【Tutorial】Wig Dyeing Tutorial with Marker Ink and Fabric Dye

Wig dyeing is always a big problem, especially when cant get the perfect color of wig. In the end I try to dye the wig to get the closest color I can. Rather than a tutorial, this is more likely a review of how I dye two of my wigs. I would say that its not a very good method, and the texture later differs from how it usual be, however, the colour is perfect somehow.

FABRIC DYE METHOD

The first wig I tried to dye is Miki's from Secret Time After School. Its like pale pinkish orange kind of color, which I cant find any that time from taobao shop (Now, they have similar color though = =, right after I finish my photoshoot.....). I tried to dye a light pink wig into the color using a Orange Fabric Paint. Below here I compared the target color and the results of the dyed-wig.

The type of fabric dye I used

The light pink wig is the same I used for Love Ward Luka (below):

The pink color is slightly lighter than the picture here. I dilute the dye with water and just paint on the wig with big brushes, layer by layer. The degree of the color depends on the dilution, had done of a bit of trial and error with lower parts of the wig. I directly blew dried the wig after applying the color and washed once with conditioner, dry with blower again and iron it. The color is much closer to the original photos than any of the commercial orange wig I can find THAT TIME . ( I am kinda  down when they come out with Miki's wig as similar as this only AFTER I had my photoshoot. Still, I think my antenna is much better looking than the commercial wig =w=, and yes am satisfied. )

FAQ that people ask about wig dying:

(i) Does the color stays?
-Yes, it stays even I washed with conditioner. BUT, it stained my costume, a little bit, I found orange stains at the collars and also edge of the sleeves, still acceptable.

(ii) How is the texture?
-Well, its rough and easily tangled. A little fussy, since I tried to smoothen with the wig spray which did not worked at all, I tried with hair treatment oil, not working as well. If you are able to make the wig smooth enough, then this would be a perfect method to dye wig.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MARKER INK METHOD

The next wig I tried to dye is Science Girl Miku Wig. This time, its my unreasonable weird persistent that drive me to this. I thought I was late for ordering from taobao, which was not, and badly wanted a dark blue wig to pin up ponytail for Miku. Later, when I looked back at the character design, its not dark blue, but a cobalt blue wig, which I again cant find the color for pony tail on taobao.

 A few ideas actually popup in my mind:

(i) Acrylic paint ----> failed -- I dilute cobalt blue acrylic with water and soak overnight, not working, wither because I used a pale blue wig or because it just don't stay.

(ii) Semi-permanent hair dye conditioner --> failed -- its the Directions dye I am using here which I used for my real hair. Apparently it don't stay on wig or just that the wig color is not pale enough?

(iii) Marker ink --> well this is the one that seems to be most fitting that time.

I wet the wig first, smeared a bit of ink on my fingers and brush it through the wig, bits by bits, layer by layer. Blow-dried it after brushing the ink through all parts. Must make sure the wig and fingers are wet, else the ink will stain fingers instead of the wig. It took quite some time to finish the whole thing, 2-hours per pony tail since I separate the day dying them. Do everything once again if the color tone is not dark enough. I repeated twice for both pony tails. Iron the ponytail at last.

Left- original color (slightly greener than this)

Right -  Dyed color

Left- dyed color

Right- well this is how it looks like originally

Type of Marker ink i used, whiteboard marker

The same miku wig I used for Cheerful 39 Miku, its kinda messy that time when I want to dye it. So I washed the wigs with conditioner first, blown dry and detangled the wig before I dye it. Since its whiteboard marker that I am using here (I cant seems to find permanent marker ink nearby here), I cant wash it after that.

FAQ that people ask about wig dying:

(i) Does the color stays?
- I am not sure, but I think no.. It should be able to washed with shampoo, because its whiteboard marker ink. It stained when brush through the wig with fingers, and a bit on Miku's lab coat.

(ii) How is the texture?
- Much better than the fabric dye method, still smooth but fuzzy though, cant seems to settle the top part of the ponytail which makes it look a bit messy there (or its me that do not know how to handle it). 

P/S: Don't ever ever ever mix marker ink with Rubbing alcohol... it don't mix.. it will accumulate... I tried... and I am stupid to try with half the bottles of ink... OTL...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's at least the methods I had tried before, will upload more if I have the chance to try. I heard that Rit Dye works well, but I can't seems to find them in Malaysia. Might give it a try if I can buy it somewhere. Lastly, do feel free to ask questions if there is any doubt :). 

