11 posts tagged “dye”
So! I dyed my hair with Creative Image Adore hair dye in Forest Green and, later, Purple Rage. Here are my experiences:
first time:
second time:
I just dyed the purple over the brown, but there were some bleached streaks left over from ages ago. (You can see those in the first-time picture, as well as tons of other pics of me here.) It turned a lovely pinkish bright raspberry purple on the bleached bits and gave the rest of my hair a really pretty almost auburn-y shine.
The green is much darker this time, probably because I rinsed it in achingly-cold water! I'm so impressed with this brand of dye. I'd never heard of it before but it's given me fantastic results.
My thoughts on it after using another color and a second time:
- I wish the bottles were designed differently. It's messy. They've got a sort of push-top design, like this: http://i1.ebayimg.com/05/i/001/2d/fc/6687_1_sbl.JPG And so the dye gets all over the bottle.
- The green is fairly thin and liquidy. The purple is thick, like hair gel. They seem to soak into the hair at about the same rate, though.
- The color pictured on the bottle is definitely not the color you will get. Putting the dye on a piece of plain white paper, though, and blotting it a little, will give you a nearly-exact swatch (over bleached hair, at least).
- Something I forgot from last time is that my hair feels absolutely amazing. I can't stop touching it.
I'm going to stick with this brand to try and get more pictures of its color range out there. I'm also going to keep track of how the purple fades, and see if it'll last as long as the green did. The green lasted 8 weeks and was still a pretty light lime by the time I dyed over it. (If not for St. Patrick's Day I probably wouldn't have bothered redyeing...but, I also wanted to add the purple, too.)
Hooray, weirdly-colored hair!
No, this doesn't mean I've given up on Secret Project #1 - in fact, SP1 is going even better than I thought. I figured it's time to reveal it. =)
It's really not all that special - just an Elegant Gothic Aristocrat outfit for MTAC's J-Fashion show. I'm pretty proud of it, though - it's really turning out pretty nice. I got accessories (gloves, hair combs, earrings, and a beautiful ring) today from Claire's. Have I mentioned yet how much I love Claire's? It is my ultimate accessories store. If you can't find it in Claire's, you can probably find it in Icing, their less-pink more "adult" store. (Don't get me wrong, there's nothing dirty or anything - it's just not as pink and purple and little girl-y.) From goth and emo decor to preppy everything and one of my favorites, Hello Kitty, it's a wonderful place.
Madam In Lace Description
The black ruffly shirt I got turned out to be even prettier in person. It's longer than I anticipated, but it looks lovely. It's a bit wide at the waist for me (most shirts are) so I think I'm going to figure out how to make it tie up in the back like a corset. :) I will note that there's another color available on JCPenney.com now that wasn't there before - a lovely pink. It seems a bit too dark for Lolita purposes, though. But I digress.
The skirt is a black lace gypsy skirt. It's a little too simple, though, and not quite long enough, so I'm going to add lace to the bottom (which is unfinished - fine for a gypsy skirt, not so fine for an EGA skirt!) and possibly to the top of each tier.
The accessories are black gloves (to the wrist - but I'm going to add some lace to them, probably two rows per glove), a beautiful antique-metal flower ring (which is really quite nice and MUST be seen. I will have a picture of it soon - I just need a better camera so I don't lose the detail on the small things!), small antique-metal and black-crystal chandelier earrings, and two antique-metal and black-crystal hair-combs. I will still need to get an antique-metal brooch (the buttons on the shirt don't go all the way to the top like an EGA should have, so I'm using the extra buttons and adding a buttonhole. The collar will be held together by the brooch.) and some silk flowers for my hair. (Sorry, Claire's, but your black flower accessories just didn't cut my standards...) The combs by themselves are lovely but just don't count much for a headdress. I'd really like to try to make or modify a tiara so it's made out of black flowers. I don't know if this is possible and I don't know if I'll want to go to the trouble if I can just find a few nice-looking flowers. Would tying a few together look too much like I'm wearing a bouquet on my head?
Underneath my skirt I won't be wearing a petticoat. (I will wear underwear. No, I won't tell you what color it is.) The Madam look just doesn't need the poofy cupcake look of "younger" styles like Sweet Lolita. I will, however, be wearing some sort of black socks or stockings - I might even add a little embroidery, if I get the time. Black flowers on otherwise plain black stockings would really pull the whole look together, I think. I'm going to get those tomorrow along with the flowers.
