Labyrinth Masquerade 2009

Last time I posted about the Labyrinth, it was 3 months later. I’m trying to be better. I also try to keep this blog pretty clean, a “family blog,” if you will. For this post, I can promise the pictures will be PG-13, but I will not promise about the content. Not this time. I must do this event justice.

We began the day in Arroyo Grande, CA with mimosas and waffles, ending the day in Hollywood, CA with sore feet and 4 square feet of pepperoni pizza dripping with red oil. In between, there was good beer, whiskey, vodka-pineapple, salad and more waffles. We paid homage to Yul Brynner and the Metro (photo right) en route to the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater. There were dragons and sport cups, fairies and riding crops, duels, consensual molestations, knights and victorian underwear, body paint, extra bendable people, new friends, musicians and carnies, dancing and flash photography, stilts and steam punk (AMEN!).

I am the costume director of our party. Red Lips decided he would wear something that would not get him arrested and so his costume was tame. At his request, I slit his white, poofy shirt nearly down to his waist; trust me, this is tame. He wore black pants and an authentic Italian Carnival mask with black crushed velvet to cover his neck and shoulders. Dashing! He really is smiling under his mask in every picture, you just can’t tell. (Picture left, from left to right: Morgan and San Fran, Red Lips is behind them).

Morgan revived the costume from last year. Blacks, bronzes and coppers, this time adding a sumptuous peacock feather collar. I can only take credit for everything that is bust height and down: corset and Victorian-inspired skirts. Morgan made the mask and collar, and looks more irresistible every year!

San Fran was Jareth, the Goblin King, from the movie. The only thing that didn’t work out was the wig (not pictured; it was that bad). It was the hair of a red neck in a Camaro. We did end up being in kinda a rush, I feel I could have done better, however, San Fran looks fantastic! I’m responsible for everything but the riding crop, her pendant, which was made by Eyefeather, and the sport cup that made her package. She was very polite and asked people before she molested them with riding crop. She might even have pressed her sport cup against a few.

Then there’s me. I mimicked this year’s poster girl. I made horns out of Sculpey bake-able clay, drilled holes and put them on a wire crown. I hid the wires under my hair. I made a wire mask again. I think it looks pretty rough, but got lots of compliments. We’re going to have to pop my head again as it swells. I was very lucky to find the right color dress at Goodwill and alter it so you could see, yes, I do have some cleavage, kinda. Morgan painted designs on my front and back in gold body paint.

All kinds of hilarity and fun. I smiled too much, looked like an idiot having too much fun. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a very long time.

Maggie’s First Charitable Donation

I had the pleasure of donating three necklaces to a fundraiser for EOC (Ecomonic Opportunity Commission) of San Luis Obispo county called the Afternoon of Epicurean Delights. It was held on 7 June at the famous Chapman House in Shell Beach. My friends volunteering at the event reported to me that of all the silent auction items mine were the most bid on. Wow, my head has swelled to quite a size with all this flattery. Can somebody help me pop this? It’s just not safe; I might knock something over.

Perhaps you are wondering how I’m able to donate items while I’m still paying off my student loan. Well, thanks for being concerned. I’m almost done paying it off. Horray! Which means there will be more opportunity for me to donate items in the future at other events. I’ll try to post that news in a more timely manner.

I scanned this flyer for the event out of a local paper called New Times. Click on it for a larger view. Also below is a small photo of my donations at the event. It is tiny and not the greatest lighting for photos, but hey, you get the idea.

I was really happy to be a part of this event. With all the hardship the downturn in the economy causes, EOC of San Luis Obispo county is an important organization to support because it helps us support and inspire our youth, among other things. Too bad they have had to shut down many of their programs and furlough all employees working on those programs for an undetermined amount of time because money couldn’t be found in the California budget. Sad times.

If you are reading this post (I can’t tell if anyone reads this blog, because I never get any comments) you might remark on the amount of time between the event and this post. Yeah, sorry. I’ve been busy. What with going to the National Homebrewers Conference in Oakland, 4th of July holiday and the preparations for the Labyrinth Masquerade, I just haven’t had a lot of time. I now have to add a new hobby to my long list: I’m now a home-brewer because at the conference I won a drawing for a beer sculpture, which is not really art, just a steel frame with burners and pumps. It is a lot of sexy metal though. Don’t worry, I won’t drink and make jewelry at the same time; I will not compromise the quality of my pieces.