Event Report: Ltd. Art Gallery, Star Wars Exhibit Opening (12/8/2011)

The Ltd. Art Gallery over in Seattle has a Star Wars art show going until early 2012 (I can't recall the exact date they said so I don't want to misquote), and they sent a request to Garrison Titan to have people show up for it. I, having just spent D*Con wondering why there weren't many art galleries with pop/nerd art, jumped at the chance. And I am so glad I did. The owners are awesome, it was a really fun event (despite the couple of people that almost gave me "drunk late night D*Con" flashbacks lol), and there is so much there I wish I had the money to buy. Really, I think everybody needs to check them out and buy stuff. Because everybody needs more Star Wars art.

Myself, Kibiri Foxx, and Kraysh showed up in our mando gear, and three other 501st people showed up in their kits (I do know their names, but I don't know how they feel about even their forum names being posted in my blog. . .Kibiri and Kraysh can at least find me and swat me upside the head if they want me to remove their names lol).

We had a couple people taking pics, but here are some of the ones I like that Pere took (since he used my camera and I don't like reposting other people's pictures without being able to link back to them.  . .and I've honestly not got those links handy).

Event Report: Portland Comic Book Show 2011

On November 13th I went down to Portland, OR for the Portland Comic Book Show. First troop I'd done since D*Con, and I already had the excuse of going down to visit my brother. *chuckle* 'Sides I figured it'd be fun to go a convention with him since he's had to miss out on a lot due to his helicopter training (btw, he just got CFI certified recently :D ).

It was, in a word, great. I didn't stay kitted up for very long, but that was partially because I realized I couldn't even kneel down to dig through some of the Star Wars action figure boxes several of the vendors had out. XD Seron Clan of the Mandalorian Mercs officially inducted Andy Mangels as an honorary member of the Mandalorian Mercs. I'm glad to have met him, especially as "Twin Engines of Destruction" is probably the only comic that has stuck with me since I was a little kid. (I, um, do feel kind of bad admitting that it initially stuck with me because I saw the cover up on the wall of my local comic shop and it just stuck with me so much that I hunted for that comic cover until I finally found a copy in the back issues section of the same store many, many years later. . .2008 or 2009 actually.)

Pere managed to score a signed trading card of the character based of Andy Mangels thanks to his obsessive encyclopedia mind of Star Wars knowledge. lol Don't have a picture of that, but it was amusing to watch him and the others standing around wracking their brains trying to remember the character in order to get the card.

Anyway, I sadly didn't have my brother's steampunk jetpack done in time (the foam didn't set up at all at first. . it mostly collapsed and didn't get hard until days later so we've got to put some more in before we can finish it). We still had a lot of fun; I picked up a new pin for my SRS sash, a new pin for me in general, and found the K-Mart exclusive Jodo Kast figure for Pere. Afterwards we headed over to Voodoo Donuts since, while I've had donuts from there I'd never been, and I've been telling Pere we needed to take him since, well, pretty much since I moved to this coast. lol (Needless to say, he's now kind of hooked on them.)

So, now that the typey typey is over with, here are some of my favorite pics that Pere took:

Costume updates (with pictures ^_^)

I said I'd do it, so I am. lol

Sith (Armored, TOR era)

Found the inspiration for my soft goods on a picture secret over on LJSecret (like PostSecrets but on LiveJournal). So ignore the blotted out part, that's just from me marking out the secret.

Obviously it won't be as ruffly. (Which is kind of sad because I think that outfit is damn cute.) And I'm not sure just how close I'll be sticking to it, but it's a nice base to work from. I'll be adding a hood which I'm borrowing the style of from Darth Revan. (When I'm wearing the masked version I'll do like Revan's do and have the balaclava on; otherwise it'll just be the hood and probably some make-up and contacts.)

For the armor I'm currently modifying one of the Hasbro Grievous masks and some armor from one of the Narnia costumes. Don't ask me which one, I honestly don't know. I just found the shoulder armor at Goodwill for $1 each. Originally I thought I was going to have to fill in all the filigree deco on the shoulders, but after looking at it and grabbing a screwdriver to pry at things, I discovered the filigree was actually just some rubbery stuff they glued on. So off it came. Have a gem I'm putting in the big gap on the shoulder with the neck guard. I'll also be using the epoxy putty to sclupt some more deco on. The Grievous mask is getting shortened (so it actually fits), having the mouth and ear areas redone (to a degree), and possibly having some changes to the eyes (beyond just a new visor).

I'm still unsure about the rest of the armor, but I'm pretty confident it will work itself out in time.

