Things I wish I'd known...

...before leaving school to (I think) have a better chance of getting into theatre:

Now I know seeing as I currently don't have a paid job in a big theatre you may not want to listen to anything I have to say on this matter.  However, at this moment in time I think I am finding out a lot of the information I wish I had found out before leaving (finishing) school and before having to make big decisions. So you may want to listen to what I have to say, you may not; but I believe knowing some of this stuff may help someone along their journey within a shorter amount of time than it is taking for me.

I feel like because of my career choice I didn't get sufficient advice from school on what to do; because I didn't want to go into business or become a doctor, etc. Schools main 'advice' (or at least mine) was go to university. It was the only option they pushed. "Everyone must have finished their personal statements by..." we only had one optional 30 minute talk about apprenticeships and college, and that was in lesson time as well (so depending on how much revision you wanted to get done or if you had an important lesson you had to attend, you may not have even had the opportunity to go and listen to it).

Some of this may only apply to costume but a lot is likely to also apply to many of the other departments within a theatre or perhaps even just the general creative industry...? I don't know, just take from it what you can.

Portfolio:

Likely hood is you will need to take a portfolio of your work to an interview; whether this is at an interview for a college course,  university course, or a job. This gives you the opportunity to show your future tutors/employers what you are capable of.

•  Try and use a variety of pieces. Drawing (sketches and detailed), designing, life drawing, photography, painting, masks, clothing/costumes you've made, millenary, sculpture.

• Using different medias: try different renderings for designs e.g. pencil, watercolour (pencil/paint),  acrylic, collage(paper/fabric), markers, mixed media.

• Perhaps include different styles: different eras, so include some historical/period designs as well as more modern designs.

• Include a range of sizes (this is very important, and apparently one of the reasons I didn't get onto one course.

On the portfolio guidelines I've seen, none of them have asked for ranges of sized pieces of work, nor the size of portfolio to bring. I did an A3 portfolio meaning easier transportation seeing as some interviews were much further away than others (requiring different transportation). Do a bigger portfolio. Seriously. Even if you do the majority small, you need to show you can work to a bigger scale as well. Even photocopying something to make it smaller, and telling them the original size will not be good enough. Bring some originals if possible, if not, try not to alter the sizes, unless it is ridiculously big...

•  Include samples: this shows you are actually capable of carrying out the techniques; they don't have to be big samples just enough to show perhaps a couple of repetitions of the technique.

• Perhaps include works from different years, showing your progression and improvement.

• Maybe include a mini project not given to you by schools etc; to show you're being intuitive and to show your passion for the subject. So include some researching methods, initial designs, final designs, samples, toilling and the final piece. Or just go up to the sample stage, depending on what kind of course/job you're applying for.

•  Some places also like you to bring along pieces you've actually made yourself, in order to look at them close up,  and see your ability better. However some ask to see photographs of garments instead, so make sure you pay attention to what is said.

Now I was never told what to include in my portfolio by any teacher; however some universities or most will tell you very simply (but not specifically) what they want to see in your portfolio, normally called 'Portfolio Guidelines'. These will most likely be sent to you when they invite you to interview; however a lot will have this on the courses page, meaning you can prepare in advance. They won't tell you how to lay it out, that is completely up to you; which might give you an opportunity to think creatively about how best to lay it out to represent you. Arranging the work so they complement each other and almost flow. However they are very likely to say how many pages to include in your portfolio, which varies from place to place. I think the ones I mainly saw varied from 8-10 pages to 15-20.

Some places will give you a mini project to complete for the interview, so they can get a feel for how you will do on the course. This is why you should have your portfolio ready before you get invited to interviews; so you then have time to rearrange it to their specific requirements (what best fits their portfolio guidelines and course) and can then focus on doing their mini project in time.

Ask for portfolio examples. If the university itself can't give you an example, ask around. See if you know anybody who knows someone on the course; for example ask your Art/Textiles/Drama teachers, they will most likely know of old students who have gone onto particular courses at certain universities/colleges. You then may be able to send them a message through facebook, email etc, and ask if they have any advice on what to include, any examples; you may find out more about how it actually is on the course this way, but remember to be polite about it, and make sure you thank them. They don't have to help you, just remember that.

Perhaps what you could suggest to your teachers, i.e. art/textiles teachers, is to have one lesson a week/ every two weeks, to spend putting together work for a portfolio. Or at least use some of your study/free periods to do it; the teachers may have some pointers for you if they're around.

