The Gatsby Afternoon Picnic 2014

Finally getting around to posting photos from the Gatsby Picnic a couple of weeks ago, but first...

I also returned from my hometown of Seattle last night, where I was honored to perform in the annual Steamposium convention. It ended up being a sort of unintended Seattle Burlesque reunion for us, and we had Seattle's best all on one stage; yours truly Vienna La Rouge, The Shanghai Pearl, Waxie Moon, Evilyn Sin Claire, Iva Handfull, Inga Ingenue and more. We had a great time, the people at the venue were lovely and accommodating and we hope to do it again next year. No performance images I know of yet, but here are a few silly backstage photos...oh, and a couple of cast members from Firefly just happened to stop by!
Feathered friends; Inga Ingenue and me hamming it up:



So, on to Gatsby photos;
I wore a vintage dress in a soft seafoam color with an ivory satin chevron stripe, from around 1936-37. The hat is a sheer ivory brimmed halo style from the same time frame. Anders wore his WWII Canadian uniform, complete with the Blackwatch kilt.
My dress has a matching jacket, but it needed a cleaning, and it was way too warm that day for anything more than just dresses and light fabrics, or kilts ;) My Edwardian linen parasol came in handy!
And as always, there were so many beautiful automobiles on display:

Same as last year, Johnny just happened to pull up at the entrance to the 'Gatsby estate' in his lovely car to give us a lift to the picnic site...

With Anders

 Daniel, me and Laura enjoying the cooler hours later in the day.

Michael, Anders, me and Aaron.

 It's not a wedding, but it makes for a nice photo. Some kind gent handed me this pretty bouquet of white flowers before we took this photo

At some point the heat (and possibly that second pimms cup) caused much silliness. Here I am spoiling Aarons Deco GQ cover shot.

So many lovely cars (I apologize for blocking them with my fashion posing ;-)

The ghost of Gatsby. Sneaking to the old pool area on the estate grounds with Autumn, Katrina, Erin and Breanna.

Excuse the blurry quality of the following photos, my camera lens is on a rather well worn iPhone...

 Deco deviants!

 Ending the day with some impromptu golf and possible pineapple throw.

Mr. Mosher and an un-thrown pineapple. Good night, Gatsby. Until next year!

Gathering No Moss

'Like a rolling stone' as they say, I've been busy.
Ever since returning from Dragon Con at the beginning of the month, it seems my schedule has been less than relaxing. I thought there would be a nice chunk of down time to do some post con cleanup, and start on my growing list of projects.
Alas, between work and other events such as the Gatsby picnic (which I'll make a post about here soon!), the time is slipping by faster than expected as we race toward Dickens Fair season once again.
I leave for Seattle next week to perform in the burlesque showcase at the annual "Steamposium" convention.
This visit to my hometown will be nice, and I get to see my dad, too.

Before that; however, I need to make at least one item over the next few days, to update one of the costumes I'll be performing with. The Valkyrie act will have a headdress change, from the crystal antlers to 'classical style' Valkyrie wings. The image below is one example of the concept I'm going for, but perhaps without the helmet.
I may just make them super light, and mount them on a headband base that ties under my hairdo for stability.

I'll keep the sparkly antlers, of course. They will get worked into another similar act.

DragonCon: Lagertha Part I

Anders and I not only had a successful DragonCon, but an insanely fun experience, too!
While this was not our first rodeo when it comes to cons, this was very likely the largest with a record-breaking crowd that topped out at somewhere around 62,000 attendees. That's the last number I heard, but it may have been more. The following posts on Dragon Con are in no particular order, but posts will most likely go up depending on what, and how many photos I have of each costume.
Above: One of my favorite shots from the main floor of me as Lagertha and Anders as Floki; we literally bumped into a guy that had a perfect Ragnar impression. His lady friend also had a pretty awesome first season Lagertha look going. The four of us spent the rest of the evening together raiding various con parties. (and yes, I know my sword is on the wrong side)

I don't have a lot of professional shots where you can see details of the Lagertha battledress, but there are possibly a few in the works.
I also didn't have time to really do my hair the way I wanted. It needed more oomph and while the knot work on top and the braids look ok, the rest looked a bit flat. However, we were dealing with Atlanta humidity and LOTS of people making it even warmer indoors, which is no help to hairdos. I added the little chains too, but next time I'm going to try the softer braided look for the 'fauxhawk' top as seen in this screencap from the show....

