Category: Babblings

Halloween – oh lovely beautiful Halloween!  It’s that wonderful time of the year when all the stores become full of skulls, black lace, and other sorts of darkly delightful things, and I’m suddenly not a weirdo anymore…

Okay, maybe not that last one.  It’s kind of fun being a weirdo! 😉

This also happens to be the time of year when all good costume designers become attached to sewing machine via ball and chain!  But I managed to eke out enough time to scrounge thru the local stores to see the swag… the Halloween swag!  And pick out a few of my very own treasures.

These are totally impulse purchases – mostly from Michael’s.  I thought the skull could make a very cute display for headdresses at shows (it’s lifesize), and the miniature furniture matched so I couldn’t resist.  Oh evil 75% off sales!

Five words.  Black Crystal Chandelier String Lights.

Need I say more?

I found these first at Joann.com, used the locator tool to figure out which store had them still in stock, and made that my chosen Halloween shopping city.  Lol you won’t find any of these in Warwick, RI.  All of them went home with me!

Hey look, it’s Lady Death:

Those of you who were with me since the beginning will remember when I used to make earrings that looked practically identical to this wall hanging.  My sister, after taking on the jewelry portion of my business, has yet to add the exact “Lady Death” style to her shop (going to have to keep /poking her about things like that!) but she does offer an awesome similar style here.

I had to get it just for nostalgia’s sake.

It had a black frame originally, but I painted it silver so that it can claim a place in the studio I plan to eventually have all decorated with gothy-chic cuteness – and ready for indoor photography.  Right now it will need to be squeezed into the stuffed to-the-max photo props corner in my current too-small studio!  Aaah the dreams, the dreams…  Lady Death was scored from AC Moore.

But the category in which I feel like I most hit the jackpot was socks – oh the epic Halloween socks!  I thought I was purchasing knee highs each time, so you can imagine my delight when I opened the packages at home and found they were actually thigh high!  And wearable with my garter shorts, of course.

The first two pair of cheesy halloween goodness came from Joanns, and the grey stripe were from Walmart, of all places!

If your local stores aren’t yet sold out, you may be able to snag a few pairs for yourself.

And last but not least, OMG these shoes:

They cost me all of $10 at a random Halloween pop up store (Spooky-Town).  I had to ask both a store employee, and the checkout lady “Are you sure these are really $10?” because they bear such a striking resemblance to the shoes I’ve been lusting over at shows and at sinister soles, but hadn’t yet shelled out around $70 to purchase…

Did you score some amazing Halloween swag this year too?  I’d love to hear about it!

As promised, here are the rest of the pictures from our photoshoot  at the Vermont Steampunk Festival. These pictures show my youngest son, JJ, wearing a commissioned vest from The DarleneScene.  The key was something he made at the craft table. This picture makes me think one of my favorite classic books, The Secret Garden.

And this picture basically sums up JJ’s personality. (He is a goober.)

The following pictures are of my oldest son, Tristan. I believe he was trying to actually model for me, but was not sure whether to copy his younger brother by being a goober, or to copy Mommy’s fashion-model-style posing!

Darlene’s vests are amazing! We were incredibly impressed by the quality and the fit was great. I gave her the boys measurements and asked to have enough growing room for about a year and it has worked out to exactly as I requested. We plan to order more when the boys outgrow these.

Anyone who has been following my Facebook would know that this was my first year as a vendor at Steampunk World’s Fair.  I was super excited to be there vending my wares in the midway – a parking-lot-turned-vending-space between the two hotels that house the Eastern Coast’s biggest Steampunk Festival.

I had a ton of hats made up and ready, all the ones pictured below in this Stack-O-Hats, and more!

And I also brought a smattering of the custom made clothing you see in my etsy shop – photo shoot samples, and a new line of ready-to-wear items that you’ll all see in the opening of my website store soon.

I arrived late Friday afternoon via rift in the space time continuom (AKA the strange route Google Maps took me when the Tappan Zee Bridge was closed), a bit later than I had hoped.  And I got a taste of Mother Nature and Murphy’s Law working in cahoots – which I hoped was the last for the weekend – drizzling rain, and a completely wet vending space/table/chairs.