The footwear will probably be the only part I really don't feel will match. I have a pair of black boots, and they're plain, but I can't decide what I want to do with them to make them fit the EGA look. I'll probably just find a way to add lace around the tops temporarily. It's not ideal, but unless I see a pair of better boots (I found some in Wal-Mart but they only had a 6 and a 6.5 - that won't fit a 9 no matter how much I stretch and squeeze) that don't cost too much, I'm going to just go with what I have.
My goal is to keep this under $100, and so far I have! Counting the boots (and really, I don't, since I would have gotten them anyways and didn't much have this in mind when I bought them), I've spent about $65 on this project so far. $27.50 of that is accessories. :) The boots were nineteen dollars, and the blouse was another eighteen. I expect to spend about another $20 on the rest of the accessories and then probably five or ten for the socks.
Other Costume News
I mentioned Secret Project #2. It's not for a con anytime soon. If I end up going to MechaCon I'll probably wear the costume, but I'm not putting it on my calendar. It's just something I'd really like to do.
Anyways...the character is from my favorite manwha. That's right -- not manga, manwha. It's a Korean comic and the art is absolutely beautiful. I decided I wanted to do this character when I learned that the final volume (number 7) comes out in May, so I started trying to figure out how to do the main character's hair color.
I was sure I'd have to do some sort of custom dye, then I remembered a beautiful wig I'd seen recently on eBay from
cosplaywig, a known and reliable seller. Most quality problems (if any) are that the longer wigs can have the hair fall out a bit. They don't generally have Kanekalon fiber, and instead seem to mostly have wahlon or modlon fiber - each of which are quite good but not as styling-friendly as Kanekalon or Toyokalon. Anyways, I checked out their stock, and to my surprise, I found the perfect color.
Other things I have bought:
- New gloves for my Hello Kitty costume. This is important.
- A new Hello Kitty wallet. This has nothing to do with cosplay, it's just cute because it's green camouflage and pink camouflage and just nice. It's smaller than my black HK Clover-style wallet, so it's perfect for cons and my white Lolita Prada purse. (Canal Street = awesome)
- The wig above. I'm listing it again because I love the color.
- DRESS FORM! Whee! I named her Darla and have started covering the gaps where I adjusted her with yellow ribbon. Burgundy and yellow isn't a combination I would have usually thought of, but I think it's turned out pretty. It's amazingly
- Gloves for Elgala. Claire's has dyeable white gloves in the length I need (I got them for the TAHK and would have picked up another pair, but the only other one in that length was white) so I'll grab two pairs (one to cut up for the crosspieces) when it gets closer to prom season rather than buying off the internet. I'll save on shipping AND get the right color I need. Still have to work out the dye formula though.
- A bra. This is to sew into the leotard for Elgala. I want to make sure to get the neckline right but fudging it a little would be okay. The main reason for buying a bra is so I get the proper lift and separation as shown in the pictures. Most of the cosplays I've seen of Hyatt (whose costume is very similar to Elgala's) look odd because the boobs are squished beneath the leotard. I don't really like calling attention to my chest, but in this case, I think it would look a lot worse if I didn't. Buying a bra to incorporate into the costume will give me a good base to work from.
- Stockings, silk flowers, brooch for EGA.
- Kryolan makeup for TAHK. If I'm going to paint my face white, I'm going to do it with good makeup this time.
- A wig for TAHK. (The first time I wore it, I used my own mid-back-length brown hair - I've cut it and dyed it since then.) I've got a few options in mind, and one of them is emerging as the winner, but I'm not sure yet. I'll probably be waiting until March to actually get this.
- Dye for the gloves. I don't need this for a while. I'm thinking either Bittersweet or Gold from this page. Maybe even a mixture of the two - that would probably turn out the best.
- New tag for TAHK. This is really more "make" than "buy" but I need more cardboard.
I ought to post more often. ^_^;; I'm sorry! I've let it slip. School's been making me busy along with the play, and of course, I've actually been working on the cosplays - this can kind of put a damper on things. ;)
My Secret Project #1 has been revealed to be an Elegant Gothic Madam/Aristocrat costume. I'm thinking of calling it Madam in Lace, since lace and flowers are the central theme. (Flowers on lace, of course.)
