The Virtual Costumer - Silicon Web Costumers` Guild

Transcription

The Virtual Costumer
the costuming magazine of the
Silicon Web Costumers’ Guild
Athena Parthenos
by Rae Bradbury-Enslin
The Virtual Costumer Volume 13, Issue 1
Copyright © 2015 Silicon Web Costumers’ Guild
-1ISSN 2153-9022
February 2015
Table of Contents
Silicon Web Costumers' Guild
President’s Message
From the Editor
From the Web Diva
Spotlights
Historical Hair Styles YouTube Channel
Upcoming
Calendar of Events
Ongoing Events
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4
5
The Virtual Costumer (ISSN 2153-9022) is a publication of the Silicon Web
Costumers’ Guild (SiW), a non-profit, volunteer-run chapter of the International
Costumers' Guild (ICG)
6
A YouTube channel focuses on historical hairstyles
The Art of the Mantua-Maker: 1870 - 1879
7
Copyright © 2015 Silicon Web Costumers’ Guild. This work is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoncommercialNo Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Images, and
material related to novels, movies, exhibits, or otherwise owned by others, remain
the property of their respective copyright holders.
The author talks about why she loves this period
Feature Articles
“Miss Toffelees” the Steampunk Voodoo Queen
An aspiring cosplayer creates a terrifying brew
Creating a Goddess
Creating the statue of Athena Parthenos as a costume
The Linothorax Project
The secret of making Alexander the Great's linen armor
Liberacicus, God of Lounge Singers
A musical “god” of imbibement comes on the scene!
MODOK: Odyssey II
The end of the story for a Marvel Comics super-villain
How-Tos
Elven Cosplay Foam Armor Tutorial
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Authors with "*" beside their names are Silicon Valley Costumers' Guild members.
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29
39
44
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About the Cover
Making Elven costumes of EVA and craft foam
The cover photo is from the splash page of Rae
Bradbury-Enslin's award-winning documentation for
her Athena Parthenos historical masquerade entry at
Costume-Con 32 in 2014. An interior image of the
Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee was digitally
manipulated in Photoshop. The original statue was
partially erased so that her image could replace it
(she found this portion to be a little gruesome), then
the layer with Rae in costume (at left) was added.
You can read Rae's article about her multi-year
odyssey to recreate the sculpture in costume starting
on page 17.
Short Subjects
High Style at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco
61
Brooklyn Museum exhibit features 1910-1980 fashions
17th Annual Costumer Designers Guild Awards
61
Movie, TV awards presented in Hollywood ceremony
The Force is with the Costumes
62
Smithsonian traveling exhibit shows Star Wars costumes
Motion Picture Academy Presents Costuming Oscar
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“The Grand Budapest Hotel” wins for costume design
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February 2015
Silicon Web Costumers' Guild
Silicon Web Staff
President:
Kevin Roche
Vice-President:
Elaine Sims
Treasurer:
Bruce MacDermott
Secretary:
Deb Salisbury
Virtual Costumer Editor
Philip Gust
Web Diva and Assistant
Virtual Costumer Editor:
Kathe Gust
President’s
Message
appropriately themed wardrobe, and the car
was rockin' until three in the morning. Andy
and I also organized another Doctor Who
mashup group, this time just for fun as hall
costumes: Bluebox 42, combining Doctor
Who and the BBC3 series Bluestone 42
about an ATO Squad in Afghanistan.
(“ATO” means Ammunition Technical
Officer, so the ATO Squad is a bomb squad.
Bluestone 42 has been described as a very
funny cross between MASH and The Hurt
Locker.)
Kevin Roche*
Nine of us spent 17 hours overdyeing
urban camo tactical gear dark red. I built a
robot dog (“Arthur-9”). Bryan Little built a
wagonful of disarmed devices (plus one real
bomb: A DVD of Battlefield Earth).
We spent Sunday afternoon at G1 in kit
sweeping the convention floor for
"Improvised Dalek Devices." (Note: we very
carefully avoided using the "b" word out
loud in public during all this playacting –
except in reference to the DVD.)
We even successfully captured a Dalek
– even if he was more interested in Mai Tais
than mass destruction.
As it happened, the charity
beneficiary for G1 this year was
the Wounded Warrior project,
so our attention to detail
on the squad's
tactical gear felt
especially
appropriate.
There must be a chronic
hysteresis embedded in the middle of
February (I was a week late with last
year's column, too!), due most likely to
time-traveling off to The 26th Season
of Gallifrey One, aka G1,this year's
edition of my favorite Doctor Who
convention.
We survived, and (unfortunately
for him) I now know Phil can stitch up
a errant time loop in a jiffy, so here we
go!
This year our little cabal's
costumed cocktail party at Gallifrey
One was "Join us in the Saloon Car for
an Evening on the Orient Express." A
gratifying number of attendees packed
Bluebox 42: Doctor Who mashed up with BBC3 Bluestone 42 series about a ATO squad in Afghanistan.
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February 2015
It seems our convention schedule is
already in overdrive; we had Further
Confusion last month and Gallifrey One
now, and the spring is bursting with
costuming opportunities. On top of
everything else, the RoboGames have been
revived, so in April DARPA (the Drinks
Advanced Research Projects Agency) will
be defending its gold medal in robotic
bartending with the latest edition of my
barbot "ThinBot." Costume-Con 33 is in
May, and I'm already hearing portentous
rumblings of splendiferosity from multiple
quarters!
If you are a participant in
Worldcon 2015 and the Hugo
Awards nomination/voting
process, I'd like to point out that
The Virtual Costumer qualifies
to be nominated in the “Best
Fanzine” category. VC has been
published since 2003, and is
chock-ful of SFF-ally
appropriate articles. It's been
ably steered by our editors all
that time, and I hope you'll
consider it when making
your nominations.
Time to wrap this up before the
timewarp closes -- have a great rest of the
winter and start of spring, and, as always, if
you're wearing something funny, be sure to
get pictures and share them with Phil and
The Virtual Costumer!
From the Editor
Philip Gust*
Welcome to the first
issue of VC for 2015! This is
Volume 13, and I began writing this column
on Friday, February 13th. Should I worry
about a supernatural connection, or is “13”
just a natural number, between 12 and 14?
Humans historically invoke the
supernatural to explain the power of the
world around them, and have worshiped a
pantheon of deities to seek their protection.
In addition to the rituals and ceremonies,
costumes often play an important role. In
this issue of VC, we explore a number of
interesting aspects of costumes worn by the
gods themselves, by their acolytes, and by
those who worship them.
We begin with a report on the
YouTube channel of a "Hairdressing
Archaeologist" who first hit the news for her
work reconstructing the historic Roman
hairstyle of the Vestal Virgins by analyzing
multiple sculptures from the time. Kathe
Gust takes us on a tour of the the videos that
show reconstructions of many other ancient
and historical hair styles.
Next, Deb Salisbury offers a “Virtual
Author Talks” about her new book, The Art
of the Mantua-Maker: 1870 – 1879. Deb
tells us that she worships the fashions of the
1870s, and adores nineteenth-century
fashion magazines and sewing books. Her
book combines her passions by reproducing
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a selection of articles from her extensive
collection of fashion magazines and books
from the decade, categorized by the type of
article, and citing the original sources.
Few people would be brave enough to
combine Voodoo and Steampunk, but
Samantha Witt does it with her “Steampunk
Voodoo Queen” costume. In her article, she
tells how she was inspired by “Dr. Facilier”
from The Princess and the Frog, and wanted
a steampunk version that embodied the
essence of the character. The result is a
terrifying brew that is guaranteed to leave
you spellbound!
Rae Bradbury-Enslin has had a
decades-long fascination with the Greek
statue of Athena Parthenos. After years of
nagging by the Goddess, she finally obeyed
the summons and created an embodiment as
an entry for the Costume-Con 32 Historical
Masquerade. She tells in her article about
her multi-year journey, and offers technical
details about every aspect of creating the
costume and the props that she presented.
Based on the audience and judge's reactions,
the Goddess must have been pleased!
In a little more than two decades,
Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.)
conquered nearly the entire known world.
Surprisingly little is understood about the
body armor that Alexander and many of his
men wore. A group at the University of
Wisconsin-Green Bay finally discovered the
secret of creating “linothorax” armor from
linen and glue. In their article, Gregory
Aldrete, Scott Bartell, and Alicia Aldrete
February 2015
describe how they did it, and how they
proved that it works – including stopping a
recreated period arrow that Gregory shot at
an armored Scott from 15 feet away! These
are truly dedicated historical costumers with
skin in the game!
The Romans were famous for being
able to joke about their deities. Kevin Roche
describes how an informal costume became
a new god in the Roman pantheon:
“Liberacicus, God of Lounge Singers.” The
updated costume included loads of hidden
storage pockets, enabling him to wear it to
convention parties and bring along money,
keys, and cell phone. It is one of his favorite
slightly-salacious evening hall costumes.
In the last issue (VC volume 12, issue
4), Kevin Pishion was ready to admit defeat
trying to recreate the god-like Marvel
Comics super-villain “MODOK.” Now he
tells how he finally overcame the odds and
completed his odyssey (with a little help
from his friends), and went on to glory at the
2014 San Diego Costume-Con masquerade.
countries on the 100th anniversary of WWI,
and covering the war's influence on clothing,
military and civilian.
In August 2015, we pay a visit to “The
Wild West,” and learn about the clothing of
gun slingers, gold miners, robber barons,
and pioneers of fact and legend who tamed
the American West.
I'm pleased to announce that the theme
for the November 2015 issue is Wings! This
issue will delve into the many and varied
aspects of using or incorporating wings into
costumes or accessories.
The four sections so far are:
•
Fabrics and Notions, which cover
everything you would need to make
garments from a historical period:
buttons, trims, fabrics, and threads.
•
Jewels and Metal Work includes
jewelery, medals, and military
decorations from many historical
periods.
From the Web
Diva
•
General Stores covers all types of
goods, reproduction accessories,
shoes, and ready-made garments.
Kathe Gust*
•
Patterns from a variety of historical
periods.
See the Upcoming Issues page of the
SiW website for details. Now is a great time
to start writing for VC, and share what you
know and love with your fellow costumers.
Finally, Mikaela Renshaw and her
father, Mark offer a tutorial based on their
construction of Drow Elf and Woodland Elf
costumes, made of EVA and craft foam.
Mikaela and her brother showed off their
creations in the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con
masquerade. The level workmanship was
astounding!
A while back, a request came in for a
list of where to find fabric for historical
costumes. That got me thinking about the
topic of other items for historical costuming.
There are lists on the Web, but normally I
find that half the links are dead, and they
don't really give you a idea of what the seller
offers or why you might want to go there.
Here is a quick preview of what is
upcoming in VC. The theme for the May
2015 issue will be “Dressing for the Great
War,” in honor of those who served their
Voila! A new resource was born: the
“Historical Costuming Resources” page on
the SiW website.
I don't list everything, just places I
either used myself or heard recommended
by other costumers. If I bought something
there with no hassle and no disappointment,
I gave it the Web Diva Seal: . It doesn't
mean they are perfect, just good enough for
me to feel comfortable recommending them
personally.
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Visit the new “Historical Costuming
Resources” page on the SiW website. Give
them a try and feel free to suggest your
favorites to add to the list. You can contact
me at my Web Diva email address.
Also, don't forget to visit the “Costume
Links” and “Vintage Sewing Books”
resource pages!
February 2015
Website Spotlight
Historical Hair
Styles YouTube
Channel
Kathe Gust*
A YouTube channel focuses on how to
recreate historical hairstyles, from Vestal
Virgin priestesses to American Civil War.
Some of you may have heard of Janet
Stephens, the "Hairdressing Archaeologist".
She first hit the news in 2008 after a paper
she wrote that was published in the Journal
of Roman Archaeology (JRA). It covered
several years work at reconstructing the
historic Roman hairstyle of the Vestal
Virgins based by analyzing multiple
sculptures from the time.
Janet is a professional
hairdresser (and amateur
archaeologist) from Baltimore,
who has the great advantage of
actually understanding what
can be done by and with hair.
She doesn't confine herself to
Ancient Romans either!
Janet has her own
YouTube channel where her
videos offer explicit
instructions for recreating, not
only several Roman hairstyles
from her earliest research, but
also styles from Ancient
Greece, the Middle Ages,
Renaissance, Napoleonic era,
and the American Civil War.
Sample of videos available on Janet Stephens' YouTube channel.
In addition, you can view tutorials on
braiding, making "figure-8" ringlets suitable
for Victorian or 17th century styles and
creating Papillote Curls for the 18th century.
Scholarly Presentations
"The Scientifick Hairdresser: curling
and coiffing in the Jeffersonian era"
"Ovid’s Cosmetology: the hair science
behind Amores 1.14"
YouTube video presents an analysis and recreation
(upon a live model) of the "seni crines" hairstyle of
ancient Rome's Vestal Virgin priestesses, based on
ancient artifacts and primary sources.
"Truthy or False-ish? Hair in Ancient
Roman and Renaissance Female Portraiture"
"Ancient Roman Hairdressing: Fiction
to Fact"
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"Vestal Virgin Hairstyling: recreating
the seni crines"
Janet's Publications
"Ancient Roman hairdressing: on
(hair)pins and needles", Journal of Roman
Archaeology 21, 2008.
"Recreating the hairstyle of the
Fonesca bust", EXARC Journal Annual
Digest, 2013.
Kathe Gust enjoys creating clothing
for many historical periods, and for various
sci-fi and fantasy genres. Visit her website
to read articles and see photos for some of
her costuming projects.
February 2015
Virtual Author Talk
The Art of the
Mantua-Maker:
1870 - 1879
Deb Salisbury*
The author of “The Art of the MantuaMaker: 1870-1870: Fashion, Sewing, and
Clothes Care” talks about why she wrote
the book and why she loves this period.
I have to admit I’m a list maker. I’ve
made lists of dress history for years, only to
lose them in the clutter on my desk and in
the resulting cleaning sprees. (I like to see
the surface of my desk once in a while.) But
finally it occurred to me that someone else
might be interested in the same types of
details that I love so much.
After many years of collecting, I
wanted to share their original writings with
other historical-dress enthusiasts. However,
I held back from writing this book for years
because my original publisher discouraged
illustrations as too much trouble for her
small press, and I couldn’t see how I could
do the subject justice without a large number
of pictures. Then, I discovered Createspace,
an online publishing site for independent
authors, and discovered how easy it is to add
pictures. In fact, it was so easy that I got
I adore nineteenth-century fashion
magazines. I love Victorian-era sewing
books even more. However, I’ve often been
discouraged by books about Victorian
clothing because they show lovely pictures,
but gave no tips as to how the dress was
made. Learning to sew in the loose-fitting
fashions of the later twentieth century gave
me no hint of the intricacies of structured
clothing, or of the amazing things women
were willing to put themselves through to
trim their gorgeous dresses. This jeans and
sweat-shirt girl quickly learned to appreciate
the techniques those seamstresses employed.
carried away and the file became too large,
so I had to edit out many illustrations.
Because my personal collection of
fashion magazines is strongest in the 1870s,
I decided to start with that decade. The Art
of the Mantua-Maker: 1870 - 1879 Fashion,
Sewing, and Clothes Care Advice compiles
sewing and fashion advice from books and
magazines during the 1870s, given in the
words of writers of that time.
To my eyes, the fashions of the 1870s
were extremely graceful, without as many
exaggerations as the other decades of the
Victorian era. I love the gently sloping
bustle, and the smooth lines of the cuirass
bodice. Of course, the ladies of this era
loved extravagant trim: braid, embroidery,
shirring, ruffles, puffings, plaits, and
flounces; the list seems endless.
The art of the mantua-maker was
practiced by every woman who wanted to
create her own wardrobe. Fashion
magazines were studied and dissected,
scoured for details on how each effect was
created, how many seams were used, and
where the pleats were placed. They learned
why changes were made, when they went
out of date, and how to recreate the styles
they liked.
Individual taste seemed more allowable
during this period, too. Within certain limits,
of course. One needed to be aware of the
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February 2015
fashions, and be willing to adjust them to
her body shape, complexion, and status in
life.
Fashion magazines in the 1870s were
largely aimed at middle-class women with
money to spend, and appearances to keep up
– something very important to people during
this era. Wealthy women relied on their
modistes to keep them current with the
trends (when they weren’t out ahead of
them), but middle-class women relied on
magazines like Peterson’s Magazine and
Godey’s Ladies Book. Some of these women
made their own clothes, but many took the
magazines’ designs to their dressmakers.
“Taste in dress is the sure
guarantee of the lady. Nor is it
mere money that makes a tasteful
dress. It is principally a knowledge
of the fashions, and how to adapt
them to your style.”
– Peterson’s Magazine, November 1875
Most of the fashion articles in
magazines were only one-half to three pages
long, sometimes spread across different
sections of the issue. They described the
illustrations in the front of the current issue,
general trends in fashion, and occasionally
gave brief instructions (often little more than
hints) on how fashionable dresses were
constructed. Deep in the magazine’s general
LOW WATTEAU-BODY
“We give, here, an engraving of a Low Watteau-body for
full evening-dress, and also a diagram of the pieces of
which it is to be made. They are, as will be seen, three in
number, viz: the front, the side-piece, and the back. This
Watteau-body has a square opening both back and front,
and is made without sleeves. That pattern is for a body a
little above the usual or average size, say thirty-four and a
half inches round the chest, and twenty-four inches round
the waist.”
– Peterson’s Magazine, October 1871
Q&A section were more tips about fashion
and dressmaking advice.
Sometimes the construction advice was
more concrete, as with this from Peterson's
Magazine, January 1870:
“The under-skirt has one gored width
in front, and if the material is of double fold,
the side gores come off of the front width.
By observing to cut the skirt in this way,
much material can be saved; then add two
full widths in the back; cut the flounce a
quarter of a yard in depth, and bias, and put
it on as seen in the design, either with a band
of black velvet one inch wide, or with
worsted braid, or even with bias bands of
black alpaca, stitched down by the sewingmachine. The upper-skirt is short, and even
all round, (trimmed also with a bias ruffle
six inches deep,) being simply looped up in
the middle of the back with a large bow of
the material of the dress.”
“We begin with a plaid walking-dress,
suitable for a best dress. The material should
be either a woolen plaid, or any one-colored
woolen stuff goods. It will require about
eighteen yards of single width, or fourteen
yards of double width material; and can be
made both fashionably, and at the same time
comparatively inexpensively.
I combined the various illustrations,
descriptions and hints from all of my
sources into chronological order to let the
reader watch how fashion and dressmaking
evolved over the months. Usually there was
a slow progression, but occasionally a new
innovation would put in a sudden
appearance.
I found a couple of books that gave a
few pages of dressmaking advice, and I
included the best examples. I always include
the source at the end of each book or
magazine’s section.
Peterson’s Magazine often gave a
“pattern” (an illustration of a dress) and a
“diagram” (an outline of the pieces), along
with brief description of how to make it, like
the Low Watteau-Body shown above.
