Salt City Steamfest 2015

Lots of fun to be had at SLC Steamfest this year.

For my booth, my assistant and I decided that a theme would be fun and since I already had a rockin Ursula hat, our theme was Steampunk Little Mermaid!

I was Ursula (of course) and Blake was King Tr iton.

Sounds funny to turn Disney into Steampunk, but there were actually many Disney characters at Steamfest this year, I was surprised. Here are some of the fun faces!

Snow White, King Triton, Ursula, Beast (Human), Geston, Aurora

We were off to an excellent start the first day. My booth was a salvage ship wreck (under the sea theme, get it?)

 I had a lot of fun designing this chaotic booth. There was so much to see and everyone who came absolutely loved it. The base is made of old trunks and then crates, crates and more crates stacked on top. Pretty simple. Very beautiful.

 
 Learning from my mistake last year of not having any menswear, I made an entire section for gents and costume designers alike.
Pocket watches, Tie tacks, eye patches, guns, apothecary bottles, antique keys, you name it, the men had their pick of awesome additions to their costumes.

And of course I had some awesome masks there. I believe I've blogged a few of them before, if not, here they are in all their splendor!

Beautiful old trunks and new to Matchless Designs, GRAB BAGS! They were a major hit, especially with the kiddos. Gotta love a good surprise. 

My neighbors on either side of me were absolutely awesome. I was plugged right between Damsel in this Dress and Carols Custom Costumes. 

Let me tell you, those ladies were so much fun. I think one of my favorite parts about a convention is meeting all the people who do this kind of stuff for a living. They are such an inspiration. Feel free to look them up, they are well worth it!

So the second day was a little slower, and after a few hours in, tragedy struck! 

There was another Ursula at the convention!

 

She actually turned out to be really cool. We had to get a photo together and she was very impressed with my Flotsom and Getsom Eel Double Barrel gun!

You don't mess with Sea-folk!

There was so much to see and so many people to meet that it hardly seemed like I was working. 

It's all play!

Adventurers running around like crazies, death stalking his prey, mermaids in the pool, dueling, opera, masquerade, this year had a little bit of everything!

Well, now that I'm done gushing about all my fun, here are some more fun pics!

Enjoy and hopefully you'll consider coming by next year to visit my booth!

He made this gun the day before and I swear it weighed 100 lbs! I could barely lift it! But it was fun to see even people who can't get around so well enjoying Steampunk.

So long!

Crazy About Masks!

I've been busy, busy, busy lately getting ready for 2015 SLC Steamfest!

This convention is so much fun, but mostly I enjoy seeing the various costumes and how creative people can get. 

This year, I have my arsenal of Steampunk items stocked and ready to wow!

Some of my favorite items have to be my Phantom of the Opera masks!

They would complete any costume and are easy to take off when needed.

                     

These bad boys are made of simple craft masks, foam, odds and ends and wiring! 

I love them! I almost don't want to sell them!

I was thinking about making a mask tutorial some day...Hmmm.

I'm still not done. After the Phantom masks, I wanted to try my hand at other styles of masks. 

Of course, the craft stores carry all sorts of fun stuff!

I am so proud of my Masquerade Mask. It was my first time every attempting a project such as this. (It's a good thing there's going to be a masquerade at Steamfest this year)

Last but not least, I found a cool looking mask and decided to make it a little more abstract than it already was!

SLC Steamfest Info, if you would like to go.

Come by and check out the awesome wares that are sold from vendors from all over!

Belt to Cuff

It's been a while since I've put anything fun on here, so I've got an awesome new project to show you guys. 

It all started when I was wandering around a thrift shop the other day when I saw this belt that screamed Steampunk!

I just had to have it, but I knew that I wouldn't be using it for a belt, because part of it was pretty trashed.

So after debating what to do with it, I finally decided that it would make the coolest cuff. It would even be Steampunk enough that a man could sport it. 

Basic first step, cut the belt to fit your wrist. The original belt came with chain to link the leather strips, so I figured chain would be a great addition to my belt cuff. 

I measured the straps to fit mostly on the top of my wrist and chain to go below.

I also used a leather punch to make the holes for the chain. 

Then it was just as simple as putting everything together!

Very Steampunk!

I ended up giving this as a Christmas gift to one of my guy friends, who absolutely loved it. The great thing about keeping all the belt attachments is that it is easily adjustable.

This is something that can honestly be done with any simple leather belt. 

Give it a try!

Steampunk Ha!!oween!

