This was my most complicated costume yet, but it was very fun to make! I love Umi because she's elegant, strong and her blue hair is just too cool :P! Also CLAMP are my favourite manga artists of all time so I love cosplaying their characters. Anyways on to the "How it's made part" X3!
The armor pieces were what took up the most time. They're made of paper mache and craft foam. I used various molds for the paper mache such as Christmas ornaments and yogurt cups, and the craft foam was cut out individually and glued on. The paper mache was sanded down, which is why it looks smoother than normal paper mache, and the paint is a combination of acrylic and metallic paint.
The sword is a wood base, which is actually a trim which you place on walls. It was conveniently (well not really since we spent hours looking for it! :P) sanded down at the edges and was a good size too so I bought it, cut it in half and stuck the flat edges together. The handle is mostly insulation foam, model magic (for the dragon head and raised wig edges) and bristle board.
My favourite part of the costume is probably the boots even though they were a killer to walk in! The extra height boost is just too awesome. It was actually a fairly stressful costume to wear as we kept getting stopped for pictures and it was incredibly hard to bend and pick up our bags afterwards! Overall, I really like this costume and will probably wear it once more before retiring it for good :)
Thank you everyone who left us kind comments! My friend, Mishie a.k.a Hikaru, and I really appreciate the time taken to look at our costumes.