OH SHIT

Well, damn. That was a long absence. Oops. I blame Christmas and winter and my birthday! Also, other things.
So I'm 26 years old now. Dang nabbit, time to purchase ointment and watch Coronation Street with my mom. Except not.
Things have been not as incredibly busy as usual. Such as winter is in the film industry! I worked as the costume designer for a few episodes of William Shatner's 'Weird or What' which will be on History Television in Canada, Discovery Television in the US. Keep your eyeballs alert for monster madness! Or Shat will disapprovingly gaze at you.

Aside from that, I've just been working in theatre in the city, designing for some short films and planning various things. I just purchased tickets to the San Diego Comic Convention this past Saturday! I had me, my mom and my dad all online on different computers feverishly trying to get into the que. Well, success! SDCC will be mine to explore in July. Then hopefully that scheme about seeing Europe will come true for September. We'll see. Will I bust out a costume? Uh - PROBABLY.
I'm getting some artwork published in a zine being organized by Andrea Kalfas at the end of the month which is incredibly exciting. The theme is 'Twin Peaks' (the best show ever, if you didn't know) so that makes it even better. I'm thinking about taking some part-time courses in the summer but that will really depend on work and travel and all those magical things.

Break

That was quite a while between posts. Things have been pretty crazy. I spent all of September working diligently on my tutu for the National Ballet of Canada which had to be near completion before the Word on the Street. I didn't get it completely finished but I don't think you could tell. Anyways, I attended the Romeo and Juliet premiere on November 16th and my tutu was on display, completely finished. Afterwards, it's going to be professionally photographed and on exhibition with the Tutu Project, which will be at the Design Exchange and the Four Seasons center next summer. Then all of the tutus will be kept online on the National Ballet website in a digital museum of sorts. Sounds pretty awesome.
I spent October working on Resident Evil 5 which was really great. I worked on Total Recall earlier this summer but I wasn't there for too long and thus didn't get to see a huge amount of the costumes. But I got to see quite a lot on RE5 and it is just amazing to see those detailed and elaborate garments up close. You also learn quite a lot working in a costume shop which you will never learn from fashion school or in a production setting. And I love learning new techniques and experimenting with new materials. I'm actually taking a leather-molding workshop in about 2 weeks time which I am terribly excited for. YAY AMMONIA. The class is being taught by Adam Smith who I met working on Total Recall and also worked on Resident Evil 5.
November has been pretty slow. I decided to take some down time because I was just so tired and I needed to focus on finishing the tutu. I've just been doing some part-time theatre work and I'm also doing costumes on William Shatner's 'Weird or What' for December. ALL THE NERD CRED IS MINE.
Other than that, I am playing Skyrim and it is awesome. I totally dismissed it at first because I am a hardcore old-school RPG nerd and I was unimpressed with the lack of party characters, the non-linear format and the vast sandboxiness of it all. But now I am currently eating my words, running around as a badass thief wood elf with a penchant for destorying faces with my trusty mace.
I think I will now make dinner and finishing building this crazy creature costume.

TUTU MADNESS

So my whole life right now is working on this tutu for the National Ballet. Which is AWESOME, but stress-inducing as I want it to be absolutely perfect.
Moving right along on the tutu so I don't have much time to write an entry. However, I'll be attending the premiere of 'Romeo and Juliet' at the National Ballet in November (fancy) and my tutu will be there on display for the event! So EVEN MORE PRESSURE to do amazing work.
So far, I did some sample embroidery to know what I'm going to do. After purchasing the felt, I dyed it all myself at home with an acid dye. There's another skill for the ol' resume. Afterwards, I cut it into the pattern pieces and quilted it onto some polyfill batting. And that is where I am right now! Next step is to add all the lace, the cording and then begin beading.


Oh yeah, they asked me to gear my design towards 'Romeo and Juliet' as they wanted a specific tutu for that project. Which is why it is no longer the tree-branch idea I originally had. I retooled it to be more appropriate for Romeo + Juliet. Here is the initial design:


Anyways, maybe another post after this project is well under foot. OR PERHAPS NOT. (There probably will be another post.)