So amidst the covid19 novel coronavirus close down scare, we have mid March snow. 😟 Here in Portland we generally don’t get snow, much less in mid March. I decided to take a walk out in it and do some photogging. After going through the 150 pics I got, there are about 40ish I am going to post and edit. Despite being dang cold out there, it is pretty. My kitteh was meowing desperately to go outside. Here is an excerpt from my personal FB:

It is still coming down out there. Da kitteh was at the door meowing hard, then winding herself around my ankles and going back to the door. She thought she wanted to go outside. So I threw on some shoes and a sweater, picked her up and took her outside. Everytime snow landed ln her head she shook her ears. I let her put her front paws in the snow… More on the patio table. Her nose was twitching so hard. I then let her sniff the snow on the fence railing. She stopped struggling to get away and kind of snuggled in to me. When I brought her back inside, she ran away from the door, stopped, looked at it, then sauntered over to the sofa and curled up. She does not want to go outside any more. 🙂

I wish I got pics of her in the snow.

​Anyway, until I have the energy to edit them, here are 2 that are my favorite out of the bunch.

Hello again. I am back again with more resolve to post here more often. Life has been kicking my butt. However I have renewed motivation and plan to try to keep this thing going. In order for that to happen, I have made a plan. Bwuahahaha.
So...

Plan 1 - Post here 2x a week, no matter where I am at.
I am hoping by making myself stick to a pre planned schedule, things won’t fall through the cracks. I have several SCA events to get ready for this summer, as well as Norwescon in April (if it isn’t cancelled) and Rose City Comic Con in September. I also have some stop mo’s I want to complete. They are all written, I just have to construct the puppets, sets, props etc and film. Hwat I work on will be dependent on time, energy, joint flare ups and money for the pieces I need.

Plan 2 - Post a vlog on You Tube either once a week or every other week.
I set up a YouTube channel for bloggy things that are not actual stop mo things. I will embed the videos here. We shall see how that goes.

For now, let me get you caught up.

I have so many projects. I think I will just list them here and break them down into the different parts.

1. SCA
I am going to just concentrate on getting a set of camping event garbs to wear to events this summer. This is going to consist of
-Elizabethan peasant garb
-1 or 2 chemises
-2 or 3 kirtles
​-an apron
-2 or 3 coifs with forehead kercheifs
-a tie on collared partlet
- Possibly either a flat cap, straw hat or both

Elizabethan peasant garb seems fairly straight forward. I am basing my basic design on this:

Basically the blue one. I don’t want to mess with back lacing while camping alone. This is also slightly earlier than my period, but it is the basic jist of what I am going for. I also want to make fake padded braids to wear under the coif to make it fit right. Cause my hair is sparce at the moment.


2. Cosplays
I want to get Talleg done (yes, STILL), and I need to fix Aoifa. I am thinking of just leaving it at those. Because I don’t have a lot of spare money right now, and Norwescon is in a month, I am just going to concentrate and those two for now.

Aoifa
-Fix her corset. Either try to make it a real corset or figure out how to sew the cardboard together so it won’t pop
-Remake her horns
-Make a padded circlet to go under the wig, so the horns look like they are growing kut of her head. Seriously that circlet is a joke.
-Figure out how to incorporate the dragon eye from the current circlet
-Sew the fur collar to the cloak. It is currently hot glued, very badly
-Repaint the spider broaches so the black doesn’t chip off
-Figure out a better sleeve configuration. Or learn how to glue them to my skin so they stay
-Figure out how to install the ears, and how to makeup them

Not much. 😒

Talleg
-Finish breastplate
-leg armor and arm armor
-Gauntlets
-Finish +1 mace.....MAKE IT LIGHT UP

​I think I will break this down futher in my video. When I get that done.

it has been a while...again. Time to pic dump the latest. I don’t have much to add tonight. I need to do some organization, then I will to an actual update update...Da cabs, a crossbow, and da pots.

​Pic dump!

Hallooo. I don’t have a lot to say today. I am kind of in the blahs right now. Not a big holiday fan, and we are in the middle of them.

I do some pot deocrating. No more bubbles, thank goodness. Then one day I learned about nail stamping plates. You know what those are? They are etched metal or acrylic plates with designs on them made for staping in nail polish onto your nails. As I was painting my pots with nail polish, I thought I would give them a go. They are everywhere, and they are cheapy cheap. I had a ton of fun. I am still learning how to place correctly. Pic dump, as usual, at the end.

Then I started thinking. I wonder how well this would work with glass cabashons. Hmmm....Well, I am sort of happy with how some of them turnedout.

And now I have to get back to work, so I am going to pic dump and leave it here.
​

It has been yet another month. Dang I am bad at posting. I have been kind of busy. They put me back on days at work. I kind of preferred the night shift. A couple of weekends ago I rented a car and went down to Albany for an SCA event. I attempted to make a coat for it. Mainly went ok....except near the end I got impatient. The last front panel ended up getting sewn in wrong. I have no fricken clue how it happened. It is a good 3 inches too short for the side panel it is sewn to. I think I probably stretched it funny while I was sewing.

