Tuesday 30 June 2009

-J-i-g-g-l-e- ing.....: up, up and away in my beautiful, my beautiful balloon

-J-i-g-g-l-e- ing.....: up, up and away in my beautiful, my beautiful balloon

IF IT WEREN'T FOR PIRATES WOULD THERE EVEN BE MERMAIDS


I think pirates and mermaids go hand in hand, or hand in fin, or whatever...









If it were not for the ol' scurvy pirates on the high seas with their bottles o' rum to envision the goddesses of the deep, would we even exist?


so in celebrating and emulating the mermaid, I also celebrate and emulate the pirate.


ARRRGGGGH!


















we have a TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY i wonder if there would ever be a MERMAID day? TALK LIKE A MERMAID? (yeh i see the idea has it's flaws.... i'm working on it... hehe)


hehe that would be a fun day indeed!


in the meantime, this year for talk like a pirate day (which i need to google - it's in september i think) i will be well equipped and ready.
BUT before that, for my BIRTHDAY PARTY this year i will be well ready to GET ME PIRATE ON!




preparations hav set sail, and decorations and so forth are made, me hearties, and being made, costumes,and food and drink preparations ar also fine and dandy.






I found the greatest pirate accessory the other day at the TIP buy back centre of all places... check out my new BLACK DOUGLAS pirate bottles!!












they go so well with my BACARDI pirate bottle!














HARRR HARRRRR!!!!














although I don't think it would be wise to have glass bottles as decorations at a party, they look great inside with my mermaid / pirate themed interior re - decorating that is well underway.


































also well underway, but i have come to a learning curve, is my TRICORN HAT - making.





i redesigned the hat pattern i have used recently into what i am hoping will turn out to be a gorgeous tricorn hat with a goth / punk sense..... more on that later.





I saw a tricorn the other day that a girl is putting into this year's do it with denim competition, which was wayyyy cute ( a miniature even, way to suck me into liking it even more), but it wasn't finished off on the inside like i want my hat to be.





also most patterns for the hat with sufficient brim to turn up, have a crown made out of four or more tapered sections. i've made my hat pillbox style with a flat top.... we'll see how that goes when it's all finished i guess.
















I want to have a lined inside - as a TOP HAT would be (in years to come, and after much practice, no doubt, I WILL make top hats as well...), so no seams showing, no raw edges, etc.










so the hold - up is with the lining at this point. i am not quite sure how i can finish it without having to hand sew it. i would prefer to machine it somehow, but for now i can't thinkof how i can.





either way, with lovely black fabric with a vague shine to it, and gold top - stitching, the parts of the hat so far are looking good.










learning is great fun!

THE MERMAID

OK, so I've had the idea running around in my head for as many years as my nickname has been THE MERMAID (RAPTUROUS MERMAID) ... so many ideas, in fact... but none of them quite THE idea i wanted.

I don't want a yuk mermaid costume... or a half costume.. or even an OK costume.... I Am THE MERMAID... it needs to be a costume of magical qualities suitable for the GODDESS of ALL mermaids to wear......

so, this time I think I have it... the winning idea, the costume for THE MERMAID......

Maybe "costume" isn't even the word i shoudl be using to describe this wonder.... hmmm, i'll have to think on that....


I have been looking around over the years - on the net - google'd mermaids a few times, gotten books from the library, checked out what the local costume suppliers have to offer, etc, etc.... and what they have to offer is nice, granted...... but just..... not ENOUGH.... not magical enough, not goddess enough, not RAPTUROUS enough!! more often than not, not long enough, and not adult enough too....

I seem to have some very specific ideas about how hottttttt the GODDESS of all mermaids would be (IS!!.... AM!!?!!) haha, and didnt wanna make ten costumes to get to the one I want, either..... so this idea has been forming for a milennia of mer - years.




the next step, of course, is to get the picture OUT of my head, and ONTO my mer-body!!





so, the head bit was easy... the next part proposes some challenges.... not the very least of all being time, fabric, THE WEATHER, well - behaving machinery (and child)..... and more new and exciting challenges yet un-thought of along the way no doubt!





