LED Steampunk Aeronaut Costume - Android, Adafruit, FastLED and Steam powered awesomeness

Halloween costume #3: Aeronaut Erin and her magical arduino powered flaming rocket pack.  :)  
Featuring   interactive steampunk goggles, a glowing fairy bottle, my glowing soul caster on my wrist and my "secret of nimh sparkly" necklace, and of course my brand new LED isis wings running FastLED.  

The rocket pack is made out of plastic soda bottles and the aviator cap is made from craft foam.  The goggles change color depending on which way I'm facing and have a pendulum effect that reacts whenever I turn my head.  I'm wearing 4 different arduinos, one accelerometer, one bluetooth module and 5 different batteries, and all together I'm rocking 180 LEDs.

The outfit lasted all night without me having to change a single battery or fix a single flicker.  This is a major accomplishment!!   I am so proud.  :) :) :)  

I LOVE HALLOWEEN SO MUCH.

 

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Glimmer the Mermaid -- LED Mermaid Tail and accessories

I haven't posted in the last few months because I've been pouring all my energy into creating this.

I call her Glimmer the Mermaid.  :)

(She's even got her own Facebook Page so that makes her "real")

I made the LED swimmable mermaid seashells at the end of 2013, and wore them to the NC Merfest convention and they were a huge hit.  When I got home, I decided the shells needed a light-up tail to complement them.  The rabbit-hole opened up, and I dove right in.

The end result is absolutely stunning, and I am completely delighted with it.  This was the most learning-intensive and difficult and frustrating project I've attempted in.. well, since college, I think.  I have had to learn so much in so many different fields, and I've encountered so many amazing people and communities along the way.

This tail uses about 180 Adafruit Neopixels and an Arduino Micro to control them.  It's got a bluetooth feature -- I can control it with my android tablet and change the animations and brightness of the lights.  I plan to add audio sensors and possibly motion or color sensors as well (that'll be phase two, I think).

It is designed to be swimmable.  I'm doing the first full water test probably next week, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I used enough glue that nothing shorts or zaps me.  Nothing has so far,  and all the partial water tests I've done have worked fine.. but strapping a big battery and a bunch of electronics on, and then going for a swim, makes me a little nervous.

Mermaid in the bathtub!

But.  Swimming Mermaid LED Tail!!!

This is a neoprene tail painted with Jones Tones.  I used the same basic method for the tail as I used for my last neoprene Ariel Mermaid Tail, but I spared no expense this time.  I used a competitor monofin (which I like SO much better than the Rapid).  I made the scales larger and added lots of rhinestones and gems and lace.  When the lights are off, it almost comes across as "Mermaid Wedding" -- but I love the fanciness and I love how the predominantly white color scheme goes with the lights, whatever color they are.

The lights on the top part of the tail are individual neopixels cast in resin for diffusion and waterproofing.

 The lights on the bottom are neopixel strips encased in Dragonskin silicone.   This keeps them flexible (almost to a fault -- I have broken them a couple times already!) and very waterproof.

Also I made a glowing tiara with more of the resin cast neopixel "jewels".  Because Glimmer needed a glowing tiara.

All together, the outfit is just stunning.  I never want to take it off.  This tail is significantly heavier than my other tails have been (oof, abs!) but it should be close to neutrally buoyant in the water.  

I got to wear it to the A's Game season opening party at the Oakland Coliseum this past week. They put me by the sushi bar, HA! 

Glimmer was very well received.  Although, with that particular audience, most people seemed to be more excited about the light-up seashells than the fancy animated tail.  (Men.  What can you do?)

Once all the bugs are worked out and the swimmability tested, Glimmer will be available for all kinds of wet or dry events and appearances.  I'm also hoping to do a lot of photo shoots as the weather gets nicer.   I want to do sunset beach shoots, and underwater cave shoots, and fancy swimming pool shoots and snowscape shoots.  I just want to wear it everywhere.  :)  

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Harlequin Hoodie - Cosplay or Fashion?

I got home from a fire show the other night, exhausted from a very long day.  As I was unloading the car, my body told me she was quite finished, and instead of carefully bending down to place the fire show box on the floor, I dropped it from about 2 feet up.

It exploded.

I think what happened was that the micro torch we use as a lighter was packed awkwardly, and the duvetyn fire retardant cloth was piled over the top of the box thickly, holding in any residual fumes from the fire eating torches and fuel can inside the box.  When I dropped the box, the big red button on the micro torch got tapped, and the resulting spark ignited the fumes and set the whole thing on fire. 

It was quite exciting.  As luck would have it, I happened to have a huge pile of duvetyn fire retardant cloth immediately to hand, and Darrell rushed over and bravely stuck his hand into the flames to pull out both of the full fuel cans, keeping the blaze from spreading to the rest of our house and garage.  I put out the rest of the flaming stuff, took a few deep breaths, realized I wasn't feeling tired at ALL anymore, and then checked myself for damage.

I got a little first degree burn under one arm (think, a bad sunburn about 4x5 inches) but was otherwise unscathed.  Darrell got away with a little singed arm hair.

The worst of the trouble was that my favorite purple swirly hoodie got all melted on one side.  SIGH.

So, the next morning I wandered into the sewing room and perused my mountain of fleece, selected a few colors that excited me, and made this:

It's a harlequin-inspired hoodie, sporting black and white diamond checkers and maroon and purple fleece.  It's got super fun sleeves and a curly hood with a little golden bell at the end.  Because, Harlequin.  The collar is also super duper cute - I made it curl down jauntily and it makes me all sorts of happy.

