Steamcon II

I went to my first Steamcon last weekend, and I already know it won’t be my last!  It was so much fun; the panels, guests, and people-watching were top-notch.

Here are a few of my adventures, along with a few photos.

First off, I was severely sleep-deprived when we arrived on Friday because I’d been up until about 3am the night before attending the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows midnight premiere.  (I’ll do a separate blog about that night later on.)  We get to the Hilton in Seattle and get checked *just* in time for the first panel I really wanted to see.  I’m a huge League of Steam fan, and was delighted to hear a few of the members had flown up to Seattle.  Their first panel was pretty much an introduction to who they are and what they do.  If you haven’t watched any of their short films, you need to check them out on youtube.  They are seriously the definition of everything cool about steampunk!  Their gear is absolutely amazing.  Everything ‘works’, from the baby eel shock-prong, to the net gun, to the plunger-canon!

They also have amazing costumes:

This is their zombie expert, Baron Von Fogel.  His most awesome bit of equipment is his hand-crank chainsaw.

Ghostbuster Crackitus Potts (shown here holding his baby eel shock prod – which actually does deliver shocks, as testified by brave members of the audience):

LadyAmeliorette Potts, his wife, also came, but by the second day was strangely absent, and in her place was one of the female ghosts who haunt the League of Steam:

Her costume was absolutely to-die for, with so much incredible detail.  I took many close-up pics, and will post them on my costume blog, Dragonfly Designs by Alisa.  In the background, you can see the fourth member of the League, Zedediah.  He is a domesticated zombie, and very well-behaved. If anyone was attacked, the evidence must have been cleared away quickly, because I saw no sign of mayhem whatsoever.

This guy was really amazing.  He staying in character the entire day, complete with eyes rolled back and drool.

On one of their other panels (shared by a genuine ghost-investigator), Potts took the opportunity to demonstrate his ghostbusting skills:

Friday evening was the Singalong with Abney Park.  Unfortunately, Abney Park was “unable to make it”, so they dredged up a last minute replacement band: Ranch Hand Robbie and his Wranglers!  It was hilarious to watch them attempt to stay in character as they “covered” their own songs.

I wore my Zombie Hunter outfit:

The second day (Saturday) I wore my Steampunk Geisha costume, which proved to be the most popular costume I’ve ever made!

It was difficult to walk more than a few feet without being asked to stop for a photo, and once I was stopped by one person, it quickly turned into a mob scene – I was instantly surrounded by cameras!  I truly felt like a celebrity in this dress!  I was even given an award ribbon by the Rose City Steampunks for “thinking outside the box” and “wearing a color other than brown”. 

One guy said there had actually been a panel earlier in which they had discussed what a ‘steampunk geisha’ costume might look like.  How funny if I’d managed to attend it in this outfit!

One of Saturday’s outstanding panels was the one with Abney Park.  Despite it being “early morning” (1pm!) they were awesome.  They told so many great tales, like Dan’s accidental arrest for convenience store armed robbery…

I was too busy laughing to take video, but someone else did:

They were having so much fun they went over their time, and I had to walk out before it was quite over in order to meet my friend Mike for the High Tea and Fashion Show at 2pm.

The High Tea setting was gorgeous, with white linen and candles.  They served ham and salmon tea sandwiches, mini quiches, and for dessert, mini petit fours, cream puffs, and mini eclairs.  The menu and schedule they handed out was gorgeous too:

We chose seats right up against the catwalk, and by chance the lady who took the seat next to mine was the wife of writer James Blaylock, the Steamcon guest of honor!  She and her husband were wonderful tea companions; during the fashion show, she kept leaning over to whisper: “Could I commission you to make THAT for me???”    Too bad I don’t actually take costuming commissions, or I’d have had work for months – she had a serious case of costume-envy, after seeing all the great steampunk outfits all day!

