My first Comicon!

Well, I finally did it, I went to my first con with one of my hand made costumes! I'm a little late to the game, but I'm so glad that I finally had enough courage to go. STL Comicon was hosted by Mighty Con at the St. Charles Convention Center. 

My boyfriend and I arrived to the convention around one o'clock, I wore my Starfire costume that I made last summer (still need to write her own post). I was so nervous/excited that my body was shaking, I didn't know what to expect. We entered and waited in line to receive our wrist bands from the pre-ordered ticket line. Once we received our wristbands, we were able to go in the convention hall. It was so wonderful, this place was filled with amazing artists, vendors, and cosplayers. Many people asked me for pictures, as well as me asking them for pictures. Everyone was literally so nice and courteous, I was overwhelmed with acceptance! It is truly such an amazing feeling to hear face to face how people appreciate my work and the effort I put into my cosplay. Once, after taking a picture with one guy in particular, I heard him say to his friend as they were walking away, "That is the best Starfire cosplayer I have ever seen." This brought me so much joy, I can't even describe it. I loved talking to the other cosplayers and appreciating their costumes, and taking pictures with my favorite characters!

Misty!

Negan bashing my head in

Cute lil' ewok!

Me and Amanda

After a few hours, three of my friends showed up, Amanda, Sarah and Dustin, two of which were also cosplaying. Sarah dressed in her newly bought 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast ballgown, and Amanda was dressed as Rey from Star Wars. It was so exciting to have them there with me at my first con (they've both been to one before). Aaron had a good time with Dustin being there, they're in love. 

The five of us walked around the whole con, viewing all the artists' work and the awesome props that were being sold. I ended up purchasing a beautiful print of Ariel from an artist named TriStarr, you can follow him on his Facebook page here! I love this piece so much and can't wait to find the perfect place for it in my sewing room. 

I also saw some handmade Negan bats that I realllly wanted, but I figured I could make one myself if I really wanted to, and I do! 

As the day came to a close, we all went outside to the water fountain and took pictures. My friend Amanda got some really great shots of me in my costume, which is always such a value to cosplayers. This con really opened my eyes, and I am so excited to go to more! I have been searching like a mad man for any kind of convention, large or small, around the St. Louis area. 

Blue Hair!

I realize that this has nothing to do with cosplay, or sewing, but I have to share the plunge that I took into a full head of blue hair! I have ALWAYS wanted a full head of luscious bright blue locks, something about it just makes me feel so magical and unstoppable. It seemed as though everything got in the way of my wish, such as theater activities in high school, jobs, jobs and more jobs! Luckily, I now have the summers off due to working at an elementary school and I can do what I want for 2.5 months!

I bought the supplies I needed a few weeks in advanced, eager to get started. I headed over to Sally's Beauty Supply and bought a mixing bowl and a tinting brush. I also bought the small packet of Salon Care Lightening Blue bleach powder, and the small bottle of Salon Care 40 Volume developer. I went ahead and picked up Manic Panic's Virgin Snow toner. Since Sally's didn't have the Manic Panic colors I wanted, I went ahead and ordered Atomic Turquoise, Voodoo Blue, and Blue moon on Amazon. 

If I were to do this process again, I would have bought more bleaching powder and used the full bottle of my developer (I only used half the developer due to directions). Before I bleached my hair, I coated it in coconut oil the night before and slept in it. I am always afraid of damage, so i do my best to minimize it. I bleached my hair and left it on for about 45 minutes. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't as light as expected and it was a little patchy, leaving some parts pretty dark. If I had more on my head, I'm sure I would have got a more even application. After rinsing and drying, I put on the violet toner, this did very little due to the fact that my hair had more orange tones than yellow. I left it alone for that night. The next morning I washed my hair, without conditioning, to make it more accepting of the dye. After it was dry, I put aquaphor around my hair line and ears, put on my gloves, and I was ready to go. I simply took random strips of my hair and alternated colors each time. Once my hair was completely covered, I wrapped it up on a plastic grocery bag and let it sit for about two hours. I rinsed it out with cold water, poured a cup of white vinegar through my hair (they say that locks the color in), let it dry and BAM! These beautiful results:

Now, i will warn you, Atomic Turquoise fades FAST. I did everything to keep the color in, vinegar after dying, using only cold water when washing, washing as little as possible, using dry shampoo, but that part of my hair faded into a pale green within a week. I had so much left over, due to buying three different colors, so I decided to touch it up by just using one jar at a time all over my head. I used the rest of the Atomic Turquoise for my first touch up, again, faded with in a week of super high precautions. Six days after I touched up with atomic turquoise, I touched up again with the rest of the Voodoo Blue color and this lasted really well, compared to the Atomic Turquoise. It was still pretty vibrant after about three weeks, especially on the ends, but I decided to freshen up my look with more natural style. 

Overall, I think that manic panic is a great brand if you are looking for something pretty temporary. Some colors in the brand last longer than others, but everyone's hair is different! Play around until you find something that works for you. :)