SITHcamaro
Well-Known Member
I am pleased to finally be able to share a newly completed project of mine.
It seems that the most of you knew I was going to do this, even before I knew I would. Mainly you figured I would do it because it's another Depp incarnation, which is not why I did it (and something I've always been trying to remove myself from). It's mainly a Tim Burton thing, which tells me that maybe I should try to stay from all things Tim Burton. Not an easy task for me. lol
I know many of you don't feel the same way about Burton, that's cool. But try to look at this more from a costume standpoint, and place Burton and Depp out of your mind.
Even I was a bit horrified, when I saw that first grainy pic surface. The last thing I wanted to do was dress like a tranny with a serious case of trichotillomania!
Well, I then saw the whole costume in person, it was like a Jo-Ann's had exploded & come together as clothing. There was so much detail in it, that I was hooked. (not to mention the many people either expecting me to make it for myself or for them)
If you try to look away from Depp's face, and look into the costume itself, you'll notice that it's an amazing piece. Even though parts of it might look like something someone's grandmother might wear, underneath it all, you will begin to notice hints of sheer design brilliance. The hat alone is a tribute to that, being filled with all sorts of insanity.
Of course, I'm talking about the latest Mad Hatter incarnation. And once you are able to decipher everything going on in this outfit, it's a rather simple piece to re-create. Other than spending a few months on making the hat, everything else came together in only about a month. What's even better, is that unlike many of my previous costumes, this first attempt is the only attempt I'll ever have to worry about. I feel that I can honestly say that it's perfect & nothing needs to be tweaked (well, other than the pants, but more on that later). I could thank Disney for their SDCC exhibit, and allowing me to take more high resolution pictures than I knew what to do with, but even those weren't the hero pieces on display.
I do need to thank Charles for pointing out where to buy that handy-dandy clover ring. I would never have though to search for such an odd item, so rather than re-invent the wheel...
Thanks as well to Chris, for pointing out the wonderful little lace making technique. I should also thank a personal collector friend, who owns a couple of screen used Alice props, for his reference on the hat. But after all of that, there was still much that had to be figured out from just a few promo images.
And the movie wassn't even out yet.
But anyhow, on with the show!
shirt: Simple satin shirt, with funky lace at the cuffs. More about the lace itself later.
vest: Another piece that differed from the hero vs. what was displayed at SDCC.
Aside from the hat, this is my favorite piece of the costume. This is the part that looks like you would find in the old women's section of JC Penny, yet it's so 50s cool looking. I could wear this piece any day of the year, and nobody would think twice. It's pieces like these that I love most. My Sweeney Todd coat is very similar, as I've worn it out on cold winter days. People don't stop to ask why the heck I'm wearing Sweeney's coat, they stop to ask where I got it, not knowing it's actually a costume piece. Lots of quilting in this piece, yet not too difficult. I even added a collar for my own personal liking. (still undetermined if the movie vest has one or not)
coat: A first for a costume of mine, a coat that is both lightweight & comfortable! The frayed edges & clumps of hair really give it it's own personality.
pants: What do you do when a costume calls for a funky pair of pants, with an equally funky design? You re-create a digital design and have it printed onto wool. I've been wrestling with my printers to finally get this one done right. They sent me one dud batch, and barely improved with the 2nd attempt. I'm working on finally getting something that actually looks a shade of brown, and that allows the details to show up better. As much as I dislike the idea, polyester might be the only fabric that allows that. But we'll have to give the wool route one more chance, after a few tweaks.
tie: Another lovely product of digital printing. I cleaned up actual elements from detailed tie photos I took, and did my best to create a pattern that flowed with some sort of purpose. Same dull satin finish of the original.
spool belt: Even though I could read what some of the display spools said, I still could not find any vintage spools that matched. Perhaps the production spools were much older/valuable that what is commonly available out there. Either way, I tried to get the best matches possible. In the end it doesn't matter, so long as they're the properly sized wooden spools. But somewhere in the back of my twisted mind, it does. Perhaps one eye will always be searching for them.
lace: Although his lace changes in the movie, and is not the one I made, I chose to re-create the lace from the main promo picture that everyone has become familiar with. It was my first time making lace, and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be!
boots: These are not any off the shelf boot. The fact that one of the original design sketches makes mention of what type of soles to use helps to better prove this theory. So again, another job to put the hands to work.
hat: It was funny that most people had parts of this costume flip-flopped. Initially, everyone seemed to think the hat was made of some funky lace pattern, and things like the coat were leather. Yet the hat is the only part of the costume that is actually leather.
I used as many pictures as I could possibly get to determine the hole design that is punched into this hat. Numerous sizes of holes, some as small as a pinpoint. This is probably the single most time consuming process of the hat. Not in creating the pattern, but the punching process... although that took quite a bit of time in itself.
But once you get the holes in, you have to stretch it over a shape. A hat of this size & shape does not have an existing block, so I had to create one from the ground up. But before you shape it, you need to add the tons & tons of gold stitching. You can do it after you shape it, but that's going to make things even more difficult for you.
And once you've finished the hat itself, you still need pins. I'm not one to just go to someplace like Michael's, and just grab whatever looks like it might look good on the end of a pin & shove it in my hat. So those as well needed to be sculpted, cast & plated. Even though I had access to a screen used hat, I wasn't able to take molds (but I'll see about working on that.....).
Still can't get Depp's face out of the equasion? I know, they really need to keep that guy away from the makeup design process. Other than the typical Burton hollowed out eyes look, I'm sure Depp is the one to blame for that ghastly tranny look. How about a couple of no makeup/Bozo hair pictures (cause I make this look good)?
