Azunyan: A Snow Nyan

So I woke up Saturday morning not even looking outside... Around 1 pm I finally took a look outside and it was blanketed in white! I was really ignorant ^^; But it gave me the opportunity since Azunyan has been wanting to go play in the snow...


Okay Azunyan, don't be out too long... It's cold for both you and me you know...
Azunyan: "Not really. It's quite fun out here oniichan!"

Are you sure you're warm enough with just that school blaz... Err... Are you taking it off? And how come it looks like you've got nothing underneath?

Azunyan (after throwing her blazer off): "Teehee, come and catch me!"

Azunyan: "Awww, you caught me... As a reward I'll take my skirt off."
EH!? What?? You're taking off more!?

To be honest, I've been waiting for this opportunity for some snow. I kinda wanted to make this kinds of photoshoots ^^; When I was young I was quite intrigued by this kinds of photoshoots where the women were barely clothed in this kind of weather. I thought it was quite beautiful, but still considering what I went through at this time of the night in this temperature, I have quite the respect for them. This is not easy for me who's covered up... But the subject must be quite good at hanging in there for the shoot. Go go Azunyan!

In the end though, my lack of knowledge of cameras was my downfall... I couldn't get good shots unless I used the flash. Plus it was that cold! Not too mention Azunyan fell a few times... Good thing it was snow, but still, her clothes got quite wet...

Azunyan: "It's ok oniichan. It was very fun in the very short time I was outside." As she looks back through her tracks...

And when I got back inside for some reason this wet hair look on her just looks so sexy that I tried to take a picture of it with a bad setting... Oh well... You can sorta see it ^^;

And here she is drying off from the wet snow...

Noni Most Promising Drugs in the Future


probably many people who do not know about this fruit consumed Noni fruit either directly from plants or in different forms have different benefits.

Noni Fruit and accurate consumption which can be a blessing for those who are frustrated with the extra fat in their bodies. But these minor alkaloids are constituents who are very active and played a crucial role in building and repairing cells in the human body. The reason why noni juice made from Noni fruit results in a number of physiological responses is due to the fact that proteins closely knit cells of the human body and often functions in the cell itself.

With high levels of sodium and potassium in Noni fruit, it helps in providing superior antioxidant in the human body. Because the fruit has been used in Southeast Asia during the last 2000 years, many people consider the Noni fruit as 'fruit of survival', a fruit that helps in survival during starvation. Andaman noni helps human cells receive the nutrients essential to a better functioning of the human body. Ancient people find the fruit and leaves are very useful in treating many diseases. Physician during the period used Noni to treat many problems of the throat and mouth, the problem of menstrual bleeding. Today, doctors use the Noni fruit and its products to treat many other diseases including blood pressure and blood sugar levels, arthritis, to increase energy, as a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory drugs.

A silver lining has been discovered about the treatment of cancer through the Noni fruit and its products, basically noni juice. But research is still ongoing to ensure the ability of Noni in a completely cure this deadly disease. But there's no doubt about the fact that Noni has been effective in treating many diseases. In general Noni, or products that can be taken in empty stomach. Continuous research on the medicinal properties of Noni fruit and become an important part of treatment for more than 2000 years to make Noni milestone most promising drugs in the future.




♥ Kamui

Ryeain:
I'm totally blew away by Kamui, her craftsmanship. Seriously, just take a look at her AION Asmodian or her even Druid Tier 6 and others. These are the costumes that I would not have much patient on with the details. But the strong love and passion for the characters and costume is one of the main reason that motivates her to spend thousand of hours and efforts to complete these wonderful detailed costumes.
By interviewing her, I realized good cosplays is not about making a quantity but the quality of cosplay. And a word from her, 'PASSION'. Yes, cosplay for passion and it's the only thing that make us continue on this cosplay journey.
By the way, you guys should really check out Kamui's cosplay website for these awesome tutorials she made, really appreciate that she made a walk-through shares her experience about her costumes with everyone *thumbsup!






Ryea: What is COSPLAY to you?

