Construction Details:

For fabric I used 3 kinds of silks, 2 different weights of linens, sateen, and cotton. Most of the costume required drafting my own patterns out of muslin.

The floral trim decorations were silk applique with over 100 hours of hand sewing and couching the edges with perle cotton. The other decorative trim elements were a combination of applique and piecing.

The red border trim was made with over 16 yards of silk duopioni double-folded trim, machine-sewn on one side and hand-sewn closed.

The skirt has a horse hair braid hem to give it the flair seen in the anime art.



The crown was built over a wire mesh base, using fun foam, tissue paper and glue, wood filler, resin casting, and an aluminum tube.



The sword was finished for NDK 2010, constructed on a bamboo tai chi sword base. After removing the lacquer finish, carving the grip, and adding a couple inches of length to the blade and hilt, I used wood filler to get the hilt shape to match the anime sword.

For the scabbard I created the decorative pieces from leather, debossing the patterns. The gems I resin cast.

The dragon was 5 hours of fun with Super Sculpey.

Styling Notes

The bangs had to be trimmed and reshaped, using a fair amount of Got2BGlue to hold the shape, left to dry over a wire mesh structure while pinned on a wig head. Then a partial high ponytail was made which anchors the crown.

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