Princess Rosalina's Earrings

Last night I couldn't sleep. I was watching Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids, trying to loose consciousness when I came to the conclusion that it wasn't working and I might as well do something constructive. So I pulled out my yellow fun foam, my craft knife and the Rosalina Accessories Tutorial by Martyn and went to work.

Earring template from Rosalina's Accessories Tutorial by Martyn

I was planning to use the printed pieces of the earrings from the tutorial, but when I measured them and compared them to the given specs, they were a little too short, so I re-drew them on paper before cutting them out of the fun foam.

Once you have your six stars cut out, it takes just a few minutes to glue them all together, and then you are done!

Rosalina Earrings - cut fun foam and glue

Well, almost. This morning I noticed some dried glue which is not the same colour as the foam. I think that in order for all my accessories to have the same finish, I will spray paint them all. After all, the crown and brooch will get the spray paint finish in silver, so the earrings and wand should too. I am considering giving them a coat of gold before the yellow. I wonder if some of the glittery shine will show through.

This is a small step towards this costume, but heck, at least it is a step outside of planning and into realisation. Good for me.

Princess Rosalina's Accessories

Right after I posted about my change of heart for my Otakuthon costume the other night, I began to search for hints at how I could make Rosalina's crown look good. I had seen some nice ones, but I don’t know how to cast plastic and I am not teaching it to myself in the next three weeks. Finally, I found this tutorial by Martyn which uses my material of choice, Fun Foam.

Peach, Daisy, Rosalina Crown Tutorial by Martyn

I read through the list of material needed, and the only things I don’t have on hand are a brain which remembers how to do math using π (working on that with my sweetheart, it’ll come back to me if I don’t try to work at it when I'm short on time or super tired), and the plastic cabochons to use as gems for the crown.

I looked into buying the same 35 mm cabochons from PlasticBeadsWholesale.com that Martyn used, but they only come in dozens (8.50$ for 12 - I need 2 colours), and if you buy for less than 30$, you get an up charge of 20$ for not meeting the minimum price. Plus, since I live in Canada, shipping will not be Free as advertised (it never is). Al in all, It will probably cost me about 40$ so I can get 4 plastic cabochons. Not really worth it for me.

Instead, I found these 30 mm Crystal Stickers in the Scrapbooking section of my local Omer DeSerres – for 2.95$ +tx.

30 mm Crystal Stickers

To give them the proper colour, I will use some faux stained glass paint. I’ll either buy the two colours I need, or ask my favourite aunt to let me use hers since this is her current hobby.

Martyn (my hero) also shared a tutorial on making the rest of Rosalina’s accessories, because this princess not only wears a crown, she has a wand, a brooch and huge earrings.

Rosalina Accessories Tutorial by Martyn

The wand used fun foam and a wooden dowel. Check! The brooch requires more fun foam and some sort of plastic dome. I will be looking very closely at those vending machines which sell cheap toys in plastic spheres. For the earrings, yet more fun foam and some jewellery findings. Check again!

I can’t go fabric shopping until next week, but at least, I can get started on my accessories this week.

Same event, different princess

Otakuthon is less than 4 weeks away and I have not yet begun making our costumes. “What in Hel’s name am I waiting for?” I hear you think. Well first, I've been getting a lot of commission requests (Thank you everyone), which keep me busy. But the main reason is, I’m getting cold feet… about my choice of costume.

(Warning: boring self issues stuff ahead)

Let’s face the facts: I have body image issues (what woman does not) and since it is always best to dress for your body type even when in costume, I fear my original choice might be wrong for me. Let me explain: in my experience, I look better when I have skin showing around my face – turtle necks make me look fatter – and the Princess Peach dress has a high collar. Also, I inherited my great grandmother’s biceps, and believe me, I could have done without. Wearing short puffy sleeves and long white gloves will only serve to enhance this feature which I spend my life hiding (really, I wear ¾ sleeves in the summer when it’s 35° with Humidex). The more I think about it, the more I fear I will look like a big pink blob (Nancy-Raven says I’ll look like a dragée – sweet, but not that helpful). I am at the point now where I would rather skip Otakuthon than make that big, poofy, pink dress. Costuming should be fun, so why am I torturing myself?

(Okay, I’m done complaining now!)

I considered going back to other ideas I had had for Otakuthon, but I really want to make that Toadette costume for my daughter. Then I remembered someone mention another Super Mario Princess:

Rosalina in her appearance for Super Mario Galaxy

Strawberry blond, turquoise dress, silver accessories… Now that is what I’m taking about! It is perfect for me! The dress has an empire waist, perfect for hiding, hmm, flaws, and long, off-the-shoulder bell sleeves. I love it! An off the shoulder dress is actually what I had made for my Prom. See?

Gwenyver, High School Prom, June 23, 1999

(I swear that plain satin dresses were in fashion - just go and re-watch Buffy!)

Plus, I can get away with wearing just a flounced petticoat, and not a full crinoline under it, which will be practical with a toddler.

I think I’ll use patterns Simplicity 9125 and Butterick 4301 (used for the above pictures Prom dress) as blocks to make Rosalina's dress.

Simplicity 9125

Butterick 4301

Okay, now let’s get fabric hunting, cutting, sewing, and accessory making. Only 25 days left!