More kit in progress...

As promised, here's the related post to the previous.

First, those trousers that I mentioned; they're the Folkwear Saroulles and pantaloons pattern, I shortened the leg length. Truth is, I really ought to decrease the pelvic depth of the pattern to raise the crotch by several centimetres so it's not down near my knees. Perhaps with the next pair.

The four pieces of the crotch gusset.

The stripes really do help.

Pinning the crotch gusset to the legs before stitching.

Pinning before pressing the folds for the waistline's drawstring channel.

The crotch gusset and the bottom leg hem that I've turned up. It shows how much I shortened the leg on this pair of pantaloons.

This is where I paused in the sewing; again, before I can finish the waistline or hem the legs, I need to hand-sew buttonholes for the drawstrings. My machine is supposed to be able to do buttonholes automatically, but all it does is pucker the fabric before tearing it. Hand-sewn buttonholes it is.

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Tat

Some of the items that I wore for the Bakers' Ball in November are pictured below.

Tat, it makes the costume into something more.

As you can see, I have restrung some of the necklaces from the pictures taken of them months ago, to make them Seppa's and not Ieri's tat. Some bits I ended up not wearing or bringing to the event.

I did pierce Seppa's ears, to personalise the mask; I might add another earring or two. I will need to do more trimming around the inner eyes and the top lip, I found that both of those areas became problematic the longer I wore the mask. I managed almost four hours on my first wearing before I needed 'face-time' ie to get out of the mask and just be.

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Other items that're 'in progress' is a leather belt that's actually made for Seppa; it's longer to accommodate my fat gain and the bulk of the many garment layers to make me look stouter than I am. I don't yet have a photograph of the belt, but I will see about some progress pictures at some point. Galla's Emporium is cooperating with me to build the belt and the tat pictured next.

The inspiration for this particular bit of tat is a black leather strip that had the smooth buttons that I'm re-purposing onto a brown strip of leather. In the picture, is the same strip of leather, but with the buttons and conchos differently placed before deciding which one we'll go with. I'm in consultation with Galla to maybe craft two more strips to go with this one. It does remind me, and others who have seen it, to some Ancient Roman legion groin armour/decoration.

The "vintage" bronze ring is about twenty years, maybe thirty years, in age. I've had the black strap and its buttons for nearly thirty years too, it was a gift from Daedalus Anteros Fortune of Leatherhead Regalia. Anything that I can recycle or salvage from rotting in a box into something that I can wear as part of a character's ensemble, is good.

The straps will hang from the waist belt that I mentioned above. The ring represents the item-of-worth as an ancestral artefact, which is why I've attached it to the longer strap so that it's presented as important and doesn't get lost amongst the gewgaws hanging directly from my belt.

I will soon need to decide which one to make.

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Last item of Seppa's tat for the moment; I need to add the bit of felted wool for the needles to rest in, in order for this antler and leather needle case that Amber Wolf Workshop crafted to be functional. I asked them to make it, inspired by some of the antler and bone needle cases of similar design found on Pinterest. But using the soothing circles-and-dots patterning that AWW often implements on their creations.

Antler, leather, and wire, needle case.

Another item that isn't yet made, but AWW is playing with, and that I'm eager to acquire is a bone whistle-flute; again, inspired by Pinterest and European Ice Age artefacts. If I needed some animal bones for the shaman's costume and character, I might as well make them functional. Imperial Orcs' music tends to be heavy with drums, but I can easily see a bone whistle-flute making a bit extra to the pounding rhythm of percussion instruments.

Seppa's tat

Tat

The accessories of character costume that help one stand out from one's peers. In daily life, because the majority of native English speakers' garments tend to be mass produced, we have a tendency to look all the same. It isn't as uniform as a company or military uniform, but there's still a certain uniformity to it. Many of us do not personalise our garments with extra stitching or any other customisation.

In LARP, one has an excellent opportunity to personalise one's look so that there's less uniformity. Though in Empire, there is a small amount of uniformity to one's nation so that one's easily identifiable as this or that nation, but one's top or bottom is customised to the character's tastes and whims. The other is by adding tat.

