Pandora's Designs and Commissions

Welcome to Pandora’s Designs and Commissions!

You may find the FAQ page here: FAQ Page
You may find references and look at my online portfolio here: Online Portfolio
You may go straight to seeing examples of my work here: Photo Page

My services are many facetted, but for the most part I deal in costume construction and design. In addition to costume construction and design, I am able to construct props, shoe covers/spats, do moderate wig styling, create custom resin gems and subsequent jewelry (headpieces and brooches), as well as hats.

I also have experience with working with patterns, working as a stitcher on stage shows (to view these, simply go to the online portfolio page), and I have also worked as an assistant for Audrey Walker, costumer designer, for a little over a year.

Additionally, I dabbled in art (graphic and otherwise) on the side. I am open to commissions for artwork as well. Pricing is by the piece. Please inquire if you're interested.
You may view some sample art work and sketches here: Art and Design Portfolio
Or visit my online gallery here: Deviant Art Gallery

Please don’t hesitate to ask if I can or can’t make something! I will be upfront and honest on all inquiries!

You may leave a comment here for services (as well as a contact e-mail), but I encourage you to send all queries to my e-mail at: arcadiadiamond@gmail.com

I look foward to working with you!

Before inquiring about a commission, it's best to read over these FAQ so you have an idea of how I operate. I am always open to negotiation on certain subjects, like costs and prices, but some are, for lack of a better term, set in stone. If you've any questions about anything listed in the facts, please contact me at arcadiadiamond@gmail.com and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.



1.  After a price has been agreed upon, I require half of that payment up front. This ensures that I have the money for supplies and materials needed to create the garment, as well as ensuring that both the buyer and I are invested into the completion of the commission.
The second half of payment must be paid before I will ship the costume. It is optional to the buyer to decide on whether or not they will pay the full fee for the commission up front, or half first.  Again, the costume will not be shipped out or delivered in any fashion until the fee agreed upon has been paid in full.


2. The full price of the commission is typically broken down as such:

-Material costs
-Shipping costs
-Commissioner Fee

Material costs is made up of the cost of fabrics, paints, snaps and other enclosures, patterns and any combination of supplies I would need to simply create the costume.
Shipping Costs is the amount it takes to send the garment to you, if you do not live locally.
Commissioner Fee is the amount of money I charge to make the costume. This varies, and if you have a budget I will on occaision reduce my initial fees to reach a happy medium with you. My fee generally consists of the amount of hours I estimate it will take me to make the costume. Most costumes will usually run around 100$-150$ commissioner fee for simple costumes, and more elaborate costumes may run upwards of anywhere in the range of 200$-500$. Each price is given on a situation by situation basis.
Most of the time, the quote given is composed of only the cost of supplies and my fee. The reason for this is that often a costume's shipping cost can't be determined until the costume is created. The size, shape and weight of a costume varies per commission so vastly that it's usually hard to give an accurate shipping quote. If I give you a quote that does not include the shipping cost in it, I will state so.


3. On request, I will draft up a receipt/contract that states the time, date, and payment (as well as other details) we've mutually decided on. Sometimes the additional security of signed papers helps to keep a long distance commission going, and it's always good to keep a copy of records. If you require this, the procedure basically consists of me drafting the receipt/contract, sending it to the buyer, and having the buyer sign then return it, whereupon I sign it, and make a copy to send back to the buyer. I keep the original document.


4. I accept Paypal, Personal Checks, Cashiers Checks and Money Orders for costumes under 150$. Any costume exceeding the amount of 150$ requires payment by Cashiers Check, Personal Check or Money Order. The reason for this is that Paypal's fees become excessive past that amount. If the buyer desires, they may send payments through Paypal exceeding 150$ only if they pay the Paypal fee on top of it.
Please anticipate ample time for sending and receiving checks or money orders, as I will not begin construction of a costume or send it out until payment has cleared completely.

5. I prefer to have 4-6 weeks* to work on your costume from the date that payment is received and cleared. Any tardiness in payment may affect the due date of your costume. Extremely intricate costumes may require additional time.
 
  *---It is possible that some items and single-item orders (example: a shirt) can be completed in less time. It is also possible that I will make your costume in less time in exchange for a rush fee. Please scroll down to number 12 or inquire at arcadiadiamond@gmail.com for further details.


6. Before I will ship your costume or items I require that I am paid the full amount I am owed. Failure to comply can and likely will result in either tardiness of receiving your costume, and possibly completely missing the deadline requested. I am not responsible for shipping times: going specifically by the estimation of the post office, I will ship accordingly. Fast orders that do NOT pay the rush fee run the risk of not receiving the costume in a timely matter.


