San Diego Comic Con 2019

More 2019 recap.

*Sigh* I've honestly been putting this off because I didn't know where to start with it. SDCC was a full year+ ago now, and even at the time the whole thing was a whirlwind and I kind of felt in a fog all weekend. I also didn't take many photos, so there's not much to show. But it was a big event and I feel like it needs to be recapped. So I'll do my best.

I used to go to SDCC every year, which I'm keenly aware was a privilege given how hard it can be to get badges and how expensive the whole trip can be. A few years I was just lucky enough to get badges, and a few years I had a pro badge which helped secure attendance and cut costs, and my friends and I always made the trip on a budget. Back in those days SDCC was also often the only con I went to and one of the only big trips I made all year, so it was more manageable to plan for without a bunch of other stuff to fit around it.

2015 was kind of a dud, with uncomfortably big crowds, problems with event organization, and I think just a general burnout on our part. For the first time I understood my friends in the comics industry who used to go every year and then got bored or fed up with it and stopped. So after that year I stopped going to SDCC and focused on smaller, more local events like WonderCon, L.A. Comic Con, and Labyrinth Masquerade. (In a lot of ways, Labyrinth became the Big Event replacement for SDCC.) Every once in a while there was the thought that maybe it would be worth going back to SDCC at some point, just to get a taste of it again. I did miss the annual trip to San Diego and the big to do over the whole thing. But nothing really came of it.

Then last year, a friend who was going to be on a panel at SDCC invited us to go along. We were able to get badges for just that day and planned to share an Airbnb with her, both of which made the usually difficult and expensive trip suddenly very doable, even on the comparatively short notice (we had a few months to prep, but this is a trip that's usually much longer in the making). Only being at the con itself one day, we only needed one costume compared to the full four-day lineup we'd done in the past. I brought both flight suit Carol Danvers (which I ended up wearing) and Civil War Sharon Carter (which I kind of wish I'd worn) as options, and my friend brought Civil War Natasha Romanoff.

On the drive down, we ended up going right past San Juan Capistrano. I did my elementary school mission report on Capistrano (I liked the sparrows that lived there) and I'd always wanted to go, but I'd never realized it was so close to where I live now. So we took advantage of the coincidence and made an unscheduled pit stop.

Our Airbnb was in the outskirts of San Diego proper, and as a first experience doing Airbnb it was pretty fun. I did miss the convenience of staying at a hotel with a con shuttle (also just the luxury of staying at a hotel) and being closer to the action. But it was also nice being in a private house in a quiet neighborhood, going grocery shopping for whatever we wanted and just generally tootling around in the suburbs. And it was a lot cheaper than a hotel downtown or even on Hotel Row.

We went to the con on Friday, and started the morning with the West Coast Avengers photoshoot. Weirdly, for being a bigger con it was a much smaller group that gathered compared to WonderCon. Maybe just too much other stuff going on and dividing people's schedules. But I loved being part of the Carol group again, and it was fun to see some familiar faces.

We also met this amazing Civil War Sharon! I've never seen anyone do this costume in person, and it made me wish I'd worn mine.

The rest of the day we went to our friend's panel which was so much fun, and then did the exhibit hall. I'd forgotten how hectic the floor can be, and how overwhelming the crowds and just overall scale is. There's also way too much to see in one day, so we scoped out the exhibitor list and floor map to make sure we hit our favorite booths.

Saturday was devoted to tourist-y sightseeing. On our other trips we'd spend most of our time at the con and always hung around downtown, so we hadn't seen much of San Diego. So this time we spent the day in Old Town. We went ghost hunting at the Whaley House, had the absolute best drinks at Nibble Chocolate, window shopped, and just generally enjoyed the atmosphere. (I also used all the walking to participate in a virtual 5k for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11!) We went back downtown to Little Italy for our traditional dinner at Filippi's.

Sunday we were back downtown again to see all the outdoor non-badge con stuff at the convention center and in Gaslamp. Some big highlights were the Apollo anniversary stuff, the "Starfleet Museum" (a gallery set up with Star Trek props as viral marketing for the new Picard series), and of course the cosplayers.

