PEX | k8et's ramblings

Category: PEX

PEX fest and other randomness

Filed under: art, fire, flow, PEX, photos — Leave a comment

July 7, 2010

What I want to say I can’t even put into words today…. But I’ll try anyway and probably lose a few people along the way. So let me get some great stuff to share off my chest first!

In a photography forum, I found this great photo of Pyramid Lake in Nevada. We pass it going to and from Burning Man, and last year we spent the day swimming there to wash off the week of dust on our way home. I asked the photographer, Scott Thompson (no relation) for permission to post it here…

(Side note! Since I’ve been studying up on photography, I’m going to crack down a lot more on making sure people understand copyright protection and photographers rights. If you want to use ANYONE’S photo but your own, and it’s not publicly listed with a Creative Commons license or a statement that you can use it, ASK FIRST! And always credit/link to them! I’m no expert, but if you have any questions about what you can or can’t do and don’t have time to look it up, you are welcome to email me and I’ll do my best to help you find an answer.)

I also need to share this blog post by Amanda Palmer on Lady Gaga, freedom, and authenticity. A must read!

We celebrated July 4th at the second annual PEX Fest – I worried as we were on our way that my expectations were too high, based on the amazing time we had last year. I had nothing to worry about as it was blown out of the water again, and it was definitely one of the best weekends of my life.

Despite this time being bittersweet – my Grandma Betty who passed had annual July 4th gatherings – I know that divine intervention or whatnot had a role in how things turned out. I never had to risk her wrath for missing her picnic for PEX fest (or, more likely, miss PEX Fest), and the first summer that the picnic didn’t happen after she died, I was surrounded by my second family and felt so full of love.

PEX fest is summer camp for burners. It’s a little like Playa Del Fuego (PDF) but it’s completely different. It’s not community run, but PEX has wonderful vision and core values that overlap with Burning Man’s principles. There’s a little commerce, but mostly just for food/ice (except for an unfortunate vendor agreement with the camp property, which had a tie dye t-shirt vendor on site – I went from being annoyed to feeling sorry for them because this was NOT going to be a killer sales weekend for them with mostly burners in attendance!) (And I’m tie dye loyal, I ONLY get mine from my awesome friends in Reno!)

As usual, the schedule was chock full of amazing workshops but despite best efforts, I attended 2 and Random attended 3. Quality outshone quantity, as they were absolutely amazing experiences.

Random attended Lucky’s contact staff workshop, and we both attended the Porno Jim Show (hysterical, shows the best and worst of porn and talks about how bad porn is bad for expectations/sexual practices in real life) as well as a class from Camp Chemistry. And without going into any details too embarrassing for the general public of the internet, the class was life changing. Really!!!!! I was a bit nervous going in, but knew that it was a safe and respectful space and that we could leave at any time. We stayed through the whole class, and it was definitely worth it. If it sounds intriguing to you in any way, please consider checking out their events and classes. They are good people, and no matter how much you think you know, you’ll learn something new! And that’s all I have to say (publicly) about that 😀

Between sunny days in the pool and long nights on the dance floor until sunrise…. Living on an angle and having a constant beat 24/7…. PEX Fest is a place of love, beauty, joy, creativity, fire, sensuality, music, dancing, authenticity, acceptance, laughter, family, and more. There’s no better place to celebrate freedom than here. I am STILL on cloud 9 and loving it! See you all next year!

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Heart of Ice

Filed under: PEX, photos — Leave a comment

February 24, 2010

One risked frostburn at this Heartburn 😛 Beautiful ice heart was the ice luge for the evening (pour shots through the icy heart to chill them before consumption)

Full set of photos (the few I took before relaxing) is here.

Tags: heartburn, PEX, photos

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Thursday Randoms

Filed under: life, PEX, random stuff, wedding — 1 Comment

January 28, 2010

(no there aren’t multiples of my fiance. luckily there’s only one and he’s mine :P)

Welcome to my stream of consciousness update. If I keep waiting to write the perfect entry I’ll never blog again.

