Woot! Been working on Ange's birthday pressie. I got the most challenging part done today (shaping metal- no no forging was required just getting %#&%# pieces to fit together) and I just need to buy the next part. I'll try for that tomorrow. S. almost got part of her pressie on Wednesday but I was not quite quick enough to get it baggied in time. I hope she's ok with next week :)

I've also been playing about a bit with cardboard and making templates of things so I think I shall try and find some more of the board I have just been using as it'll be nice and solid and absorb a lot of resin. It might be the easiest method to get a nice rigid headdress for my Padme you see. If not it will be the last $5 of my Xmas vouchers used to but said product;)

Ummm yes my confidence in regards to non fabric costuming is starting to increase again. I've been a bit low because of additional health issues making my exsisting ones that much worse but I know my ability to work in those areas is only hampered by that. Not by an inability to understand how to. I know I have a lot of rote learning to remember what materials work with what (in much the same way I learnt weft from warp and a lowish level of chemistry of man made fibres and natural) so that I am more clearly understood when making queries but that's just time.
To remember styrene vs Sintra I remember opposites to what I expect: used to foam polystyrene but Styrene is a slick and shiny material. I'm used to shiny slippery PVC but sintra is foam board pvc.

I was also reading a Marc Silvestri sketchbook last night and was kind of surprised by one page. It was in regards to designing a character and sketching the element of costume from multiple angles to make sure it looks good from all directions. For me, I think in 3D anyway when designing so that boot (in this instance) would have been designed that way from the start in my head- it would then be a practice to get what's in my head to the page! I think that way of imagining really helps me in my designing or deconstruction process. It certainly helps me visualise the internal structures of a garment because I'm thinking of the interior layers as well as what can be seen.

And thinking about it I recall trying to visualise multiple views of a garment when I would do fan drawings so it isn't inate but something I deveoloped over time by studying and making scales miniatures for dolls etc. I think this is why it is very hard for me to describe how to do something to others