Sophia Vandycke
COSTUME CRAFTS
As part of my masters in Apparel Studies, I took a costume crafts class in the theater department. In this class I learned about sculpting, molding, casting, mask making, prosthetics, makeup, foam patterning, and shoe reconstruction.
PIGEON MASK
When deciding on a mask to make I chose to look at Venice. Instead of choosing a classical mask, I drew inspiration from my own memories and experiences from a trip. I remembered being impressed by all of the pigeons at the Piazza San Marco and began to imagine people walking around disguised as pigeons.
BEE EATER PROSTHETIC
Through this project I learned about different casting materials and how they work. For the prosthetic project, I chose to make my husband's favorite bird, a bee eater. This bird has vivid colors of iridescent blue, green, yellow, and brown and has a dramatic black mask across the eyes. Going into this project, I knew I did not have much makeup experience and wanted to focus on a makeup that was more of a beauty makeup or mask, focusing just on the eyes and nose. The features of a bee eater lent itself to this application. Since I wanted to turn something natural into a project that was more fantastical, I had different research for the diverse elements of the mask. For the eyes, I looked at beauty makeup to learn how to color block and blend colors. The beak prosthetic beak was a compilation of research of prosthetic beaks others have done. To tie these aspects together back to the bird, I used close-up images of the bee eater to achieve the proper shape of the prosthetic and ensure that the colors matched those of the bird.
Inspiration
Process
After gathering the research, there were four steps to the makeup process, sculpting, molding, casting, and application. The molding process went smoothly but I encountered numerous setbacks with the casting. The thin tip of the prosthetic made it difficult to cast. To achieve the desired look I used a two part method using latex and cold foam. I learned that to get the prosthetic to come out completely, I first cast the prosthetic with multiple layers of latex to create a thick outer shell. Once the latex was dried, I filled it with cold foam and allowed it to set. Since the prosthetic was filled with cold foam, it was light and allowed the prosthetic to easily rest on top of the nose.
David Taylor, IBC961986. Image accessible at: hbw.com/ibc/961986.
Maryam Maquillage Image accessible at: http://www.maryammaquillage.com/2013/01/rebel-valentine-nail-art-makeup.html
SHOE RECONSTRUCTION
This shoe is a boot top shoe modification. The boot is red with a black trim and a black cord design. Once the shoe was decided, I found a shoe to attach the boot top to. For this project, I chose a one inch heel pair of shoes with a corded design.
To make the pattern, measured the models leg and foot. Using these measurements, I drafted out a pattern on paper. I then made a canvas mock up which I fitted to the model and then adjusted. Once the final pattern was done, I created the boot top out of red and black leather. The boot top was attached to the shoe using barge.
