Bucket List Hit forward and place an X by all the things you've
Done and remove the X from the ones you have not, and send it to your friends
(including me). This is for your entire Life!
( ) Gone on a blind date.
( )Skipped school
( ) Watched someone die
(x) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
( ) Been to Florida
(X) Been on a plane
(x) Been lost
( ) Been on the opposite side of the country
(x) Gone to Washington , DC
(x) Swam in the ocean
(x) Cried yourself to sleep
(X ) Played cops and robber
(x) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Sang Karaoke;
( ) Paid for a meal with coins only
(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
(x) Made prank phone calls
(x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x) Danced in the rain or run through summer puddles
(x) Held a baby long after it fell asleep because it felt so good?
(x) Watched the sunrise with someone
(x) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors
(x) Gone to the movies
Any nicknames? Not really
Favorite Drink? Root Beer
Body Piercing? nope
How much do you love your job? A lot
Birthplace? Alexandria, VA
Favorite vacation spot? London
Ever been to Africa? No
Ever eaten just cookies for dinner? Sort of, but I don't think it counts as dinner then
Ever been on TV? No
Ever steal any traffic signs? No
Ever been in a car accident? Yes
Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 2-door
Favorite pie? strawberry rhubarb
Favorite number? 25
Favorite movie? It changes depending on my mood
Favorite dessert? Chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream
Favorite food? Steak
Favorite day of the week? Saturday
Favorite brand of body wash? People have a favorite?
Favorite toothpaste? Crest Whitening
Favorite smell? Lilacs
How do you relax? Playing geeky games
How do you see yourself in 10 years? Somewhere with a house, lots of geeky friends, and kids
Furthest place you will send this message? Japan
Friday, December 5, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Yes, Abbey, I am a terrible blogger
But that's because nothing happens! I despise blathering on when I haven't got anything to say- and sure sometimes what I have to say doesn't even seem like something to say to you guys, but hey. Anyways, no, we haven't gotten our pet yet. We decided to get him after we move this December/January to make that little chore easier. I still really want to get him though... :\ And while I know not everywhere is as politically charged as the DC area, I'm sure you all heard about the election of the country's favorite socialist. We all saw it coming when they nominated McCain to run again him. Hope you all went out and voted at least, or else you won't have any right to complain when it comes time for those of us that did to say 'I told you so.' And while taxes are going to go up and things might suck for a while, I only hope that it'll just be another Carter before a Reagan. For now though, I'm going to go quietly stew in annoyance than Virginia ended up going socialist in spite of my vote and just be grateful that while the economy might be spiraling downward in a trend that will inevitably get worse with him in office, Seth's job as a government employee is more secure than ever.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Aaaaand then the car
Well our plans to get a pet have been pushed back a bit as on Tuesday morning as Seth had one of his rare days driving to a work thing in the morning and the car broke. The water pump or something or other went poof and the car died. It was very frustrating. And expensive. We're being set back a good $1000 by this little incident and all I can say is that I'm glad it didn't happen yesterday when I was driving to work. Seth's so much better about handling these things and knowing what to do to get them fixed than I am. So small blessings, right? So getting Kat is going to have to wait a bit until after we look at the finances again. Or at least until after the car shop bills and Seth's travel bills from work get paid off and reimbursed respectively and our credit card isn't at some obscene balance again. *sighs* I was really looking forward to getting Kat this week too...
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Getting a pet!
So Seth and I went out on a date last night after I picked him up from work. And after going out to dinner we decided to stop in at PetCo just to have fun and see all the cute little guys. We actually found a little guy I really wanted to take home too. And Seth liked him as well. Just a cute little baby, but it'd grow huge, almost as big as me. Gorgeous coloring too. So once we got home I looked up care requirements and all that, and it's not too bad all considered. I think next week we're going to try and get everything and then go buy Kat. Yep, we already picked out a name. Katamari would be the full name, in deference to its species. *Grins* But calling it Kat would be too funny. When we get a house with a yard and can buy a dog then it'll go along nicely with naming the dog "Mouse" after the dog in Dresden Files. Anyways, I'll reveal what type of pet we're getting once we get it! In the meantime, any guesses? heheh.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Ok, I've been guilt tripped
First off, Abbey, you've successessfully guilt tripped me into writing more on here. Congratulations. And to start this shindig off, I have to say that I agree with your classmates in Japan. You are soooooo cute!
So let's see, things that are happening here... this past weekend we had a hurricane hit us! That was almost exciting. Seth and I cancelled our plans to hang out with friends since we didn't want to be driving in it. When we woke up that seemed like the right move as the rain was moving sideways to the apartment. Then, instead of intensifying the way they told us it would throughout the day, it just got weaker and slightly pathetic until it was just a drizzle by afternoon. >.> Guess we could have gone out just fine anyways.
Williamsburg was a lot of fun. Seth and I had a blast going down there. We've got some pictures I'll get up eventually. Seemed to have misplaced the battery charger somewhere between unpacking and the wall outlet where we usually keep it... Anyways. Seth and I got a family summer vacation package that came with a hotel for four nights, passes to the historic area, and best of all, a $200 gift card. We spent most of our days down in the historic area going to all the speaches and reenactments of events and stuff. Let me tell you, Patrick Henry really knew how to write a stirring speech and it's more than just the 'give me liberty or give me death' line. Wish we still had politicians today who spoke that passionately and honestly about what they believe. The funny thing was after we listened the actor recite this speech, Seth and I heard a kid about Benjamin or Abbey's age ask his mom about it and what he had meant by some of the things that had been said. The mother then actually told the kid that Patrick Henery had been wrong and that he shouldn't have defended the country by force of arms but rather gone the Ghandi-route and tried for a peaceful resistance. Am I the only one that that really annoys?
Anyways. The week was a lot of fun, we went to all the shops and got to see all the tradecrafts, bought a few things, and all that fun stuff. Got Benjamin a present, actually. I'll send it up soon. Seth got me a beautiful silver chain with a charm shaped like a spool of thread with a needle in it :) We also ate out at all the awesome little historical dining establishments, and even though the nicest of them - the King's Arms Tavern was completely booked up in reservations the week we were there, one of the waiters snuck us in on my birthday. It was amazing. As well it should be too, considering the price tag on the meal. We spent over $100 on dinner there, but it was worth it. I still wish I had gotten more of that pickled watermelon rind though, that was so good in spite of how it sounds. Strangely enough, after spending our gift card on that beast of a meal, we decided to forgo the spa...
Our last day in Williamsburg, Seth and I went over to Busch Gardens- the roller coaster part. It was drizzly, and we were afraid we were going to get rained out for a bit, but the weather only served to keep most of the people away. The park was mostly empty and there weren't any lines. It was awesome. Seth and I got on all the roller coasters, and took our favorite ones two or three times too. :) There is one there that has a 90 degree drop. Yes, straight down. It gets to the top and then inches forward until you're literally hanging over the edge, holds you there a minute so you can well and truely freak out, and then drops you down it at 70mph. Fun eh?
So let's see, things that are happening here... this past weekend we had a hurricane hit us! That was almost exciting. Seth and I cancelled our plans to hang out with friends since we didn't want to be driving in it. When we woke up that seemed like the right move as the rain was moving sideways to the apartment. Then, instead of intensifying the way they told us it would throughout the day, it just got weaker and slightly pathetic until it was just a drizzle by afternoon. >.> Guess we could have gone out just fine anyways.
Williamsburg was a lot of fun. Seth and I had a blast going down there. We've got some pictures I'll get up eventually. Seemed to have misplaced the battery charger somewhere between unpacking and the wall outlet where we usually keep it... Anyways. Seth and I got a family summer vacation package that came with a hotel for four nights, passes to the historic area, and best of all, a $200 gift card. We spent most of our days down in the historic area going to all the speaches and reenactments of events and stuff. Let me tell you, Patrick Henry really knew how to write a stirring speech and it's more than just the 'give me liberty or give me death' line. Wish we still had politicians today who spoke that passionately and honestly about what they believe. The funny thing was after we listened the actor recite this speech, Seth and I heard a kid about Benjamin or Abbey's age ask his mom about it and what he had meant by some of the things that had been said. The mother then actually told the kid that Patrick Henery had been wrong and that he shouldn't have defended the country by force of arms but rather gone the Ghandi-route and tried for a peaceful resistance. Am I the only one that that really annoys?
Anyways. The week was a lot of fun, we went to all the shops and got to see all the tradecrafts, bought a few things, and all that fun stuff. Got Benjamin a present, actually. I'll send it up soon. Seth got me a beautiful silver chain with a charm shaped like a spool of thread with a needle in it :) We also ate out at all the awesome little historical dining establishments, and even though the nicest of them - the King's Arms Tavern was completely booked up in reservations the week we were there, one of the waiters snuck us in on my birthday. It was amazing. As well it should be too, considering the price tag on the meal. We spent over $100 on dinner there, but it was worth it. I still wish I had gotten more of that pickled watermelon rind though, that was so good in spite of how it sounds. Strangely enough, after spending our gift card on that beast of a meal, we decided to forgo the spa...
Our last day in Williamsburg, Seth and I went over to Busch Gardens- the roller coaster part. It was drizzly, and we were afraid we were going to get rained out for a bit, but the weather only served to keep most of the people away. The park was mostly empty and there weren't any lines. It was awesome. Seth and I got on all the roller coasters, and took our favorite ones two or three times too. :) There is one there that has a 90 degree drop. Yes, straight down. It gets to the top and then inches forward until you're literally hanging over the edge, holds you there a minute so you can well and truely freak out, and then drops you down it at 70mph. Fun eh?