A new character will often lack tat to the extent of that character several games' old. As one plays one's character, and interacts with other characters, and gains story and played history, things change. Empire's rules are that one's kit is in constant improvement. Embellishments, via embroidery or patches or visible repairs (if Imperial Orc) adds to the character's kit development.

With Ieri, who had witnessed the Varushkan Feast of the Loom Zoria parade, gained a silky friendship bracelet from a Varushkan child. It went on Ieri's belt and added to eir tat. Friendship with Antimedes meant Ieri had a jingly beaded token ey wore on eir belt. When Antimedes died, Ieri added his token to eirs and increased tat.

Seppa's tat

The following images show some of what I want Seppa to wear; however, some of this was Ieri's tat, and will need adjusting or altering in order to truly become Seppa's tat. I apologise if any of the following images are repeats from previous blog posts. I don't want to photograph them again until I've altered the items to fit Seppa. (yes, that's on the ever-growing to-do list.)

The other difference between Ieri and Seppa is that whilst much of Ieri's tat had stories attached to them, they weren't ancestral items or items-of-worth; whereas Seppa's tat will need to be worthy, even if it was, 'my parent made this when they were emancipated to celebrate their freedom.' Not as worthy as an ancestral item, but still a worthy reminder for the character.

Speaking of parent's emancipation from slavery, I thought of using the Skarsind axe-head pendant to represent that, but then I realised that the axe-head pendant is to commemorate the Imperial Orcs gaining Skarsind as their region of the Empire, which only happened a few years ago. So this is Seppa's pendant, rather than an inheritance item. Perhaps the metal sausage-like tube in the upper right corner of the above picture could be the parent's emancipation object.

The ring with the bell on it is for one of Seppa's noisy ancestors and will be going onto the warskirt.

I want to pierce Seppa's ears in order to customise the mask. These were on clearance, and they're not quite to the Skywise brief, but I can alter these to better fit into the brief and if I mess them up, I'm not going to feel bad over it.

The steel Sikh kara bracelet isn't obvious that it is a kara, so I will use it as part of Seppa's tat. It had been part of Ieri's tat, but didn't make many appearances, and I doubt that anyone will recognise it from Ieri's kit. The only question is whether or not it'll fit over all the wraps and gloves.

The two brass clasps might get some dangles attached to them to give them some personalisation. I'm considering their use in a similar way to the Viking paired domed brooches, ie attaching a few strings of beads between them and the clasps helping to hold a robe or wrap in place during colder weather events.

These had been Ieri's jewellery. I explained the kara already. The glass "diamonds" bracelet is another that didn't see too much action with Ieri, and like the kara, will need to be tested to see how or if it will fit over all the wrist wraps.

The patinated brass cuffs made occasional appearances on Ieri, but they do barely fit over the wraps; as I have tested those. I also need more brass than silver-coloured stuff, as brass is to the brief.

The brass amulet strung with wooden beads and orange cord, was a Ieri staple, though the beads and orange cord were only a recent expansion on it. I'll need to put it onto some blue cord and change the beads in some way, probably by adding some smaller wooden beads along with the ones currently on the cord.

For the antler-bone-wood-glass-brass necklace, that was Ieri's Dubhtraig loot. I'll need to restring it and change out some of the red beads for blue.

Charity shop for the win!

Back at the start of 2019, some of us went to several charity shops to look for LARP bits. I found this interesting necklace for 50p. It had been strung on some thread and that looked far too fragile to survive the field. So I restrung it with wire in almost exactly the way it came off the thread. I put in crimp beads and joins where the thread had knots. I did add one item to it: the little brass bell in the lower right of the picture; it is otherwise entirely from the original necklace. 

Ieri wore it once or twice around eir neck, but I found it too much around my neck with all the many necklaces I already wore, so it failed for Ieri's tat. It will very likely end up on the warskirt.

Conclusion

Tat is more than jewellery, but this is currently all that I have ready to show that isn't textile tat, which will get its own blog post on another day.

