Construction Details:

Technically, this costume is still a work in progress, as I'm missing the cargo pants pockets, one pair of goggles, the gloves, and all the belt buckles/straps. However, it worked well for the con as it was, and the staff really made it shine. I used bottomweight fabrics for just about the whole thing....(Read More) Black and brown for the shirt, green for the pants, and tan for the cloak. The shirt has gold piping detail down the front, around the arms, and on the collar. I used a vest pattern for the initial mock-up, then drafted a new collar for it myself. The pants were also created from a modified pattern that I cut down to size, then re-cut for new seamlines. I'm currently drafting the pockets for it, and they're about half done. I would have had the gloves finished for the con, but me being me, I lost the pattern for it the day before...tsk tsk tsk. The cloak was made from a pattern that I cut down to my size, then my dad helped me burn the edges of it with a propane tank. We did it against a brick wall, which was super helpful, as the torched fabric stuck to the wall as we pulled it away, leaving some lovely holes and rips. The goggles are a combination of two silver jar lids I picked up from a garage sale over the summer, two clay circles cut in half for the front detail, and finally that combination glued to the larger circular cardboard layers that make up the edges. The Time Staff was created using a pvc pipe for the shaft and 8 layers of cardboard for the head. My uncle and I drafted the design into the computer (that took about 4 hours itself), and then all the pieces were cut by machine out of e-flute cardboard. Since the design is 3-dimensional, we had to create two different types of head pieces and alternate which were glued down for strength. All 8 layers were glued to each other, then glue was rubbed over all surface edges (2-3 coats) to cover up cardboard holes. It made for a nice striated metal effect on the sides. The gemstone is a butchered bouncy ball cut in half and painted with 5 coats of nail polish (and a clear top coat to reduce chipping! XD) The bottom of the staff is a combination of cardboard pieces, bolts, a U-bolt, and wood dowel, and clay. The clear sphere is a butchered snow globe. I am not above butchering snow globes either. The whole staff was spray painted gold, and silver spray paint was painted onto the bottom section, and on the circle at the top. My aunt helped me add shadows/highlights to the head of the staff with acrylics to weather it, as well as make it closer to the actual artbook picture. I'm super proud of how this costume has turned out, and I can't wait until I can get the finishing touches added to it to complete it!

Styling Notes

I didn't do much to the wig to be honest. I straightened it out with the hot water treatment twice to get rid of the flip it had going on (and yet, it's still a bit flippy), and then I cut out some of the longer sections near the bottom and gave it a few layers on top to get a better style for Syaoran. I might replace this wig someday to get one that's a bit thicker and that I can layer better, but this one works just fine for now.

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