A couple of my teachers were nice enough to offer to look through my portfolio to see if I needed to add/change anything, but they said it was really good. It got me through one interview but not another. Some just really want you to do an art  foundation degree whether they say you need it in the entry requirements or not...

Portfolio Interview:

Of course once you've finished your portfolio and you're in an interview; you need to be prepared to explain every inch of it. So make sure you know what you're going to say before you get to that point. 

Also get to know your portfolio well, including the lay out. Some will allow you to show them through your portfolio, others perhaps not...

Now I don't know if this is true, but I've heard that at one university they make you stand far enough away from your portfolio, so you can't see it. Truly testing whether you know your work or not, in order to explain it. However I must admit, I haven't been to one like this, but it's worth knowing your portfolio well enough just in case.

Be prepared that some of your interviews may be individual; some may be group interviews. An individual interview may be where you lay out your work on the table and are then timed to go through and explain your work. One of the interviews I went to, a timer was set, and you would be given 5 minutes to explain. A group interview will most likely be where you will lay out your portfolio and work on a table along with everyone else's,  and then be asked to leave (probably be given a tour of the place). This will be when the tutors look through your work. You will then come back and might be asked to pick out a page from your portfolio to talk about with the group, and will most likely be asked to answer a question that the whole group has or will also have to answer.

To me that sounds bad, and slightly terrifying but I've done a group interview (the one I've just explained) and that was actually the interview that went well for me. You see, everyone else in that group interview is in exactly the same situation and probably just as nervous and scared of people judging them. But just try to make light of the situation; try and talk to them as you are shown around the place, walking from one place to the next (obviously not when there is someone talking to you as a group, and definitely not in the interview!!!)

Now not to scare you, but they don't always warn you that it's going to be a group interview; for example, I didn't know it was going to be a group interview until we had had our introduction and welcome talk 10 minutes before. However as long as you are prepared, and know your work well, including your best piece and how to talk about it (e.g. why you think it's your best piece), you should be fine :)

Feedback:

Whenever you do have an interview for a course, job, apprenticeship, etc, and you don't get the job; always ask for feedback. Getting this feedback then allows you to take note (literally or mentally) on what to change/improve for your next interview, giving you a better chance next time.

Some will offer to give feedback without you even mentioning, however others won't. You have the right to ask for feedback, so make sure you ask for it if they don't offer. Sometimes that feedback can really help for the future, and sometimes make you feel slightly better about how the interview actually went.

University:

Try to go to as many open days as you can, to get a feel for the university, as well as get the chance to talk to your possible future tutors and mentors. Going to an open day will also give you a chance to have a look at the curriculum and what past students have done on the course, and most likely have the chance to talk to current students taking the course to get honest feedback, about how much work you should expect etc.

Apprenticeships:

I myself am currently applying to apprenticeships because I PERSONALLY (just my opinion) feel that it is a better way for me to get into the industry as: you are learning in a work environment; learning what they want and need you to know; get to work in a theatre and get a feel for what it could be like to have a job there; have the chance to network; get a reference from a respectable theatre/employer; still get the experience of going to college once a week; and earn money whilst learning. However a lot of places will only offer apprenticeships to 18-24 year olds, who haven't completed any other higher education than A-levels. Apprenticeships are also very competitive, (usually one or two apprentices to a work place), so don't be too disheartened if you don't get one straight away. Just keep trying if you really want one.

I would type in theatres in your area or the area you're looking, and search their individual websites for whether they run apprenticeships or not. Otherwise you can use the apprenticeship website:

https://apprenticeshipvacancymatchingservice.lsc.gov.uk/navms/forms/Vacancy/SearchVacancy.aspx

With this website you can sign up to get email alerts if one comes along that fits your search requirements (you can usually do this on theatre websites as well). However I have found that they don't list all costume apprenticeships that I have found on individual websites; but it's probably still worth signing up for the alerts any way.

College:

In year 10 at school we had a thing called 'Star 14', where on a Wednesday some students would spend the day at college doing another course. However at this point I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do so didn't want the added stress of doing an additional course I wasn't completely sure about, but this would have been extremely useful if I had.

I'm not sure if all colleges do this 'star 14' option but might be worth looking into.

I think the qualifications you could get from the courses were BTECs.