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February 2015
Among the periodicals I used most,
Peterson’s Magazine
and Godey’s Lady’s
Book (left) were
aimed at women at
large, though
particularly at
middle-class women.
They offered selfimprovement
articles, stories about
women and girls,
poetry, lectures
(especially about temperance), how-to
articles on everything from art to
embroidery to lace making, and, of course,
fashion advice.
Magazines like Smith’s Illustrated
Pattern Bazaar
were intended to
sell patterns, but
they included
many articles
about current
fashions, and
they dropped
hints about
dressmaking
techniques by
mentioning how many gores a new style of
skirt used, or what type of fabric worked
best. Arthur’s Illustrated Home Magazine
gave more information about Butterick
patterns than they did about fashion trends,
along with stories and articles of interest to
its readers.
The book has three sections:
To Make Old Black Silk Look Like New
“Unpick the garment, and wash the pieces in hot
soapsuds; rinse by dipping up and down in hot
water, then dip in second water, prepared as
follows: Boil two ounces of logwood chips in five
quarts of water, add a quarter of an ounce of
copperas; strain through an old bit of calico, and
dip your silk into this dye. Let the silk be pinned
on to a line by the corners, and hang until it is
nearly dry. Then take it down and iron it between
two pieces of old black silk. It will look like new.”
Peterson’s Magazine, February 1875
Advice on how to care for clothing was
invaluable in the days before washing
machines and dry cleaning. Recipes on
cleaning made frequent appearances in all
the magazines. Articles like the one above
make me extremely glad I’m not a Victorian
laundress, lady’s maid, or middle-class doit-yourself woman.
The Art of the Mantua-Maker: 1870 1879 Fashion, Sewing, and Clothes Care
Advice compiles
sewing and fashion
advice given in books
and magazines during
the 1870s, in the
words of writers of
that time. Each entry
shows the name and
date of the periodical
quoted. I’ve included
as many pattern
sketches as I could
find.
1.
2)
3)
Sewing tips and fashion advice
Fabric cleaning and care.
Bibliography of magazines and books I
found useful.
It’s organized chronologically, so you
can look for fashion and sewing advice by
month and year. I’ve included over 740
black and white period engravings of
dresses, trim, and patterns to help show the
details of changing fashions of the 1870s.
Deb Salisbury is the owner (and sole
employee) of The Mantua-Maker, creating
quality historical sewing patterns for the
modern sewing artist since 1993. She fell in
love with costuming when her boyfriend
took her to BayCon’s Masquerade in 1986,
and she's been making historical and
fantastic clothing ever since. Her designs
have won awards at World Con, Costume
Con, WesterCon, and BayCon.
Sample page from The Art of the Mantua Maker: 1870 - 1879.
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February 2015
Feature
black, bronze, gold, grey, brown, etc., and I
refused to put gears on it because, for this
character, it would have looked out of place
and tacked on. “Miss Toffelees”
the Steampunk
Voodoo Queen
There are many types of voodoo
practices from many different regions, but I
chose to base this character on the Louisiana
style of voodoo. More modern and able to fit
in better in the towns, my character is the
type who lives in the backwood swamps and
no one dares to enter her domain. When she
comes to town, the residents race into their
homes and lock the doors, businesses shut
up shop and flash their closed signs. She
is not welcome, but is too intimidating to
be told to leave. She has her familiars,
both human and animal, that prowl the
towns and local bayous and serve as
both her guardians and victim finders.
Samantha Witt
An aspiring
cosplayer creates a
terrifying brew as she mixes together
elements of Louisiana-style voodoo and
classic steampunk.
Photo: Tim Boothby.
When I first started in costuming, I fell
in love in Steampunk. It was so different
from the normal costuming I did – anime
and video game characters – that I couldn't
resist making my own. “Miss Toffelees”
came from a wild thought after I watched
The Princess and the Frog. I was dazzled by
“Dr. Facilier” and thought that I wanted a
steampunk version of that: not the character
himself, but the same essence!!!!
She can make you rich or give you
the love of another, but double cross her
or fail to uphold your end of the bargain,
and the consequences would be dire. I
needed to make her gruff and grungy
looking, with chewed up and ill fitting
clothing, hair dreaded from neglect, and
a smile so fiendish that even a devil
would be jealous. I schemed and planned and finally
came up with my vision. I knew that I
wanted some color in it besides the normal
Author's Note
Voodoo practices involve animal
parts, so I thought it only fitting to use real
animal parts in my costume. All the parts
were either shed naturally by the animal or
humanely obtained by the seller.
Copyright © 2010 Silicon Web Costumers' Guild
“Miss Toffelees” wearing top hat, frock coat, skirt, and apron.
Photo: Adam Kant.
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I will describe each element of
the costume I came up with, from the
very top to the bottom, list the materials I
used, and discuss construction details. February 2015
Horned Top Hat
Materials:
•
Base: Black Wool Felt Top Hat - Size
Medium sold by Patterns of Time.
(below) •
Quills: 2 Impala horns and 13 African
porcupine quills from Atlantic Coral
Enterprise.
•
Material: Fabric flowers made with gold
and black scrap fabric leftover from my
corset. •
Button: 1 Acrylic 25x18 Black skull
Lolita Skeleton Cameo button from
Cameo Jewelry Supply .
As a voodoo queen, “Miss Toffelees”
needed a crown. Since this was steampunk
themed, a top hat was in order, but what to
put on it? Voodoo is often times paired with
the Devil so I figured that horns would be a
good fit, but they looked very plain by
themselves. I thought of procurpine quills
(see picture #6) after watching a TV
program that talked about lion fish. The
spike points on their fins were amazing, and
I knew they would look great on my hat. I
put 13 quills on my hat because 13 is
supposedly a scary number.
For the very center of the hat, I found
an adorable skeleton cameo while I was
looking for another type of buttons for a
different part of the project. Surrounding the
cameo are just the tip of the quills
that I snipped off and stuck in the
band. I noticed a lot of
headdresses place a skull of
some type right in the center,
so I copied them. Instead of
something like a bird or rodent
skull, however, I thought the
cameo would look just a bit
more elegant.
Finally, the base of the
horns looked plain, so to
make it look a little nicer, I
wrapped remnants of the
fabric that I used for my
under-bust clincher into
little roses. I finished the
hat with a single peacock
feather I found in my yard. Top hat with button, horns and porcupine quills.
-11-
Wig
Materials:
•
Dionysus-24" Silvery Grey Straight long
Cosplay wig from Epic Cosplay Wigs.
•
BB Tropical Roots Locking Gel from
Sally Beauty Supply.
Photo: Tim Boothby.
I used this wig for a different cosplay
long ago, and for a long time it was thrown
into my closet and forgotten. When I started
this outfit, I thought long and hard about the
hair style and finally settled on dreadlocks.
Why? Because they just went so well with
the outfit. It went with the unkempt look I
was going for. But how to dread this wig
without completely setting it on fire?
Thankfully there's YouTube! I found a
simple tutorial by ”Nibbles Official” called,
How To Make A Dreadlock Wig. I didn't
have to make the wig from scratch but I still
used the method of dreading the hair with a
washcloth and flat iron. It was very tedious
and very slow but eventually it was all
dreaded and it looked great!
February 2015
To help keep the dreads nice I found a
product called, BB Tropical Roots Locking
Gel from Sally Beauty Supply, and slathered
it all over.
Comic-Con in October 2014, I decided to
use the“spooky” makeup because that
month was Halloween, and I thought
it was more fitting.
Makeup
To create the “spooky” makeup,
I searched the Web for skull designs
and chose one that I liked.
Materials:
•
Makeup colors: Black and white cream
makeup from Spirit Halloween Store. •
For the lines: Mabelline eye liner. •
To set the makeup: Baby powder and
black eye shadow. To apply it, I clean my face
with alcohol, then drew out the
eyes, cheeks and teeth using a
Mabelline eye liner. Then I filled it
in with the creme make up that I
purchased at the Spirit Halloween Store. I
set the makeup with baby powder for the
white part and black eye shadow for
the black parts.
I'm wearing my “glamorous”
makeup in the photo on the previous
page.
Frock Coat with Tails
Materials:
•
I wear one of two makeup designs with
this costume: a “glamorous” makeup and a
“spooky” makeup. After all, she is a voodoo
queen, so she really does need to have both
to reflect her mysterious personality.I wear
the “glamorous” makeup most often, but
when I wore this costume to the Tree City
Pattern: Reconstructing
History, “1790s-1810s Frock
Coat” from Patterns of Time.
(above)
• Material: Black polyester
blended suiting fabric. •
Lining: Turquoise Intricate Scrolled
Brocade. •
Buttons: 2 Silver skull 1/2 inch 5 Black and white ceramic style 1/4
inch. -12-
Oh this coat! How it drove me
crazy! I've never used an “oldtimey” pattern before, and many
of the terms and instructions
were very confusing, but I
triumphed and this coat came
into being. I've always wanted a
frock coat with tails, so why
would the voodoo queen not
want one as well?
I know that the coat looks
baggy on me, but there is a
reason. It goes with the persona of
the character: the villain whom no
one would sell to. It only makes
sense that many of the clothing
items were found second hand or taken from
victims who could not hold up their end of
the deal. It was easy to make it a little bigger
on me since the pattern was meant for a
man, but I had to be careful to not make it so
big that it swallowed me up and I looked
like I was wearing a tent.
While constructing this piece my mind
went back to colors, and I fell in love with
this turquoise brocade at my local JoAnn
Fabrics. Against the black, it was beautiful
pop of color to catch the eye, and it tied in
really well with the whole outfit. I initially made the buttons holes with
my sewing machine but they looked terrible
after I cut the holes. To make them more
clean-looking, I took embroidery thread and
whip stitched all around the holes. I used
shanked buttons to make it easier to button
and unbutton, and sewed them on by hand.
February 2015
Top
Materials:
•
Pattern: Simplicity #1819 Misses
Steampunk Costume.
•
Under fabric: turquoise.
•
Over fabric: stretch lace.
• Sleeves: stretch lace with tricot
bandages .
• Decoration: blue mini pendents for
jewelry making. The jewels were added as an afterthought. I was browsing Walmart and found
them in the jewelry section. Since I had blue
in my outfit already, I envisioned them
making the shirt look just a tiny bit more
luxurious. To make the top a little more raggedlooking, I picked at the edges of the tricot
strips and the bottom of the shirt with my
fingers then took a lighter to it burning the
edges (below).
This was
pretty simple to
make. I picked the
blue to compliment
all the other blues
that I had going on.
The pattern did not
originally come with
the sleeves. The reason I
added them was because
it just looked bland to me.
I did not like the way it
felt without the sleeves,
and it was a fun idea for a
style. I drew out a sleeve
silhouette on paper first, and
then transfered it onto the
left-over lace I had.
The tricot strips were
tricky. I had to size each according to
where it was going to sit on my arm.
With frock coat removed, showing coat lining, top and corset. Photo: Adam Kant.
Distressing top by burning the edges.
-13-
February 2015
Corset
Materials:
•
Pattern: Simplicity #1819 Misses
Steampunk Costume.
•
Fabric: Filigree Black/Gold cotton from
fabric.com .
•
Lining: Gold satin found at a thrift store.
•
Boning: plastic bridal boning.
•
Front buttons: 7 Glass Aurora Borealis
Intaglio Scarab 18x13. 1 Scropio zodiac
cameo, both from Cameo Jewelry
Supply.
•
Grommets: 1/4 gold color.
•
Tie-black and gold rope. Simplicity #1819 used for top, corset and bustled skirt.
I found a beautiful filigree patterned
black/gold fabric while browsing
Fabric.com, and I just needed it! I thought
that the gold on top of the black was a good
way to break up all the brown, black and
blue colors that were going on. The pattern
originally called for the corset to be installed
with a zipper, but I replaced that with gold
grommets and a rope tie. I picked out the
blue buttons because I thought that they
complimented the gold. The Scorpio button
is just because I'm a Scorpio and it was a
nice personal touch. Bustled Skirt
Materials:
•
Pattern- Simplicity #1819 Misses
Steampunk Costume
•
Fabric: Brown Polyblend •
Bustle: Brown Polyblend
•
Upper lining: Light blue sateen
•
Lower lining: Black sateen •
Apron and cascades: Turquoise Intricate
Scrolled Brocade.
•
Ribbon: Turquoise Grosgrain. I wrestled with what color to make my
skirt. I didn't want to make it black or
shockingly blue because it was eye-watering
tacky (at least to me). I looked up many
color combinations, and finally settled on a
nice brown with the blue. It went well with
the black, gold and blue already on the
costume.
-14-
With the color out of the way, I had to
decide what style I wanted. I kicked around
the idea of ball gown skirts and mermaid
skirts, but found that the skirt that went with
the pattern I was using was perfect. It was
big. and bustly. and made my brain tingle
with the thoughts of the Voodoo Queen
wearing something so poofy as to hide the
instruments of her craft – though she'd have
to be careful not to sit on her things! The apron and cascades on the skirt
went through several changes. I originally
started with black and gold fabric,but after
the initial application, it just didn't flow
right. I had left-over brocade fabric that I
had lined my jacket with, and it was just
right against the brown. Bustled skirt for Simplicity #1819 steampunk costume.
February 2015
Spats
Materials:
•
Fabric: Turquoise Intricate Scrolled
Brocade. •
Lining: White muslin •
Pattern: Printable pattern from the
“Thank You for Not Being Perkey”
website.
•
Buttons- 1/4 mismatched buttons I
found at a yard sale. right sides together and sewed around,
leaving a space to turn, then slip-stitched the
opening. I added the lace because, honestly,
it just looked pretty and added a little bit of
fanciness to the outfit.
Now this is where I was overthinking
things. As I was making the spats, I imaged
that each button had a different meaning or
power. In my imagination, where this
character lives, they acted as totems for her
magic. The clock button manipulates time
and life force. The white buttons are like the
eyes of a blind person so they steal peoples
sight. The blue flower button is of swamp
magic, vines and water to torture her victims
and protect herself. Skeleton Hand Jewelry
Materials:
I've never made spats before, and while
hunting down a pattern by McCall's, I found
that my local stores were completely out of
it! Using my “Google-fu” I found a very
simple print out pattern. I re-sized it to fit
around my shoes and a tiny bit longer.
The instructions were really convoluted
and confusing, so I had to do it my own way
to get it put together. I just winging it, and
sewed it to the best of my abilities. I put the
•
Jewelry: Purchased from Dhgate.com.
•
Decoration: 5 adult gator teeth from
Atlantic Coral Enterprises.
I wanted to give the Voodoo
Queen something to
identify her magical
side, so I came up
with her wearing
this jewelry
piece, adorned
with five teeth of the
bayou god that serves
as her master. It
concentrates her magic
and makes it stronger to inflict more
suffering on the locals. I think that the
-15-
teeth add a nice touch, and give the illusion
of a clawed hand.
I am not talented enough yet to make
the hand piece from scratch, so I had to find
one online that would do the trick. The teeth
were applied using Beacon 3-in-1 glue on
each of the fingers.
Cane with Alligator Head
Materials:
•
Cane: Wood carved panther head cane
from the World Market .
•
Decorations: Taxidermied alligator head
from Atlantic Coral Enterprises. a rabbit spine that I found outside, and a
magpie feather found on my doorstep. Most of the best villains seem to have
canes, and it went with the theme of the
costume. I found the cane at the World
Market, but it lacked personality. As I was
looking for the perfect horns for my hat I
stumbled upon some taxidermy alligator
heads, and immediately wanted
one for my cane. I
named him “Jeremy”
and tied him onto the
cane. I even made
him a little top hat
out of felt so he
could be posh as well. I thought that it would be fun
to come up with a back-story for
“Jeremy” as part of the cosplay. He
started life as a human being who wanted to
own high end hotels but he was failure at
February 2015
everything. He went to “Miss Toffelees” and
made a fairly simple deal to be successful
and rich. “Miss Toffelees” was in a good
mood that day so the only thing she asked
for was a free meal from one of his high end
hotel restaurants. He agreed, but as with
most people like Jeremy, success went to his
head and he forgot all about his deal.
When “Miss Toffelees” came for her
meal, she was instantly sent away. When she
asked to speak with Jeremy, he looked her
right in the eyes and dismissed her because
he didn't want it revealed that he had went to
the ugly swamp witch who, in reality, was
responsible for his success. “Miss Toffelees” left, but that night,
when Jeremy was in his bed, he found
himself awakened by a thumping sound. He
opened his eyes to see the witch lady
standing over him and he yelled! But the
sound that came out of his mouth was
nothing more then a squeak! She had turned
him onto a tiny alligator and told him that he
was to be her servant for the rest of time.
When he protested, “Miss Toffelees” cut his
head off and trapped his soul in the severed
head. She is the only one who can hear his
thoughts and, to her annoyance, they include
a wide assortment of swear words.
The other decorations for my cane are
a rabbit spine and a magpie feather. The
rabbit spine I found when I was a kid
walking on train tracks. It was so
fascinating, I took it home, much to my
mother's disgust. I've had it for over 10
years, and finally found a use for it. I found
the feather on my doorstep one day, and
thought it would make a nice accessory
along with the spine and
the head.
Final Thoughts This is by far
the most thought-out
costume I've ever made, and I am
so proud of it. In fact, it's the favorite
thing in my closet. I worked on this outfit
for over five months, and spent countless
hours designing and contemplating what
would work. I tried really hard to walk the
line between putting my own spin on
traditional Steampunk and Voodoo garb, so
it didn't become cliche in either direction. I
think that I got this outfit just right, and it
will forever be a classic to me, and a
statement to my imagination. Samantha Witt is an aspiring
seamstress who is working to become a Pro.
She makes Cosplays, Pillows, Pillow cases,
and Plushies, and is working on adding
other creations to her skills. She made her
first cosplay costume, “Hell Girl Enma Ai,”
in 2011. It took her 5 months to complete,
hand-stitching all the flowers herself and
enduring hand cramps galore! Visit
her Platinum Locks Cosplay page on
Facebook.
My biggest thrill came when I
entered “Miss Toffelees” in
the Tree City Comic-Con
masquerade in October
2014. Although I was proud of what
I had done, I've always been
skeptical of my skills, and never
thought that it would measure up
against the work of much more
experienced costumers. Imagine my
shock when the judges awarded it
Best in Show! I was totally
overwhelmed, and grateful to think that
others enjoyed seeing her as much as I did
creating her.
Cane decorated with alligator head, rabbit spine, and magpie feather.
-16-
February 2015
Feature
Creating a
Goddess
Rae BradburyEnslin
A costumer's
decades-long fascination with the statue of
Athena Parthenos lead to a multi-year
journey, and her near-demise at the hands
of the “Stume 'o Doom.”
I discovered the Athena Parthenos
statue in 1992, when my then-boyfriend
showed me a photo of the reproduction from
the Royal Ontario Museum. We both had
Greek personas in the SCA, so I already had
an interest in ancient Grecian clothing. I was
very taken with the statue’s history, scale
and beauty, and decided that I wanted
someday to reinvent it as a costume. Had
anyone told me “someday” would be the
year 2014, I might have changed my mind.
