Construction Details:

The most difficult part was the gradient dying. It took a lot of patience and time, and even some mistakes and close calls with bleach. The fabric I used was from an old table cloth that was dyed while it was damp to create the bleed look. I layed out the fabric and dabbed the dye on with a sponge taking care to use only enough to keep the dye from bleeding all the way up the fabric. The designs on the back and along the scalloped edges were screenprinted.

The hair pieces, necklace, and belt pieces were all made with sculpy. The designs on the shoes were made with craftfoam. The hair was cut and styled with hair gel and the tips glued to points with Elmer's glue.

The sword was another big challenge. It was made out of fiberglass and putty. I started with a flattened copper tube. Then, I laid fiberglass fabric and the resin on top of it in the shape of the blade. This took many layers and lots of cutting and sanding to get it the right shape. I then used putty to make the handle and fill in the rest of the blade's shape. Then there was a lot more sanding and shaping to get it right.

Personal Thoughts:

I chose to do Xianghua as a challenge because it required difficult gradient dyeing and silk screening. It was first worn at Katsucon 2011, where it won Honorable Mention in the Hall Costume Contest.

Wig Review

I don't really remember the wig name.

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