costume.sirwatson.com        Elizabethian-Corset | Eowyn Shieldmaiden Gown | Jack Sparrow Welcome to the SirWatson costuming site! To view my past and current projects, click on the green links above. This site is still a work in progress, so please stop by frequently to see if anything new has been added. A lot of people ask me how I got into making glass beads, and I always tell them it's a rather interesting story. You may be wondering what glass beads has to do with costuming, so I'll share my story with you as well to answer this question. :) How it all Began In the middle of 2001, you may have seen some previews for a little movie that seemed like it would actually be worth the $8-10 to see in the theaters. As December of 2001 approached, I got more and more excited to see this movie; as did my (then) boyfriend and friends. This movies was the first in the Lord of the Rings series: The Fellowship of the Ring. Now at the time, I had never heard of the Lord of the Rings nor did I know who J.R.R. Tolkien was, but I was still excited to see the movie since I love great stories with lots of action and adventure. Anyway, I went to see the movie on opening night and absolutely LOVED IT! I was immediately hooked on Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The next day I went to the store and picked up The Two Towers and The Return of the King, however, before reading them, I just had to see FOTR 2-3 more times. :) I read through the two books at lightning speed since I couldn't put them down! I was addicted to Frodo's story and was awed by the world that Tolkien created. Once I was done with the books, I couldn't wait for December (2002) to arrive so I could see the movie version of the Two Towers! During 2002, I stumbled across a great website with tons of LOTR information and news. I checked it on a daily basis, where one day, something special caught my eye. A "Two Towers Line Party"? What the heck was that? Well, I quickly learned that a line party is just that...a party you throw while standing in line; specifically the line to get into the theater on opening night. I thought this sounded like a great idea and a lot of fun! I couldn't wait to locate my St. Louis Line Party since I was totally addicted to LOTR by this point. Unfortunately, there was only one line party in St. Louis, and the person who was running it hadn't updated their online profile in some time. As such, I emailed this person and offered my help. I love organizing events for other people and knew that with my help, we'd have a great line party! December 2002 finally came and we had our first line party. It was a total success and a lot of fun! We did trivia, had games and even organized a costume contest (which I didn't participate in) all while standing in line for the movie. Since it was so much fun, I decided that I'd throw another LOTR line party for the Return of the King in December 2003. However, this year, I wanted to have a costume. I decided to replicate Eowyn's shieldmaiden dress, which debuted in the Return of the King. It's a beautiful dress and would be a good challenge to recreate. Throughout 2003 I researched the costume using online resources and also began collecting fabric, trims and other materials I would need to create the dress. The dress was comprised of three separate pieces: a corset, vest and gown (or chemise). Since I had never made a corset before, I did a lot of extensive research on them and even made a "test" corset to make sure it was something I could even make. This was the first costume piece I made; an Elizabethian-style corset. I had a blast making it, and it looks great! After this I made the first corset I started on Eowyn's shieldmaiden gown. I finished the entire costume before Halloween and wore it that night for our Halloween party. Everyone loved my costume and couldn't believe I had made it. :) I decided not to wear the costume to the Return of the King line party since I'd be sitting down for almost 4 hours. I didn't want to risk ruining it since the theater is a public place and I can't control everything around me. Well ROTK came and went, I had already set my sights on another costume to try. In July of 2003, another great action/adventure movie came out called, The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. For those of you who know me, you know I'm a huge Johnny Depp fan, and I had to see the movie on opening night. I loved it and actually saw it 3 times in the theater! Anyway, I decided to make Jack Sparrow's costume for my next project. Again, I began researching Jack's costume and tried to find fabric and materials I'd need. Some of the items I needed were beads; like Jack wore in his hair. I started doing some bead shopping, and couldn't find one bead that matched the one's in the costume. One of the bead shops I checked didn't have any beads like the ones I wanted, but they DID offer classes on making glass beads. I though about whether or not I should take the class (since it was pricey), but ultimately decided to do it since it was different and seemed like fun. :) And that's how I got hooked on glass beads; by proxy of my other hobby...costumes. :) I never did finish my Jack Sparrow costume since I instantly got addicted to making glass beads, but I did make a leather hat, obtain some fabric and patterns. Now, I just need to find the time to finish that costume!