Was lazy last week.
Aug. 18th, 2008 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellymellI spent the week re-reading Beowulf (finished Tuesday night) and Fellowship of the Ring (finished this morning). I have some reflections on my readings, since it's been since middle school that I've read any of these tales, but I'll save that for the other journal. The Two Towers hasn't arrived yet, so I guess I'll pick back up on embroidery for keeping busy in quiet times. I haven't touched the embroidery since we got back from our camping trip last week, though I did make some decent progress in the car on the way there (was kind of afraid of getting it dirty by working on it on the way home). Friday evening as we were packing to leave, my beads arrived. The glass flowers are perfect, not too large as I feared. The iridescence on the silver lined seed beads (for the edge trim and any other accents I need it for) is more than I thought it would be and I'm glad. The teardrops, though I think they may be different from what I already had in my stash, are a great size and I've got plenty to do the trim (and then some probably). So even if I can't use what I've already got, it shouldn't be a problem. It also seems that he Czech glass beads from FireMountain appear to be a little higher quality these days. When I ordered from them for the embroidery I was doing around the time of our wedding, the teardrops I received had kind of one side that was almost a mirror finish with the iridescent coating (both sizes I got had this). Now, it seems the iridescence is a nice even rainbow finish as it should be and I don't feel there's a side I have to turn towards the back. I'm hoping my trim won't look too white and that the silver will shine the way I want it too. Here, as I've been choosing threads and beads for it, I was afraid to go too heavy on the silver.
I've really got to stop avoiding the major sewing as well. I've cleaned out the room, I've made good enough progress on the trim to spend some time on the gown, but something is keeping me from starting. I'm my own worst enemy sometimes it seems. Jonah will be going back to school in a couple of weeks. This time for two days a week. Though I wasn't as productive as I hoped to be during his summer session (although the house was quite clean at that time), I really hope to utilize most of the 12 hours a week I'll have in a quiet and empty house to get this costume done and the necessary adjustments and finishing touches done to my other costumes. I'm glad I've completely abandoned the idea of doing Rosie. I'd be pulling out my hair. I'm the only one to blame for procrastinating though. I've had all year to do this. I'll be happy if the mockup is completely done and I'm starting on the main costume by the time August is over.
Oh, and the swatches I got for silver dupioni to make some bias tape: none of them worked. They're all white/black crossdyes and I just don't think any of them look quite right. I do have a fair amount (close to a yard, maybe more) of very nice white shantung silk. I think if I get some silver dye, I might be better off than the dupioni and it will be a much cheaper venture (as in $4 instead of $12).
I'm thinking about getting a new wig for Arwen, since I'm only doing Arwen costumes for ALEP and I'm just not that happy with the one I have. I've spotted a seller that has some lovely (from what I can tell) 40" wavy wigs in various colors, including a "cinnamon brown" that looks right for Arwen and a blonde that looks right for Galadriel and even Eowyn. They're only like $35, which makes me wonder about the quality though. I still want to get an Evenstar as well and after weighing the various versions that are available, I think I'm going to go with the one from Titania's Trove (ebay store). I'll deal with the fact that the bail is wrong and it comes with a box chain instead of a french twist. I just don't really want to spend another $20 to get a more accurate chain (priced at FMG, those delicate machine cut chains are expensive!).
I've really got to stop avoiding the major sewing as well. I've cleaned out the room, I've made good enough progress on the trim to spend some time on the gown, but something is keeping me from starting. I'm my own worst enemy sometimes it seems. Jonah will be going back to school in a couple of weeks. This time for two days a week. Though I wasn't as productive as I hoped to be during his summer session (although the house was quite clean at that time), I really hope to utilize most of the 12 hours a week I'll have in a quiet and empty house to get this costume done and the necessary adjustments and finishing touches done to my other costumes. I'm glad I've completely abandoned the idea of doing Rosie. I'd be pulling out my hair. I'm the only one to blame for procrastinating though. I've had all year to do this. I'll be happy if the mockup is completely done and I'm starting on the main costume by the time August is over.
Oh, and the swatches I got for silver dupioni to make some bias tape: none of them worked. They're all white/black crossdyes and I just don't think any of them look quite right. I do have a fair amount (close to a yard, maybe more) of very nice white shantung silk. I think if I get some silver dye, I might be better off than the dupioni and it will be a much cheaper venture (as in $4 instead of $12).
I'm thinking about getting a new wig for Arwen, since I'm only doing Arwen costumes for ALEP and I'm just not that happy with the one I have. I've spotted a seller that has some lovely (from what I can tell) 40" wavy wigs in various colors, including a "cinnamon brown" that looks right for Arwen and a blonde that looks right for Galadriel and even Eowyn. They're only like $35, which makes me wonder about the quality though. I still want to get an Evenstar as well and after weighing the various versions that are available, I think I'm going to go with the one from Titania's Trove (ebay store). I'll deal with the fact that the bail is wrong and it comes with a box chain instead of a french twist. I just don't really want to spend another $20 to get a more accurate chain (priced at FMG, those delicate machine cut chains are expensive!).
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no subject
on 2008-08-18 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2008-08-18 05:04 pm (UTC)Somehow it seems fitting in many ways to read these one after another.