Finished Game of Thrones Handmaiden Dress at Granite State Comic Con

Very late in posting, but here is a look at our finished hand-maiden dresses from Game of Thrones, debuted at Granite State Comic Con, 2014.

These dresses were super comfortable to wear, and the look required very little for hair and make-up. It was kind of like wearing a big blanket all day!

To see the dress in progress, check out this post. And this one to learn how to make the belt!

Granite State Comic Con was a blast! We met several members of the Game of Thrones cast, and took a picture with Pod!

 

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Work in Progress: Game of Thrones Handmaiden Dress

Long time no post! I’ve missed a few costumes that I’ll have to get up here soon…but for now, this is what I’m working on at the moment. It’s a handmaiden gown from Game of Thrones! I plan to wear it to this year’s Granite State Comic Con (2014), which happens to have a little GoT theme going on….They have several guests from the show attending, and will be holding quite the hand-full of GoT panels, as well as an official 21+ GoT after-party.

The handmaiden dress is a lot more simple than everyone assumes it is. The most difficult part of the dress so far was finding the right kind of fabric, in the right color, and with enough yards available to make three dresses (one for myself, and two for friends). We had to order online to find enough yardage, which means there was no feeling the fabric before selecting it. The color is lovely, but ideally we would have selected a fabric that was a little more light-weight. This is a linen-rayon blend, and has a stiff hand, though a nice drape. It’s a dream to work with but isn’t quite as airy as the dresses look on-set.

These pictures are of my initial drape: no hems or anything, just 4 yards of fabric draped on my dress form with an unfinished leather belt. It is an awful lot of fabric. The dress will weigh more than 2 pounds when its done, which may not sound like a lot, but believe me it’s more than your everyday clothes weigh. My friends and I decided to be handmaidens because we assume that there will already be a whole mess of main characters from GoT attending this con. Maybe by being generic background characters, we may actually stand-out. We will also be incredibly comfortable.

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Granite State Comic Con

This weekend (Saturday and Sunday), Kelley and I will be exhibiting and selling our wares at Granite State Comicon! You can find us in the Artist’s Alley, booth number 907. I’ve included a map below with our table circled.  Granite Con will be held at the Radisson Center of New Hampshire, 700 Elm Street, Manchester on September 28th & 29th.

The spaces for Granite Con are not as big as the one we had for Connecticon, so we won’t be able to bring our vertical displays, but we still plan to pack our table with leather masks, armor and bracelets, handmade jewelry, costume accessories, hair pieces and more! Kelley will be doing face paint and balloon animals, and I’ll have my caricature supplies on hand! We’re happy to do your makeup for the convention with Kelley’s hypoallergenic face paints, or get your costume started for Halloween with the perfect mask. Want something specific made for Halloween? We take commissions! If you order a mask at the convention, we will have it to you in time to celebrate every costumer’s favorite holiday on Oct 31st.

For more information on placing a commission, you can visit my website at: http://shaunart.net, or send me an email direct.

For more information on the convention, check out their website: http://granitecon.com

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Review of Granite State Comic Con

Hey all,

This year was my first time attending the Granite State Comic Con in Manchester, NH.  It was also my first time back in Artist’s Alley since I was a teenager! I have been selling at other festivals in the mean time, but I haven’t been a vendor at an anime convention in a while. Part of the reason is because most artist alleys have just gotten way too big. The overcrowding, ridiculous competition, and huge discrepancies in the quality of work is discouraging at most large conventions. Granite State Comic Con was a wonderfully refreshing change of pace. This con was only one day, Sunday, and ran from 10-4pm. It was small, quick, and painless. It was also a great family convention.

I exhibited this year with a friend, Kelley; we split a table, and tailored our services and inventory to fit a younger audience. Because of the small size of the convention, we were able to do face-painting, temporary tattoos, and caricatures on-site behind our booths. That is something that NO large convention would ever let us do. We were able to get an extra chair from the staff, bring one of our own chairs, and have people sit behind our booths inside the artist square. Our neighbors were very friendly about it, but we made every effort to stay as compact as possible regardless. At most conventions, we would never be able to get an extra chair, and the space behind booths are normally way too small to have more than two people behind the table. Let alone a child and their parent. At big conventions, you also have to be concerned with blocking the narrow hall-ways, so chairs or standing room in front of a booth is also out of the question.

We met some really nice people at this convention too! Everyone was so friendly, and all of the vendors seemed very passionate and professional. Artist’s Alley was combined with the dealers room and I think that really encouraged steady traffic.

I didn’t get a chance to go to any panels, but I heard good things about the costume contest from other con-goers. The costumes in general were very good when present!

The ridiculously low admission was also a huge plus with this convention: $8 for adults and only $4 if you were in costume! That is just unheard of. The price of a booth was also very affordable, and it included admission, which fewer and fewer cons are doing these days, which I think is ridiculous. If you are renting a booth, you are there to work, not have fun, so give the vendors a free pass or two!

Overall I was very happy with my experience at Granite State Comic Con. Though it wasn’t a huge money maker because of its small size and short duration, it was a very small investment with cheap parking, and great people. I will definitely go again!

I left my camera in the car, but I did take this picture on my phone of Kelley, my table associate, with a balloon sword.

Don’t forget to check out my work at http://shaunart.net

Thanks for reading!

 

 

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