Cosplay in the Family!

 

Cosplay. Who doesn't love cosplay? I've been doing cosplay, sometimes without knowing what it was called, for about 17 years now.

For those of you who are a bit out of the loop, Cosplay is short for costume play. I've had people say "So you basically pretend its Halloween every day." Well, kinda, but not really.

There are dozens of different kinds on cosplay, but what I love most, is no matter what kind of cosplay you choose to do, what genre, what size you are, no one makes fun of you. It takes alot of guts to let your geek out in that way, even at a convention surrounded by other geeks. Everyone gets it. No one makes fun.


Mom and her steampunk witch

My entire family does cosplay. Well, most of them anyway. We all have our favorite genres too. My mom adores Steampunk. Corsets, gears, trains, and one of her favorite movies is Back to the Future Part III. She has also dressed up as a Japanese school girl, and can be seen running around town in a Pikachu inspired kigarumi. A kigarumi is basically a giant onesie, usually based on an animal or animal like character. She also really enjoys the work of YaYa Han.



Mom in her kigarumi, and my daughter in her minion shirt



First attempt at a fake beard

Dad has been a crew member from Star Trek, and been Gandalf the White. For his Gandalf costume, I learned how to use crepe hair and spirit gum to give him a realistic looking fake beard. He has a new Steampunk costume to match my mom, and we are thinking of a Gandalf the Grey and a Severus Snape costume for him.



My sister and her Neko Maid



My sister as a fox

My sister loves the neko maid costumes. Neko is Japanese short for cat. You can often see her running around with cat ears on, or in her fox Kigarumi.



My daughter is nearly two, but we are definitely raising her in the ways of geek. Her first cosplay was super simple, just a super girl bib that came with a cape. Since then she's been a neko, a costume she still plays in, Tinkerbelle, a minion and a moogle. We'll continue to take her to conventions and let her dress up as long as she wants. Now if I've been a good geeky mom, she'll want to cosplay for the rest of her life.

My daughter's moogle costume. Definitely her favorite.

Ryan is looking forwards to dressing up as the green arrow. The only person who doesn't dress up is my brother Jeremy, but only because he's been in the army and serving our country for the last four years.




My first cosplay, I was in fifth grade. I wanted to be Neo Queen Serenity for Halloween. I begged my mom to make the costume. Somehow she did it. She made me a white tube top dress, with sequins at the top. I had to wear a long sleeved leotard under it due to the school's dress code. My mom put my hair in buns and attached gold ribbons to them to make me look more like the character. No one knew what I was dressed as, the dress kept needing to be pulled up, but I didn't care. For six hours, I was Neo Queen Serenity, and I was awesome! This has stayed with me for the rest of my life. I love dressing up, and have no intentions to stop. I even wore a Japanese kimono to my high school graduation.


First attempt at Sally in 2010

Second attempt in 2011

 

Lilly Evas=ns cosplay. Gen Con 2015

In this house, very rarely do we buy a costume. Normally we make them. The exceptions are kigarumi's. Even then we could make them. The biggest obstacle is finding time. I've made my daughter's kigarumi, and last year I made my red steampunk outfit out of a pair of curtains from Goodwill. CURTAINS!!!! I was so friggin proud of myself, and its my favorite cosplay to date.

Pattern modification for my daughter's kigarumi.

Steampunk costume made from curtains

Back of steampunk costume

I've been commissioned by a friend to make a certain cosplay. We've mapped out what we are going to do to put this together, and come up with a strategy. It will involve marrying two patterns. We knew exactly what patterns we would need and waited until there was a sale at JoAnns. Today was that day, and what would have cost us $40 ended up being $2 plus tax. I'm one of those people who will use patterns several times and when the original tissue paper starts to wear a bit, I'll copy them onto an old bed sheet or if I can afford any, muslin. You can get alot of wear out of them.

Now I'm just waiting for my friend to come down so we can go fabric shopping. I'll definitely keep you updated on this one.

