A few of you have inquired about any extra fabric that I have available for sale. I am sorry I haven't responded yet, but I was waiting to see how this purchasing a third color situation would work out before I did so.
The width of all this satin is 60".
I still have three yards (and a remnant) of lavender brocade, and more than enough in plum or purple (when it arrives) for any one person's costume. I will sell it for $3.00 per yard plus shipping costs of $5.00 plus $0.50/yd for anything over 3 yards. Note that this price is actually less than what I paid. I'm not trying to make a profit, just recover some of my expenses.
I will accept payment via Paypal and payments must be received in advance. Also, I won't be able to mail the fabric until the Saturday following receipt of payment, as I work a day job that makes weekday post office visits a pain in the patushka.
Clearly, once the lavender is gone, people probably won't be interested in this offer without the matching fabrics, so no matter what I'm still going to have lots of plum and purple left over. So what in the world am I going to do with all that extra fabric?
Well, fortunately for me, my mom has a shiny new kitchen with lots of purple accents. So I am probably going to be making some lovely tablecloths and also slip covers for her throw pillows. Especially for the ones in the basement, which are starting to get kind of grungy. I feel quite brilliant about this plan. Resourceful, even!
If you're interested in purchasing any of the fabric, please send me an email with your information to santa.fe@juno.com.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Chameleon Sidekick
Those of you who have been following this blog since waaaaaay back at the beginning will recall my determination not to think about the super fun accessories until I got the hard part of the costume finished (namely, the bustier).
Well, I finally got close enough to the finish line that I started shopping around.
The frying pan was easy. I went to Wal-Mart and found the optimal combination of wide, light, and uniformly black among all the frying pans available. The bottom of the frying pan was bright, shiny, reflective metal, so I put a lovely coat of black on it with a can of grill paint I found in the garage, and voila! Frying pan all set to go. Now, obviously, I could have bought a cast iron skillet much like the one Rapunzel actually uses, but since I do not actually need to defend myself against ruffians, thugs, and charmingly handsome, roguish thieves (alas), dragging a fifteen pound pan all around a convention did not sound like a fun day to me. Those things are SO HEAVY!
Pascal proved a much tricker proposition than the frying pan, however.
"But didn't Disney release a cute, plush Pascal for your own convenient purchase?" you may ask.
Well... sort of....
I mean... he's plush, certainly. And cute... I suppose. But does he look enough like Pascal to you?
I can't answer that for you, of course, but for me there's something decidedly un-Pascal-ish about that plush, and I haven't approved of it since the first time I saw it. I suppose it's a combination of the contrast in the pebbling of his hide and that super glazed expression on his face. Also, he's about 8 inches long which is much too long to be a proper scale.
Running out of time, I remembered this 3D Pascal Papercraft that I found when I was researching goodie bags for my Tangled Party last spring. It might be made of paper, but it looks like Pascal, and it's about the right size too. So I bought some green cardstock, printed him off, assembled him, hot glue-gunned him together, and then there he was!
Well, I finally got close enough to the finish line that I started shopping around.
The frying pan was easy. I went to Wal-Mart and found the optimal combination of wide, light, and uniformly black among all the frying pans available. The bottom of the frying pan was bright, shiny, reflective metal, so I put a lovely coat of black on it with a can of grill paint I found in the garage, and voila! Frying pan all set to go. Now, obviously, I could have bought a cast iron skillet much like the one Rapunzel actually uses, but since I do not actually need to defend myself against ruffians, thugs, and charmingly handsome, roguish thieves (alas), dragging a fifteen pound pan all around a convention did not sound like a fun day to me. Those things are SO HEAVY!
Pascal proved a much tricker proposition than the frying pan, however.
"But didn't Disney release a cute, plush Pascal for your own convenient purchase?" you may ask.
Well... sort of....
I can't answer that for you, of course, but for me there's something decidedly un-Pascal-ish about that plush, and I haven't approved of it since the first time I saw it. I suppose it's a combination of the contrast in the pebbling of his hide and that super glazed expression on his face. Also, he's about 8 inches long which is much too long to be a proper scale.
Running out of time, I remembered this 3D Pascal Papercraft that I found when I was researching goodie bags for my Tangled Party last spring. It might be made of paper, but it looks like Pascal, and it's about the right size too. So I bought some green cardstock, printed him off, assembled him, hot glue-gunned him together, and then there he was!
And how, you may ask, did I plan on keeping him up on my shoulder whilst jostling all the tight crowds at Dragon*Con? I'll tell you.
(Geez, when did I start channeling Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof?)
I sewed one half of a snap to the bottom of Pascal (very carefully, since as you can see, paper doesn't take kindly to being sewn)...
... and the other to my shoulder!
