Maya - Wandering Wonder

As promised, pics of my Maya cosplay from AVCon! It's so great to have finally made this after it's been on my cosplay list for sooo so long. Very fulfilling! Though there's a lot of things (that probably only I can see XD) that are wrong/not done as well as I'd like and little things that I need to fix up, alter or re-make - especially the crinoline and wing and bells that I really would've liked to have done out of fiberglass but couldn't because of time restraints.

That said, I'm really happy that she photographs so nicely - epic love to Mon for this photoshoot! It was so much fun, even if I couldn't see where my feet were XD

Also been trying really hard lately to improve on the quality and fitting/drafting etc. of the things that I've been making. Plus eeepic ammounts of love and shout outs to my parents! I don't think there's aaaaany way on Earth that this would've been completed to where it is without their assistence and support ;_; <3

Hat: Nicknamed 'the souffle hat', I think it must've gone through about 4-5 different drafts playing around with scale and the hat band (and it's still not right OTL) but I do really adore the bows on it...and how warm it kept me XD

Top and skirt: Both a bit of fun to draft. They're made from this really dense cream crepe with the top lined in polarfleece (for extra warmth at the winter con!) and the skirt lined in bemsilk and edged with self-made fur trim (there's around 7metres on the whole costume which all had to be hand sewn). The insignias on the sleeves were scaled from images and transfered before being pain-stakingly hand-painted which was about 3 1/2 - 4 hours all up. The skirt ruffles are made of white crepe to match the outfit and, like the little shoulder ruffles, hemmed with fishing wire to get an even swirly-curly look. AND POMPOMS. OMG pompoms <3

Gloves: As much as I always say I will never sew my own gloves again...I always end up having to. Such a world of pain! Was smart/lazy this time and bought a pattern which needed modifying anyway. It's not really visible in photos, but they've got this cute little applique and diamonte detailing on the top.

Bells and wing: Yes, just one wing o_o Both were made utilising a papier mache drape forming method and painted with acrylic and spray paints. It's also the biggest fluke in the world that all the pendulums in the bells are going in the same direction, yosh! The bows and dangly-bits were also a lot of fun to make, and I really love how they work with the rest of design. They were also scaled to the right size and the darker blue material had to be dyed to get the right-ish shade.

Shoes: Probably the comfiest cosplay shoes I've ever had the pleasure of wearing. Modded slippers ftw! Side story: getting ready at Mon's appartment near the con (because this costume can't doesn't fit in cars XD) I was doing odd things and thought 'Yeah, I need to remember to take these slippers off before we go to the con...hey...WAAAIT A MINUTE'. More pom pom love, but these ones had to be ink-dyed because pompoms don't come in...whatever shade of blue that is.

Ginseng plush: Nicknamed Ginger, and a hilarious joy to take through the airport. He doubled as a bag which was really handy, but the next day my arms were aching from having carried him around all of the previous day x-x Also took up about 2 of the 6 weeks spent on this costume.

Staff: Not pictured here. Based off of Maya's in-game Red Mage Staff, it's constructed out of pine, hardwood, dowel, MDF, sculpey, craft foam and a water bottle. It also comes apart in three pieces for transport, though I didn't really take measurements of my suit case, so we had to make a separate box to carry the head off it in safetly XD

Won Best Female at AVCon (Sun)
Photo credit to
Location: Adelaide Convention Centre
More of the shoot: [link]
Maya:

Other photos from this series:
Maya - Muted Existence
To The Sky
Maya - Magna Carta
Check Out Them Bells

Maya is from Magna Carta: Tears of Blood which belongs to Hyung-tae Kim