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mellymellWell, I'm back. The overnight was great fun! I wore my unhemmed Dream gown. It was a good thing because the museum was rather warm. I had taken my mantle to wear with it and wound up taking it off while waiting in line to get into the IMAX movie. We had PLENTY of time to hang out in the exhibit and really take our time with each piece.
I got in about an hour later than planned, but luckily Janice, Sarah and Damian were still at Friday's. They were nice enough to wait for me while I got a bowl of soup real quick. Then we walked over together. Janice was in her Mirkwood Elf gown (a very nice altered thrift store find) but after dinner changed into her Gandalf (which is amazing!). Sarah in her fantastic Rosie Cotton outfit (she's been doing this stuff for 15 years, professionally even, and it shows, she teaches costuming classes at Butler Univ.). Damian didn't wear a costume. She has one of the Museum Replicas Arwen Coronation gowns that she re-beaded (she said the pearls were really cheap) and altered a bit. But at the last minute, she didn't think to try it on again and it no longer fit her (too small).
Janice and I changed into our costumes after checking in. It was fascinating to watch her making the transition from Janice to Gandalf. So much extra hair to apply! My wig worked out very well, though tangles very easily (anyone ever used a conditioner or detangler on their synthetic wigs?) and the shaper helped keep the gown hanging very smoothly all night. I took the beaded shoes I got to go with the Requiem gown, but they were rather uncomfortable and since it was warm, I went barefoot.
We spent some time before the movie in the exhibit matching colors to paint chips for all the pieces of Legolas' outfit and for Aragorn's duster. His duster is much more green than I thought, but does this fading from top to bottom. The top is very dark and the bottom fades into something a couple of shades lighter. We picked a color that was a closer match to the top thinking you could fade the bottom some.
After the movie (ROTK in the IMAX theatre), we had full run of the exhibit until 3am.
Janice and I noticed something very interesting on the Requiem gown that I hadn't noticed before. The upper sleeves have the chiffon overlay, but they didn't carry that over to the visible edge of the undergown. There's a slight color difference there as well. The chiffon on the sleeves looks dustier, more muted and the other is a violet color and slightly shiny (makes since that it would be satin looking at it, but again, I didn't think to look at the plaque that told what all was in the gown). This was something we could only see with the aid of a flashlight. The beading and embroidery is carried over just far enough to disappear under the jumper. To us it looked as though they put the neckline and trim on first, then set the sleeves in. I really don't think the lower sleeves are cut on the bias. The design in the brocade is straight up and down. Not to say that's the only reason I don't think it's a bias cut, but that's one of them. The biggest reason though is the way they hang. We noticed an odd bump just under the trim on the overgown. We couldn't determine what this was at all. It wasn't the undergown trim. Sarah thinks the overgown is tacked to the undergown, but she didn't say where. I'm inclined to think it's not actually. Looking at several pics where the overgown has shifted this way and that (mostly screen shots from the movie), it would seem it's not, but maybe it is or maybe is at just the shoulders or something. I still feel like the trim has a blue cast to it. It is slight, but I really think it does.
I didn't spend much time with the Chase outfit. Most of it has been pretty well described already. The crinkle metallic silk on the sleeves definitely has a goldish cast to it though. Even with a flashlight (looking at both the actual costume and the swatch in the case with the Requiem gown) it seemed like it might have both silver and gold threads in it, but maybe not.
Oh, and on the swatch of the Hope gown, I noticed there's a grey thread in with all that embroidery. Looks like a grey/matte silver thread, an iridescent white and a regular white, or something along those lines. Just looks opulent!
