Lady of the Thread's Sewing Basket

Going to Canada...

2012-08-05T14:22:05Z

Wow, it’s been forever since I posted here and since I’ve really checked my friends page. But I haven’t got the time for a huge update at the moment. ^_^;;;

Any of the Canadian people here going to the Toronto cosplay picnic next weekend? Some of my brother’s friends from up there invited him and he asked if I wanted to go, too. So, I’m going to be in Toronto next weekend.

Will be taking the train up on Thursday and staying with relatives until Tuesday so I’ll have some time to visit with them and do some sightseeing. I want to visit the textile museum again while I’m there. I skipped the shoe museum last time since I’m not that into shoes. Is it worth going? Any other museum/sightseeing suggestions? Or anyone want to go see them together? Don't know when I'm going yet but Monday seems most likely; there's supposed to be dinner Friday and lunch Sunday with relatives so I'm not as sure about how my schedule will work out those days.

And for the picnic, I’m currently trying to finish up Valentine’s default outfit from Gankutsuou. Still need to finish the jacket, trim the bangs on my wig and do the scarf in her hair.

Boston

2012-04-03T17:43:44Z

Wow, I’ve been lazy about posting. ^_^;; Still haven’t even written about Katsucon yet but I think I’ll wait until after the weekend.

Anyway, Anime Boston is this weekend and it looks like I’ll be on my own this year; my brother had been thinking of going to PAX East but decided a few days ago to stay home instead. By the way, is anyone looking for a PAX badge? I think he’s trying to sell his. And he's reconsidering going now so I'm not sure what will happen.

Still trying to figure out what to pack for Boston other than Lia, which now has the missing panel added and a redone ruffle on the chemise. After Katsucon, I just wanted a break from sewing before going back to it. Haven’t started on another cosplay yet since the ones I’m more interested in would have taken a lot of embellishment and I didn’t want to rush. I did start sewing a dress out of a fun Japanese print fabric but don’t know if I’ll bother to try finishing it for Boston since it’s more of a summer dress and it’ll be somewhat cool this weekend.

Probably a couple of older costumes without really bulky pieces since Lia already has a quilted petticoat and I’ll only have one suitcase for costumes plus all the other stuff I usually bring to cons. So, no jellyfish dress since that plus Lia just about filled my whole suitcase for Katsucon. Might pack my D kimono or one of my Ryuuren costumes.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

2012-02-14T02:58:13Z

Leaving for Katsucon Thursday morning and I’m so not ready. X_X The chorus from this describes my Lia progress pretty well:

It feels like every time I fix or solve an issue on the costume, something else breaks or another problem comes up. -_-X It’s almost wearable at this point but still needs most of the trim and I still need to cut shorter bangs into my wig. Don’t know if I’ll be able to get to covering shoes with leftover fabric to match.

Working at the Funimation booth for the Princess Jellyfish promotion 3-6 Friday afternoon and 10-1 Saturday morning. Come and make jellyfish dolls!

And I don’t know what else I’m doing. Not sure if I have time to pack other stuff since I still have so much sewing to do.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

2012-01-23T06:23:52Z

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year!

Katsucon is in less than a month and I’m finally feeling motivated to work on stuff again. Don’t have much planned for the con yet. I’m going to be helping with the Princess Jellyfish promotion at the Funimation booth on Friday and Saturday; it’s going to be my first ACP event and we’re supposed to be helping attendees make jellyfish dolls so hopefully, it’ll be fun. :-D I’m also trying to finish Lia’s Russian portrait gown from Le Chevalier D’eon. I started that one two years ago but shelved since it looked like I wouldn’t be able to reuse Ekaterina’s corset as I was planning. And I’m not sure what else I’m going to bring yet.

The past week and a half or so has been pretty productive. I made a mini hoopskirt to go with my jellyfish dress. (The shape reminds me a bit of a lampshade. XD) I originally wore the dress with a plain petticoat under my ruffled one but the weight of the pearls at the hem smooshed the petticoats down and made them not as poofy. The hoopskirt is a great improvement and I love the shape it gives the dress now! (This is what it was previously like for comparison.)

I’ve also finished making the petticoat for Lia. I had it mostly done but needed to finish hand hemming the bottom flounce and gathering and attaching it to the rest of the petticoat. I also did a petticoat out of pre-quilted fabric to go under it. And I’m working on a new chemise now since the sleeves on the old one are too long and it would be easier to have the lacy ruffle at the neckline on the chemise instead of the actual dress. Then, I’m probably making a new strapless corset since the straps of my Ekaterina corset were showing past the neckline of my gown mockup. Will post Lia progress pictures next time.

Dreamwidth

2011-12-31T03:46:07Z

Finally getting to posting about that thing I mentioned the other day… I made a dreamwidth account:

http://ladyofthethread.dreamwidth.org/

If you have an account there, let me know so I can add you! I haven’t completely decided what I’ll do yet. I figure I’ll import this journal over there as a backup but I don’t know if I’ll move completely and I would at least crosspost. The new default commenting system isn’t a big problem with my personal journal since I’m using a S2 journal style and those comment pages have stayed the same.

It is a problem for large communities though since a lot of them used the default and needed subject lines, which were taken out of the new layout, for organization. I got back into roleplaying over the summer and the new layout has caused problems for the game I’m in and it’s moving to DW. I’ve been a lot more active on my characters journals lately, too, than this one and had one of them as a paid account for the extra icons. So, I’m going to be moving those journals over completely.

Even though I’ve had this journal for nearly 7 years now and have stuck with the site despite a huge chunk of my friends list abandoning it for Facebook and Twitter the past few years, service has really gone downhill this year with the repeated attacks and wonky notifications. :-/ (I never got the notifications for some of the people who requested cards this year and there’s no telling anymore whether a notification will show up when a comment is posted, a few days later, or not at all. There’s no consistency to it at all anymore.) And with the awful customer service and the rudeness of some of the staff lately (there were thousands of comments in the news posts telling LJ not to take out the subject lines and they were ignored), I feel “ugh” about the prospect of giving LJ any more money. I still like the format for posting entries (still have no interest in making a Facebook or Twitter) but I’m just frustrated with all the problems that have come up.

