NDK 2013 Costumes Part Three

A costume update here!

JARETH:

I sewed snaps onto my Jareth vest. So the vest and belt are complete. Now to finish the rest. "The rest" being a dickey and the jacket.

I also haven't figured out pockets for this one. Maybe I will put a pocket on the front of the vest where the jacket will hide it. Remember cosplayers: you will need a place to put your phone, money, and ID!

I haven't decided on boots yet. Cat, my Sarah, said that she wouldn't wear heals. I am just a touch taller than her normally, so I just need a little heal. That's good! I will see what I have or what I can find.

I also still need the wig and then I will need to color parts of it and add glitter.

I studied the broach that he wears and decided to make it. After looking at all of my jewelry-making options, I decided to bead it. My mom used to do tons of beading, so I commandeered her materials and will, hopefully, start that soon. I will show that with pictures and such.

I found this material on sale. All shiny silver! Since it was on sale, I decided to line the lower part of Jareth's coat. I wasn't going to, but now I guess I have to.

ROGUE:

I found this amazing jacket for my Rogue costume at Old Navy:

I know it's a bit longer than hers, but I have, shall we say, a lot of "junk in the trunk," and I think it's best to cover some of that up considering I will be wearing a skin-tight unitard... ("junk in the trunk" = I have a big butt).

Also, we have pockets! Yay! And I didn't have to make them myself! Double yay!

The whole unitard thing is still tough going. I might just have to pay someone for one because I really, REALLY don't want to make it by hand. The search is still on, but it's not going well. I will probably end up ordering one that I found for about 45 dollars.

I also found that I can't buy the gloves or make the boots until I have the unitard so I can make sure my yellows match. So that is the hold up here. I did get a simple brown belt, however. I think I can make the X-men belt buckle that she wears.

GAMBIT:

I got a fake costume chest for Isaac's costume. I haven't done anything with it yet, sadly. But I did buy the red and blue fabric to cover it with! And regular old black gloves. I will cut the fingers off later.

One odd note about the costume chest: it has protruding nipples... Which I may have to file down or something...

Yeah. I am embarrassed to own this. I can't wait to cover it up.

I haven't figured out what to do with his pants. Isaac won't want to wear leggings, so I guess I need to find black jeans. I don't know if I want to actually sew the red on the sides of the thighs or paint them. It may depend on the fabric.

So we still need his coat (I'm thinking thrift store?), boots (which will be interesting, but I have a few ideas), pants, and the thing on his head. I found something that will work, but it wasn't black, it was white. Or a ski mask may work.

NAUSICAA:

Sadly, no new progress here. I have been keeping my eye out for brown loafer-type shoes and leg-warmers. I may make those myself since I will have to buy some matching fabric for the cartridges on her top. My Rogue belt may work nicely for her outfit, though. That's good.

Worry not, the denim tunic that I found for this costume does have pockets! Woo! Two costumes with pockets built in!

I also have decided that I can use my own hair for Nausicaa and Rogue as long as I keep it this red-ish color. For Rogue I will diffuse and curl it and spray some white on the front.

Well, that's that! More soon!

Tattoos

Yes, I have tattoos. In general, I like tattoos. I often think that people don't put enough thought into their tats. If they have some sort of meaning to me, and I have wanted it for over a year, it's fair game!

Since I'm a nerd, this is the first tattoo I got:

They are hydrangeas! And they are circled around the Japanese character "hana" which means "flower."

And yes, I am nerdy enough to know the Japanese character and word for "flower." That, I believe, is thanks to SMAP, a Japanese boy band that my friend, Amie, got me into in high school. And then Amie is first generation Japanese-American, so she can confirm these things for me.

Now for the hydrangeas. Besides loving the flowers because they're beautiful, they are also natural pH indicators. I have a minor in Chemistry and it is one of the subjects that I love to tutor. What does this mean? The flowers change color based on the acidity or alkalinity of the soil in which it grows. If the flowers are more pink, the soil is more acidic. If the flowers are blue, the soil is more basic. Cool, right?

My second tattoo is much more obvious, being in my wrist and all:

Bubbles! Why bubbles?

When I was young, I got my first degree in Reiki. Reiki is literally spirit energy. It is the idea that you channel the energy you give off (and everyone does give off energy) in a positive, healing way. You use this to help others-people, animals, or plants.

So my teacher, Lynn, taught me to visualize colored bubbles flowing out of my hands and into my patient to drive out the bad, dark things. I always used this visualization. And while I rarely practice Reiki anymore and did not get my last two degrees, it is still the most effective visualization for me.

In addition, my mom always told me to visualize myself in a bubble if I ever felt scared or if I ever went into a hospital. It is meant to block negative energies. I still take a moment to put up that shield before I enter hospitals or if, for whatever reason, I feel scared at home. Fun random fact that makes no sense even to me: my shield bubbles are always pink.

My parents divorced several years back and my sister and I were on the outs. After about a year, things started to feel better in the family front. My relationship with my mom has been almost entirely healed (my relationship with my dad wasn't harmed during the divorce, so that was fine). I continue to make small steps in right directions with my sister, which always makes me feel encouraged. When things started to get better, I got the bubbles on my wrist. Bubbles for healing. Side note: I couldn't do all of the colored bubbles because my tattoo artist was afraid the lighter colors wouldn't show up very well.

So those are the stories behind my current tattoos. Now you know.

As a little tangent, I have to cover my tattoos for work. Since I wear pants, this isn't a problem for my ankle tattoo. For my wrist tattoo, I planned for this. I have a ribbon watch I can use to cover it or I have a basic black sweat band that I wear to work. Generally, this isn't commented upon, but I had a middle-aged gentleman ask me about it about a month ago. I told him it was to cover a tattoo, to which he responded in a highly sarcastic, condescending tone, "I bet you're glad you got that now, aren't you." I didn't have a professional response, so I said nothing. But that was rude and presumptuous. I don't regret it. Not one bit. And I planned to be able to hide it because not everyone allows them. And who are you to say anything anyway? I'm sorry, are you my dad? Screw you. Anyway...

And my dad doesn't really approve, but he is tolerant. When I showed him my bubbles, his response was, "That's nice, Sweetheart." Hehe. 

I want more tattoos in the future. I know I want the symbol for the bear that Native Americans use, the quote, "shinjite-iru no shinjitai kara," which is romanji Japanese roughly meaning, "I will believe because I want to believe," and last but not least, I want the 13 hour clock from Labyrinth. Where I will get them all, I'm not sure. I might get one soon--I've been saving up. When I get them, I will give the stories. Look forward to it!

Our Annual Easter Peep Torture!

Every year, Isaac's family has a family get together for Easter. And, as it did last year, the celebrations ended with everyone participating in Peep destruction.

Here is a Peep smashed by a croquet mallet and run over by a bicycle:

And here is the one that some of the "kids" played ping-pong with:

Time for a fun experiment: baking soda (not powder right?) and vinegar!

Which, surprisingly did very little. We let our children eat these?

Here is a Peep under a magnifying glass:

Nada.

Now nail polish remover!

The nail polish removed did a good job of melting the Peep! That was fun.

And some sparklers!

Nice! That was a good one. Once we got the sparklers lit...

So there you are, our annual Peep torture session! We will have to research and come up with ideas for next year!