Of dressing for a winter fairyland

First of all, thanks to all my fifteen followers! You make me encouraged that this blog is coming to be loved. <3 I want to thank everyone for the hits, as well!

In the last post, I promised you some sewing pics, but I'm afraid they'll have to wait till next post. I've almost completed my coordinate for the upcoming meetup (yikes! this Saturday! and it's my first meetup too). And so in the future, I will certainly bring to you pics of my full coordinate and a meetup report, as well as pictures of what I've sewn so far. But for now, I wanted this to be more of a "musings" post, as I was inspired by a recent post on another lolita blog...

Not long ago, Victoria Suzanne of Lolita Charm wrote about choosing personal themes to incorporate into Lolita, for the upcoming fall and winter season. I quite enjoyed her fanciful and very sweet loli take on the "Season of the Lolita". But now, if you will, hear a goth loli's version of a winter fairytale.

Because I am only just starting to build my wardrobe, some of these will be themes that I'd like to add to my wardrobe regardless of the season. Still, I've selected a few that I think would be especially appropriate for winter. As a loli in Southern California, unfortunately I don't get to see much snow, but I have visited Kentucky numerous times at Christmas, and these past two years I lived there for college. The experience of living through two rather surprisingly snow-filled (for Kentucky) winters has not dampened my love for the mystery and stark beauty of that season. And so, several of my themes will strive to bring the cold loveliness of winter into one's personal aesthetic.

Symbols/Motifs:

~Roses. Deep bloodred for romance, and for the strange lingering poignancy that memories of summer leave behind. White roses for sorrow and snow, and ghostly innocence. Black roses for, as always, dusk-shadowed, lovelorn whimsy.

 ~Black thorny stems. Winter is a time of "sharp" contrasts (so to speak), and this motif reminds me of one of my favorite winter contrasts: the dark, leafless branches interlacing against the pale grey sky.

~Chandeliers.  Bejeweled with crystals and lights, they suit the festive decadence of the season. But I adore chandeliers in any season.

~Spiderwebs. Although you wouldn't find many spiders in winter, their delicate silvery webs give an abandoned, desolate air to whatever they adorn, which suits the frozen world. Although I didn't realize it when I first wrote down this theme, the skirt I'm working on incorporates it! The bottom layer is all covered with a pattern of spiderwebs.

~Windows. Tall, tapered windows with many panes, and perhaps the moon or a tangle of rose-vines peeking in through the glass (can you tell I'm thinking of Alice and the Pirates? Specifically, and very ironically, their new Midsummer Night's Dream-inspired print, which has won a solid place on my "If I ever buy brand" list, just behind the exquisite Vampire Requiem.) Windows like these make me imagine Christmas parties at a great house, filled with a vision of sugarplums and glowing candles and guests shimmering in satin and brocade.

~Music boxes. Often in stories (at least in my own), a music box or the tune it plays will hold a wistful memory of a more idyllic time, perhaps a character's relatively carefree childhood. The above-mentioned Christmas parties seem a fitting time for those fanciful, fairytale memories to be created, to hold in one's heart like a melancholy jewel even amidst more troubling times.

~Other motifs that seem to suit winter: swans (both white and black), Victorian cameos and lockets, brooding towers and castles, ravens and perhaps other symbols from the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Speaking of whom, I have discovered (well, re-discovered, as I knew about them already) Nox Arcana, a wonderful gothic instrumental group that creates stunning music. Haunting, poignant, melancholy and beautful. One of my favorite piece so far is The Raven on the album Shadow of the Raven, which consists of music inspired by the writings of Poe.  This piece's ageless, wistful sorrow reminded me of a character of mine, who as it happens is called "the Raven" among his people--it's a title of sorts--and the coincidence quite delighted me.


Now, on to the color themes!

~Red, for winter cheer. Possibly combined with white, silver, or black.

~White, by itself or with silver.  I have wanted to try gothic shiro for a long while, and I think it would perfectly suit a fairy world of snow and ice, beneath the pale cloudy sky.