And no cosplay review this year. There isn’t really any point considering how unmotivated and uninspired I was this year. I only made 3 costumes: the second Ryuuren outfit, the jellyfish dress, and 1930s Nancy Drew. I didn’t really like any of my jellyfish dress pictures that much and I don’t even have pictures of Nancy at all since I didn’t get a chance to do a shoot before it got too cold. :-/

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T04:12:00Z

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I have some other things to post about, too, but I'll save that for later in the week.

Thanksgiving and a new project

2011-11-25T03:42:50Z

Happy Thanksgiving! We only had a few relatives over this year so it was pretty quiet.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated so here’s what I’ve been working on lately… Not a cosplay but a patchwork project. I’ve had a quilting magazine with a kimono-themed pattern sitting around for a few years. It’s called The Tea Ceremony and I started it a couple of weeks ago with Japanese print fabrics I’ve collected over the past couple of years. There are 17 pieces of fabric sewn together to make each kimono block. I still need to make two more of the small ones but want to buy more fabric first since I’m trying not to repeat the main fabrics. I also need fabric for the rest of the quilt; there are other blocks with teacups, lanterns and appliqued kanji. (Not sure if I’ll actually do the kanji that way though since in some cases, it would be appliqueing tiny irregular dots.)

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T03:59:22Z

It’s been a while since I’ve posted so let’s see…

NYCC/NYAF was a couple of weeks ago. Huge crowds again and lots of walking in circles since I wasn’t much interested in shopping or guests. (The soles of my feet felt weird for a few days afterwards!) I probably spent about a third of the con just hanging out at friends tables in the artist’s alley due to not wanting to deal with the crowds and boredom. I think I only saw about 15 people I knew and never ran into some other friends in the crowds. I ended up helping neoangelwink and athena_chan sell hats for a while on both Saturday and Sunday since there wasn’t anything better to do.

On the bright side, I did manage to find a cute little Clara plushie from Princess Jellyfish. Only one dealer seemed to have them so I guess they’re pretty new. And I got a tiny clay figure of a Harvest Moon cow in the artist’s alley. It was only an inch tall so I was amazed the artist managed the miniscule details by hand! And it was kind of amusing that she wrapped it up for me in a tiny Chinese takeout carton. XD;

As a couple of you guessed, my new costume was Nancy Drew! More specifically, a vintage version from the original 1930 cover of the first book, “The Secret of the Old Clock.” I didn’t have time to do the clock and wouldn’t have wanted to lug it around such a crowded con anyway so I got an old fashioned magnifying glass with a wooden handle to carry around as a prop. Surprisingly, a few people did realize I was supposed to be Nancy Drew, including one of the guys at the Papercutz booth (company that did the Nancy Drew graphic novels) who recognized it as being from “The Secret of the Old Clock.” I didn’t really think anyone would get it since the cover has been redone a couple of times and the original isn’t in regular use anymore for the books.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of it yet. I didn’t bother to get pics of it at the con since the Javits is terrible for photo locations and I figured I could do that around Halloween, which would also give me time to do the props. But that didn’t work out since my brother was having midterms these couple of weeks plus he has a Saturday class and there was that snow on Saturday, too. (What the hell? It never snows here this early! o_O;) So, I ended up doing nothing for Halloween and only finished making the clock earlier today. :-/ It’s a fabric-covered box because I can’t build props. >_>; I also painted the pattern on the fabric for the blanket.

And I'm still not completely sure what I'm doing...

2011-10-14T04:13:11Z

So, NYCC/NYAF is this weekend. I have one new costume and I’ll wear my red Daphne dress since it’s simple but I haven’t decided for sure what my third costume is yet. (Yeah, that kind of reflects my enthusiasm level for this con. >_>;) Hopefully, I'll get to hang out with some people I haven't seen in a while though.

The new costume is actually a Western character and I think she’s pretty well known since she has been around in some form or other since the 1930s. But I don’t think anyone would really get it since her appearance has changed a lot over the years and I’m trying to do a vintage version from when she first appeared. Any guesses? :-D

Birthday and NYCC

2011-10-01T03:57:01Z

Today was my birthday and my family went out earlier for a huge Chinese dinner with relatives. Lots of food!

Started ordering stuff and patterning out a possible new costume for NYCC. Haven’t bought fabric yet so let’s see if this actually gets done in time…

Does anyone still need to buy a 3-day pass for NYCC/NYAF? My brother has an extra that he’s trying to sell. He managed to get a press pass after he already bought a 3-day pass at Midtown Comics. And I already ordered mine so I don’t need one either.

Mice ate my purse! o_O;;;

2011-09-25T00:19:27Z

Ack! We’re having mice problems again and they chewed through a purse I don’t use much because I forgot there was some chocolate left in there. O_O; They probably got into the house through the heating system and we’ve trapped four of them lately.

Bought my badge for NYCC/NYAF last week but still feeling blah about it. Don’t know if I’m making anything new. There still isn’t really anything appealing to me and the con itself doesn’t really inspire me to put in lots of effort, considering the crowds and lack of good photo locations. :-/ Many of the things I have on my possible cosplays list would take too much embellishment for me to do in three weeks, take up too much space, or be really random for this con. (Like one of the things I was considering earlier this year was Harvest Moon cosplay but a farm girl would be extremely random considering it’s more NYCC than NYAF these days.) Plus, I feel like I need to lose weight too since I gained some over the past year or so. ._.;

Mid-Autumn Festival

2011-09-12T22:05:10Z

Happy Mid-Autumn to those who celebrate! I actually got this picture from a Chinese-themed Metlife ad but thought it was cute. Snoopy having mooncake with his bird friends. :-D

Tea disappointment

2011-09-09T02:15:57Z

Labor Day weekend wasn’t too eventful. My family had a barbeque on Sunday, which is rather rare. (Our grill lives in the garage almost all of the time and only gets dragged out about once a year. We finally used the last of the bag of charcoal which was well over 5 years old!) But it was just us so it was quiet.

Monday was a bit of shopping. Hadn’t been to the mall for a couple of months and I was kind of surprised to see a Teavana store had opened there. The only one I’d seen before was the one in the mall at Anime Boston and that mall was quite a bit more upscale. I’d been tempted to get some tea at the con this year based on the samples they had in the store but had resisted since I rarely take the time to brew loose tea. So, I thought this might be a good chance to get some although it’s expensive. My initial excitement didn’t last though.

