labricoleuse: (shoes!)
This fall, the graduate course i teach is called "Decorative Arts," which basically indicates that it covers crafts-related topics which don't neatly fall into the other three course topics of Millinery/Wigs, Masks/Armor, and Dyeing/Surface Design. We start out with gloves, then progress to shoes. We cover jewelry, then parasols, and lastly discuss body padding and other projects in a unit called "reshaping the actor."

And, the students also do a hypothetical project in which they propose and solve a crafts-related engineering project (usually something involving macropuppetry, like a four-person elephant, but sometimes something like "inflatable Lysistrata phalluses" or "the growing bird tail in Seussical"). For this project, once their general concept is proposed and accepted, i give them a venue size and budget range, and they do all the research and development--materials sourcing, drafting construction plans, creating a half-scale model or a miniature mechanism, and labor projections. Basically, they get to the point where they'd start making the real deal, but due to time and budget restraints, we don't actually build them.

One of the things i totally love about the cycle of teaching these courses is, it allows me to regularly revisit specific crafts-related topics on a biennial basis, even if it's something that hasn't come up in a stage context in the interim. Before i began teaching, my work was tied to the programming of the company for which i worked (i.e., if we weren't doing any shows with masks in them, i wasn't making them). Each time a course topic comes around, i have the opportunity to comb the library stacks for related books. It keeps me on my game, as it were.

There are a couple of "general overview" books i've not mentioned in this blog before which i'm going to be using as potential project references for students, Fashion Accessories since 1500 by Geoffrey Warren, and the eponymous Fashion Accessories: The Complete 20th Century Sourcebook by John Peacock. Warren's book, published in 1987, is very similar to the hand-illustrated The Mode in... historical references produced by R. Turner Wilcox. (We use her book, The Mode in Footwear, as another class resource this semester.) He divides it into chapters by century beginning with the 16th, each one a general sort of collage of detailed drawings of shoes, gloves, hats, handbags, canes, and so forth, interspersed with little blurbs of text. It's not thorough or comprehensive, but it's a decent enough resource for a very broad overview. Peacock's volume, published in 2000, is much the same, except its drawings are rendered in color, and its blurbs are less detailed--Peacock's text would feature a drawing with a caption that said simply "Lace jabot," while Warren's might say something like, "collarette of lace, net, and silk ribbon."

I mentioned a few glove books in this prior post, but another resource i picked up for potential project images is Valerie Cummings' Gloves, part of the costume accessories series edited by Dr Aileen Ribeiro. These are slim volumes (under 100 pages usually) on specific fashion accessories, discussing history, trends, applicable vocabulary terms, and full of both color and B&W photographs of several examples both period and modern.

Another great book in that series is Jeremy Farrell's Umbrellas and Parasols. Since the course is about making these things, i require my students to buy my parasol construction text, but it doesn't have a lot of historical research images on which to base their projects, so Farrell's text is a good supplement.

I led an independent study in footwear alteration and construction some years back, and at that time posted an extensive list of shoe book reviews. I've got three more to add this time around, as well.

If you have perused a lot of shoe books, you do wind up seeing the same historical examples depicted in them, volume to volume. Lucy Pratt and Linda Woolley's Shoes does contain a fair number of color photos, but many of the shoes are familiar from the Shoe a Day calendar and Mary Trasko's Heavenly Soles. Unlike the calendar and Trasko's book (which is essentially a coffeetable flip-book), it's got a lot of well-researched text augmenting the images, historical info and trend analysis of previous eras and construction commentary.

Joy of joys, am i glad to have found Norma Shephard's In Step with Fashion: 200 Years of Shoe Styles! This book is to shoes what Susan Langley's Vintage Hats and Bonnets is to hats--not only is it full of nicely color-photographed period and vintage shoes (and not ones you've seen in five other books on the topic), but the footwear photos are augmented by period advertisements, daguerreotype portraits with prominently featured footwear, images and info on related topics like hosiery, socks, and even shoeboxes! This book only just came out in 2008, so it's fairly new.

Stepping Out: Three Centuries of Shoes is a full size glossy 95-page exhibit catalogue that was published to accompany the exhibit of the same name at Australia's Powerhouse Museum. Much like the Shephard book, it also contains reproductions of period advertisements, photos, and paintings related to the shoes (which are also shown in full color photos), and is peppered with great historical information. This is another 2008 publication as well. Guess it was a good year for shoe books!

To peruse some past projects for this class and read book reviews from previous posts on related topics, you can check out the "class: decorative arts" tag in the sidebar. And, i've got a full class of six students (with a potential overenrollment of a seventh, depending on paperwork coming through for her) so there will be lots of cool projects to look forward to this time around! I'm wondering whether anyone will rise to the pattern-matching challenge of [livejournal.com profile] handyhatter's parasol... :D
labricoleuse: (CAD)
Wow, two weeks since i last updated! I think that's a record for the amount of time this blog has lain fallow.

Part of that's due to the fact that one of my current freelance jobs is not something i'm cleared to write about at all for industry confidentiality reasons. (Wow, doesn't that sound mysterious? It's not something on the level of, "I could tell you, but then i'd have to kill you," i swear! It's just not something i can post about online in public fora.)

But, part of it also is due to a course i'm taking right now, a CAD course aimed at fashion and textiles industry folk over at NC State's Textiles college. NC State's College of Textiles is one of the best in the world--they teach it all, from design to manufacture, and their facilities have a range of state-of-the-art equipment and brand-new technology. This summer, they're offering their introductory CAD for Apparel class, which you normally have to take on-site during a regular semester. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take it, but it's like "CAD on steroids" or something--we're doing 14 weeks of learning in only 5 weeks, so to say that it takes up a lot of my time would be an understatment. However, what i'm learning is invaluable and excellent, and today, i'd like to talk about it a bit!

When many folks talk about "CAD," they actually mean the program AutoCAD, which is heavily used in many industries for a variety of applications (for example, it's pretty much replaced hand-drafting of plans and blueprints in architecture). I've posted in the past about a few options for commercial CAD software aimed at garment-makers, in fact.

The term CAD though is an overall acronym which stands for Computer-Aided Design, and in this course, we're addressing a whole range of programs applicable to different steps in the design process, from compilation of initial research, to rendering of garment designs, to patterning the garments themselves, to establishing efficient cutting layouts. The info is of course all presented in a fashion-industry context, but I'm looking at it all with an eye to how we could utilize elements of their technology for our own purposes in costume production.

I've always suspected that Adobe Illustrator would be of great use to costume designers, particularly in a case where you need to crank out a huge number of design renderings...like, oh, say, for [livejournal.com profile] nicknickleby? Sure enough, from the work i've done recently learning to use it for apparel applications, my suspicions are confirmed. If i were a designer, i'd definitely start building a library of digital croquis files and garment shapes, because the sketch-up of initial renderings would be such a breeze, and would create images that could be emailed to directors and design teams and shop staffs in a trice, without worrying about whether a scanner would pick up all the nuances of some jacked-up pencil scribbles or whatev.

We've been focusing on using Illustrator to create apparel flats, which are basically those little images on the backs of sewing patterns which detail the front and back of the garment, showing all the seamlines and major design details.

I started out doing the simple garment styles in a series of textbook projects, like these flats of a tank and long-sleeved knit top:

click for images )

In the course of converting these files to small enough JPGs to make sense on a webpage, some of the clarity of line detail was lost, but i think you can still get a good idea of what they are. I initially had converted them to PDFs, which retained all the detail and would be great to email to a design team, in that they could be printed out if need be and distributed to drapers and would be exactly the clarity desired.

That textbook i mentioned is Fashion Computing: Design Techniques and CAD, by Sandra Burke, from FashionBooks.info.

It's a really good introductory text for learning about garment rendering techniques and covers a range of different programs--not only Illustrator, but also the same techniques in CorelDRAW and Freehand, as well as a bunch of info on using other programs for garment design and construction processes. It walks you through methods for creating a whole range of garment illustrations for women, men, and children, and gives you tips for how to create different style and fabrication looks (like how to render drapey folds, or insert a pattern or print).

So! If you are an utter beginner and want to start using a vector-based drawing program like Illustrator, CorelDRAW, or Freehand to help with rendering, it's a great book to pick up, and the price point is low for a textbook (about $30), which, given that purchasing the program itself will set you back a couple hundred, is a boon.


You know, I was really struck in the course of this section of the class by the fact that, in the costume design and production process, we sometimes don't even have the apparel-flat step, going instead from the stylized rendering directly into the mockup or "sample garment." Maybe a draper will talk about seamlines and construction details in an initial conversation with a designer about renderings, or ask for a more detailed sketch of an element of a garment. Maybe a designer will provide those details in her/his initial rendering even, or send some research pictures noting seamline placements. But, in general, it's a missing step in our process, and how much miscommunication and waste of time and muslin could be avoided were we to begin to incorporate it?

Whether it be that a designer or design assistant sits down with the stylized renderings and bangs out apparel flats in Illustrator before turning in the designs to the shop, or that a draper evaluates a stack of assigned renderings and generates a few quick flats for the purposes of style-line and seam-placement discussion BEFORE going into mockup fabric, it seems like this technology could be of such help to our industry. Because, seriously, once you grasp the way the program works and how to draw flats with it, you can just crank them out in a few minutes! Okay, more than a few for a more complex garment, sure, but still, much faster than sketching by hand, scanning, and tweaking the sketch in Photoshop, and definitely much faster than draping or drafting a mockup and stitching it up in muslin.

