Interviews Jennifer Ings - Prop Builds by DJ Forrest

How did you get into prop building, was it something you’d begun in school and progressed through college with, or are you naturally a creative person who has picked up the skills along the way?

           

Jennifer:  Prop building is just something I sort of fell into. As a kid, I was always tearing things apart to see how they worked. My mum was into all sorts of kinds of crafting, so I'd steal various bits of things she had to make stuff. Usually it was every dowel rod we could get our hands on to make bows and arrows for me and the boy two houses down. We made our own Halloween costumes every year, so my first actual props were things I made for those outfits.  I play a lot of miniatures games, so I did a lot of kit bashing to personalize my models and to create variants that there were no actual model for. And creating actual prop replicas of things from tv or movies grew out of that.  Later on when I attended college, I double majored in Art and Education.

What was the first prop you created and what was it for?

Jennifer: The first thing I can remember making was a prop sword and shield for a school project. We had to dress up to present out report and mine was about knights. So I made myself a cardboard shield and used one of the legs from my mom's standing embroidery hoop for the sword (she wasn't happy about that!).

How long can a prop take to make?

Jennifer: It depends on the prop and how complex it. Also, it depends on how much free time I have available to work on it.  For small items that I have already made a mould of, it takes less than an hour. The perception filter keys only take me about an hour to make. But I

worked on my Dark Archer costume for about three months. For me, the longest amount of time is usually spent researching all of the details of the prop and then sourcing out the correct pieces that I need to work on a project.

The figures you gave to John Barrowman, the Jack and the Gwen, were these figures you’d created from scratch, had you had a template to work from?

Jennifer: The Jack figure is actually made by Crooked Dice, so I just had to paint it up and add the little details. But Gwen was made from scratch. I took an existing miniature to use as a base body and then used green stuff to sculpt the hair, clothing changes, extra guns, etc.

Have you created props for other people and do you have an actual business at prop building, or is it more for your own pleasure?

Jennifer: I don't have a prop business because this is just something I do for fun in my spare time, but I have made items for a few different people as commissions. The Soulless mask was a request for a friend to wear to an upcoming convention. And several of my Doctor Who cosplaying friends have asked me for perception filter keys and Torchwood ID cards.  My big upcoming project is a commission from a friend that cosplays Martha Jones. She wants me to make Project Indigo for her to wear at Gallifrey One 2015.

The white gun is a River Song gun is it not? How long did it take to put together and what was the process, how was it created

           

Jennifer: Correct! The gun itself is actually a Nerf Scout IX-3. You can get them in a 2 pack at Walmart really cheap. It only took about a week to make because the base gun just needed to have holes and things filled in. Then it was just a matter of creating the extra bits and assembling all of the pieces. Sometimes I'll sculpt the bits out of clay, create my mould, then cast them up in resin. But for other things, plasticard and card stock are easier.

Do you have a website where people can see your finished products, have you ever aired them for public viewing before?

Jennifer: I don't have a website specifically for my props (at the moment). So most of the time I just stick the pictures up on my Facebook, or I'll post them over on the RPF.

Your TARDIS keys, I love those.  Is it easy picking up those pieces you need for the backs of them? I have a TARDIS key but wouldn’t know where to start in putting the fancy computer chip pieces on the back.  But would be cool to create one.  Have a ton of old Yale keys knocking about the house.

Jennifer: It's super easy to find those bits. Any store that carries electronic parts has them, or you can order them online. You just need the resistors, timer chip, bits of wire, and a cell phone's sim card to cut up. Because I love all of the little details when making things, I took a

ton of screen caps of the Doctor's key until I had a good enough picture that I could file my key blank so the teeth were as close to screen accurate as possible. That one is now my master key so I can just get them professionally cut when I need more.

Credit to SJ Fleck for photograph

Something about the TARDIS tells me that this was handmade.  Can you tell us more about it?

Jennifer: It was!  When I got married in 2012, I had decided that I wanted to do something fun for our cake and the table decorations. My husband is huge into Battletech and I love Doctor Who, so we decided to try and incorporate both of those things. I created the first

TARDIS, made a mould, then casted up a bunch of them in resin to use as centrepieces on half of the tables. The other half had centrepieces with a Battlemech.

I also made chocolate mechs and TARDIS' for the guests. For our cake, I made his gaming logo on rice paper, along with various Whovian symbols. Plus as a little added geeky touch, I wrote our names in circular Gallifreyan. The TARDIS on the top of the cake was solid chocolate and so were the ones around the base. As the final little touch, I took a pair of sonic screwdrivers and converted them into our cake knife set. They could still extend, light up, and make the sounds. So I had a lot of fun playing with that.

