DIY Batty dress

On ollut tarkoitus kirjoitella muista asioista, mutta flunssaiset aivot eivät oikein jaksa keskittyä. Myöskään viikonloppuna en saanut aikaiseksi juuri muuta, kuin makoiltua ja torkuttua. Jäi peräti kolme tapahtumaa välistä lauantaina tämän sairastelun vuoksi, harmittaa. 

Alkuperäinen luonnos muutaman vuoden takaa vs. valmiit lepakot silitystä odottamassa
The original sketch from a few years back vs. the painted bats ready for ironing

Noh, kuitenkin. Tulin selailleeksi vanhoja vaateluonnoksia ja päätin viimein toteuttaa niistä yhden. Työ on vielä kesken, mutta tässäpä vaiheita toistaiseksi. Olin siis ostanut tarjouksesta kolme ihan tavallista Hömpän t-paitamekkoa, joista ainakin kahta oli tarkoitus vähän tuunailla mieluisimmaksi. 

Kaikki tarvikkeet löytyivät jo valmiiksi: 

~T-paitamekko

~hopea kangasväri

~vanha sivellin

~kangasliidut

~meikkisieni

Paperimallit, luonnostelut ja valmiiksi maalatut lepakot tarvikkeineen
The paper cutouts, outlines and painted bats with all the stuff I used

Ensimmäisenä piirtelin paperille muutamat lepakot, jotka sitten sovittelin mekon etukappaleeseen. Liiduilla ääriraidat, ja eikun suttaamaan! Olisin voinut myös tulostella/piirtää kuvion suoraan esimerkiksi kontaktimuoville ja töpötellä sen avulla, mutta koska aikaisemmat kokeilut ovat tuottaneet suttuisia ääriviivoja, tyydyin tähän hitaampaan tapaan. 

Ääriviivojen rajausta siveltimen avulla, isomman alueen maalaamista meikkisienellä töpöttelemällä
Outlining with the paintbrush, using a makeup sponge for bigger areas

Kunhan saan lisää energiaa, tutkailen kannattaako piikkien kiinnittämistä suoraan kankaaseen edes harkita, vai teenkö erilliset kaistaleet esim. keinonahkasta; ompelenko kaistaleet kiinteiksi olkapäille vai teenkö niistä ihan erilliset irroitettavat... Sama juttu vyön kanssa, täytyy ensin katsoa löytyykö jemmasta sopivaa kangasta valmiiksi.

En ole tehnyt mitään luovaa aikoihin, joten tuntuu hyvältä jälleen aloittaa, vaikkakin ihan pienestä.

~Misantrella

I've been sick with the flu and spent most of my days napping, since I can't get time off work. I was too sick to leave home this weekend, which lead me to missing out on three different events, boo! :(

I was browsing through some old sketches and thought I'd finally make one of them a reality. I had bought 3 very basic t-shirt dresses from H&M with the idea of modding them a little more exciting, but never got around to it. Being really bored and tired, I decided to start with fabric paint.

I already had all the items necessary:

~the dress

~a silver fabric paint

~an old paint brush

~fabric chalk

~makeup sponge

I drew a few bats on paper in different shapes and sizes and then outlined them onto the dress with the chalk. I could've used a stencil, but in the past I've always gotten bleeding lines with them, so I decided to use the more time-consuming method. Outlining the bats with the paintbrush and then using the sponge for the bigger areas. The particular fabric paint I used still needs to be ironed on to make it stick. Oh and make sure you use an opaque paint, especially on black background!

When I get some more energy, I'll see if it's worth it to attach the spikes directly on the dress or if I should add additional pleather patches on the shoulders - also if they should be integrated onto the dress or be removable etc... Same with the belt, I need to see if I've stashed away a suitable piece of fabric.

I haven't felt creative in ages, so it feels good to finally make some ideass happen, even if they're this small. :)

Belated Hexmas post and other stuff

I was going to write about Christmas, but there really isn't much to write about. We spent a few nights with My. J's parents and a couple nights with my parents. I was surprised with how many presents I got in the end and how very little of them were chocolate!

Prezzie pile!