The iPad. Name sucks. As Leo from Zen Habits said on twitter – “Important: the iPad is for consuming info, not for creating. It’ll help separate the two, which is wonderful for creators.” I don’t know about separating the two, but I don’t need an oversized iPhone when I already have the tiny one. If they get to the point where you can be more creative with it, use a stylus to take advantage of the tablet to sketch/use photoshop, then they’ll be getting somewhere. I’ll want one eventually of course.

State of the Union. Missed first part of it, I started off not very enthusiastic about it… He started promising huge things which made me question his ability to get them done, then he says if he fails it’s because we all failed. Niiiice. He’s the most human side I’ve seen in a president, and I really hope he/we CAN get all those things accomplished. I’ve been horrible about following politics since the election except for what Random tells me he heard on NPR. So I’m not really in a position to judge what’s going on but those are my thoughts on the speech. He really is a great motivational speaker and appealing to the humanity in us rather than party lines will – I hope – go a long way.

Snow. F that shit. I usually love it but today it pissed me off. The roads were horrible, and then Random was too busy at work to tell me he got there safely, so cue panic attack. Didn’t help that around the time the overactive imagination starts, my ears clogged up and hurt and I had no decongestants with me to help.

Health. I need to join a gym, at least until spring when we’re outside more. I HATE GYMS.

Weddings. I’m a bridesmaid in one that may be on TV. SEE ABOVE. (This is how much I love you M…. I would bail if I didn’t.) Ours – planning is coming along fine, just need to spend more time on not-fun stuff instead of playing with graphics for the website redesign and invites. Had another day of dress shopping, and I think I know where I’m going with that but not 100% sure…

Blogs. Gonna move the wedding blog from wordpress.com to hosting on godaddy.com and using wordpress the software. I know they mean well but really, the same name for both things is so farking complicated. But yay on full customization, and maybe I can move this blog there too. Oh yeah – go read the blog to see our awesome logo!

PEX. Doing the volunteer running yet again, and expanded duties to running a database of people who are available before and after for set up and clean up. They wanted it done Tuesday, except for 5 names I’ve emailed everyone twice and called them once. Still lots of no replies. I feel like I’m letting them down because I didn’t get to do much on it over the weekend, but I don’t know if anything would have been done if I wasn’t helping. (Oh yeah. Heartburn. Feb 13. Buy tickets NOW, they will sell out soon.)

Borderlands. Over the worst of my addiction since we completed the game once and the zombie island, still another downloadable content to get and I’m thinking tonight or tomorrow night would rock for that. Random wrote up a review of it.

Stuff. There’s so much going on, people I haven’t spoken to, things I should do…. and I still want to hibernate from it all. I do what needs to be done, mostly, but ugh. I know the pace will get worse and this year is gonna fly by, so I’m trying to just do what I can. I don’t do resolutions on the new year but I like the idea of a word for the year, the only one that came to me so far is PRESENCE. Being present in the moment. Yeah it looks like that’s an excellent focus point as it will be a challenge this year. Speaking of new years, holy fark where did January even go???

Tomorrow. Friday. THANK FARKING GODDESS.

* not as huge a BSG fan as much as I am a fan of the word fark and not actually swearing in public (as much). Especially with ankle biters around. There was that one time I was swearing up a storm in a supposedly empty parking lot only to turn around as a woman walked her three small kids right by me. Oops. And repeatedly saying MILD swears in front of M’s nephew. 😛

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Rainbows and Snow

Filed under: cooking, PEX, photos, random stuff, santacon — Leave a comment

January 13, 2010

Sorry I’ve been so MIA lately. Oh wait, first rule of blogging, don’t make every entry apologize for not blogging more.

But I have been quieter on the blog front – for a bunch of reasons, but partly for the holidays and the hibernation tendancies of winter.

Speaking of winter. One weekend morning during our first real snow of the season, I tested out a new kind of pancake.