The tea I was interested in was rather pricey so I only planned to get the smallest amount (2 oz.) but I hadn’t realized it was a blend so I had to buy 2 oz. of each of the teas. The second tea in the blend was only about half the price of the first so that wasn’t too bad. But I basically had a 16 oz. tea canister pushed on me for an extra $7, too. I’d never bought any of their tea leaves before but I had gotten some as a birthday gift from ngmaster a few years ago and it came in little bags and I remembered seeing it measured into bags for other customers at Boston this year. When the salesgirl poured it into the tin, I thought it was just for mixing the two teas before bagging it but nope, they expected me to buy the tin, too. So, I ended up spending over twice as much as I was originally expecting and getting a huge tin (about 4” diameter and 8” tall) that’s only a quarter full and that I don’t have room for in the kitchen so I wasn’t completely pleased when I left the store. -_- They told me I could bring the tin back when I wanted to buy more tea but it’s so big it would be annoying to haul around. I had been thinking about getting 2 oz. of another of the less expensive teas also but after the tin thing, that didn’t happen. (From the comments on a post I found on a tea blog afterwards, it seems the salespeople at the chain have a reputation for being pushy.) Bah. I think if I want to try other Teavana teas, I’m just going to wait until I’m also buying gifts and can put together an order big enough for free shipping through the website. At least, the tea that I got should last quite a while since I doubt I’d brew it more than a couple of times a week.

And NYCC/NYAF is only a bit over a month away but I’m still feeling unmotivated to work on anything cosplay-wise. :-/ It never was one of my favorite cons and I wasn’t a fan of the huge crowds last year. Large costumes just aren’t practical since it’s so crowded and the location isn’t great for photos so there’s nothing I would be super excited to make for it. I also feel rather out of the loop since hardly anyone posts regularly to LJ anymore and that’s not really helping my blah feeling either. Still trying to figure out if there’s anything I want to bother making for the con. Meanwhile, I’m trying to reorganize my beads/jewelry supplies.

Huh, that was an earthquake? o_o;

2011-08-24T02:44:10Z

I was in the living room earlier today when I felt some faint vibrations and noticed the leaves on the potted plants shaking. I actually thought it was just construction since there’s been quite a bit around the neighborhood. The thought of an earthquake did cross my mind since I looked out the window and didn’t see anything obvious going on outside but I was like “Nah, we don’t get earthquakes here.” I didn’t realize it really was an earthquake until my father called a bit later and asked if we felt it too!

Planning to go visit neoangelwink tomorrow since I haven't seen her new place yet. Will bring my cross stitch to work on while she and athena_chan do faces on their hats.

Saiunkoku Group Pics

2011-08-22T02:58:14Z

I’ve been meaning to post pictures from the Saiunkoku group at AnimeNext for a few weeks but I’ve been lazy and I’m only getting around to it now. ^_^; neoangelwink was Shuurei again and kitsunesqueak joined us as Eigetsu. athena_chan was busy in artist’s alley but dressed one of her friends in her Ryuuki costume so we could have the whole group.

Not the right costumes for it but we tried to recreate the cover illustration from one of the gaidens. This was a bit awkward since we weren’t really the right heights for it either. I had to stand on tiptoe. ^_^;

Ryuuren sticking to Soul Friend Number 2. Too bad there wasn’t a Kourin to glare at us! XD

A couple by myself since I didn’t have many individual shots in this costume.

Shuurei made steamed buns…

which Ryuuki tried to hog! (I actually made them out of gathered circles of white felt with stuffing inside so they weren't that tasty. XD)

Eigetsu is scary when he has sake!

Shuurei and Ryuuki

No, Ryuuki, Shuurei doesn’t want a kiss…

Ryuuki might have some competition from Yougetsu…

Oh, dear… o_O;

Rain and Cross Stitch

2011-08-20T01:50:43Z

Yikes, that storm on Sunday… It rained all day, I think I heard 7-8 inches, and the basement and living room have new leaks to prove it! -_-

Here’s what I’ve been working on lately, the cross stitch piece I started last year. The blue dress is the part I’ve done over the past few weeks.

And finally, the end of the cosplay meme, which everyone else finished like a month and a half ago… >_>;

26. Any unfinished costumes? Will you ever finish them?
A few. I have a half-finished Ritsu kimono but I’m unlikely to ever finish it since I’m not really into Fruits Basket anymore. There’s also an original stained glass fairy which has the dress done but no accessories; not sure when I’ll finish it since I don’t know when I’d have a good chance to wear it. And I started on Lia’s Russian portrait gown from Le Chevalier D’eon last year but it got put aside; I think I’ll try to finish that one for Katsucon.

27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favourite?
I haven’t done an exact count but probably 20-25. No real favorite. None especially stand out since I don’t have any wigs in crazy styles.

28. Where do you work on your cosplays and where do you store them when they’re done?
It depends on what part I’m doing. Patterning and cutting fabric gets done in the living room since my sewing room is somewhat small. I usually do machine sewing in the sewing room and then hand stuff in front of the computer while watching stuff. And they get stored in a closet when I’m done.

29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)
Hmm… I’ve never really thought about favorite individual items. I guess my Petshop of Horrors plushies. T-chan is especially fun although it’s been a long time since I’ve brought him along to a con.

30. Describe cosplay in three words. No more, no less.
Many hours crafting

More of the meme

2011-08-11T02:33:51Z

Still not that much of interest going on here. I’ve been working a bit on cleaning and organizing. And I’ve gotten back to the cross stitch piece I was working on last summer. Went book shopping last week since Borders is liquidating and picked up a bunch of crafting/sewing related mysteries. (Really disappointed to see Borders go since it was the most convenient place for me to buy books locally and had better sales; although there are more Barnes & Noble stores around the city, they’re further out of the way compared to the places I usually go in the city) Some of the older series I was reading have slowed down or ended and it’s been quite a while since I’ve really started following any new mystery series so I’m trying some more recent ones out.

21. Show us your best cosplay derp photo!
Nearly forgot about this one. XD; She’s not in the pic but I blame novaraven for this!

22. Have you worn cosplay in a regular situation? (eg. at school, to work)
Hmm… Not really. Generally, I only wear my costumes at cons and events, to do photoshoots, and for Halloween. I’ve worn my Chinese dress for Count D’s sister to a few wedding receptions since it’s nice enough but obviously without the wig and contacts.

