This is “Be Our Guest”, a number from a production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” that I designed the costumes for in 2006.  It was for an amateur theatre company in Melbourne, Australia.  

The budget wasn’t bad for an amateur company, but it was still limiting for the amount and type of costumes we had to make. Many things (the knives, forks and spoons, Cogsworth, Mrs Potts in particular) were made from “yoga mats” which are basically PEV foam but it is much cheaper to buy them from places like The Reject Shop for $2 a mat than from a proper foam supplier for $15 a sheet which is not much bigger than a yoga mat.

This does come with the problem of using contact adhesive which gives off some pretty horrible fumes. This foam can also be heated and moulded into different shapes – also giving off fumes but yielding a great result. We were lucky enough to have the use of a spray booth to do this in and with the assistance of masks and protective clothing we were able to come away from this relatively unscathed.

The beauty of this foam is that once it is joined – particularly in spherical shapes, it is self-supporting to an extent and doesn’t need any inner structure. This makes life very easy when having to come up with multiple costumes. This works up to quite large shapes. The Cogsworth costume was made entirely of this foam and except for the addition of a door made from timber and perspex and one support across the “hem” at the back of the jacket, was almost completely self supporting. It did require shoulder straps so that it would swing as he walked, but all in all it was a light and usable costume.

Mrs Potts, was made by a friend of mine, Kelly Farrow. The bottom of the “tea pot” is made with a “crinoline” base that she altered the bottom half of to come in towards the actresses feet. It was covered in polyester fibre and then in the fabric of the outfit. Her “bodice was made from the yoga mat foam and then covered in a layer of polyester fibre and the fabric of the outfit again. My description makes this sound like it was simple, but it was a lot of work and she managed to get it looking beautiful and hanging very well.