A&S Update...

So I've mostly settled on my A&S entries for Adiantum's competition in January.  I'm torn between doing a reconstruction of Livia's hairstyle, and doing a research paper on the position of Ornatrices in Roman households.  The former would be easier, because I've worked out how to accomplish the hairstyle already, my trouble would be how to flesh out the documentation to make it feel like it was worthwhile.  On the other hand, I have very little actual research on the position of Ornatrices within a household, though I have done a little preliminary book searching.  I mostly like the first option because of the visual aspect of doing the hairstyle is a little flashier, and I'm known in the area for hairstyling.

The other entry I'm intending is my soon to be made Housebook dress.  I decided to make this dress because my family has graciously given me tickets to go back to Texas for a visit at the beginning of December.  I'll get to be home for Stargate's Yule, and was pondering whether or not to make something new, and was talking it over with my best friend.  We both mentioned that the only dress we were interested in making at the time was the two different styles of dress that we would be wearing with the cute red fringed hats I made months ago.  Since the styles were different, and the colors were different enough, I felt we wouldn't be too terribly twinkie, and we could go ahead with the plan.  We've now challenged each other to make a fancy new dress, though The Boy thinks there should be a prize for the "winner." Her boy has promised to take us out for a drink.

I've been working on it slowly, and most of the info is posted over at our shared blog.  I've got the underdress, the hemd, done enough to wear, though I would like to hand finish all the seams before entering it in at Midwinter.  I've included the inspiration image, which of course I can't find the actual citation at this moment, but came originally from Eme's Compendium.  You also get a couple photos of me in my hemd and cute red fringed hat, and a lovely Paint sketch of my pattern for my hemd.  It came out of about 4 and 1/3 yards of 3.5 oz linen from Fabric-Store.com, which I had originally bought back in February to make a smocked hemd for my Trossfrau.  I've gotten the bodice patterned, but now need to figure out the sleeve pattern.  I also got to use a fantastic local resource, the Eugene Textile Center, to dye the wool coating I was given as a thank you to a gorgeous teal color.  The whole thing is coming along, but I have about a week and a half left to sew the whole thing together, if I allow time out because of travel to Seattle for Thanksgiving.  I'm hoping it will all come together, but I think it will be okay.

Made something new for Etsy...

One of my friends back in Texas started a group on Facebook designed to give artists motivation to complete new works.  Hearkening back to the days of high school art classes, she gives us a topic and two weeks to create a new piece of work in any medium we like to represent that subject.  This week's topic was your favorite color.  I decided that whenever I made something for these challenges, I'd try to sell them on Etsy, and see if it won't motivate me to keep putting items up for sale.

Here's a few bathroom mirror photos of the newest fascinator.

The "feathers" are made from millinery wire covered with blue silk dupioni and silk charmeuse.  The blue wire wraps around the base and helps anchor the feathers onto the comb.  I put it together in about two or three hours, once I was inspired.

So I'm trying out a new website...

I am a rather busty woman.  I've always been a busty woman, much to my dismay when it comes to shopping.  I haven't been able to purchase bras from a department store since I started high school.  I was buying from Lane Bryant throughout high school, and now I'm too busty for them.  So I am trying out a website geared towards busty ladies, Big Girl Bras.  They are currently running a sale on a few things and have a fairly generous return policy, so I thought I'd give them a shot.


So far I'm impressed.  They have a large variety, let you know what is and isn't in stock right up front, and give the shopper a sizing chart to show how the different brands line up with a standard U.S. sizing.


I wandered through their "Everyday Bras" page, uninspired to really purchase anything, as my main motivation when purchasing a new bra, regardless of fit or comfort, is that I want a bra my grandmother wouldn't approve of.  After that I want fit and comfort, but if I think my grandmother would approve I don't want to wear it.  When I purchase a bra, it must be attractive.  Besides having a man in my life that will see it, if my bra isn't pretty, I won't feel pretty.  And being a larger woman means I don't always feel pretty, so I don't see a reason to start off a step behind.


So I popped over to the "T-Shirt Bras" page and decided to purchase the Le Mystere Bra 9955.  It had good ratings for the five reviews given it, and was currently on sale(ish), marked down from $69 to $62.10.   I have enough money to try it, and can always return it if it doesn't fit correctly and try again with a different size or different style.  When I got to the check out page, they gave me the coupon code "dancing" as an extra 10% off the purchase.  Which brought my purchase to just under $61 with the generic shipping that is non refundable if the bra doesn't fit.


I've since noticed that they have this code on their webpage and it's good through Nov. 10 for purchases over $35.  They also have a coupon code for free shipping on purchases over $75.  Considering that just one bra could be over $75, that's a pretty easy way to free shipping.


I'll let the internet know when it arrives and if it fits.  I can't decide if I want it to fit or not, so I can test the return policy...

So I've thought up a way to scale back my idea...

I was thinking about the sheer scope of doing woodcuts to illustrate the first part of the story of Saint Ursul, and from the beginning, I knew it was a bit ridiculous.  I don't have the skills, the time or really the patience to do such a large scale project.  But I've come up with a moderately sized project that could be interesting.  In the random internet searching I've done recently on woodcuts and saints, I ran across the theory that in period small woodcut prints of saints were sold as tokens for a pilgrimage, as good luck charms, and were then pasted into books of hours, sewn into garments, or pasted into various boxes to bring safety and good luck via the particular saint to the person or item.  I kind of like the idea of doing a couple different sized icons of "Saint Ursul" and trying to sell them along with documenting the process.  I think it would be something different even if it wasn't a prize winner, and would bring a little more medieval feel to the event.

