July 2017 - carl-mitchell.com

The Stag Do was done and dusted. Now, with a few weeks to go until the nuptials, I could focus on building and buying various decorations and gifts for the wedding itself.

The Card

I’ve posted before about my “trilogy” of handmade greeting cards, which the couples received for their respective weddings. Above is the card I made for the newest newlyweds…
A pen drawing coloured in with watercolour paints, based on Potter Puppet Pals, writing (with a quick quotes quill) and… sysadmin stuff (a phone, displaying a monitor, displaying a skull and crossbones). Also featuring their cat in the middle.

I drew it out in pencil on A5 paper, then (to make things more complicated than necessary) scanned it in and moved elements around in Photoshop. I also roughly digitally coloured it.
Then I printed the lines out again at A6 size, with higher contrast, and traced it onto my watercolour postcards via the light box.

Part 1 was about the largest (and most fun) props from the Stag Do I hosted last month.
Now onto part 2, which focuses on the smaller props and accessories I made for the par-tay…

A golden hat

The Groom needed to stand out from the rest of us plebs. Sashes are for hens, and this was not the kind of group to all go out in full costume. I ruled out the ‘Helmet of Justice’ from Knightmare because, well, you can’t see where you’re going. That would get old fast.

Being a Discworld fan (and he’s a bit of one himself), I plummed for a Moist Von Lipwig inspired hat… with a bit of local hero Fred Dibnah mixed in.

The base hat was a flat cap from Primark. Four reasons led to this choice:

You don’t want to repaint and cut holes into something pricy, or riun a costly item and need to buy another!
It came in One Size (fits all), so no chance of a cap that’s too small.
The groom had tried it on briefly on our suit shopping trip.
The hats in the costume shop were made of an uncomfortable, hard plastic.