Reddit user dirtypeanut, a.k.a. Ray, is part of the cosplay duo known as Panic Panda Cosplay. He’s had Princess Mononoke’s San on his cosplay list for a while, and after a year off, Ray got to work. He crafted the entirety of the costume and shared some notes about making the mask.

The mask itself was made with paper mache clay. One thing I’ve learned with the clay is to do everything at once. I made the base mask first, let it dry and then added on the raised details, but the dry base ended sucking in moisture from the new wet clay, and warped the mask a little bit. But overall very easy clay to work with and much better than regular paper mache. I then just painted it with regular acrylic paint and sealed with mod podge.

Ray used another helpful material: InstaMorph. You can see a couple of in progress pictures below. He used InstaMorph for the spear, dagger, and teeth. It’s plastic you can mold into shape and set by placing it an ice bath.

via Reddit, top photo by Troy Yu Photography