Diy Vanellope Von Shweetz hair clips using.... beads!!!!

So as some of you may know, RB Simms did a Vanellope cosplay very recently to add to a Disney Princess cosplay group we did. And once we got closer to the date we realized we were missing a very vital part of her cosplay.... Vanellopes candy adorned head! Ya I know... how could we possibly forget. Well running a productions company leaves you with those moments a lot.

So in my moment of craftyness I remembered how she had some stars in her hair and they looked familiar. And after rummaging through our 'going to goodwill' bag I found the old box of beads I'd loved as a kid. And guess what? The beads were perfect for small sprinkles and bits of hard candy!

So you'll need some stuff.

• A lot of bobby pins(enough for each bead)
• Lots of beads in bright colors with preferably round or cylindricly shaped. And some yellow star beads(I had these from when I was younger so either a craft store has them  or your young siblings do.
• A hot glue gun or whatever heavy duty one you want to use.
• Oh and a peice of card board or thick paper.

Now lets get started! Its so easy its like one or two steps.

1) Take a bead and put a little bit of hot glue on the back

2) make sure the bead is going to be glued to the top of the bobby pin that has the shorter end that curls up slightly.

3) I had a peice of thin card board laying around that I pushed to the end of my table and put the bobby pins with beads still drying on the card board to dry. You could also use a thin magazine or junk mail.

4)though the picture shows wire cuters/wire I did not like it and I went s ddifferent route.

And now you are done! Sorry I didn't get pictures of RB wearing them :< 

But here is the finished product

not the best picture of the hair clips but you can sort of see them :> 

RBs motivation: kugel mugel and vanellope day 5

So Lulu and I had a cosplay sewing sleepover at her house since she was finished and has working sewing machine. MAGIC woman!!

Pinned the tights together. Never underestimate children's size tights. Kids don't have the booty. While I do......So had to do some alteration to hike them up and cover my ass on the greener side. All came along though

Ignore the muffin top appearance the shorts are fabulous, comfy, and poofy which is all the matters. And it took lulu less than half an hour to go from bare fabric to the end result. MAGIC WOMAN

Here is a very bad picture of the vanellope outfit so far. Just need to add the bands on the turquoise side and we should be good

As you can see cosplay is pretty much done except for the beret, MUST SEARCH HARD, and shorten the vest. As it is too long and hides the poofiness too much. Lulu's hemming as I type and I hope to pick it up tomorrow

And here are the bands we made out of the weird embalming socks and sharpie. Got 12 to last me through the con. No sewing needed, just going to slip them on and see what happens.

PROGRESS we have it!!! Now to just get the fan art done...

end of day 5

RBs motivation: kugelmugel and vanellope day 3/4

Okay so yesterday I hadn;t slept from 10:30 a.m. wednesday to 10;30 p.m. thursday night. Why? Because Scarface is too awesome to pause, I was doing this late again and I usually think it's a good idea. I almost fell asleep at work three times if it weren't for my lovely coworker Katie making us all coffee during the slow period.

So I'm continuing today because I feel I have made a lot of progress over two days. Well for me and my schedule at least.

So I've been working on the Vanellope Skirt. Got the fabric for Kugel Mugel shorts and besides the red beret to get fucking Nic Cage to locate since no one sells it, I'm pretty much done with the cosplay. I think. I thought I would need to make bangs for the wig but no. Which is great, just braided it and looks fabulous now. And I got other things to worry about!

Uneven braids are uneven. May fix later on but for right now. ASYMMETRY IS ART.

So here's the fabric and the two different types of elastic I got. Will work with Lulu either tomorrow, unless I have to work, or def on Sunday

Here are the finished and last group of badges. Trust me I have too many now and i jsut want to buy more. Will make the last portrait ones into earrings for a last minute b-day present in the future

So here's the skirt. I remember last year, or even previous year, I was needing to make two cosplays involving black pleated skirts. DO you know how difficult it is to make a pleated skirt? NOW ADAYS WHEN NO ONE WEARS THEM OR HAS A SCHOOL UNIFORM WITH THEM. Because they're too sexy. So i'm pretty sure ALL cosplayers know, or will come to know this. And with that fact, why not use one for both cosplays? There was a big red stripe across one, while not on the other. I did just that for ICD Madison WI though.

Trick is for a short skirt, which it usually is. Get a long one, which actually exist cheap, and alter it. Extra fabric never hurt anyone.

