Princess Mononoke: San progress

 

I've finally had time to work on a costume. Last time I worked on this costume was either 2016 or 2017! I had only finished the dress, apron, some of the jewellery, and the mask/ears.

The mask is based on a tutorial by chezlin on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUF7gCnH4OI&ab_channel=chezlin I highly recommend her videos. She gives very clear instructions, and most of the materials she uses are easy to find.

The weapons are also based on Chezlin's tutorials 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy24upuW0Hw&ab_channel=chezlin

I used bamboo, card, and red cord. I did paper-mache the blades to add strength. The cord was shiny, so I weathered it with acrylic paint.

The faux fur for the cloak is from Mohair Bear https://www.mohairbearmakingsupplies.co.uk/fabric-room/faux-fur-fabrics/long-pile-faux-fur-fabrics 

If I were to buy the fur now, I would have chosen fur with variegated colour rather than plain white. Even animals with solid coloured coats have colour variety in their fur, and some different coloured hairs would have looked more natural than the plain white fur. 

The cloak is held on with the necklace. There are hidden buttons sewn on the cloak, and the necklace attached to those.

I hemmed the cloak by hand because I didn't like the look of the raw edges. 

The ears are made of thick card. The idea was to make them lightweight: cardboard might have been a better choice, but this card is probably more durable. Originally I just sewed the ears on to the fur hood, but they were much too floppy.

To fix the floppy ears, I cut a rectangular piece of EVA foam and glued it to the inside on the hood, then sewed the ears through the foam and fake fur. The base of the ears pushes against the foam, stopping them from flopping around. The foam also helps the mask to stay on, though I am thinking of adding a strap for extra security. 

In my first San costume I wore uggs, but I decided to try making my own boots. This is the same faux suede material that I used for the apron. I used two tutorials for guidance:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/paleoplanet69529/moccasins-101-how-to-make-one-piece-moccasins-t14813.html 
http://kalizk-kreations.blogspot.com.mt/2016/10/building-sanboots

The faux suede is backed with interfacing to add some structure. I am thinking of sewing a thicker material to the soles. The original plan was to glue foam to the sole, but that would make it a bit difficult to put these boots on. 

San: Part 2: The Tunic

The second stage of making San's clothing was making her tunic. I found a fake suede curtain in a thrift shop. The first step was cutting out two rectangles of fabric for the front and back of the tunic. I used a large t-shirt to help me decide the size. 

 I draped it on a dress form, over the purple dress.

 Next I pinned the pieces of material together at the top, where the shoulders would be, and drew out where the armpits are with some chalk. With help, I pinned the sides to get the correct width. I also drew the neckline. I drew out the seam allowances and cut out the tunic pieces.

 Next came hemming. The sides are double folded hems, and I made a facing for the straps and neckline. I pinned the sides and used a big needle and some yarn to sew the edge down, to make it look more authentic. I made a facing from a thinner fabric. I used yarn to sew a running stitch along the straps and neckline.

 Once all the hemming and stitching was done, I sewed the straps together with yarn.

 Next came the side lacing. I used two part eyelets, then sewed over the top with embroidery thread, mixing the colours to make it rougher looking. I used some kind of string trim the lace the sides shut.

San: Part 1: The dress

Princess Mononoke was one of the first Japanese animated films I ever saw, and to this day I still love it. It's stunning: the writing and story are excellent, and the animation is beautiful and fluid. 

I made a San costume a while ago:

 I think it was a pretty well made early costume, but I've given away from of the components. Now I'd like to make a new and improved version of this costume. I'm going to try and use as many recyled or reused materials as possible, in keeping with the spirit of the film.

The first piece of San's costume that I made was her purple dress. My first dress was made from a stretchy polo neck jumper: easy to make, but not very accurate. I wanted to use more appropriate materials. I found a large linen (?) skirt in a secondhand shop (I think it cost around 2000 forint). I'd previously bought some material that I thought would be good, but this skirt was perfect: plain linen and the perfect colour.

 I made the pattern by tracing a chemise/night dress that I own. I cut out the back and front, and sewed them together (I forgot to add side pockets - doh!), and overlocked the seams. I finished the top edge with bias tape, also made from the skirt. 

 The straps are made from twill tape that was also part of the skirt. They are sewn to the front of the dress, but attach to the back with small buttons that came with the original skirt.

 The nice thing about recycling this skirt was that the dress now has a lot of interesting looking seamlines on it, even though I only actually sewed the two side seams; for example, the armpit area of the dress looks like it has a gusset sewn in.
The next stage is to distress and weather the dress: i will update the blog when I do that.

Cosplay Throwbacks . . . San

When? This is an old one, made all the way back in 2010 for a local cosplay event.

How? The dress is made of a purple long sleeve top. The top was also used to make her headband and the bands around her arms. The tunic is an old pillowcase, dyed in tea. The jewellery is made of polymer clay and pasta pieces. The mask is paper mache. The cape is a sheepskin pinned to the shoulders. The spear is card tape over the stick, and cloth wrapped around the top. Ugg boots were used.

Has it aged well? Surprisingly well, yes. The dress is a little short, and the material is definitely not suitable for the character (c'mon, jersey, in the forest?). The sheepskin looks great but its damn heavy. The jewellery still looks good. The mask is a mess, and has become warped. Its also very thin and flimsy looking. The tunic still looks good, and the boots are inaccurate.

