Take a deep breath and sigh...

...because I officially dropped out of Pirates of Penzance. I was just not going to have enough time this semester because my SWAG class just happens to have several film screenings at night that run into Pirates rehearsal times. I was also getting some minor pressure from my friends in the student run theater group to be in the Broadway Revue with them. But that is not the full reason I dropped Pirates. 

Anyways, regarding the Revue, the director is working on getting the rights to various songs, but was recently rejected for the use of Summer Nights :(. So it looks like she'll have to change that song (and any others that become vetoed by publishers refusing to grant us rights to perform songs). 

Red and creamy silk all over

I figured it was time for a new post, considering my last one was about my stage makeup class. The semester has started off quite well. I'm taking Statistical Thinking (which my professor keeps telling us is NOT MATH), Intro to American Studies, Intro to Study of Women and Gender, Ballet IV, and New England Material Culture from 1860-1940. So far all the classes have been good, but I particularly love my Material Culture class. My professor brought in some random artifacts today and had us analyze them based on appearance. I was given the task of analyzing a red satin boot. It turned out to be a "bathing" boot from about 1890 that women wore on trips to the seashore. Pretty cool!

I also received a book for my birthday: Norah Waugh's Corsets and Crinolines! Ahh! It is so beautiful and packed with information about all sorts of skirt supports and stays and corsets. Hopefully I will get to draft a pattern for one of the skirt supports over break or this summer (of course, after I finish fitting the cover for my dress form...).

I'm also looking to drop Pirates of Penzance. I would really love to do it, but my work is a lot heavier than last and I'm worried about keeping up. So I'm looking at staying with the Leading Ladies or maybe joining the newly formed Shakespeare troupe. I just need to make up my mind.

I can't stop giggling at how silly I look!

Yep, my stage makeup class was quite a success! I learned an amazing amount of stuff over the course of only 4 days. Monday we started with the basics (such as using and blending highlights and shadows) and then using them to change the shape of our faces. Tuesday we put our skills to the test and tried to recreate a makeup look from a past time. I chose a portrait from the 1830's and then our teacher put us in clothes from the costume stock! It was very exciting to finally get to wear something that wasn't mine :) Unfortunately though, the theater department has never done a production based in the 1830s so I had to settle for a dress from the 1840s (I wish that I could have run back to the house to grab my corset and chemise so it would have been perfect!).

The class in all our period glory

Wednesday we got so much snow that we had no classes (which was good for all of our sanity). On thursday we worked on old age. I found this kinda creepy because I don't know what I will look like when I age, but I got a glimpse of what might happen. I also had a lot of trouble because I don't have that many wrinkles and that made it very hard to figure out where they might be. We also did middle age which was much easier and much less intense than old age.

Apparently I look about 5 years older with my makeup like this

Our last day we worked on anything we wanted. Like usual, I had a hard time deciding, so I did "Showgirl" makeup which I can now describe as very exaggerated glamour makeup or very subtle drag-queen makeup. 

To make my eyebrows this high, I soaped over them, then coated them with lots of foundation and powder

After this week, I'm inspired to purchase a kit so I can do my makeup like this for future shows. It also looks like I will become one of the makeup designers for any future Leading Ladies productions.

EDIT: I forgot to add this photo, which I used as a reference for my "showgirl" makeup. Definitely very colorful and dramatic.

Yet another

post with a video. I have taken a huge liking towards the crazy antics of the Reduced Shakespeare company and found a clip where they were on Jeopardy!!

This is what happens

when I go shopping before the new year. I find this:

as well as two gorgeous vintage-y pieces from anthropologie. More on these later.

With cat-like tread...

This is what happens when I have little to do during break - I found this video from the 1983 movie of Pirates of Penzance. I find it highly amusing both for the craziness and energy of the whole thing. I'm getting excited for it :) (even though several of my friends have dropped out). Enjoy!

Black and white and read all over.

I received my copy of Richard Corson's Stage Makeup today! Except I am a bit overwhelmed by all the pictures and information. Now I'm just waiting for my list of materials from my professor so I can purchase those before the 9th.

Blog revamp

If any of you have been reading this for the past year, you will have noticed a lot of changes (or at least within the past couple months). I've been experimenting with backgrounds and such to make my blog much less blah. So I now present to you my beautiful new blog (with help from a couple blog freebie sites - tehe)!

Now if only I could do this to the disaster zone which is my bedroom.

Merry Christmas!