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Williamsburg!
Well Dad, you'll be happy to know that Seth and I have made our reservations for our vacation to Williamsburg! We got an awesome 5 day vacation package for $600 that includes admission, the hotel of course, and best of all, $200 in 'resort credit.' The credit can be used at places like the restaurants and whatnot... or the spa there. teehee. Food we can always justify paying for out of pocket, I mean, have to eat, right? but splurging and going to a spa is another thing altogether. ^^ It's going to be so much fun. So anyways, we're going to be down there over my birthday, from the 24th through 28th and spend most of them in the historic area, but also head out to Busch Gardens as well for awesome funness.
So thank you Dad, for this awesome Christmas present! It's going to be great!
So thank you Dad, for this awesome Christmas present! It's going to be great!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Been a while...
I seem to have lost my writing bug and then an entire month disappeared. How'd that happen? *sighs* Well, things are going pretty well on the DC front. Not much has been happening either. Been slowly plugging away at my plunderhosen doublet- working on handsewing the sleeves and they're being a pain since the velvet doesn't ease very well and I'm going to need to do some massive work with steam and a ham when it's done to get all the puckering that's going on out.
Work's been going well lately, with lots of fun new products coming in. Well, fun for me anyways. Can't imagine the rest of the family would find much use for them, but hey. Breaking Dawn is sneaking up on us here in a couple of weeks, and *that'll* be exciting. Seth's got another week long training, this time down in Orlando this upcoming week. Fun for him, but I'm going to rather miss him a lot. At least last time he went off I had you guys to hang out with.
But this time I'll be sticking around here! Remember how I was really excited about taking a ballet class and then it didn't work out because having it on Saturday afternoons just interfered with my schedule too much? Well if you don't, that's the basic gist of it. Anyways, I took a peek at the place's schedule again for this upcoming fall, hoping that like last year it'd move to a weekday after summer term was over. Sadly, it didn't. Then Seth had the brilliant idea of looking up other places that taught in the area. I was a little dubious considering I'd already tried that before and this was how I found the place across the street. None of the other studios in the area were as conveniently located or had adult classes, as I remembered.
However, I did it anyways, and lo and behold, the Arlington Center for Dance just opened a brand new studio not five minutes away and more conveniently located than the one at Landmark mall since I won't have to cross 395 to get there. Literally, they just opened this past Monday. Seth and I dropped by after we got home from work on Wednesday to sign me up for a beginning ballet class, and it's a nice place. Very shiny. Several huge rehersal studios and a ginormous performance studio still under construction that they're going to put bleachers in. Really nice changing rooms, kitchen and lounge area, and all the floors are sprung to make it easier on dancers feet and knees. Bet *that* cost a rediculous amount to put it. Full length mirror around the entire thing, and double barrs in the ballet studios for children and adults. Way better than the tiny little one room in the mall. Looked at the faculty list they have up online too, and it's fairly impressive. So I'm really happy with it. My classes are going to be on Mondays 6:15-7:30, and maybe once I get beyond the basics and if it goes well I might think about picking up another class like Jazz or something on another night too.
Work's been going well lately, with lots of fun new products coming in. Well, fun for me anyways. Can't imagine the rest of the family would find much use for them, but hey. Breaking Dawn is sneaking up on us here in a couple of weeks, and *that'll* be exciting. Seth's got another week long training, this time down in Orlando this upcoming week. Fun for him, but I'm going to rather miss him a lot. At least last time he went off I had you guys to hang out with.
But this time I'll be sticking around here! Remember how I was really excited about taking a ballet class and then it didn't work out because having it on Saturday afternoons just interfered with my schedule too much? Well if you don't, that's the basic gist of it. Anyways, I took a peek at the place's schedule again for this upcoming fall, hoping that like last year it'd move to a weekday after summer term was over. Sadly, it didn't. Then Seth had the brilliant idea of looking up other places that taught in the area. I was a little dubious considering I'd already tried that before and this was how I found the place across the street. None of the other studios in the area were as conveniently located or had adult classes, as I remembered.
However, I did it anyways, and lo and behold, the Arlington Center for Dance just opened a brand new studio not five minutes away and more conveniently located than the one at Landmark mall since I won't have to cross 395 to get there. Literally, they just opened this past Monday. Seth and I dropped by after we got home from work on Wednesday to sign me up for a beginning ballet class, and it's a nice place. Very shiny. Several huge rehersal studios and a ginormous performance studio still under construction that they're going to put bleachers in. Really nice changing rooms, kitchen and lounge area, and all the floors are sprung to make it easier on dancers feet and knees. Bet *that* cost a rediculous amount to put it. Full length mirror around the entire thing, and double barrs in the ballet studios for children and adults. Way better than the tiny little one room in the mall. Looked at the faculty list they have up online too, and it's fairly impressive. So I'm really happy with it. My classes are going to be on Mondays 6:15-7:30, and maybe once I get beyond the basics and if it goes well I might think about picking up another class like Jazz or something on another night too.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Photos up!
They're over at Michael's site under the new folder called 'Vacation Home.' The video of Katie on the eliptical machine'll be up here as soon as I'm done getting all the pics up.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Michigan Vacation: Part 1
In keeping with my disdain for following events chronologically, I'll just right into the middle of what I've been up to here and come back to what's happened before later. So here I am, sitting on the couch with my cutest little Christy. She's reading over my shoulder even. Stop that. No really. I can't write with people reading. - Oh good she's gone to do her hair. It's been really nice coming up here. I've had a lot of fun hanging out with the kids. This afternoon we're planning on going to the bluff for a picnic lunch! :D Well, I was at first wanting to bring everyone. Then Benjamin had made plans with his friends and Dad wants James to go to the shop to help out there. Ah well. Guess it'll be a Girl Party on the bluff instead.
Christy claims that every time I've come up here lately, I've gotten them hooked on great shows. It's been animes like Irresponsible Captain Tylor and Hikaru no Go in the past, but this time it's Doctor Who. Now AnnaMarie, I'd personally take the Doctor over Edward Cullen any day.
Ok, so maybe he isn't as hot as Edward, but looks aren't everything! He's cute, a bit quirky, and a 900 year old Time Lord with the ability to travel through time and space. I'll take that over a vampire any day.
Christy claims that every time I've come up here lately, I've gotten them hooked on great shows. It's been animes like Irresponsible Captain Tylor and Hikaru no Go in the past, but this time it's Doctor Who. Now AnnaMarie, I'd personally take the Doctor over Edward Cullen any day.
Ok, so maybe he isn't as hot as Edward, but looks aren't everything! He's cute, a bit quirky, and a 900 year old Time Lord with the ability to travel through time and space. I'll take that over a vampire any day.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Potential Next Massive Costume Project?
Aside from Costume Con's big group costume coming up, I've also been wracking my brain for a good costume to follow up my 40K costume. I'd hate to disappoint by not going all out and trying to take Best in Class: Journeyman, Best Workmanship: Journeyman, and Best-in-Show all at once :D Will I succeed? Well, probably not, but what's the point if you don't try?
So here's one of the ideas I've had: Warmarshal Varesh Ossa from Guild Wars: Nightfall. She's the boss bad guy you have to defeat before going on and defeating her patron diety in the game.
I love all that gold work and flowy purple fabric. It really would be a lot of fun to make. I would need to get a wig and headdress to get the hair right though.
But then she's also got this secondary form as she gets more and more evil and less nad less human. Now this version would be both tricker and easier at the same time. There're less gold accessories and no stand up collar. However, I'd have the fun and joy of figuring out how to glow white and purple. I've got a couple ideas already, but they need a lot of research still. I'd also get to have fun with prosthetics and probably do a full facial cast to get the six eyes. Can't really tell with the hood up, but I like the idea of doing a bald cap with this version too. It'd make her look a lot more alien/demonic. I met a guy who did a live casting demo and panel at the con. He apparently is or was a member of the NY/NJ ICG chapter and could probably be convinced to help me out a bit. ^^
So what do you guys think?
So here's one of the ideas I've had: Warmarshal Varesh Ossa from Guild Wars: Nightfall. She's the boss bad guy you have to defeat before going on and defeating her patron diety in the game.
I love all that gold work and flowy purple fabric. It really would be a lot of fun to make. I would need to get a wig and headdress to get the hair right though.
But then she's also got this secondary form as she gets more and more evil and less nad less human. Now this version would be both tricker and easier at the same time. There're less gold accessories and no stand up collar. However, I'd have the fun and joy of figuring out how to glow white and purple. I've got a couple ideas already, but they need a lot of research still. I'd also get to have fun with prosthetics and probably do a full facial cast to get the six eyes. Can't really tell with the hood up, but I like the idea of doing a bald cap with this version too. It'd make her look a lot more alien/demonic. I met a guy who did a live casting demo and panel at the con. He apparently is or was a member of the NY/NJ ICG chapter and could probably be convinced to help me out a bit. ^^
So what do you guys think?
Monday, May 26, 2008
Balticon Pictures
Digging through Flickr brought up a couple pictures so far from one person. I'm sure more will be up tomorrow and throughout the week. But here we go to start off!
Here's Ricky Dick's costume. He was the one right in front of me and won the Master Workmanship award. The picture looks awesome and even it doesn't do it justice. You can't even see any of the little beading details.
And here's the picture of the picture of the lady with the peacock dress that was right behind me in the masquerade.
I'm sure you recognize the Llama Emperor. ^^ Awesome fun costume.
