Just in time for winter (because apparently you need an excuse?). In the Etsy shop!
Tag Archives: burning man
RAINBOW RIBBON BOOTS
Well, time to being showing off the wedding clothes! The boots seem an appropriate place to start, seeing as I’ve posted about them a few times already (and half the comments on my Animal Collective tee were asking about the boots!).
Black Rock City in the background! I totally love this picture Jason took.
As soon as we got engaged, I planned on wearing some handmade Thai boots from Siamese Dream Design. And while I love my boots to death, they weren’t completely comfortable. I was fine wearing them all day, but so happy to take them off at night. I wanted something better, and might as well make it myself!
I had made the base of the boot in 2011, the night before we left for Burning Man. And they rocked! I loved the gold, which wasn’t too shiny. I used a zip-top sneaker from Kmart at the base and glued the gold cover on with E6000. It’s held up with no problem, making that stuff the greatest glue ever. As I was making these boots at midnight the night before we left for Burning Man, there are no pictures!
This year I replaced the old, slightly too tight zipper with a fabulous teal and gold zipper. I used red upholstery thread (from my Grandma’s sewing room) and sewed it by hand. And then came the trim… I spent $50 at Lincoln Fabrics on all these beautiful ribbons and trims, and picked up a few other pieces at Fabric Planet. The fabrics and zippers were in my stash, but pretty much none of the trims.
Most of it is sewn by machine, which made the decorating a breeze! Some of it is glued on. This time around, I switched to Beacon fabric glue. I’ve had great results on other projects, but it wasn’t tough enough to hold all the trim in place on the boots. Which isn’t to say that it’s a bad glue (it was much easier to work with and smell than E6000). I’ll be picking off the old glue and re-attaching the trim at the bottom of the boot, and hand-sewing the rest.
I lined the shaft of the boot with some cotton jersey I had left over from leggings, so they are comfortable to wear with short socks.
I wore the boots throughout the week. They were eye-catching and much remarked upon, but most importantly: they were always comfortable! And perfect for the wedding.
Yes, this picture again! It’s one of my favorites! In fact, Blake transferred it onto a wooden board and it’s hanging up in our living room.
TACHYON, THE SPACE RACCOON
This was my big costume for Burning Man this year! Our friend Shawn teaches Bikram up in Santa Cruz and performed our wedding ceremony! But before all that, he told me that he wanted to be a Space Raccoon. A Space Raccoon is not a terrestrial raccoon that got put in a space shuttle; it is a different creature entirely!
In all his glory, chilling on the back of the Sensatron! Thanks to Blake for the perfect photo.
Wouldn’t you love to find this guy digging through your garbage?
Because the playa can get cold but Shawn is hot, I designed the costumes with layers. The base is a set of leggings and long-sleeve tee, both made out of silver lycra. If need be, he could wear a layer of thermals under the silver. I’ve used this silver for several other projects, and I love tying them together.
Next comes the pants. I got this faux fur at Blue Moon in the Fabric District, and I love how the gray tips create a lot of depth as the fabric moves. Nice and trippy! He’s got the same silver elastic at the waist, and sometimes wears a pair of suspenders with the pants.
The tail is made from a black faux fur that I spray painted. Once the tail was sewn and stuffed, I used blue painters’ tape to mark off stripes, and then just blasted it with silver spray paint. Way easier than sewing stripes, and I like the graffiti feel of the spray paint–very fitting for an alley rodent!
What space rodent would be complete without a Chewbacca-style bandolier? Tachyon’s is made from a wide silver elastic with pockets, elastic loops, and D-rings sewn onto it.
My favorite element of the Tachyon suit is the star mask. Part bandit, part Bowie!
It was originally a flat star, and I added the center seam to shape the mask around the nose.
The whiskers are silver pipe cleaners inside plastic tube boning. The wire makes them posable while the plastic prevents them from getting bent out of shape.
The eye holes and outside edge and bound in silver fabric and black fold-over elastic.
The mask is held on by an adjustable bra-style strap. Since the attachment points are at the widest part of the star, at the temple, the bottom of the mask hangs free. Since the bottom isn’t molded, any wearer has full facial mobility.
Here’s Shawn performing his ministerial duties, courtesy of Aleck Gandell.