Ember Costumes and Crafts

Me and Josh at the satellite info desk. Jack was asleep in his stroller behind me! Gunnar rolled a 20 Me and Charles at the main info desk. Aaron doing a demo at the leatherworking panel The whole gang at dinner Saturday night. Gunnar and Jack!

John here, and I've been working on more LARP stuff. Our Heroic Austin chapter is doing well, we had some journalists attend our last event, and featured me in an article. A Local Fantasy: Larping in Austin . Diana, Nick and I have been making the Aftermath events recently, and I've got the beginnings for a cool leather NERF holster guide ready to go soon. There's lots of stuff to do before Akon, when I'm hosting a panel on Advanced Leather Techniques, Sunday from 2:30 to 4:00, so look for all of us there. Here's the beginning of a leather cuirass I'm working on for my own Heroic character:

My new costume!   Me and John with the owl from the birds of prey show!  Quick Costume Overview:  Since I was 6 months pregnant at the time of Halloween/Renfair, NOTHING in my costume closet fit me and I had to basically start from scratch...darn! Underdress : White cotton twill with drawstring neck and sleeves, and underarm gussets. I should be able to wear this again when I'm not pregnant! Vest : Fully lined sparkly poly satin, laced up the front with ribbon through metal grommets. It's not boned, because I was going for comfort over...well, everything! Skirt : Beautiful red organza petals sewn into an apron-style waistband which I tied in a bow in the front. I'll have to post a tutorial on how I did that skirt because it turned out amazing and was really fun to wear.  Wings : I used this tutorial to make the shimmery cellophane wings! It was a bit time consuming, but they turned out great! Other : I bought the crown at...

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the Ikkicon VI HEROIC Larping Panel! Sorry we didn't post about it much in advance...the con originally told us we wouldn't be needed, but then a week before changed their minds and invited us to come play! The gang! Diana, John, Tom, Nick, and Me! (Yes, I'm 8.5 months pregnant in that picture).   First group of players!    Tom and Nick as Goblins. Players shall not pass! The players also had to get past some spiders. Second group of players The last group had to solve a sudoku puzzle to open the chest--they ended up just carrying the chest away. Whatever works!

January is gonna be busy! Not only is it my birthday this month, I'll be an uncle soon. Also, I'm premiering a new Larping chapter in Austin. We'll be at Ikkicon on Friday to run a recruiting panel and demo, but the real fun is two weeks away. We are running an Adventure Day event at Emma Long Park in Austin, so if anyone is in the area and wants to try it out, you know where we'll be. Heroic Austin Meetup page Heroic Austin Homepage Ikkicon : Panel 4, 7:30 Friday

John here, reporting in after another LARP event. This time, Diana and I went to Aftermath , at Lake Murray, Oklahoma. We were hanging out with such creatures as cyborgs, gunfighters, bug-men and barbarians. It was a great event, I just wish I had more time to work on my costume beforehand. I've got more tutorials planned, like weathering leather, painting Nerf guns, and making holsters and cartridge-belts. I've also got new ideas for my Austin LARP chapter that will be starting next year.

If you've just started costuming, it's very likely that you've never sewn anything in your life. Why should you? Your clothes are already put together when you get them from the store, and you have people like moms and great aunts for when a button falls off or you need that bridesmaid dress hemmed. So you think "Sewing is hard, and sewing machines are scary. I'll just buy a costume." Neither of those thoughts are true! Sewing is easy, and sewing machines are fun and fast. If you scour garage sales and especially estate sales, you can find old but AMAZING sewing machines for very very cheap prices. Like under $30! Take it into a shop for a quick tune up and you'll be set to go for years, and if you do break it, well...it's not like you spent your life savings on it. Old sewing machines also have the advantage of being harder to break and easier to fix when they do mess up because the insides are more metal than plastic and have no electronic parts. ...