Neverending Insanity

The title says it all, I think. Life has been so incredibly busy that my poor new little blog has been neglected. Time for some water and a bit of TLC. What have I been up to that would cause me to forget all about it? Everything! Along with my own costuming business, I've been working with a designer in Houston, doing samples for her Fall eveningwear line. This has been a blast, but alas, scruples forbid me from posting photos of progress. They are her designs, after all. I certainly wouldn't want anyone stealing them before she has her line finalized. I may be making one of the final garments, if I have the time, later on, as well. This started out as part time, but it's quickly becoming my main job! The problem is that I have others to do as well.

With the main convention season rolling around, I'm up to my eyeballs in fabric. I have nine major outfits to complete within the next six weeks. Panic? Only a little.

On top of all that, I'm running the store for the Patriot Guard Riders, along with being a moderator on the site. This gives me only an extra 300 emails to deal with every day, on average. Nothing to it, eh? Not so much. There are times when I feel very, very overwhelmed.

One step after another, right?

Alas...

Long time no post. I know, I should have posted more often. I'm sorry! Life just tends to get in the way though. When it kicks up a notch, a spare blog is the first thing to go. This is just a little post to note that I'm still alive and still intend to post here, just as soon as things settle down a bit. Until then, I leave you with a few of photos from New Orleans.

Some Days

Some days, settling to one specific thing is impossible.

Some days, nothing starts out right, but it all turns out okay in the end.

Some days, talking with friends is more important than marking items off a list.

And then there are the days when the sun is just right, the wind is so sweet, and your dog is far too pretty for words. Those days are when the camera comes out. Those days are also when the dog refuses to cooperate, naturally, but you do manage to get a few good shots.

Maggie

Color

Taken at Rodeo Houston, March 2nd, 2007

I have to admit, I'm addicted to color. I love monochromatic themes, but I love wild color, as well. The lighting on this night was particularly appealing with clear air, an unusual thing in Houston! It gets the juices going. Can't you just see a harlequin style courture gown using some of these shades? Vegas, eat your heart out.

I've been rather busy lately, as you can see. Not just with visiting local places, but with working on a dratted computer that continues to defeat me. There hasn't been too much time to find things that inspire me, so these must do.

Taken at Moody Gardens, Galveston. 3-15-07

Storms and Sugary Sweetness

Victoria Magazine October 1994

It's a rainy, dreary day outside, perfect for snuggling up with a mug of something hot and a pile of old magazines. One mustn't forget the required furry shadow, however, as if he would allow it. I will take the time to do this. Eventually. For now, I shall content myself with dreaming about it.

It's been a busy few days, hence the lack of a daily post. The next few will probably be just as busy, but I shall endeavor to toss something inspirational up here. My muse requires it. The majority of the daylight hours of yesterday were taken up in making a little handbag. It turned out so sweet, it could make your teeth ache. With the storms, however, good sunshiney pictures are noticeably impossible to do. You must be content with a few detail shots.

Making the trim was actually very fun and interesting, something I'd never tried before. I wanted to incorporate the colors of the bag and add some fun touches. Braiding torn strips of a fabric twisted with speacialty yarns gave me the right touch. Adding the beaded trim just drew it all together into a cotton candy perfection. Before anyone asks, I didn't purchase the fabric. Not as it is, at least. It is a mixture of four cottons that have been in my stash for years. I cut, wove, fused and stitched down the many strips into the patchwork you see. Edges were left intentionally rough.

Inspiration

Victoria Magazine April 1994

I've talked round about it long enough. It's time for a bit of inspiration.

Before I moved away from home, I had a habit of collecting magazines. Not just any magazines, but those who were incredibly inspiring to me. I left all that behind, however, suffering alone without the aid of old friends. Eventually, I settled into the new place and asked my mother to bring these treasured 'zines to me. Only today have I had the time to go through any of them.

As always, they manage to spur my thoughts into the right direction and boost my creative side. The articles themselves don't always have that effect, but the photographs, oh the glorious photographs! I drool over them, even as I try to figure out how I can duplicate the look with my limited equipment. One day, I'll figure it out.

Textile Therapy

Embellished Purse

I've come to the conclusion that sewing is therapy for me. My mother talks about how my grandmother, when upset, would set up her sewing machine on the kitchen table and work for hours. Generally, this had something to do with my grandfather. Fortunately, I've inherited this trait. My mother can't sew unless she is relaxed and calm. Me? I sew best when I'm angry or upset. There is something quite nice about jabbing pins into fabric, slicing them apart, or ripping chiffon to shreds. Then you pin them all together and stitch them to within a 5/8 inch of their lives. It usually takes me somewhere around an hour to lose the full heat of my anger, when I work it off. I still simmer after that, but I no longer want to cause grievous bodily harm to one individual in particular. Funnily enough, people generally leave me alone while I'm in this phase. Maybe it has something to do with all the sharp pointy objects surrounding me.

