Costume Feature: Wan ShaiLu
The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson recounts the story of Wan ShaiLu and her skills as a “forger” of souls. Shai carves meticulous stamps imbued with intent and identity. These magical stamps can bestow personality traits upon people and alter someone’s very soul!
Out of the whole of the Cosmere, Shai is this customer’s very favorite character. We started with some inspiring fan art and began formulating a plan and I prepared an estimate for my customer’s dream Shai costume. Sometimes, I will offer some optional add-ons for custom costumes. Costume accessories are not a requirement at all, but extra embellishments like machine embroidery or custom jewelry can elevate the overall design.
My customer chose the following features:
The main costume consisting of a dark red robe and green under skirt, with upgraded fabrics
A wide custom leather tooled belt
A custom four-pointed star brooch
Embroidery add-on
by Botanica Xu
by Botanica Xu
by Isacc Stewart
I did quite a bit of fabric hunting for Shai’s costume. We chose a luxurious wine-red shantung and a green and gold jacquard for the primary fabrics. Since we needed to invent the back of the costume, I worked on some sketches and comprised a few ideas for the leather carved belt as well.
First, I started with the embroidered trim. I drew and digitized my own embroidery design inspired by Isacc Stewart’s soul stamp art from The Emperor’s Soul. The embroidery software I use is called Cosplay Stitchery by OESD. For Shai’s costume, I went back and forth on thread colors, but I eventually settled on using metallic gold embroidery thread. It took a very long time, I think I made about 4 yards of custom trim for Shai’s robe.
From there, I went onto custom patterning and sewing the kimono style robe. I also resin cast the gold four-pointed star brooch from 3d printed models that I cast in silicone molds. Incorporating jewelry making skills is super fun and can be a nice break from endless sewing.
With the leather carved belt, I drew the design onto vellum and transferred it onto the veg tan leather belt blank I patterned and cut out. I used Western leather carving techniques and dyed the belt. I also painted accents in green, red, and gold and used an antiquing stain to add contrast and depth into the leather carvings. After that, I sealed the leather belt and added brass colored hardware.
The finished costume for Shai is completely custom. I patterned every piece according to the customer’s measurements.
The costumes I make are lined and have pockets. Shai’s custom costume is no exception. My favorite feature is the gold metallic embroidery. It is not too shiny but instead gives a luminesce that is stunning. I really love the pleats on the back of the robe, and the leather belt makes me so happy.
I custom dyed the green piping for the trim and made an elastic waist band for the green jacquard under skirt. I also added elastic loops onto the leather belt so that wax seals can be attached!
Some of the time while I was making this costume, I listened to a couple Terry Pratchet books including Masquarade and Carpe Jugulum.
I really am thankful and super pleased with how this turned out! I enjoy the steady problem solving as I go through my creative and sewing processes. It has been a while since I read The Emperor’s Soul, so it was great to revisit this awesome character. Altogether, my customer’s Shai costume turned out fantastic!