I think it's one of those cases like safety regulations--chalk it up to ignorance on behalf of the average theatre practitioner, not willful negligence. The fashion industry and professional costume production have largely diverged, and because of our lower budgets, much smaller production quantities, and lack of access to new fashion technology trends, we're at an innovational disadvantage. But you know, that's one reason i really wanted to take this course: more of us need to cross over there, pick and choose from what they've developed and try to pull some of it into our industry, too.

We're moving into pattern development software so i plan to post about that experience soon, too, and we'll also be covering textile print design and digital portfolio creation, so that's on the horizon as well. And, i do have a millinery post or two brewing, hopefully coming in the next coupla weeks, about this exciting trio of hats i'm making on a bid job for the Williamstown Theatre Festival!
labricoleuse: (silk painting)
In the first post on this exhibit, i covered the wearable art/accessories and their "Studio Art" category. This post concentrates more on the works shown that took their compositional cues from traditional quilt patterns and sizes.

lots of images )
labricoleuse: (silk painting)
First, the job posting--since i've been such the gloom-monger about theatres closing in the news, i'd feel remiss if i didn't help propogate this *excellent* job opportunity. No less than four former colleagues have forwarded it to me, and to be honest, if i weren't planning to operate with the Triangle as my "home base" for at minimum five more years, i'd apply in a heartbeat.

Essentially, budgetary restructuring has resulted in a change-up at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, MN. They used to have a separate painter/dyer and crafts artisan/milliner--two jobs, two employees. Now though, they're combining those two positions into a single one. The Guthrie is a heavy-hitter in regional theatre, with it's brand-new (as of 2006) facility featuring three stages, on which they produce a range of productions from musicals to Shakespeare to new works and world premieres. They do between 7 and 13 shows a year, including an annual Christmas Carol and usually at least one touring show. Working there would mean a wide range of different works, with world-class designers, directors, and performers.

You can read the full job posting here, if you're interested. The job's through their local IATSE so figure on union benefits and payscale.

* * * * *


Last month, Peace College in Raleigh hosted the North Carolina 2009 Quilt Symposium, and--being a huge fan of all areas of fiber art, particularly quilts--I headed down there to check it out.

I think i'm especially drawn to the medium of quilting for the same reasons i'm drawn to the profession of crafts artisanship. Quilting comes from a rich panoply of histories, its techniques and styles couched in such a diversity of cultures, from the solid geometry of the Amish tradition, to the graphic strip-piecing of Gee's Bend, to the intricate complexity of Hawaiian applique. It's both an art and a craft, a blend of skill, inspiration, and practicality, and is usually the province of women artists. It can be improvisational or mathematical or both, and--like theatre--engenders collaboration and community.

Isn't the cooperative nature of a quilting bee, a round-robin, or a block-swap similar, conceptually, to a theatre production? Groups of artists come together to coordinate the production of quilts, to gather in guilds for inspiration and collaboration. At the Symposium, rarely did i see a work produced by only one pair of hands--most all involved at least two artists (one who pieced the top and another who quilted the layers), often more. And like theatre artists, quilt artists seem particularly drawn to participating actively in their communities through their work, holding benefit raffles for local charities or creating works for specific causes (such as making comfort quilts for hospitalized children or valor quilts for returning soldiers).

The Symposium was so extensive, I'm going to split the coverage into two posts, the first of which will be images of wearables, accessory design (there was a handbag competition and silent auction), and what they categorized in their competition breakdown as "Studio Art"--free-form wallhanging-scale works often featuring 3D elements or specialized techniques like photo-transfer. The second post (probably coming tomorrow) will focus on larger-scale works which often utilize traditional patterns or specific recognized styles of execution. Admittedly, i didn't come close to photographing the entire thing--there were hundreds of pieces on display. I didn't stick to "ribbon winners" or anything either; i took pictures based on the criteria of whether i felt inspired to respond to an artwork or some element struck me as worth documenting.

Peace College itself was a striking setting for the symposium--it's a beautiful historical liberal-arts women's college, an intimate campus of striking old architecture and classical gardens of shade trees and foliage in bloom.

Read more... )
labricoleuse: (history)
This past Saturday, i had the opportunity to visit the National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, TN, which is (according to their press info) the only museum in the US "devoted to the preservation and promotion of fine metalwork."

A friend and i toured their two exhibition spaces, sculpture gardens, and working smithy--i wasn't able to take photos in the galleries, but i did get some shots in the gardens and smithy to share (further down the post).

The current exhibit in the main gallery is "The New Steel v2," an expanded and updated version of a previous, smaller show featuring contemporary work in the medium of steel. The show features everything from furniture and architectural installations (like doors and fencework) to wearable art, sculpture, and fine jewelry set with precious stones. The exhibit had several standout pieces, such as a glass "reliquary" with a metal tree growing from it, and a huge watering can/teapot shape made from riveted "Free AOL CD" cases cut into ornametal shapes. A kinetic donation-taking robot sculpture was located near the gift shop, a squat kettle on legs with a lever which, when pulled, extended a little brass dish, like a beggar; we put in all kinds of money just for the fun of operating the little guy.

My main criticism of the steel exhibit was the relatively slipshod display methods. Several pieces were displayed in glassed-in alcoves, poorly lit and with no rear mirrors to allow access to the rear views of the works. The necklace featured on the website ("Preciousness Necklace" by Sharon Massey) was in a box just hanging from a central hook, which gave no hint as to how it would look which actually worn--something i feel is of integral import when viewing wearables.

One exhibit was missing with no note as to why--since its empty space was displayed uncovered and unsecured next to another piece by the same artist, a scrollwork steel posture collar with a hasp, we wondered whether someone had just stolen it right off the wall. My friend mentioned it to the guy in the gift shop; he told us that someone had knocked it off the wall and damaged it the day before. Wonder how the artist felt about that? :/

The museum also has a library of works on metalsmithy, not just books but also catalogues, videos, periodicals, diagrams, etc., all of which are housed on its upper floor. In the library's first floor, there's a second exhibit, Michael Dale Bernard's "Tributaries." Bernard takes iconographic industrial imagery (think airplane evacuation card illustrations, and you've got the gist of the style) and superimposes them over baroque swirls and vines...all cut from bright enameled metal and riveted together to make wearable brooches. I'm normally not a fan of that sort of postmodern collage work, but these were unusually compelling and fun, and reminded me of the kind of imagery and design sensibility found in the work of Bethany Shorb of Cyberoptix.

Between the main gallery and the library lies the sculpture garden, which i was able to photograph. I'm ashamed to say that i neglected to record the names of all the artists whose work i photographed. Lame, lame. If anyone recognizes any of the pieces, please let me know! I need to make sure i always have a notepad with me in future.

sculpture garden photos )

Oh, and why, you might ask, did i even find myself in Memphis last weekend? It's a long story, i guess, but the quick answer is, i've got some millinery-influenced sculptures in an upcoming art exhibit in Knoxville, TN, and some time between when i needed to drop off the artwork (last Friday) and the opening of the exhibit (this Sunday), so i'm traveling around Tennessee in the interim.

While in Memphis, i also went to the Stax Museum in Soulville, which is quite possibly the best museum in Memphis, period. It's not terribly topical for [livejournal.com profile] labricoleuse, but man, i cannot gush enough about what a great museum it is. Though i will say, on-topic, they have some fine stage costumes on display (highlights: a jacket with a 24" tall embroidered portrait of Isaac Hayes on the back, a black velvet suit with green metallic pinstripes, and two pairs of custom-made stage loafers with cast lucite lift heels), in addition to all the amazing music, video, and photography. And they aren't kidding when they say that you WILL dance through the museum.

But anyhow, i need to check out of my hotel and hit the road (today i'm going to visit some mask artisans on the Cherokee reservation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park). More later, y'all!
labricoleuse: (Default)
Today, i'm so excited to bring something completely new to La Bricoleuse: my first guest blogger!

An old friend and colleague, Trystan L. Bass (lj user [livejournal.com profile] trystbat), recently had the wonderful opportunity to visit couture milliner Stephen Jones' hat exhibit at London's Victoria & Albert Museum. She graciously agreed to write up the experience for me to share here!

Trystan is a writer with a consuming passion for travel and costume, and one half of the travel-media team at T & T's Real Travels (look for their forthcoming DVD on Carnivale in Venice, slated for release later this summer). She is a longtime active member of the Greater Bay Area Costumers' Guild, has set foot on all seven continents, and won "Best in Show" with the Empress Eugenie group at Costume-Con 26's Historical Masquerade.


* * *


A hat is "the cherry on the cake, the dot on the 'i,' the exclamation mark" for an outfit, in the words of British couture milliner Stephen Jones. Likewise, I've often felt a costume isn't complete without something on my head. Whether a wild wig or a plumed chapeau, a headdress calls attention to the face and makes a fantasy or historical costume more personal. In modern fashion, interesting hats have become rare and they make the wearer stand out. The latest special exhibit at London's Victoria & Albert Museum combines all these threads of millinery fascination, sprinkles them with a dash of context, and tops them off a blast of whimsy.

"Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones" is an exhibit of over 350 hats, both historical items from the V&A's vast collection and modern pieces from Jones and other, mostly British, designers. If you're looking for a strict history of hats, you'll be sadly disappointed. Read the title: This is an "anthology," not a catalog or a chronicle.

Also note it's "by Stephen Jones," so it's one person's specific take on the subject. And it's one truly fabulous person too. From new romantic 1980s roots (his breakthrough was a hat for Boy George in the video for "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?"), Jones regularly works with couture houses like Christian Dior, Thierry Mugler, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Commes de Garcons, and John Galliano.

The exhibit is arranged into four areas. You enter into "Inspiration," where hats are grouped by style and material. One of the first cases features hats that compare historical shapes with modern ones. Elegant silk18th-century bicorns and tricorns sit next to one of the battered leather tricorns worn by Johnny Depp in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. Stephen Jones' "Carnival" tiny tricorn made of sheer organza with fuzzy pom-poms dangling is arranged next to these to show the progression of shapes. A 17th-century samurai helmet is displayed next to Darth Vader's helmet from "Star Wars" -- the inspiration is obvious. Vivienne Westwood's "Harris Tweed" crown is shown near a glittery tiara. A variety of turbans from India, the 1940s, and today display how timeless the style is.

Another large case features hats made of natural materials. Hats have long been made of straw and natural fabrics or trimmed with feathers and fur. But this display showed hats constructed of many more materials found in the natural world. For example, there was a bird-shaped hat made by Jones from wooden lollipop sticks for Galliano's 1996 collection and another by Jones made from bulrushes in 1993 called his "Kon-tiki hat." Looking farther back, there was a WWII-era hat made of lacquered wood shavings – a beautiful illustration of making do in a time of shortages.

The center of the exhibition was titled "Creation," and it allowed a peek into the milliner's world. Jones' own design studio was recreated, complete with overflowing drawers of supplies, sketches of new designs, and hats in progress.

Beyond this was an area called "The Salon," a little bit of a historical hat shop and partly an ode to the process of purchasing the perfect hat. Particularly charming was the display of vintage hat boxes.

The final section of the exhibit was "The Client." Here you could see hats of famous people, plus video screens to show those very hats being worn by their owners. The golden feather hat ornament worn by of the then Camilla Parker Bowles at her wedding to Prince Charles was on display. Nearby was a modest lavender plumed hat from the Queen Mother. More adventurous chapeaus worn by the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker and Bjork.

Many (although sadly not all) of the exhibition's hats are shown on the V&A's special website for the anthology. Make sure to explore every section of the site to catch all of the beautiful features, such as 360-degree views of select hats, video interviews, a video showing Jones' signature Union Jack top hat being made, and much more.

The companion book to the exhibit – written by V&A curator of modern fashion and textiles, Oriole Cullen – shows even more (but again, not every last hat). The book is also something of a biography of Stephen Jones, but it places his work in context of millinery in the past 200 years. This is fascinating reading for students of fashion history and especially for anyone interested in the current state of haute couture accessories. The photos are exquisite, ranging from museum displays to fashion shows to vintage illustrations. The book includes a fine hat-related bibliography and brief biographies of prominent milliners dating back to Rose Bertin.

The exhibit, website, and book are each a bit different, and they naturally compliment each other. Ideally, hat lovers would indulge in all three. But if you can't see the exhibit in person, make a point of spending time with the website and consider buying the book (which is available from amazon.com and other retailers worldwide). These are treasures for fans of modern millinery.

Trystan L. Bass

* * *


As for me, I won't make it to England to see the exhibit, but i do own a copy of the book, which is available on the V&A webshop, here: http://www.vandashop.com/section.php?xSec=262

They also carry a number of related products, from actual hats to hat-print scarves and notebooks, brooches, etc. I was in need of a project notebook, so i splurged on the little composition book covered with Mr. Jones' design sketches.

I feel certain that the next time millinery class comes around, some folks will be looking to this book for project references!
labricoleuse: (milliner)
So, i'm FINALLY getting around to my second half of the millinery book reviews. (If you are in a book-review-reading mood, you can find all my previous ones by clicking on the "books" tag in the sidebar--that'll take you to a whole mess of previous posts of book reviews on costume craft artisanship topics!) Here we go!


Paper books (as opposed to digital books):


Reconstruction Era Fashions: 350 Sewing, Needlework, and Millinery Patterns by Frances Grimble.

This book isn't just specifically hats--it's all sorts of garments and accessories from 1867-1868, taken from ladies magazine sources of the period and "translated" into scalable, constructable, concise pattern pieces with description and discussion of each piece. In it are included a large range of caps, hats, hoods, and bonnets, with detailed information on the materials used. I went through it specifically looking for bonnet and hat info, but it is also an invaluable resource for ladies clothing construction info of the time as well.


The Mode in Hats and Headdress by R. Turner Wilcox (Ruth Turner Wilcox, that is, mother of the painter Ruth Wilcox Dawes).

This is another resource text by the author of The Mode in Footwear, The Mode in Furs, and The Mode in Costume, all of which are long out of print. Wilcox has done exhaustive period research and augments her historical overview with hand-drawn examples of hundreds of actual hats and hairstyles. The book is broken down into time-spans going back as far as the ancient world. It's not a primary source--all headwear shapes are filtered through the eye of the ilustrator, of course--but it's a great overview and wonderful for project inspiration in my class. One of my students is making a hat out of there for her first project, and i predict she won't be the only one to use it this semester.


Philip Treacy, edited by Elena Carotti and Debbie Bibo.

This is a slim volume of mostly photographs featuring not only Treacy's hats but the hatblocks and other equipment he uses to make them; it's essentially an exhibit catalog that went along with a traveling installation of his hats and blocks. What text there is is presented in both English and Italian, and the book is worth its cost alone for the opportunity to see candidly inside Treacy's workspaces (which are messy!).



E-books by How2Hats.com:


Sinamay 1 & 2
Finishing Touches
How to Make Stitched Strip Hats

First, some overview info. How2Hats.com has a summer e-book sale every August, where all their titles are 50% off. If any of these interest you, now is the time to buy them!

That said, when i purchased these they were having cart issues and i initially was charged via PayPal but then directed to a screen saying that the funds were insufficient for download permission (presumably due to having paid half the regular price). I emailed them about the situation and it was swiftly and apologetically rectified; hopefully they've fixed the glitch, but if not, don't be concerned that you have been ripped off. They'll make it right and get you your e-books.

The books are supposedly published by "The Wombourne School of Millinery," but if that is an actual institution teaching courses in real-time (and not just what they are calling themselves for the purpose of writing and publishing instructional texts) i could find no info online about how one might register or enroll. They publish a free newsletter which you can sign up for on their site, but don't be too tempted by the "free e-book" unless you want to see just the general layout and setup of what the actual instructional ones are like--the free book is mostly millinery cheerleading with a few photos of modern hand-blocked hats. It's a teaser, intended to inspire you to purchase their titles.


Sinamay 1

38 pages long with generally two full-color illustrative photographs on each page, outlining a method for blocking hats with sinamay straw. This one's quite useful, nice to see clear images and straightforward directions, and tips on working with sinamay itself. If you have ever tried seeking out info on straw millinery techniques, you know there's precious little out there to be found, so the rarity of the info itself in written-down form is enough to justify my purchase, in my opinion.

They've put a cliffhanger in this one, in that they've trimmed their sample hat with sinamay lilies, which they don't explain how to make--you need to get Finishing Touches for those instructions (or, be willing to try to figure it out on your own, which wouldn't be difficult if you enjoy improvisational creating). As someone who's written an instructional text on an almost-dead, largely undocumented artisan skill myself, i completely understand the authors' reluctance to "give away" information that was difficult to come by, that they spent time and energy and devotion learning and researching and practicing, transcribing and documenting and editing and compiling. At the same time, i find myself as a consumer somewhat irritated by blatant marketing tactics of the cliffhanger/teaser sort.

It's a delicate balance, this world of free and open flowing information versus writers and researchers and skilled artisans being justly compensated for sharing their hard-won knowledge, and in general i *am* a proponent of what i call "open source costuming"--i wouldn't write this blog if i were slavishly devoted to keeping my "trade secrets" to myself. However, I know how many hours i put into writing and illustrating my own book, coordinating with photographers and students and collecting waivers and permissions and working with editors and proofreaders and my layout artist and all that--it's a TON of work, a lot more than when i throw together a post for this blog on the fly, armed with nothing more than a digital camera, enthusiam, and an open blog-update window.

Though they include some transparent marketing, it isn't enough to make me pan the books or the company--they're invaluable, well-produced, concise, lovely resources, well worth the money i paid for them.


Sinamay 2

35 pages long with generally two full-color illustrative photographs on each page, pretty much the same gist as Sinamay 1, except the blocks used are more complex forms and the hat produced features two types of sinamay instead of one. I could've saved my money and done without this one, myself, but i'm someone who's blocked hats with a range of different materials. If you are a more literal-minded person who likes following specific directions rather than learning a method and then improvising, or if you have minimal or no hat-blocking experience, perhaps you want both of these books!


Finishing Touches

58 pages long, same format as the others, this book features how to make a range of trims from sinamay: spirals, roses, lilies, daisies, and leaves. It's great for step-following instruction, and also very inspiring--you could modify a lot of these techniques to create any number of other fun, exciting, dramatic shapes in sinamay.