This year for Halloween, I decided to go with a Disney Villain for my costume.

That's right, I chose Ursula from the Little Mermaid.

With my choice made, I realized that I was definitely going to have to tweak this character to my liking; I didn't want to do the typical purple skin and crazy white hair. Also, since I was making the costume, I realized I had no idea how to make a tentacle dress. Things looked a little grim for me, but then I got inspiration from Pinterest to put the tentacles in a HAT!

If you know me, you know that I love to make mini top hats! I jumped right on that idea, and began to piece together my costume.

(Me and my coworker, Tyson...poor unfortunate soul.)

There was much touch and go and winging it. 

It's amazing what hot glue can do!

This is what I ended up with for a Sea Witch Mini Top Hat! (It was beat up a little when I took this picture. Ignore the imperfections haha)

Here's the break down to this craziness:

Tentacles were made from wire, gauze, fabric and paint!

I found a cool little skeleton at the Dollar Store as well as some shells at Hobby Lobby.

  

A little hot glue, a little elbow grease and some magic words and Viola an AWESOME HAT!

Well, my costume didn't stop at the hat (I can't do anything simple). Since I was already going down the Steampunk road, I figured I needed an equally awesome necklace.

If you've ever seen the Little Mermaid, you know that a key piece of Jewelry for Ursula is the shell necklace that she captures Ariel's voice in.

I found a glob of Sculpy and started working my magic.

         

Clay, paint, chain, shells and beads. 

This lovely piece of art came out better than I had anticipated!

It was a great costume all together and I had a blast making it. 

I won two costume contests and got stopped everywhere that I went so people could check out the hat. 

Can't wait til next year!

Welcome to STEAMFEST!

              

2014 Salt City Steamfest has come and gone.
And it was AWESOME!
There was so much to take in that it was almost overwhelming, but months of planning finally paid off.

We didn't have much room to set up, but with a little genius (slanting the table), I fit everything on it!

I borrowed some crates to finish the look and they were perfect! 

                          

As my first actual convention, I didn't know what to expect. 

I had read almost every blog about what to bring and how to prepare myself, but there is no way that you could really know what was coming. 

My neighbor booths on either side were interesting.

On one side, a couple who traveled all over the western U.S. selling at shows like this one. They had a little bit of everything, even Vampire killing stakes. Haha

They were so crazy! Every time there was a lull in selling, they would come over to my booth and chat us up about anything and everything. They were definitely characters who just enjoyed the experiences of life.

On the other side, three girls who were a hoot to listen to as they rattled off to entertain each other.

Actually selling was quite an experience in itself. 

Day 1, there were a lot of lookers and no buyers. That was kind of discouraging, but I did make a few sales.

                          

There was a lot to look at on my table. I had a little bit of everything myself. 

When I go to a show, I like to be drawn to the booth. 

Every blog I read said that presentation is everything. 

It was really fun to hear what people thought about the things I had made.

There were all manner of people. 

I even sold a few hats to stuffed animals.

 

The costumes were so cool. This lady made her own wings and had to walk sideways down the aisles of the marketplace. 

This woman had two pet foxes!

She brought one out with a harness and everything, walking him around the convention.

                             

                              

I was blown away by the creativity of some people at this show.

It was definitely worth the stress and preparation.

I think it would have been fun to go to participate in the actual cosplay games that were going on.

Apparently, we were on a airship and there was an outbreak of a disease that turned players into zombies.

There were a lot of aspect of the show that I wasn't able to check out, as a vendor, but the marketplace was a world in itself.

Now that I'm done and I reflect, I definitely will be making some changes for next year.

Live and Learn.

And now...I'm left with everything that I didn't sell...

If you're interested in checking them out, I've been posting things on my Etsy page every day.

Check it out HERE

Goo Goo for Goggles!

I believe that a major staple to Steampunk fashion is goggles. I'm sure you agree.

With Steamfest less that three weeks away, I decided my costume could use a bit more awesomeness to compliment all the other awesomeness that it's already made of.

Thanks to a YouTube tutorial on how to paint with an aged look, all I needed to do was find some welding goggles.

  

It was a lot of fun/pressure to try to decide what colors I wanted to go for. I didn't necessarily want to be matchy matchy with my outfit so they would just blend in. I needed something to make them stand out. So I rimmed them in red!

It was all a matter of painting them and then putting it all together. When I was done I got so excited. Too bad I can't wear them in every day society. Steamfest can't come soon enough!

For a tutorial on the "Aged Look" click here.