A nifty instructional from Tor.Com's blog regarding how to convert a thrift store double breasted suit coat into a tailcoat (the cropped front really accents a corseted waist, BTW)
Monday, August 22, 2011
...and more costuming
A nifty instructional from Tor.Com's blog regarding how to convert a thrift store double breasted suit coat into a tailcoat (the cropped front really accents a corseted waist, BTW)
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
A CALL FOR HELP!
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ve likely seen mentions of Roach (Raechel Henderson) of Idiorythmic Designs and her work. If you’re involved in fandom (sci-fi/fantasy, steampunk, anime, gaming, etc) in the Midwest, you’ve also probably seen her work both in the dealers’ room and on attendees at various conventions and events.
She’s a dear-dear friend and wonderful seamstress, and right now, she is in dire need of help. She’s currently trying to raise funds in order to save her home and avoid a potentially nasty custody battle. If I could, I’d offer her all the funds she needs to solve her dilemma, but I’m not in any financial position to do so. What I CAN do is spread the word about the following:
This recession of recent years has been hard on all of us. If someone has offered you a kindness while you were struggling, I ask that you please consider paying this kindness forward and lending a hand to this terrific lady in need.
#1- Currently, she’s offering a special in her Etsy shop on some lovely waspie corsets like the ones pictured above. They’re currently priced $40-$60 off of her regular price for a limited time. She also has trussles/bustles, corset/trussle combos, luxe dice bags, and other wonders in her shop and custom work is her specialty. There’s still time to order new costuming for Halloween, TeslaCon, and other events.
#2- While it’s unlikely that any single one of us could afford to offer her the full amount needed, I’m hoping that the fandom and art community can band together to help. Even small donations (say the price of a single latte) can add up really quickly. In light of the fact that I have nearly 1300 people following my work on Facebook and my partner has well over 3600 followers on his illustration site, we’re challenging our friends and fans to each send a dollar or two Roach’s way via PayPal (username: roach@idiorhythmic.net). Again...we're not asking for huge individual donations, just a rallying of folks each making small gestures of help.
(Please feel free to share this blog entry with those who may be interested).
This past week's treasuries
Many thanks to all of my fellow Etsians who included my work in their treasuries in the last week!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Today's trip to the Elkhorn Antiques Market
I had nearly forgotten that today was the market out at Elkhorn! It had been a long week with a couple of really sad events for our household, so I was rather distracted. My partner reminded me of the show when he woke up, and we decided that a little roadtrip might be good for both of us.
Our big purchase of the day was a vintage drafting table. My partner is an illustrator, so this will be put to good use (actually, he's at it as I type). That's headless him above with his new treasure. It's adjustable, so it isn't as low as it looks in the shot (we were trying to make it a bit more compact in order to fit in the car).
I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with a disembodied bisque baby head yet, but he needed a home.
These antique marbles will likely end up being wire wrapped. I love how worn they are.
Hmmm...I think I'll pass on this paint.
What's a day at the antiques market without a disturbing looking clown? Here's today's lucky gent. I'm not sure what's more creepy...the unsavory leer or the unidentified stains down the front of his costume (has he been...FEEDING?!?). Maybe the fact that he has no hands, but does have a conehead?
Wait...no...I think it's the fact that his head is sloppily sewn back on with fine gauge wire. Yep. I think that just makes him just a wee bit more macabre and a fine choice for Horrifying Clown Du Jour.
Our big purchase of the day was a vintage drafting table. My partner is an illustrator, so this will be put to good use (actually, he's at it as I type). That's headless him above with his new treasure. It's adjustable, so it isn't as low as it looks in the shot (we were trying to make it a bit more compact in order to fit in the car).
I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with a disembodied bisque baby head yet, but he needed a home.
These antique marbles will likely end up being wire wrapped. I love how worn they are.
Hmmm...I think I'll pass on this paint.
What's a day at the antiques market without a disturbing looking clown? Here's today's lucky gent. I'm not sure what's more creepy...the unsavory leer or the unidentified stains down the front of his costume (has he been...FEEDING?!?). Maybe the fact that he has no hands, but does have a conehead?
Wait...no...I think it's the fact that his head is sloppily sewn back on with fine gauge wire. Yep. I think that just makes him just a wee bit more macabre and a fine choice for Horrifying Clown Du Jour.
Friday, August 12, 2011
How SQUARE!
I just upgraded my phone to an HTC Evo 4G after work today. Yay! I now have all of the bells and whistles that come along with a Android phone.
Naturally, as soon as I got home, I dashed to SquareUp.com to order my magic cube of filthy lucre love and add the app to my spanking new smartphone. Soon, I will have a way of accepting credit cards at events. How spiffy is THAT?
Naturally, as soon as I got home, I dashed to SquareUp.com to order my magic cube of filthy lucre love and add the app to my spanking new smartphone. Soon, I will have a way of accepting credit cards at events. How spiffy is THAT?
Sunday, August 7, 2011
New treasury inclusions!
Thank you to everyone who included my work in their Etsy treasuries in the last couple of weeks! I was amazed to see that I had FIFTY folks to thank (yes, 50!) for featuring my work.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Behold…The RENEWED REVITALIZED REPURPOSED Girl! (All Thanks to The Splendiferous Wonders of Snake Oil…)
A few weeks ago, I was taking my trash out before I headed to the office, when I spotted the below forlorn figure in the dumpster. One of the rear corners of her base had broken off, possibly from having been tossed in the dumpster, and (though it’s hard to really tell in the picture) she was sponge painted which made her look less “antiqued” and more “afflicted with an uncomfortable skin disorder”. Otherwise, she was in pretty good shape and solid plaster. I figured that she’d make a great addition to my jewelry display fixtures for shows and other events, so I decided to rescue her from her landfill fate.
After I had cut out all of the images, I dipped the paper scraps in a mixture of a leftover pot of coffee (recycling, yo!) in which I had steeped a few bags of black tea and added a couple of drops of yellow food coloring. After dipping the papers, I laid them out on a foil lined cookie sheet (and sprinkled them with a bit more of the coffee/tea mix to try to mimic the foxing of old paper) and baked them for 15 minutes at 200 degrees to dry them thoroughly.
Rather than simply paint the figure (the surface was a bit too uneven, even if I had primed it), I decided to cover her in a collage. Initially, I had thought about images and text reproduced from vintage medical books or corset advertisements. Instead, I decided to use 19th century-early 20th century era patent medicine/snake oil/quack cure advertisements.* I printed the images right on plain old recycled bond copy paper since I knew it would stand up to the “aging process” well.
I used plain old Modge Podge gloss to adhere the scraps to the plaster body. Since the surface was a bit rough, I didn’t need to prime it and since the figure (theoretically) isn’t likely to get wet, I figured a water-based adhesive would do the duty. I gave her one more all over coat of MP when I was finished, just to make sure the edges were all secure, then gave her a coat of clear spray enamel for good measure.
I think the old gal looks great after her makeover. She's now awaiting her grand debut at my fall shows, where she'll be modeling shinies.
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*This led to a whole lot of gleefully geeky research and bizarre fact gleaning. I also now have HUNDREDS of more images than I could have ever used on this project (both coffee/tea stained as above and sitting on my hard drive). I’m thinking about starting a tumblr account just to share a “quackery of the day”
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