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Character: Suh Wang Mo
Series: Bride of the Water God
Premiered: Anime Matsuri 2011
Made By: Saya
Status: Current
Difficulty: *****
Cost: $700
Cons: Anime Matsuri 2011
Info:
Wig- I started with a waist length black wig and added wefts of hair along the hairline. Knowing that the final design would weigh quite a bit I sewed a thick plastic mesh under the netting of the wig for support. I then began separating the forehead pieces into small “bumps” by adding ratted yaky hair underneath and then smoothing the wig hair over it. I secured each section with needle and thread. I then added two larger “bumps” at the temples/ear area in the same fashion. Using donut shaped sponges I created two large buns in the back of the wig by pulling sections of hair thru the center hole of the sponges. I then wrapped the hair around the sponges and secured using needle and thread. Next, I created two long braids using three packs of silky hair and wrapped them around the buns and sewed them into place. For the hair loops I began by painting six bendable curlers using black spray paint. Next I cover the curlers with loose silky hair securing the hair using rubber bands and freezing spray. Then I began shaping the curler into circles, once I had the shape I desired I heat set the fibers using a blow dryer and more freezing spray. I then trimmed the loose hair even with the curlers and sealed using caulk. When dry I attached the loops to the wig by sewing them into the underlying mesh support. In some areas I used hot glue to help secure them. The remaining wig hair was split into two sections, the upper section I wove around the air loops and sewed into place. The lower section was split into multiple smaller braids, two were made into loops and the rest were left long. I then added gold beading to the braids as well as gold spray painted flowers throughout the back of the wig. Outer Dress- I created the outer dress by using a mixture of store bought patterns and hand drafted patterns. The skirt and sleeve patterns were taken from two different simplicity patterns and the bodices were hand-drafted patterns. All were cut from the Green duponi silk and sewn together using French seams. I also serged all raw edges due to the fraying nature of duponi. I hand drafted patterns for the sleeve cuff and the cuffs on the bodice and neckline. I used the gold silk for all the cuffs. I used thick interfacing for the neckline and bodice but switched to thin interfacing for the sleeves to preserve the flowy nature of the sleeves. I added an embroidery top stitch to all the cuffs for decorative purposes. Under Dress- I decided against making a full under kimono to avoid extra bulk and make it a cooler costume to wear. I instead made an underskirt and separate collar. I made the under skirt using black challis because of it’s flowing texture. Using a store bought pattern I cut out and sewed and underskirt out of the black challis. For the large center flap, I hand drafted a pattern and cut it out using the cobalt silk. 6 in beaded trim was sewn into the lower edge and the gold trim was sewn onto the edges. I sewed the flap onto the waistband of the skirt. I hand drafted and sewed the “fake” collar out of the black challis and thick interfacing. I attached the fake collar to the outer dress by hand sewing it into to place. Obi- I created the obi using duponi silk, ridgilene and interfacing. I decided to use lacing and grommets to secure the back of the obi rather than a knot due to the weight of the wings that the obi would need to support. Once the obi was made and the grommets attached and added embroidery topstitching for decorative effects. The reference pictures for the outfit I chose did not show the front of the obi so chose to use pictures of her other outfits to design a pattern for this obi. I created a center decorative broach using craft foam as a base. I sealed the foam using mod podge and added gold beads to the outer edges using hot glue. I then spray painted it all gold. I resin cast the center jewel matching the color to the accents of the surrounding decorations. I added jewels using super glue and then added gold seed beads around all the jewels using small needles. I created the smaller flaps in a similar fashion as the large center flap described in the under dress section. Jewelry- To create the crown, hair styx, broach and earrings I combined store bought pieces with craft foam to create the correct designs seen in the reference pictures. I did this by taking apart the metal jewelry and then reassembled the pieces added sealed craft foam cut into the correct shapes, where necessary. The reference pictures of the crown show most of the flowers in the crown had a wavy or bumpy edge. To recreate this effect on the metal and craft foam I added glass seed beads using a small needle and super glue. Once all the edges were beaded I then painted the entire piece in gold. I then added green and blue Austrian crystals, glass beads and acrylic jewels to decorate the final pieces. I created the sub structure of the crown using a heavy gage craft wire covered in craft foam. Once bent into the correct shape I sealed the foam using mod podge and painted it all gold. The flowers/butterfly made above were attached using a combination of craft wire and hot glue. I added a decorative store bought tassels as the last touch. The butterfly hair styx were originally earrings that I painted with gold and embellished using crystals, glass beads and acrylic jewels. I using sections of wire coat hangers for the styx. Once they were shaped correctly and painted gold I attached the butterflies using hot glue. The earrings were made using a store bought necklace. I cut out the flower sections and added the ear hooks and painted them gold. Finally I added the crystals, acrylic jewels and glass beads. The flower broach was made in the same fashion as all of the above flowers. Shawl- After considerable thought I decided to hand embroider the main design for the shawl, I did not believe that using all fabric paint would give the correct look and feel to the finished product. To start, I cut the correct shape out of the green silk, then using a special fabric paint (designed to be used with rubber stamps) I added the background geometric design. I went back thru with a small paintbrush and filled in any voids left behind after stamping. Tsukiko, drew a simplified version of the medallions and filigree based on the reference pictures. I transferred the design to the shawl using transfer paper. I began hand embroidering the design using several different stitches. I used the following stitches: Split stitch, stem stitch, satin stitch, chain stitch, whip stitch and French knots. When the stitching was finished I accented the embroidery using black and gold fabric paint and small paintbrush. I then sewed the backing and interfacing onto the main piece. Wings- I began by creating the framework for the wings. I bent the copper tubing into U shape with circles at the upper ends of the U. I covered the circles in fosshape and then heat hardened the fosshape using an iron. I then began adding the pointers to the fosshape using hot glue. I trimmed the pointers into pointed shapes to mimic the reference photos. On the outer edges of the wings I used rooster tail feather to get the correct look. Rooster feathers are not very rigid, so I added white florist wire to the quills of the tail feathers using hot glue; this gave them enough strength to stand straight out. When the body and outer edges of the wings were finished I covered the upper edges with the feather boa and then trimmed the boa close to the frame. The U of the copper frame will fit into the back of the obi.