But in that mindset I was so stressed and called my dad to go get one from savers. In the end it was dark brown. NOT BLACK. I was stressed and expected this thing to happen. BUT now I have a skirt for Vanellope. All good things come to those who wait children and here it is, rather long for my short legs.

It's also a weird fabric, stretchy and texturised like half melted nerds.

Close up of the pleates They are physical strips pleated down all the way. Not just nice folding. Good for a recess cup skirt not for hemming.

 

Here it is stretched out

Weird right?

Here I cut it, rather unevenly. And was planning to jsut hem it and add a second layer with the extra fabric like the original design

Till I ran into this problem. IT DOES NOT FLOW LIKE A PLAYFUL GIRL SKIRT. IT'S A PENCIL SKIRT. Those curves are my hips. See where I'm hitting walls? Fuck this stretchy fabric, so heavy it don't flow properly.

This wouldn't be a problem for someone without an ass probably. Like many of my male friends. I would have loved to be born with that stick bug body shape. I COULD BE AN ANTELLOPE. But this way if the economy ever gets bad, I could pose as a slut. Not be. Just pose. For middle schoolers.

So I scrapped that idea. And with the extra fabric I decided I;m going to make a skirt from scratch. Tip is to hem the pleats loosely so that it's forced to fold even if the fabric doesn't want to flow all nice. And I will not make a second layer. IF IT WORKS simply because no more fabric and i'm going to kill myself. Hoepfully this will work the way I need to on Sunday. I won't kill Lulu's machine and I won't need to start over with less than a week before the PANEL. NOT JUST THE CONVENTION. THE PRINCESS PANEL WHERE CHILDREN JUDGE.

Couldn't get a proper pic of wearing the skirt as it doesn't fit to my waist with the right effect of the flowing. BUT IT DOES FLOW MUCH BETTER NOW. Let's just hope and pray

Those are sticky note bar pin safety pins. Because normal pins won't hold this thicker stretchy fabric that I will forever hate but can not name.

Reason I was too busy to work on cosplay earlier. I made zombie make up for the L4D2 cmv!

Our Hunter extra. He has really long eyelashes. So long I can't paint his under eye area. We have to use actual make up.

End of day 3/4

RB's motivation: Kugel Mugel and Vanellope day 3

And so I got distracted by watching Scar Face. And now I'm watching it again because it's quite amazing a movie.

But I did make more progress today.

I BOUGHT the tights for both cosplays but I got to figure out some stuff for Vanellope since she has two different types of tights.

Claires no matter how girly it is for tween girls I say it's good because these both used to be 10 dollars each. Went down today to 1 dollar each because of some weird special sail. And they are rather NICE.

Party City, I have doubts......over priced and cheap tacky quality with rather limited variety.

As you can tell i had to buy two of each. Because details matter. Party city sucks for costumes off halloween season. They just got to much inventory to be able to have out. For some reason it was more expensive to buy solid colored FOOTLESS tights (leggings) than striped tights (covers feet). What? So that's why I decided to buy a different style. Again since Kugel mugel is artistic I feel he could be mix some patterns in. I tried it with the full outift (sans purple shorts not yet made. that is a puple T-shirt for palette) and I'm liking the result

I'll have to see on the day of the con.

Now the Vanellope Tights. I thinking of a few options
1. Use mint green ones and add the stripes by this tutorial  http://anyapanda.deviantart.com/art/Vanellope-von-Schweetz-Striped-Tights-Tutorial-373286004 Which involves making more like bands that can be taken off
2. Sew both together and either make the bands or sew the bands on the non striped leg which might be a cool effect since Vanellope is supposed to be very thrown together
3. Be lazy, take the non matching striped ones and add the black stripe with sharpie on one leg.

So far option number two sounds the most fun and would get the most use out of it

I also made some more badges for Kugel Mugel. He needs three; one for his beret, one on his ribbon tie (Got it) and one on his vest.

These I think will be for the beret rather than originally the vest since they are so small. But I was rather limited on funds today and having not enough change for tax is beyond embarrassing bro. These were a thankful clearance of only 1.99 from 4.99 at Michaels (realizing it is rather overpriced at times). There is a cool Dragon one two that I think I'll save for later.

