Aladdin: Photos!

And thus, 6 months after Panto finished, I'm finally rounding off my Aladdin series with some photos from the show.  The Mercury ended up selling all the costumes on to Salisbury Playhouse, so if you fancy catching them in action you can do this Christmas as well!

I was really lucky with photos this time, unlike in the previous year when the Slosh wigs were the only ones that got photographed onstage.  

The Pagoda wig and costume in action.  I really like this photo!

The Lampshade wig.

Carmen Miranda.  Luckily there were no issues with fruit falling off during the run. 

The Imperial wig.  One of my favourites.

Slosh wig.  I had to make two 'headscarves' as they need cleaning between shows.  The headscarf slots onto the base and is secured in place with several large poppers. 

Mid- Slosh scene... this is why the Slosh wig needs cleaning...

I didn't actually get any making-of photos for the Juliet Bravo wig, but it was the simplest to do.  The police hat was bought online, then I covered the crown in two layers of white lycra and added the trims and badge.  You can see my previous post for how I do the hair.

Our dame, Ash, was really lovely to work with, and I'm happy to say that he'll be returning for Dick Whittington this year, so no need to alter the padding on my wig block - score!  I'm also especially pleased to have been asked to take over the making of all the Dame costumes in addition to the wigs for this year's show, so I'm really excited for that, especially as I've loved the costume designs I've seen so far.

I've actually already made a start on Panto this year.  Whilst in previous years my wig making schedule was confined to Oct-Nov; this time I've been asked to do a lot more costume work.  I'm currently working onsite until the end of August, and have already made good headway with the Ratty King and Idle Jack costumes.  Next week I'll hopefully get on to figuring out how to make some rat headdresses/masks...  I quite like the idea of giving varaform a go, as that's one thermoplastic I've yet to try.

September through to the end of November I'll be working on Dame (at home, rather than onsite) so I'm going to be busy busy busy for a while.  Hopefully I'll squeeze in a few historical dresses when I can...

Aladdin: Pagoda Costume & Wig

The pagoda costume ended up being the mad-panic-job at the end (there's always one).  Initially I was only making the wig, but about halfway through production I was asked if I'd like to make the structural elements of the costume as well, and I couldn't resist...

Mocking up the collar and skirt in card. 

Finished skirt patterns.

Cassie checking out the fosshape.  For the wig bases I always steam fosshape over a head block, but for the costume panels I stiffened the fosshape first with an iron, before cutting it into the skirt panels and collar.

I'd included an overlap seam allowance on one side of each panel, so they could be secured together with a zigzag stitch.

The pagoda headdress came together fairly similarly.

Here you can see that I glued in a square base on each tier, for the pillars to stand on and support.  The pillars are the kind used in a tiered wedding cake; spray painted red to match the fabric.

All fabric attached.  Most of this had to be pieced together from scraps, as I was very low on fabric by this point.

Trimmed and ready to go!

The completed costume!  Excuse the unpressed dress fabric, these photos were taken about 5 minutes before the courier was due to collect them

The collar attaches to the dress with two poppers in the front, and one at the CB, as well as a hook and eye fastening at the neck.

The skirt has a hidden waistband with a side seam opening, also fastened with poppers.