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Alivan’s Custom Wand Review

February 15, 2016 Jen Ný Cosplay One comment

After thinking about getting a wand from Alivan’s for a couple years, I finally decided to have a custom wand made. Alivan’s is an online shop that sells solid wood wands reminiscent of the ones in Harry Potter. Though they aren’t officially affiliated with Harry Potter, some of their designs are inspired by the wands wielded by the characters in the Harry Potter movies. These wands are much better than the cheesy officially-licensed resin or plastic ones.

After looking at the stock designs, I decided to get a custom wand instead, since in the Harry Potter universe, everyone has their own unique wand. I decided on willow, 12 inches because my favorite tree is the willow and my favorite number is 12 (and 12 inches seemed like a nice length for a wand. Not too short, not too long). Here is my finished wand with the included collector’s box and wand bag. I also ordered a pendant made from the same wood. I chose a pendant design that reminded me of a kitty cat claw.

And here is the my original design mock-up that I sent in.

I wanted something simple, yet elegant and somewhat feminine, and this is what I came up with. My wand feels lightweight, but sturdy. It is very comfortable to hold and is just the right length.When comparing my original mock-up to the final product, they did change it slightly. The handle of my finished wand is larger in proportion to the total length than in my mock-up, and the handle is slightly less curved. I’m actually glad that they made these changes because it feels perfect. It would have likely been uncomfortable if the handle had been shorter, due to my embellishments on the bottom (that is why they are the “Master Wandmakers!”). As they say, the wand chooses the wizard!

Here’s a picture of the handle:

I also used a coupon code that I found on Alivan’s Facebook page to get a free apprentice wand for my husband so that we can have wizard battles. The apprentice wand is made from Indian Rosewood and feels heavier. It also didn’t come with a collector’s box or bag (I know it was free, but they could have at least included a bag!).

These wands feel very high quality. If you are looking for a high quality wand made from actual wood, I highly recommend Alivan’s. This is especially true if you want your own unique wand rather than a replica of one of the characters’ wands, and want a specific type of wood. I have another wand (a replica of Fleur Delacour’s wand) that I bought from another vendor on a whim at an Oddmall event, and the difference in quality is night and day.

There is one thing I should mention for anyone thinking about ordering a wand from Alivan’s. It took FOREVER to receive my order. I placed my order on December 30th and was told that I should receive it within four weeks. After four weeks of hearing nothing, I emailed them on January 28th to find out if it would be shipped soon, only to be told that they thought it would be in that week’s shipments, but it wasn’t, but that it would definitely go out the following week. On February 4th, I ask again if it would ship that week, and was assured that it was shipping on February 5th and that they would provide a tracking number. I didn’t receive a tracking number and the package didn’t arrive by the middle of the week as promised. After going back and forth trying to get a tracking number, they apologized and said it didn’t actually ship yet, but would ship that week and that they would give me a tracking number. I never got an email with tracking information, but did finally get a text message from FedEx themselves saying that a package was on it’s way, and it showed up on Feb. 13th. When I opened the package, there was a card that said that my wand was made on January 7th. I’d probably still be waiting if I didn’t keep bothering them with emails.TL:DR: They made my wand about a week after ordering, but the shipping department sat on it for over a month and lied about when it would be shipped. The wandmakers themselves are excellent, but the company could use a better customer service and shipping department. Make sure to set up a FedEx account so you’ll actually know when it’s arriving.

Wands: 5/5 stars

Customer Service: 1/5 stars

I also ordered a school robe in Ravenclaw colors, which I will review another time after I see how it looks with the full uniform. I’m thinking about getting a broomstick from them too. Hopefully non-custom items will ship quicker.

Overall, I recommend them. Just give yourself a couple months if you want your wand in time for a convention or event.

*The featured image at the top is Freyja posing with my wand. Black cats are the most magical of all animals!

Pumpkaboo Cosplay and Nyancon 2015

October 5, 2015 Jen Ný Cosplay No comments

We went to Nyancon this past weekend. Nyancon is a free one-day local convention at Lakeland Community College. Even though it is small, only lasts one day, and has free admission, Nyancon is still better than some paid multi-day conventions I’ve been to (I’m looking at you, Shinbokucon!).

There were a lot of different panels going on at any given time, so there was almost always something interesting going on. There were also several different screening rooms, though we didn’t check any of them out (I’d rather spend convention time doing other things, and watch anime at home). The only thing I didn’t like was how crowded the dealer’s room got. The aisles were way too narrow for the amount of people there.

