Morpheus²
When I heard Worldcon was coming to Toronto, I knew I had to do something unbelievably fancy just to fit in. I'd seen pics of previous Worldcon masquerades, and the bar is pretty damn high.
Then the two-doll set of Dream Hunters and Ramadan Morpheus was released, and I knew I HAD to make them. What followed was almost 2 years of planning and work. And I don't even want to THINK about how much money I spent on these costumes....
I used the dolls as my main reference, especially with Ramadan, but with Dream Hunters each illustration of Amano's is a bit different so I felt free to pick and choose elements and use artistic license.
We were really rushed getting ready for the Masquerade, of course, so the makeup isn't perfect, but we got compliments on it so I guess it was ok.
Dream Hunters:
Corset: The corset is made from scratch with a pattern I created. It took a lot of digging before I found just the right fabric--something blackish, but not just plain black. The fabric has a beautiful reddish shimmer and a neat crinkled effect. I designed it as a hybrid style with a flat front but shaped hips.
Vest: Hand-sewn from rather expensive (but gorgeous) black lace. The front opening is wired, with black satin lapels and hand-beaded.
Leggings & sleeves: Made from black spandex. The sleeves have wire at the hand openings to keep the right shape, with hand-painted buttons and beaded edges.
Ruby: I searched for months in vain to find a large jewel that I could use for the ruby, to no avail. I ended up making a mold by hand and casting it in resin and polishing like a madwoman to get it nice and shiny.
Jewellery: The fox-head belt buckle was carved in wax and then cast in bronze. The bracelets were shaped out of sheet wax and I then melted holes randomly to give that lacy effect. Finding a casting house that would do bronze casting was an endeavour...most places looked at me like I was stupid or something. These pieces were NOT cheap; the price of having five pieces (each bracelet is two pieces) cast, even in an inexpensive metal like bronze, really added up. After casting, I had to saw off and grind down the sprues and then do a lot of polishing. The necklace, earrings and other jewellery are all hand-beaded.
Cloak: This was long before Worbla, so the shoulder piece is two layers of felt with wire mesh sandwiched in between, shaped and then hardened with white glue to give a leather effect. I coloured it with metallic acrylics and it button onto the corset. The cloak is 3 layers - silver-spangled black velvet on the outside and silver/violet metallic crinkle in the middle. For the inner layer I used a technique featured in Threads magazine, in which you sandwich beads, ribbons, etc. between two layers of tulle, securing the items by sewing randomly around them. It worked nicely, but I ended up sewing it entirely by hand as I found that my machine puckered the tulle horribly. -.-;;
Then the two-doll set of Dream Hunters and Ramadan Morpheus was released, and I knew I HAD to make them. What followed was almost 2 years of planning and work. And I don't even want to THINK about how much money I spent on these costumes....
I used the dolls as my main reference, especially with Ramadan, but with Dream Hunters each illustration of Amano's is a bit different so I felt free to pick and choose elements and use artistic license.
We were really rushed getting ready for the Masquerade, of course, so the makeup isn't perfect, but we got compliments on it so I guess it was ok.
Dream Hunters:
Corset: The corset is made from scratch with a pattern I created. It took a lot of digging before I found just the right fabric--something blackish, but not just plain black. The fabric has a beautiful reddish shimmer and a neat crinkled effect. I designed it as a hybrid style with a flat front but shaped hips.
Vest: Hand-sewn from rather expensive (but gorgeous) black lace. The front opening is wired, with black satin lapels and hand-beaded.
Leggings & sleeves: Made from black spandex. The sleeves have wire at the hand openings to keep the right shape, with hand-painted buttons and beaded edges.
Ruby: I searched for months in vain to find a large jewel that I could use for the ruby, to no avail. I ended up making a mold by hand and casting it in resin and polishing like a madwoman to get it nice and shiny.
Jewellery: The fox-head belt buckle was carved in wax and then cast in bronze. The bracelets were shaped out of sheet wax and I then melted holes randomly to give that lacy effect. Finding a casting house that would do bronze casting was an endeavour...most places looked at me like I was stupid or something. These pieces were NOT cheap; the price of having five pieces (each bracelet is two pieces) cast, even in an inexpensive metal like bronze, really added up. After casting, I had to saw off and grind down the sprues and then do a lot of polishing. The necklace, earrings and other jewellery are all hand-beaded.
Cloak: This was long before Worbla, so the shoulder piece is two layers of felt with wire mesh sandwiched in between, shaped and then hardened with white glue to give a leather effect. I coloured it with metallic acrylics and it button onto the corset. The cloak is 3 layers - silver-spangled black velvet on the outside and silver/violet metallic crinkle in the middle. For the inner layer I used a technique featured in Threads magazine, in which you sandwich beads, ribbons, etc. between two layers of tulle, securing the items by sewing randomly around them. It worked nicely, but I ended up sewing it entirely by hand as I found that my machine puckered the tulle horribly. -.-;;
Ramadan:
This one, made for my husband Stuart, didn't have as many components as my Dream Hunters costume... but it was still a lot of work. The most time-consuming part of this costume was, of course, the massive cloak.
Cloak: It's completely hand-painted with silver fabric paint, and then I sewed sequins and beads to the centre of the 'flowers' so it would sparkle. This cloak represents at least 3 weeks of almost non-stop work, and was the most time-consuming thing I had made at the time. It's huge and extremely heavy (not to mention hard to walk around in) but it drapes beautifully and I was very proud of it.
Gown: The gown is 2 layers--the underlayer is cornflower blue satin, with a dusty rose chiffon overlayer. I actually bought about 4 different fabrics for this robe as I kept changing my mind what I wanted to do...fortunately at least one of the extra fabrics ended up being used for something else (my cloak lining). The sleeves of the overlayer are embellished with gold and purple puff-paint spirals, which unfortunately you can't see in any of the pictures. The sash was made from a lavender dress I found at Value Village.
Jewellery: The collar is just interfaced cloak fabric with big acrylic jewels attached and gold puff-paint. I wanted to put beads all around each jewel, but just didn't have time. The bracelets are mostly found here and there, with one that I beaded to be fancier. The gloves were bought for $10.
This one, made for my husband Stuart, didn't have as many components as my Dream Hunters costume... but it was still a lot of work. The most time-consuming part of this costume was, of course, the massive cloak.
Cloak: It's completely hand-painted with silver fabric paint, and then I sewed sequins and beads to the centre of the 'flowers' so it would sparkle. This cloak represents at least 3 weeks of almost non-stop work, and was the most time-consuming thing I had made at the time. It's huge and extremely heavy (not to mention hard to walk around in) but it drapes beautifully and I was very proud of it.
Gown: The gown is 2 layers--the underlayer is cornflower blue satin, with a dusty rose chiffon overlayer. I actually bought about 4 different fabrics for this robe as I kept changing my mind what I wanted to do...fortunately at least one of the extra fabrics ended up being used for something else (my cloak lining). The sleeves of the overlayer are embellished with gold and purple puff-paint spirals, which unfortunately you can't see in any of the pictures. The sash was made from a lavender dress I found at Value Village.
Jewellery: The collar is just interfaced cloak fabric with big acrylic jewels attached and gold puff-paint. I wanted to put beads all around each jewel, but just didn't have time. The bracelets are mostly found here and there, with one that I beaded to be fancier. The gloves were bought for $10.
