college blog: London, and other reports (good bad and ugly)
i am trying very hard to NOT *squeee* every time i get an email from one of the Savile Row shops that has been so helpful..
i did, of course, send out the thank you notes.... and at this point i believe all of them have emailed me with congratulations on my good project and hopes that i get the best in quarter award.....i suppose this is what most of the rest of the world feels like when they get a personal reply from a TV star or something...
so if any of you head over to London... you want to go to: Anderson & Sheppard, Henry Poole, or Maurice Sedwell, because those three shops/people have been inordinately helpful in getting this project done.
say hi for me.
now the good news/bad news part.....
good news: the fashion design board i was sweating over and swearing at? its due next week, he gave us all an extra week because of the holiday.
Bad news: i already sweated blood and lost sleep over it.... and i have to re do it.. (SOB)
i thought it looked decent when i brought it in.. other students thought it looked good...
then the teacher showed us "sample boards" and it just looked worse and worse as the class wore on....
and THEN the teacher started on about how CRITICAL precision layout and color matching was, and ...well i started getting very depressed (no he wasnt talking TO me)
and THEN the other student who had done her board came up to ask him about hers....and the entire room gasped, because it was PERFECT.
stunning
wow
obviously a pro..... the teacher called it A++ material and was impressed.....
and my board had somehow gone from looking pretty decent to looking like a kindergarten project.
so i swallowed my pride (what was left of it) and asked Emil to review what i could do to improve my board, and he very kindly critiqued it. he even did some "improvement/repair" while showing me how to do it.....
he was very kind
i still wanted to throw the boards in the toilet and cry, but its not his fault.
so i walked down to Dick Blicks and got some better watercolors to try to improve on the color matching....
i should NEVER walk into a store when i am depressed.
ever
especially not when i am buying stuff to try to fix whats wrong.
so i escaped with a few pennies to my name....and a Father's Day present (he's hard to shop for, so i was glad to find something)
and a LOT of work to do by next Tuesday.
sigh
oh, and for whoever didnt know this. the icon on this post? thats me..... from .. uh. 18? 20? mumble years ago.
i must still look like that (only older and not so thin, and usually with glasses) because when i meet people in person for the first time they have often been able to find me in a convention/meeting place based on this photo....
and that dress?
thats a hunk of fabric i wrapped on myself and pinned. because i was *supposed* to be wearing a dress that didn't show up in time. and my back up dress was ....
... the CURSED CHEONGSAM.
its a beautiful turquoise/bright blue Chinese/Hong King dress that you can only wear ONCE... twice if you are very lucky.
i , in an act of hubris, had it taken in at the waist after i bought it at age 16 in San Francisco.
when i tried to get it on before the convention, it didnt even remotely fit. so i wore this fabric. (you can wear anything with good earrings and confidence)
i gave/sold the cheongsam to a friend, who wore it... once. and then had a baby.
she gave it to someone who wore it... once... and i forget if they had twins or gained 50 pounds or what..
so *somewhere* out there, possibly in fandom, is a Cheongsam, immortalized on the cover of the LARP manual for one of the Vampire the Masquerade play guides..... that is turquoise/blue, and was taken in at the waist.
do NOT attempt to wear it.
i did, of course, send out the thank you notes.... and at this point i believe all of them have emailed me with congratulations on my good project and hopes that i get the best in quarter award.....i suppose this is what most of the rest of the world feels like when they get a personal reply from a TV star or something...
so if any of you head over to London... you want to go to: Anderson & Sheppard, Henry Poole, or Maurice Sedwell, because those three shops/people have been inordinately helpful in getting this project done.
say hi for me.
now the good news/bad news part.....
good news: the fashion design board i was sweating over and swearing at? its due next week, he gave us all an extra week because of the holiday.
Bad news: i already sweated blood and lost sleep over it.... and i have to re do it.. (SOB)
i thought it looked decent when i brought it in.. other students thought it looked good...
then the teacher showed us "sample boards" and it just looked worse and worse as the class wore on....
and THEN the teacher started on about how CRITICAL precision layout and color matching was, and ...well i started getting very depressed (no he wasnt talking TO me)
and THEN the other student who had done her board came up to ask him about hers....and the entire room gasped, because it was PERFECT.
stunning
wow
obviously a pro..... the teacher called it A++ material and was impressed.....
and my board had somehow gone from looking pretty decent to looking like a kindergarten project.
so i swallowed my pride (what was left of it) and asked Emil to review what i could do to improve my board, and he very kindly critiqued it. he even did some "improvement/repair" while showing me how to do it.....
he was very kind
i still wanted to throw the boards in the toilet and cry, but its not his fault.
so i walked down to Dick Blicks and got some better watercolors to try to improve on the color matching....
i should NEVER walk into a store when i am depressed.
ever
especially not when i am buying stuff to try to fix whats wrong.
so i escaped with a few pennies to my name....and a Father's Day present (he's hard to shop for, so i was glad to find something)
and a LOT of work to do by next Tuesday.
sigh
oh, and for whoever didnt know this. the icon on this post? thats me..... from .. uh. 18? 20? mumble years ago.
i must still look like that (only older and not so thin, and usually with glasses) because when i meet people in person for the first time they have often been able to find me in a convention/meeting place based on this photo....
and that dress?
thats a hunk of fabric i wrapped on myself and pinned. because i was *supposed* to be wearing a dress that didn't show up in time. and my back up dress was ....
... the CURSED CHEONGSAM.
its a beautiful turquoise/bright blue Chinese/Hong King dress that you can only wear ONCE... twice if you are very lucky.
i , in an act of hubris, had it taken in at the waist after i bought it at age 16 in San Francisco.
when i tried to get it on before the convention, it didnt even remotely fit. so i wore this fabric. (you can wear anything with good earrings and confidence)
i gave/sold the cheongsam to a friend, who wore it... once. and then had a baby.
she gave it to someone who wore it... once... and i forget if they had twins or gained 50 pounds or what..
so *somewhere* out there, possibly in fandom, is a Cheongsam, immortalized on the cover of the LARP manual for one of the Vampire the Masquerade play guides..... that is turquoise/blue, and was taken in at the waist.
do NOT attempt to wear it.