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THE WEARABLE ART SHOW is a marvellous show that lets the imagination run wild. The participants are given a general theme and a pile of reused and repurposed materials in order to make an outfit, puppet, or some manner of performance, and then choreograph a routine to show their designs to the public. The theme of our show was "Space and Sci-Fi", and after that announcement we were given one month to design, make and plan our routines, what could possibly go wrong?!
Seeing as the turnaround for the show was so quick, it was suggested to us to get designs ready in just two days. To jumpstart this process I dug around for an old design I made for a Sci-Fi setting of my own, and used it as inspiration for my routine. What was once a retro-futuristic pilot had now become a scavenging robotic bird creature, hunting a desolate world for scraps to repair itself and keep the gears turning. The Magpie was born!
Using scraps of foam I was able to craft a breastplate, and found this delightfully sci-fi material as its casing. Originally these buckles were just going to be decorative, but I later found them a practical way of keeping the pieces together.
Next up was the layering. I grabbed every shade of blue, green and black fabric I could find from the pile of resources we were given, after mixing and matching I ordered them in a way that loosely matches the tail and wing feathers of a magpie, tearing the fabrics as I went to give the outfit a "weathered traveller" look.
I experimented with making a double-jointed leg out of these scrap 3D printed prosthetic pieces, but unfortunately had to scrap it due to time constraints. I also crafted a hunting knife which I was going to use in the routine, but after accidentally forgetting it during a dress rehersal I found the routine worked better if I used the robotic claws I had designed on my off-hand
Speaking of robotic claw hands! This section of the make was certainly my favourite; adding in the texture and weathering really brought the whole piece together, this along with adding dismantled electrical parts to the mask (which I used a medieval plague mask as a stencil to make) really gave the mechanical and sinister vibes I was aiming for.
After adding some scorch marks and bullet holes to the chest piece, the Magpie came to fruition. I was terribly pleased with this at the time, but looking back on it I would definitely like to reattempt the double-jointed leg trick and maybe add more weathering to some of the cloth, but overall a delightful experience!
Photographer Jorge Lizalde
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