Ghost in the Shell - Geisha Bot Costume

Lythara

New Member
I walked away from Ghost in the Shell loving the styling and costumes. Movie was pretty enjoyable too!
A couple of days later I was still thinking about that Geisha Bot, a week later I was cautiously 'looking into it'.
Now I'm a lost cause I have about 18 meters of dupion silk waiting to be sewn into a kimono, more fabric swatches than I can shake a stick at
and the fist part of my Geisha mask on its way from China where it was 3D printed.

So, enjoy the ride. Below are my work in progress and material pics and just as with my Gamora http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=237264 I will
be going for as screen accurate as my funds allow me (I like ramen noodels)! :$

Kimono WIP
- Dupion silk swatches
- Pattern creation for collar
- Testing out Montana transparent spray paint for the second collar.
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Tsuzure obi which will be remade into the fancy one.
- Test folds to establish the musubi (knot), managed to reverse engineer that one.
- I'll probably create the lines by hand embroidery
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Mask
- Parts of the mask are 3D printed (face is printed), but a lot of it will be hand sculpted using worbla.
- The kanzashi (hair ornaments) will be created using Worbla and brass
- I plan on putting a fan inside the mask as I will be wearing a full white custom leotard and it will be hot :D
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@ed209
I just felt so moved by the image of the geisha and as I collect and wear kimono myself I could not, not do it :)
I have rewatched the Tested video about 30 times now and it has helped me a lot to understand the intricacies of the mask. Things such as fan placement and foam pads support. As I will be encased in the mask the quick release string in the back is brilliant, I might need to look into getting a handler as my vision will be limited.

@gothic
That Kurt and Bart behind the scenes are brilliant! Glad to see that I was along the same way of thinking by using a body suit for the white and pink parts of my body. I am going to sew it out of matt lycra using hidden zippers and coloured inserts to mimic the pink markings.

@Cosmoustache
When I saw a real Geisha and Maiko in Japan last year they command a level of respect and awe just by the way they look. The black eye did make it creepy but they nailed the feeling! Hopefully, I can do it justice!
 
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Because I couldn't leave well enough alone. The Montana Transparent spray Paint gave me a milky and matted coating on my transparant part of the collar. Ideally I wanted a fully transparent collar so it would conduct the LED light well when my collar is lit up. I think I solved the problem..... adhesive window foil. I can shape the collar and it is much easier to apply! Applying a single layer is enough as the double layer makes it too dark.

New

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Old
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Me and my collar had a date this afternoon :) I managed to get a pattern drawn up. However, I am still puzzling on how to get the cutouts inside the collar without it getting floppy. I'm currently thinking about red worbla, which allows me to 'stick' the fabric on the collar and I can shape it as well. Perhaps even incorporate magnets for attaching the blue transparent collar. Anyway ... here are some progress pics. My aim was to get the back neckline correct as well as the profile shape, as real Geishas have a beautiful curve in their kimono to show the unpainted part of the neck, it is important that my collar sits low enough to get that effect.

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I believe you indicated you wore kimono so you may already know about collar stiffeners, eri-shin. I believe you will need to produce your own to obtain the very low drop at the nape of the neck. A plunging, exposed nape in Japan is as risque as a plunging neckline elsewhere so finding an existing eri-shin of that style may be difficult.

EDIT: The other item you may wish to research is the chikara nuno. This is a "supporting cloth" which supports to adjustment of the depth of the back collar.
 
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smithjohnj I think I will need more than an eri-shin to keep this collar in place :) But you are right when geishas and maiko wear a hikizuri, they will just have a slightly longer eri in their collar. Maiko wear also a Kantan eri with an emonnuki, a strip of fabric pulling your collar down. I normally use a kantan eri as with my 6.1ft height I have no hope finding a suitable Juban. So I normally sew my own han-Juban and kantan eri.

