Foil Man begins to take shape...

Last night Foil Productions met John Landis - director of such classics as Animal House, The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London. He wished us luck with Foiled, so today Howell and I decided to get down to business and push forward the construction of the Foil Man costume.

At first we continued sticking the foil onto the trousers in small sections as Howell and Nick had done previously. The double-sided sticky tape went on first in strips, then we attached the foil sections. The reason for using small pieces was so that when the costume flexed as Foil Man moved around the foil wouldn't rip and come apart. This, however, was taking forever for not much progress. Things had to change.

We put the trousers to one side for now, and considered the shoes. They had to be sturdy to cope with the scenes when Foil Man was running through fields, woods, up hills, over rocks and generally being thrown about. The solution was to wrap them entirely in foil, cover that with a layer of sticky tape, and cover that with yet more foil, then add another layer of tape on the outside to protect them. It worked - the tape was clear, the shoes looked good.

Just one problem. They no longer stretched - Howell could not get his feet in! Solution: cut the backs of the shoes away! We'll have to patch them somehow after Howell puts the costume on.

After wandering the shops in Withington near Howell's house, and getting some very odd stares from people (well, Howell was wearing the shoes as a test...) we decided we could use a similar method to speed up production of the remainder of the costume. Out came the trousers again. An initial layer of double-sided sticky tape, plus two layers of foil covered in tape worked! We were amazed.

Photos of the semi-complete costume may appear here later, but next week we intend to finish it completely. Watch this space!