【COS】Vocaloid Project DIVA f -Science Girl Miku

初音ミク　Hatsune Miku Project DIVA-f
Module: Science Girl (理系少女）

Star Voice Miku @ Aiko Shorin

BB Operator Meiko @ Kaien Yuu

Agitation Miku @ Cili Padi

General Kaito @ Andros Hay

Purple Ageha Miku @ Aiyuki Adelle

Ruby Luka @ Cheryl Lo

Ribbon Girl Miku @ Yuki Christy

Memoria Miku @ Chia Yi

Science Girl Miku @ Maro Ch (me)

Wagamama Kojocho @ Akihiko Michaelis

Yukata Style Miku @ Cappy Phreakyfish

Neko Neko Cape @ Eclair-Nyanko Aiai

Innocent Miku @ Karie

Trade School Rin @ Huko Yee

Graduate Meiko @ Sher Myn

Afterschool Mode Luka @ Chelses Yuan

Honey Whip Miku @ Camille Iora

Melancholy Rin @ Angie Ong

Scissors Rin @ Alma Woo

photo thx Razrig photography

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the largest group that I've been working with, and thanks to Angie for organizing and arranging for the shooting. There are more people actually, but due to some circumstances, some are not able to come, including our dear Molly (=3=)//////////// 

But I am glad somehow to be able to work with all Vocaloids~ The group includes a few other photographers like our Lord Mazaki, KC, Blur and also fellow photogs from Singapore, Fariz Asuka and Blurmage. Though I am not familiar with most of them. Hence, didnt get the chance to work with them though.

photo thx Lee Mazaki

The only full body shoot I have from Mazaki =w=. I am happy to have slim legs here/////

It was kinda rush that day, since we booked 4 hours of Karaoke room. The room was awesome. Fits most of the theme there. 

Was planning to do Hachi Hachi version (Tengaku version of Rin), pairing with Molly initially. Since Molly was not able to attend, I changed to Science Girl instead. Mainly, because of the song
"What Do You Mean?" (どういうことなの！？) by Kuchibashi-P. Fits my condition now that time, when I was rushing for my thesis. Check it out in Youtube for the song. Its awesome!

We went to arcade in Timesquare later on after the photoshoot. Apparently, I am outdated..... too old.... i didnt know arcade is still a place where youths hang out... Was in damn big culture shock. I am typical stay-at-home type of girl. My life is consistently, school, anime, mangas, sleep and it goes all around again. Although occassionally, I do overnight sewing and photoshoot outing.. basically it never strayed far from these. To see that most people know what arcade's newest machine, frankly speaking, I was amazed. Especially that dancing machine.. maybe its just me that is not compatible with dancing, but to be able to follow the move of the dancers in the machine, its seems to me its hell lot of practice. I personally still like Jubeat alot, which I have the Iphone version in my phone right now. A new sight for me, maybe sometimes when I am free, might try hang out in arcade for Jubeat, since the big squares is much easier than the iphone size of squares. =w=

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

【Tutorial】Simple tutorial for pleated skirt

Its been ages since I last posted something. I've been working for my thesis for the past months, and now finally finished up the 1st draft for it~ 

I have the time finally to fill up what's left out for the past months. 

Now, since I made the pleated skirt for Project Diva F Science Girl Miku, I might as just write a tutorial for this. Pleated skirt is quite commonly in a lot of characters, any highschool uniforms, and quite a range of female characters. The procedure is quite simple, I took around 3 hours to complete the whole skirt. 

How the end product looks like. It would be better if I iron it more thoroughly : )

_________________________________________________________________

~Simple Steps of Making Pleated Skirt~

Step 1: The cloth. 

I use some left-over from my Alice dress. Its around 150cmx 60cm

Step 2:  Cut your cloth

Measurement taken from you waist until middle of the thigh. Mine is around 35cm including allowance for seaming.

The whole lenght for the skirt I used around 150cm(standard width of the cloth, 60 inch) + an extra
85cm, total around 2meters and 35cm.

Step 3: Fold the ends

You can either seam it or I personally prefer to fold it.

Step 4: The pleats.

Each pleat is about 2 inch/5cm thick. Depends on your own preference. I think 4cm would be better....

Pleat and iron at the same time and pin at the top of the cloth to hold it.

Bottom pleat is 1.5cm each sides, as shown in the pic below. 

For better look, its recommended to do 2.5cm bottom pleat. Since I would like to save cloth, i used slightly shorted bottom pleat.

Step 5: Join the cloths. 

Just sew the two pieces together. 

Overall lenght I got from the 2m35cm cloth is around 90cm of the whole pleats. 

Step 6: Waist band

Cut two piece of rectangle shape, snips the ends off as shown below.

Measurements: 14cm x waist/2 . 

Sew them together. 

Fold it in half and iron it.

Fold in the ends and iron, to keep the loose ends in.

