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DENNIS:  Do you feel stressed out when a con nears, that you have to finish a costume or a numerous amount of costumes quickly? WAYNE:  Yes!  I’m trying to break that trend of too many costumes now however.  Less quantity, more quality.  Even if I do manage to finish my costumes on time, I end up having to help my less fortunate team members.  TIFFANY:  I try not to.  Hopefully I won't anymore.  This varies a lot for me.  I'd like to say that I don't, but I have a tendency to take on too much and so it happens! Stressing out over a con is bad though, it's a waste of time and energy and just plain not worth it.  There was a time, it spanned maybe two cons, that I took on too much and got burnt out because of it, but after that I vowed to take it easy!  And I did for a while, but then of course, I have to confess that there have been two cons since then that I bit off a bit more than I could chew. Mostly doing things for other people and I didn't want to flake out on them, hence stress.  But now I have been having a pretty good time not stressing out.  However, I hope that this AX I will manage to keep cool, as I sense I may have taken on just a bit too much already! DENNIS:  Are you one of those cosplayers that travel around the country going to different cons?  If so, how do you manage to travel to all these cons?

Photo: Tiffany cosplaying Mana of "Malice Mizer"

TIFFANY: No, not really.  There have been a few times that I have considered going to some out of state cons that are farther away, but I usually don't end up going because of lack of time.  The farthest I've traveled from home to go to a con is Akon.  The cons I usually attend are Fanime, Anime Expo, Animagic, SDCC, and now Recca-con!  As far as money goes, I suppose I don't really have the money to go traveling around so it's good that I don't have the time!  But there are always ways of making a trip out of state to a con pretty darn cheap!
WAYNE: Nope! It's too expensive! I stay mainly within state of California. The last time I went out of state was Anime Central 1999 and Project Akon 1999. Oh strike that. I went to JAFcon in Japan last summer. But that was a last minute thing I managed to pull off while I was vacationing in Japan. So it was just a train ride to the convention center. I get alot of my friends asking me to go to East Coast conventions since I have many friends over there as well, but it's all a matter of saving up money.

DENNIS:  How does your family feel about you cosplaying?  Do your co-workers or non-cosplaying friends know about your hobby?  Are they supportive?
WAYNE:  It’s just a hobby.  Some people collect baseball cards, some people skydive, I make costumes.
TIFFANY: My family and friends all know about my crazy hobby! I'm a performer so I can get away with doing pretty much anything without questions. Most people are actually pretty impressed or intrigued by it! Which is very cool!

DENNIS: When you make your costumes, do you make your own costumes or do you have them created by a professional?
WAYNE: I make my own costumes in general.  If I need help, it’s from my friends and not a professional.
TIFFANY:  I definitely make them.  That is half of the fun of it for me!

DENNIS: If you do create the costumes on your own, do you use an expensive sewing machine or a basic sewing machine? 
TIFFANY:  Right now the sewing machine I'm using is basic!  Actually sub-basic.  It's pretty lame.  It's the most basic thing ever and on top of that it's broken, so it takes twice as long for me to sew everything I do, it's a super drag!  I am very spoiled because I usually use the wonderful machines of my two "cosplay sisters" from my group AMC.  They have really nice fabulous machines, including a super deluxe embroidery machine, serger, and cutting table.  So, it's much nicer to work with their machines. But I've made many costumes on my super cheap model from Sears so an expensive machine is not really necessary, it's just nice!  If you're just
starting out you don't really need something so fancy, just something basic.  A more advanced model sewing machine is really pretty pointless until a person becomes experienced in sewing.
WAYNE:  How about NO sewing machine? I hand sew the majority of my costumes. I gain more control prefer that. It doesn't mean I don't know how to use a sewing machine. I used one on my first few costumes, and it worked out pretty well. Hand sewing does take alot of time, but I feel it's time well spent. I nowadays reserve the sewing machine for rush jobs for friends who run out of time or need help with their costumes.

