Today was really, really slow at work.

So I put pencil to paper and drew a character of mine who hasn't gotten any artwork in something like six or seven years.

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I've recently be using him as a major NPC for an RPG I've been running set in the universe of the anime Slayers. It's a game that has really allowed me to flex some GMing muscles. The first two adventures went really well, though the second one resulted in some interesting circumstances. The players basically handed me a narrative grenade that I get to pull the pin on whenever I decide. Heh heh heh...

I have reason to want to compile a list of geek holidays and their dates.

So far I have on my list the following:

March 14 - Pi Day
May 25 - Towel Day
September 22 - Hobbit Day (Frodo and Bilbo's birthdays)
September 27 - Talk Like a Pirate Day

But I need more! There must be more geek holidays that need celebrating! Please, tell me what I do not yet know about!!

I think I may have just found my next long-term costuming project.

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The detail in this reference pic is fantastic! It is absolutely gorgeous. And I daresay that I have the skills necessary to do it and yet it would still be a challenge. The only thing that might trip me up is the dye-job on the front piece that hangs off the girdle. I think I'll have to learn how to fade-dye cloth to do it. The ear-cuffs could be a challenge, too, since the pic is quite specific on how they are shaped.

And all the gems are faceted! Which will make life so much easier!

Luv!

Saw Rent. It was good.

Now to bed.

Lots of movement on this front.

First and foremost, on the materials front. This past weekend, MACS held a fabric swap for its members as a part of its holiday party. We tried to be orderly about it and only sort of succeeded. I made out like a bandit, thanks to the massive stash of stuff that E brought with her. Most notably, I snapped up a 10-yard bolt of gold silk dupioni. It was what I had originally wanted to make the underskirt and the bodice of the griffin dress out of but couldn't afford. It wasn't up for swap, but was steeply discounted. I believe the conversation went something like this.

Me: So how much are you asking for that?
E: How about $4 a yard.
Me: Right. I'll just be going out to hit the ATM, now.

For those who don't understand what a deal this was, the stuff usually retails for about $15 a yard. Hence, my previous inability to afford it. That made my weekend and if I had walked away from the swap with nothing else, I would have been ecstatic.

So, now I have ten yards of my dream fabric for this project. I think I might even have enough that I can use it to line the sleeves, if I'm thrifty with it. I've got some linen canvas hanging out in my stash that I'll probably use in between the silk and the lining of the bodice, just to give it a little more stability. And, I just found out, Wisconsin Craft Market has rolls of reed for $10, so I'm considering getting a roll of that to use as stays. I'm going to be wearing an Elizabethan corset under the whole thing, so I don't think I have to uber-bone it, but some stays in the seams will surely help.

I still have not yet completed the embroidery on the first sleeve, which is rather disconcerting considering that I had previously given myself the deadline of February 19 for both of them to be done. Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen, but I'm definitely going to start putting my nose to the grindstone on it.

In the meantime, I've started work on feathering the veil. I had started sewing the feathers on, but I don't like what it is doing to the underside of the veil itself and I think I am going to abandon that plan in favor of gluing them. It will hold the feathers in place better, anyway, and it will go a lot faster. They had glue in the Renaissance, so I'm not too upset about it. It would be cool to find a period glue, but I'm not going to hold my breath on it. Plus, I'm not sure I'd want to use it, anyway, as most period glue recipes are pretty gross and not something I would want to stink up the house to use.

I've also reconsidered the beadwork I was going to do on the bodice. Originally, I was going to couch some beads onto it in a pretty pattern, but I couldn't decide on the pattern I wanted. Meanwhile, I came across several small slices of agate at work that were within my color scheme. One of them will be turned into a brooch/pendant to be the centerpiece of a string of pearls and gold and black glass beads. Two others will be incorporated into the decoration of the mask and into the design of the fan I am making as my presentation prop. Agate is incredibly appropriate for a griffin costume, as legend has it griffins hatch from agates (in point of fact, we have a few whole agates at work that I like to call "griffin eggs.").

Ooh! Presentation! That reminds me! I have decided on what I want to do in the masquerade to present this project. I puzzled over it for quite a while, since I wanted something that evoked the period nature of the project, but it also had to be something that I didn't need to speak to the crowd for (wearing the full face mask precludes that) and that I could do alone as this will be a solo entry. I finally decided on using the Quadran Pavanne (Bell Qui Tien Ma Vie) and replacing the partner with a fan. The dance was actually choreographed as a processional that allowed the great and the good to show off their ball gowns. So really, for this purpose, it is perfect. And it's an easy dance besides, so I should be able to do it in the full mask. I have a recording of the song that will work well enough, but it uses harpsichord. I'm hoping that I'll be able to find a recording with woodwinds, as that's more period. Anyone know any good sources?

As for my other Costume Con Projects, I've decided to abandon the Romana 2 plan as I don't think I'll have time to really do the job on it that I should. I'll do that costume eventually, since I have the fabric for it already, but it's officially on the back burner. Instead, for the SciFi/Fantasy masquerade, I'm looking at sprucing up my Shaak-Ti costume. I'll probably have to get the head piece cleaned, as there is old makeup on it, rubbed off my face and neck from the last convention at which I wore it. That's only if I have time, though. Otherwise, I will probably act as handler for capsulcorp_tm and johinnabara as they'll likely need someone. We'll see what my time constraints look like.

Also, MACS has decided to get together for the Single Pattern Contest, so that project will need to start happening soon, too. The pattern we're using has upwards of 30 pieces, so it's going to be daunting as hell to begin with, let alone what we're going to do to it. Oif.