It seems that the most of you knew I was going to do this, even before I knew I would. Mainly you figured I would do it because it's another Depp incarnation, which is not why I did it (and something I've always been trying to remove myself from). It's mainly a Tim Burton thing, which tells me that maybe I should try to stay from all things Tim Burton. Not an easy task for me. lol
I know many of you don't feel the same way about Burton, that's cool. But try to look at this more from a costume standpoint, and place Burton and Depp out of your mind.
Even I was a bit horrified, when I saw that first grainy pic surface. The last thing I wanted to do was dress like a tranny with a serious case of trichotillomania!
Well, I then saw the whole costume in person, it was like a Jo-Ann's had exploded & come together as clothing. There was so much detail in it, that I was hooked. (not to mention the many people either expecting me to make it for myself or for them)
If you try to look away from Depp's face, and look into the costume itself, you'll notice that it's an amazing piece. Even though parts of it might look like something someone's grandmother might wear, underneath it all, you will begin to notice hints of sheer design brilliance. The hat alone is a tribute to that, being filled with all sorts of insanity.
Of course, I'm talking about the latest Mad Hatter incarnation. And once you are able to decipher everything going on in this outfit, it's a rather simple piece to re-create. Other than spending a few months on making the hat, everything else came together in only about a month. What's even better, is that unlike many of my previous costumes, this first attempt is the only attempt I'll ever have to worry about. I feel that I can honestly say that it's perfect & nothing needs to be tweaked (well, other than the pants, but more on that later). I could thank Disney for their SDCC exhibit, and allowing me to take more high resolution pictures than I knew what to do with, but even those weren't the hero pieces on display.
I do need to thank Charles for pointing out where to buy that handy-dandy clover ring. I would never have though to search for such an odd item, so rather than re-invent the wheel...
Thanks as well to Chris, for pointing out the wonderful little lace making technique. I should also thank a personal collector friend, who owns a couple of screen used Alice props, for his reference on the hat. But after all of that, there was still much that had to be figured out from just a few promo images.
And the movie wassn't even out yet.
But anyhow, on with the show!
shirt: Simple satin shirt, with funky lace at the cuffs. More about the lace itself later.
vest: Another piece that differed from the hero vs. what was displayed at SDCC.
Aside from the hat, this is my favorite piece of the costume. This is the part that looks like you would find in the old women's section of JC Penny, yet it's so 50s cool looking. I could wear this piece any day of the year, and nobody would think twice. It's pieces like these that I love most. My Sweeney Todd coat is very similar, as I've worn it out on cold winter days. People don't stop to ask why the heck I'm wearing Sweeney's coat, they stop to ask where I got it, not knowing it's actually a costume piece. Lots of quilting in this piece, yet not too difficult. I even added a collar for my own personal liking. (still undetermined if the movie vest has one or not)
coat: A first for a costume of mine, a coat that is both lightweight & comfortable! The frayed edges & clumps of hair really give it it's own personality.
pants: What do you do when a costume calls for a funky pair of pants, with an equally funky design? You re-create a digital design and have it printed onto wool. I've been wrestling with my printers to finally get this one done right. They sent me one dud batch, and barely improved with the 2nd attempt. I'm working on finally getting something that actually looks a shade of brown, and that allows the details to show up better. As much as I dislike the idea, polyester might be the only fabric that allows that. But we'll have to give the wool route one more chance, after a few tweaks.
tie: Another lovely product of digital printing. I cleaned up actual elements from detailed tie photos I took, and did my best to create a pattern that flowed with some sort of purpose. Same dull satin finish of the original.
spool belt: Even though I could read what some of the display spools said, I still could not find any vintage spools that matched. Perhaps the production spools were much older/valuable that what is commonly available out there. Either way, I tried to get the best matches possible. In the end it doesn't matter, so long as they're the properly sized wooden spools. But somewhere in the back of my twisted mind, it does. Perhaps one eye will always be searching for them.
lace: Although his lace changes in the movie, and is not the one I made, I chose to re-create the lace from the main promo picture that everyone has become familiar with. It was my first time making lace, and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be!
boots: These are not any off the shelf boot. The fact that one of the original design sketches makes mention of what type of soles to use helps to better prove this theory. So again, another job to put the hands to work.
hat: It was funny that most people had parts of this costume flip-flopped. Initially, everyone seemed to think the hat was made of some funky lace pattern, and things like the coat were leather. Yet the hat is the only part of the costume that is actually leather.
I used as many pictures as I could possibly get to determine the hole design that is punched into this hat. Numerous sizes of holes, some as small as a pinpoint. This is probably the single most time consuming process of the hat. Not in creating the pattern, but the punching process... although that took quite a bit of time in itself.
But once you get the holes in, you have to stretch it over a shape. A hat of this size & shape does not have an existing block, so I had to create one from the ground up. But before you shape it, you need to add the tons & tons of gold stitching. You can do it after you shape it, but that's going to make things even more difficult for you.
And once you've finished the hat itself, you still need pins. I'm not one to just go to someplace like Michael's, and just grab whatever looks like it might look good on the end of a pin & shove it in my hat. So those as well needed to be sculpted, cast & plated. Even though I had access to a screen used hat, I wasn't able to take molds (but I'll see about working on that.....).
Still can't get Depp's face out of the equasion? I know, they really need to keep that guy away from the makeup design process. Other than the typical Burton hollowed out eyes look, I'm sure Depp is the one to blame for that ghastly tranny look. How about a couple of no makeup/Bozo hair pictures (cause I make this look good)?
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