As some of you know, Meowth is my favorite Pokemon. As soon as I started this Pokemonbounding series, I knew I had to do a Meowth look, and what better a time to don one than for the biggest Pokemon event of the year, Pokemon GO Fest? I'll tell you a little more about my GO Fest experiences in a few, but first let's talk about the look, since that's probably what you came here for. Also, if you're wondering about my Meowth plushie, I have the template and directions for making it in this blog post.
Like with my Gastly Pokemonbound, I created a video tutorial for crafting the look. However, I did also remember to snag some photos of the construction process for the ears, so this time you get both a written/photo tutorial and a video tutorial. I also ended up changing the size of the ears and the coin partway through because they felt too small, so the finished product will look a little different from the construction pictures. Here's the video, and keep scrolling for the photo tutorial as well as some more photos of the look.
DIY Meowth Ears
Materials:
*Cream colored headband
*Cream colored felt
*Black felt
*Light brown felt
*All purpose or fabric adhesive
*Gold cardstock
*Scissors
Directions:
*Print out three copies of the Meowth ears template, given below. Because the template pieces overlap, you'll need one copy for each shape (ears, whiskers/antennae, and coin). To make sure you're printing at the right scale (it should take up an entire sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper), place the headband you're using for this project over the headband shape in the template. The two should be roughly the same size.
*Cut out the following template items from felt (shown below): two copies of the full ear shape in black, two copies of the inner ears in light brown, six copies of the whisker shape in cream, and the coin shape in black. You'll also want to cut out a copy of the coin shape from gold cardstock.
*Glue the gold coin piece over top the black coin piece. The black felt backing makes the cardstock a little easier to work with.
*Cut out four thin strips of black felt and glue them over the coin to make it look like the coin Meowth wears on their head.
*Glue the inner ear pieces to the outer ear pieces.
*Glue the ears to the headband.
*Glue the whiskers/antennae to the headband. I forgot to take a picture of this stage, but see the completed headband picture at the top of this section for reference.
*Glue the coin to the center of the headband. See the completed headband picture at the beginning of this section for reference.
*Once the glue has dried, bend up the bottom of the coin a little. This way the headband will lie flat against your head when you wear it.
More Photos and Pokemon GO Fest Day 1
If you've seen the video already, then you know my inspiration for this look, but if not, here's what I was thinking. I picked the dress for a couple of reasons. The gold sequins on top look kind of like coins, and Meowth is all about coins. They have a couple of coin throwing moves, and of course have a coin on their head. The tulle on bottom is a brownish color, which is a big reason why this had been lingering at the back of my closet, but that worked out perfectly for this look since Meowth has brown feet and a brown tail. I decided to finish the look with gold accessories because of Meowth's affinity for coins.
My attack animation. I am, after all, dressing up in the style of the scratch cat Pokemon.
And now for some AR photos :)
I kept trying to hold my hand like a cat holds its paw. So if you're wondering why I'm holding my hand weirdly, it's because I was trying to imitate Meowth.
Now on to Pokemon GO Fest. It was great for me that GO Fest was virtual this year, because that meant that I finally was able to participate. I was so excited for the day that when GO Fest started and I got the welcome message from Professor Willow, I almost cried. I dragged Brian out a little after nine that morning so we could get pictures before GO Fest started.
I set my buddy to Meowth for the day, and we managed to pull Team Mystic Leader Blanche away from their research long enough to snap a few pics. Yes, I assembled a life sized Blanche for GO Fest. I plan to write a post on the indoor decorations I made for the event (mostly the printables provided by Pokemon GO) sometime in the not too distant future.
After that, we headed down to the gardens for a few more pics. Blanche stayed behind to conduct more research.
My feet were kind of covered up in some of the previous pictures, but in the picture above you can see my shoes. I opted for brown ones to try to match Meowth's feet. These ones were maybe a little dark, but I think they worked well enough.
I had decent luck with Day 1, and ended up finding 10 shinies, including this shiny Swablu pictured below. I had been looking for one for ages, so it was nice to finally get one. I played basically for all 10 hours, although there were a few points during the day when I was not actively looking at my phone.
My diploma arrived that evening, so here I am, holding my physics Ph.D. diploma while dressed as Meowth. Because of course I am.
Oh, and I painted my nails for GO Fest. I opted for a gold polish followed by a gold chunky glitter top coat. The gold glitter flakes reminded me a bit of coins, so it seemed fitting.
I had a lot of fun with Day 1 of Pokemon GO Fest. Next week I'll share my look from Day 2, as well as tell you a little bit about the Day 2 experience. It was nice being able to finally participate in GO Fest for real, and not just in the little ways that non-ticket holders get to participate. I hope in the future that even after big gatherings are able to be held safely again, Niantic retains a virtual ticket option, so that those of us who can't travel can still enjoy the fun.