Unfortunately, they didn’t allow any photography inside the tea room, but the fashion show was great fun.  Especially the designs from Lastwear.  They had their models act out little skits as they walked the runway!  I did find this photographer’s page with photos of the fashion show.  If you go about 1/3 of the way down the page, you’ll find a guy wearing a black cap with goggles, a black jacket, and a red kerchief around his neck.  He was particular fun for me, since he stopped right at our table, crouched down, made very intense eye contact with me, and proceeded to silently flirt.  When he left, Mrs Blaylock leaned over to comment that he had ‘wonderful eyes’.  Yes.  Yes he did!  *blush*

Saturday evening was the big concert.  None of us thought very much of the opening band (Bakelite 78) but the second band, Ghoultown, was very good.  I think I’ll get one of their CDs.  The headliner was Abney Park, and they were excellent as always, even though they were plagued with technical difficulties with Kristina’s keyboard.  (Like one of the fans shouted, it isn’t a real AP concert unless something breaks….)

Sunday I wore my Saloon Girl outfit.

 

 

I posed for more photo-ops, and had girls chase me down so they could pet my shoulder martin.  Also, I was reminded of an occurrence that happens only at costume-type cons: mutual butt fondling!  Yep, get two or more ladies wearing bustles together, and pretty soon it becomes a free-for-all, as everyone wants to examine the construction of everyone else’s bustle! 

Late afternoon it started to SNOW, and the con cleared out fast, as all the panels were pretty much over, as no one wanted to get stuck in Seattle!  This is also when I discovered that semi-skimpy saloon girl outfits don’t do well in snow – gads, that was a cold walk to our car!

My favorite panels ended up being:

Steampunk Ghost Hunting (funny AND informative!)

Eureka it Works! (that fabulous League of Steam & their equipment)

Victorian Undergarments (they had actual extant corsets, bustles, and petticoats to pass around for the audience to examine)

The Abney Park panel (well, of course!)

The Art and Science of Fencing (Knives, swords, and live dueling, what’s not to love?)

Perhaps the best part of any con is the people-watching.  Next, I give you some of the most awesome and fun costumes that other people were wearing:

This guy’s costume was flippin’ amazing.  I wish it showed in the pic, but inside the cage was a fairy.  And she moved, flying up and down in the most lifelike manner.  I don’t know how he did it, but it was GREAT.

Best wings ever.  They actually extended and retracted!

This guy’s hat lighted up in several amazing ways.  And besides that, he was just one of those really nice people that are such a pleasure to meet at cons. We took pictures of each other, and then (since I was in my geisha outfit) a crowd gathered and we ended up posing together for several minutes worth of pictures.

I have a love for mechanical arms. This guy had one of the best.

Mechanical arms aren’t amazing enough for you?  How about a mechanical ostrich???

Another pair of wings, and a guy whose costume is just generally cool.  Back view:

And front view:

A mechanical dog that moves, lights up, and barks.  It reminds me of the Doctor’s K9.

How can you not love a guy with an octopus on his shoulder?  It’s so elegant!

Here’s another one that the picture doesn’t do it justice. At all.  This is an articulated dragon, with “fire” in all its joints and under its scales.  So cool!

I don’t quite know who/what this girl was, but anyone who carries a glowing green brain around on their back is seriously cool!

Great fun was had, and I’m going back next year for sure – I already have costume ideas flooding my own (hopefully non green and glowing) brain!

Also, we are SO GLAD the con ended when it did, because today (Monday) Seattle is an absolute mess because of the snow.  If the snow had begun day or two earlier, it would probably have been canceled!

Online Paper Dolls

These are incredibly cool, and incredibly gorgeous!  I’ve so envious of the clothes!

There are two dolls; one is a pirate and the other….is STEAMPUNK!!!

http://anniestegg.com/games.php

Steampunk Ring

This is beyond awesome.   So incredibly frickin’ cool.

Cakes, Marvelous, Unbelievable Cakes!