Another costume whose pictures don't do it justice. All those little fish, seaweed, and other bits of detail were hand appliqued, beaded, embroidered, ribboned, whatevered. And I love that wig.
This Sleeping Beauty group took the overall Best in Show award and completely deserved it. I mean check out the fairy's costumes! And the Prince's. Alone they're award winning at a Master level. Together and with Aurora's dress... well, it's down right jaw dropping. Not only did she have that green dress there's also this:
The dress is incredible. It actually switches back and forth between pink and blue, and they can perform the switch so quickly and smoothly on stage that you couldn't tell how it was performed. A wave of a wand, perhaps? Heck, I got a close up look at how they did it later and still know if I could duplicate it yet. I can't wait to get a video of their masquerade entry to show you what I mean.
Here's Ricky Dick's costume. He was the one right in front of me and won the Master Workmanship award. The picture looks awesome and even it doesn't do it justice. You can't even see any of the little beading details.
And here's the picture of the picture of the lady with the peacock dress that was right behind me in the masquerade.
I'm sure you recognize the Llama Emperor. ^^ Awesome fun costume.
Another costume whose pictures don't do it justice. All those little fish, seaweed, and other bits of detail were hand appliqued, beaded, embroidered, ribboned, whatevered. And I love that wig.
This Sleeping Beauty group took the overall Best in Show award and completely deserved it. I mean check out the fairy's costumes! And the Prince's. Alone they're award winning at a Master level. Together and with Aurora's dress... well, it's down right jaw dropping. Not only did she have that green dress there's also this:
The dress is incredible. It actually switches back and forth between pink and blue, and they can perform the switch so quickly and smoothly on stage that you couldn't tell how it was performed. A wave of a wand, perhaps? Heck, I got a close up look at how they did it later and still know if I could duplicate it yet. I can't wait to get a video of their masquerade entry to show you what I mean.
Cooooooon!
Balticon 2008!
This weekend was crazy. Most cons are 3-days longs, Balticon is four days of awesome - and a sorely needed vacation and relaxation time for Seth. For me though, it was a little more stressful. This was the first masquerade I've competed in, and I was wearing my 40K Adepta Sororitas costume. But starting off at the beginning so I can make you suffer through everything that happened in order to get to the good part...
We left Alexandria around 1:30 on Friday and immediately hit rush hour traffic on the beltway. At 1:30! *facepalms* Five hours later, we made it to the hotel just up north of Baltimore. I immediately started pulling out my costume to double check it arrived in one piece and to let the wrinkles fall out, and realized that my left glove wasn't there. Seth had done a bit of touch up on the paint of the St. Celestine icon for me, and when I'd packed up the rest of my accessories it was still drying. Neither of us very happy about it, we headed back to get it. *sighs* Fortunately the drive only took an hour and 15 minutes each way. But still. Not fun. Seth deserves major props for how well he took it.
Saturday was a lot more fun. Great panels to attend, got myself signed up for the masquerade, and then began the agony of waiting. I was so rediuclously nervous. Around 5 I got changed for dress rehersal, and then hung out in the green room. The GCFCG, my chapter of the International Costuming Guild, was amazing. All of them, but Ann especially really took care of me. She came with me for the workmanship judging to help me out and keep me calm. Never having done it before, it was nice to have someone there who knew exactly what the judges wanted to hear about and who could give me some cues. Then she took me and raided a couple of the other guild member's make up bags for me. I usually never wear make-up. It just makes me break out, and I really don't need it. However, when you're on stage make-up keeps the lights from washing you out to an indistinct, pale, blob. Ann did an amazing job with it too. When the competition was over Seth came back and the first thing he said was how good the make up had made me look up on stage. "Intimidating," apparently. It was perfect. My only minor disaster was when my necklace broke and the beads went everywhere- including down the front of my shirt to get stuck in my corset (now that was interesting to try and get out.) fortunately it happened well before I went on stage, and I had four or five people scrambling to help me get it fixed in time. I love costuming geeks, they're the nicest people. Even when you're competing against them they still want your costume to be the best it can and everthing to go perfectly for you because if it didn't and they won, it would take away from the quality of their victory.
My presentation was really simple. (I'm hoping it'll get up on youtube eventually so I can post the video of it.) Just a simple walk with the MC introducing me majordomo style, and walk off. I'd ripped some music for the background from an old 40K video game too. I was in the Novice category, obviously, this being my first masquerade, and in the line-up I was lucky/un-lucky enough to be placed between two really amazing costumers. Ricky Dick is a Super-Master, and his First of November costume was awesome. (Pictures to come when they get up) He ended up taking the Master Craftsmanship award home for it, actually. He helped keep me sane right before going on stage though, playing the 'what if' game. You know, what to do if something goes drastically wrong with my presentation. His suggestion for what to do if I fell on my face was the best though. Jump up, point an accusing finger at the floor where I fell, and scream "heretic!" (my costume being of someone who's a member of the Inquisition in case you missed that...) The lady behind me was similarly impressive, though her costume was just for exhibition rather than for competition since it'd already won elsewhere, I believe. But her dress was a gorgeous peacock dress, all feathers and gemstones and beautiful detail work. I was just glad she didn't go on before me. That would have been intimidating to follow up on.
I really don't remember much past my initial cue to go on stage. I was just trying to stay 'in character' and not fall on my face - which was close a couple of times. I nearly tripped over the front of my hem a few times, but I made it and everyone tells me it was good. phwew! I figure it had to be decent or I would have remembered more of it.
But once it was finished I was able to calm down a bit, got a few photos taken, and went to play the waiting game again in the green room. I was hoping to win a workmanship award of some sort, but when they finally got through the half-time auction and started announcing awards, I took the Best Workmanship in the Novice Division. I was so excited. Ecstatic, really. I wasn't really paying attention when they announced the presentation awards. After all, my presentation wasn't exactly thrilling here! People were coming over to congratulate me and get a closer look at all the detail work on my dress. Then Seth pushed me forward again and told me to get up on stage against since they'd called my name. Well dang. I took Best in Class! Both major awards for the Novice Division! At a regional competition too! Balticon isn't a little tiny local con. Either award would have been enough to make me a Journeyman level, but both? wow. When I went up to accept the Best in Class for the Novice Division I had people in the crowd calling "Not a Novice anymore!" *laughs* How awesome is that? Journeyman.
I've still got a heck of a lot to learn, but I had Masters impressed that this costume was my first attempt at beading and embroidery. :) And now that I've shown everyone what I'm capable of, I feel like a real member of my guild chapter. I was even told to make sure to save my costume as-is so it can go up on display at future cons as an example of a Novice Best-in-Show.
This weekend was crazy. Most cons are 3-days longs, Balticon is four days of awesome - and a sorely needed vacation and relaxation time for Seth. For me though, it was a little more stressful. This was the first masquerade I've competed in, and I was wearing my 40K Adepta Sororitas costume. But starting off at the beginning so I can make you suffer through everything that happened in order to get to the good part...
We left Alexandria around 1:30 on Friday and immediately hit rush hour traffic on the beltway. At 1:30! *facepalms* Five hours later, we made it to the hotel just up north of Baltimore. I immediately started pulling out my costume to double check it arrived in one piece and to let the wrinkles fall out, and realized that my left glove wasn't there. Seth had done a bit of touch up on the paint of the St. Celestine icon for me, and when I'd packed up the rest of my accessories it was still drying. Neither of us very happy about it, we headed back to get it. *sighs* Fortunately the drive only took an hour and 15 minutes each way. But still. Not fun. Seth deserves major props for how well he took it.
Saturday was a lot more fun. Great panels to attend, got myself signed up for the masquerade, and then began the agony of waiting. I was so rediuclously nervous. Around 5 I got changed for dress rehersal, and then hung out in the green room. The GCFCG, my chapter of the International Costuming Guild, was amazing. All of them, but Ann especially really took care of me. She came with me for the workmanship judging to help me out and keep me calm. Never having done it before, it was nice to have someone there who knew exactly what the judges wanted to hear about and who could give me some cues. Then she took me and raided a couple of the other guild member's make up bags for me. I usually never wear make-up. It just makes me break out, and I really don't need it. However, when you're on stage make-up keeps the lights from washing you out to an indistinct, pale, blob. Ann did an amazing job with it too. When the competition was over Seth came back and the first thing he said was how good the make up had made me look up on stage. "Intimidating," apparently. It was perfect. My only minor disaster was when my necklace broke and the beads went everywhere- including down the front of my shirt to get stuck in my corset (now that was interesting to try and get out.) fortunately it happened well before I went on stage, and I had four or five people scrambling to help me get it fixed in time. I love costuming geeks, they're the nicest people. Even when you're competing against them they still want your costume to be the best it can and everthing to go perfectly for you because if it didn't and they won, it would take away from the quality of their victory.
My presentation was really simple. (I'm hoping it'll get up on youtube eventually so I can post the video of it.) Just a simple walk with the MC introducing me majordomo style, and walk off. I'd ripped some music for the background from an old 40K video game too. I was in the Novice category, obviously, this being my first masquerade, and in the line-up I was lucky/un-lucky enough to be placed between two really amazing costumers. Ricky Dick is a Super-Master, and his First of November costume was awesome. (Pictures to come when they get up) He ended up taking the Master Craftsmanship award home for it, actually. He helped keep me sane right before going on stage though, playing the 'what if' game. You know, what to do if something goes drastically wrong with my presentation. His suggestion for what to do if I fell on my face was the best though. Jump up, point an accusing finger at the floor where I fell, and scream "heretic!" (my costume being of someone who's a member of the Inquisition in case you missed that...) The lady behind me was similarly impressive, though her costume was just for exhibition rather than for competition since it'd already won elsewhere, I believe. But her dress was a gorgeous peacock dress, all feathers and gemstones and beautiful detail work. I was just glad she didn't go on before me. That would have been intimidating to follow up on.