~Black, of course! Being primarily goth loli, it may take me a while to add other colors into my slowly building wardrobe. However, I'm of the belief that frilly, decadent black suits any occasion. Still, although gothic kuro remains my number one love, I would like to try accenting black with silver (one of my favorite color combinations. Silver is so pretty with anything).


Wardrobe pieces/Design features I would like to try:

~At least one OP. I have a secret longing for at these, never mind how us new lolis are advised against them (based on the fewer mix-and-matching options they give than skirts and blouses).  They make me think of party dresses! Of course, who needs an excuse like a party to dress up?

~Vests. Lately I've found that I love the look of a vest over a frilly blouse. Sadly though it's been too hot to wear them here!

~Possibly more hats. I would love to make or find a tiny top hat. (In her latest post, Yajaira at Lolita Poupee directs us to a wonderful top hat tutorial by Tom Banwell at his blog.)  Then there are always cake hats, gothic style! I saw gothic cake hats on live journal a while ago, but unfortunately I don't have the link at hand.

~A skirt with the top layer caught up to reveal a ruffled underskirt. Something about this look seems very princessy to me. Which reminds me! Gothic hime is another style I would like to try, and I do believe it would suit the winter season, whether at festive gatherings or alone in the twilit winter forest.

~Detachable sleeves, possibly. It does get cool in the winter in California, and of course there's our annual Christmas trip to colder states. I'm looking forward to said trip, not least because I'm starting to miss the winter in Kentucky.

In any case, for obvious reasons this goth girl is looking forward to the return of cooler weather! I've come to believe that summer is California's winter, in a way--that is, it has some of winter's less-than-preferable traits. Many plants die or hibernate in the heat, and being outside becomes rather uncomfortable. Anyway, I hope I've inspired my dear guests in planning their own fall and winter wardrobes, whether lolita or gothic. After all, the "Season of the Lolita" is also most definitely the Season of the Goth.

Of frills and the what-not with which to make them

And she pauses to ponder whether the deluge of crafting and sewing photos she brings this evening will cause any problems in terms of computer speed for her dear guests (she hopes no problems will be had).

Recently we took a trip to the fabric store, so I'll start with the items I bought there. Most of these will be a little dark, so I apologize in advance.

It's always fun looking through the bin of remnant fabrics, and I've been wanting to make some doll clothes, so I purchased a couple of remnants. I don't know if you can see it very well, but this is a rolled up scrap of black lace.

I thought this was too cute, in a delightfully gothic way, to pass up. I might make a doll dress or skirt out of this, and then maybe put a layer of lace over it. However, I'm tempted just to make accessories for myself with these!

While browsing the red tag (clearance) fabrics I found this tulle-like material, which I plan to use as the bottom layer or two of a petticoat I'll be making in the next couple of weeks. I used the flash so you could see it better, but it's much blacker in reality. I love how soft it feels, and there are tiny sparkles in the fabric! It reminds me of the night sky. Of course no-one will see it, but (to loosely borrow an idea from Victoria Suzanne of Lolita Charm), why not wear a petticoat that reminds you of the stars at midnight, even if you're the only one who knows?

Just as she needs a petticoat, this beginning lolita will need bloomers too--so I found a soft black knit in the sale section that I plan to use. The fabric itself didn't seem interesting enough to warrant taking a picture, so I'll wait on that till I start sewing up the bloomers.

I found a lovely and very loliable pattern for a button up blouse (New Look 6599), so I bought that as well. Usually, in and outside of loli I like scoop-neck blouses that don't button up, but recently I've started to think that on occasion, I'd be quite willing to wear a button up blouse, provided it was sufficiently frilly.

Now, what else have I been stitching up? Well, I decided to make a headdress, out of an old skirt from a thriftstore and some ribbon. I love headdresses, and made this one to practice both for headdresses and for making other trifling fancies such as ruffles, ribbon roses, and bows. By the way, this video is an excellent rose-making tutorial.
I'm really quite proud of how this headdress came out. All I need to do now is make the ties out of a few more strips of that skirt's fabric.

