Thranduil Takes Fashion Tips from Ronald McDonald

I know, that's a bold statement. The graceful, dangerous, fabulous Elvenking akin in any way to a scary fast-food-hawking clown? But hear me out. In a lot of the first promotional images of Thranduil, we see him wearing his silver tunic-coat and it's floor length in front lengthening into a small train in the back. But then in this newer promo image (and in the movie when he's walking around), we see what looks like the exact same tunic, but the hem hits slightly below the knee. Both are movie canon, so...the only possible conclusion is that Thranduil just has a closet full of these tunics, but all with slightly different hemlines to suit his mood and needs. Just like this early 90s commercial showing a day in the life of Ronald McDonald.

I'm sorry for subjecting you to that horror of that ad, but I had to say all of that to justify my ankle-length version of Thranduil's tunic.

I was originally going to make a more accurate version with the multiple curving panels that run down the front of his tunic, but in the end I just didn't have the time. I figured that, sparkly as this fabric is, such details weren't necessary to get the idea of his character across. This decision made things so much easier, since I just needed to make a dartless, full-length tunic with minimal shaping. I started by cutting out vague me-shaped/-sized front and back pieces and then pinning, fitting, and stitching the pieces together to fit me. I took a page from LiEr's book and just drew a sleeve head that looked about right, muslined it really quickly, and then set it in. Seriously, easiest costume ever. After hemming and hawing about sewing in a million hooks and eyes for the front closure, I decided, to hell with it, he's a party king, we can just go with a metallic separating zipper. Best decision I ever made. When I wear the brooch, it covers up the zipper pull anyway, and with all that silver, nobody's going to notice a thin strip of gold and black.

Metallic jacket zipper from some random bin in the LA fabric district: $1, four yards of embossed polyester/metallic fabric from Jo-Ann's: $20, scrap of horsehair canvas: <$1...DIYing my favorite cosplay ever: priceless.   

The collar was just a taller version of my qipao collar (a slightly curved, five-inch tall trapezoid), interfaced with horsehair canvas to make it stand up. I'm still debating whether to add some lightweight boning to the front edge, though, since that area started sagging by the end of the night. After that, it was just a quick hem and then I was done!

This is where I really take to heart the "costume" idea: I only turned over the edge once (so the raw edge is still showing), but that's with the idea that I'm not wearing this very many times, and I'm certainly not throwing it into the wash...thankfully, the fabric doesn't fray much, if at all. Other cheat: I just extended the front edge of the tunic out by three inches and lined it up with the selvage; this meant that I could just fold over the center opening to make a cheater's facing that was pre-finished. 

Other accessories: shutter shades, Mardi Gras beads, and of course my DIY staff, crown, and jewelry.

Leftover from my mom's company party: Thranduil is into reusing and recycling! Emily and I decided that the "M" on the pink high-heeled shoe stood for "Mirkwood." Because Thranduil is secure in his masculinity, and stilettos are fabulous. 

While we were waiting for the movie to start, I had to at least try to recreate some of Thranduil's iconic promo images.

We call this the Lucius Malfoy pose. I was trying really hard not to laugh. Also, I had just picked up a large piece of red velvet from the free pile at school...so serendipitous! 

Unfortunately, this series of photos all turned out blurry. 

And then there's this epitome-of-fabulous picture:

Hmmm, not quite the same effect...

Possibly I was a little too excited, and therefore twirling too fast...

It reads more like flamenco dancer or bullfighter, and less like majestic, dramatic, kingly reveal. 

And of course, boys and girls, this is not meant to condone unchecked alcohol consumption: a night of wild partying takes its toll, even for the immortal Elvenking...

Exhausted by the twirling and elk-riding, Thranduil passes out on the stairs...

I still want to go back and see the movie again (seriously, cannot get enough of Thranduil...and not just because he's a pretty boy, either! Check out Gingerhaze's post essentially summarizing all my feelings about him), but in the meantime I'll settle for dressing Walnut up...

"In a great hall with pillars hewn out of the living stone sat the Elvenking on a chair of carven wood. On his head was a crown of berries and red leaves, for the autumn was come again."

I'd just like to see you try to take my Arkenstone from me. 

Now that those dwarves are all locked away, it's time to party it up!

