Tamra - Rebuild and Restore

A cross on my long list of Awesome Myst Ladies to cosplay, something of a tribute to Exile in general and Saavedro in particular for neglecting the poor things so much in fanfiction while I actually Really Like them, the perfect accessory to my Saavedro plushie and, well, my backup plan for =Myst-fanclub's cosplay contest in case I couldn't manage EoA Yeesha in time.
April's been crazy, twenty days away from home and ten at home sick, so here I am, in minor key but I'm NOT passing up this contest.

So. Tamra. Awesome lady by default, in my books, given that her role is Person Whom Awesome Developed Character Loves A Lot. It's a shame that we often get to see only one side of married couples, but I'll take what I get... it's not the first or the last time I've done this, basing my ideas of a character that barely exists by defining what their significant other would probably like.

I like to imagine her life with the kids on the reef after their houses crashed down, the three of them being found by other groups after the revolt has died down... and their efforts to save the Lattice trees and give them the new life we see in Exile's ending. I like to think she's tough as nails - especially with Cindy Wall's voice!
And speaking of trees, and with Narayan in its current state, she's probably solved the old Uru dichotomy of rebuild VS restore by DOING BOTH because both are needed in her situation. No-nonsense Tamra to the rescue!

Lo and behold, highly detailed official art I think this still counts as adaptive design, but there's a lot of interpretation needed to make it into an actual costume. I chose not to add many details because, despite Saavedro's penchant for trinkets, her culture seems austere both out of tradition and necessity. And the other figures in Saavedro's paintings, even the ones that are more clearly defined, wear very simple clothes. Sirrus and Achenar are the only comparisons we got and they aren't overly simplified if we look at their Myst 1 appearance. (<--this, ladies and gentlemen, has been an example of educated straw-clutching)

The costume itself is sadly little more than an instant cosplay, as you can see. I think my hair matched hers quite well, so I went and dyed them. My grandma liked it, by the way. I found both the darker red dress and the lighter red shirt I used as sleeves at a local street market and modded them so that the shirt's décolleté matched the dress'. We don't get to see her shoes, so I opted for sandals that looked exotic enough. The belt's loose ends are partially braided as a homage to Narayani culture (too bad the strings themselves often had other plans, I braided them over and over again during the photoshoot but nope, they always went loose for the best pics).

I think that, extensive local-street-market-searching aside, the most planning and effort that went into this costume is the hand-painted glyph sentence. I went through all the symbols looking for something that defined the character FOR ME and that SHE HERSELF might choose to wear as a symbol, or as a reminder. In the end, I went with
A resilient weave nurtures our love
as a link to Saavedro and their respect of the old traditions, a hint of a sensible, down-to-earth nature and an emphasis on new growth as a hope for their future once he does come back.
I traced it on the dress and painted it over and over again, giving a different colour to each intersection, working with opaque bases (often golds and coppers) and further transparent layers and generally having lots of fun. Then I painted the actual glyph in gold and called it a day. Here's a detailed picture.
(embroideries real cute and appropriate but sadly not my work. They were part of the original shirt)

I think that's it for this project! And I hope to see some great costumes by my fellow Myst fans.
AND FINISH YEESHA, BY THE WEAVE AND THE TREE.

Other pictures:

Tamra - Rebuild and Restore
Tamra - By the Weave
Tamra - Puffer spores
Tamra - Dark times ahead
Tamra - Hi sweetie