#stitchercrafter

One more shout-out to the furry and feathered friendos who helped with the Little Mermaid build (and to their humans who generously let me bury their houses in drop paper and paint sea creatures in blessed air conditioning). #tinyhelpers #summerstock #makerlife #costumebuild #stitchercrafter #adventuresinwardrobe #costumepainting https://www.instagram.com/p/B0b1i4NlO_c/?igshid=q5hcqjam4wvf

All too often, these bigger projects end up with some piece that I'm REALLY excited about but just have to leave undone because of time constraints. The mersisters costumes have been *fine*, but the designer and I both had these really lovely ideas for giving them each a little bit of extra unique oomph and once everything else was done for opening weekend, we decided it was worth the trouble of taking the pieces back to give them that extra touch. Yeah, we just put in a stupid amount of extra work, but it feels SO WORTH IT. The fins are blended better, there are nice accent scales/details that bring out the contrast colors on each costume, and the bras all have little bits of flair and contrast. Paints are Jacquard Lumiere and Neopaque acrylics, with some Pearl Ex pigments, as well as the SWEET irridescent Plaid FolkArt Color Shift acrylics with Delta Ceramcoat Textile Medium, and of course some Design Master sprays. Clay accents are Sculpey Souffle (one of my new very favorite things) either hand-sculpted or cast in silicon candy molds. And so, I give you the daughters of Triton (great father who loves them and named them well)... Aquata Andrina Arista Atina Adella Allana and Ariel (Yes, the blue/teal - one might even say *aqua-colored* sister - is named Aquata. Some monster at Disney made that creative decision in the 80s, and now I have to live, haunted by that knowledge, for the rest of my life.) #summerstock #mermaidtails #mermaidbras #fabricpaint #stitchercrafter #sculpey #jacquardpaints #folkartpaint #ceramcoat #designmaster #warehouseworkshop #adventuresinwardrobe #finishingtouches #makerlife #theatrelife https://www.instagram.com/p/B0FbpTIlCBi/?igshid=84gnv5p1jboh

The show opens in an hour, and I just delivered Ursula's under-skirt with the final-touch painting done. Those blue and green bits were white when we got here at 5. (Thank you again, @dmcolor ) #theatrelife #costumebuild #costumepainting #stitchercrafter #makerlife #adventuresinwardrobe #uptothebuzzer #summerstock #designmaster https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz1lARSlO3W/?igshid=z0nss01dfa0n

Yeah, it's that kind of week. #summerstock #theatrelife #costuming #costumebuild #stitchercrafter #adventuresinwardrobe #eelsinthesubaru https://www.instagram.com/p/BzzhOHjl5uq/?igshid=1l0iv5pf4r5ig

One of the best feelings is turning cheap, awful off-the-shelf costume pieces into the thing you actually need. Case in point: our firefly and dragonfly wings. Start with visible discolored glue, awful little fairy wings with superfluous puff balls and ribbons hot-glued to the back, and superfine irridescent glitter that sheds non-stop. Apply heat gun and brute force to the puffs, and scissors to the ribbons. Design Master tints cover the nasty whites without losing the irridescent sheen of the sheer wing fabric, then air and paint brush color details (including some neon highlights that should react to blue lighting for the fireflies). Finally, re-apply some larger irridescent glitter with glue that will actually seal it in place, et voila! #summerstock #adventuresinwardrobe #stitchercrafter #wings #costumebuild #warehouseworkshop #designmaster #jacqardpaints #airbrush #glittertown https://www.instagram.com/p/BzB3uXxl6EP/?igshid=pcz8yydg4rx4

"We do weird things for money." Thank goodness I live with another crazy theater geek who thinks giant rubber bug masks drying in the kitchen is great. Love you, @jhammie87 #theatrelife #summerstock #masks #costumepainting #stitchercrafter #adventuresinwardrobe #stagemanagerroommate https://www.instagram.com/p/ByzI6BtFUA5/?igshid=153v53u3m5cmd

Y'all. I love this job. #summerstock #adventuresinwardrobe #costumepainting #stitchercrafter #theatrelife https://www.instagram.com/p/BywmXSSFgtp/?igshid=1alxtsvhkpaee

Accidentally painted my nails last night to match today's first costume piece. 😜 #summerstock #adventuresinwardrobe #theatrelife #stitchercrafter #fabricpaint #warehouseworkshop #fins #mermaids https://www.instagram.com/p/Byk4BqiloQ3/?igshid=507jgr125h2j