Step #1 - get the idea out of my head.... done... i scribbled a very vague picture of the idea onto paper












The pencil drawing actually doesnt even do my idea justice... but that's ok...






It will be a 5 - piece costume, including skirt, bodice, sleeves and headgear.

For at least a couple of years now I have been setting aside specific pieces of mer - fabric out of the amazing amounts of fabric I use, towards making the mermaid costume..... pieces that either just look nice, or make me think watery, ocean-y thoughts, mermaid - ish colours, etc.




I also have very specific ideas it would seem, on what COLOURS a MERMAID GODDESS would wear... and I think most of those colours could be found on shells, and in the water....

PINKS, BLUES, GREENS.... TURQUIOSE, AQUA (I wonder what the difference between those two really is) the colours of frangipanni's and hibiscus, the colours of the clouds in the setting sun, the colours of clear, clean water and the play of the sun sparkling over the ocean, of summer.....the colours of the beach and the sand, and the jungle and the rainforest, shells and pearls and tropical flowers......




The colour of tanned skin and sunshine on muscles ..... the colour of sunshine in blonde hair.....
of possum's fur...
hehe my little helper has her very OWN set of ideas on WHOM should be getting a costume!

*sigh*

the colours of an UNDERWATER MERMAID WONDERLAND need to be incorporated into the very design of this masterpiece.

.....and mermaids have FINS!

I havent seen a mermaid costume with fins yet that tickle my mer - fancy .... I don't know if i've seen fins at all on one, now that I think of it - they often have a skirty bit at the bottom to hint at a tail...... but that's about it.... see? not good enough by far!















Soooo, of course, MY outfit will have fins... several of them..... mermaids don't only have one fin either for that matter... at least, not RAPTUROUS GODDESS MERMAIDS, anyway.

One of my biggest set - backs is also one of my greatest joys......

My love of combining different fabrics has.... welllll, not "gotten me in trouble before", as I'm inclined to say, but perhaps, led me to learn some very valuable lessons.

And, once again I am going and jumping in the deep end (haha i just made a mer - joke!!!) .....as far as my fabrics go for this creative wonder. But I am a firm beleiver in learning as i go, and that some lessons are better learned that way.


The tafe teachers would highly reccommend that I DON'T combine my fabrics the way I do.... but am I going to be able to create what is in my head if i don't? I think not!


I learned to make swimming costumes last year - and created a masterpiece.... so I am going to one - up myself on THE MERMAID. I have decided to use lycra. I have silver metallic gorgeous lycra that looks like water sparkling. I will use this as the main fabric for most of the costume.


I also found a stunning hot blue that i will trim the silver with, and hide my elastic under (this exact hot blue is my best favourite colour and makes my skin look awesome, so there is some thought behind the trim as it will then place the blue right next to my skin - creating the effect of a tan even in the depths of snowy cold winter! smart mermaid, huh?)


I'd love to be able to put all the colours in my mind into the outfit, but at the peril of weighing too much on the lycra, i have just done the best I can with the fabric choices available from the spare bedroom of doom / the walls of fabric - currently being renamed as TREASURE ISLAND at the moment.

The tail on the mermaid costumes I have seen are not to my liking either... also not enough. i picture the tail of a gorgeous goldfish or mexican fighting fish... flowing and delicate, long, wispy, swirling..... the tails on most costumes just seem to be a gathered frill at the boittom of a skirt.
the tail so far..........
Impressive huh?
well, I am impressed with myself so far, the outfit is going as planned.
a slight hiccup with the sizing of the skirt - as I mentoined the weight of the tail pulling on the lycra has to be accounted for, but I have it all under control.
THE RAPTUROUS MERMAID OF WONDER will be clothed inthe finest of garments.
hehe, ok well I should stop talking about it and go and do some more work on it perhaps....
to be continued........

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