Costume design/back story

This is just a short blog to talk about the costume.
I decided that I was going to make it by hand purely because, I couldn't find what I saw in my mind.

I bought the wig from eBay, it was a half wig that I back combed and plaited with threads that were metallic.

The main bulk of the costume was made up of a curtain lining, that I ice dyed to give the mottled look, I chose green because it was like moss, I then took various bits of material and knotted and plaited them to give a look of fishing net.

I sewed in some pieces and others I tied.

I also air brushed the wig and hands and feet.

I made two necklaces from shells and a wand from willow bark and a blue wand crystal taped to it and cloth wrapped around it.

I gave my self a back story to drive me to create a creature,

Hundreds of years ago, a beautiful maiden sat gazing in to a moon lit ocean, she was so astonished by its beauty that she dove in, as she swam in the beautiful waters she came to a cave, in this cave was an old woman who looked frail, the young maiden swam to her and entered in to the cave, asking if the old woman was well.
The old woman turned, she looked like what can only be described as a sea monster, the young maiden was so shocked she screamed,
The old woman looked at her and walked to her, holding a wand with a beautiful blue crystal on the end.
mesmerised by the blue crystal the maiden reached for the wand, as she touched it she too began to turn in to a sea monster, the old woman dropped the wand, she began to change in to something,
she writhed and screamed in agony, in the mean time the maiden ( incidentally called Bernice)
 grabbed the wand, the old woman was dying, in her last word she said ' never let go of the wand, it wont set you free you become part of the sea' she promptly turned in to coral, well that was her name... didn't I mention that?

The Exam!!!!!!!!

Well folks it's here!

 This is the appliance inside out, as you can see I have trimmed it, I used nail scissors as they are smaller and better to control.

This is the skin safe adhesive, I prefer Aqua Fix solely because its a bit more gentle, it works the same way as pros-aide

Here I have put a line of Aquafix in a central area, I mirrored this in the appliance and waited 30 sec to a min and then placed it on, it is a contact adhesive, meaning it works kind of like Velcro.

 here I am placing the adhesive all around the edges and repeating the same process,  it is worth mentioning that it is better to work centrally out.

here you can see my work station, I always provide water for my models, its highly important.

I am airbrushing the finished piece .

 here I have mixed the acrylic paint and Aqua Fix, I will apply it with a cheap sponge.

you must do this as it creates a canvas, and stops the the paint soaking in. 

Here we have the application process, getting the appliance ready.

Argh!, this is the actual piece and design minus tentacles

this is mine and another students work together, its a good picture for not only a giggle but to see how different people work.

I made the whole costume, I ice dyed the fabric, then made the various bits of cloth and used an old wand for the spear/wand.

I bought a pony hair piece an back combed it, stuck shells to it using super glue.

this is the back of the costume, I also airbrushed the hands and feet and arms, to ensure that no skin was showing.

I love this picture, that's why you can see it!

 closer view

The Shoot

 The Removal

I used bond-off to take off the prosthetic, peeling slowly and rubbing, then repeating the process.

 Once off, I continued to cleanse my models face, its worth a mention that I have good skin care and the model was really grateful that I have this.

I want to mention that I learned something I didn't know during this process, that you cannot use sculpt gel with latex, ordinarily it doesn't set as the two don't work together, but I was lucky and mine set.

the last entry will be coming up soon, I am just awaiting the Professional Images.

SEE YOU SOON!

FINAL IMAGES

Here are the Final Images from the Exam 

I would like to say a big thank you to my model Estelle Thompson, she was amazing throughout this process, she had a phobia of having her face covered and she did me proud!

Also look what she let me do after face casting, a true friend and sport!!