Silly dragon photos

Teslacon: No Sewing Required Panel

I just got back from Teslacon 4 in Madison, WI. My friend Laura and I gave our first panels - I presented on Victorian Medicine, and we co-presented a no-sew costuming panel.

I will have more pictures and a write-up of the event, but in the meantime, here is the presentation.

Monday Sketchbook 10/21/13

"Sexy" praying mantis Halloween costume.

Monday Sketchbook 9/30/2013

Costume sketches from when I helped costume Chicago.

Monday Sketchbook 9/23/2013

I'm titling this one "Nice Knockers". This will be one of my costumes for the upcoming Pandoracon.

Monday Sketchbook 9/16/2013

I am planning my costumes for Pandoracon, and I really want to do a female version of the Goblin King. I know many women have before just done his costume, but I want to do an actual crossplay. This is based on his outfit during Dance Magic Dance, with a gray skirt, black vest, and super frilly white shirt. It's definitely the simplest of his costumes, but since I have Teslacon to get ready for as well, it's probably for the best. I'm giving it a slight steampunk/victorian flair with the bone bustle and corset.

Monday Sketchbook 9/9/2013

This was a steampunk Phrenologist costume I had come up with a while back. Who knows, I may end up making it...someday.

Monday Sketchbook 9/2/2013

Not my design (they're both Alexander McQueen), but some of my sketches from the Museum of Modern Art's Punk exhibit. If ever there was a dress I wanted, it would be the one on the left. My rough sketch doesn't do it justice. 

Monday Sketchbook 8/12/13

Steampunk ballgown idea, in gold, bronze, and black.

Monday Sketchbook 8/5/13

Something a little different - I've been trying to do the 30 day drawing challenge (which has now spread out over 2 years), but I drew my friend Rora in one of her steampunk costumes, and I wanted to share :)

Monday Sketchbook 7/29/13

Another menswear piece, again for M.O. This would be the exact opposite of the formal wear sketch - this one is all business.

Monday Sketchbook 7/22/13

Little more on the risque side, but my friend L and I have been joking about coming up with some functional "steampunk slutwear" to wear at night at conventions. My contribution is a bustle ice chest, that I can keep all my drinks in :)

Monday Sketchbook 7/15/13

I bought this FABULOUS blue/green/teal paisley patterned sari fabric that I CANNOT wait to use.

Monday Sketchbook 7/8/13

Changing things up a bit with some menswear sketches for my friend M.O. His character is a vampire slayer, so I was trying to come up with a formal look that was also functional.

Monday Sketchbook 7/1/13

I want to update the Green Outfit I wore for Up in the Aether - here are my ideas. Mostly I just want to make some things a little bit nicer.

Monday Sketchbook 6/24/13

Victorian Wedding Gown

Monday Sketchbook 6/17/13

Victorian Weeping Angel

Monday Sketchbook - New Feature

So, I'm going to try to start updating more regularly. Since my actual projects tend to be feast or famine, depending on the convention schedule, an easy way for me to update is to include all of the crazy IDEAS that I'm coming up with.

Without further ado, a glimpse into the chaos that is my sketchbook:

Purple and green Medusa outfit.

Up in the Aether 2013

Just got back from my annual steampunk Memorial Day weekend! World Steam Expo was replaced with Up in the Aether, and they managed to pull off a pretty decent convention. My friend L and I really appreciated the vacation aspect of it this year and had great fun (as usual) wearing pretty costumes, visiting with some old and new friends, and learning many new things.

I decided to enter the first annual Miss Steampunk contest; while I did not win, it definitely challenged my costume making ability, and I had a blast doing it.

Fair warning: picture heavy post ahead.

Day 1 outfit: Adventuring! I went for a sort of field biologist approach - if you look carefully you  can see a tiny (fake) butterfly and bird in the cages on the left. I also have a snake on my hat. 

Here's a full length look at the adventuring outfit. Who would have guessed the skirt used to be bedsheets?

The Ace of Spades brought a super cool light up gun that also made noises when you shot it. Didn't you know, steampunks love noisy light up things?!

Day 2: Egypt Punk. This is my 3rd Egyptian outfit that I've created, and I am finally happy with it. 

My bustle is a little crumpled in this shot (from sitting through a couple of panels already), but I was really quite pleased with how it turned out. 

Swimsuit competition! It's a little hard to see in this photo, but my bustle is made out of pool noodles. I then covered it in chiffon and netting, and attached little tiny sea creatures. 

Total fangirl moment: meeting one of my favorite musicians, Voltaire!

Day 3: Serene in Green. This is the outfit I'm probably the most proud of. I used an old 2 piece suit as the base, and then added all of the fun trim and sleeves and poofy underskirt. I'm also wearing my brand new hat from Blonde Swan!

Close up of the corseting on the skirt. I will probably do a How-To post on this later; it's great for being able to change the size of thrift store finds. 

The Mr. and Miss Steampunk Contestants. It's ridiculous how good looking we all are. 

Serene within the chaos :)

One of my favorite photos of the weekend, taken by the talented David M. Rozian. This was part of the Dastardly Alliance's Miss Bad Ass Competition's War Face Round. 

Overall, we had a fabulous time (in case you couldn't tell by the photos. UitA, see you next year!

Doctor Who Art Break

Med school has been seriously cramping my artwork. However, I do find time to do some things (or rather, I MAKE time to do things...."Eh, Neurology can wait. I need to paint!"). Most recently, I've been on a Doctor Who and tea kick, mostly because I need some wibbley-wobbley-timey-wimey fun in  my life, and tea is my hot beverage of choice.

I did not make the shirt; it's just funny because it's true. 

I was inspired by this pinterest pin, and after I found a super cheap blue teapot at Goodwill, I had to make my own.

I just used plain old paint pens - I probably should have used porcelain pens, but I couldn't find any, and since I don't plan on dishwashing this, I figured it would work. I did seal with a coat of ModPodge just be sure.

I used the same paintpens to spruce up my new sketchbook, inspired by Neil Gaiman's speech "Make Good Art".

I plan on making some nerdy teacups to match :)

Dragon in a Sombrero

I just got back from spring break! I went on a cruise to Mexico with a bunch of my classmates. We had a blast, but the most important thing is that I found a teeny sombrero for Durango, which means it's Silly Dragon Dress Up Time!

You can't tell in the photos, but he was PISSED when I took these. The fact that my mother and I were giggling madly (that's her tiny machete, by the way) probably didn't help matters.

And just for kicks, here he is with a giant bottle of blue tequila. If dragons drank, he probably would.

Mardi Gras Mask

A few years ago I was in a bit of a funk around Mardi Gras and decided to go to a blowout Masquerade Mask competition by myself. It was very last minute, so I headed to Joanne's and essentially made my mask in my car with some super glue.

The headpiece I had already made (I added the peacock feathers last minute), but the base mask is just one of the nicer ones from the masquerade section at Joanne's with some stick on jewels and a short piece of home decor trim that I super-glued on the underside.

I ended up winning 1st prize! For anyone else looking for last minute Mardi Gras ideas, don't skip the kids' sections - they have lots of stick on jewels, stickers, feathers, and bows that are very easy to add to base creations and kick them up a notch.

Firefly Dragon

I own a bearded dragon named Durango. I also love the TV show Firefly. How do these things relate?

Simple! When you're making your very own Jayne inspired cunning hat, use the leftover yarn to make one for your pet!

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the species, bearded dragons make great pets. They originate from Australia and come in a variety of colors. If you get them from a reputable breeder and handle them when they are young, they are quite sociable and actually enjoy being handled. I take Durango on car rides, where he sits on the front dash and watches other cars zooming by.

In fact, he is so personable, that he lets me dress him up in costumes of his own.

Okay, so this is the part of the handling that he really only just tolerates, but look at that first photo! He's smiling, right?

I am not really a knitter, so both of these hats were made by crochet. I'm sure knitting is easier, and would have resulted in a tighter stitch, but this isn't really too bad for my first go at a hat. Mine took me a few hours to complete (had to backtrack on some stitches and re-look at some tutorials), and Durango's took me about 20 minutes.

On a semi-related soapbox moment, if you own a bearded dragon and let them outside during the summer (mine enjoys basking on driftwood), make sure they don't eat real fireflies, as they are poisonous to beardies!

So, love Firefly, don't eat fireflies :)