The Captain’s Vortex Manipulator – how long did it take you to source the material and does it look anything like the original inside, beneath the leather cover?

Jennifer: I cosplay as Jack Harkness and always hated the look of the toy one, so I ripped it apart and used it as the basis for my leather one. The VM only took me 2 days after I gathered the materials. I ordered the lambskin and veg leather from Ebay, then found a seller on Etsy who had the exact same snaps for sale that were used for the real one. 

It was my first project working with leather, so I learned a lot while making it. I'm planning on making a better one when I have the time. I already have all of the electronics and leather, the pieces for the faceplate, etc.

Your orange and black mask was this for Arrow? The hardest part for me would be to make absolutely sure I was dead centre for the line, or was this less of an issue for you?

Jennifer: The Mirakuru soldier helmet. Easiest project ever because it's a paintball mask that they painted half orange! Most of the time, I hate trying to get the lines dead center and end up measuring it a million times. But thankfully for this particular helmet, it's formed so it

has a slight ridge down the centre of the mask. I just used some blue painters tape to line it up, covered up the one eye hole, and spray painted it.

I love the set of arrows you have, they do look pretty lethal, how long did they take to build and what did you use for the tips?

Jennifer: Those things were a nightmare to make! I wanted to make some convention safe broad heads that wouldn't cause security to have a heart attack. The arrows themselves were simple and I just had to fletch them. But the broad heads were a big problem! I made a bunch of different moulds to try and find a way that would work the best. The originals are serrated and the blades themselves are very thin, so getting any air bubbles when casting the blade meant it was ruined and had to be redone.

In the end, I had one mould for the blades themselves and one of the broad head part they inserted into. At first, I tried to make them out of resin, but they were too fragile and the blades kept snapping. So I switched over to a flexible plastic that would give me the strength I needed, but allowed the blades to bend a little without snapping off. To make a dozen of those things took me a couple of weeks. They drove me crazy, but ended up looking amazing by the time I finished them.

When you’re not prop building what do you do to relax, or are you like all creative people, you don’t really properly switch off, even if you are sat watching tv or out socialising, you’re always thinking of the next build...?

Jennifer: I love to read, play video games, and I still draw and paint when time permits. I'm also into RPGs and tabletop games Battletech, Warhammer 40K, Super Dungeon Explorer, etc). I also train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, and archery. I don't ever really switch off because I always have something I'm doing or working on.

When I was a kid, people thought I had ADHD just because of how busy I always was and how my mind would jump from one project to the next. I'm pretty much always multitasking. When I go shopping, I'll see something and it'll remind me of a piece from some prop or another. My mum is the same way though, so I'll recruit her to join the insanity and we geek out on how to make things, or how to sew a particular project. She's renovating her craft area in her basement at the moment and I've volunteered to help her paint the exploding

TARDIS Van Gogh on her wall as a mural.

The Soulless masks were extremely haunting in Miracle Day, and you’ve captured it well in your mask.  What did you use for this and how many of these have you made?

Jennifer: I love the look of those masks! It's such a simple design, but very haunting when you see a bunch of them on screen. I've only made one of them and it's for a friend to wear to Wizard World Chicago. She was trying to find one of the ones they gave away at SDCC

a few years back, but they're not popping up for sale like they were a few years back. I'm lucky enough to have one of the screens used ones in my collection, and an SDCC promo one. To make her replica, I used half of a giant plastic Easter egg, my dremmel, some black plastic mesh, and the paint. From start to finish, it took about 2 hours to complete. I sent her a picture of it on Facebook and she can't wait to wear it.

As a cosplayer, how many costumes have you made for yourself over the years and have you made any for other people?

Jennifer: For actual cosplay costumes, I've made: Jack Harkness, Gotham City SWAT, Colonel Hogan (from Hogan's Heroes), PC Gwen Cooper (her Heddlu uniform), Sgt. Andy Davidson, an Ood, and a Silence. And I just finished my Dark Archer costume.

I'm going to be making the "Stolen Earth/Journey's End" Martha Jones costume for a friend, along with the Project Indigo backpack. It's the first complete costume I've made for someone else, unless you count helping my mum to assemble her Heddlu costume.

The Hand in the Jar – That looks absolutely fantastic, it’s a wonder John didn’t want to take it home for his collection.  How long did that take to put together and how many times have you used that in Cosplay? And I’d imagine you must have tremendous biceps (muscles) lugging that around an arena, with or without water in it.  And now signed by Captain Jack Harkness, I bet you still smile when you see that?