I was checking out a fellow costumer’s blog, when I came across a fabulous steampunk coat she’d created for this fellow’s wedding.  From there, I clicked on the fellow’s site, to see more pics (because this was a marvelous wedding, folks, filled with tall ships, bustles, and rayguns!).

But what really filled me with awe was the wedding cake:

Wow.  Just wow.  And from there I went to the cake designer’s site, and you have got to go look!  From the gallery menu, don’t miss the purse and shoe cakes in the “haute couture” section or the children’s “pop-up book” in the children’s cake section.  Unbelievable.  And the prices seem reasonable, too, considering that if I bought a cake like that I’d never be able to cut it up and eat it – I’d want to put it behind glass and stare at it like the piece of art it is!

Four Frugal Tips and Tip Number Five

The Cheap Chick Empire is a marvelous thing.  Check out her website for fabulous tips to save money, find those awesome sales/deals that make you feel good about spending money, and just to prove she’s truly one of us, she even has a weekly feature when she ‘fesses up to her personal victories and failures (fast food and Target seem to be her Achilles’ heels!).

After reading her blog for awhile now, I’m feeling inspired to impart my own frugal-living wisdom to you. I know you may think you only come to my blog for Dr. Who and Abney Park updates, but trust me.  On occasion (granted it’s more rare than I’d prefer) I actually am frugal.   And even more rarely, I have wisdom!

Tip #1: Why pay money for those skin-scrubs that (even when they say they are all-natural) are most likely packed with nasty things that harm your skin?  When a cheap, really all-natural alternative exists right now in your own house?  I’m talking about baking soda.  Is there anything that baking soda can’t do?  It cleans, deodorizes, brushes teeth, and now, scrubs skin in a totally non-harmful, good for you kind of way – and since there are no fragrances or chemicals in it, it’s perfect for those with allergies.  Just pour a small amount into your palm, dribble in just enough water to mix it into a paste, then apply to your face and cleanse away.  I love the tingle you get afterward, and the softness of my skin.  After I discovered this, I can never go back to store scrubs!

Tip #2:  Hydrogen Peroxide.  Yep, the same stuff that you can buy for under fifty cents a bottle to disinfect your child’s scraped knees is also a skin beauty product!  It’s a marvelous skin toner and makes those large pores on my face just disappear when I dab it on at night with a cotton ball.  Plus, I use it for a mouth rinse – just be careful to keep it out of your eyes and don’t swallow it.

Tip #3:  Alice.com Ever notice how, when you go to Walmart or Target for a couple of necessary household or personal items that you end up shopping for things you don’t need and end up paying far more than you wanted?  Here’s the perfect solution.  With no shipping fees, and a minimum order each time of only six items (and it doesn’t matter how cheap the six items are or how heavy they are) you can have your necessary items shipping right to your door.  Things like detergent, toilet paper, makeup, pet items, even food – and it’s even brand name products – and as cheap as you could get them at your local Walmart.  You can even have Alice keep track of what you order and remind you to re-order when you’re starting to run out!  No more running to the store constantly for those basic things of life – and you even have a chance to receive free items with your order, even really awesome items like free ipods!  And for every friend you refer, you get a kickback of 3% of whatever they purchase.  My dog loves it when the alice box comes in the mail since there’s nearly always something in it for her!

Tip #4: Paperback Book Swap.  If you’re a reader like I am, you’re always picking up books wherever you go.  Thrift stores, book stores, garage sales; there is seemingly no end to the amount of books I can acquire in a year.  And once I read them, where do they go?  I used to donate them back to the thrift store, or, for those popular new titles that my used bookstore would accept, trade them in for a discount.  That’s good, but this online site is better.  You list the books you don’t want (and they can be basically any kind of book, even hardbacks and ex-library books, so long as they’re in relatively decent condition) and other people request those titles from you.  You print a mailing label right at the site (including postage, if you don’t mind their small convenience fee) and mail them off to that person.  For every book you mail, you get one credit…and this is where it gets fun.  You can search a database of millions of available books and request them for free, one book for each credit you’ve earned. If they don’t have the specific book you want available, you can add yourself to a “wish list” and as soon as that book is made available, they put it on hold for you and send you an email.  It’s marvelous, and this particular online book swap is better than the other ones out there.

