More this year, I promise!

Well, last year was a tough one with my never ending job. I am a prop maker for the film industry and am constantly working on the latest and greatest movies and television shows. It floored me when I looked at my last post and saw it was from 2009. Not very confidence inspiring but I promise to get another one posted this weekend ...... Unless I am working of course.

Thanks for all of the comments and rest assured, I will do better this year.

Stay tuned!

Latest Addition - Purple Kes

Don't let anyone tell you that perseverance won't pay off! This should be a clear indication that consistent contact and persuasion can pay off big in the end. Let's not forget that a good offer is also part of the equation!

Ever since this costume came up for auction through the infamous IAW Ebay auctions I regretted not going after it - I actually think I missed seeing it completely until after that week's auctions had ended and figured this one was gone into the ether forever.

A few months later I accidentally matched the Ebay user name of the winner with a member of the "Star Trek Props, Costumes & Auction" forum and asked him if he'd consider selling it. Of course the answer was a polite no with the promise of giving me first shot if he ever decided to part with the costume. Fast forward two years and I can now add this wonderful piece to my collection.


This costume is from the first season of "Voyager" and is seen in the first few episodes immediately after the initial two-parter.


As with the previously posted costume there were two versions of this piece. The first one appeared only once in the episode, "Time and Again" and features a tall collar on the outer sweater and sits high on the shoulders. The neck opening is the only part of the costume that is different from the later version as far as I can tell.




Here we have the altered, shorter collar as seen in, "The Cloud" and in subsequent episodes. This was achieved by simply rolling the very top of the collar inside and hand stitched it down. They also added a stitch or two to the bottom of the vertical opening making it shorter as well. It's kind of a bummer as it looked awesome the way it was but probably fell inward and had to be fixed constantly, oh well. That's the way it sits today.


The other thing of note is that I firmly believe that there was only one outer sweater made, or at least filmed. There are some very specific details in the fabric and stitching which are present on both version as seen in screen caps from every episode in which it is seen. It's not definitive but I am almost positive that while it there may have been another made, this is the one used for most of the filming. Whether or not this applies to the rest of the costume, I can not say.

Autopsy

Here is a 4 view picture of the costume fully assembled. Not much of interest to report as it's construction is fairly straight forward. It is however extremely well tailored and each piece barely fits over the layer below which is largely responsible for it's overall tailored look. It has seams and finish details in places that I have not seen on any other "Kes" costume leaving this as one of most well constructed.


The outer sweater has a very long zipper (which does not open at both ends) so the actress can put it on over their head. It is then tucked up inside where the tail end is snapped in two places to prevent it from falling down during wear.

After the snaps are released the zipper can be fully opened and the outer sweater can be removed. Note that you can clearly see the part of the collar that has been rolled in and sewn down. Also, there is a significant amount of makeup on the front edge of the collar. Some do not like this aspect of costume collecting but I think it adds to the provenance of a piece as is clear evidence of it's repeated use.

Another cool detail of this costume is the Velcro used to attach the outer sweater to the shoulders of the taffeta piece directly under it. If you look closely you can see one of the snaps for the zipper at the corner of the sweater.

With the sweater removed you can now see the purple undershirt - front and back shown below.

With this opened you can see clearly a spandex panel that has been sewn in to the undershirt to keep the cloth tight around the waist.

A closer look at that spandex panel!

And the Velcro for the sweater!

The undershirt reveals the wet suit-like jumpsuit. The panels on this are extensive and it is quite thick unlike some of her other costumes. This must have fit Jennifer like a glove and was probably a little hot and uncomfortable under the studio lights. The mannequin is rigid and shows the seams pretty badly here but I'd suspect that this smooths out when it is worn by a person.

A closer look at the panel details. Even the sleeves and neck have nicely rolled edges that look great with this thick spandex material.

Down at the feet the is a stirrup made of the same material and a flap that apparently clips to the top of the boots or shoes to keep it form riding up and exposing the top of her feet.

And that's about it! Another great costume from the growing Kes Army.

I will be adding more costumes in short order to keep this going. They will be added in the order of their appearance. The next up is from "Phage" and about 13 other episodes. It's probably the most worn costume of all of them. I also plan to generate a list of the costumes and which episodes they appeared in but that's a lot of Voyager for one person..... you know?

Ruby and Tan

So here is the first costume we will cover. I call this the "Ruby and Tan" due to it's overall appearance but in reality the blouse is ruby, the outer smock is tan and, the jumpsuit is actually pumpkin. Please forgive the white reflective highlight on the arms and legs. This happens when shooting spandex with a flash and it's the only way to get the colors to pop correctly. I shot this 4 times and ultimately I believe it should be done outside in indirect light.

There were two versions of this seen in the first through third seasons of "Voyager". The first incarnation had a high neck on the ruby taffeta blouse and short sleeves on the jumpsuit.

The second had a short neck on the blouse and long sleeves on the jumpsuit. The outer tan piece stayed the same in both styles. This second version is the one pictured above and will be the focus of this post.

And now - On To The Autopsy!

Here are 6 views as it sits fully assembled. The wrap around outer layer is one of the most complicated things I have ever seen on a piece of clothing. It attaches in 3 separate places and each one has to be exact in it's positioning or the whole thing goes out of whack. It took me 2 hours to get it perfect the first time and now after this shoot I can do it in about 2 minutes.

The first order of business is to remove the strap that wraps around to the front from it's catch. When this is done it falls behind and to the left side, exposing the 3 catches that attach the smock under the left arm. After removing these three, the back piece falls to the right and exposes the final set of 3 catches that hold the inside edge in place. When these are removed the whole thing falls off the right shoulder.

Pretty extensive wrap as you can see at the left in the photo above.

Now we are down to the Ruby undershirt which has a satin band around the waist. This zips up the back and has the customary "double-hook" and "tucked-zipper" combo.

The shoes were not present with the costume as most were reportedly destroyed rather than match them up to their respective costumes. I have replacements and will add that info when it happens.

Please feel free to email with any comments on what I may have missed or points you would like to see covered next time.

Stay tuned, there will be a LOT more to come.

Been a Little ....fluish.

Sorry for the delays - been sick and still trying to shake the last of it.

The first costume to be covered in the coming days will be the ruby, pumpkin and tan number seen here and in the first post below. Please stay tuned!

The Kes Army Is Here!

Some may ask, "Why are you bothering with a character from Voyager who was booted after 3 seasons?" The easy and short answer is that nobody else is doing it. The long one is this; A couple of years ago I was offered 3 costumes at a great package price. I was only interested in one of them as it was a sort of "Mirror" costume and the hero used in most of the scenes. The other two were great but not interesting other than the fact that, along with the first costume, they were all from the character "Kes". I talked about this deal with at least 4 people and my conversations always ended the same way - what am I going to do with 3 costumes from the same character? The answer came a week later when her First Season costume (the first outfit we see her in when being rescued) was offered up for an great price - With 4 of her costumes now in hand, apparently I was going to start a collection of "Kes" costumes.

So here we go! I need to do something with all of these besides pack them away so we'll document them and their individual elements. I am going to start by focusing on my collection but will be more than happy to add any others that may reside in your private collection. All contact info will be kept private unless otherwise noted. There are more than a few pieces in my collection so the intention is to feature at least one costume a month. Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions and comments.

Thanks for the read!