Comic-Con Satchel

I made this handbag specifically for going to conventions, just in time for Emerald City Comicon! I started out with the diamond shape (from Superman's logo) but I decided to do it in black and yellow (Batman colors) so I could use black leather.

I didn't use a pattern, other than drawing out a diamond shape. All of the sides are basically rectangle pieces so I just had to measure the lengths of each side and then make all of the strips 5 inches wide. I added an 18" black zipper to the top and a 7" black zipper on the side (for a secret side pocket). The lining is yellow satin fabric I had leftover from my World of Warcraft Priest costume.

When it came time to add a strap, I struggled with indecision. Do I add D-rings and then make a strap out of the black leather? Where am I going to find the right hardware to make the strap adjustible? Then I looked over in the corner of my craft room where I had a pile of Warner Bros. bags I had hoarded from SDCC 2011. I had a "duh!" moment before I whipped out my thread ripper and pulled the strap off one of the bags (which had Big Bang Theory on it). Not only did the strap fit perfectly, but the colors were spot-on!

Superhero Bracers

POW! BAM! ZAP!

Ooh, shiny!

These bracers were a two-night project. I started one of them one night and finished them both on the next night. I sewed the snaps on while catching up on "The Office" (love that Catherine "The Doctor Donna" Tate  is on the show!) and "King of the Nerds" (cosplay episode!).

Soft satin.

I am particularly happy about how these turned out. Even the insides look nicely-finished! I added a strip of ribbon with my AvalynArtistry.com URL printed on it.

Snaps on, easy to do with one hand.

Curves right into shape and snaps closed!

Left and right bracers. Shiny yellow-gold!

Sorry, they are not designed to reflect lightning, especially not if you are standing in salt water.

Superhero Bracers on AvalynArtistry.com

Find Us at Emerald City Comic Con!

Stop by our table in Artist Alley and say hi! We will have a large selection of our handmade costume accessories and art available for purchase.

If you enter the main exhibition hall floor through the big doors from the sky bridge, just go straight down the aisle all the way back. We are in the back right corner!

And hey, you might just find something to buy...

Emerald City Comicon is March 1-3 in Seattle, WA.

Cosplay Progress - Final Fantasy XIII-2 Serah Farron, Photoshop

TadA!  My cosplay is complete (although you guys may have seen it ages ago on the blog from the SakuraCon post back in April,) but here's my final post about making this cosplay.  Actually it's the post processing of this photo to make it internet worthy.

As you can see here below here is the original photo I took.  I used a timer and had to run back and forth trying many different poses and whatnot.  I probably took 40 pictures and only ended up with a handful I liked.  So how did I turn the bottom photo into the top photo?

• Layer 1, the original photo. 
• I didn't actually do any manipulation here

• Layer 2, the border
• Found a border on the DeviantArt stock images (credit  http://karma-manipulation.deviantart.com/art/Grunge-Border-156054027)
• From the stock images I inverted the colors and softy erased out the center white area.  I let the middle fade out as to not create any solid lines
  
• Layer 3 Logo
• I took the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Icon from online, removed the excess background
  
• Layer 4, the color
• I overlayed a pink color with a 20% transparency