Naergi's lost keys

The London researches

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 12:47:11 GMT

Hi all,
finally I have finished my picture and research pages of my London stay. Over 1000 pictures on many, many pages.
Feel free to browse as following....:

British Museum
Lots of Egyptian, Grecian, Near- and far East and a bit of Celtic and European stuff, too.

Globe Theatre
In- and exterior and costume exhibit

Museum of London
Medieval-, renaissance- and Elizabethan clothing and accessories - oh, and some bits and pieces of my "Phoenix gown" examination on a very own page...

Victoria and Albert museum
The marvelous interior if the V&A; Cast courts, with extra page for Beatrice D'Este's tomb; Textiles and laces of various centuries, from Medieval to early Victorian; Indian clothing at the V&A; 1920-modern clothing at V&A with an extra page for Lady Diana's "Elvis" dress; Edwardian clothing at V&A, Victorian clothing at V&A, Regency clothing at V&A, Rococo (subdivided in several pages for Women's clothing, Men's and clerical clothing, Paintings and statues and Interior); Elizabethan lifestyle at the V&A; Renaissance at the V&A

Madame Tussaud's
With extra pages for the Pirates wax figures, the Six wives and Henry VIII as well as personae from showbiz and, last not least, history.

I hope my research pages will be interesting to some of you. If you should have questions or comments, don't hesitate to comment on this entry or email me.

Best wishes,
Sabine

London!

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:11:21 GMT

Hi all ;-)
So I'm in London now (please see mz other Journal londoncostumesfor further details).
The flight was great, the hotel room is small, but I'm very happy to be here :-)
Just of course that I am not quuite familiar with the english layout of the keyboard- I keep hitting z instead of y and have quite some problems to find some keys. Well, I guess by the time I return to Germany I will have to get used to *that* layout again...

England is so different from Germany. I was surprised that I didn't have to bring my empty small Coke bottles to Recycling; I can simply trow them into a trashcan. If I find one, that is... they're pretty rare here compared to Germany.
I'm much in love with the tube though. Not much has changed in the 20 years since I've been here the last time; except of the constant safety reminders ("Watch your belongings all the time, if you don't, the station might be closed" - well something like that...).
I am still having problems to activate my cepp phone card. I've bought one in Germany with which I can phone to Germany for 7 Pence (~10 cents) per minute, and inside the UK for 15pence (~23Cent). Just to compare; if I would try to call Germany with my German SIM card, I'd pay 99 Cent per minute; and it's about the same price if I use a public phone.
The shop which should activate the card, however, had computer problems yesterday so I will have to try again today to get that thing activated. Grrr.

Today I'll meet with joysdaughter to study the "Phoenix" gown at the Museum of London. I can barely find the words to describe how much I'm looking forward to that. And I have to find an internet cafe that has a card reader so that I can post some pictures to my other journal... this hotel's computer doesn't have that.

I better run now. There's a nice fresh orange juice and a tasty sandwich I bought yesterday waiting in the fridge of my hotel room, waiting to become my breakfast :-)

See (or rather read!) you soon!

Naergi

Livejournal for my London travel

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 11:10:15 GMT

Hi all,

I've set up a new Livejournal for my London travels. It's called londoncostumes.
I know, that's probably not the most creative name in the world, but that's what I came up with.

If I get internet access in London, I'll write a diary about my travels in that journal and post pictures given that I can find a card reader.
I have 1 Gig of picture space with the account, so given that I *do* find a card reader, posting should be easy. So far I've posted just the schedule for what I'm planning to do in London.

Feel free to friend that Livejournal if you want to see what I'm planning or - in less than two weeks of time - to see what I'm actually doing there.

Best wishes,
Naergi

My cat's been overrun by a car...

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:31:51 GMT

...or so it seems. This time it's, in fact, *my* cat, not my son's cat who had this strange 'accident' with a shotgun some time ago (which I also wrote about here in this journal).
Anyway... my cat. He came home on friday night, and on saturday morning when I saw him I instantly realized that something was wrong with him. The fur was encrusted with dirt and he wasn't too mobile. Plus, he growled at me when I touched him.
I ignored that, packed him into the transport box - and off we went to the pet doctor.

