Since my last blog post on Capable from Mad Max: Fury Road, I have finished the top (made the halter more screen accurate and affixed the halter in back by adding velcro), and I completely redid the skirt.
It was very clean and very white.
All that was left was to tea/coffee dye it to make it grungier looking.
But first, so that I didn't mess up my whole cosplay, I had to do test strips!
So! I made a bunch of test strips, some single layers with hems, some double layers. Why both? The halter top and the shorts are double layered so that they aren't too see through. The skirt, however, is a single layer, hemmed on all sides. I wanted the test to be as accurate as possible for all pieces.
So I bought some instant coffee and went to work. I may have been a tad nervous:
I started at a 1:1 ratio of coffee to water, meaning that for every cup of water, I had one teaspoon of coffee. I used 6 cups of water and 6 teaspoons of coffee, put that in a large pot, and brought to a near boil. Once I could hear the liquid (you know how it gets all bubbly sounding before it starts actually bubbling? Yeah, at that point), I turned the heat from high to 6.
I wanted to test different times, so I left pieces in for durations of 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes. With a small piece left, I did an impromptu test of 30 seconds. I rinsed each with cold water when pulled out of the pot, and let them dry.
My results:
Top was single layers, bottom was double layers, and follows this order:
Control, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes (top, single layers).
Control, 1 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes (bottom, double layers).
I determined these to be too dark for Capable. While hers looks dirty, it looks pretty close to pristine (especially when compared to the other wives).
Retry! Make more strips, then go again. I had decided to try a 2:1 ratio of water to coffee, but ended up doing more like a 2.5:1 ratio or something. 10 cups of water, 4 teaspoons coffee. I figured that 10 and 15 minutes increments would probably be too much, so I started with 30 seconds, 1 minute, and 5 minutes, deciding at the point whether to try the 10 and 15. (After pulling out the 5 minute samples, I knew that 10 and 15 would be too much, so I used the remaining test strips for tea).
For the tea, I used two black-tea tea bags to 8 cups of water. I left the tea bags in until the water was almost at a boil, shaking them around from time to time. The water turned a very copper red, which was pretty, but I wasn't sure would work.
I repeated the test at 30 seconds, 1 minute, and 5 minutes with the tea, as well. Again, like with the previous two coffee tests, I rinsed each strip in cold water.
My results of coffee test 2 and tea test 1:
Tea test on left, coffee test 2 on right. Order as follows:
Tea: Single layer control, single layer 30 sec, single layer 1 min, single layer 5 min, double layer 30 sec, double layer 1 min, double layer 5 min.
Coffee: Single layer 30 sec, single layer 1 min, single layer 5 min, double layer control, double layer 30 sec, double layer 1 min, double layer 5 min.
The 30 second and 1 minute test turned out pretty much the same. I decided to go with 1 minute tea over the 30 seconds because, for whatever reason, I figured it would hold better? Not sure with the reasoning behind that, so I just went with it.
I nervously dyed the shorts, then the top, then the skirt each for 1 minute in the tea dye, then rinsed with cold water. I laid them down to dry and left them overnight.
When I awoke, I tried them on.
Ok, maybe it doesn't look too different to you. Why don't we compare the before and after?
That's quite a difference! I'm very excited to wear Capable THIS COMING WEEKEND at Shore Leave. (If you see me, come say hi!).
Out of excitement, I took a selfie, too, though it doesn't show the color as well, since the whole photo is a tad whited out.
Wow, I'm quite pale, huh? I do love my alabaster skin!
With Capable done, I look to the future! I am currently working on two, secret, group cosplays. Keep watching, you'll see them soon enough! (like, yanno, a month or so...without the "or so" :p )
Hope this post was helpful!
