Costumer's Rule #10; Never Assume You Know It All...

...Especially when there are so many examples available that prove otherwise.

More on the subject of pinking tools.
While trying to wake up this morning, I began with a search online in hopes of finding out more info on an upcoming 18th century event. I stumbled upon a discussion involving accuracy in trimming styles...and well, I had to fight the urge to rant.
I've opted for a mini rant here.

As you may well know, any time spent online searching for one topic, can become a journey of discovery...
I was eventually lead to a discussion regarding where and who to buy pinking tools and shears from. One comment in particular compared the van dyke pinked edge that modern pinking shears give, and the scallop edge we also see on historical examples.
This person proclaimed that a "pointy zig zag" (we will continue to call it by it's proper historical term, the van dyke), was not historically accurate, and that "only scallops were seen"...

LIES!

May I direct your attention to my previously posted image of the very real 18th century diagram of pinking tools, with both van dyke and scallops galore(!):


AND, this extant example of a sleeve with ruched trim pinked in the van dyke style:

Many thanks to Jessamyn's Regency Costume Companion blog for the above image and the following description:
"Period pinking was performed with a device that looks like a curved chisel with scalloped edges. Patterns varied, but the most common were tiny little curves or zigzags that combined in an arch or half-circle...examples of period pinking from Historical Fashion in Detail...the second (above) from the 1760s (but made from a silk of the 1740s)."

The only thing I see wrong with using modern pinking shears to achieve the desired effect, is that the points are not deep enough. Perhaps that is my own personal taste along with what I have seen so far in antique examples. Still, if one is willing to chop through yards of fabric and have sore hands and wrists from the modern tools, my hat is off to them for their effort. It still has a pleasing look that at least telegraphs the correct intent behind the styling of the ensemble as a whole. These vintage pinking tools are not easy to find and when we do, they come at a hefty price 90% of the time.


Stepping down from my soapbox now.
xoxo

'Valkyrie' Photos

Photo by RJ Johnson

As per my last burlesque costuming posts, here are more photos of the act in motion; my tribute to Loie Fuller.

"Loie Fuller (born Mary Louise Fuller in 1862) was one of the most innovative dance artists of the twentieth century. Her work influenced not only future artists in modern dance, such as Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham, but also a whole range of poets, painters, sculptors, and intellectuals. She brought both revolutionary dance forms and technical innovations in costume and lighting to American, Caribbean, London, and Paris stages." - The Modernism Lab

I, however; put a little personal twist on mine, adding a bit of Scandinavian lore in the form of crystallized deer antlers and the coloring of the costume itself. The theme is The Valkyrie.

Photos by Johnny Crash





Photo by RJ Johnson

Tools Of The Trade...

One thing that has had me on the hunt for years in the realm of 18th century styling, is the pinking tool.
Each time I thought I had at least one within my grasp, I lost the auction or the company making them would fold.

Last night while perusing Ebay, I found one, and was finally able to purchase it!
The seller mentioned that it is an old leather working tool and may need some sharpening, which is an easy fix. It has a tiny zig zag or 'Van Dyke' pattern, and while I'd love to find a scallop version, this is a good start. I have some scallop pinking shears that will do if I absolutely need it, until I find another tool like this. Many 18th century items I've seen with a pinked edge, however; have had this tiny zig zag. More often than I've seen the scallop

The size of this one is 7/8" wide, perfect for making the pinked scallop-within-scallop sleeve ruffles.
A wooden mallet and a piece of wood for under your fabric is all that is needed. Here is a photo of Augustintytär's experiment with this on her amazing 1760's robe à la Française. The tool I found will end up with scallops that look very similar in shape and size to these:


I'll also need to dig for an image in my collection showing a physical historical reference of the results of such a tool (I have some not-so-great photos), but here is an 18th century diagram showing various types of pinking tool. Mine will give a pattern similar to figures A or 4:


Many people have asked, why not just use regular pinking shears? I have before, and while they work fine on some things, here are my own reasons for wanting a pinking tool over pinking shears for certain projects. Particularly when I'm faced with cutting a lot of fabric:

- pinking with shears is tedious and makes my hand hurt after just a few scallops, let alone cutting a straight line.
- shears loose their sharpness much quicker.
- they don't cut through silk taffeta easily, for very long.
- You can't cut your scallop pattern through multiple layers of silk neatly.
- a pinking tool actually does better with punching through multiple layers of fabric, as it gets a better 'bite'.
- and the above makes a pinking tool that much less tedious, as it takes half the time as trimming each scallop by hand, on only one layer of your fabric, with shears.

