A MOST PURPLE JEWEL, THE IRON ORCHID
I made the full size Iron Orchid costume in 1987 and competed it at Costume Con 5 where it won Most Beautiful, Master Class, and Best in Show Workmanship. The costume later spent seven years as part of a display at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, WA.
As I was designing outfits for this show, it occurred to me that it would be fun to reproduce one of my original costumes in miniature. I chose the Iron Orchid because it is one of my favorites.
The small costume took about five weeks to construct because I had to recreate all the trimmings and appliques in miniature. I took photos of the full size costume and reduced detailed shots to 1/3 size, then used these as templates to construct the trims and small appliques. I had scraps of the metallic fabrics I’d used on the original costume—the light purple sand and the darker purple majestic—and used them for the doll headpiece. I recreated the flocked corset fabric by cutting black velvet paper shapes with a Sizzix machine and gluing them on metallic tissue fabric. The satin skirt is cartridge pleated onto the corset, same as on the full size outfit. I stained pearls with alcohol ink or dyed them with fabric dye. And unbelievable as it sounds, there are 86 yards of ribbon and 20 yards of gold beads on the small costume.
As I was designing outfits for this show, it occurred to me that it would be fun to reproduce one of my original costumes in miniature. I chose the Iron Orchid because it is one of my favorites.
The small costume took about five weeks to construct because I had to recreate all the trimmings and appliques in miniature. I took photos of the full size costume and reduced detailed shots to 1/3 size, then used these as templates to construct the trims and small appliques. I had scraps of the metallic fabrics I’d used on the original costume—the light purple sand and the darker purple majestic—and used them for the doll headpiece. I recreated the flocked corset fabric by cutting black velvet paper shapes with a Sizzix machine and gluing them on metallic tissue fabric. The satin skirt is cartridge pleated onto the corset, same as on the full size outfit. I stained pearls with alcohol ink or dyed them with fabric dye. And unbelievable as it sounds, there are 86 yards of ribbon and 20 yards of gold beads on the small costume.
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FUN STUFF
The director of the Arts Center mentioned that she liked little pink piggies and that I should put one in the show someplace. So I bought a set of eight plastic piggie cake decorations, hid them throughout the show and challenged her and her assistant to find them. Which they did within the first few days of the show opening.
So I changed the hiding places each week during the four week run of the show, making the piggies harder to find each time. We also challenged other visitors, especially the children, who attended the show to look for the piggies, which prompted them to look at details they might not have noticed before.
So I changed the hiding places each week during the four week run of the show, making the piggies harder to find each time. We also challenged other visitors, especially the children, who attended the show to look for the piggies, which prompted them to look at details they might not have noticed before.
