OMG-GOT

 On my birthday in February my beloved number two daughter gave me three vouchers towards my Irish adventure. One for the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, another for a restaurant in a forest (which I will redeem) tomorrow and best of all…drum roll…. The Game of Thrones Studio Tour in Banbridge about an hour south of Belfast. 

You park at the reception which is on the far side of a shopping outlet. 

 

This lovely team member meets and greets then you go by shuttle bus to the studio. It’s about a ten minute journey.

Thanks to Jenny,  with whom I was in Art School in Scotland I have watched all 8 seasons, but even if you haven’t, it is  a wonderful celebration of the artistry, dedication and sheer skill of a huge group of artists from all over the World.

I met the young man who was one of the costume designers of the Wildings clothing. They ran out of mussel shells during construction and had to send runners asking seafood restaurants all over Belfast to save them.

It was about costumes, weaponry, sets, props, musical score, massive sculpture, from all cultures across the world and huge efforts made to age them all appropriately too. 

And the detail in the costumes was extraordinary and unlikely to have been seen in the action.

One woman spent ten years in the prop room making 20 million nails in 11,000 styles. Get your head around that sort of dedication. And it was in aid of a film series not a Cathedral!! 

The prosthetics department alone was huge as each mask was made moulded on the face of each actor. 

They employed master blacksmiths to make all the weapon art and silver smiths to work the helmets and head-dresses and jewellery.

The studio tour only opened in February this year and there were very few people there with me but as word spreads it will become a major destination for anyone interested in creative artistry in any field. 

‘Not a bum or a boob’ in sight but I think it’s worthy of a specialist exhibition at the Victoria and Albert in London. I absolutely loved it!!! And highly recommend it.