Wednesday, April 14, 2010

revamped dress form project


You know those crappy vintage adjustable dress forms that turn up at yard sales and flea markets and you just can't stop yourself from buying them even though you know they're basically pieces of rusty wobbly shit that never do any garment justice?

Well I was about to throw one of mine through the window the other day when I had a pretty decent idea.  I took it completely apart, ripped out all the bent rusty guts that never worked anyway, (marking each piece as I did so), ripped off the glued-on knit covering (Big Mess!), and then duct taped the whole thing (14 pieces in all) back together again.

They're made of a paper pulp material, nice and light, so I decided to paper mache' the whole things in 3 layers, to secure it well.  This is the second layer, 

 

done with grocery store circulars, and this is the final layer,


 done in 1926 Albany newspaper (that a friend found under the linoleum he tore up in his old house up the street)
Here it is with a coat of varnish:
It is hollow and can still be modified with a stand, but I like its nice small size, great for counter top display of items like jewelry, scarves, and belts.  It's fun to look at too, since it is also essentially a 3-D collage.