Now, the Mirror gown. Again, I'm just absolutely stunned by this gown! No visible seams, just seems like magic. Sarah mentioned there might not be an invisible zipper because the gown would easily slide over her head with such a wide neckline. However, I've seen a pic of the back of the Prologue gown on ACS. Though the pic was blurred and yellowed, there's definitely a zipper. If that, as well as the fact that almost all the other gowns have one, are any indication, I'd say this one probably does as well. We think there might be a waist seam hidden by the belt too, but no way to confirm this. The sleeves end just below the knee. Sarah called the hem a "lingerie hem". Any idea what that is exactly? I didn't think to ask her at the time. I talked to her about the gathering in the back of the cloak and how they may have done it. She thought possibly a piece of twill tape using tiny stitches to gather it onto the tape. I'll have to sit down and see if I can sketch it out front and back, with and without the cloak. Something I noticed that I hadn't before, there is a row of small (maybe 3mm) pearls at the edge of the neckline and another row maybe 2.5"-3" below that. The tip of the brooch extends just slightly beyond the second/lower row. I didn't see any other decoration between the rows. It seems this may have been another case of "fake trim". Unfortunately, you don't see much of the neckline besides where the brooch is because of the cloak. In fact, you don't see much of the gown under the cloak. I can't remember if it was Janice or Sarah that mentioned the brooch wasn't silver. But looking at it with a flashlight, it is silver, but slightly tarnished silver. The belt, well, I wish now I had spent more time looking at the belt. I assumed the sketches out there were of the entire design and that it had pretty well been mapped out. But no, just the little lotus looking shape that's on it is what I saw on ACS when looking a little bit ago. Just a little description of the rest of the design. And there's actually quite a lot to it. As I mentioned to Yvette, there were some inconsistencies in the beading on the original gown as well. I noticed several random clusters that maybe either got missed or were intentionally skipped with the beads. The beads are definitely about half sized bugles and are clear iridescent (crystal AB). Where there are beads, there's one bead in the center of each bud/leaf. When I go to order my fabric from Bindu, as Yvette suggested, I'm going to specifically request similar beads and similar beading and hopefully they can accommodate that.
The only thing I have to say about Galadriel's crown is that the gold on it is plated for sure. I saw some of it had flecked and cracked in spots. The soldering on it is simply beautifully done. As far as the design and shape, I'm still baffled. Too baffled to get any detail when looking at it. The existing sketches will have to do.
I took a better look at Celeborn's belt. Looks to be a light blue/silver habotai. At the edges are a braided strand, silver if I remember right, but it might have been white. That is woven with two other strands of fabric made into cording. Looks like more habotai, cut into thin strips and sewn up one side, kind of like unfilled piping. There's a silver color of this and a blue. Again, I'll try to sketch it out to better illustrate what I think I saw. His collar is pretty straight forward from the pics of it.
Saruman's robes are just fantastic! We looked at the criss-cross insets in the back and on the shoulders in the front of his outermost robe. The skill and just genius design that went into this costume is overwhelming. Sarah pointed out that his mandarin collar does not have a seam. Well, there is one seam, it's in the back, where there is an invisible zipper. But what she meant was the front pieces of the inner robe (the one with those super neat frogs on it) are all one piece, not like most shirts where the collar is a separate piece. Legolas' silver tunic does the same thing. Also, Janice noted, and this has probably been mentioned, that the sleeves and I think the main parts of his outermost robe are the backside of a brocade fabric. The sleeves are just turned up at the top edges for maybe 6"-8" then left to hang which gives a very interesting drape. They're bag lined.
Theoden's armor is just stunning. I didn't spend much time looking at this the last time I was there, but we all stood and admired it for a few minutes. On the lower parts of his scale armor (the "skirts") there are some rows of scales that have a second layer to them. Looks to be pieces that are cast metal, maybe brass. The design is scrolly, almost like a fleur-de-lis. Just looked at ACS and someone has a sketch up of it and there are some good pics to show what I mean. I don't think the horse heads are as pronounced as the sketch, but more implied by the scrolling design. There was one that's on the edge, you could see where it looks to be riveted to the scale underneath it, then the scale is attached as the rest of them are. Something I don't think I've heard mention of and have definitely never seen are the horse heads on his back. Looks pretty much like it does in the embroidery, two red horse heads, but they've been cast/engraved into the armor. His boots even have stylized Rohan horses on the toe area. There's floral scrolling on the buckles and leather straps that attach the greaves to his legs. Just such amazing detail that never gets seen except by us obsessives that go pick apart the exhibits! There was talk about how there's even engraved designs on the INSIDE of his armor (in one of the commentaries or extras on the DVDs and I just read some bit about it on ACS, too).
