Projects for the future.

Good afternoon, mina-sama. After yesterday's torrential downpour that came quite suddenly out of the blue, we have been suffering a number of outages in the area [though fortuantely not my home], and a good deal of debris scattered about the roads. However, if one can call it an upside--little as it may be--the weather has mercifully cooled down, and it gives me hope for the coming week that it should perhaps be retained into the weekend [Just four more days... four more days. And then it has to stay cool for another three days...]. Mother Nature and I are on good terms, but I alone cannot always sway her mighty hand.

I went on a good number of outings over the weekend, notably the one to the lovely Asian-Hispanic-African food market [endearingly known as Super Grand] to pick up a month's supply of Pocky and similar snacks--mmmmmmm~ barley tea and rice juice--that will inevitably only last for that weekend of Otakon. I'll be lucky if I don't eat all of the Hello Panda treats in these four days leading up to it though. I went with Grimmy--who thinks I am a passive-aggresive slow driver [which is ridiculous considering she drives a minivan and almost plows through stop signs]--which essentialy secures another outing of some sort, or dinner. We went out to a sushi and asian bistro for dinner, where I had chirashizushi. Also nibbles of everyone elses, because I am essentially family [and I am a bit of a raven in preying on unwatched food. Or even watched food].

The second more important outing was to Jo-Ann Fabrics, where I milled around endlessly, stopped by every ten or so minutes to ask another random question of the mercifully patient ladies at the cutters desk, and then finally found what I was looking for; relatively inexpensive--because of the amount of cash I had left on me from Saturday's shopping--fabric, either sateen, silk, or an equivalent to make a jabot. And a ribbon, to supplement as the collar [and also just be a ribbon to tie into a bow for those casual Aristo days]. If you can't get a good idea of a jabot from Wiki's example, I do highly reccommend taking a looksee for yourself, as there are many variants upon a singular theme. So with this acquired, when Otakon is said and done, the projects will stand thus:

1. The jabot -- I hope to find a pattern online, instructions, a very detailed picture, or hopefully all of the above to help me along. While I don't think it should be entirely too difficult, as I work it out in my head, sometimes you really do just need to see things on paper [or in a diagram or what have you] to bring it all together. However, for the time being, my though is to cut a part of the sateen to make the first layer, bunching it a little bit and sewing it over the top of the middle of the ribbon. That will be the front; then I can tie the ribbon around the back of my neck to the front, where I can tie it just as a bow, or if I'm feeling very classy--and the occasion calls for it--I'd affix a brooch or big pin to it [I'm sure my aunt would love to finally see me wear that gorgeous green and clear crystal turtle pin]. If that works out alright, I might just leave it as one layer, and go back to get more ribbon to use the rest for a multi-layered jabot. I don't plan to have lace edging, unless it is very short, enough to hide the hem line [which I might try to erase by folding it under a bit]. This will hopefully be a very short project, and if I don't finish it in light speed since I'm bound to be overly focused, I will take pictures of the steps along the way.


2. Aeon pants -- Without making this endlessly long, Castlevania: Judgement's time traveler Aeon is a pretty beast customer [not terribly difficult to use, but sometimes insanely hard to beat. But I'm not going to get in depth into the game at this moment, or probably ever. No need for this purpose]. If you think he looks like a white-haired Aristo version of L, I'd agree with you; your logic is justified because Death Note's own Takeshi Obata did the character designs for the game. But putting that aside, look at that boy's pants [actually, just soak up his whole outfit]. Awesome. I've had my eye on recreating them ever since I bought the game. It just so happened I acquired a pair of white pants that were supposedly mandatory to wear under our graduation gowns [they also said it was mandatory-or-else-you-wouldn't-graduate to wear white shoes, but sure as hell that didn't happen]. Sometime last year now, I believe, I bought eyelets from Jo-Ann's [they have everything you really do need, practically] with the intent of hacking up those pants bought out of necessity, but I'm too much of a perfectionist for my own good, and I was trying on smaller cut outs how best to work out the pucker that would result at the end of the cut up the pant leg. I've decided that is it is so neglible that unless you're laying on my legs--you are more than welcome to have a rest--you won't see it. This too, shouldn't be very hard, rather just long, since I will have to cut indivisual holes for each eyelet, and there are approximately... sixty something eyelets. And with luck, there will be play by play pictures/instructions on how I did it to accompany.


3. Nudy Boy shirt -- Back in 2007, I was fortuante enough to go on a school sponsored trip to Japan. My Japanese teacher is an amazingly super special awesome man whom I respect as such, but also care for and would love to hang out more with as a friend; he knows how to make a school trip of such proportions work. A three week adventure changed me both culturally, spiritually, and physically [as I lost my four pack abs and instead gained legs of steel]. And through the midst of the sister school homestay, temple visits, and ryokan stays, we did a boatload of shopping. I think one of my new favorite stores is a little number on Takeshita St. in Harajuku called Nudy Boy. It's a more current trending/alternative punk fashion store, but I bought two awesome shirts there on my two trips [and the shopkeepers were as nice as ever, and still had cool hair]. One, I haven't worn yet; this is the one I got on a 2009 family trip to Japan. The first one I got, I bought with the thought that it would be a t-shirt; silly me, ahaha. Turned out to be long sleeved. But it's still awesome, has random Engrish on it, and is just a tad too tight in the chest, but not to make it not worthwhile [twas on sale]. The sleeves are a bit frayed in terms of the gold embroidery, and the armpits are a bit... offwhite, shall we say. So I had a thought that comes up every now and then when I see it in the drawer to give it a good cleaning, and with the remaning eyelets from the Aeon pants project, cut the sleeves off and make them separated, tied with a thin white or gold ribbon between the shoulder and sleeve. I might have to get another pack of twelve eyelets just to fill in the space, but we'll see. Again, hopefully another project that will be much simpler as I go, with pictures every step of the way.

I like how each of these got progressively longer.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the possibilities. I wanted to hurry and set this down on paper so I wouldn't forget [even though I've been even having short bursts of dreams devoted to the makings of them] and to hopefully entice you all on what is to come. If you have any suggestions, tips, or questions, I'd love to hear them. I like to think I know what I'm doing, but again, it only make sense for now in my head.

Otakon is nearing, just around the corner. As the days draw near, I might take a short hiatus of posting anything Aristo or V-kei related, but I do hope you won't mind it. I hope to have new things to show off when I return.

I hope you all have stayed safe in this weather, and if you were spared, you are truly lucky. If your power has been outted, I welcome you to my bastion readily to accomodate your needs [and I'll be hoping you energy providor gets on the stick soon].

Eternally yours,
Il Ruinante Isaak