Steampunk jabot

This is the second of the jabots I made for my show clothes.

Steampunk jabot

This one is more of a proper steampunk style, as is the rest of it’s outfit. The centre is salvaged brown leather. The bottom is a gathered fall of soft heavy lace. (it came off a wedding dress) Ruched beaded trim edges the centre, and overlaps the lace, which gives thick clusters of the beaded drops. At the top of the jabot is one of the smallest enamelled watch faces I found. It has a pair of brass wings on either side of the Victorian glass button that sits in its centre. Below it are two carved mother-of-pearl buttons. (the top one is what I consider to be the prettiest one from the entire stash since it has lots of detail and amazing colour flash) I’m very happy with how it turned out. Now I just need more occasions that are suitable for wearing the whole steampunk look, including jabots.

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blue jabot

Attending a fannish convention for four days, even if I am there as a vendor,

blue and cream jabot

means that outfits had to be considered and prepped. I decided to go with a Steampunkish style and to keep the overall look fairly consistent. The tops are all dress shirts. They were carefully selected to have the right colours and styles but needed some minor modifications and I made a pair of jabots, to dress them up. This one goes with the blue toned sets. A bit of the soft blue fabric that makes up one of the skirts is the base and then there are gathered falls of lace. Alternating the lace is beaded trim in a soft amethyst. The centre has a trio of carved mother-of-pearl buttons, graduating down in sizes. It has a ribbon tie, at the moment, but I may put a Velcro clasp on it. The problem was that I had the last minute realization that it might be hotter in the venue than I’d expected. With that in mind, I did pack some back-up, cooler clothes and I’m so glad I did since it was hot enough that the Steampunk gear would have been unbearably steamy. It was disappointing to not get to wear my fun outfits, but now that they are done, I’ll just have to find another opportunity to show them off!

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off to the show

I will be at FanExpo, in Toronto for the rest of the week. The gallery will still be open, but I won’t be around for framing consultations (and the mask selection is greatly reduced!).  I’ll be back as usual on Tuesday.

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my fascinator

This my favourite one of the fascinators. (I’m probably going to keep

white and green steampunk fascinator

it for myself since it will go with at least one of my outfits for Fanexpo) The centre is an antique, enamelled watch face. This one was a bit different than most of the ones I’ve seen in that it’s mounted on a brass piece that gives it a visible rim. A pair of tiny brass wings and gold beads replace the missing hands. Right under it is a rosette of faux leaves in pale green. They have a slightly sparkly finish that reads a bit like snow. Around them is a second circle of leaves, these are the vintage Japanese velvet ones in a darker green. The outer surround is a gathered circle of duponi silk in a off-white. It’s cut on the bias so it can be left rough, but won’t unravel. The topper is a pair of large brass hands with antique mother-of-pearl button that hides their wire attachment (and the not-very-pretty holes where they went into the clock) A soft green beaded tassel accents the bottom and gives it some additional movement.

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last flight of lettuce

Now that we’ve finally had a bit of rain fall, it’s time for me to do the late flights of both peas and lettuces.

lettuce seedlings, August 2012

Having the peas was lovely, but both of the flights are totally past done and have been ripped out so now it’s time to see if we can get a third to come up. As for the lettuce, they have also been good, but are getting bitter, on the bolters, and have produced the full heads on the heading varieties. The last flight has at least sprouted, even if they had a much lower germination rate than I’m used to. We need some fresh, delicate greens to go with the tomatoes! (it looks like the peas will not actually sprout in this heat. I hoped that it was a myth, but clearly they do need it to be a bit cooler)

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pretty and pink

Another of the flower fascinators. The main part of it is the large, pink peony flower.

pink peony fascinator

It is surrounded by a gathered gold ribbon. Behind that is a puff of burgundy tulle. Below the flower is an accent of heavy lace, in a pink that ties perfectly to the tones of the flower and it has some seed-beaded details. Above is a fluffy, white ostrich plume tip. To finish it off, there is a large, square cubic zirconia set in the centre of the flower, to give the whole piece some extra sparkle. It’s also probably the biggest of the whole group but is still more than light enough to wear comfortably.

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goth fascinator

I couldn’t resist the urge to make at least one fascinator in a classically goth style.

goth fascinator with skull

The main drive for it was the skull, covered in a very fine black glitter. It had been mounted to a wand-like stick but that wouldn’t work for a hair decoration so I removed it and attached it instead to some wire. The base is over a yard of wide black lace that has been gathered into a tight circle. Inside that is another gathered ring of a sheer striped ribbon in black and gold-green. It sits right under the skull and reads almost like a collar for it. (the look of that ribbon gives it a bit of a Steapunky edge) the only other decoration is a big and fluffy black ostrich plume tip.

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