Costume Blog

In case you didn't see, I started a new costume blog here on blogger.  I like the layout better than LiveJournal so this is where most of my updates will be!  I will probably make my posts on LJ friends only, so start following me here if you're not on LJ or add me as a friend! :)

Check me out!

Oh, and I will try to be better about updating this blog as well.  I have been woefully remiss.  So why not start now!

Tomorrow I am going to my first meeting of my new book club.  We read "Peace Like a River" and if you haven't read it, you should.  I loved it!  I didn't think I would, but I'm glad to be wrong.  I also quite enjoyed the "western-y" bits, which is one reason I thought I wouldn't like it.  Anyway, should be a good discussion tomorrow, I will have to share if it's interesting.

Other books I've read lately that I love: "Ender's Game"!!  Why had I not read this before?  Oh man, I got totally sucked in.  I think I finished it in about 4 days, which for me is fast, especially as these were weekdays.  I really should start one of the sequels or something, but I'm worried they won't be as good.  If you've read any of them, which should I do?  Are they worth it?

And since I seem to be on a roll, I also read "Matched", which I also really liked.  If you liked "Hunger Games" you might find this kind of similar.  I thought it was a clever idea and it's going to be a series, so more to come!  Always a good thing. :)

Oh yeah, I saw the new Jane Eyre movie.  I'll have to give you my thoughts on that soon...

Happy Birthday Jane!

Today is Jane Austen's Birthday! She's turning 235! In honor of the occasion I will share pictures of the lovely first edition of Sense and Sensibility which I've been privileged to work on over the last month here at Harvard.

Sense and Sensibility was published in 1811, and was her first published work! Pride and Prejudice came next in 1813. If you want to know more about Jane Austen's life, I highly suggest reading Becoming Jane Austen, which was a great biography that the movie was based on.

The copy I worked on is still in it's original covers, though the colors have faded. The labels used to be pink! It is quite rare to find copies in the original covers because they were usually a temporary binding, wealthier people who bought it would later have it rebound to match their library.

This copy is used by professors who bring their students to see rare, classic books at the library.

Showing part of the new box I made to house the three volumes.

The green of the covers was a very hard color to replicate! I spent about 6 hours just trying to get it right!

And a little about how and what I did to them...
I wish I had before pictures to show! I did a lot of these little fills!
In process photos:

To repair losses to the cover paper, I first traced the missing piece on thin plastic (mylar) laid over the book.

I then cut the shapes out of Japanese tissue that I toned to match the color of the original paper, on the light box (both in white, the first layer, and then the green top layer).

The piece cut out.

I then applied it to the book using wheat starch paste...

folding the edges under to cover the edges of the board too.

I later went back and further toned the paper to match with chalk pastels on the book, so the repairs disappeared even more!

This was such a fun project for me to work on. Really a dream come true, considering how big of an Austen fan I am!

Happy Birthday Jane! As I've been working on this book, I like to think of how you must have felt holding your first ever published novel! A treat for both me and you, I'm sure!

No, I'm not dead!

Sorry for the silence! I know it's been forever since I've posted real content.

I have been up to a few things. I colored my hair before thanksgiving... I am now a redhead!


I love it, and it seems everyone else does as well!


I also visited half my family for Thanksgiving, and got to spend some quality time with these cuties:




And I've been getting my house in the holiday spirit with Christmas decorations!




I bought a pink tree!! I love it.






Our more traditional, though smaller, tree.

And yesterday I won third place in my works Gingerbread decorating contest!



Merry Christmas!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm back!

I had a great vacation both with family and costume friends.

I will post pictures soon, but unfortunately my camera and my computer are having a fight right now.

And the computer is winning.

So we'll all just have to wait.

For now, how do you like my new layout? I think it's kind of fun.

No longer good society

I just had to share this video. Some of you may have seen it, but, well, you'll know why I love it.