So where does one cosplay? Where ever you friggin want. I normally keep it to conventions, craft fairs and Halloween, but I'm trying to work more steampunk into my every day wardrobe. But if you fancy cosplay, and you want to wear it every day, and you can't see any consiqunces? Go for it. I've seen a meme that said something along the lines of "I was told to dress for the job I want, not the job I have. Now I'm sitting in a disciplinary meeting wearing a Batman costume". If this really happened, to that person I say you're awesome. Don't ever stop wanting to be Batman.

Thanks so much,

Britanni

To Be of Purpose. How Butterfly Dark Came to Be and What I Hope it Will Be.

Hello!

   Thanks for stopping by. Today I just want to share with you how this blog, and my business, Butterfly Dark Creations came to be and what I'm hoping and working to turn it in to.


My first business card

   Butterfly Dark Creations is a creative photography, craft and fine arts small business. I started the Etsy Shop back in 2012. I'd just finished all the classes for my associates degree, and was taking a semester off. I wanted to sell some jewelry, or the hair flowers that I had been making. I wanted to use as much recycled materials as possible. My shop lasted six months. Until I moved to Nevada and lost the internet connection.


I think I've perfected my hair flowers.

   I spent those two years honing my creative skills. Not just in crafts but in photography too. A process I truly enjoy. During that time, I was blessed with my flower.

My Masterpiece 2014

   With my flower came a lot of hard decisions. How to provide for her properly, without being on welfare was the biggest of my worries. I made the decision to move back to Indiana for a while to be closer to my parents, and took a job that would lead to full time and benefits. During this time, I'm really liking how my crafts have evolved and thought it was time to try my hand at selling again.


   Now don't get me wrong. My jobs are good jobs. They allow me to provide everything my daughter needs, with one exception. But being a Pharmacy Tech is not where my passion is, and it takes up a lot more time than I'd like it to. So the logical thing to do would be to make my artwork my living.

   This has NOT been easy. First, I knew nothing about business. But I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about the subject. I've learned a few things. How to market, how to get into fairs, keys to Etsy. I'm still learning. I'll keep learning. Eventually I'd like to be selling work in fairs, particularly steam punk work, selling on Etsy, and doing photography.

   Butterfly Dark Creations is not near where I want it to be yet. But with some help from my family, and a little flower for motivation, eventually I'd like to make this my full time work from home job.

My current professional business card

   I'd like you to think about something. When you are thinking of making a purchase from an artist or crafter, or any other creative professional, but think their asking price is a bit too high, compared to a similar item you can get commercially from a big box chain store, keep in mind that the item is a work of love. The professional put in a lot of time and some money into that item. The item came from their mind and they brought it into the physical world. Custom request require even more effort because the professional is not only trying to bring their creativity to life, but please the client. So when you purchase an item from a small business owner, you are helping them provide for themselves, for their families, and supporting them in their passion.

  
  So what advice can anyone offer? Really I'll take any kind of constructive criticism. What kind of pictures would you want taken if you had a photography session? Or in general? If you were shopping on Etsy, what would or wouldn't you buy?

   Thanks for reading!

Make your own laundry soap.

Hi everyone!

Today I'm showing you my super easy way that I make my own laundry soap. As with most things, alot of what I do was created out of necessity. When I found out I was expecting a baby, I knew I wanted to do everything possible to have her lead a happy healthy life. I weighed alot of options for my baby, and consulted a certified Doula. One of those options was cloth diapers versus disposable diapers.

I chose cloth diapers. I was willing to put in the extra work, and maintence for them, partially because they were better for my baby's sensitive skin, and partially because I knew they'd save money in the long run. Now for those of you who haven't looked at cloth diapering since the turn of the century, they're not what they used to be. Gone are the days of safety pins and rubber pants. Now they come all together, with an insert, and plastic snaps, or velcro that adjusts until the child is potty trained. I loved them. Plus the cuteness of a cloth diapered baby butt.

Now to keep these diapers from build up, they required a little more upkeep. Chemical buildup on diapers can happen when you use diaper rash cream on your child's rear end, or wash with normal laundry soap, or a number of other things. To prevent this build up, and reduce the time between strippings, I made my own soap. This soap is the basic of basics. Perfect for those of sensitive skin, or people trying to live with less chemicals in thier lives.

