I was able to attend a bunch of really useful costuming panels, and met some great people. I went to a panel on making your own patterns for clothing/costumes, which was fantastically useful for helping me understand how to really create something to someone's measurements. The corset-making presentation convinced me that I can make my own corset, so that's added to my list of To-Dos. I went to a great leather mask-making panel that not only taught me how to make masks, but lots of tips about working with leather. Which is great, since I've just started doing that and have NO IDEA what I'm doing. On Sunday I went to a headresses and headpieces panel, that was encouraging and informative without directly relating to anything I'm currently planning. And then I went to a mold making and resin workshop that I was very excited about. I feel like I got a good grasp on the basic concept, but I kinda think it's a bit beyond what I want to be doing right now. I think I will pick up a beginner's kit and make some small resin objects like gears and cogs, but doubt I'll be doing large projects with it. Especially since that stuff is expensive.
As for the steampunk presence, I thought we were well represented. There were some truly beautiful items and costumes, and many people seemed to have made the effort to wear something at least a little steamy, in honor of the theme. The dealer's room was a little disappointing, in that the cheaply made items outweighed the quality merchandise. And from what I've heard, the dealer's didn't do much business. I know for myself, almost all the affordable items were either crap or were something I could very easily make. There were some beautiful quality items, but they weren't things I felt I could spent that much money on.
My husband and I skipped most of the evening activities due to exhaustion or (on Saturday night) seeing local friends. While I might have liked more time to socialize, I was able to achieve my main goal of learning a bunch of new things.
Our pictures from All-con are here. I would draw your particular attention to this amazing steampunk Segway. We also had some photos taken of us:
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| From All-con 2011 |
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| From All-con 2011 |
You can't actually see much detail on the changed parts of my costume, but I'll have detailed photos later.
Today we went to Aggiecon. If All-Con was small-ish, Aggiecon is tiny. It's a student run con (the oldest in the country in its 42nd year.) We went only for the day since it's in our backyard. Airship Isabella was present providing steamy content with their usual friendliness and awesome skills. We went to their "How to Steampunk a Nerf Gun." workshop and although I've done a few guns, I learned a lot. (Like that Rub N Buff comes in way more colors than they have at the store. I've now ordered all 12 colors from Amazon, because I am insane.) The workshop was a lot of fun, in addition to being informative. After that, we mostly wandered around and looked at stuff in the dealer's room. I bought a great steamy necklace from Madame Nina. We got our picture taken a lot and then we left. The only pictures I took today were of the Isabella's awesome guns and armor, and I haven't uploaded them yet.
After we left the con, we actually went shopping for more supplies for more steampunky crafting. There's nothing like attending cons and gabbing with other steampunks to get you inspired. I have so many works in progress right now. Tomorrow we're both working on our guns. Gee, wonder what inspired that?
Posts coming to this blog soon (I promise): how to make a bustle pad and why you should, how I modified my corset into a military corset, how to make a cravat, how (not?) to make a leather top hat, and eventually I will be offering a pattern for awesome spats, but that will cost a bit.
In the meantime, I have a couple of items to make to raise funds for Japan, and a couple of knitted items to make as a barter for a hat. And I have a large surprise project that I may or may not get finished by the end of April. It's busy around these here parts, y'all.
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