The biggest present (in both prize and size) was a fitting doll sponsored by mom! ♥ I've been wanting one for years now, but since my sewing and crafting has been quite nonexistent lately and those things are expensive, getting one has been on the backburner for a long long time. 

Prymadonna fitting doll from Eurokangas, size M

I discovered that Eurokangas was selling customisable fitting dolls in two different colours and different sizes for 159 € and finally decided to get one! I thought about getting the purple version, since I mostly use black clothes so it would be easier to differentiate the clothes from the the background, but wound up getting the black version in the end. It does feel a bit flimsy though, but as a tall girl with a long torso I really love that this one has a customisable waist/back height! The only thing I hate about this is clearly seeing how big I've gotten...

I've been really stressed out for the past week with possible changes in my living arrangements. I also have a ton of stuff I don't really need, so I've been slowly going through everything and trying to figure out what to keep. Tiina already helped me decide which items to keep in my wardrobe/jewelry box and which ones to get rid of. She's really damn effective, I wouldn't have been able to make all those choices by myself! :D

The "for sale" -clothes pile, not even all of it.

And the "for sale" -jewellery, accessories & other stuff -pile, also not all of it.

Hopefully I can shave off all the extra stuff from my belongings before actually having to lug everything around... 

~Misantrella

DIY Edward Scissorhands -costume

We had an Oscar Gala -themed Christmas party at work, and there was a preferred dress code. Apparently not everyone had read the invitation, since they didn't realize they could dress up as a movie character and not only in evening gowns. A lot of people hadn't worn anything special but some had really cool outfits!

It took me a really long time to decide who I'd want to go as, since the "genre" was so broad. I thought about using my Ursula-costume from Halloween but switching to the more authentic silvery white hair and purple makeup, if I couldn't come up with another costume. I also thought about another Halloween costume idea that I've yet to do: a starlet from an old black and white silent movie from the '20s, but that would require a lot of gray body paint and a small blackboard for text.

From the start I had decided to go as a character instead of an actor or a guest, since I like to dress up in costumes. Mom suggested I go as one of Helena Bonham-Carter's characters, but I was leaning more towards a male character just for the heck of it. When Tinde suggested I do Edward Scissorhands, after I had already played with the thought, I finally decided to go for it. Especially when I was told I wouldn't be able to pull it off with such a limited time and budget!

Painting them buckles with some bling! Unfortunately I accidentally left the opened bottle like that overnight and lost about half of what was left and the rest got all clumpy. Sadface, it was a really nice silver polish and they no longer make it! :'(

I got buckles (1,50 €) and some wide elastic (1,70 €) from a flea market, used some silver nailpolish to paint them (had ran out of silver spray paint) and built the costume around a pair of black college pants and a black turtleneck shirt (7,99 €) with a pair of black studded shoes. The studs I had from earlier (also second-hand, two huge bags of them) so decided to slap a bunch of them on the elastic as well. I didn't really follow the original costume that much, I decided to put a lot more effort in my scissorhands and makeup.

Making the gloves for the hands - remember to check which way your fabric stretches, cause I sure didn't! ;P Saves you time if you don't need to redo this step...

I couldn't find cheap gloves so I made them too from some black tricot fabric. I just traced my hand, (forgot to check which way the fabric stretches, had to redo it!) and then taped (5,99 €) a bunch of cardboard-duct tape "scissors" on to them. I had originally made the scissor bits rounded from the other end, but had to cut them straight since they proved difficult to tape. They turned out pretty cool, even though I used the very last evening in making them!

My lovely left scissorhand.

It was impossible to bend my fingers because of the cardboard and all that tape!

The finished costume! I'm pretty proud of myself, I liked the way it turned out. I managed to cut my hands a lot during the process of making the costume, which I found ironically hilarious. I opted to go as the genderbent  version of "Edward", seeing as I didn't even want to try to bind down my boobs. ;)

Derpy pose, but at least you can see the whole thing.

