Here's a quick introduction to our 5 members!
Ruby Silverado
Hello there, I'm Ruby Silverado.
I dabbled in sewing before making my first real costume for Naka-kon 2012. The costume was Skyward Sword Zelda and it had problems... My wig didn't fit right, and didn't know much about fabric choices, but nevertheless, I was hooked. I was ready to try again and improve my sewing skills.
My favorite part of cosplay is becoming someone else and meeting people who like the same things that I do. Being a part of Another Castle Creations is amazing because they are all wonderful people and excellent cosplayers.
Find me on Facebook and Instagram!
Lydia Heartwell
Hello everyone! My name is Lydia Heartwell and it is very nice to meet you! I have been interested in all things nerdy and geeky since my mother first handed me a copy of Anne McCaffrey's “DragonFlight” when I was a young girl and I haven't looked back since!
Besides some basic Halloween costumes in my childhood, I had never done a cosplay until the fall of 2014 when I created a Mabel Dipper costume entirely from thrift store finds. The original plan was to just do the occasional cosplay and that I wouldn't try to make my own costumes. That lasted all of a week or two before I had agreed to make a Squirrel Girl costume, with a 5 foot tail. That costume really ignited a fire in my soul for crafting, sewing and cosplay!
Luckily, I've been able to fully embrace this new adventure with some of the greatest friends a girl could ask for and I look forward to showing you everything that we have planned for the next year.
Find me on Facebook and Instagram!
Krisandra Jade
Hello Lovelies! I’m Krisandra Jade. Kris, for short. I’d like to give you a short introduction to myself and my love affair with cosplay.
Growing up, Halloween was my most treasured holiday. Not because of the once-a-year onslaught of massive bags of otherwise forbidden candies and chocolates, but because it afforded me that one night of the year to do what I so often fantasized about – be someone else. Something else. A Jedi, a witch, an Egyptian Queen; these weren’t just costumes for one night of mayhem; they were a role I felt fully obligated to embody for 24 hours. As soon as I was able to muster some control over costume selection away from my parents, I began to put ample thought into each Halloween costume, planning months ahead of time, researching my “character”. It’s that love of stepping into someone else’s shoes through costume and affectations that brought me to cosplay.
I consider age 12 to be the year of my first real cosplay. That’s the year, after a childhood completely smitten with all things Star Wars, that I decided to dress up as my favorite character from Expanded Universe – Mara Jade. Now, while Star Wars movie costumes were easy to find in the late 90s, you were out of luck with the comics and books characters. I set out to do it myself. I had mediocre, basic sewing skills passed on from my mother and grandmother. But I was very resourceful in other ways, something that I think is a key skill to many cosplayers, and professional costumers alike: finding the extraordinary in mundane, everyday objects. An old set of spray painted liars dice cups became the base for thermal detonators, my mother’s old belt got some faux distressing and became a utility belt. I used toy blasters and lightsabers with new paint jobs for added realism as key costume accessories. A cheap Cat Woman bodysuit, with some alterations, became a flight suit. I meticulously went over my comics, reread description lines in the books, until I believed I had something recognizable and true to the character – at least in 12-year-old terms. I happily wore it that Halloween, though nobody knew who I was, and later to Star Wars books events at the local Barnes & Noble. It was my first cosplay, and I’m proud of my efforts to this day. Mara Jade remains my signature cosplay, though, obviously, the outfit has greatly improved – and is now crafted to the high standards of the 501st regulations.
The wonderful thing about cosplay is that it ignites those same childhood passions of stepping into someone else’s shoes, and not only for a night, but for as often as you want. Crafting the outfits yourself gives added panache to the whole affair. The time we put into our craft, the research, the sewing, the creating new things out of seemingly nothing; it all adds to that feeling of ownership over a character [at least momentarily]. I’ve been part of this crazy world for over a decade, and I plan to continue in whatever ways I can for as long as possible. I’ve taken my cosplay ventures from the north East Coast, to Southern California, and now to the Midwest, where I’ve found a wonderful group of kindred spirits in Another Castle Creations. I’m eager to see where cosplay will take us in the future.
Hi there, My name is Luna Flare!
I'm just a small town girl with big city dreams!
I learned how to sew because I wanted to make twirly skirts and mermaid tails. My first real cosplay I ever put together was Sailor Moon. I had only used a sewing machine once before and only to do straight stitches. The white-blonde wig was one you wouldn't look twice at while it was still in the bag, and the fabric choices were laughably bad. Even though the pics of that costume will never see the light of day, I learned a lot about what it actually takes to put something like this together and realized how much work I would have to do to get better.
Needless to say, I've been hooked ever since.
As my crafting skills improved and the costumes became more elaborate, I entered the world of drag and cons. The first full blown convention I attended was Naka-kon 2012 once again as Sailor Moon (Sera Myu version) but thankfully with a better wig and kick-ass boots. Krisandra, Ruby and I had such a great time that even before we had left the convention, we immediately started planning costume ideas for next year.
It may be cheesy to think this, but my favorite part of cosplay is that I can use my skills to make these beloved characters come to life for me and for all the lovely people I meet. The fact that I get to do this with some of my best friends at Another Castle Creations is the sparkly icing on the cake.
I can't wait to share more sewing adventures with you!
Hello! You may call me The Walking Farnsworth. I started out going to Comic Cons with a camera in my hand. After attending a few, I was drawn to get involved in the fun of making and wearing costumes.
My first costume was Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead. I actually made this costume for Halloween first, but decided to wear it as a Cosplay to Comic Con. The costume consisted of clothes sourced from a thrift store, a cheap cowboy hat, and a couple of Halloween sheriff badges. I sowed brown fabric onto the shirt in the proper places to make it look close to the shirt worn in the show. It was a little rough to say the least.
I moved on to also include a Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls), Agent Coulson (Agents of S.I.E.L.D.), original Green Arrow (DC Comics), and a nicer Rick Grimes. The list of costumes that I would like to make keeps growing and growing, but so will the number of costumes that I will have made.
You will likely see me still wondering around a Con with my camera in my hand, as photography is still a passion of mine. Cosplayers make great models and their costumes make the images all the more interesting. If you see me, be sure and ask me to take your picture or take a picture with you!
Find me on Facebook and Instagram!
Also, check out my photography Website, Facebook and Instagram.