Stars, in your multitude...

I've been cutting out stars a lot lately. So much, in fact, that I bruised and numbed my fingers from using the scissors. To solve this, I wrapped band-aids around my fingers with the padded gauze part where the scissors were bruising me. That actually helped a lot, so I'll be able to cut even more stars now. (I believe at this point I had used about 3 rolls of chrome)

The process of making the stars isn't as hard as some people think it is. Folding the duct tape in half sticky side in is actually the hardest part, since I have to get it right the first time or it will stick to itself crooked or wrinkled. Once that's done, I have a double layered strip of chrome duct tape with two shiny sides. The cutting out of the stars just takes practice. After the first 50 stars, I got into a pattern that worked for me and now it's pretty mindless.

Now that I've gotten a roll of crome duck tape to my collaborator, the stars should be coming faster than ever. I'm not sure exactly how many we'll need, but I figure if we have enough to pack a shoebox, we'll have enough. Right now we're at 435 and it covers the bottom about a centimeter high.

End of Step 3

I've finished cutting out all of my patterns. I'm going to split the back panel into two panels for a seam down the back, so the finished product will now have seven panels in all.

Here's a picture of half of the back panel on the dress I'm basing my pattern on.

Now that that's done, the next step would be making the duct tape fabric. The pieces of tape I would be using are too long for me to handle by myself, so I'll be cutting out more crome stars until my collaborator and I get our act together and meet up sometime to work on it. The design I made calls for so many crome stars it's not even funny.

Beginning Step 3

I took a formal dress down from my closet today to base my pattern off of. Although my duct tape dress will be the same basic silhouette as the dress (fitted and flared at the bottom), the pattern will need a lot of alterations before I can actually use it.

To make the patterns, I taped together some newspaper pages and laid them over the dress. Then I traced and cut out the shapes of the panels that formed the dress. So far, I've cut out patterns for all three front panels (front center and front sides).

The reason there's so many panels is that the more panels there are, the better the dress will fit. In the pattern I'm working with, there will be six panels in all. I probably won't be able to finish cutting out the patterns till Saturday, but you'll hear from me when I do.

A bit of history...

I found out about Duck Tape's scholarship contest in the summer of 2009 at the start of my junior year in high school. Being a fan of formal wear, duct tape, and arts and crafts, I decided to give it a go.

Step 1: Design
I pulled out my sketchpad and pencil and began brainstorming. I went through several designs before I settled on a basic idea and theme of stars and started to elaborate. The entries for this year's contest have raised the bar for design and especially detail, and my design, although mostly finished, is still undergoing minor changes to its detailing.

Step 2: Getting the materials
I bought several rolls of Duck Tape Brand's duct tape in chrome, black and purple. My collaborator later suggested that we also use white and aqua.
Since I had decided to use Duck Tape's second suggested method of using cloth as a base for the duct tape fabric, I also bought several yards of black cotton.

The third step, I would imagine, would be to create a pattern for the dress. I haven't started that step yet, but during the long period between deciding on a basic design idea and now having an extravagant and detailed design, I have cut out hundreds of small chrome stars and worked with my collaborator to create a star-themed tuxedo design.

Don't forget to visit www.stuckatprom.com and vote for your favorite entry! I honestly have a hard time trying to decide who to vote for this year. They're all amazing.