My favorite panel that we went to was Pixlbot’s Retro Game Challenge. It started off with the contestants playing Super Mario Bros. 1-1 with a dance mat instead of a controller. After that challenge, they had to play through several pretty evil Mario Maker levels created by the panelists.

During the week leading up to Nyancon, I decided to put together a Pumpkaboo cosplay to wear to the con and for whatever Halloween events I end up going to. The only new thing I made just for this costume was the headband. I also used the cape I made for my Dragon’s Crown elf cosplay, the boots I got for my Skyrim cosplay, a brown skirt and vaguely medieval-looking belt I already had, an orange dress I bought just for this cosplay, a belt, and two potion bottles filled with yellow sand tied to the belt. I thought potion bottles would be the coolest looking thing to use to represent the yellow circles on Pumpkaboo’s body for a human version of Pumpkaboo. It’s sort of like a Pumpkaboo-themed witch! I also got a pumpkin basket and tied to amber potion bottles too it and brought my Pumpkaboo and Gourgeist plushies that I made last year for Halloween. I thought it turned out pretty good for being mostly a closet cosplay.

Lately I’ve been enjoying gijinka types of cosplay (well… just Pokemon) more than regular cosplay. It’s fun to think of how to design a human outfit for plant- or animal-like characters than to just try to match what a character is wearing.

Anyway, Nyancon was really fun, despite being so small. I think I like smaller conventions better than the larger ones anyway. Smaller cons are less crowded, more relaxed, and have much shorter lines. They tend to be more fun, as long as there is enough interesting programming to keep everyone entertained.

Midoricon 2015

September 29, 2015 Jen Ný Cosplay No comments

We went to Midoricon over the weekend. This was Midoricon’s fourth year, as well as the fourth year Hans and I attended. This year we cosplayed as Inklings from Splatoon on Friday and part of Saturday and Pokemon for the Pokemon events on Saturday. I was Sylveon and Hans was Lucario again.

I didn’t bother making a whole new cosplay for this con this year. I adapted my Sylveon cosplay a bit to be more weather-appropriate. With as many layers as my Sylveon costume was, I didn’t want to overheat in September. I didn’t use the top layer of the costume, and attached the bow and tail to the under layer. I think it still looks cute this way!

For the Inkling, I just used my Inkling hat that I bought on Etsy and a pink polo shirt and workout shorts with a pink stripe. I brought my Splatoon squid plushie to the con so that I’d at least have omething I made myself for this costume!

Midoricon is a lot different than most other conventions. It takes place at a lodge in a state park. For the past two years it has been at Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon, Ohio. It is a lot less crowded and more relaxed than other conventions and there are a lot of outdoor events. Midoricon is my favorite convention that I’ve been to, and if I had to pick on con to go to a year, this would be it.

That said, I think it was better last year. It seemed like there were less people there this year, which makes me worry that the organizers might decide to stop doing this convention. They pushed the date back a few weeks this year, so it might have conflicted with people going back to school.

We got there Friday night, so we missed the Live Action Mario Kart event, which was earlier in the day. We did get to do the Live Action Pokemon Snap on Saturday, though.

I think there were fewer Pokemon cosplayers at the Pokemon photoshoot and Pokemon Snap event this year. It was still fun, though. It’s hard to not have fun being a Pokemon in a game of Live Action Pokemon Snap!

They had the Pokemon Gym Leader Challenge event again this year, but it was on Sunday. We didn’t participate because it was after we checked out from our room and we didn’t want to have to change into regular clothes in the bathroom. I feel like they really should have had all of the Pokemon cosplay events on the same day, so that people could just stay in costume for all of them.

The dealer’s room was awesome, as always. I got a Kyubey plushie, a pink sheep plushie, and a rainbow narwhal plushie. The dealer’s room was smaller than at other cons, but it still had plenty of cool stuff. I managed to find two of the specific things I was looking for (Kyubey and the Amuse sheep plushie). Like at all cons, there were some good deals and some overpriced items. Luckily, my phone reception was good enough to compare prices online!

I’m hoping that next year they take everyone’s feedback into account and make Midoricon even better. I would really hate to see such an awesome convention go down hill. I hope to be able to attend Midoricon for years to come!

We’re going to be a Nyancon this weekend too. It’s a free one-day convention at Lakeland Community College. I will be there as Pumpkaboo if I can get my last-minute cosplay ready by this weekend.

Ditto Plush

August 28, 2015 Jen Ný Cosplay, Sewing No comments

I got bored and made a Ditto plush doll yesterday. He only took about an hour or so to make. I used a pink fleece material for the body, purple buttons for eyes (I didn’t have black), and a thin black rope for the mouth. He is stuffed with Poly-Fil stuffing.

