FenCon Report and KItsune Fan

cutestpaw.com

I am exhausted.  It's been a long week and a very busy weekend, but it's been a great one.  I had fun at FenCon, and I did much better than I thought I might in the art show.  Now that it's over, I've got a ton of things to do but I'm excited to realize a dream I abandoned in my twenties.

I sat in on a couple of very interesting panels by costumer Kathleen O'Brien.  I've seen her at several of the Texas and Oklahoma cons, and her work is beautiful.  I've enjoyed every panel I've seen her on, and this con didn't disappoint.  She had a class on the history of the bustle and brought examples from her vintage collection and it was fascinating!  I took her "construct your own bustle' make shop and sadly, we didn't have enough time to complete so I've still got a bunch of wire and an incomplete bustle... for now.  She gave us written instructions and pictures, so I've got enough to get myself started and just enough knowledge of construction to get me into a LOT of trouble.

I was Mom and John DeLaughter's Minion for some of the FenKids programming.  I was happy to help out even if I have no clue what I'm doing.  Mom had a dinoKids panel where we tried to put together a skeleton puzzle (we failed) and made "dino eggs" with a skeletal dinosaur in the middle.  John was making bridges out of marshmallows, pretzel sticks, graham crackers, and frosting which was somehow amusing and terrifying at the same time.  There were a LOT of kids happy about all the sugary sweets! (John's evil.  It's part of his charm!) I helped out where I could, assisting the younger kids with the dino eggs and kibitzing with the older ones building the bridges.  Doggy Daycare is a great way to get familiar with the controlled chaos of a room full of children, but I was still overwhelmed at times!  Fortunately, there were several people there and we managed to keep all of the children safe and (mostly) happy.

OMG! OMG! OMG! I Sold Stuff In The Art Show!!!!!

(actual text to a few friends)

I arrived Friday after my day job and was very anxious about setting up my first art show.  I felt so unprepared and had no clue what I was doing.  The FenCon Art Show staff was very helpful and got me on my way with all of the tags, procedures, and everything else I had no clue about.  I was very grateful for them!  It was a great art show, and I was intimidated by the quality of art in the show.  There were so many excellent artists!  Many of the artists sold at least a piece, and I'm so glad that it was a successful show.

via/karmiphuc.com

I was popular with the Whovians and all of my Dr. Who work sold out!  I am delighted to see them go and hope they bring their new owners much joy and compliments.  I still squee a little when I think about it.  I sold my artwork!  To strangers!

I create for my own joy and to find other people who enjoy it fills me with such pride.

There and Back Again Book Purse, part 2: lining and final assembly

We left off last week with the finished purse handles and cover ready for assembly.  This week we'll be concentrating on the lining and putting the entire thing together.  Check out part 1 to see how I made the handles and designed the cover. I'm using the directions from Juliacy's Book Purse DIY video for most of the instructions here.  

Supplies:

approx .5 yards of fabric

poster board or light cardboard

ribbon

Duct tape

ribbon

needle and thread/sewing machine

Hot glue and glue sticks

Book purse handles

Painted book cover

Magnetic closure, filched from an old purse

Ruler 

Most of these materials I already had around.  Overall, I've spent less than 10.00 (US) on them.  

Pattern making

Now it's time to set the opening.  It needs to be wide enough to get a hand in there, but not so wide that stuff falls out of it when you are fishing for your keys.  I found about 6 inches (15 cm) should do the trick.  

I placed my book on my poster board and traced the shape of my book.  This wasn't as accurate as I
'd have liked.  In the future, I'll take the time to measure out and mark it out.  If the cardboard is thicker, score with the craft knife to make folding easier.  The cut mark will be on the outside.  

Make 2 trapezoid shapes and fold them in half.  Trim up so that they're symmetrical and set aside. 

Measure and cut a long rectangle to fit inside the spine.  

There and Back Again Book Purse: Handles and painting the cover

Finished and Unfinished

As I mentioned last week, I wanted to do a book purse based on the adventures from The Hobbit.  I decided to make my own book cover because it's a bit of a shortcut... I can design the cover myself and don't have to spend the time or energy looking for the exact book at the right price.  I can't see paying more than a few bucks for a book I'm about to murder the heck out of.  I ended up getting the fabric and book for less than 10 bucks at my local Goodwill.  This project is pretty involved, so I'll be breaking this up into 2 parts.

You're going to need a lot
more beer, kiddo.

So for my bibliophiles, these posts may be slightly traumatic as they depict graphic images of a book that has been dissected for the sake of art.  I'll make the appropriate offerings to appease the Ghods...

Some day.

So... on to the book murder!

Cosmos Jewlery part one: Galaxy Choker

This is part one of a more intricate piece coming up next week for a piece inspired by the miniseries Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.  I'm a science fangirl and was eagerly anticipating the new show, which didn't disappoint.  It was a good follow-up to the original series by Carl Sagan.  Both filled me with a sense of childlike wonder at the amazing complexity of the world and universe we find ourselves in.

It inspired me to sculpt the Spaceship of the Imagination.  I began with sculpey and a marble, but sculpey is soft enough after baking that I don't trust it as a jewelry piece.  Plastic should be much more sturdy, so this little guy is currently sitting in a homemade silicone mold that's curing.

I wanted a statement piece to go along with this and so to go along with the theme of the show.  At SoonerCon, I found and bought an amazing steampunk choker that was made from an old belt.  I thought that was a great idea and went on a shopping spree a nearby Goodwill.

Supplies

• Skinny belt
• Scissors
• Acrylic paint in black, white, blue, purple, red, and yellow
• sponge (I'm using a latex makeup sponge)
• small (size 0) paintbrush or a toothbrush, toothbpick, or dotting tool
• Leather Punch or awl
• Mod Podge or other sealant
• Chain, jump rings, and jewelry clasp (if not keeping the belt buckle)

The brand of paint you use isn't important, nor are the colors.  If you look at images from the Hubble telescope, you'll see just about every color imaginable in there.  

(yes, the images are enhanced and show details not visible to the human eye.)