Okay, that's enough ridiculous fangirling. I'm sorry (but not sorry) if you're sick of reading about teh interwebs' extreme characterization of this one minor character from a fantasy universe; rest assured that tomorrow we'll be back to normal sewing, inasmuch as my style could ever be classified as normal. No, but seriously, it's a real garment for wearing out on normal days and I promise it will be just as fabulous, but in a different way. Hint: there have already been leopard print and teal with ric-rac versions out there...

The Making of Party King Thranduil

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One could argue that Thranduil does not need to be made fabulous, because he was born fabulous. Be that as it may, he still needed to be outfitted properly for the DoS midnight showing, such that his clothing and accessories accurately reflected his fabulousness.

Components that I needed to make: ridiculously sparkly silver tunic, crown (not shown here), jewelry (brooch and rings), and staff. 

Close-up of the rings, and you can see what his crown with red leaves looks like. 

Close-up of the top of his staff.

Let's go from top to bottom: the crown first! In doing some preliminary research, I noticed that a lot of other cosplayers have gone the baked-clay over some kind of understructure. While I like the idea of a wire understructure, I knew I wanted my crown to be lightweight and stay flexible enough that it could get banged up without breaking. Oh, and I also didn't want to have to go out and buy clay...

I started out with one of those cheap metal hangers from the dry cleaners and cut off the top hanging portion. Then I bent it around my head until it fit, and you can see I wired it together with that most sophisticated of materials: twist ties. I then used plastic drinking straws to make the little branch portion that sticks down by Thrandy's cheek. I didn't take a lot of pictures of each step since I wasn't expecting it to turn out so well :\

To make the branches that stick out the top, I just taped sharp toothpicks to more drinking straws. 

After that, it was just a matter of using lots of masking tape to secure the branches to the coat hanger, and then bulk up the wire with more tape.

At this point it seemed to still be missing something. I decided to fill in some of the gaps with more entwined "vine-y" branches. I knew from making Gandalf's staff that twisted paper does an excellent job of mimicking wood, so I tore up some credit card offers. Best possible use for junk mail, don't you think?

Okay, so I don't have a picture of the painting process, but it was pretty much the same as for Gandalf's staff: a couple of brown acrylic coats, then a wash of watered down black paint to give it some dimension. After that, I just had to hot glue on some glittery red Christmas branches  from Michael's. 

Since I used such cheap materials (most of which I had already), the whole crown cost me maybe $3. The most expensive part was the glitter branch. 

Not bad for half a roll of masking tape, a wire hanger, some toothpicks and straws, and junk mail! 

Gummy was not impressed. "Seriously? The king of the woodland realm, and you make his crown out of trash and kitschy decor?"

The best thing about the crown is what a cool silhouette it gives me. 

I was originally pretty stumped about how to do the jewelry, since it's pretty distinct. I ended up using aluminum florist wire to make it all, since 1) it's cheap, 2) it's thick enough to be visible, unlike jewelry wire, and 3) it's very easy to manipulate, unlike thicker gauges of stainless steel wire from the hardware store.

For the brooch, I went with a giant opalescent light-colored pendant from Michael's. I bent the aluminum wire in random shapes until all the individual components looked good together. 

For the hot-glueing, I worked on a silicone mat so that I wouldn't destroy my table. 

The finished pendant: don't look too closely at the blobbles of hot glue on the front. The giant rock ring is just another bead with more wire bits bent and glued in place. To shape the rings that are just masses of wires twisted together, I just built them up around a bold Sharpie, which was conveniently the exact same size as my finger. 

The staff was also a bit of a puzzle, since there's a definite texture to it. I knew I needed to use something that would be easy to shape, and again, didn't want to have to bake anything because hello, five foot staff! Wouldn't fit in my oven, plus wood is flammable. I realized I would have to buy clay after all, but I went with air dry clay instead of the more common Fimo or Sculpey.

I started with a 1" wooden dowel that had a wooden doll's head glued to the top (like with my Saruman staff). I used the air dry clay to make the lumped-out portion of the staff, then rolled the clay into long thin ropes and laid them in strategic patterns. 

I did need to use craft glue to get the clay to stick to the wood.

Again, no pictures of the painting process...brown acrylic base coat over the whole thing, then silver on the viney bits. The twisted-looking bits in between the clay were just silver Sharpie drawing, since I couldn't get the clay that thin. It's not perfect, but good enough for a casual ridiculous cosplay. 

I'll post about the making of the tunic in the next post because this one has already gotten super long.