Turns out his ear is half torn off, the nose is scratched, there's a wound over the eye, his back and one leg is badly bruised and his tail is slightly cracked in two places. No teeth marks. So it must have been a car.

Just great. So I spent a great part of the last days just sitting by him, offering water and food, trying to clean the fur which he currently can't do himself... poor cat.

His name, by the way, is 'Schmutzfuss' - "Dirtfoot" in English.
He got that name because the night he came to me about five years ago, he was nothing but a small, wet bundle (from the rain), all dirty, meowing at my window - and he stayed ever since then (no one seems to have missed him, I had pictures and my phone number all over the place and even left both in the animal shelter, but no one seemed to miss an approximately three months old cat). Anyway, back then, when I opened the door and he entered the house, he left dirty footprints on my white ceramic tiles and I said "You're a dirtfoot!" (in German), and ever since then, he has that name.

This is him today. I think (if you enlarge the picture by clicking on it) you can well see the scratch over his nose, the wound over the eye and perhaps you'll also recognize the torn ear (can be seen if you look into his ear carefully):

Now - I love that cat dearly.
But each time something happens to him, and be it just that he fell into a puddle of mud (which he seems to quite enjoy according to the frequency with which that happens!), he *afterwards* either choses a project of mine or some expensive fabric that lies around to sleep on it. And if he has to break into my fabrics cabinet (which he actually manages!) so that he can lie there.
But why, oh why, did it have to be my half finished quilted rococo petticoat ever since he had his accident...?

Yes... I know. Don't say it. The most important thing is that he'll be healthy again as soon as possible. I shouldn't think about my quilted petticoat. Just good that I prewashed the fabrics so I can give that petticoat a thorough washing when he decides to leave it (eventually).... I don't dare picking him up, that's something he doesn't like when he's healthy and something he *hates* if I'm doing it now (I can understand that, he's in pain), Taking it away from him when he goes to see the toilet is also not really an option... see that look on his face...? Even though he's badly injured, I'm afraid he might jump at me. Still the King in his home, lol... a brave cat, he is.

Well, I'll go back catsitting, I think his Lordship wishes to take his lunch - something's meowing behind me on my petticoat...

Long time no see...

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 01:39:44 GMT

Hi all,

I know, I should update more often. In fact, I should read my friends page more often. Sorry, but the last months have been really busy with real life activities... so... here's a small update.

My son, better known to some of you as 'little Balrog', has been in hospital for some days. Turned out he fell on his head in Kindergarten, and *no one there seemed to have noticed* - until he started puking and having headaches. Which is why I brought him to hospital when I picked him up, and it seems that he got himself a cerebral concussion - just great.
Pray tell, why is my son in Kindergarten and why are they paid good money if they don't notice (and obviously don't bother to *ask* a child if it pukes and has headaches!) that it falls down a staircase *in the group room*???
That Kindergarten will have a hard time next week when I get there to ask them about it....

Besides, I've worked on some costumes...

Arya from Eragon!
(more pictures here)

This one was made between christmas and new year's eve at my parent's home. It's my annual christmas gown gift which I made for myself (if you know me, then you'll know that every year I make one costume around that time for myself...).

I've started on another costume:

The black and white striped gown from Sleepy Hollow!
(Progress, three pages currently including an *insane* dye and paint job for the fabric, here)

(and, yes, the friendly little guy in the picture is my aforementioned son)

...and took the task to analyze some costumes from....

The Chronicles of Riddick!
(klick here for this...)

There's also a script comparison between the theatrical version and the director's cut plus a detailed analysis of the 'One step,. one kill' scene on that page.
Why the hell did I analyze those costumes? Because Riddick is an awesome character (and Vin Diesel a wonderful actor), that's all. And if you disagree that Vin Diesel is a wonderful actor, you should take a look at two of his movies: 'Multi-Facial', the first short film which he produced, directed and acted in himself (which got him a role in 'Saving Privatre Ryan' by Spielberg, who saw the short film and got interested in Diesel) and of course 'Find me guilty', his latest movie (in which we see a very hairy Vin!), for which he added 30 pounds to his weight. Reminds me a bit of what DeNiro did for one of his roles...

