Willy Wonka Jr. or The Month of July

This is the explanation post for my month off of blogging. I was costume designing! I had the pleasure of working with a talented cast and dedicated crew to pull off a production of Willy Wonka, Jr. The "Junior" part entails that all the cast was age 18 and under. The real work started in July with making patterns for the Oompa-Loompas and recruiting four very talented seamstresses to create 60-some white suspendered pants and skirts with bloomers. It took up almost all of my time for the month of July, so I was barely even leisure computering at all!

The ginger in the pink sweater is my go-to hair stylist! She works with my sister and I on photoshoots and filming projects. She's awesome!

Most of the main characters' specialty costumes were made or altered by myelf. The wardorbe of Wonka, Charlie, Mrs. Gloop, Augustus Gloop, Ms. Teavee, and Mrs. Bucket took over my life for a few weeks. There are a few of our adorable Oompas below :)

I don't know why this picture is off to the side :P

 Above is Wonka entertaining some of the younger kids; below is me altering Augustus Gloop's lederhosen.

[L-R: Mr. Bucket, Mr. Salt, Ms. Teavee, Grandma Georgina and Mrs. Gloop]

Wonka and the Candyman get along quite well; they're business partners, you know. I had the fun of making Wonka's waistcoat, frock coat and bowtie. The buttons down his waistcoat spell out "Wonka" :) 

Most of the Bucket family [L-R: Grandpa George, Grandpa Joe, Charlie, Grandma Georgina, Mrs. Bucket]

Amazing picture Marley got of the curtain ropes!!!

 Below is me and the cast singing at the top of our lungs, "Nilla Wafer Top Hat Time" by Rhett and Link. [L-R: Veruca Salt, Mr. Salt, Mike Teavee, The Candyman, Willy Wonka, Grandma Josephina, me]

What a set! Our set guys were AWESOME!

The Reporter "Phineous Trout"

"Charlie, would you like to have my factory?" It was such a fun project to help with. Working with the cast to build up their costumes was especially rewarding. To a costume designer, there is nothing better than hearing from the actor, "I wish I could keep the costume" or "I don't want to take it off!". And I had the joy of hearing that over and over! All these pictures were taken at the dress rehearsal, so not all of the characters were fully dressed until the next day. I wish I had more pictures to share! If I ever get my hands on some from the parents and audience, I will certainly share them with you! There have to be more, because there were 1,399 audience members between the three performances!!!

And finally, Charlie, Augustus and I. I know I look like Gazerbeam, but I was unable to fix my redeye :P