Step 7: Join the waist band to the pleats.

First, sew a line through the top of the pleats (where the pins are) to fix the pleats.

Insert the pleats in the middle of the waist bands, pin them.

You'll get something like this in the end.

Before sewing it, join the ends of the of the pleats, leaving at least 5cm space. Important, because the hips might not fit in if there is not space left. you can choose to put zips here.  

Any extras of the pleats, just fold and tuck it in at the end of the waist band. Sew the waist band on. Put on a button / buckle. ITS DONE!

__________________________________________________________________

Although I would like to put how it looks like in the real photoshoot... somehow.... I didn't get proper full body shoot....... 

Of course, there are other pleats pattern. You can try to pleat all in the same direction. Just the middle with double pleat and sides are all in opposite directions. 

Next project I am going to do on Tonari no Kaibutsu-san, Shijuki's school uniform. I will do the single side pleat skirt instead. Will upload the progress after I finish it. =w=

【COS】Vocaloid - Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro

『さあさあ　今宵も無礼講
獄卒衆すら巻き込んで
宴の瀬にて成り下がるは
純真無垢故質の悪い
悪虐非道に御座います』

片足無くした猫が笑う
「ソコ行ク御嬢サン遊ビマショ」
首輪に繋がる赤い紐は
片足の代わりになっちゃいない

や　や　や　や　嫌　嫌　嫌

列成す 卒塔婆の群れが歌う
「ソコ行ク御嬢サン踊リマショ」
足元密かに咲いた花は
しかめっ面しては愚痴ってる

腹を見せた 鯉幟(こいのぼり)

孕んだのは 髑髏(されこうべ)

やい　やい　遊びに行こうか
やい　やい　笑えや笑え らい　らい　むすんでひらいて らい　らい　羅刹と骸(むくろ)

一つ二つ三つで　また開いて

五つ六つ七つで　その手を上に

松の樹には首輪で　宙ぶらりんりん

皆皆皆で　結びましょ

ー終わりー

Hatsune Miku @ Maro Ch

Shion Kaito @ Kaien Yuu

photo thx GN S Chen

special thx Molly Eberwein & Fuyu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Its almost end of March and I haven't been posting anything recently. For the past month, I was busying about thesis thingy, and its not progressing well at all, was kind of stressed-up at the moment. At least one for March today =w=.

Previously I was attracted by one cosplayer photo of this version of Miku, ( I don't really know who that cosplayer was), but her cosplay was so amazing that I searched through the internet immediately to find out about the songs. My instinct told me that this song would fit my taste very much, and I was right about that. By the way, this is way before I started cosplay. Well if compared back with her version, I think mine was not as perfect as hers, it was kind of in rush somehow. Thinking back about past year cosplay, I had done thing with rush and incomplete way. Though there's always beauty in the incomplete way, but I would always think that I could have done better . Like Ryoma's favourite quote " まだまだだね", there's always the space to keep up, and I had much more to learn. 

Although this set I used around 1 year time to complete it, well mostly because I was lazy to start editing it, there's always part that I was not satisfy with, especially when postprocessing wasn't my strong point at all. Thanks to Molly actually, for introducing the Nix color effect plugin for Photoshop, is was such a savior. I tried hard with Lightroom, and found it unreasonable to communicate with. Nix had become a good friend indeed, the real user-friendly type. <--- main motivation for me to start editing it.. A few there was edited by Yuu with Lightroom, and when I tried my part with PS alone, it just didnt work out. I was lucky when Nix got a filter that could gave similar effect as the one Yuu edited, I was saved XDDDDD.

The lyrics was adapted from vocaloid wikia ( link below). Mainly I was thinking only about putting pictures on until I got the idea when recapturing the song from Youtube to integrate the lyrics in a few of the pictures to complete them. Well, at least I tried, and with the pictures I have, it could fit in for the 1st phrase of the songs ( that's why its until there). The "Yai" and "1,2,3"part initially was planned to be .gif pic, but it's awkward, hence I changed into this instead, I think its better that a sudden gif in all static pic, might caused heart attack (hahahah =D). and I just remember that woodplank is still at the back of my car.......... normally what do people do with used props anyway?? I always wonder.... I find them a nuisance..... <--- failed cosplayer(?) I am really not that kind that appreciates props .... and I was afraid to start any armor cosplay because I know I will hate the armor after finish event or photoshoot....... T3T

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Source of words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4YiWY_QBBU
Lyrics from: http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/%E7%B5%90%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E9%96%8B%E3%82%A4%E3%83%86%E7%BE%85%E5%88%B9%E3%83%88%E9%AA%B8_(Musunde_Hiraite_Rasetsu_to_Mukuro)