It’s worth noting that I decided to make
the costume two years before I met my
husband, which means he has had to put up
with this obsession of mine for the entirety
of our 20-year relationship. Some people
bring emotional baggage into a relationship,
I brought goddess baggage. Fortunately he’s
coped with my obsession with grace and
humor—the same way he deals with every
other weird thing I come up with.
Enthusiasm for the costume wasn’t a
problem. That, I had in abundance. It was
the myriad details of the statue that I found
daunting. I love working with clay, but fine
sculpting, especially the detailed sculpting
of tiny people, is not my forté. And the more
I looked at the statue’s components, the
more of the little twits I discovered. They
were everywhere! The shield, the helmet,
the pedestal. Tiny sculpted people, tiny
painted people, (I’m even worse a painter
than I am a sculptor) bits of furniture,
landscapes, and a few random larger
sculptures like the serpent and Nike. Every
reproduction I found showed more minute
details that I would need to recreate. I
remember actually laughing out loud when I
noticed that there were even friezes of tiny
human figures on her sandals.
At this point it was clear that Athena
was just messing with me.
Basically, at the time, I just couldn’t do
it. I didn’t have the skill set. Still, perhaps in
blind hope or ambition, I started to collect
materials over the years. I purchased the
fabric for her clothes, and I made a version
of Nike that I placed into storage. (Only to
disassemble her years later because I
thought I could do better.) I found plastic
helmets that I thought I might be able to
repurpose, since I didn’t know how to build
one from scratch. I collected photos of
various reproductions, and chatted on the
phone with the volunteers at the Parthenon
in Nashville, which houses the only full-size
reproduction of Athena Parthenos in the
world. They directed me to wonderful
Statues of Athena that served as inspiration. Left-to-right: Athena Parthenos, Louvre; Athena Severen, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts; Athena Varvakeion, National Archeological Museum of Athens; Athena Parthenos, The
Parthenon, Nashville, Tennessee; Athena Parthenos, Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto
-17ISSN 2153-9022
February 2015
resources, including a video documentary of
the statue’s conception and creation. I even
traded a few emails with the sculptor, Alan
LeQuire. I was flattered that he took a real
interest and was generous with his
encouragement and advice. He asked me to
keep him posted as to my progress, which I
did… over the requisite decades.
full winters to work on it, which seemed like
a realistic timeframe, even though I still
wasn’t completely sure how to complete
every segment. Still, it seemed like Athena
was telling me to get off my butt and
deliver. And when a goddess tells you she’s
tired of waiting, you kind of have to pay
attention.
For years the costume languished on
the back burner in my mind. Once in a while
I’d dust off the idea, see if I could figure out
how to make it work, then decide that I still
didn’t have a clue. It would go back into
dormancy, and I’d refocus on more
attainable projects. But the temptation was
always there, and in 2011 the costume
evidently decided that it had had quite
enough of my dilly-dallying and began
clobbering me with some rather obvious
hints. I’d be rooting through a box of
supplies and I’d find a long-forgotten
material that I’d purchased for her and
squirreled away. A new artist friend who
specialized in movie special effects offered
me some advice on sculptural techniques
that answered some of my dilemmas
and got me thinking about the costume
again.
Costume during initial photo shoot for documentation. A number of
things changed later including, makeup, dress, helmet, and hair.
When I learned that Costume-Con
was announced for Toronto in 2014,
everything crystallized. It was the first
CC within driving distance for some
years. (I knew there was no way on
earth that this project was going to go
on an airplane or in the mail, so driving
was the only way.) I would have three
-18-
Sculptor Alan LeQuire painting detail of Athena
Parthenos statue in Nashville during the gilding
phase. Photo: Andrew Rozario; source: Wikipedia.
February 2015
I have to mention that my biggest fear
in all that time was a very obvious one—that
somebody else was going to think of this
and beat me to it. Every time I attended a
Costume-Con masquerade, I was convinced
that the next costume that came onstage was
going to be the Parthenos, and all the years I
had spent trying to figure it out were going
to be my downfall. This fear became even
more intense after I was under way with the
construction—what if I were half-finished
and THEN someone else did it? What if I
showed up in the green room and there were
two of us? But as I worked on the costume,
often becoming painfully bogged down in
the details of each portion, I realized
something I had simply never realized
before. Something that partially soothed my
concerns:
Surely no one else… no one in their
right mind… could possibly be stupid
enough to try this…
Seriously. It was a crazy idea, a stupid
amount of work, and most costumers have
better things to do with their time. It was
going to be costly, cumbersomely large,
difficult to transport and then of course there
was the issue of presenting a statue on stage.
Being immobile is the easiest way to totally
Editor's Note
To see Rae Bradbury-Enslin's awardwinning documentation with build photos,
and a video of her Costume-Con 32
performance, visit her Athena Parthenos
page on her website.
bore your audience and have your
presentation fall flat. Honestly, it was
insane. But heck! By then I was already
part-way done! Why stop now?
I started with the portions that I DID
know how to do, but even some of those
were annoyingly difficult. For instance,
Athena’s clothing seemed easy enough to
get out of the way. Literally a half hour to an
hour of sewing, and I would have my base.
NO problem! Greek clothing is super easy!
The fabric I had chosen was the only
thing I could find that I felt draped
appropriately and would mimic the statue’s
golden clothing. It was a gold foil printed on
spandex. I can now quite confidently place it
on my list of top three worst fabrics I have
EVER worked with. It snarled my machine,
and the merest stretch of the fabric itself
would split the gold print and show an ugly
black mark caused by the black under-fabric
being a stretch knit while the print itself was
immobile. (Brilliant!!) And replacing it
wasn’t really an option because the modern
version isn’t nearly as well made as the
fabric I had bought two decades earlier. The
older fabric was superior, I had precisely
enough to do her garments, and by the gods,
I was going to find a way to make it work.
Every machine seam was so visible
that I ended up doing all the hems by hand.
It seemed appropriate, really. The rules for
my category said, “Modern sewing
techniques allowed.” I took this rule, bent it
sharply, and applied it liberally to all the
other parts of the costume, forcing it to
-19-
Modern gold foil printed on spandex swimwear fabric
closely approximated the look of Athena’s gilded apparel.
February 2015
mean that modern sculpting and fabricating
techniques would also be allowed. (If they
weren’t, I would have to learn how to carve
a marble pedestal…) I therefore thought it
was rather amusing that in the end I had to
hand sew most of my garment—just like the
ancient Greeks would have done…
Once I had that finished, my next order
of business was the pedestal. I figured I
should start with the part I was going to
stand on, because everything I had to do
afterward would depend on how well that
first section went together. It’s probably
lucky that the pedestal gave me absolutely
no trouble at all. I didn’t do the sculpted
frieze on the front until months later, but the
overall structure went quickly and I was
pleased with the result. It bolstered my
confidence. For the first time I began to feel
I could do this. And that it could be
spectacular.
Naturally this was the last time
anything went smoothly.
Most of the pieces took numerous
attempts before I was happy with them. The
The large snake sculpture was completed,
only to crumble off the armature because the
clay I chose shrank as it dried. He also had
to be done over completely. The shield
painting split and peeled off the backing and
had to be fixed, although at least with that I
was able to make repairs rather than redoing
it entirely.
Digitally created embroideries applied to gold fabric,
then glued to commercial flip flop shoe platforms.
shoes were made twice. Nike was sculpted
once in the nineties, then dumped as not
good enough and re-sculpted in 2012. The
helmet was fully sculpted, painted and
finished… then trashed and completely
reworked three times before I was able to
wear it without giving myself a massive
headache. I eventually took my special
effects artist friend’s suggestion and cast it
out of latex to cut down the weight.
I created the aegis and was relatively
pleased with it, but the Medusa medallion
stared at me for months and mocked me
every chance it got. I made three versions of
that as well. Then I cut down the aegis to
change the shape and completely refitted it.
Finished pedestal with attached gold painted sculpted frieze representing the birth of Pandora.
There were a great many obstacles and
challenges that had to be overcome. It’s odd
to talk about them now, since I mostly had
to leave this information out of my
documentation. It was already long enough,
without adding in mentions of everything I
screwed up along the way.
-20-
Nike made of porcelain head and hands, sculpted foam
clay body, and draped plaster bandaging for the robe.
February 2015
Rear view of Athena Severen's hairstyle in Boston Museum
of Fine Arts (above). Curled wig of costume, painted gold to
fully set the curls and make them look sculpted (below).
Then I caught a break. While
researching one of the reproduction Athena
statues, I discovered it was surprisingly
local, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. I
drove down on a day when museum
admission was free, and spent about an hour
taking photos. I’m sure the other tourists
thought it was odd that I photographed the
statue’s hair, feet, hands,
body, and face
again and
again, from every
possible angle. Actually,
there was one other
photographer who was,
seemingly, also intent on
documenting the statue. She and
I politely danced around each
other and took turns.
Still, I was clearly the
more dedicated. She
wanted to be thorough,
but I was practically
crawling underneath the
pedestal to get shots of
details in out-of-the-way
spots.
pointed out a rather glaring error I’d made
on the initial garments. I had created the
skirt as a closed tube like a chiton, unaware
that it was a completely different garment
called a peplos, and that one side was meant
to be open and draped. I looked through all
of my other photos. Now that I knew what to
look for, I realized that they were indeed all
styled the same way. I had simply never
noticed because the statue was rarely
photographed from that side.
Terrific.
But it was worth
it. In the end I had a
vast pool of new
resource material—
my only view of
Athena’s hairstyle
from the back, for
instance. And of
Costume helmet. Shell was sculpted, cast in latex,
course, it was this and glued to a toy helmet. Doll head was fitted
into sphinx body, horses attached, brow and ear
new data that
Now I had a dilemma. On
the one hand, I was probably the
only person who had
looked closely enough to
realize that I had the
garment wrong. I
COULD simply omit
photos that revealed
my error and pretend
that I had done it
correctly. I probably
would have gotten
away with it too—I
doubted anyone else
had spent as much
time staring at the
statue as I had. But in the
end I just sighed, rewrote
the documentation to indicate
the correct type of garment,
and fixed the problem. I
couldn’t go to this much trouble
and then deliberately hide a
detail out of plain laziness. And
pieces affixed, and wings added to the figures.
-21-
February 2015
I’m glad I didn’t. It would have been poor
costuming. Plus, Athena would never
forgive me, and she’s kinda scary…
By this time I was managing to find
ways around my lack of skill in sculpting
tiny faces. I procured a number of molds of
figures that I could use and adapt for the
various friezes. I used my embroidery
machine to design and embroider the friezes
on the sandals. I managed to sculpt the
statue of Nike using a Christmas angel head,
and used a similar trick for the sphinx on
Athena’s helmet. I sculpted buildings,
furnishings, clothing and animals myself,
but for the little people, I needed a bit of
help.
little faces if you get a good close look, but
from three feet away they all looked pretty
darned good. Anyone close enough to
actually see otherwise and have the poor
taste to mention it was close enough for me
to stomp them in the head with my massive
sandal.
I was closing in on the shield—the
only piece I was still genuinely nervous
about. Once again, my special effects friend
suggested latex, using the same method that
I had used to make the helmet. I had tried
sculpting the figures directly onto the plastic
background, but it was clear that one
inadvertent flex of the shield would result in
several of them breaking loose and
falling off. The latex idea
sounded perfect—it would be
one molded sheet that
would have a tiny bit of
flexibility. No chance
of any of the figures
falling off at a bad
time. (I had
numerous
nightmares about
tiny clay people
jumping off my
costume and
running amok. I
don’t think I’ve
ever done a costume
that caused as many
anxiety dreams as this
one did. More about
that later.)
A particularly useful find was
the set of tiny plastic Trojan toy
soldiers that I used for the
shield. I was able to make
several molds from those,
which gave me a bunch of
soldiers in various action
positions to apply to the
shield. Many of the
molds weren’t ideal for
my purposes. The
majority of the figures I
needed to make were in
three quarter view, and
my molds were almost
entirely straight on. As a
result of having to turn
them, most of the figures
on my friezes have some
seriously ugly and squished Outer surface of costume shield was cast in latex
Nashville statue’s rendition of mural (above) was the
basis for colors.on inside of costume shield (below).
from sculptured figures over plastic toboggan.
-22-
February 2015
already committed and begun work on the
costume, it was the one piece I couldn’t
visualize a technique for completing. I left it
until very late in the process, and the
construction of the rest of the costume
actually taught me new skills to use in the
attempt. Preparing to pull it out of the mold
was terrifying. I had already put so much
time in, and had no idea if it was going to rip
to shreds when I removed it from the mold.
Larger wedge for shield than typical was needed. It
was ornamented to better integrate with the platform.
Hands down, I can say that peeling that
perfect sheet of latex out of the mold in one
piece was the most satisfying moment of the
entire construction process. I realized, in that
instant, that I’d just leapt over my most
worrisome obstacle. There it was, sitting in
front of me, just waiting to be glued on and
painted.
I mentioned before that the only truescale reproduction of the Parthenon Athena
was in Nashville. A you might imagine I’d
yearned to visit for years, but it just never
worked out. Finally, I managed to combine
of of my husband’s business trips into a
research trip for myself. We left for his trade
I was going to finish this thing.
The shield sculpt took several days.
Each figure had to be created, clothed, given
weapons, posed, and then positioned on the
background individually. A few times I
stepped back and realized that I had the
spacing wrong and had to redo large
portions. When it was finally ready, I drove
the shield to my friend’s special effects
studio—an achievement in itself,
considering that the unwieldy thing was
covered in several pounds of soft clay that
could easily get dented or messed up. He
directed me in making a mold and pouring
the latex. Then I waited for it to cure
overnight.
But it wasn’t over by any stretch.
Immediately after this triumph, I stumbled
right into my next creative obstacle. I started
working on a way to attach the shield to the
pedestal, and I realized that it was much too
short. I couldn’t rest my hand on it the way
Athena did. In fact, I had to bend over
sideways to even come close. I knew the
proportions were correct because I had made
several paper mockups. When I made the
shield large enough to reach my hand, it
would hang over both sides of the pedestal
in a ridiculous fashion and it hid most of my
body if I tried holding it.
I believe now that the one part of the
costume that was really thwarting me all
those years was the shield. Even after I had
Now, I happen to have unusually long
legs, and at first I was concerned that threw
the proportions of the statue off a bit. I was
partially right, but as I would later discover
there was far more to it. But at the time, I
simply raised the shield up several inches on
a small stand, documented the deviation
from the historical model, and didn’t think
much more about it.
-23-
The author visits Athena at the Nashville Parthenon.
February 2015
show in Nashville a few days early, and I
finally got to see the Athena statue
reproduction at full size. It had a profound
effect on me. I was expecting a tawdry
tourist attraction, but I was stunned to
discover how much the Nashville Parthenon
honors the spirit of its historical counterpart.
Originally built in the 1800s as a
temporary part of a large city celebration,
the Parthenon was so popular that it was
permanently rebuilt with the assistance of
scholars and experts on ancient Greek
architecture to be as accurate as possible. All
the sculptures were copied or extrapolated
from the remains of the originals.
For nearly a century this mammoth
replica was empty of its patron goddess, but
in 1982, the vast job of recreating the statue
was undertaken by Alan LeQuire. It was
completed in 1990, and in 2002 the funds
were raised to cover the goddess's clothing
in gold leaf, making her as close a
representation as possible to descriptions of
the original statue that had once stood in
Greece.
It was a genuine pleasure for me to
stand in that huge, silent room, and imagine
what it must have been like to see her
counterpart in Greece so many centuries
ago. Where I was expecting loud, obnoxious
illustration demonstrates difference between author's proportions and those of the Nashville statue. (The Nashville
Athena was based on the dimensions of the original sculpture, so she shows the issue most clearly.)
-24-
tourists, souvenir stands, Cola machines and
elevator music, I instead found a somber
inner sanctum worthy of emulating this
amazing piece of history. For some time I
simply stared at her. Everything I’d been
working on for months, brought to reality.
Even though it wasn’t the real thing, it was
truly magnificent.
But there was something else tickling
the back of my mind… Athena was big.
Really big. I mean, of course she was big.
She was forty feet tall. Still something else,
though… Her shoulders were big. Her head
was big. Actually, the woman was built like
a linebacker… HEY!! Her upper half was
disproportionately large!! No wonder she
could rest her hand on her shield. Her upper
body was gigantic!! WAY out of proportion
to her lower body. Several years of art
history lessons suddenly slammed forcefully
into the forefront of my brain and reminded
me (I thought rather patronizingly) that
historically, large-scale statuary often had
disproportionate sections to make them
appear the correct size to people gazing up
from the ground. Mr. LeQuire’s statue was
painstakingly researched and based on
descriptions of the original, so it had the
same proportions.
In my documentation I called this a
Eureka moment—I finally realized why I
had been having so much trouble with the
proportions of my shield. But quite frankly it
was more of a Facepalm moment. It had
never once occurred to me until I was
standing at her feet that Athena was larger
February 2015
on the top than she was on the bottom.
Looking back now I can easily see it in the
photos, but this was the first time I could
actually wrap my head around it. So, with
this newfound knowledge, I took all my
photos, bought a T-shirt and some postcards
in the (very tasteful) gift shop, and waved a
final goodbye to Athena.
My husband said if I had spent much
more time photographing and staring at her,
she would have taken out a restraining order.
Personally, I figured if I walked out of there
on my own two feet instead of spider legs,
she couldn’t have been that upset.
My timing for visiting the statue was
perfect. All I had left to do was my
documentation. I had had the costume
professionally photographed the previous
year and I had made sure to document every
piece as it was made. I now had a ton of
photos, sources, and stories to work with. I
spent most of the winter on that. There was
so much to cover with not only the costume
itself, but all the additional statue sculptures.
I had some concerns that these would be
considered props and not parts of the
costume, and it did worry me—technically
without all that I was wearing a relatively
simple dress with an elaborate helmet.
Ultimately I documented everything.
To me the costume wasn’t complete without
the pedestal and all its accoutrements, so I
included every frieze, every secondary
statue, and anything I felt was related. I’m
sure the judges just about had a cow when
they saw it, but I at least made sure to
package it prettily, and I actually did keep it
as brief as I possibly could.
View of Parthenon exterior used to create outer cover.
Documentation outer cover showing Parthenon
exterior and cut-outs showing Athena figure inside.
Documentation splash page shows Parthenon interior
with overlaid image of author in Athena costume.
-25-
Our printer is also an artist friend, and
he came up with the brilliant idea of doing
the cover as the cut-out exterior of the
Parthenon, with me showing from the inside
as the statue. The interior cover shows the
inside of the Parthenon, with a clearer view
of my costume. My original plan was to do
the documentation on scrolls, before I
realized how much material I would have to
cover. I even painted a nice Grecian vase to
hold them. It was, shall we say, a flawed
concept. I will be eternally grateful to my
friend for coming up with a much better
package. I’m sure the judges would have
beaten me to death with my own
documentation if I had done it the way I’d
planned.