As you may remember, I'm making a skirt (which I hope to finish in time for the meetup on the 21st, although that will be interesting since I have a petticoat and bloomers to sew before then as well!) The past few days I've been attaching The Endless Ruffle to the hem.

Here it is! It was quite an experience sewing on the ruffle, so I'm rather proud of the results. The room where I photographed it is very dark, so I had to use flash. The material is much darker and much less shiny in real life. That open side (on the right)  is where the zipper will go. I have a feeling this skirt will be very poofy once I gather it all!

Speaking of (a different kind of) stitches, I'm knitting a pair of lace knee socks, using a sock pattern from Ravelry.com. For the top few inches, I plan to lace them up, so that's why they aren't being knitted in the round quite yet. Unfortunately I am plagued with very sensitive skin, so socks that press too tightly against my legs can pose a problem. However, it can be fun to find ways to work around problems like this, and I rarely pass up a chance to add "corset lacing" to a garment!

Of spiderwebs, ruffles and cosplay

And she returns to the ballroom with an array of long-promised crafting photos, and with thanks to her dear guests who have waited so patiently for an update!

Ah, Real Life. Busy, as usual. But not entirely in a bad way, as evidenced by the photos below of my excursion to Comic Con a couple weekends ago. (Wait...does Comic Con count as "Real Life"? It does for me!) Of course, I can't entirely blame my absence on real life, as various fandoms hold their share of the fault. (Yes, I do admit to writing fanfiction, and I blame that on my obsession with Lady Ursa and most especially Prince Ozai of the Fire Nation.)

Now, onward to a group of sewing photos that have been waiting quite a long time to see the light of day--er, cyberspace. As mentioned in the last post, I have been working on The Endless Ruffle for the lower edge of my first loli skirt. Somehow I feel that last sentence needs a <3 at the end, for maximum whimsicality. Which I am quite in favor of!

At any rate, here is the ruffle all spread out on my floor. It looks a bit shinier than it is, because of the flash. Pretty endless, no?

From what I've read, the hem of one's skirt should be four times the circumference of the waist, and then a ruffle is two to three times that! So you can imagine the fun I had basting, especially with that stiff material. (The fabric is synthetic, but I've been told it resembles taffeta, which I suppose lends a bit of that "richness" I'm looking to include in my coordinates. The next skirt will probably more of a natural fabric--partly because I live in very hot Southern California, after all.)

Despite the sewing tribulations, I persevered, and gained victory over The Endless Ruffle!

Here is a close up of the fabric.

Again, the flash makes it look extremely shiny. I fiddled with it a little in Gimp2, but couldn't seem to do much about it (perhaps when I become more of a Gimp guru). My carpet is a much darker green, for that matter.

The spiderweb design is a raised "fuzzy" material. This skirt will be two layers, and for the top layer I have a variation of the same fabric, with a patter of blossoms instead of spiderwebs.

At this point, I still had the basting thread in the ruffle. I like that shade of blue, though. It made me feel very Moitie, even though the thread's a bit lighter than the Moitie shade of blue (even without the flash).

The skirt still needs quite a bit of work, but I hope to complete it by the third week of August. You see, there is a meetup planned for the 21st, which as it happens...is my birthday! What better way to celebrate turning 20 than to don my first complete coordinate and attend my first meetup? Pictures of all this sewing and meetup-attending will be forthcoming, I assure you.

Now, onto a little bit of non-loli crafting. Last year for Comic Con, my mother and I (mostly my mother) made an Ursa cosplay that I am quite proud of, as it turned out rather gorgeously. So for two years now, I have attended Comic Con as young Ursa from Avatar: the Last Airbender.

At the convention, Ursa found her favorite student from Monster High: Draculaura (at the Mattel booth)! I'm sure you see why a whimsically romantic goth girl such as myself can identify with her.

This year, I made myself a few new accessories for the cosplay--hence the mention of crafting. At Micheal's (a craft store) I found some lovely beads from Blue Moon Beads, specifically their Asian-influenced line of beads, called Orient Express. With these I made two hair clips, a matching ring (looped around my finger with a ribbon), and a necklace. The pendant makes me think of the Fire Palace, or perhaps Avatar Roku's temple!