23. Your most expensive cosplay
My 19th Century Count D costume. Lots of fabrics, beads, two pairs of prescription color contacts to do the mismatched eyes, and even more fabric and tons of thread for the phoenix.

24. Your most comfortable cosplay and most uncomfortable cosplay
I guess most comfortable would be the Tohru sundress I made years ago. I only had clip-in bangs instead of a full wig and the rest of the costume was pretty casual.

As for uncomfortable, many of my costumes are to some extent since I make so many long layered things that are awful for summer. ^_^;;; Not sure if any of them stands out from the others in terms of being much more uncomfortable.

25. The cosplay you put the most effort into
Hmm… After all these years, I still don’t think anything has beat my formal Terra from FFIV in terms of hours. I handstitched all the flowers on the dress from loose sequins and did beaded trim on my scarves so there’s 200+ hours of work on it. I redid a couple of the scarves after this photo though.

1. Your first cosplay.
2. How many costumes have you done?
3. Your most recent cosplay.
4. Your cosplay communities, where do you go to talk about cosplay?
5. Blatant self plug! Link us to your cosplay page, be it dA, ACP, Coscom, whatever!
6. Your favourite cosplay (that you have done)
7. The character you have cosplayed that is most similar to you (if none that you have cosplayed, then one that you will cosplay)
8. Your cosplay plans for the rest of the year (if you have no more for this year, then do next year!)
9. The dream cosplay that might just happen
10. The dream cosplay that will never happen
11. Something cosplay-related that you will never do (eg. crossplay, cosplay from a certain series)
12. Your cosplay idol.
13. Your cosplay specialty (ie. something that seems to apply to a large amount of your cosplays, it could be a specific series, or a common feature in their appearance, such as glasses)
14. Your cosplay-making habits (eg. singing while working on cosplay)
15. Your least favourite thing about cosplay>
16. Do you belong to any cosplay groups? If so, what are they?
17. What events have you cosplayed to?
18. What is your best cosplay memory?
19. What is your worst cosplay memory?
20. Have you won any cosplay awards?
21. Show us your best cosplay derp photo!
22. Have you worn cosplay in a regular situation? (eg. at school, to work)
23. Your most expensive cosplay
24. Your most comfortable cosplay and most uncomfortable cosplay
25. The cosplay you put the most effort into
26. Any unfinished costumes? Will you ever finish them?
27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favourite?
28. Where do you work on your cosplays and where do you store them when they’re done?
29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)
30. Describe cosplay in three words. No more, no less.</s>

Not much going on...

2011-07-27T00:37:32Z

Hmm… It’s been quite a while since I posted. I’ve been enjoying a break from cosplay stuff since AnimeNext and I guess I just don’t have much interesting to post about when I’m not working on costumes.

Otakon is this week and my brother and his friend are going. I am not.

Otakon has never been one of my favorite cons; I don’t like the location and Baltimore in the middle of summer is just terrible for the types of costumes I tend to do (long with lots of layers). I know a lot of people like it but I just seem to have terrible luck whenever that con is involved and last year was the last straw. :-/ 2006: was okay but very expensive since I missed the con hotel blocks and I didn’t find it that impressive for such a large con. 2008: missed the hotel blocks again, my shoulder got sunburnt waiting outside in the registration line (and I never get sunburnt!), my father and I got caught in a hailstorm on the way home plus I got carsick (also a rare thing for me). 2009: didn’t even go and still got burned; I’d booked a room through the housing bureau in case but we decided to do a family vacation instead and I canceled several days before the deadline. Still got charged for one night by the hotel and had to call my card company to dispute it. -_- And last year… Well, see below under “worst cosplay memory.”

And I still need to finish this meme which most people were done with weeks ago. >_>;

16. Do you belong to any cosplay groups? If so, what are they?
Not any formal ones. Once in a while I get to do groups with friends which is really nice since a lot of my cosplays are from rarely cosplayed series! ^_^

17. What events have you cosplayed to?
Lots of conventions. AnimeNext and Anime Boston have been the ones I’ve been to most regularly. Also MangaNext, Otakon, NYAF, Costume Con, Anime North, and Katsucon in various years. Plus some non-convention events like Sakura Matsuri.

18. What is your best cosplay memory?
Hmm… I don’t know if there’s a single thing I can pick out. In general, I think I’ll say getting to have groups for the series I love since as I mentioned above, groups are somewhat rare for me. I’d love to have people to cosplay with more often!

19. What is your worst cosplay memory?
Otakon 2010. -_-X We thought she was getting better but my grandmother went back into the hospital two days before the con, which was too late to cancel the hotel without a penalty and we had all pre-registered. Then, I called the hotel a couple of hours before we left and found out they had overbooked and moved us to another hotel. And I had specifically booked that hotel since I had pictures in mind I wanted to do there so that wrecked nearly all photo plans. I was pretty upset with that on top of everything else going on and knew before we even left the house I knew I was never going back. So, I didn’t want to be there that much and was crying in the hotel room Friday night after calling home and finding out they had a scare with my grandmother that day. I highly doubt anything could ever top this as my “worst con ever.” If it had been just me, I’d have just completely canceled plans after my grandmother went into the hospital the first time shortly after AnimeNext 2010. But my brother and his friend wanted to go (they’d never gone before last year) and my father was taking the weekend off to drive down there with us.

20. Have you won any cosplay awards?
Yep, quite a few! Except for a presentation honorable mention at Costume con a few years ago, my awards are all for craftsmanship since that’s my thing rather than performing.