How to Make Stitched Strip Hats

Remember my post on unspiraling old strip hats to scavenge the braid? This book completely advocates that right in the first chapter! It's more photographically dense than the other three books i purchased, in that each page has sometimes as many as four large full-color photographs depicting the steps of the process. It's only 21 pages long, but in those pages it shows how to use the technique with both a narrow straw braid and a wider flat horsehair, plus shows several really cool and inspiring examples of more complex hat forms created with the stitched strip technique. Best of all, it shows how you can do these hats on your regular domestic sewing machine, with only a head-form (which, you could use a styro head even for this technique) as "special" equipment. The only difference between making these hats on your home machine and making them on the industrial machines that are/were used, is that those machines sew a chain-stitch (so you can easily pull out a mistake or deconstruct a completed hat) and have an arched arm to better accommodate odd brim dimensions.


Some of these books have also been reviewed by Barcelona milliner Cristina dePrada in her blog, if you are looking for a second opinion! Ms. dePrada is a hobbyist couture milliner so she has a more contemporary fashion perspective. Overall, i do recommend the books from How2Hats.com; the information contained within is very clearly presented and concise.



...And, that's pretty much it for the time being on millinery texts i've been reading recently! Feel free to use the tags to navigate back to older reviews if you like, and if you have any other new titles to share, please feel free to comment!
labricoleuse: (Default)
When i'm gearing up to teach a class, i always spend a fair amount of time poring over books, both reviewing the texts i used previously and checking out new or new-to-me books. I hit the library and do catalog searches on terms relating to the subject of the class (this semester i did "hats," "hatmaking," "millinery," "milliner," and "wigs"). I sift through Amazon and eBay and check the rare book search services, just to see what i can dig up. Sometimes i find some good stuff, and sometimes i find some stinkers. I usually share my results in here. (Here's a previous post on the subject, covering some texts i think of as "old stand-bys" in the millinery field.) I've been going through a ton of cool hat-related resources this time around so i'm going to break them up into at least two posts, of which this is the first.

I should note that, when i evaluate these books, i'm looking at them with a mind to how valuable they will be to me--whether they are going to be of use in teaching a technically-challenging graduate-level class, whether they have any historical production techniques or trade secrets that i might adapt to a theatrical application, and so forth. One woman's trash is another woman's treasure, so just because it's not going to work for my class or my purpose, doesn't mean it might not be a great resource for you.


On the subject of straw hats:

The Panama Hat Trail, by Tom Miller. This isn't really anything i'd use in my class, but it was an enjoyable read and is probably of interest to those of you who are yourselves interested in all aspects of millinery. Miller is a travel writer, and this book chronicles an extended tour through Ecuador, pursuing the construction of a straw hat from the harvesting of the toquillo straw to its braiding into a hatbody, finishing production, and sale to a Western hatter. Miller writes in a conversational style that occasionally borders on the goofy, but he doesn't gloss over any aspect of his subject--in a single chapter he'll cover the most detailed technical information about straw harvesting, give background on Ecuador's history and political figures, and comment on the current economic challenges of her residents. Miller's book was originally written in 1988, and has been reissued in a 15th Anniversary edition.

Straw Hats: Their History and Manufacture by Harry Inwards (which you can read online if you click that link) was published in 1922, and focuses largely on the European straw hat industry of the time, particularly that of Inwards' hometown of Luton. It's historically interesting and has some fascinting photos, but is peppered with anti-Asian bigotry, so be advised of that going in.



Millinery course "textbook"-style pamphlets from previous eras:

The Women's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences 1916 millinery course texts--

"Developing Hats of Braid"
"Fancy and Draped Crowns"
"Millinery Facings" (essentially, underbrim design)
"Glossary of Millinery Terms"


I found these on eBay, offered by a seller named Rumbleseat Fashions. They're the educational pamphlets for a trade school that was based in Scranton, PA, and the only authorial credit i can find inside of them is in the introductory notes, which are signed "M.B.P." A little poking around reveals this to be Mary Brooks Picken, a prolific author and an extraordinary pioneer of women's distance education who later went on to teach at Columbia University and serve as one of the original directors of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan.

They're wonderful period resources, as well as an interesting slice of insight into how the millinery trade was taught. The booklets include step-by-step how-to sections augmented with photography (very cutting-edge for the time) and some hand-drawn illustrations. They also include an exam at the end of each booklet.

I probably wouldn't buy every lesson in the series--for example, every book that covers wire frame manufacture teaches it in basically the same way--but for these subjects, i'm very pleased with the booklets, both for the techniques and the historical interest. What kind of huge nerd am i that i especially loved reading the glossary? The copies sold by Rumbleseat Fashions are very clear scans of the original reproduced on matte cardstock and staple-bound.


The Fashion Institute of Chicago's Nu-Way Millinery and Hat Design Course, by Caroline Countiss, Director of Staff. This 25-lesson resource originates from 1928, and is quite similar in its conception and layout to the Women's Institute's millinery publications, with photos, how-to sections, diagrams, and a short list of exam questions at the end of each lesson. I got the entire course on a CD from Dakota Prairie Treasures. Much like the Domestic Institute's course publications, it's fascinating for more than just its practical technique info--as a historical resource, it's great; i like to have these kinds of things so that when i do a show with hats from a given period, i can see how the milliners of the time made the hats of the time. (Of course, i then adapt those techniques for modern materials, machines, and employing modern safety knowledge!)


Full color archival catalogue:

Hats and Bonnets from Snowshill, one of the world's leading collections of costume and accessories of the 18th and 19th centuries compiled by Althea McKenzie. This is a small book of photographs documenting selections of hats and bonnets from the costume collection of the eccentric archivist, Charles Paget Wade. Wade collected elements of historic costume throughout his life, buying and restoring the estate of Snowshill specifically for the purpose of housing them (he didn't just collect attire, but a range of other objects from firearms to clocks to cookware, etc). He himself would occasionally wear the costume pieces around and stage amateur theatricals in them with friends. This book is fairly small and short, but the hats featured in it are in fairly brilliant condition and McKenzie provides multiple photos of the hats' interior linings, close-ups of trim, and so forth. I found the section of incroyable extreme poke-bonnets to be most interesting.


This is only the first batch; i have several more to discuss in a forthcoming post (maybe even two more posts worth, we'll have to see how windy i get about them)!

In other news, apparently archaeologists have found Shakespeare's first theatre. Cool!
labricoleuse: (paraplooey)
I just finished reading a book that is of potential interest to the dye enthusiasts among my readership.

A Perfect Red, by Amy Butler Greenfield, takes as its subject a history of trends in red fabric dyeing, focusing primarily on cochineal. Greenfield traces the changing implications and significance of the color red in dress and adornment, discusses the history of the dyer's profession, and explores the effects of technological developments over time on the dye process. She also places cochineal, the primary source of brilliant red dyes for centuries, in a historical and cultural context, following it from Aztec and Mixtec culture through the Spanish Conquest, the advent of synthetic dyes, to its current minor resurgence. The book talks about dyestuff and red clothing's relevance to the rise and fall of European imperialist expansion and its significance in the cutthroat espionage of the time. I found it to be a fairly quick and interesting read, perhaps of particular fascination for those with an interest or career in dyeing.
labricoleuse: (macropuppets!)
First, some context which may seem self-centered, but is also relevant:

I've got a couple of really exciting gigs starting up in the next few days! I'll be working Saturdays doing millinery assistance at the Brooklyn studio of Cha-Cha's House of Ill Repute, helping produce their fall line of hats. I'll also be working at Parsons-Meares, one of the big Broadway shops, on costumes for DreamWorks' Shrek: The Musical, which will premiere in Seattle before moving to Broadway in the fall.

I'm predicting that i won't be allowed to post anything about the Shrek costumes because of confidentiality clauses relating to an as-yet-unpremiered show, but I might be able to do a post or two on what we're doing at Cha-Cha's, maybe an interview with the lead designer or a preview of the line or something.

Today's post though is about The Lion King, which i saw last Saturday at the Minskoff Theatre in Times Square.

Not only is it a tour de force of innovative, fantastic costume and production design, but The Lion King is also commendable for how "open source" a lot of its costuming actually is. Julie Taymor's book, The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway contains a wealth of information on how the costumes and macropuppet elements were constructed--not only her design renderings, but drafts and diagrams created by the artisans who built them, materials and technique descriptions, photos of mockups, you name it. After poring over the pages on the construction of the articulated mask mechanism for Scar while developing our Fox in The Little Prince, it was exciting to see the real thing in action. Even more exciting was the lobby display of Scar's costume (among others), which patrons were allowed to photograph!

pictures and discussion )
labricoleuse: (opening night gala)
First off, i have to say BIG CONGRATULATIONS to all of us here at PlayMakers for completely cleaning up on the Independent Weekly's picks for the best regional theatre of 2007. We were named in nine categories!

click here for the list )

Please note that i am only listing the PlayMakers mentions--most every category has several other listings as well from other great local theatres! (Click the article link in the opening paragraph to read them all.)

And, The Little Prince also got a nod in the News & Observer's "Year's Best in Triangle Theatre" list as well. Whoo!

