Still no word from Famous Players Theatre and I suspect I won't get word until Monday at the earliest. I just don't know if this field trip is going to happen or not, which is depressing, since I can't control the outcome. So, I'll distract myself and talk of other things.
Yesterday John and I went to a big Goodwill store up in Newmarket to explore around for costume pieces. Now, in seventeen years of being involved in science fiction fandom I have never been much of a costumer. In my earliest rush of involvement I remember having a purple velvet robe and a black cape that I wore to one or two conventions. A few years later Beckett Gladney lent me a wonderful rust-coloured Renaissance outfit to wear to my first Ren Faire and then graciously let me keep it. I've worn it since to a SCA event and for Halloween. In general, though, I've never been much involved in costuming at the cons I've attended.
In December 2003 Urban Tapestry will be attending a convention called "The Gathering of the Fellowship", a Tolkien convention being held in Toronto at the same time as the release of the third LOTR movie, "The Return of The King". One of the highlights of that convention is a Masquerade Ball being held at The Medieval Times down on the lakefront. There is a strong expectation that everyone attending will be in Medieval or Tolkienesque garb. Deb, Jodi and I have all agreed that we will dress up for that event. So, I now have fourteen months to come up with a suitably Tolkienesque costume and I find myself thinking about what I would like to wear.
John is delighted that I want to dress up, as he's going to the Tolkien con, too, and he plans to prepare costumes for himself for the first time in a long time. John has been a costumer and theatrical make-up artist for a long time and he has made astonishing costumes for conventions ranging from Klingons to Ninja Turtles to the devil from "Legend" to Pinhead from "Hellraiser". He has bunches of ribbons and trophies won at convention masquerades through the years, which is pretty impressive especially considering he can no more use a sewing machine than I can. Now that he knows that both of us need at least one, and maybe more, Tolkien costumes for December 2003, he's in his element and ready to teach me everything he knows about simple, but effective, costuming.
Which brings us back to Goodwill yesterday. John and I both were looking for Tolkien outfits. I have my eye on preparing something from Rohan, maybe something like Eowyn or her fellow woman would wear (I'll be looking at such costumes carefully during "The
Two Towers" to get ideas) and John is wavering between something Elfish or something Gondorian (or both). It was fun to listen to John talk yesterday, picking up a brown velvet dress and saying, "This would make a great tunic for you- cut the dress at the hips, slice it up the back and use ties, add some trim on the edges, it'll go great with the long skirt you have at home.". It was great fun, every piece of clothing I looked at became a potential Rohan gown.
I didn't end up buying any costume pieces yesterday (though I did find a mint-condition embroidered vest for $3.00 and a professional copy of Eudora mailing software for $3.50 more!), but I came away with a new excitement and enthusiasm for searching out a costume as the year goes on. Besides Goodwills I plan to also look at the Ren Faire and WorldCon next summer, check out costuming sites on-line, maybe make some hand-made cross-stitch borders to use as costume trims. It will be a fun creative project.
And John didn't come away empty-handed yesterday. He found a brown suede jacket with a sheepskin lining for $20.00 which he says he plans to cut into a suede jerkin and arm braces. It's wonderful what a bit of imagination and industry can do. It'll be interesting to see what the two of us come up with as the year goes on.
Yesterday John and I went to a big Goodwill store up in Newmarket to explore around for costume pieces. Now, in seventeen years of being involved in science fiction fandom I have never been much of a costumer. In my earliest rush of involvement I remember having a purple velvet robe and a black cape that I wore to one or two conventions. A few years later Beckett Gladney lent me a wonderful rust-coloured Renaissance outfit to wear to my first Ren Faire and then graciously let me keep it. I've worn it since to a SCA event and for Halloween. In general, though, I've never been much involved in costuming at the cons I've attended.
In December 2003 Urban Tapestry will be attending a convention called "The Gathering of the Fellowship", a Tolkien convention being held in Toronto at the same time as the release of the third LOTR movie, "The Return of The King". One of the highlights of that convention is a Masquerade Ball being held at The Medieval Times down on the lakefront. There is a strong expectation that everyone attending will be in Medieval or Tolkienesque garb. Deb, Jodi and I have all agreed that we will dress up for that event. So, I now have fourteen months to come up with a suitably Tolkienesque costume and I find myself thinking about what I would like to wear.
John is delighted that I want to dress up, as he's going to the Tolkien con, too, and he plans to prepare costumes for himself for the first time in a long time. John has been a costumer and theatrical make-up artist for a long time and he has made astonishing costumes for conventions ranging from Klingons to Ninja Turtles to the devil from "Legend" to Pinhead from "Hellraiser". He has bunches of ribbons and trophies won at convention masquerades through the years, which is pretty impressive especially considering he can no more use a sewing machine than I can. Now that he knows that both of us need at least one, and maybe more, Tolkien costumes for December 2003, he's in his element and ready to teach me everything he knows about simple, but effective, costuming.
Which brings us back to Goodwill yesterday. John and I both were looking for Tolkien outfits. I have my eye on preparing something from Rohan, maybe something like Eowyn or her fellow woman would wear (I'll be looking at such costumes carefully during "The
Two Towers" to get ideas) and John is wavering between something Elfish or something Gondorian (or both). It was fun to listen to John talk yesterday, picking up a brown velvet dress and saying, "This would make a great tunic for you- cut the dress at the hips, slice it up the back and use ties, add some trim on the edges, it'll go great with the long skirt you have at home.". It was great fun, every piece of clothing I looked at became a potential Rohan gown.
I didn't end up buying any costume pieces yesterday (though I did find a mint-condition embroidered vest for $3.00 and a professional copy of Eudora mailing software for $3.50 more!), but I came away with a new excitement and enthusiasm for searching out a costume as the year goes on. Besides Goodwills I plan to also look at the Ren Faire and WorldCon next summer, check out costuming sites on-line, maybe make some hand-made cross-stitch borders to use as costume trims. It will be a fun creative project.
And John didn't come away empty-handed yesterday. He found a brown suede jacket with a sheepskin lining for $20.00 which he says he plans to cut into a suede jerkin and arm braces. It's wonderful what a bit of imagination and industry can do. It'll be interesting to see what the two of us come up with as the year goes on.