Rockin' out to Oceans Eleven
Up to my usual nonsense.
Invited an SCA friend over this weekend to work on her first medieval-style dress. A couple of weeks ago we went to Fabricland and she found deals on a dark teal blue faux dupioni and a pearl grey tulle for overlay.
Something folks tend to forget after a few years in the SCA is that deep yearning to look like a princess. And not with a boughten dress either, but one you've sweated and worried over, your first real home made dress. I have seen veterans faced with an eager new person try very hard to push them away from "fantasy crap" into more appropriate silhouettes and fabrics, but it can be self-defeating. The person may go along with the more experienced suggestions, but be vaguely dissatisfied and disappointed with the results. Many women have a vision or visions of their perfect dress and the sooner they can get out there and try to make it the way they see it the happier everyone will be.
As far back as grade 5, maybe earlier, I drew my perfect dress as a (crushed) royal blue velvet dress with square neckline, dropped waistline and full skirt. I was lucky that when I eventually found the SCA I also found a person who was willing to make my idea with very little alteration other than that I could not afford blue velvet and instead got some blue polyester weave that was actually very hard-wearing and is probably still out there if not in the Gold Key in the sky.
But before that dress, which I wore happily for years, I found some sparkly purple and silver crap, sewed it together by hand into a travesty of a Florentine gown and wore it with pride (and scuffed black pumps, alas) for several months until the silver started to wash off. I still have it in my drawer. The colours were just like a silk-screened scarf, that soft blurred water-colour of pansies in rain. And, bless them, no one said a nasty thing.
You kind of have to get it out of your system.
Tomorrow we are having some folks over for dinner and a chat so we can understand some stuff better and get our innings in privacy without being shouted down. Nicolaa said once that the SCA has systemic communication problems: boy, does it ever. And I'm not even talking about the issues down the street; this is a whole different kettle of fish.
The good part, for me, is that I don't feel punched in the gut by this week's events. I feel that I can continue to play my game according to my terms whether or not certain other things change or not. I wish to protect those who may be unknowingly hurt by the crap going on, and hopefully all will be well, but even if it isn't I am pretty sure I will still be on a fairly even keel.
I am so in love with the Lost in Translation soundtrack. And with Debussy's Clair de Lune. And with Leonard Cohen's voice. I even love Kung Fu Panda's music (Oogwey Ascends). Something about the haunting Asian tonal scale. Such rich, eloquent, accepting sorrow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVYQcGQpyoM
I am reminded of a jewelled piece I saw at the Maharajah exhibit at the ROM earlier this year. It was a small ruby and gold sculpture of a (presumably) Hindu goddess. This very small piece, hidden in a niche in the exhibition, somehow breathed the same protective devotion and awe that I would consciously project upon a sacred piece from my own religion. It must have been loved and cherished for centuries. How can I say it? I had no trouble identifying it as something deserving my spiritual respect although it is not from my faith.
We have been having a lot of fog lately. It was -5C in Milton Friday at 8:12 am. The fog is different every day. Beckoning halls of mist: that, as you advance, diminish.
I often wonder if I will enter another world when my car drives into heavy fog. And then wonder how I will get back. Or if the world will be of my own devising and will let me bring in my loved ones, a distant golden manor, surrounded by gardens and sweet music.
Good Lord, I don't remember Lost in Translation including Rick James' "Love Gun" before! Must get Albrecht to buy some tight gold satin pants.
I spent a small fortune on ThinkGeek today. Birthdays and Christmas to take care of. We have mondo plans for next weekend which are being kept secret from The Boy.
Also there is far too little rum in the house. Again.
I really need to do some scroll layouts for the Boke of Memories. Have a bunch of ideas in my head to play out. I've been fabric-focussed lately (we organized all the bins last weekend) and all the bogged-down projects are now sitting in a blanket chest in front of the couch. It's full. So theoretically that means I need to finish some of them before I start others. At least I know where they all are. Let's see what they are:
- Albrecht's black velvet brocade suit of clothes (about 2/3 done)
- My reversible Tudor dress in crimson red silk with black accents that reverses to grass-green brocade with cream dupioni silk (about 1/2 done)
- My reed corset (about 1/3 done)
- Albrecht's purple wool hosen (about 1/2 done several years ago but then the moths got at some of it)
- Albrecht's linen shirt with blackwork (about 1/2 done but the proportions are terrible and the blackwork minimal. In fact the blackwork was so hard on my eyesight I've done nothing on it since M was a baby - yes)
- Somebody else's 2/3 done project that they would like me to help with (kind of a guilt transfer)
- Albrecht's brand-new doublet and slops in wool and linen (fully cut out but not yet assembled)
And I've forgotten what else is in there.
A couple of weeks ago I showed someone how to make a simple half circle cloak. I didn't have a measuring tape with me so we used a long piece of cord he had in his backpack to describe a half-circle. I helped him pin the beginning of the hem and make a few stitches, then let him at it. He came back this week with a fully functional cloak, hood and closure. He was so proud of himself. It was great. He even finished it in time for Hallowe'en!
So next weekend is a big family deal. Then I fly down south for a week. As soon as I land on Friday afternoon I need to drive to Gan (KA&S is the next day), so I need to ensure the car is properly packed before I go to the airport a week Monday. Then I'm back for a week. Then I go out west for most of a week, then Suzanne comes down, and then the following weekend we're driving to Calvert's Pelican ceremony in Buffalo (what to wear? oh what to wear??) and then it's time to get ready for Xmas. At least the vacation allotment restarts Jan. 1.