1. Your first cosplay.
2. How many costumes have you done?
3. Your most recent cosplay.
4. Your cosplay communities, where do you go to talk about cosplay?
5. Blatant self plug! Link us to your cosplay page, be it dA, ACP, Coscom, whatever!
6. Your favourite cosplay (that you have done)
7. The character you have cosplayed that is most similar to you (if none that you have cosplayed, then one that you will cosplay)
8. Your cosplay plans for the rest of the year (if you have no more for this year, then do next year!)
9. The dream cosplay that might just happen
10. The dream cosplay that will never happen
11. Something cosplay-related that you will never do (eg. crossplay, cosplay from a certain series)
12. Your cosplay idol.
13. Your cosplay specialty (ie. something that seems to apply to a large amount of your cosplays, it could be a specific series, or a common feature in their appearance, such as glasses)
14. Your cosplay-making habits (eg. singing while working on cosplay)
15. Your least favourite thing about cosplay>
16. Do you belong to any cosplay groups? If so, what are they?
17. What events have you cosplayed to?
18. What is your best cosplay memory?
19. What is your worst cosplay memory?
20. Have you won any cosplay awards?
21. Show us your best cosplay derp photo!
22. Have you worn cosplay in a regular situation? (eg. at school, to work)
23. Your most expensive cosplay
24. Your most comfortable cosplay and most uncomfortable cosplay
25. The cosplay you put the most effort into
26. Any unfinished costumes? Will you ever finish them?
27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favourite?
28. Where do you work on your cosplays and where do you store them when they’re done?
29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)
30. Describe cosplay in three words. No more, no less.</s>

I'm slow with this meme...

2011-07-12T00:01:30Z

Already posted this on ACP last week but haven’t gotten around to putting it up here. Here’s the jellyfish dress from Kuragehime. Still need to properly finish it up since I ran out of time to do the accessories for AnimeNext but I’m not in much of a hurry since I won’t be going to another con for months. I sort of want to replace the wig since it’s kind of thin at the top but I don’t think there’s really anything else waist-length and wavy or curly in lavender. (It’s the Showgirl wig by New Look in Purple.)

More of the cosplay meme… I think most other people finished it up already. ^_^;;

11. Something cosplay-related that you will never do (eg. crossplay, cosplay from a certain series)
Cosplay from a series I dislike. For me to cosplay something I have to like the series, even if I’m ambivalent about the character. I’ve done a few costumes where I loved the series but didn’t especially care about the character because I liked the outfits over those worn by my favorite characters from that series.

12. Your cosplay idol.
Um, I don’t really have one person in particular. I feel a bit out of the loop with what people are making these days since not that many post regularly on LJ anymore.

13. Your cosplay specialty (ie. something that seems to apply to a large amount of your cosplays, it could be a specific series, or a common feature in their appearance, such as glasses)
I guess there are a few answers to this. I’ve done a whole bunch of Count D costumes plus other Chinese style costumes. And construction-wise, I’m usually doing linings or seam finishes. To a lesser extent, I also tend to do a lot of detail work like applique and hand painting.

14. Your cosplay-making habits (eg. singing while working on cosplay)
Hmm… I tend to do handsewing like hemming or sewing on snaps and buttons in front of the computer so I can also watch stuff while working.

15. Your least favourite thing about cosplay
Probably the preparation work like gathering supplies (there are times when I feel like I go into store after store and there’s nothing that I like) and altering patterns and cutting fabric. I tend to work better once the stuff is cut out and I start sewing but getting started on something is sometimes hard for me.

1. Your first cosplay.
2. How many costumes have you done?
3. Your most recent cosplay.
4. Your cosplay communities, where do you go to talk about cosplay?
5. Blatant self plug! Link us to your cosplay page, be it dA, ACP, Coscom, whatever!
6. Your favourite cosplay (that you have done)
7. The character you have cosplayed that is most similar to you (if none that you have cosplayed, then one that you will cosplay)
8. Your cosplay plans for the rest of the year (if you have no more for this year, then do next year!)
9. The dream cosplay that might just happen
10. The dream cosplay that will never happen
11. Something cosplay-related that you will never do (eg. crossplay, cosplay from a certain series)
12. Your cosplay idol.
13. Your cosplay specialty (ie. something that seems to apply to a large amount of your cosplays, it could be a specific series, or a common feature in their appearance, such as glasses)
14. Your cosplay-making habits (eg. singing while working on cosplay)
15. Your least favourite thing about cosplay
16. Do you belong to any cosplay groups? If so, what are they?
17. What events have you cosplayed to?
18. What is your best cosplay memory?
19. What is your worst cosplay memory?
20. Have you won any cosplay awards?
21. Show us your best cosplay derp photo!
22. Have you worn cosplay in a regular situation? (eg. at school, to work)
23. Your most expensive cosplay
24. Your most comfortable cosplay and most uncomfortable cosplay
25. The cosplay you put the most effort into
26. Any unfinished costumes? Will you ever finish them?
27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favourite?
28. Where do you work on your cosplays and where do you store them when they’re done?
29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)
30. Describe cosplay in three words. No more, no less.</s>

Teatime

2011-07-04T02:35:43Z

On Friday, I went to visit my best friend who moved into a new condo with her sister recently. Her boyfriend baked scones and made sandwiches so the four of us had tea outside on the terrace, which was nice. ^_^

We tried some of the flowering tea I’d brought as part of a housewarming present, a new variety I found at Pearl River. They seem to have somewhat random names and this one was called “noble madam.” It bloomed prettily though!

And here’s the food. Mixed berry scones, egg salad sandwiches, watercress sandwiches, watermelon chunks, and strawberries (the bowl on the bottom that you can’t see into).

6. Your favourite cosplay (that you have done)
Count D’s 19th Century outfit from Petshop of Horrors is still my favorite although I don’t bring it to cons that often anymore.

7. The character you have cosplayed that is most similar to you (if none that you have cosplayed, then one that you will cosplay)

Hmm… Maybe, Kyoya since he’s smart and tends to be serious. A bunch of other characters I’ve done are rather silly when I’m usually more serious in real life.

8. Your cosplay plans for the rest of the year (if you have no more for this year, then do next year!)

Um, not much since I don’t have any more cons planned for the year other than maybe NYCC/NYAF. I’d probably do Morgan LeFlay from Tales of Monkey Island for that.

And maybe get back to working on Lia from Le Chevalier D’eon which I started last year but got put aside. Probably wouldn’t get a chance to wear it until next year at Katsucon though.

9. The dream cosplay that might just happen
Layla’s Cinderella ballgown from Kaleido Star. Although group plans for this past Costume Con fell through, I’d still like to try to make this at some point.

10. The dream cosplay that will never happen
Since the Costume Con theme this year was Broadway, I had thought about making Polly’s white finale dress from Crazy for You. But decided it would be too expensive with all the ostrich feather trim along the bottom of the huge circle skirt (the feathers would have been hundreds alone) and too impractical since I wouldn’t have good chances to wear it again. Plus, a lack of good reference pictures.

