I should have known though, that Ga would not be allowed to just attend the performance and brag...oh no!! Ga was expected to be a willing participant as well....in the area of costume design! When Matti came over to tell us what part she got in the play, she also informed me the costumes that were available were old...and stinky! LOL! And of course that was followed with, "I told them I'd just have my Ga make my costume"...uh....thanks child! Apparently she figured since I was able to whip out an Elsa costume for one night of Halloween I could surely whip out a Tin Man costume for the school play...well...all righty then...let's get started!
Having seen a totally cute and well designed Tin Man on one of my regularly followed blogs I thought it would be somewhat of a piece of cake...okay, a wedding cake perhaps, but at least I had a starting point!! I had actually thought of making one of the grandsons the very same costume for next Halloween, however I was informed by the granddaughter she wasn't actually going to BE the Tin Man...she was the Tin Woods GIRL...aka...feminine design!! Uh oh...I was possibly in trouble! But, up to the Maker Room I climbed, put my thinking cap on (where was that Scarecrow and his brain when I needed him!), and got to work. I had perused some images on the internet, but was still not quite sure how I wanted to design this thing...after all, most of the "costumes" on the internet were a little too "adult" looking for my tastes. Hip high skirts and plunging necklines was not exactly what I had in mind, but still, they gave me a few ideas. And as is usual in most of my makings, hubs and I headed off to the thrift stores to begin the search. My first thought was to start with a prom dress and work my way up (or possibly out!) if I could find one shiny enough and cheap enough...nothing! I was to be sadly disappointed in my search, but I did manage to come up with a .10 pattern and a pair of boots...it was a start!
Of course, being a Tin Man/Girl you're made from....well, TIN! Tin is shiny and when put together it is riveted. In the movie you can see the Tin Man's rivets, they are what rusts when he gets caught out in the forest during a rain storm. The granddaughter's opening scene is in the forest...rusted...hmmm, must have rivets!!! ;) The daughter and I headed off to Walmart looking for material. Luckily we found some super shiny stuff in stock. Not knowing exactly where the design was going to go as of yet, she bought the last couple of yards they had on the bolt. I picked up some tulle and some other kind of material that I have no clue what it was called, but it was darker, metallic, and meshy...I'd figure it out later! ;)
While I was busy working on the costume, I put her uncle to work on making her an axe and her Pa to work on a funnel and oil can and to coming up with ideas as to what to use for those rivets. Pa went digging in his workshop and came up with the funnel and oil can...a couple coats of paint and he had them ready to go. Her Uncle Patrick took about 25 minutes to whip out a wooden axe and then brought me a box of hex nuts to use for the rivets. He had intended to make her a wooden heart as well, complete with clock face and chain until we found out in this play the Tin Man receives a heart of gold. In one of the ending scenes the gold heart is attached, but of course it also had to be "un-attached" quickly and easily throughout all the performances. I racked my brain trying to figure out how to make that heart de-tachable. Patrick brought me a small washer and a small strip of strong magnet and told me to just sew the one inside the lining of the top and attach the other to the gold felt heart...worked perfect!! Once I had the costume done I pulled out those hex nuts and some jewelry glue and "riveted" it all together...pretty darn cute!! Her mother was in charge of make-up, so online to Amazon she went and placed her order. The countdown was coming and dress rehearsals were about to start, but we were finally ready!!
The kids had four performances, three to be done for the school and the finale for the community. Friday night was the final performance and the first time I got to see everyone in costume and in action....they did GREAT!! As a grandparent it doesn't matter whether your grandkids can really perform...they're yours, so naturally they're just going to be good to you whether anyone else thinks so or not, but I'm telling you...ALL of these kids did a super job!I was so impressed, not only at their acting abilities, but their stage props, lighting, costumes...all of it! I'm sure their teacher had a lot to do with how well this performance went off...she's a super cool lady (my granddaughter's words!) whom the kids all love and she loves them...you could tell it in this play. Were they ready for Broadway...maybe not, but they were pretty darn close in my books! :)
Hopefully though, with the school year winding down, Ga will be off the hook for awhile in designing anything. There's still a few months until Halloween and I've already called a break in any other forthcoming endeavors...after all, it's almost gardening time and no amount of costuming is going to interrupt me in THAT! It was some fun in the making, perhaps a few hair pulling moments, and only a couple of pins that forgot to be removed, but it still ended up being a grand performance for all of us!!
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