A dark, lonely soul

I didn't have a chance to try out the makeup beforehand, but I had watched through a couple of tutorials (there's a bunch of them out there!). I brought a ton of makeup with me to be able to pull this off, and used a Sleek makeup foundation that was a couple shades too light with Grimas translucent powder for the base. I then used Grimas scar wax (bought it a couple years back for a Halloween costume) to make very quick and basic scars that I lined with a brown and purple eyeshadow to make them pop. Then I used a dark purple, brown and black eyeshadows for my eyes (I didn't hide my natural eyebrows, since they are very light anyways) and some purple to draw out my cheekbones. Lips are done with just lipbalm and the purple eyeshadow. I really hope the makeup wasn't as lopsided as it looks in these pictures though...

I ended up winning the best female(?) costume! I was super stoked about this, though a lot of my coworkers told me they voted for me. This year's prize was a golden "Oscar" statue and a box of chocolate truffels. I actually won last year's competition too with my quick (rein)deer -look, so now I'm really psyched to keep this going! :P

This is what a winner looks like, bitches!

~Misantrella

Bonus pic: the stupid powder box thought it would be hilarious if it totally exploded in my purse. It really fucking wasn't.

Argh! I really hated cleaning this up and the bag still looks horrible. 

TL;DR: Made an Edward (Edwina cuz of boobs!) Scissorhands costume using only about 16,20 €. (I only bought the shirt, the buckles, the black tape and the black wide elastic, all other stuff I had already). Was told I couldn't do it but proved them wrong and won 1st prize, suckas! ♥

Halloween, part I: Bella Morte & Underworld ~ Release the Bats III

Oops, another month has passed again. I admit that blogging hasn't really been on my mind lately. I did however attend a nice Halloween party and actually made a costume for it, so lets look at that, shall we? :)

The final costume:

Cthulhu is my homeboy!

It was pretty much impossible to find the right shade of purple fabric, but I eventually chose a satin one. The colour looks very different in different lighting, and all the in progress pics are taken with my phone. I ended up using 1½ metres of purple satin and 1½ metres of black satin, 2 bags of foam filling + some remainders of an old pillow and about 12 metres of metal wire. I actually ended up shaving my eyebrows too in the middle of putting on my makeup, so now I'm sporting the cancer-alien look for a couple of weeks... :P

Not a whole lot to choose from.

In the process, most of the tentacles already sewn together and filled with foam

Hair all poofed up! I actually still had my eyebrows at this point, but this is how blonde I naturally am - you can hardly even spot them!
I actually would have loved to find some white/silver spray-on hair colour, but all I found was black and orange. Boo!

Mirror selfie of the outfit - can you tell who I'm supposed to be?

The only closeups I had of the makeup were taken with my phone, so really crappy quality!
Bummed that I ran out of time and forgot to take a purple eyeshadow to do some contouring. :(

Poor unfortunately soul!

Gothic Ursula! ^_^ I've always loved the Little Mermaid (the original story more than the Disney version) and these days my black heart beats for the bad guys & gals ♥

If I'd had more time, I would've added suction cups to the tentacles - if I could figure out a way to do it that wouldn't drive me up the wall, that is. I would've also done the shell necklace and earrings and would've gotten my hair a more suitable colour. I didn't want to get a wig for this, even though trying to get my hair back to normal was absolutely horrible! I also took the easy way out and just bought a lace blouse with a suitable sweetheart neckline, even though it's not fully visible here. I wore a second-hand fishtail skirt under the tentacles, which I sewed as a belt.

Tiina's new pal Bob tried to get a little frisky with yours truly. ;P

Overall I'm really happy with the way the whole costume came out, considering I only spent like three days putting it together. :) The makeup could've been better, especially with the contouring, but I got a lot of compliments and was happy with it myself, so yay! ♥

The party was nice, lots of people had dressed up and really put a lot of effort in their costumes! I didn't actually take any pictures at the party, but you can find some here (only for FB-users, sorry!).

Now I need to go get some rest, so I can try to be productive at work tomorrow. Only 363 more days till Halloween! o/

~Misantrella

More items made by Tiina from Rogue

Kipeänä ollessani tulin myös kuvailleeksi Tiinan minulle tekemiä enemmän ja vähemmän uusia asusteita. Kaulakorussa on Rogue by Tiina Ulkuniemi logo ja korviksia koristaa kärpäset. Pyysin kustomoidut lukot korviksiin, koska nuo tavallisimmat koukut pääsevät aina tipahtamaan omista korvistani pois.

