-galadriel

unwearable

Year finished: 2003

To Do: nothing

Updates since last photo: n/a

Inspiration: Galadriel under the influence of the One Ring

In 2003 I was working on my Black Diamonds costume and had hoped to wear it to the Armageddon Cosplay Contest in Auckland that year. Time crept up and beading takes the time it takes.

So I decided to try for a simpler but slightly unexpected costume and test some old theatre techniques at the same time.

The gown was made from several different sheer fabrics, a crepe, an embroidered chiffon, etc. The layers are only in the exposed areas. Under the armour was a single layer of fabric to reduce bulk.

The armour was made from felt soaked in glue.

The above was a test of the original formulation- PVA/White glue and felt. It was slightly too brittle for such a long piece. I eventually used a solvent based glue, which was more durable but still bent and broke the point.

The original method involves soaking felt in a water and glue mixed. The felt is then able to draped to almost any shape and cures to firmness. Further layers of glue are painted on to soften the texture and provide gloss.

To note, this method does very much depend on the quality of glue and felt to succeed. A good wool-rayon felt will drape and fit most curves, and a good flexible PVA will also give additional support.

I was inspired by this to work with fibreglass and fabric- while looking up information on fibreglass and fabric I learned that this is a well established techinque in customing car interiors- especially for speakers. The fabric is stretched over a form and is soaked in resin. This is too brittle to last and so layers of fibreglass tissue and cloth is used.

I decided to use simple polymer clay to create the brooch and leaves of the necklace piece.

The brooch was painted with acrylic paints then sealed with a nail polish with an iridescent pink glow.

And then finally I stepped into SFX by casting my ears in plaster, sculpting ears and casting those in gelatin.

I was on a very tight budget, this entire costume was intended to fit within that, and so made my own play dough from flour and water instead of using silicone to capture an impression of my ears. I used cheap plaster to cast the ears and used some more of the same polymer clay to sculpt the ears.

 

-eowyn funeral

Status: Unwearable

Year finished: 2004

To Do: nothing

Updates since last photo: n/a

Inspiration: Eowyn’s mourning gown

In 2004 I had really caught the cosplay bug. Not everyone was as enthusiastic for non anime costumes in the contest at the time, but I was pretty determined to enter! It was a great chance to get on stage and do small performances given how hard it is to dedicate time and energy to a full production with a chronic degenerative disease.

For this I had practiced Eowyn’s chant to perform live. Slightly nerve wracking but also again an opportunity to do so that I wasn’t able to before.

I entered this costume in the same manner as my Galadrial costume- a costume that was fun to make. I had intended to recycle the gown and cloak to be used in the SCA but I never had the time to line the gown.

The base gown was patterned after gowns in Flemish tapestries. So it differed from the original costume in a few ways. I also wasn’t really willing to stamp the velveteen with a pattern as I was not aware at the time of any stamped velvet in the early 16th century.

The rest of the ensemble was made from a crinkled shot taffeta that looked steely blue. Each piece was made separately and finished.

I painted an existing brooch gold, used a length of chain and wired smaller plaques into hoop shaped plaque belt pieces.

The shoulder brooches were made from craps of leather, celtic knots, and wired brass beads. The circlet was woven in fencing wire with small flowers wired over with blue glass beads.

-eowyn white wool

 

Status: unwearable

Year finished: 2003

To Do: n/a

Updates since last photo: n/a

Inspiration: Eowyn’s white wool gown

When The Two Towers came out I was very excited to see Eowyn. This gown was another simpler take, using fabrics that were locally available and recycling fabrics. I wore this to a Lord of the Rings themed picnic which was organised at the Domain.

The tiny kitty is Bolero, my companion for 13 years.

This costume was one of my early forays into hand finishing, every practice is experience earned.

I didn’t have time to finish the belt before the event, but I then was able to cover strips of fabric with braid.

more doing

Today I finally managed to edit some pages on my site with better photos of older costumes. There are a few photos missing so I need to hunt them down.

But yesterday I got my mannequin sanded clean and today got tape on her.

I’m pretty sure this one will happen. It’s going to use skills I have but that I haven’t used in a while. And I will also be trying to use my cutting machine to create the fabric texture. But I want a good heavy spandex to start with.

I kind of love the unused physical suit, but the horns are even bigger than in the film and the cape much longer. But they are so nice.