Circus-A-Day Recaps of Weeks 9 & 10

We spent weeks 9 & 10 of our Circus-a-Day project travelling to conventions so we are combining them into one blog…

Day 57: Circus Costumes & Tesla Shock Photo

Our second day vending at AnachroCon: Today we dressed in our circus costumes and met some other people who used old circus folk as inspiration for their costumes too! Then, in the evening we watched a Tesla coil demonstration and M managed to snap a photo just as the spark connected between the two men. If you zoom in on the photo you can actually see the little lightning spark connecting their fingers!

Day 58: Burlesque Pasties

So, today involved vending for the last day of AnachroCon, tearing down and loading up the Frenzy Universe Traveling Show, M being contorted in the van during loading and having to crawl out of tiny spaces and twist in weird ways to get it all pickle-packed back in the van, and driving to Meridian, Mississippi for the night. Sometimes the circus is all work and no play. However, we did meet a lovely lady who happens to make burlesque costumes who really wanted a poofy petticoat dress we had, but only had her handmade pasties to barter with, so we picked out some circus ones and made the trade! She threw in a brief lesson on how to make the tassles spin. We haven’t tried that yet. (There will NOT be photos of that!)

 Day 59: Gypsy King & Queen

We started the day trying to find the graves of the Gypsy King and Queen, Emil Mitchell and Kelly Mitchell, respectively. We drove all over Meridian, MS because we got terrible directions. Then we stopped and asked for help and found out we were on the wrong side of town! We finally found them and it was lovely to see all the little gifts people left them. We left an orange, some frenzy pennies and some gold dollars. We also saw a bunch of decorated carousel horses in front of the businesses of downtown Meridian. Colorful and whimsical, our favorite!

Day 60: Alien Circus Drawing (K) & Carlsbad Cavern Rock Formation Photos (M)

We spent most of the day in the van today, driving across Texas. That is a BIG state!! M has a lead foot and so managed to get us to Carlsbad Caverns in time to get in on the last tour time of the day and we saw the Doll Theatre and Lion’s Tail rock formations! Then we drove to Roswell, NM to spend the night and K decided to make an alien circus! M is counting the photos she took at the caverns.

Day 61: SandPunk Lion Tamer & Lion

We crashed in Roswell, NM last night (hahaha! Yep, I said it!) and spent part of the day in an awesome antique store in downtown where we found many wonderful things and a few circusy things. Then, on our way to Tucson, we stopped at White Sands National Park and played on the dunes! K had the brilliant idea of making sand art and so we made a SandPunk Circus Lion Tamer and Lion. We used M’s body for the Lion Tamer and made her lie down in the sand as if she were making a snow angel, then added the top hat and whip.

Day 62: Booth Signage & Modded Men’s Vest

We set up the booth for Wild Wild West Con today and K had to finish up the last of the signage for our merchandise. M finally finished the modding of the formerly white double-breasted vest by adding the fedora buttons she has been hoarding for ages. That’s all we got finished today, folks. We had so much other stuff for the business to get done and we fully intended to get some food and some sleep before the convention started!

Day 63: Circus Costume Photos at Old Tucson Studios

Today was Day 1 of Wild Wild West Con at Old Tucson Studios, quite possibly the best-looking venue we have ever vended at! We dressed in our circus costumes and got some great shots using the old west village as backdrop. We also got to see Steam Powered Giraffe perform and were super excited by their combination of music and comedy and their awesome theatrical makeup!

Day 64: Cat Statues & Carousel Photos

We stopped at the International Wildlife Museum on the road out to Old Tucson Studios to have a photo op with some of the beautiful cat statues! Then we played around the Carousel before the event opened. We were also serenaded by the fun and amazing musical stylings of Steam Powered Giraffe as our booth was right next to the stage! They are superfun and were willing to pose with GingerSnap!

