Harry Potter: Snape Build (HBP)

[Cutest_Sandgirl]

Fantastic!!! Love the first photo. Great setup! thumbsup

 

[Ghostsoldier]

I'm with PWL...jet black looks to be the best color for a wig...
Rob

 

[rickrickrick]

Here's my effort. Wasn't TOO happy, because professional commitments kept preventing me from devoting the time I wanted to it, but other people seemed to enjoy it.

Jacket and pants: heavily altered McCall's pattern 4745
Shirt: totally cheated and custom made a high collar dickie. But it worked really well.
Tie: stock and ascot from tie patterns from Laughing Moon's Victorian and Edwardian shirt patterns. These were perfect.
Shoes: Florsheim "Hugo" black ankle boots

Cons: the McCall's Civil War uniform jacket required significant alterations, and in the end, had some issues. The way the sleeves set in to the shoulders is pretty bogus. Didn't get to vent the sleeves on the jacket, or put all the covered buttons on them (only did three on each, like a standard suit), and didn't get to do same on pant legs. Needed white cuffs at end of jacket sleeves. The midnight blue wool fabric I had was a bit too lightweight, and I should have used heavier interfacing, too. Did not get to do the academic robes.

Pros: I liked the midnight blue color - it looked "right" to me. My eleventh-hour wand came out pretty well. Used the "dadcando" paper wand idea, but coated the outside with 5 minute epoxy to strengthen it and enable me to sand the surface smooth. Used Magic Sculp for the handle detail (not overly screen accurate sculpt, but hey, I finished it in an hour). The lace wig worked out extremely well. Tricky to apply, but ultimately worth the effort. I used color 1, jet black, which I liked very much. It was a bit poofy, but mainly because I didn't have time to style it much.

All-in-all, the entire outfit was okay, but I know what I need to improve when I have the time.

Cheers.

Rick

 

[Darth Mule]

Really great work. I was so busy looking at all the other details, I didn't even notice you weren't wearing the proper pants. I think it also doesn't hurt that you have the right look for him.

Yeah. Shave the mustache next time. It'll grow back.

 

[Eopie Herder]

Many thanks to Padwanlearner, Ghostsoldier, juno, and rickrickrick, for all the good ideas and suggestions for making a Professor Snape outfit. Using this information, I was able to have a reasonably good replica made in time for Halloween.
View attachment 17295

That’s my wife in her McGonagall robe. Next to her is Malfoy the white ferret, and between us is a table with a sorting hat and a tray with such things as a diary pierced with a large fang, and a two-handled tea cup with a badger.
View attachment 17296

OK, I should’ve lost the mustache, but I’ve had it for 30 years.

View attachment 17297
The cassock was made from the suggested bottom weight cotton, and derived from the Butterick 6844 pattern. The sleeves are flared on the end, and have the 9 cloth covered buttons. I used 5/8” diameter. The cuffs from an old white dress shirt were sewn into the ends of the sleeves. The buttons down the front are ¾” diameter. We ended up using 11, but I believe it should have been 12. The pockets are functional. Since I don’t have the talent for sewing, and my wife was busy making my robe, I ended up having a local costume maker do the tailoring. We supplied the cloth, pattern, measurements, and many Snape pictures, and he did the rest. I think he did excellent work!

For the robe/cape, my wife selected some black material from Jo-Ann Fabric based on drape-ability. We used a heavily modified McCall pattern 3789. I wanted to use AutoCad too to make the changes, but my wife thought that’d be a little extreme, so I used large sheets of paper instead. The “V” in the sleeve/wing wasn’t positioned quite right for the picture, and they probably could have been made a little longer.

I’m also wearing a white dress shirt with a satin-like ascot, ankle length square-toed boots, black jeans, and a cheap wig from Party City (Witch Black Wig). Hopefully, before the next Dragon Con, I’ll have some accurate pants, and the LF Silk wig as suggested by rickrickrick –Question – Should the wig color be “jet black”, “off-black”, or maybe even “darkest brown”?

The wand is something I made with a blue LED in the end and three AAA batteries inside the handle. No fancy scroll work.

ATL Kenobi

Looks awesome! Really nice!

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rick,
I think you did a commendable job, considering your time issues. :thumbsup

I'm also glad you've shared your comments on using the McCall's Civil War coat pattern, because I've also heard others who have used it say similar things...it looks like it would be a good base for the Snape coat, but the pattern photo belies the difficulties involved in modifying and/or constructing it. I was going to use that one, but I also have the cassock pattern, so I'll have to chose between the two...when I get around to it.

