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Character: Ai
Series: Princess Ai
Premiered: Naka-Kon '10
Made By: Tsukiko
Status: Current
Difficulty: *****
Cost: $600
Cons: Naka-Kon '10, A-Kon '10, Izumicon '10
Award(s): Best Overall @ Naka-Kon '10, 3rd Place @ A-Kon '10
Info:
You wouldn't think this costume would be so expensive. It probably shouldn't have been, but anytime I make a costume where theres a lot of experimentation, I tend to overbuy materials. For example, the crown and heart box have a few heart shaped rhinestones and gems. Being that I made this around Valentines day, the craft stores were full of heart shaped everything. I'd have to go to the craft store multiple times a week to pick up something I forgot and end up buying two or three more packages of different shaped rhinestones. I now have a drawer full of pink and red heart glittery crap.
Hikaruhime was an immeasurable help with the wings. I didn't have much time to plan for this costume as I got asked to join the group a few months later than the other girls, so having someone on hand who already knew how to make them cut down on hours of research and fumbling about on my own. I'm sure you can see tutorials or a more in depth description on her page under her own Princess Ai outfit, but I'll just sum it up briefly here. The wing's base is made from a copper pipe bent into shape. The part that the feathers are attatched to is chicken wire cut out (you MUST wear gloves for this!) and duct taped to the pipe. I then hot glued red fabric anywhere there would be feathers because they're surprisingly transparent. I looked at some pictures of bird's wings, then arranged and hot glued my feathers down. I think I used over 400 feathers. I glued foam around the "U" bend that rests against the small of my back for comfort and covered that in the same material as my corset in an attempt to blend. The monster straps below my breast, under the corset and also through my arms. Although I love the statement they make, most hotel convention areas are not made for 9 foot tall girls, its great fun forcing my torso into a 90 degree angle to walk through low hallways.
The corset is a pre existing corset that I covered in stretchy pink velvety fabric. Ai's corset is flat against the bottom with two garter belt straps. The corset I was using ended in a V shape a little below the belly button, I exteded the corset with two different kinds of interfacing. I broke my sewing machine in the first five minutes of sewing the fabric on (I ran over the boning *facepalm*). With no time to send it in for repairs, everything had to be hand sewn from then on. The pink velvet is fairly thick, but the corset itself was made of decorative lace that showed through the fabric, so I had to sew on a layer of white fabric before the pink fabric. I thought stretchy fabric was the way to go with this project, but it liked to bunch and wrinkle everywhere. I don't even remember how many times I hooked myself in, adjusted, pinned, took it off, sewed it, tried it on again, found new wrinkles, on and on. Instead of using bias tape around the edges, I trimmed everything with a thick folded ribbon, I liked how girly it looks close up. My second favorite part is the pleated ribbon around the bra. I'd feel way more sexy in the corset if it wasn't for the confounded Shirley Temple wig and ridiculous crown!
The wig was my first ever attempt at serious styling. Saya helped me cut the bangs, and I made the curls using hard plastic curlers, a blow dryer and cheap hair spray. After spraying a piece of hair with water and hair spray, I'd curl the end around a curler and start drying. I'd yank on the hair as I curled upward, stretching the kanekalon as the fibers melt help it keep the shape. The head piece is made from various bits of lace and embroidered ribbon sewn together. The pink ribbons are two ribbons sewn together with wire between to maintain the shape. The crown is made from fun foam, a styrafoam base, red velvet and lots of jewels. Remember all those hearts I talked about buying? the top of the crown has a big red heart jewel that I ended up prying off a pen from the dollar bin at Walmart. So much for all the expensive acrylic craft store hearts. The crown stays on the headpiece with magnets.
The petticoat was purchased, all I did was add a few more layers of chiffon and some trim. The shoes are also purchased, but I glued on some ribbon and flowers. The heart shaped box is made from a base of styrafoam and covered in fun foam. The details are painted on with puffy paint and a thin layer of darker acrylic in the cracks to give it an aged look. The rhinestones are all glued on and it attaches to the corset with magnets.