Would I remake it? YES! San is one of my favourite characters, and I always have fun as San. 

What would I change? I'd remake the dress totally from cotton. I might remake the tunic too, since it is quite flimsy. The mask has to be remade totally, perhaps using paperclay. I'm not sure how to hold the mask on to my face, though. Perhaps I'd make the boots from scratch, since the Uggs look a bit incongruous. 

Sunday: MICA Official Opening

What a blast that was! Last Sunday, Baystreet had its 10th Birthday (Baystreet is a complex similar to a shopping mall but quite small in comparison to one you would find, say, in America), and MICA provided some of he entertainment. there were also belly dancers, tango dancers, tons of singers, short plays, martial arts demonstrations and probably a few things that I didn't notice when I was buying pizza and a smoothie (mmm, Dr Juice).

Our first skit was the Time Warp. That was fun, even when the sound started acting strangely (the mikes started hissing). I think our Frankenfurter scared a few people when in costume (probably just as well he had a Deadpool costume to change into).
Those kids looked a little freaked out :P I think we may have corrupted their poor little minds-much more than a Bratz doll could ever hope to accomplish (cos apparently Bratz dolls send a negative image or something).



The second skit was a Princess Mononoke/Naruto crossover (the guy behind me is meant to be a wolf. He had about one day to assemble the costume, hence he is a black rather than a white wolf). The idea was that two Anbu memebers were commissioned to assasinate San and her wolf brother. THey eventually track her down, but start arguing about who is going to kill her. In that time, San and the wolf sneak up on them, and ambush them. We used "The Crablouse" the version from the Sucker Punch trailer . The fight was great-I dropped my spear, but managed to make it look like part of the fight. The 'wolf'' really went for it-very realistic performance.

And now that's dfone, the next event is TV. Another cosplayers (I think she'll be in her Gaara costume from naruto) and myself will be appearing on Maltese TV (I'll be in my Violet Baudelaire costume) this Sunday. Did you know there's a TV studio in Qormi? I didn't!


After that there will be a cosplay party on the 12th, once again at Drayton. I would love to have a new costume ready by then but I doubt I will. I'd love to be either Sayuri (without the top layer kimono-way too much silk) or Mrs Lovett. Possibly Bellatrix if I finish the corset any time soon-darn that leather! I wish I could find an alternative material that isn't so hard to sew yet still has that lovely texture.

Too many costumes!

NEVER work on three costumes at once! It is very tiring nad confusing. At least the Princess Mononoke one is finished. I ended up recycling a polo neck sweater to make the dress. The mask was fantastic. The sheepskin didn't try to strangle me and the vegan police didn't come to arrest me.

Here's a picture of me and the other cosplayers from the Turning Japanese shoot.

My Bellatrix costume (which will probably be used for the NEXT HP7) has issues with the corset. I chopped up an old leather skirt to use, and I drafted a pattern using Dark DIY's guide , but it doesn't fit very well and look pretty manky. And my machine hates leather and leather needles-it has bust 3 needles already. I may have to bid adieu to the corset and make another one out of a more pliable material: any suggestions? I've also heard of a material called liquid latexs-you can make a corset out of cotton or something and paint over it with the liquid latex, and get this leathery effect.

The actual dress is more or less finished. It's a velvet dress which I resized and covered in silver swirls at the bust. The gloves need to have the last few eyelets inserted: I used eyelet tape for the sides, but to connect the gloves to the dress I need to add some eyelets by hand.

The final costume is Magenta from the Rocky Horror Show. This is turning into a reconstructin project: I cut the collar and cuffs off an old school shirt nad basted them to a black shirt. Paired with a black skirt, it look like a dress. The apron is made from an old sheet and an old skirt. The skirt in question was tiered, so I removed the two bottom tiers nad made them into straps and ruffles. He sheet makes up the front of the apron. It still needs to be sewn together, but it looks great. I also need to come up with some sort of maid cap.

MICA Filming Costume

MICA have organised a 'film' shoot to make a video about 'turning Japanese' on the 20th November. In that time, I have to create a costume, since I have no manga/anime/Japanese costumes: the nearest I have is a Gothic kimono, but it seems lazy to use it. So my costume will be . . . (drum roll please)

San from "Princess Mononoke". Not only is this one of my favourite films (I like most of the Miyazaki films) but I have most of the things I need to make the costume: a big fluffy sheepskin, cloth that can be dyed to the right shade, balloons and paper mache to make the mask, polymer clay to make the accessories, Ugg boots-oh, and my hair is the right colour and length.

I've actually done quite a bit already: the first layer of paper mache is drying as I type, I've made the skirt section of the dress and the tabard San wears over the dress (it's been dyed with tea and is drying in my room. It was going to sit in the garden to acquire a sun bleached look, but the cats keep trying to kill it. Since it is a slightly fragile ex-pillowcase, I would like to avoid that). Need to figure out how to make the top section of the dress: probably will be similar to the star dress

The mask will be a lot of fun to complete. Right now it is very annoying. Hopefully adding the decorations and the ears will be more enjoyable than wrestling with crepe paper, glue and an balloon determined to escape from me.

As for the earrings, my plan is to use an old pair of hoop earrings and make them a similar shape to San's with masking tape and a THIN layer of polymer clay, then cook 'em. Same thing for the necklace.

Toodles!