A productive Solstice

Today, I was going to do so many things, I did none of them. Instead, I ended up working on the 'mark 2' dance bra that's been sitting with the straps cut off for months. I've had the metal rings to make the alterations, but I've let whatever silly thoughts distract me from getting on with it... until today.

Bra front - in progress

Bra side - in progress

It's not how I originally envisaged it, but it works for what I need and want. I wanted something on the sides, since we spend so much time with our arms and elbows up at shoulder height or higher.

I'm waiting on some extra DIY bits to arrive, so I've stopped where I am with this until those bits arrive and I can play with more ideas. As it is, I can wear this for a performance, it's 'done enough' to do that. However, I want more bling... even if this bra already weighs a kilo.

Most of the hardware came from The Red Camel or Tribal Souk; but the brass chrysanthemums on the sides are from TribalMart.net

Where the rings are at the top, I intend to cover the exposed stitching with some metal bits, that's part of the DIY bits that are in transit.

 

New necklace

I recently acquired an Asyk pendant from Red Camel and after consideration of what to do with it, I've come up with this:

Sterling Silver and Red Coral necklace

Closer view of the Sterling Silver and Red Coral necklace

Other than the Asyk pendant and the red coral beads, I've had the other sterling silver beads and plaques for close to ten years (if not longer). Everything's been sitting and sitting in my jars, boxes, and containers, travelling from the US to the UK. The large sterling silver bead near the clasp is the longest-in-my-possession bead of probably twenty or more years. The real vintage piece is the Asyk pendant.

I'm pleased with the design and I of course, had to do my prime numbers play with the red coral beads. 5, 7, 11, and 1.

Not for sale.

I made this for me to wear for tonight's dance. I'm quite pleased with my results.

I think the two spiral plaques, the two fish plaques, the small nobbly beads are from Fire Mountain Gems. The two spiral cylinders might also be from Fire Mountain Gems. The large nobbly flat spiral bead near the clasp is from Friends, in Louisville, KY. The red coral beads could be from any number of bead and craft stores I've visited in the UK and the US.

Cosmetics experience...

I had a dance performance yesterday; I made a few serious mistakes in the second set, I was better in the first set. Anyway, this post is not for castigating myself, but is about some new cosmetics I tried out and what I learned from them.

New products: Urban Decay's "All Nighter" makeup setting spray, 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil ("Perversion"), and Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner ("Distortion"). Too Faced Shadow Insurance eyeshadow primer. Sleek Makeup i-Divine "Original" (#594) Palette eyeshadow and True Colour Lipstick - matte ("Russian Roulette" #795). Barry M's glitter lip gloss (#3 "Strawberries & Cream"). TRESemmé Salon Finish Extra Hold ("4") hairspray.

One: Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencils are insanely expensive for 3mm of eyeliner... you can't sharpen the pencil, all you get is the tiny tip, that's it. It's beautiful stuff, but not at £20 for 3mm of material.

Two: the Urban Decay's makeup setting spray worked well, except for my chin, where yes, it did smudge. Guh. I'll still use the fix to help keep things from sliding off.

Three: Urban Decay's Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner? Works very well, pleased with it.

Four: the Too Faced eye primer will destroy any brushes you use to apply the eye primer; I use hand soap to clean my brushes and that usually works... or did; it doesn't budge the eye primer and make up remover pads/cleaners never worked well for cleaning my brushes, so I didn't bother trying. I might try them to see what happens. However, it will also make your eyeshadow stick in place, and make it pop/sparkle. Note to self: use a disposable swab or fingers to apply the eye primer.

Five: Sleek Makeup's eyeshadow colours that I used was the purple with some of the pale golden wheat and a tiny bit of the black. The colours weren't named, but it was the first two on the top left, and the first one on the bottom left. I used mostly the purple with a little of the wheat up above and toward the inside of my eyes, and a tiny bit of black on the outside of my eyes. Then I lightly blended, while keeping them distinct.

Six: Sleek Makeup's lipstick, deep and rich, wow! I still use a lipstick brush to make sure it goes in the right places, but wow, the colour! Don't forget to blot so it doesn't coat your teeth or get everywhere else.