7. I guarantee the following: I will do my best, and put in 100% effort into your costume and items. I will make them to the specifications you have given me, to the best of my abilities, in the time frame we have decided.


8. Before I can start working on your costume, you will need to provide the following:

 
    -If you're asking me to recreate a costume from a 2D design (cosplay, cartoon characters, your own personal designs) I will need references to work from. Preferably multiple angles (front, back, side) and of any details.
    -Your measurements and specifications, as well as any changes and preferences that may differ from what is in the references. This includes material preference and possible issues. (Example: you want the skirt longer, or you’re allergic to linen)
    -Your shipping address, and full contact information.
    -Payment information and at minimum, the first half of the agreed upon price.

9. Communication is of the utmost importance. If you do not check your e-mail often, you need to notify me of additional ways to contact you. It is important we can have ongoing communication to solve any problems or questions that may arise on either end.


10. Pictures will be provided periodically, as well as upon request. If I do not have any pictures at the time of your inquiry, I will have them for you as soon as I am able. Because I spend a lot of time and effort on your costumes, it may not occur to me to take pictures. Please feel free to request them if I haven't provided you with ongoing photos for a lengthy period of time. For costumes requiring more than 6-8 weeks worth of work, please limit requests to once a week, maximum.


11.  Mock-ups are occasionally available. In the circumstance that I cannot modify or use a pre-existing pattern, I will need to make one myself. The easiest way to do this is draping and creating a mock-up. Mock-ups are also very convenient for fitting. Especially if this is done over a distance, fittings are not possible. This means that you will sometimes have to hire someone local to do an alteration, or do it yourself. I take the utmost care that your costume will never be too small, but too large is sometimes a problem. It is important that accurate measurements are given. Darts, pleats, and small modifications to be made to the garment to fit better are best done in person, but as they can't, if there is adequate time for a mock-up and you have specifically requested one, those changes can be made by the buyer to the mock-up and thus applied to the actual costume.
If you specifically request a mock-up, it will be an additional charge on top of the original quote. Please allow adequate time for the shipping and return shipping of the mock-up. An extra two weeks or so is recommended at minimum.


12. Rush fees and rush orders: If you have a con or some other event coming up immediately and have no alternative, it is possible I can get a costume out in a short amount of time. I have, on several occasions, created full costumes in two days. Rush orders are entirely possible, but for the sake of quality and for the sake of saving you money, please heavily consider ordering adequately ahead of time. If you do decide to have a rush order costume made, the cost will be substantially higher, as I will have to put aside current work to give your costume priority. Shipping will have to be two day, which can run almost 60$ depending on package weight. My rush fee is 100$ for simple costumes, plus all regular fees usually due. The price goes up depending on the level of complication, and some costumes simply cannot be rush-made due to the level of work needed on them. Rush orders are a situation by situation deal, so please contact me immediately so that we may discuss what you need done.







To see examples of costumes I've created and shows I've worked on, go here: Costume Portfolio
To see examples of costume designs and other art, go here: Art Portfolio

Experience in Costume Making and Design


-Assistant to Costume Designer Audrey Walker
-A year of schooling in sewing, including embroidery, pillow making, sewing machine care, costume design and construction, draping, flat pattern making, altering.
-Experience working on several stage shows
-Began to create full costumes from Halloween 2003 on
-Experience in making cosplay costumes since 2005
-Experience in fashion and costume design



Shows Worked


Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (set in 1906) - stitcher for Audrey Walker 2007Then and Now 10th Anniversary Dance Show - stitcher for Audrey Walker 2008One Acts In A Box - a series of short plays, Multiple Designers 2008
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum - stitcher for Audrey Walker 2008

Photos

You can see the written part of my portfolio here: Written Information


Descriptions underneath the photographs are:
-Game, Anime, Manga, or Show the costume is from
-Character or Role
-Costume creation credits
-Fourth line includes the work I've personally done on the garment. Only used the Stage Shows Category.

In the Detail Close-Up Category, descriptions are:
-Costume the close-up pertains from
-What the close-up is of


( Click to view the pictures! )

About

I've taken a few courses in school for art, but for the most part, my art is self taught and learned by practice. My style and preference is to scifi and fantasy, focusing mainly on costume design and structure, and character creation. At one point I entertained the idea of doing comics, and even though creating a comic from scratch to finish is a very time consuming endeavor, enjoyed the process until it demanded too much time.

My preferred mediums are basically cardstock and a mechanical .5 pencil. I enjoy watercolors and acrylics, photography and photo manipulation, but my favored method of coloring is using my graphic tablet and photoshop CS.

Many of these pieces feature a character by the name of Pandora. She's a creation of mine that's bled into a lot of my other work and sort of became one of my aliases.


( Click to view the pictures! )