Book Binding and Finishing Touches

 On June 7th, we had the pleasure of attending a second book binding workshop presented by the Brass Gears Adventure society, and led by Susan Leabhart.  Journals were created, but we had different plans.  Ms. Donovan created a replacement insert for her leather bound journal case. I however, traversed yet another path and generated a complete hand bound and covered version of the Ni No Kuni, Wisards Spellbook.


Once the 340 pages had been folded into signatures, punched, and bound using the Coptic Stitch method demonstrated by Susan.  It was time to move forward with the cover, and transitioning it into a perfect binding.  For my purposes, I covered the spine in Mod Podge, careful to not let the glue get anywhere but the spine.  Once covered it was flipped on edge and covered in a piece of black material.  I used some cans to hold it in position until the Mod Podge had fully dried overnight.

For the cover I wanted an embossed look, and was able to achieve such a look by layering hard board shapes up.  I also added some extra flair with flat leather cording, and a drop of magic sealed in a red stone for the cherry on top.  Slathering the edges in glue the whole was wrapped in a soft faux leather material and left to dry.

I wasn't pleased with the level of emboss so I used some Black Acrylic to add shadow to the emboss, and grant it more of a worn and dirtied look.  Fizgig Von Scrufflebottom was showing me all the spots I missed along the way.

Once the shadowing was dry, some more decorative elements 

were affixed, as well as setting the stone in place.

Voila, une Wiseard's Spellbook al a Ni No Kuni. 

Till next our Paths Cross.

Great Garden Gentleman Gophers!

Greetings and Salutations dearest readers.  I wish to bring to your attention a creature which you may never have been educated about.  "Vampiric Yard Animals".  Souless and Pale creatures with large teeth and lifeless eyes.  But, dear reader, let not your soul be troubled, it is a curable matter.  Let me explain . . .  

After a few hard seasons in the sun, yard art suffers from becoming vampiric.  Yes, Souless and Pale.  Examples of a gopher found in our garden.  By no means is it proper for a pair of Monster Hunters to have vampiric gophers.  Thus the need to find a cure was a matter of utmost importance.

With just a few common items from around the household a plan was conceived.  In this case the following ingredients served us well.

Pull from a canned beverage
Metal lid from a cat food tin
Broken pull chain
Ring from a bottled beverage
Pair of faucet caps





Using a bit of Epoxy, all the bits are affixed to raise the status of common gopher to proper gentle gopher.  A top hat, and monocle.  Slap on a bit of paint, using a solid brown, then washing with black, and highlighting with light brown.  Eyes, nose and claws a solid black, then dry brush a bit of copper to add some flair.  White teeth, and presto chango. Vampirism is cured.

A right proper gentleman gopher for a pair of Steapunk Monster Hunters.

Do add a bit of non-yellowing clear coat to insure that the animal does not 

revert to vampiric ways, and to grant you many more seasons of enjoyment.

Till Next our Paths Cross,

DemiCon 25 A Silver Celebration

Oh dear me, it does appear that quite a bit of time has flown by since my last entry, how embarrassing.  Though to be fair, a lot of life has transpired in the seemingly short months.  Months filled with creativity, travel and some family sadness.  In a sore need to break from reality Mr. Cryk and I headed to Des Moines in the merry month of May.  DemiCon celebrated 25 years of science fiction fandom in a proper grand fashion.  Steampunk was the order of the weekend and several stunning costumes inhabited the contests, hallways, and masquerade.  Not only did we use the DemiCon weekend to decompress from life's adventures, but we celebrated 8 years of wedded bliss.  All in all DemiCon was a great getaway as well as a means to meet up with old friends and meet new ones.

Some of the cutest heroes out there. 

Captain Jack, the Steampunk stylin' cat, was very docile.  Which surprised me quite a bit with all the activity.  When I first saw the stroller and peeked in, I expected to see a baby. ;)

More Steampunk!  Very nicely done.

One of the fun things DemiCon had planned, was a group photo of all those in Dr. Who costumes to help celebrate the good Dr.'s 50th year on t.v. as well as the 40th year on Iowa Public Television.  Of course we had to participate.  For my part, I spent about a month and a half crocheting Tom Baker scarves for myself and the hubs and I learned a lesson about the differences between crochet and knitting.  That being, there is not a 1:1 translation from one to the other.  This is also a big, Duh!, moment as well.  I was shooting for them to be around 15 feet and they were closer to 20, stretching from the arm of the recliner in the living room into the bedroom.  Now this is either a testament to the size of our house or the scarves, I'm not sure which. :)  I am really pleased with the way they turned out.

This brings us the other item in the picture, K-9!  This was my husband's creation, so I should probably let him talk about it but I absolutely love how it turned out!  The project totally took over the living room for awhile and I now wonder what we will do with him, but he was a hit at the photo shoot as others got to have a photo op with him.

