A Dress for a Gardening Vampire

A friend of mine is shooting a music video in which she's a rapping vampire. She asked me to make her a dress incorporating certain elements. She also said that she needed to be fully covered as in the scene she would be gardening, outside, in the sun, and would also be wearing a giant hat. (Thus the collar, to protect from reflection.)

I was very excited about this project and had a lot of fun piecing together a pattern and picking the materials. I love when I get license to play!

Here she is at a fitting, awaiting a few tucks and tweaks...

And here she is on set. As she was directing, and acting, there wasn't much time for dress documentation, so better pictures soon! It was a muggy 85 degree day and that dress could not have been fun to wear in that sun, but we suffer for our art! 

Keep an eye out for "Making It Rain" featuring M.C.M.G. and the Rapping Vampire. It features a gardening vampire, human/ cannabis hybrids, vaginal bling and exotic dancers. In other words, it'll be  extremely entertaining. 

Headdresses for Ancient Heat!

Headdresses in progress for Portland-based neo-disco band Ancient Heat!
The mirror ball effect is CD's that I cut up into little pieces, giving myself nerve damage in one thumb in the process! But it's WORTH IT. In the right lighting they have a beautiful irredescent quality. I can't wait to see them in a real photo shoot!

Super Heroes!

Just finished 4 of these suits for an Intel event! Here they are being modeled by my boyfriend and myself. They wanted general sizes - they'll look more appropriate on the models! I used a pattern for the suits but I had to create my own for the balaclavas, capes, gloves and boot covers, as well as the circuit pattern cut-outs. It was a huge challenge. My spandex order ($300 worth!) was late in arriving from New York so I only had two weeks to pull it all together!
It was also my first time working with EVA foam for the chest pieces. I'm very excited about the potential of this new-to-me medium! There are lots of tutorials online thanks to the generosity of cosplayers everywhere. The results were not as smooth as I'd hoped, but I was pleased at my first attempt and can't wait to try it out again!

Costume Works in Progress

It's been a while since my last post, I've been busy!

I've taken on a few costume commissions for burlesque dancers.

Here's one that I finished in November for Luna Landing! It's a circus playsuit, based on a vintage photograph of a circus performer, for her Pink Elephant number. She made the elephant and the olive headpiece herself, clever lady!

 

Currently I have four more commissions in progress including these two:

Morticia Addams in progress for Miss Alex Kennedy. Morticia is one of my favorite characters so this is exciting. Also, the costume is being constructed in such a way that it can be peeled off in layers during a tango dance with Gomez!

This is from my first fitting with Baby Le'Strange for her Spider-Woman costume. It's my first bodysuit, and I don't work with this material very often. The big challenge was creating the pattern with all of the different color cut-outs. Since this bodysuit is meant to come part in pieces I combined patterns for a swimsuit, a bodysuit and leggings. It took a long time to draw up and cutting into the fabric was daunting but it's turning out fabulous!

Something old, something new…Lacey's wedding

Busy busy busy bee, sewing constantly this month!

In addition to several costume commissions I was hard at work on some very personal projects for my dear friend's wedding.

Lacey is one of the most considerate, thoughtful people that I know. We were in a burlesque troupe together for years, so we've become sisters of a sort. I love to give gifts to show people that I appreciate them, and for someone who you know will appreciate the effort, it's even more fun.
And Lacey truly deserves heartfelt gifts.

First of all she asked me to make headpieces for herself to wear during the reception, and one for each of us bridesmaids:

 Stephanie Kaloi Photography

 Stephanie Kaloi Photography

 Stephanie Kaloi Photography

 Stephanie Kaloi Photography

It was such an incredible wedding full of personal touches. The bride and groom had couple's portrait drawn by their favorite tattoo artist and made into temporary tattoos. The bride's brother designed all of the printed goods, like invitations. Our friend made Lacey a little coat to go over her dress when she was outside. The groom's aunt and cousin played music during the ceremony. Another friend made a light up heart for their back-drop, and a close friend married them. The result was one of the most beautiful productions I've ever been a part of.

As I mentioned before, Lacey and I were in a burlesque troupe together for years. We traveled the Pacific NW and grew very close. Here's our troupe a couple of years back:

This was taken by Kaylin Idora shortly after Lacey got engaged. It's our troupe version of the wedding photographer classic, "Look at the Ring!"

As our troupe gift to her, from her burlesque sisters, we made Lacey a special quilt. We asked every member to contribute any scrap material from their burlesque costumes over the years, within a certain color range, and we sewed the pieces together to make her a lap quilt!

It was the first quilt I've ever made and I am so grateful for my partners, Charlotte Treuse and Nina Nightshade for being such talented seamstresses! 

 Stephanie Kaloi Photography

Photo by Peter Carlson

 She absolutely loved it, and we accomplished our goal - to make her cry. 

 This is her reaction when we told her what the scraps had come from. Thank you Stephanie, for capturing the moment.

 Success!

My Poster for Metalesque!

I am really happy with the way that this turned out. I wanted it to have the feel of a love letter to metal, in all it's sleaze, cheeze and debauchery, like an album cover or some 70's teenage fan art. I hand painted the elements with gauche then composed them digitally.

I am co-hosting this show with the always fabulous Vera Mysteria of Sign of the Beast Burlesque, who is the co-creator Black Lodge Burlesque, a show I am also a part of. I am making at least one insane new costume for this show and it is going to be loads of fun!

Miss Gulag

Last night I watched a documentary called Miss Gulag (2005), about a woman's prison in the middle of nowhere, Siberia. Every year they have a pageant for the inmates to earn points towards their release and raise morale, and this doc was supposed to follow their progress. It was kind of disjointed, and didn't actually spend much time at all following the contestants in their process preparing for the pageant, but it was interesting enough. I was completely charmed however by the pageant itself. The women did spend hours sewing their own costumes for themes like Greek Goddesses and Spring, staying up late the night before, and were clearly nervous. I can't help but feel for people who are freaking out about being onstage, especially putting all of their own ideas and work on display with no training. Sincerity in creativity is always so powerful. The vitality in their costumes was heart breaking considering their bleak surroundings.

This woman was so tough, it was fascinating to see her made up and working the cat walk. They all had pretty adorable model-walks, very serious. I particularly love how they just straight up drew on their faces to add glamor.

This woman is beaming at the woman below...

...who I'm pretty sure was a prison guard, who had helped her sew her giant gown. She was crying, she was so proud.

I love this girl. That dress! The angry glitter eyebrows! So ahead of her time in 2005.

The judges / prison guards

This one, stiff with terror, covered in leaves...that took guts.

I wish I knew what was going on in Russian fashion at this time. The combination of elements is fascinating. I'm sure it's they were influenced by pop culture, but probably lagging a little behind on what materials they could get their hands on. And they're in Siberia, in a village, not Moscow, so there's rural fashion...Then there's the trends that circulate within insular groups. One person paints some swirls on their face and it becomes the hottest look in the gulag. It becomes almost a tribal signifier.

Oh, the awkwardness, it brings out the mama bear in me. I just wanna give them all crowns.

Some took to the stage a little more naturally. And that outfit...inspired.

Yes, girl. WERK.

I love this prison guard grinning uncontrollably. That would be me in the audience.

And she won. Tears.

 Trailer