Yes, another year come and gone. I'm done with my first semester of college and I'm nearly 19. Jeez times flies fast. Christmas was very nice this year (if you don't count my awful cold complete with headache and runny nose - I've gone through several tissue boxes in the past couple days and my upper lip is chapped from blowing my nose so often). I received a couple pairs of shoes, some socks, candy, as well as 3 (well 4) new books. One is Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detail by Lucy Johnston, Costume in Detail by Nancy Bradfield, and Patterns of Fashion 1: 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold. I've heard they are all really good books to have in the library for a costumer :) So glad to add them to my collection along with Lucy Barton's Historic Costume for the Stage, James Laver's History of Fashion, Kyoto Costume Institute's Fashion, and Cut My Cote. I'm also waiting for a copy of Stage Makeup by Richard Corson (it's in the mail) for use in my J-term Stage Makeup Course.

I've also been inspired to do something over my break. I still need to finish my corded petticoat (once I find the spool of hemp someplace in my house) and make a new regency chemise (from the remaining batiste from my victorian chemise and drawers). I've been eyeing the JP Ryan stays pattern and kit from Silly Sisters for a while, so I'm planning to order that soon so I have something to work on when I'm back at school in a couple weeks.

Costume 1 Final Designs

I passed in my costume final on Monday and took photos of each of my lovely designs for a Retro 50's-70's version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Here they are in all their glory!

 Hermia in a pink spotted circle skirt dress.

Nothing is better

than sitting on the couch at home with two labrador retrievers snuggling at your feet. Yes, I'm finally home!

I finished my finals yesterday morning and the original plan was that Mom was going to pick me up from school today after work. But I finished my finals and called my dad and I went home! The real reason was because my mom just had a big birthday and there was a surprise party last night with the ladies from the neighborhood. Initially I didn't think I'd finish on time, but when I passed in my finals, I knew I had to come home because I knew it would make my mom very happy. So after unloading my stuff out of the car, I stuffed it all in my closet so it looked like it was empty and then went and hid at my neighbor's house. Around 7:30 my mom walked in the door (thinking it was only drinks with my neighbors and maybe the wife's sister) and was completely shocked to find most of the neighborhood in the kitchen. She burst into tears to see everyone, then looked at me and was even more surprised! She thought I was still at school! I guess I get best daughter award :)

So close!

All I have left of Finals is :

- 2 performance reviews

- 1 painting

- Writing resources on all my designs

- 1 redrawing

- 1 director's letter

- Printing my reference images

- 2 math problems

I promise I'll take photos of my designs and post them here before I pass them in tomorrow!

Ok..

So normally I don't post multiple times a day, it's just that I can't wait for my roommate to move out. She has been in bed for the past half-hour and i still want to work. It really prohibits my studying habits. I hope she can get the ok to move during J-term.

So much to do!

I didn't think I'd get around to another blog post before the end of the semester, but I can't focus on work much longer.

I'm relieved to be finished with classes, even if it means I now have to deal with finals (ugh). I'm currently progressing through my only remaining finals: math and costume design. I'm not worried too much about either, but just want to be home. I currently have two problems left on my math final so that should be pretty easy. My costume final is a whole other story: as mentioned last post, I have 8 full on designs for A Midsummer Night's Dream, 10 historical re-drawings, 2 performance reviews and a director's note. I am proud to say I am moving through each fairly decently. I have 6 more re-drawings and 4 design sketches left, as well as both performance reviews and the director's letter. One thing that has really helped me with the drawings is drawing off another person's shape - e.g. I have taken my neighbors, photographed them, drawn them in the poses in the photos, then put my clothing designs on them. It has really helped me with proportions because I have something to look at and I'm not drawing a body from thin air. So if you are reading this blog, who knows, you might be a character in my designs.

On another note, a group of students here has formed a Shakespeare troupe and is performing Romeo and Juliet. Good news: I went to a meeting today and they said I could be a couple of minor parts in it. Bad news: Pirates starts on the 13th of February and R&J will perform late February/early March, meaning I might not be able to do it :( I'm waiting to see if we will get a schedule for Pirates over break so I can decide and tell the director (who is only a first year and seems really on top of things. The exercises we did today were reminiscent of what I did in WHSTE *sigh*). I'm hoping that even if I can't be in it, I can maybe help with costumes.

It's the most wonderful time of the year?

