Featured Amatsuki Artist

Name: Pie
Country: Taiwan
Convention debut(s): Fancy Frontier 2008, Anime Evolution 2008
Character: Bonten
Website: www.cosplay.com/gallery/140616…

Teiten: Hello Pie-san! That's one amazing Bonten cosplay costume! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started with cosplay?

Pie: I've been interested in cosplay for about, ah...eight? years now! I'd see cosplayers during conventions and be really interested, but never really stepped into the "world" until late summer 2005, when my friend and I saw a group of FFVI:AC cosplayers. We took a lot of photos of them and requested contact information so we could send the photos over. Somehow or another, we became friends with them. For the next two years, we got better known as cosplay photographers, but during summer 2007, we finally started cosplaying ourselves. Now, we're primarily cosplayers, but still take a lot of photos, haha!

Teiten: So why did you choose Bonten?

Pie:I chose Bonten because, though Amatsuki wasn't that well known back home, I had read it and loved his design and his oufit.

Teiten: Very nice, how did you put the costume together?

Pie: The kimono was one I bought on e-bay and then altered. I took the obi they had sent with the kimono and cut it down and re-covered it in the gold cloth. The pants were a pair of store-bought jeans that I had originally planned to paint the design on, but found a place that did cheap custom embroidery so I sent that to them and, from their books, found a pattern that was close to what Bonten had on his cover image. The shirt my mom and I made together; it was pieced together without a pattern, but because it's so simple, it didn't really need one!

His wig is a full, mid-back wig. I cut and styled the bangs, then made the bun the same way I would with real hair, and cut what was rest a little so it would be slightly thinner and more layered.

The lip-piercing is just a spring-loaded earring. The earring itself took some perimenting, though! [This] is a blurry, but closer view at it. It's basically thin metal hoops, flower-shaped metal...things, the pins that are shaped sort of like a 9, and a whole lot of super glue meant for plastic and glass. There's a small jewelry ring on the top and at the end of the chain to attach to the earrings, both the one that goes in my ear and the one that goes to my lip :3b



Teiten: That's a lot of effort you went to! What do you like best about your cosplay?

Pie: Aaah, this is hard
In general, I like it if I can pull of the feel as well as the look of the character I'm portraying. In this specific case, I'm happy with how I admittedly sacrificed some accuracy for aesthetics; the patterned fabrics look really good when photographed, especially because Bonten's outfit really isn't that complicated.

Teiten: That descision definately paid off! It really brings the costume to life. Knowing Bonten, he'd probably would've liked what you've done . If you could make your costume all over again, was there anything you'd like to have re-done?

Pie: From the photos I have, it's kind of visible how bad my gloves are XD For the cons, I was so pressed for time, that I bought the gloves and just cut off the ends. Unfortunately, that meant there was a LOT of fraying and the seams sort of...split. I've redone the gloves by now, sewing the ends down and what not, but I haven't had a chance to shoot that yet.

Otherwise... I'm still trying to find a way to do his hairstyle that's easier and less painful XDDD Because the wig is a full length wig, the side with the bun is really heavy, and the amount of pins necessary to keep the wig from sliding around starts hurting after a
while.

Teiten: Haha, keeping the bun pinned up must be an art in itself. Despite the difficulties, it is still an outstanding costume which worked really well on you. Would you like to make any other comments?

Pie: Thank you for this honor! I hope you like my cosplay

Teiten: You too Pie-san, Arigatou! We most certainly do love your costume. Keep up the wonderful cosplay work!