SDCC Costume Reveal: The Other Mother

Well, so much for a blow-by-blow of progress as I worked on this. Along with my affair with that hussy Domestic in Detroit, these last few months have been INSANE. I've been taking some extraordinarily difficult classes, work has been very busy, and we added a deck onto our house. (pics later, I'm still finishing the details).

In my spare time (HA!) I've been working on costumes for San Diego Comic Con in July. As of last night, the first costume has been completed so I thought I'd share.

 

It's the very costume I showed you the research on 3 months ago, the Other Mother from Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

The pictures aren't very good, they were taken on my phone at night and I was kind of rushing.

Front View:


Blurry Side View:


Being a Creeper View (aka hide yo' kids):


I will post some additional and detail shots when I take them. The wig is a decent synthetic number I found online at voguewigs.com. The button eyes are molded plastic, and even have molded thread so they look stitched on. I can see through the holes, not perfectly but well enough. I'll post the vendor where I got those when I dig up his info.

Any thoughts? I'm a little worried about this one because I feel like my other costume is way cooler. My husband said it just kind of looked like a suit but with weird eyes and a bustle... the other costumes I've found online are intimidating!

STUDIO progress! Yay!!!

So I mentioned I've been working super hard on organizing my studio. When we moved in, there was a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. We moved in and unpacked the somewhat necessary things, like the kitchen, and then had to turn all our attention outside to begin battling with the wild jungle that is our yard. Everything else just kind of sat for a while.

Of all those things, the worst of them was my studio and art supplies. The basics got put where I wanted them, tables, sewing machine, etc. But the actual supplies themselves just hung out in half a dozen GIANT cardboard boxes hidden within the closet.

"But Bre," you say, "that looks pretty nice, you even painted!" Yes, but looks can be deceiving. I will now explain the horror hidden behind the box flaps...

When we lived in the 650 square foot apartment, there was NO WAY to keep my stuff straight. I didn't have anywhere to work, so everything had to be kept in our one big storage closet, and then come out to the main room to work, and then go back. And I have a plethora of interests. I don't JUST paint or JUST sew... I also build dollhouses, make miniatures, draw, embroidery, scratchboard, etc etc etc. So in my non existent space things tended to be stored according to project. And that usually involved a plastic Joann Fabrics bag as the primary vessel.

So my boxes were full of bags that were full of a mix-mosh of beads, clay, wood dowels, paint, miniature flower pots, silver trim, and about 345669532 yards of tangled fishing line... it could have made hoarders proud.

Now, this worked when it was the only option. But it was not easy, invariably I spent 30 minutes just getting out the materials to work on a project, so I could never just do a little, then put it away and go make dinner... now that I had my own space something had to be done.

Enter PRODUCTIVITY EXPLOSION:

This is about midway through. After total destruction, but long before a semblance of order. Also, this kept happening:

But I suppose that's to be expected when you have a cat... well, this cat. After several days/evenings of hard work, it has come together in a totally usable way:

Yay!!! Usable space! The boxes! The organization! So very happy. I'm sure I will tweak everything as I experiment with actually 'using' the space, and still have one more big box to get through. But that's a mix of super random, hard to organize stuff, and my airbrush equipment. So I'll get to it, but 90% of my studio is done!

I love thrift stores.

Last weekend before the football game (yay football! Oh how I've missed you.) I went to this awesome place in Ann Arbor called Treasure Mart. It's part thrift store, part antique shop. They have a ton of stuff and the level of quality tends to be much higher then your average thrift store, they're hours are pretty short though so it can be hard to get a trip in.

I went to poke around, there are a few things I'm looking for like nightstands, chairs for the lower level, etc. but also it's a really fun place to browse. Actually I found my favorite geisha doll there doing just that. This time I struck gold! Literally!

As you probably guessed from the last post that included that lovely renaissance faire photo I am hugely into historic fashion. ( man I am so many different types of geek I shock myself sometimes...) One thing within that that I think is cool are fashion prints. Old ones. I found this pair of prints in vintage frames on top of a pile of crap:

The prints feature one woman from about 1580 (left) and the other is from about 1865, these are estimates of course, but I'm judging by what they are wearing. They are matted with velvet ribbon, and in the gaudiest frames I've ever seen... they're perfect! I'm not sure when they were printed, but I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm going to hang them in my studio by my sewing machine. With the orange walls and ultra modern equipment I think they will contrast nicely! I am not ruling out painting the frames, but for now I like them as-is.

This also reminds me, I have a fashion catalog from the 1940's. I think it's Macy's but I'll have to check. I've got to figure out something cool to do with that as well.

Doodle is a Funny Word.

A post about our most recent yard adventures is forthcoming. This has been a bit of a crazy week (I know, again???) so it's been hard to form coherent sentences. I think it might be best if I wait and proof that post when I have a better grasp of the English language don't you?

In the meantime I took a break and doodled Brian and I as cartoon people:

I have some plans for these doodle-rific doppelgangers, I think it will be fun.

Also, I'm headed to Boston this weekend to see some of my best friends on the whole planet! Fairly excited about that. I'll try to make sure the yard update is posted before I go.