Costume Work in Progress: "Laurel Wreath" for Liberacicus mk II
The final piece of Liberacicus mk II: a silver "Laurel Wreath" for his head. I wanted something that actually looked like foliage, so went shopping in the floral department at Michael's. No laurel or olive leaves, but I found something I thought would serve.
I made an armature by braiding heavy floral wire into a band, and then wove the stems of the leaves from the fake foliage into it:
Wreath Raw materials: some kind of fake plant with long leaves
Closeup of leaves
Leaves stripped from the stems of the fake plant
one of the leaf units
About a hundred of the leaves after two coats of silver spray paint
braided 12 gauge aluminum wire for wreath
Yup, just your basic 3-strand plait, only done in solid-core wire.
Full-length view of braided armature
Completed "Laurel" wreath
In the course of weaving the leaves in, I discovered the enamel was still slightly soft, so the whole thing is out curing in the sun right now (and is *very* shiny!). I'll add a lining (craft foam, or felt, or something after it's hardened a little more, as otherwise I know the aluminum wire (and pigment in the silver paint) will leave black/grey marks on me.
So all the pieces are done well in advance of packing for Montreal!
There's one more sewing project left; I need to pick out the top 3 inches of the zipper on my SlickItUP.com racing suit and reset it, as it came out slightly wonky when I recut the suit to fit better. This time I'll hand baste the whole works together before putting it on the machine, so the two sides have the same amount of stretch in them and the collar lines up right!
I made an armature by braiding heavy floral wire into a band, and then wove the stems of the leaves from the fake foliage into it:
Wreath Raw materials: some kind of fake plant with long leaves
Closeup of leaves
Leaves stripped from the stems of the fake plant
one of the leaf units
About a hundred of the leaves after two coats of silver spray paint
braided 12 gauge aluminum wire for wreath
Yup, just your basic 3-strand plait, only done in solid-core wire.
Full-length view of braided armature
Completed "Laurel" wreath
In the course of weaving the leaves in, I discovered the enamel was still slightly soft, so the whole thing is out curing in the sun right now (and is *very* shiny!). I'll add a lining (craft foam, or felt, or something after it's hardened a little more, as otherwise I know the aluminum wire (and pigment in the silver paint) will leave black/grey marks on me.
So all the pieces are done well in advance of packing for Montreal!
There's one more sewing project left; I need to pick out the top 3 inches of the zipper on my SlickItUP.com racing suit and reset it, as it came out slightly wonky when I recut the suit to fit better. This time I'll hand baste the whole works together before putting it on the machine, so the two sides have the same amount of stretch in them and the collar lines up right!