I chose to cosplay Ichigo in his Bankai form because I have a rather small frame and if I were to go in his original shinigami kimono, it would just swallow me up. [mental image of Kenshin in Hiko's cape] So I went for his Bankai since he looks more slim than muscular in that outfit. Also, it provided a reason for me to get a Tensa Zangetsu. Haha.

Okay, first off... the hair. No matter where I looked, nobody sold wigs that looked to me like Ichigo's hair so I decided to do my own styling and dyeing. A mixture of cadmium orange and light brown gave me a good shade of orange that wasn't too neon and looked slightly natural. Did some texturing and got the spiky yet fluffy layers by cutting and trimming with a razor blade instead of scissors - though it's not something I would advise most people to do.

As for my eyebrows... I refused to bleach and dye them completely orange to match what I did with the hair because I've seen people with light-colored eyebrows and they disappear against the skin. D: Awful. Unlike Ichigo in the anime, i don't have black outlines to indicate where my eyebrows are, haha. I made them brown, at the very least.

I had my costume specially tailored, but I hunted for the fabrics and cut and tore the tatters on the end of the coat myself. It was a bit of a challenge finding fabric that wouldn't fray badly despite the tattered effect I needed, so I'm glad I decided to go with Tetoron. The hakamas were also tailored. I assembled my waraji sandals, and the authentic tabi socks were a lucky find from when I went to Singapore.

Tensa Zangetsu was custom-made out of stainless steel. I didn't do the metalwork, but did work on the handle.

I also made a partial Hollow mask out of plaster, mainly to break on my face during the cosplay catwalk. Worked out pretty well. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2daZiqqM_kU