Kora - Winter Kit

I admit I have no new work done on this. lol Just wanted to say that I'm changing the helmet I'm using to my old red helmet. It needs some serious re-working, but I think it'll do.

Tiika Ruslin - Early Crusader Beast Master Mando

Pulled all my soft goods that I still had out of storage from the first version of this outfit. I'm considering redoing the cape in complete leather rather than leather mixed with faux suede fabric (I don't like the underside of the fabric showing and revealing that it's fabric). Got a new belt that I'm going to attempt to dye darker and see how it goes but not holding my breath. Lucked out and found the horns that I needed (same as the last helmet) at Party City for about $8 so I went ahead and got them so I don't have to worry about factoring shipping. Also think I've decided to build a spear first, rather than the standard axe, so I'm using the staff base from the old kit as the spear haft. Need to figure out something for the spearhead itself.

Misc Steampunk

Using one of my old clock gear pins to make my mom a gear pin for Christmas. Probably just going to add a gem to it and call it done since I haven't got much to get fancy with. (The danger of adding feathers it that our cats will then view it as a fun play toy that they must have. lol) The smaller "top" gears on the larger plastic one are actually some sort of locking nut I believe (I have honestly completely blanked on the actual name but you can find them at Ace and other hardware stores).

And the project I'd like to get done before November 12th: a steampunk jet pack for my brother. He's doing a steampunk aviator, but we're so low on funds that getting him a decent jacket has been a serious hunt. We've come very close on a couple at Goodwill, but the size was usually off. And I definitely couldn't afford the $50 for a vintage WWII aviator jacket at Closet Transfer (which is a shame because that would have been damn awesome). Since I wanted him to have something steampunky in his closet though, I decided I was going to whip up a jet pack his pilot could wear when he doesn't have the jacket on. (Admittedly he probably needs more period shoes/shirt/pants, but that can be cheated for a quick throw together convention costume. At least he has the right hat though sadly we're still missing goggles.)

There are some of the things getting used to, hopefully, whip this project up. Two smaller Sprite bottles, one larger two liter bottle, two faucet caps (don't ask why I had those in my prop box 'cause I honestly don't know), some plastic cap I cut off of something, a renuzit air freshener cone (we're using two but one is in the garage), and the grills I cut off of the Grievous mask. Other doodads will probably be added once I have a chance to go through Pere's greebly boxes. We're making the strapping out of some scrap leather, though I'm still not sure if I have any buckles that will work. Going to reinforce the bottles with some expanding foam, too, so we won't have to worry (as much) about them getting crushed.

So, yes. That's a large chunk of what I'm currently working on. Fingers crossed there will be more pics of at least some of it soon. Tonight or tomorrow I'm taking pics for my costume entry to the Rebelscum costume contest (yes, I know I'm kind of pushing it waiting this long), and tomorrow after we help Pere's dad and stepmom move we're taking the Femprotector into Winslow to see what the Downtown Trick or Treat is like and the Harbor Square Halloween Party.

Well so much for keeping to one post a week lol

Yeah. Sometimes I fail like that. I've been both busy and fighting a horrible bought of depression though, so it's been a struggle to get motivated to do anything. Also, I kept putting off another post until I actually had pictures. Which I do have some of. But because I've got other stuff I need to go do today, this is pretty much just going to be a brief text update, and I'll do a more detailed post with pictures either late tonight or tomorrow.

I should also mention, for those who somehow missed me going on about it on my Facebook, we got a new kitten. He is adorabibble. ^_^ XD We named him Bowie. (Partially after Jim Bowie and partially after David Bowie which is sort of meta given that David Bowie took the last name Bowie from Jim Bowie.)

Got some shoulder armor for my Sith from Goodwill (hell yeah, $1 each ^_^). Found a picture inspiration for the soft goods (though mine will deviate, it's just a nice starting point). My packages from home arrived so I have my lightsabers out here now, too.

Going to wash the old purple paint off my lekku and re-stuff them. Then I want to start figuring out the headband if nothing else. Have my eye on some paints that I want, but, like all the fabric and misc goods for the Jedi, I can't buy until I have the money to spare.

Pere found a Darth Vader Hasbro helmet at Goodwill. He's fixing up the face portion to be accurate and using the helmet part for his custom Sith. I've snagged the chest box to use for my smuggler. May also use the gloves I found for the smuggler rather than the Sith like I've been saying.