It was such a fun weekend, we seriously considered going back to SDCC this year. Until this year happened and everything was cancelled. But we're still looking ahead to next year and beyond.

Thrifting Wizardry - My Tips and Tricks

While everything about pandemic and quarantine and just 2020 in general is A Lot, certain frivolous things I'm missing have been on my mind lately. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year, even if it's more a state of mind than tangible season here in Southern California, and it always has me wanting to go out and do stuff. Normally I've been out haunting craft and thrift stores and making Halloween and Dapper Day costumes for weeks by now. This year, that desire to do is amplified by not being able to. Craft stores I can get to online (even if the thrill isn't the same), and Etsy has certainly seen more of my action than usual. But thrift stores are still out of reach.

I've been burning through thrift haul videos on YouTube to live vicariously through other shoppers' past experiences (at the moment I'm watching The Closet Historian and Rachel Maksy, who I highly recommend), and their recaps got me thinking that I could take my own trip down memory lane. I'm figuring out how to do a profile of sorts on some of my all-time favorite thrift finds, and maybe one on identifying vintage markers in more modern clothes, but in the meantime I figured I could jot down some of my methods for A+ thrifting. I can't even pretend to know it all, of course, and everyone's goals and opportunities are different so your mileage may vary. But I've been thrifting basically all my life (big thanks to my thrift-enthusiast parents) and I feel like I've developed a bit of a knack for it. So these are the major tips and tricks I follow when I shop.

-Find your niche
I wear a lot of t-shirts and jeans/leggings in Real Life, so I don't necessarily go thrifting for stuff I'm going to wear on a daily basis. Though at this point, after years of thrifting a lot of my "nicer" everyday clothes are secondhand. So I might pick up some casual wear incidentally, but mostly what I'm looking for is more hobby or special occasion stuff, and for me that's pre-1950s antique/vintage/retro or lookalike, pieces for costumes I'm planning, and things made from great fabric I can repurpose. My roommate loves 1970s pants for office wear. My parents collect dishware and unique wall art. If you have something specific to look for, it can make the whole process more manageable and more exciting. Thrifting can also be a good way to figure out what your niche is, as you start finding things that jump out at you and connect the dots of what makes you tick.

-Do your research
You don't have to know everything. There's still so much I have to learn about the things I love to shop for. But getting a sense of the aesthetic and value of what you're looking for can be helpful. I don't always feel like I know my niche on a technical level, but I've done enough research to develop an eye for what looks correct to me. I can't always explain why it's right, but I know it when I see it and it just feels right, and that helps guide me. The more you research, even casually, the more this will become second nature. Knowing what you're looking for is especially useful at antique/vintage stores that have older stuff at higher prices and where you want to be a bit more careful, but it's super useful at thrift stores too. Knowing your niche at thrift stores can help you identify, for example, vintage design elements in more modern clothes. If you're looking for 1940s and know the look, you can find and take advantage of the 1980s-does-1940s stuff which is pretty common and cheap, and you can get a vintage look for less. Always a win.

This also applies to the types of stores you visit. In my area, thrift stores are generally larger charity "chains" with multiple locations (Salvation Army, Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul, etc.), and antique/vintage stores are private small businesses. If you like to shop conscientiously, help out those small businesses and do a little digging into which charities you'd prefer to support. Once you start going to stores, you'll also learn which places have the best prices or best inventory (or, ideally, the best combination of price and inventory) and you can develop a list of favorites.

-Set a budget (eww)
This is tied to research, because you kind of need to know the values of items and price points of different kinds of stores to maximize a budget. But it's also just its own issue. I kind of break this rule, because I don't really set a budget per se. I usually shop at thrift stores where the prices are low, and I shop for specific types of things, so I tap myself out on what's available before I spend more than I'm comfortable with. At antique/vintage stores I might lust after a lot, but I only let myself buy things I need that are at a price I'm comfortable with. Basically I just judge where my finances are at and play safely within that so nothing else suffers. So that middle ground works for me, and those kinds of general limitations instead of specific numerical cut-offs can work as a budget too. Like most things, do whatever works for you.