The only downside with having the
costume finished was that now I had time to
tweak it. And tweak it I did. I kept finding
new, better ways to do things that I thought
were already finished. Each time I changed
something, I had to go back into my
documentation files and alter those as well.
The ninjas I had recruited to help me schlep
the costume to and from stage started
threatening to tie me down and steal the
damn thing if I didn’t stop messing with it.
But I believe every change was an
improvement. I realized that part of my
dress was the wrong length, so I shortened
it. I added detail to the helmet that genuinely
improved its look, especially from a
distance. I redid my sandals and was much
February 2015
happier with the result. In the end, it was my
costume, and it was up to me to decide when
it was truly finished.
But calling me dangerously obsessive
at that point would definitely have been an
understatement.
Finally everything was ready and the
time had come to show it. With the help of
one of my ninjas, we had built padded
cardboard crates and storage containers for
all the fragile pieces. I built a hatbox for my
helmet (dubbed “The Headpiece from Hell”
during a particularly frustrating failed
attempt) out of a hatbox from which I
removed the bottom and then duct taped to a
5 gallon bucket. It was the only thing it fit
into. I had even loaded everything into my
SUV a couple of times to make sure it all fit.
It was a good thing that my driving
companion didn’t have a costume to show—
I barely had room for our suitcases, much
less a whole extra costume.
I competed Athena at a very small
masquerade just to road-test the
presentation, and received an excellent
response from the audience. I won the
official “Best in Show” award—as well as a
considerably less official “We Hate Rae”
award from the judges. (Which all
costumers consider the highest compliment.)
I was pretty sure everything was ready.
I had a month until Costume-Con, and
this is when the anxiety dreams notched up
to almost nightly events. They had a hard
time really getting to me at first. My
subconscious wasn’t being very original.
Most of them involved some form of underpreparation—which was laughable after so
many years of fiddling with everything. I
also had a dream about stepping onto my
pedestal onstage and falling straight through.
I had spent hours stomping around on the
thing.
Sculpted, close-cropped golden curls around author's
face, with longer tendrils on the sides and back,
created a lovely contrast with Athena's ivory skin.
Even asleep, I knew those dreams were
nonsense. So, my subconscious took a new
tactic and I now found myself breaking
things. Forgetting my passport. Showing up
at the convention and realizing I had
forgotten one box. Nice realistic scenarios
that I had a hard time being sure were just
-26-
dreams. This was in addition to all the more
surreal nightmares of the little people on my
friezes coming to life, poking me with tiny
spears, chasing my pets, and generally
wreaking havoc. I knew it was getting out of
hand when one of my ninjas texted me to
tell me HE had started having dreams about
breaking my shield right before the
masquerade and me never forgiving him.
Fortunately Costume-Con arrived
before I went clinically insane and took all
my friends with me. We got everything there
with no hiccups. Nothing got left behind. No
pieces got broken. We weren’t stopped at
the border. When the guard asked us about
the boxes that completely filled my
Durango, I handed him my documentation
and said, “I’ll open anything you want to
see, but that’s what’s in them.” He flipped
through it, and I watched his eyebrows get
closer and closer to his hairline. He finally
asked if we would be selling it. I told him no
and explained about the costume
competition aspect. He confirmed that
everything was coming back to the states
when we were done, handed me back my
book, and waved us through.
I breathed a sigh of relief—not being
allowed into Canada had been my final fear.
We had even researched which border
access points to avoid. Some of them had
reputations for crankier guards, so we
wanted to stay away from those. I didn’t
want to have to plead my case that I had a
goddess in a box and she really, really
wanted to visit Toronto.
February 2015
The first day in town,
my ninjas and I took a quick
field trip to the Royal
Ontario museum, to visit
the Parthenos display that
had started this whole crazy
journey. It was odd to see
her, after everything she
had inspired. That particular
reproduction is only about
four feet tall, so the impact
wasn’t the same as it had
been in Nashville. But it
was wonderful to lay eyes
on her all the same—and
tell her to her face that this
was all her fault.
my pedestal with all the
additional sculptures,
spread my jewelry and
helmet out on the
conveniently wide
windowsill, and even set
my dress up on an
inflatable mannequin. (It
looked completely flat on a
hanger, and I just couldn’t
bring myself to show it that
way.) The judges were
excellent. They asked me
lots of questions, but never
once gave away any hint of
Author shows documentation to Athena
what they were thinking,
Parthenos at the Royal Ontario Museum
impressed or not
impressed. It was just the
Then it was on to Costume-Con. I
way
I
think
workmanship
judging should be.
managed to cram my gigantic costume into
the small window area of our hotel room to
keep it out of the way until Sunday. I slept
next to it and I think everyone staying in the
room with me was a little afraid to venture
anywhere near it for fear of it spontaneously
exploding into bits and them taking the
blame.
The workmanship judging was nervewracking, but not as scary as it had been the
first time I showed a historical costume,
many years ago. I had gone to the trouble of
requesting a time slot that was immediately
after the judges’ lunch break, so it gave me
time to get everything set up. Since I had so
many parts, there was no easy way to just
bring the costume down on a hanger. Instead
I had a good half hour in the room to set up
as it was possible to be, and there wasn’t
much good I could do by stressing about it
any more.
I knew I was last in the running order.
That was something else I had requested
ahead. I knew that getting my pedestal on
and off the stage would be easier if we
didn’t have another group behind us. In fact,
I’m fairly certain I set a record for asking
nearly three years in advance if I could have
the last presentation slot unless someone
else genuinely needed it.
I have to mention here that Byron
Connell, the masquerade director, was
immensely patient with me for the entirety
of this process. I had so many odd needs for
getting the costume to the convention,
finding a place to put it before the
masquerade and various other logistical
concerns, that I was writing to him very
early on in my efforts to make the process as
simple as possible for
everyone involved. He
was gracious and
helpful, and never
once implied that I
was very likely out of
my mind.
When the big night arrived, I believe I
was mostly calm. Unbeknownst to me, my
ninjas were texting regular mental status
reports to my husband,
who couldn’t be at the
convention. I don’t
think there was much
for them to tell,
however. I remember
being relatively
relaxed. I knew that
anything that could
break likely had
already done so, and I
didn’t think the
costume could possibly
surprise me at that
point. It was as ready
Costume and pedestal during workmanship judging.
-27-
This is probably
the only time in my
entire costuming
career that I was really
aiming for a particular
award. I have always
firmly believed that
I’m only competing
February 2015
wanted proof that it was as clear to everyone
else as it was to me. In addition, I was in the
historical masquerade, which is about as far
from my comfort zone as I can get.
As I looked around the green room,
doubts filtered back in. I saw all the
beautiful details on everyone else’s creations
and it occurred to me once again that when
it came right down to it, I was wearing a
belted tube of fabric and a pretty hat. If
everything else I had busted my butt on were
considered mere props, then that would be
all that I was judged upon. You don’t see a
lot of ancient Greek garments in
masquerades, because there isn’t really
much to them. (Looking back, I know I was
being silly, but I defy any costumer to say
that they haven’t had similar moments of
self doubt.)
Author during her presentation at Costume-Con 32
masquerade. Watch her performance here.
with myself and not my fellow costumers. If
I happen to get a ribbon, I’m pretty darned
happy. The title of the award is always
secondary for me. But for the first time I
have to confess I was genuinely hoping for
Best in Show. I have done many elaborate
costumes—some of which were equally
obsessive in their own right. But after all
those years of waiting, planning, and finally,
actually building, all the skills I had learned,
all the research I had done… I had never put
in this kind of work before, and I really
I’ll close on my strongest memory of
the evening. As I walked out onstage, I felt
perfect. In the zone. I threw my shoulders
back, went through my routine, and tried my
utmost to channel a goddess. Everything
went smoothly. When I finally froze into the
statue’s iconic pose at the end of the
presentation, I had one tiny moment to
release my breath and realize I had finally
come to the end of my own little costuming
odyssey. It was all over, and now I’d see
what everyone else thought of it.
Then a noise exploded out of the
audience as the lights went down that just
about blew me backwards off my pedestal.
I’ve gotten a few great audience reactions
over the years, but I have never heard a
-28-
masquerade audience make that kind of
sound. Maybe it’s different when you’re the
one on stage hearing it, but I like to think it
was reasonably high up on the I-Blew-ACC-Audience-Out-Of-The-Water scale. I
glanced offstage at my ninjas, my loyal
Parthenos Pit Crew, who had put up with all
of this for so long, and they were jumping
around ecstatically and dancing in their
excitement. Even the regular stage ninjas
whom I did not know where jumping,
hugging, and screaming with them.
As I stood there in the darkness and
listened to the cheering go on and on, a
goofy, un-goddesslike grin spread over my
face. I had gotten it right. Maybe Athena had
been looking over my shoulder and had
made sure—I really have no idea. I’m
hoping she was pleased. I’m still not an
olive tree, so I like to assume I did her
proud.
Rae Bradbury-Enslin is a self-taught
Master-level costumer who has built a large
body of work – drawing from historical,
mythological, media, and fantasy themes.
Some of these costumes are reproductions of
specific characters, but most are her own
design. Since 1989 she has competed and
taken awards at numerous events and
conventions, including the elite
masquerades at the World Science Fiction
convention and Costume-Con. She has
costumed professionally for comic book and
electronic games companies, but mostly
makes her living creating cameo jewelry.
Visit her website to learn more.
February 2015
Feature
The Linothorax
Project
Gregory S. Aldrete
with Scott Bartell and
Alicia Aldrete
the armor and give them to him, but to my
surprise, I discovered that there was no
definitive agreement on what the armor was
made of, or how it was constructed. Thus
was born the University of Wisconsin-Green
Bay Linothorax Project, which would grow
This project took
on the challenge
to uncover how
the mysterious
“linothorax” armor of Alexander the Great
was constructed from linen and glue.
According to ancient literary sources,
the linothorax was a popular form of armor
for many different cultures, but it had been
afforded little attention by scholars because,
due to the highly perishable materials of
which it was constructed, no specimens have
survived. This contrasts with the many fine
specimens of ancient metal armor that can
still be seen in museums around the world.
In addition, the linothorax may have been
somewhat neglected because many modern
commentators have been skeptical that any
armor made primarily out of fabric could
have offered credible protection.
I am a professor at the University of
Wisconsin-Green Bay who teaches ancient
Greek and Roman history. About a decade
ago, one of my students, Scott Bartell,
decided, as a summer project, to make
himself a replica of the mysterious armor
that Alexander the Great is shown wearing
in a famous mosaic from the city of
Pompeii. Known as a linothorax, this type of
armor was apparently made out of just linen.
Little did I realize that much of the next
eight years would be dominated by the quest
to understand and reconstruct that armor, as
we attempted to make and test replicas of it,
using only methods and materials that would
have been employed in the ancient world.
When Scott asked me for advice about
his project, I confidently assumed that I
could just look up a few scholarly articles on
into a multi-year investigation, using the
methods of experimental archaeology. It
eventually involved a number of university
professors and dozens of students, as well as
community members, ranging from
traditional weavers to bowhunters. It also
resulted in a book documenting our findings:
Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor:
Unraveling the Linothorax Mystery,
published by The Johns Hopkins University
Press in 2013.
Gregory Aldrete wearing linothorax reconstruction
made from layers of laminated linen.
-29ISSN 2153-9022
To tackle this mystery, the first thing
we had to do was find out as much
information as possible. We had two main
types of sources to work with: ancient
authors who mention either the linothorax or
linen armor in general, and depictions of it
in ancient art.
February 2015
One misconception that often comes up
in discussions of this armor is that the word
“linothorax” (or “linothorex”) is either an
invented modern term, or was very rarely
used by ancient authors. Neither is true. In
Greek, “thorax” can mean “chest” or
“abdomen,” but this word is also the
standard term for any sort of body armor,
most typically a bronze cuirass. A linothorax
literally means some sort of body armor
made of linen.
reliefs, sculptures, mosaics, and tomb
paintings. My wife, Alicia, who did much of
the work assembling the database of images,
spent countless hours in libraries examining
every page of the hundreds of oversized
volumes of the Corpus Vasorum
Antiquorum, which catalogues the Greek
vases in museums around the world. Every
time we visited a museum, we kept our eyes
peeled for possible linothorakes; and while
The term “linothorax” shows up early
in Greek literature, appearing twice in the
famous ship list in Homer’s Iliad (2.529,
2.830). In all, we located 41 usages by 27
authors. This may not sound like much by
modern standards, but for an ancient Greek
word, it represents a very solid body of
evidence, and it is far more than we have for
innumerable words that are universally
accepted as legitimate ancient terms.
The images that we focused on depict
soldiers, both Greeks and foreigners,
wearing a distinctive type of armor that
appears to be made out of two main sections
—a long, rectangular piece that wraps
around the body, forming a tube or cylinder,
whose two ends are then fastened together
with ties, usually on the left side; and a piece
that fits over the shoulders, with two armlike projections called epomides that come
down on either side of the head and are then
tied down on the wearer’s chest.
Since some vases clearly show
warriors in the process of arming themselves
bending the rectangular body section from a
flat shape to a tubular one, and since the
shoulder piece is similarly bent from a flat
shape to a curved one, it is plain that these
corselets cannot be made of metal, but
instead must be made out of some flexible
material. On the other hand, the epomides
are regularly portrayed as standing rigidly
upright before they are bent down and
secured, so the material in question must
also be fairly stiff.
There are also a set of ancient citations
that explicitly describe body armor made of
linen, most commonly using some variant of
the phrase “thorax linou” or “a thorax of
linen.” Collectively, there are at least 65
distinct textual references to linen body
armor by more than 40 different ancient
authors. Among the civilizations that we
know wore it are the Egyptians, Assyrians,
Nubians, Persians, Phoenicians, Romans,
Carthaginians, Greeks, Macedonians,
Samnites, Lusitanians, and Chalybes.
Next, we had to find all the examples
in ancient art that might possibly depict this
type of armor. These include vase paintings,
one expects to find plenty represented in the
museums of Greece and Italy, we were
pleased to find them in such unexpected
places as Kansas City and Odessa (in the
Ukraine) as well. Suddenly, as so often
happens during research, the linothorax
seemed to be everywhere.
Ancient Greek vase painting showing the legendary
hero Achilles wearing a linothorax.
-30-
This combination of flexibility and
rigidity is an unusual one. It has long been
suggested that a solution for what this
mysterious material may have been can be
February 2015
the two main components of the
armor. For whatever reason, this
terminology has not caught on in
scholarly circles, but in his 1995
book, Archaiologia on Archaic
Greek Body Armor, Eero Jarva
proposed a complete typology of
armors in which this sort of design is
labeled “Type IV” armor. While
there is no doubt that “tube-andyoke” is more visually descriptive,
Jarva’s term has the advantage of
placing the armor within a broader
chronological, typological, and
developmental context. For these
reasons, it is the one that we have
chosen to employ.
allows types of quantitative analysis that
were not previously possible.
For example, some images of Type IV
corselets show that the protective quality of
the armor had been enhanced by adding
panels of scales, made of metal or other
materials. This observation has led to scales
being included in many (perhaps even most)
reconstructions of Type IV Greek armor.
However, analysis of the database of images
reveals that such scales were relatively rare,
appearing on fewer than 20% of images of
Type IV corselets from the Greek world,
although they feature on a significantly
higher percentage of Etruscan Type IV
armor.
Another interesting insight into Type
For the first time, we
IV armor that emerged from our analysis of
systematically attempted to collect
our database was that epomides that ended
all extant images of Type IV armor
Bending epomides into curve over sholders: recreation (left) and
in a squared-off shape were most common
drawing from an ancient vase painting (right). Note squared ends on
in all forms of art. While there are no
prior to the era of the Persian wars, but
recreation, common in period before Persian War. Drawing has
doubt
examples
that
we
missed,
we
rounded ends, dominant after this time.
afterwards, epomides with rounded
have assembled a database
ends became dominant.
of 913 images of Type IV
found by identifying these images with the
Similarly, up until around 475
armor on 486 different
linothorax mentioned by ancient authors.
BC, it was typical for the
items. These include not
We believe that many, perhaps most, of
main part of the armor to
only 572 images on
these images do indeed portray linothorakes;
possess a double row of
vases, but 115 in stone
however, they could also depict armor made
pteruges, or flaps,
sculptures or reliefs, 41
out of other materials, such as leather. It
projecting from its
in terracotta, 158 bronze
would be wrong to label all such images as
bottom edge to
or gold statues or
warriors wearing a linothorax.
provide some
engravings on bronze
protection
to the
Particularly among re-enactors, it has
objects, and 27
groin and thighs, but
become standard to refer to this type of
paintings on tombs or
after 475 BC, a single
armor shown in ancient art by the
sarcophagi. Having such a
row
of pteruges became
descriptive term “tube-and-yoke” corselet –
large body of visual
more common.
a phrase that recalls the distinctive shapes of
material to work with Scales appear rarely, primarily on Etruscan versions.
-31-
February 2015
The database also enabled us to
analyze the decorative elements
found on Type IV armor. For
instance, we found that the most
frequent form of added
decoration was to paint a starshaped design on one or
both of the
epomides. An 8pointed star was the
most common design, although
the number of points varied from
4 to 16. So if you are
reconstructing some Greek armor
and want to adorn it
with historically
accurate decorations, the
most typical thing to do
would be to paint one of
these stars on your armor.
fabric being folded or multi-ply, and if
enough layers were piled on top of one
another, this technique has the potential
to create sturdy armor. Many other
cultures successfully employed
similar armor, in which multiple
layers of fabric are stitched
together, sometimes with additional
stuffing inserted between layers, to
produce a quilted effect.
Several decades ago, historian
Peter Connolly made the interesting
suggestion that, rather than being
sewn, the layers of the linothorax
might have been laminated together
with glue. Archeological evidence
attests that the Greeks and other
ancient peoples possessed the basic
technology of laminating together
layers of linen. Small sections of
Some patterns that we
multi-layered laminated linen have
thought would be common
been found among
turned out not to
caches of
Vase painting with 8-point stars on epomides.
be. For example,
weapons in
the well-known “Greek key” or meander
graves at Mycenae and
pattern was extremely rare, only appearing
Tarquinia, and identified by
about a dozen times. The entire database of
their 19th century
images is listed in our book, and we hope it
excavators as having come
will serve as a useful analytical tool for
from linen corselets.
others interested in the form and decoration
Ongoing research by
of ancient armor.
Professor Amy Cohen of
Finally, we were ready to attempt to
“reverse engineer” from our database of
images, and try to construct our own
linothorax. When discussing linen armor, a
number of the literary sources mention the
providing further evidence that the Greeks
were familiar with such technology. All of
this evidence was compelling enough that
we decided to make some of our
reconstructions from laminated layers of
linen. For comparison, we also fabricated
some where the layers were only stitched
together.