You also have the option of going to college after school, whether this is instead of sixth form to get A levels in several subjects or to get qualifications in a specialised subject.

For example a lot of Art/fashion related BA/ BA (Hons) degree courses ask for an Art Foundation diploma as one of the entry requirements, but others don't (make sure you check).

At some colleges you can also take higher education/degree courses. I'm not sure what the pros and 

cons of doing this are but perhaps worth looking at colleges as well as universities for higher education.

Experience:

Experience is incredibly important. Everywhere and anywhere you go.

Get any experience you can as early as you can. I've been  volunteering to do costume at my local amateur dramatics group for almost a year now, and it has been such good experience. You may not be necessarily taught what to do, but you can learn so much from it yourself. Whether you help within a department or in my case become an entire department. I would seriously recommend joining a local group if you can, to help with or do the costumes for them.

It may seem like a lot of work to do for free. Likelihood is they will pay you back for anything you do need to buy, so you won't be out of money. However, you should be able to consider it worth your time if you think about it, as great experience you can write about in applications for courses and jobs,  and can put on your CV. It will also allow you to practice your skills, and perhaps give you the opportunity to give a hand doing something you wouldn't normally do; such as helping the group with other things if needed such as props, sets, and filling in for absent actors in rehearsals (if not busy with other priorities). You can also use the items you make for the shows in your portfolio, showing you can do costume within a performance environment, and to deadlines (very important, a point that comes up in a lot of job descriptions).

I would recommend either searching for a local group and emailing or phoning them up, to talk about whether you could come and help out, or perhaps ask to come along to one of the sessions to chat about possibilities. I wrote a letter to the group asking whether I could help out with the costumes for their Christmas Panto, giving other contact details on the letter, we then exchanged emails to arrange for me to come along and have a talk and meet the other members. I then decided to stay on and am now in charge of costumes for the group's productions at the moment.

Work experience: At a lot of schools in my area, during year 10 or 11 we have to take a week of work experience as it gives students the opportunity to have some kind of experience to put on their CV for when they leave school, or want to apply for a job.

Search throughout theatres in your local area or any if you're willing to travel and see if they carry out work placements. Some will, some won't, but don't miss your chance.  I have found out that some theatres will only allow work placements to be eligible for year 10/11 students or those on the second/third year of a relevant degree course.

However if you apply for a job or apprenticeship and don't get it, they sometimes offer to give you work experience, for however long. Leap at that opportunity and take it. If they forget about it, follow it up. If they get back and then forget again, keep following up. Repeat until it is organised. I missed out on some great work experience because I followed up a few times and then felt like I was bugging them too much (knowing that they were busy at the time and so didn't send any more reminders (I had sent a few beforehand which they replied to) and lost the opportunity.

Employment in the mean time (not in a theatre):

When you've finished school and going on to higher education or part time courses, you are most likely going to have to get a job.

Now I know academics are important and you may want to focus on your studies whilst you can and especially when it comes up to deadlines and exams (like me), but getting some kind of work experience before leaving school is vital.

It now comes to the point of one week of work experience isn't enough for a lot of jobs (some maybe but most no), including retail jobs; they want at least a year's work experience. So if you can get a Saturday/part time or a summer job for a year it is likely to help you out when you leave school and need a job as opposed to just wanting one for extra money.

Courses:

Part time/evening courses: If you feel like you have time to after school, or perhaps in your holidays see if there are any part time or evening courses that you could attend to boost your confidence and knowledge, on subjects that could potentially help you later on.

This may be courses held in universities, colleges or even haberdasheries. A lot of haberdasheries around me do part time/evening courses on dress making, pattern making and other sewing related things. Perhaps  see if yours holds some next time you go in to buy some fabric.

Many universities and colleges hold summer schools were you can go on intense or short courses during the summer. Courses held at well known places will be booked up fast, so if this sounds like something you'd want to do, get searching. I believe RADA and Central St Martin's do summer schools, but I'd just search around.

Even if they're courses where you don't get a qualification on completion, you will still get a lot from them. I've taken some part time courses at a local haberdashery and learnt a lot from them, but didn't get a qualification. It doesn't mean I didn't learn new skills which help me now though, does it?

If you can, doing these courses will most likely boost your confidence; talking to people with similar interests; self confidence in what you're doing; and will give you something to put on your CV and add into your portfolio.

