe I had dislocated in the past, but that in no way diminished the pain of it.  In the future I should move around in my costumes for extended periods.  This way I can discover exactly what the experience will be like. This will let me know what I might need to change and feel capable of walking around for more than an hour.

6.  Sewing is not like riding a bike!

     So . . . sewing.  I used to be pretty good at it.  I did costume construction for stuff at college.  I wasn't the best, but I was definitely pretty good.  That was about 15 years ago.  I thought I would be able to pick it back up with out too much loss of skill.  I was wrong.  Very wrong.  I had a difficult time running a straight line through my machine, much less finish a seam cleanly.  I was able to sew the things that I needed sewn; however, the quality of these pieces only ended up vaguely utilitarian.  It got the job done, but it most certainly wasn't pretty.  I need to practice a great deal to get my game back.

7.  Not all materials are equal in a given task

     This is no secret and I knew going into this.  Howevet, I learned a great deal about the particular tasks that EVA foam, craft foam, polyethylene foam, foam board, and the like.  I ended up using some materials for purposes they aren't ideal to the task merely for lack of time.  However, I know better know of what I SHOULD have used and my future cosplays will benefit from this knowledge.

   These are the things I learned.  These are the major things I learned.  Hopefully the knowledge of these things will result in better cosplays and less stress involved in making them.  I learned more things specific to the two cosplays I did this year and I will go into that in my posts about each one.  Yay!