Construction Details:

Shirt - Made of a thick heather grey stretch knit. I custom dyed it to a darker grey, since I couldn't find a close color match in the store. Pattern made up on the spot.

Jacket - made of a black stretch knit, same material as the grey. It's very thick, similar to sweatshirt material. Pattern also made up on the spot. The front panels are double thick to get the curved edge nice and smooth. The jacket is attached to the grey shirt with a combination of tacking and fabric glue, and the red straps and buckles are attached to the jacket in the same manner. The straps are made of 1" red elastic. Buckles are from eBay.

Pants - Made of the same material as the jacket. Very comfy! Modified from a women's legging pattern. The belt stays perfectly in place by virtue of being a sewn-on elastic waistband - 1" wide white elastic, with a 1/4" black elastic stripe sewn on.
The white belt buckle was made of craft foam, painted with a glue & water mixture to stiffen it, and painted white. It was then sealed with a clear lacquer spraypaint. It slides over the belt with two sawed-off bobbypins (also painted white), which are superglued to the back.
The bandages wrapped around his right leg are also made of 1" elastic, sewn in place at the side seams.

Shoes - I found some simple sandals at Goodwill, and made boot covers out of more of the black stretch knit. I attached them to the base of the sandals with copious use of my new staple gun. The staples were painted black with paint to blend in.

Gloves - Sewn by me. Made of a different, lightweight black stretch knit. I hate making gloves, though the fact that there's two open fingers on each glove made it a little less exasperating.

Bags - Made from scratch. The kunai bag on his thigh was made of black pleather meant for vehicle upholstery. The strap is a band of ribbed black elastic, and slides on. The tan bag on his back was made of tan cotton, thickly interfaced. It slides over his belt with two bobby pins superglued onto the back. Both bags close with velcro, and hold their shape with mock boxes made from cereal boxes and tape, then slid inside.

Forehead Protector - Made completely by me, of which I'm quite proud! Bought a sheet of aluminum at a home-improvement store, cut and engraved it with my dremel tool, filled in the engraving with black paint, and sealed it with clear lacquer spraypaint. I then drilled holes and riveted it to the headband, sewn from the same lightweight stretch knit as the gloves.

Wig - eBay find. Required a great deal of styling - it was supposed to resemble Sai's haircut to start with, but arrived as a chin-length bob. First try cutting layers into a wig, which wasn't as scary as I thought.

Short Sword - Bought on eBay. It is perhaps rather hilarious that it had the Uchiha clan symbol painted on it before I spraypainted it black. The wrapping around the handle is 1" twill tape. Has a display edge and can't actually cut.

Makeup & Accessories - Probably the most foundation I've ever worn - and it's for a boy. I use a powder foundation slightly lighter than my skintone, color in and thicken my eyebrows with black eyeliner (sealed with hairspray to prevent smudging), and use a nude lipstick sealed with more powder to keep my lips from being rosy. I do use mascara, since my naturally pale eyelashes would look too obvious on a dark-haired character.
For binding, I use two sports bras and a custom binder I made from two bands of 5" thick elastic. Stretched tight, they make me almost completely flat. It's a bit uncomfortable to wear for long stretches, but livable.

Personal Thoughts:

Done for a group cosplay. I would normally pick Shikamaru, since he's my favorite, but he was already taken, so I chose Sai. I do like Sai, though, he's entertaining.

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