All-Con is coming!

Everyone has that one special con they wait all year for- the one that they bring out their best costumes and most effort for. Mine's All-Con and it's just over two months away!

This is a dangerous time. Two months seems like a long time to get everything together. I've already done step one (Make a list! I LOVE lists!!) but actually enacting all this...well, that's why it's a dangerous time! For myself and I think most cosplayers that also have a full time life, two months is a not-good amount of time. There's still a whole lot of "next weekends" between now and mid-March, and my list really isn't all that long, which makes it easy to put things off:

I mean, really. All I'd have to do is one thing a weekend. And that's totally my intention! But with kids/jobs/pets/boyfriend, life has a way of getting in the way of the best plans. Plus, let's face it, good old fashioned procrastination. But! It always ends up finished and All-Con always goes off without a hitch. So...wish me luck!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Check out my cool Doctor Who flask and Thundercats shot glass. My boyfriend is pretty cool. :)

Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Stuff For Smart Masses

The website for this week is my absolute favorite shopping destination EVAR. ThinkGeek has everything a girl could ever want, for realz. It's amazing and fun and witty. And the only place I need to shop for the rest of my life.  Really.  Because tactical bacon.

Movie Tuesday!

No one got the movie quotes last week.  You all make me sad.

Today, there's three different movies and I *know* almost every one of you will know them.  Don't let me down!

"There's a girl in the garden."
"What?"
"In the garden, there is a girl."


"SWAN!"


"A man of your legendary prowess drinking -- fucking rain!"

Cinerator Is Good For You*

Friday night I went out with my boyfriend, my best friend, a friend from work and a local DFW radio personality whom shall remain nameless.  We went to Sherlock's, a local bar with a live band, and fun ensued. The band Mullet Boyz  was tons of fun. I danced even, which is not something I actually do. (By "danced", I mean I was in front of the band with my friends making some strange movements with my body that at the time seemed pretty groovy.) I also made a beautiful sculpture with some mostly empty glasses that I think nearly resulted in us being asked to leave when it got knocked over.  At any rate, we settled down a little until the cop left our table. We ended up staying till the place closed and I only know that because it got really bright and quiet! There may or may not be pics on the Internet somewhere from that night  but I'm really hoping to never see them.

It was fun.

However, I have to have my complaint now. And that is that none of the bars around here ever seem to have Cinerator whiskey and I always end up having to get Fireball. Not that there's anything wrong with Fireball; the taste is fine and it's actually smoother than Cinerator, and I can't deny that the bottle is way cooler. But it has an almost oily quality to it that bothers me a little.  Like it coats the inside of my mouth when I drink it. It's really weird. We got our first bottle of Cinerator on recommendation of the guy at the liquor store who told us that it was better and cheaper and he was right on both counts.  I'm totally hooked on this stuff. But I suffer from the delusion of "I like it so everyone likes it" and I'm continually surprised when nobody's heard of it and bars don't have it.

Moral of the story: Go buy yourself a bottle of Cinerator.

*Cinerator is not actually good for you.

Throwback Thursday - Pagers

It's 1995...do you know where your pager is?

You guys remember these things? I was so excited when I finally saved up enough for one.  I really can't remember how much I paid but I'm thinking it was around $80. It was teal and the awesomest thing I'd ever own.  It was instant cool.  Everyone who was anyone had one.

It was heavy and bulky and I paid I think $30 a month for the privilege of carting it around. And when you got a page, what then?  Look around for a pay phone and hope that by the time you find one the person who paged you was still waiting around for you to call. But!  What about when you got a page followed by 911??  Panic!! Find a pay phone fast! And you don't have any quarters!! What then??

Seriously, what was up with that? And the codes we came up with! Why didn't everyone from that time graduate and go into cryptology?  And we never kept them on vibrate.  When you got a page, you wanted EVERYONE to know. Cuz you were cool, that's why.  Also they were the cause of the first ever "electronic devices" rule at my school - no pagers were to be on or visible during school hours. And in the tiny town I grew up in, I had no idea they were cool because drug dealers used them...they were just a shiny new things that we had to have.  I wish I still did have it only because I really wanna compare the weight to my iPhone!

Web Wednesday: Because grammar is important.

 Today I give you one of my personal favorite reference sites to point people toward - Grammar Girl. She should be required reading for about 90% of the interwebz. Grammar Girl gives quick and dirty tips...easy ways to avoid common grammatical mistakes.  Who or whom?  i.e. or e.g.? Wonder no more!  She's saved me more than once and explains things in such a way that you'll always remember.

Movie Tuesday!

Okay, today I've decided I'm gonna give you quotes from two different movies-an easy one and then a harder one.  Good luck!

1.Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing.

2. I play hockey and I fornicate, 'cause those are the two most fun things to do in cold weather.

Okay, go!