Necklace and earrings Rogue by Tiina Ulkuniemi. Earrings have customized hoops since the usual ones always pop out of my ears!
I accidentally ran over the chain on my chair after dropping the necklace on the floor, hence the random silver bit on the right... -___-

Tuonne TAFFiinhan Tiina väkerteli silloin erilaisia hatukkeita myyntiin, joten teetätin myös itselleni yhden. Ankh, lepakko, miniruusut ja ketjunpätkä löytyivät omista varastoistani, muu on itse Tiinan käsialaa.

The loveliest little fascinator! ♥ The ankh, bat, silver chain and the smallest roses were from my own stash, otherwise it's all Tiina's handiwork. :)

Uusin Tiinan käsialaa oleva vaatekappaleeni on syksyiseen säähän hyvin soveltuva kevyt hupullinen neule. Kankaan olin ostanut alkuvuoden Tallinnan reissulla ja se olikin sattumalta samaa, kuin mistä Tiina oli jo yhden paidan väkerrellyt. Omaani tuli lisäksi huppu. Kuvissa meikitön flunssanassu sekä uusi Black Milk Clothingin pöllöhame. ♥

Herpderp I liek blue owls ♥ feat. leg tattoo

Derpface, derphair and my pink camera peeking on the background. Finally found my gorillapod! \o/

Mirrorselfies are cool, right? -Not! ;P I ♥ my owlskirt, even though it rides up high on the waist when I move

~Misantrella

TL;DR: Was sick, took pictures. Jewellery & fascinator & hooded blouse made by Tiina, owl skirt is by Black Milk Clothing, Australia.

Some days are better than others

I had a little bit of a meltdown this weekend related to depression. Photo and text about it can be found on my Instagram. Basically: I haven't been taking my medication or care of myself in daily routines such as brushing my teeth or keeping my kitchen/fridge clean. I can't give you a reason as to why I'm doing this to myself, I just feel really tired and that it doesn't matter what I do. Yes, things are good: I have a secure job for the next year, I have an absolutely amazing boyfriend, I just got a new computer + screen, I bought nice new clothes, I've been seeing my friends, I've visited my parents... But that's what depression is, it's this monster on your back that makes you constantly doubt your selfworth and creeps up on you even when you wouldn't expect it to. It's a chemical imbalance, it's all those mean words and deeds from when I was just a child, it's my sister's untimely death, it's the sum of too many things.

Lip Service Occult Cross Hooded Maxi dress from ebay
I've lost my gorillapod, so all my pics nowadays are mirror selfies... -__-

But I'm trying. Because we all have our own demons to fight. Because of the good days. Because of the love I feel for all the important people in my life. Because there is so much beauty and good in the world, no matter how shitty things may seem. Because of the little things that make life worth living.

So I pick myself up. Today I booked three doctor's appointments (sadly, just a doctor instead of The Doctor) to help me figure out why I'm constantly sick and to see if my antidepressants need to be adjusted or if I need to go talk to someone. I've started brushing my teeth again, since stinky cat breath really isn't sexy, and I'm trying to get well enough to start exercising again. Giving up is just not an option.
 But I'm babbling again. Since I spent most of Friday evening/night battling with a migraine, Mr. J and I didn't do anything fun. These pics are from Saturday, when we decided to finally go see Guardians of the Galaxy. I've had that damn song playing in my head ever since... "I can't stop this feeling deep inside of me..."

Got sick of battling with hairdyes and just decided to go back to black. I miss the blue, but my hair always looks best black.
Necklace is Rogue by Tiina Ulkuniemi
Phone cover is from ebay

 

~Misantrella

Events: Tampere Fetish Factory 2014

Time for another advertisement. Pupuhyppy aka Tiina is selling her lovely accessories, jewellery and other items at TAFF aka Tampere Fetish Factory 2014 ~ Steampunk this Saturday, so if you happen to be in town, go check it out!