It started as a promise to a rainbow loving friend to make these the next slumber party she hosts, but Random was a very eager guinea pig to try them out for me when I surprised him with them! We even discussed making them various fruit flavors, but blue would be the challenge (as blueberries turn pancakes purple…)

Photos from Santacon NJ/NYC 2009 are here – my fisheye film camera was the only one to go along for the ride this time.

I almost started a new 365 project for 2010. Then didn’t, when all I had a week into it was a shot after midnight on New Year’s Eve. Yes, I can start anytime, but probably won’t in January since I didn’t start on the first!

I have photos that need to be sorted/edited/posted to flickr (holidays and NYE), and I need to take photos more often (new lens and flash between birthday and Christmas!). Otherwise, we are planning the wedding, everyone else’s wedding that we are in and have to travel for, and fit all that into our PTO and budget – fun!

Oh yeah – PEX Heartburn, Feb. 13. Tickets on sale now and will sell out!!!

I want to get back to blogging more – not these nonsense silly stream of thought updates, but saying less with more, posting more photos. Some things happened that made me more private recently, (nothing serious, just minor reminders of how public the internet is) which make me draw back. But when I do post what I’m feeling/thinking about, I feel more of a connection to others who feel the same, and that’s what’s exciting about blogging. Right now, I just feel like it’s narcissitic and pointless at best 😛 Some of my biggest issues that I’d love to get out of my head don’t belong in a public space right now, so it’s probably for the best. But I promise never to leave for good.

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Halloween!

Filed under: cool shit, costumes, PEX — 4 Comments

October 14, 2009

So I’ve been uber excited today over Halloween costumes. Yup, what can I say….

My first plan was foiled when the costume was out of stock – it may be back in stock Friday, but that’s at the website that had it at a higher cost… and it’s hard to justify spending so much money on a pre-fab costume, that still needs a crinoline and accessories, even if I would wear it at non-Halloween events.

Now my first IDEA had been an awesome handmade Rainbow Brite costume – because I hated the ones I saw for sale online. If I wanted to be broke AND stressed about finishing it from now till Halloween…. Well, I decided I don’t want to do a half assed job on it. I may make it for a burn and use it next Halloween.

Idea #3. I saw a Candy Corn Witch that was cuuuute. But the plus size version? Maybe it’s the model or photography, but it did nothing for me.

However, a handmade Candy Corn costume DOES seem doable, both budget and time wise! I put out a call for help, and my awesome friend Prism (who runs Prism Magic TieDye and Burner Wear out in Reno!) offered me a yellow tutu!

An example of the tutu, not the actual photo of it

A stop at Etsy was very productive – not only am I shopping for Halloween, I am replacing my favorite earrings (lost one last year!)

I also found a cute cheap necklace

Then, a clutch purse!

And I may have gotten a little overexcited and purchased TWO (inexpensive! one was $8 and one was $5!) necklaces… Halloween IS my favorite holiday, and I will wear these again!

Next… Sock Dreams. I avoid this site for most of the year. Free shipping. Socks, tall socks, tights, leg warmers, arm warmers… Yeah, it’s a dream all right!! Disappointed I couldn’t find candy corn print ANYTHING in adult size except short socks, I contacted them for help as their site is massive. They have amazing customer service too 😛 Amanda pointed me towards the only yellow/orange socks they have. And my second choice (even though they contain green) hopped in the shopping cart, as well as cute garters to keep the socks up. (3 items? smallest sock dreams order ever for me!)

Over the knee socks that are the top choice thanks to Amanda… Click to view these on Sock Dreams

Loving these too, I’ll see which works better but trust me, both will get lots of use!

Button garter to hold up socks that want to slip. Maybe the one item that put me over the top in terms of “overdone” and “budget”… *shrug* It’s not like I only dress up once a year!

