Today I realized that I have been totally slacking off in the personal photos department. I think that in my personal life, I’m too busy being a geek to actually photograph. Photography keeps me on my toes in my business life. Spock, Stormtroopers, Harry Potter and comics keep me busy in the other aspects. This post is all about playing catch up with the Geekery that has been going on in my life during 2012. Some of the photos are from my cell phone which is less than stellar, but I wanted to share anyway!
The beginning of the year is probably the best place to start. The word of January was: Crochet.
After receiving The Star Wars Craft Book for Christmas, I knew I had to learn to crochet. I had seen these amazing little geek related dolls in the book. Much to my dismay, the book didn’t explain how to make the dolls, but after some google digging, I discovered that the girl who made the dolls in the book, had a website called Geek Central Station. After reading some of the interviews she had done, I decided that I needed to pick up some basic books on crochet and amigurumi. I started reading and watching YouTube videos. It took me a good month to really ‘get’ it, but once I did it seemed SOOO easy. I really wanted to make Yoda doll. I thought I should try something with a pattern, but every time I tried to make something different, I got really unmotivated. Finally, I decided I should just go for Yoda, and see what happened. It actually went really well. Once I understood the concepts of crocheting in the round, it was a breeze. I looked at Geek Central Station for inspiration. I decided to make his cane out of sculpey and his coat out of fabric. The most stressful part was figuring out the pattern to the robe.
So Yoda was my first piece and I think he is still my favorite.
As I was making Yoda, my daughter was begging me for a Princess Leia. I found wonderful patterns on the Geek Central Station and on their Etsy account. As I made Leia I learned a couple of more techniques (her patterns are awesome) which made my future dolls a lot easier. I couldn’t stick to patterns for long though. The Gemini in me just wanted to be free!!! (I’m sad I only have cell phone pics of most of these)
January was all about Crochet, but starting in February I became more focused on comics. It started with deciding to open an organization called ‘The League of Comic Book Widows‘. This tongue in cheek organization are for those who have “lost” their loved ones to comics and other obsessions. I know this will be hard to believe, but I wasn’t always into geeky stuff. I was brought into it by my husband and friends. I’ve learned where I fit into the geek culture, but it’s taken some time for me to get there. I’ve come to realize the things I like about comics have very little to do with reading a comic book. I love the crafting and costuming aspects of the culture. Through the League, I’m trying to help other people like me find their place among the Storm Troopers.
Starting a business/organization is never easy. There’s a lot of time that goes into website design, dialog, photographs, etc. Starting the League was certainly an undertaking, but it has been so rewarding! I have met awesome women, even in this short period of time. We get together once a month for a geek inspired craft. We have had a presence during major comic events and we couldn’t be more pleased.
Here are a couple of shots from our various events:
The crafting bug also carries over to my children. When it came time for my Daughter to design her Valentines box, she decided she wanted a Batmobile. Of course. Why wouldn’t she??? Who needs hearts and doilies when you can have a bat symbol? The teacher only gave her one requirement. Her name needed to be on both sides of the box. Done and done.
One would think that would be enough for the month…but no. We also took the kids to the midnight release of Star Wars Episode 1. Little did we know at the time, but Star Wars would soon invade our lives for the next two months.
How would Star Wars invade us? With costumes for Denver ComicFest. Undoubtedly, this probably should all be a separate blog entry with more details (including the how-to’s), but since we’re on a roll, I may have to make that up to you later.
My Mom and I decided to make a Queen Amidala costume for me to wear to the comic convention. Sadly there are no pictures of her during this process because she is in Utah.
Since we were making me a costume, the kids all decided they needed a new one too. My house looked like a costume shop threw up in it and my Moms sewing room didn’t look much better. For Queen Amidala, my mom made my gown and robe. I did all the bead work on the underdress. The headpiece was made by me and 3 close friends. It was over whelming and we incurred several hot glue gun burns and scars.
Here’s a couple of notes on my costume. My Mom cut and re-pieced over 250 strips of fabric to create the pleating in the skirt. She embossed the circle pattern in the robe with a rubber stamp. She created the sleeves of the robe so they would ‘stand up’ with drapery supplies. I threaded over 2,000 beads on the dress and headpiece. The headpiece weighed about 7 pounds and I couldn’t move my shoulders while it was on my head.
On the other costumes I hand painted sashes, made items out of sculpey, scouted deals, dyed boots and a bunch of other boring stuff. Obviously there aren’t any pictures of the work because I was too busy doing the work. But do not dispair! Here are pictures of the end result of all of the costumes. (Photos credits noted below each photo)
Photo by The Westword
Photo by FantaScenes
Photo by FantaScenes
Photo by FantaScenes
Photo by FantaScenes
As you can see, the force is strong with this family. Oh my.
While the costume prep was going on, guess what? There was a con to plan! The League of Comic Book Widows had a programming room and I had a table. (Not to mention that my husband is kind of in charge of the comic convention.) At one point I was so confused at what needed to get done, I made a list.
Since there was so much to do, March and April flew by. Before any of us knew it, the time had come for ComicFest.
That pretty much takes us up to the month of May. This month was Free Comic Book Day. The League of Comic Book Widows had a bake sale at the event. We were at I Want More Comics for the day. For the bake sale, I made some Captain America and Spiderman Cookies. They went like hot cakes rather than cookies. I managed to sneak some photos before they were all gobbled up.
All the other baked goods were tasty too! The whole day was full of fun and tasty treats.
After Free Comic Book Day, I decided to crochet something for my Ellyanna. I did come back to a pattern because I found this cute one for Perry the Platypus (from a disney show called ‘Phineas and Ferb). I couldn’t resist! The pattern was purchased from the store called ‘WigglyFrog’. Here is a direct link to their store.
Finally, we recently saw the new Avengers Movie. I LOVED it! It made me feel all comic crafty again! My purse was falling apart, so I came up with this idea from some of crafting I had done with the League of Comic Book Widows. Behold: my new purse and wallet.
There you have it. 1/2 of my year Geek style. I will try to keep up on posting in ‘Anginet Corner’ more frequently. It’s a lot of fun to share this stuff.
So what’s next for my life of Geekery? A cake decorating party today and CrafterNoon next week.
Yay!
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