Warning: Impending Rant

Wow, I am so lax about posting to this blog. Luckily tonight I'm just pissed off enough to have to write something. I just got a message on etsy that basically told me one of my chokers was overpriced. Way overpriced. Something about how they would be willing to pay up to $20 for my 30 some-odd hours of work, but $100 was out of their price range. Oh, and as if it were possible they threw in "no offense." Well, offense definitely taken. I understand that there aren't enough people out there who understand how delicate and time-consuming tatting is. This is I've started adding to the listing that the large pieces all day over 20 hours of work. This is a low-ball estimate for some pieces. I guess I just don't understand how you can basically tell me that my piece isn't worth the price I'm charging and expect me not to take offense. You expect me to take less than $1 per hour for skilled work and not be offended.

Ugh, I can't even respond to the message because I'm so angry it would be needlessly snippy.

Oh, and Eliza Dushku was nominated for a Scream award for best actress for Dollhouse when she is the one thing that makes that show nearly unwatchable. How can you play a character that's supposed to be able to change into whoever/whatever is called for when you play the same person in every episode and don't even do that very well. This has been a night of disappointments.

"Fame" Falls Short

For months, I've been on pins and needles. Ever since I heard there were making an updated version of "Fame," I've been counting down the days until I could see it. Every time I saw an ad or trailer that made me doubt its merits, I'd see another that would renew my hope.

Anyone who was a theatre geek in high school, college, and beyond should understand what I mean. The original "Fame" was iconic. It was something that spoke to every young performer in one way or another. It was one of the first things we could look at and feel like someone got us. Someone understood that it was hard, that it was work to be a performer. It was the first thing I can remember seeing where the artistic people were normal. They weren't some over the top, ditzy, arty, weird for the sake of being weird freak like they always have been in movies and sitcoms. It was the kind of thing you should show your non-theatre friends to help them understand your world. The sort of thing you show to your overachieving History major roommate who doesn't think you work because you're not writing papers and spending 24/7 in the library.

Seeing that the film featured accomplished actors as the faculty gave me hope. I knew that it wouldn't be the movie I fell in love with so many years ago. I hoped it wouldn't be. As long as it held true to the essence, I would be happy.

I'm not happy. The movie fell far short of my expectations. I'm going to try to explain without giving "spoilers" because I hate people ruining movies for me whether they're good or bad.

It wasn't terrible. It could have been much worse. However, it could have been far better. The original showed blood, sweat and tears. It showed the work that goes into the crafts we practice and the love that drives us to make ourselves so vulnerable. I've seen it at least a dozen times and I cry every single time. I didn't cry this time. I didn't see the struggle, so I didn't feel the triumph. No one seemed to be sacrificing, no one seemed to be vulnerable, and everyone seemed to get a happy ending.

I wasn't looking for a rehashing. I wanted it to be different, but feel the same. I wanted to feel the same inspiration at the graduation scene. I didn't. The finale didn't have the power it needed. The whole thing felt rushed. There wasn't enough depth to the characters, which is sad in a movie that's all about finding depth to improve your performance.

Overall, it was a raging disappointment, but not a totally horrible film. I suppose there was no way to live up to my expectations, but I would have given points for effort.

Chasing Imaginary Beads

It's a good idea to have a vague impression of the project I want to create. It's a bad idea to picture a totally finished piece in my head. I end up frustrated. I end up with a choker I can't finish because I don't have the perfect bead to put at the end of the extension chain.

I think I'm going to have to take the tatted and ribbon piece and drag my hubby to the bead store. Maybe a charm instead of a bead. . .

I also have a beautiful necklace in my head to go with the awesome Halloween dress in my head. Neither will turn out exactly how I'm picturing them. I've come to terms with that, but I'm still searching everwhere to find the perfect beads for the necklace and trim for the dress. I'm getting closer. I finally have some gorgeous cameos and settings for the necklace. Well, I have two sets of cameos and two kinds of settings. I think I'm going to use one of these cameos in one of these settings and save the other pieces for another project. The great thing is that I have extras! If the necklace turns out anywhere near as nice as it is in my head, I may have to make another and list it.

If I ever find those elusive beads, that is.

