Super Hero Steampunk

I'm working on steaming up several comic book characters. Technically I guess I'm trying to Ren them down but you know what I mean. You'll have to please pardon the rather quick/sloppy photo. The corset is not quite positioned on me where it should be but the misalignment is probably also due to my poor posture (my shoulders are very uneven). I use zippers on my corsets for now because grommets and I do NOT get along. I figure for steampunk, zippers work fine.

I tried to make it reversible with having Rogue's green in place of the black on the other side but my lack of reversible zippers of the right length made it difficult; then I nicked a tiny hole on the Rogue side so for now, it's just fancy lining. I'll make a separate Rogue one later on.

Effing EBAY! @#&^%^%$@@^#!

For some reason, the all mighty Powers That Ebay decided my account was associated with some other ID which has been shut down; therefore, my account was suspended. Luckily, it appears that my order for theatrical white makeup has already gone through and shipped. Why? Because I pay as soon as I "buy it now" or win a bid. I think I'm a damn good customer and a decent seller. I have sold things at a loss because I donate portions of sales to charities which is a service through ebay that has a $5 minimum. I'd say that's pretty damn nice of me.

If anyone has ever had some sort of issue which they believed was with me, please let me know! I have one ebay ID (scotchbroom) and one email account associated with it (njcabot at yahoo dot com). If you believed you were dealing with me and screwed, contact me and ebay.

I realize the ebay interface for contacting them is not the most user-friendly but please do what you can if this involved you.

I will be continuing to grow my shop through Etsy since they have opened up to vintage items as well as home made. I don't know if things like beanie babies are considered vintage though. I'm always open to conducting private sales through Pay Pal and avoiding all the fees anyway.

Harley Quinn slippers

I have bragged about my addiction to etsy.com before. I'm sure I'm not the only one either. Etsy is such a wonderful place that I opened my own shop there (elizabethamber.etsy.com). Well, I'm so excited that I'm practically jumping out of my chair about the new Harley Quinn slippers I just ordered.

Designer Laura was sweet enough to work with me to get one black and one red slipper from her collection (mommayaya.etsy.com) and make them a custom order just for me. She got them done so quickly that it makes me feel a huge amount of relief as I am scheduled to appear in my Harley Quinn suit on October 25th at Comic Fusion's Superhero Weekend. It will be my suit's debut and after having a lot of trouble with the ruffled cuffs and diamonds, I was worried that I'd look just terrible. I didn't want to invest any more money in the suit and my two attempts at booties were a disaster. Laura's prices were great, especially for it being a special order. Thankfully I didn't have to resort to buying a pair of ankle boots and painting one or worse, buying two pairs of boots to get the two colors I need.

Looking for Photographer

I help organize fundraising events at Comic Fusion in Flemington, NJ. I appear in costumes for these events and would to have some nice pictures done. You don't have to be professional just someone who knows how to take a decent shot. I bring my own camera and we have one for the shop (both are point & shoot). We can't pay for this but do provide lunch to anyone volunteering.

Charities that have benefitted from our events: S.A.F.E in Hunterdon (local family services shelter) and Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Cool online shop

Thanks to the arduous bloggers of steamfashion at LJ, I just had the pleasure of perusing the Fabric Horse website. I'm pretty sure I've stumbled upon this before but it's a lovely sense of renewed interest now. There are the spunkiest variations of accessories that will truly make anyone stand out from the pack. Why carry stuff in a bag when you can strap on your own urban utility belt? Be like Batman! It's cool.

The plastic astroturf backpack isn't really my thing but you sure would be the only one to have one. I'm more partial to the adorable spats! Thanks to steampunk for causing a resurgeance in the spats (and goggles) market.

A very different Wonder Woman

An interesting product of the 70s is this version of Wonder Woman that I have never seen before. I was just alerted by a friend of mine about this nice website, Wonderland, which has information on a blonde non-superpowered Wonder Woman. Her outfit isn't bad considering that it does seem more "practical." She was played by Cathy Lee Crosby and according to the site, was an all around bad production with awful scripts and direction making it a complete WW failure.

I have seen writer/legend Denny O'Neill speak a few times and one of the subjects of his discussions are more like confessions. He not only "killed Robin" (aka, Jason Todd which was left up to the readers, not him) but he also depowered Wonder Woman in the 1970s comics. At the time, he believed that it would make more relatable to the female comic book audience and actually show her as being a powerful woman because she was just human with major martial arts abilities. His experiment failed miserably and feminists like Gloria Steinem were outraged by the depowering of our Amazon Princess.

In today's comics, Wonder Woman has a choice (sort of). Her nemesis Circe, a powerful sorceress, cast a spell on Wonder Woman so that she has to actually transform into her WW persona to have powers; otherwise, she is able to remain in human form as Diana Prince, with only top-notch human abilities like martial arts, fighting, marksmanship, etc.

CGS Supershow

I just wanted to extend a quick thank you to everyone for making the Comic Geek Speak Supershow a wonderful success! Sales were decent. Lots of fun! It was a relaxing comic show where I felt safe to leave the table unattended if I had to but that didn't seem to happen as was sharing the table with a lovely and very talented artist, Eliza Stockfisch (comicspace.com/eliza).

Thank you, Geeks!

Coverage at ComicVine

One my favorite websites is ComicVine.com. I quickly became a contributor there because it's just so damn addictive! Once you start surfing around getting tangled in the vine (a wiki for comics), you'll definitely agree. It's better than your average wiki in appearance. You really feel like you've tapped into a comic book.

That being said, I was SO excited today when I was notified that main man Red L.A.M.P. actually gave me some props regarding my geek crafts. Red and G-Man really keep things running over there so having them take a few minutes out of their schedules to put up a blog post about me and send a note really meant a lot.

Ohio museum exhibit

One of my friends from the League of Heroes tipped me off to another great museum exhibit; this one in Ohio so I am unable to attend to it sounds fantastic. The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is hosting "ZAP! POW! BAM!" highlighting the Jewish community's contribution to comics, and hence all American folklore.

From their website:
September 16 - January 4
Zap! Pow! Bam! immerses visitors in an interactive world of Super Heroes, and illuminates the creative processes that drove their originators to provide America with timeless icons such as Superman, Batman, Captain America and Wonder Woman.

In addition to rare, never-before-displayed comic book art and memorabilia, Zap! Pow! Bam! features 1940s serials, video interviews, a vintage, child-sized Batmobile ride, an interactive phone booth, a drawing studio, and costumes for visitors of all ages to enjoy.

The Maltz Museum presents this exhibition with a proud nod to the prominence of Jewish artists and the importance of Cleveland (home of the creation of Superman by a pair of Glenville High School students) in the development of comic book art.

My Etsy Shop is now open!

This week I launched my latest endeavor to expand the exposure of my handmade creations. I have opened an Etsy shop which is a huge online shopping center for people like me who are small scale creators, designers or collectors. Some of the bags that I have been blogging about are now available through ElizabethAmber.Etsy.com.

After my appearance the Supershow this weekend, I'll update the listings because I do have a few that utilize quirky fabrics. Hopefully I'll just sell out of all the bags and have to create a new listing for everything.