Tetsu wig Help!

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 12:40 pm

Hello you fine people,

I completed the Tetsu wig a few days ago and just now got around to posting pictures of it but when I looked at it, I noticed just how funky it was in back.

So my question is, how can I make it so the back actually looks finished?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/ ... CF0010.jpg That's the front of the wig but that's not important.

Here's the back now. Don't mind the messy room and lack of somewhat being professional..>.>
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/ ... CF0008.jpg

Also, don't ask for reference pictures. There is no reference pictures for the back of Tetsu's hair that I found.

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 8:44 pm

Since you don't have any reference pictures, what do you think about slightly curling the ends under. I think it might help it look finished. I don't know if it'd be exactly accurate, but since you said there aren't many references, you could take some artistic license here. Sometimes natural hair (like mine that is mostly straight) has a natural curl to the end of it, like the enchantment wigs from amphigory. I can't really think of anything else that you could do, though. Gomen.

Dark_Tiger · Post by **Dark_Tiger** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:20 pm

The layering looks a bit off, kinda like the hair underneath is longer then the hair on top. Just don't ask me how to fix it.

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:36 pm

I wanted Tia to reply to this the most. My topics never get any replies...>.> But I don't like the curling under idea...I thank you for it, yes, but I know how it will turn out and I hate the way it would puff the main wig and make the tail look even more unnatural. Plus, this wig has close to 4 full wefts just in the back, hidden underneath the main layer of the wig. It's massively thick. Curling it would be a pain in the rear.

Dark_Tiger, I was aware that my main weft was off compared to the main wig. Four wefts, plus the natural Enchantment length of the wig make up just the brown part of the hairstyle. The blonde-ish is one other weft directly underneath a tiny layer of brown. When I finished putting in that weft, the brown wig was about an inch longer than the extensions. So yes, I knew that the layering was off...majorly. The thing is though, I don't want to cut the brown any shorter than it is right now. I love it where it sits on my lower back right now.

But I will take your idea to mind and finally layer it. I just learned a new layering technique so I shall use that! ^_^

Oh, and Tia, the references that I did have were of his shoulders and up. I had that as reference to his top but in the end, I just felt that since I didn't like the thought of the horns just being there, that I would create the hairwraps around them. The entire wig is artistic license! O.o

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 10:13 pm

Wow. I feel honored. I really don't know that much about wigs. 0.o; Well, the layering sounds like it may work. I've found that if you make something messy intentionally, it takes some pressure away from little things like slight uneven-ness in the ends. Accentuate the uneven-ness! People will call it brilliant, and they will never have to know. Unless they read your posts about it.

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 11:35 pm

I'll test a side patch of the wig and see how it looks. If I mess up or make it look dumb, I will call it my brilliant mistake.

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 6:13 pm

If you don't like the way it looks, you can just trim the whole thing a little shorter, I guess.

Phanari · Post by **Phanari** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:42 pm

If you really want it to look accurate, you need to realize that most of the wig is wrong already. The cut, though accurate, is not styled properly at all. See, Tetsu looks like his hair is all over the place. Kind of a bush-whacked look. If you give the hair more volume, it'll start to look more like the Tetsu we all love so very much. Oh, and you can find references for the back of his hair in the manga. It's all over that manga. You just have to know where to look.
~Ari

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:40 pm

I had plenty of Tetsu references for the front of his hairstyle but being technical, the color and style of my wig is completely wrong. It should be this hideous bright orange and much shorter!

However, my costume that I made for it wasn't remotely near Tetsu's original colors either. His pants are tannish and his vest was this bright yellow...in those colors and with that wig, I did a loose version of the actual Tetsu and when I was finished, it looked horrible. With my skin tone and those bright colors, especially combined with that wig, it looked like I just got out of a drag queen special.

But I really wasn't concerned after a certain point with being accurate to Tetsu's original hair design. The costume was remade with my own colors that would actually look better in real life and as such, the hair needed to be redone in a more realistic tone. The colors are all wrong if you want to be technical. In taking such an original tone towards the costume and not having any reference to the back, I just winged it and completely added in my own idea for his tail that doesn't even appear in the manga aside from when he's in his Totetsu form.

Also, with my other orders that need to be done in time for Ohayo, I only had about 3-4 days to work on Tetsu and didn't have much time to tweak it after what you see there. I tweaked the back this morning and it looked better but I'll see what I can do with my time and making it fluffier in back, it was one of the things I really wanted to do but I could only achieve it with the original bright orange wig.