Ah, and then I saw an exhibit on Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions:

(for more, click here)

...what? That's all? (What, you're not bored yet?)
Yes, but just for the moment. Next week there'll be a bigger update, concerning the b/w striped gown and another costume - the blue wishing gown from 'Phantom of the Opera' - Hamburg musical version - I've made... plus perhaps some more private stuff in a different entry, which will then be friends only, of course.

...and now, I'm off to bed ;-)

Best wishes,
Naergi

[Marie Antoinette] I've made a mini-Tricorn!

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:23:26 GMT

As written here, I was in need of a mini-tricorn for my Marie Antoinette gown (dress diary here).
So I've made one ;-) The first hat I *ever* made... and I'm *loving* it! For this being the very first hat I've in my whole life, made it's really perfect ;-)
The bow at the side is still missing in the picture, but... here's a larger picture of it:

Hope you like it at least a fraction of how much I'm loving it ;-)

Best wishes,
Naergi

My Marie Antoinette costume - and mail problems

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 03:42:46 GMT

Hi all!

Most important things first:
I've discovered that my provider's build-in spam filter obviously ate some of my emails. And worse, the *other* provider I have obviously ate some of the emails my inbox says to be sent out.
So if you've sent an email to me in the last, say, three weeks, and / or if you're expecting a reply from me which just didn't arrive... please just resend your mails. Or nudge me in this thread.

In other news, I've gotten totally obsessed with a particular gown and have spent sewing most of it in the last two days...

This here:

is the costume I so fell in love with. It's from the new Marie Antoinette movie and it's commonly known as the 'Blue Tricorn' costume.
And this:

is how far I've come so far with my reproduction of it.
More of the making process can be found on my website at http://www.naergilien.info/ma-lavender/index.htm
As I'm so obsessed with it I think I will have it finished before the weekend ;-)
Comments and suggestions are as always appreciated.

Best wishes,
Naergi

Cranach inspired Elven dress

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:48:02 GMT

Note:
Currently, my own website is not up and running due to a crashed server which has to be reinstalled. However, I wanted to post this - so here it is ;-)

I must say that I haven't made an Elven dress for almost two years - before that, I've made dozens (see this gallery to see them all).

However, when I was asked to actually design a gown from scratch, and only the main colors - red and gold - were given, I did so.
At the point of time when I started the design I still had much of my Cranach gown in mind, plus I had some fabric remnants from it.
So I designed and made....

  ...the Elven Cranach gown!

I've made the gown from deep rose red velvet which actually had a light blue backing. The two colors together confuse the eye a bit, so it *looks* a bit purple from some angles. Actually, that coloring doesn't only confuse the human eye, but obviously also the lens of a camera... this here...:

...shows the real colors best (note the rose red velvet at the left side of the picture); however, this here...:

is what it looks like in most pictures; but not in reality. You can actually see the light blue backing shimmering through the pile in the right half of the picture; and at the bottom middle you can see a place where the hem has turned over and shows the backing itself.
As I've said: the gown might look pink-magenta in the pictures, but actually, it's deep rose colored. Digital cameras hate red, sigh...

So... here's what I've designed and created...:



These pictures show the dress from all sides. It's made of the already mentioned deep rose red plush rayon velvet; crinkled metallic golden-black silk organza (lower sleeves), embroidered and Swarovski-rhinestones-decorated golden metallic non-crinkle silk organza, bordered with pearl strings (sleeve- and neckline trim as well as belt) and a non-metallic old gold jacquard (upper sleeves).
As it *should* be when trying to imitate the look of the movie costumes, the body of the dress only has three seams:the side seams and the back seam (may I note that I always cringe when I see Elven dresses with princess seams and hear people claim that 'a dress without princess seams looks like a sack'? Well, you may decide for yourselves if that is so when looking at the above linked gallery and this dress - my dresses *never* had any princess seams, except of my first prototype...).

