Evil Thoughts . . .

After the terrible day I had yesterday, I definitely need a nice distraction. What's better than chocolate and eating my feelings? A new, utterly pointless project! This morning I found this link and picture on my Facebook feed, and checked out the work of incredible papier mache artist, Dan Reeder. He got a commission to make a trophy of Maleficent's head from "Sleeping Beauty", and the results are pretty amazing.

Using paper and cloth soaked in glue, fimo clay, glass eyes, and a shitload of green LED's, Dan created the coolest representation of one of Disney's coolest villains (if not THE coolest villain, IMO). Naturally, instead of looking at something like this and thinking, "Wouldn't it be cool to have somebody make something like that for me?" I'm sitting here thinking, "How do I make that???" I'm not saying I'm going to do it. But, newspaper and glue are pretty cheap . . .

Follow the White Rabbit . . .

I know these images have been spreading around the web these last few days and you may have seen them. I don't care. I simply have to share these pictures. Kirsty Mitchell, a UK-based costume designer and photographer, recently lost her mother to cancer. She was inspired to do a photo shoot called "Wonderland" in her memory, and the results are, quite simply, stunning.

The images evoke loss and longing, beauty, sadness, and a sort of far-eyed hope. There is a silence in these pictures that speaks of strength, of the power of fragility.

Kirsty intends to release a book of her images in 2013, but you can go to her website and see extensive behind-the-scenes information of how each of these images was produced. I remember preparing and shoting my pictures for the Seamstress Shop, and though these are 100 times grander, I think I can understand the acheivement and the joy she has in these images. They are visual poetry, and I want to climb inside.

Inspired By. . .

When I sit down to design a new costume, often a lot of the work goes on, in the initial stages, inside my head. I see an image somewhere, often completely unrelated to what I'm doing, and it fires a synapse and gets me thinking in a new direction. My costume for Labyrinth of Jareth started like that, with an image of a sunset in purples, pinks, and blues. Thus the Twilight Faery was born.

But, you can't build a costume from a picture of clouds. So, I started to look at lots of other images, and for this costume I went to an area I haven't before: Eastern Europe. Usually if I say one of my designs has Eastern influences, you can safely assume I'm talking about Japan or China. The change is exciting to me; I got to do research in a totally new area.

Once I knew that I wanted a "bodice faery", I started to contemplate the headpiece, and I found several images of a Rssian traditional headdress, often worn by brides, called a kokoshnik.

I started with the images as reference, and then looked at Russian and Eastern European design motifs in art and architecture for ideas as to the specific design.

The above borrows on some of these elements while also leaning on my love of the swirly, freeform Art Nouveau style. My intention is to do a two-layer leather crown, with the outer layer in gold and the under layer in a purple-blue gradient.

Unfortunately, I don't have time (or money!) to do this in time for LOJ. So, I took the above image as inspiration, and I built out the kokoshnik frame in wire, which will then be covered in gold foil Dresden paper lace. I'm hoping for a delicate, fragile look.

The costume itself is very much inspired by Eastern European traditional garb, with a front-lacing bodice and two layers of skirts, the top skirt heavily ornamented, the chemise very blousey and full, the bodice with embroidered motifs. In the end, I think I have a fantasy costume that owes a lot to real garments, fantastickal and familiar at the same time. I'm hoping once I bring everything together with the makeup, it will turn out well. Stay tuned for pictures after the 30th!

Into the Wild . . .

I've been looking at a lot of different inspirations for my latest costume, from purple sunsets to sparrow wings to Russian and Indian traditional garments. I think it might be time to try a project I've wanted to do for ages.

I have always loved gazelle and antelope horns, and have wanted to do a character that wears them (either that, or deer antlers). I just might tackle this project this weekend. I'll keep y'all posted!

In Memoriam . . .

One of my inspirations has died.

You may never have heard of her. I sometimes forget that not everyone is as deeply into film costuming as I am, and I assume my readers have the same familiarities with famous costumers that I do. You may not have known her name, but I guarantee you know her work.

From Dracula

Eiko Ishioka was not a costume designer by trade. She did not sew. She did not construct garments, or even seek to have much understanding of how garment construction worked. But she was an artist, and she designed things in fabric that made you gasp. I first saw her work when I was 12 years old, and it changed the way I looked at film costuming forever. Her designs for Bram Stoker's Dracula were stunning, to say the least: the costumes transcended the historical constraints of the setting and gave life to the darker symbolism in the story. Dracula wore rivers of blood, and seemed to be skinned, his muscles exposed. Lucy, turned into a vampire, was a predatory lizard in white silk. Garments were embroidered with dragons and snakes and leaves, all to give you insight into the characters who wore them. I learned an important lessons from her: costumes are not just what characters wear. Costumes tell you who a character is.

From The Fall

Eiko collaborated several times with Tarsem Singh, designing four of his films, and all visual tour-des-forces: The Cell, The Fall, Immortals, and Mirror, Mirror (yet to be released). Her costumes in each push the boundaries of what film costuming means, almost becoming characters in themselves. She showed Eastern influences in many of her designs, but really her style conforms to no period and no map. It was simply Eiko.

From The Cell

From Varekai

She worked once with Cirque Du Soleil in a partnership that seemed inevitable: the costumes for Varekai were strange blends of lizard and bird, rooted to the ground and flying through the air, a mix that should not have worked. But, the fins and feathers married well, and the results were astonishing.