Young Urzai (UrsaxOzai) has a special place in my heart, so I mainly cosplay young Ursa, specifically during her betrothal to Prince Ozai (i.e. before she became Princess Ursa). I figure His Highness totally decked me out with jewels--do excuse your host's girlish giggle--and said assumption did rather add to the enjoyment of working on my cosplay! To complete the "decked out" look, I bought a few more accessories, from Target as it happens. There I acquired two more hairclips, a hair elastic (for the back of my top knot), and a ring made from a zipper!

I have a few more crafting pictures for you in the near future, which will include the goods from a recent run to Joann's (my favorite fabric store). I hope to post them very soon, but I believe I should end this post before it gets much longer! In the meantime, do look over the long list of tutorials which the marvelous Miss Caro-chan has compiled over at F Yeah Lolita. As a sewing loli, I know that I at least shall find this compilation quite useful!

Now, happy sewing or however it is that my dear guests like to amuse their darkly frilly hearts. <3

Of strawberries and apples

And she assures her dear guests that she is indeed working on said loli skirt, and will post pictures soon, but first she has a rather more lifestyle-related post to make. (She also wishes to thank all of her followers--fourteen before her seventh post! She never expected that...) And now--

Baking, my dears! Of course, nothing says that you have to like baking or any other "lifestyle" hobby to consider yourself a lifestyle loli (just as a fondness for bats, The Addams family, or any number of traditionally "oh-so-gothic" interests are in no way required to consider yourself a goth). Still, my younger sister (the one that made the lovely Fire Nation doll clothes from a previous post) has been baking a lot recently, and a couple weeks ago she inspired me.

That evening, my parents were to attend a bible study, and my mother wanted to make an apple and strawberry crisp but didn't have the time. So I decided to give it a shot, and by all accounts the people at the bible study quite enjoyed it! We still had enough apples and strawberries left over to make another one, so I did so the next morning and halfway through decided to document the process in case any of you darlings should wish to try it.

I used this recipe, which is very simple. At first I couldn't find our canister of cinnamon, so after a little research I discovered that ground cloves can be substituted, although one must use markedly less, because the taste is so much stronger. The first time I made this, I hadn't ended up with quite enough of the topping (I used brown sugar to fill in the gaps after baking, both times) so I tried to add proportionately more of each ingredient. I only roughly estimated, but it seemed to turn out all right.

Now, for the fruit! This is where I started taking pictures. Having had lots of practice by this point, I was getting better at cutting up apples (which is hard!). I thought I remembered using three (green) apples the first time, but this time two were almost too much for the dish I was using. Maybe it was my (somewhat) improved skill in cutting apple slices.

The strawberries were much easier to slice (if you have a small, sharp knife)--and I must say, I felt very loli while doing so! I cut them into thirds or even fourths whenever I could, and ended up using a one-pound container of strawberries for each crisp.

You can see the strawberries over a layer of apples (which you can't see quite as well). It already looks delicious, no? For the first crisp I ended up using several teaspoons of lemon juice, so the apples wouldn't brown in the air. I'm told it that the first crisp tasted a little tart (though apparently not in a bad way) even though I had tried to compensate with sugar, so this time I used less lemon juice and sprinkled lots of sugar on the apples as well as on the strawberries.

Here are the strawberries with sugar (which was melting, so I had to take the photo quick)! I thought this looked like the perfect sweet loli dessert. Even this goth loli thought it looked delicous!

After this I sprinkled on the topping, and then it was into the oven! As you can see, there was plenty of topping, but after it baked some of the strawberries still showed through. The recipe didn't say whether to preheat the oven or not--but I did so and only baked the crisp 35-40 minutes instead of 45.

While it was baking, I decided to dress up. Till now my wardrobe has been more goth than loli, but I have added several pieces that (to me) fit the loli asthetic, while not being loli themselves. I don't usually dress this fancy (though I intend to change that very soon), but I was somewhat inspired by knowing that I would post this...besides the fact that none of my long pants (better known as trousers to some of you) were clean at the moment.

