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.

Of sweet red witchery and sheep

Last night I went with a friend to a Valentine's event in Koreatown, called Shibuya Lovers Night. I was still recovering from lack of sleep, but it was fun people-watching. They were very all prettily dressed. The event had a sort of a cute yet morbid theme, which I think Valentine's Day lends itself to very well. Not morbid exactly, just...gothy? Anyway. Like Sweet and Gothic loli combined.

They also had some amazing chandeliers, like the one that was maybe ten or twelve feet tall (the ceiling was really, really high) and made of a million little prisms, so it was all rainbow-strewn and sparkly. If I figure out how to get pictures from my phone onto here, I'll show you.

However, I do have a picture or two (finally!). I discovered the one place in my house that is currently fit to be seen--my bedroom. Which is conveniently where my Versailles poster is, so I sat on the bed for what felt like a very "portrait" style outfit snap. In this you finally get to see the bat dress worn, along with my first successful headdress. I love headdresses! *sigh....*

I felt either like a willful whimsical doll, or a very fancy witch in this outfit. It was marvelous. I wore my cloak too, which made it more witchy. Oh! And there's my Sheepie (also known as Annabelle Lee), whom you can see there beside me. Since she was there, I thought she'd make a fun addition to the portrait.

Also: a makeup shot, because I finally managed to do something I've been wanting to since I started lolita. I had seen a beautiful makeup tutorial on egl in which the eyes were painted in a vivid red or blue on the inner half of the lid, and then black on the outside. I went with red-black and blue-silver, which was a bit more vivid than you can see here.

I didn't quite manage to finish my dress this weekend, but I brought it with me to do some handsewing. Because with out all the subtle elaborate embellishments, it's just meaningless frills. Yes, I made a Kamikaze Girls reference. It even fits, because I plan to embroider on it along with other elaborations.

So, I shall retire from your lovely company for now, and bid you a fair midnight. Does that work, grammatically I mean? I say it does. Yes.  

Of short updates

This weekend I meant to take some in-progress pictures of of my new dress, but spent that time sewing it instead...which makes sense I suppose. Anyway, I don't have the lovely exciting frills and flourishes on the dress yet, so hopefully next weekend, when I'm closer to that point, I can post more interesting pictures.

Also, I just discovered a blogger Valentine's Day event, which seems very gothy and darkly romantic, as it involves vampires. You can bet I'll be joining in.

Oh dear, it's 3 AM and I have classes at 11 tomorrow, so I suppose I should sleep now. But I didn't want to leave you update-less much longer, even if I don't have pretty pictures quite yet. Anyway, have a merry Wednesday!

Of Brands that READ MY MIND

Winter quarter has started and I'm still getting my new routine under control, so thanks for being patient with the delay! I hope everyone had a good winter holiday.


Sadly I have no camera with me, so this will be a bit of a shorter update. But anyway, since this quarter promises to be rather busy, I made a list of my creative goals and it's hanging from my shelf now, so that might be a nice concise anecdotal summary of my plans. Those of my plans that my Ballroom guests might care about, that is.

"List of fun endeavors in case of hima toki! [free time]

--Etsy
--Crafting
--Blog
--Songs
--Write
--urzai"

Bet you can't guess which one I'm doing now. Oh, also, "Urzai" refers to my favorite Avatar pairing, meaning that I need to update this one story (okay, fanfic) I have that centers on them.

It just occurs to me though that I forgot to write a Very Important Goal which is: make more lolita! I'm planning to make a dress heavily inspired by AatP's La Fee de Rose Noire (I've linked you to a post dedicated to this dress on akumaxkami's blog, Les Fleurs Noires). From the name, "Black Rose Fairy," to the opulent ethereal design to...to just about everything, I'm completely in love. It's rare that I find my "dream style" of lolita in the brands, but in case you were wondering, this is it. Well maybe not the lace overlay at the very top (though it's pretty), and I plan to change the roses on the bodice to black ones (of course). But seriously, when I first saw this dress I felt like Momoko did when she first lays eyes on a dress from BtSSB, which promptly slays her old self.