Like fashion designers, we first made
many patterns out of paper and then
cardboard (next page), until we achieved our
optimal design that seemed to match up
accurately with the images and descriptions.
Then came the tricky part. We wanted to
employ only materials that would have been
available in the ancient Mediterranean, so
we had to get ahold of hand spun,
handwoven linen. Since most linen these
days is machine-made, we couldn’t just go
to the local fabric store. We soon discovered
that even linen being sold on the internet
Randolph College reveals
that the masks worn by
actors in Greek plays were
likely made out of
laminated layers of linen,
Hand-grown and harvested flax being processed using traditional methods.
-32-
February 2015
that claimed to be handwoven was still made
from flax that had been machine-harvested
and processed using modern methods, such
as treatment with chemicals. To achieve as
much historical authenticity as possible, we
needed linen made from flax that had been
grown, harvested, and processed by hand,
using only traditional methods.
We discovered that not many people
have the dedication to do this. After much
searching, we managed to find a
woman who actually grew and
harvested her own flax and then
spun and wove it into linen,
practically in our own back yard –
in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Later,
professors Heidi Sherman and
Alison Gates began a project at
UWGB in which flax was planted,
harvested, retted, dried, broken,
scutched, and hackled by traditional
methods (previous page), and the
resultant fibers spun into thread that
was woven into linen.
Simplified pattern for linothorax recreation. All measurements are in
centimeters. Pattern is sized for a smaller person with a 100 cm chest.
Applying Rabbit glue with a basting bulb and a putty knife
For the glue, we decided to use
adhesives that would have been both cheap
and widely available throughout the ancient
Mediterranean, so we worked primarily with
a glue made from the skins of rabbits.
Rabbit glue was actually much easier to
acquire than the linen, since artists who
paint using traditional methods still prime
canvases with it; we ordered it from an art
supplies catalogue, and merely needed to
rehydrate and heat the rabbit powder in a
double boiler. We have also subsequently
experimented with a variety of glues,
ranging from fish glues to modern PVC
glues to good old Elmer’s glue.
The two main components of the armor
were built up by cutting pieces of linen into
the appropriate shape and then gluing the
pieces together. In general, we found that
the finished product was strongest when
enough glue was used to saturate both
layers. We allowed the laminated layers to
dry, which usually took 8-10 hours, and then
-33-
February 2015
slab was with an electric jigsaw equipped
with a blade for cutting through quarter-inch
steel plates. At least this confirmed our
suspicion that linen armor would have been
extremely tough. We also found out that
linen stiffened with rabbit glue strikes dogs
as an irresistibly tasty rabbit-flavored chew
toy, and that our Labrador Retriever should
not be left alone with our research project.
Gluing saturated layers of linen together.
repeated the process until we had the
required number of layers. By
experimenting, we discovered the ideal
tools: a turkey baster to squirt the rabbit glue
onto a piece of linen and a putty knife to
spread it evenly.
One practical lesson we learned is that
it was essential to allow each layer to dry
completely before adding the next. When we
got greedy and tried to laminate several
layers at once, the result was that our damp
armor grew a nasty-smelling mold – clearly
not what we wanted.
We also figured out – the hard way –
that the ancients probably cut each layer of
linen to the proper shape before gluing them
together. For our first linothorax, we glued
together 15 layers of linen to form a one
centimenter. thick slab, and then tried to cut
out the required shape. This proved nearly
impossible. Large shears were defeated. Bolt
cutters also failed. The only way we were
ultimately able to cut the laminated linen
Layers of linen glued together to form body and epomides.
Trial and error revealed that the
maximum thickness for a slab of laminated
linen that would still retain full and repeated
flexibility was around 12 mm. Beyond this
thickness, over time, the armor began to
crack or de-laminate when bent. When the
two main pieces reached the desired
thickness, they were attached together and
pteruges, a skirt of thin, laminated fabric
strips, were added around the bottom. A few
metal fittings, and some decorative painting
completed the construction process.
Our first full-scale replica linothorax,
had 17 layers and a thickness of 12 mm It
required a bolt of linen 16 meters long and 1
meter wide. The lamination process
consumed roughly 7.5 liters of glue. This
was a rather generously-sized linothorax,
fitting individuals of up to 122 cm chest
circumference; smaller amounts of materials
would have been needed for the averagesized Greek hoplite or citizen soldier. The
blueprint included in this article (previous
page) is a later, slightly simpler design that
is sized for a smaller person with a 100 cm
chest.
The next step in our investigation was
to address the criticism sometimes leveled
against such armor: that it could not have
offered effective protection to its wearer. To
explore this, we made a number of test
patches using various types of linens, glues,
and weaves, and subjected them to
penetration tests by shooting them with
arrows under controlled conditions. For
these experiments we created dozens of test
Pteruges, fabric strips offering at least some
protection to thighs, were added around the bottom.
-34-
February 2015
patches, which were roughly 0.5 by 0.5
meter square, using historically authentic
fabric and glues. We focused on arrow tests
because, not only would this have been one
of the most common battlefield hazards, but
it was also a type of attack that we could
precisely regulate and measure, producing
scientifically valid data.
We tested for a number of different
variables, including thickness of fabric,
thread count of fabrics, numbers of layers,
and alternating the direction of the weave
among layers. We also experimented with
laminated versus sewn test patches, and
even some patches that consisted of quilted
layers of linen stuffed with wool.
We hung the patches on a dense foam
block to simulate a human torso, and
securely strapped them to a heavy wooden
stand. Late in the process, when several
documentaries were filmed about us by the
Our arrows were hand-made wooden
ones with natural feather fletching. The
arrowheads were hand-cast iron and bronze,
sharpened by hand, with shapes and weights
similar to those of known examples of
ancient Greek, Macedonian, and Persian
arrowheads.
Hand-cast iron and bronze arrowheads, used in the tests had
shapes and weights similar to ancient ones from the region..
Discovery Channel, the Canadian History
Channel, and the German TV program
Galileo , we gained access to a ballistics
gel torso, complete with simulated organs
and skeletal structure. Happily, the data
obtained using this more realistic “body”
was nearly identical to our earlier results.
We chose to use modern compound
bows, which use a system of cables and
pulleys to achieve a specific hold weight at
maximum draw. This modern equipment
was essential to maintain consistency from
shot to shot in terms of the power applied to
the arrow. Had we used replica wooden or
composite bows, then each shot would have
varied in power because of discrepancies in
draw length, different archers having
different pull lengths, and atmospheric
conditions such as humidity affecting the
resistance of the wood or other natural bow
materials. Our bows had hold weights
ranging from 25 to 65 pounds, and we took
test shots from many different distances
varying from 7.5 meters up to very longrange indirect shots fired at an upward angle
that then descended toward the target.
The arrow tests revealed that the
linothorax would have provided excellent
protection to its wearer. For example, when
a 12 mm laminated test patch was shot from
15 meters with a 50 pound pull bow, the
arrowhead failed to fully penetrate the test
patch. To give an idea of the degree of
protection provided by the linothorax, when
an arrow was shot at the foam target block
without any test patch affixed to it from a
Patch of laminated material hung on dense foam block simulating a human torso. (left) Measuring penetration. (right)
-35-
February 2015
very weak 25 pound bow at a range of 7.5
meters, the arrow still had enough power to
penetrate an impressive 230 mm deep into
the foam target block, clearly a fatal shot if
it had struck a human being.
The most important variables turned
out to be the thickness of the test patch, the
strength of the bow, and the distance from
the target. Laminated test patches had about
15% more resistance to penetration than
sewn ones – an argument in favor of the
lamination technique – while quilted patches
stuffed with sheep’s wool were relatively
ineffective.
We calculated that the force required to
penetrate a 12 mm laminated test patch was
approximately 70 Joules. In experiments
using bronze plates made by a blacksmith to
be as close as possible in chemical
composition and hardness to ancient
bronze, we found that 70 Joules was
also roughly the amount of force
needed for the same arrow to
penetrate bronze armor nearly 2 mm
thick. This is the upper end of what
the thickness of ancient bronze
cuirasses seems to have been.
A number of variables that we
thought might make a big difference
in resistance to penetration actually
did not. The number of layers,
density of weave, and the type of
glue had only very minor effects. For
example, we found that an 8-layer
test patch made from coarse linen
offered almost the same degree of
protection as a 17-layer patch of equal
overall thickness made from very fine linen.
This means that a completely effective
linothorax could have been constructed out
of low-quality linen or even an assortment
of old scraps.
We believe that the linothorax
mentioned in the literary texts and worn by
Alexander the Great was a common – and
arguably the dominant – subtype of the Type
IV armor observed in ancient art, although
some were also probably made of leather or
a combination of materials. Whether used in
its laminated or sewn variants, the
linothorax appears to be an extremely viable
form of protection, and one that even offers
a number of major advantages over metal
armor:
1. Linen is a far more practical material
to wear in a hot climate, and would have
given soldiers greater endurance, both in
battle and on the march. Metal armor heats
up quickly, and, under the glare of a hot sun,
can quite literally bake its wearer, whereas
linen armor stays cool and comfortable.
2. The weight of the linothorax is
considerably less than that of metal forms of
body armor. Our reconstruction 12 mm thick
linothorax weighs about 4 kg. A 2 mm thick
bronze cuirass for the same size individual
and providing an equivalent degree of
protection would have weighed about 10 kg.
3. When linen gets wet, the tensile
strength of its fibers actually increases by
about 33% percent, so the linothorax would
have functioned well in humid or wet
environments. Especially with the
laminated variant, this raises the
issue of using waterproof glues or
else applying a waterproof coating.
We found that a test patch coated
with beeswax successfully resisted
penetration by water even after a 6
hour simulated rain followed by 1
hour of complete immersion in
water. Even when one of us wearing
an un-waterproofed laminated
linothorax was caught in a
thunderstorm, we found it resisted
penetration by rain surprisingly
well. Although a few edges came up
as the glue became moist, we
pressed them back down afterwards
Alexander the Great from mosaic. (left) Scott Bartell in modern rendition. (right)
-36-
February 2015
and they dried in as solid a form as they had
been originally.
As a bonus, beeswax-scented armor
might have been a pleasant asset in an
ancient army full of sweaty, smelly soldiers.
In light of the sweet honey-like smell from
the beeswax waterproofing, I am tempted to
suggest a practical explanation for an
otherwise mysterious passage in the
biography of Alexander the Great, written
by the Greek author, Plutarch. He claimed
that Alexander’s skin emitted a sweet smell
that “permeated all his garments with its
fragrance” (4.2). Perhaps it was actually the
other way around?
4. The linothorax used materials that
were widely available, even to relatively
poor inhabitants of the ancient world, and
the technical skills needed to make a
linothorax, weaving and gluing, were
common ones familiar to almost all peoples
of the ancient Mediterranean. Rather than
requiring the specialized skills of a
blacksmith to manufacture or repair it, the
linothorax could have been constructed and
repaired by quite literally almost any woman
or girl in the ancient world.
5. The wide availability of the
materials and the skills needed to create a
linothorax may have made it significantly
cheaper to build than comparable metal
armor. They could also have been massproduced more readily since, unlike a
bronze cuirass, a linothorax did not have to
be constructed to fit a specific individual.
Using the ties at the side and top, a
Students assessing the toughness of a linen test patch with mace (left) and axe (right)..
linothorax can easily be adjusted to achieve
a fit within a generous range of body sizes.
6. The armor is very wearable. Even at
the maximum 12 mm thickness, the
linothorax retains flexibility. We found that
when we wore it for several hours, our body
heat softened the glue somewhat, so that the
linothorax molded itself to our particular
body shape, making it surprisingly
comfortable to wear for extended periods.
Finally, the linothorax possesses all these
advantages while still providing good
protection to its wearer, especially from
arrows.
Literary and iconographic sources
clearly show that the linothorax, whether
laminated or sewn, was used for a long time
by many different cultures. Our experiments
demonstrate some of the reasons for this
-37-
popularity, and suggest that it may have
been a surprisingly effective form of defense
for ancient Mediterranean warriors.
While we subjected our laminated
linen patches to hundreds of carefully
measured arrow tests, we also engaged in
some less scientific testing of their
durability. My students enthusiastically
stabbed, hacked, slashed, and pounded them
with various maces, axes, spears, and
swords, helping us to demonstrate what kind
of protection laminated linen armor would
have provided.
All of this mayhem (both scientifically
controlled and free-form) convinced us that
our linothorax was ancient battlefield-ready,
but we still felt compelled to try a real-life
scenario, so as a final test, Scott donned the
armor and I shot him with an arrow from 15
February 2015
feet away. While we had confidence in our
armor, our relief was still considerable when
the arrowhead stuck and lodged in the
armor’s outer layers, a safe distance away
from Scott’s flesh.
While we spent a lot of time and
resources to construct a linothorax out of
historically authentic materials, and were
fairly satisfied that we had achieved this
goal, for fun, both my students and I have
made other replicas out of cheaper, more
modern materials since then.A quite
satisfactory linothorax can be made for less
than $100 using almost any organic textile,
including linen, burlap, and cotton, all
readily obtainable from a fabric store.
Gregory S. Aldrete is the Frankenthal
Professor of History and Humanistic
Studies at the University of WisconsinGreen Bay. He is the author or co-author of
seven books on the ancient Greek and
Roman worlds, and has made three video
courses with the Teaching Company/The
Great Courses. He won the national
teaching award from the Society for
Classical Studies, and was named the 2012
Wisconsin Professor of the Year.
Gregory Aldrete lines up a shot on his student, Scott Bartell,
to test strength of linothorax armor. (above) Gregory looks on
as Scott shows arrow penetrated only outer layers. (below)
For glue, we found that Elmer’s glue is
easy-to-use, performs almost the same as
more historically accurate glues, and can be
conveniently obtained in gallon jugs from
stores such as Home Depot. Since it is
water-soluble, it is a good idea, however,to
spray the finished armor, inside and out,
with a waterproofing spray such as is sold to
waterproof boots. The product looks and
performs almost identically to our most
historically accurate reconstruction.
Alicia Aldrete is an independent
scholar and illustrator, and co-author of
two books, “The Long Shadow of Antiquity:
What Have the Greeks and Romans Done
For Us?” and “Reconstructing Ancient
Linen Body Armor: Unraveling the
Linothorax Mystery.” She holds degrees
from Princeton University and the
University of Michigan, and is the co-author
of several articles on the linothorax project,
including a recent one in “Ancient Warfare
Magazine.”
The aim of our research had been to go
back in time, reconstruct something over a
millennium old, and experience what it
would have been like to use it. The process
of doing so has certainly led to some
memorable and unexpected experiences for
all of us. Visit the Linothorax Project
website for more information.
Scott Bartell is an independent scholar
who was the originator of the UWGB
Linothorax Project and is the co-author of
the book, “Reconstructing Ancient Linen
Body Armor: Unraveling the Linothorax
Mystery.” He has co-authored articles and
given presentations on his research to a
variety of academic and public groups,
including winning the 2010 Best Poster
prize at the Annual Meeting of the
Archaeological Institute of America, the
largest international conference of
professional archaeologists.
-38-
February 2015
Feature
Liberacicus: God of
Lounge Singers
Kevin Roche*
Move over, Bacchus! A
musical “god” of imbibement is on the
scene, with togs that would make the fashion
arbiters of the Roman pantheon take notice.
Origins
This costume started with a party
theme, which seems to be a prime
motivation for most of my oddball
creations. I’m part of a group known as the
“Torchwood 4 Cabal” who put on a
themed cocktail party on the Friday night
at Gallifrey One, a Doctor Who-based
convention in Los Angeles every February.
We decorate in theme, dress in theme, put
together themed background music, and
usually slide an assortment of visual puns
and Doctor Who and other SFF references
into things. It’s a lot of work, utterly silly
and a great deal of fun!
One year our theme was “It’s Volcano
Day!” in honor of the “Fires of Pompeii”
episode of Doctor Who and a reference to a
conversation in another episode between the
“Doctor” and “Captain Jack Harkness”
about the dangers of casual time-hopping.
The maguffin of our party was “It’s the last
night in Pompeii in the hottest nightspot in
Pompeii” and, of course, it was a toga party.
Since, the “Porta Aurea” (“Golden Gate”)
was supposed to be a nightclub, I decided to
dress as the floor show.
There is a garment referred to as a
“Trojan Kilt” which is essentially a
waistband with an arrangement of
leather straps hanging from it. As
near as I can tell, the garment
as drawn today is the result of
serial misinterpretation of
descriptions and drawings of
some part of a legionnaire’s
uniform. The garment as
popularly drawn didn’t exist.
Marvin the Martian even wears a
version. While it may not have
existed, it is immediately evocative to the
contemporary eye of “Roman Times”.
One can purchase leather “Trojan kilts”
from fetish shops these days; as sold they
are intended to be worn in intimate
situations (usually without undergarments).
Such an item would be inappropriate for a
cocktail party, but the catalog
image gave me a starting
point for a costume.
I had what I thought was a
roll of snake-textured
silver vinyl, and some
drapey fabric with glued
on sequins. Add a metallic
silver square-cut swimsuit
-39ISSN 2153-9022
underneath and Voila! I'd bashed together
my Pompeiian lounge act wardrobe.
Before our party started, the
convention was having a (non-cocktail)
social that was also a toga party, so we
stopped by to pay our
respects. While there, one
of the kids in attendance
told me I reminded him of
“that guy in Las Vegas
with all the diamonds.” I
asked, “Do you mean
Liberace?” and he
replied, “Yes, I think
that was his name.”
And thus was born
“Liberacicus”.
The costume was
fun, but the “vinyl”
turned out to be
embossed
polyurethane and had a
tendency to look like silver
duck tape, the swash of sequins
was scratchy as all get out,
and when I added a small
bag to carry room keys, etc., let
us just say that photographs of this costume
from the rear were not flattering.
Top left: Marvin Martian wearing “Trojan kilt.” Image
copyright Warner Brothers Studios. Left: Commercial
“Trojan kilt.” Above: Author in “Mark I” version of
“Liberacicus” costume. Photo: Andy Trembley.
February 2015
Liberacicus, Mark II (and
elevation to the pantheon)
The first costume was fun, but was
impractical except for a party costume when
I was staying in one place all evening,
because of the lack of stowage. Most
convention party nights involve wandering
from party to party, so a party costume
needs a place for your room key and ID,
maybe a little cash, and, these days, your
phone.
As it happened, I happened to have ¾
of a yard of royal blue sparkle banquette
vinyl, the kind with the glitter in it that is
used on bar stools and diner seat
cushions. It looked like it
might be just
enough.
cut from the raw stock above the short
strips, so all the points were at the same
level in the material. I had plans for the
leftovers)
Assembling it is less simple. The back
of the vinyl was white (and quickly becomes
sticky/scratchy if placed against skin), so I
set out to line it with black cotton
broadcloth. I had to take care, however, to
keep the clear shiny surface of the vinyl
away from the feed dogs on my sewing
machine. The answer was to use one of my
secret costuming weapons: Bo-Nash
Bonding Powder, a sprinkle-on steamactivated fusing adhesive. I cut my cotton
lining pieces, pressed all the edges under,
and bonded them to the back of the vinyl
pieces with the bonding powder. A silicone
pressing mat (recommended by the
manufacturers) under the vinyl kept the
shiny surface from being marred during the
process.