But, on to the book reviews! Whenever i start on a new class, i usually do some book review posts, either of books i'm considering as primary texts for the students or of books i intend to use as supplemental references. My previous posts on books relating to this semester's topics are as follows:

Reviews of various accessories books
Reviews of various jewelry-making books
Reviews of various shoe-related books

There's a new book out that i think TONS of people who read this blog will probably want to run right out and buy, Tan Huaixiang's Costume Craftwork on a Budget. This is a particularly good supplementary reference for those who have Sylvia Moss' brilliant textbook, Costumes and Chemistry, which is invaluable for the safety information and product analyses alone, but also features tons of great information at the end following step-by-step processes for creation of high-end Vegas showgirl costumes, Broadway effects, etc. Moss' projects are generally big-budget ones (quite useful to read about but beyond the range of most regional and university theatres' budgets), whereas Tan Huaixiang's book illustrates ways of creating elaborate effects, but offers creative ways of using cheap, easily obtained materials to achieve complicated "fantastical" costume looks.

For my own use, i'm on the fence about using it as a text for my classes because it seems to be aimed toward designers who primarily work jobs where there's no crafts artisan and do their own crafts, and our program is fairly specific in its focus--top level Costume Production. There's no design track for graduate students at all, so the designer-centricity of the text isn't relevant. There's also a HUGE middle section on millinery and headdress-making that's not really my speed--i'm satisfied teaching my millinery course from Denise Dreher's From the Neck Up and Tim Dial's Beginning Millinery for the Stage. I do think it's pretty exciting for its masks and prosthetics section; there's not really a good up-to-date text on mask making specifically for theatre (Thurston James' Propbuilder's Mask Making Handbook is from the early 1990s, out of print now, and lacking in the safety precautions area.). I intend to keep it in my shop library--many of the projects are very inspiring--and if you are a designer who typically does a lot of your own craftwork, you probably want to check it out!
labricoleuse: (paraplooey)
My class next semester is going to be sort of random--a catch-all course on all the crafts-related topics not covered in Dyeing/Distressing, Millinery, and Masks/Armor. We're going to study glovemaking, shoe construction and repair, jewelry, parasol manufacture, body padding, and basic engineering of kinetic costume elements (macropuppetry, incorporated electrics, etc). I've been, as usual, looking at a range of books for potential texts and i thought i'd share some titles and publishers here.

If you are unfamiliar with Quite Specific Media, check out their website and page through their catalogue, particularly the Costume & Fashion Press section! I guarantee you will find some titles you want for your personal library.

QSM's Visual Encyclopedia of Costume Accessories, by Valerie Cumming will likely figure into my course as a reference manual, but what i'd had high hopes for was their Patterns for Costume Accessories. I've made up a couple of the patterns from it and they've gone together nicely enough (they scale up a lot better than most patterns of the sort) but there's not attendant info on tips and tricks of drafting/draping your own accessory patterns. If you hate patternmaking and aren't very intuitive about putting things together, it'd be a great resource, but it's a bit too simplistic for my course. Even so, the newsboy cap pattern in there makes up adorably. :)

Unrelated to my class, another title of theirs that's pretty exciting is Making Latex Clothes by Sian-Kate Mooney.

Another publisher of note is Fairchild Books, a niche press serving the fashion and interior design fields. Their Fashion titles are very definitely slanted toward industry and mass-production, designing enormous product lines that will sell, studying demographics, catering to and creating trends, etc., but that doesn't preclude their usefulness for the entertainment/art costumer as well.

The title they carry that i'm going to be using is the rather Mickey-Mousily named Know Your Fashion Accessories, by Celia Stall-Meadows. There's a great deal of useful historical and sociological information on all sorts of accessory items, as well as some form/function fashion theory on the hows and whys of wearing/using/carrying various items.

Dakota Prairie Treasures is a historical reprint house which carries low-end (think spiral-bound a la the copy shop) reprints of vintage and antique instruction manuals. They carry a glovemaking book i'm going to use (How to Make Gloves by Eunice Close), as well as titles on diverse and hard-to-find topics like Victorian hair-work and tatting. Many of their offerings are available in CD format as well, if you prefer e-books.

My own parasol textbook is oh-so-nearly complete--i expect to have news of its availability by December-ish. (I'll mention it here when it's done for certain!)


In other media, looking for something to listen to? How about some links to podcasts!

The Victoria & Albert Museum has three podcasts up on their site to accompany their "Golden Age of Couture" exhibit. Featured topics are Balenciaga suits, Lady Alexandra, and New Look suits.

And, the LJ community [livejournal.com profile] frockflicks features ongoing monthly podcast commentary on costume-dramas, hosted by members of the Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild.
labricoleuse: (history)
I've been sitting on this review for a while, meaning to post and and continuing to forget. Oops!

If you don't know the story of the treasure of the steamboat Arabia, it's a pretty incredible one.

Loaded to capacity with an enormous cargo of goods, the Arabia set sail up the Missouri River in 1856; her aim was to distribute merchandise to a number of frontier-town general stores north of St. Louis. A submerged spar (broken tree stump) punctured her hull and the ship with all its cargo sank within minutes. The passengers and crew all escaped with their lives; the only casualty was a mule tied to the ship's rail whose owner neglected to free him before swimming for shore. Over time, the course of the Missouri changed so drastically that the Arabia wound up discovered in the late 1980s in a Kansas cornfield!

Archaeological crews exhumed the entire ship and her contents; the ship has been rebuilt complete with original working sidewheel, and the museum contains displays of all the lading of the Arabia. This includes medical supplies, household goods, preserved food, bourbon whiskey, hardware and tools, fabric and notions, readymade clothing, shoes and boots, luxury items such as china and jewelry, firearms, you name it! All of it has been painstakingly preserved and displayed. There's even a restoration lab open on one wall to the public--you can watch as technicians work to restore items before your very eyes using equipment like a freeze-dryer, dental tools, tiny brushes, etc.

What was so amazing to me was the quantity of recovered items--not just a few buttons, but thousands of them; not just one pair of shoes, but dozens; not a single bolt of cloth, but a whole stack of them. The opportunity to inspect multitudes of everyday objects of 1856 was indescribably excellent. I took some time out of my drive back to Carolina from Utah this summer to visit the museum--only a short jaunt off of the interstate highway--and am so glad that i did. I kept saying to my friend that accompanied me, "This is awesome. This is awesome!"

My main criticism of the museum is its crummy gift shop. They are on the right track with some of their items--they reproductions of some of the recovered artifacts, a couple perfumes, a tiny child's doll, a bell, a key, a button--but by and large the merchandise blows. I wanted a range of t-shirt and hoodie designs to choose from, a whole array of postcards, a coffeetable book with excellent photos and documentation, etc., and they don't have much of that. It's largely stocked with standard generic state-souvenir crap you can get at any truckstop. Disappointing. Where are the parasols, reticules, ascots, fun sutlery things that would sell like hotcakes? The museum is well worth the trip regardless; they ought to fire their merchandising director though, because i really wanted to spend a ton of money in their gift shop but there wasn't enough quality merchandise for me to purchase. I bought a necklace made from one of the calico buttons and a single postcard.

Graspy shoppy acquisitivity aside, i highly recommend the museum to anyone interested in American 19th century history, particularly those with an enthusiasm for the minutiae of daily life. It's decidedly worth checking out!

* * *


And, speaking of costume related history, I've got a link from the GBACG list via La Bricoleuse reader (and pal) [livejournal.com profile] trystbat: the Danish site Tidens Toej is an amazing resource for period garments! All the text is in Danish, but it's fairly easy to navigate anyway using intuition and online translating sites. The coolest thing about the site I think is, not only do they have excellent photos of their archived garments, but they have period research images (engravings, illustrations, etc.) *&* in some cases, downloadable PDFs of patterns for the garments! I like the format of the site so much, i'm going to forward the info to the folks that run our online historic costume archive, CoSTAR!

Also of interest, a page about shipwreck indigo. Essentially, dye professional Jenny Balfour Paul had the extraordinary opportunity to dye some cloth using indigo recovered in an archaeological exhumation of the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, the flagship of a fleet of ships that sank off the Caribbean Turks Islands in 1641.
labricoleuse: (shakespearean alan cumming)
This past weekend i had the good fortune to attend the William Ivey Long Costume Symposium held in conjunction with the Cameron Art Museum's retrospective exhibit on his work.

Because our program's Costume Director, Judy Adamson, is a longtime colleague of Mr. Long, the UNC-CH delegation was invited as his guests to a Sunday night dinner at Henry's, an excellent Wilmington restaurant. This has nothing to do with costuming, of course, but i thought i'd mention it because our meal was delicious.

I'd also like to mention that the Wilmington Super 8 sucks like a Dyson factory, and i'd rather sleep in a cardboard box than stay there again. By "sucks," i mean, "dubious stains on the furniture upholstery and mystery hairs in the towels." Just to clarify.


Running a Design Studio

Our first seminar of the day was "Running a Design Studio" conducted by Mr. Brian Mear, one of the Vice-Presidents of William Ivey Long, Inc., Mr. Long's design company. This seminar was held upstairs in the museum's conference room around a long table covered with amazing stuff--some of the Pearl Girls from The Producers, costume renderings, costume bibles, several of Hugh Jackman's costumes from The Boy from Oz, a mockup and a final costume of Harvey Fierstein's from Hairspray--and we were allowed to inspect and handle them all.