Networking:

From doing these courses you can also start networking with possible future colleagues and employers; so act nicely, politely and try to make a good impression but most importantly just be yourself. You may never know how helpful some of these people can be; for example I did a short evening course for a few weeks and seemed to have made a good impression on the teacher, and she has since offered me help and advice through emails.

I also know someone who was offered a summer job from one of his university tutors, because of being impressed with him and his work during the term; however that wasn't a theatre related job but was still in the creative industry.

Competitions:

Always be on the lookout for creative competitions you can enter. Some schools will know of competitions you can enter, however I would get looking around yourself as well.

Some of the websites I list in the 'websites' section almost always have a competition running, however they may not always be relevant to you.

I recently came across a competition that just popped up on my facebook news feed as one of the sponsored adverts and just clicked on it; got designing and then entered it. It was a costume design competition to celebrate the release of Disney's new Cinderella film, where they were giving the winner the chance to have their design made and the runners up to win the film on DVD.

Doing these competitions gives you the opportunity to practice working to a brief and a deadline; if you then get a place, it's also something to put on your CV and in your portfolio.

If you wanted, I could put up competition links if I happen to come across any?

Career fairs for beyond the stage:

I recently came across Theatre Craft: http://www.theatrecraft.org/ which is a FREE careers fair for careers beyond the stage (basically anything in a theatre other than performance) which takes place at the Royal Opera House in London every year in autumn for 16-25 year olds.

My school arranged to go to a UCAS convention which is just a convention about Universities and colleges.  They are less likely to have all the information you need to make well informed decisions about all the ways you can get into the industry. This career fair is specific to theatre, which is likely to be so much better than any other careers fair for you to go to if you know this is the industry you want to get into. At Theatre Craft they have: Ask the experts, Workshops, the Marketplace, Q&As and the Networking Hub.

I'm going to see if I can go this year to find out some more information for myself, as it sounds like it's definitely worth it.

I believe booking is now open for Theatre Craft 2015 and is to be held on November 20th.

Websites/organisations:

It is extremely likely in this day and age that you have some form of social media; use it to get information on your future career path. There are so many pages that you can follow to find out interesting and relevant information on creative jobs, courses, etc. Here are a few I've come across recently:

Hiive: https://app.hiive.co.uk/

This is a networking platform but solely for people in the creative industry. The great thing about this site is that they not only allow you to network with people, but they also have sections on Companies, Courses,  Jobs, Q&As, Knowledge and current competitions running. You can also join groups and communities (called Swarms) based on more specific interests. Now and then Hiive also runs networking meet ups.

Ideastap: http://www.ideastap.com/

Creativeskillset: http://creativeskillset.org/

Creative Choices: http://ccskills.org.uk/careers

I follow Creative Choices on facebook and find it interesting as it brings up interviews with creative professionals, current vacancies, general advice and useful links. For example on their facebook page they have recently put up two articles that have caught my eye: '5 Self-promotion tactics for quiet people' and '10 top tips for landing a creative job'.

(If you want to look at these two articles here are the links so you don't have to go searching: http://ccskills.org.uk/careers/develop-your-career/article/5-self-promotion-tactics-for-quiet-people1?utm_source=newsletter%20251&utm_medium=email&utm_content=5%20self-promotion%20tactics%20for%20quiet%20people&utm_campaign=newsletter

http://ccskills.org.uk/careers/advice/article/10-top-tips-for-landing-a-creative-job?utm_source=newsletter%20251&utm_medium=email&utm_content=10%20top%20tips%20for%20landing%20a%20creative%20job&utm_campaign=newsletter)

Passion and Interest:

Start going to the theatre more often. I know this sounds obvious but it can also seem really hard sometimes because going to the theatre can be so expensive; but it doesn't have to be large professional theatre companies. Go to your local drama group's production for probably a third or even less of the price. There is likely to be one in your town or the next. Or go to an amateur theatre company's show. You'll still get that show experience and develop your interest.

Go to exhibits in theatres, museums (the V&A in London is free and has a fashion and costume section) and even historical places; for example many National Trust properties have small costume displays/ exhibits and sometimes put on events in costume, for example  a 1940s wedding at Upton House.

Places like the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) will have special discounts and offers for under 25s, 16-25 year olds or NUS card holders; for example the RSC have the RSC Key which is free to sign up to and then allows you to purchase theatre tickets for just £5 instead, and also exclusive offers such as Q&As with directors of the current plays being shown and more.