I really don't remember much past my initial cue to go on stage. I was just trying to stay 'in character' and not fall on my face - which was close a couple of times. I nearly tripped over the front of my hem a few times, but I made it and everyone tells me it was good. phwew! I figure it had to be decent or I would have remembered more of it.
But once it was finished I was able to calm down a bit, got a few photos taken, and went to play the waiting game again in the green room. I was hoping to win a workmanship award of some sort, but when they finally got through the half-time auction and started announcing awards, I took the Best Workmanship in the Novice Division. I was so excited. Ecstatic, really. I wasn't really paying attention when they announced the presentation awards. After all, my presentation wasn't exactly thrilling here! People were coming over to congratulate me and get a closer look at all the detail work on my dress. Then Seth pushed me forward again and told me to get up on stage against since they'd called my name. Well dang. I took Best in Class! Both major awards for the Novice Division! At a regional competition too! Balticon isn't a little tiny local con. Either award would have been enough to make me a Journeyman level, but both? wow. When I went up to accept the Best in Class for the Novice Division I had people in the crowd calling "Not a Novice anymore!" *laughs* How awesome is that? Journeyman.
I've still got a heck of a lot to learn, but I had Masters impressed that this costume was my first attempt at beading and embroidery. :) And now that I've shown everyone what I'm capable of, I feel like a real member of my guild chapter. I was even told to make sure to save my costume as-is so it can go up on display at future cons as an example of a Novice Best-in-Show.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Sunrise and Glorious Progress
So I don't know if you knew this, but Stephanie Meyer's book came out on Tuesday. No, not Breaking Dawn. The Host. It's not part of the Twilight universe, but something completely new and wonderful. Where the Twilight series got you to actually give a fantasy book a chance, The Host does the same with a soft and fluffy sci-fi. I ended up working really hard to get my hands on this book too. It was quite the ordeal. *sighs* As a borders rewards member, I got a 40% off coupon for the book in my email. However, I never print these coupons out. They *always* keep copies behind the counter so why waste the ink? Besides, we were out of paper again. So there I went, off on my shopping expedition for velvet and The Host, and I stopped by Borders first since it was on the way. They didn't HAVE the coupon behind the counter, and while I don't mind spending money on books, I wasn't about to buy it for 30% off- the sticker price there for new releases- when I could get it for 40% off. Annoyed and grumbly, I left to go drool over fabric and pick something new for my doublet and plunderhosen. I'd looked up the other G-street locations, and I was not going to drive up to Maryland or way out to Centerville alone. I'd get lost or worse. I hate driving.
So I brought my swatches again, and tried to go into it with an open mind and not regret not being able to have my first or second choices too much. It came down to a two-way between a deep plumish purple and a berryish brown-purple. I finally decided to go with the berryish brown-purple. It depends on the quality of lighting what shade really pops out to the eye. I really like it.
So then on my way home, still wanting that book, I decided to stop at the bookstore again and called Seth. Now, I don't know if I've ever spoken about just how bad Seth's computer at work is, but it's pretty terrible. Slow as molasses and several several years beyond the replacement date. It also crashes regularly because it doesn't have the specs to run the programs he needs it to. Like Word. And Excel. Happily, I manage to catch him as he's waiting for an email from someone and wheedle him into opening up my email and getting me the coupon code # so I could buy my book. He's such a sweetheart. ^^ And I got my book.
I tried to put off reading the book for as long as possible, knowing that if Stephanie Meyer did as well on this one as she had on Twilight, I wouldn't want to put it down. So I pre-washed the velvet (now it's *super* soft... ahhhh) and was going to start cutting or surfing online, but my heart wasn't in it. The book was right there! Calling to me!
I mostly resisted the siren call until after Seth came home and we came back from hanging out at Alex's house. Then I jumped in and let the aliens in the book eat my brain. 7 hours later the sun was starting to rise, and I closed the book. I even managed to squeeze in 3-4 hours of sleep before I had to get up and go to work. I managed pretty well the next day, thankfully, though it helped that only one guy came in to buy anything before the Magic players and my replacement showed up around 5pm.
The Host was a great book. It's a body snatcher alien invasion scenario, with the main characters being the alien named Wanderer and her human host, Melanie, who refuses to just disappear when Wanderer tries to take over her mind. The book raises some fun ethical questions and makes you empathize with the alien 'souls' as well as the plight of the last handful of free humans. What makes a person a person, and all that. Then there're the love stories. :) With Melanie and Wanderer two separate minds in one body, it gets interesting. Not going to spoil it though. It even had me tearing up at parts, although that could be chalked up to lack of sleep. ^^
Yesterday I really got down and got a lot of work done on my doublet. I love that collar on it. It rocks. Hopefully the rest of it will go together as smoothly as it has so far. *knocks on wood* Here's a progress shot from last night. I've since been working on the peplum (the flaps at the waist for the sewing-term challenged) and will then be jumping into the lacing band to attach the plunderhosen to, and then the sleeves and wings on the sleeves. So lots of fun! :D After that I'll finish attaching the lining and a few little details, and the doublet will be done! Hopefully that'll happen by next week. I'm really looking forward to starting on the pants.
Oh, and one more thing. Dad told me about the 'manga' version of Twilight you found on the amazon.jp site, and although I hate to burst your bubble... It's not a manga. It's just the Japanese version of the book chopped up into several smaller books with sporatic manga-style illustrations throughout. This site here has scans of all the illustrations if you're interested.
So I brought my swatches again, and tried to go into it with an open mind and not regret not being able to have my first or second choices too much. It came down to a two-way between a deep plumish purple and a berryish brown-purple. I finally decided to go with the berryish brown-purple. It depends on the quality of lighting what shade really pops out to the eye. I really like it.
So then on my way home, still wanting that book, I decided to stop at the bookstore again and called Seth. Now, I don't know if I've ever spoken about just how bad Seth's computer at work is, but it's pretty terrible. Slow as molasses and several several years beyond the replacement date. It also crashes regularly because it doesn't have the specs to run the programs he needs it to. Like Word. And Excel. Happily, I manage to catch him as he's waiting for an email from someone and wheedle him into opening up my email and getting me the coupon code # so I could buy my book. He's such a sweetheart. ^^ And I got my book.
I tried to put off reading the book for as long as possible, knowing that if Stephanie Meyer did as well on this one as she had on Twilight, I wouldn't want to put it down. So I pre-washed the velvet (now it's *super* soft... ahhhh) and was going to start cutting or surfing online, but my heart wasn't in it. The book was right there! Calling to me!
I mostly resisted the siren call until after Seth came home and we came back from hanging out at Alex's house. Then I jumped in and let the aliens in the book eat my brain. 7 hours later the sun was starting to rise, and I closed the book. I even managed to squeeze in 3-4 hours of sleep before I had to get up and go to work. I managed pretty well the next day, thankfully, though it helped that only one guy came in to buy anything before the Magic players and my replacement showed up around 5pm.
The Host was a great book. It's a body snatcher alien invasion scenario, with the main characters being the alien named Wanderer and her human host, Melanie, who refuses to just disappear when Wanderer tries to take over her mind. The book raises some fun ethical questions and makes you empathize with the alien 'souls' as well as the plight of the last handful of free humans. What makes a person a person, and all that. Then there're the love stories. :) With Melanie and Wanderer two separate minds in one body, it gets interesting. Not going to spoil it though. It even had me tearing up at parts, although that could be chalked up to lack of sleep. ^^
Yesterday I really got down and got a lot of work done on my doublet. I love that collar on it. It rocks. Hopefully the rest of it will go together as smoothly as it has so far. *knocks on wood* Here's a progress shot from last night. I've since been working on the peplum (the flaps at the waist for the sewing-term challenged) and will then be jumping into the lacing band to attach the plunderhosen to, and then the sleeves and wings on the sleeves. So lots of fun! :D After that I'll finish attaching the lining and a few little details, and the doublet will be done! Hopefully that'll happen by next week. I'm really looking forward to starting on the pants.
Oh, and one more thing. Dad told me about the 'manga' version of Twilight you found on the amazon.jp site, and although I hate to burst your bubble... It's not a manga. It's just the Japanese version of the book chopped up into several smaller books with sporatic manga-style illustrations throughout. This site here has scans of all the illustrations if you're interested.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Grrr. Argh.
Went and deposited my latest paycheck this morning and then went to go get the dark teal velvet that I've been drooling over, and it was gone! Well, not all of it, but enough that the yard and half left on the rack is only useful as a tool to taunt me and the fact that they can't reorder it in that color. Now I must begin to plot again, and hope that they get new colors of velvet in soon. I'll go again on Tuesday to check when I go to pick up Stephanie Meyer's new book, The Host - she's the author of the Twilight series that Abbey loves so much though this particular book is a completely new series. *sighs* And if they don't have it in, maybe I'll go track down the other G-Street locations in the area and see what they have in their stock. But wow, that'd be a pain.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Now I just need that velvet!
Today was a much better day than yesterday. :) I got our state tax return form sent off, went and deposited my last three paychecks (It's a real pain to get to our credit union's branch since they're closed Wednesdays when I'm actually in that town and close at noon on Saturdays.), and then went fabric shopping. 50% off on linen too, so I got a couple extra yards of some nice medium-weight black and super light-weight white linen/cotton blend. It's lovely stuff. I didn't buy the velvet since I'm going to wait until my next paycheck which should come this Saturday, but since I now have all the fabric for the guts of the outfit I was able to get a good start on it this afternoon when I got home.
