Modesty's Costume Closet

Everything came together! Lookit how cute he is! The eyes are very expressive and show up so well on camera. It is inconvenient to put on. But my korin belts helped Made with elastic, a plastic slide, and pacifier clips.  Here's the turn around of the outfit.    Here's how I hide my arm to manipulate the puppet.  I stuffed an opera glove I had and safety pinned it to the sleeve of the hanjuban. Then I pinned the sleeve and hand to Goro's backside.  And here's what it's like all together. Some close-ups of Goro: 

Even though I started this costume back in April, it feels like I'm down to the wire on this. My time perception is so dumb sometimes. There are only a few more things to do.  1. The Mask + Kimono Got the kimono pretty much done.  The Kitsune Mask is painted and sealed with varnish. I added the macrame cord and elastic and the wisteria resin charm.  Fixed the nose! 2. Goro Puppet I've had my head down with the puppet for the past couple weeks. It's coming along! I attached the ears AND made the front paws. Fixed the body girth and added stuffing here and there. I need to fix one of the arms that's gone a bit wonky. BUT I think the claws on the front paws came out very cute! And the head looks so nice with the ears on.  I attached the head to the neck and closed up a few more seams. Made a few mistakes that I'm going to cover with extra fluff. 😅 I'm still fiddling with the stomach opening for my hand and I need to make the tails. I think that will be my goal for

   I've been following this tutorial on making Kitsune masks.  Things I've learned.  Glue is sticky! It's all over my fingers after a few minutes. But peeling the glue off is cathartic. I kind of love it. I guess it's like how some people like slime.  The first layer of paper mache will be kind of rough and a bit wrinkled.  I made the ears and forehead bump before putting down my first layer of mache.  It takes SO much paper! But varying the thickness and length helps with curves and dents.  I've got one layer of paper so far. It's already hardened but definitely needs smoothing out.  After awhile, I was not loving the shape of the first mask. I wanted a 2nd crack at it so I started another one. I cut up another soda fridge box and this time the base was much smoother. I made the muzzle smaller. I used brown paper from a roll and made sure most edges were uneven. (It sticks better.)  2nd attempt. A smaller snoot side by side comparison front inside the masks Aft

One of the most frustrating things is learning a better way to do things after the fact. Like, I found a better more authentic kimono pattern after I cut the pieces. I am learning a lot about kimono styling and construction lately. I plan on taking a class even. Along with the course on knitting project management.  (I have a problem, but I'm taking steps to fix it.) Note : Technically, there is no "pattern" for kimono, it is all rectangles cut at specific lengths and put together. I use pattern or template pieces that have my measurements because wrestling fabric in my small space is hard enough without having to measure for each piece. Also lord help me I can't cut a straight line without a guide.  Let's start with the Juban.  Juban/Hanjuban When I originally started this project, I knew that juban was a thing you wore under the kimono. I have one from the yukata I got years ago. I knew it could be different colors to peek from under the kimono. The patterns I h

The Goro puppet project has been going on quietly in the background. It is a learning experience and some things are going very much to plan while other things are decidedly not.  My first positive is the back scales:  I was able to crochet the back in a few hours. (Not in one sitting mind you.) I mixed metal with plastic scales which has a fun effect. I still have some left over plastic scales that I could sew into the body but I like how this looks.  Victory 2: Body Structure While the head has been my main focus I was able to take a break from that and morph some EVA foam sheets into a makeshift skeleton for the body.  Positive 3: Started the yarn tails to see how they'll look compared to the body size. I've done this before so feel confident that I can do it again.  Positive 4: While I did burn myself with hot glue, I made some ears with minky, stiff felt, and a bit of faux fur. I even painted them so the markings are correct.  Positive 5: Mouth contructed! I put in the jaw

 I was in a fey mood and decided to try out the pattern pieces I cut. I have some silver minky and just cut and stitched it all together. Then put it on the model. Here are the results.  This is the good side. Here's what it looks like with the jawset.  The left side has too much puckering around the eye.  I'm balancing the jaws on my fingers. And with a nose and eyes.  Thee eye holes are too small. But it is looking cute. Here's naked face with the eyes! Looks much happier and livelier!  The 3d lids had a little lever on them but they would not fit inside the head. So I cut the levers we'll see how the mechanics turn out. I'm starting to plot out the internal bit with foam.

  Yes, change colors again. Now that I've had a little break, I'm ready to jump back into this project. It's gone through a few more revisions.  1) I departed from the Miko style and started leaning more into just Kimono + Hakama. I was starting to get tunnel vision with color choices and making sure I was picking the right colors. This way relaxes cultural/religious connotations which were starting to make me feel weird.  2) I changed colors AGAIN. But finally saw something on pinterest that I felt hit all the right marks for me and decided to borrow the color theme. I'm also going to put a pattern on the kimono and possibly on the hakama too via applique.  Other than that here's the plan: Study While writing this post, I landed on this YouTube channel and it's helping me so much! I know I'm super cheating and still doing thing costume style.  She also has sewing tutorials. 🎉 But watch just parts of her videos have already helped me with things like how to

The head of a puppet is the most work-heavy portion of the project. It does the heavy lifting of making this a puppet and not a doll. Today, I will show how I've patterned out the head which will be covered in fabric.  Patterning Process  First, the head was wrapped with saran and taped with masking tape. I made sure the jaw was mostly open while doing this. This will cause some "pucker" in the fabric around the mouth which I do want.   Next, I draw stitch lines. and color change areas. This is something I did by feeling and past experience making stuffed animals. I knew where the nose would be and where the eyes should go and their shape. I marked lines were the color will change from silver to white on the face. The other lines are just where I thought stitch lines would look good.  Then, I cut the masking tape along the stitch lines and removed it from the 3D printed head.  Finally, I cut darts until flattened. I do this by finding corners and cutting straight into the

I was revisiting some of my sketches for Goro's fox form that I made awhile ago.  The first image is the ideal look I want for the puppet except the front paws aren't quite right.  The correct vibe and anatomy. Wrong face, but correct front paws. The character concept for Goro is a dragon-blooded kitsune. This is why he has scales down his back and more dragon-like front paws. However, I must consider how to make this in puppet form! There are few things these front paws need to do:  Support the puppet by hooking into my clothes with claws Have a bit of weight to hold it in place Keep a round, finger paw shape Support the wire frame and remain posable Method 1: Sewing The easiest method would be to simply sew and stuff the paws more like a lizard or frog. This would give them the correct shape. The downside is that squishy front paws won't "hook" onto my clothes as easily because stuffing deforms. Even if the claw portions are a hardened material, it won't dis