However I hope the red Worbla will act as a super eri-shin with the added bonus of cutting out the flowers and shaping it. I might break out my hikizuri and do some collar tests.
when I was in Japan last year I did a henshin and the lady who dressed me taught me a lot about those type of collars, they are so tricky :)
 

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@ gothic I think that may not provide enough support. I spoke to my mother, who is a trained seamstress. She said she won't fly to the UK again to help me sew as she helped me out with Gamora due to time pressure :) But she suggested that I should make my core (Worbla, Acetate etc.), with the flowers cut out from it and before shaping it make a 'sock' of the same shape as the collar core but add extra fabric for attaching it to the body. Then shape your collar core and then pull the sock over it and then where needed you can hand-sew it shut and attach it as you would normally. Or attach the fabric to the core, cut out the flowers from the fabric and then hand-sew the sock around the core.

I will have to try the tower pattern cutting and fabric attaching first before all of the above and I have no idea how the designers created that collar.
 
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Lythara With regard to stiffing the silk for the outer collar, I came across a interesting internet post. I have not had a chance to test the process myself but it seems sound. Since you are progressing much faster than I am I thought I would at least share the information as you may find the ideas useful. The information is in Post #13 at the following web site.

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/u...341-making-fabric-stiff-hard-shapeable.html#b

This approach seems even somewhat a modern material approach to a traditional craft. Samurai armor was leather stiffened with lacquer so this seems like a close approximation.
 
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@smithjohnj Thank you for that link! This is a very interesting technique, especially considering it is very strong by the sound of it.

Over the weekend I went hunting for more source material and I found some incredible high-res images of the costume, which shows me exactly where seams are etc.
And the more I looked at it it does look like there is a seam on the top of the collar and of course where the collar attaches to the kimono.

Also the kimono is not constructed in a traditional manner as it is missing the okumi panel seam. This is obviously done because to keep the flower pattern on the front of the kimono is uninterrupted. They have added a side seam only as I could not detect a back seam which is what you would normally see in a kimono. Now I need to check my fabric and see if it is wide enough to just have a seam at the side and incorporate the okumi panel as well. I don't think I will be able to do that and I will have to incorporate a back seam.

Then again I am holding off in sewing the kimono until my Weta Geisha Statue arrives, which will be very useful when it comes to constructing the kimono.

Thanks again for your help! Really appreciate your time.
 
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I am glad the link on stiffening fabric with lacquer was helpful. I still plan to try that technique as I have some spray cans of glossy clear lacquer available so it will be an inexpensive test. I think gloss lacquer will be more appropriate to try on silk. There are also some commercial products available which may or may not work better. The name of one here in the US is called fa-BRICK. The product advertisement states it produces a "rock hard" result. All of these products seem to be a type of clear resin or epoxy (which is what the concrete sealer really is). Even the resin used with fiberglass matts was suggested . So again there are a lot more possibilities that I expected to find when I started looking for a way to make silk a more structured element.
Lythara Could you share the source of the hi-res images? I have "The Art of Ghost in the Shell" which has some images but I will now have to see if they provide the same garment construction clues you have already identified.
 
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Collar progress! I followed my original plan and got some red Worbla, cut off some fabric and set to work.
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1. I drew a flower on red Worba according to the scource material. Note, I drew it a tad smaller than it should have been and created myself a nice fiddly task.
2. Cut the flower out with a knife, I can see this being a pain but no other choice.

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3. Heat Worbla and fold your fabric around it. The glue in the Worbla sticks to the fabric, if it comes loose just heat it again.
4. Cut the flower shape out of the fabric. I used a knife and scissors (not my neatest work).

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5. If I had found my soldering iron I would have created better sealed edges. But I used a lighter as that was all I could find. The fabric is poly so it created neat-ish molten edges. Best thing, you can still shape your collar after covering with fabric by using your heatgun. I don't know if is needed as the red Worbla is quite flexible, but maybe the curve on the back part could be pre-shaped.

Also I ironed my 18 meters of fabric..... :)
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Small update :) My okobo arrived so I can now start on the shoes!
Also today my Weta Geisha statue arrived which will be used as my main reference for construction of kimono and layers.
Happy to take lots of reference pics if people want! Finally my hair part is being 3D printed as we speak... next stop spandex body suit sewing :)
 

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Everything is looking great! Love the mask, even in white.

Here's a good shot of the hand/glove...

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