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| Neko Musume & Yuuko Ichihara, CLAMP 30th xxxHOLiC reissue, vol.12 |
CHARACTER Yuuko Ichihara
SOURCE xxxHOLiC manga, CLAMP 30th reissue, by CLAMP
COSTUME Grey Fox dress, in xxxHOLiC, vol.12
COSTUME BREAKOUT
- golden fox ears
- flowy white sleeves, with golden cuffs and collar
- grey strapless bustle dress, with red ribbons
- white petticoat with pointy frills
- golden high heels with golden swirls up the legs
- golden sceptre with large ruby head
- dance tights
Naturally, I've been obsessing on this picture for weeks now, and also because I spot a nice challenge, I decided to make it. We'll see if before or after her green dress or Hokuto's Umbrella dress.
The thing that got to me was the grey. Grey is a difficult colour, I couldn't decide what kind of fabric I would use. Velvet? A nice sateen? Definitely something luxurious looking. And then I remembered, I still have my kimono tanmono left from Yuuko's Valentine's Kimono corset. It has a beautiful water texture and it's creamy white. I only used a bit for the corset, so I have a lot left, which should be more than enough for this, even though tanmono are very narrow, around 36cm wide. I could dye it grey, but it's silk... am I going to ruin it? I asked at a DIY Kimono group, the answers were mostly positive, I just can't boil it, and I can use my usual Dylon dyes. I'll just probably dye it in the washing machine, so it will dye without patches. For the red ribbons, I can use the kimono and red dress leftovers. The white silky satin is usually available at Feira dos Tecidos, and isn't an expensive fabric.
Did I say challenge? Yes, the ears, collar, cuffs and shoes. I can mount the ears on top of a steel headband, and make them either in high density EVA foam or PVC. PVC is cheaper and easily available, and I've worked with it before. It's stiff, but heat bendable, and 3 mm is a nice thickness for this. But the collar and cuffs need to be in EVA foam and/or foam clay. I'll also need foam clay for the shoes.
I can buy cheap golden dance shoes at AliExpress, they're more comfortable than normal high heels, I also need need a pair (in black) for the green dress. Then add the swirls in foam clay, on top of a thin EVA foam sheet. I'll also need to buy dance tights online, at AliExpress, Snag Tights or similar. I'll go ahead and buy more than one pair, to use others for other cosplays.
The sceptre can have a thin PVC pipe, or a wooden dowel structure, and I'll have to add the thickness. Only the ruby is a work in progress in my mind. Heat bent red acetate? Probably. One thing is certain, I'm not going for clear resin. It's too big and will make the sceptre too heavy.
I need to find a really beautiful yellow gold paint for all of this, need to talk to Paula about it, and buy a new wig for Yuuko. I'm not retiring my other wig, but I need to have a ponytail ready wig, for some of Yuuko's updos, like for the red Chinese dress. Making ponytails and taking them off from wigs, puts a lot of stress on them, so I'd rather have two, one for loose hair styles, and one for updos. I can fake it for this one with hairclips, but I'll do it in the future for sure.
I also need to fix my corset for strapless dresses. I never was very happy with the cups, the ladies are too loose inside them (mine are big, but not that big). And then line it with some white cotton. And... while I'm on it, also fix the red Chinese dress.
+ All in all, because I'm using mostly leftover fabrics, and not so expensive materials, I don't think this costume will be very expensive, it's manageable.- The bummer is having to order stuff online, like the foam clay or the shoes and tights. Everything else I can get locally.
THE CUNNING PLAN
Start buying the materials as soon as I have some extra money. But I also need to order the blue waterproof fabric, for Hokuto's Umbrella dress.
But, as I'm likely to move house soon, all of these projects will have to be made in my new studio! I can wait!
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