Bottle caps and more

I've been attaching more caps to the sleeves this weekend! And I also started attaching floaty bits to this sad looking old dress.I'm sewing circles of foam into it so it can float on water for an interesting "lady of the lake" type design...this photo shoot might have to wait until next summer now as I've possibly missed the window for hot sunny days!

Bottle cap dress

More caps

More cap arranging on sleeves and hat base

Crown!

Enjoying arranging bottle caps into this crown- so many of them get chucked away and yet how pretty they can be

Dress shape cutting!

Beginning to make the base of the dress...

Bottle cap hat

I've started assembling the bottle caps into a crown- I've found that the unflattened caps look good threaded on wires- but the flattened ones are nice and decorative. I'm going to start being more choosy over which I flatten and which I don't, depending on the colours and patterns that I want to be most visible.

I melted holes in the fabric with a soldering iron in order to have something to cable tie through! It creates a really solid edge that won't fray or pull apart, so is much quicker than eyelets, and more durable than just cutting holes.

I'm building up layers in a colour spectrum- it looks really thick, which I like! I actually really like the effect just with the holes, so I might use the technique elsewhere on the costume where it will be more visible.

Poor Tom was the nearest person when I wanted to check how it looks on a human!

(This picture taken before the soldering holes were melted and flattened caps were arranged)

This is the shape I cut to make the hat- it was made by pinning a piece of fabric into shape over the cycle helmet that will form the base of the hat- then removing the fabric and equalising the left and right halves to make a symmetric shape. Then the shape was cut twice in the real fabric (to make the outside and the lining) and sewn together! 

Bottle cap assembly!

Thought I'd see what a bunch of them look like on wire...I like it!

Finishing the jacket

Further jacket pieces

A jazzy jacket begins

Bought a jacket to cover in colorful folded fabric pieces - some of which are leftover from my "seaside sunset" piece from several years ago. I'm enjoying the effect so far! :-)

African running

I've started making a dress for my friend to do the great north run in...the top half is very simple as it shall have the charity name printed on it...And needs to be light and airy for coolness while running! May get a bit more creative with the skirt! :-) she asked for African fabrics to represent her chosen charity, which works with a community in Africa to help improve standards of health, education and employment...the Funzi and Bodo trust

Kite flying and my first attempt at henna!

The kite performed admirably as a wind sock, but failed to go very high! Future attempts need something to help it go upwards...

The henna tattoo is for an actor in the show I'm currently working on- The Hobbit. Instead of drawing on her every day we decided to try henna so it lasts a couple of weeks!

Kite making

Tonight I did some make-shift kite making for tomorrow's kite festival in Morecambe! Here it is draped over the banister...the big question is, will it fly tomorrow??!

Brolly walk

I took my umbrella parasol from last weekend's Carnival Bentham for a walk so my sister (who was unable to attend on the day) could have a go at getting some nice snaps!

She's an excellent photographer! Take a look at some of her work here...

http://rebeccadux.wix.com/rebeccarichards

The 'Thousand Mile Dress' continues it's journey through fields of foxgloves at Simpson Ground Reservoir near Windermere

Carnival Bentham

Last week we went to Carnival Bentham to join in the carnival parade. The theme was umbrellas- so I made a few to match some of my outfits, and we had a great (if a little boiling) time in the sunshine enjoying the festivities! My friends were amazing and perserved with swanning around in costume in spite of the muggy temperatures. Hopefully more photos shall follow (during the umbrella parade my hands we a bit preoccupied with holding my brolly to take photos!). I wore my Thousand Mile Dress, and also wore it on the day after for a walk in Morecambe, which is pictured below as I didn't get a picture of it on Saturday!

Floaty parasol bits

Making scale mail!

Bottle lid flattening

I've squashed some of the lids and sanded the paint off to see what i think... I sort of like the pleated edge that becomes visible, think I'll try to devise a way of using them that shows this off!

Knitting with scales

I've just discovered a most exciting website! You can buy nice metal scales for making scale mail armour- apparently you can also knit with them!

http://www.beadsisters.co.uk/pages/scales.htm

This is how to knit with them! hooray!
If only I had enough time for all of the ideas I come across...

http://craftymutt.blogspot.co.uk/p/learn-to-knit-with-scales.html

Brolly

I'm putting together an umbrella for carnival Bentham. This is a little village near Lancaster that has a theme every year for their carnival...this year's theme, you guessed it, is umbrellas! :-)

New rail, and a fun new find

I bought a nice rail, as my existing two rails are extremely flimsy, and ready to cave in at any moment! This will perform better than both those combined! Plus I acquired some fake grass, sure I can make something fun with it!! :-)

Gandalf

Today was the day of press photos for our summer show at the dukes in Lancaster- the hobbit! We had to pull something together for Gandalf with limited time, using material and stock items from the theatre store.think we did okay though! :-) lovely day to be in the park too!