Oooooo, I Love Red Tag Fabric!

Found the most beautiful brocade back in the red tag discount section of the fabric store. I'm going to make it part of the bustle of my Halloween dress. I'm not even thinking about historical acuracy, not enough time or money. I think I've almost figured out how to make this work. I'm going to take a basic pattern I already had (top C and skirt F) out of the light blue and then use the gold and the brocade to fashion the bustle as a separate piece so I can wear the dress again. Life would be so much easier if I had a dressmaker's dummy, but I should be able to make it work. It looks great in my head, at least.

The pattern for the dress I liked wasn't available in my size to begin with and then the store only had the smaller size. I bought the smaller size to give me some ideas of how to make this work, if nothing else. If anyone has suggestions to make this project easier, let me know. Hopefully there will be work in project pictures coming.

So Glad I Wasn't Alive in the 1880's

I finally got Chris interested in an idea for Halloween costumes. If I'm going to make something decent, I have to start about a month ago. Unfortunately, the pattern he decided he likes is this. Not bad until you consider that puts me in the position of having to make myself something witha bustle. I've already got enough of a natural bustle, I shudder to think what I'm going to have to do now. I'm looking at this (the full length dress, not the saloon girl versions). It's the only thing I've seen that I think I can handle both in terms of construction and self confidence. Of course, the don't make that pattern big enough to fit me, so it will probably end up being a combination of that pattern and a couple plus size formal patterns I already have.

The good point is that I get to add some tatting into whatever I do! Period appropriate and all that good stuff :) I'll have to make myself a choker with some of the velvet ribbon. Sigh, as if I need one more project on my growing to-do list. The madness never ends.

Conversations with my Body

I have found myself talking to myself more often these days. It's not a matter of going stir crazy anymore. I've begun to bargain with myself. I've always done this on some level. When your body begins to break down and betray you little by little, you start to see it as a foreign entity. You separate yourself from the traitor. My mind still works fairly well but my body doesn't seem to be working with the same operating system.

I remember back in high school having to go up or down a flight of stairs to get to every class. I used to charge up the first five or so and get progressively slower eventually mentally pleading with my sluggish limbs to carry me up the last two or three stairs so I wouldn't be late to class. It seemed like the end of the world looking up that flight of steps. Boy, those were the days.

Now I'm verbally pleading, begging, and threatening my body to get me up the four stairs at the front of the house so I can get inside where the temperature is more moderate, where the bathroom, bed, computer, etc are. It seems a million years ago that it wasn't really so bad until the sixth or seventh chair. Now my downfall is the third.

There was a time when I could get up from the ground. At least, I think there was. Now when I fall, I have to wait for Chris to get home and help me up or scoot on my behind to the bed and hope I can roll over onto my knees so I can sort of flop up and pull myself up with the sheets. Straightening from a sitting position is nearly impossible sometimes. It just feels like I'm losing the fight by inches.

I suppose this sounds like a pity party, but that's not my intention. I'm honestly just trying to preserve a piece of my current experience to look back on someday when I've lost a few more precious inches. I suppose the best way to explain is to say that there was a time when I could run, when I could sit on the floor and get back up again. I know there was, but I don't remember what it was like. I'm hoping that someday I can look back at this post and say to myself "Look, it's a struggle, but it's always been that way."

I may have a traitor for a body, but at least I'm fighting back, even if it's just verbal threats.

Work In Progress

I'm still on the fence over whether or not I like tatting onto velvet ribbon. The result is attractive, but the ribbon likes to warp at the edges. I think the one thing I am sure of is that I have to do an edging on both sides to even it out. Anyway, here are some sneak peeks of my experiment:

The pictures aren't the best, but I was just trying to take a couple quick snapshots to share my progress. I tried something else a little different with this piece. The edging on both sides are variations of the same pattern. The rings are the same size with the same number of double stitches, but on one side, I put lots of picots to make it look frillier while the opposite side has just one center picot on the big rings with a bead to give it a more stream-lined look. Not entirely sure I'm in love with the way this plan is working either. The farther I get on it, though, the more I think I like it.

And, of course, I still have no idea what I'm going to name it when it's done.