See? I'm very sylish. That there are just the front and back pieces, of course. I also got the front collar pieces (except the velvet, of course) cut out, pad-stitched the interlining to the interfacing, and am all ready to sew on the velvet once I get it. Not much else I can do until then either, but I can get started on the pants tomorrow and do quite a bit on them before I need the velvet. Guess we'll see how it goes.
See? I'm very sylish. That there are just the front and back pieces, of course. I also got the front collar pieces (except the velvet, of course) cut out, pad-stitched the interlining to the interfacing, and am all ready to sew on the velvet once I get it. Not much else I can do until then either, but I can get started on the pants tomorrow and do quite a bit on them before I need the velvet. Guess we'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sometimes life is just a wee bit frustrating...
even if I can't quite figure out why I'm frustrated at the moment. I've been feeling grumpy all day. Maybe it's the fact that I didn't feel like being around people and Wednesdays is the day I work, maybe it's the fact that I spent a good 8 hours doing those freaking annoying eyelets by hand (finished all of them too!), or maybe it's the fact that I after an annoying day and a headache I just wanted to go to Alex's place and hang out and play the Scion game he's running. Of course my frustration is quite possibly born from all of them all at once, and yes I know I'm whining, but if you don't like it you don't have to read this. What I really wanted to do today- instead of finishing those eyelets- was start working on the short story idea I had that I plan on submitting to the Writers of the Future contest. Never did get around to that.
And at work the new inventory didn't come in until around 3. *sighs* I hate when it comes in late. It usually comes in around noon- which is nice and slow and gives me the chance to browse through anything new of interest before any people really start showing up. When people started showing up around 5 for Magic I hadn't even gotten 1/4 way flipping through the new WoD Innocents RPG book. It was a good book too, from what little I saw. Yes, I'm a geek. You all know this already. But anyways, I could sew and be social at the same time... so... voila. Here it is at least.
And at work the new inventory didn't come in until around 3. *sighs* I hate when it comes in late. It usually comes in around noon- which is nice and slow and gives me the chance to browse through anything new of interest before any people really start showing up. When people started showing up around 5 for Magic I hadn't even gotten 1/4 way flipping through the new WoD Innocents RPG book. It was a good book too, from what little I saw. Yes, I'm a geek. You all know this already. But anyways, I could sew and be social at the same time... so... voila. Here it is at least.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Well what do you know, Tuesday already...
This past weekend one of the things that I was supposed to do was go up to Silver Springs and get some plotting on my costume for Costume Con 2009 done with a friend who's going to be putting her boyfriend in the masquerade with me- she's making the costume and getting the credit, he just gets to wear it. ^^ Well, we were just up 495 near Falls Church when the car started having issues and the engine light came on. Now, we'd just gotten our oil changed a month and a half ago, mind you, and were rather peturbed to find out when we pulled off the road that there was practically no oil in there. Apparently we had a leek. 4 quarts later, we managed to make it home and planned on taking it into the shop later this week. After all, we'd gotten by leeking oil for a month and a half before it gave us a problem, surely it could manage for a day or two until I could drop it off at the shop while I was at work on Wednesday.
Apparently not. Our little leek turned into a waterfall last night, and Seth's taken the day off from work to take it in today. I'm just grateful we didn't have to get it towed or anything. He's been there since 7am this morning, and says they'll be finished around noon and around $600 later. It hurts, especially on top of the new computer we just barely bought, but we can afford it. We are rescheduling our vacation down to Williamsburg until later this summer though, and I'll be post-poning my little shopping expedition to G-Street that I had had planned for today.
Here are the two swatches I picked up of the colors I liked against the silk I got for the poufs. This would be for the doublet and panes on the plunderhosen. The maroon one is actually silk/rayon velvet, and a bit lighter weight than the blue, but the pile is richer and softer too. It's also more likely to get marred since it's more delicate. The blue is a cotton velvet, and a bit thicker and stiffer with a slightly shorter pile. Seth likes this color the best, and it's 54" wide rather than the 45" that the maroon is, so I'll probably end up getting it. However, maybe once I get to adding the trim and decoration I'll use the maroon for a bit of contrast and richness. It really is a lovely color. The camera doesn't do it justice the way it picks up the light.
I was really looking forward to picking that fabric up too, but it'll have to wait. *sighs* Ah well, I have to finish the shirt before I can start on the doublet anyways so I can fit the doublet properly. The shirt's almost done, though I made one wee little mistake. Mistake is a bad word. Error in judgement is perhaps better, though it'll look fantastic when I'm done. To gather the sleeves, instead of sewing the gathers in and making it difficult to get my hands through or cutting a vent, I decided to put eyelets and a drawstring in. Wow am I glad I didn't to this on the neck. It is *such* a pain. I'm not using the little metal punch-in ones. No, that would be too easy and an anachronism in any case. I decided to go and punch the hole with an awl and bind them by hand! *headdesks*
They look great, but they're very time consuming. I spent several hours last night working on them and am still only 1/4 done. The pins mark where I've got to put more in, and I've still got the entire other sleeve too... But hey! It'll keep me busy until I can get that velvet!
Apparently not. Our little leek turned into a waterfall last night, and Seth's taken the day off from work to take it in today. I'm just grateful we didn't have to get it towed or anything. He's been there since 7am this morning, and says they'll be finished around noon and around $600 later. It hurts, especially on top of the new computer we just barely bought, but we can afford it. We are rescheduling our vacation down to Williamsburg until later this summer though, and I'll be post-poning my little shopping expedition to G-Street that I had had planned for today.
Here are the two swatches I picked up of the colors I liked against the silk I got for the poufs. This would be for the doublet and panes on the plunderhosen. The maroon one is actually silk/rayon velvet, and a bit lighter weight than the blue, but the pile is richer and softer too. It's also more likely to get marred since it's more delicate. The blue is a cotton velvet, and a bit thicker and stiffer with a slightly shorter pile. Seth likes this color the best, and it's 54" wide rather than the 45" that the maroon is, so I'll probably end up getting it. However, maybe once I get to adding the trim and decoration I'll use the maroon for a bit of contrast and richness. It really is a lovely color. The camera doesn't do it justice the way it picks up the light.
I was really looking forward to picking that fabric up too, but it'll have to wait. *sighs* Ah well, I have to finish the shirt before I can start on the doublet anyways so I can fit the doublet properly. The shirt's almost done, though I made one wee little mistake. Mistake is a bad word. Error in judgement is perhaps better, though it'll look fantastic when I'm done. To gather the sleeves, instead of sewing the gathers in and making it difficult to get my hands through or cutting a vent, I decided to put eyelets and a drawstring in. Wow am I glad I didn't to this on the neck. It is *such* a pain. I'm not using the little metal punch-in ones. No, that would be too easy and an anachronism in any case. I decided to go and punch the hole with an awl and bind them by hand! *headdesks*
They look great, but they're very time consuming. I spent several hours last night working on them and am still only 1/4 done. The pins mark where I've got to put more in, and I've still got the entire other sleeve too... But hey! It'll keep me busy until I can get that velvet!
Monday, April 28, 2008
And continuing on:
Lunch on Friday was fun. Tina and I went out to TGIF ^^ and then came back here to my place to hang out. Well, time passed a little sooner than we'd expected, and around 4:30 her husband called to see where she was. oops. They invited Seth and I to go out to dinner with them and continue in the hanging-outness vein since every time Tina and I have hung out, our hubbies have been at work and left out. Seth was tired, but he gave in to the lure of dinner and we went up to the Reston town center. I can't remember what restaurant we went to- one of those nice Italian ones. However, I was slightly more occupied with other things than paying much attention to where we were. Like the fingers on my right hand where I shut the door on them right between the joints, and figuring out how to eat left handed.
They still hurt to move a little, but surprisingly they didn't bruise too much and quick application of ice helped keep the swelling down. I wouldn't be surprised if the first two fingers have hairline fractures or something though. At first I was afraid I'd flat out broken them all at first since I couldn't feel them- and then when I could I kinda wished I couldn't again. Still, not too bad now. Typing isn't all that fun, by the way, but here I am.
Somehow over dinner Seth was talking to Tina and I was talking to her husband, and both of our conversations turned to talking about the church. When Seth and I compared notes later, it was kinda funny. They're both really good people, and I while I know that the church would be great for them, I think that they might actually be interested in learning more. The craziest part was that after dinner when we were leaving the restaurant and out in the parking lot on the way to the car two missionaries were riding past on the their bikes and stopped to talk. Tina and her husband had apparently talked to missionaries in passing in the past who weren't nearly as smart or well trained or something as these two. They handled all the questions like pros- saying almost exactly the same things as Seth and I in some cases, and one of the elders- an Aussie, no less, with that awesome accent- bore a really beautiful testimony. I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly felt the spirit. Tina and her husband accepted Book of Mormons from them and later said that they wouldn't mind coming to church with us- if they didn't have to get up to come to our 8am ward. ;) Can't really blame them there. Heck, I wish I didn't have to get up for our 8am ward. We went to coldstone for desert to top off the night, but their freezers had broken and the ice cream was very quickly going soupy. But hey, it was still cold and solid enough to make great shakes!
Again, need to get going. Seth isn't feeling well so I'm going to go pick him up from the metro in a few minutes here...