Photo: Wayne cosplaying as Wizard from "Angelic Layer"

DENNIS: Giving one example of your favorite costume, can you tell us a history on the making of the costume.  How much?  The challenges?  Where to buy?  Material? And all that cool stuff. WAYNE: My current favorite costume is Wizard from Angelic Layer. It is incidentally my most current costume at the time of this interview as well. This costume cost roughly $70 in raw materials. Wig excluded, I had already had the $30 wig prior to the making of this costume. The Wizard was comprised mostly of cloth, of which I had to buy in the Los Angeles Fashion District/Joanns. The challenge with stretch vinyl is, that even if I wanted to, a sewing machine would throw a fit with it. So I ended up hand sewing the entire costume like I do most my costumes. The particular challenges to the Wizard costume would be the shoulders, which need to be straight across and broad. In addition, the jacket is nearly seamless, so I had to figure out the way to have the least amount of seams yet, conform to my body and have those seams be relatively invisible. I do not use patterns, and so the design for the jacket was made up from scratch like most my costumes. The first and last time I used a store bought pattern was for my first costume. The shoulders required about 3 extra layers as well as foam supports to keep them upright and straight. It is physically impossible for me to raise my hands above my head in that costume. In addition, the jacket has an inner layer as well, and so the entire piece is two layers. Wizard also required an additional layer for the turtleneck design at the neck so that's three layers of stretch vinyl. Now consider that the outfit covers you from head to toe, leaving the only exposed part to be your nose and chin, and you have got yourself one very hot costume.

No room for fans since the costume is not only fully covered, but relatively form fitting. And factor in that the fabric chosen is vinyl which insulates x 3 layers. Wizard is a winter type costume. Wizard is nearly all-stretch vinyl, with the exception of the visor and headset, boots and antenna. Oh and the headset/antenna, which only magically seem to stay on Wizard's head. That was an easy problem to solve with white thread, which you can't see on a white hair wig. 
TIFFANY:  I think one of the most interesting and fun ones is my Urd costume from Ah! My Goddess  (the regular TV version).  This was the second costume I ever made.  There were some pretty silly and creative things that I did.  I worked a lot with materials that I already had too.  I bought all of the fabric at this cheapo little discount fabric store.  I majorly lucked out and found everything I needed there!  So all of the fabric was very cheap, probably around a total of $30 or $40.  I absolutely fell in love with the blue velvety fabric that I found for the dress!  There was actually not enough fabric!  I bought all that they had and there was no hope in finding anymore so had to make do with what little I had! The secret of my Urd costume is that the back of the shirt, which is never seen, is actually pieced together!  I can't believe that we actually did that!  But I just had to have that fabric!  We managed to make it work somehow.  The belt is made out of very hard and stiff cardboard that just happened to be laying around.  I sliced it into triangles and then covered them with gold lame fabric. Then the tedious and laborious part, I hand sewed all of the pieces through that incredibly hard board onto a chain belt that I found in the back of my closet.  That was a pain.  The necklace was made out of Styrofoam I cut into pieces and glitter.  My earrings and bracelets were made with
random odds and ends I found at Joanne's and the bead store.  The shoes cost me three dollars at Payless and all of the gold rings on her costume were cheap hoop earrings from Claire's boutique in the mall.  This costume was of course, very fun to make!  I made it along with my "cosplay sisters" who were making Belldandy and Skuld costumes.  I was still learning to sew at that point, so they helped me with the sewing parts.  Everything was still very new to me then.  That last thing to come together on the costume was the wig.  I had originally planned to use my own hair using white hairspray.  This was a horrible idea!  When I practiced the hairstyle, I was able to get my hair to do what Urd's does in the front, but I had to use so much hair color spray that I ran out even though I had used at least 3 bottles!  I decided to get a wig at the last minute in order to save time and my poor hair!  I ordered it from a costume shop, got it the day before we left, and styled it the night before!  This was the biggest expense on the costume because I didn't have time to look for a bargain and had to rush ship it.  The wig alone ended up costing around $60.  But my total costume ended up being only a little over a hundred, maybe $110.  And that's including that darn wig!  The costume itself cost about $50.

DENNIS:  When you create a costume, do you try to make it look as authentic as possible?  Do you add your own creativity to it?
WAYNE:  Authenticity is important to me.  I try to be as accurate to the original design as possible.  I don’t like to add my own creativity to the costume, since I want people to appreciate the original design.  My creativity is expressed in how I go about bringing 2D to 3D.
TIFFANY:  Authentic all the way for me!  It is very important to me that I make the costume as accurate as possible.  There have been occasions where I'll change things just a little bit, but that's very rare.  I'll usually decide beforehand whether I want to go for complete and total accuracy or if I'll allow for some minor changes.  Usually the only things that I'll do to alter a costume is to make it less revealing or to make something look better that is just plain ugly or unflattering!  Accuracy and authenticity are more my cup of tea though, because I believe there to be a much greater challenge in it.