(NOTE: I actually had to add that bottom flap for Pascal's underside to the cut-out pattern myself, otherwise there is nothing underneath him to put the snap on with).
It worked quite nicely too! Unfortunately, paper Pascal didn't get along with my hair as nicely as real Pascal did with Rapunzel's hair, but that's another story.
How Far We've Come!
*ahem* Still catching up with life.
So anyway, continuing our story. The last two weeks before Dragon*Con were frantic. I did a week's worth of embroidery, some touch-ups, and last, but not least, cut out and installed the final panel on the skirt.
When all of that was done, this is what it looked like:
Ta-da!!! I was pretty darn excited, as you can imagine.
And let's not forget some of the important details:
(I'll give Pascal his own, proper post here in a bit. I think he'd be mad at me if I didn't).
In any case, with the exception of an upgrade on the frying pan, the costume and pieces as you see them in these photos are how I wore them to Dragon*Con.
But it's not quite ready yet. I still need to:
(1) Do the embroidery around the hem.
(2) Put pink edging along the center panel, which I can't do until...
(3) I replace the center panel.
"What? You may ask. Replace the center panel? Why?"
Because it's the wrong dang color, that's why. Darn you, teeny tiny swatches that don't actually give a proper idea of color coordination whatsoever!!
Astute student's of Rapunzel's costumes will note that the "smooth" part of her skirt and the center, brocade part are more or less the same color, just one is textured and one is not. (Astute students will also note that her skirt is more of an orchid color than either of the colors I show in the skirt above, but that's beside the point). The plum brocade that I purchased was waaaaay, waay too dark. Even my mom commented on it, and she has better priorities in her life than obsessing over costume replication.
I found myself at a crossroads. Do I suck it up and live with it? Or have I already invested so much time and resources into this costume that spending just a little bit more money to get it As Right As Possible would be worth it for my own peace of mind?
The answer to that last question is yes, of course it would.
I made this determination ten days before Dragon*Con and went to the website and ordered the "purple" fabric instead of the plum (remember the part where I had to order 10 yards minimum? Yup, that still applies). I even applied for three days shipping to ensure its arrival in time for me to fix the skirt before the convention. Alas, it never arrived.
Finally, last Monday I called the company and confirmed my suspicions-- that my order had somehow gotten lost in the ether of cyberspace. I placed it over the phone and just today got the shipping confirmation. We are one giant bolt of brocade away from an Even Better Costume.
Oh, the things we do for art.
So anyway, continuing our story. The last two weeks before Dragon*Con were frantic. I did a week's worth of embroidery, some touch-ups, and last, but not least, cut out and installed the final panel on the skirt.
When all of that was done, this is what it looked like:
Ta-da!!! I was pretty darn excited, as you can imagine.
And let's not forget some of the important details:
... such as the back panel with the cute little buttons...
.
.. the frying pan...
and... oh!
I can't believe it, but somehow I forgot to post a blog about the most important accessory of all!!
....Rapunzel's trusty best friend, Pascal!!
(I'll give Pascal his own, proper post here in a bit. I think he'd be mad at me if I didn't).
In any case, with the exception of an upgrade on the frying pan, the costume and pieces as you see them in these photos are how I wore them to Dragon*Con.
But it's not quite ready yet. I still need to:
(1) Do the embroidery around the hem.
(2) Put pink edging along the center panel, which I can't do until...
(3) I replace the center panel.
"What? You may ask. Replace the center panel? Why?"
Because it's the wrong dang color, that's why. Darn you, teeny tiny swatches that don't actually give a proper idea of color coordination whatsoever!!
Astute student's of Rapunzel's costumes will note that the "smooth" part of her skirt and the center, brocade part are more or less the same color, just one is textured and one is not. (Astute students will also note that her skirt is more of an orchid color than either of the colors I show in the skirt above, but that's beside the point). The plum brocade that I purchased was waaaaay, waay too dark. Even my mom commented on it, and she has better priorities in her life than obsessing over costume replication.
I found myself at a crossroads. Do I suck it up and live with it? Or have I already invested so much time and resources into this costume that spending just a little bit more money to get it As Right As Possible would be worth it for my own peace of mind?
The answer to that last question is yes, of course it would.
I made this determination ten days before Dragon*Con and went to the website and ordered the "purple" fabric instead of the plum (remember the part where I had to order 10 yards minimum? Yup, that still applies). I even applied for three days shipping to ensure its arrival in time for me to fix the skirt before the convention. Alas, it never arrived.
Finally, last Monday I called the company and confirmed my suspicions-- that my order had somehow gotten lost in the ether of cyberspace. I placed it over the phone and just today got the shipping confirmation. We are one giant bolt of brocade away from an Even Better Costume.
Oh, the things we do for art.
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