Today I felt inspired by the lovely goldfish. I had a goldfish when I was a kid. I named him Aragorn.
Needless to say, the Lord of the Rings ended very differently in our household, and not nearly as well.
Fishie!
All the pretty eyeshadows are Lunatick AlieNEON pigments. The painted purple and orange stripes near the eyebrows and cheekbones are Mehron, and the gold scale paint is Kryolan Aquacolor in bronze. Lips are Mehron and glitter.
That is all! Avast, ye scurvy fishies!
It is finally time for me to make a coat.
Coats (and jackets) are probably my favorite garments; there’s something very security-blanket-meets-armor about a good coat. And I have been afraid to try making one. So many pieces! So many details! So many notions! Interfacing! Buttons–what?! And what the hell is wiggan? But I’m going to do it. I believe I ranted at length about it in this post, but the direction I am wanting to move in, artistically, (read that with a posh accent), is towards unique, hand-crafted outerwear. An intersection between art and function, spanning both.
In school, I was allowed to be completely immersed in art for art’s sake; making and experimenting and not worrying about a bottom line any more serious than my letter grade. Post-school, thrown into the (lack of) job market, working in a coffee shop, I became very concerned with commercial uses and marketability– making things I could SELL. Now I feel like I’m coming back to some middle way. I think art students are often underserved on learning marketing, branding and survival, but I also think being passionate about your work is important, and that if you do something that bores you just because you can sell it, both you and your work will ultimately suffer.
This philosophical moment brought to you by Ponds Cold Cream.
Anyway, coats. And no, I still haven’t finished the purple patchy coat. It’s been the learning-horse, and largely what I learned was that I need to be able to make my garments from scratch and to design them myself from the ground up to get the result I want. So it’s sitting unfinished for the moment, though I plan to finish it at that elusive time we know as “someday.”
So I took a basic coats/jackets class and finally attempted my first coat, from a commercial pattern and everything! Woo!
I bought this pattern, largely because I have a weakness for stand-collars and double-breasted styles:
I bought a gorgeous, but complicated, damask-print canvas fabric. I also, at the urging of awesome-teacher Diana, decided to pipe the seams– a new trick for me, which I love and now I want to pipe everything. Piping for all! Piping on underwear! Piping on the dog!
Piping!
Progress pockets… and more piping! The lining is a gorgeous orange. I should have matched the lining and piping but the piping was a last-minute decision, so it is red. This is not a mistake, this is a bold artistic choice!
I took a few more progress shots but they looked pretty dull so I shan’t include them. Suffice it to say this beast took a while. Matching the print alone took the better part of a day, and then once I put the coat together I realized it needed all sorts of alterations. Next time I will make a muslin for sure– I have learned my lesson!! I took in the sides, sleeves, bust and back, and there are more alterations I will probably add on if I ever make a version of this pattern again. So there are lots of “learning moments” on this coat, (like the hem. That hem and learning to line the thing nearly killed me) but overall, for my first coat ever, I’m pretty pleased.
Finished coat, with neck unbuttoned. I disagree with this pattern detail, by the way. It leaves a strange gap in between the collar and front facing and if I make it again I think I’ll just join the collar and facing. I’d also extend the other side of the collar so the wrap and are symmetrical, but I like big high collars. It just looks weird to me with the one side longer than the other and hanging open like that.
And buttoned. I like the look of it when closed. I opted for buttons just on the closure, rather than the intended double-row down the front. It just seemed too busy with both rows of buttons, and I rather liked the asymmetry.
Detail.
Partially open, I like the “lapel” effect but again, that top collar piece bugs me. Oh well.
Sexy rich orange lining. Next time I will add a back-pleat to the lining– it could use it for ease.
Action shots!
I took about 4 inches out of the back– it was a pretty shapeless coat at first.
Ta-Da!
Thanks to Diana and Better Living Through Sewing for the help and guidance. If you live in the Bay Area and want to sew I highly recommend her classes. Plus, it turns out she went to the same high school in Boulder that I did. Funny ol’ world, innit?
You would think I’d have done a St. Patrick’s Day look today, but no, despite having an Irish husband, I completely forgot the day was coming. Also, when you grow up in a college town, the things you associate with St. Patrick’s Day are not typically things you WANT to inspire makeup looks… Green puke! Screaming sorority girls! Passed out dudes in cheap plastic beads and vulgar t-shirts! How inspiring!
