Get a piece of me! The AmberUnmasked Store Launched This Week.

For some reason, people have expressed interest in seeing AmberUnmasked t-shirts. I’m flattered and still baffled that someone would want to wear a shirt, button, or whatever with my name on it. I was definitely something that I wanted for myself to wear at booths and cons when not in a costume.

When my friend and inker ANDREW HARMON sent me a few logos, all I really planned to do was upload them to cafepress so I could print my own shirts and coffee mugs for myself. See, I’m still finding it unbelievable that fans I’ve never met or even my friends that I love would order an AU stamped product. Well, we’ll just have to see how this goes!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Koni Waves creator and fellow Jersyan STEPHEN SISTILLI was equally as bored as Andrew and decided that he would come up with a banging headshot logo for me. He chose to stick with the basics that Andrew harnessed: the striped hair, the goggles and the color pink. I thought what Stephen did was perfect for buttons so I monkeyed with adding some text and hope the final result didn’t ruin Stephen’s image.

As I said, I was just going to make one or two t-shirts, a coffee mug and a button, but cafepress makes bulk adding of products quite easy so there’s a wide array of swag uploaded already. If anyone has a special request, like you really feel the need for an AU mousepad, just let me know and I’ll activate the product.

The direct url is cafepress.com/amberunmasked

HAPPY SHOPPING AND MANY THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Rogue jacket; Steampunk goggles

I love bargains! I especially love bargains when I can apply them to my super costume wardrobe. Yesterday I found a fantastic jacket made of dark chocolate brown PVC at Burlington Coat Factory and for only $17! I couldn't resist. Slowly Rogue will be redesigned. It may take another two years but it'll get done eventually.

I also got my very first pair of goggles in the mail today. They are the German Goggles from Restoration Hardware and were on sale for $11.99! No idea what I'm going to do to them yet.

making progress

I actually have the bodysuit for Black Cat done but I'm going to rip out some seams and try something else. I currently have the collar piece attached but I'm going to see if my skilled mom can remove it and then change it into a separate choker which will make getting in and out of it much easier. It's not too bad considering how much this fabric stretches but why add the extra strain to the seams, right?

I also just ordered my mask from X-treme Design FX. I may go out this afternoon to shop for the white fur but it depends on how much my mom and I get accomplished this afternoon. Then gloves and possibly a belt will be the final touches. Black Cat doesn't usually wear a belt but in some art she has one and I really love belts to hide my flabby belly.

Let's see. What else is going on? Oh, I just got the proof of the artwork I had commissioned by Dan Gorman. It's gonna rock! Caico looks so good in the sketch. And the price of $95 for a custom sketch and color print is very reasonable.

A good costume resource

If you see my earliest posts, you'll see that I scour the internet for places to get the best costume parts and out of the goodness of my heart, I choose to share these treasures with you, my adoring public. I've come across another site that has so much to offer (including the Cyclops visor I would have crawled over broken glass to get last year when I needed it).

I present you with MPM Costumes. You'll find Star Wars, Spider-Man, X-Men, BSG and other great themed suits, accessories, etc. Expect to pay top dollar though - these people are serious costumers and might only appeal to die hard collectors.

Colorful Hair Extensions

As someone who searched high & low to find the perfect Rogue (X-Men) costume, I can tell you that an off-the-shelf version does not exist. I had my "classic" Rogue (green & yellow) costume made by BlackCerenity.com and it's awesome. However, the hair was another problem. No wigs for Rogue's unique white streaked on brown style exist either; besides, I'm not that fond of wigs as they can be very hot and sweaty which makes life in costume uncomfortable.

If you are committed to dying your hair for your character's perfect look, check out some hair extensions. There are rather complicated ones that are hot glued into your hair by a professional or there are clip-in versions. I was very excited to find a sale on Easilites today. I wish I had seen these back in October. This brand has all the basic hair colors in natural shades but they also have every punky color available too. You pick two colors for your clip and get a blended look. So for Rogue's white streak, since my hair is not dark brown, I picked a honey blonde color to blend with the White Chocolate. The honey color will blend closer to my real hair color (hopefully) and show off the bright white to get the streak. Since there's a sale going on, I also ordered some Blueberry and Pink. Can't wait to see those!

