Becoming Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫); DIY Cosplay/Costume

In recent years, I’ve been making my own Halloween costume to celebrate despite being an amateur hand-sewer. This year marked the first time I spent the holiday in Japan, so what better costume than a character from Japanese anime? It doubles easily as cosplay too.

I wanted to do a couples costume with Honey since this is also the first time we’d be Halloween-ing together. After narrowing down a few options, we decided on San and Shishigami (シシ神) from the 1997 Studio Ghibli film, “Princess Mononoke“.

Then, we got started immediately. With a few trips to Daiso and Seria, Japanese 100 yen stores, and a week’s worth of work, we completed our costumes. And we were ecstatic with the results!

I got many compliments on my San, from shell-shocked responses (a lot of “su-ge!” (すっげー, incredible)) to tons of pictures with strangers at a club event.

So if you’e looking for a detailed DIY guide while working on a time and money budget, look no further!

San

San, also known as Princess Mononoke, has 5 major parts to her appearance: mask, accessories, fur hood/cape, spear (weapon), and vest and dress.

A lot of the materials I bought were used for many of the costume components. I’ve listed them out under each component.

Mask (most time-intensive)

• newspapers/plain paper
• aluminum foil
• white liquid glue + water
• white, soft crafting clay
• acrylic paint- red and gold
• paint brushes
• black marker
• clear nail polish
• black elastic material (for clothing)

To make San’s mask, I used papier-mâché, a French crafting invention involving watered down glue and strips of paper. It’s a lightweight and cheap way of making any project, and great for masks. Let’s take it step by step.

1) Papier-mâché

1. Prepare a lot of paper strips, about 2.5″x1″ (~6×2.5 cm).
2. In a bowl, combine 1 part white glue and 2 parts water and mix well.
3. Using aluminium foil, make a mould of your face. Yes, just cover your face with a large piece of foil and press!
4. Place a round bowl underneath your foil mould and begin layering.
5. To do so, dip a strip of paper into the glue, wipe off any excess with the side of the bowl and place over the foil mould. Press down gently, so you don’t deform it.
6. Repeat until you have 4 complete layers.
7. Cut out small eye holes and mouth hole. I first marked the spot with a marker, then used a needle to poke through, then a Phillips head screwdriver to create the hole. This gives your mask a more ominous look just like San’s (after all, you can’t see her eyes beyond the mask!).
8. Complete at least 3 more layers of papier-mâché. Your mask should be pretty hard by now. Then, peel off the foil, and smooth the inside of the mask with 1 layer.
9. Trim any uneven edges, and use more papier-mâché over them.

Notes: I recommend putting down paper strips all in one direction, then the opposite with each additional layer. Wait at least 15 min. between each for drying. As you work, check that your foil mould hasn’t changed much from the weight. If you won’t be working continuously, cover your glue with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.

2) Adding clay

I wanted my mask to be smoother, so I covered it with a thin layer of soft clay. I also used it to make the circles and designs on the mask.

1. Once your mask is completely dry, roll out white crafting clay and place on top. Remove excess clay (don’t forget the eyes and mouth holes).
2. Smooth out any wrinkles.
3. Make an outline of the rings on a piece of paper. Roll out some clay and create the shape according to your outline, about 1 cm tall.
4. Place onto your mask and attach at the base with clay. Smooth out the edges. I used the back of a spoon.
5. Roll out long logs of clay and attach to your mask.
   

   

   

3) Painting

After the clay is dry, I painted my mask starting with the eyes and mouth. It’s much easier to cover up messy gold paint than red. I used 2 layers of paint.

Then, with a black marker, I coloured the inside of the circles and made black tips at the corners of the eyes.

Once the whole thing dried, I laboriously coated the whole thing in clear, top coat nail polish for a smooth and shiny finish! (Because there was no sealant in the dollar store)

[✓] Mask complete!

Lastly, I cut some black elastic material and glued it onto the inside of the mask, so I could actually wear it.

Accessories

• white soft crafting clay
• large black beads
• leather string cord
• earring hooks
• clear nail polish
• black elastic material
• thick white paper

I decided not to make the crystal necklace (assuming San hadn’t met Ashitaka yet), and focused on her wolves’ teeth necklace, earrings, and head and arm bands.

Wolves’ teeth necklace

I decided to make my own teeth out of white crafting clay (which has proven super useful in this DIY). Simply shape them, and let dry. I poked a hole in each of them to string through later. Once hardened, I coated them in clear nail polish.

The necklace itself is from brown leather string cord. I decided to get a little fancier with this part, and wove the “teeth” and black beads through them.

