Well, it was worth the wait. Epbot‘s Jen Yates has posted pics of her finished Lady Vadore costume, followed by shots of her in action at Star Wars Celebration. Love the creativity and the attention to detail. And it lights up—how much more do you want? It lights up! So cool.
This weekend was Maker Faire at Union Station in Kansas City and my daughter and I happily attended. To be honest, it was more of the same from last year – 3D printers, robotics, Arc Attack, and artisians of various forms and varieties. But we enjoyed ourselves, and were pleased to see some new chainmaille vendors, and some sort of hand-to-hand combat demos going on outside the Station.
One interesting booth was the Urban Farming Guys, which was a demonstration in aquaponics. I hardly know how to explain it, but it was cool. They had this planter with a large water tank beneath it. Tilapia fish in the tank poop in the water, then the poop water feeds the plants above. The plants filter the water through their roots, and it cycles back down to the fish tank. When the fish get big enough, you can eat them. A complete recyclable system. Very interesting.
Other interesting booths/displays: a woman who made art from junk mail, numerous 3D printers and “printed” items, a Titanic ship made from Legos, a solar-powered car, robotics demos, and a craft gallery with lots of jewelry, knitting, and chainmaille examples.
This weekend my daughter, husband, and I checked out the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! convention in Kansas City. Spectrum publishes an annual art book featuring “a regular showcase for the best fantasy, science fiction, horror, and otherwise uncategorizable artwork”. This is the first year they have also hosted an art fair/trade show “for those who take delight in the worlds of What If?…”
According to the show guide book, “Fantastic art can be a slightly skewed, off-kilter view of reality or a full-blown creation of imaginary lands and the people–and creatures–that live there.” Given that definition, the art fair definitely provided examples of the fantastic – from fairies to the macabre, there was a little something for everyone.
Click on any of the images to go to the artist’s site.
My husband and daughter recently returned from their annual sojourn to a local anime convention, so I thought it might be nice to introduce you to it as well. Dubbed Naka-kon, this convention is held annually in Overland Park, Kansas, to “celebrate Japanese animation and the influence anime has in the Midwest and around the globe by educating people from all walks of life in many diverse facets of popular and traditional Japanese culture.”
No matter whether promoting Japanese anime, video games, or the otaku lifestyle in general, these Kon-goers love to cosplay! The following are but a few examples that my husband took over the weekend.
I spy cosplayers as No Face from Spirited Away (or what I call “that freaky ghosty thing”), Mojo JoJo from Powerpuff Girls, a Stormtrooper, Mario & Princess Peach, and GLaDOS from Portal, but I don’t recognize the others. Do you?
Because I’m in no way unbiased I’m going to show you my little group first:
This is, of course, Husb0t and baby unit being cute. Unfortunately there’s nothing handmade about these costumes :-( I’m just not that hardcore…
But check out this adorable andorian we found:
I saw some great work at London Comic Con today, and if I took your photo you can find it in my Picasa album here.
If I took your picture and you’re not featured here, don’t despair! check back later in the week to see if I mention you on Monday ;-).
This post is dedicated to the cardboard warriors! Those brave souls who slave over an old ikea box with nothing more than an inkjet printer, a glue gun, some paint, and a rocking sense of humour to create the costume of their dreams:
Yea, that’s what I’m talking about! Think outside the box cosplayers, embrace the cardboard… or embrace the cardboard and step inside the box… meet Rubiks girl:
I just wanted to cuddle this cube-shaped-lady… to dress like something that’s not-at-all the shape of a person takes some work… well done!… here’s another cuboid wonder:
I asked him how easy it was to store a costume like that… he said he’d actually had to chop it in half to fit it in his car and then re-assemble it at the venue that morning… that takes dedication (and perhaps some duct tape).
Want all the pointy edges of a cube, but the maneuverability of a more anthropomorphic character… I got just the thing… try this:
Yup, a God among cardboard men, right?
“but I haven’t bought any furniture recently, the only cardboard box I’ve got is this one from my new kettle… ” – I’ve got the costume for you!
(there were, like, a billion creepers, but this was my favourite minecraft costume :-) )
When you’re ready to move on from cardboard boxes, you can foray into the mysterious world of papier mache and construct something beautiful like this:
He’s an Ice Lord, from 1970’s Pertwee Dr Who … I completely didn’t know that either… but the husbot educated me :-) he got very excited about this costume!..
But these are my favourite cardboard virtuosos from today. Throwing aside all considerations of practicality and the shape of a human being, this pac man duo are awesome on so many levels:
When I asked to take this photo the ‘ghost’ looked at me and asked “red or blue?!”… I was so confused… I just shouted back (we were in a crowd of people, not conducive to great photo-taking) “err, red!” … but of course… the ghost was double sided!
excellent costuming people, well done!
Don’t forget to keep checking back for more of my favourite costumes from the Con!
Were YOU at the Con too? you can use the Submit a Geekcraft link to show us your costume!