Dragon*Con 2012 Memories

My eighth Dragon*Con ended last week (boo!!!) and it was a great success.  This was my first one as an official costumer, having started my business after last year's con.  It's interesting to me how my views and outlooks have changed in the last 12 months and how that had me looking at things differently.

First, I had a reputation to uphold.  This meant that my family's costumes had to be representative of my skills as a seamstress and not just for fun.

Then there were the people that had commissioned costumes to wear at the con.  I was able to run into them and talk about it.  The Captain Cold costume was noticed by legendary comic book artist George Perez, who stated it was the best version he had ever seen.  That's a huge thing from someone who has actually drawn the character and has been going to cons for decades!  The confessor dress from Legend of the Seeker was also a hit and loved by the customer.

It was great to see people really enjoy what I had made for them.  I'm anxious to see what costumes of mine show up at the con next year!

Now can I go a bit "fan-girl" on you?  Sure I can...it's my blog.

The absolute highlight of the con was getting to meet my long-time idol, Dean Cain.  I've had a crush on him ever since Lois & Clark was on the air and my husband has often said that Dean is the one man I'd leave him for.  So when I was standing in line to talk to him and get his autograph I actually had tears in my eyes!  The experience was better than I could have hoped.  He was so very nice and personable, smiling at me and my family and being so sincere and genuine.  When it came time for the picture, he gave me a genuine, double-armed hug!  Superman himself had his arms around me!  And oh, that smile!!!!

Now it's back to reality (boo again!!!).  Time to organize my thoughts and start planning the next costume.  I already have several commissions to begin, and with around 500 cards passed out at Dragon*Con, I may have more business than I can handle!

Steampunkin' It

Over the last few years my family and I have gotten heavily into the steampunk genre.  "What is steampunk?"  Ah, glad you asked.  If you do a quick internet search you will be bombarded with pages and links.  If you want a more "scholarly" approach you can just check Wikipedia.  Steampunk is a bit hard to describe and define since it covers so many things and is kind of "fuzzy" around the borders of what it includes.  But in a nutshell....take the Victorian time period, including clothing, social structure, and so on, give them modern-ish gadgets that are powered by steam and clockwork rather than electricity and microchips.  It's as much a philosophy and style as it is a setting.  Type in "steampunk" and here is the first image you get...

But since steampunk involves so many things, you never know what you'll see "steampunked".  Steampunk X-Men anyone?

Or what about Batman?  This one is actually a personal friend of ours.  Really!

My husband and I are no stranger to the genre, having first costumed as steampunk versions of Green Arrow and Black Canary.  Yes, I made those costumes!

The following year we joined the rest of the Justice League (and a few villains).

There is something so magical about steampunk.  It's all about honor, adventure, and romance.  Plus the clothing is just so cool!  It harkens back to a time when men were handsome and dashing and women were sexy and feminine without being scantily dressed.

As I write this Dragon*Con is only 10 days away.  And this year we're unveiling a new steampunk costume set...Thundercats!  The costumes are still being made otherwise I'd post props.  But we're very close to being finished, and I think we'll get a lot of great responses and lots of pictures.  Once the con is over I'll post plenty of photos of what we've done.

The Award Goes To....

I sew because I enjoy it.  When I don't have a backlog of commissions it's actually relaxing for me.  Even if I didn't decide to do it as a business I would make costumes for my family.  But sometimes you want more than just enjoyment.  Sometimes you want people to say "oooh, I love your work."  A bit of an ego trip?  No, not really.  Just human nature and the desire to be liked.

I've actually won several awards before.  In 2010 we won "Best In Shire" at the Evening At Bree costume contest at Dragon*Con.  Last year we won "Cutest Family" at the Yule Ball (Harry Potter themed) at Dragon*Con.  Last year I won (along with a co-costumer) Best Costume Design at the Pumphouse Players Awards for our steampunk version of Jeckyll & Hyde.  I'm proud of those awards, but I didn't put as much work into them as I did this past theater season.

The Pumphouse Players is a community theater group in Cartersville, Georgia.  My husband and I have been involved with them for three years and have become regular members of the organization.  This past year we did a version of Romeo & Juliet using a pirates/colonial theme to represent the Capulets (British) and Montagues (pirates).  In a four month period I hand-made over 30 costumes!  There was a lot of sweat, tears, and blood (literally) that went into those costumes.  Here are a few....

I absolutely loved doing this show and these costumes, but it was a lot of work.  Even though other plays for the 2011-2012 season did good work, nothing was on the scale of what I did.  So when the awards ceremony came, I was a little worried that I wouldn't win.

Once again, I worried for nothing.  My hard work paid off, people loved my work (it was voted on by all active members of the group), and I won Best Costume Design.

This coming season I'm costumer for several shows, so we'll see what else I can pull off!

