llyrafantasyfae | Entries tagged with coco

In case you didn’t know, 32 days until CoCo. So I thought I’d try and do something new and post everyday until then. Maybe boring, lots of embroidery but it may help me keep on track. So I won’t bore you with a ton of similiar life looking pics.
I have 23.5 more motifs to go than I can assemble the dress. I have to dedicate a couple hours a day to studying for my State boards. I have one more 6 hour day of review and I tutor Monday’s and Thursdays which take away 3 hours on those days. I still need to clean and finish unpacking my sewing room, and want to make the battle ready Belle in time for SDCC which is the weekend before CoCo. Oh and there’s SDCC which won’t have a whole lot of sewing happening. Goal is minimum of one motif a day. They are averaging 3 hrs each. So yea... that’s where I’m at. Now to get embroidering. Hoping to get 2 done today so I’m ahead and start tackling my sewing room.

hahaha..... just kidding. I'm just being horribly snarky, because a similarly worded post rubbed me wrong last year. But I did find not wearing a costume at all times surprisingly freeing. And yet at the same time sad. I missed wearing something that allowed people to come up and talk to tme about. You all know I'm awkward as all hell so what I was wearing has always been my crutch for conversations. Also, and this part is going to sound vain, but I missed being in more pics because I wasn't in a costume. That MAY be a good thing though because I hated how I looked in almost all of the pics I saw, because of my low body image, but I still missed it. One of my favorite things is and has always been getting selfies with you guys.

That said it was really nice to not have to get up early to get into a costume. I am so not a morning person. I think I need to have super easy costumes for the day from now on. And I mean SUPER easy. No corset, and I can dress myself type costumes. Which means retro/vintage or cosplay. The other conclusion I came to this year was I don't want to change into a different costume Friday day vs Friday night. The social is so short and for introvert me SOOOOOO uncomfortable that I don't feel like its worth it. So unless there is a group project or I just HAVE to show off this super cool costume I made during the year, I'm not going to plan on something separate.At least that is my thought process right now. Who knows maybe next year after school is over with and life doesn't feel quite as overwhelming, I will change my mind.
I took two limited classes this year. Fiber-optic fairy wings and worbla. I probably knew everything the teacher had to teach in the worbla class, BUT with being a hands on learner I appreciated the chance to play. I did a lot of stuff I've never done in the fiber optics class but she was a first time teacher and it showed. She needed more time for her class AND she didn't have all the supplies. I was grumbly, (could of been made worse by it being Sunday) but it wasn't bad enough to not recommend the class.
So those who went to the Gala or after gala.... why was it so different this year? I didn't dance at all. I really didn't want to be there.... Was it just me? I'll admit right away to this year being off for me. School has put my head in a weird place. My confidence is low, I quicker to irritate, depression and anxiety are kind of high so it may have just been me. I found myself in momentarily dark places throughout the weekend, and I know those were just me. But people were quick to agree when a quiet room after party was suggested so I am assuming it wasn't just me who was feeling off about the Gala. I am hoping its a fixable thing. I enjoy the gala. I love seeing everyone in their prettiest pretties or coolest new costume. I enjoy sitting down to a meal with those people and talking. And dang it I like the dancing to "I like big butts" and "I will walk 500 miles" and the such.
The last thing I can really talk about CoCo, is pictures. I had fun with it. I kind of wish I had been a little more pushy about it. "Hey you, let me take your picture." I can't tell you guys how much I like it, and how much I want to grow with it. But my shyness and self doubt got the better of me with it, (remember above when I said it was a theme). A couple people said something along the lines of, "oh if you want to take my pic you can but I already have good pics of this." so I would back off taking it to mean they didn't want me to take their pics. You know all the self doubt talking, "you're not good enough and they think you suck and don't want you to take their pic," kind of things. I need to get a more "Yea, but you don't have a picture taken by me" type of attitude... just not as conceited. :) I am disappointed in myself. I couldn't get my camera to work in the inside lighting. I gave up fairly early and its been bugging me ever since on why. I figured it out today. I didn't adjust my ISO. Such a rookie mistake. UGH!!!! Here's the LINK to the ones I did get from the weekend. A couple of the ones from my cellphone that are of me, are not taken by me. :)

A few of my favorites: If these are of you and you don't like them let me know and I will make them disappear.

I know I shouldn't like the first one from a photographer's standpoint. The shadows and highlights are a little too intense. But I ADORE it.