Cosplay for me is a wonderful chance to live my dreams, work creatively and share my passion with others. And it's a way to prove myself.
Every costume consist of parts, first I need to find the right way to produce it. It's the result of a lot of research and development but it also goes hand in hand with failures and desperation. I have to fight with myself and to force myself never to give up or be desperate. And especially never to stop at one point in my evolution.
It's also very important to share my knowledge and experiences with others. I'm writing tutorials, holding workshops and trying to help everyone with their own projects. I guess, cosplay is not only a hobby, but a whole commnuity of people who love to work creatively.
For me it became something of a lifestyle and even changed my life. I'm not able to imagine a life without it anymore.



Ryea: When do you first started to cosplay?

It was in 2003 and I was just 17 years old.
My costume was the Great Saiyaman from Dragonball Z. The costume itself though was just awful! I used wrong and cheap fabric and everybody saw that I couldn't sew.
However it was a great idea to cosplay, especially because this made the convention even greater than it already was.
I still love the character so much that I've redone my costume last year!



Ryea: How many characters have you cosplayed so far?

They are not so many because most of my latest costumes took a lot of time and money. All in all there were:
-Great Saiyaman from Dragonball Z
-Moogle from Final Fantasy
-Nightelf Druid Tier 1 from World of Warcraft
-Nightelf Druid Tier 3 from World of Warcraft
-Priestess Rao from Okami
-Asmodian Gladiator from Aion (Tower of Eternity)
-Nightelf Druid Tier 8 from World of Warcraft
-Elyos Mage from Aion (Tower of Eterniy)

You see, for 8 years of cosplay it's really nothing spectacular, but I don't care about the amount of costumes. I've picked up very complicated costumes last time and spent several months to finish them, so it's just not possible to create more than 3 or 4 costumes every year.



Ryea: Which is your favorite character that you've cosplayed?

I'm really proud on my Asmodian Gladiator, but I love my Druid Tier sets much more.
It's just because I really love the character, it's story and and it's design. I myself play a Nightelf Druid almost since the release of World of Warcraft and loved them for all this time. So the Druid will be always my favourite one and I'll keep on cosplaying them.




Ryea:Which is your first character?

Like I said it was the Great Saiyaman, but I made this costume and even started with cosplay just because everyone else did it.
There was no passion and no love in this costume and I almost gave up cosplaying.
But when World of Warcraft was released I really started to find enjoyment in sewing, building and painting and the way I see it, my Druid Tier 1 was my first real character.



Ryea: Which characters is in your future cosplay list?

At the moment I'm working on Alexstrazsa and the Druid Tier 9 for me and my boyfriend from World of Warcraft.
I also wanted to finish a Demon Hunter from Diablo III and maybe I will even be able to create something further, but I won't start with it until I'm done with my actual projects.



Ryea: Do you make your own costume & props?

Yup, I create everything myself.
My boyfriend helps me sometimes by painting and I get help from many tutorials and progress blogs, but everything is done by myself.



Ryea: Which is your most satisfied prop/costume so far?

Journey's End is my big love.
I learned a lot of techniques by building it and there is something special about it. Probably it's because of the story behind the staff in World of Warcraft ,maybe all the work I spent making it or maybe it's the design. I don't know, but I really love this staff a lot.



Ryea: What is your favorite part when cosplay?

It's the constrution. It's awesome to create something by your own hand and just follow your creativity.
I love to work with new materials, develop new techniques and solve problems after many tries. And it's just great to see that I'm not alone with my questions, find nice tutorials or share my experience with others and help them with their stuff.
And at the end, when I see all my progress photos, it's just amazing to see how something starts so tiny, grows, becomes larger and gets a shape and color. When the last layer of vanish dried and everything works like it should, yeah, then I'm really proud of the work I've done and cannot wait to show it to the world. It's just an amazing feeling!



Ryea: Any good/funny/memorable experience when you cosplay?

Yeah, I guess it was on the stage at Blizzcon 2009 at the dance contest.
It was very late and I was unbelivably exhausted, because I already had to wear my heavy leather armor and my staff for 12 hours straight and I just wanted to go on stage as fast as possible, to do my perfomance and go directly to the hotel afterwards.
In the last hours I had to stand in line and to wait for 2 hours; my feet burned like hell in my high heels and my body was just a huge chunk of pain. It was very, very hard trying not to collapse or even fall asleep right there on the ground.
Today I can't remember much of what happened when I entered the stage, danced and left the convention. I guess, it was just too much for my body, despite of it being just amazing to stand in front of 20000 people and a lot of other guys who watched the show on the internet. Ehm... I guess...



