Embedded Files
The second portion of the Miko edition of Random Lunacy's CTA will be dealing with another set of special ghost girls (and women!) whom also are pivotal characters in the series. Today we'll be dealing with the various handmaiden characters such as the Pacifiers from Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented and the Kanade from Fatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, even Blinded from the first game. So let's sit back, get comfy and start taking apart these costumes!
Again, a lot of these costumes are either miko outfits or kimonos, and I did a short cover of this in the last article. Please take the time to check that out. There are a few tips on how to find or find patterns for kimonos, as well as how to put one on properly (the dead way versus the living way, which is an important detail for some characters, notably Sae).
Blinded
Also called: The Blinded Demon
Game: Fatal Frame
Ritual: Demon Tag Ritual, Blinding Ritual
Blinded is one of those ghosts you love to hate. Despite being blind, she uses her superior hearing to track you and instantly teleport to you. She also is pretty creepy when she shows up. Bemoaning her eyes during combat, she proves to be a very memorable ghost in the series.
Blinded's kimono is a deep plum purple, with a flower pattern, probably that of a morning glory, with a white flower and black vines and leaves with a white outline. Her obi is a goldenrod yellow color, and as a ghost, its untied and loose. It would be best to sort of tie it loosely at your waist, and let it dangle to the side. It also appears that her kimono has white sleeves, or a white border on them, and parts of her kimono are ragged or torn. And another touch is that the top is slightly loosened, which will show off more of your shoulders and neck area. This will complete the ghostly look.
She's barefoot, but as I usually advise, wear some unremarkable sandals for protection.
Note her hair is loose, unkempt and wild in the art. Her renders have a more straightened look but other renders will keep this chic yurei style of hair.
Now the big clencher for Blinded is of course her make up. You're gonna need a blindfold. Its up to you on how to make one that will also allow you to see (unless you have a handler who is trustworthy). One way of doing it is to wind it in a way that allows you to see through the crack or spaces between the strips, carefully pin them and slide off your head, and sew the blindfold into a band you can slip over your face, then keep in place with bobby pins in your hair. Or instead of making a complete circular band, make it into a mask you can tie in the back, following the above suggestion.
Apply some paint to the areas where your eyes will be, as if they were stained from empty eye sockets. Take some make up blood and drip it down your face, as if they're from your eyes. Now don't forget to run around with your mouth open like Thomas Bangalter and moaning about your eyes and you've nailed it!
Ghostly seeing-eye dog not included.
Now your props are limited, basically the infamous blinding mask. This mask is responsible for making blinded who she is, and so its a wicked little thing.
Its a domino style type mask in a dark grey color, and has a sort of old kanji or sanskrit character on the forehead. The biggest difference from normal masks are the large stakes through the eyeholes, which are meant to piece the eyes out. If you intend to just carry the mask, then driving some prop stakes through the eyeholes and gluing in place will suffice. But if you intend to wear it, then I'd advise only making prop stakes that sit on op of the mask eyeholes. Making so you can see is a bit trickier since the stakes will be where you need to see out of, unless you cut the eyeholes a little under there the stakes are and sit the mask higher to see out of them.
MournerAlso called: N/A
Game: Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly
Ritual: Crimson Ritual
Blind ghosts appear to be a good staple to the series. Relying on sound to track you, Mourners have a creepy stride as they walk towards you when you move around too much, and have a wide hit box of swinging when they attack you.
Mourners are a nice rare entry for this article, since they are all exclusively men. So this costume's for the muscular male cosplayers of the series. XD And bald or shaved head ones because they have no hair. If you do have a head of hair and you don't want to lose your locks, try a skullcap, but you'll need to make sure you have the right color and make up to match it to your skin/make-up.
Like the Engravers (next in the article), Mourners are also topless, wearing only hakama. It looks like a dark material, like dark gray, with an under layer of white at the waistband (which can probably be built into your hakama). Around the Mourner is sacred rope (like Kirie) and has what appears to be very long paper charms (or ofuda) wrapped around his torso, with kanji or sanskrit characters on them. Keeping the paper on could be achieved with paper (or if you wish for a more permanent solution, try muslin cut into strips) and spirit gum.
Some renders allow you to see that each Mourner is blindfolded by more of the ofuda, so following the advice with Blinded's blindfold will suffice, or you can only wrap part of your face and allow one eye free for sight. Be sure to use some make up to allow you a good ghostly pallor and even make it look s if your eyes are unsuable.
Mourners don't seem to have any props, so you're good to go!
EngraverAlso called: Needle Woman, Engraving Maiden
Game: Fatal Frame 3: Voice of the Tattoo
Ritual: Piercing of the Soul
Another blind spirit in the series, Engravers also have the same pattern as Blinded in that they can find you despite being blind. They have a terrifying design, with the ropes in the eyes and the needles sticking out of their arms.
Like The Tattooed Priestesses and Mourners, Engravers are topless, wearing only hakama. Please see the previous CTA on suggestions to achieve the look without indecency. XD The image color of the game is blue, and going with a bluish colored hakama would be a good idea.
However, they do wear an obi or sash around their waists, which appears to be a dark red color, and tied in a knot near the front, off to the side. It looks to have a pattern or maybe kanji written on them, and they're ragged and dirty.