I found a new pattern for dice bags that I decided to try. A friend of mine who is a DM and writes D&D adventures needed a new one and was going to buy a Crown Royal bag. Yeah just buy the bag. Wierd. So I mentioned how easy it is to sew one and offered to do it. I decided I was tired of my usual pattern so went perusing for one that might be easier. I found one I liked. Well, I love it. I need to modify it a bit. It leaves raw edges, which is bad if you are using fabric that is easily unraveled. I will include my results in the pic dump at the end.

Today I got a bug up my butt and decided to try to finish some of the mini pottery I have made. It has been long enough it should all be dry enough. I am considering investing in a small tabletop kiln. Looks like they are anywhere from $150-$$1000. I decided I wanted them to look glazed, so I thought I would try using the nail polishes I generally use for dragon eyes, and add a top coat to make it more durable. The results were....mixed. And I broke a couple of them while trying to paint them. One turned out great, with the huge exception of the bubbles that formed. And are still forming, apparently. I really don’t understand why yet. It is interesting. I will include it all in my pic dump at the end. I think maybe that one was overworked? It is regular clay that is meant to be fired, and I did not. But I dont think that would matter? I dunno. Some turned out great though. And I was just sitting here reading about my friend who is using nail stamps, and it just occured to me that I could use those nail stamps to make fancy designs on the mini pottery. I can’t wait till next payday now, somI can get some and try it out.

Ok...it is dinner time so I will pic dump and run....

I went to Blicks, a local art supply store, and got some air dry clay to play around with. I suck.....big time....but it is so fun and so zen. I may eventually get to a point where I have something useable. I have never actually done pottery before. I have watched many people do it. I have read books. Once I ordered this wheel I watch a bajillion YouTube videos of people doing it. Amazingly enough that is not the same as doing it. :P That is fine. I will continue to try. Eventually I will get it.

About a week after this one showed up, a second wheel showed up. When I was ordering my wheel, the first one I ordered ended up coming from China, and listed the shipping as 2 months out. So I cancelled that one and got the other one. Then while I was playing with the other one, the first one I ordered showed up. Even though I canceled that order. THey already gave me my money back. So I guess I have 2 mini wheels now.

​Ok...so now pic dump of wheels and attempts.

So the other day while on sream, Da Kitteh jumped up on my chair and smacked my butt. Which I still find hilarious. Watch closely or you will miss it.....

It has been a while. Still working on school work. Still working night shift. Still still still. :P I have had a few more inspirations for what I want to do for the upcoming cons.

This first one is from the game Hollow Knight. I broke down and bought myself a Nintendo Switch. I love playing it. The first game I got was Hollow Knight. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this game! It is pretty, it is open world, it is cute, it is fun. Here are some of the referance pics:

I will need to figure out how to do the mask. And the cloak. I will wear a black long sleeve shirt and black pants for the base. I also want to make the sword...which in game is called a nail...

I want to make the one on the far left. The cloak is just a bunch of strips sewn together. I think. I don't sew well. We shall see if I can pull that off.

The other one...well...this one...a few weeks ago I went to the Portland GeekCraft Expo. I walked past a booth that was selling this print. The artist is Brandi York. You can find the original and all the others in this series HERE.

This....this is me. She is shaped like me. She has red hair. But look at her eyes. They are fierce. She exhudes inner and outer strength I wish I had. I cried when I saw this. And of course I bought it. And also, I NEED TO COSPLAY THIS. I do not think this is a choice. It is mandatory.

I am going to have to sew this dress. I have a feeling I won't find it anywhere. And I want to paint a cabashon to place on the chest. I don't know how to make it strong enough not to buckle under the weight of the cabashon, though. I can't really tell if there are straps on the dress or not, but I will have to add straps. Nothing stays on me without them. I can't go barefoot, escpecially walking a con...so I think what I will do is make boot covers that look like feet and then the wrappings over it. I don't know if I will go with cloth, or make em out of EVA foam and paint it to look like cloth strips.

I didn't notice she has braids attached to her face. I guess she is supposed to be a dwarf? I think instead of doing that, I am going to make them part of the wig and pull them forward. Or maybe I will try making separate braids and glue them to my face. I was thinking the neck thing was a gorget, but it looks more like cloth. I wonder if it is a cowel or a scarf that flows down the back? I think I will treat it as a face covering demi cowel, like a ninja mask or something. I also need to decide if I am going to make the cuffs more like gaunlets or fabric cuffs. I think making them leatheresque looking painted gold may be pretty.

The length of the dress is a bit unrealistic. I will make it shorter. I am thinking shorter in the front and swooping down a bit in the back. Not beyond my feet, but maybe just barely to. Front make it midcalf.

Wigs....well, I am unsure how to get the right color. THIS ONE may be too light. THIS ONE  may work. I may need extensions as well. Also I need to remember I can darken it if I need to. I may also need to get extensions in order to have enough for the extra braids. THIS ONE is the same one I got before, but in a different color. It may be more the length I need. And if I decide to make it shorter I can use the extra to make the braids.

OK...need to get working on school work. But now I have some of my ideas down maybe I can move a bit further forward. Feel free to comment with suggestions if you have any.