 
 
 red tartan top: Target

black shirt underneath: thrifted? (I believe I got it from my sister--a different sister from the aforementioned one)

skirt: originally a long skirt that I found at a thrift store, which I altered quite a bit last summer (practicing to create garments that "fit the loli aesthetic" despite not being loli themselves). I cut off the lower part and sewed it back on a few inches below the waist line to create the illusion of an extra layer.
Then I gathered the sewn on part vertically in several (well, three) places for a scalloped effect, and sewed on several little roses of red ribbon to match the printed ones on the fabric. One of the gathers broke, so I've been using a safety pin to hold the gather in place (you can't really see the safety pin here). I've decided I rather like the punk-y effect of the safety pin, despite it's being unplanned!

bows: either Hot Topic or Icing

bat necklace (hard to see): Hot Topic

Also: In this photo I'm sporting second day curls from Michelle Phan's tutorial for paper bag curls on Youtube. They were quite a bit curlier before I brushed my hair.

I know the peacock feather looks like it's in my hair, but it's really behind me! The effect of the "feather in my hair" does quite amuse me, looking at this photo.

Here's the crisp after I took it out of the oven. After it cooled a little, I filled in the holes with brown sugar.

Later that night, I tried a piece.

It wasn't too bad--and others of my family, my mother for one, seemed to like the crisp very much. However, something seemed a little bit "off" to me. It's a little hard to be less vague than that, as I'm not sure whether it was "too bland" or what. I may have to experiment a little with this recipe. Still, I'm glad I was able to make a dessert involving fruit--especially strawberries, which are my favorite--and I hope to bake more things like this in the future.

That notwithstanding, chocolate will always be this goth loli's first love. Especially fudge, and truffles...!

Ah, yes--a word of warning to those of you planning to use ground cloves: If you know that the crisp may not be eaten up right away, be careful to use a very tiny amount! The taste of the cloves tends to get a lot stronger after a few days.

Well then, next time I shall regale you with tales of my deathly struggle to gain victory over The Endless Ruffle, and perhaps also post pictures of the goods from an upcoming (and long-promised) trek to the fabric store...

Of gothic gowns and spookily quaint Tshirts

And she snatches a moment of quiet amid the aftermath of her little sister's slumber party, firstly because she wishes to welcome all the lovely new guests to her Ballroom who have become her followers!

I am extremely pleased to spread the word of a new, multi-lingual Lolita blog list over at LiveJournal, instigated by the marvelous meiki (LJ name). A few days prior, skyblue_pink (LJ name), whose own blog I quite enjoy, had thrown open a query to the general EGL community inquiring after a mysterious and strangely elusive kind of Lolita blog--those by gothic lolis, such as yours truly. I had been wondering at the scarcity of Gothic Lolita blogs myself, and so, like several others, I posted my blog's link on this thread.

I cannot say for sure whether or not this Lolita's query had anything to do with inspiring the later blog list. However, to my great delight, The Midnight Ballroom was listed under the English-speaking blogs (right there among the Ms)! I promptly combed through the list, looking for lolita blogs that I had somehow missed in my great quest to...well, to acquire the long list of blogs you see there to the right. Knowing my own love of perusing my favorite loli blogs' latest musings (and knowing my own slowness to update this blog), every blog that I add is added with my dear guests in mind. Yes, truly. (Your host is sentimental as well as strange.)

I shan't witter on much longer this time, but all of this is to say that I want to welcome all my new followers, most especially those from LiveJournal! I do hope you will enjoy the ecclectic goings on of this darkly fanciful place.

And now, I promised you pictures, didn't I? For those who have only just wandered into our enchanted moonlit tea party, I will reiterate that my Loli Day this June closed with a formal dinner for a friend of mine who is graduating high school. I do not yet have any Lolita clothes whatsoever, but my gothic side got a chance to darkly shine, in a long gown of black lace that I acquired a few years ago.