It's worth a look if you have something similar in your local area or even if you just come to visit close to the RSC, and fancy seeing something there for a fiver: http://www.rsc.org.uk/support-us/key/

Some smaller companies also offer discount ticket prices for under 25s and NUS card holders, so look into it!

Some areas have event meet-ups, where you can go to the theatre for a meet-up or something...not entirely sure but perhaps worth looking into if your friends or family don't particularly like going to the theatre.

Start reading what I call 'technical books', so books on the area you're interested in, and start expanding your knowledge on the subject. For example I'm interested in Costume as you can tell from the blog, but I am especially interested in period costume and historical designs, so I have some books on this topic, such as 'SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FASHION IN DETAIL by Avril Hart and Susan North' which goes through techniques used at the time, reasons why and details you should look out for.

Well, this is all I can think of for now; if I think of any other things to add I will do an updated version.

Please let me know of any other information you think should be added to this list in the comments below  :)

Good luck! Hope this helps someone.

~K

Snow White and the Curse of the Ice Queen: The Prince and his Page

Photo by Ashley Foster

Within every panto there is a mini love story where we have the principal boy and girl, there is always a Prince Charming-esque character, but in this one, it's the real thing. Mr Prince Charming himself.

Now Prince Charming in this case thinks a lot of himself but is suave at the same time. In one of the descriptions in the script it says "(...Extremely well groomed and looked after...)". We could also tell this from the sort of lines he has in the play for example: "I guess I didn't need to use that false tan last night", "My hair is looking fine. I do like that new hair gel". "I've had my eyebrows waxed and my skin is just amazing today". He likes to take pride in his appearance which had to show in his outfits as well.

Prince Costume #1: Regular Suit

Design by Katie Pollitt, Photo by Ashley Foster

For the Prince's first costume I decided to go with a navy blue suit, red tie and white shirt (Union Jack colours) because as you know, Prince's have to look smart and presentable at all times. So his everyday wear had to be a suit. Luckily enough, the actress's brother had a suit that fitted her rather well, with a navy blue waistcoat to match the navy trousers, however we had no navy jackets that would fit without having to do a lot of altering, so we just stuck with the costume he had as it looked very suave; especially with its matching handkerchief tucked into the breast pocket.

Photo by Ashley Foster

Page Costume #1:

The Prince's Page acted like a guard but also admired the Prince and  wanted to be so much like him, so I dressed him in a suit as well, to copy the Prince, but it wouldn't be as well-fitting. He also wore a bad tie and sunglasses.

Prince Costume #2: Gym Gear

Design by Katie Pollitt

Now because the Prince seemed very vain, he had to rub it in people's faces that he worked out.

"Prince: Today couldn't get any better boys and girls.

Page: (following behind with admiration) You're right about that.

Prince: I've been to the gym.

Page: You're looking so fit.

Prince: I've got my new Gucci watch."

It was time for Prince Charming to have his first date with who he thought was going to be Snow White.

It seemed like an appropriate time to have a costume change for the Prince, and he practically told us what he should wear.

The Prince wore shorts and a vest, a gold watch, boxing boots and of course his crown. As you can see in the design above, I wanted to keep to the red, white and blue theme because of being English royalty it seemed right to make it look obvious...with the Union Jack colours. However due to the small amount of modern stock and using some of the juniors' own clothes, finding a pair of red shorts was very hard, so in the end the actresses own blue shorts were worn with a white vest.

Page Costume #2:

As the Prince's best man, due to lack of choice in the cast according to the script, ("either that or we didn't have enough cast members to offer an alternative. We haven't even got a vicar or any guests!"). The Page needed to suit up, even more so...

So a jacket was added, tie exchanged for a burgundy bow tie, and I would have liked a matching cummerbund and get rid of the waistcoat. But because I didn't have any fabric to match the bow tie at the time to make the cummerbund we instead kept the waistcoat on underneath the jacket.

If I had more spare time I would have used my own red fabric to make the cummerbund with a matching bow tie.

Prince Costume #3: The Wedding Suit

Design by Katie Pollitt

To be honest this blog post was mainly to talk about Wedding Shirt for Prince Charming...

I really enjoyed doing the princes wedding shirt and am pretty pleased with it, but next time may stiffen the button placket in order to stop the gold twisted cord trim from buckling the placket.