I'm leaving tomorrow morning to fly to Alaska for my brothers wedding! And then I'm going to a costuming conference in California, so lots of fun photos and updates to come!

Costuming Madness in Newport

It's been forever I know! I've been a bit busy, and also probably avoiding an announcement of the end of my last relationship a couple months ago. See how I'm just skimming over that? But I'm back to post about my fun weekend! It's official. I'm obsessed with costuming. But you probably already figured that out, didn't you? So that's what I've mostly been doing in my free time from work, church and my social life. And here are the most recent results!

I also posted these photos on my costume blog so sorry if you read both!

So my costuming group, The New England Costumers, went to Newport Rhode Island this weekend to tour the mansions in Bustle Era dresses/fashion! It was a lot of fun and the weather could not have been better for us. We got lucky as it had been threatening to rain the day before, but the morning of, it was clear skies and not too warm! Well, 75, but it could have been worse! We had a very leisurely, unhurried day, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves immensely! We toured the Breakers and Marble House and we're already making plans to go back so we can see a Fashion exhibit at Rosecliff, which was closed this weekend because of a flower show.

These "cottages" were amazing! And we spent the day dreaming up our own versions of our ideal mansions. We also were stopped repeatedly with requests for pictures or to just know why we were dressed up! It was a fun day!




Overlooking the sea.


Jenni, Gloria, Zarabeth and me (and Mike behind the camera...)






In front of the Chinese Tea House


Diet Coke toast with Jenni!


And the ubiquitous shoe shot. :)

More of my pictures can be found here.

If you want to read more about my outfit and how I made it, check out my costume blog!

The summer is just getting started, so hopefully I'll have more to post soon! But yes, a lot of it is going to be costume related! :)

I love these gals!

Soon to be reunited again this weekend for Barbara's Bridal Shower!

So exciting!

(Pictures from Nicole's birthday dinner almost a year ago)

Time to play catch up!

Also titled:

Why I've been missing

I've been a little distracted for the past several weeks.

His name is Dan.

He makes me smile.

Unfortunately {or fortunately, for me, who lives in freezing cold Boston}

he lives in Arizona.

Which is where we took this picture.

Yep, it's true, this is not what Boston looks like in February.

We actually met at Christmas in Washington DC.

I was visiting my cousin and he was home to see his family.

He stopped me in church and we had our first date that night!

Since then he's been out to visit me,

and I've been out to visit him.

We've just been having a lot of fun!

Wow, I feel like I'm writing a poem or something. Sorry about that.

Anyway, here's a photo recap of the last few visits together.

This is actually what Boston looks like in January.
Dan braved the cold and came to visit me in Boston.

Here we are with John Harvard.

We also went to an indoor waterpark for my roommate Lisa's Birthday party which was a lot of fun! {OK, so maybe there are some places that are warm in New England in the winter!}

This was also in Boston, out in Lexington. Again, it was pretty cold!

Well, we're not in Boston anymore!

Last weekend we checked out Goldfield which is an old mining/ghost town. It was pretty touristy. But the weather is just great in AZ this time of year! It was beautiful and sunny!

The sun was really hurting my eyes. And I didn't really need the coat, but I guess I am more of a true Arizonian at heart, because 65 really is still kinda cold... :)

We went to see Mary Poppins at the Gammage Theater at ASU which was so much fun! If you can you have to see it, it's one of the best musicals I've ever seen {well, other than Wicked, but that's hard to top}!

Since Sunday was Valentine's Day we made a special meal:

Heart Shaped Turkey Meatloaf Patties with Herb Smashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Green Beans with Lemon Butter and Toasted Almonds.

It was delicious! Thanks Rachel Ray! :)

Here we are sitting down to our meal.

I forgot to get pictures of the desserts! We had Dan's family Peanut Butter Pie {which was so, so good!} and chocolate dipped strawberries.

It's nice to have a Valentine!

Happy February everyone! I promise I'll try to be better about posting!