Now I could get to work on assembling
the kilt pieces. I used a leather punch to
punch matching holes in the waistband and
strips, then pounded rivets to layer
everything together and lock it in place (see
photo on next page). Once that was done, I
applied more cotton broadcloth as a lining to
the waistband. (I may have slipped a layer of
interfacing in there as well to discourage
stretching of the vinyl).
The pattern for the kilt itself is very
simple. Straight rectangular strips of two
different lengths, ending in a square point
(45° off the sides), overlapped in two layers
(short and long) on a straight waistband.
Here you can see the strips and waistband all
cut out, and the little bit of vinyl left from
cutting out the strips. (The waistband was
Once all the lining pieces were bonded,
I flipped everything shiny-side up and
topstitched with metallic thread. The feed
dogs were happy and the vinyl didn’t get
chewed up.
Now I need straps and buckles to put
the kilt on. My favorite technique for small
buckled straps is to cut long strips of
lightweight leather, glue and fold it over so
-40-
February 2015
both the front and back
are smooth,
hammer/roll it flat, and
then edge stitch it to
stabilize it from
stretching over much.
After edge
stitching, I cut patching
pairs from the straps and
riveted buckles onto one
end, then cut points on
the matching insertion
end. I have (finally)
learned not to punch the
belt holes until after
trying things on.
Above: Assembling kilt pieces on waistband with
rivets. Below: A lot of 1/2” and 1” wide leather straps.
Now I went back to all those scraps I’d
saved. I had some heavier hide to use for
leather bracers (arm guards) and greaves
(shin guards). I experimented with paper to
get the shapes correct (the bracers are
essentially cones, but the greaves were
a bit more complicated), then cut them
out of the hide.
Greaves made from left-over leather.
Each greave
piece then got three
of the narrow straps
applied, with the
buckles on one side
and a tail on the other.
The strap was flexible
enough that I could
curve it to match the
edge of the leather as it was
topstitched down.
1” wide straps and buckles riveted and top-stitched to waistband completed the kilt.
-41-
February 2015
Bracers with pocket for cards, cash, and keys (above and below left)..
The bracer buckles were done similarly
to the waistband, with three buckle pieces
stitched on one side and three
straps with holes on the
other. The stitching ended
well short of the edges of
the bracer so it could be
wrapped and overlapped
underneath the straps.
This minimizes
pinching when
buckling them on.
Greaves (above and below right).
The bracers also contain the first
PARTY modification: a rectangular leather
pocket large enough to hold a credit card,
drivers license, room key, or a bit of cash
was appliquéd to the center of the top edge.
No more tacky bags to carry my keys!
After the leather was stitched together,
I took the leftover zigzag scraps of the vinyl
and used it to embellish the bracers and
greaves to match the kilt.
Next on the list was the sash. The
Peninsula Wearable Arts Guild had a roll of
lined, pre-pleated blue tissue lamé donated
for an auction. Friends who knew I was
building something with the blue glitter
vinyl chipped in and bought me a great big
-42-
February 2015
piece of it. It was perfect
to build the sash. Tissue
lamé can be both fragile
and scratchy, so I lined it
with more of the black
cotton broadcloth. I shaped
the sash carefully to drape
over one shoulder, and the
point to hang
just over and behind
one hip (right).
Built into the
point of the sash was
another pocket, perfectly
sized for my iPhone (or a
box of Altoids!, left).
The outfit now had
all the accessories I needed
for a night of partyhopping. It also, when I
tried it on, reminded me a lot of
Michael Forest’s Apollo costume
from the Who Mourns for
Adonais episode of Star Trek
– the original series. (right)
And that was when I
decided that Liberacicus
ought to be promoted to the
pantheon as the God of
Lounge Singers.
plastic foliage with the right
shaped leaves,
pulled the
leaves off
the branches and
gave them a coat
of silver spray paint.
The stems wound
very nicely into the
braided wire, and the happy
purchase and addition of a
pair of fiber-optic hair
ornaments gave the whole thing
an
appropriately heavenly aura.
The costume was finished in time to
run amok through the parties at Anticipation
(the 2009 Worldcon in Montreal), and
remains one of my favorite slightlysalacious evening hall costumes, although
these days, I’m more likely to put up my
mohawk and add some lights or glitter to it
than to wear the “laurel” wreath.
Be warned, however, should you run
into the God of Lounge Singers in your
travels -- he will break into song (usually
Sinatra) at the slightest provocation!
Kevin Roche is a sci-fi/fantasy and
historical costumer with extensive
experience entering, judging, and running
masquerades. He was Chair of CostumeCon 26 in 2008. Kevin received the
Friends suggested that
ICG's Lifetime Achievement Award in
my Olympian needed a
2007. He is a past ICG vice-president,
laurel wreath -- so I made a
frame for one by braiding Michael Forest as Apollo in Star and is currently president of SiW. Visit
episode, Who Mourns for
his website to read his blog and view
1/16” aluminum wire into Trek
Adonais. Photo: Copyright
his album of costume photos.
a circlet. I bought some
Paramount Pictures, Inc..
-43-
Author in “Mark II” version of “Liberacicus” costume.
Photo: Andy Trembley.
February 2015
Feature
MODOK:
Odyssey II
Kevin Pishion
A costumer who set
out to recreate a god-like Marvel Comics
super-villain finally completes his odyssey –
with a little help from his friends.
head I needed a break from the project, so I
decided to abandon “MODOK” and focus
on creating “Magneto,” which I thought
would be quick and easy. Oh boy... From
May 2013 to July 2013, my time was
consumed with a “Magneto” costume.
Besides, I reasoned, learning to cast the
“Magneto” helmet would help when it came
time to cast A.I.M. helmets.
It was a triumph for me as far as I was
concerned. I had made it this far! I had set
out to recreate “MODOK” (Mental
Organism Designed Only for Killing ), the
Marvel comics genetically-enhanced evil
scientist who became a living computer.
Editor's Note
In the first installment that appeared
in the November 2014 issue of VC, Kevin
was ready to abandon his project after a
year of effort and move on. As with all
Hero's Journeys, though, his companions
come to his aid to spur him on towards his
appointment with destiny – with the
“Mind Staggering Might of MODOK!”
My wife Laura and my friend Rick,
who had encouraged and helped me to get
this far, had other ideas. Rick came over and
said the pictures don't do it justice. “You are
too close to it. Even if you took it like it is
now, people would be blown away.” Laura
insisted that if I quit now, I would never
return to it and I would regret not finishing.
They did not know what I knew: that
there were hours and hours of sanding
and fixing ahead of us, and that this was
a stage of the project I could not do in
my garage. In fact there were details and
times I did not think I could not keep
going. I suspect it may be similar to
writer's block. I would be paralyzed as to
which direction to take it, maybe afraid I
would ruin it with my ham fisted ways.
After a year, I had roughed in the giant
costume, and it looked like “MODOK” (if a
bright light was shining in your eyes, you
had a few margaritas and squinted at it). I
wanted to wear it to the 2013 San Diego
Costume-Con, but I could now see I was
not going to be ready. I also got it into my
By the time I got back from ComicCon 2013 and Dragon Con 2013, though, I
was certain “MODOK” was dead. I had built
and roughed it in. The "hard" part was done.
Everything past that point was clean-up and
detail work. I love that part of a project, but
I was tired and ready to move on.
I finally managed to convince myself
that I had built the damn thing, I could ruin
it if I want! And if I did ruin it, I could
always build another one. Thanks to my
friends, “MODOK” was back on track!
At the end of phase 1, it looked like “MODOK” if you squinted at it.
-44ISSN 2153-9022
February 2015
Left-to-right: Adding foam around face. Completed foam – note ribs on body. Baseplate under chin. Second layer with hamster globes. Added foam and plastic card, ready for fiberglass.
When another friend named Ben came
out to help with helmets before Emerald
City Costume-Con 2013, he was worried
that he would ruin something. I kept telling
him, you can't ruin it, we can always build
another one. However, I still found myself
frozen on which way to turn.
Before I tackled how I was going to
deal with the mess of all the sanding ahead
of me, I finally managed to knock out a
bunch of detail work. The iconic three rib
details on the sides of the chair are plastic
plumber tubing. I attached them using toggle
bolts and then fiberglassed over them.The
trim around the face and the top of the chair
is a couple of layers of camping foam matt,
spray-adhesived into place and covered in
fiberglass.
get smooth. At the time I kept telling myself
we could fix it with body filler. We did, but
I just can't help but wonder if I could have
gone about it a different way.
There is a piece that covers the chin
that stumped me for a long while. I finally
ended up using a hamster globe for the
curves and just sort of made something that
worked. It's very strange; I really can't
explain that one. The chin detail and the
plasma disc detail are oddly two of my
favorite detail pieces.
I have a suspicion fiberglassing over
and around corners like I did is sort of
frowned on. It was very time consuming to
The headband was initially made out of
fiberglass and then it was covered in plastic
card. Since I wanted to keep things modular,
the headbands were bolted in place. As the
project neared completion, we decided that
was not going to work well. The head bands
would not stay in postion and kept slumping
in the middle. Ben suggested I epoxy them
in place and that's what I did. It made the
-45-
face a little un manageable, but in the end, it
was worth it.
The boxes with flashing lights on the
headband are basically heavy plastic card
with aluminum angle for strength. The
flashing lights are controlled using some
circuit boards I found at a model train hobby
store. I used a tow truck and a campfire
flasher on each side.
I found a plasma disc on e-bay
relatively inexpensive. I dismantled it to the
point I could re-engineer the support and
made a housing for it in the center of the
headband. The trim piece for the plasma disc
was sculpted from the medium plasticene
and then molded and cast out of resin. I
tapped some holes into this solid piece of
plastic and made a "capture card" out of
plastic card. So this piece is is held in place
on the plasma disc and the plasma disc is
attached to the forehead.
February 2015
There is a detail between the eyes and
under the plasma disc. I used a piece of
Worbla and made a tray that fits in the
space. I used some clay to fill it in, a pice of
plastic card on top for smoothness, added a
couple of sphere shapes and then some more
plastic card.
When I build things like this I
generally build with the idea of painting in
mind. I like to add edges I can shade /
highlight against. That was the idea behind
the "rays" coming out of the spheres. It sort
of reminded me of Egyptian forehead piece.
I also thought the "rays" might evoke the
idea of “MODOK” projecting his mental
might out from a "focusing" gem.
When I painted “Galactus,” Rick
suggested using automotive paint, to get that
shiny wet look. I did some searching and
found an auto restoration club of sorts. They
had a paint booth. They specialized in
Model T's and rented spaces to people so
they could work on their cars. And they
helped me paint “Galactus.” At the shop I
learned about auto body 2 stage paint
systems and urethane clear coats
Plasma disk first mounted. (left) Fiberglass headband in place. (center) Headband cover holds actual LEDs. (right)
Closeup of wooden box, routed out to hold electronics. (left) Cover in place. (center) LEDs lighted up. (right)
I went back to them and asked if they
had a space they could rent me so I could
finish the project. Luckily they did. I say
luckily, because after I started going to the
shop, I met a lot of people that came through
looking for a space. They set me up in a
space the size of a two car garage. My
"room mate" was a '67 Volvo. Don't ask me,
I don't know much about cars.....
Plasma disk original, mold, and casting. (left) Mounted disk. (center) Piece between eyes prepped to mold. (right)
-46-
February 2015
make it to the shop by 4 pm, put in a couple
of hours and make it home by 7pm.
Weekends went from 8 am til 3 pm,
Saturday and Sunday. Long days. Lots of
time. Sanding. In the dark of Oregon winter.
Laura started coming out and helping
on Saturday and Sunday. This project
consumed every weekend from
October 2013 until May 2014. If
she was not helping out at the shop,
she was sewing costumes. Bless her
heart!
About Thanksgiving of 2013, I read
that Stan Lee would be attending our local
Wizard World show in Portland! He had
signed my “Galactus” and “Magneto”
helmets; maybe I should get a signature on
my A.I.M. helmet? Oh yes.... We shifted
gears and went into a full time yellow
A.I.M. costume frenzy! We would need the
A.I.M. suits in the future anyways, and
besides, no one would ever notice that we
didn't have M,O,D,O,K
with us anyway.
Shop, Sweet Shop!
This move turned out to be a great
experience. It turns out my hobby was not so
different from what they do. I have a great
appreciation for people that can restore cars
at this point. I got a lot of USEFUL advice
on doing body work. It's one thing to read
about it, but doing it was something else
entirely. The owners were incredibly helpful
and supportive. I can honestly say, I may not
have finished without their support and
access to the shop.
We moved out to the shop (above) in
October 2013. What a long, cold miserable
experience sanding was. My space was not
insulated, but I had access to a 208v heater
that could warm the space up on all but the
coldest days. And we had some cold ones. I
would go after work for a couple of hours
and put some time in. After work, I could
Stan Lee with the Cosmic Cube and Agents of A.I.M at the 2014 Wizard World.
-47-
February 2015
Laura, Rick, and I discussed elements
we wanted A.I.M. to have as a unit. Laura
started working on the uniforms. Rick built
two beautiful sci-fi styled pistols. Rick also
picked out a Nerf gun that fit the aesthetic
we were going for. I worked on a prototype
helmet made out of fiberglass.
After that I molded and cast up a set of
helmets (below). The helmets did not come
out as well as I would have hoped and I
ended up putting about 10 hours into each of
them to prepare them for painting. Our Nerf
guns each needed about 8-10 hours of prep
work and took another 10-12 hours to paint.
knew how much fun it would be! Laura had
a family member named Amy step up and
fill the boots at the last minute! Yay! We
had five people.
We got five suits done in time for
Wizard World at the end of January 2014.
And it was successful. Stan's group noticed
us and they pulled us aside for a picture with
the man! That is definitely one of the
highlights of this project for me.
After our triumphant return from
Seattle, we really knuckled down to finish
“MODOK.” Everything else was done but
him. In April of 2014 there was still a lot to
be done.
Back to the shop and May of 2014!
Laura had sent in an application to the
SDCC Masquerade. I was still worried we
would not make it in time. Of course, this is
when we received our acceptance into the
Masquerade.
Molded and cast A.I.M. helmets.
Laura agreed to dress up, something
she had never done before! Rick was in and
he recruited his sister to participate. We
needed one more person to make five. I
wanted an odd number of agents for
symmetry to the cube carrier. (“The Cosmic
Cube” was a McGuffin used by Marvel
comics. It was re-invented in the recent
movies as the Tesseract. I incorporated that
concept into our Cosmic Cube.) I was really
scrambling trying to convince everyone I
Backpack before a butcher went to work on it. (above)
Backpack almost detailed out. (below) Note the iPad.
About this time I had an epiphany
about the piece we call the backpack. (left) I
cut away two sections and recessed them in.
I had this idea that maybe I could make it
the "power plant" that runs the chair. I added
some hot rod exhaust pipes as an homage to
the car place. Everyone at the shop seemed
to get a kick out of that. The upper part of
the back pack, I turned into a "life support"
station. A friend of mine made a short movie
graphic that is looped on an iPad. The movie
has a heart beat and neuron detection graphs
moving and pulsing. It is very cool. I wish I
would have had the time to do it myself.
-48-
February 2015
To the right of the screen there are
three tubes filled with fluid. I went to Tap
plastics, got some clear plastic tube and
clear resin. I mixed a batch of resin up and
added some paint for color and poured it
into the tubes. I had to fill the tubes the rest
of the way with some clear resin as the
tubing was to fragile without the added
resin. The backpack is my favorite detail on
the whole thing.
Early June 2014, I started painting. I
planned on using automotive urethane paints
for the larger pieces. I wanted a yellow that
was slight darker than the uniforms and
slightly metallic. If you try and make a
yellow into a metallic color, you end up with
a gold. I ended up using pearls to give a
shiny sparkle. Unfortunately, the sparkle
does not come thru in the pictures very well.
I also used a deeper yellow / brown / orange
for shading. In hindsight, I could have
masked more areas off and went for some
more exaggerated shading, but I did not feel
it was worth it at the time as I was trying to
finish by our deadline.
Around this time I detailed out the
rocket and blast. The blast texture was made
from a long hair fiberglass body filler. I was
playing with it one day and I thought it
could be made to give a nice fiery texture.
Altho before it was painted it looked like a
tree trunk. I airbrushed a yellow into the
deeper areas as a base coat and then drybrushed my way out with darker colors.
In some pictures on the rocket, you can
spot two dark holes. Those holes are to
allow a piece of rigid pipe to pass through.
There are brackets welded on the inside
metal frame. The rigid pipe allows five
people ( one on the inside ) to pick it up. I
was not 100 percent sure that was going to
work until I saw them hoisting it up onto the
stage. Oh dear....
Rocket with: hatch open (left top), hatch In position (right top), cover plates (left below), plates in place (right bottom).
Around those holes I epoxied some
rare earth magnets in. I made some plates
out of sheet metal and painted them when I
painted the rocket. When we don't need to
lift it, we can put the trim pieces on and
cover the holes. Those metal plates also hide
a seam on the back side of the rocket. That
is where the door / hatch is located.
-49-
February 2015
I painted the larger pieces over three
days. After I had the yellow painted I moved
onto the backpack. We used the A.I.M. logo
on the back pack and in the video. I sort of
figured A.I.M. would have known what
Tarlton was going to turn into, so they
would have had a "wheelchair" ready for
him. I also wanted to tie the chair in with the
rest of the uniforms. Thats why I used the
The finished painted headband
blue on the "engine" rather than a
complementary purple, similar to what is
used on the headband. The backpack was a
bit of a pain to paint. I spent 8-10 hours
masking the yellow areas off before I
painted the blue. Next I clear coated the blue
to protect it. I spent another 8 hours masking
the blue off. Then I painted the yellow,
pulled the tape off and clear coated the
whole thing.
Next I painted the headband (above). I
masked off the face before I painted the
purple and red. I spent the better part of two
days painting and masking those parts. Once
I was happy with them, I clear coated over
them for protection and masked it back off.
The final phase painted backpack. This is easily one
of my favorite pieces on the whole project.
And finally on to the face! (right) This
one worried me the most. I had read not to
use a pre mixed flesh color. I experimented
around with some mixes and found one I
-50-
Face all masked off and flesh colors applied. (above)
Painted with electronics in place (below)
liked. I added some blues and greens to try
and cool it down from the dominant yellow.
I used a brush on the teeth to try and get
some texture on them. And finally I clear
February 2015
coated it with a flat sealer. I did not think he
should have a super shiny face!
Around this time we decided the arms
and legs we had were not going to work!
