Lisa Lock's Creative Portfolio

I finished making the parasol and the giant tie for the padme celebration parade outfit. It took about 2 weeks of my down time.

I spent ages trying to remember the name for a giant tie with insignia that I had seen on some formal mediaeval regalia. It looked like an embroidered tie, band or sash, that told a story about where the person was from, or what they were part of. So instead I look forward to remembering this random piece of information sometime in the future when I’m doing something completely different.

I made the tie using scrap polycotton, and special marker pens from yono that gave a really nice appearance of vivid painted silk.
One of the silver outline pens (setaskrib opaque) bled colours slightly in a corner, where I think the fabric got too damp, so I had to cover the blot with a bit of white pen, that I had to walk for 2 hours to collect, and I don’t understand why I got so worried about it! Why do these mistakes stress me so much, no one will notice, and if they do, they may not mind, I know this!

I decided to make the parasol using twisted wire because I’m a jeweller, But to be honest I don’t think anyone else made the parasol in this way. If you look at images of replicas online, and even the real thing sometimes, you can see that they made the spokes using straight wire, and then draw on the squiggles on top of the fabric afterwards.
I used steel wire in 2 different different gauges to keep the weight down so my neck won’t ache from wearing it all day, while retaining some strength so that the spokes stay upright. Steel is hard, strong and flexible so can take a lot of working until becoming brittle or dented. Metal ‘work hardens’ the more you bend it, until it either goes hard and wont bend anymore, or becomes brittle and breaks, so I had to plan my moves in advance so that I wouldn’t overwork it. I created a jig using metal nails and a bar of wood. This jig was used for the 1st few bends of wire that helped keep the shape and size uniform. After that I carefully hammered parts of it flat to avoid weakening the joints. Then I used pliers to tighten the curls and finish.

I solderd, twisted and glued the wire parts to a centre circle.

I used nylon fishing wire in a really thick gauge to create the circle, because it is light and strong, and allowed flexibility, as the real parasol has a bit of a droop backwards to it when it stands up.

For the end of the wire I used some spare beads that I had, and if I had more time I would mould or rapid prototype a part more like the real thing. But it’s good to use up some of the beads I have hoarded over the years!

Using a hot iron, I sandwiched the spokes between 2 layers of stiff ‘organza snow’ fabric, and an adhesive bondaweb sheet. I had a fun time trying to explain to the shopping assistant what I was doing, but despite being bemused they very kindly sold the bondaweb to me.
After that, I rolled and stitched the ends down to stop them fraying and give a neat edge.

My next step is to finish making the dress, and then to create the head piece, and hopefully a glowing globular bag, all of this in time for the big Star Wars celebration on Sunday!