How-To Tuesday: Make a Kisame Costume

Every Halloween Dave and I make him a rather intensive costume. This past year the costume we made for him was Kisame from Naruto. The character is generally a man-shark with blue skin and pointy teeth. He has a large sword called sharkskin and wears blue clothing under an Akatsuki (a black cloak with red lining and red clouds on it - part of the coalition he is in) cloak. Below is an image from Google (as usual) of the animated character.Despite my disdane for sharks, I agreed to make Dave this costume - from scratch. The focus of the How-To Tuesday will be How to Make a Kisame Costume. Below is an image from the anime series to let you know what the costume is supposed to look like.First, the sword. Dave made this from scratch using styrofoam (the pink board kind). He shape it and then put a rake handle up it with about 2 feet sticking out for the sword hilt and handle. He then cut metal triangle (shark scales) out from a dollar store serving tray, fixed them to the end and spray painted them light blue. Bubble wrap was then wrapped around the non-pointy parts of the sword to make it the right thickness to let people think there were scales throughout the entire sword. He wrapped a white bedsheet around the bubble wrap, glueing it in place. This is not the final wrapping of the sword, merely a way to ensure no pink foam shows through the final product. Next came the tedious task of cutting/ripping strips from the remaining white bedsheet and wrapping and glueing them onto the sword - leaving the pointy bits uncovered. A few remnant pieces were placed on the edge of the pointy bits so it looked like they just ripped through. Wrap the handle with faux suede and place a skull on the end of the handle and you are good to do.

Second, the Akatsuki cloak.

This one was my doing and I therefore have a better understanding of how it was done. First, I used Simplicity Pattern 5840 as a starting point. I cut out all the pieces for Robe B in both black and red broadcloth - except for the hood. I then sewed all the matching red and black pieces together. Following the pattern directions I then sewed the now two coloured pieces together using the black as the 'right side' (outside) and the red as the 'wrong side' (inside/lining). Once this was done, I cleaned it up by trimming down the seams and hemming it to Dave's height and arm length.

Now, that hood I had you not make. Essentially Dave and I took the hood pattern that came with the package and made it two separate rectangles instead of the one pointy quadilateral. This essentially makes a very high collar. Same as before, cut the rectangle shapes in both red and black but this time do not sew them together completely - Leave the tops open. Sew the two rectangles together and then to the neck of the robe according to the pattern instructions, including the pleats.
Next add the red trim detail to the front of the cloak by cut two long strips of red fabric about 2 inches wide and the length of the cloak from the top of the collar to the bottom. Fold these in half and sew them to secure the straight edge. Now sew them to the openings of the cloak using black thread so that they stick out about half an inch.
To get the hood to stand up you will need to cut some boxboard to shape (and size) and then slip them inside the top opening. Fold the black fabric down over the boxboard and the red down to match (this leaves a nice finished edge on the top) and run it through the sewing machine - make sure not to sew the boxboard but rather just the fabric itself.

Cut out four red cloud shapes from felt. Take white broadcloth and cut strips, fold them in half. Line the clouds with these either by placing them behind the clouds and sewing with red thread or by folding them over the cloud edges and sewing with white thread. Attach these to the cloak.
After you put on some velcro to the cloak you will have an Akatsuki cloak.

Third, the head piece and shoes.
Dave made the shoes by taking a very old pair of runners, cutting out the toes until they showed all but his pinky toe, and then sewing blue broadcloth around the shoes. He then took a white sock and cut it to fit under the shoe and up his shin.The head peice was made by taking a properly shaped winter headband and covering it in the same blue broadcloth making sure to sew it while the headband was stretched (if you don't, it won't fit over your head anymore). Dave then took a dollar store serving tray and etched in the markings for the head plate. Cut it out and then glued it onto the headband.

Fourth, the sash
The sash could have been made differently than it was by taking the faux suede fabric we bought and fashioning the sash from scratch. Instead, since we didn't think we would be able to find the right fabric, we bought a black sash and covered it in the faux suede fabric.

Fifth, the hair and makeup
Dave bought a blue wig and him and our friend Yan spray painted it with blue paint while hanging it upside down. This makes the hair stand on end. Dave then affixed it to the inside of the headband to enable the two to be put on easily - more like a tight hat then a headband.
The makeup was bought at Malabar hear in Ottawa. We applied it to Dave's face, feet and at the last minute, hands. We used black eyeliner for the gills and eye-wells (see image for headband for makeup and hair).This is the finished product. I think it came out really well. Dave's skill with the sword (and shoes) and mine on the clothing came together to make a really awesome (yet nerdy) costume.