You must be lost

Can't slow down for a proper post, but Batgirl progress can be seen here in reverse chronological order. Back to the sweat shop!

I got my cowl in today, which is freakin' awesome (both that it shipped so amazingly fast & the cowl itself is pretty awesome). I'll take pics tomorrow before and after I slice it up. I'm so glad I bought this thing. Jonah thinks it's pretty cool, too. He wanted me to wear it longer but it's hard to breathe in until I cut off the piece under the nose. Also, it had been baking in the mailbox for a few hours.

I've gotten all of my armor pieces cut out of the foam. Next, I have to shape and glue them as needed and add the snaps.

I dusted off some archaic geometry knowledge to create a pyramid pattern that will work for the spikes on the gauntlets. Have I mentioned they're my favorite part?

I've also started working on the cloth portions of the belt. I plan to hide a couple of pockets in the back of it just big enough for my phone and a little money/card pouch.

I have not started altering the catsuit, but I washed it hoping to get rid of some extra dye that was coming off on my hands and to see if it might shrink a bit. It seems like it has, but still needs to be taken in a bit. It is my hope to wrap up this weekend with mostly just the catsuit stuff left to do. But it is a weekend & mine are typically worthless as far as these things go. We'll see I guess.

12 days!

Posted via LjBeetle

Yesterday was Jonah's first day back at school. He goes two days per week, but we're going to get put on a waiting list for a third (hoping it will help with the last bit of potty training). It was so hard to pull myself out of the reverie in quietude that I didn't really get working until lunch time.

Even still, I managed to finish the cape completely and got the helmet 75% glued together. I also made a list of everything I have left to do. It's a lot when itemized, but I'm still confident and determined. I've got pics of the cape and the progress on the helmet, but I'm not taking time out to post those just yet. Maybe tonight.

Another small victory: the catsuit just arrived. It's perfect! Except it's actually a little too big. Better than being too small, I guess. I ordered the size based on my height, which I guess was good, because the torso is still a tiny bit short and gaps where it stretches over the arch in my back and the space between my ribcage and bust.

I tried it on along with my extra boobs, which are a definite must. I wasn't sure until I tried on the suit without them and the vertical stretch in the torso swallowed my breasts. That just won't do. Not for busty Elseworld Batgirl!

I'm thinking of putting some darts in the back to make it curve more naturally. If I don't get around to that, no biggie. The cape will cover the back most of the time anyway.

There's a lot of extra length in the limbs though and it has a tendency to sag a bit in the arms and legs. The shoulder seems want to creep down my biceps. But these are all minor issues really and I can deal and make alterations later, as I think this one is going to stick around in my active inventory for a little while.

I need to wash it though, because it turned my fingernails a bit black just in trying it on for a bit. It's kind of weird to have a full coverage suit. It's kind of like stepping into a second skin. It'll be better once I cut a face hole.

One hiccup that I think is still fixable: I tried on my helmet and it's not going to work. I still have one seam left to close (the center front) and I don't think I can close it as it stands and still have it fit on my head. It's fine when I get it into place, but getting it onto my head is the problem. I curved the back at the base of the skull inward too much. I think I can pull it apart in the back, glue up the front and then try to re-glue the back to leave it a bit more open so that the angle kind of drops straight down from the back of the head. Sucks because it's backtracking (undoing some of the work I did yesterday), but the whole thing is useless if I can't put it on, so, I'll do what needs to be done. Also sucks because I used E6000 to glue it together and it's really holding well. It guess that's good, but not in this situation.

Well, back to it...

ETA: As I began trying to pull apart the foam and glue and seeing what it was doing to itself (not pretty), I decided to look online and see what I could find in the way of Batman cowls commercially available. Rubies makes a decent looking and decently rated deluxe latex version and for less than $30 shipped, it's worth it to me to set this aside, buy that one and potentially be able to modify it to my needs rather than mess with this thing anymore.

Ah, I feel better already. Estimated delivery 24th-27th. Plenty of time to do what I'll need to do to it (namely cut off everything below the nose and add silver lenses to the eye holes).

ETA2: Wow! It's already shipped! Says estimated delivery August 27th. Kind of pushing it, but still plenty of time to make the couple of changes I'll need to make to it. Not enough time to do anything about it if it won't work for some reason, though.

With newfound confidence, I plowed through, shaped and taped the second half of the helmet yesterday and it has been sitting on the glass head as I worked on some other things. I'm kind of afraid to do too much on this thing at once for fear of... I'm not sure what really. Pushing my luck perhaps? *shrugs*

Also, I pleated the shoulders of my cape onto some twill tape with built in snaps (cape will snap to the catsuit) and got it hanging on the dress form with weights on the bottom to stretch it out and loosen it up a bit. PVC is very stiff stuff and it's not draping how I had planned, but I think it'll work. There's a 2-way stretch to it, but it's selvage to selvage (the wrong direction for my application). It acts like a heavy fabric but is very thin and lightweight. I'll give it another day of hanging, then cut the bat wing scallops in the bottom and finish the top edge somehow and that piece will be completely done. One down, too many to go.