What you need can be found in almost every grocery store in the cleaning aisle. Baking Soda, Washing Powder, Borax, and Zote Soap. Now if you find Zote Soap flakes, you can skip the next step and just mix it all together.

If you buy the zote soap in the bar, theres a few ways you can go about breaking it down. I've heard of people using a cheese grater. I cut it up into five parts and put it into the microwave at five minute intervals until it gets all fluffy, like below.

At this point the soap should crumble when you handle it. Crumble it into a large container. I used a container about the size of a shoebox, you can find these at most dollar stores.

Next I poured in a half a box of Borax, half a box of washing powder, and a whole box of baking soda. I used my hands to mix well.

Now, I don't use this for washing cloth diapers anymore. I had to switch from cloth diapers to disposable. (Its a long story). But I still use the soap. It gets my clothes clean, and I don't have to worry about it irritating my daughters or my skin. Using a small old formula scoop, I use one scoop for a small load, two for a medium and three for a large load. This whole container lasts me a year. You really can't get any better than that.

So there you have it. You're own home made laundry soap. You can add in scent boosters or crystals if you want. You can find those in the laundry aisle. I just choose not to. As long as my clothes smell clean, I'm a happy girl.

Thanks for reading!

To a New Year and Trying New Things

To A New Year and Trying New Things

I don't know about the rest of you, but 2015 has been a whopper of a year. So many ups and downs, personal and professional triumphs. I'm interested in seeing what 2016 has in store.

In 2015, my goal for Butterfly Dark was to become a legitimized business. In Indiana, you don't have to have a business license, but be registered as a business. Butterfly Dark Creations was registered as an LLC in September. In addition I opened a bank account and a credit card for the business. Two things I NEVER thought would happen.

Another goal was to participate in a craft fair. We ended up participating in 3 at the end of the year. I had never participated in a craft fair and I'm still learning the ins and outs of running a business, but what better way to learn from experience, so we hit the ground running. In all honesty I was disappointed in the monetary outcome, but I learned so much, and we aren't giving up. We've seen what we're doing wrong, what we could improve on and going from there. And I do mean "We" I have a partner now. My mom is my crafting partner in crime. Her idea for all in one tunics was genius!

Our Booth at the Center Grove Craft Fair

All in One Tunics. This is just one of the HUNDREDS of ways to wear them

Our customized ornaments for 2015

We branched out in photography a little more. I had some clients with an unusual request, something I'm not quite used to, but we made it work.

So for 2016?

Butterfly Dark Creations will be blogging more, for sure. Hopefully once a week, bringing you a new tutorial every month if we can.

   We are looking to reopen the Etsy shop, hopefully in the spring.


We want to enter more fairs, starting in May. We're already taking the steps to build up inventory in a new direction. We're keeping the tunics, and the photography, but taking our jewelry in a steampunk direction, and adding clothing to the inventory.

One of my favorite products that we will continue to sell. Handcrafted hair accessories, this one, made for fall, is my favorite.
 

Our tree of life necklaces, colors can be different.
 

We're hoping to build our social media presence. Right now, we're looking at Instagram, twitter and Pinterest, in addition to our Facebook page, which will be more active, and hoping to offer more to our followers.

We like to keep things simple. These seem like achievable goals to us. We don't want to promise something that seems out of reach. Hopefully we can develop a routine and achieve these goals.

So what are your goals for the New Year? Are you ready?

Love Music and Feathers!

Finally Back

Hello everyone, its been way too long.

   Just a few  updates. I have internet back now, and I 'm able to use it on a regular basis. I am no longer living in Nevada, but moved back to Indiana for family reasons, and currently have a living arrangement with my parents. I no longer work for Wal Mart but instead work as a Pharmacy Technician at CVS, a painting instructor at Michael's and a model at Ivy Tech.  Still single, and enjoying it. Oh, and I had a baby.

   Her name is Iris and she's the light of my life. Motherhood is a strange journey I never thought I'd ever go on, and I"m still getting used to the change in priorities and routines. I know I'm not the greatest mom, but I certainly am trying. Sometimes I am exhausted, and sometimes I feel more driven to new level of crazy than I ever thought possible, but I love it and her. Her smile, laugh and that super sweet angelic face she makes when she is asleep makes it all worth it.