I designed Prince Charming's wedding outfit with inspiration from Prince William's wedding attire, with some slight differences. You can probably guess that we didn't have this exact shirt in the stock shed, so I looked around for anything that looked like a red shirt that could be altered. Luckily enough I came across 3 of these weird looking demon worshipper type long shirts, with the perfect collar shape. So I decided to have a go at making one of these work as the wedding shirt... with some alterations of course...

The Fitting:

The first main alteration I did was cut off all the rags and unpicked the black arm bands with red glittery symbols on. This then allowed me to try it directly on the actress, and then pin to the correct height and fit, as can be seen below.

Photo by Ashley Foster

Once I had fitted the shirt to her with pins, I then measured out the fittings to make sure that the hem of the shirt  and lengths of the sleeves would be equal. I did this by folding the shirt directly in half, and made markings with the tailors chalk, this then gave me points of where to equal up the measurements. Now when I was doing this I would head towards the smaller take in measurement, because if you take in too much on both sides to make it look equal, you will of course be left with something too tight/short, so a little extra leave way room is always best, I think.

I then unpicked the mismatching buttons and swapped these for 5 slightly domed shiny gold buttons for down the centre button placket. I added a section of black material from the ends of the sleeves to make up the proper sleeve length reaching to the wrist joint. When I had added this addition to the sleeve it appeared quite blocky/bulky so I altered this easily by turning the shirt inside out and pinning until it had the right appearance; I then just sewed up this line. However I kept the excess on until I had another fitting with the actress to be there for an alteration if necessary. This could then either be trimmed off or depending on the amount left you could sew it over to one side.

I then trimmed the collar and the edge of the button placket with gold twisted cord; I stitched this over the seam of the red and black fabric of the sleeve. I also added a gold section with 3 points (not quite sure how else to describe it) like the one seen on Prince William's wedding shirt, trimming again with the gold twisted cord. On the inside of this shape I added the 4 sleeve buttons (as a feature rather than a fastening) and an inner cord shaping the edge.

The Epaulettes:

For the Prince's wedding shirt we needed epaulettes and therefore I made some...

I did this very easily and with very little sewing involved.

First of all I needed to decide on a style of epaulet, the majority of the time now the epaulettes are almost completely rectangular if not pointed at one end (or at least the ones I've seen recently), however I wanted to go for the style where there was a circle at the end which would hang over the shoulder. I would then be attaching a tasselled trim to hang from the edge of the curve.

I tried to find the official measurements of epaulettes, however I had a bit of trouble, but in the end of looking at many people's thoughts on measurements I went for a width of 2.5" for the rectangular section, going into a diameter of 3" for the circular end; the length of it then depends on the shoulder width from the edge of the collar seam.

When pinning to the material, I didn't pin it properly as I knew it would be hard to get it through the card; but if I did this with  a pattern that isn't flexible it would create buckles in the material once cut out. So instead I just stuck the pins in once at an angle to cut in place (rather than weaving each pin through twice). In the photo is the piece of card that would be left in the epaulettes, so I cut round this with a 1.5cm seam allowance.

At this point it was one of those moments when I wish I had a rotary cutter (and board) instead of just dressmaking scissors, but they sufficed.

Once two are cut out per shoulder, I used a glue gun (but to be honest super glue will do) to run glue around the edges and then folded the fabric over making sure that it was pulled tight enough to make a flat surface on the right side. I then stuck pins in to keep the folds in place whilst drying. The reason why I kept the card in the epaulettes was to make them stiff and to keep the shape better.

I stuck the top and bottom layers together, again using super glue, with the end of the tasselled trim at the edge where the circle meets the rectangle, in between. I then ran glue around the join of the two layers of the circles, and the trim along the side; making sure the top of the trim peeked over the top ever so slightly, and tucked into the opposite side between the layers to finish off. I again placed pins around just to hold the trim in place whilst drying.

When the glue had dried I slip stitched the two layers of fabric together so you couldn't see the gap where the awful gap was; this also acted as a second, more secure sealant.

I stitched on a darker cord to the top of the epaulettes; tracing the outer shape  to add more of a detail to them and to look a little more interesting.