Well it seems to be for most people with holiday shopping and tree decorating, but for college students it means cramming for finals, booking plane and bus tickets, and cramming enough stuff for 3 weeks home into a tiny suitcase. And I am no exception. My last day of classes is in a couple days, then we have "reading period" where we get time to study and finish our finals. I lucked out a bit this semester, with only 2 finals during finals period - a math take-home test and a costume design project. I presented my dance powerpoint about Agnes deMille on Wednesday and I will pass in my Shakespeare paper on Tuesday. So I just have to do 8 full color designs (complete with images and swatches) for characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream, 10 re-drawings of historical clothing, 2 performance reviews of performances I saw this semester and a director's letter about my designs. I guess it could be about 100 times worse, I'm just having trouble motivating my self to work.

Semesterly Stuffs

So there is a lot to report since my last post. Urinetown went very well - we sold out Friday and almost sold out on Saturday. All the people who came to see the production really enjoyed themselves. It was definitely a ton of fun. My manliness (ok boyishness) went well and I liked being almost fully disguised under a hat and boy-shirt for once. My favorite part was that I ended up jumping on Bobby's back during Act 1 Finale which made me very happy (see 2nd photo below). What was really nice about the entire production was that everyone got along very well - we had a cast of 15, so we all became really close which is something I've never felt in a cast before. I'm really pleased and can't wait until my next production with this group!

(Top to bottom: the cast, Act 1 Finale, Mr. Cladwell, and Cop Song)

The end of the semester is right around the corner, meaning my costume design and costume shop classes will end soon. I have truly enjoyed the design class - it has been a lot of work, but very insightful and fun in the meantime. I think grade-wise I am doing just fine, I just need to maintain my standards for my final project (which is 12 designs for 2 separate productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream). I know that I want to set one production in the 1950s with the setting in a diner and drive-in movie...I just need to get to work because the drawings are due the 2nd.

I guess one good thing is that I got all my classes for next semester (no acting or costume classes) but I'm excited because I will be taking an American Studies course on New England Material Culture. Can't wait to work with artifacts!!

This will be a quicky

partly because I have little to say and partly because I have a paper and project due tomorrow and tech rehearsals tonight. I've started to play with changing my header. I created a collage with Picasa and put text over it (aren't I so tech savvy?). Planning to change it around later with better images, but this will do for now. More will come later about Urinetown fiascos.

Arrrgh matey!

I received the news last night that was cast in my college's production of The Pirates of Penzance as a pirate/cop! I'm so glad to be in a Gilbert and Sullivan piece! I do have to admit that I would have rather been cast as a daughter of Major General-Stanley, but they sing really high and I can't sing that high. I've always heard that evil (are the pirates and cops evil?) characters are fun to play and I guess that's true. It's also a good thing because I have been cast as a goody-two shoe character for as long as I can remember. We go to a dance rehearsal today and I can't wait to find out what I will be doing!

Also, Urinetown opens 2 weeks from Friday!! We are close to ready (if you don't count finished costumes, props and sets) and I think it will be a good show - not all that fancy, but certainly very silly! We have dress rehearsals starting on the 13th and tickets go on sale that week.

"'I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir, because I'm not myself, you see'"

Happy Halloween! Just came back from a fun trip of trick or treating with college friends. We stopped by the president's house, but she wasn't home, but her husband gave us candy. We then went to a couple residential houses - one man opened the door wearing a full skeleton costume, carrying a bowl of candy and a bowl of toothbrushes and toothpaste. I took a toothbrush and piece of candy, but then he stopped me and told me to take a toothpaste! I told him I had plenty of toothpaste and we all moved on. At another house, there was a sign telling visitors to go to number 4. The house contained separate apartments and we went to the second floor and knocked on the door to number 4 and two young men opened the door. They were very nice, but it was a bit strange to get candy this way...My friends and I went a few house more, then Raisa and I turned back to go home and work. Ah yes, lots of fun for college students trick or treating.

I finally finished my costume on friday. It took me three days in the costume shop to finish my wonderful pinafore. As here is the finished costume: *drumroll*

Tah dah! It ended up very cute (and poufy!). 

Also some of my friends and I all dressed up before going out in the cold! (bottom to top: Marilyn Monroe, Glinda the Good Witch, Alice in Wonderland, a cupcake, a Pirate Zombie and a Witch)

Oh google.

Occasionally Google uses different images as their logos. Today, in honor of Halloween, they used a really cool Scooby-Doo logo. For some reason I decided to search this (don't ask why) and I somehow found that a little while ago Google posted a functional PacMan game as their logo. Is that not sick or what?