Also, also, I worked out a pattern and cut out foam for the knee pads yesterday. I cut strips of elastic that will be sewn to the foam and it will all then be covered by the same PVC the cape is made from.

I have gotten nothing done today except laundry and some house type stuff, which was being sorely neglected and not a total loss of time. But I think I might try to put in a late night tonight and see what I can get done. I've been sleeping like crap lately anyway, might as well do something productive if I'm going to wake up exhausted regardless.

Tomorrow will be a busy day and I likely won't have any time to work on this stuff. I've got open house with Jonah's teachers in the late morning after which we need to shop for a new backpack and lunch box and such. He starts school next Tuesday. We also need to get soccer cleats and shin guards because his first practice is tomorrow evening. But while we're out running errands I plan to pick up some remaining pieces I need to buy, so it's not a total loss of time either.

I should be done today with what will be the final mockup for the bolero I'll be sending to branflake for fitting. I will feel good about that project if we've got the final mockup worked out and fabrics in hand by the end of the month (I'm allowing time for a couple of fittings, which we might not need). I should have been at this point in April, but whatever. We've got time and I know it will get done. Once the pieces are worked out and I get the rest of the lace off her mom's gown to use, I think it'll go together very fast. It's only taken me a day of draping and a day of drafting/cutting out to get to this point.

On that subject, I'm so done with commercial patterns. I decided to just wing it on this and drape what I had sketched and what I saw in my mind for it. *fingers crossed in case I'm speaking too soon* It's been so much easier! I always alter patterns anyway and that just adds another step in there to cut out the original pattern. Now that I know what the pieces of things should sort of look like, I feel comfortable winging it.

Also, I'm now committed to bringing Elseworld Batgirl to Dragon*Con. I bought a catsuit online last night. This means I get another shot at painting that bat logo. I might try stenciling this time. Also, I'm going to be sure I stretch it out plenty while it's being painted. I still expect some cracking, but I'll fix that as the need arises. Also, also, the catsuit is full coverage (actually a zentai suit) and has attached gloves and feet and even a hood (which I'm going to have to cut a hole in for the face). Will be nice and seamless. Also nice and difficult to get in and out of, I imagine.

I'm still very intimidated by the cowl, but once I get the bolero mockup off to Brandy, I'm going to attack it with some trial and error.

Other than that, I'll just keep plugging away on working out the armor patterns and getting those pieces made. Then there's the belt and the cape (cape should be super simple, no hemming even, just cut to shape and sew in some snaps).

I've also figured out what I'm going to do about shoes, since I don't have the budget for boots and hers just look like soles on the bottom of her suit anyway. I'm basically going to do just that: go find some rugged soled shoes at a thrift store and glue them to the bottom of the suit. I'll reinforce the insides with some insoles and possibly even build something to shape the insides with a heel and toe area. We'll see what I can come up with.

In other news, I have still not used my serger that Chris got me last year for Christmas. I plan to remedy that sooner rather than later. As in possibly this week. I need some black spools of thread for it.

Well, I think I got all the loose ends tied up yesterday, but if I made any commitments to anything at Dragon*Con that I need to notify anyone about, let me know.

I absolutely plan to go next year. So, when next year's rooms are up, let me know! I'm on the mailing list, so that might not be necessary, but when it comes to the craziness of scoring rooms, especially at the Marriott, it's good to have bases covered.

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We went to dinner last night at the newly reopened Judge Beans barbecue at their new location in Brentwood. Ah, how I've missed brisket tamales. I'm really glad they're open again and closer than ever. The baseball park just really didn't suit them and the spot downtown sucked for parking. We did not, however, partake of any Texas Sushi (that would be a jalapeno stuffed with sausage and cheese and wrapped in brisket).

By the time we got home, it was Jonah's bedtime. The bulb in his halogen lamp (the main light source at night) went out yesterday and I had forgotten that when I went to flip the switch and said, "D'oh!" as nothing happened. Jonah for some reason thought that was the funniest thing he had ever seen and kept saying "light broken, 'D'oh!'" and laughing as hard as I've heard him laugh without being tickled. That, of course, got me laughing at him. So, for the entire time it took me to change his diaper, read him the Very Hungry Catepillar and tuck him in bed, we laughed at each other for no real reason.

That was my therapy session for the night: brisket tamales and laughing with Jonah for about 15 minutes straight at nothing in particular.

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So, now it's time to set my sights on the next task. I'm working on a virtual yard sale so to speak and have found two kids consignment sales where I intend to unload Jonah's closet and hopefully outfit him for the winter. I'm amazed that there are only a handful of sales left this season. So many have already transpired. I couldn't believe it. Who thinks to shop for winter clothes in July and August? Anyway, one of the sales is next weekend and the other in November. So, I figure, I'll put clothes in the first one and shop the consignor day and then whatever doesn't sell there, I'll put into the second one, if it's worth my trouble.

Other than that, I've got a few things up on ebay (yes, I'm selling the Hermione wand I just bought, it's cheap and not what I want) and I've put everything in my etsy store on sale 10% off until midnight 8/31. Just enter Twitter10 in the message field when checking out and I'll send an updated invoice (I so wish etsy would implement a discount feature).

