Costume Maker Magazine

Occasionally I receive emails through my Costume Maker Magazine email asking whether I can do commissions or help with making something for a costume. I think that people get confused and don’t take the time to find out this is actually a website for a magazine for costume makers, not a website of costume commissioners. xD Instead of telling them a few keywords that may aid them in a google search, I thought it’d be more helpful if there was a listing of costume shops I could refer them to.

I made a page just for that, with a nifty table telling if a shop does props/commissions/etc and what type of shop it is. It can be found under the “Resource” tab on our site or through this link. Shops that sell costume/sewing supplies can be listed as well (such as corset boning, patterns, etc).

Here’s our new mailing list for people who want to know exactly when Issue 2 (and future issues) are available to purchase! No newsletters or any other emails besides the issue notifications will be sent to those who join this mailing list.

Issue 2 is going to be sent to the printer around the first or second week of September this year, so it’s not that far off!

Once you enter your name and email, you’ll need to confirm your subscription to the list by checking your email and clicking on the link provided.

Have you seen the User Profiles lately? They’ve finally got all the features I mentioned it the Website v3! update, plus a few more!

User Profiles now contain:

-User picture, Information and About section in the top section
-Most recent blog entry
-Friends
-Most recently submitted costumes
-The ability for other users to comment on any other user’s profile

You can see an example of all of these in action here…

I’m still trying to change it so that a user’s profile url will be somthing like “costumemakermagazine.com/username” instead of “costumemakermagazine.com/user/#”, but that may take a whil yet. :3

To edit your profile information, just go to your account (the quickest way is to click “My account” in the right hand navigation bar) and click the tab in the top-left that says “User Profile.” I hope everyone enjoys the new features!

In other News

The deadline for the Contest (August 1st) is soon approaching, and most likely will not be extended. Makes sure to get your entries in before it’s too late!

Content for the magazine and advertisers are very appreciated and are still being accepted as of now. More information can be found at the respective links!

That’s it for now. Thanks for being so patient with the website!

I have worked long and hard so far this summer, and here’s the result; a revamped version of CostumeMakerMagazine.com!

Here are a few of the new features..

-Completely new Gallery (this one took awhile x3)

One new feature of the gallery is that you can add mutiple images to one costume (one main image and as many “other view” images you need). Many art sites don’t have this feature,probably because 2-d art doesn’t need more than one view..

The new gallery also has a new layout of organization that I think is much cleaner (I’m hoping to add borders and such to it soon as well).

I did manage to lose some of the original costumes submitted to the old gallery. I tried to fix as many as I could, but there were a few left where I couldn’t match pictures to users. Sorry!

Oh, and if you get an error when you try to upload an image, it will still upload anyway. I have to find a way to remove that error..

-The ability for column/article/tutorial writers to submit their own pages and update whenever they want

I’m really happy with this one!

-Easier navagation with the drop-down menus on the top of the page

Of course, I’ll still be constantly fixing little things here and there, but the core of the site is finally almost what I want. xD I’m still working on new user profile layouts with a user’s submitted costumes and some other stuff on the page.

Here’s a preview of what I’m hoping the user profile will look like eventually..

I hope everybody enjoys the new site, and please let me know what you think! ^^

-Lina

Here are the pictures our group took this weekend! The convention was amazing, as always. xD
Click on the pictures for a larger picture, and just comment if you want me to send the full file to you.

Here’s our group and the costumes I made for us. ^^ It was so fun to cosplay as ninja kitties and sneak around everywhere.

Pictures! (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)

A nifty little list of major anime conventions this May! (Some of us who are working on the magazine will be at Anime Central taking pictures this weekend, so keep an eye out. ^^ We’ll be posting the pictures up soon after.)

