Amano Kuja - Final Fantasy IX
Worn:
KupoCon Pom Saucer (Toronto, ON)
GAnime 2019 (Gatineau, QC)
Anime North 2019 (Toronto, ON)
Filming session 2021
Status: Active
Why Amano Kuja?
I have dreamed of making Amano Kuja for 10 years, but at the time of wanting to make him initially I did not have the skill or knowledge to make this. Now, I've finally made this insane costume. This marks my fourth version of Kuja completed. Amano Kuja is detailed, beautiful, and I wanted to represent the artwork based on my favourite Final Fantasy character by one of my favourite living artists - Yoshitaka Amano.
Note: The costume was started in January 2017, put on hold in the April, and progress picked up again in September 2018 to finish for KupoCon.
Wig: Wig is a Suzi in Pure White that I ordered from Arda Wigs over a year before I finally wore Kuja. I followed instructions on Arda's site for trimming the lacefront. The feathers were trimmed to shape, and secure into the wig using wire, which is sewn into the base netting of the wig underneath. There is mild styling for the hair in front and at the top.
Neck armour: I made this piece using a scrap of the fabric for the jacket and the medium weight interfacing used in a few parts of the costume. I made the basic shape, and before sewing the whole thing together, I sewed on a ribbon, and carefully in pencil drew lines to go over in beads. There is about 200 beads on the neck armour alone, entirely done by hand. It attaches to the jacket using snap fasteners.
Jacket: Arguably I think this might have been the longest part of the costume for me to make. The main body fabric is Shadows 2 cotton, and the sleeves are lustre satin (same satin as the skirt). I started with my sleeves, where I experimented with doing the watercolour style painting at only the top of the white part of the sleeve. Before sewing these parts up I did all of the designs on the bottom underside of the sleeve with 2mm Czech seed beads. The jacket is fully lined. There's an elastic in each sleeve for a bit of added support for the weight. The ribbons on the body were sewn on before it was sewn together. Everything is custom patterned. The collar is doubled medium weight fusible interfacing inside and the ribbon is machine sewn on. There is top stitching all along the edges of the jacket. I covered the points of the collar in plastic jewels, and there are a few dotted on the body, along with beads following the ribbon.
KupoCon Pom Saucer (Toronto, ON)
GAnime 2019 (Gatineau, QC)
Anime North 2019 (Toronto, ON)
Filming session 2021
Status: Active
Why Amano Kuja?
I have dreamed of making Amano Kuja for 10 years, but at the time of wanting to make him initially I did not have the skill or knowledge to make this. Now, I've finally made this insane costume. This marks my fourth version of Kuja completed. Amano Kuja is detailed, beautiful, and I wanted to represent the artwork based on my favourite Final Fantasy character by one of my favourite living artists - Yoshitaka Amano.
Note: The costume was started in January 2017, put on hold in the April, and progress picked up again in September 2018 to finish for KupoCon.
Wig: Wig is a Suzi in Pure White that I ordered from Arda Wigs over a year before I finally wore Kuja. I followed instructions on Arda's site for trimming the lacefront. The feathers were trimmed to shape, and secure into the wig using wire, which is sewn into the base netting of the wig underneath. There is mild styling for the hair in front and at the top.
Neck armour: I made this piece using a scrap of the fabric for the jacket and the medium weight interfacing used in a few parts of the costume. I made the basic shape, and before sewing the whole thing together, I sewed on a ribbon, and carefully in pencil drew lines to go over in beads. There is about 200 beads on the neck armour alone, entirely done by hand. It attaches to the jacket using snap fasteners.
Jacket: Arguably I think this might have been the longest part of the costume for me to make. The main body fabric is Shadows 2 cotton, and the sleeves are lustre satin (same satin as the skirt). I started with my sleeves, where I experimented with doing the watercolour style painting at only the top of the white part of the sleeve. Before sewing these parts up I did all of the designs on the bottom underside of the sleeve with 2mm Czech seed beads. The jacket is fully lined. There's an elastic in each sleeve for a bit of added support for the weight. The ribbons on the body were sewn on before it was sewn together. Everything is custom patterned. The collar is doubled medium weight fusible interfacing inside and the ribbon is machine sewn on. There is top stitching all along the edges of the jacket. I covered the points of the collar in plastic jewels, and there are a few dotted on the body, along with beads following the ribbon.