Most exciting thing to happen to me since Ryan North tweeting my Superman dress...Gingerhaze herself reblogged my PTK cosplay! You guys, I am so honored and incredibly excited! 

All Kneel Before Party King Thranduil

It was a mad rush to complete my costume before the Desolation of Smaug midnight showing, but I did it, and it was totally awesome (and worth two consecutive nights of only four hours of sleep). I know I say this with every successive costume I make, but you guys, this is my favorite costume I've ever made. After all, does it get any better than the Elvenking who knows how to party?

The Elvenking of the Woodland Realm also knows how to Instagram. 

My sister Emily and I have been planning for this DoS cosplay ever since the five second scene in AUJ where we see Thranduil inexplicably riding an elk. Of course, comic artist Gingerhaze's ridiculously hilarious drawings expanding on Thranduil's partying personality definitely helped catch our fancy, too. 

Emily made the Party!Elk head out of cardboard and paper-mache, then wired it up with a battery-powered string of lights. The spray-painted tissue-box-boombox was a last-minute solution to the problem of elks and elves not really carrying purses. It was the perfect size for phones and gloves and keys and such. 

Here elk, lemme help you rehydrate. And yes, there was a random bathing nude lady mural at the theater. 

I'll post more in the upcoming week about how I made my costume, but for now, have some more picspam of my favorite cosplay so far!

A friend commented on my IG photo that "eleven parties are the best." As the party king, Thranduil agrees that yes, eleven parties are better than just one party. 

untz untz untz untz

All aboard the party elk!

On our way to pick up Legolas from school. Gosh, dads are just *so* embarrassing, aren't they?

And of course, we can't forget my usual partner in dressing up, Elaine...we were hobbits for the midnight showing last year; this year we were elves. 

Try to look normal. 

And now look goofy. 

The partying got out of hand. BTW, if you're ever in need of Tolkien-themed rap/hip-hop for your Tolkien-themed partying, check out The Lords of the Rhymes!

Oh, how was the actual movie you ask? Definitely liked it better than AUJ, overall, even though I wasn't a fan of some of the more egregious derivations from the books. But hey, Thranduil in the movie was everything I hoped he would be, so I'm not complaining!

Even though we weren't at an official line party like for last year's Hobbit movie, we still got a chance to meet lots of other equally excited, dressed-up fans, and squee over each others' costumes. We even did an entire-theater singalong of the Misty Mountains song before the movie started. You guys, I love geeks so, so, incredibly much. Irving Berlin might contend that there are no people like show people, but I, for one, think that show people have got nothing on geeks. 

The Elvenking deigns to party with his subjects, who are all apparently into jazz hands. 

Post-movie: all the collected denizens of Middle-Earth, including an actual Smaug! 

A part of me is just glad that all the costuming events for this quarter are done with (Halloween! TDW! DoS! All relatively-involved costumes in the span of a couple months!), but I also can't wait for next year.

Sewing-Themed Pickup Lines

"Sure, it looks like a needle, but it moves like a sewing machine." Because Victorian couples make naughty statements okay, obviously.
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You guys are seriously the best. I was laughing so hard at all of your ridiculously funny pickup lines...in the end, I couldn't leave it to random.org, and picked my two favorite comments instead. Call me biased, but hey, it's my birthday and I do what I want (Thor)! For your reading pleasure, I've compiled a list of my favorite lines below. So, if you ever see a hottie browsing the silks at Mood, you'll know what to say. I am not to be held responsible, though, if these naughty lines earn you a slap for your cheek ;)

"You seam like you're tailor-made for me!" -- Carolyn
"Hey baby, I may need you to finish my seams, because I'm fraying without you!" -- Katie W.
"What say you and me try out the fiber content of these sheets?" -- The Hot Mess
"Hey baby, I just made some pants. Want to check out my fly front?" -- T. Sedai
"Let me unpick your seams for you." -- Alexa
"Is your dress felt? How would you like it to be?" --Writersblock14
"Do you need a sewing buddy? Because I've got a trained set of hands." --Bloodsweatshoptears
"Why don't we go into my sewing room and I'll let you thread my needle." --Cathy
"Your lips look a little bit wrinkled...mind if I press them for you?" --Megan R.
"I am the warp to your weft, and to you, I'll always be true." --Sewing Noob

And now for my absolute favorites!

