I LIVE!

[cleflink]

*waves* Hello friends!

It has been a busy few weeks chez clef, let me tell you.

First of all, I do intend to finish all of the prompts that I got in my song meme, so thank you to everyone who contributed. Most of them are half-written, but I haven't had a chance to go back and get them done.

The reason for the delay is that my costume for Dragoncon wound up being FAR more time-consuming than I expected, with several setbacks that required some creative problem solving to work around. Turns out that wings are harder than they look!


I went with a cosplay-inspired outfit this time, and ended up with a Butterfree ballgown!




Behold my multicoloured wings! The stuff I made them from changes colour in the light, which doesn't pick up well on camera, but you should get the idea.

Sorry my pictures aren't clearer (and that I'm pulling a dumb face); for some reason, every time I hand my camera to someone, they take blurry pictures. *heavy sigh* I'm still not totally happy with how everything turned out, particularly since the harness for keeping the wings attached did not work very well for keeping them, y'know, upright, but it survived the weekend, which is good enough. I'm going to see about working on my harness system to make the wings stand up better next time.

The convention was awesome and we kept ourselves crazy busy with panels and dances and shopping. :) On the Thursday night, we went to a ball at the Puppetry Center to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Jim Henson's The Labyrinth, which is one of my favourite movies of all time. I walked in the parade on Saturday (which I've heard was airing on the CW?), and my wings did not break! Success! Got to see some amazing guests on a variety of tracks, including Brian Henson (Muppets), Alan Tudyk (Firefly), Cecil Balwin (Welcome to Nightvale), Alex Kingston (Doctor Who), Arthur Darvill (also Doctor Who), Jim Butcher (author of the Dresden Files) and Charlie Cox (Daredevil, but I shall always think of him as Tristan Thorne). And a bunch of others, some of whom I knew and some of whom just happened to be in panels with people I knew. I also got to get one of my big books of dragons signed by Ciruelo Cabral, who paints the most beautiful dragons. *points at icon*


As soon as I got back from the convention, it was back to school! (Seriously, my flight was delayed, and then we had to drive from Buffalo airport into Canada, so I got home at, like, 3am, and was up at 7am to go to work). I'm at a new school this year, which is always intimidating, but everything and everyone seems good so far. I'm hoping to join the Age of the Geeks club as a teacher advisor. :D

I've signed up for both j2_reversebang (for which I've claimed an awesome prompt) and spn_reversebang. I love reversebangs. :) I'll be signing up for spn_j2_xmas as soon as I get my requests organized, and I'm slowly chugging away at my story for sherlock_remix. Oh, and I'm going to be making stuff up for heading up a discussion about world building at spn_writing next week, which I hope people will show up to so I'm not just talking into the void. Who needs sleep?

How are things with everyone else?

Comments

[sylsdarkplace]

I imagine wings are quite a challenge, but they look lovely as did you.

I love the Dresden Files! And it is so difficult to rush home from out of town and get right back to work. Good luck with everything!

[cleflink.livejournal.com]

Why, thank you! :) I'm usually dressed up like a boy, so it was a novel experience to be in something so feminine. Of course, all of Atlanta is built on a damn hill, so I wasn't particularly graceful trying to keep my skirts out of the way as I marched around. *laughs*

The Dresden Files are awesome. This is the second time I've seen Jim Butcher at a convention, and he's always very interesting. Also, a HUGE geek and LARPer, which is always fun.

Hugs!

[matchboximpala.livejournal.com]

Beautiful costume! I am always so impressed by the time and effort that goes into the costumes worn at Cons.

[cleflink.livejournal.com]

Man, some of the costumes are just stunning. Considering how long mine take me, I can only imagine how much time some people must spend on theirs.

Thanks! :)

[becc-j.livejournal.com]

Those wings look great and you look fabulous in your dress💕 the convention sounds like it was a blast! And I can't believe your at another school, though I guess I'm at another school from last year myself. Sounds like it's going well, do you think you'll be able to stay for a while? We have contracts or permanent positions here, how does it work for you?

[cleflink.livejournal.com]

Becc! Hi! :)

Thank you! I had a couple of little girls assume I was a fairy princess, which was nice too - you can't really go wrong with being any kind of princess. *grins*

We have both contract and permanent employees. I am a permanent employee, but sometimes a permanent employee will get declared surplus if they have more teachers than they need at the school. I hope to stay at this school pretty much until I want to move to a different one. It's in the fastest-growing city in my province, so there's not nearly so much concern about the school shrinking.

I hope that things are good at your new school! Has your arm recovered properly?

[becc-j.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the same set up we have here. I hope to renew my contract at the end of the year. Good to hear there's no concern for you about the school shrinking. We're going to lose 4 teachers next year, so morale isn't great atm.

Otherwise the job is great, a bit crazy at times - we've just had book week and book fair two big library events. But they both went really well. My arm is recovering, thank you. I still have some problems but it's not serious and isn't impacting my drawing too much, as long as I remember to take breaks. :)

All the best <3

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, I love your pretty wings - you look wonderful!!! And yay for all the challenges!!!!

[cleflink.livejournal.com]

You would not believe how many times I had to redo things for those darn wings, but the finished product really was everything I could have hoped for (harness aside), so I guess it was worth it.

Many challenges! Probably I need to start writing some stuff! orz

[deanshot1]

What a stunning costume, it must have taken a lot of time and effort to make it.

Love the wings also, they look very shimmery.

Thanks for sharing.

*hugs*

[cleflink.livejournal.com]

They always seem to take far more time and effort than I'm expecting. You'd think that after doing this hobby for 13 years, I'd have a better handle on it. *makes face*

They were very shimmery! And they cast red and blue shadows in the sun, for some fascinating reason. The stuff I made them from is pretty snazzy.

Thanks, hon!

[avictoriangirl]

What a great costume, those wings are very cool!

[cleflink.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I ended up carrying them half the time because they got in the way with the crowds, but they looked pretty good either on or off, so it could have been worse! I also saw some amazing Trek costumes, which always brightens my day. :)

Thank you!

[tebtosca.livejournal.com]

COME SIGN UP, I LOVE YOU

*tickles your nose*

[cleflink.livejournal.com]

ALL DONE! Wouldn't miss it for the world!

Also, hello, lady whom I never see anymore! I hope that all is well with you. :)

[sleepypercy.livejournal.com]

Oooh this is all exciting stuff!!

And did you MAKE your costume?? THat's just crazy, and those wings are GORGEOUS!

The Labyrinth is definitely one of my favorite movies ever, and I have a lot of memories of watching with my sisters and brother growing up <3