Pictures are all taken by Tiina herself and are from her Rogue-page on Facebook: 

Hairclips made specially for the event

Steampunk fascinators

Gorgeous nipple pasties!

Items at Ateljeekatu include hair clips, harnesses, jewellery, headbands, clothes, collars etc. Is there anything this lady can't do?! ♥

Yours truly will not be participating this time, but there will surely be at least a couple faces that have made guest apperances in my blog before. More info about the event can be found here (also in English).

And remember, Tiina also does custom orders, just like this set of mini skirt + jacket! Photo taken by the lovely beauty blogger MaanoMeikkaa, who made even me look very presentable! ^_^

Custom made jacket + mini skirt by Tiina Ulkuniemi, photo by MaanoMeikkaa

~Misantrella

Recent shopping

Julkaisen nyt vielä tämän aiemmin raapustelemani postauksen, joka oli jäänyt vähän kesken.

Päätin viimein minäkin hankkia ensimmäiset Black Milkini. Ja sitten toiset ja kolmannet ja hupsista! ;) Museum salessa jäin paitsi originaaleista Gamer Dresseistä, enkä onnistunut Midnight Owliakaan saamaan skater-mallisena mekkona enkä legginseinä, niin kotiutin sitten ebaystä Kiinan ihmeinä kaksi Gamer-kopiota sekä pöllölegginsit. Nuo Gamerit on aivan ihanat, olen rakastunut! Turkoosi ja lila piti olla väreiltään, mutta aika punertava tuo lila kyllä omaan silmään on... Legginseistä lempparit on hopeaprinttiset Wallpaperit, ne kun ovat muita hieman korkeavyötäröisemmät ja jotenkin mukavemmat päälle. Raven toastiet eli lämpimät fleecevuoriset lintuleggarit ja pöllöprintin uimapuku ovat uusimpia hankintojani. Oooh that sweet nylon! ♥

Gamer dress in lilac and turquoise (more like pink and light blue!) are copies of Black Milk dress, Starry Night and Midnight Owl dresses are the real thing, as well as Wetlook leggings, Raven toasties, Mechanical leggings, Purple Tentacular leggings and Wallpaper Shiny Shiny leggings. The Midnight Owl leggings are copies from China, and you can really tell the difference in fabric, even from the picture!

Even though these are fake, I'm absolutely in love with them! I couldn't get my hands on an authentic Gamer dress from the Museum sale, as well as authentic Midnight Owl skater dress or leggings, and was so sad after staying awake until 1:30 am, that I had to get these when I discovered them on ebay. A consolation prize of sorts.

Syksyn ja talven mittaan on tullut tehtyä kaikenlaisia ostoksia, paljolti vaatetta ja itselleni tekemistä lupauksista huolimatta myös meikkejä. En malttanut olla tilailematta alennuskoodien viidakossa, joten kotiutin viimein Sugarpilliltä muutamia ihastelemiani luomivärejä, samoin myös Concrete Mineralsin neljän luomivärin setin. Sugarpillillä onkin tullut muutamia meikkejä testailtua, mutta toistaiseksi Concrete Mineralsit odottavat vielä testaustaan.

Alennuskoodeilla Sugarpillin irtoluomivärit tulivat yksittäin halvemmiksi kuin mitä kolmen setit, joten nappailin lähes kaikki eniten kiinnostavimmat luomivärit ostoskoriin. Tilaus tuli ikävä kyllä sen verran hitavaksi, että se kiersi tullin kautta. Tahmanäpit kähmivät nykyään poikkeuksetta lähes kaiken Euroopan ulkopuolelta tulevan!

Sugarpill eye shadows Royal Sugar, Asylum, Lumi, Decora, Hysteric, Magpie and Junebug.

Concrete Minerals Naughty and Nice -set sekä pari ylimääräistä sävynäytettä ja perhostarra. Söpö paketointi ja ihana metallirasia meikeille!

Naughty and Nice -set includes four mineral eyeshadows in shades Smut, Jezebel, Troublemaker and Kinky, and a Sexy Lips lip tint in Bombshell.

