Featured In : 1,000 Incredible Costume and Cosplay Ideas (2013)

More book news! I have four costumes showcased in the recently published 1,000 Incredible Costume and Cosplay Ideas: A Showcase of Creative Characters from Anime, Manga, Video Games, Movies, Comics, and More, authored by Allison Deblasio, Joey Marsocci, and Yaya Han. The official blurb from the publisher:

1,000 Incredible Costume and Cosplay Ideas provides a broad and detailed glimpse into the ingenious artistry and attention to detail behind some of the most fabulous costumes you can find. Featuring costumes from popular convention-goers to professional craftsman, this stunning, photo-filled book by Joey Marsocci and Allison DeBlasio of Dr. Grymm Laboratories walks you through scads of your favorite characters as imagined and created by fans.

It is an amazing collection of exceptional cosplayers, including super talent Yaya Han, well worth the read! You can pick it up on Amazon, Chapters, and through a variety of other online and brick and mortar retailers :)

Image of cover property of Quarry Books

Featured In : The Star Trek Craft Book: Make It So! (2013)

I am very excited to announce that my Star Trek inspired Tricorder purse design, including a full pattern, tutorial, and my personal "log", have been published in The Star Trek Craft Book: Make It So! by Angie Pedersen which was released April 30th, 2013. The official description from the publisher:

Create 25 unique Star Trek–inspired crafts with The Star Trek Craft Book! Whether you’re a “Trekker in Training” or a seasoned craft whiz, you’ll find a project in these pages to pique your interest.These fun, quirky, and even practical crafts range from accessories to décor to toys. Boldly experiment with a variety of crafting projects, including crochet, sewing, embroidery, felting, and much more. Each project is ranked according to complexity and skill level—from Ensign to Admiral—and accompanied by easy to follow instructions and photos. Full of Star Trek facts and imagery, crafty tips, and fun, The Star Trek Craft Book is perfect for Star Trek fans and enterprising crafters alike.

The book is widely available (including Amazon and Chapters/Indigo) if you wanted to check it out for yourself! There are many interesting crafts from other contributors and all kinds of cool facts and images from the franchise :)

Image of cover property of Pocket Books

Duela Dent Cosplay - Ame-Comi Version

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

This was my third costume premiere at SDCC 2012. In 2011 I was lucky enough to find an Ame-Comi version of Duela Dent designed by the lovely Jim Fletcher of DC Entertainment while on my first trip to SDCC. After seeing her in person, I *knew* I had to cosplay her. How could I not? She was designed with so many wonderful small details in her outfit construction and clearly present is the steampunk theme, which I also love!

Below I have described my construction process, but as this was such a lengthy process I have only listed a selection of what I did. Follow the link for this and more images!

Monster High - Cosplay Teaser

Something I've been working on. This garment piece is entirely finished.. Can't wait to wear it! I may be premiering this cosplay at SDCC this year ;)

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

Sock it to Me - Design Entries

Last year I had a chance to shift from designing footwear, including original textiles and graphics, to a broader range of accessories for children and youth. Included in this was using my skills to design socks, which I greatly enjoyed, and hope to be able to do again in the future. Recently the awesome company Sock it to Me held their yearly global sock design competition. The whimsy in the designs they produce really resonates with me and my style of artwork so I decided to submit two original designs. It was good to flex my intarsia experience thus far and as always, fun to illustrate and create a textile! I would also love to be able to freelance for SITM in the future so it was a good opportunity to get into the sock design mind-set as well. Although I didn't place in the finals, I am very happy to share what I created for the contest. I hope you like them :) In order, they are titled: "A Strawberry Cake Walk" and "A Dilly of a Pickle."

Ikea Rast Hack - New Dressers / Nightstands

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

For my second Ikea Hack project, I used the Ikea Rast. Basically it is a very plain looking untreated pine set of 3 drawers. In our original hunt for something (ANYTHING!), we found the availability of bedside tables that actually have functional storage is pathetically low (and pretty ugly haha) so this was definitely a great solution! The Rast is fairly low and isn't too deep, so I thought they would work great as bedside drawer sets / nightstands. Plus, they were on sale for 39.99 which was great, so we picked up two. 

Bye Bye Google Reader

I'm sure that those of you that use Google Reader to follow me and everyone else on your blogroll have heard the unfortunate news that Google will be retiring the service as of July 1, 2013. The details are all here on their official blog..

I figured it was a good time to try out another alternative before I lost access, so I did my research and have now transitioned over to Bloglovin. So far I'm happy with how easy it was to transfer my reader list over and haven't run into any issues as of yet. If you'd like to follow my blog on Bloglovin you can find me by clicking the cool icon below, or the button on the top right column of my blog :)

Ikea Beddinge Hack - Upcycled Floor Cushions

Recently, we got a pretty new sofa bed and had two solutions to come up with. The first was how to break down the old Ikea Beddinge futon bed which we were *finally* getting rid of, and the second was we now needed some type of footrests to have in front of the new sofa.

I love to upcycle and came up with a plan! I decided that the best option was instead of making or buying an Ottoman, I would use the foam from the Beddinge mattresses and create stackable floor cushions. This way, whomever was using them could decide on the staking height, and they could also be used as single cushions if we wanted to sit on the ground with them. The foam was still in very good condition and had enough firmness for this project.

I started with the inner structure of something like this:

I took the foam mattresses from inside the seat and back (2 separate pieces) and removed the covers. The two mattresses were actually different sizes so I decided to use the depth of the smaller one to determine my cushion sizes-> 23" x 23". The height of the mattresses I kept as was, 4.75" (it would be a nightmare reducing the height of the foam!). Using a t-bar and ruler, I marked the parameters of each cushion on the foam using a permanent marker (hey, it would be covered with fabric so it didn't matter how pretty the foam looked) and then cut it with an X-Acto. This was not very fun considering how thick the foam was but eventually I ended up with a stack of roughly equal sized foam cushions! 

I found some chenille upholstery fabric I liked and drafted a pattern to make removable covers for the cushions. I put in invisible zippers along the side which were 25", longer than the length or width of the cushion. 

I basically had to go with what I found in regards to the zippers but in hindsight I should have made it my mission to find matching zippers longer than this to make things much easier for myself. It is snug getting the covers over the cushions through the zippered opening! Overall, I am quite happy with how this project turned out and I was very glad to have been able to recycle such a large part of an old piece of furniture.

Photo Credits: SMASHWORKS 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Rochelle Goyle Cosplay - Sponsored by Monster High x Mattel

Late Fall 2012, I was approached by Monster High x Mattel about doing an amazing collaboration. They wanted me to choose one of the newer characters from Monster High and create a cosplay for myself, recording all my process work and doing a final series of images of fully dressed up in the cosplay. My work would then be showcased on all their social media websites around Halloween. What an honor! I love Monster High and the talented minds behind it so it was a no brainer to say yes. I was even provided with a small amount of funding to cover some of the materials, for which I was very grateful. If you are a cosplayer or have seen my Toralei costume blog, you will know that cosplaying can be a very expensive endeavor. 

DIY Unicorno Creation

I went to a DIY Unicorno event last month and customized my first vinyl toy! I didn't have time to apply a varnish to seal the paint job, I think I will still do that. What a fun experience!

Photo Credit: Magic Pony 2013. All Rights Reserved.