So who do you think would win this encounter?

Is there a Dr. in the house?  

I'm really glad that things didn't go all wibbly wobbly on us with all those Timelords in one spot.

It was a nice gathering of Whovians in one spot.  

Thanks to all the photographers, participants, and fans that joined in on the fun.  

Hopefully the next DemiCon will also have opportunities for Mass Photos of favored shows.

Saturday night was a fun, but long, night for me.  I entered my first Masquerade and although I took no prize home, the experience was its own prize. I had a blast.  I got to see a lot of awesome costumes up close and met many kind and supportive individuals in the green room.  Bit of trivia, a record was this year with 28 entries, well over the six from last year and I was happy to be apart of it.  My costume was an interpretation of "Walkies for Ott", artwork by Brian Kesinger.  I fell in love with Otto and Victoria the first time I saw the artwork, it is so charming!  The parasol has been highlighted in a previous entry, the dress is a reworked Medieval dress from my days in the SCA and the coat was a new piece made for the weekend.  It was a bit of a challenge finding all of that teal, but I'm glad that it worked and I can focus on something else now.

Sunday I took part in the Brass Gears Adventurers Society induction of new full members.  Mr. Cryk and I have spent the last year getting to know this fine group of adventurers and I am honored to numbered with them.  It was a nice ceremony, filled with  pomp, silliness and some touching moments as well.

Well Mr. Cryk is getting into mischief elsewhere, so no doubt I should go bail him out of it.
Until we meet again.  Fiona

Parasol Project

I had hoped to make this entry outside on my mobile computing device, but it got a little chilly.  Seems the Autumn is finally here.  Yeah!

One of the first things I knew I would need for Steampunk was a parasol.  I did some looking and couldn't find anything that really spoke to me.  They were lace, which is fine, but I was looking for something with a bit more coverage than that.

I had picked up a parasol one summer at a Ren faire because I needed some sun protection but it was bright orange nylon with pink paint..Pretty hideous, right?

So the challenge became, 'what can I do with this to make it awesome'?

The first step was to remove the fabric.  It took forever for me to do this as I was not sure how everything was attached and what I would find once it was done.  Finally I decided to take the plunge and with the help with Fizgig von Scrufflebottom I started the project in March of 2013.  She was very helpful.

It didn't take too long to get everything removed and an unpainted frame was exposed. It stayed like that for about 2 months...hey..I was in school at the time. ;)  Once the weather warmed up, and I was able to work outside, the frame was spray painted copper.  I learned a very important ventilation lesson that day for sure.  Then it came time to find a covering for the frame, thankfully, I had some fabric for another project that worked perfectly.  I decided to have a fabric/lace/fabric design.  

Now a word about the lace.  This was time when I was glad to use those around me.  My mom is awesome with crochet and thankfully she was willing, and a little excited, to help me out.  We decided to make a crochet piece for the top and before it was attached to the frame, it looked like a giant doily. This added a little more time to the project as it was passed back and forth a bit, but as the following pictures will show, it came together rather nicely.  

There was another circle of fabric that was attached to the bottom (sewn on to the lace by hand) which ended up a bit bigger than it needed to be but once it was folded over to fit the frame it made for a great place to attached the crocheted ties.  (not sure if this will come across in the pictures)  The final step was to attach the 'doily' to the frame.  This took a lot of thread and a really long needle but it only took about two nights in front of the t.v. to get it done.  I was again assisted by the every helpful Fizgig von Scrufflebottom, joined this time by her 'sister' Tegra von Scrufflebottom who just had to find out what all the excitement was about. 

So, lessons learned with this project?  Things always are a challenge with four footed help, never be afraid to 'use' those around you as the results are awesome, and six months for a project like this really isn't that bad.  One thing to always remember, not matter what type of project you are doing, every act of creation is first an act of destruction.  Take a deep breath and jump in. 

Until our paths cross again. - Fiona

Fiona's Day Outfit

Greetings all!  Mr. Cryk and I have decided to take to the AEther web to share what we are up to.  This could take shape as projects, stories of our adventures, costuming or other random thoughts.  For the inaugural post I would share with you something that has been three years in the making.  My first Steampunk costume,  day outfit for Fiona, Monster Hunter.  It's subtle in the 'punk and semi-historical but I think it's going to be a great canvas to work off of and it is pretty comfortable to boot.  My thanks to Mr. Cryk for working his magic with the image capturing apparatus and the Maxwell's for letting us invade their orchard and the use of their dog, Lucy.   Thoughts and comments are welcomed.  Enjoy. - Ms. Fiona Donovan

It was a lovely day for apples!  A nice repose before the business of monster hunting. 

Sometimes one has to enlist the help of others...whether they want to help or not. ;)

Getting ready to take aim...do you see what's looming behind?

Relaxing and taking notes with the help of Lucy.