So now I’m thinking – white blouse (which I have or will buy cheap). Orange underbust corset/waist cincher – only just for appearance not for structural importance. Kinda like this. Made as cheaply as possible… I don’t really want the white shirt showing underneath and don’t know what the top of the tutu looks like, but I’m thinking orange tulle that is sold on the roll could do a shorter layer on top of the tutu. (A friend made a tutu like skirt with these rolls of tulle just tied onto elastic! This will require much less, and it’s only like $3 a roll.)

I estimate about $15 max in fabric and tulle, I have everything else… one evening sewing for the waist cincher… So yeah, I just spent as much as I would have on a pre-made costume and accessories, but many of these things I will wear again in other variations, where the pre-made costume is what it is, and eventually (if it doesn’t fall apart) gets boring after wearing it a few times.

Yeah. And now you know more about my Halloween planning than you ever wanted to know, huh?

By the way, this outfit will be rocking the PEX party, message me if you need info on tickets (being sold in advance over the web, $20 plus fees, and it will sell out!)

What are YOU going to be for Halloween??? 😀

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:D

Filed under: fire, fun events, PEX — 1 Comment

July 7, 2009

My Morning Coffee - by ManisMachine

I am back in the “default” world after an amazing weekend at the first (and hopefully annual) PEX Summer Festival.

I’m almost at a loss of words. I’m also at a loss of photos. I brought two cameras, and never touched either. I’m relying on photos others took and enjoying the candids I find of myself!

(Sometimes I find looking through the camera keeps you from experiencing something. There is also creativity in photography, and it’s rewarding in it’s own way… but I sometimes feel struggle to balance being in the moment and taking photos (whether snapshots or artistic) Anyway this is a whole post on it’s own so we’ll talk about that another time.)

Workshop that Random and I attended, taught by LinaLuv - By ManisMachine

What was it like? It was like the best summer camp ever. The location, Ramblewood, used to be a kids’ summer camp. Now it caters more to adult and alternative groups like ours.

It was a weekend of music (oh the music), friends, fire, workshops, swimming, playing, learning, smiling… I think I realized every time I saw anyone in the main PEXie crew (who each put in hours and hours of work to make this happen) – they had a huge grin on their face. I think I did too.

Lounging with Reno, Random, and my bottle of wine - by Brian McBriarty

The weekend was just full of joy, laughter, dancing, playing with fire, meditating, and just hanging out with some really amazing people. The only thing missing was some people who I knew wanted to be there and couldn’t, for whatever reason.

Giant Bear's Effigy - by ManisMachine

The night the effigy of Giant Bear burned (via torches stuck up his butt :P) I just felt the possibilities of where this first festival is taking us, and I knew that we were watching a piece of history. No, this wasn’t quite the same as a burn (as in an official Burning Man recognized event.) But it was almost like the best PARTS of a burn, magnified, with the worst parts missing altogether or passing unnoticed. And on July 4th, it was the perfect way to express and celebrate our freedoms.

Some favorite memories:

– The Gamelatron. An amazing installation of a robotic gamelan orchestra – all we knew at the time was that it was such a peaceful serene moment that sent us into a wonderful meditation. We returned again planning to meditate more, and there was spoken words at times during the piece.

Modeled after traditional Balinese and Javanese gamelan orchestras, the GamelaTron is an amalgamation of traditional instruments with a suite of percussive sound makers. MIDI sequences control 117 robotic striking mechanisms that produce intricately woven and rhythmic sound. Performances follow an arc similar to classic Indonesian gatherings, where stories from great epics, such as the Ramayana, are told and settings given in words that are continued in music.

– Music – need I say more? Of course, with several stages and world famous (or just philly famous) DJ’s, the music was amazing. A DJ was set up right by the pool so you could swim and still feel the beat, and the pavilion went all night long with fire performances and comfy couch/beds to fit all of your late night needs for entertainment and comfort.

