Studio Ghibli Costumes: Princess Mononoke

One last Studio Ghibli inspired costume!

This time it's San from Princess Mononoke. San is a young girl who was raised by wolves in a mystical forest and is known as Princess Mononoke. Along with the wolves, other forest animals and forest spirits she fights against the humans who seek to tear down the forest in the name of progress. It's an action packed movie and one that my kids love (like all the other Studio Ghibli movies I've shared recently).

San's costume is a little more time consuming than the other Studio Ghibli inspired costumes that I've shared, and requires more items, but is still pretty easy to make. 

What you'll need:
Navy blue strappy dress
White tank top
White faux fur fabric
Red face paint

White Sculpey clay
Clip on earring backs 
Navy blue cord
Navy blue ribbon

Safety pins

Let's start by making the accessories...

To make Princess Mononoke's wolf fang necklace you'll need to make large fangs out of the Sculpey clay. The clay can be a little stiff and crumbly to begin with so start by rolling it in your hands to form a ball. Once it's a little smoother and not falling apart so much you can roll it out on a hard surface with a roller. This will help make the clay smoother. I like to work on a silicone mat to avoid mess. Once the clay is soft and pliable roll it into a long "snake" and shape into fangs. 

Once you've made four fangs poke a hole through the top of each one with a straw. Make sure that the holes are large enough for the cord to be threaded through. 

Before baking the wolf fangs, let's make Princess Mononoke's earrings. To make the earrings I rolled out white Sculpey clay about 5mm thick and then cut out circles using a scone or cookie cutter. A narrow glass would work well too. 

Time to bake the accessories! Place the wolf fangs and earrings onto a tray (along with any other creations your little helpers may have made!) and bake according to the instructions on the Sculpey packet. 

Once the clay has baked and cooled down thread the cord through the fangs to create a necklace. To make this easier I like to tape the ends of the cord so there are no frayed bits getting in the way. I kept the cord long enough to tie it up, but you could always cut it to the length you want and attach jewelry closures. 

Using a hot glue gun, glue the earrings onto earring backs.

Now onto the clothes...

I dressed Lola in a strappy navy blue dress with a white tank top over the top. To make it look a little more authentic you could cut slits on each side of the tank top, but I didn't want to cut up clothes.  

San wears a cloak made of wolf fur. To make this I simply took a piece of faux fur slightly larger than the length and width of Lola's back and draped it over her shoulders. I attached it to her dress straps with safety pins.

I then tied the wolf fang necklace around Lola's neck and clipped the earrings on to her ears. 

San has arm bands as well as a headband. I made the arm bands with navy blue ribbon cut to length and simply attached them with double sided tape. For the headband I used the same blue ribbon and tied it around Lola's head. 

Now for the face paint! Using a red face paint crayon I drew long triangles on each cheek and a small triangle between the brows. 

Just like the costume from Kiki's Delivery Service, Mathilde wanted to join in as San's animal friend, so I made her a simple white wolf costume. Let's take a look at that...

Here's what you'll need:
White long sleeved top
White leggings
White faux fur
Safety pins
Headband
Black face paint

Like the Jiji cat costume I used this simple DIY for making the ears out of white fur. 

I then cut a length of white fur almost as long as Mathilde's legs for the tail. I folded it in half and sewed it together. tapering towards the end, but you could always hot glue it together instead. To attach the tail to Mathilde I simply used a safety pin on the waist of her pants. 

Mathilde dressed in long white pajamas with the tail and ears, and I added the finishing touch. Big sharp teeth! I simply drew these on using a black face paint crayon.

Then my little wolf was ready to join San in the forest - or rather, our backyard!

I'm so happy with how these costumes turned out and so were the kids. In fact, if it wasn't cold here in the evening, Lola would love to wear her San costume out trick or treating, but she might freeze! 

Do you have a favorite Studio Ghibli movie? What about these costumes I've been sharing? Which one is your favorite? I have to say that this Princess Mononoke costume is my favorite. 

Happy Halloween!