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!

An Evening With John Waters

This is from 2003? 2004? John Waters was signing autographs down the street from my work and I was determined to meet him. I took a lunch break, which extended for three hours until it was my turn to have him sign my sketchbook. He’d been signing autographs for probably 8 hours at this point and he was still so sweet and polite. He actually asked me questions, and I gave him stickers that I’d made. Then I blinked, but it was such an honor. I also like that it looks like I have my hand on his thigh. My managers were completely understanding when I returned to work 4 hours later. One does not pass up the opportunity to meet the King of Sleaze.

Halloween 2012!

I had high hopes for Halloween this year. It's my favorite Holiday and this is the first time that I've everlived in a house where we actually had Trick-or-Treaters! I wanted to keep Hallow's Eve scary, and I started to think what would be unsettling to little kids but also intriguing...
Inspired by the Arachno-wonderland that is my front porch I decided to go with a spider theme, and I would embody my least favorite arachnid, the Black Widow. It was cathartic for me...they were very common in the California Redwoods of home, where I developed a deep ICK for anything that has both pointy/ crunchy and squishy parts (grubs, lamphrey, giant squid). Blegth.

When Halloween time came around so did midterms, and a trip home, so I only had 2 days to throw everything together. The sewing machine was put away and the hot glue gun was plugged in. I'm still happy with the results, even if they're not as tailored as my original plans. Now that I have the basis, one day I can make something truly tailored.

I picked up some cheap eyeball party favor rings from Lippman's party suppy, cut off the ring part and embedded them in latex for my spider-forehead.

The blouse is an 80's cast off that I pulled out of a dollar bin because it has a Victorian mourning dress look. The spider legs were wired, and were*almost* functional.

I had a blast decorating the front porch to attract the kiddos. Body parts from the dollar store hung in old stockings that a friend of mine generously donated. My boyfriend helped me create cocoons out of newspaper and plastic trash, held together with masking tape and covered with cheese cloth. They cost a couple dollars to make and most stores sell much smaller versions for $20 and up.

It was all worth it for the giant grin on one little boy's face - future horror movie maker?