Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531371
appear. They step out and they're standing on the edge of a cliff and, oh my god, they look like they just came out of that cliff. They were so beautiful. They were at one with the soil there in New Mexico. It's one of the simpler things we did on that movie because there was a lot of aging on that movie. It was a lot of wool and a lot of leather. The Apache costumes used more painting and airbrushing, but the effect was just another one I was really proud of, and proud of my crew." Color matching and swatching are large parts of a Dyer's job. Their knowledge gained from experimenting with fabric determines a lot of their success. "That's our version of prototyping with colors. Buy us some extra fabric. You need to be able to test what's going to work on the fiber content of that fabric, what's going to happen to it when it gets hot? Will it dye well? And you only do that and find out by doing it." Experienced Fabric Buyers learn that the Dyer will need more yardage to be able to make dye swatches, and more fabric to account for shrinkage. There are certain fabrics that dye beer than others. "You're not going to get a deep dark color out of polyester and you're not going to get much of anything out of acetate. But nylon dyes beautifully. Everybody thinks nylon won't dye, but it dyes beautifully and easily. But polyester and acetate? Can we please avoid those as much as possible? They don't age well either." It's also beneficial to the team if they know the fiber content of the fabrics they're being given to work with. "We can always do the burn test and you take your best guesses at it but if a shopper can write down what it says on the end of the bolt or ask the shopkeeper if they know, come and give us any information you can get. We really appreciate it." Whether it is changing the color of a garment completely on its own or color matching an existing costume piece, it is imperative that a Dyer has a swatch—a fabric sample—to match. "If the designer doesn't bring you a swatch, you're going to waste a heck of a lot of time. You're going to waste material, and again, you're both going to end up geing frustrated because a designer can say pink and the pink in my head is not the same as the pink in her head. You need a swatch of the color that they like and if they can't find anything that's exactly like it. They try to get as close as they can. Then they will say, 'Well, this but gray it down a lile bit.'" On The Book of Boba Fe, Carol worked with Key Finished Costumers Kelly Chambers and Gio Kendall and began a language of color swatches for the majority of their time spent in the Star Wars franchise. "When we first talked to each other, Kelly would bring me their background outfits and tell me what needed to be done on them, and I'd say, 'I need swatches.' You goa give me a swatch, because we're moving at TV pace, right? So, you have to get done really quickly and a swatch is going to get me there three days earlier than no swatch. So, Kelly filled up this Tupperware box with all these scraps of different fabrics and stuff, which was great. At one point, she started teaching Gio, because she was going to take over as the Key. So, I was off in this tiny lile room by myself, but Kelly comes up with this box of all these swatches, and she starts making up these fantastic crazy names just to drive me crazy. She would pull something out and she'd say, 'I want this the color of the Tatooine moon at noon aer a rainstorm.' So Gio took that over from her and would say, 'the caramel on your favorite ice cream sundae you've ever had, but it's got a lile chocolate misted.' It would just make me laugh, which is good. You have to make people laugh. Gio ended up writing a poem about me, and in it, she's got these color references." Carol has worked on several projects that allowed her to work with other Ager/Dyers as the crew, oen with her working as a Head Dyer. "It is the greatest thing in the world when you get somebody on your crew who knows how to dye, especially because (From top) The Tomorrow War fake ice effect; (below) The Book of Boba Fett aged Cad Bane boots; (opposite) Aged costume for Star Wars. 34 SPRING 2025