How I Made my Gijinka Psyduck Cosplay

Danyella and I had planned to do a Pokemon cosplay together for Calgary Expo, and I found myself with the tough decision of what Pokemon do I choose to make? She had chosen quickly to do Pidgeot, and I was stuck deciding between Mewtwo, Jigglypuff, Psyduck, Cubone, and Sandshrew. I had created mood boards and everything and finally came to the decision that I had to do Psyduck. (I will eventually do all of them... just my favorite confused duck first)

I really wanted something different for this cosplay. I kept seeing cosplays using ball caps for the bill, or just a giant Psyduck head with a bikini on... There was one I found that I absolutely loved, this knighted Psyduck by RPG Adventures.

So with a brain full of inspiration, I came up with a ninja design. I'm so happy with this design. It looks great and has just enough details to really see that it's Psyduck with a ninja flair. Fun fact: I recently found out that the fans I designed as weapons are actually traditional weapons ninja's used to smuggle weapons in. They're called Tessen Fans. Neato!

​I started this cosplay with the bloomers. I found a great tutorial that I followed over on ABC-Lolita and I held my breathe as I tried sewing with a thin, slippery, fragile material for the first time. I found this great material on sale for $1.50 per metre!

I suck at measuring. I think that's my problem when it comes to sewing and patterns, etc. I had to add some extra fabric in the back for a little extra poof in the butt. Instead of using elastic, because I didn't want the bulky line in the see-through material, I just sewed the legs and top hem with elastic thread! It turned out pretty great.

After taking a break for a month... or two... as I procrastinated and didn't want to learn how to sew new things, I had to go to Regina for a week for some family stuff. I figured I would ask my Grandma/Senpai for some sewing advice.

​I started with the gloves because I figured they were the easiest. I worked off a tutorial that @hummel.cosplay sent me. I traced my hand, leaving out the thumb. and then I traced my thumb onto a folded piece of paper, long side of my thumb on the fold. I'm not sure the science behind it, if there was a specific reason the whole hand couldn't be made in one piece.

I sewed up the hand part and did a quick test fit. My hand looked silly and webbed. Then I realized my design was different. I debated about keeping it a full glove, because my first test went so well. In the end, I went back to my original design. The material I used was very forgiving and I didn't need to hem the sides.

Still in Regina with Grandma, we found a bathing suit from Value Village to cut up as a pattern (I didn't really use it) and took my measurements for the body suit. I sewed it up to see how it would fit - and realized I would need to rip out the crotch seam and add snaps there because the neck hole is too tiny!

The test fit went well. I had to add darts to the chest, and take in the hips. I decided to add a second layer to the front, as a lining because it was very thin. As a bonus, I managed to make the front appear seamless. I unfortunately didn't have enough material to use as a lining in the back.

Grandma gave me her sewing machine when we left Regina. I was so honored to continue that family legacy. <3

Back at home, I dug up some old material I used for Ninetales, and cut out some material for the skirt flap. I made quick work of sewing up the hem. I was really proud of my sewing work and clean lines. I even added a little ribbon to the top for some detailing.

I finally cut out my face veil and burned the edges so I wouldn't have to hem it. It worked really well! Maybe not proper, but it worked. I drew on two nose lines as I had imagined in my design, but it just makes my nose look droopy.

I tried everything on together really quick and then was immediately disappointed with how everything just seemed to "blah" together. The colors blended better than I wanted and I was stuck for ideas. I took to instagram to ask for advice and got answers like "beading," "add ribbon on the belt," "flippers," etc.

​I had a giant bag of buttons given to me from Grandma. I painted a whole bunch of them in gold and glitter paint and found some gold rhinestone ribbon and split rings. I also made a couple of duck feet shaped beads using Model Magic clay and painted them gold as well. I used the split rings to attach the buttons to the rhinestone ribbon. I made two lengths for the belt and one more for around my head.

I hand sewed the rhinestone bead strands to the belt of the skirt thing and it immediately looked so much better.

I added another strand of rhinestone ribbon around my head with flipper beads. I re-made the veil without the nose lines and added a shiny ribbon to the top. With the rhinestones and the extra details, It looks so much better.

The Tessen fans took a little bit of planning and working, but with a little bit of research, I came up with a better design for what I had in mind. I made three "blades" for each fan out of craft foam and backed each with a pospicle stick for stabilty. I coated each one in wood glue and then painted them chrome so that it would be easier to tell that they're a weapon and that I'm a bad ass ninja! Rawr!

I found some more material from my Ninetales cosplay and used that as backing for the fans. The three prong fan was meant to look like webbed duck feet. I think I pulled off the combination fairly well.

For the headpiece, I didn't want to add a headband. I wanted the detail to be free standing. But call it con-crunch, or pure exhaustion, but I couldn't think of a practical way to attach it to my head without attaching it right to the wig. So I sucked it up and glued it to a headband. For all my worrying, it still turned out great.

I made it out of EVA foam and sanded down the edges to round it out. I primed it in wood glue and then painted it black with a gloss coat!

The last thing I had to do for this cosplay was the grudging task of brushing out my blonde wig. This poor thing has been through so many cosplays, half assed styles, and events. (Bombshell Harley Quinn, Animethon, ECEE)

I finished everything else I could possibly do for the cosplay so I had to quit procrastinating. I started with a quick wash (snapchat: just.breee), let it partially dry and lathered it up with conditioner. After I started brushing out the wig it actually went quite fast and in less than an hour I had it brushed out and curled nicely ready to dry!

The before and after on this wig is stunning. They look like two completely different wigs!

Here's a breakdown on Cosplanner of how I made this cosplay!

Have a great week.

*kiss kiss*