Arkham City Harley Quinn Pseudo-tutorial

I've been asked many many times about my Harley costume. While I'd love to do a full-on tutorial for you guys, the fact is that this particular costume is the first one I ever made. It didn't occur to me to take pics or document the process in any way, and quite frankly I was blown away by the reception I got for the finished product! So, I'm calling is a pseudo tutorial for the simple fact that without any pics it won't be a very *good* tutorial. :)

When I made the Harley costume I had very little (as in almost nil) grasp of sewing. I only knew the most basic of basic sewing concepts, so I took shortcuts wherever I could. So while I do plan on improving the costume with my newly increased skill set, I'll walk you through the first iteration of the costume from the ground up. 

Boots:

In the game, Harley wore wedge heels. I had to compromise quite a bit here as I couldn't find anything close (and affordable!) to looking right. I decided any thigh high boots would work and chose the Jessica-8 style of De Blossom boots. Bought them in dark brown and painted one red and one black. I used spray paint but have since learned that Meltonian Nu-Life Color Spray is an infinitely better choice. It can be a little pricy but it's flexible and doesn't chip off like spray paint.

Pants:

 For the pants I just bought two pairs of leggings, one black and one red, cut them each in half down the crotch line and then sewed one half of each together. The waist was a little too high but I just rolled it over a couple times and tacked it with a couple stitches. As it's hidden by the belt it didn't matter too much what it looked like. 

Belt: 

I found a workable belt at Walmart for $8. At the time that style was pretty popular so the belt was hands down the easiest part! For the chain on her belt, I had some chain laying around from an old lamp that I sprayed with chrome spray paint and attached to the belt with small split rings. I also later added a small hook in the back of the belt for hanging con badges to keep them out of photos. 

Shirt:

Similar to the pants, I just bought a red and a black t shirt and sewed them together. I did have to alter the sleeves and neckline, but jersey knit cotton is very forgiving even when you don't really know what you're doing. 

Gloves:
 The long gloves are actually two separate parts- a long sleeve and a small fingerless glove that just coveres my hand up to my wrist.  I used the second leg of the leggings for each sleeve; I just altered it to fit my arm and added elastic to the top to hold it into place. The glove itself was a little tricky, but again, knit jersey is forgiving.  Basically I traced my hand and made a sort of rectangle shape where the fingers go and then sewed lines between where each finger would go.  Since it was knit material, there was no need to hem the ends of the fingerholes or the wrist. Again, I used scrap material left over from the pants.  For the diamond pattern on the back of the gloves and on the pants, I just bought an iron-on patch in black and white.  I painted the white patch red and then cut out the diamond shapes from each and ironed them onto the pants and gloves.

Choker/bracers:

I made the choker out of a thin belt I had laying around.  I just cut it down and punched new holes to fit around my neck. There were plenty of suitable bracers available that I could have purchased, but I have TINY wrists and ended up having to make some that fit.  I used another old belt (you may be getting the impression that I never throw anything away and you'd be right!) that I cut into strips, added studs that I ordered from eBay and then put grommets in each end.  They just tie on to my wrists.

Corset:
Obviously the corset was the hardest part.  There was lots of cussing, bleeding, and drinking involved, and I made three of them before I got it right. But remember- I had no idea how to sew at the time.  If I could pull it off so can you! :)
To start I did a lot of reading and watching YouTube videos.  I really don't remember the exact site I ended up referring to, but if you google "underbust corset drafting" you'll get a decent amound of ideas.  It's really not as hard as it seems.  Once I finally managed to construct the corset, I looked at lots of screenshots from the game to make the straps look right.  Since I was using fairly thick vinyl pleather, I didn't worry about putting in proper boning, but I did cut up a detergent bottle and use the plastic to stiffen up the corset.  I duct-taped it into the inside. It's not pretty at all on the inside and I'm not even lying!  But it worked and the outside looks good. I do intend to make a better one someday but for now it looks fine. For the black straps on the body of the corset I used the remainder of the belt that I cut up for the choker.

Tattoos:
Harley has two tattoos: an armband and one on her hip.  I was able to find a decent pic of the armband online but I had to mostly guess at the one on her hip since it's not completely shown.  I then drew it out and scanned it into my computer. I printed the tattoos onto waterslide decal transfer paper.  WARNING: This paper is NOT actually intended for tattoos and DOES NOT COME OFF EASILY!!!! It usually takes me about an hour of scraping and rubbing with Goo Gone and various lotions to remove it.  Also it produces a fairly shiny tattoo which I don't really like, but I've tried a couple other papers and haven't had good results.  If anyone knows of good tattoo paper, PLEASE let me know!! These tattoos also leave my skin red after they've been removed. It's doesn't hurt but there is a definite redness and slight raised area.  Probably not good but hey.  What's a good costume without a little suffering??

Hair/makeup:
The hair was easy.  I'm already blonde so all I had to do was get cheap color hairspray from Party City to spray the ends of my pigtails.  Be warned though; the red does NOT wash out easily.  It says on the can "not for use on blonde hair" and they weren't lying.
For the makeup I used a very light porcelain base dusted over with baby powder.  In this particular incarnation Harley's face isn't pure white but rather very very pale.  I use black face paint around the eyes (lately I've been using Tulip Body Art and I'm impressed with the quality.) and add false eyelashes and red lipstick.

Add a bat and you're good to go!  As a precaution, I'd recommend a plastic bat.  I had an aluminum bat forever but last year at a con I was told a metal bat was a weapon.  I carry a plastic one now.

