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labricoleuseIn addition to the cage crinolines, which were featured in their own post a few days ago, there were quite a few craftwork projects in the current production of The Illusion, running through May 6th at PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, NC. (The icon is from a candid photo taken at the opening night gala for this show--I think it's my new icon for "Yay, this show is done!" overview-posts!)
Distressing/Aging
We refurbished and distressed this sueded leather work-apron,
worn by the illusionist, Alcandre (Ray Dooley).
This costume for the Amanuensis (Nik Priest) was built new,
but we aged it to look grubby and worn-out.
We also built his leather harness-contraption.
Another view of the distressing on this costume.
Note that he is chained to the wall...
Geronte: Various
For the character of Geronte, played within the context of the show by the Amanuensis (Nik Priest), we had a range of different crafts responsibilities.
Here you can see the white leather belts I built to mimic the
Amanuensis' harness. I also painted and put heel-taps on his shoes.
This soft quilted pillbox with attached braid was one of my projects as well.
Backplate Hardware
In addition to these, the biggest issue for Geronte was this giant ring in the center of his back. Since Geronte was played by the Amanuensis in the show, the designer and director wanted the visual element of this harness (by which the Amanuensis is chained to the wall in Alcandre's workshop) to be present in the costume of Geronte. Here's an idea of how that worked:
Mr. Priest as the Amanuensis had to be chained up by means of a fly harness, for actor safety. This is the ring in the back of that harness, which protruded from the back of his Amanuensis costume. The ruler is for scale.
This is the Geronte ring and plate we created initially, as per the design rendering.
When we started tech, there was some question about whether Geronte's ring was too large, and might we need a smaller ring, and perhaps should it be shinier? So, here is the large gunmetal ring pictured with a second shiny ring appliance we made for comparison. After seeing the smaller one in situ, they went with the larger one.
Here it is on the coat for perspective.
How about some applause to tailor Daniel Weger for that pattern-matching of the brocade motif?
In addition to Geronte's backplate and ring, we also built these funny little plates down the back of this corset.
Cap and Shoes
These were a couple of quick last-minute pieces that were crafts creations, Lyse's maid's cap (played by Allison Reeves) and Matamore's torn-up footwrap shoes (played by Jeffrey Cornell):
There's the little cap!
And here's the only picture of the shoes.
Can't find them? Here, let me illustrate:
Dyeing Shades of White
This is one of my least favorite things in the world, the dyeing of various fabric, trims, linings, and notions shades of white. It can be extremely time consuming and difficult, with wildly unpredictable results. Of course, every costume in the three illusions was some shade of white, so this show had it's fair share of such things. Here are some images of the results:
All the men wore corsets at some point.
All the bone channels, lacing, bindings, etc were custom-dyed.
More man-corsetry.
Still more dude-cincher action.
The ladies had some crazy corsetry with lots of dyed notions as well.
See that kind-of-greyish-white braid down the front of the kind-of-creamish-white vest on the gentleman on the right here? That all was initially the same color, but after it was applied to the vest, the designer decided it should be a contrast instead, so each braid application was hand-painted with fabric paint. And, that brings me to the floral pattern on the center underdress...
Customized Floral Tulle Yardage
The play contains three "plays within a play," the three illusions, and the characters change costumes from one to another, but those costumes are all visually related (hence the man-corsets). One of our major issues was the ingenue (Janie Brookshire)'s dresses in the first two illusions, which had this continuing visual element of a floral motif.
Here is the dress in the first illusion, embroidered with a 5-color floral design. What we needed to do was to translate this design rather generally to tulle yardage from which her second gown would be made, yet do so in a way that was visually more "watered down" and "drained"-looking.
My primary assistant on the show, Emily Mason, made color photocopies of the embroidery motif, which she then laid out on foamcore boards and laminated. This served as our pattern "map".
I did a number of different technique samples, and our designer decided upon which painterly style she preferred.
Then Ms. Brookshire's draper, Erin Korey, threadmarked the pattern pieces onto the tulle, and the design was rendered by myself and overhire painter Grier Coleman. We would paint a large section, peel it up, wipe down the template boards, gently move the fabric, then paint a new section.
Here's how it looked once the dress was finished:
And that's the general overview of what happened for this show! Hope you enjoyed reading about it.
I'll close with my favorite image from the photoset, Jeffrey Cornell as Matamore backed by the clockwork moon. At this point in the play, Matamore has witnessed the murder of his servant, Clindor, by the hotheaded Prince Florilame. Traumatized by what he has seen, Matamore locked himself in the attic to grieve, where he has lived with rats and vermin and subsisted on refuse. He has just emerged, and reflects upon Clindor's murder and the precious, transitory nature of life and one's living of it.