1. Your first cosplay.
2. How many costumes have you done?
3. Your most recent cosplay.
4. Your cosplay communities, where do you go to talk about cosplay?
5. Blatant self plug! Link us to your cosplay page, be it dA, ACP, Coscom, whatever!
6. Your favourite cosplay (that you have done)
7. The character you have cosplayed that is most similar to you (if none that you have cosplayed, then one that you will cosplay)
8. Your cosplay plans for the rest of the year (if you have no more for this year, then do next year!)
9. The dream cosplay that might just happen
10. The dream cosplay that will never happen
11. Something cosplay-related that you will never do (eg. crossplay, cosplay from a certain series)
12. Your cosplay idol.
13. Your cosplay specialty (ie. something that seems to apply to a large amount of your cosplays, it could be a specific series, or a common feature in their appearance, such as glasses)
14. Your cosplay-making habits (eg. singing while working on cosplay)
15. Your least favourite thing about cosplay
16. Do you belong to any cosplay groups? If so, what are they?
17. What events have you cosplayed to?
18. What is your best cosplay memory?
19. What is your worst cosplay memory?
20. Have you won any cosplay awards?
21. Show us your best cosplay derp photo!
22. Have you worn cosplay in a regular situation? (eg. at school, to work)
23. Your most expensive cosplay
24. Your most comfortable cosplay and most uncomfortable cosplay
25. The cosplay you put the most effort into
26. Any unfinished costumes? Will you ever finish them?
27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favourite?
28. Where do you work on your cosplays and where do you store them when they’re done?
29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)
30. Describe cosplay in three words. No more, no less.</s>

Cosplay Meme

2011-06-27T23:43:56Z

Ugh. Somehow, a mosquito got into my room this morning and decided I was breakfast. I got bitten like ten times. -_-X

Going to do the cosplay meme that’s been floating around since I actually have decent answers to most of these. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any memes; I tend to skip a lot since they’re too long or my answers would be really boring. I’ll do them in batches of 5 the next few times I post.

1. Your first cosplay.
Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh for AnimeNext 2003. (The photo is actually from a couple of years later though.) I did make the coat but it was intended to be a normal coat and just got appropriated for cosplay when I decided it could pass for his purple coat. ^_^; Black clothes were just bought and I made the accessories. Still get occasional questions about the card locket but the business card case I used as a base has been discontinued for years; too bad since the pattern on the lid was perfect for it.

2. How many costumes have you done?
Around 30. Considering I’ve been doing this for about 8 years, it’s relatively few per year. ^_^;

3. Your most recent cosplay.
Kuranosuke from Kuragehime which I don’t have a good picture of yet (plus I didn’t get a chance to make the crown and earrings for AnimeNext) but here’s the jellyfish dress on my dressform.

4. Your cosplay communities, where do you go to talk about cosplay?
Here on LJ, mostly. I hardly post on cosplay.com anymore other than on the con specific forums once in a while.

5. Blatant self plug! Link us to your cosplay page, be it dA, ACP, Coscom, whatever!
http://www.acparadise.com/loves/lady_of_the_thread

6. Your favourite cosplay (that you have done)
7. The character you have cosplayed that is most similar to you (if none that you have cosplayed, then one that you will cosplay)
8. Your cosplay plans for the rest of the year (if you have no more for this year, then do next year!)
9. The dream cosplay that might just happen
10. The dream cosplay that will never happen
11. Something cosplay-related that you will never do (eg. crossplay, cosplay from a certain series)
12. Your cosplay idol.
13. Your cosplay specialty (ie. something that seems to apply to a large amount of your cosplays, it could be a specific series, or a common feature in their appearance, such as glasses)
14. Your cosplay-making habits (eg. singing while working on cosplay)
15. Your least favourite thing about cosplay
16. Do you belong to any cosplay groups? If so, what are they?
17. What events have you cosplayed to?
18. What is your best cosplay memory?
19. What is your worst cosplay memory?
20. Have you won any cosplay awards?
21. Show us your best cosplay derp photo!
22. Have you worn cosplay in a regular situation? (eg. at school, to work)
23. Your most expensive cosplay
24. Your most comfortable cosplay and most uncomfortable cosplay
25. The cosplay you put the most effort into
26. Any unfinished costumes? Will you ever finish them?
27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favourite?
28. Where do you work on your cosplays and where do you store them when they’re done?
29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)
30. Describe cosplay in three words. No more, no less.

"The Road You Didn't Take"

2011-06-21T23:30:42Z

I took a day trip to Washington last Wednesday to see Follies at the Kennedy Center. They had a display of 10 of Gregg Barnes’ costume designs for the show in the lobby so I took pictures. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get a clear shot of some of the designs towards the top of the display; they were behind glass and it was just impossible to get an angle without some glare from the glass wall opposite. These are a couple of my favorites from what was on display. One of the “Loveland” showgirls and Phyllis' red dress for "The Story of Lucy and Jessie."

Took the 8:10 train to Washington and it was nice, much more comfortable than a bus. I actually prefer traveling by train but hadn’t taken Amtrak for about 10 years since it costs like twice as much as bus tickets. I splurged this time since I was planning to make the trip both ways in one day and definitely did not want to spend 8 hours on a bus within one day. Reread my copy of the Follies script on the way down and then switched to a mystery novel.

Got to Washington around 11:20, about 10 minutes early, but that was eaten by waiting for a cab (took about 20 minutes because of the long line) and traffic. Lots of traffic plus roadwork near the Washington Monument and it felt like we ran into almost every stop light along the way. -_- So, it took half an hour to get to the Kennedy Center. It’s a good thing I allowed 2 hours for getting to and from places before and after the show.

Picked up my ticket and walked around the Kennedy Center a bit. It seems that Wicked was getting ready to start a run in the Opera House that day. (The Kennedy Center houses several individual theatres.) There was a display of 4 costumes, including the one I’ve heard other people refer to as “the bubble dress,” in a glass case in the Opera House lobby but the area was roped off. I’ve never seen Wicked since I’m not really interested in the Wizard of Oz and I didn’t think of trying to zoom in for a picture at the time.

