Slackers? Yep - that's us.

It's not that we aren't projecting...it is that we aren't taking photo's of keeping track of it.

For GalaxyFest 2017 there were new holsters, hip belts, guns, an entire new dogmeat costume for the kiddo - and the compilation of a whole lot of mess.

We were cute. We just didn't record any of the process....

Sorry.

Been a while - AKA 2017 project list

It has been a while since our last post. Life has been crazy and with the holiday season nothing has been happening since everything is packed into my very messy craft room. 

Hopefully that will shift as the new year comes - and here are some of the things we have on the burner to make:

• Belt Sheath for an Oyster Knife
• Holsters for Cosplay Guns
• Calligraphy (just to practice)
• Hobbit Hole  (this has been on the list for 5 years now)

I also really want to stretch into some new things this year. I am hoping to do some pretty serious home improvement projects, especially in my kitchen and craft room. I want to learn to do woodworking and some basic construction - and actually get some of the outside curb appeal projects too.

We are planning to put some of the cosplay guns up for sale in 2017 - so if you might be interested in a special toy, just let us know :)

Return of the Fallout Obsession - Bandolier Edition

I love my husband. He is awesome. He knows I love him.  And...He is obsessed. Seriously. Fallout. All of his happiness is oriented around this. And since I don't currently have a few hundred to drop on this years' PipBoy, we had to do something.

From Etsy Shop LeatherCladLegends

That something is inspired by this. (left)

Found on Pinterest

He loves pouches and pockets and armor. He likes things to look raggedy and tattered and abused. He loves being snazzy.

The other inspiration is this (right)







We started with the thin leather again (this stuff is just a pleasure to work with) and made a bandolier base, 3 pouches, one large hip bag, and a rib belt as well.


He needed a pauldron though. Some nice shoulder armor to display the lovely asymmetry he so enjoys. So, went to work on that.


He wanted tattered. He wanted abused. He wanted to be a Wasteland Survivor.  He wanted this....

What you can't see is the tooling on his large hip bag - wanna know what it is? Oh yeah.... Brotherhood of Steel!





I think we did good - what do you think?

Scribes' Kit and the finished steampunk belt

The hubby loves me. He does. I know it. He shows it. AND he makes me awesome toys to show it to other people too!

You may know that I enjoy throwing my hand to calligraphy every now and then. I have been doing it for more than 20 years now and have done a variety of different projects. I always have wanted to be able to sit down at Fair and do special things for people, but carrying all my inks, nibs, papers, etc has never been terribly exciting for me.

Now it is!

He saw this alchemists pouch on Pinterest/Etsy and we were truly inspired.

First, we cut it out of the
nice thin leather.

Then shaped it.

Then tooled it.

Then dyed it.

Then added all the fun bits!


It holds 6 ink colors, 6 different pen nibs, two quills, paper, my seal and wax and it is so pretty!



Look at how great it looks on my belt with the new steampunk costume! :D

I have a tea cup and saucer, a bottle of tea, the alchemist pouch for phones and other things, and the scribe kit snaps on and off in the back. 

Steampunk Belt - Stage 1; Belt and pouch

Step One) Lay out the hide

Last time we posted about the idea's and the goals of the steampunk scribe/apothecary belt. This post is construction and creation.

We started out with a LARGE thin hide. Measured the waist and added a few inches to make it overlap nicely.


Cut it out and dyed it, making a specialty dye of red and brown that resulted in a remarkably pretty treelike pattern.

Patterns are a good idea

And started designing the pouches for the scribe kit.

Step Two) Dye it

And the tea cup holders.
And the alchemist pouch too.

Then, we spent some time (and money) on amazon picking up different vials that will be for tea, sugar, ink and powders. We picked up a blowtorch to heat water for tea. We already had an awesome metal tea set (though there are concerns that it's double walls with limit ability to heat the tea in the cup and will force me to either use something else or remove the walls).

So is testing things

Step Three) World Domination?

Sadly, we ended up in a rush due to first weekend of Faire. I needed a belt and pouch so we had to produce something as soon as possible.  Due to the lack of time and more importantly, lack of rivets, we just did one pouch, the alchemist pouch.

Designed to fit nicely on my right hip, it is decorated with an alchemists beaker and closes with a crystal and wrap setting.

It fit in very well with my new orange/red/brown costume - and worked very well.

I am looking forward to the next steps where we polish up the closure, create the vial pockets, finish the scribe pouch, and work out any finicky bits.

Tea Time Hatband

You may have noted there is a certain amount of impulsiveness that happens in my house? And that it is a spreading thing? Well, since the beloved hubby has been on a steampunk kick, I had to join in at least a bit.  Now, he is working on an absolutely AWESOME belt for me. It will have a tea cup, and a saucer, and a blowtorch, and a scribes kit for me.  I am so excited for it!

But...I needed something more to go with it. And I have this awesome new hat. I love my hat. See my awesome hat?

It is awesome isn't it?

I had even just gotten myself set up with an orange and brown and rust colored garb set for fair. And this beautiful set up would not be hard to convert into a steampunky dress and outfit without too much work. Especially since I am aiming for punk/madmax/renfair style instead of Victorian.

But the hat needed more! MORE!!!! and needed to not clash terribly with the red/orange/brown I was doing.

A friend of mine had a whole passel of unwanted fake brown leather hat bands. I had a need. I figured I could make something kludged together that would work...and I was right!

It started by putting one band flat and realizing that O'hell no way that was going to work. It was too thin, too wimpy all by itself. It needed friends. So...I sewed a second one to it. It was still a little 'eh', so a sewed a third on - and it was juuuuuuust right.


Add in a 4th band, some vials filled with tea, tea, tea and sugar - a handful of pop rivets (these things suck, why didn't I believe the people who told me so before) and I ended up with this! It's gorgeous! I set it up so the blue can also come off and be replaced with a gorgeous golden orange colored scarf...

Who thinks we are awesome? I do!

Shoes Part 2

I know - I am pretty lazy. So I didn't follow through with my plan to get flip flops and do the shoes that way they looked in the picture.

Instead, I trimmed down the shoe to actual foot size and sewed three straps on - created an ankle strap. Checked all the sizes as I sewed to make sure it would be tight enough (it actually needs trimmed a tiny bit on the right side still) and ended up with this!

They are comfy, lightweight and should help me on the days I don't wanna wear shoes at all! What do you think? Good/bad/keep working?