Here are some detail pictures...:



The crest which I painted with golden, anthracite and silver paint to the upper sleeve was made on the request of the person I made the dress for and is the heraldry of Finarfin (read more on that subject by clicking on it):

Belt, sleeves, neckline and heraldry are decorated with Swarovski rhinestones in three different sizes and five different colors: Garnet, Vitrail Medium, Ruby, Golden Shadow and Crystal.
The Vitrail Rhinestones, being a special color, especially stand out: If you look at them straight, they're golden-yellow, at a *slight* angle, they turn green, and from the side, they change the color to blue-purple. In the pictures above you can see this effect partially in the last of the detail pictures - the 'ring' in the crest is decorated with them, and the ones that are more at the left side of the picture seem yellow-green, while the ones on the right seem blue-greenish; but I can assure you that the stones are all of the same color.

I really love the whole concept of the gown - while it is clearly an 'elvish' dress to anyone who has ever seen the movie(s), it's still something 'new' - and for sure better than the 1.000.000 copy of Arwen's Blood red dress... ;-)

I've had a hell of a lot of fun designing and making this gown, and I hope its owner now appreciates it.
Plus, the gown gave me some weird ideas; but this shall be discussed in a different entry....

Hope you like it!
Best wishes,
Naergi

To Traci (and anyone who's interested)

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 20:49:45 GMT

A small explanation in advance for the friends of mine who have no idea what I'm typing about::
Traci (fieryredhead) posted some ebay auction links of hers to her journal; among them this one here:
Mina's red bustle gown
I noticed that the first picture (edited to note: The auction has been edited by now. It now shows Dracula and Mina kissing; but first it used to show the first of the pictures that can be seen here - the one that shows the gown on the dress mannequin) shows the original gown without mentioning it, and for someone who doesn't know this picture from the 'Dracula' book it's not too easy to make out if it's the original gown.

So I wrote a comment to her livejournal:

   I think there may be a problem with the Mina auction... it reads
   "As you can see from the photos below this is a high quality movie reproduction; the photos shown are of the actual dress made by Crimson
   Vision!"
   but right next to it a picture of the original gown is shown.
   Now, whatever buyer does *not* know that this is the original gown could perhaps be a bit disappointed that your gown is missing the elaborate pleating on the skirt. All other auctions show the gowns with the corresponding actresses inside of them, but the Mina gown doesn't which makes it easy to become confused.
   Just thought I should mention it to give you a chance to label the picture of the original gown correctly; I'm sure you didn't do this deliberately.

And her reply, to which *I* can't reply any more because she defriended me, was:

   Um, actually my gown DOES have the fully pleated underskirt like the one in the movie; all 13 yards of it. And you even quoted the part that states in the auction notes that the pictures *below* are of mine.
   Regardless, I will have my friend note that the image to the direct right is of the actual gown.

   By the by, I'm rather offended by your comment that someone would be dissapointed in my gown. My hackles have been raised on more than one occasion by you questioning my choices in construction or color or whatever. I'm sure it's not your fault and you were not trying to do so but I think it's best if we respectfully remove each other from our friends lists.

My reply to this is:

Sure, Traci, if you all of a sudden have decided that you just need backpatters on your friendslist, just do so. I don't need backpatters, I need friends - friends who will tell me if something is wrong; so I will definitely not remove you.

You write that your gown is pleated the same way as the original costume?

I tell you it's not. Even a half blind person can see that from the pictures. It *can't* be, as the original gown was made of heavy indian silk taffeta, and even if you had pleated your skirt to the same small pleats the original gown has, it wouldn't drape the same way, as Crèpe de Chine is much softer and doesn't take the pleating the way taffeta does, which can especially be seen on your bustle, which just 'stands' where it has been stuffed. The original bustle stands and folds all by itself, and not just in places where it has been tucked up (not stuffed!).