Seven: Barry M's glitter lip gloss has a very faint pink tinge to the gel, but the glitter itself is silvery/iridescent and it seems to have stayed on... at least until I drank from my water bottle. Carry with me so I can reapply as necessary. Yesterday was hooooot, humid, but sunny.

Eight: hairspray. I cannot recall when I last used hairspray, maybe thirty years ago when I was mucking around my mother or sister's stuff as a child/teen. Last month, when someone did my hair for me for a performance, they used hairspray on me; but that was someone else. I digress, I used the hairspray *cough-gag-eye-watering* and it held what I wanted it to hold. My hair is just barely long enough for a 'duck-tail'. It's not yet pig-tail or ponytail length, so I couldn't use the smallest hair doughnut I have (maybe my hair will be long enough at the end of summer, we'll see).

End result? This:

Post Dance at Rhiannon's Mystic & Holistic Fair

Blue cotton printed yukata (it's a kimono, but less formal) around my forearms; black cotton choli by Flying Skirts, and M&S altered bra with kuchi dangles. Choli chain (that I've tweaked up since my last post about it); my Blackpowder/Fur Trade re-enactor crescent moon necklace; gilet metal large loop earrings; sterling silver faux septum ring from Tribe Zuza. Sequined black headband and purple, pink, etc hair flowers all by Claire's. Bindi is from IndiaBazaar.net

Busy year.

Jewellery work

I've been learning to dance ATS® belly dance. As a queer-gender person, I'm not overly fond of the coin bras, so I'd been thinking about another way to 'bling up' the choli. My mind had been mulling over it for probably a year or so; before I saw Kae's choli decos. I have done jewellery work off-and-on since I was a child. I come back to it at various intervals as another of my creative expressions. So when I saw one of Kae's choli decos worn by Jesse, at a dance residential, I thought 'I could do something like that'. When I saw Jesse's choli deco, I had no idea about Kae's choli decos.

Anyway, fast forward a few months. I had a Hafla we were performing at; I created this 24hrs or so before the performance. I wanted to come up with my own idea and my own method of execution, so while Kae's choli deco is an inspiration, I tried to go my own way, so I wouldn't be plagiarising her work.

I had all these chains, bits and bobs and decided, it's time to start using them. I did the performance without the two coins on the front. The back is a little too heavy for the front, even with the big circle piece, so I added the two coins to add a little more weight to the front. I've danced in classes whilst wearing it, it's still too heavy in the back, so I may end up removing the long kuchi piece and replacing it with something else. Overall, I'm very pleased with my creation.

Oh, and people are telling me I should create more of these, I might, if I can get more chain... that's my difficulty, is finding different costume jewellery chains in 2m lengths that don't look tacky or excessively cheap. I'll make more of these choli chains, if people want to supply me little bits and bobs to decorate their choli chains. My supply of objects is limited. The little gilet silver poppy seed heads are one of those limited items; I don't have anymore of them. If someone has kuchi bits and bobs they want repurposed, I'll try to use those in a design. I still have several of the tiny Chinese luck/felicity tokens, so those are an option I can use in other choli chain designs.

Again, I would find my own way to do these, I will not copy Kae's designs.

Choli Chain Front

Choli Chain Back

I might replace the current kuchi piece on the back with this:

Lapis and silver asyk pendant

Sewing

I've also done some sewing; in the past week, I've started on two pairs of pantaloons and I've finished one pair. I realise I need to tweak some of my process for the pantaloons as well, so the second pair is 'on hold' until I have more thinking done.

Olive crepe back satin pantaloons

I used the official FCBD® Folkwear® pattern as my guide/direction for making the 'loons, with a few of my ideas. Tuesday night, I finished the olive 'loons and got to dance in class with them. No serious issues, though they're quite long and drape over my feet; I need to open the waistband and remove about 5-10cm from the elastic, as the waistband is looser than I thought. I'm otherwise satisfied with my first pair of handmade 'loons.

Second pair of 'loons in progress

Close up of the wrong side of the 'loon fabric; it's very shiny and slippery.