-Look through EVERYTHING
Depending on the size of your thrift store or how many you go to, this might be more or less feasible. But it's worth a try. Things might be sorted incorrectly or misplaced on the wrong rack. I regularly find women's clothing in the men's section and vice versa (to say nothing of clothes you want to use however regardless of how they're branded—the gender binary is a social construct and everyone should wear whatever they like). Different brands, eras, and styles will have different sizing and different cuts, so they'll fit slightly different: a size small that's cut to be oversized might fit like a large, a large might run smaller than usual, and so on. This also goes for sections of the store that you think won't have anything good. One of the coolest finds I've ever made was a World War I liberty loan pin mixed in with a bunch of random 1980s and 1990s knick-knacks in a $1 discount bin. You really just never know what you'll find where. There are treasures out there. Discover them!

-Try stuff on
I do sometimes skip this step when I know I can pass an item on to someone else if it doesn't work for me, or if it's just too cool or the deal is too good and I have to have it regardless (maybe to use as a collection piece for study). If I'm straight-up repurposing fit doesn't matter of course. And unfortunately sometimes there's no dressing rooms. But most of the time, I try on everything I possibly can. Something might be my style and my size, but then I try it on and hate how it looks. Something might leave me feeling eh on the hangar, but once I try it on it's perfect for me. In the same principle as looking through everything, eras and styles and sizes can vary, so you'll never really know until you put it on.

-Manage your expectations
If thrift stores have a weakness, it's inventory. Unlike online shopping on sites like Etsy where you can much more easily search for and find specific items, at a thrift store you're limited to whatever they might have in stock that day. I tend to get my hopes up too easily, and under thrifting conditions that's a recipe for letdown. To manage that, I try to keep an open mind. I do still shop with specific items in mind, and if I find that great! But I don't let myself get caught up in the idea of finding it, and I just let it be a more low-key, adventurous experience to see what unexpected things I might come across. Of course if you go to a store and don't find anything regardless of whether you were on the hunt or just browsing, that's still disappointing. But I spin it as a chance to save my money for something good that will inevitably come along later. Also, going to stores you're familiar with that consistently have good stock improves your odds of finding stuff, so sometimes it helps to also just manage your time and only go to places you know have the best odds.

-Make peace with "no"
On the other end of the spectrum, inevitably you'll find something that stirs your soul but you just can't have. This one is difficult for me, because my eyes and aesthetics are often bigger than my bank account.  Make peace with passing on things that are beyond your budget or that you can't make work. It will happen, and it'll be okay. On the other hand...

-Feel free to take chances
If you're on the fence about something, don't feel bad about saying "why not?" and just going for it. Try it out for a while. Best case, it works! Even worst case, it doesn't work and you sell it or gift it or just donate it again. Of course I can really only justify this when the item is cheap enough that it's not a big risk to potentially be throwing that money away. And I only do it on pieces that have at least one thing going for it: generally it has to at least fit and not look like a disaster, and if it doesn't fit I have to be fairly sure I can alter it or turn it into something else. Just like finding your niche in the first place, thrifting is a great cheap way to experiment with your niche and really develop a style or interest by taking a chance and trying things out.

I hope that helps someone (anyone) in the wild world of thrifting. As I think of any other cool tips and tricks I'll update, and in the meantime hopefully plan for some other thrifting wizardy posts (shall this become a series? Hmm.).

Stay tuned!

Hocus Pocus - Booooooook!

Hocus Pocus is still technically on hold right now, pending the time to do it justice, so this is kind of a major throwback. But I had already started the spellbook before the rest of the project was delayed, and I decided to finish it to have a prop to carry at WonderCon when we did Jay and Ice.

__________

As soon as I decided to be Winifred, I knew I needed her spellbook. It's been on my dream prop list for a long time, and this was the perfect excuse.

By chance, we already had a book box laying around, which is how I've always wanted to make it (built-in storage is always a win).

As a bonus, it's even Disney.

It's only slightly smaller than one I was considering buying, so it works really well. I'm thinking this'll be a prop to carry around at events. Being undersized is less of a hassle, and being a first attempt I don't mind if it gets a little beat up. Then I'll go back and buy a larger box as a nicer duplicate for display and photoshoots.

I did some minor mods to the box itself (cut down and flattened the spine, which was originally very curved), then marked the placement for all the seam lines and attached pieces on the covers.

