Backpack finished!

I'm in a very celebratory mood today, finally I have something to show for all the work I've been putting into this unit!

May I present to thee my finished carnival backpack:

It may not look like much, but a lot of work went into this baby!   This photo's from today's fitting, which went really well.  It fits Immie like a glove, and the unitard fits just fine as well (no zipper in yet though, hence the pinned up back seam!).  I have since made a few minor adjustments, like adding an extra bolt through the bottom of the mdf, and a couple of extra plastazote wedges underneath the aluminium strips.   But anyhoo, tis done now, and that's a real load off my mind.  Now for the complicated part, the puppet structure!

P.S.  I may be nice and post a tutorial for this at some point.  During my own research on backpacks the complete lack of information available over the internet was EXTREMELY irritating.  Thankfully I went to a workshop with Kinetika where I was able to see a couple of their examples, as well as getting a few pages of instructions that I followed to a certain extent.  It's been quite interesting for those of us working on this project to see how differently each of our backpacks have turned out according to our particular design.

Aaaaaghhh

It looks like my dream of creating my very own Sherlock coat will have to be put on hold for a little while, this final unit is taking over my life.
I haven't actually described it on here yet, so here's theh first paragraph from my learning agreement:

For this unit I will design and make a carnival costume for a principle character in the ‘Spirit of the Sea’ Olympic Torch Relay celebrations in Weymouth.  The theme of the event is ‘Oceans of the World’, so I will research this theme and produce a series of designs, one of which will be selected by the carnival committee.  I will then realise this costume for an individual performer in the procession.

Here's my design:

And in colour:

So jaaa, very exciting - but also somewhat daunting.  I've pretty much finalised the design now, and I've spent the last few days putting together the "backpack"; the bit that the whole structure sits on.  It's not until this past week that I've realised just how lacking in 'workshop' knowledge I've been.  I'd never used a drill before, or a riveter, and terms like penny washers, blind rivets, and countersunk screws meant nothing to me.  It's meant that the start of the construction has been frustratingly slow going at times, while I figure out how everything works, but as I get the hang of more and more things it gets more satisfying.  Luckily for me there are three other students in the same boat, so we lend each other moral support for each day we spend in the workshop learning something new.

I need to get the backpack and the unitard (to be worn underneath) ready for a fitting on friday though, and that's got me hyperventilating somewhat.  For a start I'm going to be in London helping out on a costume photoshoot (can't wait to see the pretties!) on wednesday and thursday, so today's the last day I have to get everything ready.  To complicate matters further, the straps haven't turned up yet.  As I said, aaaaaaaghhhh!!!

Wish me luck!

Costume-Making Royalty

So today our visiting lecturer was none other than Jane Law, pretty much a celebrity in her own right in the costume making world.  She and her team have created costumes for everything from Pirates of the Carribean, to the Young Victoria, to more recently W.E and The Iron Lady.  Take a gander at her website and feast your eyes on the pretties!

She had a lot of interesting points to make about making your way in the industry, and there was definately some food for thought there.  One interesting thing she mentioned was that film often allowed for a more collaborative process with the designer than theatre.  This was a surprise, since I'd assumed that as films tend to be bigger, there is a stricter code for who does what, where as in theatre it's more about everyone diving in and working together.  Apparently though, in her experience, theatre/ballet/opera designers tend to have more time and so are more likely to come to you with a beautifully rendered design with little to no flexibility in interpretation, where as for film they'll often turn up with just a bundle of fabrics and other knick knacks, or inspiration pieces hired from Cosprop and turn round and say 'Do your thing, Jane!', giving her a massive freedom to interpret their initial design concept in a far more creative way.  Penny Rose and Jenny Beaven both take this approach a lot.

This led on to a question about whether she felt that designers take too much credit for work that is produced by a whole team of people.  I've often wondered this myself; a quick glance at Jane Law's imdb page shows that she was uncredited for 18 out of the 51 films she has worked on so far.  And she's one of the most prolific costume makers in the country, what about the people that work under her?  Or freelancers that work for themselves?  Do they ever get a name in the credits? It doesn't seem altogether fair, but she didn't seem to mind in the slightest.  Her reasoning was that to be a costume designer takes a lot of tenacity, and that whilst there were a lot of creative people in the industry, not a lot of them had the single mindedness that it takes to make it as a designer.  Designers are the ones having to fight for their idea with producers and money people, and they're the ones in the firing line if everything goes horribly wrong.  It's the thought of the tediousness of all that which makes me shy away from wanting to design for large productions.  I adore designing, but in my own little bubble, and the thought of having to battle every step of the way to get my concepts across seems like far too much effort.  Still, it is a shame that costume makers are so under appreciated by the industry and the world at large.  I must admit that whilst my motivation for becoming a costume maker is the joy of making beautiful things, I would be thrilled to see my name up there in the credits.  It's nice to have a little pat on the back for ones good work.

Anyway, fact of the matter is, credited or uncredited... I want her job.

Chernabog t-shirt

And now for something completely different, here's my hand painted chernabog t-shirt, based on the devil from the Night on Bald Mountain segment in Fantasia.

And the image I based it on:

I sketched it out in chalk on the tshirt, then went over with Tulip fabric paints.  I LOVE it, Night on Bald Mountain is one of my all time favourite pieces of animation ever.

Finished! Photos.

Voila:

It also flows really nicely in the breeze!

I made a little belt to go with it because I was worrying it would turn out too sack-like, but I actually prefer it without.

Sarina's pleased with it, she hasn't seen it finished yet, unfortunately she won't be able to until tomorrow (hand in), but she was very positive about the photos I sent while it was only partially finished.  She thought I'd followed her concept, and the lines of the period well.  She also warned about puckering, and I know there is a bit of that along the waistline.  It's a little frustrating, as I was very careful with it, and used tissue paper underneath.  Overall though, I think my stitching's pretty reasonable for such a tricky fabric.

Back to work!

Righto, work placement done and dusted, now back to work!  We've been given a deadline extension, so I'm feeling less stressed about getting this all done in time now.  I'm also feeling pretty good about myself at the mo, I just got some glowing feedback from the people at Prangsta Costume!  Apparently I've proved to be one of their 'most competent and reliable' work experience students, and, coming from a company that takes on about 400 students a year, that's quite a compliment!

I've been having issues with some of my emails not getting through to Sarina (outlook apparently doesn't like big pictures), but we seem to be on the same page at last.  Here's the flyer for the exhibition my dress is going to used in.  I'm not entirely sure how the design relates to Brighton, but the pressure's on now to get it to that museum quality standard!

Sarina's planning on making a shawl to go with the dress too.  I'll be taking it into uni on monday for her to see, so the plan is to have it completely sewn up by then.  We can then discuss whether it needs beading detailing or not, and I can find out more about this shawl.  Now that the deadline's not til wednesday, I might just have time to put in the beading before Hand In.  We'll see.

I've been working on putting my Supervisor's Bible for the Circus Project together whilst I've been in London, but that still needs a few finishing touches before wednesday too.

Off to London..

I’m a bit annoyed at myself for not being further along with the dress than I am now.  I’ve come to London to do my second work placement, so I’ve only got a weekend left on the dress, and it’s still in two pieces.  I know PoP managed to eat into much more of my time last week than I’d originally anticipated, but it’s still frustrating to know that I’ve got all that work sitting at home waiting for me when I get back.

The second half of this unit has really been about organising my own time perfectly, so I could be at a comfortable stage before my placement, and I’ve only managed that so-so.  I can still be finished for hand in, but there’s not a lot of space there for mistakes, I need to be really regimented with my time in that final weekend to get this dress up to the standard I want it.