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Cosplayer ChilmarkGryphon > Costume of Kusuriuri (Mononoke)

Most Recent Photo
04-01-2013
Series
Mononoke
Character
Kusuriuri
Year Completed:
N/A
Construction Difficulty:
Normal
Awards
Honorable Mention for Outstanding Silk Painting - AnimeUSA 2009
Costume worn at:
Anime USA 2009
Permanent Link:
About this Costume
Construction Details:
After New York Anime Festival, my partner in crime decided that we should go to AnimeUSA. But of course, new con requires new costume! And of course, the only do-want design I had on my list that was AT ALL feasible for completion in a month was this guy.

KIMONO: The kimono is hand-sewn with french finished seams and a magenta lining. It's made of a heavyweight silk satin, which I managed to get for $7/yard because it was all in 2-3 yard pieces. The designs were first drawn out on cheap muslin, then traced onto the silk with a starch-based resist to create the white lines. The areas of color were all applied by hand with a brush. The predominant turquoise was done with Jacquard green-label silk dyes, and all the other colors were from Aljo Dye Co, because buying local is awesome and the people were super-helpful (they sell polyester dyes too!) Everything was steam-set. The dyes bled when I washed the resist out, so all the white lines had to be cleaned up with multiple applications discharge paste T____T

OBI: The obi is polyester dupioni and was made in five pieces, four of which are sewn together to create the bow and one for the belt part. The bow incorporates a wire loop which slides down the back of the belt part. The designs were stencilled on with Lumiere acrylics, which I HIGHLY recommend. The obi-age, the pink sash you see peeking over the top of the obi belt, was given a scrunched texture by twisting a piece of synthetic chiffon and boiling it to set the wrinkles into place. The obi-jime, the red cord over everything, was made by taking the bias tape strip off of a piece of pillow trim.

JUBAN AND PANTS: The juban, or under-kimono, began life as a muslin tunic I used to wear at renfaires. I chopped the sleeves off to t-shirt length, and added two collars made of canvas-interfaced quilting cotton. I went with cotton for this part so that it'd be washable, since it comes into contact with sweat and makeup :P The pants are just linen drawstring pants I threw together in a couple of hours with no pattern.

TABI & GETA: Making tabi is NOT. FUN. But these ones are comfy and warm to wear~ They are linen lined with polar fleece, which gives them some shape and also keeps my perpetually cold feet warm. They don't actually have closures; they slip on through the magic of stretch and bias.
The geta were a lot easier to walk in than I thought they would be. The ha (platform bits) are screwed on. The straps are basically muslin tubes stuffed with cotton and painted with more gold Lumiere. They were stained with a mixture of Future Wax and acrylic paint, and have rubber treads so I don't skid on smooth floors.

WIG: It's not a full wig. If it was, I would have roasted to death. The dreads are made out of felted wool roving, with two colors blended to give it some more texture. They are sewn to a felt headband, and the rest of my hair gets neatly hidden by that silk headscarf.

ACCESSORIES: Jewelry is sculpey, ears are paperclay over wire mesh and stay on with a headband. The disc shaped pendant has a mirror on the reverse, true to the design, and the small beads are red sculpey blended with black acrylic to look like coral. The sword is a piece of wood left over from the geta; it was bulked out to the right shape with celluclay, and the details were added in super sculpey.

MAKEUP: Ben Nye red and clown white. Set with transparent powder, and lasted until I started rubbing my eyes ^__^;
Personal Thoughts:
Mononoke is my favorite anime ever.
I will be remaking this costume for 2014.
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