I didn't say a buyer would be disappointed if he / she knew that the first picture shows the original gown, but if that was not the case, they could confuse yours with the one shown on top of the auction.
Your pictures are not as good as the one of the original gown, so the fact that the pleating can't be seen in your pictures could be the fault of those pictures... but any experienced dressmaker can see that your pleating is not as narrow as on the original gown, which is barely 2 wingers wide, if at all.
Your gown is beautiful, and it's a better reproduction than most others I have seen so far... but it's still not exactly like the movie gown; which is mostly the fault of the wrong fabric and the too large pleating and the missing 'ruffling' at the back sides.

And if you can't see that the questioning of other people can be *way* more constructive than a billion people who are not able to see what's wrong with something (or just don't dare pointing it out) and just cheer 'OMG!!! What a wonderful beautiful costume no one could have done better!!!', then I'm more than happy to remove you from my friendslist in a week from now on.

It's a shame, I thought you were not just applause-seeking but, like me, open for constructive criticism, without which no creative person can become even better. *I* crave such constructive criticism and had wished that you had told me if you had *ever* thought even just the tiniest bit wrong with one of my gowns.

*Then* one of Traci's friends, raveness1072 jumped onto that train, and blessed me with the following kind words in Traci's entry::

   Subject: You know, crack will kill ya.
   I would ask if you're nuts, but having been an amused and entranced witness to your whole "people are trying to kill me" circus, I think the jury's in on this
   one.
   There's lots of things that the buyer of this gown will be. Disappointed is not one of them.
   Mean people suck.

And my reply to this is as following:

Yes, mean people suck, especially those who unscrew the bolts on one of your car's wheels. What exactly *that*, however, might have to do with Traci's gown's pleating being wrong, I have no idea. What exactly is your point?

Sorry for writing this here, but I see no other possibility to put this right. I'm used to discussing where the argument started, and this was her Livejournal in a friends locked posting, to which I can't write any more.

Best wishes,
Naergi

P.S.: By the way, I find it utterly interesting how many hits my homepage all of a sudden has. Traci, if you have anything to tell me, why friendslock the entry if you can tell it right to my face, or are you also one of the disappointing people who need their friends to tell me how 'mean' I am...?

'Phantom of the Opera' Wishing gown examination

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 08:01:52 GMT

On Thursday, the 7th of September, 2006, I had the great pleasure of being able to examine and take the pattern from an original costume from Hamburg's 'Phantom of the Opera', namely the 'Blue wishing gown' that was worn during 1990/1991 by Renée Knapp.

Picture of one pattern repeat, clicking on it will take you to my home page with the examination results

The gown has been sold in an Ebay auction and has been won by operafantomet, who runs a very nice website on Phantom of the Opera costumes.

I have published my examination results at my homepage at
http://www.naergilien.info/research/Exhibits/phantom/index.htm
I still have more pictures, which I will add during the next days.

Feel free to link to the page (but, please - not the individual images) from whatever forum you see it fit.

Hope you have fun with my examination results!
Best wishes,
Naergi

[Cranach gown] Finished!

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 19:38:35 GMT

I actually managed to finish my costume in time!

Here's me, wearing the gown today at the medieval faire in Hamburg, Germany:

Unfortunately, this is so far the only picture I have of the gown with me inside of it... will see if I can manage to get together a photo session when someone visits me again.

And here's the link to some more pictures of the (almost, because that picture uses the wrong ladder lacing interval *plus* has golden instead of black lacings!) finished gown on my dressmaking mannequin some days ago:

http://www.naergilien.info/Cranach/finished.htm

Hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did :-)
Any comments appreciated!

Best wishes,
Naergi

[Cranach gown] Almost finished...

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:04:48 GMT

I thought I shouldn't leave you in the dark about my progress on the Cranach-gown, after posting my initial planning on it...:

(The link on each picture will lead you to my corresponding webpage for that item)

The skirt:

The neckring:

The Brustfleck (of which I have started two and finished one version):

The bodice:

And the sleeves:

I am still simultaneously working on finishing the sleeves and to make the chemise. Just three more days to go - the whole dress needs to be finished on saturday!

