The BLOB!

Remember the 1958 movie The Blob?  Classic B-movie fare -- weird red oozing matter from outer space takes over a town.  The thing is, it really wasn't that scary.  You could outrun it and it's krytonite was cold - you could easily defend yourself with an ordinary fire extinguisher or you hide out in a meat locker till it moved on.  Definitely not as scary as zombies, or Godzilla for that matter. What does this have to do with dress forms?  That's what step 3 of the body double is all about -- weird oozing matter!

me

Miss Hallie

It's really enlightening to look at your plaster cast because it reveals your body's peculiarities.  For example,  I have bony shoulders and Hallie has one shoulder that is higher than the other. Not a big deal, of course, but these things definitely affect the fit of a gown.  If you don't know about them you're probably wondering why you always have to make adjustments to your shoulder straps every time you make a gown.  Do you have one hip higher than the other?  That will show up in your form, and you can make the proper accommodations when you fit your gown. Few of us are perfectly symmetrical and a body double will help identify where you have fitting issues and you can anticipate them rather than let them frustrate you.

Now for some sci-fi! With our plaster molds all dry and prepared, we're ready to fill them with foam.  We're using a two part mix that creates a foam that expands slowly -- kind of like The Blob.  A faster or more aggressive foam might blow out the cast.  So slowly we filled the forms. Slow moving oozy matter!  (And like the original Blob, it doesn't like the cold!)

The Blob

Next: The Unveiling

If you can't make our workshop this weekend, we're taking appointments to help you create your own body double -- hiveworkshops@gmail.com  We supply the materials and do most of the work -- you end up with a great dress form.  The cost is $175. By the way, for those of you who do different time periods -- this method works great for you too!

Duct Tape Disaster

In the quest to find a dress form that will allow you to fit an 18th century gown, you inevitably encounter the infamous duct tape dummy.  In theory, it's kind of a cool idea.  Cover your body with duct tape, creating a form, then fill the shape with stuffing or expandable foam. Here's the down side -- duct tape stretches!

When I tried this, I had my husband, a professional duct tape practitioner, apply the duct tape to my stayed body.  As he wrapped the duct tape around me, it got tighter and tighter until I could barely breathe.  Add a dash of claustrophobia and you are talking panic attack!  I couldn't get cut out of it fast enough!

After being released from my constriction by duct tape, the resulting form looked like a cheesy sci-fi alien torso. I stuffed it with polyfil and did attempt to use it as a dress form, though the distortion factor was pretty high and I'm guessing an expandable foam filling would have stretched the duct tape even more. The form actually became quite misshapen over time. Duct tape stretches, which is great when you are using it to seal things but not so much when you need a stable form to work on (or are being wrapped in it). Conclusion: interesting idea but like duct tape itself, a little Rube Goldbergesque.

The second cousin to the duct tape dummy is one that was featured in Threads Magazine and the instructions are available on-line. This method uses pre-glued kraft paper tape -- the kind used to seal up corrugated cardboard boxes.  Though I've never personally tried this method, especially after my traumatic duct tape experience, I suspect this might be a better option.  However, it takes a long time to dry and am not sure that it's as strong as they contend it is.  If I were going to try this option, I'd probably end up filling it with foam.  Conclusion: inexpensive to do, might work - but wouldn't want to do it in the summer since it involves blowing hot air all over yourself till the tape dries.

Next: our experience with plaster and expandable foam

For more info about our body double workshop visit The Hive website.