Time and Relative Dimension In Space: My Halloween Costume

I am a total whovian. I am a total nerd. Last year for Halloween I still had my short Blonde hair and dressed up like Starbuck from the new series of Battlestar Galactica. This year I still wanted to be nerdy.
I was actually going to be Rapunzel from Tangled since I had made two Flynn Rider vests (Pics soon to come in another post) but I just got this idea in my head and didn't want to give up on it.
I love Doctor who, and then became OBSESSED when I got to see David Tennant (The tenth doctor) and Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) in Much Ado About Nothing at the Wyndham Theater in London.
I really wanted to dress up as something from Doctor who. I didn't want to be a companion, because nothing they wear is very...distinct. I guess except for Martha Jones' Red Leather Jacket. But I don't care for Martha.
So my dilemma was...Who the heck do I dress up as from Doctor Who? I didn't want to be the doctor...Then I saw some photos of a different versions of a costume and had a Shakespeare moment. "That's really good. I can do it better." Then I remembered this moment from Doctor Who:

Which inspired my Halloween costume. I love the relationship between the doctor and the Tardis. Companions come and go, but he always has the Tardis. I love when Sarah Jane says to Rose Tyler, "Does he still stroke bits of the Tardis?" And I love the episode, "The Doctor's Wife" when the Tardis' consciousness gets put into human form so they can actually talk.

 So I present to you: The Tardis in costume form:

It was SO much fun to make. I paid attention to the details. The Choker is the Public Call Police Box sign. I was going to put it on the dress, but opted for the choker.

The hat? It lights up. Yeah, seriously. One of my closest friends, Brady Howard rigged the hat so it actually lit up with LEDs inside.
The sign on my leg was based on the sign that is on the box obviously. I printed it off on printable fabric and then appliqued it onto the dress. I made pieces that mimicked the panels that are on the door. And one of my favorite details was the key around my neck. Some of my favorite Doctor Who moments is the moment where he trusts his new companion enough to give her a Tardis Key. The Key is always on a long white cord.
And what girl doesn't want the Doctor to come take her away and give her a key to the Tardis and take her to far away places?

This years costume was so much fun! And I had a blast designing it and making it! And I had fun wearing it to a huge party at the University and seeing who recognized it. I know it wasn't perfect, and there's a few things I wish would have done different, but all in all, I love how it turned out.

Happy Halloween! 

(And I leave with you a few of my favorite Doctor Who Moments)

The colors of fall

Last week on our "Sister photography blog" our word was "Leaves." So for this challenge I went up to the mountains to find bright colored leaves. I live near a pass that goes over a mountain to the other side which is another, beautiful valley. But on the top of the pass is a trailhead, so Coco and I went to get pictures, and I just thought to myself as I was taking these pics and watching my dog run around and explore: I am so lucky to have such beautiful mountains almost literally in my back yard. 

It's so weird to think in a few weeks these will probably be covered in white and looking completely different.

Showcasing my Holga Photography

My friend, Stephanie, is an amazing artist. She's phenomenal at what she does. She has a watercolor painting she once did of a still from "Memoirs of a Geisha" that I'm determined to buy off of her when I'm rich enough to pay her worthily of her talent. Anyway, Last year for a class she asked me if she could use my Holga Photography for a project. I love Stephanie, and had no problem with it, so I sent her all my favorites and then focused on my own finals and forgot about it.
Until today.
When I asked her about it she sent me to a showcase website where she showed off the project. I was so excited to see my photos look like that and look so good. She has promised to get me a copy, which I'm way excited about.

Masquerade Ball

Last night my friend threw a big masquerade ball and invited tons of people. She created the facebook event page for it quite a while ago and I RSVP'd that I was going. And then promptly forgot about it. A few days ago I saw some mutual friends who mentioned how excited everyone was to see my Masquerade costume. Being confused I asked what masquerade they were talking about and they explained that Jennalyn was throwing a masquerade and I had RSVP'd yes.

So...

I said I was going to a party

And 

Everyone was expecting the costume designer to be dressed amazing.

Shoot....

Well I sat down all day Friday and whipped out a costume. The only part of the costume I didn't build was the mask, which was made by Tiffany Smyth for my fairies when I costume designed a Midsummer Night's Dream for Box Elde High and my Corset I bought at The Denver faire a year or two ago.

The ball was a lot of fun. My friend, Matt and I had a lot of fun dancing and watching people and just being us. But here's the costume and how it turned out, which I was very proud of.

The Mask is amazing. She works in Leather, adding feathers and beads. But the masks are incredible.

 The blue bustle was a velvet retro dress I had which was falling apart and had holes in it. So I took it apart, cut away all the torn holes and bleach spots and then put them back together and made the bustle. I then just placed a small bustle pad made from stiff tulle underneath.

Front and Back views of the costume

 I had a bunch of Gold Lace Appliques that I bought on Ebay forever ago. I attached four together and then strategically added swarovsky crystals to add sparkle. It ended up being remarkable! I hope I can use it in other shows as well. 

I also love how my hair turned out. I did really tight curls then pushed it all to the center of my head...well sort of like a faux-hawk.

I also love how my eye make up turned out. I did it really shimmery and golden then added the touch of blue near my lash line. I used all Ben Nye shimmer colors. I love how it turned out.

The only thing I didn't get done on the dress which I really wanted were big Baroque cuffs on the dress with gold venise lace that matched the necklace. I just ran out of time. Halloween in my busiest time of year. And on that note, there will definitely be more pics of some of the best costumes I made this fall season. (it's my busiest with Halloween and fall musicals.)

Stage Costume Final

I am back in school and majoring in theater with my emphasis in costume design. It's a tough road, very time consuming, but very much worth the time (Or so I'm told.) My stage costume class which is an intro level class required for all theater majors was only a half semester class. We all read and designed for the same show, James and the Giant Peach. It was a lot of fun to see how different designers interpret different things. Some of them I loved, some I secretly thought were awful, but I loved what my teacher said at the beginning of the semester, "There is more than one right answer."

When I read the play I refused to go watch the movie (I haven't seen it since I saw it at the Rainbow Theater in Redlands, California when I was 11 years old.) But my vision was the British invasion, focusing on the late fifties into the sixties. I also didn't want to do a literal translation of the insects, adding legs and pinchers and antennas, etc. So I stuck to the colors, the textures, and the shapes of the insects. Researching spiders and centipedes gave me the biggest willies. I hated it.

The Grasshopper

Aunt Sponge & Aunt Spiker

Ladybug

James

The Earthworm

The Centipede

Miss Spider

The last thing I want to talk about is what I learned from this assignment.  

1-I learned to draw bodies, THEN draw the clothes on them. My favorite place for poses, if I don't have a model, is Pose Maniacs. Which is a lot like that human body display that's been going around the world?

2-I'm really bad at faces, I draw eyes too big, and I am terrible terrible terrible at hands. Must work on that.

3-I did this assignment with prisma color pencils and inktense pencils which was good for some things (in fact, inktense pencils are pretty incredible), but I usually do watercolors, which I like better. So I need to practice with more mediums such as Markers, intense pencils, prisma colors, chalks and pastels, etc.  (If you want a good website with amazing deals on art products, I'm addicted to Jerry's Artarama.

4- Detail is worth the time it takes. From the lace on the spider to the cable knit sweater on the earthworm to the plaids, detail is worth the trouble. 

I got sunshine...On a Cloudy Day

Took some fun pictures of my niece, Carly, to hang in her newly decorated bedroom which will be fun and bright and sparkly and happy!

And of course Emma and Katelyn wanted in on the fun too! And I don't blame them! Who wouldn't want to dance in colorful rain!?