Pakkun

Source: Naruto

Completed: 2005

This was a really fun costume. To add to my list of Naruto cosplays, I thought it would be a lot of fun to cosplay Pakkun. It was my first mascot costume that I debuted at Otakon 2005. I need to give a huge thank you to Eilonnwy and Glitteringloke and others for the late late night helping me finish so I could have it done for the convention. 

This was a real learning experience in itself. A lot of research on how to do it, and where to buy large quantities of fur not around Halloween, electronics, and foam work. I got a lot of good construction info from www.fursuit.info. 

I had started by researching the constructions of mascot costumes and fursuits. The biggest obstacle is usually the making of the head. There are many ways of constructing them from using chicken wire frames, full foam cutouts, to paper-mache. For this costume I used the method of shaping out the head with a base of plastic mesh and put in the contours and shaping with upholstery foam. A great tool for cutting foam is to do it with an electric meat carving knife. Just be careful. 

After the base is shaped it needs to be covered with fur. Tricky part with this is, when you lay down the fur fabric, you really need to pay attention to how the fur lays. I believe this is called the nap. But the fur will have a tendency to lay down in a certain direction and you need to make sure that the fur is going in the right direction. Typically, it will lay falling downwards so you need to make sure you cut out the pieces going in the correct direction. 

The eyes were painted screens and I also installed a fan. The fan is a small computer fan connected to a battery pack and a switch so I can turn it on and off. Since Otakon is held in the summer it came in pretty handy. I created the folds of fur in the back of the head with additional openings so that when the fan was on, it could pull air through the mesh eyes and out the back of the head. It worked well until the batteries ran out and I didn't have a battery back-up. 

The body itself was based on McCalls Pattern 8953. When working with fur, remember that every seam you stitch, you have to go back and pull the fur out from the stitches, or else it makes it really obvious where the seams are. Take a pin and go back over the seams pulling the hairs out. Then if you have a small bristled brush, go over the seam. It will help the fur look seamless. 

The paws and feet were crafted from upholstery foam covered in fur. Three inch foam was carved into paw like shapes and layered with fur. Slits were cut for my hands to fit into the paws. For my feet, foam was carved around a pair of cheap canvas sneakers, and glued on, and then covered in fur. Since you can't always tell visually what side foot is which after everything is done. Be sure to label the inside of your shoes so you can tell later on. 

Photo Credits: Kakashified, AgentGinrei

Featured Cosplayers: Buddy Christ, Oshi, Kakashified