Fantasy and craftsmanship

[cjsmith]

Sometimes, when I enjoy a science fiction or fantasy novel, I want to see the world the characters inhabit. I want to see the dilithium crystals, touch a wizard's robes, all that stuff. In particular, I am definitely not too old to want to play dress-up. I would love to have a replica of Talia's Whites or Rivakonneva's armor hanging in my closet right beside all the other specialty garments I never wear. I'd want them to feel and fit as much like the originals as I could imagine; a polyester-cloth version of boiled leather armor wouldn't cut it.

Childish, in a way, but I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Fifteen years ago, when I used to go to cons, some part of the dealers' room was usually dedicated to just this sort of fantasy... but it wasn't very good at satisfying any specific yearning. There were people selling generic chainmail, generic cloaks, plastic phasers, and poorly-crafted daggers. I wonder if it's changed much.

If it hasn't, I wonder if there's room for a craftswoman who replicates specific things. Someone who reads the book, researches its universe a little, and can put together an outfit and a bunch of accessories that lets the wearer pretend. Unfortunately, that's probably time-consuming and expensive, so it'd be marketed to the aging wannabes with careers (like me) and not really to the penniless college wannabes (like I used to be).

It does sound a bit too much like work though... especially having to re-fit any given design to a wide variety of sizes and imaginations ("Del's tunic does too have a sash to belt it!"). Maybe I should just whip up one or two for me, twirl around in them, and hang them in the closet next to everything else I never wear.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

What you would need to do is make ones that fit you perfectly, then go to the cons and model them, and take orders. Hand make them to fit specific customers.

Yes, I was coming to realize that each one would be a custom job. The inventory required to do any differently would cripple me.

And if you got really good, and really liked it, you could get on the set of plays and/or movies as costume designer when folks did adapted versions of the books. :)

In my dreams! (Costume designers get someone ELSE to do the grunt work.) But that'd be convenient -- keep from having to redo all the designs when the movie comes out. :-)

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

In my dreams!

Really? This is something you'd like to do? I say go for it, girl, at LEAST at an amateur level (I'm sure many smaller theatre companies would love you have your creativity ... then if you liked it, you could build from there .....)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I've done it at the amateur level, and unfortunately I don't think I need to do it again. I'm too old to pull that many all-nighters for shoddy results and no remuneration :-(. My dream is to have enough budget, time, and/or help to do a job I could be proud of... and getting paid would, sadly, be pretty much required. (Now if I were financially set to retire, that last part might be different.)