Construction Details:

This costume is a cross between an art book image and the one Kurogane wears at the beginning of the manga. The top is made of leather and cording backed with heavy interfacing. The straps are made from the same with large grommets at the ends and attached to the body with leather lacing. The shoulder armor is leather, cording and interfacing with heavy wire to help it hold it’s shape. It is attached to the shirt at the strap connection and has a strap made from clear vinyl to stabilize it.

The cloak is a heavy polyester knit that I lined with cotton and held together with cording. It is cut to fall open at the front and show the shirt underneath.

The belt is leather painted with leather dye. There are slots cut in it to allow the leather holders for the black model magic ammunition to be attached. The leg belt is also painted leather and laces up the back. It is a heavier weight leather than the shirt but lighter than the belt to allow movement.

The head piece is Sintra, cut with an X-acto knife and then heated with a heat gun and bent to the proper shape. It was then painted, the rivets are googly eyes painted black and glued on. There is a strip of insulation foam to keep it from pressing against my face and black elastic to hold it in place.

The gauntlets are heavy leather that I soaked in water and then molded to the shape of my forearms. Once they were dry I dyed and sealed them, attached the cording and punched holes along the undersides so they can be laced shut.

The wig was a spiky black wig that I cut with a razor blade and styled with hair spray.

The sword is made from insulation foam and fiberglass cloth covered with epoxy resin and Bondo. The handle is Scuply wrapped around aluminum foil and baked. The dragon head was made from Sculpy. I then made a rubber mold and cast it in plastic so that it would be more durable. The final piece was the hilt which I made from layers of Sintra and cut and sanded it to size. I made the blade of the sword with a wooden dowel in it that I used to attach the blade to the handle. The hilt covers the seam between the two and the dragon head is glued in place. The sword is painted with silver and gold spray paint and was then sealed for durability. There is a loop on the belt attached with a Chicago screw that holds the sword.

Personal Thoughts:

I made this to surprise Tohma at Otakon 2007. I came down the escalator while she was wearing Fai (supposedly for the last time). Best surprise ever really. I made her cry :)

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