Lewd, Lascivious Lips

Brian Thomson has always maintained the disembodied lips were inspired by a Man Ray painting. Though disembodied lips were hardly an original idea by 1974 - and he could have been influenced by many other works - on canvas, stage, or film. Or maybe those other works were also inspired by Man Ray?

Observatory Time: The Lovers (1936)

Brian Thomson wanted to be a pop artist. He inserted dozens of art references in the set, and he would have been very aware of Andy Warhol's works. 

Thomson was working at The Royal Court theatre around the same time as the 15-minute production of "Not I" by Samuel Beckett  (about 5 months before rehearsals started for Rocky Horror). In the staged production Billie Whitelaw's lips were illuminated by a small, focused spotlight. Later that year there was a filmed version (broadcast in black & white) which had her face blacked out so only her lips were visible. Thomson would have certainly been aware of this production.

Not I (stage production)

Not I (televised production)

But even before that, Mouthscreen was a common cinematic trope. Some other films (before Rocky Horror) that have used the "Mouthscreen" technique include: 

Les Femmes aka The Vixen (1969)
The moving lips appear in the entirety of the 
opening and closing credits.

Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
Opening scene

Black Narcissus (1947)

Citizen Kane (1941)

In fact, Brian Thomson and director Jim Sharman even used a Mouthscreen shot in Shirley Thompson Versus the Aliens - for 86 seconds.

Shirley Thompson Versus the Aliens (1972)

The Rolling Stone's logo was designed by John Pasche in 1970. It has been called the most famous logo in the history of popular music. The logo has remained on all post-1970 albums.

Salvador Dali designed a Lips sofa with fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli - 5 versions of the couch were produced in different textiles.

And then.... you had these hilarious novelties. Wax Lips. Invented "some time in the mid-20th century", their popularity piqued in the 70s. 

Garter Belts & Elastic...

My method of attaching the red ribbon to elastic greatly reduces it's stretch-ability - but it's not a bad thing!

The elastic you find on most lingerie (like garter belt straps and bra straps) is typically a plush-back picot elastic. It is only intended to stretch about 40-50%. This is why most bra and garter straps also have an adjustable slide. If those straps were more stretchy then they could no longer provide the intended support of holding things up. You need just enough stretch to compensate for movement and comfort.

Braided elastic (middle of the pic) is typically what you'll find at the craft store and use in your costumes. It's far more stretchy; it's intended for waistbands and other such elasticized channels. It can stretch nearly twice it's length and is not suitable for bra or garter straps. 

However, attaching a ribbon (with a short, straight stitch) will greatly reduce the stretch of a braided elastic which, then, makes a suitable garter strap. The shorter the stitch, the more the stretch, but it will still be slightly less stretch than the lingerie elastic. Of course, the ribbon prevents attaching any sort of adjustable slider. 

But that's okay! Because the floorshow garter belts I sell are made from spandex. I cut them out so that they stretch more vertically than horizontally. This means that the garter belt itself is compensating for the rest of the stretch that the ribbon-stitched-on-elastic has lost. 

That all being said, there's no perfect strap length that will fit everyone. Some people prefer to wear their hose higher than others, different torso lengths, etc. Best I can do without fitting it on you to see where the garter belt will 'ride' is aim for an average length. The wearer can then adjust where the garter belt sits around the waist/high hips, and adjust the height of their stockings accordingly. My straps are shorter in front and longer in back (to accommodate the way the body moves). 

Embroidered Robe (Service)

Robe provided by customer

Okay.... Brad's kimono update.... here's what I'm THINKING of offering:

1. Embroidery service on your kimono ($75 + shipping)
2. An unlined, embroidered satin kimono made by me ($165 + shipping)
3. A zipped file of 9 PES embroidery files + 3 placement templates to print out ($50 - it may be months before I'm able to offer this last option, but let me know if you're interested)

Square Site Launched!

I launched my new Square site this week - it features items that are ready to ship. So it's mostly stocked with One Size items, patches, and samples I've made while developing new products (so they may be slightly different than my final versions). 

There's also a form there for commission requests - though (as always) my queue is quite long and sometimes I have to pause new commissions until I can get caught up.

Brad's Bow Tie

Prince Edward Stuart tartan!  Yup, Russ D. brought this to my attention, and I concur with his evidence. The bow tie has blue and green in it. And it's not even that hard to find!

Like all tartans, there seem to be variations with the same name - look for the kind with one yellow stripe (some have a double yellow stripe or even a white stripe instead). 

View the correct tartan on the Clan website. 

Brad's Kimono

The red kimono has arrived! By all evidence, it seems to be identical to the blue kimono that Brad wears - it has all of the same embroidered butterflies and flowers in the same places.

I'll be digitizing these designs (creating embroidery files) - though it's a taxing process going back and forth from the computer to the embroidery machine - testing, editing, testing, editing, etc.

I'll also be measuring and patterning the kimono itself, as well as creating a file to mark the placements of all the designs.

