Leatherworking, Ara’Kus style

Leatherworking is not nearly as difficult as I assumed it would be.  After becoming frustrated with the excessively priced leather items online, Randy recently decided to try assembling some of his own stage costume pieces.  Within two days of getting the materials from Tandy Leather, he had gone from knowing absolutely nothing about the craft, to putting the finishing touches on a leather pauldron that looked to me as if it could have sold online for five times what he spent on materials.

Now, of course, we’re overwhelmed with the possibilities.  I’ve already gone out and purchased the materials I’ll need to craft myself a leather tunic. It will certainly be more difficult and time consuming than Randy’s pauldron, but now that I understand the basics, I feel that it’s fully achievable.  Considering I spent around $100 on materials (some of which are tools that can be reused for multiple projects) and the cheapest comparable leather armor I can find online runs $600+, I think I don’t have much to lose but my time.

If this turns out well, I may turn my attention to making some items for other people in the band or cast.

Costume designs are nearing completion.  We plan to have a sewing party this weekend or in the very near future to assemble the monk robes for the chorus.  Fortunately, several people working with us know which end of a sewing machine is up, because I’m sure if it was left up to me I’d end up with assorted fabric bits sewed onto my body.  We’ve also been communicating with our costume designer, Linnaea, about the band costumes, and apparently she’s going to get us the final sketches by this weekend.  There’s a bit of urgency surrounding all this now, since getting our costumes assembled is the only thing preventing us from doing our promotional videos and live promotional ventures.

Randy went out and talked with an orchestra last night to try and find some additional members for our string section.  Apparently it went very well, and Randy is optimistic that we’ll have a few people at least check it out.  Last Wednesday we had a cellist by the name of Betsy Tinney come out.  Even without having the music to give her, we were able to play with her a bit.  It’s really amazing how much live strings can compliment our style of music.  We’re hoping to assemble at least a quintet of strings prior to the first production.

Other than that, the past few days have primarily been spent trying to find cast members.  We’ve had a number of people spreading the word for us, and I’m looking into making some presentations at local colleges in the theater departments.  I’m still optimistic for the May 12^th audition.  We’ve already had several people confirm their interest and plans to attend.  It’s all a matter of keeping up the intensity in our advertising so that we get the word out to the right people.

Onward and upward… 85 days remaining.