DENNIS: Are you a perfectionist when it comes to your costume?  How thorough do you research the character for the costume and the costume itself before creating it?

WAYNE:  Absolutely!  I will try my best to make it perfect, as time allots.  I spend a lot of time getting original art and sketches and reference materials - including the background story and character profile. TIFFANY:  (Laughing) This one should be pretty obvious!  Did you guess perfectionist?  You guessed right!  I am a crazy perfectionist, I drive myself insane to perfect things that other people will never in a million years notice.  As far as research goes, if I have the time, I'll do as much as I can.  Sometimes there just isn't the time though.  It really depends on the costume too.

Photo: A closup of Tiffany cosplaying as Mana of the Japanese visual kei band "Malice Mizer".

DENNIS:  How many costumes do you own or have created?
TIFFANY:  I have made 16 costumes.  Seventeen, 18 and 19 are in the works.
WAYNE:  Hmm…  Let's just say over 30. 

DENNIS: When you are done with a costume, what do you do with it?  Do you continue to wear them at other cons or are they packed away in your closet?
WAYNE:  I try to wear them at other conventions, but some of my costumes have only been worn once.  It's kind of sad, but that is something that comes with making too many costumes, so now I'm trying to give away some of my older costumes.  Some costumes are too big to be packed in the closet so when they are eventually retired, they go to the attic. 
TIFFANY:  I try to wear my costumes as much as I can.  It's impossible to wear them all at one con, since i have so darn many.  Usually what ends up happening is I'll wear my newest costumes, and then just keep replacing the oldest with whatever the newest is, but sometimes I'll bring out an old costume I haven't worn in a long time.  If I compete in a costume, I will definitely wear it again, but I will most likely never compete in it again. I have yet to do that and I don't plan on ever doing that either. 

DENNIS:  Do you feel competitive when it comes to cosplaying?  Do you compete?  Do you want a costume to look the best in the crowd or do you just cosplay for the fun of it and don’t care what people think?
TIFFANY:  No, I am not competitive at all.  If I am competitive it is with myself.  I like to try and do the best that I can and improve on what I've done before.  I do compete in masquerades but the main reason why I do is because I love to perform.  Cosplay should be fun!  I don't obsess over what other people think of my costumes, but it is always nice to get a compliment on something that you've worked hard on!

Photo: Wayne cosplaying as Jin from the Capcom fighting video game series, "Marvel vs. Capcom".

WAYNE: I do a little of both. Some costumes I make for competition and others are for fun. However, I don't care what people think as long as I am satisfied with the costume myself. A little friendly competition, as you see in sports can be fun. Cosplay is just a hobby and hobbies are meant to be fun. DENNIS: As an American-based cosplayer, do you see a big difference in terms of style and dedication to a costume from US cosplayers and cosplayers from other countries? WAYNE: Not really. Differences arise usually in the trend of costumes cosplayed. In Japan they have rapid access to anime and games and can cosplay characters from extremely new series, since it originates in Japan. Whereas it takes some time for the US to get those series or enough fanbase that people will start cosplaying from them, so there will be a difference in cosplay trends. Each country will have their own cosplayers that relish upon detail and style of costumes, and cosplayers that will cosplay strictly for attention and the "play" half of cosplay. And of course since there is a wide variety of cosplayers, this can be viewed as a spectrum, most cosplayers will fall in between those two extremes. TIFFANY: Overall, not really. I really don't know much about cosplay in other countries aside from Japan. But I think cosplay styles differ within countries quite a bit as well as across countries. People cosplay for many different reasons and that is the same in both countries. But there are a couple of very broad generalizations that I can make. I think that one difference may be that in America there seems to be a larger percentage of people who focus on the construction of the costume, as well as wearing it.

In Japan, there tends to be a larger percentage of people whose focus is not on the construction of the costume, but on wearing the costume alone. It is more likely for cosplayers to buy their costumes or have them made over in Japan, hence big cosplay stores such as COSPA. However, there are both types of cosplayers in both countries.

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