Another Costume Season Ending

Well with Halloween fading into the distance, I have just shipped my last costume for the season. It was an armored centaur for a high school's production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I hope they like it just like I hope the best for all those who commissioned costumes from me this year. Now I look forward to a few months of rest, and in particularly, I look forward to this weekend. My husband and I are going to celebrate our honeymoon in a nice place in New Jersey. It will be great to go there and see my Mum and Dad and a two people I have known since I was really little who Keith, my husband hasn't met yet. I wonder how that will turn out but I pretty sure it will be a really wonderful time to be had.

When you are sick, fresh air is the cure!

This past Sunday, I turned to my husband Keith and told him he looked too sick to work and that we should go for a long drive and get some fresh air to which Keith started laughing and agreed. Keith works on the weekends because the vultures he works for prefer to stick him with hours they themselves won't work. The weekends are when I have off, naturally, but because he does not, we very rarely get to do anything fun together. LIFBA, or Long Island F Body Association, a car club Keith is a part of had this Sunday its biannual Hawks Nest Run, which is about a 2 hour drive up into the Catskills of upstate New York. The scenery was so amazing and just the freedom of being away from the cramped hustle and bustle of the area where we live was truly worth it.

Links:
http://www.fastlsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18895
http://www.fastlsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18897

Eyes of Death

created by: http://verreaux.deviantart.com/

I had a dream last night but it was more like the shadow, too awake to delve deeply into its world yet still interesting all the same. It started at a party, an arisocratic event from the turn of the century.

There were lots of fancy dressed snobs chortling over jokes that were not funny who felt obligated to laugh at anyways and the music of a string quartet wafting from room to room. The focus of the occasion was a woman by the name of Sarah who was holding this gathering as a way to try and bolster favor from the politians and those with influence to support her cause (of which wasn't mentioned in the dream). All and all the party seemed to go over well and after her obligations to her guests were finished and the last group of stuffed shirt vultures left for the evening, she retired upstairs and flopped on her bed.
Her mind drifted to thoughts of her husband away fighting in the war, wishing he was here. If John was back from the war, perhaps all this pomp and circumstance with of these gatherings would no longer be necessary. It's tiring work playing pretend to a room full of people I could care less about, she thought while kicking off her shoes and stretching. There was an unexpected grunt from the darkness as her shoe struck something with a soft "thunk" sound. She sat up and strained her eyes to see what was there and to her shock something with dim glowing violet eyes stared back at her. The big dark thing shifted in the darkness and blinked. Her shoe skittered across the floor towards her. Unaware of herself doing this, she roseto her feet and felt frozen to the spot, her lips trembled caught between screaming and saying, what are you? Almost as if it read her mind a silky deep voice answered. "I'm sure you are wondering what I am or perhaps wanting to run away or scream. I assure you, I get that a lot." The creature slipped from the shadows and stretched. It looked like a large black dog with shaggy fur and a long tufted tail like that of a lion. It slinked into a red velvet squashy arm chair and reclined in it, hind legs crossed looking almost human. She watched him intently, catching a faint flash of what appeared to be bat wings, thinking to herself what a strange creature indeed! Without realizing it, Sarah was standing there stiffly clutching the ruffles of her dress over her heart with her mouth open as if still trying to scream or say something.

"I am Nezbeth, an incarnation of death. Scream if you would like don't hold it back on my behalf if it would make you feel better, I'm sure you would have rather preferred a sugar plum fairy." He looked up at her, almost expecting to hear a sound of some sort yet when none came, the creature Nezbeth's lips curled into a smile. With a flick of his paw, a puff of black smoke materialized a cup, saucer, spoon, and a small simmering teapot suspended in midair.

"You are Death?" she asked, finally finding her breath again to speak.

"Thank you for entering the conversation. No, I am not Death. I just exist as an incarnation of Him."

"I don't understand. What does that mean exactly?"

"Basically it means when someone is going to die and Death is too busy to do the deed himself, he sends me. I was made to serve Death."

"So... I'm going to die?" Sarah asked, almost too afraid to think it could be true.

"No, actually I am here for tea. If you were dying, I doubt I would ask if you would like one lump of sugar or two?" His violet eyes glinted with a hint of laughter.