I can probably add to this list, but that's pretty much where I stand ;-)

For An Elegant Promenade

Last week I decided (remembered actually) that I had been wanting a tall, elegant walking stick for some of my coming 18th century ensembles. One event in September is a picnic, and an outdoor soiree is a perfect setting for such an accessory.
Some time back, I had stumbled across Smiling Fox Forge, and they have a lovely version for sale.
After placing my order, I received an email from them a few days later with a link to pay via Paypal, which I did at once. Promptly 4 days later, I received my stick. They get 5 stars for wonderful communication and speedy service.

Simple and elegant in design, the stick comes shipped in two peices which you easily screw together in seconds.



The smooth brass knob at the top is gorgeous, and very close to many I have seen in fashion plates of the 1770s and 80s showing ladies strolling along the promenade.
These types of 'staffs' were not usually used to assist in walking, as an elderly person might need, but to add a certain flair to one's progress. Heights varied from waist-high to the tall version, such as this one, that stands at 58 inches.
The foot of the staff is also brass, and overall, I am quite impressed.


They included a couple of pretty ribbons in burgundy and sage to tie at the handle. While I will likely not use these ones in particular, here is a photo with the ribbons attached.
I will either use some of my silk ribbons, or tie a silk cord with small tassels to it instead. Most illustrations I've seen have had the latter.

Plans...

My American Duchess Kensingtons in red, and some cotton print fabric. It may not be a totally accurate 18th century design, but I have 5 yards. That's barely enough for a full Robe a l'Anglaise a la polonaise. Perhaps a pet en l'air if I want to go a little earlier in the century? If I do a red silk petticoat, I'll need it to match the shoes pretty closely. Hmmm... zone front or closed front on the bodice? So many options. This will also be my first time using a JP Ryan pattern, so if anyone out there has any tips, likes or dislikes about using the two particular patterns I mentioned above, please do share

On Feather Storage

After my last "Favorite Things" post, I had a few people ask me offline how I store my feathers. Particularly ostrich plumes of the longer, fluffier variety.
Two words; boot boxes.
If you are like me, and have an addiction to shoes and boots, you'll probably have at least one box from the latter lying around the house. If not, ask your local shoe shop if they have any they are about to dispose of from customers not wanting to carry out their boxes.

I got lucky, by the fact that my last job prior to this one was at a shoe boutique.
Many times customers didn't want to carry the larger boxes after purchase, so they would leave them with me. Most of them I had to recycle, but I would always keep the really sturdy ones. If we had a bounty of those, I would take home at least one or two.

The nice thing about storing them in a box like this, is it allows the feather to lie flat.
For super long plumes over 32" (rare but they do exist), if a boot box isn't quite long enough, a mailer tube may work. My only issue with using these, is they compress the plumes more than I like, so I only use them for 3 plumes max. Stuffing a tube or even a box too full, might cause some crimping on the hurl (The hurl is the soft floaty tendrils of the feather, not what an ostrich might do after eating too much...as funny as it sounds ;-)

Just posting this image of an ostrich plume lampshade...because it's amazing.

One other trick I learned that isn't really related to storage; How to make new ostrich plumes do 'The Dip'. It's that nice bowing of the plume head that we see on vintage ostrich feathers, like the ones of mine in the photo on this post.
Curling the feather is one option for 'skinny' plumes that don't have much body. We see these kinds a lot at our local craft or fabric stores, or online. The quality is usually not as luxurious. You can , however; layer the skinnier ones together and wrap them with thin wire along the spines. I've seen this technique on many Victorian feather hat trims.
But, if you get the chance to hand-pick your plumes, get the ones with the fullest hurl and heads as possible.
Whenever I buy ostrich feathers that start off really straight with little curve, the first thing I do when I get them home is stick them in a slim, medium height flower vase. Leaving plenty of room for the length of the feather to remain free. This is only if you have patience, as it may take a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on how long and full your feathers are. Also, the softer the spine toward the last 6 inches of the plume, the better.
For really stubborn ones, a little steam may help too.

Antlers Of The Valkyrie

Here are a few close-up shots of the antler headdress, and the Swarovski crystals I applied, so far. I was planning on a lot more to cover each horn, but was running short on time and sleep the night before the show.