 I truly apologize for the (sloppily drawn) face mask. I will try to avoid such practices in the future. However, all of the pictures taken at this time were candid shots, and while I do love candid shots, in this one I had a rather strange expression that I would prefer not to be your first impression of me.

Now, this may not be loli, but that doesn't mean we can't do an...

...outfit rundown! The opportunity to do such a thing for any outfit, even a gothic, non-Lolita one, does make one feel very loli, I must admit!

dress: Aardvark's Odd Ark, a vintage and secondhand clothing store. I believe they have more than one in the Southern California area.

gloves: Hot Topic

necklace: handmade (with a butterfly pendant and a length of thin black ribbon, which ties in back. Oddly enough, I'm wearing that necklace again today!)

hairclips: possibly someplace like Target? I've had them for a while.

And here's a full outfit shot!

Although, admittedly, my hair covers much of it. Yes, that is my real hair! Anyway, my shoes are unfortunately not very visible, but I wanted to comment that I bought them at a store called the Rack Room this spring, which had several different styles of low-heeled Mary Janes! Hence my newly discovered love for this style of shoe. I like to call this particular pair my "doll shoes," because they make me feel like a quaint and charming doll while still retaining that air of spooky mystery. Perfect for a goth loli, no?

Ah yes, and that is my younger sister (one of them) in the white gown. She isn't a loli herself, but that is a "head-eating bow" of sorts that you see--I believe it's the one I bought for her from Icing this Christmas. I hope she doesn't mind being featured in my blog!


Now for a bonus shot! In my last post (earlier on the day of the graduation dinner), I had mentioned that, while I did not truly dress up, I had donned my most loli Tshirt in honor of Loli Day. After posting that entry, I asked yet another of my younger sisters to snap a quick shot of me, just in case visualizing said shirt was as hard as describing it was.

There! Isn't the print darling? I  bought it at Walmart last year, around Halloween. It makes me want to make an ensemble like the one pictured!

It's a little hard to tell, but I was experimenting with this makeup tutorial on LiveJournal by the stunning sweetsailormars (LJ name)...as well as trying to look suitably melancholy for the photograph. I shall try out said tutorial once more when I have a type of makeup more conducive to vivid colors than my present powder-based eye shadows.

I shan't keep you much longer, but I do have one more bit of exciting and truly Loli-related news. During Christmas break, I began taking my first foray into loli sewing, in the process of making an as yet unfinished rectangle skirt. Today I feel inspired to finally recommence with this project. I have been longing to get started on all the loli-related creative undertakings that have been whirring in my brain, so the prospect of working on this skirt once more is quite exciting. As always, expect pictures of the finished product (and possibly during construction as well)!

Now, I do hope I've inspired my lovely guests to undertake their own creative projects, gothic-and-lolita related or no.

Of Lolita Day, and a Fire Nation prince and princess

And she wishes everyone a marvelous Lolita Day! For those who may not know, this is the first of two International Lolita Days that take place every year: on the first Saturday in June, and the first Saturday in December. As of yet I have no lolita clothing with which to create a suitably fancy coordinate for the occasion (which my dear guests already know, of course, because otherwise I would have posted pictures of said clothing, most likely during as well as after construction). However, perhaps when December rolls around... And that will almost be more fitting as my first Lolita-Day-with-a-wardrobe, because winter is so very gothic, after all...even in Southern California, where, ironically, the blazing summer is the season during which plants hibernate and people stay indoors.

However, my lack of loli clothing does not mean I am not celebrating, in my own small way. Do my lovely guests (that is, the US-based ones) by any chance remember all those Tshirts at Walmart during Halloween last year, that were printed to look like spookily fancy gothic outfits? I have two (having elevated them from "costume" to "everyday wear," as they obviously were meant to be worn, no?) and today I donned the more loli of the two. Let's see, I do believe it has printed on it a pinstriped button down blouse; a purple and blue vest with madly ornate "points" (on the hemlines), which laces (corset style!) down the center; another vest, this time with a pattern of grey curlicue leaves, which fastens with a large ornate cross; and at the top (just under the neckline), a strand of pearls and a big red bow. Very rori, no?

