Stained Glass Corset Belt Piece- Process

As a part of my larger “Adjournment” Senior Thesis for Fashion Design i wanted to create a “stained glass” corseted belt piece to go with the costume designed to represent the Rooke. The goal was to incorporate Gothic architectural elements in the form of a wearable accessory that would compliment the dark steeple headpiece.

Materials: Coscom® Eva 38 Foam, Hot-Glue, Silicone Fondant Molds, Flexi-Paint® high gloss vanish, Barge® contact cement, Plasti-Dip, Cosflex- Prime and Seal, Acrylic Paints, Rub n’ Buff - Gold, Insulin Needles, and Acrylic clear coat vanish.

EVA 38 4mm Foam being etched by a 60watt C02 laser.

To make the intricate cells of the Stained glass arches, I designed the pattern in Procreate, tracing off real images of Gothic architecture. It was then converted it to a vector image in Illustrator so it could be translated to a laser etching file in Lightburn. I etched and cut out the design to make the base for the rest of the windows.

Laser etched windows attached to 2mm EVA Foam base being used to mount the hot glue details

I glued the etched window onto a piece of white 2mm EVA foam to create a base to start layering the pieces of hot-glue filagree. The filagree is made using pre-existing silicone cake molds similar to these. I used a glue-gun to Inject the molds with hot glue on high heat to make sure all of the small details were captured cleanly. Once the pieces were cooled, I would pop them out of the mold and trim off any flashing (spill-over) using an X-acto knife. When I had enough pieces, I heat-sealed the foam. (You cannot heat seal the foam once the hot glue pieces are attached without running the risk of melting them) I started playing with different patterns of filagree and layering them to create a cohesive looking frame, casting additional pieces as needed and gluing it down with Barge® based on the direction the design was taking.

Window being primed with Cosflex-Prime and Seal. (Left ) Trimming off 2mm EVA Foam backing. (Right)