Rising New Moon Studios

The Chicken Opera Rose, Birdetta, Farmyard Chicken Completed March 2012 Items made: Dresses, Bloomers. (I did not design these amazing makeups -- I wish I had -- but I included them anyway because they're th e final element that finish the look.)  If you've been reading my blog, you'd know that I made several of the costumes for my college's original production, The Chicken Opera .   I ended up making 5 chicken costumes, but since Rose (the lead) was dual cast, I had to make 2 costumes for each of the girls playing her.  1 Rose costume and 1 not Rose costume.  Plus a costume for Birdetta.  So... 5 costumes.  Luckily, the design we came up with was the same for all of the girls, just different fabrics.  Each one started with a giant pair of bloomers to which we sew ed lots of ru ffles on the bum to form a kind of mini-bus tle.  Then I actually used a pattern I had in my library for the dresses.  We...

The Chicken Opera Bob the Squirrel  Completed March 2012 Items made: Vest, Tail. (I did not design these amazing makeups -- I wish I had -- but I included them anywa y because they're th e final element that finishes the look.)  If you've been reading my blog, you'd know that I made several of the costumes for my college's original production, The Chicken Opera .   Bob appears in the show for a whole 5 minutes, but the biggest challenge was his giant bushy squirrel tail.  Enter a back brace and a tomato stake-cage thing.  All I did was ben d the cage into shape... cover it in batting and faux fur... and attach it to the back brace.  Then I added a fur vest to cover up the harness.  All in all it turned out pretty well.  

  The Chicken Opera   B ill The Duck Completed March 2012 Items made:  Jacket, Pants   (I did not design these amazing makeups -- I wish I had -- but I included them an yway because they're that final element that fin ishes the look.)    If you've been reading my blog, you'd know that I made several of the costumes for my college's original production, The Chicken Opera .   We were going for the look of a Mallard with this so we went with a pretty green damask for the main body of the jacket and navy for the collar and cuffs.  It was originally a double breasted jacket pattern with pointed lapels but I changed the front to a bib neckline and swapped the collar for a shawl collar to mimic the breast of a duck.  I'm very happy with how it turned out. The trousers are basically oversized shorts with banded legs made from a really nice orange microsuede.

But I have been working on things... I just haven't had any really good progress pics to show ya. Jack is STILL drying. This humidity is not helpful at all. However, he was dry enough to take off of the foil/foam head mold--which I did. Then I went on the inside and evened out the paperclay in there... filling in the shallow spots and scraping down the thick parts. I attempted sanding some of the mask but it was really uneven, so today I went and applied a thin coat of paperclay to hopefully even out the surface a bit. When that dries I'll go back to sanding. Does anyone know if you can pu t paperclay in the oven on a really low heat for a bit? I have GOT to get this mask dry. I'm thinking this weekend, I'll film a how-to video on the whole process I've used so far. In Turducken news. I've completed Chicken #1 down to the finishing. She just needs a zipper in the back and her boa sewn on. Here are a few shots. This design uses Mc...

Hey Cool Cats and Cute Kittens, So I actually "finished" this coat about a week ago but I've just been too busy to upload the pics. (And by finished, I mean, the coat is sewn together but the linings haven't been sewn down and the closures aren't done). One thing nice about working in a costume shop is that I can hand stuff off to other people to finish. Which is great because I don't like to handsew. SEW, I can let someone else handsew all those linings. Mwhahahaha! Maniacal Laughter! But I really REALLY like this coat. I want one just like it, in my size -- For steampunking purposes, of course.... or maybe just to wear out on a cool evening. You know, those 3 evenings a year in Texas that are cool enough to comfortably wear a coat. But a little more about the coat. It started off as Burda 2627. I changed the front from a two button center close to a deep tuxedo bib front thing with a shawl collar. I also had to resize this as the pattern ...

Hey there! Hi there! Ho there! Well, I finished drafting the duck's jacket last Tuesday. Which fit him perfectly. Which is awesome because I'm still not very confident in my drafting abilities. But I'm working on them and that's the important thing. So, NOW, I get to do the fun part--making the actual jacket! As I've mentioned before, the duck is supposed to be a mallard so his coat is green and I'm going to do the cuffs and collar in a really pretty blue. I'll also line the jacket in white, which sounds weird but I want that flash of white when he moves since if you've seen mallards, they have a bit of blue and white on their wings. So this coat will have white on its tails... which, surprisingly, the tails on the coat look a little duckish. Another thing I wanted to mention is that you're probably wondering "What's up with all the progress pictures?" Well, it's not a bad idea to document your process. Whe...

Hey there all you cos-crazy people!!! So... something I've wanted to do for quite some time is to start my own costume pattern line. And recently I made a goal for myself to get the first one ready by no later than the end of March. Well, at least to the point where everything is drafted... maybe not all put together and packaged. But tonight I've started the first one. Here's a sneak peek... I know... I know... it isn't very much... just a waist band and a pocket yoke... so obviously I'm drafting a pair of trousers... but for what??? Well... that's a secret. But if you were wanting a certain military uniform to wear in a fantasized post-industrial revolutionary Europe wherein alchemy is utilized by the government and scientific fields... well, this would be a pattern for you. It's actually pretty challenging since this one has to be a unisex costume and the sizes will range from XXS-XXL. (that's SEVEN different sizes!) So I'm hoping...

Okay not really a Duchess... actually the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. (even though there IS a duchess in the story). Anyway, I started working on the pattern for the Queen. And here's a picture of my favorite place to work... .... sitting on my bed with a big work desk (aka piece of cardboard). Yay for stocking feet in the pic. I have an area set up in my den, but it's by a window and it gets cold in there. Plus on my bed I can stick pins through the cardboard and into the bed to hold down patterns and stuff. By the way, I use Husky 3.5 Plastic sheeting (the clear kind) to transfer my patterns onto. It's less than $10 at Wal-Mart for 250 square feet and makes perfect, indestructible pattern pieces. Just lay the plastic over your pattern piece and pin (this is where pinnable surfaces come in super handy) and trace away. Here are all the bodice pieces traced and cut out. I'm using Simplicity 3782 as my base. I'll need to alter the col...

Hey all!! So, for those who don't know... A turducken is apparently a kind of new thing where your stuff a chicken into a duck and then stuff that into a turkey and roast it. It's probably delicious... and horrible for your cholesterol. But anyway. I thought of that because in my costuming class, I'm working on costumes for the upcoming opera--which is a children's opera about barnyard animals. Don't ask me, I just make the costumes. In this opera there's a turkey, a duck, and some chickens. (along with other various barnyard animals). And that's what I was working on today. The turkey, the duck, and the chickens. So the turkey and the duck are married in this show, and they're both going to be dressed in a sort of stylized Victorian look--which will hopefully look cool when it's all done. And I started drafting the duck's tailcoat today. I'll have to remember to start taking my camera to class so I can photograph everythin...

I don't know if it's the idea of school, or the new year, or the upcoming conventions, or maybe just the stars in the proper alignment (if you really believe that) but I've been feeling so creative this past week. Or maybe it's just the fact that I know the next several months are going to be super busy for me. BUT.... I've got some great ideas for tutorials and videos that will correspond with this blog -- like how to make a duct tape dress form and stand, how to put together a cosplay makeup kit (plus tutorials on different makeups), and even a few tips about sewing patterns. Hopefully I can these all filmed pretty soon. I've also got a few costume projects in the works that you'll see lots of progress pictures of... (more on that in a bit). Also, today was my first day back at school. On my drive over I was actually excited for my costuming class. And I realized that maybe I made a smart move by enrolling in a class that I know that I'll ...