Monday, July 23, 2012

San Diego Comic Con! Annabelle and Archer!

I usually go to SDCC every year to help out with the SCA table. But this year I actually had time to cosplay!
Who KNEW?
It wasn't anything too special mind you. Since my summer schedule is usually pure insanity I didn't really put anything new and spectacular together. And the one thing I did put together was a total thrift store find.

The big one was being a part of an Archer Cosplay group. For those who don't know what Archer is, well, here's the website. In a nutshell its a hilarious and raunchy cartoon set in a 1960's-esque spy world. If you're into sharp dialog and some insane cartoon comedy, I highly recommend it.

My friend Sherief has been wanting to do an Archer cosplay group for a while now and asked if I could step in as Mallory Archer, the title character's heavy drinking overbearing mother.


Yup, That's Malory.


And yeah, I only had...let see... about 1.5 days to pull this together. Oh yeah, I learned about the group a while ago but with all the stuff I've been doing? Yeah. 1.5 days. So my cosplay isn't exactly accurate but dang it, I did my best in what time I had!


I am gonna be a sexy broad when I hit 70.


The whole outfit was found at Amvets literally ten minutes before they closed for the day. I took my husband with me who apparently is good luck on thrift runs. Usually, I'd be searching for hours.

 The whole outfit was a whopping $14. Go me! The jewelry is my mothers old jewelry from the late 80's. She gave me a bag of the stuff thinking I would use it eventually in my costuming adventures. She was right!

The flask was a last minute save by a friend. I wanted to bring a highball glass but completely forgot it. Luckily a friend of mine had a flask as part of his steampunk gear and was willing to let me borrow for a while.

Here's the entire group.



Left to Right Character wise: The Wee Baby Shamus, Pam, Cyril, Carol/Cheryl, Ray, Kimiko, Dr. Krieger, Mallory, Sterling, and Brett from I.S.I.S.


Pam, Carol/Cheryl, and Mallory.


We really had fun doing this. And the people who recognized us flipped out when they saw the group. We were even featured on Io9 in one of their cosplay galleries!  The group of us are hoping to do another cosplay next year. Lord only knows what it may be but I'm sure we will be amusing the heck out of ourselves.

On Saturday, there was a big steampunk gathering. I couldn't resist putting on my Annabelle Leigh Langly costume again. I worked my butt off on it so I am getting as much mileage out of it as I can, dang it!




My friend took these great pictures of me all Annabelled up. You can see the mismatched stockings and my work boots finally! YAAAY! And a great side shot of my bustle.
Yeah...I really love wearing my Annabelle costume!

And even though this one is from LoJ and not SDCC, I still wanted to post it because its a great photo. Finding a photo of me NOT looking like a complete doof is hard to find sometimes!


Photo by The Frame Guy.


And thus, my crazy costuming summer comes to a close. It was an adventure to say the least! Right now its all about studio clean up time and SCA garb planning.

 I'm hoping to delve more into the world of Italian Ren and Persian goodness. I also finally have all the pieces I need to work on my Victorian walking dress!  But for now, a good rest is what I'm looking forward to.

Cheers!



Monday, July 2, 2012

Labyrinth Of Jareth 2012: Annabelle Leigh Langly is Complete!

Left to Right: Ellyn, Me, Jen, and Ace

All done!
Here is my group heading out to LoJ on Friday night. I absolutely love this event. Of course the fact that it's a masqurade ball is the main reason but still! I really think I'll be doing both nights next year. One night is just not enough!

I have to say that this is my favorite costume I've made for LoJ to date. It turned out lovely, it fit perfectly, and it was extremely comfortable all night. I never wore a corset for long periods of time before so I was shocked how comfortable it felt and how great it was for my posture all night.

Here's the picture its based on again:



Pretty dan close, I'd say! I am very happy with the color changes I made. I only wish I had a better shot of the mismatched stockings. They were one of my favorite parts of the costume.


Yes, that is a ferret on my shoulder. The character owns a ferret named Senor Squeakypants. Yes, Squeaky is wearing tiny goggles.
...what do you want from me? I'm a gamer!
Senor Squeakypants was the most popular one in our group that night. I should haul him around everywhere.


My friend Jen went as her character and Annabelle's bestest buddy, Madam Jezebel Norton. We had lots of fun piecing her costume together. And our colors really complemented eachother.

Behold! Poofy Steampunk Butt!

The blouse exceeded my expectations. The fabric looked fantastic under the lights, breathed like a dream, and was very gentle against my skin. I loved how the sleeves looked especially. And yup, those are my Regina goggles. I'm getting as much milage out of them as possible.
I'm seriously considering hauling the Annabelle costume out to San Diego ComicCon for the steampunk meet up. I would like wear it again.

Even though Friday is the quiet night at LoJ I still saw some amazing costumes that evening. Here are some of my favorites!

Madam butterfly was my absolute favorite of the night.

Awesome bird people!

Lovely Steampunk ladies. The photo does not do their dresses justice.

Two more of my cohorts, Capt'n and Michelle looking rather spectacular.

SO much love for that hat!

A wonderful blue fairy.

I wish this picture turned out better because this Queen of Hearts was simply stunning!


A Junk Lady and a rather jolly Sultan. That hat! So much LOVE!


Even though I didn't make it to Saturday evening, my friend Ace took TONS of photos for me so I could see all the lovelies I missed. I'll be posting those photos very soon...as soon as I have a chance to look through all of them and drool.

I'm already excited to go back to LoJ next year! I'm thinking of putting together some form of Valkyrie costume perhaps for one of the nights. Though knowing me, I'll change my mind fourteen times before I get there.

Until then I really don't have any pressing projects... which feels odd after almost three months straight of working on things. I'll be probably puttering around with some SCA garb soon (I'm in need of another Viking) and as soon as I find the right green linen, I'll be putting together Merida's (from Pixar's Brave) gown for Halloween.

Until then... I'm not quite sure what to do with myself.