I appreciate any input on my work so far!

Best wishes,
Naergi

Cranach's Luther - need an idea for sleeves...

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:40:07 GMT

Anyone having any idea what kind of sleeves would go with this kind of coat?

I can see the top of the sleeve, but I have no idea what the bottom looks like. Are those supposed to be *w-i-d-e* sleeves (as in 'Éowyn wide' - I know the comparison is weird, but still it's the best I can come up with) or are they more 'narrow' (I know they can't be very tight because of the folds that drape on the arm)?

Reason: My father will come with us to the medieval faire I'm visiting on the weekend... and I have decided that he needs a proper costume... and Cranach painted Luther in a likely way, so I thought it would fit ;-) Plus that coat is *very* simple and quick to make...

Any input - especially a picture which would show such a cloak from head to feet - is *very* much appreciated.

Oh, and if *anyone* should know where to get a pattern for that 'hat' he's wearing - I'd almost appreciate *that* even more - otherwise I'll have to try and make my own...

Looking for:Pattern for a simple snood

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:49:03 GMT

I know that I can figure out how even the most difficult clothing patterns work;but at the moment I'm at a loss (completely!) -perhaps it's because the pattern I'm looking for is so simple?

I'm looking for a simple snood pattern -such as this one:

http://proudmommy.tripod.com/snood.html

But obviously I'm too stupid to figure out how it works.
That pattern piece that's shown there - I just can't figure out how it is supposed to work.
I Know that there must be a banding (going around the head from top to bottom), and then this pattern piece shown there is supposed to be sewn to it.
But how? Is the 'left (straight) side'of that pattern supposed to go to the banding, or is it the 'right (rounded) side'?
And I'm somehow too lazy to just cut a piece of fabric and figure it out by myself...
*is totally embarrassed because she doesn't understand such a simple pattern*...

All other patterns I found on the net are much likely to this one *or* crocheting / knitting patterns, and I can't knit or crochet even just the faintest bit...

Help,anyone?

Unnerved; and: the Brustfleck goblin!

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 11:52:46 GMT

EDIT (about one hour after this entry was made):
My website is runing again. Jay!

I can't express in words how much I'm unnerved by my server hosting company.
Well, basically it's not *them* I'm unnerved with as they're just resellers of a bigger company, but yet and still it annoys me that my website is still offline, and so, of course, is the german costuming community I'm administrating.

If that particular hosting company wasn't so damn cheap ($2. Per *year*. For my domain name *and* unlimited traffic / webspace! That's something I've so far seen beat by no other company) I would have searched for another a long time ago *grrr*

The problem is that the bigger company (the one of which my hosting company is the reseller) obviously tried to run an update on the server last night - which, of couse, totally screwed the server up.
Since this morning, 08:00 am, their constant reply is: 'It should run any minute' - which only proves that time is relative, as by now it's almost 2:00 pm here in Germany.
Gotta love that...

Sorry, I'm just babbling.
Instead, I should show you a nice picture; my partly decorated Brustfleck for the Cranach-gown:

Even if it's not finshed yet - doesn't it look like a friendly goblin's face? This just dawned me when I turned it around - when embroidering / jeweling it, I always looked at it upside down...
The stones, by the way, are real rosen-cut garnets; partially already set with golden rim-settings. I know that the Cranach paintings show no jewelled Brustflecks and that rim settings may not particularly be historical, but I'm so much in love with the idea to have real garnets on my gown...
Still a lot to embroider, though (whit silver and golden yarn and beading with pearls, of course!); but I guess it's a good start ;-)

I so hate this...

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 23:31:37 GMT

...website down. Again. Just as last Monday morning....
Will see how long it will take *this* time to restart the server (and report back here, then).

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 23:20:42 GMT

Names Meme
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street)
Washington Speersort (*Gods*!...)

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your fahter's side, your favorite candy)
Hildegard Breadchips...........

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name followed by izzle", first two or three letters of your last name follwowed by "dizzle")
Sizzle Potizzle *howls with laughter'...