Misc. props I've got to work on:
    - Whips for the Beast Master Early Crusader mando. Cut apart my cat o' nine tails and am moving some of those strands into some perfect hilts I found at Goodwill back in TN. Should be a pretty quick prop to make, just need to clear an area where I can use the dremel without getting plastic dust all over everything.
    - Fallout Raider bandoleer. Snagged my brother's NERF ammo belt from home (not the one with the orange holders for darts, the hard case one that came with the Vulcan for feeding the darts in). Going to get rid of the NERF markings and use it for my Fallout costume.
    - Steampunk Jetpack. Doing this up for my brother's steampunk pilot outfit. Still need to find what I'm going to use for the strapping system, which was something I forgot to look for at Goodwill last night. D'oh.
    - Steampunk gear pin. Just something small I'm making for my mom. Already had a gear pin made, but I took the original decoration off after Pere's mom's cat found it and assumed it was a toy for her lol. So I'm doing something different and wrapping it up as a Christmas present.


So, I've got a bit of stuff to work on. And I'm off for now, here's to another blog update soon.

To D*Con and beyond!

Yep, I'm a bad person who has waited this long to update after the convention. *heh* In truth I had been putting it off 'til we were back in WA, but, well. . .I shall explain.

First, look, I have short hair now! :D

Anyway the day we were supposed to leave for D*Con, Pere informed me we'd been bumped from our flight. AND, since Delta apparently has no concept of good customer service, our only choices from them were either tickets for a flight IN TWO WEEKS or a refund. . .which would also take several weeks. It's a good thing I wasn't on the phone; I would have been curious if they'd also have been willing to refund us for all the other things purchased for the trip that could only be used then. Pere opted for the refund which left us with two choices: we buy a ticket for another flight out on late Thursday (which would have cost us $400 more than our original tickets) or we book a flight out on Friday (which cost us $200 more). That all meant that we arrived pretty late to the Merc's dinner, but at least we got to meet Tem Morrison (hey, now I can say I've had dinner with both Boba and Jango).

Anyway, it was a pretty fun con, all the rushing around like chickens with our heads cut off aside. Huge thanks to Atin and MPsy for hanging out with us while we scarfed down some dinner, and it was a blast wandering around with MPsy. After the parade and Merc's group pic Saturday I went with the group to present the Honorary Membership for the Mercs to Tem Morrison. That was also pretty sweet (there are pics and video. . .not sure where the video is but I have some pics on my Facebook page). Spent the Aquarium night in the Sith Scout then spent most of Sunday (armored up for some late night photos) and all Monday in normal clothes because damn those boots killed my feet even with insoles. >_< Need to get some new ones, badly. Broke down and bought an Ultrasabers saber at the con, too, since they had a convention discount (currently it has the short violet blade but I'll be waiting from an email from them for the long blade shipping estimate which I'll be getting in pink. . .deal :P ). So, if you're curious, picture album is here with some pic highlights after the link: DragonCon 2011 pictures

As a brief info, my laptop died the same day we were originally supposed to leave for D*Con. Apparently the motherboard finally fried. :( At least all my old info is safe, but I can't access it until I have something with the right kind of port to plug my harddrive into. Right now I'm using a laptop Pere's dad gave us to work on. So. Yeah. We also had a bit of a miscommunication in who was paying for us to drive back out, so we're just staying here in TN with my parents for another week then flying back out. The nice thing about Southwest though is that they allow you two checked bags for free, so I'm still able to bring back my lekku and my brother's armor to work on. ^-^ (My armor and helmet will still be shipped back out to me, because there is no way I'm risking them breaking in flight.)

Costume wise, I'm really looking forward to upgrading the FemProtector. And losing weight but that's another issue. lol Going to start work on my Sith armor and the twi'lek Jedi soon, hopefully going to finish up my smuggler and get started on a mostly soft goods version of my Early Crusader armor, too (since I don't want to rush all the armor for it I'm just going to make a sort of barbarian-esque soft goods outfit to go with the helmet and axe. . .need a wig for that character, too). Aiming to get all that mess done for C6 and D*Con next year (assuming things work out and we can go to both). Pere is hoping to get our 501st outfits done for Emerald City Con, but I'm not too worried it they aren't.

5 days 'til I leave for D*Con

Sorry to those who do actually regularly read my blog for not updating in some time. These past couple weeks I was first rushing to get the FemProtector to a point where I could submit it to the Mercs (spoiler - it's now my second approved kit) and finishing up the Sith Scout so it could be submitted to The Dark Empire (spoiler - I'm now the 3rd approved SRS). Those are things I was mostly done with a week ago, and more on them later (including two more blog posts dedicated to each separate costume plus a full stomach wrap quasi-tutorial I've been meaning to type up).

This week though I really haven't been visible much online. I've been working as a sub-contractor under Pere's mom to help her get a house packed/cleaned/moved for one of her clients, and the days have been almost 10-12 hours long. Not going to lie, the money is great for such simple work. lol I apparently missed my calling as a day laborer/mover/cleaner. It's sad I've been without that much money for so long I even "splurged" and bought a second $8 bra from Walmart just so I can have two that actually aren't falling apart. Definitely hitting Goodwill before D*Con to get some pants that aren't ripped and dying, too. Yeah. . .I hate being poor. (Not the shopping at Goodwill part; I'd be doing that no matter how much money I had because fuck yeah Goodwill. Just hate that I have to consider things like more than one bra and pants that aren't ripped as "splurges".) Pere and I have also been working to set up a non-profit for a friend of his dad. Said friend owns and runs a chili pepper business that we might also do some minor work for, but because he's busy with that he needs other people to get the non-profit going. The goal of the non-profit is to use kinetic sculptures (look 'em up, they're pretty cool) to, in a nutshell, show kids what you can do with all that stuff you learn and school and that growing up doesn't mean you have to stop having fun. Currently my title is Assistant Communications Director which means I'll bet the one handling the website, meetings/trips to schools, and news releases. Seriously, we have a lot of hopes for this thing, and I think it's going to be awesome. As a serious plus, both Pere and I can do our jobs for the group from anywhere that we have a phone and internet for a laptop which means once it gets going we're hoping to be able to travel around the country to hit different conventions (plus all the sites across the country/world I want to eventually see). It's a lofty goal, but fingers are crossed that it works out for us. :)

Now then, in costuming news. As I said earlier, both my FemProtector and Sith Scout are now official. Sadly my mystery outfit will not be done in time. We're just too wiped out from work and racing to finish costumes (and we still wanted to try to fix some things up differently on the Protector soft goods before D*Con). Even more sadly Pere is definitely not going to have anything for D*Con. :( But at least he has made a lot of progress on his mando, he just didn't want to rush the painting and won't have the time/money to devote to getting and making the soft goods. At some point soon I'll try to get that stomach wrap tutorial up, but I don't think I'll have the posts devoted to each costume up until after the convention since I'm making some changes and will have new pics.

I hate my butt

Seriously, right now I hate it so much it's not even funny. Maybe I should extend it to hating my hips in general. *snort* I've been trying to get the corset wraps finished up and kept running into problems. I got the iron and starch out and put the horizontal pleats into it to mimic the look of an actual wrap. Took a while, felt really proud of myself when I finished. They looked so pretty. ^-^

Then I sat down and started working on getting things bunched right to pull it all on and have the wraps stay in place. Got all the stuff pinned in place, pulled it on. . .and realized that it was so not going to work because my rear is so much larger than my waist. *sigh* The difference in fabric lengths was causing it to bunch horribly. I always make these sort of simple mistakes. *chuckle* So it was back to the drawing board with Pere to try to figure out how I could fix it. After going for a walk, I approached it from a new angle that seems to be working. I've currently got all the pleats cut into individual strips which we've been pinning in place while I wear the "corset" base. Though I did realize just how badly I need to lose weight. That's the only time I've ever gotten light headed and sick from wearing a corset for that little amount of time. >_< So we've got one final strand to finish up because I had to pull it off before I dropped, but once we get that strip pinned into place it's tedious sewing time as I need to stitch the ends down to the other half of the corset, stitch them together to make the part with the hook and eyes that will close the wrap over the zipper, and do some light stitching at the top and bottom to keep those wraps in place with minimal adjustment every time I pull it on and off.

Also working on figuring out a solution for my helmet visor. The clear polycarbonate that Pere had lying around ended up messing up (once again, my own fault. . .it was a bit too hot when I put it in the helmet to form it and it apparently melted some of the plastic from the nubs of the old visor onto it). *sigh* So, trying to figure that whole mess out with my limited budget before D*con.

On a slightly unrelated note, I sort of forgot that it was coming up on my birthday. :( And it looks like all my birthday money plus probably some of what I make weeding the yard here will be going towards my new hair cut and getting it dyed before D*con. Yeah, the dye isn't necessary, but a hair cut is, and it's sort of my habit to have it dyed red before conventions and with this hair cut I'm looking at I think the color will be better than my natural color. Fingers crossed that works out for me. (Also, fingers crossed a possible job comes about . . .I'll hopefully know after Tuesday.)