Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541330
24 WINTER 2026 a time when I did, because I've worked with really great Paern Cuers, Paern Fiers, and Paern Makers, so I was really lucky. Gina Scarnati: I have purposely tried not to get pigeonholed, so if I just did a job doing leather work and that is the next one that's offered to me, I will oen turn it down. And if I just did a project that was aging and dying, if the next job offered to me is aging and dying, I will oen turn that down. So, there are people who know me as a Head Dyer, Textile Artist, Ager Dyer, who have no idea I do specialty, and there's people who know me as a specialty person that don't know I do the other thing, I've really gone out of my way to not get pigeonholed. But in the specialty realm, I wind up doing a lot of our belts, whether they be leather, urethane, traditional sewn fabrics, which sounds crazy, you'd be like, "how could you possibly work on a movie making belts for nine months?" But it takes a lot of R&D to get something that visually makes sense with the character—fit and moves with the costume and to R&D that, and then be able to make what's necessary for the principals, as well as stunts that are kind of an amazing amount of work. Jack Taggart: I'm very patient, I'm very calm, and I'm very confident because I know what I'm doing. Plus, I've realized over the years, just when you don't think you can solve a problem, you solve a problem, you figure it out. Don't be scared to just dive in and do it and you'll figure it out. And that was the best advice ever. Because I always tell people I work with, just go for it. Ask advice and study up on the process. But you need to be confident that you're going to solve problems, because you also want the designer to see you being confident and not be scared, like, 'oh, this kid doesn't know what he's doing.' And the thing is, even if you don't know what you're doing, you will figure it out. You reach out to your colleagues, and sometimes you pull things out of yourself. I'm also really good at multitasking, because as an Ager/Dyer, you're dyeing a whole bunch of stuff, while you're also breaking down shoes, hats, armor, and superhero costumes, so you have to kind of be able to do both. And I'm really good at that, and problem solving. And another thing I think I'm really good at is that I empower my crew to have confidence and faith in themselves. They know that I trust them because I hired them because I like their work. I want them to do well, and I tell them whatever process works best for you, do that. Do you have any favorite tools or techniques that you like to use on your jobs? LS: I use my hands the most. I also use a point turner, and I sand them. I sand all my tools, so they have very sharp edges, like really thin. So, when I go in and bevel, I have to sand them and smooth them so I can go deep into the leather into the pieces, but I don't cut or mark the leather. If you're not careful, like if you use metal, it will cut right into the leather because it's been thinned out so much. I call it my Groovers. And sometimes your finger and your nail, because you feel it, it's all about the hand too—you know when you're turning and you want that sharp line, you feel it. I always tell people, because they see that and they say you make it look so easy. I say it's all about the hand, the feel. You've got to feel it, but that's the only important tool I use. You have your creases, your bevelers, you edge your leather and use your burnishers. That's another favorite one of mine because when you do a solid tooling leather, for instance, a belt, you have to scribe out or bevel the edges. DA: Depends on what we're doing. Are we doing leather work? Are we doing millinery work? I mean, I would say something I use all the time is a blow dryer, because you don't have time for whatever you're making. If it has to dry, you're gonna have time to stand around. Just put it under the blow dryer, whether you're gluing stubbies that are blades, exacto knives, scalpels, blades of any kind, blow dryer. Those are things that are on the table all the time. There's some adhesives that I like but it depends on what we are making. What are we doing? If it's a superhero, there's other stuff that's on the table. If it's military, if it's general, cra work, like in Fallout, we did everything. So everything cycled in and out of the room, and so other things would change. But those are the basics. KM: I'm just big with draping the fabric on form. I don't have any mathematical equations and I just figure it all out that way. I just drape it on the form and create the paern from that. I think my favorite thing was when I worked with John Ridge, we would do Julie Andrews costumes and Princess Diaries, for example, and more of that kind of stuff. We did Celine Dion's Las Vegas residency, her first residency, we costumed that. So, I've done all the girly, froofy stuff. But once I started geing into the superhero world that really became my favorite. I feel like every costume is like an unconventional materials challenge in Project Runway, because it's some of the stuff we work with you wouldn't do in typical fashion. "The shorts make him look like Superman in the original comics, Superman like Christopher Reeve, and we're all very happy with that." — JAC K TAG G A R T