– Workshops – made it to a few, including one about Cultivating the Gift of Fire, by LinaLuv. This was based on the chinese elemental creation cycle, and dealt with being in the present moment in our relationships/interactions with others. We also went to a fireplay workshop, which covered contact fire and fire eating. Random took a contact staff class with Lucky and has a new obsession, and I made it to a pleasure palace workshop which was an exercise in asking and receiving pleasure from others (while respecting your own and others boundaries) – it was a very relaxing experience to have 6 people massage you at once!!

– Our mini camp. We had a small group but a comfy shade structure and spent lots of time chatting with old and new friends as we overlooked the field and watched activities around us.

——

ETA memories as they surface again:

– Performers before the bear burned came out and the crowd was way too silent as they watched. Chad’s yell of “we’re gonna burn some shit!!!!” and prodding the audience to hoot and holler was a wonderful sight!

——

I happened to be on the PEX facebook group and while the first part has been on PEX webpages before, if you haven’t seen it, it’s a good summary of what they are all about. And below it is a wonderful poem I never saw before.

The Philadelphia Experiment is a Community of diverse beings that are connected through a common desire for creativity. The Experiment is the catalyst that unites us. We are dreamers, dancers, musicians, engineers, designers, artists, yogis, teachers, students, philosophers & just plain ol ordinary folk. Through our network we open doors of collective opportunity and experience. We invite you to join the PEX family. Chat, discuss, connect, create and get down here.

In Philadelphia
there is an experiment;
an examination of a life…
a community
beyond the false borders
of the homophobic, claustrophobic
caustically toxic
closed minded social order
that feeds us disunity.
The experiment
is an examination of rhythmic sound,
an observation of human creativity,
an exercise in social autonomy,
the rehearsal of a collective economy,
a measurement of participatory allegories,
and that of dreams becoming realities.
There is freedom
and liberation…
an emancipation from the socially toxic “me first” nation.
And there is dancing…
like no one’s watching
dreaming with your feet
getting into that higher trance type of dance.
Formed in the Black Rock City valley
this Philadelphia experiment
is a reflection
of radical self-expression,
a manifestation
of urban in-ergy
human synergy
mind-blowing
free-love showing
consciousness raising
acceptance of the beauty in asymmetry.
It is a mindset.
A realized concept…
the silhouette of a calumet
shared in peace.

In Philadelphia… there is an experiment… and it is we.

The Philadelphia Experiment -A Poem Inspired by the Decompression
The Philadelphia Experiment
by Oskar Castro aka Bohiti
(a work in progress)

It’s so hard to explain to people who haven’t been. There’s a sense of heart and community at the base of all that they do, and you know everyone who makes this happen does so with ALL their heart, and just for you.

A huge thank you to anyone who helped make the event happen (and it took so many!) as well as to each person who showed up – because they are just as necessary to make the experiment work. With a happy heart and a smile still on my face, I look forward to celebrating independence and freedom with you for many years to come!

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Summer is a-coming!

Filed under: Burning Man, fun events, PDF, PEX — 2 Comments

March 19, 2009

Because Playa Del Fuego tickets are on sale this Saturday!

You all hear me talk about this all the time. Tickets are sold in two batches – the first will surely sell out fast, second, who knows… so be on time! If you have ANY questions, holler!

Playa del Fuego
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Burn
Odessa, Delaware
Memorial Day Weekend
May 21 – 25

playadelfuego.org/

The first tier of tickets will go on sale on March 21st at 12:00 noon. Please go to playadelfuego.org/ to verify your login before they go on sale! The second tier will go on sale on April 21st at 9:00 PM. Tier 2 will only stay open for 1 week to allow time for mailing and lost ticket procedure. There will be 1000 tickets available at $35 each. If any tickets are not sold before the second tier closes, the remaining tickets will be sold at the gate for $40, CASH ONLY. A reminder: minors must be accompanied by their legal guardians.