My Secret Project #2 has been announced. It's the main character of a Korean manwha with pale turquoise hair. (If you can guess it, I will love you forever. It's totally one of my favorite series - probably equal with Excel Saga. ES just comes out more often and has more volumes.)
Elgala is going slowly, but surely, and I've set little deadlines for myself to make sure it keeps going.
Teen Angst Hello Kitty has been pulled out of my closet (literally) and is awaiting refinishing. I've basted one side of the waist (to take it in - there's at least an inch of FOLDED fabric on either side to sew! o_O;;) and the other side is pinned. Since it was handsewn originally, part of the seam between the bodice and the skirt has come undone. I'll be undoing that and flipping the lace overskirt (it's on backwards - the outside is facing the skirt), then resewing it to the bodice. Not a huge overhaul, but it'll really improve the overall appearance. It's also getting a nice, even hem.
I've just realized that I haven't actually posted an image of the Teen Angst Hello Kitty costume yet, as far as I can remember - so here it is. :)
Everything's been going pretty smoothly, when it's been going. The wisdom teeth debilitation sort of shook me up and made me want to get things done. I think this is a good thing for my schedule. I was getting pretty lax.
Well, it's nearly two-thirty in the morning. I've been writing this for about an hour and a half between talking to Furu (he'll get his own post again soon) and working on homework. Thank you, and good night. x_x
It's not picturesque work, though. I've been playing around more, trying to get just the right recipe. I've got something that I'm happy enough with, because it's the right color - just a bit lighter. I fear taking a picture, though, and I don't have a full sample -- yet! It's faaar too windy outside right now for me to go outside and dye, and I don't want to spray my garage purple. XD;;
So, I'm VERY sorry that I've been losing track of this and forgetting! I'm looking into ordering the leotards for the main costume, too. Once I get the extensions sewn in, not necessarily styled, I'm going to spike the ponytail.
I've got a lot of stuff to work on! I hope to have some sort of RECOGNIZABLE product by the time Excel Saga volume 15 comes out!
too dark outside to take pictures of it. I have a headaaache. so just...pretend these pictures from a while back are actually relevant or something. they're not fixed up nice or anything, sorry.
dyeing the extensions with the too-pink dye:
dyeing the stockings:
making a sewn weft:
dyeing extensions again with the more blue dye, then the right dye :
Makes you just want to DYE, eh?
I dyed extensions!
And I got close to the right color!!!!
BUT IT TOOK FOREVER TO GET THERE. >_< And too much ink so the texture's screwy and pretty much unworkable for my purposes. :/
Today's Lesson: Prussian Blue FW Acrylic Artist's Ink is SERIOUSLY BLUE. It took about twenty squeezes of other colors to balance out the blue in ONE squeeze of PB. And the end result is still just a leeeetle bit bluer than I need.
I found my camera. I took pictures. I lost my camera. I'm beginning to think I need to just attach a big red light to it or something. >_<
My new ink came today! I was too busy finishing up my Peach costume (which was done enough to hand out candy in but certainly not done enough to take to a convention) to do anything with it, though.
I've, uh, lost my camera, or else I'd take pictures...I'll find it before I work again, though. I promise!
I ordered my ink and decided on a pair of color contacts to buy.
I'm getting Cool Gray and Prussian Blue FW Acrylic Artist's Ink for my extensions, and Freshlook Colorblends in Amythest. (I'm not getting the contacts until I get my new prescription, though.)
Woo~!
Doesn't matter! I did stuff! :3
I dyed my stooockings. Yaaaay! They turned out lovely, too.
I want to get pictures of them on my legs before I add any pictures here, though.
Oh, and I didn't order my ink yet. (lazy starcat!) I'll get to it...eventually.
Legal drinking might make my wig look better. Wonder if it affects color perception?
I dyed my extensions, but they turned out too pink, so I'll just document the process next time I do it.
Dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen...
Ahem.
Day Seventeen wasn't interesting. I dyed the bottom of my practice wig but it turned out weeeird because I didn't read the thingy right and didn't add enough ink. Whoops.
This is the part I dyed.
That's all for today. I rinsed it a few hours later but haven't got pictures of that yet as it's still wet and looks different.
BUT LOOK I GOT A POST UP ON TIME :D (if you live in Central or later time zone that is. Sorry, Eastern/UK people.)
