Of a fairytale meetup

Last Saturday was the long-awaited fairytale potluck and swap meet meetup, organized by Oli of Lemon Tree and Mandie of Geek + Glam = Love. It was fun! As usual I was terribly shy at first, but I made some wonderful new acquaintances. Also, I recognize more and more lolitas now, but I'm also starting to get recognized! Quite exciting.

There were so many gorgeous coordinates there. Let me share a few pictures my sister took (she was the camera-bearer).

As always, if you see yourself in one of these and want me to add your LJ name or take the picture down, please let me know!

I loved this girl's makeup (on the right). I believe she said she had dressed as a goblin for the theme. The lolita on the left put to beautiful use one of my favorite color schemes, silver and white.

One of our co-organizers, Mandie. She looked fantastic. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of Oli, but she was a very charming unicorn for the theme.

This lovely couple were dressed as the Beast and the fairy who cast a spell on him. My sister especially loved this idea.

We met this lolita right at the end. Isn't her son adorable? It's always fun seeing those with families come to meetups. It's like a glimpse into my own future, you know.

Also, you finally get to see a coordinate with this dress. I was planning to go as Ori hime from the Tanabata legend, but I ran out of time to make a crown of tinsel stars and paper wishes (out of construction paper).


So, here's one last picture of the four of us (now including my sister), graciously taken by the husband of the lolita in blue.

There were several other lolitas I regret not having a picture of--and to those lolitas, thanks for conversing with this shy loli, and I hope to see you next time!

Also, unless otherwise inspired, I believe I'll leave the rest of the 30 day challenge to the other bloggers who have taken it up. Good luck to all of you!

Of red bats and digital art

I've still been celebrating Sophistique Noir's Red and Black Week, even though I didn't get to post yesterday.



Anyway, I'm proud to announce the functional completion of my red x black jumperskirt!

I say functional because I plan to add some trim, such as lace around the waist (haha, no one will ever know that the top of the skirt meets unevenly in back), and I'm going to practice embroidery on a section of the bodice.






Yesterday I used Red and Black Week as inspiration to mostly finish coloring the foreground of this picture. (Click for larger.)

I don't know much about digital coloring yet, but I'm really happy with it so far! That's my character Castal, having a "I come back to you as Gandalf the White" moment.

He's kind of hard to sum up, but that makes it even more fun trying to figure out a short description for him. I call him my "Italian punk opera nerd" and in his own words he's a "Rennaissance zombie punk." I did some research and it turns out he's closer to horror punk than anything (I think). He's usually more smiley than fierce, but this is a pivotal plot point. Love you, Castal. <3

And last but not least, I'm wearing these earrings today.

Of a darkly dramatic color combination

Welcome (midweek) to Red and Black Week! And also, welcome and thank you to my new followers!
The above-mentioned week's icon, from Sophistique Noir~



I meant to do a catch up post yesterday, but in the course of anime-watching I got myself traumatized by accidentally wandering into what TVTropes.com calls a Cosmic Horror Story. I was not impressed.

Anyway, on to lovelier thoughts. On Sunday I didn't manage to pull an outfit together, but I did start on another red-and-black project I've had in mind.

A coffin purse! Here's the outside half-completed...

And the lining.~

Yesterday I only got a mirror shot of my outfit, but most of the red/black details were in the upper half of the outfit, and I really am getting fond of mirror shots (at least to show details like earrings.)

















...But next time maybe I'll clean the mirror first.
 
Today my coordinate is Fire Nation -inspired (referring to the show Avatar: the Last Airbender). At least that's what the red and gold top always makes me think of, so I ran with it.

Since I added the vest to add more black, this outfit makes me think of Mai in particular--an added bonus, since I love her and she's been called the Avatar equivalent of a goth girl (I think).













Also, another mirror shot.~

Happy belated International Lolita Day to all of you, by the way! I didn't do much, but I did wear a lolita skirt and worked on my writing (which seems a rather lolita pasttime especially considering my genre). But anyway, I've had fun reading about all of your loliday celebrations, and red/black posts!

Of Day the Eleventh and some art

You'll have to excuse your Ballroom host--I was distracted for a few days by a rather wonderful anime series called Wedding Peach, wherein a young girl transforms into a Love Angel in order to save the Angel World. I adore the magical girl genre. I suppose a similar reason drew me to lolita, which lets me transform into my "magical true self," to put it in terms of the genre.

Anyway, a day in the life of DuskRose.

First, an outfit snap. It's not lolita (obviously) but I decided to put a bit more effort into it than usual. I've been wanting to experiment more with accessories and things. I like how this outfit turned out.

(This was inside, so no shoes to show you.)

But you can't really see my earrings--this is significant because I don't wear them that often--so I tried my hand at mirror shots.

This is the red x black JSK I'm working on, which I hope to finish in time for Red x Black Week. Princess seams are difficult! But worth it.

It's my first time using lining. You may recognize the black x white lining fabric I also used in that one skirt a while back.

And randomly, a shot of the window and outside.

Tea time! I usually drink tea and or coffee several times in a day. I really have a weakness for hot drinks. <3

I don't have a picture for this, but I spent part of the day revising a pivotal scene in my novel. It takes place in an enchanted ballroom, which gave this blog its name. You know, actually I do have a picture.

Behold Lorcan and Taralyn, my protagonists. I'd like to make their silhouettes into a background for this blog, perhaps.

A while later I attached the skirt to my JSK. (It was only pinned before.) The top layer is a light crinkly embroidered, er, cotton (?) and the lower layer is iridescent red bats on a black background. It's one of those shiny Halloween fabrics, which I could not resist.

I figure the cotton will tone down the underlayer, and the red bats will keep it more gothy than country. Country lolita is adorable, but I'm not well suited to it.

I leave you with a farewell from the bats.