The best prices I found were at Best Wig Outlet.

[Edit]: I received my blue and white (really platinum blonde but close enough) extensions. Once I figured out how the heck to undo the clips I was fine. It takes some practice. And because the clips are obvious, you can only use them for areas where you'll pull more hair over the extensions to hide the clips. It gives that same kind of cool look that Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson and Christina have used for a fraction of the price and more temporary then glued-in extensions that last up to six months.

Quick Tips on Where to Shop

Stores
1. If you have decided to stay with modern/tactical, then find out where your local police & fire shop. Look up "uniforms" in your yellow pages and see if there's a shop near you.
2. If you are going old school (like Golden Age of comics), you'll have to visit a dance supply store for spandex. Capes you can get in a few basic colors from store bought costumes or have one made. Or, remember Edna Mode's wise piece of advice, "No capes!"
3. Accessories: just about anywhere from a mega-mart to the Mall. I say stick with sports shops for things like knee/elbow pads and maybe gloves. Perhaps EMS (Eastern Mountain) which we have in our local malls. Maybe Foot Locker, Dick's, or Sports Authority. I was very lucky at Home Depot where I struck gold with gloves, knee pads and a plain canvas belt that I can add to later. Each thing was under $20.
4. Sunglasses - Sunglass Hut is the best for seeing a whole bunch of stuff at one visit but you'll be looking at desginer prices too. Find the right model then do an internet search for knock-offs - I mean, "replicas."

Welcome to Hero Fashions!

For pre-made Halloween type of costumes just check buycostumes.com or anniescostumes which will even have children's and pet sizes.

X-Men

Cyclops

* The visor can't be found. I searched for weeks every day before Halloween and could not find one in an adult size. [Edit]: Found the visor at MPM Costumes.
* Red Quartz glasses -- the actual ones worn in the film were limited edition and will run you as much as $600 (Oakley Juliets on ebay), however, you can get red lens sunglasses at places like Hot Topic. Because the Oakleys were limited in quantity, you can even find just the replacement lenses in ruby will cost a fortune. The Oakley frames are even called "X-Metal" but can be found in other varieties like black or charcoal. Wear with caution! You will be unable to read traffic lights, brake lights etc - anything where you need to differentiate between red & green.
* Motorcycle jacket from the movies - found a replica at pdcollection.com which uses ebay as a storefront.

If the link breaks go to their main site. At the time of posting, the link goes directly to an actual item for sale on ebay.

Wolverine

* Motorcycle jacket from the movies - found at the same ebay store as the Cyclops jacket, pdcollection.com
* Claws - for other than plastic Halloween claws, check out real costume makers like Xtreme Design FX.

Sabertooth (and other fanged creatures):
* Fangs - better than those plastic glow-in-the-dark ones in vending machines.

The Matrix
* Sunglasses - there are tons of places that have knock-offs or replicas of the many glasses worn in the three movies. Here's a place that has them at pretty cheap prices compared to what the real designer versions go for.

Golden & Silver Age Comics
If your hero or villain requires a fair amount of shiny spandex, start with a dance leotard.

Anime
BlackCerenity specializes in anime costumes but this is the place where I got my Rogue costume (classic green & yellow).

General Costume Effects:
* Xtreme Design FX - prosthetics, latex, masks, custom costumes, chest logos, capes & cowls, adamantium claws and other fantastic stuff. Judging by their customer list expect to pay top dollar but you can easily see the quality of their work in the gallery. If all you need is an excellent chest logo to attach to your own suit, it might not be so bad.
* Contact Lenses - be very careful about considering special fx lenses. The FDA has warned consumers that they should never wear lenses that aren't custom made for your own eyes. There are tons of choices on the market for quality lenses but you should see an eye doctor first to get your eyes properly measured. The best thing to do is look up the lenses online just to see which ones you want but then take the information to a local optometrist. You can find quality lenses in every design/pattern from vampire looks to cat eyes to smiley faces (I'm not kidding). For the best gallery online check out Lensquest.
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Just because you're fighting evil doesn't mean you can't look good while doing it. ~Amber, TechSupport Stylist