For Zuko, I knew that I wanted him to be durable. I always thought that his clothing had to be pretty durable and breathable since the character practically lives in a bush. For this look, I used cottons. They wash easily, flow and breathe.

Much of Prince Zuko is actually hand sewn. At the time, I was working at a historical reenactment park and in order to work on him on the clock, it had to be done with historical accuracy. I was the Deseret Nurse in the pioneer hospital and you can believe I used the skeleton as a dress form.

For his shirt, I used a modified kimono top pattern. His tunic was something that I remember just inventing as I went through trial and error. On the tunic, the mustard colour is hand appliqué while the pants were basic pj pants with pockets.

My proudest moment on Zuko are his shoes. I actually made his shoes by cutting leather and sewing the soles to the rest of the fabric shoe. The boots are canvas that are flatlined to the fashion fabric with an invisible zipper to finish off the look. Then, and now, his shoes were such an important aspect of his costume that I had to have correctly done.

As a makeup artist, his scar is also a highlight for me. Each time I cosplay Zuko, his scar is custom made by me. I do the makeup on myself and while the colors and shape have continuity to them, no two scars are the same. For this effect, the scars are made with liquid latex, cotton and then painted with oil based makeup.