Projects for April

I’ve got this idea from Selene. To cope with my problem of starting and not finishing projects I’ll make a list of 10 projects for every month and try to get on with them. Others are allowed, too, of course, but these 10 are of priority. Most of them are ones I’ve got the materials for, and I decided not to limit them to sewing but also get some fine art and other crafts projects done. I’ll draw a resumé at the end of April, and then we’ll see if it got me somewhere or is just another list to gather virtual dust on my blog.

1. - pink-white striped wrap top
2. - harem pants
3. - cosplay outfit for RPC
4. - new ren fair outfit
5. - garden skirt
6. - painting for Teli
7. - late birthday present for the Elfin One
8. - alter brown summer pants (with step-by-step pictures!)
9. - RIPT pillow cover
10. - plaque rat wife beater

P.S.: There’s still time to participate in the recent giveaway! Good Luck!

Vintage Flora Giveaway

I’ve been reading a lot of vintage love blogs lately. When I thought about ways to incorporate a little bit of vintage to my own outfits without a lot of expense (my camera just broke, so shopping isn’t really an option at the moment) and time (I still have an essay to write), something sprang to my mind: A small album about German fauna and flora that I’d picked up at the books swapping board some time ago because of the illustrations. I had no precise idea what to do with it before, greeting cards maybe, but now it was clear as day to me: Badges. I love badges.
Of course not all pictures got pressed between foil and metal (but there are more to come). But two sets are ready to be given away in celebration of my blog’s third anniversary, over 400 posts and springtime!

“Floral” set

“Herbal” set

Two sets (which means two winners!) of three 3cm badges (badge-it style, which means fixed safety pins instead of a “normal” badge pin) each with vintage botanicals from a 1964 scrapbook. They’ll come on a small stripe of leather, for extra security during the shipping process.

How to enter:

If you’d like to win this giveaway, just leave a comment, and if you’d prefer one set over the other, write that down, too. I can’t guarantee that the winners will get the set they wanted more, but it’s a little more likely.
For a second lot, write about the giveaway on your own blog, link back to it and tell me in the comment’s section (not necessarily in your initial comment) so that I won’t overlook it by any chance.

Deadline for participating is next Monday, 2nd of April.

Good Luck!

I’ve Got A New Notebook

Every time I buy a new notebook it’s not just a monetary transaction for a bound stack of paper. It’s a promise.

The promise to start writing in it one day.

This one is supposed to become a fashion journal (not my first try, anyway). To store my ideas and inspirations.

Writing my name into a new notebook has some magical quality to it. It takes time. It has to take time, it’s nearly like a ritual. Which name to choose, with which ink to write, which quill to use. Sure, I could do it with the next pen as well, but I don’t want to. A new notebook is a contract with myself and a stack of paper that isn’t only that, and when I seal it, I want to do it right.

10 Adorables in March

1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, a tumblr by Siren, who makes wonderful, unique and nerdy Lolita designs.
2. Neosens Shoes. Their designs are awesome, especially the Rococo series.
3. Patrice. While I have been quite fond of dancehall since I know it I wasn’t such a big fan of reggae music until Scoundrel made me listen to said artist. His music is very, very soft, and mostly calm (especially compared to my dancehall favourites Irie Révoltés and Seeed).
4. Dogs. I think I never mentioned on this blog how much I love dogs.
5. Handmade Cupons, Carnival Style. I found the idea here and I think I’m going to make some, someday. Maybe for birthdays, no more stress with greeting cards anymore.
6. Fixing Things. The hard part abouth fixing things is not starting, but finishing it. But now my felt house boots have soles again and I’ve got blinds at my windown.
7. Warehouse 13. I just started watching yesterday when I needed something to bridge the time between Grimm and Once releases, and the Captain had often recommended this series. Five episodes later I’m a devoted fan. It’s like a remake of Relic Hunter (only far, far better) with some hints of The Dresden Files (the female lead even starred in this far too short adaption of the novels, as vampire queen Bianca) and one or another large chunk of Steampunk thrown in, how could I not love it?
8. Uludağ. While the last letter in this word stays unpronounced it means a mountain in Turkey as well as some lort of lemonade that tastes mostly like liquid chewing gum. It comes in green bottles and was actually the only kind of sugary drink I was (sometimes, and not in vast amounts) allowed to drink during my childhood – probably because it was Turkish and my mother opted for a multicultural upbringing. No, I’m not making this up.
9. Storing Things in Preserving Jars.
10. Anthropomorphic Animals, especially in Victorian garb. While I’m completely against real animals in clothing I love the illustrated walking and talking and pretty much human-being ones.