 
I found some old shoelaces that worked well enough for the raised seams, gluing those down and leaving a slight gap between them that the eventual paper coating can be tucked into.

But the hot glue soaked into the shoelaces more than I expected and I wasn't able to stitch through it anymore. So I pulled the shoelaces off, did a bunch of tests, and replaced it with strips of 2mm craft foam (cut at an angle to soften the edge and help blend it with the cover) glued down with Tacky Glue. No photos of that, but whatever. I was making steady progress at that point so I just kept rolling with it.

I also sculpted the snakes for the front and back covers, the three parts of the clasp, and the fingers for the spine, all from Premo Sculpey.

I initially planned to buy and modify toy snakes and fake fingers and sculpt as little as possible, but once I started playing with the stuff it was a lot easier and more fun than I expected, so I went ahead and did it all. The second set of snakes turned out a little rougher than the first, so those went on the back and the nicer first set went on the front. All the snake and clasp pieces were painted solid black, making sure to fill in all the lines and holes, then drybrushed with pewter, then drybrushed even lighter—just catching the edges and highest raised surfaces—with a brighter silver.

The fingers were glued to the spine with E6000, and I made the seams around the fingers and the ridges for the gathers at the snake's mouths with puffy paint. After all the base pieces were attached, I applied paper towels to the entire front/back with watered down Mod Podge, pushing it around a little to get some wrinkles and extra texture. I did a solid base coat of dark grey to mask the colors on the paper, then a solid coat of medium brown, then several different drybrushed layers of lighter browns and yellows.

I got the eye from MisterEyes on Etsy. This was the hardest piece to find, but this is better than I hoped.

After the eye was glued down (E6000 again), I made lids with more paper towels and Mod Podge and painted that to match the rest. In hindsight I should have just applied the eye first and then done all the paper towel and paint, but I had the time to set aside for doing the cover and didn't want to wait for the eye to arrive. I initially left off the eyelashes, but I have a lot of fake lashes and recently found one that's missing its pair, so I might cut that up for the eyelashes someday.

The stitching was the slowest and most time-consuming part, and the part I'd been actively avoiding, so that's what held up finishing. Dental floss ended up being a good match for the sinewy looking stitching on the book.

So I just went through doing random messy stitches. I kind of referenced the screen-used book, but mostly it was just getting the same overall look without replicating the exact placement. Once all the stitches were, I weathered them all a little with light brown paint.

The clasp pieces were glued to a metal hinge, and there's a set of magnets in the book cover and the underside of the front clasp (under the rhinestone), so the clasp actually functions.

Aside from stitches, the last big thing was just gluing all the snake and clasp pieces on, and that was that.

It was pretty handy and a good amount of fun carrying it around at WonderCon, though weirdly a lot of people mistook it for the Evil Dead Necronomicon or the book from The Neverending Story.

I haven't had another chance to bust it out, so for now it has a place of honor on the shelf in front of my Hocus Pocus wall.

I'm currently in the process of researching and prepping version 2.0, which will be more screen accurate in size and detail.

Stay tuned!

Long Beach Pirate Invasion 2019

2019 recap continues!

After a mixed bag experience in 2017 and skipping 2018, I made it back to Pirate Invasion in 2019. We did modified Jack Sparrow and Pirate!Norrington last time and enjoyed it, but this time we went full historical with our chemise dresses. They've served us well as French aristocracy at Labyrinth and French and American middle class at Huntington Beach Revolution, and were reinvented yet again for pirate shenanigans (before we wildly distressed and weathered them for French Revolution Zombaes 2.0; this was actually their last pristine outing).

Back in February as I was prepping for HB Revolution, I did a poll on Facebook asking which side I should support. After getting the clear majority vote for America and wanting to make my ancestors proud, I decided to do an American impression. But Anglomania was always kind of in the back of my mind, so I decided Pirate Invasion was the perfect chance to finally go British. And pirates are cool and all, but I'm Royal Navy trash, so here we are.

First and foremost, this meant getting to make the Horatio Nelson portrait I wanted to do for HB Revolution.

Via Royal Museums Greenwich

Except that didn't happen. And that was really the first in a long line of failures for this event.

