Of more updates and more art

Two of my characters in the faerie ballroom for which this blog is named.

Hello again! I've missed writing to all you gothic lolitas and other lovely dark types. In the future, I have Very Important Plans about the way I want my life to be, and upkeeping the Ballroom is one of them. I'm just currently in an in-between phase where I have to live at home, rather far away from the urban life (and friends) I've grown to love...so I've been feeling too lethargic to try and write a post. But someone I met at Noize Factory (Faktory?), who turns out to be a fellow blogger, inspired me to do an update.

Hmmm... Not a whole lot has been going on (unfortunately XP). I was going to do a post about the picnic and swap meet we had in...March? But I missed attending because of some work I had done on my teeth. (Fillings. Ugh. Also I just got all four of my wisdom teeth out--the back molars, in case you're unfamiliar with that term--which was my first time under general anaesthesia.)

So, my goal of making more friends in the loli community is still pending, but I have been making some goth friends, which I've been wanting to do for even longer. Kinda sucks being the only gothy type you know. Hence the outing to Noize Factory mentioned earlier!

Speaking of gothy friends, laser tag is amazing. Just putting that out there. It's not as non sequitur as it sounds.

The other thing that's been happening is more digital art of my characters and their dark fantastic world. I need to put the new pics on deviantart (which I linked in the previous post I think, if you're curious), but let me show you a few of the new ones. I feel like this post would be boring otherwise, hehe.

Umeko, my gothic lolita character. It sort of seems appropriate to post her first. I'm sure you understand why.

Umeko in her magical girl form.

Taralyn, my perkygoth dreamer and main character. Friend and fellow magical girl of Umeko, and later girlfriend.

Lorcan, the slumbering prince in Faerie whose spell Taralyn tries to break. Also her boyfriend. (A lot of my characters are polyamorous.)

Taralyn having coffee and a heart to heart with Rivarwe, the Raven Goddess. Who is also a biker. Sometimes.

 Thorny Kiss. Taralyn with King Ayava, her mentor and patron deity.

I wanted to add one more of Taralyn and Ayava, but it's not showing up, so maybe next time. Stay darkly romantic, okay? <3 Edit: Oh, that's what happened. It posted this pic at the beginning. Twice. I think I'll keep the other one as an intro pic.

Of pretty, pretty boots

Oh dear, what happened to the time? I've been caught up in a bunch of stress lately, such as school and family matters. You see, my grandmother, who was very 'classic lolita' at heart, passed away in November. So that's been....weird. And it takes getting used to.

But having my bf and my friends around, loli and non-loli, has really helped a lot to make me feel like pursuing all my creative stuff. I've wanted to post again for quite some time, just didn't have pictures of the things I wanted to show you...or I felt lethargic and only wanted to play zomg on Gaia Online. O.o (And my character's wardrobe inspireth le envy! In this goth-loli-fae-witch, that is. I want that wardrobe in real life. Soon. *scurries off to sew*)

*comes back because BLOG and also, don't have fabric* (Sadface)

You know what I really love about sewing? The dresses, or other big items like that, which i can make extremely fancy and ribbonful and darkly decadent. So i've decided I'll have much more energy and dedication to making stuff to sell if I jump right in with a few skirts. Skirts in lolita are easy to make, and easy to make adjustable (elastic waists for the win!), and the part I really love, the fancifying, can be gotten to very quickly. So watch out for updates on that.

Speaking of characters, I'm trying to make a fighter game with my magical girl team (the main characters in my stories...basically). The idea comes from my fandom I mean obsessive love of Grief Syndrome, a 2D platform game about the characters in Madoka Magica. I'll give you a few in progress sketches of Taralyn, my main main maaain character. (There are levels of main, you see. But Tara is the most main of them all. Sort of.)

Also: I GOT NEW BOOOOOTS! (From Sweetboots.com.) Proper gothy boots that lace up to the knee. I thought they'd be hard to walk in but surprisingly no. At least, they're a lot less hard than when I learned to walk in the first and much much lower heels I bought a few years ago. When I was but a mere sophomore in college.
But yeah, pic spam!!!!

