Tuesday, June 22, 2010

My New Hero!

Ok, I didn't actually see this woman in person at the Mermaid Day Parade, but once I went online looking for pictures, she was everywhere!
I am super impressed with the engineering of her peacock tail. From the looks of the pictures, she was able to fan and unfan it. However I'm sure by the end of the parade route her arms were tired from holding it up. Bet it was worth it though. She looks amazing and vibrantly colorful in every picture. Inspired!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Mermaid Day Parade 2010 Photos and Comments


What a beautiful day yesterday was! The sun was shining brilliantly and the mermaids, mermen, sailors, fish, anemone, octopi, and bubbles were out in force. Seriously I must have been double the people that were there last year!
I did my make up, wig and got dressed at home then walked to Queens Blvd to catch a cab. During my short walk I attracted much attention. A person even hung out their car window and yelled "I hope you win!", which made me feel pretty good.

After a longer than I would've liked cab ride due to traffic (Thank god for air conditioning) I arrived in Chinatown at the apartment of Melissa and Jonathan who graciously offered their place and their bagels for pre mermaid prep and drinks. There were some familiar Burning Man people there, Isa, Anastasia, Laura, but also some new people to meet. I learned some new costuming tricks too. I'm definitely buying a can of gold spray glitter. Always apply while standing in the shower. So, lots of body jewels and glitter later we were ready to hit the Q train. It was a cramped ride down the whole way. Finally we reached the Coney Island stop and cheered as we made a mass exodus down the ramp to Ocean Ave.

The parade was already underway and for a minute I was a little panicked that Kostume Kult had marched on with out us. We walked to the staging area on 21st street and saw Costume Jim dressed as a Pirate Toucan Sam. He looked amazing and the best part was the bottom part of his bill moved when he talked. He had build it onto a mouth guard that went over his bottom teeth. SO GREAT! The Kostume Kult had not left yet and we joined the general melee in the staging area which is the best place to get up close pictures and enjoy everyones creativity.

My friend Kristine found us too. Her Victorian Mermaid costume came out very well and we looked great together especially since we picked the same blue colored fabric. Kristine was with me the first year I did Mermaid Parade! The parade finally started moving right along and Kostume Kult was on its way. I recognized a few people from the meet ups and a few more from other events like ZombieCon. The parade route was packed. I seriously think the hot weather and new Luna Park or something caused record breaking numbers! We danced, posed and strutted our way down Ocean Avenue past the judges (where we waited for a while due to a bit of a pile up of parade marchers), then on to the board walk for more pictures and general pandemonium. I wish I had asked more people to take my email for their pictures. I had a TON of them taken and I'd love to see some of the professionals shots. So if you run across my blog and you know you took a photo to me, email me please!!



Photo Credit: Mari Lowery


Photo Credit: Pixielated PIxels

Friday, June 18, 2010

Quote

This pretty much sums up why I love to do events like Mermaid Day so much..

"Not being able to find meaning can be just as powerful as finding meaning." -Bret Easton Ellis

Read it in an article about Mr. Ellis in New York Magazine this month. He is an interesting dude. Perhaps I will pick up one of his books when I get through the giant stack of books already sitting on my nightstand.

HAIR... the final frontier

My goal was to improve the volume of my hair this year using my blond Marie Antoinette wig. By a lot of teasing and brushing and spraying I have definitely achieved new heights of poofy blond hair. I started really trying to secure decor in my hair but its hard without a bunch of wire poking me in the head and sewing each piece in takes forever! So tonight I will work on it more. Here is the progress so far..

Monday, June 14, 2010

Mermaids Progress

I did a lot of work today on the revamp, recharge, and make way bettering of my Mermaid costume. Luckily since the organizing of the costume closet, it was easier than ever to find all the pieces!
So I collected all the parts and started on the new additions. First I went shopping at House of Spandex in midtown. Found some fun sparkly stuff and some fun net-like very oceanic stuff. Spent about $18 dollars there which was pretty good. Luckily the guy let me by a 1/2 yard of the expensive fabric because I smiled real big and batted my eyes. Anyway, I knew I had foam in the craft closet already so I set out trying to cover the foam with the sequined fabric. I cut the foam first and ran two wires on each side for more support. Also I left the length of wire long so maybe I could also use it to attach to other parts of the outfit. Spray adhesive to the flat areas, pins and hot glue to the edges & corners and TA-DA! Its a scalloped shell shaped Queen Elizabeth collar!
Finally I added the pearls for even more shell detail. Now how to attach it to the net cloak to that it remains standing??

Find out next time...

Friday, June 11, 2010

Plan B for my wings.

Its a good thing I go to these Pre burn meetings for the Kostume Kult because last night I learned, courtesy of Squirrel :) , that the playa is not feather-friendly. Ok time to revamp my wings. Oh and I am planning on building some big wings. I always wanted to do a Victoria Secret fashion show type wing but NYC parties are just not good for wings. Its basically an evening of apologizing for running into people with them and possibly poking their eyes out.


SO I am thinking to give structure and keep lightweight I am starting with a long piece of thick wire which I will run through one of those pipe covers that looks like a skinny pool noodle. That way I can shape the top of the wings to my liking then cover with fabric. I want foam sheeting covered with fabric like the stuff that I used to make my wings/shell when I was a cockroach. I was able to run it through my sewing machine. Its flexible and lightweight. Stay tuned for pictures of progress.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Mermaids Emerge from the Sea!

Mermaid Day Parade 2010 is June 19th @ 2pm.
Official Site

This event is special to me because my roommate and very dear friend Erin and I have been able to go together for the last 3 years in a row. Last year was the wettest year we've ever seen, but it didn't stop us from being in the parade! Erin and I were Victorian mermaids last year and it was a total success. Everyone said we would've won best costume if we had gotten there early enough to register. It was such a fun theme that we are going to keep it again this year and do bigger and better versions of our costumes from last year. I'm going to work on my wig/crown headpiece as the show stopper of this look. It must be much BIGGER! More feathers, more jewels, more, more, more. Cause as you should know the motto that Erin and I stick to when costuming is
"MORE IS MORE!"


Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Burning Man Meet up

As Burning Man creeps up on me (only 3 months away) I went to my first official Kostume Kult Burning Man Meet N Greet. It was awesome and very inspiring. Everyone at the meeting was super friendly and ready to get things started. From what the more experienced Kostume Kulters shared, contributing to the camp will really enhance your experience. KK has a piece of prime real estate, near the Man himself, however they do not have unlimited space. After talking to a few more people I let one of the organizers know I was interested in camping with them this year. So now I just have to keep going to events and meeting the members so I can see where I fit into the scheme of things. I figure I'm a crafter, designer, decorator (of sorts) surely my skills can be applied somewhere.

My costumes are so big and vivid in my mind, I better start sketching so they are sure to come to fruition.
More to come soon... wings... things.... googles.... and fins