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 1:42 pm

I think the colors look good on you. Maybe, make the bangs more messy or something? That could make it slightly more realistic if you want. I think as long as the design looks like the original, with the colors only changed, it should be recognizable. Good luck with everything for Ohayocon. It sounds like it's a really fun con. Wish I could go.

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 9:23 pm

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/ ... CF0217.jpg Looking at this picture, you can see the bangs more clearly on my head and I really liked where they sat. I fluffed them up originally, but when I put the horns down on their headband, they crushed most of them and the other half needs to lay flat to hide the headband.

All in all, people have been able to recognize the wig alone -not even combined with my costume- and I really like how the wig is right now so I don't think I'll change the front area at all. I really only wanted to change the back and I ended up layering it again and now it lays better.

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:00 pm

That's cool. I think it was the angle of the one front view pic. It made it look like more of the bangs were longer. You're lucky that people can recognize you from it. I always seem to have trouble with people recognizing my cosplay, even when it's directly taken from something. I guess I just like obscure stuff. The voice actor didn't even realize who I was cosplaying at first. 0.o; I'm glad the back turned out so you like it more. I can't wait to see pictures of the whole outfit. It sounds really original.

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 12:16 am

People hardly recognize my cosplay either but it's really bad when the Voice actor can't even recognize you!

But the outfit isn't original as much as just my own colors.

Phanari · Post by **Phanari** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 1:11 pm

That's pretty sad. You know there's a site with a really good Tetsu cosplay. It's all in Japanese, but you should take a look at it. They have almost all the pets, and one killer Count. I lost the link, but if you search, you can find it.
~Ari

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 2:20 pm

It was mainly because it was pretty obscure. Plus, I think she was preoccupied by the very bad con. She did recognize me after I said what it was, though. So I guess it's all good.

Phanari · Post by **Phanari** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:48 pm

My first con, I had so many people asking me who I was. "KOTTO!" Either they didn't know, or they thought it was totally awsome.
~Ari

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:52 pm

Yes, I remember the site with that awesome cosplay but man, that wig was bright and that costume looked absolutely awesome but my skills aren't that great and I actually would look horrible wearing it. Nothing I can do about that.

It's like Tia or myself wearing a complete spandex outfit. It won't look good on her and it wouldn't look good on me so therefore, neither of us should do it.

Obscure? Nah, just an uncommonly done outfit though.

Phanari · Post by **Phanari** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 7:07 pm

It wouldn't be hard to do. If you think you can't do a costume that good, then of course you can't. If you think you can and you study it intensly, then it's always a piece of cake.
Then again, I'm not one to talk. I'm a freak of nature. I sew without a pattern. I just made a Juri costume for my sister since she lost the first one I made her. All we were able to salvage was the tail. I didn't know how I was gonna make those darn ears without a head band. I did it with bobby pins. There's a way to do everything, you just have to think you can. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's the truth.
~Ari

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 9:10 pm

Ugh, spandex, don't make me think of it....

Just then when you said Juri it got my hopes up. Then it crushed them. Sigh. There really just aren't that many Juri Arisugawa cosplayers out there anymore. There used to be tons. Personally, I prefer to use patterns because it's a way of double-checking myself, but I make my own, so it's fitted to myself better. I don't think the patterns you can buy necessarily work well with everyone's body type. Especially with the fitted nature of a lot of the more popular cosplays. So I had to teach myself how to make fitted garments starting from scratch. It's not so difficult to learn, you just have to be careful with the seams. If you don't leave enough, it can be too fitted. But you also don't want it baggy.

I think a lot of people try to work against their own bodies when it comes to cosplay, not with them. You should make sure that your costumes emphasize certain parts of your body that you like, and de-emphasize the ones you don't like. For instance, I hate my arms. So I refuse to do a Rose Bride costume. But that doesn't mean that I won't do something similar, or just alter that idea slightly. A few people came up with the idea of doing the original concept art, which had sleeves, but I decided to do something completely original, but based off other concept art. I don't think that you should force yourself to fit a certain character or costume just because you want to cosplay it. A costume should be very much like you, and there should also be a good degree of comfort to wearing it. Not perfect comfort level, but it shouldn't be squeezing you to death or hurting you in any way. A costume should be made for a person, not the other way around.

Phanari · Post by **Phanari** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 4:25 pm

This is very true, and something I like to live by. I try to cosplay characters with highly animated eyes and lots of curves because that's how I am. I have a very animated face, especially eyes, and a really curvy body. I'm Italian, so it's only natural. Usually, I do characters like Urd, the Sailor Stars, Outer Scouts, Kurumi (Steel Angel) and the ever-foxy Kotto from Hakusho.

