Modesty's Costume Closet

 May 29th 2013 was my recorded Day 0 for my first earnest attempt at cosplay with my hot pink Halo Spartan. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago! But that means I have been making costumes a bit more earnestly for at least 11 years.  OMG...baby face! I wasn't even 30 yet! Well I did make that Lady Galadriel cosplay back in 2011...so maybe more than 11 years.  This was for Halloween!  Still, I feel like I've made little to no improvement since then. 😂 Why is it that we never feel confident enough to call ourselves expert when we have so much experience? I think it's the level I expect from my teachers that I feel I just don't have. Costumes are my favorite and most prevalent hobby at the moment. Even though I rarely go to costume parties or conventions anymore. (I really need another person to go with me...I don't like going alone!)  And all my costumes and cosplay were created inside one-bedroom apartments. Although my current place does have a fair bit of

When you want to dress up as a character but it would not be appropriate to cosplay at the event,  character bounding or casual cosplay may be the solution! Or if you just don't have as many chances to go to cosplay events.  Personally, I just like the idea and think about Character Bounding or Casual Cosplay in everyday life a lot. But let's clarify what we mean by character bounding and casual cosplay.   What is Character Bounding? Typically, character bounding involves using a character's color schemes or motifs in your everyday clothes to portray the spirit of a character. This is popularized by Disney characters since you can't really cosplay at any of the Disney parks (because that is a job at the park.) However, you are not limited to Disney or fictional characters. I've also seen people use historical figures or fashions as a form of "bounding". (I honestly don't know why it's called bounding. If I were a good blogger I'd probably look

 The brain is amazing...sometimes too amazing for its own good. There were several weeks where I was insanely inspired and couldn't sit still for all the costume planning I wanted to do. Then the past two weeks, BOOM, nothing. Emotions man.  However, despite feeling uninspired and unmotivated, I'm still working on things, but in odd chunks.  I cut the fabric for my costume, which has become a chore lately due to the fact that I don't have a lot of real estate in my apartment to wrangle yards of fabric. Also, it hurts my back now.  For Goro, I made a mold based on the claws I sculpted. I tried it out last night but I made an unfortunate error.  See, I got resin tint that I thought was opaque pre-mixed resin (because I also had some of that) so I filled the mold with dye instead of resin, sat it under the uv lamp and realized dang...I've stained the mold. I made some test casts after that and realized how tricky the shape is. You have to fill it in a very specific way. Mo

It is very difficult for me to settle and just do one thing. Maybe it's a generational thing to have so many choices that we're paralyzed when told we have to pick one. (Story of my dating life. 😅) In my efforts to declutter my apartment and start gaining some focus, I've been reflective of how I manage so many projects. Or rather...start so many and rarely finish.  Always making the same mistakes... So, one thing I've been trying to be good about is prioritizing projects before buying supplies and starting them. However, I failed to realize something until well...today. There's the LOGIC of setting a priority but my anxious mind tries to sabotage that. So Story time... A Tale of Two Dresses On my list of costumes to make is a green dance dress for St. Patrick's Day, a costume for a dance performance in June, and the big puppet and costume for Halloween. All of these costumes have due dates. Not a bad thing to have, it helps set priorities. By logic, the priori

 I'm writing this in hopes to help myself really. I struggle with this so much! Now, I do end up finishing many projects but my apartment has become a testament to my impulses. So, let's dish about focus and starting too many things at once.  ✨SPARKLY!✨ The "sparkle" is meant to grab your attention, that is its job. My tendency is to follow it probably farther than I want. HOWEVER, much like the psychology of advertising I find inspiration can often be that distraction that pulls me away from a current project.  Here's what I mean.  I'm currently working on my puppet design. It needs a lot of research for the parts I want to make for it. The pinterest board is very full and more is added to it all the time. (I really need to organize it.) As I'm researching how to make the scales, I find the silicone scale tutorial video. Instead of just leaving it as research, I start looking at other videos by the same person because there are related topics like what ki

 My posts have been sparse of late but as I mentioned, I have been helping with costumes for a play at my church. It's given me a lot more insight into costume production, considerations for this unique situation, and how much my technical writer job came into play.  Really lit up! The Boar's Head Pageant This is a medieval play about the Epiphany. It depicts the medieval celebration of the Boar's Head feast and its new role as a celebration of Christmas and the Epiphany (the visit of the Magi). It's a Christian thing to put on this part medieval and part Christmas pageant. My parish had its first Boar's Head Pageant in 2003 and has put it on nearly every year since. We did not put on any production during the pandemic so instead of celebrating the 20th annual, it's the 17th. We're getting there!  The first portion of the play includes lots of singing of carols, both common and obscure, professional and not-so-professional performances. The second portion of

 As we grow as a society and as our exposure to other cultures increases, the question of whether or not we can wear another culture's traditional costume becomes a sensitive subject. Most of us want to avoid the cultural faux pas of wearing a costume that offends a majority of people! So, how does one navigate these tricky waters?  What are we trying to Avoid? I think going into this, we want to consider what may be wrong with wearing a costume from another culture:  Showcase our Ignorance Encourage Negative Stereotypes Portray a Caricature  Reducing or Mocking a Culture Display Arrogance Lack of Empathy In our day and age of information access, ignorance of a culture is no longer an acceptable excuse...past a certain age. Admittedly, children under a certain level of maturity do not have the capacity to grasp important historical realities for other people. They grow into it. And I think the current generation of parents are more culturally sensitive than previous ones and are th