I made the pattern by drawing the basic shape of Ditto onto regular computer paper (while looking at Ditto’s entry in the Pokedex 3D Pro app on 3DS). I also cut a vaguely oval-shaped piece of paper to make the base, then matched it up to the main pattern pieces and cut it down until it was the perfect size. I cut out two Ditto-shaped pieces of fleece and one oval piece for the base. I sewed the eyes and original mouth onto one body piece before sewing them all together.

I originally made the mouth out of pink ribbon, but didn’t like how it looked. I saw that I had some black rope that might look better as a mouth, so I took a seam-ripper and removed the ribbon, then sewed the rope onto the plushie by hand.

Splatoon Squid Plush

June 5, 2015 Jen Ný Cosplay, Sewing No comments

I took a break from playing Splatoon and wedding planning yesterday to make my own squid plush. (I told you in my last post that I love this game!)

I used picture of the squid from Splatoon that I found on image search to make the pattern by enlarging it in Photoshop and printing it out in multiple parts to tape together. I based the eyes on the eyes from the logo squid, though. I thought those eyes looked cuter than the original eyes.

Here’s a link to the original squid picture I used. It was made by an artist on DeviantArt, so I feel like I should give them credit. I made the pattern for the eyes using an image of an official Squid plushie I saw on image search.

I’m also getting a pink Splatoon hat from an Etsy shop to start a Splatoon Inkling cosplay (I don’t know why I bought one instead of just making it since I made a very similar plush anyway, but the hat just looked so cute in the listing!). I think I’ll take it to Midoricon. I’m not sure if I’ll do a regular Inkling outfit, or a Squid Girl crossover. Maybe both on different days?

Sylveon Cosplay

December 16, 2014 Jen Ný Cosplay, Sewing No comments

Wow, I’m behind on updating my blog. Anyway, I had so much fun doing the live action Pokemon events for Midoricon that I wanted to do another Pokemon cosplay of one of my favorite new Pokemon. I got this Sylveon cosplay finished just in time for NyanCon. I was going for a kind of lolita type of look for Sylveon. I even got an Eevee in the vendor room to complete my outfit!

I have a tail too, which you can’t see in the pictures. I put a wire inside it to keep it from drooping too much. Also, I realize that the head bow is on the wrong side here. Mirrors are confusing!

I wore this cosplay for NyanCon and for halloween at The Side Quest in Lakewood. I’m planing on wearing it for Shinbokucon too, if go.

Bellossom Cosplay

August 22, 2014 Jen Ný Cosplay, Sewing No comments

I haven’t had time to make a new cosplay in quite a while, but I just finished a Bellossom cosplay for Midoricon. They are doing Live Action Pokemon Snap this year, and I wanted to be a part of it. Bellossom was always one of my favorite Pokemon from Pokemon Gold and Silver. As lame as it might sound, Bellossom was one of the new Pokemon I was most excited about for that generation. I remember seeing a picture of it in a magazine before the games came out, and thinking it was super cute. I even made my own plush doll of Bellossom (it didn’t turn out too great – I was a kid! I’ll see if I can find it at my parents’ house sometime). Plus the hula-dancer inspired Bellossom seemed like the perfect Pokemon to cosplay as at a beach convention!

I the flowers are stuffed with Poly-Fil stuffing to make them poofier. I used a stiff red fabric I found in the remnants bin. I couldn’t think of a good way to make the yellow center part, until I was looking around JoAnn’s and saw the big yellow buttons. I thought they were just perfect! For the skirt, I made eight big leaf shapes – four green and four yellow, and sewed them together. There’s a little bit of elastic inside to keep it more secured. I just bought a green tank top because I’m lazy.

I also made an Oddish plushie to go with my costume. I actually made him before I started my cosplay to test out my new sewing machine. He’s made from left over fabric from two other costumes. I used a pattern for a round ball I found on image search, and just used the exact same pattern to make the leaves (as I said early, I’m lazy). I’m going to carry him around with me at Midoricon.

I just have one more thing to finish making for my costume: a leaf shaped bag to keep my phone, wallet, and 3DS in. I ordered a pair of green a yellow shorts to wear under my skirt specifically because they had pockets. It turns out, however, that like most clothing designed for women, the pockets are too small for even an iPhone. I think I’m about to start making all of my own clothes so that I can at least have decent pockets!

Anyway, if you see me walking around at Midoricon, please say “hi!” I’ll be there with my boyfriend, who’s going as Lucario. I hope to meet lots of other Pokemon there!

