So, I've jumped in to my entry for NDK's cosplay contest. Like my Kitsune last year, this year I am not using any pre-made patterns, which is going to get interesting when start on the bodice.

Technically the first piece for this was done last spring - Caliburn. I had a friend make the blank out of some wood I had in my studio/shed. Once he was done I sketched out the design on the blank and took a dremmel to the "low" areas. After that I grabbed some wood putty and, working with small bits at a time, sculpted the "high" areas and allowed the putty to set for a day before sanding down the rough bits. Then it was time for primer, silver and gold spray paints (Krylon). I let that paint cure and gave it the finishing touches - Blue acrylic for handle and inside details, black oil pastel for inside the runes, and red paint for the gems (still need to make some resin gems for these spots). Caliburn debuted at Nihon Matsuri last year as part of my Saber/Archer skit.



The second piece I finished for Lily was the bottom layer skirt, which I did in December. I made a simple circle skirt out of white peachskin with an elastic waist and a serged hem (need to adjust the hem a bit). I absolutely love the way the fabric flows and have used this skirt as part of another costume for fun.

The most recent part I've been working on is the petal skirt. This one started out with not being able to find the right color fabric. I needed something between a pink and a champagne and had a similar flow as the peachskin. After spending all the time dying the kimono for my kitusne last year I decided to try something different. I found a light pink chiffon that wasn't quite right (too dark when layered on itself and too see-through and flimsy for by itself) and used wonderweb to combine it with the white peachskin fabric I'd used for the bottom skirt. It turned out great! Though I found out the hard way to make sure that there were no stray dark hairs or threads between the layers. It's slightly stiffer than the peachskin by itself, but that makes the petals more defined.

Today I prepped the gray fabric wedges that go between the petals and got the black lines/edges around one of the petals.  Once that was done I attached a gray panel to each side of the petal.



Current hour count:

Bottom skirt - 2 hours
Sketching/Patterning - 10 hours
Petal skirt - 17 hours (so far)
Bodice - not started
Belt & top skirt - not started
Armor - see patterning