A friend is going in for surgery and I wanted to give her something to remind her I’m thinking of her and wishing her well.
I ended up making her this bracelet with the charm engraved with the words, “Protect This Woman” on it.
Author: malvena
Books on vintage fashion
It’s been busy around the Emporium these last few weeks. With help from Mr. Acorn, I’m listing all the books that I got from Vintage Victorian. I have done a lot of work in the sewing room, organizing and culling goodies to sell on the etsy.com web site. What films and books have inspired me, lately? “Persuasion,” based on the Jane Austen novel; the series “Jeeves and Wooster” with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry; and I’ve been reading “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. I’ve also been perusing an interesting collection of works by 21st century artists called “1000 Ideas for Creative ReUse” by Garth Johnson. I had to special order that book from my local bookseller, as it was sold out.
The books I’ve posted on etsy.com are reprints of an amazing collection of catalogs, magazine articles and graphics with “how-to” instructions and inspirational drawings galore – material to inspire Victorian and Edwardian enthusiasts alike, not to mention those folks who are getting ready to make an outfit for a masquerade:
New Year, new items in the Emporium
Happy 2010!
The cats have been supervising as I add vintage fabric to my offerings on the Etsy.com web site. Here’s a sampling:
I wish all a productive, inspired and health-filled New Year.
Holidays
The Accordion Babes who played at the German restaurant on Christmas Eve were fabulous. They were all separate acts and many of them had posed for an accordion babe calendar, as we found out. We had some great dessert and a good time.
When we got back from xmas celebrations with relatives, we also attended a Boxing Day party with a large group of science fiction fans — my pals who love the Maker Fair, among other celebrations. They had their annual potluck feast and ‘white elephant’ gift exchange. Very, very silly stuff. The novelty Star Wars helmet emerged again as the gift of choice and after exchanging hands several times, it went home with a new owner.
I completed work on another cute apron and some spectacular, shiny pants for a client just before Xmas. They client was very happy with them. It’s been a quiet day around the studio, today, since I have time off from the day job; I’m cleaning up and still unpacking. I keep finding boxes of books and tools that need to be sorted from the move. Not to mention the fabric. And my friend at Black Swan Bookshop has located some interesting costume pieces in her collection. I ran this information by the Obsessed With Costumes group and I think at least one of my pals would like to see photos of the Black Swan costumes.
So much fabric, and many books to sort. Onward toward the year 2010!
on the eve of Christmas Eve
There’s lots of food at the day job due to the season. And lots of visiting children at the office. There are people scurrying to get out of town or meet the air plane flights of relatives.
There’s room in my living room for me to unpack the rest of my books, wrap a few presents and complete a few projects for the web site, tagging photos and adding items to the shop. There are friends to visit in the coming weeks who I haven’t seen for many months. There’s some follow-up training for another day-job and a discussion to have about another potential part-time job. About that last item. I am starting to feel that I don’t have time to do one more thing, in addition to everything else. That’s becoming clear. As a wise friend once told me, “When you have all the burners going, sometimes stuff falls off the back of the stove.” Yep. My life is a kitchen appliance metaphor.
Mr. Acorn is suggesting that we go see The Accordion Babes play at a restaurant in Alameda on Christmas Eve, which is tomorrow night. I’m starting to think that’s a great idea, since the apple strudel at that place is wonderful. Also, I mean to attend the annual Browncoat Boxing Day party, held by my local group of science fiction fan friends. Those parties are pretty darn fun, I tell you what. The white elephant gift-exchange is a fun time and the potluck food is great. And last year we had a menorah made of plastic cylons. And I believe there was some singing-along to the Dr. Horrible soundtrack. Or that might have been at another Browncoat party, this year. There will be dancing, most likely and good music. They are great folks.
Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope yours are safe and happy.
multi-tasking
The Dickens Fair is now done. I’ve completed sewing two more commissioned garments for holiday gifts. They are meant to be a surprise, so I didn’t take any photos of these two projects. But I am happy with each of them. I made some adjustments to a friends’ vintage hat for a gift. The To Do List (backlog and seasonal section) is shrinking, slowly.
I identified and measured many pieces of vintage fabric from my stash to post on the Etsy web site, so that’s coming along soon. And my pals at the dog and cat food store are looking for someone to work part-time. Which is where we get to multi-tasking.
