I am a survivor!

Howdy folks!

As you can tell I made it through the rest of a very tough build period. There was one all-nighter involved in making it to first dress a week ago and endless finishing work, but we made it. Once I have a picture of the entire costume I will include a picture here. I learned so much during this process but I have not had time to put my finger on all the particulars. Since it is a man's costume I have now had a lot of practice in some of the techniques I've been doing in tailoring and many that I will be getting into next semester when we build the suit coat.

In addition to my job as first hand to a draper, I was also building a felt hat in millinery class for another character. We were shown the costume designer's renderings and given a choice of projects. Naturally, I picked one that I knew would be a challenge for me. I only get three years to draw as much knowledge out of my professors and colleagues so I have made a pledge to pick hard projects. I also might be a little crazy. This hat entailed stretching a separate brim and crown, then sewing the two together. The wool felt does not hold the shape entirely on its own. The edge is wired and the entire thing "sized." Hat sizing is similar to shellac. This hat needed to be very stiff, so I soaked the sizing through by brushing it on until saturated.
WaLa! I am very pleased with the way it turned out. More importantly, the designer is happy with it and it looks great on stage.

To celebrate the opening of the play this past Friday I decided to take some downtime this weekend to recuperate. Yesterday I met up with the South Austin Knitting Group where I managed to finish my brother's hat (picture in the next post). I knit on and off the rest of the day until I went with a friend to see HOLES, the other production at UT right now (yes, the Louis Sachar book/movie is also available as a play). The grad student that designed the costume for it also went to the same undergrad as me, although not at the same time. She did a spectacular job! Today the same friend and I went to see the Austin Lyric Opera production of Madame Butterfly. Even though I've worked for the opera in the past I had only ever seen final dress rehearsals. It was nice to be in the audience and we had great seats (thank you James). Now it's laundry time and tomorrow it's back to the grind for a few days. Although I won't be with my family for the holiday I will be with friends. That Guy has to work :( I hope you and yours have a great Turkey Day!

To whom it may concern: thanks to That Guy we both now have working cell phones - my number is the same.

Tschuss!