The trouble being, I'm not the greatest artist when it comes to drawing, and the subject is a made up character so I don't know all the details such as his heraldry, or hairstyle or if he had facial hair.  I'll try to ask someone responsible for the competition if they know what the heraldry is supposed to look like, and I can pick a culture to imitate for the woodcut style, and mimic their hair.

I've got some ideas, it's probably time to start sketching.  Or maybe bed.

Or maybe sketching?

So I'm inspired for a new A&S project...

I was looking into future events for the area, and there's a huge event that's well known around An Tir that the boy and I are interested in attending, called Ursulmas up near Seattle.  There's an A&S competition based around the fictional patron Saint of Aquaterera and I was reading the legends about St. Ursul, and thought that woodcuts depicting Part I would be a really cool idea.

Of course all the knowledge I have about woodcuts I learned in a single class taught by a friend at an event years ago.  And I haven't really tried carving anything, aside from a couple things on a lathe, since that class.  And I don't own any of the materials or supplies necessary to undertake such a project.

But boy, do I want to try it.

Aside from the lack of materials, tools and knowledge, the event is in January.  At the same time I'm supposed to be competing in the local A&S championship for Adiantum.  To compete in this championship, I'll need two entries, one of which I've decided to base around the iconic hairstyle of Empress Livia and an article written by hairstyle archaeologist Janet Stephens .  I'm not sure what I want to do for the second entry, but it's supposed to be on something completely different, and if possible, one art and one science, if the entrant can differentiate the two.

I'm tempted to visit the local Michael's tomorrow and see what it would cost to start off with basic woodcut supplies.

But for tonight, I should get off the computer and let The Boy get some sleep.

Been a heck of a while...

The new job has taken a lot out of me.  Long, ridiculous hours meant most of August and September I was either working or sleeping.  There was a little time spent eating and eventing, but very little in comparison.

I know I promised a tutorial on Livia's hairstyle, but there are computery issues preventing that for right now.  But it is not forgotten, that particular hairstyle has been on my mind for quite a while.  The Boy and I entered the Summits' Coronet Lysts last month, and I wore that particular hairstyle to show off.  I looked fantastically Roman, enough that the Prince (a Roman Persona himself) gave The Boy approval for having a Roman lady on his arm.

I'm also turning that recreation into a full on A&S entry for the Baronial Championship in January.  I'm going to try to keep the cloak in the family so to speak.  I'm getting started on documentation now, partially because I want to do it right, and mostly because I'm currently motivated.

Also in the time that I've failed to post I was given two awards at the Barony's fall event.  The Baronial Brownie, Adiantum's first tier service award, a recognition of attendance, support, and promotion of the Barony.  Kind of like a Baronial AoA.  I was also given the Fern and Quill, the Barony's arts award, specifically for skill and generosity with hairdressing.  The current B&B will be stepping down in a few months, and I believe that Morrghan, the Baroness, wanted to be the one who gave me this award.  There was mention of how recently we'd moved into the barony, and if we were to move she'd steal the alternator from the car.  It's wonderful to be recognized for the hair styling up here.  I hadn't done much research into authentic styles back in Ansteorra, but was mostly a "get it off my neck" hairdresser.

We (The Boy, a few friends and I) went up to Honor Feast last weekend, hosted by the Portland group.  The event was fun, if a bit common as far as events go.  The "ball" was more of a class, but fun despite it's short time frame. The Boy and I made contacts with the Dance Master/Mistresses from up northerly way, and got to help with their issues with Parson's Farewell.  They were trying to reconstruct it and were getting caught in a couple sections, so we taught it the way we'd learned it in Ansteorra.  They seemed giddy to discover we knew the dance, and we kind of blew apart the ball right there in order to teach it to them.  We're now plotting to start up a dance night in the Salem group, so that the dancers from Eugene and Portland can descend upon a central area and take over.  I also got my hairdressing name out there further, hopefully people will recognize me in the future.  I chose to wear the 1515 Florentine for the day, not something I usually wear, but I looked damn good that day.

Hope to have more to say in the coming months, and more time to say it.

An attempt at a Roman hairstyle is forthcoming...

So I'm planning an A&S project for February-ish, which is recreating a Roman hairstyle without Janet Stephens having done it first!  I'm working on my recreation right now, and photographing the steps in perhaps more detail than is really necessary.  I'm hoping to get a basic write up done either tonight (yeah right!) or in the next couple days.  It's not exactly easy, because it is hard to juggle the hair and the camera in the tiny overheated bathroom, but I'm trying.  I can see why Janet Stephens uses a cosmetology head and video camera for her demos, once it's set up on the stand and tripod, you don't have to move them so much.

I wish I could just ask The Boy, but he found out earlier that the paper he thought was due on Monday, is in fact due tomorrow morning.  But this is my last guaranteed free night for a while, so I thought'd I'd get some use out of it.  Tomorrow, I go sign the paperwork for my NEW JOB!

That's right, new job.  It's not an amazing job, in fact I wouldn't have considered it back in January, but being without work for seven months has done a number on my self worth, and having any job has made me feel validated.  The hours aren't great, lots of extremely early mornings, late nights and weekends, but the paycheck will help us out so much.  And that's really all I feel I can say.  There's some strict policies about mentioning the company online, and I don't want a stray post to come back to bite me.

A little more water and back to the heat of the bathroom.

In Service to the Hair,

P