I went with this look instead, and added the chains to the side braids that hang down:

Mine. Not perfect, but I haven't mastered doing the tiny french braids on the sides yet:

 I plan to don this ensemble again soon to get more photos, but here are a few of my favorites so far:

Once again, I'm noticing how blue(!) the leather dress looks in some of the photos. particularly the outdoor shots taken in the shade. In person and indoors it looks more muted, and I did indeed weather the surface with a deep tint. In the outdoor shot below the color looks more accurate:

Earlier in the day with Laura as Astrid from "How To Train Your Dragon"

Photo: Mary Anne Butler

Floki and Lagertha taking a rest before the madness of the evenings festivities begin.

Photo: Mary Anne Butler

Floki had to take a time-out in the Ball Pit...

And then Floki made a friend....

And so did I!

So as you can see, the indoor lighting isn't very kind but we all had a blast regardless.
More photos are on the way xoxo

The Final Update Before Dragon Con...

Dear readers, this is it for entries until after Dragon Con.
It's just a few days away and I still have a lot of finishing touches to complete on both the Lagertha battledress and Elsa's gown. However, I do have a couple of images to share as a teaser, and plenty of photos of the final products to share after the madness of con is over.

Here's a sneak-peek of the completed chainmaille tunic body. This was before I added the maille shoulder pieces, and had tried it on for fit...and it fit! (whew!)
I left the left shoulder section of maille detached but laced to a small strip of leather. From the closeup photos I had, I noticed this was used. A genius move on the part of the Vikings costume dept., so that way the entire left side of the tunic can open up for ease of dressing & undressing. When put on, that small strip of leather with the shoulder chainmaille piece simply gets tied back onto the rear shoulder section...if that makes any sense. If I have time later today, I can post a closeup of the original showing this detail.

 This was also before I had dyed my leather side laces a darker brown.

 

There are little to zero clues as to how Lagertha's blue leather dress closes in front. From some of the hi-res pictures, I was able to discern that it closed in front, but how was a mystery. So, once again using my own imagination, I decided to re-purpose a few of the extra rings leftover from the chainmaille as lacing loops.
Even further with my own stylistic leanings, the little holes you see punched in the leather will get some of the brass studs later. or maybe some fancier ones if I can track any down.

I still need to treat the leather to darken and weather is a little, too

I've been taking my own path with the look of the shirt. Keeping a similar color pallet to Lagertha's, but since it's so hard to make out details, or get a clear view of her undershirt collar, I am using my imagination. For mine, I'm utilizing a flax/hemp cord in a slate grey with some of the deep brown leather flat lacing also used on the leather dress. I've also done some extra decorative stitches in a flax thread along the neck seam.

It's definitely rustic looking, but then I'm portraying a Viking queen, not a Disney princess....at least not the entire time ;-)

The beginnings of the armored arm braces...

**Edited to add: Unfortunately the shield is not a go. We were trying to construct it so that it could separate in half for travel, but we just need more time to perfect it and make it hold together more solidly.**

A shield in the making, thanks to my friend Anders. Nearly complete; it just needs its handles at the back and paint. I have a sword he carved from wood and painted to look like the real thing, complete with leather scabbard.

So, stay tuned. There will be a ton of photos to share very soon. Perhaps even during Dragon Con!

XOXO

Frozen Shoes

Taking a quick break from the Lagertha project, I've finished the shoes for my Elsa ensemble.
These are the same shoes I wore for the Disneyland event a few months ago...for a little while at least. They were brand new and while pretty comfy, I hadn't had time to break them in. My feet were ok with them for about 3 hours but after a few blisters started to show up, I switched to some flats I'd painted a similar color.
Now that these are properly broken in, I decided to give them a facelift since the original paint job was rushed (over a navy color) and none of the "Frozen" modifications I wanted were done.