Ryea: How and what have you think you've improved from since you started cosplay?

I don't think that I improved my sewing skills so much, because they are still pretty bad. But I learned a lot: I know how to work with many materials, how to solve problems that cannot be solved, how to bring a character to live and especially how to share my knowledge with others.
I know a lot more about armor and prop making and found many friends and sources who can help me if I fail. I guess my biggest improved is knowing, what cosplay means to me: Never giving up, helping others and dream my dream. And everything I need will come by itself.




Ryea: Do you salute/idolize any cosplayer?

Hmm... there are many cosplayers and prop makes who do a really awesome work and I always follow their work.
My favourite one is Volpin, who is just dedicated prop maker and shows that he puts all his love into his project.
I learned a lot from his wonderful blog and always cannot wait to read the next entry. I'm very thankful for him sharing his progress and so I do the same and hope to help others with my work, too.



Ryea: Any tips to share?

Start with small projects and start early enough. Sewing the night before a convention is really frustrating, even if it can be really funny. Know how much time, money and effort you are able to spent and plan your projects well.
And the most important point is to search for help, tutorials and progress blogs. There is always someone, who worked on a similar project or costume part and even shared his work. If not, asked him! It can be very expensive and frustrating to fail and a project does makes much more fun, if you're sucessful.
And the last point: Be brave and never give up! If you really want to finish a well made costume, then you'll do it!





Ryea: Do you think great craftmanship is a person's talent or it's a result of long term practice ?

I don't believe in talent. But I believe in passion. If someone loves his project, he will try everything to finish it well made and if he doesn't have the skills, he will research, exercise and try until he manages it. I'm also very bad in sewing and painting, but I found ways to hide this fact or to get help and I will keep on working on my skills.




and 3 random questions :

1) What makes you interested in cosplaying armoured characters?

By chosing my costumes it's very important for me to find new challenges and to improve my skills every year.
I don't want to remain at the same level and so I try to experiment a lot and try new materials and techniques. That's also the reason why I look for hard, detailed or complicated costumes and for me armor and prop building is just perfect for this job.
However wearing them is -after some hours- mostly connected to a lot of pain and it's very exhausting and painful, but the construction process is amazing and just full of fun. So last year I really learned a lot. I even learned to ignore the pain of wearing an armor for hours till end.




2) How or where do you learn the skills of making those props and amour?

I love to experiment and research. I spent a lot of time in planning before I start with a project and I'm always motivated to create a costume as similar as possible to the reference material.
After years of practise I've learned a lot with the help from the internet and just by testing different materials and methods. Things often don't work as planned and sometimes I failed many times till I get right.
It's really not easy, but I start with my projects early enough to have a lot of time for my experiments. And that's all I did.



3) What kind of challenge do you see when you start making Aion?

The whole costume was a challenge. I never worked with Wonderflex before and had no idea if this material would work, but the tutorials said "yes". So I ordered some sheets and prayed that they were right.
After some tests I found the right way to work with it, but at the end I stood in front of a 20 pound heavy armor and had no idea how to fixate it onto my body. Many experiments later only I found a conclusion for it and it was the last night before the convention! and almost died because of the pain I got in this costume. Moving was almost impossible and so I had to redo the fixing, because I planned to fight in the armor for a cosplay performance.
I also never styled a wig before, but the hair style I had to create was very complicated. Ah, and I never worked with the kind of fabric I used before. I guess, I never worked with anything I used before for this costume!
Yeah, every part of the Aion armor was a huge challenge and so I'm really proud that I was able to finish it.





And lastly, what do you think about Let's Cosplay~?

I really love the idea behind Let's Cosplay and enjoy to read something about about other cosplayers a lot.
It's really interesting and I love the personal, non-standard questions you ask. I will keep on following this wonderful blog and hope to read something about more cosplayers and maybe even something about my friends.



Thanks so much Kamui for the wonderful answers, I bet you've helped to motivate others in making amour and props.. and that includes me !! Thanks!

Exotic Fruits Good For Your Health

This is something both beneficial to your body and tasty.
Coconuts

We've all seen these before, but how many have actually prepared and eaten fresh coconut? The word coconut refers to the nut of the coconut palm tree. There are many different uses for cocunuts in cooking. If you haven't tried one, check it out.

