Dragon Con 2014: An Updated List Of Projects

As I had mentioned way back here, there were many costuming and cosplay ideas floating around in my brain. Some made it onto the list, and over the last few months I've needed to trim it drastically.
One reason for this trim is not only due to time and other events creeping in on my schedule, but one project in particular that I really want to tackle.

Lagertha, from the Vikings TV series.

Her leather under dress looks greenish in this image, but it's actually a deep denim blue.

The hardest part will be piecing the tooled leather insets into the chainmaille tunic, but I'll have help and guidance from awesome friends who work with this kind of stuff.
I don't plan on building the maille tunic ring by ring, though I considered it an option earlier.
Nope, I just need to buy a ready made panel of 16 gauge nickel steel similar to this one, shape it and piece it out for the front, back and shoulder sleeves. I may need to email them to make sure of the link pattern and to be sure I'm not going to get something too shiny, since theirs is zinc plated.
The blue skirt she has is actually a sleeveless leather dress in a weathered blue color. I'll post detail shots later, but it's absolutely gorgeous. Under that is a long sleeved grey linen shift, in addition to the leather and metal armored wrist braces.
So yeah, I had to do some trimming to the list, and its current form includes the following:

~ Elsa's snow queen gown (Frozen)
~ Elsa's coronation gown/cape
~ Lagertha's battle dress (Vikings)
~ Caprica Six, which I already have done (Battlestar Galactica)

I figure I'm going to get almost 1 month of time per outfit for construction and 'finishing touches' (translate finishing touches as pulling out hair, crying, sewing all the last annoying bits at the last minute).
If time allows, I want to at least make a replica of her goat hide covered scabbard with a (fake wooden) sword, and maybe her shield (making it collapsible tor travel).

Speaking of having awesome friends who can help me with the leather work on the Lagertha project; here are a few pictures of me wearing my spiffy new leather shoulder armor made by my talented friend, Greg Ruddy:

Since the raven seems to be a recurrent theme in my life and my general aesthetic, he applied an old Viking style raven motif to both shoulders. The deep purple leather wrist braces he made me last year, also have a similar design. If anyone is interested in possibly commissioning something similar, I can put you in contact with him. You can also find him via Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/greg.ruddy.1

A Grand Ball And Red Rooms

This past week has been a whirlwind of preparation for this year's Edwardian Ball in San Francisco.
I had the pleasure of modeling once again for one of my all-time favorite couturiers; Dark Garden Unique Corsetry. Under the direction of Dark Garden's Caitlin Amaton and Euphrates Dahout, we performed a unique fashion show on both Friday and Saturday night, inspired by a classic Edward Gorey tale; The Curious Sofa. 
I also had the honor of meeting, and doing an impromptu photo shoot, with the Amazingly talented photographer, Joel Aron. When it comes to the use of light, this man is a modern-day George Hurrell. Hopefully I will have a few shots from that shoot, plus a few more to post here soon.

Meanwhile, here are a couple from Friday night:

 Toward the end of Friday evening, resting my feet in a most regal 'chair'.

This is my own Dark Garden custom couture corset, made just for me. I love it so much.