Sarah's shock lessened, her stiff limbs and rigid posture eased up enough allowing her to sink to sit upon the bed. As she took a cup offered to her, she took a deep breath, the smell the tea melted her anxiety. The aroma of the tea smelled that of chamomile and nutmeg. She smiled feeling more relaxed, as if, having a big black dog of death in her room was something that happened every day. How had this creature known that this type of tea was one of her favorites?

"Could I have one lump of sugar, please?"

He was happy to oblige, his tail curled over the arm of the armchair twitched contentedly. Despite the initial shock, it wasn't often in his experience to find someone so willing to sit with him. Perhaps this was, as he looked into those eyes, a woman who had grown accustomed to death or was expecting ill gotten news. He watched her a few minutes more sipping his tea, considering what to say next.

The Jolly Centaur Creations Slideshow

Here are a few of the centaur and satyr costumes new and old that I have made. It's not a complete listing due to my computer taking a huge dump a few weeks ago. If any of what you see gets you itching to have me make any fanciful creation for you, please feel free to contact me! I do all sort of creatures but mostly centaur costumes and satyr costumes. Enjoy!

The Tiger and the Darkness

Photo by christinatinarobinson

I had one of my epic "movie dreams" last night. I have them occasionally and they are so much better than the crap in the theaters, that I swear by them. I hope one day, some desperate producer will read about one of these dreams and make a movie out of it. This one was particularly good, I smell Royalty Fees!

Plot Premise:
Near typical good vs. evil plot set in a modern world on the verge of an apocalypse. The ripple of the fall of this human world into darkness can be felt even beyond their reality as the threat besetting them is a threat to all kinds of life. It is even felt as far away as a world where an ancient race of tiger-like beasts lived. Stirred from his sleep Algezar, leader of his pride, had been riddled with horrific visions caused by the darkness that would eventually consume their world as well. His visions had meaning, it wasn't just a warning, for within this dream there had been a glimmer of hope. He had seen the faces of a pair of human brothers and there was something about them that called to him. Perhaps, going to this world and helping them would be the key to stopping this evil.

Key Characters:
Algezar - A very powerful white tiger-beast from a land of perpetual frost. In order to suvive in such a harsh place, they developed magical abilities in order to hunt for prey, find shelter, etc. He is one of their strongest warriors and magic weavers so his leaving to battle this darkness seems like an obvious choice. He is driven with his desire to safeguard his kinds future, despite the misgivings of his people as well as his own to leave them, he travels on the winds to this human reality. This new world is rich with magic even though, ravaged by evil, it seems barren with living things. In no time he discovers his abilities fueled by this new source of untapped magic has increased his power ten fold!

Arthur - The older of the two brothers, he has a tough as nails exterior having gotten them this far on instinct alone. When he and his brother first meet Algezar, they fear it is either one of the "nothings" there to lure them into the darkness or something that plans to eat them. Somehow a bond is formed between them and they travel together looking for clues that will end this evil. Disaster strikes when the darkness forces Algezar to choose which brother to save and as Arthur's life is spared, both he and Algezar can do nothing but listen as his brother is dragged away. Riddled with greif, he blames Algezar for not saving them both and fears his brother is gone for good. He yells at the white tiger and sends him away. In his mind, if he and his brother had never met Algezar, none of this would have happened.

Sam - The younger one of the brothers, he is the sunshine that lights his brother's world. No matter how grim things get, he has a knack to find the silver lining in every situation. Of the two brothers, he is the first to trust Algezar. When the darkness takes him, he finds himself having to face many fearful things on his own and lost in this dark place, he finds the source of all this evil and the key to its plan to spread its evil to other worlds. To do so, this evil entity needs to capture Sam and Arthur. Knowing this plan, Sam finds the strength to fight. Yet one question lingers, will the strength of one little boy, the courage of his brother, and a magical tiger be enough to win against such overwhelming odds?....

Deepest Thanks and Best Wishes

I would like to thank Kevin Barnes and the members of "of Montreal" for the opportunity to make something truly special for their 2-3 month tour! I was so worried that, with the time I had to make it, it wasn't going to be good enough. In Kevin's words, "It came out FANTASTIC!!" From the bottom of my heart, those words have brought me the deepest sence of joy and pride. For the crazy centaurs in all of us who are going to their show in the next few months to have a great time-- ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zYsuje1ofo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkObhzM8ZLk&feature=related

Kevin Barnes as the centaur I made!