Distressing Fabric, Making things look old Options

[Baroness]

I have to run a workshop during the school break for parents on how to "distress fabric" for a school production of 'Romeo and Juliet' based in a war ravaged central Europe.

Does anyone have any good links or references that can help me!!

[Metanoia]

Wow. I'd be interested in hearing more about that, but unfortunately I have no references for you.

[Reactor drone]

I know a little bit,basically you need to work out a bit of a history for the garment and add the wear and tear that it would have undergone.

If you need to add a tear don't cut the fabric,instead use sandpaper or a small grater to wear the fabric through.

Baby oil can be used to add sweat stains that won't evaporate.

Stains can be added using oxides or coffee powder mixed with baby oil(stick a chux cloth in a ziplock bag with baby oil and the oxide/coffee/dirt,seal it and mix it together)

dusting can be done by placing a small amount of coloured oxide in a cloth and folding and tieing it up to make a little powder puff.

[Merrick]

Leather can be distressed with acetone. It takes off the sheen and depending on application, some of the upper layers of colour. Edges and seams work best with this, combined with fine sandpaper. (be careful around stitching of course).

[El Presidente]

Baroness, this link's got some basic info
http://www.costumes.org/advice/costcraftsmanual/tmpjk15.htm
I'll also check some books at home...

[Cat M]

The Alley Scratch LOTR site also has some really good tips on distressing different fabrics

http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Fabric/Distressing.htm

[Reactor drone]

If you need fake blood for stains here's a recipe

-instant coffee and hot water
-add personal lubricant gel to get the consistency you want
-add small amount of blue food colouring
-add red food colouring to get desired colour.

corn flour and water can be used instead of lubricant but it dries out faster which can be a good thing depending on whe age of the wound/bloodstain.




Talc is another good one for dusting cloth to remove the new look.

You also have to take into account what it's for,fine,subtle distressing is ok for close visual inspection but won't be seen if it's onstage.Likewise cameras can wash out light costume breakdown so a heavier hand may be needed.Sometimes things look awful in person but perfect on camera.

[pfalcon]

Staff from Weta Workshop conducted a workshop on this topic at BOBW 25 a while back. Photos and explanations are on My site here.

Reactor Drone has given you the formulae for the basic things they showed how to make. The photos show both Emily and Matt showing a number of these and applying them, and then the group breaking up into teams to try it themselves.

Other useful things useful to know are:

- Sandpaper, Saw-toothed knife and cheese graters are ideal for distressing fabrics, particular for simulating damage from falls, scrapes..etc.

- unpicking or pulling seams to simulate wear and tear

- Doing any of the above and then repairing or cleaning it, with varying degrees of care.

- The key is to PLAN. Decide on the STORY and EVENTs that your character (in the costume) has just gone through, and then make the costume tell the story. Don't just destroy it willy nilly, but plan each scrape and mark, and have an explanation for it... The other reason to plan is that you've probably only got ONE costume - not a dozen copies of it like the movies do... so you'll have to get it right first time.

Examples of some LOTR items from set were shown during the workshop.

[Cat M]

- The key is to PLAN. Decide on the STORY and EVENTs that your character (in the costume) has just gone through, and then make the costume tell the story. Don't just destroy it willy nilly, but plan each scrape and mark, and have an explanation for it... The other reason to plan is that you've probably only got ONE costume - not a dozen copies of it like the movies do... so you'll have to get it right first time.

*applauds* excellent advice. I'll add to it that when you plan, you end up making tears and distressed fabric in logical places. When fashion went through that colour-worn jeans phase, you'd see jeans that looked just a little weird because the fading was in completely unlogical places - like the front of the thigh. Hello??? what was that girl doing (and often) to get a faded patch on each upper thigh area? Also the fading was drastic.... like bold, dark denim meets almost white, distressed fabric. Damage needs to look normal/logical for it not to look odd.