In the meantime I'm going to drop some of my photos here for reference:

Rocky Wraps (Prototype)

I basically made leggings and attached the 'laced up' component as a façade on top of the leggings.  There are separating zippers running up the back of the legs.  They just go on like a pair of pants and will stay up really well. They look fantastic from the front. A bit of a compromise since they don't get unlaced... but I think the focus should be on Rocky's initial debut when he stands up, and not on Magenta and Columbia unlacing him.  I did the same for the arms/sleeves. 

But this is just a prototype - so the length is a bit long in the video... and the zipper wasn't shortened yet.  

 

Brad's Robe

I went looking for photos of Brad's robe and realized I've never posted about it! 
So here's some screen caps - it's a basic kimono-style robe. Open armpits and such. No shortage of patterns out there, though it's probably easier to find a robe and just add the embroidery.

Frank's Pearls

If only everything were so easy to be source! I've had some of these so long, I don't even know where I sourced them from. But here's what I can currently offer (as of July 2025):

• 20mm White Pearls (20 beads needed for 16" necklace + 4" chain)
• 20mm Silvery-Grey Pears (20 beads needed for 16" necklace + 4" chain)
• 25mm White Pearls (15 beads needed for 16" necklace + 4" chain)

The options listed above will be $25 each (+ shipping) and include the allocated beads, spacer beads, clasp & chain, and jewelry wire. Additional beads for longer necklaces may cost slightly more.

I will continue to search for the stainless steel beads - the beads are easy enough to find; the problem is their holes are usually too large to use with spacer beads.

I will also continue to search for 22mm White Pearl beads, as I think that would be the ideal size.

I can count 14 on Frank (across the front and sides), and estimate there's probably another 5 (give or take) behind his neck. His chain gap is at least 2".

Pride Costumes...

Here's some of the stuff I've made for Pride month - I started most of these weeks (months?) ago but had to wrap them up quickly. Don't be fooled, I'm still spending most of my days working on Space Suit commissions. Most of these will appear on stage in Austin and Houston, TX.

Floorshow Boas!

Okay, here's what I've learned after dicking around with these things for a few weeks...

The boas are long. Really long. I make mine almost 10'.
The box-pleats use fabric at a 3-to-1 ratio... so if you want to box pleat 9' of organza, you'll need 9 yards (18 feet!)

Sue's seem to be mounted on some black twill tape, but I just used 3/8" grosgrain ribbon. I don't recommend satin ribbon; the organza will slip and slide all over that.

Materials: 
1 10-foot strip of twill tape or grosgrain ribbon
1 9-yard (18-foot) strip of Black Organza (10" wide)
1 8-yard strip of Red Organza (10" wide)
1 8-yard strip of Yellow-Green Organza (10" wide)
2 WOF (Width Of Fabric) strips of Black Chiffon (10" wide)
2 (or 4) Black Tassels
Black Serger Thread (and obv. a serger)

If you don't mind piecing your organza together, you can just buy 2-yards and sew the 10" strips together to make one long strip.

Prepping the Fabric:
I cut 10" wide strips of the Organza and chiffon and serge all the long edges. If you want to use a rolled-hem foot on your serger, you may want to cut your fabric strips 1/2" wider to accommodate the hem (1/4" each side). I don't bother to serge the short edges, but you can if you want. 

Getting Started:
I fold about 1" of the ribbon up to make a loop for the tassel. Some tassels have stupid-long loops for hanging, so I shorten those to about 2".  I box-pleat the chiffon to each end straight down the middle - just sort of a loose pleat-as-I-go technique. I can see the ribbon through the chiffon. Make sure you attach both ends of the chiffon to the SAME SIDE of the ribbon! My pleats average about 1-1/4" deep.. back and forth alternating their direction (that's what makes it a box pleat). If you prefer you can pleat them all going the same direction and it should look beautiful, too.

Pleating the Organza!
Continue to attach all layers on the same side of the ribbon. This will help with the twist when it's hanging.

I attach the red first... slightly overlapping the black Chiffon ends. Not all of the boas have all of the colors running the full length, but I prefer to keep it simple and just go all the way across. Then the green/yellow - which I started and ended a little further in from the red. Then the black I started about 6" from the beginning of the ribbon - it overlaps a lot of the Chiffon. 

You absolutely want to do the black organza last because it's the hardest to see through. You need to be able to see your ribbon/previous stitch line on each successive layer. It can be a little tricky with the black on top of the black ends. Just go slowly and keep your pleat layers spread as you work. 

Commissions:
If you decide you'd rather just buy one I'd be glad to make it for you!  Based on the materials I currently have available (see top photo) I am charging $125.00 (materials + labor).  

Floorshow Boa Research

There are two known, extant boas:
1. The King's Road Boa owned by Ruth (and possibly used by Rocky in the film)
2. Columbia's Boa owned by Larry

They have a lot in common and appear to be made from the same materials, however the order of their layers is different. They both begin with a length of black twill tape (grosgrain will work well, too). Both boas also begin with pleated chiffon on the ends - it's a little droopier and gives the boa a more tapered appearance. Both boas have multiple layers of pleated (most likely) Organza, but the lengths and positions of the Red and Yellow are reversed. The tassels appear to be the same.