May 16-18

Anime Central ( www.acen.org )
Rosemont, Illinois
JACON (www.jacon.org)
Orlando, Florida
Delta H Con (www.deltahcon.com)
Houston, Texas
Otafest (www.otafest.com)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

May 17

Anime Street Pavilion (www.eigomanga.com/ahsc)
San Francisco, California

May 23-25

Anime North (www.animenorth.com)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Animazement (www.animazement.org)
Durham, North Carolina
FanimeCon (www.fanime.com)
San Jose, California

May 24

Arkansas Anime Festival (arkansasanimefestival.com)
Springdale, Arkansas

May 24-26

Saboten-Con (sabotencon.com)
Phoenix, Arizona

May 30- June 1

Epitanime (www.epita-convention.com)
Paris, France
A-Kon (www.a-kon.com)
Dallas, Texas

May 31

JapAniManga Night (www.japanimanga-night.ch)
Winterthur, Switzerland

The next issue’s main theme is something along the lines of “History and Fantasy: From Head to Toe.” More detailed information about what we’ll need can be seen below. ^^

When submitting anything (except to the site galleries) to Costume Maker Magazine, please be sure to read the Terms and Agreements first! You’ll will be asked whether or not you agree to the terms when submitting.

Please submit everything with the information specified by the Submitting Guidlines!

———–

If you’re interested in writing one or more of these articles or have an idea for one, please feel free to email Lina at lina@szmoon.net! The article will be “reserved” on this page so everyone can see what’s already being worked on. A —— in a space means that there are no ideas for something yet.

Main Theme Articles/How To’s: “History and Fantasy: From Head to Toe”

Non-Main Theme Articles/How To’s

Reviews on Movies/Conventions/Books

Photos

By Lillyxandra of Firefly Path (http://www.firefly-path.net)

Materials Needed:

-plain paper
-pencil
-scissors
-hot glue gun
-hot glue sticks
-elmer’s glue
-acrylic paint (color of your choice)
-spray paint (color of your choice)
-30 X 45 sheet of thin craft foam
-30 X 45 sheet of thick craft foam
-hair dryer
-paint brushes
-velcro
-”goop glue” or “gorilla glue”

1. Designing Your Armor

First, sketch out a design for your armor. Once you have design you like measure the area you will be making the armor for (shoulder,arm,head,ect…)

2. Making the Template

Before you ever cut into the craft foam it is important to make a templet out of paper first. Fold a sheet of paper in half. Draw half of the design then cut it out. This way when you unfold the paper you will have a symmetrical shape.

Lay the paper templet on top of the thick foam and trace around. Cut your shape out of the foam and put aside.

Using the same paper templet fold it in half again and draw out a design for the raised part of the armor. Repeat the same steps on the thin foam.

3. Gluing the Two Pieces Together

Now that you have your two pieces of foam (thick foam for the base and the thin foam for the raised part) glue them together with a thin layer of hot glue. Next coat the whole thing in a layer of “Elmer’s Glue” and let dry. By coating it in glue it will allow your paint the armor easily later on.

4. Shaping Your Armor

If you plan on have your armor contour around your body now is the time to shape it. Using a hair dryer warm up the back of the armor for a few minutes or until its easily bendable. Bend the armor into the shape you want until it cools off. The foam should keep its shape once it is completely cooled. You can keep reshaping it until you have the shape you desire.

5. Painting Your Armor

Its best to spray paint the entire piece first then paint over it with acrylic paint. To give it an “antique” look paint the sides of the thin layer of foam black. Using a sponge brush smear the black paint in the crevasses, this helps to give it a realistic tarnished look!

6. Wearing Your Armor

I’ve found it easy to glue a strip of Velcro to the inside of the armor using a strong glue like “Goop” or “Gorilla Glue” then sewing the opposite side for the Velcro to the garment. The armor is light enough to stay in place and easy to take off to transport!!

I’m not sure if anyone noticed this or not, but there was a problem where, after submitting something, the new page wouldn’t load automatically. I just wanted to let everyone know that I fixed this! ^^ I also fixed the problem of the galleries not showing up..
Sorry for any inconveniences!

There’s also a problem with the navigation links not appearing on the tops of pages. I’ll try to fix that asap!

Oh, and here are a couple of things I’m working on adding to the site right now:

-User submitted images appearing on their profiles
-Recent blog entries appearing directly on user profiles
-Adding articles to the site
-And so many more things

I’ve been working a lot on the website, and now you should be able to (hopefully ^^;) add costumes to the galleries, add friends, and create blog entries. I’m still trying to figure out how to separate galleries by users too, though.. Hope you like the changes!

If you have any ideas of what else to add, don’t hesitate to tell me. ^^ Thanks!