Making Clothes Is Boring

Most of my friends probably don't realize it, but I find sewing clothing quite boring.  Seriously!  But let me explain.

To me "clothing" is something I would wear just about every day:  shirts, blouses, skirts, pants, etc.  Even given my sewing skills I would much rather buy such things than make them.  In fact, before I really got started with A Touch Of Magic Costumes I was commissioned to make a western-style shirt for someone.  It turned out well and they really loved but, but I didn't enjoy the process at all.  It was tedious and boring and I didn't feel any sense of satisfaction.

Costumes are a completely different story. I love playing pretend, indulging my creativity, and imagining something beyond our reality.  There is a challenge in taking an idea, concept or character and bringing it into three dimensions, breathing life into it.  My birthday is October 30th (I am NOT telling what year), and one of my nieces and nephews said that I must love dressing up so much because I was born the day before Halloween.  Even if I'm not wearing it I love seeing the finished product.  There is so much satisfaction in figuring out how to make something real that was previously only imagined.

I have been asked to make wedding dresses by a few people.  I'm even looking forward to that! Again, there is creativity and it's something that you don't see around every day.  Because of the design and the occasion I don't consider these to be "clothing".  One couple is wanting to do an anime-style wedding with appropriate tuxedo and dress.  Coming up with original designs will be challenging but still quite fun.

Want me to make something that you've seen in a comic book or movie?  Bring it on!  Want a day-to-day dress?  Go to Wal-Mart.

You Need A Starting Point

When I'm costuming, I have to start somewhere.  Yes, I have patterns.  But since most of my costuming is custom work based on a specific character I rarely have a pattern specific to the need.  I'm not yet at the point of completely creating my own patterns with a computer program, but I've gotten darn good at taking existing patterns and modifying or mixing them. 

Costuming is a creative process and you have to know where you're going in order to make a map to get there.  For me it helps to have sketches, whether I make them or have them made.  Here's a picture of my current "idea wall" with several of my works-in-progress.

And here's a close-up of the sketch my husband made with notes about my steampunk Cheetara costume. 

My husband is quick to state that he's not an artist and that this is not to scale (those are not my proportions).  But the sketch gives me an idea of where to start.  With a picture at hand I can go through my patterns and find something that will meet those needs.  Though the costume is still being created, you can see how it's starting to look like the picture.

Here's a sketch provided by one of my customers, based on an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. 

And here's that costume in progress. 

There's still a good bit of work to do, including modifying it to have that "dip" in the cleavage.  But again you can see how a basic sketch give a costumer an idea of how to get started.

The difficult part is actually creating something from a sketch.  And that's where the skill of the costumer comes into play!

Just Call Me "Tink"

Last week I was helping with a kids' drama camp.  After a few days the children noticed that I always wore something with Tinker Bell and it became a game to them to "find Tink" on me.  It was easy not to disappoint them as I am a teeny-tiny bit obsessed with a certain Disney pixie.

Did you ever wonder why I call this blog "Creatively Tink"?  All of my friends (and even acquaintances) know that I love Tinker Bell.  Over the years I've even taken on the nickname "Tink" and will answer to it as readily as my own name.  Even so, very few people know the sheer depth of my love of Tinker Bell.  Sure, they see me with clothes, purses and such, as well as see me use her as an online avatar and screen name.  But you don't really understand until you set foot in my house.

And since you can't do that, let me share it with you.  This is actually the first time I've posted a large part of my Tink collection online.  Let's start with some wall pictures.

But that's only the start!  There are very few places in my home that you can go without running into Tink.

You can even find her "hanging around" in a few places.

Warmed up now?  Let me show you some of the shelves and true gatherings of my collection.

This shelf?  All of those are journals and notebooks, every single one with Tinker Bell.

It doesn't end there!  How about the kitchen...

And the bathroom...my husband painted it in a Tinker Bell theme, including glitter in the paint!

Okay, so that's the inside of the house.  But the Tink experience actually begins before you ever walk inside.

And then there's what my husband has called the "Tink-mobile"....

So that's what you'll see around my home.  What about me?  Yep, I have some personal Tink items.

Pretty impressive collection, right?  Well, this is only part of it!  I have about 10 more bags and purses, numerous pairs of underwear and socks, dozens of shirts, and a couple of bins in storage containing items that I don't have room for.  We've tried counting everything a few times but always gave up.  Our best estimate is that I own somewhere around 700 individual items related to Tinker Bell.  Yes, 700!  I think that I've gone just a bit beyond "really liking" Tink.  In fact, I am sometimes bemused when someone sees me wearing something with Tinker Bell and they say "Oh, I love her also!"  Somehow I doubt that their "love" quite reaches the point of my obsession.  Yes, obsession is probably the best description for my little problem.

Hi, my name is Stacey.  And I'm a Tink-a-holic.  Better yet, just call me "Tink".