And you know what else??? This year, PEX is expanding their events to host a summer festival!! There is no way I’m missing this.
The Philadelphia Experiment Presents:
PEX Summer Festival 2009 – An Experiment in Joyful Self-Expression through Music and the Arts

July 3-5 2009

The PEX Summer Festival is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional music and arts celebration! This will be a place for harmony amongst joyful adventurers in self-exploration. On July 4th weekend, we are looking forward to our largest collaborative effort to date in the gathering of like minds and compassionate spirits. We will be uniting for three days and nights of amazing music, art, education, dance, participatory shared experience and conscious connection on 200 acres of private land, just one hour south of Philadelphia.

Featuring:

200 Scenic Acres including a Spring-Fed Pond
Over 40 DJ’s, Live Bands & Performers
Olympic-Sized Swimming Pool w/ Daily Pool Parties
Dormitory Style Cabins w/ Showers & Toilets
4th of July Barbecue Before the Effigy Burn on Saturday
½ Mile of River Frontage
3 Sound Stages
Fire & Drum Circle
Labyrinth
Live Performance Art & Art Installations.
Outdoor Amphitheater
4,000 Square Foot Outdoor Pavilion
Basketball, Tennis & Volleyball Courts
Ropes Course
Canteen & Hot/Cold Beverage Bar
Lectures & Workshops Including Yoga, Aerial Silk, Fire Staff, Poi, & Capoeira
Meal Hall w/ Optional Standard, Vegetarian & Vegan Meal Plans Available
Therapy Sexploratorium
Tent & Car Camping
Free Drinking Water
Free & Secure Parking

Conveniently located one hour south of Philly.
(Only 45 minutes from Baltimore, 90 minutes from DC and 3 hours from NYC)

Tickets & Additional Information Available April 1st, 2009!

WWW.PEXSUMMERFESTIVAL.COM

All this planning going on – let me run down my calendar of events (for public events only) to share with you. Contact me for more info on any of them!

March:
21- PDF tickets on sale

April:
4 – Fundraiser in Philly for a women’s fire troupe – I wasn’t able to join because I already signed up to participate in the Burning Man conclave (fire performance), but will be trying to help out as much as I can. This fundraiser will have yoga and massages and lots of fun stuff going on!
20 – Second round of PDF tickets on sale
25 – Ag Field Day – Rutgers College spring festival, burners usually attend and hang out here for the day

May:
21-25 – PDF!!!! (and the 1 year anniversary for me and my love!)

June:
12-14 – Figment – Free arts festival at Governor’s Island, NYC
19-22 – Wildfire – Fire arts retreat in CT. Usually sold out in advance, but you may snag tickets closer to the event. I’m not going this time.

July:
3-5 – PEX summer festival!

August:
31-Sept 7 – Burning Man

October:
8-12 – Fall PDF

Yeah, I’m kinda overwhelmed already, and there’s things like weddings and such not even listed that are on our schedule. But I’m also REALLY excited about all this! Our theme camp for PDF is looking hawt, I’m hoping to help out more with PEX and maybe Figment this year, would love a chance to work on some large scale artwork but not sure if that will happen (I swear I’m gonna learn to weld! :P), and Random and I are safeties/possible minor parts in the conclave fire performance for Burning Man. Once it all starts, it’s a lot of fun, I just have to not freak out about how we’ll fit in everything we want to do. What’s meant to happen will happen. 😀

Tags: Burning Man, fun events, PDF, PEX, summer craziness

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No Snow Day for me

Filed under: life, PEX — Leave a comment

December 19, 2008

1219081352.jpg, originally uploaded by k8et.

Outside my window, 10 minutes ago. At work. Yup. Many people missing but they all have to use PTO. I can’t, unless I want to skip the inauguration in January.

Is it the snow talking, or do I really want to cancel plans to go to PEX santacon, and stay home and make cookies?

It’s only raining in Philly, so chances are that getting around tomorrow won’t be too problematic… though if it snows while we are partying at the warehouse we may be stuck there till it warms up a little…

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Down the Rabbit Hole

Filed under: fun events, my love, PEX — 1 Comment

October 28, 2008

What can I say….