Durian

Durian fruit comes from the Malvaceae family of trees (think hibiscus, okra, cotton, mallows, and linden.) In southeast Asia, this is known as "The King of Fruits." Durian fruit has a thick, spine covered exterior and a unique smell. (If you've smelled one before, it's something you won't easily forget.) Once you get past the physical appearance, though, it's a quite delicious treat.

Jackfruit

Jackfruit comes from the Moraceae (mulberry) family of trees. This is one of (if not the) largest fruit that grows on trees in the entire world. The smallest jackfruit is usually around 10 inches in diameter. Some of the larger fruit can grow to 36 inches long, 20 inches around and weigh over 80 pounds!

Kiwi

To differentiate it from the bird (or the people), this is sometimes also called kiwifruit. Small in size, it's considered one of the largest berries that grow on vines in the Actinidia genus.

Lychee

This fruit is sometimes referred to as Litchi in the United States. Native to China, the lychee grows on trees in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae.)


Mamey

This melon grows on Mamey Sapote trees. It's native to MExico. The orange colored melon is typically 4 to 10 inches long and 3 to 5 inches wide.

Papaya

Papaya comes from the Carica papaya plant, which is in the Carica genus. Native to South America, Papaya tastes like a combination of pineapple and peach.

Persimmons

Persimmons grow on trees in the Diospyros genus. Their color ranges from a light yellow-orange to a dark red-orange. Persimmons are a somewhat dry fruit. They're also considered a berry.

Plantains

Plaintains look a lot like bananas, but they're not as sweet. Because of this, they're usually used for cooking rather than eating raw. Unlike traditional bananas, plantains are usually used when under-ripe and green in color.

Starfruit

Starfruit comes from the carambola tree and is sometimes known by that name. Ranging in color from golden yellow to a golden green, the fruit got its name because it looks like a five pointed star when cut down the middle.

This is just the tip of the exotic fruit iceberg. If any of these sound tempting, do a little more research and expand your horizons a little.





YuiNeemo

As you saw in Chun's post and my post from the maid cafe, I've acquired an Azone Yui! It was a hard sell actually. At the time when she was on sale, I didn't have any money. She is second-hand, did not have her original body and her guitar was not included. But I was able to ask for a lower, more reasonable price because of the missing details. I didn't mind as much because she would be a good pairing for my Azonyan XD The previous owner was willing to wait (plus she didn't have any other buyers) until I have enough to pay for Yui, which was way back in October 2010. I finally received Yui around the first couple of weeks of January ^^;


So her body is not even the flexible one. The knees and elbows don't bend, so she's almost like a Barbie. Her body is a Pure Neemo Advance E Type body. She can rotate at the shoulder and her hips and waist. That's about it though. The body is heavier as well, so when a friend was holding her, she thought it was heavier than Azunyan. I am buying a Flection body for her, but I won't get rid of this E Type body... You'll see why.

Her hairpins are actually a decal... Like a Gundam decal ^^; I suppose with this kind of scale, there's not much you can do with the "hairpins".

Even though she's "stiff", she can make that "OOOU!" pose. Or something like that... Oh and one of her hands is broken too... Another good reason for me to ask for a lower price.

And well, when she wants to sit down, she has to spread her legs ^^;;;

Yui asks, "would you like to see MY rice bowl?" Either that or she's doing a mocking pose :P

For some reason her lower half of her body keeps falling off... I could easily do a Zeong meme here, lol.


And here she is without her stockings. I gotta admit her feet are cute! Her legs are sexy too, so even if she is inflexible, she looks good!

And the reason why I'm keeping this E Type body... Knee pits! I should've thought of this pro even though I was disappointed when she didn't come with her original body. Nice and smooth legs!

Look at the closeup! Aren't they beautiful? :D The way they glisten in the light like that... Gorgeous!

And of course the mandatory lower angle shot... :3 Hmm... Maybe I should've Photoshopped out those joint lines.

And here she is sitting down without her stockings, lol! I think her feet's kinda fat too because her shoes were a bit stretched XD

But there is one good reason why she has her legs spread... Azunyan can sit in front of Yui, no problem ;)

And don't worry... I won't be making Yui into a fridge magnet...

*cough*