Tia: Sorry for disappointing you about the Juri thing.
It's strange now, however, that I'm doing a cosplay of two characters who don't have my body. Count D and Ed. I have something that both of these characters don't, and a lot of it. My answer: DUCT TAPE! It works miracles, I hear.
~Ari

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 6:06 pm

You're lucky, you sound like your personality is similar to a lot of anime characters. I'm limited, but the characters I do, I really love.

I know exactly what you mean about the boobage problem! I'm still not sure if I'll do Integral because of that. If I do, I'd probably bind just because she normally looks so mann-ish, or maybe I would do her manga style. She actually looks female in that. *gasp* Hehe.

It's funny, though. Most of the characters that I like the most I was told to be. Like Juri and Lulu. People keep trying to talk me into being regular Lulu, but there's two reasons I don't want to do that. I don't think some parts of it would look good on me, and she's horribly, horribly overdone. So I just decided to do an original version of her. I prefer original costumes, because you get to put more of yourself into them. But then, they're not always as well recognized. I think Lulu will be, though, just because the hair is like nobody else's and I did keep the costume pretty similar to her normal outfit.

I've heard about this one technique for binding, though, that works insanely well. I've seen girls wearing open shirts and you can't tell 0.o; You pretty much pull the boobs under your armpits and either use a backwards back brace or a ton of duct tape. I've heard good things about using those sticky-bra pieces, too. They seem to hold up well to movement.

Eh, don't worry about it. It's just cool to see other people cosplaying the same characters as me. It makes me go hyper.

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 1:34 pm

Phanari, I didn't mean that I couldn't make that costume if I didn't set my mind to it. That costume had a lot of bead work on it and in all truth, it was more extravagant than the actual costume in the manga. It looked great on her though because her skin tone wasn't working against her, she was skinny as a stick, and her colors blended well.

My skin tone always works against me and the costume was made exactly as it looks in the manga using various sources. The wig was the only thing that I strayed from the actual source. But if we wanted to get technical, the Japanese cosplayer also had shoes on while Tetsu doesn't wear shoes...she also didn't have his toe claws, which I do have.

Anyway, I agree with Tia on cosplaying as characters that work with your body type and while I mostly do that, I try to excel by cosplaying as characters that make me display a different side of my body or my personality. I loved cosplaying as Dita because I could be evil and I loved putting on Tetsu when I first did because of the open vest. I love showing off what I have and I honestly like how it's expanded my confidence. I don't like characters that just have my personality or my body type. That would leave me only with Anthy...>.>

As with binding. Go with the ace bandage tape method. I have a detailed thing on my computer for the full run of it but I only use duct tape on myself when I want to reinforce the ace bandage on. Duct tape isn't meant for skin...>.> So it hurts immensely taking it off. I know.

Phanari · Post by **Phanari** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 2:17 pm

I don't use it on my skin! That would be a new side of my insanity! I boughts a strappless sports bra just for it and begin taping. Ace bandages don't work well on me for some reason. Even the sticky ones fall off.
It's true, a person shouldn't be confind to cosplay their body type. I just happen to be freakishly fortunate that my face is animated. It was kinda funny. I was talking to my sister last night. She was talking about how she could only get away with cosplaying certain characters, and right now Asuka wasn't one of them. The conversation went something like this:
Krystal: I can do Hikari now, but I can't do Asuka ever since I got my hair cut.
Me: I can.
Krystal: Shut up. I can't do Kagome.
Me: I can.
Krystal: Shut up. I might be able to get away with Paine, but I doubt it.
Me: I could.
Krystal: Shut up.
And so on and so on. It was really funny and it ended up with the two of us laughing HARD on the floor. Our mom had to smack the wall from her bedroom because she heard us.
~Ari

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 2:37 pm

Now you've done it, Loki. I must make you cosplay Anshi! More Utena cosplayersssssss...

*snaps out of it* Uh... what just happened? I find my problem is that I'm really pale. Pale as a J-rocker. Well, at least it helps me for that aspect, but it's not too good for other stuff. Pretty much the only character of mine that is as pale as me is Juri. Plus, the fact that the costume is white makes me look even paler. I think it's easier to make it seem that your skin is paler than darker. Because you can always use bright or light colors to make the skin seem paler than it is. But if you put black or dark colors against pale skin, it just makes it look worse. No real solution but a ton of makeup.

