A Glorious First Fall Weekend!

And productive!

So it was sunny and hot on Saturday, so what? Igor and I went shopping for the last bits we needed for dressing up the house on the 1st. I measured the porch to see how everything is going to fit and then we figured out just how we're going to do the tree trunk which will be one of the main features of the Disenchanted Forest. Yes, that's what I've started calling it. It's less cumbersome than saying 'the once enchanted now zombified forest'. Maybe Zombie Woods might be better (and, no, we're not calling it just Zombie Wood for the obvious reasons) - I don't know, we're still working on it. We've also been doing some late night pillaging of wooden planks and yard debris bins from around the neighborhood as well as gathering other supplies. Igor's porch looks like a scrap yard, but it'll all come together next weekend! I also promise there will be pictures in the next post.

We also went to an insanely overpriced Halloween store. We wandered around and got some ideas, but the only thing we bought was a rabbit nose for Isabella's costume (yup, she's going to a be a zombie rabbit).

Then came Sunday. A wonderfully blustery, cloudy and then sunny and then pouring down rain day. In the morning I cleared out some of the blackberry brambles next to the porch (we want to scare trick-or-treaters, not scar them when they become entangled in the underbrush), but didn't throw out the tendrils because I have plans to use them as part of the yard dressing. I finished making gnome hats for our zombified gnomes, covered paper mache skulls in gesso and got another layer done on the zombie squirrel mask.

Oh, and Friday! How could I forget Friday! A couple friends came over and we watched Dead Snow. Why do Nazi zombies make me laugh so much?

First Day of Fall Tomorrow!!!

Well, it should be, but it hasn't felt like fall yet this week. This week the temperature's been in the 80s with nothing but sun sun sun. Ah, but last week, last week was gorgeous with rain and clouds and a little nip in the air. Sigh, and yet *this* week Summer is trying to rear it's ugly, sweaty head again. Give up Summer, tomorrow it's the 23rd and officially Fall! Laugh your last, hot fetid breath if you can - soon all will be as Autumn wills it!!!

Yeah, I'm done with summer.

As I wait for my favorite season to truly begin I've been working on Halloween plans. Not only getting costumes together, but working on pieces for the house. Igor and I have decided to go all out on the house this year and keep our costumes simple (i.e. no face makeup).

Way back on the 3rd I had a Birthday Zombie Making BBQ. Friends and family came over to eat grilled things and make zombies out of discarded children's toys.



Some were gorier than others

(that's a twig though the squirrel's nose)

Some were more disturbing


But all the zombies were kid tested and mother approved.


There was also a good deal of eating and drinking and sitting around

(And Igor wore my favorite t-shirt of his, the red Christopher Walken 'I got a fever' shirt. More Cowbell!)

Speaking of Igor, last week he finished the clay sculpting for my squirrel mask and I molded the mouth.



Then I put on the first layer of newspaper, covering it with a shiny layer of Elmer's glue to keep it all together.



Here are what my fingers looked like when I was done

I was very proud of them.

I'm following this guy's methods since he's not only a talented mask maker, but specifically a talented squirrel mask maker: Branden Byers.

Holy moly, I'm downright giddy it's so close to October!!! I'm already watching old horror movies and listening to my favorite seasonal music - well, I do those things year round, but it just feels more special this time of year.

This week's featured movie: Curse of The Crimson Altar (or The Crimson Cult according to Netflix). Staring Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, and Boris Karloff it's a cheezy little romp though the pastoral, witch filled, English countryside.

And it has some awesome costumes in just the first few moments of the film.

New Top for August

A quick picture of the new top I'm almost finished with. I'm going to wear it in my performance next month and am working on the pants and belt to go with it.




Pretty happy with it so far - I just need to get it done! Now, the real question is why the hell did I think it was a good idea to make an *entirely* new costume for a performance during one of the busiest summers in my life? Sometimes I mystify myself.

Low Productivity - and yet I leave on vacation next week!!!

I've done nothing to further my projects and yet I leave next Monday on a week long caravaning extravaganza!!!

Unfortunately/luckily the class I wanted to go to tonight is canceled and I can finish up packing, organize the projects I need to bring with me, and finish up my ebook reader cover.

So this is the packing progress I've made so far

but I'm hoping it will look like this by Sunday evening!

Now, in lieu of project pictures here's some of how I picture our trip will be like.




Ha! Not really, I know it'll feel more like this

and I'll love it!

Although I'd also love it if we dressed up like this when we drink coffee at the campsite in the morning


Now, back to packing!

Productive Days Are Here Again!

Considering Saturday was spent going to see The Full Cirque's Dark Side of Knight, my good friend perform with The Sprockettes, and then going to watch a Timber's game, I'm surprised I managed to get so much done last weekend.

Exhibit A: Great progress on my new dance pants! Using some existing pants as a pattern I cut out pieces of my fancy new striped fabric. Now they're all sewn together and I've semi-pinned them to the tops that I'm going to attach them to.





Exhibit B: A cellphone bag for my mom's birthday. Last weekend mom showed me her new phone, and the sock she carries it around it. Nothing wrong with using a sock as a carrying case - sometimes it's the best thing for the job. But when she showed it to me it was mentioned she wanted a real case for it. Her birthday is tomorrow so I thought it'd be perfect to whip up a little pouch for the phone. Voila!



And here it is wrapped up all purdy

This was really simple and only took me about one episode of Twin Peaks to make. Yes, I'm still obsessed with re-watching Twin Peaks. That show is unbelievably good, weird and surprising - and it doesn't hurt that Kyle McLaughlin is an idiosyncratic cutie in it.

The weekend is almost upon me again and already it's full of wonderful, exciting things - which I will report on in my next post.

Now I leave you with a pick from the Labyrinth Masquerade Ball that Krista and I attended the weekend before last.

Costuming in the Great Outdoors

Since it was so nice out on Monday evening I decided to take my wire and fake fur outside and make some progress on the tail.

Success!



So right now it just looks like a furry ironing board, but wait 'til I get it bent into shape.

In the mean time I need to start working on the costume for my next dance performance and Dark Alice. For the latter I've decided to go as the Dormouse and I really want some ears like this:


They'll be pretty easy to make and I can tailor the veil exactly how I want it. Might even go crazy and make them with blonde lace so when I pin my hair up on the ears they will show up better - oh, that is brilliant. Why, thank you!

Alright, simmer down. This week has got me feeling a little loopy so I'm off to get ready for bed and try to get some decent sleep tonight!

Squirrel and Bone

The Squirrel shirt is done! At least all the stitching is, all that's left is to zombie it up.

Stitching detail (might need to go over again to make the stitching move noticeable)


Igor now has all the supplies he needs to start the mask

Hoping to have the paper-mache done on the thing by the end of the month, but it all depends on how fast Igor's little fingers get to work.

I've put together a simple little dancing outfit for Saturday and am working on more complicated ones for future performances - including getting started on another belt (no I haven't finished the lace one, but I'm ignoring that for now).


Don't know what I'm going to back it with yet, but probably some kind of lace (it's becoming a thing for me, lace and bone) and there should be more danglies I think.

Now the productivity continues while I watch more weirdness! Yesterday it was a Twin Peaks marathon, today Barton Fink and Dr. Who! Yay!!!