Gaius and Ilithyia Glaber: The Roman's Portraits Page: (coming soon)
July 11, 2012:
Journal Entry:
So, yes, I decided to look into Roman garb, again.
It's not the first time I've done Greek or Roman garb. I spent a little time one summer seven years ago on this... just a month after I started with Livejournal. (2005, oh my) It was a project I never finished completely. The photos show our living room just after we got the floor put in. Wow. Seven years. Time is flying!
The link on the right shares photos of my experiment with a Greek chiton & himation "back in the day..."
I wonder now what got me started on that. It could have been a trip to NYC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I stood for a long time staring at some Greek statues, pondering the folds of the clothes they were wearing, wanting to feel the fabric.
As I didn't have any conventions to go to back then, or anyplace I thought I might wear a Greek chiton, yeah, well... I let this project sit in a cabinet all this time. Looking this project over, I've decided to finish it.
How I got to revisiting this old project:
First, there was Spartacus. I hadn't really been thinking of making anything from it, until my daughter mentioned she wanted to be Saxa at Dragon*Con 2012.
Then, a friend began her "Bitchy Roman Loungewear" project, inspired by Spartacus. Her inspiration got me digging through the cabinet for the old chiton. And I thought, well! The colors look very much like something Ilithyia would wear, and I do have a blonde wig...
Then I got to thinking of the fabrics in my stash, wondering if I had things on hand to make a pairing for Eric and I.
The fact is, Eric and I were going to Dragon*Con, and I wanted to make us something new, and this would be easy, and... There are These Two!!! Batiatus and Lucretia, pictured left...
And these two, Gaius and Ilithyia...
... Have I mentioned it's fun to play bad guys? Oh, yeah. As I mulled it over, I decided Quintus and Lucretia would be an easy costume set, relatively speaking. So, I checked my stash of fabrics here on hand, and found some promise among it all, namely, these:
I draped the blue fabric on the dress form sized for Eric, and draped the options on both dress forms, to get an idea how this would work. The colors and fabric choices, especially for Lucretia, are not exact, but it's close enough, and well within her palette... and this will look better on my skin tone... And I have it here!
It is less pink in real life than it's showing in the photos...
I skimmed the top of the trim stash, and found a gold lace trim that will work for Lucretia. There might be something more blingy in the trim bin, and I'll check this before I go farther. The gold in Batiatus's trim I will make from fabric... I have a kind of braided burgundy trim next to it. There's not enough to go double all the way down two sides front and back, so I may be making the burgundy section of his trim out of fabric, just like the gold. I have a fabric that works for this, also.
The hardest part of this will be Lucretia's hair, or finding the right red-headed wig for me. I'm looking into that now...
As for the first chiton, and Ilithyia, I decided to look into Gaius Glaber, for a second pairing with Eric. This pairing would be loads of fun, too. But I'm not in the mood to make Roman armor, or to tackle something so involved as that, so it has to be a cloth outift... I think his Praetor garb would do. I watched bits of the 2012 year's show to see how that looked, as I did not find many images online of this yet.
I looked at this as a "no pressure" project. If I couldn't get it done because of wig issues or time or whatever, I would save it for next year. I refused to stress out over it.
Oh, and as for Lisa's Saxa, she and I got the suede and the pattern base, so she can get started.
July 19, 2012:
Journal Entry:
Lucretia has hair!
It might not be screen accurate, but I figure I'm doing myself a favor this way. I do NOT imagine I'd look good in a red-headed wig that tends towards the orange... On that note, I was looking for the blue avenue in reds, or some kind of very dark burgundy, and I found it.
Here are a few more reference images from the web of Lucretia, Quintus, and others.
These four photos below include images of Gaia, referenced here because of her hair, and another example of one of the costumes in Spartacus......
If I combine Lucretia's wig to Ilithyia's gown, I could also play Gaia.
It is a front lace human hair wig, color described as plumb dark red, shade 99J.
I used the internet to help get a more cohesive idea of what 99J looks like, and found this image helpful:
August 7, 2012:
Journal Entry:
Eric's Quintus Batiatus is almost cut out. Some tweaks are still required, and then to sew on the trim. This is something that should take less than a day. I found some bangles at Target today that I will combine with leather to make his wrist cuff. Also found an off gold chain, but I'm not sure if' it's thick enough.
Stuff I'm using to put together the wrist cuff:
My Lucretia is almost finished. I've gotten the wig, and it's fantastic. I plan on styling it ahead of time, if possible. I need to search out some little sparklies for the hair, oh yeah.
I'm not done with the pleats at the shoulders... I will tie them in tighter for a smother look. (Like I've done with the original chiton, now inherited by Ilithyia, photos below...)
Here's a little bling I found for Lucretia:
It is presumably a Whiting Davis piece. I'm amazed it holds on the upper arm, but it does.
Our second Roman couple is also fairly far along. I'm using the old chiton I started years ago for the lady, either Ilythia or Gaia. (Eric told me he really liked Gaia in God's of the Arena, and then he said parts of my face looked like hers...) I have some natural silk noil and the perfect dark red silk to make the trim for Eric's political Glaber, or Gaia's new crush in an AU world. YAY!
