Steamcon V

I just got home yesterday from Steamcon V, and it was a blast, as usual.  Only thing bad about it?  It went by in such a blur that it almost feels like it didn’t happen.  Usually time slows down and stretches out when I’m at these costume events, but not this time.

One of the two things I was particularly excited about was meeting artist Brian Kesinger.  I have been in love with his Tea Girls for awhile now, and I adore his new book about Victoria and her domestic pet cephalopod.  So sweet and funny!

I brought my book, and he was extremely nice and not only signed it, but drew me an Otto as well!

I am utterly charmed by geeky artists.

While I’m speaking of art, I’ll share a couple of prints I bought from awesome artists I met.

This one is by Robin E. Kaplan.  I actually bought four of hers, but I love this one the best.

This one is by Jessica Van Hulle.  Ferrets!

And, of course, I got all of them signed.  Super lovely people.

The other thing I was most excited about was the concert.  Abney Park, Frenchy and the Punk, and Professor Elemental.  One of my friends admitted to having a just a bit of a crush on the Professor.  I’m sure you all know about my feelings for Captain Robert of Abney Park.  I think this concert made all of us happy.  I know I have sore calf muscles today from all the jumping I did with Abney Park, and even though rap is normally not my thing, the Professor was charming.

I’m not crushing on him yet, but I definitely saw the appeal.  His free-style rap was pretty amazing – he had people in the audience hold up objects and he’d work them into a song.  He got everything from steampunk’d light sabers, to goggles, to a banana.  I’m particularly thrilled about the banana.

Frenchy and the Punk’s drumming were awesome.

And, of course, what can I say about Abney Park?  I was a little sorry that Robert didn’t do his normal bantering with the crowd, but their energy is always so infectious.  And I was happy that they did quite a few of my favorite songs, including Dear Ophelia.

For my concert outfit, I wanted something light and easy to wear, so I cobbled together parts of my steampunk saloon girl costume and the red velvet birdcage costume.

This was on Saturday night.  On Friday, I wore my Airship Pirate costume.  This was my first-ever steampunk creation, and I get more people writing me and wanting to buy this one than all of my others combined!  I have worn it several times, but never to Steamcon.  It was time.

That is my little pet cephalopod, Oswin, on my shoulder.  I’m totally taking him to England and Scotland with me when I go, and photographing him in famous places.  Brian Kesinger wants me to send him photos of Oswin’s adventures!

My friend Melinda wore the relaxed version of her Ottoman outfit and looked fantastic.  You can read about her costumes on her new blog.  She does impeccable work.

I’m trying to convince her that we should do 1830-1840s steampunk next year.  Enough bustles!  Let’s have big skirts and hilarious sleeves!

One interesting thing Steamcon did this year (to go with the theme of Around the World) was give us all passports.

And then we could collect stamps from vendors, artists, etc.

One person embossed her stamp.  Pretty cool!

The best costumes come out on Saturday.  I wore my Steampunk Mummy costume.

I’m particularly pleased with how the skirt came out.  And the headdress was entirely sculpted by me, and has real beetle wings as “feathers”.

I had the fabulous silhouette cutter Kerry Cook do my portrait.  She asked for a picture of me in my costume afterward and had me sign a model release.  She’s working on a book, and might like to include my portrait and costume!

Melinda wore the fancier, teal-ified version of her ottoman – I love it when a costume can be worn several different ways!

Besides her costume, some of my other favorites were:

A Steampunk Ravenclaw!  I love this, because last year I did the Steampunk Hufflepuff, and it’s cool to see another Potter-geek doing their own version.

I love the back.

Lady Loki.  Those horns were incredible.

Asian steampunk.  Always a favorite!

Another Ottoman steampunk:

A TARDIS hat makes a gentleman 100% more dashing!

Great color combination on this one….

But my absolute favorites were this couple.  So gorgeous!

I also met up with my favorite stalker (kidding!) Teya and her SO Jon.  They are fabulous people who want to get chickens and maybe raise quail.  I stole this picture from Jon’s site, he has lots more from Steamcon and he’s a better photographer than I am, so go check them out.

Sunday is pretty relaxed at Steamcon (everyone is recovering from the concert and other parties and balls) so I wore a mainly-thrifted outfit.  The only things I made were the waist cincher, the striped bustle, and the hat. (Tyson, that’s the Octopus pin you gave me!)

Oswin got to come out to play with me, too.  😉

My three panels went well, and were fun.  One of these days I’m going to see if they’d like me to do panels on either distressing costumes or using beetle wings in costuming.

And…what else?  There didn’t seem to be nearly so many ribbons floating around as usual – I only managed to net four (but one was a Hall Costume Award, so that was cool!)  Even the folks that were actively pursuing ribbons didn’t have the long, long, long, loooong collections I usually see.  Last year one woman had over 200!

But at least I got my Effin ribbon!