I think I'll leave you with that, and hopefully an update with pictures will be forthcoming!

Of cloaks at last

Happy Loli Day to all of you! I've had flu for a while, but knowing it was ILD did lend a festive air to that particular sick day.

I'll be out of town for a while after this, but I may have time to update so I'll try to do that. We're going where the winter is colder than in California (though it does get chilly here, don't get me wrong) so this year, instead of looking for a winter coat, I fulfilled a long held dream and made a cloak! I showed you fabric pictures before, but here are some worn pics.

It isn't perfect, but I love this cloak. It's so gorgeous and warm. In fact I'm wearing it right now, "because I can."

Recently I've also put a lot of my time into crocheting accessories to (I hope) sell at the next swap meet. These aren't quite finished, but I thought I'd show you what I have so far.

~Two different chokers (they're supposed to involve beading lace, but I haven't added the ribbon yet)

~Wrist cuffs (from two different sets) and a headpiece.

It is a bit tedious but I like how they're turning out. Sometimes I've been crocheting while watching anime, or documentaries about space. I am such a space nerd. Did you know that our lovely moon was formed by another planet the size of Mars crashing into the Earth? It was awesome.

...Alright, I'm done now. Have a happy winter holiday!

Of cloaks and knitted white roses

This weekend I was able to take a few pictures, not to mention venture forth to the fabric store, so let me elaborate on a few crafting plans, shall I?


So first, here is half a finished pair of my easier-to-knit alternative to knee length socks (which I love, mind you), for which I'm avoiding the term 'legwarmers' because it might be harder for me to argue they have true loli potential, which I personally feel they do. OH! And they're going to laceup, hence the rectangular (non tube-ish) shape.

The lighting was not good, so I edited a bit. I'm not familiar with this editing program, so I hope it's not too hard to see! That's supposed to be a window in the center, with chandeliers and rose vines on the sides...

For my winter coat this year, as a cheaper and so much more nerdily fantastical alternative, I'm making a cloak. I have always wanted one, ever since I fell in love with The Lord of the Rings at twelve. Here's my fabric for the outer layer (black with swirlies and points) and the lining (snuggly red fleece).

I used the lining as a backdrop for the clasp (as you can see). I love white gems, and I'm probably influenced in this by the Elves.

Also, I picked up a package of black and white fleur-de-lis appliques that I have been eying for the longest time.

I also acquired a handy little book about embroidery, which I've discovered I love like some people love knitting or crochet or...or flower-making... Anyway, it's "my" craft, if you know what I mean, the one that really feels "right." I think it's because it's a bit like drawing.
Thanks so much for reading, my dancers--I've got to run at the moment though, so I'll see you again soon!

Of legends cloaked in moon and shadow

Terribly sorry, I didn't realize my polyvore account simultaneously publishes to my blog. o.O

Anyway, I was creating a few sets yesterday to spice up my posting in lieu of pictures. I used my characters as inspiration, which made it really fun.

Rivarwe Doom-raven by duskrosedreaming on polyvore.com

Rivarwe is the Reaper to one of my races, and also the Dreamweaver. She's very much a spiritual mentor too, quite dreamy, perkygoth-y and wise.

Dark poet and the Raven King by duskrosedreaming featuring gothic necklaces

The Raven King is a mystic legend in my world--at one point he managed to save most of the galaxy (this is fantasy-with-outer-space, you see), but to do so he had to give up his wings. He's from my race of Anwi, which are a bit like Elves with white (or black in this case) swan wings. "Dark Poet" --or, Yetue, as that's her name--is his beloved, who would have gladly joined him in sacrificing her wings as well, but circumstances prevented it. They rule the West Anwi together in a twilit land separate from the main part of my world.

Ah yes, and that top picture (the cloaked praying figure) is Rivarwe again--I had to include her since the above-mentioned king is her oldest disciple.

I hope you're all having a pleasant Thursday!