Monday 21 June 2010

Bonhams auction - 23rd June 2010

When I was at the last Bonhams auction, one of the auctioneers made mention of a further sale in June, where Doctor Who items would be available.

I think I was expecting another full-on sale of ex-BBC items, but what it appears to be is a general Memorabilia sale, with a hand full of Who related lots.

There are seventeen items in total, and you need to real carefully what they are. The repeated use of the phrase “built for exhibition purposes” is a bit disappointing.

I’ll go to the viewing, but I can’t see myself bidding on anything.


As usual I have separated the items by Doctor era, and you can see the rest of the items here:

Here are just the lots relating to the Fourth Doctor era
Lot No: 130
The Seeds of Doom, January - March 1976
A Krynoid pod, of moulded and painted resin, together with a copy of 'The Doctor Who Monster Book', signed by all of the cast and many members of the crew from the episode including Tom Baker inscribed 'Who is this Tom Baker?', Elisabeth Sladen, John Challis, Tony Beckley, Keith Gilbert, Mark Jones, Douglas Camfield and Philip Hinchcliffe a copy of the VHS of the episode and the 'Doctor Who And The Seeds of Doom' paperback by Philip Hinchcliffe, height 4 inches, width 4½ inches

Estimate: £350 - 400
Sold for £1,080

Footnote:
The pod is the small pod, prior to growth into the full size monster.


Lot No: 134
K-9 model,
created for exhibition purposes, of plastic, metal, rubber and fibreglass, with metal and rubber tail, shaped sides, plastic coloured buttons to top panel, red plastic eye grill, length 43 inches, height 23 inches

Estimate: £300 - 400
Sold for £1,200

Lot No: 135
K-9 model,
created for exhibition purposes, of wood, plastic, fibreglass and metal, with metal spring tail, painted effect to sides, with mesh ears, length approximately 43 inches, height 24 inches

Estimate: £250 - 350
Sold for £504


Lot No: 138
A miniature Tardis model
Created for exhibition purposes, of painted board, with plastic paper-backed windows, and plastic casing to light, having internal electrical workings (plug removed), height 5ft, width 15 inches

Estimate: £300 - 400


Lot No: 139
The 'Longleat' Tardis console
Created for exhibition purposes, of wood and plastic, with internal electrical workings and lighting, the control panel in sectional pieces, with plastic buttons, with electrical pulley for central mechanism, length approximately 70 inches, width approximately 60 inches, height 58 inches

Estimate: £350 - 450
Sold for £900

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Season 17 Frock Coat - pattern grading

Things seem to be going well so far on working towards making my Tome Baker season seventeen Frock Coat.

So far I have traced the Romana Pink Frock Coat and cribbed the individual pattern shapes.
My next step is to unite them into a single block from which I can work.


My college tutor had been a little skeptical of how well I could trace the pattern from a made-up garment, but when she saw what I had produced, she was impressed. The proof though would be seeing how well they matched up when drawn as the block.

Remembering how I drew my Lounge Jacket Block, I started with the back and worked my way around the body to the front, before adding the skirt panels below.
To my satisfaction they came together, forgive the pun, seamlessly, and made for a very unified and conjoined block.

The parts of the pattern I concentrated on were the sleeve opening, the waist and hemline. Keeping these in alignment is important. The finished result certainly looked and felt right (see left).

Monday 7 June 2010

Season 17 Frock Coat - plans

After making a number of frock coats recently (the Five Coat, and a Bespoke one for my client Ian in Australia), my next goal is to make a Season seventeen Tom Baker Frock Coat.

It may prove to be a bit of a long-term project as I am running a number of other items at the moment, but I’ll get there!

My route will be a bit round the houses, but the journey will be worthwhile as I will be learning some new skills along the way, specifically pattern grading.

A while back, when I gained access to the Original Six Frock coat and costume, I was also able to see and take photos of the Romana Pink Frock Coat as seen in Destiny Of The Daleks. (see below)


It was a surprising costume piece to look at, as it wasn’t entirely what I was expecting. For me, Lalla Ward’s Romana was always feisty character, but a with a delicate and playful sense of fashion. The Pink Frock Coat has a very girly look to it, so I was surprised to find it was made from quite a coarsely woven wool.
Interestingly this matched a couple of the fabric types used on the Six Frock Coat, so if I found a match for it I would kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

This, however, is only the beginning of my plan.

New blog? Well, yes!

If you are reading this blog – well done!


This is part of a pet project of mine which I’m keeping partly under wraps for now, but feel free to follow what I’m up.