Puck Photo Gallery

This is my version of Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream.  For an independent study in design I was asked to design eight characters from the play, but bringing Puck into concrete reality was a solo project of mine.

She looks absolutely nothing like my costume sketch.

Yes, my Puck is female.  I thought it would be a good dynamic between her and Oberon, since every other character seems to be falling in love except for Puck and Oberon.  Why not make a little romance?  A homosexual relationship would also have been cool, but for selfish reasons I made Puck female--because I wanted to play the character.

I forgot to take photos of this costume as I made it.  Oops.  I'll describe my process as best I can:

The dress is made of a rayon brocade from Japan and originally intended for making Buddhist monks' vestments.  It has a gold sheen.  I used the same fabric to do dragon scale smocking on the bodice and sleeves.  My cloak and skirt are made of tulle layers, tattered using a soldering iron (this prevents the fabric from fraying).  The cloak collar is also brocade, embroidered, and beaded.  It attaches to the dress using gold leaf-shaped bracelet clasps.

The wig is a lace fronted Arwen from Arda Wigs.  There are about sixty tiny braids worked into the base wig itself.  Over a pair of paper clay horns I added two large braids and flower accents.  Additionally, there are three gold filigree hair pins and two larger oval pendants sewn at the temples.  A scrap of kimono fabric serves as a hair tie in the back.

This costume was completed in December 2013.
Puck won a craftsmanship award in Master division at Arisia 2014.

Elsa Photo Gallery

Elsa was started in March 2014 and completed in June 2014.  She still needs a bit of work, including a last restyle of the wig and some additional scale mail around the bottom hem of the corset, but other than that she is considered complete.  Shoes will also be added to the ensemble in January 2015 when I enter Elsa in competition.

Textiles are all from a March trip I made to New York City.  Some fabrics were sold as silk (namely the blue and gold brocade), but later fiber tests indicated that they were actually synthetics, albeit good imitations.  I'm still 99% certain that the pleated skirt is silk, so at least that is something.

Embroidery work is accomplished using an amalgamation of techniques, including goldwork and beadwork.  I also combined unusual elements such as scale mail scales and jump rings for extra effect.

Brooches and earrings that I used in my wig and on my corset are vintage and second-hand.

All other information, including photos of the construction process, can be found in my progress posts:
Elsa the Glitter Queen Part 1
Elsa the Glitter Queen Part 2
Elsa the Glitter Queen Part 3