They still hurt to move a little, but surprisingly they didn't bruise too much and quick application of ice helped keep the swelling down. I wouldn't be surprised if the first two fingers have hairline fractures or something though. At first I was afraid I'd flat out broken them all at first since I couldn't feel them- and then when I could I kinda wished I couldn't again. Still, not too bad now. Typing isn't all that fun, by the way, but here I am.
Somehow over dinner Seth was talking to Tina and I was talking to her husband, and both of our conversations turned to talking about the church. When Seth and I compared notes later, it was kinda funny. They're both really good people, and I while I know that the church would be great for them, I think that they might actually be interested in learning more. The craziest part was that after dinner when we were leaving the restaurant and out in the parking lot on the way to the car two missionaries were riding past on the their bikes and stopped to talk. Tina and her husband had apparently talked to missionaries in passing in the past who weren't nearly as smart or well trained or something as these two. They handled all the questions like pros- saying almost exactly the same things as Seth and I in some cases, and one of the elders- an Aussie, no less, with that awesome accent- bore a really beautiful testimony. I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly felt the spirit. Tina and her husband accepted Book of Mormons from them and later said that they wouldn't mind coming to church with us- if they didn't have to get up to come to our 8am ward. ;) Can't really blame them there. Heck, I wish I didn't have to get up for our 8am ward. We went to coldstone for desert to top off the night, but their freezers had broken and the ice cream was very quickly going soupy. But hey, it was still cold and solid enough to make great shakes!
Again, need to get going. Seth isn't feeling well so I'm going to go pick him up from the metro in a few minutes here...
Friday, April 25, 2008
Just one of those weeks-ish
Because I've decided that chronological order is overrated, I shall kick off this little log of events entirely at random. Do try to keep up.
Yesterday was a beast for Seth. He left for work at 7, got into the office at 8, and stayed until 10:30. *sighs* We were going to go out somewhere nice for dinner and get some steaks or something, but by the time he got home at 11, we ended up with Wendy's. C'est la vie, but sometimes I'd like to kick the politicians who dump all the work on Seth in one day and keep him from coming home.
Last weekend was Jessie's wedding at the DC temple. It was beautiful, of course. Jessie just about glowed, and the both families were there in their entirety for going to the temple the day before and the day of. I put some of the candid shots we took up here. My dress turned out great, and everyone really liked it so I was happy about that. :) The reception was held at the bishop of their old ward in McClean's house. His very nice house. It was a lot of fun meeting all the people from Seth's old ward too. They all kept wondering when we were going to move back to the McLean ward. ^^;
Well I just got a call from a friend so I'm going to go out and get lunch or something. I'll continue this later...
Yesterday was a beast for Seth. He left for work at 7, got into the office at 8, and stayed until 10:30. *sighs* We were going to go out somewhere nice for dinner and get some steaks or something, but by the time he got home at 11, we ended up with Wendy's. C'est la vie, but sometimes I'd like to kick the politicians who dump all the work on Seth in one day and keep him from coming home.
Last weekend was Jessie's wedding at the DC temple. It was beautiful, of course. Jessie just about glowed, and the both families were there in their entirety for going to the temple the day before and the day of. I put some of the candid shots we took up here. My dress turned out great, and everyone really liked it so I was happy about that. :) The reception was held at the bishop of their old ward in McClean's house. His very nice house. It was a lot of fun meeting all the people from Seth's old ward too. They all kept wondering when we were going to move back to the McLean ward. ^^;
Well I just got a call from a friend so I'm going to go out and get lunch or something. I'll continue this later...
Friday, April 11, 2008
Well right now it looks kinda like a choir robe...
But once I sew up the sleeves and add cuffs, and do a bit of blackwork embroidery, it'll look more shirtish and less choir robe-ish. Though I'm half tempted to rip out the fixed collar I just spent an hour sewing in and making it a drawstring instead. hmmm... what to do, what to do. The cartridge pleats that form the collar now are a lot more dense than a regular gathered collar would be, which would mean it'd be a lot more difficult to gather closed at the top like the woodcut in the post below is...
What do you all think? Like it like it is in this picture or in the woodcut?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Oooh! Sometimes I just inspire myself.
No outside inspiration needed! ^^ Except when it is. ^^; After the previous post Seth called and told me he'd be working late. I was going to go into DC and meet him and his co-workers after work for dinner and hanging out, but that ended up getting nerfed. *sighs* So I decided that I would be... diligent in my work too. Yes. Diligent is a great word to use. And off I went, skipping to the fabric store. I just got my paycheck from the game store on Wednesday, which money I get to spend however I like on my toys and shinies. ^^ Oh come on, it's not that much. I only work one day a week!
So I decided to get the blue silk that I've got a swatch of below. It pretttty... *drools a bit* I'm really happy with it. Jo-Ann's, miracle of miracles, actually had real linen too! And yes, there is fake linen out there. It's evil though not terribly sneaky. So I got a couple yards of white linen for a shirt to wear under the doublet. I found this pattern:
on another blog. I'm not terribly sure how accurate it is, but looking at a couple woodcuts like this one:
It looks good enough for me! And it's nice and easy. I'd say a one day project, but that's just asking for trouble. A two day project then. I have got to get me a hat like that too... heheh. I'm such a dork.
Stay on target, Stay on target! Ok, so I also got some black linen to be the base of the pants. After all, the ginormous poofs have got to have some structure on the inside. And that's about it! The blue silk for the poofs, the white linen for the shirt, and the black for the guts. I still need to find some nice cotton velvet (probably maroon since I like how that maroon and blue silk looked together)for the doublet, interlining, and then a matching (or mis-matching) lining for doublet and pants. That's all it takes. Et Voila! Plunderhosen! I love that word.
So I decided to get the blue silk that I've got a swatch of below. It pretttty... *drools a bit* I'm really happy with it. Jo-Ann's, miracle of miracles, actually had real linen too! And yes, there is fake linen out there. It's evil though not terribly sneaky. So I got a couple yards of white linen for a shirt to wear under the doublet. I found this pattern:
on another blog. I'm not terribly sure how accurate it is, but looking at a couple woodcuts like this one:
It looks good enough for me! And it's nice and easy. I'd say a one day project, but that's just asking for trouble. A two day project then. I have got to get me a hat like that too... heheh. I'm such a dork.
Stay on target, Stay on target! Ok, so I also got some black linen to be the base of the pants. After all, the ginormous poofs have got to have some structure on the inside. And that's about it! The blue silk for the poofs, the white linen for the shirt, and the black for the guts. I still need to find some nice cotton velvet (probably maroon since I like how that maroon and blue silk looked together)for the doublet, interlining, and then a matching (or mis-matching) lining for doublet and pants. That's all it takes. Et Voila! Plunderhosen! I love that word.
Plunderhosen
So my dress for Jessie's wedding really just needs a hem now. Easy peasy! I got the hooks and eyes up the back sewn on yesterday and today. My next project is going to be making up a pair of plunderhosen. :D
I've been hesitating a little on this project because the poofs in the pants were originally made of silk taffeta (which is expensive) and the handkerchief weight linen that I wanted to use instead didn't come in the color I wanted (lavender). However, I made a wonderful discovery when I went to Jo-Ann's buy hooks and eyes yesterday. 58" wide silk in home dec section with minimal slubs. Not taffeta, but I'm jumping on it- especially since it's currently 40% off, which brings it down to a very reasonable $15/yard. Here's the swatches I got of my two favorite colors:
It's no lavender, but the red and light blue combination is actually growing on me. There was a gold color there too that I might pick up as well and throw into the mix.
Now, I realize that no one reading this is likely to know what plunderhosen are. If you care to read a bit of the history and details behind the only surviving extant examples of, check out this site. At the very least, it'll make that site a lot easier for me to find later.
I like the design of that second doublet better than the first, although I'll be making the pants from that first picture. I like the doubled poofs at the waist. ^^ If I'm going to go crazy, I might as well go all the way, right? The pattern I bought from Reconstructing History uses the Sture plunderhosen as its basis for the patterns, which I think is awesome. I love working from historically correct patterns.
Anyways, enough rambling for now I think. I'll come back later if I'm coherent again. Must go research Landsknechten colors of preference.
I've been hesitating a little on this project because the poofs in the pants were originally made of silk taffeta (which is expensive) and the handkerchief weight linen that I wanted to use instead didn't come in the color I wanted (lavender). However, I made a wonderful discovery when I went to Jo-Ann's buy hooks and eyes yesterday. 58" wide silk in home dec section with minimal slubs. Not taffeta, but I'm jumping on it- especially since it's currently 40% off, which brings it down to a very reasonable $15/yard. Here's the swatches I got of my two favorite colors:
It's no lavender, but the red and light blue combination is actually growing on me. There was a gold color there too that I might pick up as well and throw into the mix.
Now, I realize that no one reading this is likely to know what plunderhosen are. If you care to read a bit of the history and details behind the only surviving extant examples of, check out this site. At the very least, it'll make that site a lot easier for me to find later.
I like the design of that second doublet better than the first, although I'll be making the pants from that first picture. I like the doubled poofs at the waist. ^^ If I'm going to go crazy, I might as well go all the way, right? The pattern I bought from Reconstructing History uses the Sture plunderhosen as its basis for the patterns, which I think is awesome. I love working from historically correct patterns.
Anyways, enough rambling for now I think. I'll come back later if I'm coherent again. Must go research Landsknechten colors of preference.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
LOLcats
Because they're cute and funny.
And if you're bored and want more, the Time Wasters Guide has a pretty good selection in their thread on the topic.
