Bumr Blackbrand wrote:Hey all. In a book referencing props used in The Hobbit, the propmaster mentions he had custom boots made to make the Dwarf Cast's feet look large, as they would be on a Dwarf. Are there any alternative solutions to this aside from having totally custom boots made? I don't have access to a custom cobbler, and I imagine having custom boots like this made would be incredibly expensive.
I've also seen these boot caps on Etsy that look like a decent solution. If anyone has any better ideas, though, I'm all ears.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/126818701/ ... ck=1&pro=1
Those boot caps are very cool, I might just have to make some at some point
Anyway, back to your question, it's important to remember that there's a
big difference between a movie prop and a functional item, over size boots look great but would be cumbersome and difficult to wear, it all depends on what you want out of your kit.
To make my feet look large in dwarven cosplays, I've had reasonable success with wearing my leather steel toe cap work boots (which have a bulky look) along with fur lined leather gaiters but on the trail I've never worn anything other that my trusted walking boots.
The main difficulty here is that Tolkien mentioned the term "Dwarven boots" several times, but he never gave a description of what that meant. At one point he said that hobbits wear them in very muddy and cold conditions so we have a different interpretation of dwarven boots from Udwin in his hobbit bounder kit, here's a link:
http://www.middleearthrangers.org/wiki/ ... :_Soft_Kit
As far as height is concerned, it may sound stupid, but it's possible to dress short without pudding and such. If you've ever watched a borrowers movie you'll notice that the characters dress small by wearing fabrics with a thick weave and unnaturally large thread and stitching, it's all about optical illusion and size by association. Here's some of the most basic methods for dressing short:
- Thicker/stiffer fabrics
- Larger decorative borders and detail round the edges of tunics
- Wide belt
- Almost knee length tunics/coats
- Baggier trousers (not to extreme)
- Almost Knee height gaiters
- Wider looking shoulders (can be achieved with pattern and cut, without padding)
You'll recognise a lot of this in the movie costumes, the reason it works is that your reducing the plain fabric distance between costume details and that creates the illusion of a shorter person
Ringulf is a master of this:
https://www.middleearthrangers.org/foru ... ulf#p42447
Hope this helps
