Aging and Distressing
I have practiced aging and distressing in my costume techniques class and on productions. For this project the scenario the character had gone through was trudging in a tank top through dirt and mud which had dried after walking in the sun. I used watered down fabric paint and different brushes and sponges to create the mud textures on the tank top. It takes a lot of thin layers to build up the stains. I used a grater to tear up some spots of the tank top, as if it had been caught and ripped by branches or frayed by the elements. Distressing garments impacts how believable a scene is and makes character more natural and rugged than perfectly pristine.
Costume designer Roberto Surace taught a workshop on how to distress garments. Because I knew I would later make a bullet wound for a production of The Play That Goes Wrong, which I costume designed for, I practiced making one on a vest. I first teared a hole, which I reinforced with fabric underneath to give my a surface to paint on. Using a mixture of red, brown, and black paint I created the bullet hole and blood. The black paint made the edge of the fabric hole look like it had been singed by the bullet. Mixing the paint with water allowed me to paint layers like the blood had soaked into the fabric.