Laura had tried to cloth the legs and we both
agreed they looked horrible. I found a sitting
pair of legs on eBay. They seemed to work
out even better than the originals. To
"install" them, I placed a 2x2 piece of wood
where the leg comes out of the body,
positioned the hollow mannequin leg,
screwed it down and filled it with expanding
foam. It worked really well and was much
lighter than the original.
We're almost done here. The cloud
(right) actually turned out to be pretty easy. I
spray painted them black with a touch of
grey on top. Laura would flatten some
polyfill out and spray adhesive it onto the
fiberglass cloud. I thinned out some reds,
orange, grey and black and airbrushed colors
onto the polyfill.
The painted clouds that look like rocks.
I used the same process on the new
mannequin arms. The hand holding the
joystick is a wooden model hand sculptors
use. The hand holding the cube is cast from
Laura's hand. We used an alginate and a
quick curing urethane resin from SmoothOn. I made a fake wooden cube, slightly
larger than our prop and Laura held onto
that in the alginate mold. We cut the cast
arm where it fit onto the mannequin arm.
The hard part for Laura was getting
gloves on those hands. I had to stop letting
her kiss me for a while what with all the bad
words that came out of her mouth that
weekend! We spent the better part of July
4th weekend working on clothing the arms
and legs. Laura used a purple spandex to
start. I drafted some "armor" patterns for the
legs. She took a lamé fabric and used a spray
adhesive to attach it to a spare heavy fabric
we had. Then we used contact cement to
attach the plates to the legs.
The finished product! Two years of my life GONE!
-51-
We ordered hair
from a company called
National Fiber
Technology. I had
read that is where
“Wookie”
cosplayers get
hair from. It
may have
been a little
more
expensive,
but at this
point in the
game we decided
it was better to
push forward than
skimp and lose
"effect". Earlier in
March we had made a
fiberglass top piece
that we would put the
hair on. We hot glued
some velcro down and
made a sort of
makeshift slip cover out
February 2015
of some spare fabric. Then we hot glued hair
to the fabric. We wanted the hair to be
removable.
happen with it now. Laura says I cannot use
it for a new mailbox. I would like to take it
to some local conventions, but the size is a
bit of a hinderance. People seem to enjoy
seeing it, but officials seem to have a hard
time committing to it.
We added a backing up camera for an
auto mobile so the “MODOK” pilot could
see out. I found an inexpensive security
monitor that could run off a 12v battery and
made an enclosure for it. We mounted a
camera low in the blast area. When we
turned the camera on, it worked great but
everything was reversed! We turned the
monitor upside down and used a mirror to
correct the image.
Second, I want to thank and recognize
my friend Rick for getting me started in this
hobby, encouraging me to finish “MODOK”
and transporting it to San Diego.
Kevin Pishion grew up
reading Marvel comics and
building model kits. When
he got a little older, he
started building Marvel
themed garage kits and
collecting pre-painted statues.
While attending Emerald City
Comic Con in 2011, he and a
friend decided to build a costume
for the 2012 show. This lead to
“Galactus.” He followed up with
“Magneto” and ultimately
“MODOK” and Agents of A.I.M.
To date, Rick has been the only one
inside it and that was for the Masquerade.
He said when he went out onto the stage he
couldn't see anything! The lights blinded the
camera. the funny thing is we had talked
about adding a second camera just for that,
but we could never find a decent place to
hide it.
First, I would like to thank my wife
Laura. This whole thing never would have
happened without her support and continued
encouragement.
Last, but not least, I'd like to thank
Virtual Costumer editor Philip Gust, a
fellow SDCC 2014 masquerade
contestant, for giving me the
opportunity to write this. I hope his
touch makes it easier to read, as I
have a tenancy to ramble. If this
article makes sense in any way, I
am holding him responsible.
Mesh covering top piece, ready for fiberglassing.
And that's pretty much it for the build!
The entire project challenged me from start
to finish in more ways than one. I'm really
grateful to Laura and Rick for encouraging
me to finish. I'm not really sure what will
Acknowledgements
Backside with A.I.M agent for scale
-52-
February 2015
How-To
Elven Cosplay
Foam
Armor
Tutorial
Mikaela Renshaw
with Mark Renshaw
Elven costumes entered in the San
Diego Comic-Con masquerade were made
of EVA and craft foam. Two of the costume
creators demonstrate their construction
techniques.
Like many people, my family and I
enjoy going to San Diego Comic-Con and
admiring all of the amazing costumes that
people make. Inspired by those costumes, as
well as the TV show The Heroes of Cosplay,
we decided to try our hand at making
costume armor, hoping to create something
special for Comic-Con, and to try out the
Masquerade.
My brother wanted to be an armored
Drow Elf warrior/sorcerer. I, on the other
hand, wanted to be an armored Woodland
Elf warrior. Initially, my brother and I didn’t
know where to start, so, we turned to the
Web, and with the help of our parents,
Google images, and several YouTube howto videos, we came up with a game plan.
If this is your first time making foam
armor, as it was for us, then you need to
come up with a basic concept, keeping
several things in mind. The first is mobility.
You want to be able to move and be
comfortable while wearing your costume.
You also want to be able to walk, and sit
down and rest.
Second, remember that foam acts as
insulation. We had a wonderful discussion
about foam armor with a group we met at
San Diego Comic-Con in full “master-chief”
armor, from the game Halo. They built
small laptop computer fans into their
helmets to help keep cool, and told us they
avoided going out in the full sun whenever
possible.
Finally, think about visibility,
especially if you plan to have a fully
enclosed helmet. Remember, to be flexible
with your designs. Our costumes evolved as
we went along, due to both the materials we
found, and those we decided to use, as well
as the experiments we did along the way.
This was our first time making cosplay
armor, and our first time working with foam,
although my father, Mark Renshaw, and I
have some experience making elaborate
Halloween props and costumes. So while
this was our first time competing in, or even
attending, the Masquerade, we were
determined to produce something good.
Drow Elf and Woodland Elf costumes as worn in the Masquerade contest at San Diego Comic-Con 2014
-53ISSN 2153-9022
February 2015
To begin, I recommend looking online
at what other people have done, and
watching a few foam armor tutorials on
YouTube. While none of those videos
related specifically to our armor design, they
did help us to learn the basics of shaping
foam, and they’ll do the same for you. I
would also recommend looking into how
plate armor is constructed and put together.
A good resource for this is the SCA (Society
of Creative Anachronism), an organization
whose members make historically accurate
armor, and hold battles and tournaments.
They have groups all across the country,
and appear at Renaissance fairs. You can
look up a local chapter online.
Another thing to remember about
armor construction is to give yourself
plenty of time. We worked on our armor at
night and on weekends, with the Drow Elf
armor taking two and a half months, and
the Woodland Elf armor taking three
months. It’s a time-consuming process,
and you may want or need to redo some
parts to achieve a better fit or greater
comfort. We did this on more than one
occasion. So, be sure to plan well and start
far in advance of whatever event you hope
to attend. Most importantly, have fun, be
creative, and come up with something
unique that you can enjoy and be proud of.
I recommend working with someone
else. Having someone else to talk to, share
ideas with, and even complain to, makes the
process go faster and makes it more
enjoyable. For us this was a family project.
My brother and I were the creative team
who came up with the original ideas and the
concept designs. Our father was our
technical designer for the armor, He had a
good supply and knowledge of tools, and he
made sure that our designs were functional.
Our mother was our chief seamstress,
helping us out with the parts of the costume
that required sewing. Don’t be afraid to ask
for help!
We used EVA (Ethylene-vinyl acetate)
foam for the base and foundation of the
armor. You can purchase it from sporting
goods stores such as Big Five Sporting
Goods. It comes in both rolls and thicker
squares that can be fit together as a floor
cover for a gym or work out station. We
used the type that comes in a large roll. EVA
foam can be heated and shaped, and it will
retain and hold its shape as it cools. This
allows you to build the basic armor form.
However, EVA foam is grey and
clearly looks like foam, and we wanted
our armor to look like leather. To achieve
this we used craft foam from Michaels Art
Supply. Craft foam is lightweight,
inexpensive and comes in black, several
shades of brown or tan, as well as
additional colors. Furthermore it can be
treated to look like leather.
EVA foam, and craft foam in black, and two shades of brown.
Here are some of the basics for crafting
foam armor. Luckily, foam is lightweight,
flexible, fairly inexpensive, and easy to find.
To make our costumes have the look of
leather and hold their shape, we used two
types of foam: EVA foam and craft foam.
-54-
To accomplish this, simply iron the
surface. Be sure, though, to place a piece
of paper over the surface and set the iron
on medium heat. When you iron craft
foam you will see that it melts the surface
just slightly and it picks up a shiny,
leather like sheen. We covered the surface
of the shaped EVA foam with glued on
layers of the treated craft foam using hot
glue. When the hot glue cools and hardens
it adds an extra layer of rigidity to the
armor. However, to hold the pieces together,
we used real leather straps and leather rivets
because foam can tear. Genuine leather is
better for holding it all together.
February 2015
You will need some basic tools to
make your armor. To shape the EVA foam,
you will need a heat gun. This is sort of the
tool version of a hair dryer, which blows hot
air and allows you to heat the EVA foam to
shape it. You will also need a sharp pair of
scissors and X-Acto or other utility knives to
cut the foam, a hot glue gun and plenty of
glue sticks for attaching the craft foam, a
leather punch and hammer to punch holes
and attach the leather rivets with, and an
iron and ironing board to treat the craft
foam. Additional tools that can be helpful
include a Dremel rotary tool and a wood
burning tool like Versa-Tool that is normally
used to burn lettering into wood.
The supplies that you will need are:
EVA foam, craft foam, poster board paper,
leather pieces and strapping, Velcro, leather
rivets, and some small buckles, fabric paints
and rubber stamps. Much of this can be
purchased at craft and fabric stores, such as
Michaels Art Supply or Jo-Ann Fabrics. For
a better selection of rivets and
small metal buckles, however, I
recommend ordering online
from Tandy Leather. Small
finishing touches can really
make a costume, such as small
metal studs, adornments, belt
buckles, etc. Hitting the thrift
stores, swap meets, and eBay
will help you find accessories
that fit your theme and bring
added detail to enrich your
creation.
To make the armor’s
under-layer, we created patterns
Poster board cut out templates, used to first test for sizes, were then used
out of poster board for all the
to trace and cut out EVA foam pieces for the Drow Elf armor.
different pieces, such as the
chest plate, back plate, shoulder
We tested the size by lightly taping the
pauldrons, lames, bracers, thigh plates and
poster board template pieces together over
shin guards. For the chest and back plates
our bodies to see how they fit before using
we laid down a sleeveless T-shirt on the
our foam. The pieces overlapped in places.
poster board and traced it out. We made sure
Keep in mind that when you bend
to trace the patterns a bit larger to start with.
something over a curved surface, such as
your torso, it needs to be a bit larger. You
can always trim the EVA foam pieces down
a bit after you heat shape them.
Once we had our poster board
templates, we traced the patterns on the
EVA foam and cut out the pieces. We used
the heat gun to start molding these pieces
because the heat makes the foam malleable.
We made sure to keep the corrugated pattern
of the EVA foam facing inward against our
bodies and the flat smoother surface as the
outside of the armor.
Leaves were first traced on to heat treated (ironed) craft foam, cut out, then veined using a Versa-Tool heat tool.
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February 2015
Most pieces required multiple reheating and re-shaping steps to achieve the
proper shape and fit well. Even though you
will use leather straps to attach and hold
pieces together, you don’t want to put too
much stress on the straps: otherwise, the
rivets that hold the straps to the softer foam
can tear out. Foam is not overly strong, so
don’t try to compensate for badly shaped
pieces by tightening the straps to pull and
bend the foam. It is better to shape the EVA
foam correctly from the start to fit well, so
that the amount of pull and stress on the
straps and foam is minimized.
For shaping the smaller pieces such as
the wrist guards, lames, etc., the process can
be sped up by placing the heated pieces in
the freezer, to cool them faster.
We started with the larger breast and
back plate pieces, shaping the heated EVA
foam to fit our bodies. To accommodate a
feminine figure, we used a soft ball to
stretch and bend the foam over for the chest
plate. It took several cycles of heating,
bending and shaping to achieve a good fit.
Sometimes rolling a section of the heated
foam (such as where it curves over the top
of the shoulder) tightly while warm, then
releasing it, was more useful
to achieve a tighter curl or
bend, than just bending the
foam over our bodies.
We initially made the
pieces overly large, and they
overlapped where the back
and chest plates met. Once
the pieces were shaped, we
began trimming back the
overlap so that the chest and
back pieces fit together and
met properly. We left a little
extra room once they fit
together to allow for
freedom of movement and
some airflow.
EVA foam was traced and cut out using poster board templates for the Drow Elf
armor and heated using the heat gun. Foam was shaped by hand, by rolling the
lame, and/or stretching and shaping the shoulder pauldron over a bent knee.
The V-cut was then glued together with hot glue to help shape and hold it in the
dished shape. Shaped pieces were covered in the layers of craft foam, which
hides the glued seam of the pauldron. After being covered with craft foam the
lames were riveted to leather straps and attached to the pauldron.
Once the chest and
back EVA foam pieces were
fully shaped, we prepared to
layer the treated craft foam
onto them. We ironed the
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craft foam in full sheets. Once cooled, we
cut them into various shapes and hot glued
the layers onto the EVA foam.
For the Drow Elf armor we used black
craft foam exclusively, and cut out dragon
scale like patterns. For my Woodland Elf
armor, we used different shaped leaves.
Each was traced on to the craft foam using a
poster board template, then cut out. To give
a more realistic leaf pattern we melted leaf
veins into the iron-treated side of the craft
foam leaves using the heat tool. This took a
considerable amount of time because the
veins had to be individually carved into each
leaf that would be glued onto the armor.
However, it proved to be well worth the
effort, as it gave the leaves a slightly three
dimensional appearance, which greatly
enhanced the overall look of the costume.
We used two colors of brown craft foam and
alternated the different colored leaves to
give a camouflage appearance to the armor.
We attached the craft foam leaves and
scales to the EVA foam using hot glue. For
best results, coat almost all of the backside
of the craft foam pieces with a thin layer of
hot glue, using the nozzle or tip of the hot
glue gun to spread the hot glue around.
Avoid excessive amounts of glue, or going
all the way to the edge of the craft foam, to
prevent excess glue from squeezing out from
under the craft foam and being visible when
you press the piece to the armor. Also be
sure to glue the non-ironed side of the craft
foam, so that the ironed and more leather
like side faces outward. If the hot glue starts
February 2015
to cool and harden before you can
spread the glue across all of the back
surface of the craft foam piece, just
use the heat gun to reheat the glue
ensuring that all the glue on the piece
is hot and sticky.
both sides and the tops of the
shoulders, where the back and breast
plates met.
Next, we carefully placed the
piece of craft foam on the EVA foam
under-layer and used a folded wet
paper towel over the top to press the
craft foam to the EVA foam. The wet
paper towel kept the hot glue from
burning our hands, and cooled it so
that it stuck quicker.
We started hot gluing the craft
foam at the bottom of the armor,
making sure the first pieces slightly
overlapped the EVA foam, so that the
EVA foam edge could not be seen.
We then started layering the craft
foam upwards, with each new layer
slightly overlapping the layer below.
This enhanced the dragon scale look
of the Drow Elf armor and the leaf
scale mail look of the Woodland Elf
armor. Once the armor was covered
from top to bottom, small pieces of
craft foam were curled over and glued
to the top and side edges to make sure
none of the EVA foam was visible.
To attach the breast and back
plates, we hot glued and riveted
leather pieces with attached Velcro to
the inside of the armor, and riveted
additional straps of leather with small
buckles to the outside of the armor on
Chest and back plate fitted together. Inner leather straps have Velcro attached with
a corresponding Velcro piece glued and riveted on the inside of the opposite piece
of the upper body armor. The outer straps use brass buckles to attach. The rivets
go through both the inner and outer leather straps. (Additional straps will be added
later for attaching the shoulder pauldrons to the chest and back plates.) Notice that
the craft foam bends around the side edges of the EVA foam, and extends over the
lower edge of the EVA foam hiding the EVA foam from view.
Side view of body armor, and upper view looking down on top of shoulders.
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We painted a Drow symbol on
the front chest plate of the Drow Elf
armor. My brother downloaded a
Drow house symbol he liked from the
Web, and created several overlapping
stencils from poster board. We used
them to paint the symbols on the
breastplate with fabric paint. For my
Woodland Elf armor, we used a
rubber stamp to add a design across
the rib section lightly in ink. We then
went back over the design with fabric
paint and a fine paint brush. In both
cases we painted the designs on the
craft foam piece with the fabric paint
before gluing them to the EVA foam.
We added other decorations in
the form of a gold leaf pin that was
hot glued to the front of the
Woodland Elf armor, and added
silver skulls (used to make paracord
bracelets, and sold at Michaels Art
Supply) to the neck line of the Drow
Elf armor. The skulls were sewn on
with heavy black waxed thread (used
for sewing leather) after hot gluing
them in place. The thread went
through the hole that passes through
the side of the skulls.
Two outer straps are on each
side of the body armor, and one outer
strap is on top of each shoulder. A
Velcro strap is on each shoulder
February 2015
(inner side of the armor) and on each side of
the body (inner side).
We made pauldrons (the curved piece
that fits over the shoulder) and lames (the
curved overlapping plates that extend down
the forearm) individually, and attached them
to each other and the chest armor with
leather straps. For the pauldrons, we cut a Vshaped notch into the EVA foam, so that
when the edges of the V were glued together
it would help create the shape of the
pauldron. Additional shaping came
from heating and stretching the piece
before hot gluing the edges of the V
together. While this left a visible glue
seam in the EVA foam, the seam
became invisible, once it was covered in
craft foam.
As with the body armor, we started
hot gluing the craft foam leaves or
dragon scales to the pauldrons and
lames at the bottom or edge that points
out from the shoulder. The craft
foam extended out past the
EVA foam pauldron or lame to
hide the edge. Subsequent
layers extend up the pauldrons
and/or lames, each slightly
overlapping the one below.
Shoulder pauldrons and attached lames buckled to the chest plate.
Scroll work on chest plate was re-painted using gold fabric paint
after the pattern was initially faintly placed on the foam using a
rubber stamp and gold ink.
For the lames, we cut the EVA
foam, and heat shaped it to curve
around the arm by rolling it while
warm into a tight roll (illustration on
page 56). Once the heated foam
started to take on the proper
curvature we placed it in the freezer
to quickly cool it and allow it
become more rigid. The EVA foam
lame was then covered with craft
foam leaves or dragon scales using
hot glue, as described for the
previous armor pieces.
Each shoulder pauldron was riveted to four lames with three straps.
Two additional straps were attached to each shoulder paudron: one to
buckle the paudron to the chest plate and one to buckle the pauldron
to the back plate. Leather straps with Velcro hot glued to them were
attached to the last lame to strap the lame around the upper arm.
