BOB MARLEY - RESTYLE
Bob Marley is a figure was originally made for our Rock Circus attraction and has been at Madame Tussauds for quite a few years since. His costume is tired and doesn't match. When redressing a figure one of my first stops is the internet to find some photos to used to recreate him and bring him back to life and I like this one of him - it is colourful, should add some depth to the Attraction and it seems to be a look the Bob Marley wore enough for it to be recognizable to the guests. As we had a bit of time to redress him I set up a search on ebay and looked in vintage shops around London to find the top and - what now seems to be impossible - purple tracksuit trousers. As time went on I decided to make a compromise, we either changed the colour of the trousers or had some made, as I only had a small budget for him I decided to go for these blue retro Adidas joggers which with the vintage fabric and being around the correct era really where a good compromise.
BEFORE
AIM
COMPLETE
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
This dress has been on display nearly 30 years and my mission was to make it last another 10 to 15 years.
when we took the dress off of the figure the bodice started to come away from the skirt. I carefully marked were the bodice sat on the skirt and tacked the pleated together and once the bodice was repaired I restitched the bodice to the skirt.
the binding on the bodice was damaged to we replaced that from some of the fabric we salvedged from the inside of the skirt.
the hem of the dress was damaged in many places from the sides to the back but as the dress was very long took the hem up repairing the edge and moving it inside.
the silk tape on the dress had faded from a deep rich red to orange so we carefully took it off the dress saving the top braid for reuse when we replaced the silk.
the front panel of the skirt had faded similar to the silk tape so I dyed it to return it to a lovely rich colour.
the seems of the bodice were strengthened
the sleeves removed and restitched to make the seems stronger.
The sleeve netting was reshaped to give a stronger puff on the top of the sleeves
I remade the hat using reference from various coifs of the period and made it so it can come apart easily for washing
the ruff was reset, I strengthened the points and I stitched nylon horse hair in it so it can also be washed and it will spring back in to shape.
BEFORE
The figure before work
AIM
Painting by Nicholas Hilliard
COMPLETE
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