I already have three part-time jobs, two of which are “on call.” I could consider the fourth one this web site and all costume-related work I’ve been doing. And the volunteering for Dickens was kind of related to that.
I really like doing fun projects for the folks at the pet food store. They asked me to judge a pet costume contest on Halloween that was a BLAST. Really fun people. High energy. So, when I heard that they may need some help, I called right away.
giving thanks for good company
I joined a friendly group of pals for Thanksgiving this year in Berkeley. We had a feast beginning with barbequed oysters and appetizers in the backyard garden and moved indoors as the sun went down and it got chilly. My costuming pal Lady Heather joined us and brought a lovely salad. Other delicacies included wild rice salad with green apples, sweet potatoes in a handmade sauce and the bbq turkey with mole’ sauce. I made and brought Indian Pudding, a recipe from my grandmother. (it involves a lot of milk, molasses and a bit of cornmeal, baked in the oven for 3 hours – delicious with vanilla ice cream.) We also had a wonderful homemade chocolate torte with ginger snap crust, covered in raspberries. Our group of diners included friends visiting from Colorado, Michigan and various parts of the SF East Bay. I hadn’t seen our hosts in quite a while, so it was good to get caught up with them and to enjoy their warm hospitality.
I met this morning with some friends from my D&D role playing group for brunch, which was a real treat; we usually get together about once or twice a month. We brainstormed about settings for upcoming campaigns, story ideas and characters we’d like to create. We are a gaming group of made up of some designers, an inventor, a scientist, and some writers who are also crafty folk who love science fiction. We’ve been meeting for years as a group, taking turns being the creator/referee of the games. We had one campaign in which our Dungeons and Dragons game took place in outer space, using the same rules as a “regular” game, but with advanced technology and all sorts of new classes of characters. Our game creator made a web blog for our “space opera” characters to log in and make comments: The Gathering Dark. It’s also where we’ve put artwork, related articles and photos that inspired us. We’ve moved on to another game now and our “scribe” uses the Gathering Dark blog site to post notes of our current game. For the latest game, we have a new game master who is using the Fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons. We play “old school” style with pens, paper, miniature figures, and dice. It’s really fun because it lets us be as creative and silly as we want and inspires all sorts of other projects. It’s interesting to see the changes in the rules with the new edition, since popular computer games have been developed to such a great extent since the original D&D came out in the late ’70s.
Playing Dungeons and Dragons is what originally inspired me to make costumes. I’d play with a group of students from my brother’s high school and our game masters were instructors there. We had several “live dungeons” and I started designing and making costumes for these games. So, it’s great to be with a group of people who really relate to the creative process and can participate on a regular basis.
steampunk pendant from Dragons Treasure
I met the folks from Dragons Treasure ( jewelry designers) at Costume College last summer. They were creating a new set of jewelry for Steam Punk fans, including a diving helmet. They now have it available in bronze and silver on Etsy.com. Click on the link above to see it.
Dickens Season is here
I have volunteered my services as Minion to the folks running the Dickens Faire costuming shop. We’re starting with some hats for a dramatic production set in the Cavalier period. (The little theaters throughout the Faire put on different productions each season and the costume shop supports all the actors at the whole Faire.) I like working with other costumers and learning new things. I’ve wanted to work this event for some years and I’m glad I have this opportunity.
I also have an assignment from one of my day- job supervisors to make several aprons with a “prom” theme for a catering . ( frilly, colorful, fake flowers or Very Bright fabric – whee!) A couple of gals from my informal costuming group are venturing forth to a new-to-us discount fabrics place tomorrow afternoon. I hope to get suitable fabric for said aprons.
Meanwhile, her majesty Roo continues to be under the weather. I hope she will soon be willing to deal with her medication for her kidney/bladder problems. She’s quarantined to her room /my sewing room.
progress not perfection
Well I found my copy of “Bleak House” on dvd and have been working on the Halloween costumes for the little ones. The Emporium project room is still being unpacked, so it’s multi-task a go-go, these days. The cats have decided I need to take Many Naps during this process. That makes it is slow-going. Her Highness, Roo, has been under the weather again. See the Roo Report for more details.