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Chinchilla (*why* for whoever-might-be-responsible's sake do I have the image of a woman in 40ies style clothes with a *very* fluffy blue marabou jacket in my head now?)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Diana Kusel

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your name- last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name repeated twice)
Sabgrubretso (Bet that's the same race as the slave owner in Episode 1!)

7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mother's maiden name spelled backwards)
Anaid Grubretso (sounds somewhat like *Anakin*, right...?)

8. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automobile you drive/drive in)
The Blue Convertible (Good grief! And *what* roof am I supposed to be able to put down with my very special superior superhero abilities...?)

Cranach-gown: From study to skirt

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 02:31:16 GMT

Heiya,
I've finally finished the study and planning and have now started on my Cranach-gown!

Alright... the planning of 'what I want' can be found here:
http://www.naergilien.info/Cranach/index.htm

My personal and excessive study of the Cranach gown in various paintings and a take on explaining the 'Brustfleck' can be found here:
http://www.naergilien.info/Cranach/study.htm

My planning on how I will make the gown, including a skirt pattern, is here:
http://www.naergilien.info/Cranach/planning.htm

And this is how I've come so far:

Making of the neck ring:
http://www.naergilien.info/Cranach/neckring.htm

Making of the skirt:
http://www.naergilien.info/Cranach/skirt.htm

This gown has to be finished in two weeks, but I expect it to be finished by the end of next week!
Looking forward to your comments so far and stay tuned for updates ;-)

Best wishes,
Naergi

Server down!

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 04:55:40 GMT

Oh joy, oh happiness - at this moment, my hoster's server is down. Again.
For the moment, that means that not only my own website is down, but also the german costuming community Costumekittens,which I am administrating...
Not that this would be the first time... Not that I'm utterly annoyed by this *grrrrrr*
Did I mention that at times I hate my webhoster (which, by the way, is Pan-Connect - and while they are providing a great service, *sometimes* it's really unnerving...?)
I just hope there's a backup for Costumekittens on their server in case they can't just restart it - I haven't made one maually in two weeks... I know, my fault...
Edit:
...4 hours after my entry was made...
Right now, the server is up and running again; seems it just needed a restart. Yay!

It came from the 1971 Sears Catalog!

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 16:41:46 GMT

Accidentally, I stumbled over this website, which has scans from the 1971 Sears Catalogue-with comments by the website owner.
So if you have some hours and would like to laugh your ass off at modern opinions about 1971's lifestyle, I recommend reading everything on that page-i just did, and I must say that I didn'tlaugh like this in a long,long time...;-)
Best wshes,
Naergi

Heathrow is closed.

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 09:24:18 GMT

London Heathrow airport is closed,and thousands of passengers can't get their flights. While waiting for them, they must not even read books,but carry their belongings that *are* allowed in clear plastic bags.

Bummers.

[Hardwick] Updates on the 'Hardwick' portrait gown diary

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 20:00:35 GMT

I have updated my dress diary for the 'Hardwick' portrait gown with the following...:

A small essay on proportions in Elizabethan paintings and why they seem wrong

Analysis of the different clothing elements in the 'Hardwick' portrait

The mathematical calculation of a French farthingale pattern

Hope you enjoy the update - the next step will be the making of the french farthingale, which will take some days :-)
Best wishes,
Naergi

[Balrog]: Bought yourself a friend today...?

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 23:09:16 GMT

Today my son, better known to the readers of this journal as 'little Balrog', was the cutest child on earth.

I stood in a shoe shop, looking for shoes (not for myself! I have enough until the end of my life - but he is constantly growing out of his, so...) and that shoe shop happens to have toys, also. Cheap toys which will break after some days, but yet and still, toys, and cheap ones, as I have said.
I think this is mainly a psychological thing:
Women go shopping for shoes with their children (but not necessarily for them...), the children discover the toys, to avoid loud crying and to have more time on selecting shoes, the mother buys one.
Next time mommy and baby pass the shoe shop, the child wants to go inside to look for toys, and the mother will let herself be dragged in to look for shoes, and the game starts anew - and the shop makes loads of money with shoes the mother doesn't need and the toys the children will break within a short amount of time.