The huge Follies banner hanging outside the Kennedy Center

The Hall of States

The Hall of Nations

The Opera House where Wicked was playing

The Eisenhower Theatre where Follies was playing

Had lunch in the café. I got this fruit tart for desert but I think it might have looked better than it was. The crust had the consistency of a very hard and crisp cookie; I had trouble breaking through it at first and that was with a metal spoon! o_o;; Not sure if that’s supposed to be normal since I almost never have tarts other than egg tarts, which have flaky crust.

Then, it was time for the show. A lot of tickets had already sold by the time I bought mine so I was 3 rows from the back of the orchestra but only a couple of seats off from the center. The Eisenhower Theatre was smallish (around 1,100 seats and about half the size of the Opera House) so I still had a decent view. The premise of Follies is that it takes place in 1971 at a reunion of aging former Follies showgirls at their old theatre the night before it is to be torn down; also present are the ghosts of their younger selves, representing memories of the past. So, the sides and ceiling of the theatre itself were draped with dust cloths, the proscenium arch was designed to be battered looking with bits having crumbled away, and there were piles of rubble at the back of the stage.

This was the second production of “Follies” that I’d seen, the first being the revival that the Roundabout Theatre Company did on Broadway 10 years ago. I don’t remember that one that well so I can’t really say if I preferred one over the other. I’ve heard “Follies” described as “a flawed masterpiece” and I think it probably works better as a concert because of the nature of the script. I love the music but the snatches of conversation we hear at the party are disjointed because they’re always jumping between different groups of guests. And the two main couples aren’t very likeable; they’re in bad marriages that stem from the choices they made 30 years earlier when the wives were chorus girls and they cheat on each other.

I wasn’t familiar with most of the cast other than Bernadette Peters, who played Sally (one of the 4 main characters), and Elaine Paige who was Carlotta (featured character who sings “I’m Still Here”). I saw Elaine Paige in my first Broadway show when she played Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard so it was nice to see her in something again. And I had seen Bernadette Peters just several months ago in A Little Night Music. I found Bernadette much more believable as Sally than as Desiree; I remember my complaint about her performance in A Little Night Music was that too much of her own personality showed through and I saw her rather than the character but it wasn’t a problem here. Not sure if I liked the costume designer’s choice to put her in a red dress for the party though. Even if Sally used to be a Follies girl and she’s trying to get the attention of Ben, who she’s been pining after for 30 years, I’ve always thought of present day Sally as being a bit frumpy and she even says “I’ve got a tummy and my hair’s too dyed.”

They cut or changed some of the lines in the script compared to the version I had. Some didn’t make much of a difference. But I kind of disliked that instead of Carlotta talking to Weissman, they used the alternate version of her dialogue before “I’m Still Here” with her telling a bunch of party guests that she had a Follies number once but it was cut in Philadelphia. That bugs me a bit for continuity reasons because then it implies that “I’m Still Here” was the cut song. But that wouldn’t make sense because it was stated earlier in the show that the Weissman Follies were produced each year between the two World Wars and some of the references in the song would have been past that time period. I’ve always felt it made more sense as a song about Carlotta’s own life than an old Follies number.

They also cut the instrumental “Bolero d’Amour” and the accompanying dance. I suspect one of the reasons Follies is rarely staged, aside from the expense of doing the costumes and the fact that the original didn’t do well financially despite critical acclaim, is that most of the important characters are supposed to be in their 50s to 80s. I imagine that is difficult to cast since some of them are supposed to be in dance numbers and Broadway shows tend to have 8 performances a week.

I didn't completely like how the ghostly showgirls just hung around for much of the show. I know they're meant to drift in and out of scenes but much of the time they just stood around, not moving much, and it was probably more distracting than if they had just made little appearances once in a while.

My favorite part of the show was the Follies numbers towards the end of the second act. The transformation from a crumbling theatre to a Follies spectacle was nice and, of course, the most lavish costumes were in this part. This part would be the main reason I'd consider seeing it again.

More of Gregg Barnes’ costume designs that were on display in the lobby. Another of my favorites was Young Heidi’s gown for “One More Kiss”

A showgirl costume

One of the “Loveland” showgirl costumes

A chorus boy costume from “Live, Laugh, Love.” When I saw it before the show, I figured it would be Ben’s costume for that number since it was drawn on an older man but his costume turned out to be a much less glitzy version with only sparkles on the vest buttons and hatband.

Sally’s dress for “Losing My Mind”

Another showgirl costume

The chorus costumes for “Loveland”

There was a limited selection of merchandise and no souvenir program (probably since it was only running several weeks) so I got a mousepad with the poster artwork. The one I’ve been using is over 10 years old so I figured it was about time for a new one. ^_^;

The trip back to the train station didn’t take as long although it was hard getting a taxi in the first place. Even though the Kennedy Center had what was supposed to be a taxi stand with a guy to flag down cabs, there just weren’t any stopping there that afternoon. There were a few other people in line and it took like 10 minutes for even 1 cab to stop! Fortunately, the guy in front of me and another person were also going to the train station so we shared a cab and traffic going back wasn’t nearly as bad. Had time to order a sandwich and get coffee before boarding the train. Spent most of the time reading my mystery novel and arrived back in NY around 9:40, about 10 minutes behind schedule but not too bad.

And it seems like this production of Follies will be transferring to Broadway after all. The Kennedy Center run just ended on Sunday and it didn’t get announced until the day I went to see it last week. (Would have been nice if this was announced a few weeks earlier so I wouldn’t have had to make a trip to Washington to see it. ^_^;;) Supposedly, it will play a limited engagement at the Marquis Theatre starting sometime in the summer but dates and casting haven’t been announced yet. Not sure yet if I will go see it again when it’s in NY. It would be nice to have a chance to see it closer up and this would only be the second fully staged revival in NY since the original in 1971. But it might depend somewhat on casting and whether there are any discounts since I already spent a lot to see it in Washington.

AnimeNext Report

2011-06-15T03:32:51Z

So, AnimeNext happened. Got to the con around noon on Friday, checked into the hotel, and had lunch before picking up badges and starting to wander. Wore my newer Ryuuren costume that day for a Saiunkoku photoshoot with neoangelwink and kitsunesqueak; athena_chan couldn’t join us since she had to watch the artist’s alley table but she found a friend to wear her Ryuuki costume so we finally got all 4 costumes together in photos! The photoshoot was quite silly and involved a sake bottle (empty!) and fighting over fake manjuu. XD

Carrie had suggested entering the hall contest as a group when I called her a couple of nights before the con but the photoshoot ran long, our Ryuuki had to leave, and she had to get back to artist’s alley so that didn’t happen. :-( I wasn’t sure if I still wanted to do the contest on my own since I felt Ryuuren was a bit plain compared to other stuff I’d done in the past. But there was no line to be judged when I wandered over there so I did enter after debating for a while.

