Deb Mackie, IGMA Artisan
Almost there. She got her kimono painted, her wig, and her broken hand repaired. All I need now is to make her fans, and she's done! Somehow, her pose got wacked out while I was working on her and she looks kind of like she's leaning too far, but it will be no problem to correct it.
What a stinking hot miserable weekend. Even with the AC blasting non-stop, I couldn't get it below 80 in the trailer. UGH. But I did manage to get some work done. Pitti-sing got a new pair of hands, more to scale with the help of my hand-scans, and Mark Dennis' technique of applying fingers to a pre-baked palm. Alas, I've come to the conclusion that I really suck at hands. Once I'm not cramming to make a deadline (EXPO is only 3 weeks away!) I'm going to put some serious thought into making a press mold.
Here she is getting her first "fitting:"
Notice how stiff the fabric is. Nothing I hate more than seeing a nice doll dressed in a beautiful costume that sticks out at odd angles because it wasn't draped properly. But this shot is just for fit and length. The next shots show her after draping. As you can see, I managed to snap off three of her fingers while I was setting her pose. Didn't bake them long enough, dammit. I think I can fix them easy enough. She'll be holding a fan in each hand, and her kimono will get hand-painted floral designs when it's dry.
The fabric looks darker, because it's soaking wet. I soak it with Niagara spray starch (nice tip from Jamie Carrington), then pin the drape in place. I also have a product called "Stiffen Stuff" which actually works better, but when I tested it on the silk, it not only made it darker, it dulled it's sheen. And it stayed that way even when dry. With the Niagara, it will dry much closer to the original color, and still keep most of the sheen.
You have to keep in mind how the fabric would fall naturally on a full-size model, then pin it in place. This gives it a more realistic look. Because she'll make a big puddle, I put a scrap of foamcore over the base, then put the whole thing in plastic to keep the wet spray starch off it. The foamcore gives me something to stick the pins into while she's drying. Once dry, I either unpin her, or give her another soaking, depending on how well the drapes hold when dry.
I did give her another soak with the Niagara this morning before work. Tonight, if I'm not too crapped out from work, I'll start on her wig and fans. I'd fix her hands, but I know better than to try that after a day of frustration at work. More likely, I'll do the usual and just work on her tomorrow morning before work.
Found a nice kimono pattern for Pitti-Sing, although they're so simple, one hardly needs a pattern to make one.
Click to enlarge
Well, the weekend wasn't a total loss. I got started on another costume-inspired piece. Not a costume from my closet, but one I wore when I played "Pitti-Sing" for the Ardensingers 1995 production of The Mikado.
Yeah, that's me, tall one of the "Three Little Maids" in the lavender kimono (top photo), and kneeling in the front of the middle photo. I'm all the way to the left of the bottom shot, where Mary Myers is front and center doing her fabulous "Katisha" role. That's another doll I've got on my list!
The costumes were made by Fran McGaughey for the West Chester G&S group originally, and I think every local theater group in the tri-state area has rented them for the past 15 or so years! Fran also made the costume for Lois Alt when she sang "Nobody Loves a Fairy When She's Forty." I couldn't find any photos of Lois in the costume, so I sort of made it up from memory.
Anyway, here's a start on Pitti-Sing. She's not meant to be a portrait of me, so I tried to make her look more Japanese.
Here she is with her makeup:
Once again, I can see that I've made the hands WAY too big. This is a recurring problem I have to get a grip on. She'll get a new pair before I move on. It always amazes me that I don't see these things till I shoot photos. I think I'm going to scan my own hand, print it out to size and glue it to my worktable for reference so this doesn't happen again!!! I get to working with my magnifiers on, and lose track of the scale.
Another recurring problem I ran into was that damned aluminum wire. Once again, I twisted it too tight or something, and one of her leg wires snapped after only repositioning it twice. Of course, it was the one with the brass tube, so it was an extra big pain in the arse to fix. I think next time I'm going to go back to the steel wire for poseables, even though it's harder to work with.
Not only that, but it's a good thing she was going to be painted–somehow the knob on my oven got bumped up to 400 degrees and she got very discolored and scorched before I realized what was happening. Notice the difference in color between her hands/feet and her face/torso-they're both Prosculpt light, but were baked separately.
Here you can see the tube-and-rod system I use to make them "stand without a stand." The brass tube in the leg slips over a smaller rod drilled into the display base. Many thanks to Natasha of Morezmore for that fabulous little trick!
