La Bricoleuse

In my last post, i shared some pictures of the more "conventional" sorts of body padding projects my students might elect to do for this recent unit--pregnancy pads, gender-crosscast padding, and "permanent" dress form padding.

Some of my students though chose to do what are called "pod bodies" for this project--the kind of non-human physique structures typically made for creature costumes, like theme-park walkarounds. Due to space and time constraints (and in the interest of conserving materials/$ as well), we do these on the half-scale. Check them out!

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It's been a while since i shared some photos of projects from this semester's graduate seminar in costume crafts topics.

For the unit on jewelry, we discuss specifically how to deal with jewelry effects for the stage--stage jewelry often has very particular requirements (such as quick-release clasps, fabric support structures underneath, and so forth) and can require a craftsperson to create glamourous pieces with "paste and mirrors." We don't approach the project from a fine-jewelry or streetwear jewelry perspective; rather the students address issues like how to make a Shakespearean chain of office, or an elaborate metal collar.

( images of jewelry projects )

Another unit in the class is Reshaping. This project used to be just called "body padding" before i came here, but i felt that (based on the range of issues i'd run into in my own career prior to developing the course) it would better serve the students to have an option for more creative interpretation of the subject. Many students do choose to do traditional padding projects--pregnancy or breast pads, fat-suits and so forth--but some elect to try something different, like a mascot-style pod-body or other "weird" focus. This class had three folks do traditional padding (which, i have not photographed because i figure most people have seen lots of those kinds of costume items), but two chose pod-bodies and one did six extra arms after an image of the Hindu goddess Durga.

Due to the size of the pod-bodies and the amount of patterning and material involved, those students worked on the half-scale; the Durga arms though were rendered life-size!

( click for pix! )

The Durga arms were built onto a standard front-closure bra with a long canvas extension panel at the back. The bra is worn under the choli, the arm structure is seated on the canvas extension in the midriff area between the lower choli hem and the top of the petticoat/saree, and the lower portion of the extension tucks down into the petti/saree for stability. The arms have a heavy wire "skeleton" so they can be moved into different configurations.

I love teaching this course--my students continually surprise me with their creativity and resourcefulness!

lasergirl69 asked me for some brainstorming help, and i thought i'd answer in the form of an "Ask LaBricoleuse," because this isn't the first time i've had an issue of this sort come up, so clearly it might help more than just one reader. Here's what lasergirl69 had to say:

...I've got a weird question and I'm not sure where to start.

I have to build a pregnancy belly with a water rig on it to 'break' onstage. I think the capacity of at least a litre or two of water, and it has to be actor-activated. Except it has to be *subtly* actor-activated. Have you come across any info/advice about this sort of thing, or know anyone I could ask?

One place you could ask to get more opinions than just mine is to post the question to the USITT Costumer's Info List, which is an international email list for professional costumers. There are currently around 530 subscribers, and you don't have to be a member of USITT to join. It's easy to join via the Yahoo! homepage, and you can sign up for web access or digest format if you don't want to get individual emails from it. I have a digest subscription--posting varies but it's never terribly high-traffic. People frequently ask how to make or where to rent/buy trick pieces--"I need a hat with a spring loaded bird that flies off of it for Annie Get Your Gun. Anybody built this hat before? How?" That sort of thing. Someone may have built a water-breaking pregnancy belly on there and either be able to sell it to you, or tell you how they did it!

But, here's my advice on the problem:

The first thing i always do when i have a weird costume issue like this is to reconcile what the options are for the primary action, which in this case is the breaking water. You want to see what sorts of things are out there that can do what you need--dump a liter or two of water fairly fast, with a simple release motion--then figure out how you plan to hide them in a pregnancy pad.

I would start by going to the hardware store and checking out the plumbing section and the pet store and checking out the aquarium section. Look at stopcocks, valves, hand pumps, siphons, all that sort of stuff, and see what might be available.

Plumbing and aquarium vendors are the obvious starting points, but you also will probably want to check out pool supply places and water toys, maybe a cooking equipment store or somewhere that sells home-brewing supplies; you never know where the answer will be found. Anywhere that sells anything related to storing and dispensing quantities of liquid is fair game! Once i had to build a bra for an actress that could "lactate" on cue, for the Adam Rapp play Animals and Plants--i went through several experimental versions for this--nursing bras for mastectomy survivors, random tube/bladder set-ups, a remote-controlled squirting toy. Think wildly, because sometimes that's where the answer is found!

You may wind up buying 5-6 different possibilities, then just trying them out, talking to the director and actor about what sorts of release motions are concealable with the action of the scene, and which are not going to work. Once you decide on what the right water-releaser is going to be, then it shouldn't be that big of a deal to hide it in something as bulky and concealing as a pregnancy pad.

I do think that the pad will have to be rigged kind of like a snare-drum marching rig--with shoulder and waist support, rather than just waist, in order to support the weight of 1-2L of water without injuring the actor wearing it. It might be something you need to build onto a singlet or unitard, with some reinforced shoulder strapping. Of course that can be troubleshot easily once you know what your water reservoir is going to be like.

My readership hopefully will chime in down in the comments too--if anyone has any flashes of inspiration for this, please do share!