finished chain and pendant (Posted 3rd April 2012)

..how the finished chain and pendant looks.

pendant finished (Posted 3rd April 2012)

pendant finished and painted. The silver is not as bright as the chain ..so I might see if I can make a mould and cast it in white metal sometime.

Milliput base layer completed (Posted 29th March 2012)

Base layer sculpted in Milliput..now leaving it to harden. Then I will go in and smooth out the holes and imperfections.

pendant progress - armature (Posted 29th March 2012)

Pendant in progress. I decided to make the pendant out of Milliput. So I started by making a wire armature to give more strength. The paper printout is covered with selotape to stop it sticking. The armature is cut out of stiff wire for the spine of the pendant and the adder coils are bent out of paperclips. Pieces then carefully superglued into positon. Settingn powder sprinkled on to speed up drying time. Ready for Milliputing...

pendant - beginings (Posted 27th March 2012)

Not sure exactly how Im going to make the whole pendant yet, but this is my start - a clasp from a necklace..will be buried into the top part of the pendant to form a small but strong dangling loop.

Blackadder emblem - artwork done (Posted 26th March 2012)

Finished the artwork for the Blackadder Emblem - It was really tough researching for this, couldnt find a decent picture of it anywhere. Only found a tiny pic, which was very pixelated when I blew it up. Traced around the basic shape and then referring to the large ref photos I drew in the details and refined the sketch. Then coloured the red in and and scanned it into PS. Edited the scanned image to make it bolder. Finally adjusted the image size to the right size for the sleeves, flipped for the other sleeve, and a small version for the pendant which hangs from the chain of office.

Chain of office - wip (Posted 20th March 2012)

Been making progress with my Chain of Office. Couldnt find anything remotely like it anywhere - Scoured ladies fashion shops in the high street. The best I could find are these flower chain belts from eBay. I bought the last two to make sure I will have enough parts. First step dis-assemble the belts into seperate flowers. Next I cut the flower shapes down into diamond shapes with wire cutters. Then rounded the sharp edges off with metal file. I got some tiny chain links from the jewelery making shop around the corner..and assembled the new diamond chain. This is just the base - Still to go on each piece of the chain is a large red diamante and a cluster of smaller white diamantes.

Why have I started on this first?..because I was bidding on eBy for a long out of date Butterick pattern for Medieval costume doublets and hose, which ended today. Darn it, No I didnt win! :/

bits (Posted 15th March 2012)

Getting bits together - Red Gems arrived for the detailing of the ornate Chain of Office. From what I can make out it looks like silver ovals with red gems and detailing ..Im waiting for two metal chain belts to arrive which will form the base of my chain of office - needs modding from flower shapes, also need to make the Blackadder pendant which dangles from it.

Also in pic is the heavy black velvet fabric which I will use to make the doublet and circle cape. Im hoping that the silver ric rac will look ok for all the embroidery detail..I just cant imagine embroidering so much!

Beginning the Ruff (Posted 8th March 2012)

Found some answers last night incl a great How to Make an authentic Ruff from this web site http://www.elizabethancostume.net/index.html

Examining Blackadders Ruff closely, it looks like a plain white fabric with a pattern detail running along its outer edge - known as Blackwork: Black silk thread was used to hand embroider complex patterns using a double running stitch.)
Pic shows a blow up and what I think the pattern looks like.. Im not planning to hand embroider though! My sewing machine has a stretch stitch which looks close..so I will do some experimenting. Note that on the inside face of the ruffles the black thread does not show! My guess is that the fabric is doubled over - well thats how Im going to do it anyway. Suits me as the fabric edge will then be closed. So because the fabric will be doubled over and because in some freeze frames Blackadders ruff appears almost translucent I decided to experiment with white cotton voile. in the post now. ^^

makeup and wig test (Posted 2nd March 2012)

Wig arrived today so I did a quick makeup test. This might be as good as it gets, my face is very different shape to Rowans and my blue eyes arent helping.. Hope this cosplay is gonna work!
Clothes are just standins for the makeup test. Although the wool and red taffeta fabrics are what has just arrived in the post. One thing I learnt from doing this.. using black eyeshadow makeup for the beard is not going to work because it rubs off onto the white collar too easily - this will spoil the white ruff awfully. So my next idea is to try painting prosthetic glue straight onto my face and stick wig fibres in it, then trim it all like a real beard when the glue has set.

Original screen costume (Posted 28th February 2012)

Ref and planning.

Costume layers
Ok the first hurdle is done..figuring out the fabrics and getting some decent ref pics. Fotunately I came across a pic of the screen costume from when it was auctioned. First question what fabrics? - Thanks to the amazingly knowledgeable Odangochan, via my help thread, I now know that the screen costume was in fact Ostrich leather! - This explains the puzzling spot pattern which is def there in photos. Apparently the spots are where the Ostrich feathers would have been.. like a plucked chicken.. :/ So Im not worrying about accuracy in this respect -Instead I plan to use normal leather. Its waaaay cheaper too. ^^
The jerkin has split vents which are lined with wine red silk/Taffeta inserts.
Jerkin buttons down the centre with ornate buttons. Jerkin also has leather epaulettes and picadils.

Next layer under the leather jerkin is the doublet which is black velvet with piping on the outer edges inc shoulders (often doublets had detachable sleeves.) In the photo you can see the velvet sleeves and mandarin collar and just about see the bottom hem of the doublet which follows the same shape as the jerkin. Doublet sleeves have the Blackadder emblem embroidered in red and silver - an adder wrapped around a dagger. Also the blackadder emblem appears on Edmunds chunky necklace.

Next layer worn under this is a white shirt with lace cuffs.

Pants - also known as pumpkin breeches, or pansied slops - panes are the strips of fabric running vertically. Slops are same wine red fabric as jerkin vents, with matching leather panes, waistband, and breeches.

Not seen in this pic is a cape or caplet - this is a circle cape made of black wool with Lots of gold embroidery. The cape is carried over one shoulder with its teather running diagonally across the body. Also running diagonally across the body is the Baldrick - that is, the wide belt with ornate buckle which holds the rapier sword at the hip.
Finishing off the costume - leather over knee riding boots with metal spurs.

Time to get some raw materials in...