ECEE 2015

​September 25 - 27, 2015

47 days after Animethon I was getting set to pull an all-nighter with Danielle. We needed to finish her Cheshire Cat hood. The brushed yarn technique is not a practical method for busy new moms! I packed up all my craft supplies and headed over. 7 hours of constant brushing, gluing, and a giant muffin later, we needed rest. I headed home and left Danielle alone and armed with the hot glue gun.
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The next morning I was back to her place early to help with some finishing touches before we got ready to go. I was extremely grateful at this point that my Mad Rabbit had been finished well in advance. She did her mom things while I attached some furry ears to her hood. The last minute details were finished!

It was time to get ready. I hadn't done an official make-up test for Mad Rabbit, so I had to do quite a bit of playing around to get a look I liked. Danielle took a little more time with her make-up because she hadn't done a previous make-up test either. We got as ready as we could in our busy and delicate costumes and headed out the door.

We met Angel Andringa, our photographer for the day, at Emily Murphy park. We had a short photo shoot where we took some cute photos of our costumes. Check out my future post to see a summary of experiences with photographers I worked with in 2015.

​Soon we were out of the chilly fall weather and driving around again. We drove around the city, ate lunch and Carley napped. We arrived at the expo and I was pretty happy with the crowds that day. It was so nice. There was room to walk and look at things! The first thing we did was stand in line to get autographs from Jessica Nigri.

​After that, we did a few laps. I scouted out some potential things I would want to buy that weekend. We ran into Shelley, an online cosplay friend I had been talking to for months. We finally had the chance to meet in person. She is so awesome and chatty, such an easy person to befriend. It was nice to run into her again over the weekend!

​​I was really happy with day 1 of ECEE. Man, it feels so freaking good to take a wig off after a long day. Hnng.

Day 2 was Bombshell Harley Quinn day with Danyella! We remembered to take our "before" pictures and then took a long time getting ready. Danyella even had to run out for more green hairspray last minute!

Once we were at the expo centre it was so busy and overwhelming, Danyella and I hardly spent much time together. She wanted to spend more time in Artist Alley, and I had tons of  people to meet up with before the day was through. I always forget how fun and flattering it is to have people ask you for a picture. It really encourages and inspires me to make more cosplays and make them better. I took tons of pictures of cosplayers and selfies with friends. 

Danyella and I decided to take a break and went outside for some food truck noms, and to do a little photo shoot on our smartphones.

​I picked up more art prints to grow my battle princess collection from Johnni Kok. I'm maybe a little bit addicted to this art series. I don't even have enough wall space for these gorgeous prints.

​Day 2 was also the Expo Cosplay Contest. This is actually the first contest I actually went to. My fascination with cosplay happened so fast, I never really had the opportunity to see any other contests. From our seats, you couldn't see craftsmanship detail, but I could still tell that these people were good. One guy even proposed to his girlfriend on stage! It was so amazing! <3 I'm such a sucker for that shit, geeze...

After a very, very, very long day, we headed home. I had the amazing satisfaction of taking off my wig again. Hnng. I should wear wigs more often just for that feeling...

Day 3 I was supposed to wear my Dr. Harleen Quinzel cosplay, but last minute I decided to go casual. Filthy Casual. (If you don't get the reference, I suggest you look up these Edmonton based designers and buy one, or all their merchandise.) I had quite a fun time with the reduced crowds, doing a final loop through the expo. We didn't stay long; as small as the crowds were, it was still too busy for Riley. 

​It was a good mix for me though. I'm looking forward to the Calgary Expo in April and seeing how well I do at a bigger con, with more days, and new cosplays and LUCY LAWLESS (**^%#%^(@@!!!!!) But that's another story for another day. Stay tuned for my next post, about making my Nidalee cosplay! You can read about how I made my cosplays for this expo here --> Mad Rabbit // Bombshell Harley Quinn. Thanks for reading!

*kiss kiss*