I did, however; hear that this had an interesting effect on stage, as it gave a gradient to the sheer magnitude of bright sparkle, going from shimmery to super bright toward the antler's tips.
My use of somewhat chunkier crystals was on purpose; I desired an ice crystal-like effect to the surface. I also wanted them to look like real antlers, so I made them slightly different in reach on each side, since antlers in nature are never perfectly matched.

Naturally, I'll have questions from people regarding the style of headdress I chose in relation to what people imagine a Valkyrie wearing. Usually we see them with wings or the Brunhilde style horns on the sides of a clunky helmet, or dressed like She-Ra. That is mostly the product of Victorian novelizations on these demi-goddesses in books, and classical to modern media. My approach was a farther reach into Scandinavian culture, history, and a mix of the ancient tales about the Valkyrie.

The classically Victorian to Edwardian Valkyrie

Originally, I had planned on having a lot more of the braided hair on top, wound around the base of the antlers to cover up the cap/helmet. After experimenting while rushing to get ready, I realized it was not only making it too heavy, it looked funky. And not in that awesome Bootsy Collins kinda way.
I decided to go with the fact that the silver paint made it look like a metal "helmet" of sorts, but one that was possibly fused to or growing out of my skull. Perhaps a real Valkyrie would have such a thing in a crazy fantasy realm? Taking this idea further, I simply took a few drops of hot glue to attach the braid around the edge of the helmet, added some decorative silver braid to the top, added some ties (one for under my chin to stabilize the whole thing), and viola!
I was done and rushing out the door to the show.

This moderately towering headdress was surprisingly comfortable to wear and not that heavy. With my base sculpt of wire and Celluclay (paper mache), it had one coating of a special Bondo mixture, a secret recipe mixed up for me by Anders. The crystal added a minimal amount to the weight.

After helping me apply the layer of Bondo I sanded smooth, Anders primes and paints my antlers a few shades of silver with his airbrush.

I may add some of the darker shade of Swarovski I had also purchased for these, but ran out of time to apply, at the base of the antlers. They would gradually go from the "Black Diamond" shade into the "Silver Shade" color I have on them now.
I have to say that this silver shade color, second to the Aurora Borealis coating Swarovski does, is the brightest sparkle I've ever used from them. The difference being that they don't have the rainbow effect of the AB, just an extra sheer mirrored coating on one half of the surface. Sort of like mirrored sunglasses. The effect is stunning, and I tried to capture it in a few images.

Still, the camera does not do these crystals justice, but here's the antlers in all their glory...

Yet another thing I love about this new act; my hair takes only minutes to do.
I put the rest of my own hair into a bun, wrap the remaining braided hair pieces around it creating a large chignon, pin the hell out of it and I'm done. This also acts a good stabilizer for the headdress, since the two ends of the piece attached, get tucked into the top of my chignon, and pinned. It not only keeps it from sliding off the back of my head, it anchors the back set of ties underneath it, keeping it from sliding forward too :-)

Hopefully, more of the performance photos will roll in so you can see what this costume piece looks like worn...and the hair stuff I'm babbling on about ;-)

A Happy Fourth to you! XOXO

A Few Of My Favorite Things...

Large ostrich plumes, with those wonderfully lush heavy tips.
In this case, size does matter ;-)

I collect these whenever I can, and my collection has grown to nearly epic proportions. Ordering online can be daunting, because you truly never know what you'll get when it comes to feathers like these. So, when I find the occasional luxe plumes in a shop or flea market I snatch them up.
For 'new' feathers, I've had amazingly good luck at Beverly's. They are a mix between Michael's crafts and Joanne's fabrics, and they often have loose ostrich plumes in an array of shades. Amazingly, one of the best locations has been the Beverly's in San Luis Obispo, CA. I always need to do a bit of sifting through the skinny ones, the damaged ones and the colors I avoid. I'm always rewarded though, with a few lush feathers such as the ones above. Sometimes the colors can be limited, depending on the season. My last visit garnered me the lovelies above; two in a pale pink, a powder blue and a soft violet.

Dickens Fair is also a time during the year that I look forward to buying more. Every year there is one merchant that sells nothing but hand dyed ostrich plumes in every size and color you can imagine. Instead of bleaching them first, they are dyed from their natural light color so they retain some of the pattering and ombre-like effects. They are amazing, yet for the life of me, I can't remember what the shop is called :-(