Janice and I even spent some time with the Ringwraith. She was showing me some of her observations. On the outer robe, there appears to be embroidery at the edges and in a few other places that's been weathered heavily, maybe even overdyed, then torn to shreds along the edges. There's a lot of detail on what they wear underneath, but it's hard to see even with a flashlight at the exhibit. I'm simply baffled by how much they put into details that really never will be seen!
Elrond's crown, I had mentioned before how it had pieces in the back that appeared to be where there might have been combs glued to hold it in his wig. I stand corrected. Upon further looking, each of those little pieces of what looks like glued on cording has a very small loop in it that hangs just below the metal piece it's glued onto. These are lined up with each other it would seem, making four loops total (and all the loops were the same size, so it's definitely intentional). I'm guessing they used some cord or something to tie the piece on through the wig where necessary. Isn't that how they attached Arwen's thrown together circlet for the Farewell scene?
Gandalf, well, Janice has him pretty well sized up. But she showed me at the hem of his culottes how there was a design, not only along the edge, but also about an inch further in. At first I thought it had the appearance of burnout, but she mentioned sari. That's what we agreed it looked like, a sari that's been distressed like crazy and then overdyed. She's right, you can still see some of the gold thread in it in a couple of spots.
Legolas' shirt is definitely silver dupioni. As mentioned before, it's got that same seamless mandarin collar as Saruman's robe does. As for everything else, well, hopefully Sarah and/or Janice will pop up on the LR_Cos list with our determinations based on the paint chips we compared. We got some funny looks while doing that for sure.
The Fellowship brooches are much more muted than any of the replicas out there. The replicas are made to look how they do in the movies I suppose. But the originals are a VERY pale, earthy green, not the nearly emerald color most of the reproductions are. Also, they don't have that glossy enamel look to them, they just seem painted. I wonder if they used the nail polish method on these as well (referencing the Dior nail polish used on the butterfly crown).
The Boromir silicone double is fantastic by the way! I felt like I was at a wake looking over the dead, really. You can see pores, and fine lines around his eyes, and veins in his hands, just amazing the work that went into it that even up close you can't tell it's not a person. Janice said in Boston apparently the glass wasn't on it yet and someone dropped gum on him. INSANE! Sarah mentioned one of the first times she went up to the exhibit some people had laid fresh flowers in front of the case. We noticed something though. He's got a blue shirt as the innermost layer. Or at least it's blue at the cuffs. We thought at first we were seeing something that wasn't intended to be seen (as in the edge of the silicone of his hands), but no, we noticed white lacing at the wrist. And the gold bullion work is just fantastic on that costume!
The turned off the lights at 3am while we were studying Boromir, so we all headed to bed at that time, even though they were playing FOTR in the auditorium downstairs. I knew I had another 6 hour drive ahead of me in a few hours and only about 3 hours to sleep between then and breakfast, so I opted to try to get some sleep.
Thanks to Chris for the fabulous Christmas gift of an iPod nano, I was able to listen to some music to relax a bit to fall asleep. Billie Holiday, unfortunately, was no match for the snoring beast beside us! In the end I fell asleep to the sound of clashing swords and grunts of both those who swung them and those who were hit by them (sound effects on the armor display). Luckily they turned off the "you shall not pass" yell before bed.
They gave us each a free "scale" picture on Gandalf's cart. Janice, Sarah and I did it in such a way that Gandalf was taller than Arwen, but Arwen was taller than Rosie. Was very cute and I'll have to get the scanner working so I can post it. It's the only picture we got that night. We were just so busy running around in the exhibit and when we weren't, we were in the movie. I didn't think to stop to pose for pics except for those that people asked for with us (the first two hours we were there, the museum was still open and others had bought tickets to the IMAX movie and they seemed fascinated by the costumed geeks, heh). I'll have to dress up and get Chris to take some pics of me in the gown and all. Maybe it'll stay warm until the weekend and we can get some outdoors.
After breakfast in the morning, I headed back home. Luckily south of Louisville, the clouds parted to let the sun shine and helped that me stay awake. By the time I stopped for lunch in Nashville, it was 65 degrees and I cruised the rest of the way home with the sunroof cracked to get some fresh air and very welcome warmth!