Walked around a while longer before my brother and his friend ordered pizza for dinner. Then, spent the rest of the evening in the room, prepared the jellyfish dress for the next day, painted my nails pink, and went to bed around 11:30.

Saturday, I wore Kuranosuke’s jellyfish dress from Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish). I didn’t have time to make the crown or earrings but I was quite happy with how the dress came out. ^_^ I think I’m going to add a bit more to the petticoats (or maybe build a mini hoopskirt?) for next time though since the weight of the pearls hanging from the dress did smoosh them down quite a bit. I kind of want to replace my wig, too. I’d bought the New Look Showgirl wig in Light Purple since it seemed to be the only wavy or curly lavender wig I could find that was long enough but it’s somewhat thin at the top and the fibers aren’t as nice as their natural color wigs. :-/

My brother took a few pictures and then I just wandered around or talked to people most of the day. Despite the anime only airing towards the end of last year (this is the quickest I’ve ever cosplayed something after it aired!), a bunch of people did recognize the costume and a few seemed pretty excited to see it! One person asked if I was Sheryl though, which I found kind of amusing. (Wasn’t there a line in the anime about the type of jellyfish the dress was based on being the pop idol of the jellyfish world? I think I remember Tsukimi saying something like that.)

Masquerade was the shortest I’ve ever seen at any con with only 10 entries. o_o; Entry numbers went up to 18 though so presumably all the skipped numbers were groups that dropped out. I remember in the early years of AnimeNext, there used to be thirty something entries so it’s kind of sad that it has dwindled to this. When the hall contest winners were announced, I ended up winning Best of Friday Craftsman; I shared some of the stuff from my prize bag with Carrie since I originally hadn’t planned to do the hall contest at all this year and only prepared notes and references since she had suggested entering as a group.

I had packed my Eugenie costume for Sunday since it had been so hot the few days before the con and I figured it was one of the few costumes I wouldn’t melt in. But since it was forecast to be rainy and cool again like the previous day (I probably had a shawl over the jellyfish dress a third of the time) and I didn’t especially feel like wearing 4 1/2 inch platform heels, I wore Ryuuren again. And if the long hair and dangly earrings didn’t make him look girly enough, I was stuck with pink nails since I didn’t bring any nail polish remover. ^_^;; A few people did recognize it as Saiunkoku cosplay, which was nice. I know my cosplays tend to be obscure though so I’m always a bit amused to see what people mistake my cosplays for. I got asked if I was China (must be the ponytail and Ancient Chinese looking outfit) and if I was cosplaying from Dynasty Warriors. I confuse people a lot! XD

Checked out of the hotel, took care of luggage, and wandered around the con. Went home around 3. The con seemed a bit boring but it was nice to see friends I hadn’t seen in a while. I wish I’d gotten a chance to hang out a bit more though; some people I ran into once and then never saw again the whole weekend!

Off to Washington for the day tomorrow to see Follies! Will take my copy of the libretto and reread it on the trip down. I’d also like to reread Everything was Possible (book about the creation of the original Broadway production of Follies) but can’t seem to find my copy.

Still sewing...

2011-06-04T00:52:16Z

Still working on my new costume, which as ryoko and appaku guessed last time, is the jellyfish dress from Princess Jellyfish. I never thought I’d end up making a costume that involved tentacles… XD; I watched the series a while back on the Funimation site and liked it. I’ve wanted to make a ruffly cosplay for quite a while. But I’ve just never found one that I both liked and thought I could pull off since ruffly costumes are more likely to show up on cute younger characters which just wouldn’t work well with my figure. So, when I saw this, I was like, “Hmm, a crossdresser in a ruffly dress? I could do this!”

Trying to finish this for AnimeNext next weekend. I’m also bringing my newer Ryuuren costume to do Saiunkoku with kitsunesqueak and neoangelwink. And I haven’t decided what else I’m bringing yet. Glad this will be the last convention for a while since spring was so packed. I don’t think I’m going to anymore this year other than possibly NYCC/NYAF since it’s local.

In other news, I booked tickets for a day trip down to Washington, D.C. during the week following AnimeNext. I’m going to see the Kennedy Center's production of "Follies" which is one of my favorite Sondheim musicals. They did this production especially for the Kennedy Center and it's only playing for about 5 or 6 weeks. The original opened on Broadway in 1971 and I think the only fully staged NY revival was the one 10 years ago, which I saw but don't recall that well. Taking Amtrak in the morning, seeing a matinee, and then taking the train back afterwards.

Let's play "Guess the Costume" :-D

2011-05-24T20:59:52Z

So, here’s what I’ve been working on lately. I’ve only mentioned to a few people that I was thinking of doing this costume. For those who I haven’t told, any guesses what it’s going to be? :-D

The petticoat still needs some work. Right now, it’s 6 layers and has about 7 yards of tulle and 3 yards of netting in it. I made each layer half an inch shorter than the one under it for the graduated effect and the ruffle on each layer was 9 yards long before gathering. o_o; I’m satisfied with the ruffled part but want it poofier at the waist. In the picture, I actually have the petticoat I normally wear with my pink Japanese print dress under the one with all the ruffles to help show the shape I’d like the finished dress to have. So, I’ll most likely make a second petticoat to go under the ruffled one after I get some more netting. I can’t use the one under there right now since it’s too long and just tucked up so that it doesn’t show below the ruffles. The ruffled petticoat only reaches my fingertips and the dress that goes over it is even shorter so that the ruffles show. Must get white shorts to go under this or maybe make ruffly bloomers if I have time. ^_^;;

For the necklace, I couldn’t find a large rectangular blue gem with a setting so I had to buy a clear gem with a setting and pry it out so I could replace it with a loose blue gem in the same size. The setting also only had two holes in each side so I had to ask my father to take it to the store and drill a couple of extra holes into it for me. After that, stringing the necklace was pretty simple.