Things of Interest

Friday, August 26, 2011

Costume Showcase, WOW, Minerva gallery

Costume Showcase
Showcases the graduating costumiers' major works and other exciting projects including millinery, corsetry, masks and a variety of costumes from recent Toi Whakaari productions.

Where:
Te Whaea Theatre, Te Whaea: National Dance & Drama Centre, 11 Hutchison Road, Newtown, Wellington
When:
Thu 22 September
6.30pm & 8pm
Price:
$15 full, $10 concessions (includes drink and light refreshment)

Click here for 
Bookings
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  WOW - World of Wearable Art. Currently on in Wellington.

To see the costumes have a look on the Dompost website
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Minerva Gallery
237 Cuba Street
Quilted coats by Katherine Morrison
Jewellery by Elsie Fourie
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Monster Burlesque
Starts on September the 8th.
It's getting really close and I am part of a group working on getting the costumes ready for the performers to rehearse in. This weekend I am making wolf suspenders and girdles!



Sunday, August 14, 2011

Snowing in wellington

Last night it started snowing in Wellington about 5pm while I was at the Drama School in Newtown. I packed up quickly, dropped a couple of people home and drove home to tawa and it was a pretty freaky experience. We are not accustomed to snow in Wellington and people were taking it very carefully but it was pretty slushy and icy. I didn't realise that the mudguards on the car had built up a lot of slush behind them and nearly flooded the floor of the garage with melting ice and snow. I didn't get any photos last night because I was driving and when I got home it was dark but here re some photos from this morning.



Above are pictures of Porirua Harbour and below is a picture of my broccoli garden.


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Monster Burlesque

For the last few weeks I have been spending one day a week working on costumes for a show called Monster Burlesque which is on in Wellington at the same time as the Rugby World Cup. Monster BurlesqueThis is Vaune who designed the costumes and also performs in the show. She gives me bags of fur and spandex and scraps of paper with instructions and says "go make a girdle for a wolf". It is great fun even if it means I end up staying up late to get things done. One day a week a group of us have been getting together at the Wellington Arts Centre to form a sewing circle to work on the costumes. There are people dotted across wellington working on bears and wolves and monsters.

Here is one of the rooster heads which I was making last week
As well as the costumes for Monster Burlesque I am also continuing with the costume for the Duches of Dunfermline and yesterday I completed the sleeves which were the part of the dress I was most worried about. They are very tight and have a slit at the front and a puff at the top with ribbons and the braid carries on up the arm and onto the puffed top area. It took a lot to work out which bit went underneath or over the top of another bit. I am really pleased with the way they turned out and will post a picture of the finished item when I find my camera.

Here is a picture again of Margaret Hay, Duchess of Dunfermline. I am now working on the epaulettes and cuffs.


If anyone would like to come to Costume Showcase which is where the Costume students show what they have made this year - here is a link to the drama school booking page.

Bookings.

This annual event showcases the graduating costumiers' major works and other exciting projects including millinery, corsetry, masks and a variety of costumes from recent Toi Whakaari productions.

Where: Te Whaea Theatre, Te Whaea: National Dance & Drama Centre, 11 Hutchison Road, Newtown, Wellington
When: Thu 22 September
6.30pm & 8pm

$15 full, $10 concessions (includes drink and light refreshment)



We are also doing classes in historic undergarments and in special effects.

For the underwear class we had to make an 1870's petticoat which has approximately 12 metres of ruffles. Because it is such a lot of fabric we could only use calico,  so I screenprinted mine to make it more interesting. Here is a picture of the petticoat frill drying in my garage - note the use of garage 'props' .
When the frill was laid out across the garage. it looked a bit like snake skin. The pattern is actually the lace design on the Ruff I made for the Jacobean costume.