And one last tip: Tip #5.  When Christmas tree shopping, it might be wise to bring your dog, or borrow a dog for the excursion.  Why?  Well, we bought our tree home from the lot, and noticed that our dog Jacks was very intrigued by it.  We thought: “Oh how cute!  She’s happy it’s Christmas!”  But then, we discovered exactly why she was intrigued: one section of lower branches smelled of dog pee. (We’re assuming it’s dog pee; it could be bear!)  After some branch-trimming, and some use of a spray deodorizer/sanitizer, the tree no longer smells of pee.  However it also doesn’t smell of tree.  And isn’t that a large part of having a live tree in your house?  Learn from my mistake, take a dog tree hunting, and avoid any tree the dog “likes”!

And since I doubt I’ll have time to update my blog again until after Christmas,

Merry Christmas!!!!

BPAL Giveaway Winner

After a little consideration (because I want to give ALL of you these samples), I decided the only fair thing to do was write your names down on slips of paper and have a drawing.

And the winner is…….

BECKY!!!

This is nice, because Becky has never tried BPAL oils before, and it’s always fun to introduce new people to things that you love.  For those who didn’t win, well, I have a new order for BPAL oils going in tonight, so there will probably be another opportunity to win my not-loved imps next month!

And stay tuned, because I’m plotting to give away a couple of really cool things in the near future that aren’t BPAL-related!

BPAL Giveaway!

I first blogged about Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs a while ago, so click here if you don’t know who they are.  Since that post I’ve been collecting a bunch sample perfume “imps”, and now I want to find a new home for some of them.  Some of the fragrances I don’t like on me at all, and others are okay but I just don’t wear them.  These are basically like new imps, still full to the top!

So here’s the giveaway: leave me a comment below with an email or way to contact you, and I’ll pick a winner and mail that person all my unwanted imps.  Talk about a totally free way to try a few new perfumes!

(The imps in the above picture aren’t the ones being given away, btw, just a few random imps to show you what they look like!)

Awesome Coolness

It seems like lately I’ve been coming across all these Awesome Things of Win, and thinking that I needed to blog about them.  But instead I end up checking my facebook and going to bed.  I now have a massive backlog, and since bed is still a good 5 – 6 hours away, I’m going to play a bit of catch-up.

First off, an Abney Park update.

It was the squee heard ’round the world when Captain Robert updated his livejournal to announce the new album was DONE.  Yes!  And not only DONE, but slated to be released around the 14th of this month.  Guess who is not only buying a copy for herself, instantly, but is also buying a few more for Christmas gifts?  Yup.  How can you resist giving the gift of steampunk to your nearest and dearest?

Second, (and equally dear to my heart) is a David Tennant update.  While this didn’t quite rate a squee, it did get a gasp of surprise that bought the family over to the computer to see what I was surfing.

His next project will be playing a lawyer on AMERICAN TV.  Which accent will he use?  I’m rooting for his natural Scottish one.  Plus, is there any chance at all NBC will make him wear a kilt?  I guarantee it will raise the ratings among the female demographic!

And now, a bit of shopping.  Etsy has such awesome stores.  Too bad I personally can’t afford anything in this store.  Their steampunk-inspired stuff is bloody fabulous.  Look at this:

Or this:

I think I’m going to have to stop thinking about taking up leatherwork, and just buy me a piece of leather.

More elegant is this store:

Masks, chokers, bracelets, and all manner of tatted goodness.  Check out her ankle-wear:

And then there’s the absolutely freaking fabulous steampunk store, Clockwork Couture.  I am always in love with the fashion I find on this site, but was particularly struck by this new piece: The Time Traveler’s Corset.

Newspaper!  With keys and other things attached!