And if you're bored and want more, the Time Wasters Guide has a pretty good selection in their thread on the topic.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Staring off into space blankly.
Not much really happening for me right now. Life's just kinda coasting along as I plan for upcoming events and whatnot. Seth's been working hard though, so I suppose I'll start there in a nice, safe, and vauge sort of way. Arbitrarily set deadlines have been keeping him busy lately. It's usually his day off today, but he had to go into work for a presentation for some of the bigwigs. The guys he's been doing a lot of this work for have been really impressed and grateful for his help too. Last week they called him down to their office and gave him a $500 on the spot award- which is the biggest award they can give without going and getting it pre-approved. :) With how much effort he's been putting in for them, he definately deserved it.
He also got to go down and visit the academy as well as their shooting range. Yes, he is indeed holding a tommy gun. How cool is that.
And here's his tommy gun target. Even cooler eh? The hole to the left was his first shot, and hole in the center his second. And third. Yes, look carefully. It really is. He's got a couple other targets he brought home with him, from spraying on full auto and some other guns he tried, but this one is by far the coolest.
They also had this really pretty 9/11 memorial there.
Today I went out and did a bit of shopping. Got the snaps to finish my dress for Jessie's wedding, and on the remant rack I found a half yard of some really lovely silk brocade. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. After all, it's only half a yard, but it could make a really lovely shrug or bodice. Maybe I'll get some silk charmeuse and chiffon and make an empire waisted dress or something.
The pictures really don't do it justice. It's a blue grey color, but the camera didn't pick up any of the blue very well.
Abbey's been sick this week, and I got to talk to her for a long time on Wednesday while I was bored at work. I'd brought my dress and sewing box to the store to work on finishing it off, but when I got there I realized that I'd forgotten to bring the black thread. Had every other color under the sun, but my black thread was still sitting on my ironing board from when I'd last used it. *sighs* Anyways. I got to talk to Abbey a lot, which was really nice. I don't talk to the kids nearly as much as I should or would like to since they're usually in school when I have the time to call. So there's something good about getting sick Abbey! Small blessings, right?
She's apparently had trouble finding modest dresses for Mil Ball (which doesn't surprise me) and told me that she'll let me make her her prom dress when she gets back from Japan. Yay! I love sewing formal dresses. They're so much fun and you can do a lot of cool embellishment that would just look silly on everyday clothing. I've got pages and pages of original ideas around here too somewhere, so it'll be awesome to be able to maybe get the chance to make some of them! After all, fabric's expensive and I can't really justify buying yards and yards of the good stuff for a formal dress that's just going to sit in my closet. No real call for formalwear on a regular basis for me, sadly enough. I need more balls and events to dress up to.
He also got to go down and visit the academy as well as their shooting range. Yes, he is indeed holding a tommy gun. How cool is that.
And here's his tommy gun target. Even cooler eh? The hole to the left was his first shot, and hole in the center his second. And third. Yes, look carefully. It really is. He's got a couple other targets he brought home with him, from spraying on full auto and some other guns he tried, but this one is by far the coolest.
They also had this really pretty 9/11 memorial there.
Today I went out and did a bit of shopping. Got the snaps to finish my dress for Jessie's wedding, and on the remant rack I found a half yard of some really lovely silk brocade. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. After all, it's only half a yard, but it could make a really lovely shrug or bodice. Maybe I'll get some silk charmeuse and chiffon and make an empire waisted dress or something.
The pictures really don't do it justice. It's a blue grey color, but the camera didn't pick up any of the blue very well.
Abbey's been sick this week, and I got to talk to her for a long time on Wednesday while I was bored at work. I'd brought my dress and sewing box to the store to work on finishing it off, but when I got there I realized that I'd forgotten to bring the black thread. Had every other color under the sun, but my black thread was still sitting on my ironing board from when I'd last used it. *sighs* Anyways. I got to talk to Abbey a lot, which was really nice. I don't talk to the kids nearly as much as I should or would like to since they're usually in school when I have the time to call. So there's something good about getting sick Abbey! Small blessings, right?
She's apparently had trouble finding modest dresses for Mil Ball (which doesn't surprise me) and told me that she'll let me make her her prom dress when she gets back from Japan. Yay! I love sewing formal dresses. They're so much fun and you can do a lot of cool embellishment that would just look silly on everyday clothing. I've got pages and pages of original ideas around here too somewhere, so it'll be awesome to be able to maybe get the chance to make some of them! After all, fabric's expensive and I can't really justify buying yards and yards of the good stuff for a formal dress that's just going to sit in my closet. No real call for formalwear on a regular basis for me, sadly enough. I need more balls and events to dress up to.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
DC cherry blossoms
With the cherry blossoms on the mall in their peak right now, Seth and I really wanted to make sure we got to see them this year. Last year we got there a day too late after a storm went through and tore down all the blossoms. This year though, we got there on a perfect day. :)
Monday was our first attempt to go see them. It was foggy and drizzly, but I metroed into the city anyways and met Seth after work. I have an excellent sense of direction and usually have no problem getting where I want to go. However, I was... slightly mistaken... about where exactly the cherry trees were in relation to the L'enfant Plaza metro station. We ended up seeing them from across a highway and a couple of fences. Not exactly the ideal vantagepoint. We gave up and went home to get dry.
Tuesday was much better. Gorgeous weather, clear, bright, warm, and sunny. (For you in the UP still getting snow days from school: bwahahahaha) And we didn't get our directions mixed up. heh. I've got all the pictures up on Michael's website in our random pictures gallery, but here are a few that I really liked.
Monday was our first attempt to go see them. It was foggy and drizzly, but I metroed into the city anyways and met Seth after work. I have an excellent sense of direction and usually have no problem getting where I want to go. However, I was... slightly mistaken... about where exactly the cherry trees were in relation to the L'enfant Plaza metro station. We ended up seeing them from across a highway and a couple of fences. Not exactly the ideal vantagepoint. We gave up and went home to get dry.
Tuesday was much better. Gorgeous weather, clear, bright, warm, and sunny. (For you in the UP still getting snow days from school: bwahahahaha) And we didn't get our directions mixed up. heh. I've got all the pictures up on Michael's website in our random pictures gallery, but here are a few that I really liked.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Shopping and Ballet
Not at the same time, thankfully.
I've never been a huge fan of clothes shopping. Odd, considering that I like clothes, and like to make clothes. I can spend hours in a fabric store. But rtw clothing stores just annoy the heck out of me. However, it's been (literally) a couple years since I've done any major shopping and I was down to two pairs of jeans with holes in the right knees, my black hippy pants from Belgium, the pair of Agent khakis Seth got me, and a pair of black pants I got to excersize in at BYU. Scary, isn't it. So today was the great and scary trip to the mall and after much suffering, trials, tribulations, and visiting every gosh dang store in the freaking mall, I managed to suppliment my wardrobe slightly and walked away with five pairs of pants and a really cute silvery grey poly charmeuse shirt.
I'm not kidding on visiting every store in the mall. Well, every women's clothing store at least. My complaints about ready-to-wear clothing are many, although you can't beat the convenience and cost. My number one complaint, however is sizing. At some point in history, the number used to identify a size actually meant something. Now it's an arbitrary number that the store clerks fully expect you to know how it relates to you.
I have a 29" waist, 38" hips, and a 34" inseam. These numbers have translated to everything from a size -2 (yes, size 0 was too big for me) to size 16. It's frigging rediculous! And then even if a store has a chart that translates real measurements into their sizing system, their sizes aren't always consistent within themselves! My prime example of the night, although by no means a rare case, was in the Levi Store. A big brand name like Levi should be consistent, right? And they were the only store that labelled women's pants by the inch. I thought I would find something - even if their pants do cost $70. Well I found a pair that was 29"x32" and tried them on. Too short, but the waist fit as it was supposed to. So Seth finds me a pair that's 29"x34", and while the length was right, it was a good 4" too skinny! Yes! FOUR inches too skinny when the waist was supposed to be the same! Who the heck is doing their math? It's a simple measurement of the waist! It can't be that hard to get and label correctly!
Dressy-ish slacks were the easiest to find, but jeans were a real pain. We'd almost given up for the night, but there was one store left so we decided to try it. Delia's. Bless store clerks that don't assume you know their arbitrary numbering system and who actually do their job of helping a customer. She found the right shape of pants for my figure and then pulled a couple sizes for me to try. Then because I got the last pair in the long size on the shelf, she went out hunting in the back until she found a second. Yay! They were even having a buy one, get one half off sale. ^^ So $60 for two. Go me. I ended up spending $175 total, but since I hadn't been shopping in two years, I kinda needed to.
Ok, Ballet. I'm really excited about this. This summer I'm going to start taking it from a company here in Alexandria that holds lessons at Landmark mall across the street from me. I would have liked to take ballroom lessons from the same place, but standard ballroom is a bit intimate and I wouldn't want to dance with anyone but Seth now that I'm married. ^^ Was half hoping Seth would be up for it after catching the celebrity ballroom show on the other night, but he didn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea. heh.
So ballet! It's an adult class, which is nice. I won't be there standing next to little six year olds, and it'll get me out moving and trying something new. I've been watching my weight lately, after I noticed I'd gone from a 30" waist to 32," and started eating better and stuff. Being down to 29" makes me happy. Anyways, I like dancing, and ballet is something that will be fun I think.
And it reminds me of the anime "Princess Tutu" that I watched about a year ago that was really cute. It was based off the Swan Lake ballet as well as other assorted fairy tales. Heck, maybe if I ever get good enough, I'll do a Princess Tutu costume and dance for the presentation half of a costume competition.