Uhm, where was I. Right - looking for shoes, and little Balrog, of course, was standing in front of the shelves with toys, which, interesting enough, are just a yard high and most stuff is piled at the bottom of the shelves.

Suddenly he was tugging my sleeve, presenting an ugly, blinking plastic miniature of a traffic light in one set with two traffic signs and the strangest miniature of a Mercedes SLK convertible I've ever seen - all, of course, in no even remotely correct size dimensions to each other.

"Can I buy this?"

...I so hate if he doesn't express himself correctly...

"Sure you can buy this - as soon as you earn your own money, you can buy as many as you..."

"No, can YOU but that for me?"

Ah, he learned. Yet and still, I don't find it right to buy everything that comes into the way of a child's hands, so....

"No. See, you already got the cake you wanted an hour ago, so..."

I didn't expect to happen what happened *next*. Usually, my son will, without complaining, carry the toy back to the shelf if I say so.
If it's something bigger he *really* wants, he usually asks if he can call grandpa to buy it for him.
In a few rare cases, when he was really tired and smaller, he would cry, but *still* carry the toy back to the shelf without complaining.
So what happened was totally new for me....

*Big brown eyes filling with tears staring up at me...*
"Mommy, please, you must buy that for me! I'll be your very bestest friend forever if you buy that for me, I promise!!!" He exclaimed with the loudest, non-screaming voice I ever heard from him.

People around me dropped their shoes and stared. I just stared at him with an open mouth, then did what almst everyone else did: I laughed till I almost cried.
Still, he was looking at me with that half begging, half desperate look of a child which really, honestly, never ever in his whole life got a toy from his mother (note that there are *still* three giant not yet unpacked boxes from our move which contain such 'never bought toys' ;-) ).

And what did I do? I said (or at least I tried because I was still laughing):

"Son, I'm already your mother, so if you want me as a friend now, I'd be honoured. Let's buy that damned toy, I can't find any shoes for you anyway!"

Isn't it nice? With just a cheap blinking plastic traffic light miniature I have bought myself a lifetime friend.
Plan for tomorrow: Buy all the cheap blinking plastic traffic lights that store has, then look for the nicest young man running around in town and offer him one of them for a lifetime best friendship.
The spare ones are for my own parents, if that with the young man should work :-)

Best wishes,
Naergi

...why am I not surprised...?

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 11:13:59 GMT

You scored as Neither. You think neither like a man nor like a woman. What you are you may decide for yourself. Most people will consider you strange, alien, weird or funny. You are probably quite interesting.

</td>

Neither

93%

Either

57%

Female

54%

Male

50%

Should you be MALE or FEMALE?*
created with QuizFarm.com

[Hardwick] I accepted a dress challenge!

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 23:55:21 GMT

(X-post to my own journal, dressdiaries and elizabethangarb)

Ladies and Gentlemen,
not without pride I announce that I was challenged to finish a dress until November 15th, 2006.

The dress in question is the one Queen Elizabeth I is wearing in the 'Hardwick' portrait...

and the rules for the challenge are, well, quite tough - even tougher than the timeframe of just three months.
You can read everything about the challenge on my website at
http://www.naergilien.info/hardwick/
So far, I've just written down the rules there and the research page has my initial thoughts on the dress, which I have written down months ago.

Edited to add this, as it doesn't seem clear from my website:
I'm not supposed to finish this entire dress with materials for just 20 Euros.
I can use anything I want from my large, established fabrics- and trims collection, but for anything I do *not* own yet, I must not spend more than 20 Euros ;-)
As I have collected roughly 1200 (=twelve hundred, no typo!) kilograms of fabrics, trims and other embellishments in the last almost thirty years, I'm almost sure that I won't need to buy *anything* to make this dress :-)

Wish me luck for the challenge! For me, it's not about the prize, but about finishing *such* a gown in just three months of time.
I'll keep you all updated here so you don't need to look at my site too often in vain :-)

Best wishes,
Naergi