Most of the outfit was recycled from HB Revolution—all the undergarments, dress, hat, neckerchief, sash, shoes—and I just made tweaks as needed. The petticoats got a proper hem, both shorter and cleaner and actually finished. I used similar jewelry but swapped out a few pieces to be a little more flashy (I was aiming for a slightly more aristocratic impression, and this is a much less historically accurate event). For the hat, I just added the obligatory feathers and extra ribbon I never decided on when I first made it, and used some hatpins.

I was undecided on shoes for a while. I love, love, love my Kensingtons, but they're a little rough on my feet, especially when walking on hard surfaces (at HB Revolution, walking on the grass was a lot less fraught than on the paved paths). They really need to be stretched, but I haven't got to that yet. And of any historical-esque event I do, this is one where taking shortcuts with footwear for comfort is definitely a guilt-free option. But failure #2 was deciding to wear the Kensingtons anyway, because I have too much pride and my whole ensemble was accurate and stylish enough I didn't want to compromise. Wearing the Kensingtons wasn't a complete disaster, but the discomfort was definitely distracting at times.

We ended up being probably some of the most historically accurate costumed attendees there, which was a strange experience. At cons I usually fall in the "average to good" quality category and at reenactments I feel like I'm probably somewhere between passable and good for accuracy. But we got a lot of compliments, and I think it had to do with being (humblebrag here) good quality and detailed and also standing out aesthetically from the more stylized Ren faire steampunk-ish crowd (no shade; I love those costume genres too). I even got maybe the best compliment on one of my costumes yet: "You look right out of a painting." She went with Vermeer when Gainsborough would have been a little more on point, but I'll take it. On the flip side, two people complimented our "cosplays," someone said "Oh wow, I love the Regency," and I accidentally got into a spat over the timeline of the chemise dress (our respective insistence on worn before/during/after "the Revolution" was all just a misunderstanding over which revolution each of us was talking about, but she wasn't very gracious about it). So you win some, you lose some.

There were some bad and kind of sketchy experiences with vendors and event staff that really put a damper on the whole experience, funnily enough right at the beginning and end of the day. Everything in between was pleasant enough. And ironically, despite the event usually drawing a somewhat rowdy crowd, all the attendees (and in fairness, most of the vendors) we interacted with with were pretty excellent. I really can't say whether I'll be back for a while. There's not a lot there that's a big draw to begin with, and some of these experiences left a bad enough taste. Time will tell.

Stay tuned!

WonderCon 2019

Continuing last year's catch-up...

__________ 

My friend and I went to see Captain Marvel a few weeks before WonderCon, and we were still putting together our costume lineup at that point, so when we both fell in love with the movie we decided to debut a new set of Carol costumes at the con. I absolutely had to do her flight suit, and my friend did her grunge disguise.

As per usual for me, what would and should have been a fairly straightforward costume had some hiccups. I bought a screen accurate and actual GI flight suit online, which ended up wearable but slightly smaller than I was comfortable with. I have nice wide manly shoulders, but otherwise I'm short and curvy and proportionally that just doesn't work with standardized uniforms meant for Doritos tall fit men. I ended up ordering two more in different sizes but shipping was delayed and I didn't think they would arrive in time (spoiler: they didn't) so I went to a local surplus store literally the day before the con and bought yet another and that's the E! True Hollywood Story of how I ended up with four identical flight suits. Miraculously that last one was a better size, and funnily enough was actually manufactured at the time the movie's Air Force scenes take place (late 1980s), so it was even a little extra accurate.

Tracking down a suit that fits and spending four times more than I intended was the only real hangup, and everything else went pretty smoothly. I also bought a set of patches, and otherwise used stuff I already had: my go-to blonde lacefront wig, vintage Ray-Ban aviators, and black leather paddock boots. (I skipped the black undershirt for the sake of the heat.)

I'd assembled everything else beforehand, but because I got the suit at the 11th hour I was still doing repairs on it and adding the patches the night before the con.

With some thematic background noise. Shocking no one.

The Carols went to the con on Saturday, and we did the big Marvel photoshoot put on by the West Coast Avengers of the Avengers Initiative which was a blast.