Great trip, I had a blast and felt satisfied with the time I was able to spend there, not to mention got to meet three great ladies and talk costuming with them.
I got in about an hour later than planned, but luckily Janice, Sarah and Damian were still at Friday's. They were nice enough to wait for me while I got a bowl of soup real quick. Then we walked over together. Janice was in her Mirkwood Elf gown (a very nice altered thrift store find) but after dinner changed into her Gandalf (which is amazing!). Sarah in her fantastic Rosie Cotton outfit (she's been doing this stuff for 15 years, professionally even, and it shows, she teaches costuming classes at Butler Univ.). Damian didn't wear a costume. She has one of the Museum Replicas Arwen Coronation gowns that she re-beaded (she said the pearls were really cheap) and altered a bit. But at the last minute, she didn't think to try it on again and it no longer fit her (too small).
Janice and I changed into our costumes after checking in. It was fascinating to watch her making the transition from Janice to Gandalf. So much extra hair to apply! My wig worked out very well, though tangles very easily (anyone ever used a conditioner or detangler on their synthetic wigs?) and the shaper helped keep the gown hanging very smoothly all night. I took the beaded shoes I got to go with the Requiem gown, but they were rather uncomfortable and since it was warm, I went barefoot.
We spent some time before the movie in the exhibit matching colors to paint chips for all the pieces of Legolas' outfit and for Aragorn's duster. His duster is much more green than I thought, but does this fading from top to bottom. The top is very dark and the bottom fades into something a couple of shades lighter. We picked a color that was a closer match to the top thinking you could fade the bottom some.
After the movie (ROTK in the IMAX theatre), we had full run of the exhibit until 3am.
Janice and I noticed something very interesting on the Requiem gown that I hadn't noticed before. The upper sleeves have the chiffon overlay, but they didn't carry that over to the visible edge of the undergown. There's a slight color difference there as well. The chiffon on the sleeves looks dustier, more muted and the other is a violet color and slightly shiny (makes since that it would be satin looking at it, but again, I didn't think to look at the plaque that told what all was in the gown). This was something we could only see with the aid of a flashlight. The beading and embroidery is carried over just far enough to disappear under the jumper. To us it looked as though they put the neckline and trim on first, then set the sleeves in. I really don't think the lower sleeves are cut on the bias. The design in the brocade is straight up and down. Not to say that's the only reason I don't think it's a bias cut, but that's one of them. The biggest reason though is the way they hang. We noticed an odd bump just under the trim on the overgown. We couldn't determine what this was at all. It wasn't the undergown trim. Sarah thinks the overgown is tacked to the undergown, but she didn't say where. I'm inclined to think it's not actually. Looking at several pics where the overgown has shifted this way and that (mostly screen shots from the movie), it would seem it's not, but maybe it is or maybe is at just the shoulders or something. I still feel like the trim has a blue cast to it. It is slight, but I really think it does.
I didn't spend much time with the Chase outfit. Most of it has been pretty well described already. The crinkle metallic silk on the sleeves definitely has a goldish cast to it though. Even with a flashlight (looking at both the actual costume and the swatch in the case with the Requiem gown) it seemed like it might have both silver and gold threads in it, but maybe not.
Oh, and on the swatch of the Hope gown, I noticed there's a grey thread in with all that embroidery. Looks like a grey/matte silver thread, an iridescent white and a regular white, or something along those lines. Just looks opulent!
