Kíli - New costume project

After seeing the first installment of the three Hobbit movies, and realizing, with glee, that Aidan Turner's Kíli looks exceptionally similar to my own, dear Rik, I decided that a new costume project was in order. So, now starts the journey towards a Kíli costume which is to be ready for the premiere of the next film.

I don't have a count for how many images of Mr. Turner's Kíli I have studied now, but I do know I have over 20 of them saved up as bookmarks for closer study. It's taken some time, but I've finally managed to get a wholesome perspective of the approximate pattern construction of the different layers of clothing, and I'll tell you this for free, there's a few of them.

1. Under tunic - blue/gray linen, one layer
2. Over tunic with hood - blue/gray linen, two layers
3. Short under coat - dark brown leather, grey/black linnen (padded) sleeves with patterned trimming
4. Long over coat with short sleeves - brown leather with fur trimming
5. Trousers
6. Boots

I've started with the long overcoat, and this is my rough construction sketch so far:



































Because I'm not filthy rich I'm using some old leather coats which I got for a bargain price in a second hand shop, even though this means I'll have lots of seams where there are supposed to be none, but I guess I'll just have to live with it. At least it'll all be in real leather instead of filthy pvc.

The coat I'm using as a base looked like this before I started to flay it:

 

Then, after removing the lining, it looked like this:

 

 

This is where I'm up to a the moment, but rest assured, I will keep you posted a soon as I've got more to show! :)

Goggles!

As I wrote earlier, I've just made myself a brand new pair of goggles! Because it was ridiculously easy and cheap, I thought I'd share the process here, so that others may take inspiration from it! :)

Firstly, I equipped myself with two empty cans of Redbull, mainly because these are aproximately 5 cm in diameter, so if you find other cans of the same size, they will most likely do. Using a nail buff, I removed the colour from the can, before painting the bottom with a brassy colour. I used Citadel (GW) paints, which demands a few layers, but most hobby paints should work. I left them over night to be sure they had dried properly. Next, I cut the painted bottom of the can off, making sure it was approximately an inch high, and them moved on to cutting a hole in the bottom. I now had the frame of the goggles.

I dug out some old leather I had lying around and cut out what was to be the "cuffs", the nose bridge and the straps. I also found small buckle to use for the straps. Sewing the all together, I next fitted the frames into the cuffs and added the "lenses", basically two sircles cut out from a sheet of transparent acetate.

Using a sharp hobby scalpel, I cut four small slits along the ridge of the frame, and stuck a tiny vintage brass coloured paper brad, using it's "arms" to keep the lens in place. And that's it! Goggles done!

Delightful Distractions

Work has been half killing my social life these last few months, but with my first ever Collective Bargaining safely behind me (it's been quite the crash course in negotiations), I can finally take the time to appreciate that summer is indeed a-comin'! I see baby birds almost every day, still poofy and fluffy, watching their mum fetch food for them, and everywhere there's green. Suddenly having some spare time, I managed to go for a weekend trip to Copenhagen with Rik and some friends, as well as a one-day larp with ridiculous hats (at least mine was), men in tights and chivalrous behaviour! This weekend, I also managed to persuade Rik to venture out with me in the pouring rain to go to the annual Medieval Marked (Oslo Middelalderfestival), which proved to be a delightfully costly affair! I am now the proud owner of a new leather belt pouch, leather water bottle, to tiny wooden boxes (perfect for larp), and a pair of perfectly awesome pointy shoes!



After a sufficient amount of trudging, we went to the Dubliner for some food and drink, and were later joined by a bunch of delightful people, amongst them lovely Frøydis, Solgave, Branna and Tathariel. It ended in songs, laughter and merriment! ^_^

Now, however, with Desucon right around the corner and the larp Christianus Sextus in September only a few months away, Steampunk is constantly on my mind, and I can't stop myself from thinking "how could I steampunkify this" about almost everything. My basic outfit for the larp is more or less finished, having just made a pair of light blue canvas jodhpurs, and will be tested out at Desucon the coming weekend. I'm still collecting old looking tools (I haz a monkey wrench!) for my tool belt, and an aviators cap and new steampunkish boots are also on the list, but they're not top priority (yet). I have been making a pair of goggles, and I dare say, for the minimal amount of money I spent on the equipment, and never having made goggles before, I'm quite proud! Here they are:

Spring Awakening

Winter sent my writing into hibernation, but with the passing of the Vernal Equinox and the unexpectedly early spring weather, the inspiration to sit down and type has come dripping back. It’s been a winter of many big changes. We’ve settled into the new flat quite comfortably and it feels like home. I’ve been shanghaied into running for union rep at work and thus sent to a lot of courses for training, which has both been fun and enlightening and utterly exhausting. But most important of all was the news that Rik was getting a permanent contract for his position at work, which means the safety of knowing that he’ll have a job next year as well. It’s been a long road to get there, but he’s been hard working and patient, never giving up, and to finally be able to reap the benefits of all his labour meant the world to us both!

So, 2012 had a flying start and it only seems to be getting better! In September, Rik and I are going to a Steampunk larp at Røros and we've already started hoarding gear. This weekend a pair of lovely old spectacles bought on eBay turned up in the mail for Rik. They came in a delightfully worn leather case and look perfect!