This is probably the first time we've costumed something that was still in theaters (we usually do much more elaborate costumes that end up taking months or years of research and construction, or costumes from retro movies that have already been out for years) and we definitely felt the current of interest in the movie. There were a lot of other Carols there, and we had a lot of people stop us for photos and to chat. Looking at photos afterwards I felt a little retroactively self-conscious, as the flight suit was still more fitted than I was comfortable with, but on the day I felt 100% untouchably amazing. Big Flight Suit Energy is real.

A small thing, but it was also my first time fully gluing down the hairline of a lacefront wig and wearing it with a pulled-back style, and I don't remember how it looked in person, but in photos it looks like I just have blonde hair again and I'm still so pleased with that.

Sunday we busted out Jay and Ice, which were already done from a photoshoot the previous fall (which I'll post someday) but otherwise hadn't been worn anywhere. The only changes were different jeans and an alternate plaid shirt, and I finished the spellbook to carry around as a prop.

We did the Disney photoshoot, which was a little haphazard and I don't remember much now. Not many people recognized our costumes, and the spellbook got more attention than we did—though weirdly a lot of people thought it was the Necronomicon from Evil Dead or the book from Neverending Story. Which, alright, but if you know those movies and know those props, how do you mistake them for Hocus Pocus? But the people who did recognize us or the book went absolutely wild, which is always gratifying. And the highlight of the day was running into a Dani! We hardly ever (if ever) see Hocus Pocus costumes in the wild, so finding her by chance was amazing.

Besides the costume highlights, we walked the floor, bought some cool art, ate at our favorite potato food truck, and hung out with some great friends. It was a good weekend, as usual. WonderCon is a pretty reliable winner. It's even more meaningful looking back on it now, with WonderCon 2020 having been cancelled. Looking forward to making it back next year.

Stay tuned!

The Great L.A. Air Raid 2019

(I'm slowly slogging my way through the backlog of events from the last year that I never got around to posting. Bear with me.)

V for victory, y'all. Big Brother Churchill is always watching. (Sweatshirt by the incomparable SoCal WACs.)

One of my costume goals for 2019 was a proper 1940s ensemble for Air Raid. What I threw together last year was cute and comfortable and not completely inaccurate, but it also left a lot to be desired. I wanted to do something more accurate and more stylish for the second outing.

I have a few pairs of 1930s-1940s heels but they all need repairs, so I didn't have shoes ready to go that worked well with a skirt or dress. I also didn't have the time or inclination to make pants unless absolutely necessary. So the plan was to shop around for pants in hopes of finding something.

Ultimately the whole look was mostly my stuff with just a few new pieces, which is always kind of gratifying. From my closet I used my go-to faux pearl necklace, black pleather low-heel oxfords, a red probably-1980s-does-1940s blouse, a vintage 1950s(ish?) black beaded cardigan, and a vintage 1950s-1960s navy blue swing coat. I added a vintage grey fur collar from the stash to the coat and also did some much-needed repairs on it. A trip to La Bomba on Retro Row got me a pair of vintage blue wool U.S. Navy uniform pants miraculously in my size, and I got a fantastic vintage-looking brass stamping airplane off Etsy and turned it into a brooch. It got a lot of compliments and was a great low-cost jewelry piece to add to the collection. As usual, my hair was improvised with pin curls. My whole look was heavily inspired by a 1946 photo of my grandmother and great-aunt, looking absolutely fabulous in trousers and fur-collared coats.

And I'm not saying my grandfather was Indiana Jones, but...

Unlike last year, we also stayed until the dance was over. The MPs herded everyone out of the fort and it was amazing.

Then we went to the after-party on the Queen Mary, and walking around the halls and decks in period clothing and seeing everyone else dressed to the nines was an amazing bit of time travel. The Observation Bar was completely overcrowded with suits and gowns and uniforms and the scene was right out of a wartime photo.

This all prompted a low-key photoshoot to take advantage of the atmosphere, and it was a lot of fun.

An anonymous Marine crashed our photos in the stairwell...

But I approved!

Off by a few decades, but of course I had to squeeze in some RMS Titanic nerdiness.

And some spooky shenanigans.

Stay tuned!