Haku - Naruto



Cost: $30
Time to Make: 20 hours
Timeline of Construction: September - October 2004


Pictures




Information

I had heard about a Naruto photoshoot that was being organized for early October and I briefly thought about going, but I was irked by the fact that I didn't have a ninja costume and I really didn't have much time to make one. I later found out that my friend Kevin was going as Zabuza and he had no Haku. I had made some remark about how it would be fun to Cosplay as Haku and eventually Mekou and Kevin encouraged me to make the costume and I decided to jump on the ninja bandwagon and Cosplay from Naruto.

I went out shopping with my mother and Pan for materials for this costume. I found a green that would be perfect for the haori, but it was broadcloth. I ended up getting it anyway, but it was a very thin material to have as a jacket-like top. I knew I would need a brown-orange for the pants, turtleneck and belt and so I searched and searched for a decent material. I finally found one that I thought would work, but Fabricland didn't have enough of it. Pan and I went around to Walmart and other stores that sold fabric, but at each store I saw some orange that was kind of brown and would probably work, but the material wasn’t quite right. We ended up back at Fabricland where I found an orange that I thought would be perfect so I bought five meters of it. Sadly, once I got home I realized that I had altered my perception of the perfect colour so much so that by the time I found the fabric that I bought, I ended up getting a very orange material. I was worried about how wrong the colour was, but once the costume was finished everyone seemed to like it anyway.

After buying the fabric, I had planned to use a haori pattern to make the haori, but it was quite complicated and lacked some of the elements that I needed so I ended up using a pattern for a Jedi costume that my mom had bought to make my little brother's Halloween costume. The tunic pattern was much simpler and only required a few minor alterations. Making the haori wasn't too hard, but around this time I had switched one of my courses in university and I needed to spend a lot of time getting caught up on all my readings for my courses. My mom helped me out a lot with my Haku costume and she was the one who sewed all the white detailing to the haori. The pants were made using an awesome pattern that was super simple so they only took about two hours to make.

I made the belt by guessing the length and width. I knew I wanted it to wrap around my waist twice and to then hang down in the back. I think the length worked very well. I had tried to sew it one night, but I kept breaking the needle on the sewing machine. I decided to go to bed and work on it the next night when I got home from university, but when I got home I found out that my mother had already finished it for me. <3 I really can't thank her enough for her help. I spent the day before the photoshoot dyeing a white turtleneck orange to match my pants and belt. I was worried about dyeing it since I had never successfully dyed anything before, but it turned out pretty well and the colour almost completely matched the orange I used for everything else.

The ninja headband was made by Pan because the material I was planning to use went missing and Pan really helped me out of a jam. It turned out really nicely. I went out to a plaza and found some blue sandals that looked like Haku's and fit me pretty well. I bought them and painted them black and brown. They turned out really well but the paint peeled a lot when I wore them. Pan also helped me out a lot with the mask. She designed the base out of a Cheerios box and I paper mached it and sanded it down. I painted the base layers with white house paint and on top of that I used some white acrylic paint. I used permanent markers to make the black detailing and I used a stencil to make the red detailing. It turned out really well. I adore my hunter-nin mask even though it doesn't actually fit my face.

The hair accessories for the hair hanging in my face were just white hair elastics. The wire was made from an old Christmas decoration that I painted blue and glued blue beads to. The bun was made from leftover material from my Sailand Cooro costume. It's just an oval shape with an elastic running through it. Thanks to Pan helping me with my hair it worked quite well. I didn't bother with a wig for this costume, but I probably should have. I made this costume in the days before I discovered hair straighteners so my hair was extra poofy and frizzy. I look back now and laugh. On the Thursday before the photoshoot, I managed to get green nailpolish to complete the look.

Finally, the weapons were just shish kabob sticks that I found. They worked pretty well for this costume. (^-^) I've always wanted to Cosplay as a character from Naruto so I'm really happy that I decided to make this costume. It was fun Cosplaying with Stillvisions again too.

Events/Conventions this costume was worn to
I wore this costume to the Autumn Naruto Photoshoot on October 2nd, 2004, to the Halloween Jpop Dance 2004 and to the Valentine's Day Jpop Dance 2006.

Photo Credits
Pan


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