But what was really cool about these is they're like fake francs which is the currency of many european countries, sadly not Kugel Mugel the micronation but of german speaking countries like Switzerland and Luxembourg. Which is still uber kool. These are obviously fake franc designs but still I think nice effect

Made using just found pendants, chicken wire (missing loops had to make my own), and bar pins

I also had this fall into my bag. Idk what it is or how to incorporate it but it's cool. They would make some cool earrings probably for someone (No piercings for me, can't maintain)

I wanted to start working on both the vanellope skirt and the shorts today but I couldn't get to Hancock fabrics at all because of difficulties. So I'm going to try and do so VERY EARLY tomorrow. As SRP has a construction meeting for a music video anyway so i'll be around friends with sewing prowess and machines

Amongst weirder things, almost every single person I spoke to today seemed very tense and irritated today. I guess for every hump day there's someone raped on a Wednesday.

BUT PROGRESS WILL CONTINUE NO MATTER WHAT.
End of day 3

RB's motivation: Kugel Mugel and Vanellope Day 2

So first cosplay heroes is on. It's alot more different than I was expecting. I really don't know if I will keep watching after face off ends every week. Yaya might make the drama worth it. BUT THAT IS THE THEME FOR TODAY since I made some good progress.

Above are the things I saw and the socks I bought for  Lulu. They're weirder than I thought....they are thigh high toeless socks. Didn't see that coming....

 

This is what I wore today from thrift shopping for fun. I thought it was pretty cool and I never get to really dress up AND go out for no reason

Also Sand hill cranes crossing the street, that's what happens when you are made to walk for two hours

ANYWAY MOVING ONTO THE POINT
So first off made good progress on Kugel Mugel, actually got the entire torso parts done; pinstripe dress shirt, white vest, black tie ribbon, and possibly badges

The shirt is supposed to be a blue pin striped dress shirt. And I had some trouble finding one in my size so i thought I would settle on buying a fab purple one instead

But then I searched another store and found A PERFECT SHIRT.

 I think it would have worked either way seriously considering the color scheme. Kugel Mugel is an artist so I imagine he would get fashiony. I actually can't believe his pinstripes don't already match his purple shorts now that I think about it. It all worked out though because I get an awesome dress shirt for keeps to wear on Pride day!

Onto the vest. It actually came from a three piece sexy 90s woman's suit. I'm thinkin that's what you call it.

I only needed the vest but there wasn't really a way to buy it alone. Eh best 12 bucks I spent I think. BONUS: That tank shirt is so flattering and smart. It has a zipper that zips down for solo dressing. The top porsion actually hugs your chest and is free to flow at the bottom. SO it actually stays up and is VERY flattering, which is hard to find for my body type of petite, broad shoulders, boobs and hips. Most of the time if I try and find something pretty it's too long or I look like a skank in childrens clothes. Ah 5 foot nothin blues..... I'M KEEPIN THE PANTS AND SHIRT THO

Now the original design is a closed button standard formal vest. But that's very hard to find in stark white. Very common in darker colors though. Mine is more of a cardigan style with a single button for hugging curves. KUGEL MUGEL IS A GUY THO. If I wanted to be a fem version it would be a cinch, litterally.

So I have come to the conclusion that I need a binder of some sort of compression shirt. Because I was wearing a very good sports bra, good for gym and lots of running but it still didn't flatten my chest enough to my pretty thin waist. And this is women's clothing so it's tighter and more curve accentuating. We'll figure this out later though.

(Dad had to take that pic and he got my face when I told him not too..........don't be fooled I was actually feeling pretty great about the outcome.)

Now onto the black tie ribbon. Again took some more artistic girlish liberties. This is actually made out of a very soft halloween zoro mask i found while looking for some fabric scraps.

I took really bad quality pics on my ipod as that is my only camera but I would like to splurge on the process.

I decided on transforming the mask because of the texture (or lack of), weight, length, and curving of it. The ends used to tie around the head are what inspired me the most, because they tapered into a nice fold that I thought was very elegant. I feel Kugel would agree, as THAT IS ART RIGHT THERE

I found that most masks don't have a full skull wrap like the one I found so I am lucky because it created a lot of good fabric I could use to make the very thin see through material solid and opaque.