For myself, I've ordered a carpenter's belt in leather for all my tools, but the coolest thing I've managed to get hold of is this gorgeous portable 78 rpm record player!


And I didn't pay a penny for it either! Someone had dumped it in the electronic equipment dumpster at work, and I couldn't bare to see such a beauty just be tossed away like that, so I rescued it out from among the many worn keyboards, broken printers and dusty cables and claimed it for my own.


Here's a video of it playing the (slightly damaged) record that was accompanying it inside the box:



Inside the box, I also found three adorable little tins full of needle tips:

Like Counting Crows sing, it's been a long December and there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last. :)

What's the coolest thing you've ever found?

Autumn Leaves

Golden colours everywhere! Summer left a good few weeks ago and the trees have started shedding flakes of yellow and red. Slowly, we've been shedding off the life in our old, run-down apartment after finding a new, bigger and better one. This one is much closer to work for both of us, and after the treatment Rik and a friend of ours have been giving it, renovating everything with paint and brush. I did a little bit as well, but the blokes deserve the credit for it! So now, we're in the process of moving all our things from the old place to the new, and revelling in the fact that for once, we actually have room for everything!

So, it's Saturday, the last one we have before the lease of the old flat runs out, and I had to work today. That alone didn't offer the best start of the morning, and the lack of anything to eat but some cheese did not help. So having been rather grumpy and a little stressed, I trotted off towards work. As I came up by the Physics building at the University Campus, I noticed a little sparrow sitting on the ground. It must have been quite young, 'cause it still had a lot of it's baby fluff. I slowly approached it, expecting it to fly off as I got closer, but it just sat there, most likely terrified, even when I stood only a few inches away. I got a bit concerned, because it was in the middle of the road, and although there are very few cars coming down that stretch on Saturdays, it would most likely be run over if one happened come by.

So, very slowly, I lowered my hand, carefully nudging my fingers underneath it's feet so it clambered onto them. The poor little thing pooped in fright as I slowly lifted it up and carried it to the closest tree. There, I let it clamber onto a branch and watched it scramble along it (most likely glad to get away from that big, scary thing).

It was a small thing, but it really made my day! And hopefully the little bird will survive untill it's learned how to master the use of it's wings. :)

The Truth About Our Bathroom

We have known since we moved in that the bathroom probably could need some fixing but I didn't really know how bad it was until now.

As was getting dressed this morning, someone knocked on our door. I thought at first it was someone knocking at the wrong door (it happens now and then), but then there was another knock. Rushing to get at least half decent, I found some men outside, one of them saying he was the plumber and he was going to remove the bath tub and have a shower cabinet fitted. I remember Rik mentioning that the landlord was planning to do this at one point, but we had never been given a definite date. Luckily, I've got some overtime worked up, allowing me to take the day off, and about an hour ago, the two other blokes (not the plumber) turned up and got the bathtub out.

Now I was prepared for flaking paint (yes, some idiot thought it a good idea to paint over the tiles on the floor), but the sight that met me was a bit more nasty than I had expected. It seems damp might have gotten into the wall, or at least the wallpaper, and the flaking paint made it close to impossible to clean the floor (although I made a hearty attempt). The piping is a mess and the drain is a catastophe.

Although a shower cabinet certainly will make it a little bit easier to clean the floor, I suspect the whole room needs to be re-done; tiles ripped out and replaces, walls stipped and tiled, if possible. To give you an idea, here's my documentation photos that will shortly be sent to the landlord:

Running a tight ship, or a shite tip....?

Busy times! Rik and I came home again from Liverpool in the late hours of Monday night with four full suitcases and a very nice civil war reenactment sword! Rik was obviously very chuffed about the latter, whilst I was (a little bit) more thrilled about the big 250 meter roll of 1/4" cotton tape and the almost two kilos of cream muslin acquired at Abakhan for next to nothing (at least compared to Norwegian prices). The woman behind the till was also rather surprised when I asked for every packet she had of medium sized self-cover buttons. I love shopping for fabrics in Liverpool! ^_^

Well back in Oslo, I'm getting closer to finishing off the stays, and it's really cutting it close now as the larp is next week. I have decided to leave the lining for when I actually have time for it, so now I'm just focusing on finishing the reed boning on the back of the left piece (the right one is done, huzza!) so that I can wrap it all up by sorting the binding out at last! I think Rik might be even more happy about me finishing them than myself, as he's constantly commenting the lack of visible proof that we do, in fact, have a kitchen table, a coffee table and, well, a flat underneath all my sewing stuff. Too bad I've still got a lot of other stuff to sew before the larp. He'll moan about it, but he'll live.

Next on the list is a shift and I'll be using the muslin for that. Then there's the burgundy jute, which will most likely become a bodice or a jacket (I've not really decided yet), and I'll be lining it with one layer of thin wool mix and then a layer of thin burgundy cotton. Also, there's Rik's trousers. I got some thin, dark grey wool for that and I'll be lining it with some plain black cotton. I've got about a week to finish it all off, and I'm probably going to end up taking a few short-cuts. But I have no ambitions of sewing any of these things by hand, so I might just make it. I've managed to sew a wedding dress in a week and a half, so it is possible. I think. Wish me luck! O_o