I would not have wanted a second set if I didn't already have the old chiton underway-- but I want to see it finished, have always loved the color, and so I want to wear it, too. It's looking good, and kinda reminds me of the style on the Statue of Liberty.
Yesterday, as I tied the belt around the two top front layers and the back underlayer, leaving the back overlayer outside the belt, I was reminded of Galadriel's drape. That drape always did strike me as Greek/Roman.
Dressed as Gaia, I can either use Prince Vlad's extensions, or the wig I just bought Lucretia. I'm fairly certain Lucretia "inherited" Gaia's wig... If I go with Ilythia, I can borrow Galadriel's wig.
Photos of the as-yet-unfinished original chiton, with himation:
Testing the wig with Lucretia's gown-in-progress... The wig is unstyled, and I have not makeup. I feel I'm off to a good start.
Published on Sep 8, 2012:
Janet Stephens' tutorial for reenacting two historical hairstyles worn by the 2nd century roman empress Faustina II. Based on archaeological research using period appropriate equipment on a live model. Revised and expanded.
August 23, 2013:
Journal Entry:
I played with hair this morning, using an older version of this tutorial, "The Hairstyles of Faustina the Younger," as a foundation:
I added extensions for extra braids and to get the hanging tendrils.
Here are some progress photos...
Here the styling is completed. All that's left is decorations for the hair.
I did not use the thick thread to sew the bun together, because I don't have the proper tools on hand, so I used hair pins. I may change this if I have time.
I will be attaching beads to some hair pins to embellish the hair. The beads I'll use are in Lucretia's dress, at the shoulder.
I found this wig styling to be both relaxing and fun, so it's been a good day so far.
Three out of four of the Roman's are done, except for Quintus's arm band. So, here we have Ilythia, Lucretia and Quintus, in various poses:
Close-ups, showing the beads I mentioned above, and other details:
You can see time passing in Ilythia's gown: As stated above, I started this chiton years ago, after I finished Eowyn's Shieldmaiden Gown. The white underdress here is made with the leftover white silk from that project.
The red sash was under debate for a while. Lisa didn't like it much and Eric wasn't sure, but I really do. They both thought it may be too bold or colorful or something, but I think that's a good thing. Still, I may change it out, though, time permitting, and use some other of Eowyn's scrap stash... (The leaf patterned organza I dyed green for the underdress of her Green Gown...)
Why?
On a second viewing of Spartacus, I was pleased to see Ilythia has a gown similar to this one, but with a greenish sash. This might prompt me to go ahead and change out the red, although I like it.
On the other hand, these here are mainly inspired and not attempts at exact replica's from the show's costumes. I wanted to go with a more historically accurate concept, in spite of synthetic fabrics mixed in with the silks, so I could keep the red if I feel so inclined.
Gaius, our fourth Roman, has a finished Praetor's tunic that I could not photograph here.It looks really good set against Ilythia's gown. Too bad I don't have two forms sized up for Eric! I will get photos of them together once I'm finished.
I am working on Gaius' toga still.
I will doing a similar hair style for Ilythia, borrowing Galadriel's wig and some extensions.
I did not use as much fabric as these patterns suggest. It was just too much. I wound up using about seven yards , rounding the edges into an oval shape.
Here, the fabric is just draped over Quintus' tunic. It has not yet been cut into an oval shape.
Here I've got the strips I'm using to trim the toga. It is a black and red shot silk dupioni.
I sewed the strips directly to the edge of the toga, and to dress up the tunic. Then I frayed the edges. Since the dupioni is shot silk, the frayed edges are black. I love the effect this makes on the outfit.
Now, all four Romans are dressed, though I can only show three at a time. So, below are Gaius and Ilithyia Glaber, and Lucretia.
Here's they're assembled with Lucretia's fully styled wig on the stool to the left...
Close up shots of the wig styled with the jewels...
A jewel I did not end up using. Still, very pretty. Lisa brought it home from Italy in 2012.
Some back shots...
A side shot...
Quintus Batiatus' wrist cuff, not quite finished... I was still "trimming" the metal bits from the sliced bangles I bought at Target...
As of March 2013, Nearly ten years ago I set out to teach myself to sew so that I could create inspired costumes such as those featured on my site.
I created this site to share what I've done. It launched August 18, 2004, and has been growing ever-since.
In addition to costume construction pages, there are pages featuring portraits of the costumes being worn.
Costuming is a hobby I love documenting, but I do not do commissions, nor do I sell patterns.
Please visit where your interests lead you, and enjoy.
y
As of March 2013, nearly ten years ago I set out to teach myself to sew so that I could create inspired costumes such as those featured on my site.
I created this site to share what I've done. It launched August 18, 2004, and has been growing ever-since.
In addition to costume construction pages, there are pages featuring portraits of the costumes being worn.
Costuming is a hobby I love documenting, but I do not do commissions, nor do I sell patterns.
Please visit where your interests lead you, and enjoy.
y
Taking us back to ancient days...
This page and its links reflect my best efforts in costuming.
Projects linking to their own pages are featured here. Click the images to visit their individual pages.
y
Welcome to Yvette's
Quintus and Lucretia Batiatus,
Gaius and Ilithyia Glaber...
The Roman's Costruction Page:
The navigation on my site is under construction. I'll be getting the links set up page by page. In the meantime, please bear with me.
