Today, September 19, 2012

Today’s project: Follow-through on what you said you would do

Well, dear reader, it arrived.  It kinda snuck up on me; I really wasn’t expecting it.  But before I knew it, there it was.  Surprising me like a nerd on a panty raid.

There I was patting myself on the back for having completed my steampunk creation, taking a few minutes to rest my weary brain by watching some good ol’ ghost-filled TV.  When all of a sudden, the evil thought crawled into my consciousness; as soon as I remembered I hadn’t done today’s post.  “Oh well, never mind tonight.  You can just do two posts tomorrow.”

Wow.  Not even a week into this adventure and I’m ready to throw in the towel on my integrity.  Amazing.  I guess I was a little over-optimistic thinking I would make it to two weeks before the shine was off. At least two weeks.

Sheesh.  Thanks a lot non-Martha Self. Way to rear your uncombed head.

All the happy, contented feelings seemed to drain right out of my head. They were soon replaced by admonishing remarks from my inner Martha: “You are NOT that tired.  Get your butt out of this bed and go over to your computer.  You can survive 30 minutes of typing. Wimp.”

Fine. FINE, I say!

The day started with continuing to work on the commission piece that is due this weekend.  For those of you who don’t know what steampunk is, click here for a basic tutorial.

Steampunk.com

Wikipedia

The costume I’m working on consists of a vest, pants, shirt and ascot.

Here’s the inspiration piece for what I designed:

 I’m super proud of myself that I not only completed the vest with several little details and surprises, but managed not one, but TWO shirts, ascots and pairs of pants.  I can only hope that my client is pleased.  I texted several pics to him today, but haven’t heard back, which, of course, makes me nervous.  What if he hates what I sent?  What if he’s thinking, ‘Crap!  How do I get out of this deal?’ What if…well, you get the idea.

Here’s the shirt before:

I really liked the snaps on the front – I thought it would be a cool steampunk detail

Here it is after:

I changed the collar from a regular dress-shirt collar to a banded collar and added a matching band to the cuffs; my client wants a more prominent cuff.  I also sewed up the front because in my research I found shirts from this period only have ties or buttons from mid-chest up.  I assume the reason would be that buttons were expensive, to produce and to sew; fewer buttons means its easier and cheaper to make.

Look #1:

Look #2:

I changed the collar and the cuffs on this shirt as well.  The pants are a glorious thick cordouroy.

'I apologize for the crudeness of this model as I didn't have time to paint it or create it to scale.' I need a tripod so my pics don't look like a palsy patient took them. ugh.

Since the majority of the construction of the pieces was accomplished yesterday, today consisted of a lot of detail work.  Which, for me, means hand sewing; buttons, button holes, appliqués, snaps, etc.  I like to do this kind of work while watching TV.  It occupies my mind enough that I have to really pay attention to what my hands are doing.  I know this sounds backwards, but I have a tendancy to get a little over-excited and in a hurry to get done when doing projects like this and that leads to several stupid, brain-fart mistakes.  I find that a small distraction helps me. Not to mention, it allows me to take minute mental breaks throughout; that makes sure that I can work a lot longer before I’m creatively defunct.

Sew some gears on it and call it ‘steampunk!’

I don’t know how many of you are able to sit and watch daytime TV, so I’m not sure how able to commiserate you are, but the commercials are starting to get RIDICULOUS!

I feel like commercials are starting to reflect the societal issues I see all around me: entitlement, rudeness, selfishness, and a complete lack of respectful boundaries.

Now, I know that repeating the same commercial several different times in one show is a marketing ploy that some idiot got paid a lot of bucks for many years ago, but if I ever find out who that jerk is, I’m going to introduce him to my little friend, my fist. As I punch him in the face. Jerk.

Because seriously, if I have to hear about how certain ‘vaginal mesh slings have caused serious health problems, but we can help you sue’ one more frickin’ time, I’m going to put a sling on that announcer’s nether regions.  And he’s going to want to sue the pharmaceutical company too. Eww.  Seriously, Ad People, EWWWWW.

And the gross, inappropriateness doesn’t end there. 

There is a new commercial about menopause hormone replacement therapy with several women complaining about how you get the ‘birds and the bees’ talk from (actually the don’t say who gives the talk) someone, but you should get a menopause ‘talk’ at some point too.  Look, I didn’t want my mom or dad to give me the original talk, I’m sure as heck not interested in hearing a weird description of hot flashes and vaginal dryness from my mother. Or anyone. Ewwww.

Then there is the ad that talks about the effectiveness of toilet paper.  In detail. In great detail.  Dictating to me that this is something we ‘need to talk about’.  Actually, no, we don’t.  There are certain things, Ad People, that I am really not interested in speaking about in a public forum. EWWWWWWW.

As an actor, I feel bad for the ladies in these commercials.  I know that my relatives and friends love to break out the video of the comic ad I did several years ago at every holiday, reunion or Saturday night.  Do these poor women have to listen to their mothers brag at bridge club about how ‘Suzy just did a commercial about wiping your butt!  She was the best one, I think.  Really clean!’  I pity you, ladies of the inappropriate ad.  Just like that poor girl who was on that (now) iconic Summer’s Eve commercial.  On a swing. In the middle of a field. With her mother. Talking about that ‘not so fresh feeling’.  At least THEY hinted around at stuff.

So in between my obsessive channel hopping to avoid these bizarre ads, I managed to feel a great sense of accomplishment for having done some of my best sewing work.  And am glad to have followed through on the commitment I made to make these items.

And I’m proud that I followed through on the commitment I made to write this blog. Till tomorrow…