I proudly sent this last one to a fellow goth who's a dear friend and slight crush of mine (so, a normal friendship for me haha), because as he says, finally getting some proper goth boots is quite a landmark. In a bout of randomness I also along with this pic told him that I had had a dream about him and his pet snake. o.O (Does anyone else love snakes too? They're so cute and mysterious, like cats.)



I went to a loli meet a couple weeks ago and will be going to another next week, but I didn't get any pictures of the first one. However, my lovely bf came with me and it was awesome. :3 I'm hoping he can be my transportation next time too, so when I remember to take pics you can see him.
I lied, actually. I got one picture.

Till next loli picspam though, I give you Sheepie.

She's wearing the scarf my sister gave me for Xmas. I love wearing it too, but it just looks so cute on my sheep. Also, here's an awesome cross necklace someone else gave me, along with another cross necklace I had made earlier.
I think it should be clear which is which. I don't work in metal so much.

Of costumes and hooves

Good Godoka, why do I have to be a senior and have mental issues at the same time? I'm so glad there exists a support network of friends (especially one who KNOWS WHO HE IS *cough muscovite cough*) to keep my spirits up. And meds. Those exist too. Which reminds me. *excuses self for a moment because it's pill time which yes I normally put off till this late in the day because swallowing pills is not in fact a piece of cake for me*

I want cake now. I shall make myself chocolate milk instead.

But anyway! Happy Halloween! I hope it was fantastic and witchy for all of you. I dressed as Luna from My Little Pony, with her cutie mark drawn on my shoulder in makeup. Then I watched the Japanese movie Wild Zero with my friends, and that movie defies all explanation but I highly recommend it. So, SO epic.

 And a bonus outfit with my pretty crimson corset.

Also, Sheepie has a hat now. Hats are cool.

Other highlights of October: I got another corset top, which was on clearance, and started work on my first commission (a cloak for a friend). Pictures will be forthcoming.

And now, I will be using November, AKA NaNoWriMo, to write a readable draft of a book I've been working on for quite a while. It's the first of several concerning Lorcan and Taralyn, if you've heard me mention them on here. Also the one that begins with a vision/dream that inspired Taralyn to write that song under my profile pic and ALSO inspired the title of this blog. It was a pretty fantastic dream.

Of lace and space

Oh my Godoka, I am so tired. That could be because I just walked home with three bags of groceries, but this summer in general has been a wearing one. So obviously, it's pic spam time.

I turned 22 last month!

My friends threw me a cupcake and cookie making party. :3

Also I've finally made some progress in my wares for Etsy.

(wrist cuffs)

(headpieces)

(chokers, and one more headpiece)

 

I made a friend who's a boss at doing hair. Also I sold her the first of my wares! Which she is wearing here. Along with the results of her hairboss skills.

She also tried on the first corsage I made, for my own wardrobe.

Later that night we went to a goth club and I took an outfit snap. 

A few weeks ago (on an unrelated note), I had an attack of ZOMG CUTE in my university's bookstore. I'll show you why.

It's a roly poly fluffy manatee! You're welcome, Sweet Lolitas.

And now some Doctor spam. I was a wee bit excited about the new season of Doctor Who, and Eleven had me firmly in his squee-inducing clutches. Uh, more than usual. So I sketched him. (Yes, in the middle of Japanese class. I have to stay awake somehow.)

And THEN the ballroom studio at which my mom and sisters take dancing lessons (I would love to join them, but it's an hour away from my university, so maybe later) had an open house, and the theme was the greatest object of my nerdly adoration: space. So obviously, I had to go as the Doctor. And this involved pulling Eight's wardrobe practically out of my closet, since he is rather steampunk-romantigothy-ish. Also I made a TARDIS. Out of a tissue box. 