So none of that for me. You may pinch me if you want.
Today’s face is a bit tamer– I had towear it to work at the restaurant and be the hostess with the mostess. I will admit I have a bit of shame about this; I had a moment of “go big or go home!” but I already get a lot of odd comments at work, plus I wouldn’t want to put patrons off their food, so I went for “wearable daily look”. Sort of.
I recently lightened my roots and removed more of the pink from my hair, which I think, what with my fried, fluffy locks (remember when I did that? Yeah, it’s still a thing) makes me look a bit like a baby chick, which made me think Easter, which made me think PEEPS.
Peeps are one of those cultural staples that are practically REQUIRED for Easter to happen. Welcoming of Spring? What? No, welcoming of marshmallow birds and chocolate eggs laid by dubious rabbits! Ok I talk shit, but I do love Easter. Anyway, Peeps.
So lots of yellow and glitter, OBVIOUSLY. Sadly, the glitter didn’t show up very well in the photos, which is too bad, as I promise you my eyes looked like sugar-coated diabetes-in-waiting.
I used a combination of Mehron and Lunatick Labs for the yellows and oranges, with touches of Urban Decay on the top. The eyeliner is Wet ‘n’ Wild and is, in point of fact, brown to mimic the Peeps’ chocolate eyes, but you can’t really tell in the photos. Ah well.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some green cupcakes to make, because not everyone forgot it was St. Patrick’s Day.
It’s Jason’s birthday today and we are taking a few days away, so no new face today. Instead I present you with a few blasts from the past. I hope you enjoy them despite the terrible snapshot quality.
That time I was rocker Alice…
And went to a party that got photographed and ended up being the example picture for Wikipedia’s definition of “shag hairstyle”... in a cheap wig that is really not a shag cut at all. Irony lurks around every corner…
The time I was some sort of doll:
And had a dance with a dapper Egyptian god. 
Or the time Jason and I were animals:
And the day we were, collectively, Bowie:
And the time we were Johnny Depp:
Ok I hope you enjoyed my little memory-lane ramble. Have a splendid week.
xo
Am I over my neon kick yet? Bitches, I am just getting started! I have all the markers and I won’t give them up! Nor shall I color within the lines! Rebellion!
I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired today, and my eyes are all puffy because apparently spring is here and brought me some allergies as a present. I didn’t notice this until I thought “maybe I’ll try a real cut crease look today” and then realized that the entire part of my lid I’d drawn on had been absorbed into the rest of the puffy flesh of my eye. Thus ensued a good 5 minutes of moving my chin up and down in the mirror and being hypnotically disturbed by watching my eyelids disappear within themselves. Yep, I am gross, it is true.
That was disheartening.
So to make myself feel better I pulled out my trusty Lunatick Labs AlieNEON palette, which is guaranteed to restore hope and faith in the goodness of the world by it’s sheer manic COLORFULNESS.
Seriously, how can you look at this and not feel better? It’s like pigment prozac.
So I started slapping green on my face, because I’ve been on a pink kick recently and I should try something new already. This quickly turned into a bit of an 80’s party of punky proportions. Man, 80’s makeup kind of rules. You may see a lot more in this vein until I get over it and spiral into greyscale or something. Ok, so for lack of a better term, this is my David-Bowie-Billy-Idol-and-Lisa-Frank-love-child (what a hot mess!) look:
For those of you who are curious, I used Lunatick’s white primer on my lids and brow area. The colors are pretty much all from the AlieNeon palette, with Urban Decay blue and purple swept over the inner and outer eyes for a little shimmer. Eyeliner is Wet-n-Wild liquid and Urban Decay pencil. False lashes would have been a good move but I am lazy and suck at applying them so too damn bad. Lips are Kryolan Aquacolor and Lunatick Labs Dr. Jekyll.
Here’s my Billy Idol moment. It’s a nice day for a neon wedding!
Oh, but David Bowie makes a comeback! Ground control to Major Neon!
And then Lisa is like “don’t forget me and my friends the rainbow dolphins and panda bears!”
And then Debbie Harry showed up and ruined everything. 
80’s color-punk forever!
So that was my day. How was yours?
Space Koyote 