【Genshin Impact】 Venti - Anime Midwest 2021

cosplay Jul 11, 2021

First and foremost, this was a premade set. I've never really sewn before so I figured I'd get something premade. I wanted to do something related to Genshin Impact, and I was going to go for Zhongli, but I couldn't find a set on Amazon. I could've ordered somewhere else, but it sounded like it would take a while for it to get shipped, so Venti was my next choice.

Of course, it wasn't that smooth. The wig in the picture above wasn't the correct one, and I didn't have Venti's lyre either (which I ended up going for a weapon instead).

The quest for a bow

At first, I wanted to make the Skyward Harp bow from Genshin because it fits so much with Venti's outfit.

I ended up finding a pretty good template on Etsy, and went ahead and picked up some balsa wood to combine with the foam I had from my previous cosplay. Not too long afterwards, I realized... I was expecting a bit too much and running pretty low on time.

At first, it sounded like it was going to be a pretty straightforward arts project – there's a template, cut the foam and wood to shape, glue it together, and then maybe add some LED lights – but not too long after starting I realized it probably wasn't that easy. Part of my issue was that the bow isn't a flat object. The winglets on the edges were angled outwards, so I had to figure out how to make that. Another thing that I wasn't really paying attention to was the blue wispy wings – I suppose I could've 3D printed something thin and added LED lights to that to make it glow, but my artsy side wasn't really comprehending the steps needed to do it.

I ended up making a few mistakes by this point. The foam, especially near the handle, was very weak. I should've put more support between the foam sheets, but I ended up adding supports on the outside instead making it a bit weaker (and harder to paint later on).

Version 2

Realizing this wasn't going to end up the way I expected, I went with a slightly different approach. My next iteration was more 2D, and completely ignored the angled winglets.

This went much better but as you can see, and the wooden texture that the balsa wood comes in looks pretty nice. If I went with this method, I would have just ended up staining the wood.

I suppose I could've just went with this, but I wanted to see what other options I had. For the previous cosplays I've gone with, I had 3D printed some parts of it and I wanted to continue that tradition with my Venti cosplay.

Luckily, there was this model of the Favonius Warbow available on Thingiverse. I fire up 3D printer and start printing the individual pieces out. Luckily, the roll I had on the printer was still fine, though the edges ran into some issues with not adhering to the bed that well.

It was at this point that I remembered that I got a PEI sheet when I ordered my 3D printer and after swapping the bed plate out with the PEI sheet instead and doing an auto calibration...

The bed adhesion with this other plate is so much better. It also works without the hair spray + heated bed combo. Some prints still scuffed up a bit, but still a good improvement.

Paper clips needed because the bed is lower than the built in clips.

For those unfamiliar with 3D printing, with bigger prints like this bow that I wanted, the model is usually split into smaller parts. This is so that the support is only present on one side, usually the side that isn't visible in the final product making it smoother with minimal sanding (which I sort of skip out on most of the time).

After a few days of prints plus a 3D printer pen (which is great for joining the prints together) I have most of the bow done.

Back to the outfit, even though the set was premade, my biggest issue was the corset that came with it. Even though Venti is a male character in game, most of the cosplay tailored for it is fitted for a female body shape, so the corset that came with my kit was a bit too tight. I figured I'd use this as an excuse to add a new skill to my repertoire: sewing.

I've bought one of those handheld sewing machines before that looked like this:

I never really figured out how to use this and ended up returning it back when I was making my Elias cosplay. This time, I wanted an actual sewing machine... but I couldn't really justify buying one of the bigger machines that cost upwards of a hundred or so dollars.

Surprisingly, this little machine that cost less than $20 works pretty well and actually had pretty good support behind it. Not too long afterwards, I learned how to rethread the machine, and was able to make a few simple things from the scraps and sample sheets that came with it.

I ended up sewing Venti's corset to another corset that I bought off Amazon, and it went... not too bad.

Although it wasn't perfect, it held up pretty well even though the ends weren't tied properly.

