Preparing for Amadeus...
Feb. 12th, 2008 10:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labricoleuseWe're gearing up for our first round of fittings for the final show of the season, Peter Schaffer's Amadeus, and i've got a couple of images to share of some things i've been working on the past couple days...
One of our main concerns is the mens footwear--the show has fifteen male actors, some of whom play multiple roles, and all of whom need period shoes. You basically have three choices for period shoes: buy some from a vendor like Fugawee, rent some, or find a way to make your own. I decided to do some samples for our designer to look at, as how we might go about creating the period men's buckle-shoe look using in-house resources.
modern base shoes and shoe buckles
We have literally dozens of pairs of black leather mens slip-on shoes in our stock, many of which have that blocky "period look" toebox. We also have several pairs of shoe buckles, ornate and plain. With a bit of ingenuity and black leather scraps, I turned the above into the following:
two sample pairs of the altered shoes
We'll then look at these with the costume designer in fittings on some of our actors and see whether this will work.
I've also made a sample mobcap for our servant characters (all the female servants have mobcaps as part of their look). In the fitting, we'll discuss further elements of the shape (length of the ruffle, fullness, whether there's any trim or not), but i went ahead and made a finished mobcap out of a nice batiste as my "mockup," figuring that a finished cap could go into our stock regardless, even if we completely change the look and this particular one isn't used.
A basic mobcap is about the simplest hat pattern ever--a big circle with a casing for an elastic or drawstring:
mobcap mockup before casing is installed
mobcap ready for fitting (bodkin at left)
I put a thin elastic in the channel, but left the ends safety-pinned so that the fullness of the cap can be easily adjusted in fittings when we discuss what the real ones are to be.
These aren't nearly all the crafts projects coming up for Amadeus, but they're the first couple i've had time to write about.
And, i've found yet another costume crafts related blogger out there! Dale Morton of Dale Morton Mascot Studio, a character costume facility located in Hurricane, West Virginia, maintains a fun Costume Blog. Some of his posts are images of costumes he encounters at conventions and shows, and some are about recent costume commissions his studio has produced. Pretty cool!
One of our main concerns is the mens footwear--the show has fifteen male actors, some of whom play multiple roles, and all of whom need period shoes. You basically have three choices for period shoes: buy some from a vendor like Fugawee, rent some, or find a way to make your own. I decided to do some samples for our designer to look at, as how we might go about creating the period men's buckle-shoe look using in-house resources.
modern base shoes and shoe buckles
We have literally dozens of pairs of black leather mens slip-on shoes in our stock, many of which have that blocky "period look" toebox. We also have several pairs of shoe buckles, ornate and plain. With a bit of ingenuity and black leather scraps, I turned the above into the following:
two sample pairs of the altered shoes
We'll then look at these with the costume designer in fittings on some of our actors and see whether this will work.
I've also made a sample mobcap for our servant characters (all the female servants have mobcaps as part of their look). In the fitting, we'll discuss further elements of the shape (length of the ruffle, fullness, whether there's any trim or not), but i went ahead and made a finished mobcap out of a nice batiste as my "mockup," figuring that a finished cap could go into our stock regardless, even if we completely change the look and this particular one isn't used.
A basic mobcap is about the simplest hat pattern ever--a big circle with a casing for an elastic or drawstring:
mobcap mockup before casing is installed
mobcap ready for fitting (bodkin at left)
I put a thin elastic in the channel, but left the ends safety-pinned so that the fullness of the cap can be easily adjusted in fittings when we discuss what the real ones are to be.
These aren't nearly all the crafts projects coming up for Amadeus, but they're the first couple i've had time to write about.
And, i've found yet another costume crafts related blogger out there! Dale Morton of Dale Morton Mascot Studio, a character costume facility located in Hurricane, West Virginia, maintains a fun Costume Blog. Some of his posts are images of costumes he encounters at conventions and shows, and some are about recent costume commissions his studio has produced. Pretty cool!
