by Laura Ulak and Steve Schulz

 

The Steampunk White Queen

Laura:  Sometimes a person comes up with an idea for a costume and thinks that they can execute all the pieces, only to discover that they don’t quite have the experience for it.  This is what happened when I decided to make a Steampunk version of the White Queen from Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.”  It didn’t take me very long to figure out that the crown was beyond my capabilities.  Tinfoil?  Yes.  Metal?  No.

So I talked to my buddy Steve the engineer, and he said he could figure out the dimensions for me if I provided him with a photo, and could even make me the metal base!  YES!  So I found a photo of the crown and forwarded it to Steve.

Steve: All drawings are drawn on 11″ by 17″ “B” size sheets of paper and not printed to scale here.  For this use they are reduced to fit a 8.5″ by 11″ “A” size sheets.  By using a series of scaling formulas and estimating the size of the original base on the photos Laura provided relative to the facial features in the photos this was the first design.  It was larger and had 6 points.

A full scale pattern was then printed and cut out of paper to be used to test the fit.

The paper check of the pattern.

It was then cut on the laser and welded.

The original prototype.

Laura:  Steve took the measurements and through the wonders of engineering (and some pretty spiffy CAD software) made me a metal version of the crown.  I tried it on and discovered that it was A) way too heavy and B) too large.  I asked Steve if he could make a smaller version for me.

Steve:  After evaluating this version it was decided that it would be too large and heavy to be worn for any length of time so back to the drawing board I went….

Second prototype model.

Once the size was decided on this second design it was made smaller with five points and again a full scale pattern was printed then cut out of paper to be used to test the fit.  After the decision was made I then had it cut out of 20 gauge cold roll steel on the laser, rolled as shown and welded.  After trying the size on, Laura decided that this would work.

Laura:  Steve was nice enough to weld some heavy duty wires to the inside of the crown so that I would have something to attach the crown to my head.  The crown was then decorated by the lovely Jenna Halek of Artistic Edition for me, using Rub and Buff along the top edges, gluing on various metal gears and pearl cabochons and an old brooch for the front of the design.  She also attached a string of pearls along the bottom, and wound some additional thinner wire on the inside in a star shape to give me more stability for attaching the bobby pins.

For attaching bobby pins…

The final design was so fun and a little more over the top than the original crown, but it fit perfectly with the outfit.  And thanks to teamwork, we were able to make it happen!

The moral of this story is that even if YOU don’t have the skills to make a part of your costume a reality, someone you know might, and might be willing to help.

The final crown.