But that’s what paper towels are for, right?  I did succeed in setting up my popup vending tent, did my best at drying things off inside it, and then proceeded to do my best at getting all the things I had brought inside the tent without drenching them…

I was mostly successful at setting things up by early Friday evening – and the fun started then.  I’m a work at home Mom – so most of my interaction either happens with young children, a computer screen, or a sewing machine.  So getting to vend my wares in person and actually talk to customers is a delight.

Things continued in that enjoyable fashion until Saturday afternoon – when Mother Nature came back, with a vengeance!  The wind picked up to crazy gusty levels, and I discovered that vending tents, even when weighted down, work very similar to the sails on a sailboat.  The strength of this wind was such that, it managed to even drag ME across the parking lot, shoes slipping on the asphalt as I attempted to hold on to my billowing tent!

Every vendor in the Midway had to tear down, or at least lower their tent, in order not to be completely blown away.  In the mess, about half of my hats and fascinators turned into parking lot tumbleweeds.  Another vendor jokingly made this statement – which pretty much sums things up: “Looks like someone forgot to close the circle when they made the sacrifice to the vendor gods…”

There was good, there was bad, and there was the ugly.  The ugly was the damage sustained by my tent – a bent frame, and the hats-turned-tumbleweeds that had bent and broken feathers.  The bad was Sunday’s weather forecast.  More wind.  Impossible to safely set back up outside with a bent tent frame.  But there was good too – I was struck by how awesome everyone was – customers, event staff, and better-prepared vendors alike jumped in to help both me and my sister (vending her jewelry next to me) when our tents did their sailboat-impression.  They ran after tumbleweed hats, and held down the fort long enough for me to scramble across the hotel parking lot to grab my car.

It was a disastrous experience, of course, but it was also amazing to see how supportive our steampunk community really is.

The next day the awesome vendor staff at the fair managed to find a spot inside a hotel hallway to squeeze some of the unfortunate Midway vendors.  Since a good portion of my stuff needed repairs, I chose to let the full-table slots go to other vendors, and I set things up at a corner of my sister’s table and around her stuff – a few of my fascinators that had miraculously survived with no damage.

And beyond that, I made it my mission to enjoy the rest of the fair!  I went klepto on a couple of my photo shoot sample outfits,  as “consolation prizes” – and enjoyed the attention and requests for pictures that I always get while wearing my fanciest designs.

I’m looking forward to/hoping for next year – if there is room for me inside, I’ll be again vending.  I consider this to be a learning experience – humidity, wind, and feathers do NOT mix – apparently my designs are not conducive to outside vending!

To everyone who shopped and/or chatted with me at the Fair, it was great meeting you, and I hope to see you again next year!

When I get an offer to bring my designs to a place that has actual crystal chandeliers – what do I say?

Why, I’ll be there, with bells on!

As soon as I knew about the chandeliers, and the awesome level of fancy perfection to the location, I decided that gowns featuring my new slit skirts would be the perfect thing to bring.  I LOVE how they look in the photo above – lending a very modern hint of saucy seduction to an otherwise historical scene.

The model in these photos is Stephanie Allison, and the gown is a design I’m calling “Victorian Passion.”

And up next, my leather taffeta ballgown!  Because leather and taffeta are absolutely meant to be together.

The gown is modeled by Lish Ventura, and can be made in a plethora of gorgeous taffeta colors.  It’s posted in my etsy shop here.

And last, comes my personal favorite gown design for the day, modeled by Tricia Eva Lore.

I’m happy with how I managed to line these shots up to show as much pretty chandelier-age from the ballroom as possible, by using the reflections in the mirror.  Tricia’s gown is also available custom made to measure in either white/black (as pictured) and ivory/black, for those who prefer warm over cool colors.

The location and the photoshoot were thanks to Eric Baird of Behind the Lens Photography Workshops.  There were quite a few photographers in attendance, and some amazing photos and a fun time were had by all!  While there, I was happy to catch some useful photography tips, and learn some great information about lighting setups, and posing, and such.

Photo Credits:

Model (green) Stephanie Allison, hair by Ky Elizabeth Maxim, MUA model

Model (burgundy) Lish Ventura, hair and MUA model

Model (white) Tricia Eva Lore, hair by me, MUA model

Thanks to everyone involved for an amazing day!  😀