In short, lots to do and not enough time before Costume Con happens in May. Best get cracking.

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

Everyone, if you happen to be a fan of LotR, you need to go here and watch Born of Hope right now!

It's the story of Arathorn and Gilraen!!!! And it is made of serious win!

Best fan film ever. And I will except no arguments on that point.

SQUEEEEEEE!

So, anyone else playing in the snow after you finish shoveling it up?

I did! I did! Look! Snow angel!



And here's an offering of snow day fun from ilaifire.



Anyone else?

It's a snow day tomorrow for a lot of folks 'round these parts.

So, let's have some fun!

I challenge you, oh dear Friends list, to build something in the snow after it all stops falling. Take a picture and share with us all.

For those of you following the saga of my big Costume Con 28 project, here's an update.

First off, I've firmly decided that I am going to enter the Historical Masquerade in the Historically Inspired division. I had been toying for quite some time with entering the Historic Dress division instead. But after a shopping trip during the big Black Friday sales, I found that I wouldn't have been able to afford the historically accurate materials necessary to really do the project justice in that division. True, I could have included documentation on what would have been used, historically, and then explained that I used what I could afford, but I just don't really feel right about doing that. Further, while I can document individual pieces of the design to pre-1600 time periods, they are mostly from different pre-1600 time periods, especially when it comes to the headgear (honestly, while I'm Renaissance from the neck down, I'm pretty much 1300s from the neck up). I just can't justify trying to say "well, this was from the time period's past, so they would have known all about it" in a division where the point is to create something that could have existed in a specific time period. So, Historic Dress is out, and Historically Inspired is in. I'll be toward the end of the spectrum, but I'll be far more comfortable with it. Plus, it gives me a tad more creative freedom. I'm not going wild, especially since I intend to reuse the dress as SCA garb afterward (I'm going to make a French hood to replace the headgear), but it will help.

In the meantime, today, I decided to make certain that my plan for the full headgear was going to work the way I want it to. Originally, I was going to wear veil bands, a hood, the mask, and a veil over that. The bottom edge of the hood was going to be tucked inside the collar of the bodice. But I wasn't entirely sure that was going to give me the look I wanted.

This, the part under the chin, was roughly what I wanted to have for a look.


To make sure that was what I was going to get, I grabbed my green doublet and one of my hoods. I put the doublet on over the hood and tried the whole thing out.

It did not work. Not even close. There was none of the nice, voluptuous folds of fabric under the chin that I wanted and there was hideous bunching of cloth at the collar. Obviously, I needed a change of tactic.

Researching veils in the past had introduced me to the concept of a wimple, which is basically a cone-shaped tube, the narrower opening of which frames the face. I grabbed some scrap fabric out of my stash and mocked one up, just for grins. It turns out that, upon closer inspection of every picture I have used as reference or inspiration, this is exactly the thing that I needed in order to get the look I want. What's more, it will go over the bodice rather than under it, making it far more comfortable to wear. And it uses less fabric and will have less bunching at the back of my head.

I was so psyched at this plan that I had to try the whole thing with the mask on. It looked really cool. Then I decided that I wanted to get a good idea of how it was going to look with the veil on it as well, so on that went.

And the costumer saw it and she saw that it was good. This thing is going to be awesome.

So, goodbye hood, hello wimple!

Now, if only I can find a way to magically finish all that embroidery on the sleeves.

*sigh*

In order to make myself actually feel like I'm getting somewhere on this project, I'm starting work on some of the separate pieces, like the bum roll, the underskirt and the headgear. Unfortunately, I need to finish the sleeve embroidery before I can do just about any of the work on the rest of the dress. It's kind of maddening, really.

I also need to plot out what I want to do for the bead couching on the bodice. I think my sketch book is going to be getting a workout pretty soon.

This has been a week of differing parties for me. Over the weekend, I went to Daisho Con in Stevens Point where things were... er... a little rowdy. Then, on Tuesday, I went to a bachelorette party here in town where we drank tea and made paper flowers.

Can we guess which one I liked better?

The dichotomy makes me wonder a few things. First of all, why is it that so many people think that fun means loud, drunken, destructive, obnoxious behavior? What is it that people see in that that is completely lost on me? And why do so many people think that is what fun is? I'm honestly beginning to think that I have missed something fundamental, here.

Which, I suppose, is the second thing I wonder about. Is there, perhaps, something wrong with me that I find zero fun in that sort of behavior? Obviously, there must be something to it or so many people wouldn't think that getting drunk and acting like a jackass is fun. I sometimes think that, perhaps, I have missed out on something here.

Now, I'm not exactly a prohibitionist. I enjoy booze. I don't enjoy drunken asshole behavior. And I most certainly don't enjoy it when people use booze as an excuse, like they somehow had no control over their actions, both in the drinking and after they got drunk. And I honestly just can't buy people using booze that way. Really, in what world is this okay?

In the case of Daisho Con, I get the feeling that it happens because most of the attendees are a bunch of younger college students who are getting a first taste of being completely without any sort of parental supervision for the first time. Add to that the fact that most of them are from out of town and won't have to deal with a reputation among the locals and people think they have a go-ahead to do whatever they want. But I worry for the survival of that convention because a good deal of their staff doesn't seem to care to do anything about the resulting behavior. That con has the same sort of feel that State Street on Halloween did before the yearly riots started happening.

Really? What is the appeal!? I don't get it!

So, I guess I know what I like, anyway. And getting drunk and acting stupid is not it.