Whereas the first one of these is a personal victory. Perfect timing. And I thank Katherine for being game to get soaked. I loved those beach pajamas. So elegant!

This was soooo much fun. Twilia is such a badass. :)

Merja is gorgeous inside and out. I was happy to catch her laughing.

She looks ethereal in some of these photos. A combo of the lighting, the white, the beads glittering, and well it being her..... I want to take pictures of this dress in candlelight!

Angela looked so elegant. I think this outfit flattered and fit her perfectly. I'm glad she allowed me to pull her outside to take pics.

My favorite pic of me from CoCo 2017

I finished editing CoCo pics today. So a little under a week to edit 81 pics. That was a pain. And now Flickr is being a royal pain in the butt. I think I could upload a pic at a time on here and it'd go faster. BLAH.
I don't know if I would say this was the best CoCo ever but it was different, and I say different in a good way. I was far less anxious. There was some nervousness but it was minor compared to normal. From Katherine roaming the halls with me to catch Pokemon on the first night, to Aubry being the best hostess on our last night, my Roommates were awesome, (duh!) which always helps.
I had fun even though I was wearing mostly oldies. I think it helped I was focusing on photography. I have things I need to work on. Low light, I tried but almost all of them were crap. So if I took a pic of you and you don't see it in the Flickr link, Its not that I hate you. Its a picture that shouldn't see the light of day. Hopefully next year will be better. I also need to work on getting faster at composing my picture. Some of the better ones I got are the ones from when I had a patient model.
I only got one photo of myself on my camera and a few on my phone. So I am going to have to hunt through everyone else's for good photos. So instead I am going to just post my favorites from the ones I took.
Thursday: Low light so pretty much everything I took was HORRIBLE.

the_aristocat was my first vic...er... model. This one isn't as crisp as I would like but it ain't bad.

Friday: My favorite part of it was the Star Wars group. I wore another costume to the social but I really didn't care for the social. The announcer was flat out rude. She didn't just shush us. She told us to shut up without actually saying those exact words.
I wish I was better at the editing part so I could take out the wrinkles and folds of the background on these.

I loved everything about

jenthompson's outfit. So many details.

bauhausfrau mod Darth Vadar. Her 3-D printed pieces were perfect.

nuranar had the Leia look down. Many thanks to her for being super patient with me to get the second photo.

twilatee was a hoot as hippy Chewie.
I don't have any pics of

koshka_the_cat. I must have taken them on her camera. I also don't have any of myself. But I got the professional shoot photos back from Comic Con which I will share later. I did get one of my battle damaged Little Red.

Flickr and LJ keep fighting with me so I'm just going to post a few of my favorites. I may go back in and fill in info but it won't be tonight! I weeded out the obvious ugly ones but if its a pic of you and you hate it let me know and I will take it down. I have the raw files, if there's interest in them let me know and I can forward it on. Here's the Flickr link. But again its being stupid so some might be missing.There is suppose to be 83.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/llyrafantasyfae/Zg8475

Thank you guys for support and input last post. It made the thought of all old costumes more bearable.
I entertained a lot of thoughts. With Loren's suggestion of my Victorian Capt'n America I thought of doing Cap all weekend. I have close to enough versions now. But all use the same corset and after Comic Con that corset is no longer an option.
But I have another plan. And Katherine provided some inspiration, (dang her 😜). So I'm happy with the new plan.
This is my line up.
Thursday: civvies, maybe with a retro vibe.
Friday- BB-8 it was a huge hit at Comic Con. Hubby thinks it's my most complimented cosplay yet. And I like it! It needs a few tweaks but nothing major.
Social: Dark Little Red. Going more Goth and battle damaged
Saturday: 18th century undies. I have a class all morning and early afternoon. There's a few hours before the gala but truth is I don't have the energy to shove a costume in there.
Gala: Jane Austen Evening gown but with spangles. Maybe new sleeves on under gown. Depends how tonight goes. Taking dad out to dinner for his b-day then will work on a mock up.
Sunday: Game of Thrones, generic character dress. Dress is eh, but it's comfy and easy. I can wear tennis shoes with it if my ankle wants, and I love the hair.

( cut to save your pages )

So despite the lows there were a lot of great memories. The kind I will keep close to my heart. For someone who has always been the outsider it still amazes me that I have found others like me. Not only that but that you guys might actually like me too. And see, there goes the tears again. So I am going to close this here. I promise the next post will be less emo as I plan whats next in my costuming world for the next year.

