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Author Topic: A different wearable hobby  (Read 2975 times)

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Kaljaia

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A different wearable hobby
« on: April 10, 2016, 05:52:29 PM »

The trim saw got blocked off by someone else's tree trunk for a bit, so while I was waiting for them to move their lumber, I indulged in a different hobby. Emerald City Comic Con was this past weekend and I'd had plans to go since last October with some friends. I made it work with my work schedule and ran up and back for a very quick trip to the west side of the mountains.
A friend of mine snapped this picture while we were there:



I have a soft spot for sculptural garment construction (which is to say, the weirder the better and costumes are fun, but I have no patience for actual pattern + sewing and prefer hot glue, staples and double-sided tape.) There was no needle involved in this. It's made out of several $5 Goodwill leather jackets, one castoff fabric suede skirt and a big piece of cheap black suede fabric from Joanns, and a lot of hot glue. Pattern was my own interpretation of a video game character whose armor was both modest and vocation appropriate ;) and I thought it would be a fun challenge. It went over quite well and we all had a great weekend of costumes, panel discussions, author autographs and downtown Seattle food and sights! Made me miss the city all over again, but I'm glad to be back in Oregon now too. 
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- Erika

I rock hunt in the Antelope/Ashwood area of the John Day river basin in Oregon.

ToTheSummit

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2016, 06:19:59 PM »

Very nice!  You did well on the costume.  What character were you going for?  Wife and I game a bit but I'm no expert on video game characters.
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Asianfire

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2016, 06:58:17 PM »

Looking great.
Comic Cons are very popular over here in Asia. My daughter likes to go every year twice.
Will have to show her your picture, lets see if she is willing to create something for herself.
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lithicbeads

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2016, 08:55:31 PM »

 Cos play it is called correct? No stranger than zoot suits or the clothes I saw on communes in the sixties. Letting your creative juices run out is very healthy. What other costumes have you inhabited?
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Kaljaia

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2016, 09:53:03 PM »

Thanks for the comments ;) glad you all like it too! Yeah they call it Cosplay these days and my goodness people take it seriously. The contest at the con had a $1,500 top prize. The girl who won it had an incredibly elaborate costume complete with stage effects.

This is a 'nightingale' armor from a game called Skyrim. In the game, you can acquire the armor and then put it on a wooden display mannequin in a house. The mannequins are glitched and can reappear randomly around the house (possibly as a reference to the 'weeping angels' from Doctor Who). I joked that that's what I went as, because I'm really awful at posing for pictures and tend to just awkwardly stand around staring at people.

I've made two Valka costumes (the mom from How To Train Your Dragon 2), both the 'normal' outfit and the battle armor, but both were cardboard and paper and disposable post-party. I love making masks and have worn them to cons before as original wearable art. The top one was for the fun of it and the kimono started as a costume for a character from the movie 'Summer Wars' but never got anywhere near finished. So it got worn with the mask instead. Second was an original character, an excuse to bring something to life (and learn how to make a jacket) and the other two were just fun to make. I did ballroom dance once in that bottom one, which has foot-long twig antlers. I give full credit to my partner, who knew what he was doing and knew how to lead.







I tell my parents that even though I have a 'proper' degree and a 'proper' job, I'm not going to let 'em forget my first childhood dream job was costume designer for a movie studio.
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- Erika

I rock hunt in the Antelope/Ashwood area of the John Day river basin in Oregon.

ToTheSummit

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2016, 04:28:34 AM »

I knew I should have recognized the nightingale costume.   Skyrim is at the top of my all-time video game list.  I used to be an adventurer but then I took an arrow to the knee. LOL
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lithicbeads

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2016, 05:27:40 AM »

Great masks. You know about the west African mask tradition?
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Kaljaia

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2016, 07:11:43 AM »

I knew I should have recognized the nightingale costume.   Skyrim is at the top of my all-time video game list.  I used to be an adventurer but then I took an arrow to the knee. LOL

Lol yes. I played it for the first time while snowed in in Wheaton, IL last winter. It was great for a long cold winter, and I go back to it fairly regularly. Such a huge world they created!


And yeah I'm familiar with a few mask traditions, some from Africa and also some from the Pacific NW coast. We roadtripped to Alert Bay a few summers ago to see the collection there. I did a grad research paper once on mask use in transformation myth and storytelling, and on its effect on audience 'buy-in' to the story being told. It was in the context of translation, and I was arguing that a western translator needed to take into account the use of non-verbal story as well as what is spoken or written, because the story without the performance and associated mask + regalia wouldn't have the same meaning, and would thus have been mistranslated.
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- Erika

I rock hunt in the Antelope/Ashwood area of the John Day river basin in Oregon.

lithicbeads

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2016, 12:05:26 PM »

It is a given that outsiders cannot ever experience   a social art form in the way that those who live in the culture do but the questions that outsiders ask as they attempt tounderstand and the theories they concoct can actually be helpful in the reintroduction of aspects of culture if they die out and there is a desire to reintroduce them. I always enjoy peoples unbelieving stares when you tell them that Greek marble statues were painted the most outrageously gaudy colors available or that Turners moody paintings are only moody because the almost florescent pigments he used were incredibly fugitive. Crimson to grey sums it up.Our whole life is a sea of social interpretation , within and between groups.Ever been to the Metropolitan Museum in N.Y. ? Mask heaven and no slouch on stones either.
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Kaljaia

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2016, 07:45:59 AM »

I have not yet been to the Met! It's on my list of life things, but just haven't gotten there yet. (I have a dream of finding my way by train all the way to the east coast and back, but that might have to wait for the correct alignment of friends, resources and time off.)
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- Erika

I rock hunt in the Antelope/Ashwood area of the John Day river basin in Oregon.

lithicbeads

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2016, 09:32:19 AM »

A way to make it much less expensive is to train in from New Jersey each morning. It takes a bit of research but accomodations can be half or less a half hour train ride away.$400 a night for a not great room makes N.Y. difficult. You can bus uptown to the museum. You need a minimum of two days at the museum  and preferably not two consecutive days to give you a visual break.Museum of Natural History is also world class  as is the N.Y. Botanical Garden, the Frick , the Gugenheim, etc , etc, etc. I have been to NY city a huge amount in my life and love many aspects of it but would not live there for a moment. At  the Met most visitors are from out of the country.Sitting on the front steps in the afternoon is a trip as well as the street scene mixes with the museum visitors. NY is quite safe now and has been for years but rules apply. It is safer because the residents are street smart and avoid risk for the most part. I have always found NJ to be more dangerous than NY probably because I lived in NJ and you have to let your guard down at times.
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Enchantra

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Re: A different wearable hobby
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2016, 10:32:00 PM »

As someone who has made clothing, does beadwork, dabbles in leatherworking, and has a healthy appreciation for armor and weaponsmithing,  I give you Kudos! 
The Anthropologist in me loves the masks.
Keep it up, it's awesome.   :icon_sunny: :thumbsup:
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