From Dracula

From The Cell

From Mirror, Mirror

From Spiderman

Her last two efforts, completed while she was battling pancreatic cancer, were collaborations with two demanding directors: once again she worked with Tarsem on Mirror, Mirror, and she designed the costumes for Julie Taymor's Spiderman: Turn off the Dark. You could not find two more different projects, but Eiko's stamp is obvious on each: Spiderman shows her penchant for biological dismorphism and insanely bright colors; the characters sprout spikes and wear their muscles on the outside, terrifying and beautiful. And Mirror, Mirror returns to the territory she walked for Dracula, with garments that bridge the gap between historical and fantasy in richly saturated colors and covered in embroidered motifs.

I am deeply saddened that such a great and visionary artist has been lost. She is one of the reasons I got into this business, and I can honestly say that the business of film costume will not be the same without her.

Preview . . .

Some people, when they get home from a long day at the office, like to flip on the tv. Some people sit in a bubble bath. Me, I turn on my laptop and spend two hours on Photoshop, coloring artwork for my next book cover;)

That's a little preview of the cover for "Celluloid"; the actual cover is designed to look like an old movie poster (I spent eight hours this past weekend working on it!) and has fighter planes and Nazis and the Hollywood sign, as well as the title smushed in there;) I'll post a preview of that when I'm a little closer to self-publishing; right now I'm entering the beta phase, and doing revisions. I'll keep y'all posted!

Celluloid . . .

Yep, so, completely out of the blue, I decided to start a new book this weekend. It was one of these ideas that hit me upside the head and I had to start writing it, and just a week later I have 150 pages done. It's really an homage to old Hollywood films from the '30's and '40's, and so far it has been SO MUCH FUN. At this rate, I should be done in another few weeks with the first draft.

If only someone would pay me to write for a living, I could have a pretty good time . . .

Worth a Thousand Words . . .

See The Artist. It was one of four (!) films I saw over the holiday weekend, and by the far the one I would see again. If it is playing anywhere near you--heck, if you have to drive an hour to get to it--go and SEE IT. You won't be sorry.

That is all.

Make a Wish . . .

artwork by Jim di Bartolo, Laini's husband

I don't endorse a lot of books on my blog; I read something new nearly every week, and it would get tiresome to all of you if I was constantly saying "read this! it's awesome!". I'm making an exception for this book, because, well. Let me just say: Read this! It's awesome!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I won't give away much, because you should discover it like I did: unfolding page by page like a flower with an unexpectedly complex fragrance. I did not know much about this when I picked it up on a whim on Friday: EW just reported that the rights were picked up for a film adaption, but I had not heard anything else. I liked the book jacket description. I needed a new book. Done.

I couldn't predict how quickly and utterly I would be caught up in it, and how completely enchanted I would be by the tale. From the start, the blue-tressed Karou and her fanciful sketchbooks full of drawings of strange creatures, tooling around Prague, was someone I wished I could sit and drink tea with . . . and then it got better. Because, those fanciful creatures Karou draws aren't from her imagination: they're her family.

I wanted to live in this book, to meet Brimstone the Wishmonger and Issa and (certainly) Akiva and Zuzanna. I felt like they leapt off the page, and the complex mythology tied in with Karou's world is at once familiar and original, and easily (and beautifully) visualized. Much of the book was spooled out vividly in my head, so much so that I found myself itching to pick up my own sketchbook and start drawing them all, and I haven't been drawn to do that by someone elses's writing in years. And, I immediately wanted to dye my hair blue and start playing with knives (not that weird if you know me, but still strange enough).

Read this book. If you're a fan of fantasy (I'm sure most of my readers are), you will be as enchanted as I am. I actually cried reading this, out loud, real tears. That sounds weird, but I do not cry while reading (not since Phillip Pullman's Amber Spyglass). Read this. And then suffer with me waiting for the next installment;)

Skiff Made of Paper . . .

Don't ask me why (even I don't know why I decide to do some of these projects), but the last few weekends I have made paper-cut dioramas inside book boxes. I was inspired by an ad in a Martha Stewart magazine, and I guess I was bored. Unlike most bored people, who make a sandwich or pick their nose or something, I decided to grab the card stock and an exacto knife. Go figure.

The first was dome imside a book box I didn't use for my Audiobook project, and it turned out pretty well. I intend to cover the outside with paint and paper at some point.

The second I did yesterday, and had a bit of a rockier time of it, because:

a) I used a plain paper mache book box, which I will never do again.

b) I am out of hot glue sticks, something I thought was an actual impossibility.

The book box is woefully uneven on the inside, something you can't really detect until you start trying to attach pieces or perfectly square paper into it that end up going wonky. And, the absense of glue means I used masking tape, which looks sloppy. Not my best effort, but a learning experience.

All in all, I think I may keep going with this idea, doing more clasic books like the one above. I love the stark simplicity of the white paper with the complex cut layers showing through each other, and I have mental ideas for Moby Dick, Watership Down, Lord of the Rings, and several faery tales. I may end up having a busy holiday weekend;) If they turn out well, I may start listing them in the shop, just for funsies . . .

ReVamp!

Charlotte

Oh my goodness. I think I'm in love. In lust, anyway;) I just discovered this shop, ReVamp, and (dangerously) its located not far from me in LA!

Featuring high-quality vintage reproductions from the teens through the '50's, ReVamp will outfit you and your honey for the next swinging party. They also have wedding dresses from each decade, and while thier prices are steep, they are pretty fair for what you get. Take a look at some examples:

Violet (1920's)

Mercedes (1930's)

Rosalind (1940's)

Vivienne (1950's)

If I was a rich girl, I would totally blow a bunch of money in this store! And, they have men's clothing, accessories . . . sigh. I suppose I'd better not pay them a visit;)