Dorothy's ruby slippers - finished

[MAKE BELIEVE]

This is a prop I've always wanted to have...
The cheap ones already made look too bad and it would need a lot of work. The ones that are good are a bit pricey to me so decided to make ones myself. Hard part is to get a close enough pair of shoes. Made a lot of search on the web looking for thirties and forty's bow shoes and didn't find much (and the ones I found were not exactly cheap - not counting shipping costs...)
Went to the "attic" and found an old pair of shoes from my mom that not beeing exactly what I wanted are close enough (and above all were for free!)
So first step is dying the shoes red (like what has been done with the original ones back in 1938/39) and getting all the material (sequins, rhinestones, felt, Innes label, etc)
Here are the first pics:

 

[CelticRuins]

Re: Dorothy's ruby slippers - WIP

Awesome! Definitely keeping up with your progress on these.

I'm still wanting to get my hands on a good French Heel look-a-like pair of shoes for my Dorothy, but have yet to find any in my size, a 9.5.

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

Re: Dorothy's ruby slippers - WIP

Thanks CR

Now comes "the hard part" - adding all those sequins to each shoe (a few hours I would say!)
Good luck on finding your 9.5 pair of shoes

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

Re: Dorothy's ruby slippers - WIP

Didn't have much time to dedicate myself to this task so started on the "easiest" part (making the bows and adding the Innes Shoes Co. label)

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

Re: Dorothy's ruby slippers - WIP

A bit of progress over the weekend (half a shoe is done! This is a time consuming work!)

 

[Adam C.]

Re: Dorothy's ruby slippers - WIP

Wow!!! Fantastic work so far man! Your Ruby Slippers are turning out great! (By the way, I love the progress pics!) Can't wait to see these babies when they're done. :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

 

[heiro5]

Re: Dorothy's ruby slippers - WIP

Man, that is so cool! That will be pretty neat to have somewhere around the house.

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

Re: Dorothy's ruby slippers - WIP

Wow!!! Fantastic work so far man! Your Ruby Slippers are turning out great! (By the way, I love the progress pics!) Can't wait to see these babies when they're done. :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

Thank you my friend for your kind words

Man, that is so cool! That will be pretty neat to have somewhere around the house.

Thank you (already got a special place reserved for them )

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

Re: Dorothy's ruby slippers - WIP

Still working on all those sequins! (hope to finish it by the weekend)
In the meantime I'm posting pics of the base I'm making, of the "# 7 Judy Garland" writing on the shoe and a small text with the research I've made on the ruby slippers



Victor Fleming’s 1939 MGM’s production “The Wizard of Oz”
Ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale.
5 to 7 pairs are known to have been made by costume designer Gilbert Adrian with 3 having orange felt on the soles for the dancing scenes
On the original novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum the shoes were silver but were changed to ruby for the movie to take advantage of the Technicolor process
With this magical shoes Dorothy and her dog Toto could get back to Kansas by clicking 3 times and saying “there’s no place like home”
All the shoes are size 5 and 6 and story goes that were made by Western Costume Company by Joe Napoli
The shoes were made of white silk from Innes Shoe Company Ltd and then dyed red. There is a silver stamp or cloth on each right shoe with the company’s logo
Only one pair is known to have survived having “# 7 Judy Garland” written on it.
Each shoe as 2300 red sequins and each Art Deco inspired bow has 46 red rhinestones, 42 red bugle beads and 3 large rectangular red glass jewels (the bows were added 2 weeks before the shooting started)
One of the pairs is on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington and another was stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland museum in Minnesota and never recovered.

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

Finally it's done!
These are my Ruby Slippers replica. I tried to make my humble display as close to the one on the Smithsonian Institute with the real ones.
Here are the pics:

 

[Adam C.]

Holy smoke!!! You nailed it Sir! Outstanding work. (And the display is a stroke of genius!) I am truly envious of your skills, talent and ingenuity. Kudos my friend. Kudos. cool

 

[FANGS]

Oh wow! Those look amazing!

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

Oh wow! Those look amazing!

Thank you FANGS

Holy smoke!!! You nailed it Sir! Outstanding work. (And the display is a stroke of genius!) I am truly envious of your skills, talent and ingenuity. Kudos my friend. Kudos. cool

Thank you so much Adam for your nice (and exaggerated) comments!

 

[Adam C.]

Just out of curiosity, what did you use for yellow "bricks" if you don't mind my asking? They really look great.


P.S. I think that you should consider posting some of the photos of your Ruby Slippers in your prop-thread on the "main prop forum" so that more people might get a chance to see them who don't normally frequent the Costuming Section as much. Just my opinion. (Even though they're wearable, I definitely would consider them a prop!)

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

Just out of curiosity, what did you use for yellow "bricks" if you don't mind my asking? They really look great.


P.S. I think that you should consider posting some of the photos of your Ruby Slippers in your prop-thread on the "main prop forum" so that more people might get a chance to see them who don't normally frequent the Costuming Section as much. Just my opinion. (Even though they're wearable, I definitely would consider them a prop!)

Of course I don't mind you asking so, mate. I used plexiglass (a brown 3 mm 40 x 40 cm plaque and small yellow ones also 3 mm). For the cover I also used plexiglass (4 mm translucid) - all glued together and there you are! It's quite simple and cheap (your Ruby Slippers would look great on a base like this)
Guess you idea of posting them on the "replica props" section is a good one (I only posted them on the "costume props" section because I consider them a costume (as you mention they're wearable so they're a costume).
Thanks for the tip - I'll post some pics on the "replica props" section and see how it goes. Thanks bud!

 

[tinyangel]

Make Believe you are a genious, they are just beautiful. Better than the real thing, made with love ...

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

Make Believe you are a genious, they are just beautiful. Better than the real thing, made with love ...

Hi tinyangel

Thank you SO much for your nice comments . You're 100% correct - they were made with love (and patience...and time...)

 

[Stoney]

This is fantastic, real good job :thumbsup

 

[MAKE BELIEVE]

This is fantastic, real good job :thumbsup

Thank you very much Stoney

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

Just got back from a trip to DC. After seeing the Ruby Slippers on display I thought it'd be great to have such an iconic item in my collection.
Your total display looks wonderful.
Yes, the replicas for sale are far too expensive so I might make them like you did.
Can you tell me where you got all the supplies and how you glued the sequins on?