   So being a single mom doesn't leave a lot of time for art. I'm just know getting back to a fraction of the artwork that I used to do. And my baby is almost a year and a half old. But one thing I am dedicated to is making things just for her. The other day we were at Goodwill looking for fabrics to reclaim for a costumes for an upcoming convention. Yes, I will be raising my daughter in the ways of geek. She will know the difference between a moogle and a muggle, an x wing fighter and the USS Enterprise, and instead of a pony she will want me to buy her a chocobo.

   But back to materials. I came across this shirt and thought of my grandpa in Nevada.

   He's very into western shirts, and in a similar nod to the fashion of Elvis, he likes some glitz, he also has severe arthritis so snap buttons are a must. This shirt has all that, the detail is just beautiful, but there is just one little problem. My grandpa is super tiny. Like XS is just little too big tiny. So this shirt being a large needed some serious taking in.

   I had made him a shirt before, and had an old prototype. So I used that for sizing. If you're trying this just use a shirt you know fits you or the person you are making it for. I layed it on top of the goodwill shirt and lined up the shoulders, the collar and the center button front.

You will notice that the majority of the Goodwill shirt that was too big is at the sides and under arms of the shirt. So I just cut it off. Nothing fancy, just started from the bottom hem, and worked my way up. For the sleeves I didn't cut all the way to the cuff, but instead followed the seem of the arm and tapered out my cut.

   Next I just flipped the shirt inside out and pinned the cut edges. Using a straight stitch, just like I did when I cut it, I just sewed on up the cut edges, again tapering out with the sleeves.





  

   Trim the threads, turn it right side out, and there you have a perfectly resized shirt. Pretty proud of myself, as this is my first every resize. Now to get to those oh to big shirts for me that reside in the very back of my closet.

 
   So what has everyone else been up to? I'm really excited to be getting back to blogging and hopefully I'll be bringing y'all something at least once a week. But again I am the mother of a one year old, so we will see how this goes.

   Love, Music and Feathers.
Britanni

 

New year, new exciting things to come

Its been far too long friends. Some of you know that there have been many significant changes in life over the past few months that have kept me from writing. There are many more to come, but hopefully the things that have stopped my blogging are a thing of the past.

 

   First of the changes, is the biggest. I’ve moved. Not online but literally moved. For the last seven years, with the exception of a brief three months in 2008, I’ve lived in Indiana. I was a month shy of turning sixteen when we moved, two days after Christmas. I’m going to be honest here and now. I didn’t want to leave. I put on a brave face and a smile because that is what I was expected to do. But that’s beside the point. We started out in Gary, Indiana, formerly the murder capital of the United States. After High school, I made my way down to Indianapolis, for college. Now I’ll be a bit positive. I enjoyed living in Indianapolis. Public transportation allowed me to save money by riding the bus, which in turn taught me time management, learning to plan my day around the bus schedule. I could work and go to school, and I had a handful of people I cared about. There was always something to do, and being an art student in that city was wonderful. Art and artists were all around me, and I had amazing teachers. But there was so much I disliked about that place. The climate, the crime, the education system. I resolved to move. Back to where the majority of my friends and family were. I was going to move back to Nevada.

 

   So that’s the first big change. I’ve moved 2,000 miles. Now the second. I’m single. I’m not going to go into details as to why, but my Significant Other and I decided to dissolve our relationship shortly before I moved. I have respect for him, the decisions he’s made, and for his family. We did not end badly, but we did end. For now I’ve resolved to be single. I’ve prayed and spent a lot of time thinking. I’ve left my love life in God hands. If I do have a love story, I’m letting him write it. I’m done trying to force things to happen the way I want. I’ve resolved not to worry about that part of my life. If something happens, it happens. If not, it isn’t the end of the world.

   There are several other changes, but they are not as significant. These two things are what are contributing to the expanding of Butterfly Dark.