Favourite Words in March ’12

1. follow. I noticed this when I installed the respective button in my side bar recently, but follow is a really funny word. It sounds great, but actually it looks a little bit odd (odd also looks a bit odd itself, in my honest opinion).
2. blanche. French for white.
3. anthropomorph. German for humanoid (or simply anthropomorphic). I’m writing an essay for uni about anthropomorphic animals at the moment – I don’t want to give away too much yet, and I like it.
4. Patois. French for dialect, and the term of non-standard or pidgin language or Caribbean habitus of speech, but most commonly used for  Jamaican English. I love Patois/patois as a word as well as a language. It’s a very summery word, but mostly so because I associate it with dancehall and reggae music which is very summery itself.
5. cantrip. A spell, used as a term for Changeling magic in the RPG system of the same name.

Oh, and Happy St. Paddy’s to you!

Working Digital

I never thought this would happen one day as I was always very convinced that I was completely useless in this field of art, but actually, it’s fun!

I remember that I worked with digital colouring once – and not with such great success – until yesterday, and actually I’m rather pleased with the outcome, hitherto. The quite sad thing about this is that even though it’s still really, really in progress it already looks far more professional than my traditional works. It’s a phenomenon of our time that we deep almost every kind of digital graphics better and more refined than traditional media. The look that comes through digital work like the picture above is something one simply can’t achieve with water colours (with which I work most of the time). I’ll continue doing both, and my outlines will always be drawn analogically as I’m actually and in fact REALLY useless when it comes to my slightly old tablet (and that’s why I use mouse only).

The story behind me taking up digital work (again) is that an acquaintance – a freelance artist who mainly works in the realm of game design and RPG book illustration – of mine told me it wasn’t so hard after all after I once again complained about traditional media not having a redo button. Seemingly, he was right.

The drawing itself was supposed to help me decide what kind of Changeling character to pick for our upcoming session on Friday. I scribbled around with all the choices I had, and then started to convert the scribbly versions into real drawings with the Nocker (the kith, not the friend, who actually plays one) idea. Oh well, that’s as far as I came, ’cause then the thing above happened. But I’m proud to present you the fact that I have decided.

It’s not the Nocker.

Afterwork Foray

Something British, Something Pink, Something Giant and Something Yet Unknown

Jules’s stayed over the weekend, and as it always happens our meeting up in Frankfurt ended up being a shopping tour.

Something British: When we noticed that it was Friday we took a little trip to the stock exchange where the Schiller market takes place once a week. There’s that one market stall that sells British imports, mainly food, and it’s traditional for us to stop by and get some Cadbury chocolate. The stickers and badge are from Accessorize, I figured that a Union Jack heart would make a nice addition to my badge collection.

Something Pink: I was rather shocked when I realised that I had NO rose-coloured nail polish! Not that I wear anything else than clear on a regular basis, but it’s a point of principle. Why I actually bought fabric tape is a conundrum to me, but maybe it will be involved in the “Something Yet Unknown” project.

Something Giant: I already own the mermaid and dragon parts of this series and it was down to about a quarter of the original price. Even though Jules cringed a little when he had to let me go into a book store (he always fears that he has to spend the rest of the day there if I make it inside) I had to buy it.

Something Unknown: A large fabric sticker of sage green colour (sadly the photograph didn’t really get it right) and two faux leather labels. You may now make an educated guess about the purpose of these things.