Phanari · Post by **Phanari** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 2:43 pm

Tanning. I know lots of people who sit in the sun for an hour, half on each side and get a nice tan. Just remember to use those special oils and junk.
I don't have to tan. I'm Italian, we look a lot like pale Gypsies, if that makes any sense.
~Ari

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 2:55 pm

Man, Phanari, you are stereotyping Italians like mad. I know a lot of them that are pale as crap and fatter than cake. It's like I know a few Puerto Ricans that have absolutely no butts to their names.

Anyway, ace bandages are kind of made to sit on another so its weird like that. I use the duct tape to basically make them all get their acts together!

For the record though, Tia, I have considered an Anthy.

Phanari · Post by **Phanari** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 2:59 pm

Well, it's not hard to stereotype Italians, when you are an Italian stereotype. Lots of us are fat, that's why we're curvy. That's the thing with Italian food. You eat it one day and six days later you're hungry again. And I'm a sucker for pasta! I talk with my hands like mad. And I'm short. Hmmmm.....oh, yes, and my father's a big round man who laughs a lot. I'd call that the stereotype alright. The only difference is, my mom can't cook to save herself and my brother's six foot something.
~Ari

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 5:02 pm

Well then, wouldn't that be just a coincidence? I'm somewhat Italian, curvy, hate Italian food in general, am not a sucker for pasta, talk with my hands like mad and I'm uber short.

Oh, and yes, my Dad is a big round man who laughs a lot too and he's Native American. Not Italian.

I'd call it more coincidence than anything. >.>

But the difference is that my Mom can cook wonderfully and my sisters are shorter than me. O.o

mindtailor · Post by **mindtailor** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 5:20 pm

heh my family is strange. I'm tall and curvy. It must have to do with the puerto rican-ness (go us, Loki!) My dad, who is the source of all this puerto rican-ness, is tall and skinny. I swear, he weighs only about ten pounds more than I do. My mom is tall (but an inch shorter than me) and norwegian/irish, so she's rather pale. My brother is as skinny as a stick (you can see his ribs), and a little darker than me, although his hair is lighter. We don't have to tan, either, phanari, and we're part norwegian. go us. XD

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 8:37 pm

Hehehehehehe. *plots Utena-related things*

Phanari · Post by **Phanari** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 8:35 pm

Be it coincidence or the fact that I come from a long line of Italians. Who knows. We're all just like the stereotypes minus my mom. But she's a tad puerto-rican.
~Ari

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:59 pm

On the topic of the wig, my group head showed it to Zoroko, who is truly the Petshop of Horrors master and after flipping through the manga and then looking at my wig, she decided that while the length isn't right, she didn't want me to change it either even after I offered to cut it.

She said that she liked how I incorporated Tetsu's human form with his Totetsu form, which has fur that is long and shaggy with the tail. So the wig is approved of and all's good to go!

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 10:39 pm

Very cool. So what is this costume for? Ohayo? Or something later?

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 10:16 pm

Next weekend, Ohayo.

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 12:54 pm

Cool. The scythe is for Ohayocon, too, right? Is that a different character, or this one? I don't remember horns on that picture... But then again, I could be wrong. I have a bad short-term memory 0.o; The scythe is looking good! It just needs some silver leaf on it and to have the winding bit attached.

Laura92 · Post by **Laura92** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 2:12 pm

I wanna go to Ohayo T_T

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 10:04 pm

Actually, the scythe is for ACen now because I dropped from the group. I'm just not dealing with it anymore.

But don't do that Tia! You make me want to see it now!

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:30 pm

Ah, too many costumes or something?

Well, there are pictures now ^_^ He said he has to cut up three boxes to be able to fit it 0.o; I bet the people at the post office will go all twitchy over it. They already probably think I'm insane, too, because of other cosplay stuff I'm always mailing, though. lol. When I sent out the sailor fuku they had to repackage it because it was in a liquor box and you can't send anything that's partially flammable in the planes. Learned my lesson on that one quick.

Hemuloki-sama · Post by **Hemuloki-sama** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 6:56 am

Nah, just the group was just poorly run in my opinion. At most, I would be able to wear Uriel for about an hour but even then, I would have to quickly change into Tetsu because of the Masq. It was just an issue and I wanted to hang around in Uriel for an entire day because Dark_Tiger made my scythe for me and I put a lot of time into what I had completed of Uriel.

Ah, I saw the pictures and it looked like he went with the glue idea. But I feel bad now because of the huge trouble! But I went through a huge thing over the fall where I just got a lot of things and things that I was suppose to sign for, I ended up missing so they had to keep a lot of my stuff until I came for it.

But I remember that I ended up keeping all those boxes that came to me because hey, it saves me from buying a box and it's free!