Paper mache! You may notice unsightly bumps and hard edges on your ear as you layer the newspaper. To remedy this, I just used tissue to even out the bumps and ridges, then continued layering newspaper on top. Problem solved! I used two layers of newspaper with a final layer of copier paper.

Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke Build - Billythebrick Cosplay Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke Build - Billythebrick Cosplay

Once the blade was cut and beveled, it was time to add the hilt before getting into painting. I used a standard five-minute epoxy to glue the hilt pieces to the tongue of my blade and to each other. I clamped it all together really well and let it sit overnight–you really can’t ever let anything dry too much. From wood to metallic. As with all of the other pieces of clothing for this costume, step one was to make a really rough prototype. I basically laid my arm on a piece of fabric and traced the basic shape. I cut it out and used my awesome wonder clips to clip it on to get the right fit. My wife assisted in trimming off excess fabric where needed. Final test fit before the real thing. In addition to fixing the above mentioned things, here are a handful of things I didn’t do in version 1.0 that I want to do in the future.So my first bow attempt, made of wooden dowels, was a failure. I tried to bend it, not even very much, and it broke in two. After doing some research online, I decided to instead try a length of bamboo. While it worked much better than the dowel, it still snapped before bending enough to get a string on it. After doing a lot of research into homemade bows, I opted to try out using a piece of PVC pipe. Who knew you could melt plastic in so many ways? Bow breakdown. Since I’m planning to remake the bow smaller, I want to also make it break down into two pieces. Since my next con likely won’t be local, this is going to be critical for me to travel with the bow anyway.

Princess Mononoke Cosplay - Etsy

For the mask, I opted to use paper mache and cover it with a layer of paper clay, following this amazing tutorial here: http://www.otakucrafts.com/2012/10/princess-mononoke-san-mask-tutorial/ Hood opening. While the hood worked fine, it was the first piece I made and after spending a lot more time with reference photos, I realized the hood opening wasn’t the right shape. I’ll need to fix that. For the handle, get the inside of a toilet roll, slit it lengthwise, and roll it into a more narrower shape. The diameter of your handle is up to you, go with what you prefer. Tape it securely. The other big upgrade I did was remaking the entire hood. The change is subtly, but I put some darts into the hood to square the opening off more and make it more accurate to the movie. I also changed the strap for the mask and permanently attached it to the hood. This keeps the hood securely on my head whether I have the mask up or down. Apologies again for not having more intermediate steps but after I had the PVC shaped, I gave the entire thing a light sanding for better paint adherence, primed it, and then coated it with a matte spray paint that was the color I wanted. I then cut a strip of 2mm craft foam and glued it to the bow with Barge to make the grip. Once it was glued down, I hit it with the heat gun to give it a more worn leather look. Again, using the techniques I learned from Bill Doran’s prop-making book, I weathered the bow and grip to make it look a bit more realistic (this photo is from before I did the weathering). I then coated the whole thing with a matte clear coat to help protect it from scuffs and dings. Okay, I’m not Robin Hood, but I was very happy when my arrow actually flew across the yard.I decided to go ahead and use my Dremel rotary tool with the cutting bit on it to rough cut the blade out of my board. Since I knew I’d be heavily sanding the edges to get the bevel anyway, it didn’t need to be perfect. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how nice an edge I was able to get with just my Dremel though. What a difference a belt sander makes.