They wear their hair long, over their shoulders, over their breasts, and it looks rather neat (compared to Blinded); it also parts in the middle, sweeping the bangs to the sides. One of the big details for Engravers are the needles sticking out of their forearms and hands. They're not tiny little needles, as you can see, but rather large imposing ones that stick out not unlike Pinhead's pins. My recommendation is to get prop needles/small stakes (maybe made of styrofoam, foam, or paper mache) and spirit gum the heck out of them to keep them in place. Try to place them on the outsides of your arm and hands so your inner hand/wrist/forearm doesn't catch your costume and you have some ability to use your hands to pick things up. XD Also, Engraver hands are dyed at the hand, gradually fading at the wrist, in what you assume is blood and ink. This can be dark indigo, or red, depending on your tastes.
Click for largest view. The next tricky part of an Engraver costume is the rope through the face. The effect is that a rope is wound around the forehead like a headband (in fact an Engraver also had a white cloth around the head like a blindfold, because you can see the edge of the cloth across the nose), then crossed over the bridge of the nose, and passed through each opposite eye socket it goes into.
Now obviously you can't poke out your eyes and do this or real, but you can achieve the effect with a combo suggestion of how one makes Blinded's blindfold, then gluing or attaching the rope to the blindfold. Darken the area where the ropes go into the eyes, and cut some narrow eyeholes (and try darkening the area around your eyes underneath to blend with the mask) to see out of.
You won't have many props if any, but your costume should support its weight, since its a very stunning design.
HandmaidensAlso called: Pacifiers
Game: Fatal Frame 3: Voice of the Tattoo
Ritual: Impalement Ritual, Final Impalment
The Handmaidens are another miko type character in the third game (though some may argue the Engravers are not quite miko themselves). They are younger ghosts, children, since they are from the ages of 5-9. This costume then would look best on small or short girls.
A handmaiden outfit is a typical miko outfit in red and white, where the bottoms are usually red (though in some renders, they are a dark gray), with a lighter obi, and a red cord tied in a bow at the front. They also have a sort of tassel attached to each side of their kimono type, right above the obi top.
Each Handmaiden, because of the ritual they are in charge of, carries a hammer or mallet that is also red colored and a stake. These stakes are long and made of metal, but you can make them out of any old material, and are covered in kanji or sanskrit all the way along the length. Your tools should be gently worn, as if they are handed down through generations.
Now, each Handmaiden in the third game has a distinct hair style, unless you want to do a stock Handmaiden (found in Rei's dream sequence), and in that case, the hair is kept long and has a section over each shoulder. Otherwise, the four main ones are shown below. Click for larger.
Left, Amane's hair is plaited in two pigtail braids with small red beads on the bottom ties. Her bangs are swept over to the left with a strand in the middle. She's a quiet and sweet girl who only wants to do the right thing to her friend Reika and her brother Kaname, and sympathsizes with Miku's loss of her bother. Her Purity Stone is red.
Right, is Minamo, who wears her hair short hair above her shoulders, with very short bangs. She also wears a small red hair pin on the left side. Minamo is the maiden who fantasizes about impaling, and mockingly asks "Are you hurt?" when she attacks. So keep in mind she's the psychopath. Her Purity Stone is green.
Left, is Shigure, whose hair is short like Minamos, though a bit longer, actually touching her shoulders barely. Her bangs are longer in the front. She seems to be the neutral party in the game, so she's quiet and sympathetic, but dutiful. Her Purity Stone is light blue.
Right is Hisame. Hisame's hair is very long, and two sections come over her shoulders like the unidentified handmaidens in Rei's dream. Her bangs are cut straight across her forehead, and is thicker than Shigure's (whose appear more layered than Hisame's). Hisame is the leader and very dutiful to her job, and seems to be the eldest Handmaiden. Her Purity Stone is blue.
KanadeAlso called: Accompanists, Instrumentalists
Game: Fatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
Ritual: Rougetsu Kagura & Kiraigou
The Kanade of the fourth game also, like the above Handmaidens, have miko outfits for their costume. In many ways, the Kanade outfit is almost the same as the Handmaiden outfit, with a white top and a red hakama. They have a red tassel that attaches to the breast area and is tied in a bow. Another difference is the red cord/ribbon attached above the sleeve opening of the sleeves. The hakama have a pattern of a higanbana, or lycora radiata flower with red flowers with green/yellow stems. This makes it a little different from the usual hakama, so these details will have to be painted in.
They also wear white tabi socks and white sandals with a red cord. It should be noted these are not typical geta sandals as one might expect but a more modern type.
A Kanade also wears a wreath that looks to be made of a thin rope with green leaves around the sides. The wreath appears to only have the rope over the front, where the bangs are. The hair appears to have bangs or locks of hair loose on the sides, but tied in a pony tail with a wrapped covering over it. Seeing as how I have precious few images that are high-res, its hard for me to be exact. @_@ I apologize for that inconvenience (seeing as how I haven't been through enough of the game myself)
Each Kanade also wears a special mask over her face, and each mask is different for each one (excepting 2 whom share the same one). Each Kanade is responsible for a different accompanying instrument, and so she has a mask that represents this.
Strings Song or Flute Chimes
Drums
These masks look to be simple, full faces ones, all in white, with different designs, and with different stages of eye or mouth openings (strings has all features shut, while song & flute have half open eyes and an open mouth needed for singing or using a flute through). It might be best to make the masks from scratch to be the most accurate, as most pre-made masks don't have these variations available.
Props for Kanade would include the instrument according to which Kanade you choose, from a drum to a flute (of which I believe is a shinibue flute).
And that should be about it! Happy cosplaying!
--Dio (10/30/11)
(Images from Morbid Obsession. com, Beyond the Camera's Lens and the Fatal Frame Wiki)
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse