Margaret, the Victorian School Marm

Third day of semi-retirement.

Other than jewelry and biology, costume making is one of my passions. I’m very proud of this because I did all the research for this costume and only had to make the skirt (already made from another costume). The rest are pieces from modern day (authentic Victorian-style corset made by a woman in England, tuxedo shirt, Mom’s old shawl and shawl pin, hoop skirt and ruffly skirt to soften the hoops though didn’t quite get the lowest one). And look at all my accessorizing! You can’t see my shoes but they are Victorian-style granny boots. I got that fan as a wedding favor (thank you Chris and Victoria), and I’m sure my purse isn’t period. The gloves are a nice touch, though they should have been yellow kid. My hoops are a little too small. I really should have had a bonnet, too; that hat is just not period (I’m going for 1840-60, but I might fit in somewhere after that). Nor are my glasses. I still think it looked damn good!

Yeah, we walked downtown in San Luis Obispo to look at jackets and shoes. Some people just don’t seem to remember that Halloween is in 5 days. The older generation and young girls seemed to like my costume, but the 20-somethings couldn’t care less. I did get a homeless guy with a shopping cart to stop in his tracks at the Mission and say, “Hi, ” and then, “I love you,” after we had passed by. I love you, too, guy! Morgan was embarrassed to be seen with me. Would you be?

Someday, I think I’ll do more with costumes, may sell them. For now I will just build my repertoire.

First Day of Down Time

I’ve run out of hours for my seasonal job. Whew! I must say, I was sooooo ready. I really do love this break. Other than Halloween, some gigs with the band, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our trip to Prague, Vienna, Salzburg and Munich in January, I can be very devoted to the needs of my clients and you, my adoring fans. You are digitally showering me in roses, thank you!

To celebrate this first day off, I have some new products to show off. Peridot. Finally. I’ve had it in my drawer forever it seems. It really is a hard bead to work with. There really are few options with peridot. Shapes are seriously limited. I believe this is because peridot is a brittle material. I have to be really gentle with it. I can muscle the agates and jades without trouble, but peridot was so easy to splinter. This is odd, because its hardness on the Moh scale is in the same area as jade. Must be because the pieces I’m working with are so small.

The first three are all pretty simple pieces. There are two front close (I love the convenience of the front close necklaces); one with peridot and blue agate, and the next with peridot and green adventurine. The third one incorporates peach adventurine and a new chain I’ve fallen in love with. The figure eight chain is going to be the easy adjustable answer for necklaces that I made too tight and are a pain to rework. I’ve also added a photo of Colleen and me at Oktoberfest at Kelly’s house. I really can’t remember why we were making those faces. Just check out the necklace I’m wearing. It’s Halloween colors!

I’m very pleased with the fourth item, but it tends still to slide around because it’s not perfectly balanced. I’ll work on that for the future. I’m so pleased how the flower came out.

All images link to the product page of the website. Thank you for being such a lovely audience. Stay tuned for matching earrings and bracelets. I’m also getting a wild idea for hair jewelry from the peridot briolettes. I’ll be getting even more ideas from some new books I have coming from the library. Love your local library!

Wire Masks

The following photos were taken at the 2008 Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball 11 July in Hollywood, CA at the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater. They are meant to feature the wire masks Morgan and I made for the event. I wanted to get good photos of our costumes, too, because I made or advised on all the things that we wore, but I was never very satisfied with the photos. For that reason, you won’t be able to see our entire posse in attendance. (The bodice/corset I wore was made by Michelle of Damsel in this Dress; I got it on eBay. Look at that super sweet high EVIL collar!)

Here we are walking down Hollywood Blvd, Margaret, Colleen, Morgan and I (from left to right). Chris is taking the photo. Colleen is laughing loudly at somebody that yelled to her from a cab. We were trying to get to the Metro (it is the saddest public transit network in the world), alas, we had to take a cab so one of our party wouldn’t get arrested. We never would have gotten stopped by cops in San Francisco, but it seems that Hollywood is a family place at 8 PM. Nevermind the hookers and drug dealers, etc.; we were the unsavories, though I thought we were all quite tasty!

 
Here is Colleen and me in the Metro station before we were chased out by the “chaste” cops. I made her mask. Guinea fowl feathers, a stiffened cloth plain mask, and hot glue. It went with the rest of her black and white outfit. We lost it in the first half an hour at the event somewhere on the balcony. If found, please email me! Also, this is a really good picture of me wearing the mask as a mask; I found it looked pretty sweet when I pushed it up off my face as well. See next photo.

This is a great example of Morgan’s mask, probably the clearest picture we took all night. It is also a great example of my picture editing skills. Morgan taught me in photoshop to make another layer and edit the colors, because I’m super white and my face was very overexposed. Then I had to erase everything but my head. It’s not perfect, but not terrible either. You get the idea!

Now here are pictures of the masks in detail. Morgan used only coated copper wire, coated to avoid blue marks from the metal reacting with skin moisture (those marks are copper ions! I really loved chemistry classes in school). The image is linked to the product page on my website. Morgan has a great idea to incorporate crystals into the next version of this mask.

I was originally going to wear a cabochon and seed bead embroidered mask, but it wasn’t finished in time, so I made this one. I used copper wires as well, but some of mine had gold and silver tone. I used Swarovski crystals and gold- and silver-plated drops for the chain on the bottom. I was going for the look of horns on the top, as I was inspired by this years Labyrinth poster creature. This photo also links back to my website. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post and will have an excellent Halloween.