Shirt: Another long process, on one of the oddly smaller pieces. Sewing the outer shell of the shirt took no time at all, even drafting the pattern didn't take too long - although each point and gap was carefully measured to be equal. What took the longest was all of the hand beading before I could line and press the shirt. There is about 2,000 2mm Czech Seed Beads on the shirt.
Codpiece & Skirt: This is the part that actually took the longest due to all of the components on it. I kept track for each piece using the stopwatch function on my phone. The shape of the skirt was simple enough, and I still had my pattern from the first time in 2012 and reused it. I did the underside entirely in the watercolour style of fabric painting and I'm so happy with the end result. The ribbon on the outer part was machine sewn on, and then I went along the edges of the ribbon every few inches with 2mm Czech seed beads. There are 3 jewels at the bottom centre of the ribbon. It is sewn onto the custom underwear/bottoms that I had traced an actual pair of my underwear for. I made the codpiece and stuffed it with fiber fill to make it more pronounced for this male character. The straps are done in bridal satin, pressed, and then have ribbons machine sewn. The pads in front and back have interfacing and all ribbons on them were sewn on before final sewing. The straps & pads are hand sewn onto the skirt. I carefully glued all of the jewels on the codpiece using E6000. The front part for the straps secures to the codpiece using a snap fastener.
Gloves: The gloves are supposed to be armour so I made them purely out of craft foam. The raised edges are done with hot glue and I painted over them. The foam was shaped using my heat gun.
Boots: I used salerno knit for the body of my boots, making them extra tight and fitted to my legs. There is an elastic in the top of each boot. I did the armour in craft foam, and like the gloves, the raised details are done in hot glue. The armour is fully painted and sealed, and was of course shaped with my heat gun. To make it easier to have the boots go on and off, the armour attaches with velcro. The cover of the boot is attached to the shoe using contact cement.
For further details on making of Amano Kuja, check out my blog entry: Making Of: Amano Kuja - FFIX
Photoshoot photos from Elemental Photography and Design, and Wolfrin Photographer and Cosplayer!
Codpiece & Skirt: This is the part that actually took the longest due to all of the components on it. I kept track for each piece using the stopwatch function on my phone. The shape of the skirt was simple enough, and I still had my pattern from the first time in 2012 and reused it. I did the underside entirely in the watercolour style of fabric painting and I'm so happy with the end result. The ribbon on the outer part was machine sewn on, and then I went along the edges of the ribbon every few inches with 2mm Czech seed beads. There are 3 jewels at the bottom centre of the ribbon. It is sewn onto the custom underwear/bottoms that I had traced an actual pair of my underwear for. I made the codpiece and stuffed it with fiber fill to make it more pronounced for this male character. The straps are done in bridal satin, pressed, and then have ribbons machine sewn. The pads in front and back have interfacing and all ribbons on them were sewn on before final sewing. The straps & pads are hand sewn onto the skirt. I carefully glued all of the jewels on the codpiece using E6000. The front part for the straps secures to the codpiece using a snap fastener.
Gloves: The gloves are supposed to be armour so I made them purely out of craft foam. The raised edges are done with hot glue and I painted over them. The foam was shaped using my heat gun.
Boots: I used salerno knit for the body of my boots, making them extra tight and fitted to my legs. There is an elastic in the top of each boot. I did the armour in craft foam, and like the gloves, the raised details are done in hot glue. The armour is fully painted and sealed, and was of course shaped with my heat gun. To make it easier to have the boots go on and off, the armour attaches with velcro. The cover of the boot is attached to the shoe using contact cement.
For further details on making of Amano Kuja, check out my blog entry: Making Of: Amano Kuja - FFIX
Photoshoot photos from Elemental Photography and Design, and Wolfrin Photographer and Cosplayer!
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Competition:
I competed in masquerade at GAnime 2019 with Amano Kuja. Entry #: 16 Division: Artisan No awards won. But I'm very proud of my work and performance. |