More Costuming Fun

Sorry for not being better about posting! I had a great Christmas break, but didn't get to see any of my immediate family so no fun pics of the kiddos, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!

Last weekend I attended an 18th Century "Twelfth Night Ball" in Sudbury, MA in a 300 year old inn with my costuming group! We had a blast drinking punch, watching the contra-dancing (doing a bit myself) and feeling like we were living back in revolutionary times!

Pictures, of course, with more here!

With Sarah and Jenni, enjoying the punch:

My first contra-dance:

Gloria and Mike:

I did both our hair before the ball:

It never takes long for Sarah and Jenni to start some kind of fight! (Just for fun, of course)

More of the dancing:

It was a really fun event, I got to know everyone better, we met some new friends, I ran into a co-worker who I didn't know did re-enactments, and we made more costuming plans so that's always a good thing!

I promise to have a non-costuming post up soon, but lately that's all I've been up to really!

Happy New Year, by the way!

Regency Tea Pictures

Finally, I have something to post about! This is a cross post from my costume blog, check it out:

Today's event was so much fun! Let's get right to it, shall we?

The whole group! Well, minus Mike, so....

Gloria and Mike, the perfect Regency couple!



Shoe shot! My pink suede flats matched perfectly.

And now for some shots at home:




The Muff in all it's glory!


Action shot from the back where you can see more details (and a mess in the background)


A side view of the bonnet.

So unfortunately I didn't have time to put the buttons on the sides of the jacket, but other than that it all came together with literally half an hour for me to get ready, which was really cutting it short! But I got there! And the tea was lovely, the food was great {there was clotted cream! my favorite!}, I had so much fun meeting everyone and the tour was really amazing too! So so fun and it got me so excited for even more events! I've found my people! :)

If you want to see more details about getting the whole look together, you can see more posts over here!

Costume Blog

Sorry I haven't posted in a while!
Nothing too interesting going on really, but I have been doing a lot of sewing/costuming lately.
I'm going to be attending a costume event in the beginning of December so I've been getting a new outfit together. It's a Regency Tea at a historical home here in MA.
I can't wait I think it's going to be fun!

So, if you want to see my progress, thoughts and pictures you can check out
my new costuming blog:
Bella Miss Ella
{she's my dress form}

The reason I started a Live Journal blog is because there is a huge costuming network going on over there and it makes it easier for me to keep tabs on others and vice versa! I'm kind of enjoying it so far, although I like the formatting options for blogger more. But that's neither here nor there!

I'll be sure to post pictures from the event here when it happens so don't worry too much!

Halloween Masquerade Ball!

Finally!

What I'm sure you've all been waiting for...
Better pictures of my costume!
And of the Masquerade!

It was a great night, at an amazing location
with 600 people!
So much fun!

My feet hurt by the end of the night,
I'd lost a feather from my hair (wah waaahhh)
and I got some frosting on my dress somehow
{even though I avoided the treats table, except for a cookie}
and driving in a corset is hard
{thanks to my roommie for driving home}
but all in all it was good times!

On to the pictures!

With Nicole and Janey


Inside the Ballroom, which you can't see too well here, but had amazing wood paneling and incredible chandeliers!

A group performed Michael Jackson's "Thriller" which was awesome, I just wish I had a better view! I could only see their heads really... People were going crazy!

With Natalie, the 1992 Moonlight Masquerade Barbie
{she painted her mask on! how cool is that?!}

With Aimee, showing off our lovely fans.

A view of my shoes

And from the back
{man I have bad posture, even in a corset!}

I pretty much just said "Thank you!" the entire night,
most people thought I'd bought it at first,
but it soon spread that I'd made it myself,
so people were asking for pictures with me!
It was pretty crazy.

I'm glad I did it, but next time I might try to give myself more time to get everything done.
There are still a few little things that I haven't finished on the corset and with trimming the dress, but I was glad I was able to wear it two weekends in a row.
Who knows when the next time will be!