I must say, this Tshirt makes me want to sew an outfit like the one pictured on it! Speaking of pictures, I will have to take one of this shirt sometime, if picturing it is as hard for my guests as describing it was for me.

Besides that, I have celebrated this day by finally trying out a lovely two-tone gothic makeup tutorial that the amazing sweetsailormars (LJ name), whose style I greatly admire, posted for us less makeup-practiced lolis, over on LiveJournal.  (And if that gracious lady wishes me to erase the link for any reason, let me know and I shall.)

I have no picture of my attempt at this makeup style, unfortunately, but hopefully during later attempts I shall take and post one. It came out fairly well considering my less than ideal materials, but the two-tone effect gave way to a general smoky darkness around the eye. (Which, mind you, I am quite happy to wear nonetheless!)

That brings me to the slightly loli-esque event that I shall be attending this evening. You see, I was practicing my makeup in part for a dinner party in honor of a dear friend (and two others), who is graduating from highschool! Although she is not a lolita herself, many of her interests and certainly her marvelous creativity seem to fit with our fashion/subculture's ideals, and make me admire her very much.

Despite my lack of lolita pieces, being a Romantigoth for so long has proven very useful in choosing tonight's outfit. I have a long strapless gown of black lace, which I plan to wear with my "doll shoes"--a pair of slightly-heeled, purple maryjanes. Not a loli outfit by any means, but certainly gothic and romantic, or so I like to think. I shall do my best to post pictures after the event.

Speaking of pictures, I promised you photos of that pair of re-costumed dolls (young Ursa and Ozai, formerly Mulan and Shang) that my little sister presented to me, now didn't I? I haven't gotten a chance to take pictures of them myself, but she had done so previously, and so here are a few!

Thumbelina, anyone? The wings are a detachable pair we have (the only thing not made by my sis in this picture), and admittedly not completely Fire Nation...but this picture does remind me of the song Let Me Be Your Wings from the animated Thumbelina.

Can you believe my sis made these outfits out of scraps from my Ursa cosplay (of which Mulan!Ursa is wearing a mini version, essentially)? Her dollclothes always amaze me!



 So does her photography...

I think she really captured the spirit of why I love young Urzai (UrsaxOzai)! Well, I don't wish to overwhelm you with pictures (although I suppose they could count as a photoshoot, of a sort?) so that's all for now. Incidentally,  we are still busily cleaning house, hence my lack of posting, and lack of creative projects about which to post. However, very soon I hope, the gothic-and-lolita
 lifestyling will be back in full force!

And last but by no means least, I wish to thank everyone who is following my blog so far! I didn't expect to get an audience very fast, but I appreciate all who come to listen to these dark, ecclectic musings of mine.

Do have a wonderful Loli Day!

Of claws, cards and crosses

And she pauses in settling into her own dwelling again, to invite her lovely guests for a spot of tea.

My, what a whirlwind the past few weeks have been! The last days of a semester always are, I suppose. Well--I have completed two full years of college, over at a darling little liberal arts school in the South/Eastern part of the country (not wishing to sound ethnocentric, I will clarify that "the country" refers just now to the USA--sadly, I am merely a devoted fan and not a citizen of Great Britain or Japan, my two loves when it comes to the nations of the world). I live on the west coast, however, and let me confirm that it is quite something to move all of ones things across two thousand miles!

The logistics of moving (and of course the stress of final exams) was not the only exhausting facet of these past few weeks. Sadly, I have found it necessary to look for a school elsewhere for my junior year, in order to pursue a Japanese major and also...well, I shall only say that if any of you have experienced how truly horrendous homesickness can be, you have my deepest empathy. Be that as it may, I realized in those last days that I will very much miss many things about the college, such as my dear friends there, which include the eccentric, closeknit Music Department, my...rather incorrigibly funloving Japanese class, and many others.