Mr. Mear gave us a brief rundown of his background and how he came to work for Mr. Long, then began discussing a number of topics including budgeting for Broadway and touring shows, union information, what role an agent plays, information on health insurance, and contract stipulations. He mentioned that a designer receives only 88% of his/her fee--10% goes to the agent (who negotiates contracts for the designer but doesn't actively seek jobs the way an actor's agent does) and 2% goes to the union.

Regarding moving to NYC to work in theatre, he recommended waiting to send a resume until a week before you arrive--setting up a job far in advance is much less likely to happen than securing last-minute work. (This was my experience working in LA as well.)

I don't think i'm allowed to mention specific figures on specific costumes (we were shown the budget breakdown for Fierstein's "Welcome to the 60s" Hairspray costume, for example), but i do want to note that only around 8-10% of the total costs went toward fabric--the vast majority went to the production labor.

We broke for a catered lunch, then on to the afternoon sessions...


Young Frankenstein process and preview

The second presentation was conducted by Donald Sanders, another of the Vice-Presidents of William Ivey Long, Inc., and covered the recently-completed design process for Young Frankenstein, opening on Broadway this month. Mr. Sanders showed us renderings, sketches, swatches, photos and garments from the production. He discussed the entire design process from beginning to opening. In a fun coincidence, some of the costumes displayed were created this summer by one of our MFA candidates, Amanda Phillips, who spent her summer in New York working for the Broadway costume house Tricorne, Inc. This presentation was great fun--the show looks like it's going to be excellent! (Hello, Tesla coil onstage!)


Guided Tour of "Taste and Travesty" exhibit

Lastly, Mr. Long himself took us through the galleries, telling stories about the costumes and renderings, often stepping into the exhibits and lifting sections of the costumes to show us understructures and interiors. This was FAR superior to my previous tour of the exhibit with a misinformed volunteer guide.

WHQR's image set of the exhibit costumes
*Michele's image set of a tour of Long's studios, which feature a lot of the exhibited costumes and renderings


I'm so pleased to have had the chance to attend this symposium and exhibit, and should Mr. Long do anything similar in the future and you have a chance to attend, do! He's a fun, funny speaker, friendly and welcoming and enthusiastic and forthcoming, a fighter for wage parity for career costumers and an advocate for the art form.
labricoleuse: (Default)
The bookstore is pushing us to turn in our textbook requests for spring semester by month's end, which means i'm already slogging through candidates for required and recommended books on the topics covered in my spring seminar (of which there are many).

One of the aformentioned topics is jewelry, which in theatre can run the gamut in terms of crafts artisan responsibilities. You might find yourself restringing purchased necklaces to make them more durable, replacing traditional clasps with magnetic ones so a pendant can be jerked off of someone's neck angrily every night, replicating a huge brooch from a painting of Queen Elizabeth, aging brand-new metal to look old and tarnished, or sculpting and casting a giant medallion for a nobleman's chain of office (there'll be one of these in a forthcoming post--i'm doing this exact thing for our next show on the mainstage). Really, anything goes.

So, my students will be doing a unit on jewelry, and i want them to have a reference text for it. This has proved particularly difficult, since most books i'm finding out there are either on the "Joolree 4 Dummeez" level (think, bead-stringing projects for pre-teens) or are mostly project-based books--how to make specific projects outlined in a step-by-step fashion, rather than addressing basic skills and techniques.

On the intermediate/experienced end of things, there are three books i considered as possible texts for class:

Jewelry: Fundamentals of Metalsmithing by Tim McCreight

The Encyclopedia of Jewelry-Making Techniques by Jinks McGrath

The Complete Book of Jewelry-Making by Carles Codina

These three books are all, essentially, full of the same information. They're all good overviews of high-end jewelry-making techniques--think soldering, sawing metal with jewelry files, annealing, that sort of thing, rather than say, bead-stringing. You don't do a lot of this sort of thing as a craftsperson--specific jewelry designs often either get jobbed out or you "fudge" them for stage with materials like polymer clay, cast plastic and gold leaf, or precious-metal clay--but every so often something comes down the pike and you want a reference text.

Of these three, i'm going with the Tim McCreight one as the one that I'd recommend. Like i said, they all contain the same basic information, and it's really down to personal preference on layout, presentation, etc. McCreight's book is arranged in what feels to me like the most logical order, and has a good balance of visual and textual information. Most importantly for a theatre crafts artisan, he has good, concise, well-laid-out sections on soldering, jewelry adhesives, and patina recipes.

If you prefer lots of larger color photographs interspersed with small chunks of text, go for the Codina book. It's easy to digest, very visually laid out, and the book itself is fairly large-format. All this results in a book that makes jewelry-scale metalworking seem like something that's not very intimidating, which may be just right for someone seeking a good introductory text.

The Jinks McGrath book differs little from the McCreight book in images/info, but it's laid out in alphabetical order by process name regardless of difficulty (so you start out with annealing and end up with wirework). I know it bills itself as an "encyclopedia" but let's face it: there just aren't enough different topics under the "jewelry-making" umbrella for this book to even crack 200 pages, much less require the somewhat pedantic structure of an alphabetized "encyclopedia." The result is that the book seems far more dense and impenetrable than the information contained within really warrants. It's almost like the book is designed to make the stuff it covers seem more intimidating than it is. Counterproductive, i think, since i bet the average person on the street finds the idea of cutting metal with a hand-saw or etching it with acid to be already fairly intimidating. If you've taken several classes in jewelry-making and you already know what the tools and processes are, maybe you want this in your shop as a reference manual. I'm not knocking it; it's a good book. It's not right for my purposes though.



Creating Your Own Antique Jewelry by cRis Dupouy, rereleased in 2004 as Creating Your Own Jewelry: Taking Inspiration from Museum Masterpieces

This book isn't one i'm going to use for my class, but i think it's worth mentioning as something to check out. It's divided up by eras of time (antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Rennaissance, etc.), and is essentially a series of projects on how to make various pieces of jewelry depicted in actual historical resource images (oil paintings mostly), using Dupouy's particular style of working with polymer clay and glass stones.

From a theatrical perspective, it's not terribly useful as a reference text since once you get the basic techniques (and you get it as soon as you read through one project worth) you can then adapt the principles to whatever jewelry design your costume designer has rendered or provided research for. It's also probably not something of interest for historical reproduction folks either, since the pieces wind up being sometimes rather free interpretations of the jewelry depicted in the primary research rather than accurate replications. From a home enthusiast's perspective however, it seems like it could be a really fun text for someone with an interest in antique and vintage jewelry, who's seeking a step-by-step how-to book full of specific projects, and it's definitely a good inspiration text for a costume designer who has to do her/his own craftwork.



And, what i've still not found but would love to track down is a book that functions essentially as a reference for intermediate jewelry assemblage--one that addresses issues like how to properly secure crimp beads, pros and cons of different kinds of findings, overviews of bead types, stone cuts, cabochon uses, various hand tools, etc. Not "how to go from sheets of metal to art jewelry," which is what the three books i mentioned first really cover, but more of a text on assemblage with structural integrity, without a bunch of specific projects like "Make these six cute bracelets!"
labricoleuse: (history)
Five-time Tony-winning costume designer William Ivey Long is the subject of a retrospective exhibit at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC. The exhibit takes up the entire museum and features original costumes displayed on mannequins, costume renderings, collages, fabric samples, hats, shoes, you name it. Costumes from Nine, Cabaret, La Cage aux Folles, The Producers, Hairspray, and many more shows are featured. The exhibit is by tour only, two tours a day (11:30am & 2pm), and is $10 for non-members of the museum.

As a professional in the industry, i particularly enjoyed the setup of the displays--you can get right up within inches of almost all of the costumes and really study the workmanship on them. (The exception to this is the Pearl Girls from the film version of The Producers, which are apparently too expensive for insurance to allow them to be accessible to the public--they are in a separate room and are viewable through windows.) Often the costumes are presented in tandem with designs or research images, so it's cool to be able to see a rendering and then see the costume itself. The museum has produced a lovely full-color catalogue to accompany the exhibit, with tons of color photos and facinating text.

What i did not enjoy was our tour guide's misinformation--often she spouted erroneous details about the costumes, attributing techniques and methods as having been "invented" by Mr. Long when in fact they were not. A couple of examples: Mr. Long did not invent the concept of cutting dresses on the bias (Madeleine Vionnet did), nor did he invent the silicone technique for surface treatment of stretch fabrics (Janet Bloor did); he used these techniques successfully in his designs, certainly, but our guide mistakenly attributed them as being "created" by him. She completely ignored or glossed over the work of production professionals, which was a pretty bitter pill for me. I realize that she was not herself a costume professional or scholar, and that probably her statements were the result of innocent misunderstandings rather than intent. Still, I found it professionally insulting. It was not however so offensive that it remotely outweighed the value of the opportunity to see the costumes and renderings and such that made up the exhibit.

As a crafts artisan, the most exciting part of the exhibit for me was the Siegfried and Roy gallery, which was full of amazing headdresses, masks, and an entire macropuppet army engineered by crafts artisan extraordinaire Michael Curry. It was quite a treat to be able to inspect the mechanisms of the puppet army, which consisted of costumes in which one operator manipulated a squad of marching "soldiers," so that one person gave the impression of being nine people.

