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puppetmakerWe saw an amazing movie this year entitled Kubo and the two strings that is well worth your time if you haven’t seen it. It was an original story made to seem like a Japanese folk tale. A big part of it was origami and the creation of things with the power of paper.
Two of the villains of the piece are know as the Sisters. They are searching for Kubo for their father. Their design caught Caroline’s attention and after seeing the film she asked if it would be possible to make the animated character into a Halloween costume.
This is a maquette of one of the sisters from Kubo
(for the VI; This is a statue of the Sister. She has a black hat, purple pants, armor, a sword in her left hand and a pipe in her right, along with a very intricate cape>
This is what she wanted. We discussed for a while how we wanted to do this and decided that we wanted to make as much as we could out of paper to keep the origami theme going in the costume.
The finished costume
(for the VI: This is Caroline in her costume. She had on a very tall hat with the crest at the top. She is wearing a mask, armor, and a cape made of paper feathers)
Caroline sculpted the face on her own. I did a little smoothing but that is about it. She did the paint job on the face to get it to her liking.
I did the paper mache work and lined the interior for comfort and strength. I used gaffe tape to made the anchor points for the elastic I used to secure the mask on her head.
Front of the mask
(for VI: This is a stylized white mask with red lips and black eyebrows)
Back of the Mask
(for the VI: This is the interior of the mask with pink felt and black gaffe tape lining it)
The Hat was pretty simple. I had a felt hat as the base and build on that. The structure is not quite right but I know how to make it for the next version of this costume.
Construction paper and gaffe tape over a felt hat as the base
Caroline wearing the hat and holding the best costume trophy she won at her school harvest dance.
(for the VI: This is Caroline holding her trophy wearing her hat)
The chest plate was a bit of a lucky find because it gave structure to the rest of the costume. It is teenage mutant turtle shell armor. Saved me so much time and gave me an anchor point for the cape. We took clay and created the crest then used paper mache, attached the paper crest to the plastic turtle armor and painted the whole thing.
Close up of the chest plate with the crest in the middle. Last night it was very cold and Caroline came by the house for a quick repair of the chest plate because the paper part separated from the plastic so that’s why the paint job doesn’t line up.
(for the VI: This is the front of the armor. In the middle is a gold and black crest. The rest of the chest plate is purple.)
Before painting
(for the VI: This is the crest unpainted)
The chest plate and turtle shell. The plastic made my life much easier because I could attach things to it and they would have some structure.
(For the VI: this is the chest plate and back shell stretched out.)
The cape was the part I am most proud of. It was a lot of work but the effect was wonderful in how it moves. Simple to repair too. I used a muslin base and then cut paper feathers that I then glued to the muslin cape. It took a while and I have the blisters to prove it.
The cape on the maquette of the Sister
(For the VI: This is the back of the statue of the sister showing the detail on her cloak)
Step one: cut large sheet of black construction paper in half
Step two: fold the paper and cut the feather shape
Step three: Unfold the feathers
Step four: Glue the feathers to the cape. Rinse and repeat.
(For the VI: This is a section of the cape where you can see the overlapping feathers)
Back of the Cape
(for the VI: This is Caroline wearing the cape. This is the back of the cape where you can see the feathers)
Caroline on her way to the Harvest Dance. She couldn’t wear the mask until after she got into the building.
Caroline’s Trophy for Best Costume
(for the VI: This is a golden skeleton holding his skull. The plate on the trophy says “Best Costume”)
Two of the villains of the piece are know as the Sisters. They are searching for Kubo for their father. Their design caught Caroline’s attention and after seeing the film she asked if it would be possible to make the animated character into a Halloween costume.
This is a maquette of one of the sisters from Kubo
(for the VI; This is a statue of the Sister. She has a black hat, purple pants, armor, a sword in her left hand and a pipe in her right, along with a very intricate cape>
This is what she wanted. We discussed for a while how we wanted to do this and decided that we wanted to make as much as we could out of paper to keep the origami theme going in the costume.
The finished costume
(for the VI: This is Caroline in her costume. She had on a very tall hat with the crest at the top. She is wearing a mask, armor, and a cape made of paper feathers)
Caroline sculpted the face on her own. I did a little smoothing but that is about it. She did the paint job on the face to get it to her liking.
I did the paper mache work and lined the interior for comfort and strength. I used gaffe tape to made the anchor points for the elastic I used to secure the mask on her head.
Front of the mask
(for VI: This is a stylized white mask with red lips and black eyebrows)
Back of the Mask
(for the VI: This is the interior of the mask with pink felt and black gaffe tape lining it)
The Hat was pretty simple. I had a felt hat as the base and build on that. The structure is not quite right but I know how to make it for the next version of this costume.
Construction paper and gaffe tape over a felt hat as the base
Caroline wearing the hat and holding the best costume trophy she won at her school harvest dance.
(for the VI: This is Caroline holding her trophy wearing her hat)
The chest plate was a bit of a lucky find because it gave structure to the rest of the costume. It is teenage mutant turtle shell armor. Saved me so much time and gave me an anchor point for the cape. We took clay and created the crest then used paper mache, attached the paper crest to the plastic turtle armor and painted the whole thing.
Close up of the chest plate with the crest in the middle. Last night it was very cold and Caroline came by the house for a quick repair of the chest plate because the paper part separated from the plastic so that’s why the paint job doesn’t line up.
(for the VI: This is the front of the armor. In the middle is a gold and black crest. The rest of the chest plate is purple.)
Before painting
(for the VI: This is the crest unpainted)
The chest plate and turtle shell. The plastic made my life much easier because I could attach things to it and they would have some structure.
(For the VI: this is the chest plate and back shell stretched out.)
The cape was the part I am most proud of. It was a lot of work but the effect was wonderful in how it moves. Simple to repair too. I used a muslin base and then cut paper feathers that I then glued to the muslin cape. It took a while and I have the blisters to prove it.
The cape on the maquette of the Sister
(For the VI: This is the back of the statue of the sister showing the detail on her cloak)
Step one: cut large sheet of black construction paper in half
Step two: fold the paper and cut the feather shape
Step three: Unfold the feathers
Step four: Glue the feathers to the cape. Rinse and repeat.
(For the VI: This is a section of the cape where you can see the overlapping feathers)
Back of the Cape
(for the VI: This is Caroline wearing the cape. This is the back of the cape where you can see the feathers)
Caroline on her way to the Harvest Dance. She couldn’t wear the mask until after she got into the building.
Caroline’s Trophy for Best Costume
(for the VI: This is a golden skeleton holding his skull. The plate on the trophy says “Best Costume”)
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Date: 2016-11-01 05:53 pm (UTC)