   If you’ve been watching the Butterfly Dark Facebook page, you’ll notice that something else besides crafts is popping up in the pictures. Photographs. I’ve been experimenting in photography, and been commissioned to do some events and portraits. I’ve found I’m enjoying it. I’m no professional, but I’d like to do more photography. I’d like to learn more, and get better at it. I’ve been reading up on photoshop and experimenting with the program to see what can be done to enhance the photos. Not necessisarily change them, but enhance. Make black and white, or monotone, sepia, and airbrushing the acne out of teenagers faces. I’m learning so much.

   But don’t count crafts out! I’ve been working hard at different things. Mostly hair accessories. I’ve been creating hair bows and flowers, putting a bit of vintage and steam punk flair into them. I’m working on having these items photographed and I’ll be reviving the Etsy shop as soon as possible. Until then, they can still be sold, you’ll just have to contact me through facebook.

 

 Which brings me to another thing. Butterfly Dark is becoming more than just an online entity. We’re becoming a physical presence. Now this is just a rough timeline, but we’re hoping that by September or October, that we will have enough inventory, and to have everything set up to start working the fair circuit. We’re hoping to have a physical booth at local Northern Nevada craft fairs, farmers markets and other such events. And by we, I mean more than just me. I’ve recruited some help, some friends, some family, and we are going to try and pull this off. I’ll announce where our first event will be, and I hope all of you who read would try to make it. Not just to support Butterfly Dark in this adventure, but to support local businesses in general. Especially in Northern Nevada, small businesses play a huge part in the economy. In the meantime, I’ll be attending local fairs, seeing what sells, what doesn’t, what the crowds are like and so on.

 

   I’m asking for your patience as well. Everyone who reads this has already been very patient with this blog and I appreciate it greatly. I’m living with the most amazing people right now, my adoptive Grandma Mary. We live in Silver Springs. Yes, the middle of nowhere.  We’re working on it, but right now we don’t have the internet. I drive into Carson once a week at least and I’m able to use my laptop at the library there. Because of budget cuts our local branch is open only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11am until 4pm.  I’m also working, thankfully, much closer to where I live. Hopefully that will make blogging a bit easier. Again, thank you for your patience with this blog.

 

I’ll leave you now with new thoughts on the new year. Who has resolutions? What crafty plans do you have, if any? Will you make a goal to better yourself this year? It being only the fourth day in, have you stuck to it? Do you plan to succeed? I hope this beautiful new year finds you all well, and I hope to literally see some of you soon.

  Love, music and feathers people!

Moving, and the changes to come.

  I want to welcome you to my own personal hell. I hate packing. I don't mind moving so much, its the packing. I hate cleaning in general, but my two least favorite are packing laundry.

   I'm moving in 15 days, and very scared that I won't get everything done in time, and spend time with the people I want to. I'm doing this all by myself too. You'll all find out why later, but not now. I'm sorting through everything, and its hard to determine what I need to keep out until the last minute, and what to pack now, what goes to goodwill, what to keep. Most of my stuff will be either held at my mom's house until I can have it shipped, or in a storage locker. Hopefully going through the kitchen and the bedroom won't be as difficult.

  So who's enjoying the summer yet? It actually hasn't been too horrid here. Very dry, which is highly unusual. Humidity is part of the reason I'd rather not live in Indiana. I keep hearing people talk about how dry it is, and the drought. There's quite a bit of fire danger, but they haven't started restricting when to water lawns yet, so I am not freaking out like some people. I hear people complain saying "I hope it rains. My grass is dying 'cause I don't feel like watering it."

 As I type this, there's another wildfire in Nevada. This one, just south of Silver Springs, so its hitting more close to home each time. There's been at least three significant fires in the Reno area, two of which were during winter. The dry winter had really taken its toll this year.

  The things I'm looking forward to? Spending the fourth of July with my adoptive little sister in Carson. I haven't been to the fireworks there since I was 12. I"m hoping my new boss will let me have it off.

   Whats your least favorite chore, or favorite thing about summer? Is it hot and dry where you are too? Hopefully next time I'll have a little more interesting news, and less complaining on my part. I'm so ready to move.