Who Needs a Fairy Godmother Anyway?

The annual Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball was looming and I didn't have a dress. Sitting by the fireplace and sighing loudly didn't attract any kind of Fairy Godmother  -well sitting by the air-con and sighing loudly to be exact-  so I was forced to sort something out for myself.

The day before the ball I tore myself away from a miniature set build and got myself organised. A run to a local thrift store turned up one marvellous used costume ballgown made from some sort of tenting material with stains and dodgy seams. Plus it was 8 dress sizes too large. Still... it was 20 bucks so I bought it and hurried home.

Here it is through its stages of meagre transformation. Bear in mind that I only had one day to fix it and it took 2 hours just making it fit my size 0 frame. I made it off-the-shoulder and backless, adding yellow-gold lace around this new back seam. The 'roses' on the bodice were made by cutting circles out of polyester blend off-cuts, snipping petal shapes into them, burning / melting the edges over a candle so that they curled up like flower petals, layering them and finally sewing a diamante bead into the center. I then super-glued my fingers together in a futile attempt to attach them to the dress before deciding to stitch them on. Genius.

Below is my quick sketch of how I wanted the final dress to look, alongside me in the dress shortly before heading off in my pumpkin carriage / convertible... Scroll past these images to read more about the ball itself.

For those of you unaware... this ball is for fans of the 1986 film 'The Labyrinth' or fantasy in general. It's attended by fairies, goblins and oddballs from all over the world and takes place in different venues here in LA. I've attended three times since 2009.

Here are some of my photos of the event from 2009, 2010 and this month.

Standing on the backs of Giants

As the 12th century philosopher Bernard of Chartres put it, "nos esse quasi nanos, gigantium humeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora videre, non utique proprii visus acumine, aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subvenimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantea."

...translated from Latin...
"We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size. "

It's often misquoted as 'standing on the back of genius'. Today would have been Jim Henson's birthday. He was one of my major influences - the genius I stand on the back of, the great inspiration in my life.
He was the reason I looked for fairies in the copse behind my house and water nymphs in the river Thames... the reason I built a cardboard cinema when I was 9 to show the films I'd written, the reason I chose a film degree at university... and finally an inspiration behind my own fairytale book and TV series ('The Hidden World' - in progress).

Influenced and inspired by such works as 'The Storyteller', 'The Labyrinth', 'The Dark Crystal', 'Dinosaurs'... my aim has always been to do great things within entertainment. To create worlds and stories which are fantastical, enchanting and unique. Take a look at the pictures below; the Jim Henson influence is definitely there in my work!

Happy Birthday Jim.

By the way, the above image of goblins from The Labyrinth was a drawing of mine using watercolour pencils when I was 19. It did it for fun in my dorm room at uni when I should have been focusing on an essay. ;)
Below are images from my own project 'The Hidden World' and images from Jim Henson's work with Jim himself grouped in with The Dark Crystal pictures...

See more images of my concept artwork here and more sculptures here.