Avatar Kyoshi, Part I: Accessories

Note: this tutorial was transported over from the old Wordpress site, which is no longer active.

Welcome to my first “official” cosplay write-up. I will do these for a few of my costumes to both help out other cosplayers and to have a place to show my progress!
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I premiered Avatar Kyoshi last Saturday at Wizard World Philadelphia. I had a blast! I’m still trying to track down some pictures that people took of me.

This post covers the accessories: Kyoshi’s bracers, obi, and headdress. A few things to note before I get started:

• I drew a lot of inspiration from this Suki cosplayer. I love how she captured the essence of the character but also made her more realistic looking in the process. That was my end goal for Kyoshi.
• This is my first “official” costume as Ginger Liz. Although I’ve done other cosplays before, I’ve never created someone else’s character from scratch.
  

Well, let's hop to it!

Bracers

I started out with nothing special: Just a sheet of brown 11″x17″x3mm craft foam. Before I started cutting the craft foam, I made a pattern out of some stiff brown paper. The first one ended up being too small, so I made another.

It started out as some plain-looking strips, which I then glued together and trimmed until I had the shape I wanted.

I taped it to my arm (gah, that was uncomfortable) to make sure I liked the shape.

I also penciled in the decorations I wanted. The lettering says “Only justice can bring peace” — the wisdom that Kyoshi offers to Aang while he is seeking guidance from past avatars.

Once I was satisfied with the mock-up, I traced the pieces onto the craft foam. I sealed the foam with my iron on the highest setting and I also heat’n’bonded some forest green microsuede to the back — I figured it would look better in the end than unfinished craft foam. Next, I stenciled the Chinese lettering onto the malleable foam.

Then, finally, I cut the pieces out.

I hot glued the pieces together, then began gilding the lettering. I used golden puff paint, applying it with mechanical pencil lead  to get the requisite thin lines.

Then it got a coat of brown shoe polish to make the craft foam look less… craft-foam-y. Give it some texture, you know.

I added some grommets so that the lacing wouldn’t tear up the craft foam. I’ve never applied grommets before, and I’m really glad I got to do so on something as forgiving as craft foam before even attempting something like a corset.

I then glued some cheap Chinese lucky coins over the grommets. These particular coins look like the Earth Kingdom sigil (which is why I chose them). Every Avatar needs some bling.

I added some weathering with black acrylic paint at the borders of the foam. Paint is hard, and it’s something I REALLY need to get better at if I want to continue cosplaying.

I also added some glossy Mod Podge to one corner before deciding I didn’t like how it looked. I thought I was done. But then, about a week later, I noticed the coat of Mod Podge had cracked a little, making it look more genuine, if a little shiny still. To counteract the shine, I tried a touch more of brown shoe polish. I loved it, and immediately Mod Podge’d and polished the rest of the bracers.
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The final product looks like worn, cracked leather — exactly the look I was going for. I will definitely be using this technique in the future.

I finished off the bracers with a couple of yards of brown suede cord, which looked much nicer than the black shoelaces I had been tying them up with.
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​Obi

For the obi, I pretty much followed this tutorial. It has a printable pattern which worked wonderfully and I was able to put it together one night after work.. I used hunter green costume satin (which I never plan on using again, ugh).

To make the front flat, I used craft foam — which didn’t hold up as the craft foam slowly heated up and deformed over the course of the day. Ah well, you live and you learn.

(Don't worry, I have since learned the joys of interfacing).

Headdress

This was the first part of the costume that I made. Back when I started making this costume, I didn’t realize one day I’d be writing in depth about it. I have a grand total of ONE progress picture on this piece. As such, I will try to be as detailed as I can in the explanation.

The headdress is made primarily out of craft foam. I used this tutorial, which you will recognize if you’ve ever considered craft foam as a cosplay material. I made a few modifications based on the functionality of the piece which I’ll get into later.

I started out by making a pattern (as one always should). I used the same stiff brown paper above to cut out the fan shape, the square, and the base. For the fan shape, I decided to do six separate panels instead of two semicircles. It adds more dimension and makes the design look more realistic. I also did two layers on the middle square: the main square and a border. Again, more dimension and more realistic.

Once I was satisfied with the pattern, I cut it out of craft foam and hot glued the fan and square together. I added support by gluing polyester chiffon I had lying around to the back of the fan and the triangular headpiece. I then embossed some designs on the pieces: the four nations in the middle of the square, Kyoshi’s name and some curvy lines and dots on the triangular headpiece.

I also cut out some tails out of costume satin and sewed them to the edges of the headpiece using some gold thread I had lying around.

I then sealed them all separately using a mixture of 1 part water to 1 part Elmer’s glue. I used almost 8 coats and looking back, it still could have used a few more.

Once that was done, I painted it using two shades of gold spray paint; the center square and headpiece became a dark gold and the fan and square border a lighter shade of gold.
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The only thing left to do was the tassels. I got about a yard of a gold twisted cord from Hancock Fabrics, as well as some gold embroidery thread and some golden beads.

I made the tassels following this tutorial. It was honestly the most aggravating part of the headdress; the gold embroidery thread was mega slippery and didn’t like to fold up on itself. After about a half hour of struggling with each one, I did it. I then threaded the beads onto the tassel string and hot glued the remainder around the gold twisted thread. Finally, I glued the full tassels to the headdress over the seams where I sewed the craft foam and satin ties together.

That about covers it for Kyoshi's accessories; next up, the skirts and kimono-thing!