mary marvel inspired bag

After having some success with the Wonder Woman themed bag, I tried Mary Marvel (after Crisis) as a theme. It's plain yet sophisticated.

I'm also working on a Wonder Woman top for myself but out of the five times I've tried shirts so far, I have not had any real success.

Wonder Woman tote

I created a prototype of a real masterpiece this weekend. The owner of Solstice, where my bags are being sold, had mentioned that if her sister-in-law could find Wonder Woman fabric, she'd probably like a bag made out of it. I tried to explain that I could come up with something without it actually being WW fabric. When I brought it up again, Jamie was hesistant and said she'd talk to her s-i-l to see if she'd be interested. I knew that even if she wasn't interested, I already was. I had a plan formulated in my head and wanted to try it so this weekend I spent one day shopping and cutting, then the next day constructing it. Now that it's done, I can visually see what I would change if there was a next time. If it wasn't for my poor stitching on corners & curves (heck, I'm not even so good at straight either), it would be better. I'm still pretty excited about how it turned out. The pattern pieces that are not my originals are so worn out from all the bags I've made! I may have to start tracing them onto new tissue paper. For this Wonder Woman bag though, about one-third of it is original: the busty front, the bust embellishment, the trim on the handles and how to sew the back to the front.

Quip in full costume

Here's a peak at the Richard Quip costume on the actual Richard himself.

All the purple embellishments are the parts that I did which the large "Q" on the back, the "Q" on the front and also the patches on each shoulder.

1st Gaming Con held in Iraq

June 9th will be a spectacular and history-making day for the global RP gaming community. The Army's Morale Welfare & Recreation Department are allowing servicemembers at Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase (dubbed "The Ziggurat") to use a building for the first ever gaming con in a warzone!

The Toys4Troops website states: "The largest problem with running a Con in Iraq, of course, is that there are no local stores or game publishers, and few game books on the post. Even dice are in short supply, with many soldiers breaking the unwritten taboo held by many gamers and sharing dice. Thankfully, many game publishers have also lent their support, and have agreed to supply game products to help the Con along. aethereal FORGE, Sovereign Press, Final Redoubt Press, Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Steve Jackson Games are among those that have thrown in their support for the convention. But Amberson indicated that the soldiers could definitely use more."

Also updated on the website is a message from Games for GIs:
"We are currently at an address where we can ship all care packages through military means free of charge.

They would be delighted to get PDF products as well as they have access to laptops & printers. Please read through the T4T website for the laws applied to mailing things to Iraq. There are restrictions.

finished Quip costume

I'm very glad that Richard sent me 2 of each shirt so that I could work out the design and skills needed to get his Quip costume done. He sent me 2 black button down shirts and 2 black turtlenecks so that I could add appliqués and patches. After a quest for fabric that would work, I found violet crushed velvet in a remnant pile for $3.99/yard. No spandex in purple could be found this time of year. Luckily, I think the pieces came out really nice even though one shoulder patch is a smidge lower than the other. Hopefully no one will notice. It's done and I should get it in the mail to Dallas tomorrow in time for Quip's reunion with his girlfriend in June.

Jason Reese, my buddy from Smooth-On, is going to be giving me tips on how to properly clean and store my Black Cat mask. And if I've damaged it at all, he'll be able to repair or replace it. He said silicone would have been better than foam latex. What do I know? I just saw what I needed at Xtreme FX and clicked to order. The mask is really beautiful and since I'm not actually climbing the buildings of New York City, I think it will last a while. Black Cat just happens to have a rather thin mask so I've been worried that it will break.

There was a big monster mash this weekend but I didn't make it to that. I'm saving my strength for Wizard World in Philly in June.

Quip costume

I just ordered a single ticket for myself to go to Wizard World in Philly, only $25; Stacy and her friend Dave are going so I won't be alone and she'll drive.

I also started working on the Richard Quip costume for my friend. Actually I'm only doing the embellishments but I still need to find fabric. I'll have to order it online because the stores out here just don't have very much to choose from. What I find is that they have tons of cotton for quilters mostly and that's what I use for my totes, but they are very limited in anything like spandex. I thought there would be a better shot at it since it's a bathing suit fabric but the only stuff I saw was so horribly ugly I couldn't believe anyone would use it for a bathing suit. The only solid color I saw was a super bright lime green which would have worked for maybe another character but I need purple for Quip.

photos from FCBD '07

I'm still recuperating from yesterday's Free Comic Book Day. It was an amazing experience! I know I had a blast and can't wait to do it again. One little girl actually knew I was the Black Cat and that her real name is Felicia while half of the other people thought I was Storm and another good percentage thought Catwoman. Well, I tried.

Photo Gallery

received my first art

Here is the (first) piece of commissioned art I had done of Amber and Power Princess Caico ready for action, by Dan Gorman of argonautcomics.com.

In this scan, you can unfortunately see the linen of the paper but this artist totally hooked me up. I have a matted 8x10, 5 trading card size laminated, 3 of that size just on paper, plus the original pencil sketch.

And I will be sure to send the trading cards to my Assistant, Optical and her gifted brother.