Kudakitsune and Yuffie cosplay props
Dec. 14th, 2006 12:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Back before Wai-con caught up with us, I was planning on posting a couple of pictures of some of the props and such I'd been making. ObviousIy this wound up as one of thost things didn't find the time for, and just about everyone would have seen these already at the con by now. But if anyone's interested in seeing some of the detail that probably won't come out in con photos or hearing me ramble about how things were made, here they are anyway:
A series which I've fallen madly in love with in the past few months is CLAMP's xxxHolic, which features, amongst other things, an adorable little critter called the kudakitsune, or pipe fox. As a little fun project after I'd gotten my Yuffie costume mostly done, I thought I'd have a go at making one of my own.


He's over a metre long and only a few centimetres wide -as you can probably imagine, turning him inside out after I'd finished sewing him up took quite a while. But the best part of this thing is that, thanks to another length of the same wire we used on the Heartless plushie, he's entirely posable, and can be wrapped around arms and necks and such (which are, of course, the kudakitsune's natural habitat ^_~).

And a couple more close up shots of the head:


Since he didn't really go with my costume he wound up sitting on our table for most of the con, and with all the other clutter I don't think he got noticed much. Still, he seemed to go down well with the few other xxxHolic fans I ran into. I'm thinking of making a few more of him to sell at next years Wai-con since he really wasn't all that much work. We'll see how that goes.
On to more relevant props, here's the giant shuriken I made to go with my Kingdom Hearts II Yuffie costume:

Made out of foam core boards, craft foam and sheet plastic [insert worship of Amethyst Angel's prop making tutorials here]. The paint job to give it the tarnished look was done by my ever talented little sis Lisa, who's put up a tutorial based on it here, if anyone's interested in seeing how she does it. The green materia were salvaged from a Christmas decoration. I had pink ribbons wrapped around the arms on the first day of the con to give it the AC/KHII look, but I took them off for the second day since I was back to the original FFVII Yuffie costume by then.
Since it's mostly hollow this thing's a lot lighter than it probably looks, and balances beautifully - you can twirl it around a finger and it'll spin like a pinwheel. The design for this was basically a scaled down copy of
nekomiao's even more giant Dirge of Cerebrus version. It took a week or two to make (although it must be said, after making the conformer earlier this year, this thing was a pushover. ^^;)


Not a prop, but I was proud of how these turned out, so here are a couple of pictures of the boots from the first day too:

I know knee high boots exist, but I couldn't for the life of me track down a pair - let alone in a colour that would match my shorts - so I wound up modding a pair of ankle-high converse style sneakers to make these. I've never made shoes for cosplay before, so these were very much an experiemental job, and I'm seriously thrilled that they came out so well. The main trick involved a layer of craft foam under the fabric to help make it sit neatly and give them that stiffer look. There was a lot of work in these, but I'd have to say they were worth every minute. ^_^

Up close you can see probably a few flaws, and they needed a little straightening by the time this picture was taken because I'd been wearing them all day, but the only shame about wearing them was that I don't think many people at the con spotted the fact they'd been hand made at all. ^^;
A series which I've fallen madly in love with in the past few months is CLAMP's xxxHolic, which features, amongst other things, an adorable little critter called the kudakitsune, or pipe fox. As a little fun project after I'd gotten my Yuffie costume mostly done, I thought I'd have a go at making one of my own.


He's over a metre long and only a few centimetres wide -as you can probably imagine, turning him inside out after I'd finished sewing him up took quite a while. But the best part of this thing is that, thanks to another length of the same wire we used on the Heartless plushie, he's entirely posable, and can be wrapped around arms and necks and such (which are, of course, the kudakitsune's natural habitat ^_~).

And a couple more close up shots of the head:


Since he didn't really go with my costume he wound up sitting on our table for most of the con, and with all the other clutter I don't think he got noticed much. Still, he seemed to go down well with the few other xxxHolic fans I ran into. I'm thinking of making a few more of him to sell at next years Wai-con since he really wasn't all that much work. We'll see how that goes.
On to more relevant props, here's the giant shuriken I made to go with my Kingdom Hearts II Yuffie costume:

