Dynasy Warriors 6, Wei Kingdom. Brought to you by Team Too Awesome:
Melanie as Sima Yi
Asham as Cao Pi
Myself as Zhen Ji

This costume was both my pride and joy, and a short trip into hell lol.

It was immensely challenging and I learnt many things I had never even tried before. One of the things I worked the hardest at in this costume was colour accuracy. All the dyes and paints were mixed by me to the right shades and I also re-tinted the gems I used (using glass paints).

The gradients in the white over-dress and the blue under-dress were hand dyed (literally... I did it with my hands. They were purple for a week). I had never dyed fabric before this so I was rather scared of ruining the white dress, but it turned out well I think. If anyone has questions about the dyes I used and the process, feel free to PM me.

The white dress itself was a bit of a bitch to tailor because it is so low cut in the back and doesn't have an awful lot holding it up, it's far from perfect but after a lot of trial and error I am fairly ok with how it turned out. The pattern around the bottom of the dress was hand painted after a few hours of staring at reference pictures and making a stencil for it.

The blue dress, though skimpy, took me a long time, hand cutting and sewing all the lace designs into an accurate pattern (it was white polyester lace so it also had to be dyed blue also).

The shoes are pure pain. I dyed the lace purple and attached it to the base shoes, and dyed the feathers to achieve their light blue and purple combination.

The hair accessories are my favorite part of this costume. The large silver clip is made with craft foam, acrylic gems, beads, and is painted with rub 'n buff. The blue head-dress is made of 2 layers of dyed lace with acetate in the middle for stiffness.

The gloves were fairly easy, the only time consuming part was stenciling and painting the pattern around the top cuff.

The Chinese knots in the front closures, and with the back tassle, were all made from scratch by me. I am so glad I have learnt this new skill! It was actually very fun. There are many good books about this art so don't give in to temptation and just buy your knots!

People who know me know I hate wig styling. That said, I am very proud of how this wig turned out. I worked very hard to achieve the volume Zhen Ji has in her bun and ponytail.

A million thanks to Bryan, Rei, and Pete. Who all took photos of these costumes. I can't say enough how much I appreciate the work that you cosplay photographers do for us.