Professional costume designer, Wendy Biscuit, has begun a series of live-tweet “How To” workshops and has agreed to have these tutorials posted here on Talk Nerdy With Us for CosPlayers everywhere who may have missed her online “class.”
For a one of a kind Grounder costume like those seen on The 100, her instructions are as follows:
1) Start with a faux fur anything (suggestion: check your local thrift store!)
2) Make random cuts in the faux fur
3) Wrap cut scraps with wax twine to resemble animal tails
4) Using the lining, make square knots and knot patterns anywhere you can. The more things hanging the better. Do this all over in long and short random patterns. (Insider Info from Wendy: Grounders are very superstitious)
5) The armholes are stitched back to create a hand made feel with twine (Wendy will use twine she finds in her trash as Grounders would use anything they could find). Stitch around the armpit. The twine will then be painted to look like entrails. Small details are key!
6) Massage Claphams beeswax into the faux fur to mangle it. You don’t need much! Just enough to create a mange animal pelt as pictured. (Insider info from Wendy: Grounders only use fresh kills to build their clothing/armour)
7) Get out your paint palette. Then, using a dry brush technique, give the vest an all over light coat of kroma raw titanium. Keep your brush lightly lubricated with water from a spritzer while you work.
8) Then use kroma raw sienna to drybrush on another layer of colour.
9) You’ll then need to mix some Grounder blood, which is made from naphthol red/alizarin crimson/raw umber/bone black mixed with high gloss polymer. The gloss gives it a permanent wet look. Work the mix into the ‘entrails’. (Insider info from Wendy: Grounders only wear fur from an animal that was skinned alive)
10) Find a mesh sweater/dress/overshirt and dye it grey, then shred, shred, shred!
11) Like with the vest, make knots in the mesh. It mangles the fabric and tells a story.
12) If there is a zipper, cut that sucker out. Grounders do NOT have zippers!
13) Knot upholstery thread to stitch up where the zipper used to be.
14) Add grime lowlights with black acrylic drybrush.
15) Add that signature rusty raw sienna colour. (Insider info from Wendy: All Grounders have this colour. No raw sienna? Not a Grounder.)
16) Darken the bottom edges with dye-Na-flo.
17) Put the vest over the sweater/vest/overshirt and voila! Grounder dress!
Wendy is planning to continue these tutorials and says that next time she’ll be showing how to make Grounder armour and militia!
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