I've never been a huge fan of clothes shopping. Odd, considering that I like clothes, and like to make clothes. I can spend hours in a fabric store. But rtw clothing stores just annoy the heck out of me. However, it's been (literally) a couple years since I've done any major shopping and I was down to two pairs of jeans with holes in the right knees, my black hippy pants from Belgium, the pair of Agent khakis Seth got me, and a pair of black pants I got to excersize in at BYU. Scary, isn't it. So today was the great and scary trip to the mall and after much suffering, trials, tribulations, and visiting every gosh dang store in the freaking mall, I managed to suppliment my wardrobe slightly and walked away with five pairs of pants and a really cute silvery grey poly charmeuse shirt.
I'm not kidding on visiting every store in the mall. Well, every women's clothing store at least. My complaints about ready-to-wear clothing are many, although you can't beat the convenience and cost. My number one complaint, however is sizing. At some point in history, the number used to identify a size actually meant something. Now it's an arbitrary number that the store clerks fully expect you to know how it relates to you.
I have a 29" waist, 38" hips, and a 34" inseam. These numbers have translated to everything from a size -2 (yes, size 0 was too big for me) to size 16. It's frigging rediculous! And then even if a store has a chart that translates real measurements into their sizing system, their sizes aren't always consistent within themselves! My prime example of the night, although by no means a rare case, was in the Levi Store. A big brand name like Levi should be consistent, right? And they were the only store that labelled women's pants by the inch. I thought I would find something - even if their pants do cost $70. Well I found a pair that was 29"x32" and tried them on. Too short, but the waist fit as it was supposed to. So Seth finds me a pair that's 29"x34", and while the length was right, it was a good 4" too skinny! Yes! FOUR inches too skinny when the waist was supposed to be the same! Who the heck is doing their math? It's a simple measurement of the waist! It can't be that hard to get and label correctly!
Dressy-ish slacks were the easiest to find, but jeans were a real pain. We'd almost given up for the night, but there was one store left so we decided to try it. Delia's. Bless store clerks that don't assume you know their arbitrary numbering system and who actually do their job of helping a customer. She found the right shape of pants for my figure and then pulled a couple sizes for me to try. Then because I got the last pair in the long size on the shelf, she went out hunting in the back until she found a second. Yay! They were even having a buy one, get one half off sale. ^^ So $60 for two. Go me. I ended up spending $175 total, but since I hadn't been shopping in two years, I kinda needed to.
Ok, Ballet. I'm really excited about this. This summer I'm going to start taking it from a company here in Alexandria that holds lessons at Landmark mall across the street from me. I would have liked to take ballroom lessons from the same place, but standard ballroom is a bit intimate and I wouldn't want to dance with anyone but Seth now that I'm married. ^^ Was half hoping Seth would be up for it after catching the celebrity ballroom show on the other night, but he didn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea. heh.
So ballet! It's an adult class, which is nice. I won't be there standing next to little six year olds, and it'll get me out moving and trying something new. I've been watching my weight lately, after I noticed I'd gone from a 30" waist to 32," and started eating better and stuff. Being down to 29" makes me happy. Anyways, I like dancing, and ballet is something that will be fun I think.
And it reminds me of the anime "Princess Tutu" that I watched about a year ago that was really cute. It was based off the Swan Lake ballet as well as other assorted fairy tales. Heck, maybe if I ever get good enough, I'll do a Princess Tutu costume and dance for the presentation half of a costume competition.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Progress!
Got the sleeves on today! Now "all" that's left to do is sew the lining and exterior together, and hem the dang thing! And add buttons or hooks up the back of the top sleevish part. Normally I'd just put one at the very top and let it gape open a bit, but it gapes open just a couple inches too low. Should of thought of that a bit sooner. Was so worried about the front that I forgot the back. *sighs* Maybe I'll make bead loop buttons. We'll see. That's one of the last things I need to do anyways. I also apparently need kidnap someone to help me fit my fitting dummy. It's vaguely close to my shape right now, but still just a bit too big... The dress fits on me, even if it doesn't fit on it quite right.
Just for you AnnaMarie
It's now pink, in hopes that It'll inspire me to make some time soon to change the background. But I added a list of what I'm reading just to the side there.
Beading 360
Well work was certainly productive yesterday. I spent the entire morning and afternoon sitting in the store finishing beading the dress. It was nice. Not many people came in (as usual), though one guy that did invited Seth (and me too) to join his group of friends that gets together every week to play 40K. Seth was really happy about that. He hasn't gotten to play regularly since the Warhammar fantasy tournament started at the store on Saturdays. So we'll see how it turns out. The guy -Dave- was nice, does blacksmithing of all things, and interestingly enough is pagan and most of his friends in the group are Jewish. Yep, it should make for interesting religious discussions if nothing else.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Sheer Inspiration
I usually visit the cosplay.com site every day. It's a forum where you can post up pictures of what costumes you're working on, talk about different issues in cosplay with the community, discuss technique, photography, posing so you don't look rediculous while still 'in character.' You need to know something about cosplay or costuming in general? With (literally) thousands of enthusiasts on the boards, you'll likely have an answer to your question within the hour.
One of the other reasons I like going there is to drool over pictures of costumes that I would otherwise never get to see. It's inspiring to see people who have the skills to take on projects that would make me hesitate. And I'm hesitating less and less these days.
So here's a costume AnnaMarie and Dad will at least recognize. Ursala from the little mermaid. I mean how cool is that? I was really impressed by several things with this one- it must have been a technical beast to get just right. The tentacles, first off, both how they attach to the dress and how they're held up with 30lb fishing line and epoxy. It's really quite creative and turned out great. The wig is similarly impressive. It's not easy to get hair - even fake hair - to do something like that and I can only imagine the hours and who knows what materials she must have put into it. I've looked into what it takes to make wigs, and I'll be making one for my costume-con '09 project, but I'm not particularly looking forward to the work it'll take. Body paint is another area of costuming I've kinda stayed away from. It can be messy sometimes if you don't get the really really good (read expensive) stuff and it doesn't always photograph well either. Especially not after a full day of wearing it. But here, she only used it on her hands and face, and somehow managed to match the color of a body suit. (which I will be using in the near future)
The original page is here
One of the best anime I've seen over the past year was Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, and I'm really looking forward to it coming out here in the US. Definately a series that I want to pick up. It's in the genre of alternate history/fantasy, so probably not anyone else's in the family's cup of tea, but it was really well done! The animation was excellent, the plot tight (although I'm still waiting for season 2. grr.), and they got CLAMP to do the character design which I thought was a good move. I like CLAMP's style even if it's a bit more stylistic than realistic. Or maybe because it is. Anyways. Here's the art vs. the costume.
The original page is here
The last one there, is with another cosplayer of the same character, just wearing the school uniform rather than the full cloak and helmet costume. ^^ I really admire this particular costume because (a) good looking uniforms are dang difficult to pull off - as hard as suits in some regards, and (b) that prop helmet can't have been easy to make... and I'm jealous of it. Well, jealous of the skill that it took to make it. I can sew, but I haven't the skill to really make amazingly awesome props like that. And(c) the picture with the cloak flying up behind him is awesome. I don't think he wired it (well, below the massive collar that sticks up at any rate), which means that the kudos probably go to the photographer, but I can't really tell for sure. Which means that if he did wire it, he did it perfectly.
One of the other reasons I like going there is to drool over pictures of costumes that I would otherwise never get to see. It's inspiring to see people who have the skills to take on projects that would make me hesitate. And I'm hesitating less and less these days.
So here's a costume AnnaMarie and Dad will at least recognize. Ursala from the little mermaid. I mean how cool is that? I was really impressed by several things with this one- it must have been a technical beast to get just right. The tentacles, first off, both how they attach to the dress and how they're held up with 30lb fishing line and epoxy. It's really quite creative and turned out great. The wig is similarly impressive. It's not easy to get hair - even fake hair - to do something like that and I can only imagine the hours and who knows what materials she must have put into it. I've looked into what it takes to make wigs, and I'll be making one for my costume-con '09 project, but I'm not particularly looking forward to the work it'll take. Body paint is another area of costuming I've kinda stayed away from. It can be messy sometimes if you don't get the really really good (read expensive) stuff and it doesn't always photograph well either. Especially not after a full day of wearing it. But here, she only used it on her hands and face, and somehow managed to match the color of a body suit. (which I will be using in the near future)
The original page is hereOne of the best anime I've seen over the past year was Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, and I'm really looking forward to it coming out here in the US. Definately a series that I want to pick up. It's in the genre of alternate history/fantasy, so probably not anyone else's in the family's cup of tea, but it was really well done! The animation was excellent, the plot tight (although I'm still waiting for season 2. grr.), and they got CLAMP to do the character design which I thought was a good move. I like CLAMP's style even if it's a bit more stylistic than realistic. Or maybe because it is. Anyways. Here's the art vs. the costume.
The original page is here
The last one there, is with another cosplayer of the same character, just wearing the school uniform rather than the full cloak and helmet costume. ^^ I really admire this particular costume because (a) good looking uniforms are dang difficult to pull off - as hard as suits in some regards, and (b) that prop helmet can't have been easy to make... and I'm jealous of it. Well, jealous of the skill that it took to make it. I can sew, but I haven't the skill to really make amazingly awesome props like that. And(c) the picture with the cloak flying up behind him is awesome. I don't think he wired it (well, below the massive collar that sticks up at any rate), which means that the kudos probably go to the photographer, but I can't really tell for sure. Which means that if he did wire it, he did it perfectly.
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