Let me know what you think!  Does it say Harlequin to you?  Or Nascar?  (The checkered flag thing might throw people off) Is it too costume-y?  Not costume-y enough?  Just right?  Leave me a comment!  This is rev 1, so I may sell it on my Etsy store or I may keep it, but I'd love any ideas for improvements and (ahem) bells and whistles.

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Peacock Fairy Costume Dress

I finished this peacock fairy costume yesterday.  With the sunset getting later and later this time of year, there was plenty of time to head out to the arboretum for a photo shoot yesterday evening.  

I'm really pleased with how this costume turned out!  

I wear fairy costumes for a living so I designed this costume to be really versatile.  Instead of a dress, it's made up of 7 different individual pieces so I can mix and match with some of my other fairy costumes to create a lot of different looks.

The skirt is 4 layers.  There's an iridescent two-tone taffeta as the main part of the skirt.  The ribbons at the front are functional gathers, so I can let the skirt out into a floor length gown or gather it up for a saucy fairy look.

There's a lighter blue ruffle bustle that attaches to the skirt.  The bustle is really long, and can be let out into a ruffle train which follows me like a peacock tail, or adds a lot of shape when it's bustled up.

Layered over that is a tutu made of purple, blue, light blue and black tulle.  The tulle is edged to give it a lot of definition, and I used my new embroidery machine to embroider peacock feathers here and there in the tutu's layers.  This might be my favorite part of the whole costume.  I'm having SO much fun with that machine.

The 4th layer is another bustle / hip scarf that ties on with gold ribbon.  It's a lovely stretchy animal-print fabric with gold flecks.  This fabric was actually the inspiration for the whole costume.  It's simply gorgeous.  I also added a row of super bright LED tape to the underside of this piece, so in low light the LEDs shine down into the tutu and give the whole skirt a subtle glow.

There are 3 pieces to the top.  There's a sheer off-white blouse, an under-bust corset and a peacock bra.  The bra is covered in shiny gold fabric with real peacock feathers layered onto it (spray glue FTW).  

The corset is made from a sparkle velvet (left over from my Merida costume) has triple lacing in the front and is cut low in the back to accommodate my green Fancy Fairy wings.

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Dusty Green Flower Faerie Hoodie with Spiral Embroidery

Custom order through Etsy for Elven Elysium, who makes amazing faerie things too. I like this one SO much that I'm adding it to the repertoire.. check it out here!

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Dragonfly Faerie Ideas, Fabrics and Sketches

It all started with a button.

pretty pretty pretty button!

I found this button at the fabric store and it may be the most gorgeous, beautiful thing I think I've ever seen in my whole life.  I grabbed all they had.  They had three.

It's been sitting in the top of my button drawer, winking at me, for a week or two as I finished up the Steampunk Hoodie.  Finally, this morning, I turned my attention back to it and started dreaming, imagining, and designing outwards from the button.  Well, from the three buttons, actually.  (What on earth can I make with just three buttons?  I asked myself..)

It's gotta be faerie.  It's gotta be fancy.  It's gotta be iridescent and ornate and costume-y and it needs to be green.  With all that in mind, and a whisper of an idea that came to me while writing in my RealJournal, I headed to the Fabrics R Us in San Jose with my friend Miriam.

This place is *amazing*.   I have to be a little bit glad that it's a 20 minute drive from me.. close enough that I can go there when I need something special, but far enough away that I'm not over there every day.

They've got more fabric than you can shake a stick at.  Great prices.  And really unique and beautiful stuff.  We spent far too long wandering up and down the aisles, running our fingers over everything and doing the "ooooohh this is SO PRETTY" dance.  I took pictures.

I finally decided on a tie-dye green sparkle stretch velvet and an iridescent blue sheer.  Once I have the design hammered out a little more I will most likely go back for one of the incredible sequined overlay fabrics. 

It's going to become a fairy waistcoat dress.. similar in pattern to my Cigarette Girl costume.  Instead of tails, it will have folded dragonfly wings that dangle down the back.  There will be off-the-shoulder puffy sleeves, some purples and blues and greens combined into a wavy tattered skirt, and it's going to be made to accommodate my Fancy Fairy wings. 

Pretty fabric pictures!!  How will I ever choose? 

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Men's Flame Hoodie - The Fire Inside

This hoodie was a custom order for an old friend who used to fire dance with me.  Due to a car accident a while back, he's not able to do much fire dancing anymore so he wanted a hoodie that lets him express that fiery nature regardless.

I love how it turned out.  I didn't get the greatest pictures, since I wanted to ship it out quickly.. but the details on this one are fabulous.  There are flames embroidered on the sleeves and on the front, and the edges have a really cool embroidery pattern along them.  There are inside and outside pockets, and the tip of the hood is red, which is super fun.

To make this hoodie, I took design ideas from three different hoodies I've made in the past.  The main pattern was the same as the Legolas Hoodie, and the design was of course modeled on my flame hoodie.  I also took a few elements from this Samurai hoodie I made for my hubby ages ago (which he still wears all the time and it's in amazing condition.. I wish MY hoodies lasted that long, but I am pretty hard on them!)

My fiery friend promised he'd send me pics when it gets there.. I hope he does, I can't wait to see it on him.  :)

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