Among the extraordinary costumes was Don Pong as the Lord of the Nazgul, which won the award for best re-creation in the journeyman category. The costume, which took two months to construct, consists of five layers of fabric, a giant mace made of layered and painted cardboard with links of painted plastic, and six inch platform boots. He also wore pauldrons made of painted foam and a customized helmet and gloves.
In the novice category, Marie Alm won the award for best re-creation for her presentation of The Shards of Narsil. Marie’s costume, made in just eighteen days, featured a dress made from six yards of grey polyester, a shield of layered cardboard covered with papier mache and mod podge, shards made of Super Sculpee, lots of gray body paint, and a braided and styled wig. Marie said the hardest parts of the project were wiring the shards to the shield and getting the dress to drape properly.
In the master category, Marcia Banach won the award for best re-creation for her Haradrim costume, and best original costume went to Lisa for her presentation of an elf of Rivendell.
Best in show (adult) was won by Phil and Cathe Guste for their presentation Comrades in Arms (Theoden and Gamling) and best in show (youth) by a child dressed as Haleth son of Hama of Rohan.
Other interesting and creative costume presentations included Tiffany, Miranda, and Shannon of Vancouver as three hobbit lasses, Heather Moran of the Los Angeles area as a lady of Gondor in a midnight blue gown made by Suzzy Canny, Leilani of Honolulu as Frodo of the Grey Havens, Joan Audrey as a Ranger, and Erin of Reno as a hobbit of Tuckborough.
All winners received award certificates that will be personalized for them by Daniel Reeve, and some received copies of The Art of Lord of the Rings or other volumes, including some signed by Alan Lee. (See gallery)
After the contest, the Fenians entertained the crowd until late with their unique brand of Celtic rock.
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The Friday schedule was full of all these things as well as a packed and hot-selling dealer’s room and many meetings and reunions. Artists sat down for a hotely contested ‘iron artists’ session while Games Workshops and playable demos of Battle for Middle-earth II. The evening featured an amazing seven minute gift from Peter Jackson via New Line and Creation.
The segment wasn’t strictly bloopers as many of the quick bits were Jackson or the cast goofing around, playing pranks or just having a good time. The evening consisted of a wild and crazy party with the Finians and an unbelievable high-quality costume contest that showcased wonderful ideas such as the Shards of Narsil and marvelous execution.
We will continue to send images and words and will try to share ORC with our internet community as much as possible.
The ORC scholarly track got off to a great start with Mike Foster, North American Representative of the Tolkien Society, providing wonderful insights on Tolkien’s relationship with C.S. Lewis in his panel “J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: A Fellowship of Two.” Christianity, literature, poetry and each other were among their favorite topics to bandy about. Mike made us feel like we were flies on the wall listening into some of their conversations which were often as contentious as they were friendly. Whether they were expressing admiration or frustration with each other, the end result, as Mike put it, was “one of the great creative synergies” of our time.
Next up was the panel: “”Costuming: Elves and Hobbits,” with Leah Jakusovzky, Danielle Smeltzer and Kent Elofson. They shared their considerable knowledge of all the fabrics, shapes, patterns and accessories essential to making authentic Middle-earth costumes. Texture and layering are key as well as being creative with seemingly common everyday things that can be found in thrift stores and on the internet such as backpacks, buttons and belts.
In honor of having John Noble, Billy Boyd and Miranda Otto with us this weekend, several presentation are planned on the characters of Denethor, Pippin and Eowyn. First up was Katrelya Angus and her presentation, “Denthor and Eowyn: Despair, Disobedience and hope.” Katrelya wowed us with her insights into what influenced Denethor and Eowyn in their search for power and glory in the tumultuous politics of their time.
Laura Cooper’s hand’s on presentation, “Tengwar 1: History and Understanding the Alphabet” was popular and fun as we followed her lead in learning the many nuances of writing Tengwar letters. Although our pen-scratches weren’t nearly as good as her beautiful free-flowing script, she patiently guided us through our very first alphabet! Tomorrow we move on to sentences.
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Matt’s link to many more photos. [More]
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Ainu Laire’s report and photos. [More]