PEX rocked like it hasn’t rocked since last Heartburn! It was GREAT to be home again!! We partied for almost 14 hours and we’re still recovering.

I let rabbit have an adventure as I “chased” him – found him magically just before it was time to leave! But he’s still not talking about where he was and what fun he had all night ;o)

The costumes worked out great and were worth all the work. The Deviants ROCKED the ice luge, and the kissing bandit drew quite the crowd of customers! ;o) Other favorite memories – a conversation without a conversation with Lucky. (I know. He knows. It’s awesome.) The rocking conversations and cuddles on the swing. Thinking Laura was a bunny and saying I’d chase her all night, when she was actually a lamb! The same old “we need to hang out more, we live 10 minutes from each other!” conversation with Cat and Adam. (ETA: How could I forget?? Hanging with Andi and Billy after, Billy’s AMAZING blacklight flag show, trying to teach people Fluxx 😀 and sitting on the trampoline in the fall sun…) And every special moment shared with my love. ❤

See all my pics from the night here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/k8et/sets/72157608427216318/

Other than that, what happens at PEX, stays at PEX. 😀 Especially the third floor!

Huge love to everyone who made the party happen and to all those who attended. You are all gorgeous sexy souls and make life worth living! Counting down the days until Heartburn…

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Costuming Talk

Filed under: costumes, PEX, random stuff — Leave a comment

October 24, 2008

On to more pressing items ;o)

I’m about to go home and finish working on our costumes. Alice in Burnerland and Mad Hatter. Started out just wanting to steampunk it – mine won’t be hugely steampunk (though gears, potions, and goggles are involved) and a bit, funky, so Burner/Playawear covers all 😀 still should be recognizable. Photos coming soon, as I finish more!!

Started with this McCalls pattern – it comes in kids and adult sizes.

The little blue and white dress. I did have a pattern I liked better, but it was $16, and this was on sale for $2. No brainer. It’s actually a very good pattern and results in a quality dress, not a costume level item. Which means more time.

So my modifications… Take the blue dress as shown. Remove the top of apron. Make neckline lower. Decide to wear white corset on top, make neckline even lower, but wearable without the corset and still not flashing people ;o) Skirt will be shorter, above the knee, with a crinolin (hopefully) underneath to make it more full. White eyelet along edge of skirt just because I like it! (If I have enough!)

Apron will have pockets, gears, vials*, chain (ala pocketwatch)…. who knows what else. It’s not done yet.

White wide headband with silver goggles on my head.

Black and white checkered tights, same for wristwarmers, and cute black shoes I wore with my rockabilly costume last year.

One stuffed white rabbit. Hopefully with a vest (hitting kids department!!) and pocketwatch, we’ll see.

I stole the apron ideas from this post in a steampunk LJ comm. (Can’t wait to see her outfit!)

Anyway – blue dress is 90% done – rather than handstitching some lining/hems I’m going to grab some iron on hem tape stuff. Make the crinolin and hem the skirt. Make apron and headband.

Finish pants for Random’s Mad hatter outfit (I only made the hat and pants. Just need to do the waistband/buttonholes/buttons.) Oh – and arm bands and a cravat. He needs to steampunk his teapot that we found, and make a 9/10 sign for his hat.

That’s it for the most part. I need to figure out a purse of some kind for myself (if all else fails just a small bag of blue fabric, unless I find something at Walmart) I keep thinking it’s not much work but worked feverishly for 4 hours last night and not done with the dress… The night before worked 2-3 hours on pants (which were cut and started) and I didn’t get the waistband/buttonholes/buttons done. We’ll see!!

Definitely looking forward to the finished product. 😀

* Also stolen from the LJ post referenced, they will be labeled “Drink Me,” “Cheshire Cat Bitters,” “Jabberwocky Repellant,” or such. Rather than antique bottles, though, mine are test tube shots 😀

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