Jennifer: Thanks! I half expected him to steal it, especially with the way he kept playing with it and running around in his signing area!

I've used it twice for cosplay. It debuted at Gallifrey One 2014. Just getting it there was an adventure because the protective storage case is one inch too large to fit inside of the overhead bins. So on the first flight, they strapped it into its own seat. Then on our connecting flight, it rode up front in the pilot's closet. The security guys at the airport had a blast watching it go through the scanner and I had a detailed print out explaining what it was, what it was made out of, etc.

It took about two weeks to build. But yes, it weighs a ton when filled with water!  When empty, Handy weighs 9 lbs. But once I fill it up with water, it weighs 17lbs.

Since Motor City Comic Con (where John signed it), I've finally finished it by swapping out the handle for the correct one. Nick Robatto put me in contact with one of the gentlemen who provided bits and things for Doctor Who and Torchwood. He didn't have any left, but did share that they were off "some military thing". A few months later, Bob found two spares while they were packing up set dressing items for the new Star Wars films and sent them to me.

What other props are you currently working on that you can tell us anything about?

Jennifer:  I just finished working on my Dark Archer costume last night, so I'll be wearing it for the first time to Wizard World Chicago this weekend. I'll be working on my friend's Martha costume starting next month. Other things I'm planning on are the updated VM, a new version of my Captain Jack earpiece, some custom    Torchwood miniatures, and a slightly smaller version of Handy that'll fit properly on airplanes.

Expo & Cons Motor City Comic Con 2014 by Jennifer Ings

The first time I ever met John Barrowman at a convention was at C2E2 2012 in Chicago. Now you might be wondering what this has to do with Motor City Comic Con two years later, but bear with me.  I knew John collected Captain Jack figures, so I had decided to surprise him with a miniature version. As anyone who's ever met John can tell you, he's a big kid at heart and a geek like everybody else. Not only did he start playing with it and showing it off to his helpers, he made me autograph it for him.

This was also the Con where our talks about "Scavengers in Space" started. During his panel (which was his first standalone panel in America), someone had asked what his favorite props from the show were. John began telling them about the book that had was on Jack's desk and how he'd always read it. And he "acquired it" and took it home after they blew up the Hub. I shouted out the title, John stopped and looked at me, then nodded and said "Scavengers in Space. That's the book. How'd you know that??? I love you!"

I saw him later that day when I went to get an autograph for a friend and he asked how I knew what book it was. I'd had a copy of it since I was a kid, since I'd loved reading old sci-fi books that I would find at flea markets, second hand book shops, etc. I showed him a photo on my iPad of my Doctor Who/Torchwood bookcase, where I also had my copy of "Scavengers in Space".  

John snatched it up and started looking at my photos and was having a blast looking at the various props I'd done and my Doctor who action figures. That was when he saw the Gwen miniature. John kept pointing at it and exclaiming that he needed a little Gwen. So I promised that the next time I saw him, I'd bring one for him and I'd also bring my copy of the book.

A few months later, we met up again at the Toronto Fan Expo.  As requested, I brought little Gwen and my copy of the book. John got so excited when he saw the book that he proceeded to tell everyone in the area and his handler all about the story behind the book and why he loved it so much. Then he laughed and said to his handler, "But you probably don't care about this at all, do you?" The guy actually said he didn't mind, but you could tell he had no idea what we were talking about.

John signed the book as himself and as Captain Jack for free and commented that he'd been trying to find another copy to read, so he wouldn't ruin the one he "acquired" from the set. I laughed and said I wished I had known, because I had a spare copy back home in Michigan. So another promise was made: The next time I saw him in person, I'd bring the copy of the book and he could have it. Little did we both know that it wouldn't be for 2 more years before he was at another event close enough to Michigan for me to attend.

Which brings us to the present and Motor City Comic Con. I gathered up the book and a few Brotherhood of Harkness goodies for John (as well as an added present from me) and headed out on Friday morning. The first thing we noticed was that John was positioned directly across from the big Star Wars display being presented by the 501st and the Rebel Legion. Since I had a press pass, I had the chance to hang out and talk to some of the staff working his area. We all joked that at some point, John was probably going to end up over there playing with the stuff (he behaved until Saturday, when he decided to ride on the Tauntaun).  Because of the large amount of visitors who wanted to meet John, the convention was issuing numbered tickets and admitting about 50 people at a time into the queue. We waited patiently, talked to several other visitors, and continued joking around with security.