I've started this recap a couple times but don't get very far before I'm crying. Not all of them are tears of sadness but I'm currently so raw that I have no filter and every emotion has been leading to tears.
As soon as we checked into the hotel on Wednesday I got news that a family member had died. To say the relationship is complicated is an understatement. I didn't want to deal with the complicaticity that is those emotions at CoCo. I also didn't want to be the black cloud in the room, not just for everyone I came in contact with but because I didn't want CoCo to be tainted for me. So after talking with my Roomie and calling my hubby I decided I would try and enjoy CoCo and deal with things when I got back. I had some low moments, and I hope they didn't show to much. I tried my best to escape the room and be by myself when those happened. The main reason I bring it up here is to say, if I seemed distant, and I mean more distant than my usual distant, there was a reason and it probably wasn't you. And for the few of you who did catch me when my mask was to fall, and I happened to tell you what was going on. Thank you. I withdraw when I'm not okay. And each of you respected that. There were needed words of advice, there was validation that my feelings were normal even if some of them were not stereotypical, but the main one is providing the distractions I needed when I started to get to much inside my own head, but also allowing me some me time to recharge my batteries.
Wednesday night

koshka_the_cat,

mala_14,

starlightmasque and I went out to eat. It was a hole in the wall place but oh so yummy! I will always drive into Costume College, so anybody who comes in on Wednesday and can fit in my car, you are welcome to join. Times spent eating out were quality time spent away from CoCo, that I got to really talk to people. I like it because those people became more real and not not just costuming acquaintances. Added bonus for coming in on Wednesday was ALLL our ironing was done that night.
Thursday we went to the beach. We had big plans to sleep in but I think both my roomie and I were up by 9:30. We lounged about as I put finishing touches on one of my classes.

missmalexander happened to text me and we discovered there had been a miscommunciation somewhere and if we waited 45 mins from our planned departure time she would be able to join us. So of course we did!!!! We didn't stay extremely long but it was still a lot of fun silliness. I have grand plans of redoing this costume. I like it but I have learned so much since I made it, that it just has to be redone.

After the beach we went to a Vegan/Vegetarian resturant. From here on out I declare that it shall be known as "The Hippie Resturant". Simply because that is what it was called all weekend and it amuses me greatly.
The pool party was especially hard for me. I had to make some very difficult calls right before so I was espeicially fragile. I tried to not show I was and I feel I may have started leaning towards the maniac side of things. I plastered a smile on my face and I was talking and laughing and mingling, way more than my normal. But I had to. If I hadn't I think I would of totally cracked and started crying. I'm surprised people were able to get decent pics like this one from

ravenessdotcom since I hadn't bothered to put make up back on after it was washed away from crying.

After the pool party we went upstairs to

tayloropolis' trunk show. The first of 3 times I think. She is now in the same boat as American Duchess and takes all my money. I regret nothing!!!!
And then this happened. Cue fangirl moment #1:

I am so glad you guys are my kind of crazy. I promise it wasn't all that crazy. I hate how the bonnet looks on me. I think it looks like a baby bonnet. So I put it on backwards and gangsta victorian was born.

jenthompson is just sweet enough to entertain me and join me for a pic.
I am being told I have to go out to eat with my hubby. *oh the horrors I know* so I will finish the rest of the weekend tonight.

but I still want to do it! My CoCo sum up.

I had a fabulous time at Costume College this year. Even a whole month later it is still brings a stupid smile to my face. Even with the stress of an impending TDY, horribly swollen ankles, and a near gala melt down, I can still say Fabulous time. I think it shows in just my anxiety levels. Last year I had a full out anxiety attack that my hubby had to talk me out of and I was near one several times. This year there were two times that I got to the stage of shaky, escalated heart rate, and tearing up/crying. The first one was Wednesday night. I couldn't figure out why but I knew the signs so I called my hubby. That man knows me to well... He told me, that I was probably just getting overwhelmed. I had spent most the day traveling, 3 hours of which were on the 405 in construction traffic. After a good nights sleep I would be fine. And he was right. We even drove around the next day and I didn't have any problems at all.
( Thursday we went.... )

I didn't get my recap or costume posts written but I was able to upload and go through all my CoCo pics. I deleted any obviously bad ones but if there are any more that you would like me to take down just let me know. I will gladly make it disappear.
If its a picture of you feel free to take and use where ever you want to.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/llyrafantasyfae/sets/72157635403053246/
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Llyra-fantasyfae

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Entries tagged with coco

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What I learned from NOT wearing a costume to Costume College

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CoCo Recap Friday-Monday

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