The drawback to sewing is that, while your hands are busy, your mind is often free to wander. There are enough paths in my head to satisfy the most wandery of wanderlust, but does it follow many different ones? Of course not. It likes to stick to the tried and true paths that are full of ruts and holes, bumps and stones. The path that hurts to walk down, unless you're wearing shoes. This is where audiobooks and movies become necessary to life. If I pop one of them in, I'll have some small chance of getting through the day in relative sanity. Frequent breaks are necessary, not only to handle business emails, but to just stop a destructive pattern in my head, when audio distraction isn't enough. Sewing is hard, for that reason alone. It is both therapy and a reason to need therapy.

Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Mardi Gras 2007

How is it that when there is something you simply must do, it becomes the very last thing you want to do? Is this a subsection of Murphy's Law? It surely must be. I have tried and tried and tried and tried to work on my new website for the last four days. I open the program, I stare at it, and nothing comes. I really do need the basics up there, but I can't decide what the basics are. The sheer weight of the amount of pages I must do daunts me. I have, at least, decided what I want to to do on the front page. Partly. I want simple menus, possibly drop downs, although I'll have to do the html-coding for those. *gulp* I want a featured item spot, which will force me to change at random, or regularly, if I can get into the groove. I also need to save my long winded description and dissertation on life for my 'About Me' page. Put the pretties up front to grab the attention, yes?



My goal is to make my website an interesting and very unique place to visit, full of fun(ish) stuff, tutorials, tips, and things to buy. This also means that I must figure out the horror that is a shopping cart, which I may not be able to do on my current web plan. My brain quivers in fear.



This place, however, shall be my fun spot, my font of inspiration, my treasure box. I hope. So far, I haven't posted much, have I? Thus, I must start a tradition to post at least one photograph that has something, or nothing, to do with what I have been discussing. Is it a discussion when you are the only one talking? Monologuing? Somehow, I don't think that's a word.

In the Beginning...

There was the Void.

And then I started talking until it filled up and exploded.

Well, this is my first excursion into the world of Blogger. I've had a journal for eons (which roughly translates into three years) but that was a mostly personal thing. This, I hope, will be for writing things of Worth and Importance. We all know, I'm sure, that most of it will concern my cats. Really, though, I'm hoping to use this thing as a way to get a bit more known in the sewing/crafy/indie world and to catalog the things I find inspiring. On to the important stuff.

I'm weird. Face it, deal with it, move on. The funny thing is that I'm not as weird as I think. There are definately some out there who have gone off the deep end and I'm merrily chasing after them, but for now, I'm content with being slightly off. I think you must be if you are an artist and to hear a muse. Unfortunately, or fortunately, my muse is schizo. For the most part, I sew. Right now, it's costumes and recreations. I've done a few originals, but those don't sell as well as the tried and true. I also love decorating, even if I've let that slide in recent years. I have a passion for color, and yet I love a minimalistic, monochromatic design. I read history and science fiction, truth and fantasy. I am woman, hear me roar.

I am a jack of all trades, not happy unless I'm juggling ten balls in the air, and none of them similar. I work with a volunteer organization called the Patriot Guard Riders. I'm in the process of (slowly) designing my own card line, many of which have a military or patriotic theme. I do digital art. I'm learning photography. I'm always trying to further my sewing skills. I design costumes. I love old things, new things, and pretty things.

What is my style? That's rather hard to pin down. I sometimes answer that with "What if Marco Polo was a time traveler?" I love history, but no one particular era. I tinker with computers and I'm fascinated with how things actually work. Currently, my only shop is online, but that will change one of these days. I'm just not ready to be pinned down just yet. I, like Marco Polo, love to travel. Eventually, I will have a shop full of things that appeal to me, be they old, new, used, remade, redone, and refurbished. I have far too many interests to focus on just one.

I was, formerly and still am a bit, Rivendell Designs. That was what I started my costume shop out with, but it just never was really me. It took me three years to figure that out and to realize that all across my niches on the net, people knew me as Aranel, so Aranel my business has become. It isn't just one thing, it's me. I'm currently working on my new site: http://www.aranel.info , shifting things over from the old http://www.rivendelldesigns.net I must bow to the inevitable and realize I enjoy changing things around too much to have one website that is all pretty and matching. I have decided to do not one, but ten layouts. At least. Those will, of course, stay the same for the most part. It's just the over all intro look of the site that is prone to be changed. I'm not that much of a sadist.

I also am a bit of a writer. I haven't done it for a while, so I'm very rusty. My problem with finishing a novel or story is that I get distracted by world building. In the past two years, however, I have learned the art of outlining and scheduling. Ticking things off a list is quite therapeutic. Creating this blog was one of them.

I suppose that's enough rambling for now.