Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

We went to Pearl Harbor last December while my parents were visiting Hawaii. We took my 5year old nephew, so I didn't get a lot of pictures as I was the one watching him. We had a really good time. I don't remember the day we went, but it was almost Christmas. We were a little sad that we didn't go on Dec. 7th.  

 

Bubbs really liked the hands on stuff.

He is really interested in how things work and had a lot of fun with the telescope.

My nephew and my younger brother posing with the large artillery gun.

He could have played a gunner all day long if we would have let him.

Two cool dudes, and two of my favorites. :)

It is amazing how big this gun is.

That is only a fraction of what is at Pearl Harbor, maybe I will get my mom's pictures and post some of them.

Busy Semester

This semester has been full of a lot of fun projects. I wanted to take classes that were fun and would help me with costuming and sewing. So I managed to take Costume Crafts, Theater Make up, Tai chi and yoga, and to top it of with something more academic- Psychology of Love. 

I will post my makeup class work separate, here I am going to focus on the costume craft projects.

First- a Chainmail belt

This project was a lot of fun. I missed the first week of school, so I had to jump right into it.

This took a lot of work, but surprisingly, I really enjoyed making this.

Here is the belt in action :). I made it for my brother for his birthday.

Next project of the semester

Puppets!

Lucy the Slut from Avenue Q, I thought she had a cute design. The University is doing this production next fall semester and my professor is the designer for the show. She got a grant to have a puppet maker to come and teach us how to make puppets so we could get them ready for next season.

Close up of Lucy's face.

Look, we have a nose..... We were told to first make paper cut outs of the features to see if we like the size and design for the face.

The lips just after being cut out and placed on the face.

My brother thinks she looks like Gollum, I don't think he is too far off.

Her eyes are made out of kitchen spoons. I love projects where you can use found items to make the project perfect. :)

Lucy, I had a lot of fun working on her.

Here I am with my little girl. Oh she grew up so fast. We didn't get to finish the puppets, but all the pieces are done and will be assembled during the summer and next fall. The production will be the second of the season.

Sad to say I did not take any production pictures.  Buckram hats were the final project in this class. I love how my hat turned out. I fell in love with this fabric but I really didn't expect it to turn out so well. The embellishments on the hat are items I had lying around the house. The flower jewels are from a necklace an aunt bought me for my 18th birthday, the necklace broke and can't be fixed and look good.

Costume Commission

Last summer I had a costume commission I had worked on. I had meant to post it on here, but I moved the day after I finished it and got distracted..... moving to Hawaii will do that...

So here I am, finally posting the project

Here is the finished costume, I was commissioned to make a costume that had a Revolutionary period look. However, I believe it is for a Cosplay for Prussia from Hetalia.

   

Here are the pictures that were the inspiration for the costume.

There are a few differences between the inspiration and the finished piece.

I forgot to take a picture of the shirt in progress, but here is the vest before it was finished. I liked the idea of using a brocade fabric for the vest, I wanted it to have the look of nobility and wealth.

The pants look a little funny since the dress form is not designed for pants. The vest here is only roughed out and not lined. The pattern I had was not small enough for the measurements I had, so I made some adjustment before I finished it off. (It was quite the headache, but worth it in the end) 

 

I really like the look of the jacket with out the sleeves. I think I will have to make another one with out the sleeves. By the by, the gold edging is all hand stitched, it took some time but I wanted it to look more authentic and not glued on.

I used hooks to close the sleeves and the collar. I didn't want to have ties, I thought it would distract from the overall affect and it would have been too bulky.

Here is it finished without the jacket. The ruffle of lace is detachable and can be adjusted to any neck size. 

Finished piece. I really like how it turned out. The only thing I think I would change would be rounding the corners of the jacket. I don't know, but I think it would look better rounded off.

This project had a few hitches that made it a little frustrating to get going and finished, but all and all I am happy with how it turned out. I am still waiting for pictures of it being warn by the person who commissioned it, but these work well enough.

I hope I will get some other commissions to do some more things like this. However, I think I will need to do something simpler or charge more for something as involved as this.

Long time no see ;)

Ok, I really can't believe how long it has been since I last posted anything here. I have been more like a ghost here in the net. I check all my messages, but I haven't really done anything on any of the sites I frequent.

One day I sat and thought of how little I had done online. I was sad that I had a boring life and didn't have anything to share. My thoughts and opinions are hard to articulate in a pleasing manner, so that wouldn't do. I hadn't done anything spectacular in a while and I hadn't gone anywhere amazing. I was just boring. Then it hit me. I was totally wrong. The last half of 2012 I had lived in Hawaii and had amazing experiences with amazing people. I moved home and went back to school the beginning of this year. This last semester has been full of amazing things. I have made a hat, chain mail belt, a puppet for a stage production, and took a theater makeup class. I even have a few projects I am starting now that it is summer. I am going to try and play a little catch up. I have so much to share. I tend to be a little lazy, so we'll see how fast I get going on all of these posts. (If I would just stop wasting so much time on Facebook and use that time productively I will be set)