And no, all of this isn't because of fiduciary troubles or anything. These are things I was getting ready to do regardless. We have a lot of stuff laying around that we need to get rid of, and several items that are brand new or gently used that we could get some money for and still give someone a good deal on something. I probably have an equal amount of items I intend to take to Goodwill. So, it's really more about decluttering than actually getting any money for the stuff.

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Chris and I decided last night we're going to take a family trip on Labor Day weekend instead. Probably camping in the mountains of Western North Carolina, since the beach (St. Joseph's Peninsula in Florida) was full that weekend. Perhaps the following weekend we will head down to the beach for more camping, since the spots are wide open that weekend. We just both really need to get the heck out of town and I think it'll do us a lot of good. These are things we wouldn't have been able to do if I hadn't canceled my trip. Silver lining and all.

I've had some unforeseen expenses come up that have completely annihilated the funds I had planned to spend on Dragon*Con. It's my own fault for not taking care of it sooner and now it's going to cost a lot more money to take care of (and I don't really want to get into it any further than that).

I'm really, really, REALLY bummed about this. I've had to back out on people who counted on me to fill their room. I'm missing out on meeting people I've "known" for so many years and never had the chance to meet. I'm missing out on a lot, but it's completely my fault, so I can't be too pissed about it except at myself.

'Til next year. . . maybe.

If anyone knows someone who needs a membership, I have one up for grabs now. If I don't hear back from one of you here, I'll post it to the Dragon*Con group.

So, I've scratched Celeborn from the list of Dragon*Con hopefuls. I just don't have the budget or time to get him done and I don't want to kill myself trying or cut corners on fabric. I've still got a lot of work to do on the Angel gown (which, honestly, if I had the budget to start on Celeborn, I'd be more than willing to set the Angel gown aside to work on him). Celeborn isn't getting scratched from the list forever though, I promise. He's just getting postponed a little. I'm hoping maybe some things will turn around monetarily and I can work on him later in the year and maybe have him done in time for the unofficial ALEP gathering in the Smokies next March. But what does that leave?

I'll continue working on the Angel gown, definitely.

I've got the Blood Red gown and the Dream gown ready to go, more or less (couple of minor things to do that no one will notice but me).

I've got pirate garb, though I still could use some boots or rather better boots. But I don't think I'll be able to afford it before Dragon*Con. My hat blank for the tricorner should be here today and all I'll have to do to it is tack it up and distress it. My new sword should be here later this week or early next. It's a replica of Elizabeth's sword from At World's End, and unfortunately, I'm starting to love her Chinese battle outfit.

I'm also thinking about throwing together a Hermione pink hoodie outfit. I've been wanting a pair of Golas anyway. ;)

So, that's 5 costumes, which is a decent number for me.

I could possibly put together a steampunk outfit as well, but it would require some more money and potentially some more sewing. So, I'll just have to wait and see on that one.

But the point is, I'm thinking about costumes again and I'm starting to feel some motivation to work towards finishing up the ones I've got up in the air. However, I'm a little irked every time I go into the office and see the mess Chris left in there months ago now and hasn't cleaned up. He decided to pull all of his boxes of computer stuff out of the closet and go through them to weed out stuff he doesn't want or need anymore. That's great, except he left it all where it was and I have no idea what's keep and what's throw/give away. So, I can't really do much about it other than just pack it all back up and put it back in the closet. Since he's willing to get rid of so much of it, I really don't want to do that, in the interest of more storage space in there. I guess it's a good thing we're not going anywhere this weekend. I might will just make him get up there this weekend and help me clean it up. ;)

So, I talked to Chris about it last night and he seems to think there's no reason we couldn't go, if I wanted to. I'll be just barely 7 months pregnant by then, just starting into the third trimester. It is feasible, I suppose, but I still don't know what to really expect at that point. Sure, I've read what to expect, but then if I had read about the first trimester before I was almost out of it, I'd think I was in for something awful. I've just been lucky up until now that my body handles hormone changes far better than I ever imagined. Who knows, perhaps this is going to be an "easy" pregnancy all the way through. Only time will tell.

So, it may be a last minute decision and might just be sort of an overnight trip to meet everyone for breakfast and hang out when and where we can. But there's still a possibility that I'll make it to Dragon*Con, octuplets and all. ;]

Also, I got the registration and class information for Clasp yesterday in the mail. Another big event in the middle of September. But, at least it's in Nashville and by then, I'll be right at home. A weekend of classes on the design side of jewelry making, techniques both new and old, and the ever important marketing side. It is somewhat pricey at $715 for the weekend, but at least, unlike most people, I won't need a hotel. And really, there are a ton of classes you get to attend, plus breakfast and lunch provided all three days (well, just breakfast on Sunday, I think they end early). I think it would do a lot for me, especially since it looks like I'll be a stay at home mom for the next several years. It would do me well to use that time to get my jewelry business underway. Perhaps next year, depending on class schedules and how things go with the baby, I might be able to get my Graduate Gemologist degree through GIA.

Perhaps our lives aren't over after all. :] We'll just have to see what's possible, since we have no idea what to expect.