Rose Tyler Sneak Peek

Just a quick sneak peek of my Rose Tyler costume, which is almost done! I'll post full pictures when I get to wear it to my friends costume party on the 25th. Until then, this'll have to do.

A day at the Opera

A few weeks ago the Seattle Opera had an open house to come and see some of the costumes and behinds the scenes of the opera. I was super excited was hoping to get to see lots of costumes and maybe even some wigs. Well, it was a bit disappointing. There ended up being only 2 costumes on display and some costume sketches along with a few fabric samples. Not exactly what I was hoping for.

This was the first costume we found. I forgot which opera it was from, but it was really pretty! I loved the colors and the embroidery and the train.

Later in the afternoon there was a demonstration on the opera stage where they talked a bit about some of the special effects they use, which was pretty cool, though it was pretty short.

The stage was huge! This is a view looking up from where I was sitting at the demonstratoin.

Lots, and lots or ropes...

This was one of the costumes from Don Giovanni, whic was pretty neat. I loved the boots on this costume!

At the very end was what we thought was going to be a 45 minute opera, but ended up being more sort of talking about opera, guys screaming, a little bit of singing, and stuff. Yes, there was a screaming contest. 

Thanks to me we got front row seats. While we were waiting for the demonstration to start we talked about Phantom of the Opera and tried to figure out where box 5 was so we could make sure it stayed empty. :D

Overall it was a great experience even if it was a bit weak from what I had hoped for. And I learned I may like opera (still have to actually go to an opera before I decide on that one).

Custom Wig Head Tutorial!

A few weeks ago I attempted to style my wig for my Rose costume, and while it looked alright on my styrofoam wig head, it looked pretty bad once I put it one my head. It was because the wig head was so much smaller than my actual head. When I had it on you could see the wefts and in area's where it wasn't so thick you could see the brown of my actual hair.

I decided I needed to get a wig head that fit my head so I could style my wigs on it. I started watching lot's of video's on YouTube on wigs. My main focus has been on Broadway wigs, just because they're very high end and look amazing! I was surprised by how many video's I've been able to find about Broadway wigs.

I found a backstage video about the wigs from Wicked, which showed how they make the wigs for the show. You can view the video HERE. Anyways, I went and used the technique they showed in the video to customize my cheap wig head.

And thus, I present to you, the Custom Wig Head Tutorial!

This is my styrofoam head I started out with. I purchased it at Jo-Ann's for around $5.

First things first, put your hair up how you wear it when your wig is on. I just put my hair in 2 braids then cross them and pin them to my head. I also like to pin my bangs back flat on top of my head before putting my wig cap on.

For the next part you're going to need cellophane, packing tape, and scissors (if you need them).

Next I had my mom cover my head with a few layers of cellophane making sure that it went over my hair line a bit.

 After that she put a few layers of tape over top of the cellophane to get the shape of my head. Then she took a marker and traced my hairline before removing the whole thing from my head.

When that was done I placed the casting on my Styrofoam head and taped it on with more packing tape. Then I cut a slit in the back and began stuffing it with poly fill. I ended up cutting a few different slits to make sure I stuffed the entire head and tapped them up again when I was done.

 I took a few measurements of my head with the wig cap still on and measured my head as I was stuffing it to make sure the measurements were the same.

And that's it! A custom wig head that cost practically nothing! Below is the finished wig head with my wig on it.