One other thing I took a stab at was adding a better strap to Venti's cape. The built-in one was more or less a weak ribbon that was barely sewed on. I ended up sewing on an elastic band and a leather strip and that allowed me to be able to tie the cape on without having to worry it would fall out.

To be fair it was pretty hard to keep it straight, especially in the middle.

Time for Anime Midwest 2021!

Not too long after I finished my set, it was time for the con!

This time around, some of the things at the con were a bit more restricted, and some things like the unlimited instant ramen weren't available. At the time of writing, restrictions due to COVID-19 are a lot more lax than it was a few months prior, with masks being mostly optional for vaccinated individuals indoors in most locations.

It definitely wasn't as crowded as the prior times I've been, but there was still a number of people at the con. This time around, I was accompanied by my oldest brother, an old friend of mine from my high school days, and my mother who wanted to tag along since it was her day off. Like my visits prior, I wanted to buy some loot during my visit. In addition, I wanted to see if anyone else was wearing something from Genshin... heh.

Shh, I just saw this while browsing around.

Honestly, one thing that stood out to me was how hard it was to see with my wig. I probably should've styled it a bit more, but the bangs were definitely making it a bit hard to see out of. Still, I was able to spot quite a few gacha characters – heh!

I definitely missed a few, but I think in my few hours there my count was around:

5 Ventis (I only took a few pictures with a few...)
1 Mona
1 Fischl
1 Ganyu
1 Hu Tao (who told me she actually mained Xiao... hmph...)
1 Klee
1 Albedo
1 Diluc

In hindsight, I sort of wish I went with my original plan to go with Zhongli (with a stone stele pillow!)

The loot

Last but not least of course, is the loot. I don't usually buy that much at cons, especially because it's a bit pricey – though I'll be honest, the satisfaction of getting a figure in real time vs. waiting for pre-orders or delivery is something that I'm pretty prone against.

I ended up buying a loot box. Was it worth it? Hah... I dunno. It did come with a few pretty cool things though.

Loot Box

A Zelda canvas print. Love the minimal look to it.

A 3.5mm + USB-powered Mega Man speaker. A bit more limited in use now that a bunch of phones are Bluetooth-only now.

A Mega Man x South Park plushie. Cute, but I don't really follow both...

Starfox crew socks. Not bad, good for winter.

A strawberry scented Super Mario air freshener.

A collectible Super Mario star super coin.

So was it worth it? For $56 after tax, it's... hm. I think some of things in it are pretty cool but the rest, I'm okay without. Not satisfied, but might still buy one in the future because gacha logic.

Figures!

I only bought two figures from this con. Pretty satisfied from both, though not without its downs.

The first figure is something I feel like I got scammed a bit on. Not like it was a counterfeit or anything, but I feel like I was way too overcharged.

The figure has a sticker price of $70, but when I was looking at the receipts post-con (which I luckily entered my e-mail in... every stall I visited and paid in used Square so I got a receipt for all my purchases this time around, I usually just skip it since it takes a few more moments to have to write your e-mail down.)

Total: $88.36

Hm... a $18+ tax/service fee? Yikes.

What's worse is that it's a ¥3900 ~ $35 figure, so the sticker price is already doubled. But that's what I get for looking at prices after going to a con. No regrets though.

Box closeups. It's packaged pretty well.

Base and heart pistol. I feel like the heart pistol paint isn't the best quality, but it's small enough to not be a big bother.

Focus on the heart pistol. She looks so innocent with the white collared shirt on her.

Her hair is absolutely amazing. I dig that cotton candy - yellow - green gradient.

Last thing is her knee highs. I feel like this could've used more love since it looks pretty basic. Not sure how canon this outfit is, but maybe matte paint instead of glossy? Dunno.

The second figure is even pricier than the first. There was quite a few Nezuko figures, but I decided not to get it. Those are common enough, and I can probably find them cheaper elsewhere. I still wanted a good Rin figure, but there were wasn't many that caught my eye.

What I did see was a Homura figure from Madoka Magica.