What follows is truly my own version of Elsa's shoes. I'm not attempting to be dead accurate with these, but I wanted them to at least reflect the general look and colors used on hers.

Using some softer scraps from the tooling leather I used for my Lagertha armor, I created extensions on the vamp of the shoe in a spiky icicle design. Before adding these, I sanded down both shoes thoroughly so that both the glue for the additions, and the new coat of paint would have a surface that they could adhere to.
(Please excuse all the thread, blue clippings and hole punch confetti on my carpet from the leather Lagertha tunic)

 Tools of the trade; sandpaper, glue, hairpins, super sharp scissors and Dutch licorice cats...which have zero to do with this project except that they are tasty. 

To glue these pieces on, I used Aleen's Foamtastic. This is the same brand that makes the Jewel It glue I use to decorate my burlesque costumes in all those Swarovski crystals. I needed something strong that would not only dry clear, but flexible. Normally I would have used some kind of shoe repair glue, but I didn't have any on hand. Alternately, Foamtastic works for this sort of thing because it's made for porous materials. Leather is porous, and this glue is super thick and tacky. It holds while it dries, and doesn't soak away into materials that tend to make more fluid glue vanish before it can stick.

As you can see from the top photo, I still used a few hairpins to clamp the pieces in place while it set. Once that was done, I broke out the paints.

The first coat.

I mixed two colors of Lumiere paints; a plain turquoise and a frosty white metallic to get the shade you see above. After that was dry, I added more of the metallic frost white to the tips of the spikes. Building and blending the layers of the frost for more intensity at the pointy tips, this definitely gave the shoes an icy look.

The finished product! Or do I add more sparkle?

I also shaded some of the frosty white onto the small heels and along the top edge at the back.
Eventually I'd like to find a diamond shaped hole punch, and do a cut-out design on the interior of the spiky pieces for a snowflake look.
I know some people have added glitter to theirs, but I want to keep the snagging effect to a minimum. Granted, spiky things similar to what I added can catch on hemlines, but that's why I used a soft leather that is unlikely to be a problem. Glitter, when glued to a surface, becomes like sandpaper. I really don't want the inside of my hem & the satin lining to catch, scuff or stick to my shoes. Swarovski crystals are an option though ;-)

Lagertha's Battledress: Making Progress

Just a taste of what I've accomplished today with my Lagertha armor...

Of course, some delicious homemade tiramisu helped immensely.

Still Kicking

 The Dragon Con sewing has kept me so busy, dear readers that I have had little time for updates.
With the days slipping by toward the zero hour, I need to really utilize my time down to the minutes it seems. I also want to have time to pack up all these costume bits!
With that said, I do have a couple of random progress photos to share here and will have plenty to share after Dragon Con is over. I'm taking photos as I go, and will try to post a full rundown on the creation of both the Lagertha battledress and Elsa's gown.
XOXO

The bodice portion of the Elsa gown is finally getting its sequins, and I'm making really good progress. I may even finish it this weekend.

Here's what I've been doing on my lunch breaks this week; trimming and sanding.
I not only trim the corners to get the right shape of sequin, but to also take down some of the sharpness that could catch on the rest of my costume, my flesh or on other people. I'm roughening the backs of each one with a nail file because I've chosen to glue them on (with Aleen's Jewel It) instead of sewing, and this gives the glue something to grip more securely. For me personally, without little thread stitches holding them on, it gives the icy sequin design a much cleaner look that's closer to how Elsa's bodice appears in the film. It also happens to make the application process much faster!

The Lagertha armor...so many little lacing holes...ouch. My hand hates both me and my hole punch, and I still have two more leather pieces to punch holes in. Funny to think that the tooled designs were actually the easy part. Almost there. I still need to put the little round Norse sun wheel design on the center front of the below piece, but this chainmaille & leather tunic will also likely get completed this weekend!