When I was attaching the epaulettes to the shirt itself I had to make sure that I had tied the kingfisher blue belt on underneath the epaulette, otherwise this would mean having to sew at either end of the epaulet and thread the belt through and re-tie the belt each time we needed to change the costume. Instead I sewed directly through the epaulet and belt to the shirt. Sewing them together by just catching the fabric on the bottom layer of the epaulettes, hence why we needed to cover both layers. When putting the shirt on this meant that we had to slip the tied belt over the head and put the arm through. This saved a lot of time and hassle during changes.

The Accessories:

Any kind of royal occasion means blingin' it up; so expect rich colours, bows and gold and silver accessories. For the Prince this included:

Medals:

 I decided that Prince Charming needed some kind of medal(s) so I thought of the most obvious ones he could have would be the Queen's Diamond and Golden Jubilee medals, meaning that they had been in service during the time of the Jubilee for several years.

To do this I found out the measurements of the medals (32mm diameter) and used my compass to produce the correct size. I then also added a section above to thread the ribbon through which would attach to the shirt. Once cut out, I painted the Golden Jubilee medal gold and the Diamond Jubilee medal silver.  When dry, I drew on the profiles of the Queen and the inscriptions around the edge.

I would need to make the ribands (ribbons) for the medals as well. I found you can either have the medals Swing mounted, meaning they are able to swing freely; or Court mounted which you wear slightly overlapping each other on a backing board. I decided to go with the swing medals, so created the matching width and length to make up the correct 'drop' of the medals in white cotton (95mm). Sewing up one side (right sides together) and then turning them the right way out to paint the appropriate coloured stripes on. Once dry I then folded them over, length ways, and stitched across the top. Now, I would have threaded the ribbon through, folded, sewn and then turned the medal out, but because I made the medals out of card, I didn't want them to be bent/torn when turning them out. Instead I snipped the middle of the upper bar and slotted it into the ribbon and then taped it back together on the inside of the ribbon.

Order of the Garter Insignias:

I made the Order of the Garter Star emblem from card; once drawn and painted I ran my fingernail down the back of each point, giving that curved 3Dimensional appearance to it. To attach I then sewed a few stitches in a cross in the centre, making sure the holes were far enough apart to make sure the card would still have some strength around the stitches.

I also made the smaller belt Order of the Garter swinging emblem which is worn hanging from the loop of the bow tied at the side of the Kingfisher blue belt.

I drew it out on card; cut out with a craft knife and then painted it gold. When dry I then went over the detail in pencil to look like engravings.

Oddly enough we already had the sash in the stock shed; the perfect size to tie a big bow at the side. However to make sure I didn't have to keep fiddling with tying and re-tying to get a good bow during the costume changes; I sewed the bow in place when tied well. I then threaded a thin gold ribbon through the hole of the emblem and the loop of the bow, tied a knot in the ribbon and moved it around until the knot was hidden inside the bow loop.

Here is a close up look of the medals and emblems, when attached to the shirt for the wedding.

The Spot the Difference:

The shirt was then paired with a pair of black school trousers,  which I had tacked some 2" wide gold ribbon down the outer seams of the legs; as the trousers were needed again afterwards for the actress to use for school.

Photo by Ashley Foster

Page Costume: #3 ish

Design by Katie Pollitt

*SPOILERS*

In the last scene, the Page saves the Prince from marrying the evil Ice Queen, who was still under the impression he was marrying Snow White.

He did this by melting the Ice Queen with a hair dryer...makes sense...

"(Page walks back on stage wrapped in a scarf and hat, carrying a hairdryer which he trains on the queen)"

So clearly all that had to be done in this case was put a scarf and hat on him and hand him a hair dryer.

The Links:

Thank you to Ashley Foster for the character portraits and 'behind-the-scenes' photo, if you want to have a look at his other work or more photos from the junior production please visit his website at http://ashleyfosterphotography.co.uk/  

If you are interested in the drama group itself that I do the costumes for please check out their website at http://www.thegrangeplayers.co.uk or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegrangeplayers

So that's it for the coverage of the juniors production of 'Snow White and the Curse of the Ice Queen' by Peter Nutall; I hope you've enjoyed this little insight. I'm hoping to do something similar for the pantomime we did back in February (the first production I was part of) with both the adult and junior members of the group, but we'll have to see how good my memory is.

By the way, I'm sorry about the gap in posting a couple of weeks ago, I was on holiday; but this was a very long post, so hopefully that will help make up for it :)

Talk to you soon.

~K