I'm still monkeying around with the academic robes...:wacko

On your high collar dickie...did you just cut the collar and yoke from an existing white shirt?
Rob

 

[rickrickrick]

No, I custom made the dickie. No existing shirt I had had the correct collar, which is not like a contemporary shirt collar at all.

Even with it's problems, I would definitely recommend the McCall's Civil War uniform pattern over that cassock. The cassock pattern does not have the requisite seam at the waist where the jacket skirts are attached, for one. And the collar is no more correct than the civil war one, so you'd still have to alter it.

Rick

 

[ATL Kenobi]

Thanks everyone for the kind words

Ghostsoldier, here are a few close-ups of the suit:
View attachment 17329
View attachment 17330
View attachment 17331
View attachment 17332

I see now that the pocket flaps should be an inch or so lower.

Rick - Good job on your costume! My "tailor" was able to add the seam to the cassock patern; he said actually made it easier to make.

I'll provide wand drawings soon.

ATL

 

[ATL Kenobi]

I have a question regarding the inside cuff of Professor Snapes pants. In this picture:

View attachment 18312

It shows the cuff to be split about an inch and a half. Is this an intentional split or is it a result of some "distressing" for that particular scene (considering the tear in the other leg)?

Are there any other images or pictures that clearly show the cuff? All the other ones I've found are too dark to tell.

Here's a simple diagram of the wand I made. The handle is no where near screen accurate, but it had to conceal 3 AAA baterries.

View attachment 18313

ATL

 

[rickrickrick]

I have never seen a picture that showed that before! But as you said, pix of the bottom of the pants are difficult to come by.

Sure looks intentional to me. Note that it's on both inside seams. I doubt anyone would distress the bottom of two pants legs identically.

I've looked thru every other picture I have of his feet, and none are high enough resolution to tell, or don't show the inside seam of his pants at all.

It would certainly make his pants flare a bit more at the bottom, so until someone shows something clearer, I'd say that it's a good find, and an intentional part of the design of his pants.

Rick

 

[Ghostsoldier]

I'll check my screencap collection to see if I have anything that shows the small split....I'll get back asap!
Rob

 

[PadawanLearner]

to me it looks like it's just simply the style of the pants. It appears the edges of the split are finished. I have shirts that are like that at the end of the seam on the sides.

 

[ATL Kenobi]

View attachment 18446

Thanks all for the suggestions regarding the split at the end of the pants leg. I also found the attached and it confirms it for me that the split is intentional.

ATL

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Dang...that's the image I was gonna post (it's from the hi-rez promo pics)! :lol
Rob

 

[Goodwolf]

Looks like you've got the split angle nailed down. I was going to observe that it would allow the leg to lie lower on the boot/foot in a smoother fashion and was probably intentionlal. I'm by no means an expert on this kind of thing, but when I saw it in an earlier picture it just looked "right" in a Victorian kind of way.

 

[ATL Kenobi]

I haven’t seen this particular detail mentioned, so I thought I’d bring it up.
I recently came across these images:

View attachment 18863

This is the dueling club scene where Prof. Snape wheels around and hits Lockhart with a spell. I believe it clearly shows the back of the cassock to be split in (at least) 2 places rather than just being pleated.

View attachment 18862 <--click

This image, towards the end of HBP, also seems to indicate the same thing.

Of course I find this after my cassock is finished, so it’s going to stay pleated . It’s covered by the robe anyway.:lol

ATL

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Hey ATL...I think you're right...I can't believe I didn't see that before; here's a few of my snaps that show it, too...
Chamber of Secrets:

Half Blood Prince:

These are 2 I lightened up a bit, so the panels can be seen:

Looks like the search for more detail references continues! :thumbsup
Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Here's a few sculpting references for the 7" figure by NECA...

And the final product....

You can clearly see the split in these....BTW, this is an excellent item for reference; I have 2 of them now....
Rob

 

[PadawanLearner]

I must have forgot to mention the split in my original write up. I saw it but decided not to deal with it. However, I didn't notice that it had that tail on the coat, I thought it was just a split up the middle and not actually a different panel.
So it looks like the back is three panels

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Snape's Long-long brother

Oh, and just for fun...am I the only one who thinks the composer Franz Lizst looks like Snape?

Eerie, huh?
Rob