I won't go into too much detail into this cosplay because I made it in 2 days, YIKES. But I thought that I'd have time to make something for
ALA (Anime Los Angeles) in addition to my
Kyoko outfit so I decided WHY NOT. The hardest part of this cosplay was styling the wig. Usually I don't like to work on "easy" cosplays because I like a good challenge, but I just love this character way too much. It's difficult for me to choose a favorite female character in "Gintama", but I think Kagura definitely delivers the most laughs, and she is one tough cookie. Also kind of brainless but she's a kid. She also likes to eat rice all day so that is something I can easily accomplish. Cosplays you can eat in are quite good. It's also fun for me to have an easier cosplay to wear at a convention because sometimes I don't want to worry about a prop or my outfit being damaged if it's delicate or slightly ... unwieldy. I also don't run into that many
Kagura cosplayers at conventions these days and it makes me kinda sad because she really is such a great, memorable character and I wonder how a Kagura cosplayer would act at a convention--would she be walking around with a piece of sukonbu in her mouth while picking her nose? If so, I would applaud and cry otaku tears.
Before I get into how I made this cosplay, I want to share that I got the opportunity to wear this cosplay on
Crunchyroll's Live Show along with my friends
Kakyokuhime,
Imari and
Vivi.
Vampy interviewed us during the cosplay segment and it was so much outrageous --and at times-- awkward fun. I usually don't make anime costumes either, but how can I say no to a character who picks her nose half the time!? Awesome. So I don't really have any work in progress photos this time, just our backstage photos showcasing the costume! I'll probably end up wearing this cosplay sometime when I feel like giving less fucks than usual.
She has a couple outfits that are fairly basic/standard China girl wear, but I decided to go with her regular outfit because I wanted to be very comfortable and not worry about fit for once.
I started with a cotton/poly-blended stretch fabric--I thought cotton would wrinkle too easily so wanted some polyester blended into it to help the fabric stay smooth when worn throughout the day. I didn't make the bias binding this time because I didn't need to. The pants are made from the same fabric, the pattern I knocked off from a pair of my sweatpants.
The top actually has a faux closure at the top--it only opens to allow my head to fit through.
So that's about it for the outfit. Simple stuff!
Yes I am wearing blue contacts!
with Vivi :D (as the AC Paradise mascot) I LOOK LIKE A KID. GYUHHHH
with Kakyokuhime as Chun Li!!
For the hair pins, I started w/ styrofoam balls and cut them in half. I painted them over with layers and layers of gesso (I kid you not there are about 20 layers of gesso, I started this first because I knew this process would take a while--it SERIOUSLY TOOK FOREVER but so worth it....) to make sure the surface was smooth. I sanded the surface a little with a very fine grit sandpaper because after so many layers of gesso the paint got a little globby.
This was then painted black. I ran out of time so I had to paint the designs :( I really wanted to cut out craft foam and form them with heat but perhaps when I have more time I will do so.
I made the tassels from fringe that I sewed together. There was a lot of work put into the wig, which I am writing a separate tutorial for -- it'll basically cover creating a back parting using
Epic Cosplay's extensions (15").
Again, thank you Shun for the photos!!