Dragon’s Crown Elf Cosplay and Midoricon 2013

September 17, 2013 Jen Ný Cosplay, Sewing No comments

Midoricon was a couple weeks ago, and my boyfriend and I decided to go in Dragon’s Crown cosplay. We just finished our costumes the day before the convention. I was the Elf and he was the Wizard.

I didn’t get any pictures of my costume before I got tired of my wig and took it off. It started getting messed up under my hood and it was too hot outside for wigs, so I stopped wearing it halfway through Saturday and just braided my actual hair. Plus, my elf ears didn’t really work with the hood up and the wig on, and I wanted to wear my elf ears at some point during the convention. I didn’t get any pictures of my boyfriend as the Wizard either, because he wants to improve some things on his costume as well (his wig ended up looking completely different from the picture on Amazon, so he stopped wearing his too).

Here’s some pictures of me as a brown-haired version of the Elf. We’re probably going to do these costumes again sometime if we can get better wigs.

Midoricon was pretty awesome overall. There was live-action Mario Kart (which unfortunately filled up before we could register to compete, but we still got to see it) with a crazy banana running around. There were also some outdoor panels, which we didn’t really check out. I did learn how to make chain-mail at a chain-mail panel that Link was presenting, which was pretty awesome! We only had time to make a small bit of chain-mail at the panel, but Link let everyone take home a cup of chain links to make more later.

This was Midoricon’s second year. Last year we just went for one day since we had just gotten back from Matsuricon. We chose Midoricon over Matsuricon this year, since last year Midoricon was better, even though Matsuricon is bigger. (In the con world, bigger isn’t always bigger, which we learned from Ohayocon this year, which was overcrowded to the point of not being enjoyable and I can’t even remember what panels or events were there. Even though it was the biggest con I’ve been to, it was also the least memorable.)

Anyway, aside from some immature idiots pulling the fire alarm repeatedly (I doubt this con will be invited back to Shawnee State Park Lodge next year), and several of the employees treating us like we’re a bunch of weirdos for wearing costumes, Midoricon was definitely one of the best cons I’ve been to.

The only things I’d like to see next year are more vendors and an actual gaming room. They only had tabletop gaming, which I’m not really into.

Anyway, I recommend Midoricon for anyone in the Ohio area who enjoys going to conventions, especially if you’re tired of the bigger, more crowded conventions. It’s more laid back than other cons, and even though it’s small, there is still plenty to do.

Dragon’s Crown Runes

August 22, 2013 Jen Ný Cosplay, Gaming 2 comments

I’m planning to do a cosplay of the Elf from Dragon’s Crown for Midoricon in a couple weeks. I still haven’t finished my costume, despite the the con being the first weekend of September, but I did at least make a set of runes from the game as a prop (that I probably won’t use at all).
[Scroll to the bottom if you were just looking for the Dragon’s Crown rune guide]

I made them out of Sculpey oven-bake clay. The symbols were carved into the clay before baking and then painted (using a plastic tool that came with the clay, since I didn’t have a small enough brush) and then coated in Sculpey gloss glaze.

If you found this page because you were searching for a rune guide for Dragon’s Crown, here you go:

Click on the image for the full version. This Rune Chart was created by Reverof1 for GameFAQs.com. I used the images on the rune guide for reference when I was making my runes.

Elfen Lied in Animal Crossing: New Leaf

July 7, 2013 Jen Ný Cosplay, Freebies, Gaming 6 comments

Animal Crossing: New Leaf Elfen Lied Lucy cosplay

With Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you can cosplay any time you want, without spending any money to make your costume. Here’s my character dressed as Lucy from Elfen Lied:

I designed the dress in the Able Sisters’ shop and paired it with appropriate shoes and leggings from Kicks. I’m still waiting to see if there is a purple hair bow or a white cat ear headband to finish the cosplay outfit.

If you would like to cosplay as Lucy in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, feel free to use the QR codes for my outfit:

(Click on the images to enlarge, or they may not scan.)

I’ve also made my town tune Lilium (or at least as close to the song as I could within the limitations of the game).

Feel free to use this tune for your town if you’d like.

If you have the Dream Suite, you can also check out a dream version of Dinotown to get my other designs (or to trample my flowers and hit my animal villagers with a net).

I will also be posting other fun designs here and on the facebook page for my gaming blog, 8BitBites.com. We will also be starting an Animal Crossing: New Leaf cosplay contest on 8BitBites soon. Check the site and FaceBook page for details later this week. You could have your original costumes displayed on the site!

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