Here's a Flickr photo set of press photos of some of the costumes by WHQR. The exhibition runs through October 14, and is a one-shot-only deal--it will not travel to any other museum, so if you want to see it, you'd best plan a trip to Wilmington.
labricoleuse: (ass head mask)
A couple weeks ago, i posted an initial batch of reviews on mask books, a sampling of some of the works i've been reviewing as potential textbooks for my upcoming class on maskmaking and costume armor. I've made my way through another batch of them, so here's a "part two" installment, including a couple of armor books i'm definitely using. There may or may not be a "part three."


First up is...

Masks and Masking: Faces of Tradition and Belief Worldwide, by Gary Edson

Dense academic prose, ahoy! This book, published in 2005, takes a look at the role of masks largely in indigenous non-European cultures, and is written with the sort of circuitous scholarly vocabulary i find obfuscative (look, it's rubbed off on me). If you are interested in cerebral analysis of meaning, symbology, and iconography in masking, tempered with a whole lot of philosophical musings on human nature, this is the book for you. It is full of a lot of extremely detailed pen-and-ink drawings of masks from cultures all over the world, some of which are apparently previously undocumented. I think it will be useful to have on the bookshelf in my workspace as a reference for students to get inspiration and research images from, but i'm not going to require anyone to read it.


The Mask Handbook: A Practical Guide, by Toby Wilsher

This is a brand-new 2007 textbook, so new they had to glue a register into the back of it for me to check it out of the university library. Wilsher co-founded the Trestle Theatre Company, a performance group well-known for its innovative maskwork. This is a short little book (188pp) full of an enormous amount of useful, fascinating, succinct information on masking. Wilsher covers mask origins and history, techniques for making and using masks, info on writing theatre pieces for maskwork, and even some exercise suggestions for actors working with masks. I'm evaluating it from the perspective of someone teaching production technique, and i like that it includes lots of info on working with masks--to build a good mask, an artisan needs to know what working with a mask is like, needs to consider how it will be used and worn, or how it might potentially be freeing or limiting to its wearer, etc. I'm seriously considering adding this one to my syllabus as a required text.


On the subject of armor...

Basic Armouring: A Practical Introduction to Armour Making by Paul Blackwell

This is essentially a primer for fighters in the Society for Creative Anachronism who are considering making their own armor. Blackwell is not messing around with kostoomy crap here, he's talking about how to make metal plate armor meant to be worn by real people who are really going to hit each other with sticks and clubs and rattan canes and other non-sharp-stabby swordlike things. He includes a lot of great info on armor padding and a whole host of actual pattern shapes for various pieces of armor. Even if you aren't going to be making steel armor, the patterns and instructions are valuable for adaptation to thermoplastic or foam or fiberglass or other costume-material construction methods. Highly useful, and what's more, my students will probably be overjoyed to learn that Blackwell's book is available as a free downloadble PDF at the above link. I printed mine out and put it in a 1/2" binder for tabletop reference.


Amethyst Angel's Guide to Making Really Kickass Costume Armor, by Teresa Dietzinger

I really wish this book had a different title. I dunno, i'm not a prude about cussing by any stretch of the imagination, but i feel like in the case of this excellent, thorough, well-put-together book, the jokey-foul title really undermines the credibility of the author initially. Everyone that has seen it on my desk has made a disparaging remark, and i'm put in the position of having to defend its usefulness as a text in a graduate program. But trust me, believe me when i say to you, this is an excellent book for an introductory look at costume armor that doesn't utilize potentially dangerous and difficult materials like fiberglass!

Dietzinger is a cosplay enthusiast (folks who make elaborate costumes, usually of characters in Japanese animation, video games, etc., usually for the purpose of wearing them to conventions) who makes highly-detailed lightweight armor from foam and plastic. The book is written for the absolute beginner--early chapters introduce common hand tools and sewing equipment, discuss how to take accurate measurements of the body, and suggest methods for making your own dress form to work from. What i think is so exciting as how well Dietzinger illustrates her method with step-by-step photographs. The book really covers all aspects from start to finish, too--patterning tips, painting techniques, how to do relief details, even tips on shipping and storing and materials sourcing.

The link above goes to the page for the black-and-white version of the text, which is the one i'm going to recommend to my students. However, i think it's great that Dietzinger also offers her text in a full-color option and in a CD format as well, for different price-points. When i put out my own stuff later this year, i'm going to go that route as well. It's cool that the dedicated costumer who wants to shell out for the full-color printed work can do so, whereas someone who might be unsure whether they really wanted to try armor-making could go for the less-expensive CD or B&W text.



And, i've got a few cool links to share as well:

Theater Helper is a blog after my own heart! Written by theatre professional Laura Salvaggio, Theater Helper is chock-full of tutorials and advice on a range of tech topics: propbuilding, lighting, scenic painting, carpentry, etc. I created a syndicated feed for it for LiveJournal users, so you can add it to your friends lists if you wish: [livejournal.com profile] theater_helper

The Utah Shakespeare Festival has put up a 2-minute video clip (QuickTime required) of the world premiere i worked on this past summer, Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical. See if you can spot the millinery-malfunction, much to my chagrin, which occurred during first dress...

Brian Dickie's blog is a wonderfully chatty, snapshot-filled blog written by the general director of the Chicago Opera Theatre. Even if you aren't an opera fan, it's a fascinating look into the daily anything-but-routine of an opera company's director, and occasionally has fun graphics like this entry's inclusion of a David Hockney costume design rendering.
labricoleuse: (ass head mask)
Vocabulary word of the day:

vizard - No, it's not what Durmstrang students call Harry Potter. A vizard is the term for a mask on a stick! You know, the sort that ostentatiously-dressed lords and ladies carry and hold up like a freaky lorgnette at a masquerade ball.

(Bonus word: lorgnette - Glasses on a stick! Usually foldable.)

My graduate course this fall covers the engineering and production of masks and armor. As such, i've been reviewing various texts in the interest of determining what i'm going to require my students to own, and what's just going to be suggested or supplemental reading. As I've done in the past with my millinery course and my shoemaking course, i thought i'd post a quick run-down of some of the titles.


The Monster Makers Mask Makers Handbook, by Arnold Goldman.

This is a wonderful resource for a very specific kind of mask technique: full-head latex masks cast in a negative gypsum mold (think "Halloweeny rubber monsters"). It's a large-format 42-page booklet, like a full-sized magazine with a stapled binding, full color cover, and black and white interior. It is written in an easy-to-read, conversational tone, and is full of step-by-step illustrative photographs. It's got a nice troubleshooting section for problems you might encounter, and a glossary at the back of technical terminology.

My only criticism of the book is that once you get to the section on airbrush painting of the cast latex mask, it's a bit hard to envision what's going on colorwise with only black and white photography to look at. It would have been perhaps a better choice to insert a page of color photos for that section alone--the other sections on sculpting, mold-making, and casting are fine. All in all though, this is a great reference for negative casting in latex--it specifically deals with full-head masks, but the technique could be easily modified to do partial shapes as well (backless full-face or half-face masks). If you plan on making masks of this kind, this publication is well worth the money.



Masks: Faces of Culture, by John W. Nunley, Cara McCarty, et al.

Originally published as a companion volume to a vast exhibit of masks--first assembled in St. Louis, MO in the year 2000--both modern and historical works from cultures and traditions all over the world, this huge coffee-table-sized book is an amazing resource. It's filled with a wealth of information and an enormous number of full-color detailed photographs of all sorts of masks.

It's loosely divided into six chapters: prehistory and the origins of masks, rites of passage masks, festivals of renewal masks, theatrical masks, transvestitism masks, and masks worn for offense/defense purposes (including full-face armor helmets and sports masks). Each chapter reads like a thoroughly-researched academic treatise on its given subject. This volume is a great source of inspiration, historical and cultural research, and information on authentic materials--each mask photo's caption lists what the original is made from. It touches very little on how particular masks were constructed or on culturally-specific mask-making techniques, but has fascinating information on how and why the masks were worn in their original context. It carries a fairly spendy price-tag, so unless you do a lot of maskwork, costume design, or cultural anthropology research, you might rather look for it in libraries than purchase a copy.



The Prop Builder's Mask Making Handbook, by Thurston James.

This "industry bible" on the subject of mask-making, originally published in 1990, is now out of print. It is a useful text in many ways, but not ideal or up-to-date. Over half the 200+ pages are devoted to the masks of the Commedia dell'Arte and Italian leather mask-making techniques, which are certainly fascinating subjects but perhaps not of common use for the modern theatrical crafts artisan. (It would, however, be a great help if you found yourself doing a production along the lines of Julie Taymor's reknowned King Stag, in which every character wears a variation on a Commedia mask archetype.) The book presumes a free hand with the design of a mask on the part of the artisan, which in my experience is hardly ever the case with practical mask-making for theatre, of the sort practiced by folks like me.

There is a chapter on life-casting, which is a good basic grounding in the subject, but due to the age of the book does not address technological developments and process improvements that have occurred in the past 17 years. (For example, no mention is made of different grades of alginate and their varying set times.) There is now much more useful current information on life-casting to be found on the internet and through SFX industry resources, if that is where your interest or professional needs lie. Check sites like FX Supply and Replicants.org for info on modern prosthetics and FX casting.