Distressing/Aging
We refurbished and distressed this sueded leather work-apron,
worn by the illusionist, Alcandre (Ray Dooley).
This costume for the Amanuensis (Nik Priest) was built new,
but we aged it to look grubby and worn-out.
We also built his leather harness-contraption.
Another view of the distressing on this costume.
Note that he is chained to the wall...
Geronte: Various
For the character of Geronte, played within the context of the show by the Amanuensis (Nik Priest), we had a range of different crafts responsibilities.
Here you can see the white leather belts I built to mimic the
Amanuensis' harness. I also painted and put heel-taps on his shoes.
This soft quilted pillbox with attached braid was one of my projects as well.
Backplate Hardware
In addition to these, the biggest issue for Geronte was this giant ring in the center of his back. Since Geronte was played by the Amanuensis in the show, the designer and director wanted the visual element of this harness (by which the Amanuensis is chained to the wall in Alcandre's workshop) to be present in the costume of Geronte. Here's an idea of how that worked:
Mr. Priest as the Amanuensis had to be chained up by means of a fly harness, for actor safety. This is the ring in the back of that harness, which protruded from the back of his Amanuensis costume. The ruler is for scale.
This is the Geronte ring and plate we created initially, as per the design rendering.
When we started tech, there was some question about whether Geronte's ring was too large, and might we need a smaller ring, and perhaps should it be shinier? So, here is the large gunmetal ring pictured with a second shiny ring appliance we made for comparison. After seeing the smaller one in situ, they went with the larger one.
Here it is on the coat for perspective.
How about some applause to tailor Daniel Weger for that pattern-matching of the brocade motif?
In addition to Geronte's backplate and ring, we also built these funny little plates down the back of this corset.
Cap and Shoes
These were a couple of quick last-minute pieces that were crafts creations, Lyse's maid's cap (played by Allison Reeves) and Matamore's torn-up footwrap shoes (played by Jeffrey Cornell):
There's the little cap!
And here's the only picture of the shoes.
Can't find them? Here, let me illustrate:
Dyeing Shades of White
This is one of my least favorite things in the world, the dyeing of various fabric, trims, linings, and notions shades of white. It can be extremely time consuming and difficult, with wildly unpredictable results. Of course, every costume in the three illusions was some shade of white, so this show had it's fair share of such things. Here are some images of the results:
All the men wore corsets at some point.
All the bone channels, lacing, bindings, etc were custom-dyed.
More man-corsetry.
Still more dude-cincher action.
The ladies had some crazy corsetry with lots of dyed notions as well.
See that kind-of-greyish-white braid down the front of the kind-of-creamish-white vest on the gentleman on the right here? That all was initially the same color, but after it was applied to the vest, the designer decided it should be a contrast instead, so each braid application was hand-painted with fabric paint. And, that brings me to the floral pattern on the center underdress...
Customized Floral Tulle Yardage
The play contains three "plays within a play," the three illusions, and the characters change costumes from one to another, but those costumes are all visually related (hence the man-corsets). One of our major issues was the ingenue (Janie Brookshire)'s dresses in the first two illusions, which had this continuing visual element of a floral motif.
Here is the dress in the first illusion, embroidered with a 5-color floral design. What we needed to do was to translate this design rather generally to tulle yardage from which her second gown would be made, yet do so in a way that was visually more "watered down" and "drained"-looking.
My primary assistant on the show, Emily Mason, made color photocopies of the embroidery motif, which she then laid out on foamcore boards and laminated. This served as our pattern "map".
I did a number of different technique samples, and our designer decided upon which painterly style she preferred.
Then Ms. Brookshire's draper, Erin Korey, threadmarked the pattern pieces onto the tulle, and the design was rendered by myself and overhire painter Grier Coleman. We would paint a large section, peel it up, wipe down the template boards, gently move the fabric, then paint a new section.
Here's how it looked once the dress was finished:
And that's the general overview of what happened for this show! Hope you enjoyed reading about it.
I'll close with my favorite image from the photoset, Jeffrey Cornell as Matamore backed by the clockwork moon. At this point in the play, Matamore has witnessed the murder of his servant, Clindor, by the hotheaded Prince Florilame. Traumatized by what he has seen, Matamore locked himself in the attic to grieve, where he has lived with rats and vermin and subsisted on refuse. He has just emerged, and reflects upon Clindor's murder and the precious, transitory nature of life and one's living of it.
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