I know this isn't terribly useful but I hope it at least answers a few questions.  And if it doesn't, ask away! Also, let me know if there's any other costumes that you want the construction details on.  I'll try to be better in the future about documenting progress. :)

Here's a full body shot by Neither Noir. I love those guys!

My Kitten is a Psychopathic Alarm Clock

Every night without fail my kitten Cap'n Jack decides sometime between 2:00 am and 3:00 am is the absolute best time to decide to shove his wet nose into my face as hard as he can and purr somewhere in the 110-125 decibel range.  How a three pound cat can do this is beyond my comprehension but he can. And it doesn't matter how many times this behavior results in him sailing off the bed and onto the floor, he'll keep coming back. I've tried shutting him out of the room but then he wakes me up at two am yowling and scratching at the door. 

See that spike in my sleep pattern? That's him waking me up EVERY NIGHT. He likes to lay ON MY HEAD. Which admittedly is kind of nice when it's cold, but he's just so noisy about it. 

This is a pic of the little bastard. He's lucky he's cute. 

How My Little Pony Saved My Mother's Sanity

When I was young, my mother despaired of ever getting me to play with "girl toys". She bought me dolls and dress up clothes and a kitchen set and a doll-sized cradle and high chair. I played with sticks and mud and my brother's Legos and Hot Wheels. I wanted karate lessons. I only asked for science toys and books about horses.

Enter My Pretty Pony and My Little Pony.


Once I got My Pretty Pony it was all I played with. I loved it quite literally to pieces. And then a couple years later when My Little Pony was introduced, I was instantly obsessed.I had it all.

I had the carrying case:

the baby nursery:

the Pretty Parlor:

the Show Stable:

the castle:

and so.much.more.

My mom was thrilled. It was pink stuff! That I would play with! I loved them so much (still have almost all of it too!) and that was all I asked for from 1983 to 1990. And I bought the occasional special order one right up to 1992 when they quit making the original line.

But here's the fun bit: I was crazy obsessed with these things. All my ponies had these elaborate back stories I made up for them. There was Majesty who was the queen, Moondancer who was her slightly frumpy sidekick, Cotton Candy and Blossom that were the crazy old lady ponies; Firefly who was a rock star but still really sweet, Applejack who was the ex-gang member who had cleaned up her life (seriously wtf was wrong with me?? A gang member?? I even drew a gang tattoo on her with a ballpoint pen!) and Glory who was a complete show-off until she had a baby. I had probably 30 or 40 ponies and they ALL had a story. I didn't have a lot of friends, so I suppose I made up for it with MLP.

Here's a picture of a very small me in awe of receiving the My Little Pony Baby Buggy, complete with Baby Cuddles! (I made up a story about her, too. Her mom died. Morbid. lol)

Website Wednesday

Webbie Wednesday? Wednesday Webinator? Yeah, no...

So here's the deal. If you don't know about the Oatmeal you've probably been living under a rock or something. So I'll do you a favor and tell you about it! Started by Matthew Inman in 2009, it's a site with a collection of funny comics, quizzes and stories. This guy never ever ever fails to make me laugh. His drawings are hilarious, his writing is clever and his grammar is impeccable (and he doesn't look at all like you'd think from his comics. Just sayin').

In addition, he has caused me to use the word MOAR so much my phone knows how to spell it.



The Oatmeal

Matthew Inman on Wiki

Movie Tuesday!

I like movie quotes. Who doesn't? So! On Tuesdays you'll get a random quote from a movie (or possibly a TV show) for your reading pleasure. First person to tell me what it's from wins a prize and that prize is you get to be the first person to show off your awesomeness.

"They threw us out of England, they threw us out of France, so here we are. Flourishing, really, except for the minor inconvenience of despising everything about your country."

The First Post

The First Post...get it? Like the pub??

So. I haven't had a blog since I quit my last one in 2008, but apparently they're cool again. Or I'm just bored. Equally possible. But I figured I'd give it a shot and try to keep up with it!

So, a little about me...my name's Jenny but most everyone knows me as Athena. Works out well for me because if someone yells "Athena!" at a convention I can be pretty certain they're talking to me. I finally got the opportunity to start costuming about two years ago after having wanted to my whole life - I've discovered a passion and a little bit of talent in that area and it's given me an entirely new and rewarding hobby (read: obsession) to fill what little spare time I have. In addition to all my geekiness, I like some normal things like going out to eat and shoes and liquor. A lot of that. I love all kinds of animals (well, not all kinds. I hate spiders. And chihuahuas.) I'm also a grammar nazi and I like parentheses a lot. 

I have a Facebook page that I try to keep up with and a Twitter page that frustrates me because of the character limit...makes it hard to be both witty and grammatically correct. I still use it, though pretty much only to compete with my boyfriend for celebrity retweets. I was once retweeted by Simon Pegg. Top that.

Things I'm likely to talk about on here: Costumes (of course), shoes, my many pets, places I go, new booze I try, movies I see and things that I MUST HAVE. But likely never will. And since I never quite know how to end a post, here's a random pic of myself and Boromir. I love that guy!