Now, the Mirror gown. Again, I'm just absolutely stunned by this gown! No visible seams, just seems like magic. Sarah mentioned there might not be an invisible zipper because the gown would easily slide over her head with such a wide neckline. However, I've seen a pic of the back of the Prologue gown on ACS. Though the pic was blurred and yellowed, there's definitely a zipper. If that, as well as the fact that almost all the other gowns have one, are any indication, I'd say this one probably does as well. We think there might be a waist seam hidden by the belt too, but no way to confirm this. The sleeves end just below the knee. Sarah called the hem a "lingerie hem". Any idea what that is exactly? I didn't think to ask her at the time. I talked to her about the gathering in the back of the cloak and how they may have done it. She thought possibly a piece of twill tape using tiny stitches to gather it onto the tape. I'll have to sit down and see if I can sketch it out front and back, with and without the cloak. Something I noticed that I hadn't before, there is a row of small (maybe 3mm) pearls at the edge of the neckline and another row maybe 2.5"-3" below that. The tip of the brooch extends just slightly beyond the second/lower row. I didn't see any other decoration between the rows. It seems this may have been another case of "fake trim". Unfortunately, you don't see much of the neckline besides where the brooch is because of the cloak. In fact, you don't see much of the gown under the cloak. I can't remember if it was Janice or Sarah that mentioned the brooch wasn't silver. But looking at it with a flashlight, it is silver, but slightly tarnished silver. The belt, well, I wish now I had spent more time looking at the belt. I assumed the sketches out there were of the entire design and that it had pretty well been mapped out. But no, just the little lotus looking shape that's on it is what I saw on ACS when looking a little bit ago. Just a little description of the rest of the design. And there's actually quite a lot to it. As I mentioned to Yvette, there were some inconsistencies in the beading on the original gown as well. I noticed several random clusters that maybe either got missed or were intentionally skipped with the beads. The beads are definitely about half sized bugles and are clear iridescent (crystal AB). Where there are beads, there's one bead in the center of each bud/leaf. When I go to order my fabric from Bindu, as Yvette suggested, I'm going to specifically request similar beads and similar beading and hopefully they can accommodate that.
The only thing I have to say about Galadriel's crown is that the gold on it is plated for sure. I saw some of it had flecked and cracked in spots. The soldering on it is simply beautifully done. As far as the design and shape, I'm still baffled. Too baffled to get any detail when looking at it. The existing sketches will have to do.
I took a better look at Celeborn's belt. Looks to be a light blue/silver habotai. At the edges are a braided strand, silver if I remember right, but it might have been white. That is woven with two other strands of fabric made into cording. Looks like more habotai, cut into thin strips and sewn up one side, kind of like unfilled piping. There's a silver color of this and a blue. Again, I'll try to sketch it out to better illustrate what I think I saw. His collar is pretty straight forward from the pics of it.
Saruman's robes are just fantastic! We looked at the criss-cross insets in the back and on the shoulders in the front of his outermost robe. The skill and just genius design that went into this costume is overwhelming. Sarah pointed out that his mandarin collar does not have a seam. Well, there is one seam, it's in the back, where there is an invisible zipper. But what she meant was the front pieces of the inner robe (the one with those super neat frogs on it) are all one piece, not like most shirts where the collar is a separate piece. Legolas' silver tunic does the same thing. Also, Janice noted, and this has probably been mentioned, that the sleeves and I think the main parts of his outermost robe are the backside of a brocade fabric. The sleeves are just turned up at the top edges for maybe 6"-8" then left to hang which gives a very interesting drape. They're bag lined.
Theoden's armor is just stunning. I didn't spend much time looking at this the last time I was there, but we all stood and admired it for a few minutes. On the lower parts of his scale armor (the "skirts") there are some rows of scales that have a second layer to them. Looks to be pieces that are cast metal, maybe brass. The design is scrolly, almost like a fleur-de-lis. Just looked at ACS and someone has a sketch up of it and there are some good pics to show what I mean. I don't think the horse heads are as pronounced as the sketch, but more implied by the scrolling design. There was one that's on the edge, you could see where it looks to be riveted to the scale underneath it, then the scale is attached as the rest of them are. Something I don't think I've heard mention of and have definitely never seen are the horse heads on his back. Looks pretty much like it does in the embroidery, two red horse heads, but they've been cast/engraved into the armor. His boots even have stylized Rohan horses on the toe area. There's floral scrolling on the buckles and leather straps that attach the greaves to his legs. Just such amazing detail that never gets seen except by us obsessives that go pick apart the exhibits! There was talk about how there's even engraved designs on the INSIDE of his armor (in one of the commentaries or extras on the DVDs and I just read some bit about it on ACS, too).
