Costume Designers Log – May 12th, Friday, 2017
To create the templates for the costumes so that I could start creating them as soon as I got the material, I used a cosplay-method adapted from these videos (links below) to create tinfoil and tape patterns that I could stick onto the material and simply cut around to create the pattern that I really wanted. I decided to do this for a few reasons, not least of which being to increase the speed with which I could get the fabric cut out. The first person I tested this out on was Jake Skelton. The process took longer than expected but the result is something I was happy with to use as a template.
The material I initially wanted to use was upcycled burlap sacks to create the costumes. Burlap is a dense material that was featured as the key design element in the film 9 and I felt that it best represented the aesthetic of the piece. Not only this, but using pre-used burlap sacks would have been keeping within the lines of our company as upcycling set and material to create our piece. Unfortunately, the burlap I wanted to order was out of my budget for costumes, and so set designer James and I collaborated on another material that could have accomplished the same effect but been more cost-effective. The result was to use hessian dust sheets that painters and interior decorators would use to prevent marking floors or important furniture, as they were similar in terms of composition to the burlap I originally wanted to use and fit with James’ idea to utilise hessian to construct the heart atop the tree piece.
These are the Hessian sheets we ordered online for the costumes.
The material is less flexible than I initially assumed and is relatively see-through. I will need to take measures or come up with a way to prevent the lights from turning the material completely transparent. One idea I have had is to double layer the hessian, although this is costly and resource intensive, it should prevent the material from becoming transparent under the auditorium lights or any other strong lighting. Another idea I had was to purchase underneath clothes for the costume which would be less resource intensive and definitely opaque however it would increase the cost of the costumes depending on the price of the clothing.
References
– Heroes Workshop / YouTube. Duct Tape Mannequin For Cosplay Costume Building Tutorial. 2011. Web. 12 May 2017.
– Xieng Prod / YouTube. How To Make A Duct Tape Mannequin. 2016. Web. 12 May 2017.