Congratulations to Craft Alchemy, you win the Clover pattern! Her gems:
"Hey you, d'you want to get right sides together?"
"Do your seams need pressing? I'd love to lay you flat..."
"Machines are all very well, but I get a better finish doing it by hand."
"That skirt looks a bit long for you, do you want me to take it up?"

The Thurlows go to Liza Jane Sews:
"Are those French darts, or are you just happy to see me?" Because we've all accidentally ended up with pointy darts before, amirite?

Winners, please shoot me an email at cationdesignsblog [at] gmail dot com with your address. Everyone, thanks for entering and entertaining me with your punny lines!

Birthday Giveaway Time!

Oh hey, in all the school (teaching) and school (attending) hecticism (I know, that's not even a word), I almost forgot that it was my birthday! There's such a sharp contrast (in my mind at least; I don't think anyone else is concerned about it) between last year's birthday celebrations (all-out LOTR theme party!) and this year's (read: nothing in particular)*, but I'm fine with that; last year was more of an anomaly, if anything. Still, I would like to mark the occasion with some hobbit-ness of my own, i.e. giving away some mathom.

Whoa, what, is something wrong with these? Why are they mathom?

Having drafted my own perfect pants pattern (and failed to do anything else with it since; see first sentence of this post for reasons), I no longer need my copies of Colette Patterns' Clovers or Sewaholic Patterns' Thurlows. If you've a hankering to apply some of my pants-making tips, but haven't found a pattern that works for you yet, you may want to give these two indie patterns a try! Both patterns have been unfolded at some point, and the instructions flipped through, but they are still uncut.

Caveat emptor: both of these patterns are pretty hippy, so if you're not very pear-shaped you may need to do some adjusting. 

If you want to enter this giveaway, leave a comment below telling me your best sewing-related pickup line...or just tell me what kind of pants you'd like to make (actually, I'm just curious about whether there are any sewing-related pickup lines. My students have been talking about pickup lines and while there seem to be plenty of biology ones, but I've yet to come across a really good chemistry one. Wondering about sewing ones seems to be the next logical step). I'll close the giveaway and choose a winner on Sunday night, 11:59 PST.

*Same thing goes for the Catching Fire movie...when Hunger Games was released, I went all out with my friends and did a costumed photoshoot, but this year, pffft. Even though the costumes were arguably better this time around, and boy would I love to make a Mockingjay dress, but there's just no time!

May the odds be ever in your favor!

Belated, But Still Thankful

I seem to be taking more and more extended blog breaks without meaning to. Yikes, I'm turning into one of those bloggers that only blogs about how little they blog! Er. Sorry. But I've been busy enjoying family time for Thanksgiving, so I'm not too regretful about the lack of blog entries...which is not to say that those of you who are blogging aren't also living lives and spending time with your families. At any rate, I'm just going to stop dithering and just show you all what I've been wasting my time on:

Is...is that...a paper green bean dressed as a cowboy riding a plesiosaur? Why yes, yes it is.

Things to know: 1) A few years ago, my mom was trying to give my sister and me directions about what to make for Thanksgiving dinner, and since English is not her first language, she misspoke and called it a "green bean carousel" instead of a "green bean casserole." 2) If we had to say that we had a family holiday tradition, it would be that Emily and I build some ridiculous craft project while the rest of the family looks on dubiously at first, then grudgingly admits that the finished product doesn't look half bad (see last year's Barad-Dur Christmas "tree" as an example). So...this year we decided to make an actual green bean carousel on a lazy Susan for our table's centerpiece. Some bloggers do classy Thanksgiving tablescapes, we do cardboard-based puns...

It's Tanksgiving...get it? get it? 

I realize this makes us look pro-war or something, but I promise we're not. I case you're wondering, there was also a green bean riding a crab. This is not your standard carousel featuring giraffes and ostriches and other large land-animals.

There are cats in dubious poses on the top. Also Gummy ran off with the green bean that was riding the triceratops. 

The pumpkin pie was cracked, so Emily covered it with lobster cutouts. When else can you say that you had a lobster and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving?

I'm thankful for a sister to engage in shenanigans with, for other family members who are okay with less-than classy tablescapes, and even though things have been really busy with work and class, that I'm happy and healthy and doing what I love. I know many people are not as fortunate, which is why EmSewCrazy and I wanted to do a Stashbusting Challenge themed around giving back.