Janice and I even spent some time with the Ringwraith. She was showing me some of her observations. On the outer robe, there appears to be embroidery at the edges and in a few other places that's been weathered heavily, maybe even overdyed, then torn to shreds along the edges. There's a lot of detail on what they wear underneath, but it's hard to see even with a flashlight at the exhibit. I'm simply baffled by how much they put into details that really never will be seen!
Elrond's crown, I had mentioned before how it had pieces in the back that appeared to be where there might have been combs glued to hold it in his wig. I stand corrected. Upon further looking, each of those little pieces of what looks like glued on cording has a very small loop in it that hangs just below the metal piece it's glued onto. These are lined up with each other it would seem, making four loops total (and all the loops were the same size, so it's definitely intentional). I'm guessing they used some cord or something to tie the piece on through the wig where necessary. Isn't that how they attached Arwen's thrown together circlet for the Farewell scene?
Gandalf, well, Janice has him pretty well sized up. But she showed me at the hem of his culottes how there was a design, not only along the edge, but also about an inch further in. At first I thought it had the appearance of burnout, but she mentioned sari. That's what we agreed it looked like, a sari that's been distressed like crazy and then overdyed. She's right, you can still see some of the gold thread in it in a couple of spots.
Legolas' shirt is definitely silver dupioni. As mentioned before, it's got that same seamless mandarin collar as Saruman's robe does. As for everything else, well, hopefully Sarah and/or Janice will pop up on the LR_Cos list with our determinations based on the paint chips we compared. We got some funny looks while doing that for sure.
The Fellowship brooches are much more muted than any of the replicas out there. The replicas are made to look how they do in the movies I suppose. But the originals are a VERY pale, earthy green, not the nearly emerald color most of the reproductions are. Also, they don't have that glossy enamel look to them, they just seem painted. I wonder if they used the nail polish method on these as well (referencing the Dior nail polish used on the butterfly crown).
The Boromir silicone double is fantastic by the way! I felt like I was at a wake looking over the dead, really. You can see pores, and fine lines around his eyes, and veins in his hands, just amazing the work that went into it that even up close you can't tell it's not a person. Janice said in Boston apparently the glass wasn't on it yet and someone dropped gum on him. INSANE! Sarah mentioned one of the first times she went up to the exhibit some people had laid fresh flowers in front of the case. We noticed something though. He's got a blue shirt as the innermost layer. Or at least it's blue at the cuffs. We thought at first we were seeing something that wasn't intended to be seen (as in the edge of the silicone of his hands), but no, we noticed white lacing at the wrist. And the gold bullion work is just fantastic on that costume!
The turned off the lights at 3am while we were studying Boromir, so we all headed to bed at that time, even though they were playing FOTR in the auditorium downstairs. I knew I had another 6 hour drive ahead of me in a few hours and only about 3 hours to sleep between then and breakfast, so I opted to try to get some sleep.
Thanks to Chris for the fabulous Christmas gift of an iPod nano, I was able to listen to some music to relax a bit to fall asleep. Billie Holiday, unfortunately, was no match for the snoring beast beside us! In the end I fell asleep to the sound of clashing swords and grunts of both those who swung them and those who were hit by them (sound effects on the armor display). Luckily they turned off the "you shall not pass" yell before bed.
They gave us each a free "scale" picture on Gandalf's cart. Janice, Sarah and I did it in such a way that Gandalf was taller than Arwen, but Arwen was taller than Rosie. Was very cute and I'll have to get the scanner working so I can post it. It's the only picture we got that night. We were just so busy running around in the exhibit and when we weren't, we were in the movie. I didn't think to stop to pose for pics except for those that people asked for with us (the first two hours we were there, the museum was still open and others had bought tickets to the IMAX movie and they seemed fascinated by the costumed geeks, heh). I'll have to dress up and get Chris to take some pics of me in the gown and all. Maybe it'll stay warm until the weekend and we can get some outdoors.
After breakfast in the morning, I headed back home. Luckily south of Louisville, the clouds parted to let the sun shine and helped that me stay awake. By the time I stopped for lunch in Nashville, it was 65 degrees and I cruised the rest of the way home with the sunroof cracked to get some fresh air and very welcome warmth!
Great trip, I had a blast and felt satisfied with the time I was able to spend there, not to mention got to meet three great ladies and talk costuming with them.