I'm very much looking forward to finishing the second pair of 'loons, I rather like the pattern printed on the fabric. I think instead of gathering to the waistband this time, I'm going to try pleating. This crepe satin is as thin, or thinner, than the olive green fabric. Like the olive fabric, it frays like mad. I'm so glad I have the overlocker to control the raw edges. I may have to curve the bottom half of the legs, as trying to cram 45" wide fabric around a 7" ankle is difficult.

Hair Gardens

Right now is the season to get hair flowers from the shops such as Claire's. It's late Spring/early Summer here, so there is a huge assortment of colours and flower-types.

Flower hoard from Claire's.

I was overjoyed to see large sunflower and daisy hair flowers; a year or three or more ago, I bought two small sunflower clips. I did buy another two small ones, as well as the larger ones. I went back and bought more hair flowers, so now I should be set for the next several years of dancing. "Hair gardens" are typical of ATS® costuming.

Dancing in a park.

This is me, dancing for a photo shoot. Banjara skirt atop two 25yd tiered skirts; and a black velvet and lace choli. I have some vintage tassels tied to my plain black headband. I did the shoot before I made the choli chain.

Bobbin Lace 

I did say it's been a busy year. The lace butterfly is the 2013-2014 Easter class project. My tallies are still ropy -.-

Butterfly in bobbin lace.

I'll try to update/blog a little more frequently. I'm mostly writing and focusing on lace, dance, lace, dance... oh and I just started learning British Sign Language.

a dangle

I make what I call "dangles", they can be worn in the hair or secured to a belt or handbag or whatever else. I've made several in the past and this one I made yesterday. It's pretty simple, but I wanted to start using some of the copious supplies of jewellery findings I'd purchased in the US. Mostly for my own amusement, but when I have enough of them for myself and friends, I'll be putting the surplus onto Folksy, Britain's version of 'Etsy'.

Old Costume bits

I found some of my old costume items, yay!

Laced black leather pouch - gifted to me by Otter. Black leather pouch and the carved leather belt - crafted for me by Daedalus Fortune (Leatherhead Regalia).



Detail on the laced pouch.



I did alter the laced leather pouch by adding these to it. Beads: comedy/tragedy; yin-yang, ankh, the rest are random beads, probably purchased at Friends in Louisville, Kentucky.



Soviet cloak pin, brass, purchased in the USA probably twenty years ago. Up until a few days ago, this was in two separate parts and one part was decorating a bag. I've found the second part and re-established the parts as one piece. I think it would do well on a hat.



I have misplaced the partner to this cloak pin along with the chain that once kept them together. Glass (plastic?) gems, copper metal. I probably picked this up in a thrift store.

Antiques - the photos

As promised.

First off, the WWII buttons...



The albert chain, yes, the clip functions, the spring still springs inside it.



As you can see, the bear has suffered some damage. I suspect the eyes once had little glass jewels in them. Poor bear.



I got too excited and failed to set it to manual focus so it would use the depth of field correctly.



The back of the football medallion.



The inkwell... bit too much camera shake and I failed to set up the lights and utilise them for this. Perhaps it would have made it easier. Oh well, you get the idea. The brass body is wrapped in soft, thin black leather with gold stamp.



The bottom of the inkwell with attached paper label.



Gently press the button on the front of the body and it pops open to reveal this:



Gently press aside the righthand clip and you can see inside.



With the little glass bottle removed so you can see it as well as the inkwell. The inner lid has a spring to help keep the ink inside the bottle and yes, the spring still works. It's a clever little object and the leafy scroll engraving in the brass is very nice.

Antiques

Today's adventure found me a few delightful objects, I'll have to take some photos tomorrow and add them here.

I found an early 1900s inkwell, brass with a leather cover, produced by 'Hawthorne - stationer, printer & co' on 36 Clumber Street in Nottingham.

Several military brass buttons and 'stay bright' metal buttons for various WWII uniforms. I figure they might go nicely on a hat or bag.

A sterling silver albert chain with a slightly crushed bear charm. It seems the bear is hollow and so its belly and muzzle were caved in. Still a delightful little charm about 2cm tall. Now to find a suitable pocketwatch to go with said albert chain.