Joululahjaostosten yhteydessä tilasin itselleni myös somat kaksikorvaiset jääkarhumukit. Näille olisin halunnut kavereiksi vielä lautaset, mutta ne oli loppuunmyyty jo ennen varsinaista julkaisemistaan.

Muita ostoksia kotimaan sisällä edustavat Hömpästä ostettu niittikoristeinen keinonahkahame, lastenosastolta löydetyt korvaläpät kissankorvilla ja mintunvihreät ruusupinnat alehintaan. Lepakkosukkia taasen ei voi olla koskaan liikaa, nämä tällä kertaa GinaTricotista ja kaulakoru oli 3 euroa alennushintaan. Harkitsin korun ostamista jo aikaisemmin, mutta onneksi jätin sen myöhemmälle, edellinen alehinta oli muistaakseni 8,99e ja normihinta 14,90e, joten ihan kiva säästö! :)

Kiinasta yritin alunperin tilata parit hienot kengät, mutta odottelusta huolimatta niitä ei ole saapunut ja ensimmäisistä on jo rahatkin palautettu. Myyvät eioota ja odotuttavat monta viikkoa pelkän lähetysvahvistuksen kanssa! >:( Noh, tilaukseen lisäsin kenkien kaveriksi niittilaukun (josta on tähän mennessä hajonnut sisällä olevan pikkutaskun vetoketju ja isomman vetoketjun vedin) sekä kissipaidan. Miumau!

 Muuta jännää tässä ei taidakaan tällä erää olla, joten lopetetaanpa sopivasti tähän. Pum. 

~Misantrella

Mainostauko!

Ihana ystäväiseni Pupuhyppy aka Tiina tosiaan teki miulle muutamia vaatteita kaapissani kauan jemmatuista kankaista. Hän on myöskin juuri avannut oman Etsy-kauppansa sekä uuden blogin. Käykäähän tutustumassa! ^_^

Tässä näitä luomuksia, harmi, ettei aikataulut oikein tahdo mennä yksiin, joten en saanut vielä parempia kuvia esiteltäväksi.

Dress from "newspaper" tricot with black shoulder straps that cross at the back
Black stretch harness with black plastic o-rings.
What I should've done with this dress is to wear the black chain that it comes with, but I forgot.
Also not the best piece to show the harness over, especially since my black bra straps show underneath, so there's a little too much going on in the shoulder area in this pic...

Do the booty tootch! ;D
The same dress with a black pleather bolero / shrug. Apparently these were a pain in the ass to make, so there might not be more even at a request.

Black pleather bolero / shrug with ruffled sleeves.

Super shiny silver pleather bolero / shrug

Derp-face and the shiny space bolero / shrug! :P

My sweet and talented friend Pupuhyppy (aka Miss Bunnyhop aka Tiina) made me some cool clothes from the fabrics I had stashed in my closets. She has also just opened her Etsy-store and a new blog, go check 'em out! ^_^

Here are some quite poor pictures of the items she made, unfortunately I didn't have anyone to take the pictures for me and my poor little Canon isn't very good with self-timer... :P 

Vertical stripe dress, very burtonesque!
Shown here with the black metal chain that goes with the newspaper dress, doesn't really work with this one but oh well...

Short jacket made from a really cool printed jeans-type of fabric, it has little skulls here and there!
It got too cold too soon this autumn, so I didn't get a chance to actually wear it, but come spring time it's getting some uses! ^_^

The jacket from behind, also my behind... :P

The last pictures I took turned out really crappy, but here's a skirt from the same black print fabric. My camera batteries and daylight ran out, so unfortunately I don't have a decent picture from the back. The skirt has a really nice lacing in the back, it looks really cool!
The top is store-bought, I don't have any tops/shirts from her yet, but I'm sure that'll soon change!

Tämmöistä tällä kertaa, jospa piakkoin saisin muutakin postausta aikaiseksi. Mukavaa lauantain jatkoa kaikille!

~Misantrella

PS. Nimi Pupuhyppy tulee muutaman vuoden takaa, jolloin hän nimesi itsensä Miss Bunnyhop:siksi. Nimi kääntyi uuden blogin myötä suomeksi ja on jäänyt elämään. :)