1. First, cut three pieces of string about the length of your arm. Knot them together, leaving 1 inch (2.5cm) at the end. Then, do a simple braid and knot the other end the same way.
2. Cut another piece of string, slightly longer. This will be used to weave the parts onto the necklace.
3. I started from the centre of the braid, and weave out toward the ends. To weave, put the free piece of string under the loop of the braided string, and add the “teeth” and beads as you go. You make have to skip a loop or two in order to space them out evenly.

The reveal~

Earrings

Similarly, I crafted the earrings from clay as well. I did find a brass ring mould for them, and simply filled them with clay, and smoothed it with a rolling pin. Once dried, I covered them with clear nail polish, and later a metallic one.

Using needle-nose pliers, I attached earring hooks.

Head and arm bands

For the bands, I got a little cheap with them and used the black elastic material. I sewed off the ends, and glued white circular pieces onto each. But one could hardly tell in the end.

[✓] Accessories complete!

Fur hood and cape

• fake fur (mine is actually 2 pillow cases)
• old packaging envelope
• tissue paper
• sewing string and needle
• clothing pins
• tape
• acrylic paint- red

My greatest challenge was figuring out what to use for her hood and cape. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money at a fabric store, or risk purchasing actual fur online. But then Daiso heard my prayers, and gave me soft, furry pillow cases.

I sewed the two together using the invisible stitch, as well as the centre of the hood to get a rounded shape.

For the ears, I used old packaging envelopes from a recent online order and cut four sets of triangles. I sewed two together at the sides, and stuffed the inside with tissue paper. Then, I closed the bottom part by attaching a piece of the envelope. After, I painted them red and attached them onto the cape with two sets of clothing pins, taped to the underside of the ears.

[✓] Fur hood and cape complete!

Spear

• empty paper towel roll (or plastic wrap/aluminum foil roll)
• thick white paper
• cheap, adjustable curtain rod
• acrylic paint- red

For the weapon, I decided to make the spear instead of dagger, mainly so I wouldn’t have to carry it all the time. The real difficulty was finding something long enough. I ended up using a dark brown adjustable curtain rod, which turned out better than I expected.

1. First, paint the empty paper towel roll red.
2. While it dries, make the spearhead. Create two patterns from white paper, and glue or tape together. This will form a pocket.
3. Stick the paper towel roll under, and place on top of the curtain rod.
4. I also used some tape under the paper towel roll to keep it from moving too much.

[✓] Weapon complete!

Vest

• canvas or woven cloth fabric
• sewing string and needle
• clear nail polish
• scissors
• clothing pins

For the outfit, I did cheat a little and bought a ¥500 dress at the equivalent of a thrift store here in Japan. But, I did make the vest.

Basically, you need a canvas or woven fabric, which typically comes in a cream colour–perfect for Princess Mononoke’s vest.

I first made an outline of the vest and stitched the shoulders together again using the  invisible stitch. I left the sides open, and instead made long fabric ties instead, so I could easily get in and out of the vest. (Also because I have no experience making actual clothing)

Later, Honey helped me pin it to the fur cape, so that I could put down my hood while still wearing it.

[✓] Princess Mononoke complete!

Don’t forget the face paint at the end.

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Shishigami

For reasons I can’t explain, Honey did not want to be the Ashitaka to my San. We were playing with the idea of the white wolf, but decided on a simple Shishigami costume. Rather than having Honey become a large, furry forest god creature, he wore color-themed clothes and a mask with accompanying ears and antlers.

Mask

• newspapers/plain paper
• aluminum foil
• white liquid glue
• water
• acrylic paint- red and gold
• paint brushes
• black and green markers
• pillow stuffing or cotton balls
• tissue paper
• clear nail polish
• black elastic material (for clothing)

His mask used the same base materials for doing papier-mâché. However, I started the project by making the foil mould and cutting out the eyes and mouth line.

Looks like a seriously hospitalised person/”No Face”

After all the paper dried, I painted the mask directly, and using black and green markers for the small details. The mask was coated with clear nail polish.

Using a polymer pillow stuffing, we glued the “fur” onto the mask. To make a flexible beard, I glued strips of tissue paper at the bottom of the mask, and then the stuffing onto that.

Antlers and ears

• cheap headband
• aluminum wire
• brown duct tape
• pillow stuffing or cotton balls

You may have noticed in the film that Shishigami has quite a number of antlers. To mimic this, we made a base shape using aluminium wire, wrapped around the headband. Aluminium is good because it’s lightweight. You might want to use pliers to cut and shape it though.

After, we wrapped the duct tape around them, and the result was pretty good.

For the ears, we did a similar concept and glued fur onto them as well.

[✓] Shishigami complete!

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I hope this tutorial helped all of you, pros and amateurs alike, looking for tips on how to make a San costume, or just costume making in general.

I myself am not a pro at all, just a person who enjoys crafting and thinking outside the box. I encourage every person just starting out to take the plunge, and get their DIY on!

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– 🎃Waifu ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