Made out of foam core boards, craft foam and sheet plastic [insert worship of Amethyst Angel's prop making tutorials here]. The paint job to give it the tarnished look was done by my ever talented little sis Lisa, who's put up a tutorial based on it here, if anyone's interested in seeing how she does it. The green materia were salvaged from a Christmas decoration. I had pink ribbons wrapped around the arms on the first day of the con to give it the AC/KHII look, but I took them off for the second day since I was back to the original FFVII Yuffie costume by then.
Since it's mostly hollow this thing's a lot lighter than it probably looks, and balances beautifully - you can twirl it around a finger and it'll spin like a pinwheel. The design for this was basically a scaled down copy of
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Not a prop, but I was proud of how these turned out, so here are a couple of pictures of the boots from the first day too:

I know knee high boots exist, but I couldn't for the life of me track down a pair - let alone in a colour that would match my shorts - so I wound up modding a pair of ankle-high converse style sneakers to make these. I've never made shoes for cosplay before, so these were very much an experiemental job, and I'm seriously thrilled that they came out so well. The main trick involved a layer of craft foam under the fabric to help make it sit neatly and give them that stiffer look. There was a lot of work in these, but I'd have to say they were worth every minute. ^_^

Up close you can see probably a few flaws, and they needed a little straightening by the time this picture was taken because I'd been wearing them all day, but the only shame about wearing them was that I don't think many people at the con spotted the fact they'd been hand made at all. ^^;
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Date: 2006-12-14 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 02:31 pm (UTC)Man, don't even talk to me about all the things I didn't get around to doing at that con. ^^;;; Two days just isn't long enough, is it?
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Date: 2006-12-14 02:28 pm (UTC)I wonder... could I possibly commission you to make me a pair of boots like that sometime? :D
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Date: 2006-12-14 02:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 02:37 pm (UTC)LOVE. ♥_♥
Boots, gorgeous. Shuriken, gorgeous. Awesome job!
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Date: 2006-12-14 10:45 pm (UTC)All this cosplay stuff is addictive - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. ^^;
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Date: 2006-12-14 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 03:24 pm (UTC)How did you make the head? The body is easy to figure out but the head has me stumped. Is it all one piece or was the head attached to the body after being finished?
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Date: 2006-12-14 11:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-12-14 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 11:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-12-14 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 04:12 pm (UTC)Hmmm... maybe I should switch to decaf? **bounces off**
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Date: 2006-12-15 12:00 am (UTC)And waste all that yay? Never! XD
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Date: 2006-12-14 04:58 pm (UTC)So cute! ♥ Best custom-made plushie ever!
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Date: 2006-12-14 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-15 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 06:36 pm (UTC)I'd totally buy a Kudakitsune
oh god
it's so damn cute *rolls around*
and also, I bow to your mad sewing skills, seriously
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Date: 2006-12-15 12:33 am (UTC)Really, the only tricky part of making the pipe fox was figuring out how to make and stuff a metre+ worth of the thing - no mad sewing skills required there. (the boots on the other hand - they took some seroius doing o_o;;)
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Date: 2006-12-14 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 07:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 08:54 pm (UTC)Would you possibly be interested in making another one if I paid you? xD
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Date: 2006-12-15 12:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-12-14 08:56 pm (UTC)If you ever decide to make more/sell, let me know! I'd like to be one of the many people that would love to buy one from ya. ^___~
How long, about, did it take to make?
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Date: 2006-12-15 12:11 am (UTC)It took about an evening to make the main body, and about another evening to finish off stuffing it and such. Most of that time was spent figuring out how to make it work though, so I could probably do it a lot faster a second time around. It really was just a quick little easy project after some of the bigger ones I've been working on lately.
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Date: 2006-12-14 09:30 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2006-12-15 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-15 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-15 01:04 am (UTC)Anyway, here from the xxx_holic com; re-Kudakitsune. Adding to the pile of 'heee, so awesome's. And the wire's a brilliant idea! I shall get some, I think... <--bought all the other materials to make one about 6 months ago, but still hasn't done it. *headdesk* If nothing else, you're an inspiration? =D
Would comment on the Yuffie cosplay, too, but I've still not got my hands on FFVII, so~ ^^;;
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Date: 2006-12-15 01:59 am (UTC)That wire really makes all the difference to projects like this - having this thing posable makes it so much more fun to play with. ^_^ Good luck on finding the wire though, it was tricky to track down. We bought some from a Spotlight a while back, but they haven't restocked any since. The last lot I bought I found being sold as bonsai wire at a stall down at the markets. It's amazing where you wind up going for cosplay supplies sometimes.
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Date: 2006-12-15 01:51 am (UTC)Thanks for sharing the pictures!
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Date: 2006-12-15 02:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
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