Tag: Ren faire

Summer Wrap-Up

HAHAHAHA…It’s September.

/sigh

Moving on.

So July and August came and went in a flurry of activity, and in case I didn’t mention it, I have an Instagram account now. Those two things are only related because despite having an account and following really nifty people, I haven’t figured out what it’s for. Are any of you who know me surprised? Feel free to send suggestions for better management of social media. At this point, I just link each thing to each other thing so that I can access my own content from whichever app runs the fastest on my poor phone that day.

Blogging is a great way to record how I made stuff, since I make it up as I go along and rarely remember what I did from event to event. It’s also better than my physical closet, since I also forget that I have at least one costume for every fandom that is special to me and I really need to curb the desire to make so many. Mom brain is the worst. To provide insight on my “process”, I’ll run down what I consider to be a banner month.

  • I get an idea for what I think is a costume that will appeal to the event’s primary audience (ex: comic based character for a comic con, a companion for a Doctor Who marathon, something stupidly complex for Halloween even though I’m only wearing it to work for a few hours and only a dozen people care).
  • I work through the design, listing all of the pieces I plan to include. Then, I shop my stash and make a list of anything I don’t have.
  • From the inside out, I make, buy, or alter the costume’s pieces and props while working a full-time job and keeping my husband and two kids alive and moderately happy. This equates to two hours per weeknight with interrupted eight hour stints on Saturday and Sunday, IF I don’t have other events. HA.
  • The last couple of days before the event, my sleep schedule drops to a max of 5 hours (infants and toddlers do not give a shit how tired Mommy is), so I just double up the caffeine and power through.
  • The event happens and is a magical experience that I will never forget…until I do.
  • Upon unpacking the car after the event, none of the luggage makes it too much further than the inside of the front door and stays there until the following weekend.
  • I sit down at my handy dandy laptop, open up my WP dashboard and my Google calendar, throw down pictures on the page in chronological order (that random strangers were kind enough to take, since I’m horrid at it), and fill in the blank spaces with words that I hope make sense to my six or so readers (love y’all).
  • Lastly, I frown at the mess around me, close the laptop and go to bed.

“Where did this rant come from?” you ask. We just returned from the Baltimore Comic Con, and it was the best year yet! I’m slowly descending from the high, so I wanted to write it down before I’m slammed back into reality while cleaning up the costume shrapnel blast in my front room. Let’s go back to July.

My friend is on the local Rocky Horror Picture Show cast, and convinced me to attend their Disney night. Clearly, I needed a mash-up, so [after drafting a much too complex burlesque Mulan] I happily settled on Dr. Facilier (The Princess & the Frog) as Columbia. Bonus: I had everything on hand. Please note the face makeup is a cross between the floor show and Facilier’s voodoo look. I’m still proud of myself for this one.

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Near the end of the month, I provided craft supplies and support to my brother and his friends for Otakon. I also made another eye patch (Debito, Deadman Wonderland) and painted and sewed in a zipper for a Tokyo Ghoul mask.

August brought the beginning of the PA Ren Faire, and my Tiny Princess requested a Rapunzel dress. Since PARF switched things up to Henry VIII, I chose a Tudor style for the Tangled look. Her pouch is a stylized Pascal and may be the cutest functional item I’ve made yet. Husband’s existing green Italian-ish doublet was altered by adding a skirt. I had exactly enough green left and lined it with a floral black and gold curtain panel.

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On an exciting note, The Tudor Tailor had a sale last month, so I picked up their fitted gown and French Hood patterns for me and the hose pattern for Husband. I can’t wait to make new outfits in the off season.

Closing out this chapter was Baltimore Comic Con, which, again, was so very great. I had planned on three costumes to cover the now three day con, but I couldn’t decide what to wear on the first day and didn’t want to wear something I already had. I don’t often regret decisions…but I’ll leave it at that. On Day 2, I wore my new Dee of Rat Queens costume. I loved making this, and I was crazy happy at the number of fans at BCC. I had perma-smile when I wasn’t trying to pose like a badass.

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On Day 3, the fam pulled out our Saga cosplay and received a number of compliments both in person and online. It felt good. I had a malfunction with my wing attachments, so I added the jacket as we were walking out the door. Despite the sweat, I liked the look much better.

Saga Family
Photo credit: Comicsheatingup.net

It still feels good. I’ve said it before: I love my family.

You guys are pretty great too. If you happen to run across any comic con photos of me and my friends, please send along links.

  • Day 1, I was dressed in a Captain America cropped vest and jeans with Jessica Rabbit (50’s Housewife) and Selene (Underworld).
  • Day 2, I was Dee, walking around with Catwoman (TV – Julie Newmar) and Gamora (GotG).
  • Day 3, My family was the Saga family with Poison Ivy (as Elsa, Frozen) and The Bat-fan-girl.

Dress how you want, when you want. Thanks for reading!

One Year Later

Let’s just file the last 364 days under “And Then Life Happened.” I thought I wouldn’t ever see my workroom, and I didn’t really. I only had a handful of items to make for a handful of events: Otakon commission, Baltimore Comic Con, Pirate hafla, Halloween, Halloween Hafla, NJ Ren Faire, First State Comic Con. I don’t even think I have pictures of most of what I made.

My excuse?

So, you know how I only post once a month? Well, before my July post (which was going to be a short one of me laughing at how I was obsessing over one costume that was taking all of my money and sanity), we found out that we were pregnant.

Yeah. I then became rather preoccupied. Don’t get me wrong, I did finish half a really huge (for me) costume, but it was the ONLY thing I worked on for two months. That was my X-Wing Fairy for Baltimore Comic Con. There’s a page in the menu for it, but the wings aren’t pictured because I kind of hate them. For all of the work I did, I learned a lot about what doesn’t work in the world of arts & crafts…and that’s it. The damned things are still sitting in my workroom, un-photographed because I can’t come up with a back mount that I like. So, the plan is to hang them with fishing line at shoulder height, stand in front of them for a couple of action shots, burn the wings, and make a new pair out of cellophane for a true tech-fairy look. I did wear the flight suit half of the costume to the Baltimore Comic Con, and it was a success, but I may never recover from the epic wing failure. Duct tape and pipe cleaners. Seriously…epic wing failure.

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The only other big project that I worked on (took about a month and a half with all my preggo naps) was for Halloween. I chose Melisandre (GoT) to accommodate my expanding waist line and as a baby announcement to people who didn’t see me everyday. IMO, it was pretty freaking great. I even made an unlined version of her nifty cloak and bought a pewter dragon goblet. What you can’t see is that the shadow creature on my back is coming out of my dress. That freaked a couple of people out. And if you don’t know the scene that this references, you’re really missing out.

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Most of my other projects were small and I didn’t attend half of the events that I did in 2013, but they all helped me retain some sanity while prepping for our new addition. His first costumed outing was to the NJ Ren Faire, where our family won the costume competition on the last day. The Tiny Princess was dressed as a Renny Rainbow Dash, and I’m fairly certain she had a big hand in the win.

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Our second outing (which is why me writing today is so fitting) was to the First State Comic Con, where we attended as Saga characters, Marko, Alana, Hazel (Baby’s first crossplay [/sniff]), and Izabel. We were met with great approval, and while we didn’t enter the costume competition (because again, I can’t get anywhere on time), I love my family. And, they clearly love me to put up with our growing costume closet.

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So, as always, thanks for reading! I appreciate everyone who comes to visit the blog. Please let me know if I can do anything to make your GLS experience more enjoyable. Or not. I have two kids now. Feel free to send snacks.