We riveted two leather straps
to each shoulder pauldron, and
attached it with buckles to the chest
and back plate. Three additional
straps were riveted to the shoulder
-58-
pauldron to attach the lames that cover the
upper arm. The lames were riveted to these
straps with leather rivets. Drow symbols
were painted free hand on the shoulder
paudrons, and silver skulls and studs were
added to the pauldrons and lames. For the
Woodland Elf armor we used alternating
colored leaves with leaf veining patterns, so
no further adornment was required. We
added leather straps to the lowest lame to
strap around and hold them to the upper
arm. The straps attached to the lames using
leather rivets, but we also used Velcro to
allow the straps to attach to each other.
Covering the lower abdomen and hips
was one of the more difficult sections to
figure out. Since you bend at the waist and
will often be sitting, this section of the
armor needs to be highly flexible and soft
enough for you to sit comfortable. Initially,
February 2015
we used EVA foam plates covered in craft
foam as with the rest of the armor but found
these to be too stiff and uncomfortable to sit
down in.
We finally decided to make a simple
under-tunic of leather-like vinyl that would
be worn under the upper body armor and
extend down underneath to the upper thigh.
The vinyl was soft and supple enough, and
slits were cut into the front and back of the
lower section of the tunic to allow for better
movement. Dragon scales or leaves were hot
glued to the lower part of the vinyl tunic to
cover the areas visible when wearing the
armor. The upper section of the vinyl tunic
was covered by the upper chest and back
plate armor and thus did not need added
scales or leaves.
While hot gluing the craft
foam leaves and scales added
some rigidity to the vinyl tunic,
the thinness of the craft foam
ensured it was still flexible
enough to sit and move in.
Alternatives might be chain
mail, or a war skirt as seen in
Greek and Roman armor.
Bracers or vambrances,
were made for the forearms
using the EVA foam, heating
and curling the foam to fit. Like
the other pieces, the
vambrances were then covered
in the treated craft foam. Black
leather gloves were added to
the Drow Elf costume,
decorated with Drow symbols,
silver studs, and skulls.
For the Woodland Elf
armor, a back hand plate
was added with bronze
colored studs (obtained
at Jo-Ann Fabrics) at the
knuckles.
The vinyl under tunic had leaves attached with hot glue for the
Woodland Elf costume. The second panel shows how the upper
body armor covers the blank (non-leaf covered) portions of the tunic.
Thigh plates and
shin guards (greaves)
were made in similar
fashion. We attached
leather straps with rivets
that went around the
back of the thigh and leg
to hold the armor in
place. Additional straps
were attached to a belt,
-59-
Finished vambrances covered forearms for Drow Elf and Woodland Elf
costumes. Drow symbols were painted with silver fabric paint using stencils.
Silver studs and skulls were added to accent the Drow Elf armor, while
bronze studs were used to accent the knuckles of the Woodland Elf armor.
A leather strap was riveted to the back hand plate to fit around the palm of
the hand and hold the plate to the back of the hand.
Upper thigh and lower shin armor used for the Wood Elf costume. The belt
fits around the waist while two straps attach each thigh plate to the belt to
keep the armor from slipping down. An additional strap buckles around the
thigh to hold the armor on to the leg. Three leather straps hold the shin
plate to the lower leg using Velcro.
February 2015
Elf armor, while a faux
brown leather cloak was
added to the Woodland Elf
costume. Both of us wore
leather boots. My brother's
were black with black fur
trim, while mine were
simple brown leather boots.
We had swords while
at the Masquerade contest,
but for walking around
Comic-Con we only had a
sorcerer’s staff for the Drow
Mask for Woodland Elf was made by hot gluing silk fabric leaves to a simple
face mask. Serrated teeth for Drow Elf costume were created by sharpening
Elf and an elven bow for the
acrylic finger nails and super gluing them to a piece of Warbla thermo plastic,
Woodland Elf. The simple
which had been heat fitted to my brother’s upper teeth and mouth.
hickory wood bow came
from eBay. We stained and
which went around the waist, to prevent the
polished
it
using
brown shoe polish, painted
thigh plates from slipping down while
it with gold elven symbols, and wrapped the
walking.
handle with a leather thong. Fake arrows
We did not make helmets, preferring to
were made of wooden dowels stained with
have better visibility for walking around
shoe polish with craft foam feathers or
Comic-Con. Also, helmets tend to be a bit
fletching added with hot glue. The staff was
stifling and hot. Instead, for the Woodland
stained and polished wood, wrapped in
Elf costume, we made a mask by hot gluing
leather, with a polished stone skull adorning
silk fabric leaves to a simple face mask. A
the top.
crown of leaves was made in the same way.
We both wore commercially available
We made serrated teeth for the Drow Elf
pointed
Elf ears that attached using spirit
costume by sharpening acrylic finger nails
gum. We colored the Drow Elf ears by
and using Super Glue to attach them to a
painting them with liquid latex mixed with
piece of Worbla thermoplastic, which had
black latex paint.
been heat-fitted to my brother’s upper teeth
and mouth.
Seeing the finished costumes and
getting
a chance to compete in the ComicWe purchased belts at a local thrift
Con Masquerade was amazing, and made all
store, and appropriately themed belt buckles
those hours of carving leaf veins worth it. I
from eBay. A black Halloween robe with an
felt an enormous sense of pride, and I loved
added trim was worn underneath the Drow
-60-
that I was able to show off the costumes to
both the audience and the other competitors.
I sincerely hope to repeat the experience,
and am looking forward to making other
costumes with my dad.
So, what’s next, you ask? Well, we’re
currently working on iridescent fairy wings
for my younger sister and I to dress as
Fairies in the style of our favorite fantasy
artist Nene Thomas. We are also looking
into making dragon rider costumes where
we will be actually riding dragons as part of
the costume. Never let the fear of failure
limit your imagination, and your willingness
to try to create something wonderful and
new that you can enjoy!
Mikaela Renshaw is a college
freshman majoring in English. She has been
cosplaying for as long as she can remember
at Renaissance fairs, theme parks,
Halloween, and later events like ComicCon. She hope that her costume-making
skills will continue to grow, so that she can
go on to create more complex costumes.
Mark Renshaw is a molecular
biologist and father of three. As an avid
enthusiast of Halloween, he has been
making props and decorations for many
years (for an example, search ‘dangling
crank spider Aragog’ on the web). More
recently he started helping his children
make unique Halloween costumes. This has
now transitioned into helping with ComicCon costumes as well. He is also a fan and
regular attendee of Renaissance Faires, and
has some familiarity with medieval armor.
February 2015
Short Subjects
High Style at the Legion of
Honor in San Francisco
Exhibit from the Brooklyn Museum costume
collection features fashions from 1910-1980
The Legion of Honor in San Francisco,
California is hosting an exhibit of high
fashion from the Brooklyn Museum
Costume Collection. The exhibit presents
fashions worn by American women that
reflect the tastes and transformations of the
nation over the course of the 20th century.
High Style provides a rare opportunity
to view the evolution of fashion from 1910
to 1980 through more than 60 stunning
costumes, 30 costume accessories, and an
array of related fashion sketches from
the Brooklyn Museum's collection.
The exhibit is curated by Jan Glier
Reeder, consulting curator for
the Brooklyn Museum
Costume Collection at the
Costume Institute of
the Metropolitan
Museum of Art,
and is
organized by
the Met.
The exhibit captures the key points of
20th century fashion design with rare pieces
from French couture houses, including
pieces by Jeanne Lanvin, Elsa Schiaparelli,
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, and Hubert de
Givenchy. In addition, the presentation
features pioneering American designers of
the 1930s and 1940s such as Charles James,
Elizabeth Hawes, Sally Victor, and Gilbert
Adrian, among others. The selection of
haute couture and ready-to-wear
garments showcases the stunning
craftsmanship and flamboyance of
fashion in this era.
Highlights include
Schiaparelli’s iconic surrealist
necklace of brightly colored tin
insects from 1938, six masterfully
engineered James ball gowns from
the 1950s, and Adrian’s striking
tiger-striped silk ball gown
from 1949.
The exhibit runs
from March 14 to July
19 2015. Entry is $23
for adults, $20 for
seniors, and $19
for students.
For more
information,
visit the exhibit
website.
Charles James, "Four-Leaf Clover" dress, 1953. Duchesse satin, lace, and silk shantung. The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection, Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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17th Costume Designers
Guild Awards
Major awards for movie and TV costuming
presented in Hollywood ceremony.
The Grand Budapest Hotel,
Birdman, and Into the Woods received
“Gilda” statuettes at the 17th Costume
Designers Guild Awards on February 17,
2015 in Los Angeles, California
The Grand Budapest Hotel costume
designer Milena Canonero received the
period film honor, while Albert
Wolsky of "Birdman" was presented the
contemporary honor. Deborah Nadoolman
Landis was honored with the inaugural Edith
Head Award for Advancement and
Education of the Art of Costume Design.
Into the Woods costume designer
Colleen Atwood won in the fantasy film
category. She said about her vision for Into
the Woods, "I went into it as a blank slate – I
hadn't really seen the stage musical, other
than on historical videotapes, so I knew the
music but not the visuals so much. I lived in
New York when it was playing but I was
not, in those years, able to afford a ticket.”
Founded in 1999, the Costume
Designers Awards honor Motion Picture,
Television, and Commercial costume
designers annually Visit their website for a
complete list of nominees and recipients.
February 2015
The Force Is With the
Costumes
Smithsonian traveling exhibit shows over 60
costumes from the Star Wars movies.
An exhibit of Star Wars costumes that
opened this past weekend at Seattle's EMP
Museum is an opportunity to see 60 original
costumes from the six Star Wars movies in
one room — from Princess Leia's slave
bikini to Queen Amidala's wedding dress,
which has not been part of any previous
public display.
The exhibit, Rebel, Jedi, Princess,
Queen: Star Wars and the Power of
Costume, was created by the Smithsonian
Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and
the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts. It will
be traveling across the United States through
2020.
This is a rare opportunity to see the
costumes up close and personal, without
Plexiglas in the way. But be warned, the
alarm system will loudly rebuke anyone who
leans in too close. Photography is allowed,
but no flash, tripods or selfie sticks. The
Darth Vader costume is set off on its own,
perfectly arranged for selfies.
The displays also talk about cultural
influences from Africa to Asia. Quotes from
actors talk about the way the costumes made
them feel, from Carrie Fisher's experience in
what she called the bikini from hell, to
the power the Sith lords felt in their
getups. Gloomy lighting and music
from the films permeates the exhibit
space.
"The costumes help the
characters really come to life," said
Laela French, the Lucas Museum's
senior manager of exhibits and
collections. She talked about the
visual clues the costumes offer, such
as the way Anakin Skywalker's Jedi robes
darken as he gets older and closer to
becoming Darth Vader. Most people don't
notice that Luke Skywalker's robes also
darkened through his trio of films, showing
the mix of light and dark in his character as
well, French said.
Although the exhibit includes costumes
from all six movies, the highlights of the
exhibit for most people will be the old ones,
including the two droids, which were
costumes worn by people, not puppets as
some assume.
"Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen" at the
EMP Museum in Seattle runs through
October 4, 2015. Admission is from $23-29
weekdays, $24-30 weekends. Children under
4 are free. To learn more about the museum
and the exhibit, visit the EMP website.
-62-
Motion Picture Academy
Presents Costuming Oscar
Academy Award for costuming design goes
to “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Turin, Italy born Milena Canonero
received the 2015
“Oscar” for best
costume design
for her work on
The Grand
Budapest Hotel.
This is
Canonero's fourth
“Oscar” in nine
nominations. She
received her first
in 1976 for Barry Lyndon, for Chariots of
Fire in 1982, and for Marie Antoinette in
2007. It was her her third collaboration with
director Wes Anderson after The Life
Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The
Darjeeling Limited.
Canonero was widely praised her for
her humble acceptance speech in tribute to
Anderson, and for her own noteworthy
personal style. She collaborated with the
fashion house Prada on many of the Grand
Budapest costumes.
Her first job was in 1971 as costume
designer for A Clockwork Orange after
meeting director Stanley Kubrick on the set
of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Many of her
works can be seen in the traveling Stanley
Kubrick Museum, including the iconic
twins’ blue dresses from The Shining.
February 2015
Upcoming Events
Calendar of Events
VancouFur 2015
March 5–8, 2015
Executive Hotel and Conference Center
Burnaby BC. Canada
http://www.vancoufur.ca
VancouFur, Vancouver's first furry convention,is in
its third year, striving to educate as well as entertain
in the fields of arts, crafts, culture and other aspects
of the furry fandom. Includes a costume parade.
Minami Con 20
March 6-8, 2015
Novotel Hotel Southampton
South Hampton, England
http://www.minamicon.org.uk/
Anime and cosplay convention includes costuming
related programming, a cosplay photo shoot, a
cosplay parade, a masquerade, and an “Iron Cosplay”
competition.
Monsterpalooza
Marcy 27-29, 2015
Marriott Burbank Hotel & Convention Center
Burbank, California USA
http://www.monsterpalooza.com//
The premier convention on the art of the monster.
Includes numerous sessions on monster making and
prothetic makeup techniques for costumers.
Norwescon 38
April 2-5, 2015
SeaTac Washington Doubletree Hotel
Seattle, Washington USA
http://www.norwescon.org/
Pacific Northwest's premier sci-fi and fantasy
convention. Features single-pattern contest and a full
masquerade.
Phoenix Comic-Con 2015
WonderCon 2015
April 3-5, 2015
Anaheim Convention Center
Anaheim, California USA
http://www.comic-con.org/wc/
The biggest stars in the comics world come to
Anaheim. Masquerade attracted 2,400 people, 28
entries, and 62 costumes.
Costume-Con 33
May 15-18, 2015
Charleston Plaza Hotel
North Charleston, South Carolina
http://cc33charleston.org/wp/
The premier costuming convention of the year
features panels, classes, historical and sci-fi/fantasy
masquerades, a future fashion folio design contest
and other costuming related activities.
Baycon 2015
May 22-25, 2015
Hayatt Santa Clara
Santa Clara, California USA
http://www.baycon.org/2015/
The SF Bay Area’s largest sci-fi and fantasy
convention, with costume panels, and a Masquerade.
Anime North 2015
May 22-24, 2015
Toronto Congress Center
Toronto, Ontario CA
http://www.animenorth.com/
One of the 10 biggest anime conventions, includes
anime/manga costuming events, plus both skit and
costume Masquerades.
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May 28-31, 2015
Phoenix Convention Center and Hyatt Regency
Phoenix, Arizona USA
http://www.phoenixcomicon.com
Guests TDB. Numerous panels on costuming,
makeup, effects, and cosplay, a costume doll contest,
hall costume contest, and a masquerade ball.
Westercon 68
July 2-5, 2015
Town and Country Resort & Conference Center
San Diego, California USA
http://westercon68.org
This venerable sci-fi convention features a full
costume masquerade and numerous costumingrelated panels and tracks, and staged masquerades
and other costuming events.
Comic-Con International 2015
July 8-12, 2015
San Diego Convention Center
http://www.comic-con.org/cci/
World’s largest comic book convention with over
125,00 attendees. Masquerade attracted over 10,000
people, 40+ entrants, and 150+ costumes, with
presentation, workmanship, and industry awards. If it
isn’t sold out yet, get your tickets and hotel now!
Costume College 2015
July 30-August 2, 2015
Warner Center Marriott
Woodland Hills, California USA
http://www.costumecollege.net/
Three-day educational conference on costuming and
clothing, produced by Costumer's Guild West. Didn’t
inherit tickets? Try anyway: you might get lucky!
February 2015
Worldcon 73: Sasquan
August 19-23, 2015
Spokane, Washington USA
http://www.sasquan.org
The catwalk style Masquerade is rivaled only
by the Hugo Award Ceremony. Costuming-related
panels and events.
DragonCon
September 4–7, 2015
Atlanta, Georgia USA
http://www.dragoncon.org/
Multi-media popular culture convention on sci-fi,
fantasy, gaming, and comics. Features costuming
track, and a plethora of costuming contests.
Gaslight Gathering 5
September 18-20, 2015
Town and Country Resort & Conference Center
http://www.gaslightgathering.org/
Southern California's first dedicated Steampunk &
Victoriana Convention, features many costuming
events, and a Steampunk Grand Tea.
Archon 39
October 2-4, 2015
#38 Gateway Center Drive
St. Louis, Missouri USA
http://www.archonstl.org/39/
This sci-fi and fantasy convention returns to
Collinsville with a full costume masquerade and
costume related panels.
Convolution 2015
October 2-4, 2015
Hyatt Regency SFO
Burlingame California USA
http://con-volution.com/2015/
Annual three-day science fiction, fantasy, and media
convention featuring guests, performers and vendors
from a wide spectrum of the speculative fiction
industry and community Includes some costuming
related panels and masquerade costume competition.
Ongoing Events
Bay Area English Regency Society
(BAERS)
Various San Francisco Bay Area locations
Numerous dance parties – see their schedule
http://www.baers.org/
Early 19th c. English Regency with dances from
English Country tradition. Second-Friday dance
parties, and fancy-dress balls throughout the year.
Period dress admired but not required.
Gaskell Occasional Dance Society
Scottish Rite Tempe
Oakland, California USA
http://www.gaskellball.com/
Victorian Ballroom dances with live music, and a
fancy Victorian dress ball. Semi-formal clothing
required. Period formal dress of the 19th- 21st century
admired but not required.
Greater Bay Area Costumers’ Guild
(GBACG)
Various San Francisco Bay locations
Many themed events – see their schedule
http://www.gbacg.org/
For recreational costumers in the SF Bay Area.
Activities include workshops, costume salons, a
costuming academy and many costumed events.
Peninsula Wearable Arts Guild
(PenWAG)
Campbell Community Center
Campbell, California USA
Second Saturday of each month
http://www.penwag.org/
Members embellish garments with machine and hand
appliqué, patchwork, fabric painting and dyeing,
stenciling and stamping, machine and hand
embroidery, beading, and more.
Period Events and Entertainment
Society (PEERS)
Masonic Lodge of San Mateo,
San Mateo, California USA
Ongoing monthly period dance events
Sponsors events, classes, and living history
perforhttp://www.peers.org/mances. Activities
include historic dance, drama, music, literature and
costume. Period dress admired but not required
Tech Shop
2415 Bay Road
Redwood City, California USA
Ongoing classes monthly
http://www.techshop.ws/
Classes on the shop’s computerized embroidery,
industrial, and conventional sewing machines, and
serger. Also molding, vaccuforming, cutting, and
machining classes.
National Civil War Association
(NCWA)
Various Northern California locations
Many re-enactment and educational events – see their
schedule http://www.ncwa.org/
The NCWA presents living history for the public in
many forms, including military and civilian
encampments, battles, and lectures.
-64-
Editors Note
Send calendar or ongoing costume-related
events to [email protected]. Include event
name, location, dates, URL, and brief description
highlighting costume-related activities.
February 2015

The Virtual Costumer - Silicon Web Costumers` Guild

Transcription

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