INSPIRATION: I always wanted to do a Zashiki-warashi. When I came across this artwork, and saw the Ame-warashi, I pointed it out to Erin, who had cosplayed the Ame-warashi before. She loved the dress, and we arranged to do a group. Unfortunately she hasn't been able to make hers yet because of school, but I was able to finish mine.

THE WIG: The wig is my old Yuuko wig. It was getting a little tattered towards the ends, and I was short for money before Ohayocon 08. Although hiding the cheek bangs was a bit of an issue, Cantarella did a fabulous job styling it.

The hairpiece was a bit of a challenge. Although I tried sewing ribbon roses, I just could not get them to look the way I wanted them to. About a week before the con, I gave up and bought artificial white fabric flowers. I sprayed them with purple fabric paint, but it wouldn't dry properly. I powdered them, and it worked fine. I'm still thinking I may sculpt my own at some point.

I used fishing line for the beads, tying tiny knots to keep them in place, and then carefully sliding them halfway in and pushing glue inside with a pin to keep them from moving more. I'm still not happy with this--I am going to try wire to give it the 'floating' look of the ref. Since the beads are glass and heavy, they need something stronger than the line.

LINING: The lining is a baby silk. I cut it out at the same time as the rest of the kimono pieces so I knew it would fit in. The only parts that are not lined are the sleeves, because I made special undersleeves--white with ruffles to match the collar. Sewing this in was kind of a pain since my cat apparently wanted to be sewn inside it too.

KIMONO: This is all a heavy bridal satin for special occasions. I almost ran out and nearly had a breakdown. There are probably over seven yards in this beast. (Hence the title 'the beast.) This costume is very heavy and a little hard to wear and maneuver in. Heavy duty snaps keep it on (yes, I cheat! An obi would never keep this beast up unless a professional tied it, and I am no pro--and this obi is purely decorative, come on, it's a ROSE.)

THE OBI: It took me THREE TIMES to find purple fabric that would look right and paint right for the obi. I even tried (yuck) baroque satin, and that stuff fails at everything. Especially paint. The material I finally used is a specialized fabric, which makes me sad since I need to remake this MUCH larger, and I'm currently unemployed, and by the time I'm rehired (it's a bit of a lay off) it's going to be gone, I just know it. I need to add boning in it because it needs to be much stronger.

The rose part is made of upholstery foam covered in material. It was hot glued and painted the night before I wore it at Ohayocon 08. And yes, you HAVE to glue upholstery foam. You can't sew it. Anyone who says you can has clearly never worked with it in this kind of setting. I sewed a bit to tack it down, but that's it. It's way too small, but it makes a nice back cushion. Comfy.

THE SHOES: Rocking horse boots for the win. She's shown in other parts wearing geisha shoes, and since rocking horse shoes are inspired by those--but with a Victorian touch, and this outfit is a kimono with a Victorian touch, how perfect can you get?

THE PAINTING: Yes. The painting. THE HELL.

Okay, I liked it.

First, I used photoshop and a hi-res version of the ref image from Animepaper.net to create a pattern for a stencil for this image. Then I lost it.

So I freehanded a stencil for this image, and thought WEE this will be easy! Uh, no. I quickly found I had to paint INSIDE the stencil. If I touched the sides, the paint leaked under and made a pink blob, not a rose. Although I was very happy to learn that this satin worked PERFECTLY to paint on, it took me over 20 minutes to paint each rose (1 layer), and until I realized wax paper made a great cover for the table, 1 hour to scrub the paint that leaked through off.

I made a weak stencil for the vines, but ended up free-handing most of them. I loved the fabric paint I used for the roses--it looks velvety from a distance and is kind of soft up close--but the paint I used for the vines is 'meh.' It kind of feels too acrylic-y.

The obi, like I said, took forever to find material for, and even this material had to be painted three times to get it dark enough and consistent enough. I think the greatest compliment ever was when one of the judges at Setsu asked me where I got material with that pattern. XD Nope, all painted.

Honestly, I liked making this costume. Even though painting took forever, I really enjoyed it. Staying up late watching CSI marathons, Metalocalypse (yeah, that is kind of messed up considering the sweet character and the innocence of this costume...) it was all good times.