The book is also a minefield of health and safety pitfalls--there's a chapter on celastic, a material now not commonly used due to chemical hazards associated with its manipulation, and my favorite: a photograph of a bare-faced man airbrushing with leather dye while smoking a cigarette. Hi, Hazard County! Makes me want to pencil in a caption in my copy: "Right about now, them Duke boys was sprayin' leather dye without no respirator..." It was published in an era before OSHA took serious notice of the theatre industry, before there were widely available resources such as the publications of the Arts, Crafts, & Theatre Safety watchdog organization. As such, the onus is on the reader to check for up-to-date health and safety precautions for the processes outlined therein.

Mr. James also doesn't address the mask design development process (which IME is best approached by way of maquettes--miniature 3D sculptures or "clay sketches"--as a basis for discussions with the costume designer and sometimes the director as well), probably because he is writing from a position of presumption that the artisan is also the designer, and at times he even implies that the artisan will also be the performer wearing the mask being created. I am certain there are several troupes in existence where the performers are also the mask-makers (local masque/mummery group Paperhand is one example that comes to mind), but by and large, it will be someone like me making another person's mask design for an actor to wear. It's important to understand all the R&D that leads up to the making of a mask--though it only addresses one specific method of mask-making, the Monster Makers guide reviewed above is a bit better on this front. Goldman at least addresses maquettes, though he does so in the context of haunted house/rubber-monster horror-film production rather than theatre.

I don't mean to sound like i'm completely denigrating this book and all copies should be chucked in the dumpster--it's got a lot of great process information, many illustrative black and white photos of steps in various techniques, and it's the only book that really addresses specifically a range of construction techniques within the context of masks for professional theatrical performance. It's simply written from a prop-builder's perspective instead of a craft artisan's, and is nearly 20 years old.


Costumes and Chemistry by Sylvia Moss

This is the best reference book out there, hands-down, bar-none, for those in the field of crafts artisanship. It is an indispensable bible of fantastic resources and, despite its high price tag, i highly recommend that anyone interested in costume construction buy it ASAP, PDQ! It was published in 2004, after years of grant-sponsored research and development, and thus may be the most up-to-date resource of its kind in the field of costume production.

It's divided into two halves, the first half comprised of materials and safety information, and the second half devoted to process explanation and documentation.

The first half covers an enormous range of products, divided by purpose (paint, adhesive, dye, etc.), type (cold process dye, acid dye, disperse dye, etc.), brand name, and so forth, and then goes on to test the efficacy of the product in a variety of situations (washfastness, lightfastness, dry-cleanability, etc.). As an aside, now would be a good time to reiterate the value of the website This-To-That, where you can plug two different surfaces into a form and get a list of recommended adhesives that will glue them together. But i digress.

Moss lists proper protective equipment for all potentially dangerous materials, clean up information, and warnings if applicable (i.e. "Do not clean up with bleach!") She worked with industrial health and safety advocate Monona Rossol to make absolutely sure that the information in the book was vetted for safe process instruction. The book would be worth its weight in gold as a reference volume just on the strength of the first half alone. The second half, however, is the gravy on the biscuit.

The second half is a compendium of an enormous number of specific costumes--walkaround mascots, monsters, masks, wings, crowns, body padding, armor--with precise information on how they were built, often with process shots, original design renderings, construction methodology, and tips from the artisans who made them. Some you will recognize from film and television, theatre, dance, advertising, all kinds of sources. There is no better insight into the costume engineering process than reading about how someone has done something and seeing steps along the way. Many incredible-looking costumes are demystified--once you read the process outlay, you may frequently find yourself thinking, "Hey, I could do that!" or "Wow, so THAT'S what they used!"

Seriously, i cannot sing enough praise about the quality and scope of this textbook; don't be put off by the title--it's not full of equations and molecules! It's a wealth of amazing, helpful, illuminative information for costume engineers, both veteran and aspiring. (Can you tell this is one of my required textbooks?)


So, there's an overview of four of my prospective texts, all of which will play some part in my course this semester. Pick and choose--one or more of them may be just what you've been looking for.
labricoleuse: (history)
In my non-professional crafty life, I enjoy making quilts. I recently finished a large pirate-ships-and-cowgirls-themed quilt--my seventeenth--as a gift for a good friend who was moving to another state. (You might wonder, what do pirate ships and cowgirls have to do with one another? Not much, really, when you consider it from a logical standpoint. However, had you met the friend for which the quilt was made, you'd think the combination was quite understandable and appropriate.)

quilt photograph & museum info behind cut )
labricoleuse: (Default)
It is unusually hard to find good reading material in Southern Utah. Working at the Shakespearean Festival this season, all the local bookstores were heavily Mormon-centric [1], and the nearest chain bookstore was an hour away. A friend and fellow artist who supplements her papercrafting with bookstore clerkage sent me a wonderful gift: Cowboy Boots: The Art and Sole, by bootmaker and historian Jennifer June. The book also contains a thoughtfully-written foreword by country music star, Dwight Yoakam.

I'd first seen this book at my local Tandy Leather, sitting on the countertop as a "While U Wait" diversion. At the time, i was only able to briefly page through it--long enough to know that i badly wanted to own it! So, imagine my joy when my friend sent it to me out in Utah this summer.

June's thorough text covers cowboy boots from every angle--history, construction, their form, function, and fashions. She traces the rise of the style as a reaction to the notoriously poor US Cavalry boots of the early 19th century, and as an innovative development spawned by the invention of the four-piece Wellington boot, footwear which was at the time widely hailed as a stroke of cordwainer's genius.

June discusses each structural element of a cowboy boot--heel, shank, toebox, shaft, pulls--in both functional and stylistic terms. A bootmaker herself, she meticulously describes the steps of cowboy boot engineering and construction, and covers the full range of embellishment techniques, from inlay/overlay to leather tooling, painting and dyeing, stud and stonework, conchos and toecaps, "mule ears" (elongated boot pulls that hang down to the sole), and ornamental stitching. She also discusses a full range of popular customized cowboy boot imagery--the symbology of recurring design elements such as roses, eagles, longhorns, stars, skulls, butterflies, and many others.

As an artisan in a related field with a particular interest in artisanship history and construction methods, the text itself was of primary concern for me, but the lay reader would probably be even more drawn to the plethora of beautifully detailed full-color photographs by Marty Snortum, proprietor of the innovative custom shop Rocketbuster Boots. The boots depicted range from antique and vintage specimens to new custom boots created for celebrities (from politician John Kerry to rock frontman Lemmy of Motorhead), rodeo stars, and just regular folk. Some of the images show deconstructed or preconstructed boots, illustrating some of the techniques discussed (such as pegging soles and heels). Nevermind its instructive value; the book could serve as a coffeetable art-book on the strength of the photography alone.

I admittedly have a soft spot for cowboy boots, not only as a fan of the American West, but also as a crafts artisan--cowboy boots are my work boot of choice. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows i'm a big proponent of attention to workplace safety, and proper footwear in the workshop is a major concern of mine [2]. Since in in a single day's work i may find myself dyeing 20 yards of fabric in a 60-gal steam vat, carving shoe rubber with a hook-blade, drilling holes in a metal plate, spray-painting, leather-punching, hat-steaming, and delicately hand-stitching, all interspersed with attending staff meetings and teaching graduate classes...well, i really need some all-purpose footwear, something beyond even the sturdy-but-klunky work-boot. Cowboy boots provide me with the reinforced toe-protection of a heavy-duty boot, steel-shank arch support, and a tall boot shaft to protect my shins and ankles from dropped tools or spilled dyebaths, yet the shaped toe, vamp stitching (the "toebug"), and the Cuban heel make me feel a bit more presentably-dressed for both the work room and the conference room.

Now that i've read all about the making of a pair of custom cowboy boots, i'm definitely going to save up for a pair from one of the companies whose work caught my eye. I'm drawn to the rockabilly Sailor-Jerry-style work of Snortum's Rocketbuster, but some other creative bootmakers who caught my eye are Back at the Ranch, Duck Menzies of Temple, TX (no website), Liberty Boot Company, Lucchese Boot Company, Riff Raff Leatherworks, & Tres Outlaws.

The book also features an extensive glossary of bootmaking terms, suggestions for finding antique and vintage boots (particularly search suggestions for eBay), and museums that feature cowboy boot collections. Of the ones listed, i can personally vouch for the excellence of the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, CA, and the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Ontario. One i haven't been to that's now on my list of "some day": the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame!

Even if you don't like cowboy boots, rodeos, westerns, or any of that, the construction information alone is of interest to any shoe and boot enthusiast, and particularly anyone concerned with the construction, alteration, and repair of footwear. I highly recommend this book!

[1] Bookshops that cater to Mormon consumers make perfect sense in an area where the population skews so heavily toward that religious demographic. As a jobbed-in "gentile" with no personal interest in the faith, though, it was a reading-material wasteland for me.

[2] I still shudder to recall one otherwise-reputable shop i once freelanced for, where several crafts artisans frequently came to work in peep-toe mules. I wondered: who was legally at fault, should one of these workers drop a blade or anvil and lose a toe? The lead artisan or shop manager, who allowed workers to come in with this kind of footwear, or the worker who chose to wear such unsafe attire? Thankfully, the question remained hypothetical for the duration of my employment, but i determined that no workers in any shop i ran would run that risk.

January 2017

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