Ashitaka’s bow is the same height he is, so I bought two dowels and stuck them together with a threaded bolt. Bow base and some small dowels to cut up into arrows.

Unfortunately, my test cut just wasn’t as clean as I was hoping, so I put sword development on hold until I could get to a scroll saw. I then broke out my new Dremel and tried to use the wood cutter and guide to cut it out. I’d need to try my hand at some woodworking for the first time as well! Template for cutting out my sword.įollowing Doran’s lead, I took a visit to Lowe’s, picked up a piece of poplar, and drew out the basic outline of the sword, using my foam prototype as a template. Obviously the bow can’t be made out of foam, and, after a quick trial, I decided the sword wouldn’t work made out of foam either. I also need to make several weapons–a sword, and a bow and arrows. I’ve never used a sewing machine in my life, and I’ve certainly never made my own patterns, but, for Ashitaka, I’m needed to do both! In looking for patterns to use as a base, I’ve even sourced a couple of patterns from the ’70s and ’80s from Etsy! Prototype foam sword for sizing. With Yaya Han’s words of wisdom (from her panel at DragonCon) fresh in my mind, I decided that I’d take this opportunity to learn some new skills.

The issue with Ashitaka, though, is that he has no armor to speak of. Also, because my son and I always do father-son cosplay, I figured I could easily make him a kodama with relative ease and be set. However, after my trip to DragonCon and seeing all the amazing San cosplay, I knew I had to do Ashitaka next. I recently started foamsmithing after an interview with Bill Doran of Punished Props, so I really wanted to do a cosplay with a full set of armor to practice what I’ve been learning. If you like these write-ups, please consider joining my Patreon to get early access to tutorials, videos, work in progress pics, and more!įor anyone who doesn’t know, Princess Mononoke is one of my favorite films, so it was a no brainer for me when deciding on my next cosplay that I’d try Ashitaka. Over the past year, I had published several work in progress articles over at about my process for making it–everything, head to toe (yes, even my shoes) was scratch built by yours truly. Below is a slightly edited, combined version of all of those posts. I recently mentioned how I won first-place at RenCon for my Ashitaka cosplay.

Princess mononoke ashitaka arm sleeves