 

And Sheepie (consult previous post) was my companion. ^u^

Of sheep and black lace

I made a skirt for Sheepie (my cute stuffed sheepie), who is also known as Annabelle Lee, so she could have something gothy to wear to Das Bunker. I finished crocheting it in the dark in a moving car on the way there! It was exciting. o.O And this is now the background of my phone.

 

I want to post more often. But this Japanese class is being quite difficult, so be content with sheepie (at Das Bunker) for now. :) 

Of tea with lolitas

A few weeks ago, I finally attended a Lolita meetup at a teahouse! It was such fun, and quite worth the wait. (For one reason or another I hadn't been able to until now... You know how it is...)

I have finally figured out how to send pictures from my phone to my email, too, so expect some pic spam for the next couple of posts.

First, meetup pic spam time!

 My friend and fellow Japanese student (and translator!--which is what I aspire to be, though more on the interpreting side), Jamie, organized the meetup.

 

Also, I can finally show you my dress! (Click for larger, I think.)

(If any of those pictured wish to have their names added or photo removed, please let me know!)

I'll return with a couple of visits to a new Lolita boutique that has opened in Little Tokyo (return with pic spam of that, I mean).

Of Getting Dresses Almost Done (like a boss!)

I meant to post this earlier, but ah well. Tis time for an update on my wonderfully and insanely complicated dress. (Yay!) I've done a lot with the bodice and sleeves since last time, you see.

The pictures are nothing special, but here it is, hanging in the doorway.

I'm so excited for this dress. Since taking these pictures, I've added a bunch of loopy loops for the lacing up sections and so far one black rose to the neckline.

For the nerds among you, I went to a LARP tonight called Starship Valkyrie, where I was head of...Engineering! So loli, right? Fixing ALL the THINGS when stuff breaks like crazy during battles is strangely appealing. Anyway, have a good midnight, all of you. *glances at clock, which says 3:30am* ...Give or take a few hours...

Of being well met by moonlight

I had forgotten that my polyvore automatically updates to Blogger, but even so I hope some of you enjoyed the recent deluge of polyvore sets. I wanted to try the same lolita + zodiac idea that Aly employed on her blog Miss Lumpy, except that I was going for a more gothic aesthetic (as I'm sure you gathered). I'm better at creating art sets than the strictly fashion ones, so they aren't literally lolita, but I'm quite proud of them, even so.

Other recent news...I went to Fresno to visit my prince, last weekend. I will try to obtain a picture or two from our date at a goth club event. It turns out I'm better at dancing than I thought, which is rather helpful in confidence-building (aka it provides yet more evidence that I should not be as painfully shy as I am, which I am trying very hard to overcome).

Yesterday I attached another(!) ruffle to the skirt of my dress, but didn't manage to get a picture quite yet. Will do so, soon. That reminds me! I also need to photograph my recent for-Etsy crafting. Let's just say I suspect my trademark will be (ribbon-made and all other sorts of) roses. But you knew that. And chandeliers, of course.

On Sundays I have a Japanese study group that meets at Starbucks, and yesterday I happened to meet a lovely gothic lolita (making three of us in all in that group, plus another one who wasn't dressed in goth loli that day) with whom I am now planning to revolutionize our local community. Translation: we need tea meetups every week. Also, we think there should be more gothic (in addition to sweet loli) vendors at various events, and accordingly will combine our crafting powers. Watch for more news on the subject! Seriously, it was like one of those wonderful chance encounters I would write for my characters--except it happened to me, in real life! Remarkable, no?

Of the dusk faery girl who wears chandeliers

I have finally taken pictures of my dress in progress! So, my Ballroom guests, this will be a quick post to show you a first glimpse of my take on the "Black Rose Fairy" dress from AatP.

Front:

Back:

With shirring! And chandeliers!

And guess what I've been embroidering on the skirt panel:

Moar chandeliers! It's a motif I've been meaning to add to Various Things for so long.

Also, I bought some new shoes, which look a bit Victorianish.

Fair midnight, again. Never mind that it's 3pm where I am. As evidenced by my blog title, Midnight is a place, not a time. Or maybe it's a world. Or a state of mind. Or all of the above.