The main thing I did was cut off the eyelit part into this weird butterfly bat shape thing. I also cut the curving seam down the middle so it would no longer bunch. Kind of good and bad I had the skull wrap design in stead. LOTS of extra fabric

Talk about taking flight....... SO next I realized I should hand sow the extra material into a sort of more bandana head band shape. Or well think of the rosey the riveter bandana; folding that large square shape into a long rope to wrap up and keep your hair away. Lulu knows what I'm talking about.

Handsowing took awhile since I hadn't done it in awhile and dark lighting on black fabric with black thread = not fun. Probably 45 mins. I also took short cuts remembering it would twisted around the collar anyway. Don't sweat some tiny details bro most people snap a pic and run away when you do it right

Curved it inward you can see the nice tapering of the ends that I didn't have to cut! So no loose strands as it is already hemmed by party city! Yeah creative upcycling!! And it's silky to the touch to boot!

Oh and Octopus pin to keep it together still taking from the original design but adding my own spin.

Tip on badges and cosplay jewelry. As you can tell I like editing the original design to what I find in real life. Jewelry is a pain in the ass to find specifically for cosplay.

To get around this I say go with you think both your character and you would want to wear. Life's a lot more fun that way if it's not an essential like the character family crest or an FMA military insignia of alchemy.

And to get around even more make your own! That is not an octopus badge, it was a pendant that I added a backing to. I recommend hot glueing or securing the pendant backings proffessionally but I opted for sticky back types instwead. Not most reliable but for now

PENDANTS ARE THE BEST. As they can get very creative and beautiful while you can make them into whatever. Like a badge, a ring, a bracelet, anklet, or a necklace since it already comes with a loop usually.

These were made for my lady gaga vma meat dress last year and it was awesome hard work. They were pendants at first that were glued to childrens toy ring facets. As I ahve small fingers and they were the only ones that could adjust to me fingers. It was very easy to just pull off the fake gems and glue on the pendants. And trust me you could kill someone with these rings they are so huge and fabulous.

No progress on Vanellope today till I can get those tights! Sorr for super long post but it was an eventful day with Lulu and Tricia and details needed to be splurged!

End of Day 2





P.S. We got prizes for the Panel. Dollar Store=Magic Baby

R.B.'s motivation; Vanellope and Kugel Mugel Day 1

okay, so first blog on here by R.B. The common sense kacking, on and off again motivated, painter, and volunteer propmaker of SRP. Also default actor in these poverty filled times.

I'm going to be Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck it Ralph (EPICMOVIEBTW) with our group at our Geek.kon 2013 Disney Princess Panel. As well as Kugel Mugel the micronation in Hetalia for the Hetalia panel.

So today I went thrift shopping for sadly only two hours to get some supplies for both. As it is CRUNCH TIME!!!!!

I could not get almost anything done on Kugel Mugel, as I didn't have a reliable reference on hand, but I did get some good progress on Vanellope.

Here is the jacket

I TRUST YOU IT IS A SHADE OF MINT GREEN, MY LIGHTING IS JUST TERRIBLE AT NIGHT. It is very close to this

I decided to go a darker shade because of my limited time and, it's hard to find long sleeves in summer. Along with sweatshirts, because if you think about it, they're kind of impractical. You can't take them off without messing up your long hair. So I decided also on the zip up. It will be much easier for me around the con, when I run around and we need to go outsidet to get mcdonalds. The pattern is also different, but the only other solid mint green jacket was too small and had some blue distracting stitch. I also thought it was a bit too bright for my own taste. But I think the texturing fits nice with the minty candy theme. Don't kill me Disney

you'll also see the pull strings and stitching is RED rather than pink. That was my mistake. But I stand by it because red and hot pink look very similar.......I've also become stupider in the last two weeks. Hopefully nobody will call the cosplay police on my ass for a change in shade because we all know pink is just light red.

Now I was also able to get the twizzler hair tie made

It actually is supposed to be red. So I got smart on that. It doesn't really have the shiny texture that would have been nice. But I think it makes do for right now. It was very easy, just braiding and twisting a combination of thick red string and pipe cleaners together.

Beware the texture does actually show up in considerably contrasting shades that aren't pictured here. But I personally like the outcome as it stays up and does wrap around my hair solidly on it's own.
If anything I would suggest a wire with a rubber coating for the shiny texture. And to make the twizzler as thick as you want

EDIT: I might make a small video on how to make the twizzler hair tie. It is very simple though, just get it twisted with the materials.

Now onto the skirt, leggings, hair. AND KUGEL MUGEL.
End of day 1.