Now, I'm not into football (either the US variety or the rest of the world's variety), but I did spot a medallion whose shape appealed to me. Sterling silver and engraved on the back...

I.S.F.A.
1936-7
N.E MANS

(hmm, "any man's"?)

I figure it would do for a charm on a bracelet or hat or some such.

The last and largest item was a sewing box. Three cloth-wrapped weights, a packet of Great Yarmouth sewing needles, four brass and nickle thimbles, several wooden spools of vintage cotton and Sylko, JP & Coats and another brand of threads, several plastic or metal crochet hooks and a needle (missing its partner), five pairs of scissors (all slightly different), 3 small squares of lace and two identical larger pieces of lace, some lacy and elasticated decorative ribbon. The box is wood with brass hinges, it's covered in faded decorative flower paper. Tempted as I am to try to spot-clean the paper, I can also see it has metallic effects in the paper and I'd rather not destroy it by trying to wipe it with a damp cloth. Admittedly, it's not in the best of shape, the hasp is completely missing and the corners and edges are a bit dinged. Still, it's a lovely box about 30cm long and about 15cm high. There's a divided wood tray inside. It's still quite servicable in its own way.

I probably paid too much, however, I'm delighted by the objects, they have an interesting feel. And now I just realised I genderqueered... a sewing box, but then an inkwell, albert chain, football medallion and WWII buttons... I guess I tilted towards the masculine...

Anyway, part of my reason for these is yes, I'm a creature for antiques with character, but also antiques I can use and... I think they'll be handy props for the book covers photography project ^_^ Go-go multiple use items!

a steampunk - gaslight fantasy costume

So my elder asked me what character I might build my costume around for conventions and events, one based on Steampunk or Gaslight Fantasy.

(This ties in with the chain belt I'm still working on.)

And this is what I came up with. I'll see about some photos tomorrow of the 'rough beginnings' of a costume for this character.

"travelling companion, holder of packages, little voice of caution or incaution... sometimes damsel in distress, sometimes the one doing the rescuing..."

- I have a black hat that is undecorated, wide-brimmed and lovely wool. I have some crow and raven feathers that the birds have freely gifted me on their own, moulted feathers collected from the ground. I have some quartz crystals and copper wire. I think I will wrap the crystal and the feathers to create a centrepiece for the hat and some black or some suitable colour of grosgrain ribbon for the hatband. -- Need to check on what ribbons I have.

- I have a purple-plum long skirt that is 'distressed' and 'frayed' at the hem, it's long but not floor legth, it ends around the lower calf. Made of cotton.

- I have some black and purple Bald Mountain custom made boots. Leather.

- I have a teal and purple plaid neckerchief. Cotton.

- I have a black jacket with brass buttons. Cotton and brass.

- I have a white voile shirt. Cotton.

- I have black gloves. Leather.

- I have some coptic-style bound books that I can use for a prop. I did build and bind them myself, but they're empty and require some 'filling' to gain more function, perhaps adding a small travelling bottle of in and well.

I can likely get some suitably loud or complimentary coloured tights/leggings for the wintertime.

I think bracers for optional costume changes or seasonal options would be useful.

The copper belt I'm working on. I also have glass bottles and some ready-made chain that I can hook together for the fantasy elements. I think hawk bells and one of the Kwan-Yin bells would add some movement.

I am looking at building a set of prayer beads, I think the end token, instead of a cross will be either one of the St Christopher medals or perhaps my comedy/tragedy charms or perhaps a Goddess charm.

I'm still working on that lucet cord for costuming.

I now have some clock parts and watch pieces, would like to find a suitable locket of brass to go on the chain.

jewellery work: the wrapped loop aka rosary turn

Finally, Wrapped Loop Technique in a video that's pretty clearly demonstrated.

I know how to do this, but it's been a while, so having a reminder is just brilliant.

Step-by-step photos:
How to make beaded jewelry's wrapped loop the pictures are clear, which is a nice step forward, too often the images are fuzzy and useless.