Profile

bri·co·lage"brE-kO-'läzh, n.
[French, from bricoler, to putter about, to tinker; also bricole, trifle]

To use an item at hand as a tool for which it was not designed. Ex: a brick used as a hammer.

A person who engages in bricolage is a bricoleur. A bricoleur is a person who creates things from scratch, is creative and resourceful; a person who collects information and things and then puts them together in a manner for which they were not originally designed.

Rachel E. Pollock is La Bricoleuse, Costume Craft Artisan extraordinaire.




What's a costume craft artisan? I am! A craft artisan is sometimes also called a Craftsperson or a Crafter, but is never to be confused with Craft Services, who are the folks that feed you on-location when you are shooting a film. A craft artisan is someone who's responsible for all the aspects of costuming that don't involve dressmaking or tailoring. A craft artisan makes masks, solders jewelry, builds wings, rubberizes bootsoles, dyes garments, paints fabric, ages and distresses costumes...you get the idea! I've even written a book about the construction and repair of parasols. I'm a Jane of all trades and, yes, a master even of some.



Could La Bricoleuse be the first-ever dedicated craft artisan blog? Perhaps!


Comments and "Friending": I welcome your feedback, your input, your questions and queries. Feel free to comment, feel free to friend this journal. All posts will be public--labricoleuse will contain no filtered or friends-only posts. The "friends page" for this journal consists of Livejournal communities with related foci.

Photo-posting policy: The photo-posting policy of this blog is to cut-tag posts with more than one photo, but to occasionally leave one visible outside of the cut. The uncut photograph will most often be an image of the finished project.

Coding credits: The style template for this blog was coded by Liz at grrliz with supporting graphics by Goss at gossymer. I made the header graphic myself, using a press photo of Mrs. Gardiner's parasol in PlayMakers Repertory Company's 2009 production of Pride & Prejudice.


I've set up a Giving Page on DonorsChoose.org to track pet projects i've adopted in underfunded primary and secondary education. The projects on this page all have something in common: they all involve technical theatre applications for students, particularly costuming and puppetry. Please help me to assist these teachers and students in achieving their goals and dreams in the field of theatre costuming!