I will not wax poetic on this subject at the moment, so allow me to move on and give you a glimpse of my gothic and lolita related plans for the summer, as they regard this blog. In a strange and marvelous turn of fate, I and the rest of my sisters (I have four of them, actually, all younger then me--no, no brothers--yes, indeed, quite fun it is) have simultaneously been inspired to tackle the enormous task of cleaning out and lolify--er, decorating the house this summer. I really must thank Lolita for making me view cleaning up as an enjoyable endeavor! At any rate, partly in keeping with the theme for May on EGL (the Elegant Gothic Lolita community on LiveJournal), which is "What have you lolified?", I shall post pictures of any house-cleaning-related accomplishment I deem sufficiently cute and spooky to interest my dear guests.

Aside from that, this ballroom shall continue to be a home to any of my other creative pursuits that relate to those two favorite subcultures of ours. In fact, I have my first batch of pictures right at this moment. You see, with partial inspiration from the March style tips over at Lolita Charm, I began regularly filing my nails for essentially the first time in my nail-ripping-and-then-clipping existence. Instead of changing the shape into which I file them, as the generally awe-inspiring Victoria Suzanne suggested, I decided to pursue my secret wish for gothic claws! So for the last several months I have been diligently filing my nails long and pointy, and occasionally freaking out the dear normal people. Tis quite fun, I assure you.

Unfortunately, claws and piano do not mix, and so I will have to clip them again whenever I resume playing. But I most likely wait till after the San Diego Comic Con, at which (just like last year) I plan to cosplay young Princess Ursa from Avatar: the Last Airbender, because claws are very Fire Nation, you see. Later, I would like to create sets of fake claws--having been inspired by the nail art of Violet LeBeaux over at Tales of an Ingenue!--which would neatly bypass the whole issue of claws versus ivory keys, and of course when I make anything of that sort, I shall post pictures.

Speaking of which, a couple days ago I experimented with painting my claws a dramatic combination of black and dark red. Being unused to the art of nail polishing, I did not achieve perfection by any means, but please feel free to draw what inspiration you can from my attempts.

Being right-handed, I tried something a little more tricky on my left hand nails--namely, red card symbols on a black background (spade, club, etc). I drew inspiration from a recent post on EGL, although mine came out nowhere near as neatly as that poster's did. Here is the whole hand...

 I do hope you can see it all right, and that it won't crash anyone's browser. Perhaps I'm being a little over paranoid, but I am very new to all of this. Anyway, please excuse the messiness of the back porch--besides being good for natural lighting, I thought our French doors might make a nicely lolita background.

From right to left, the symbols are (supposed to be): spade, heart, club, diamond, and rose (unsurprisingly, knowing me).  If you wish, here are a few links to closeup pictures of the individual nails.

Thumb (spade) (Sorry, it's quite blurry, despite my efforts with a graphics program)

Heart (I tried reinforcing the lines, but alas, blurriness persists...) Sadly, this nail is the most recent of three that have recently broken, and this one hasn't had time to grow back.

The rest are frankly embarrassing, so I'll move on to the other hand. I confined myself to (somewhat sloppy) crosses across each nail on the right hand, and as a whole I like how this turned out better.

The fingers...                                                                 

...and the thumb (not quite as blurry as the other closeups, thankfully).

Well, that's all for now. It has been quite an adventure, figuring out how to post pictures! I feel so loli, here with my blog and my nails. <3  I will say that having these claws gives one a delightfully disturbing thrill, especially considering that a certain demon butler (namely Sebastian of Kuroshitsuji) also has black claws, under those elegant, prim-and-proper white gloves.

As a side note, as I was sitting here wrapping up my post, several of my family members came and presented a welcome home present to me. My sister (one of them, that is) has the wonderfully lolita hobby of making doll clothes (although she is not a lolita herself--not yet, anyway), and she redressed a Shang doll and a Mulan doll as none other than Prince Ozai and Princess Ursa, using fabric remnants from the afore-mentioned cosplay of mine! While their connection to lolita is debatable, I shall have to post pictures of them next time, because it is simply wonderful, after all, to be suddenly presented with a miniature, fantastically outfitted version of one's favorite pairing in the world. ~