When we finally were admitted to the queue and made it to the front, John lit up the moment he saw us. He said he remembered me and got excited because I was wearing my Brotherhood shirt (he'd received one at Christmas in Glasgow from one of our members and Tweeted a pic of himself wearing it). At that point, he declared he was going to lift up my shirt and then put his hand up my back. He was trying to explain that the backing material for the embroidery was itchy and he always wore a t-shirt beneath his (like I was). There was also a little butt grabbing and comments about how nice and tight it was. Typical John and completely harmless. But more than a few fans were wide eyed and wondering what was going on (and probably how to get him to do the same to them!).

Now it was present time. I gave him a replica Torchwood ID card and some ribbons from Gallifrey One (Brotherhood goodies). Then I set a comic book down in front of him and smiled. I told John that I knew he liked and collected comics. And since he's been promoted to a regular on Arrow, he really should have a copy of his first appearance. It took him a moment before he realized that the comic (Justice League #94) was Merlyn's first appearance in comic form and his eyes widened in shock. He was actually speechless for several minutes before thanking me.

But I noticed he kept looking at my messenger back as we were talking. I took out the book, grinned, and handed it over. John squealed, jumped up and down a few times, then started showing it off and yelling "There's a story behind this!" He asked us to take a photo of him and to post it on Twitter so he could see it later. Then said, "I knew you had it in there! I've been waiting for it since I spotted you guys in line! Thank you so much! This and the comic are going in my special place at home where I keep all of my important things. This is awesome."

We chatted a little about his Merlyn costume (since I'm in the process of making one) and John answered a couple of questions for me about some details. He asked why I wasn't wearing my Jack cosplay, since he'd remembered it from the other cons. I told him I'd wear it Sunday for the panel and that I was bringing the Doctor's hand in the jar. John stared at me for a moment and asked, "You actually have the hand in the jar? Seriously???" I told him yes, I'd actually made one and had gotten a few pointers from Nick Robatto (the original prop maker). John said to make sure we came back to the booth on Sunday because he wanted to see it.

We came back on Sunday (along with Handy), and once again got a ticket to wait in line. His security guy ran over to us to take photos and said they'd been waiting all weekend to see the prop, ever since hearing about it on Friday. We talked for a bit about how the Con had been going so far, if he was enjoying working with John, and just a little about Doctor Who stuff. Kelsy (who works for Heroes For Hire), was thrilled when we walked up. She immediately called over to John, pointed to the prop, and started asking where I got it from. I explained that I made it and we made our way over to John. He immediately snatched it up and started playing with it, saying "Damn! It weighs just as much as the one we had on the show!" He did ask why there was no water, I explained that I would fill it up with later before the photo shoot because didn't want to carry it around while full. While empty, the prop weighs about 9 lbs. But when you fill it with the one gallon of water that it hold, it weighs about 17 lbs. John asked his security guy if he'd seen it yet, and was told "Yeah! I ran over there the minute I saw it and took a bunch of pictures of the jar and her costume!"

It was pretty funny because since he was so busy playing with it, he completely forgot about the line and started talking to me about my costume. John complimented me on my cosplay and said he loved how accurate it was, since I've got the exact model/brand of boots, belt, braces. etc. that were used on the show. I also have a leather vortex manipulator that I made.

John especially loved my coat, since it has all authentic WWII brass buttons, RAF rank braid, and a real RAF buckle. I joked that he could wear it later if he wanted and John said, "Sure! That'd be awesome!" he signed the top of the jar as both himself and (like my book) as Captain Jack Harkness.

We headed off to get a good seat at his panel, had a great time talking to other fans while waiting, and was asked to pose for a lot of photos with Handy. And John's panel was a blast. He's always full of energy, enthusiasm, and gives honest answers to his fans. The entire room was packed and it was standing room only.

Maybe next time Motor City Comic Con will listen to him when he says that he can fill the big room! Check it out on YouTube if you get a chance.

I capped off the day by heading over to my photoshoot. Kelsey was there helping out and the moment she saw me, she said, "Hi! John said he's wearing your coat for your photo!" John gave me a big hug when I walked in, put on the coat, and I asked if he wanted to play with my replica Webley or the jar. No surprise, he went for the Webley.  At first, we were just standing and waiting for the photo.

But then John suddenly turned around to strike a Captain Jack pose, so I did the same with the jar. The photographer went nuts and was loving every minute of it! He snapped the picture and made us wait so he could check that it came out and said it was his favorite shot of the weekend. John helped me back into my coat, I thanked him and wished him a safe flight home, then he hugged me again and said, "You're drafted... welcome to Torchwood."

All photos courtesy of Jennifer Ings