And lastly, speaking of time travel, one of the few ways we can do it is through films.  I was delighted when the creator of this highly useful blog found me on my dress diary site, and introduced me to it.  She tracks period films, both released and upcoming, on tv and in the theater.  She has interviews with actors, trailers, rumors, and photographs.  For a costumer, this site is pure gold.  My favorite feature is the “latest news and upcoming films” feature.  Here’s just a tiny glimpse of the films on the list:

Cleo – a musical version of the story of Cleopatra, set in the 1920′s. I don’t know about you, but this just fills me with glee.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.  It has a release date of 2010, and it’s based on one of the best and most perfect novels ever written.

Upstairs, Downstairs.  They’re doing a re-make!  Yes!!!!!

The Queen.  This is a miniseries event about the life of Queen Elizabeth II, staring 5 different actresses (to play her at different decades in her life) and set to air this month.  In the UK, of course, but hopefully it’ll come either to BBC America or at least to DVD.

And the list of films goes on and on.  It’s brilliant!

Socks

We all need socks, right?  Well, it occurred to me today that not everyone out is aware of the most fabulous place to buy socks EVER.

I am, of course, speaking of Sock Dreams.

Literally any sort of socks, leg warmers, or gloves you might desire are available on this site.  Really.  I’m not exaggerating!

You still think I’m exaggerating, don’t you?  Well okay then!  Here’s a very small sampling from their stock of literally hundreds (if not thousands!) of items.

Striped toe socks:

Fishnet knee highs.  (I’m so getting a pair of these!)

Over-the-knee socks.  These are purely fabulous for wearing under skirts on cold winter days.  And if the skirt’s long, and you’re wearing boots, feel free to get wild with the patterns and colors – when it’s grey out, we need a little color!

And if your skirt’s not long, or you’re not brave, they also come in plain colors.  In everything from light cotton to the most gorgeous soft and warm Angora.

These are my current favorites, that I only just discovered while I was looking for pictures to post here.   Stripes!  Pirates!  Yay!

And speaking of pirates, here’s one of their fingerless gloves.  I love fingerless gloves.  There is no sexier hand-wear…especially when it looks like this! I want these!  Want, want, want!!!

Ever wanted a pair of pantyhose with separate toes?  No?  Well, if you ever do, you’ll know where to go!

The socks come in every imaginable color and print…from stars & stripes….

…to the ever practical Hogwarts house colors.

And the truly thrilling part is that no matter whether you want one $3 pair of anklets, or twenty pairs of over-the-knee socks, shipping is always FREE.

Whether you’re looking for a costume accessory or just a wonderful pair of cozy socks, there’s only one place you need to go!

Oh.  And they also sell sock garters, garter belts, puffy crinoline skirts, skin glue, and a number of other odd and wonderful things.

Bpal

So I’ve worn four of my new perfume oil samples so far, and I have to say I did a much better job choosing them this time.  There are none so far I absolutely hate. 

Snake Oil.  It’s a nice smell.  I like it, but it’s very muted.  I put some on my wrists and behind my ears, and normally when I do this with perfume, I can catch whiffs of it whenever I turn my head.  I couldn’t smell Snake Oil unless I sniffed my wrist.  Maybe I just have to put alot more on?  I don’t know, this one requires more wearing.

Lyonesse.  I really quite like this one, enough so that I may consider buying a bottle, if I’m still loving it by the time my sample runs out.  I don’t normally care for floral scents, but this one is mixed with some darker notes.

Blood Countess.   This one is kind of odd.  Fruity-floral, with incense.  I have to wear it again.  Not what I was expecting at all, based on the description.  (Countess Bathory smelled of…fruit?)

Antikythera Mechanism.  This one is the “steampunk” one, and so I was really hoping to love it.  It would have been nice to wear with my steampunk costume this October.  Wet and in the bottle, it’s pretty…strident.  As soon as I put it on, I sneezed twice!  Hmmm.  It seems to be mellowing down as I type this, but it’s definitely on probation at this point!