 

Day 65: Bike Church

We passed this little gazebo every day of the convention and finally stopped to check it out. We were not disappointed. The entire thing is made of bike parts such as chassis, wheel spokes, gears. Very awesome and totally Steampunk looking. Oh, and colorful with the stained glass windows. It had a plaque stating it was Bike Church and dedicated to the memory of some people but not why it was built. We thought it was very cool and lovely!

Day 66: Nelly Bly Kaleidoscopes

Today was a driving day. We left Tucson, headed for Flagstaff and made a few stops in the Verde Valley: Jerome and Sedona. We visited quite possibly the coolest store on the planet – Nelly Bly – that is full of amazing and beautiful kaleidoscopes from all over the world in every shape and configuration imaginable! The photos in this album were taken in Jerome. Our camera battery died on us in Sedona so the circusy photos from there are on M’s phone but she forgot to pack the cord necessary to pull them off, so they will be shared later. We also had our auras photographed in Sedona and it was interesting to discover we are the exact opposites and complements to each other!

Day 67: Meteorites & Kaleidoscopes

We visited some amazing places today and have chosen to use our photography as our circus. We hope you all bear with us as we are still a few days away from home and will start making more things once we have access to all our tools and supplies.

First we have us trying to steal a meteorite (it didn’t work) and second we have a photo K took using our new camera kaleidoscope! There will be lots more photos like that as time goes by and we get better at centering the kaleidoscope to get good shots.

 Day 68: Cadillac Ranch

Another driving day, but this time we stopped in Amarillo, TX at the famous Cadillac Ranch. If only we had known it was perfectly acceptable to bring your own spray paint! We had to scrounge for a sharpie marker so we could leave our temporary mark. I am sure it has been painted over by now. It was very windy, but well worth the little side trip. So many colors!!!

K scavenged some rusted old pieces that had fallen off the cars and were painted all pretty to make some jewelry”¦ look for some limited edition Cadillac Ranch pretties from Frenzy Universe in the near future!

Day 69: Candy Galore!

Look at all the colors!!! We stumbled across the Candy Factory in Missouri. And by stumble I mean anxiously anticipated the exit after being bombarded with billboards for it for about 20 miles! We weren’t disappointed. 1,000 different snacks!! We didn’t make the candy, but the jig M did when we walked into the shop and saw all the deliciousness was definitely a performance of circus proportions! We bought about 4 pounds of candy and barely scratched the surface of their offerings!

Day 70: Umm… nothing. Sorry.

That was yesterday. M is totally admitting she did NOT do anything circus unless unloading the van counts (which did involve feats of strength and mild contortionism). There was pretty much no energy left for anything after that. Sorry, folks, roadtrip exhaustion took over and I will try to make up for it in the next few days!

We headed out for our first convention of the year (AnachroCon in Atlanta) amidst freezing temperatures and a lovely mix of snow and ice in Ohio. Loading the van was interesting, to say the least. We made our way to Nashville for the night where our lovely and brilliant cousin Tara gave us refuge. The next morning we accompanied her to Geek Breakfast, which was a lot of fun but definitely left us feeling like the least intelligent bugs in the room. M had a geek out moment when she realized the artist one of the men was talking about was none other than Janet Lee who did the artwork for Return of the Dapper Men, which is M’s current visual love affair. If you haven’t seen the book yet, make sure you get your hands on a copy, but don’t drool on it unless you intend to buy it, that is just rude otherwise.

We made it to Atlanta by early evening and were thrilled to find we were able to just pull up and unload in a balmy breeze. Seriously, no coats required! Everyone was so nice and helpful and their vendor hall staff was always checking on us and all smiles. Cindy, you are perfection and sunshine!

As day one was Friday, the vendor hall opened in early afternoon, which gave us time to finish making our booth signage and get ready at our leisure. We also got a little time to get to know our fellow vendors before the hall opened. We hit it off right away with Weatherly of Aardvark Screenprinting (we had met his daughter and son-in-law at World Steam Expo last year), Mark Helwig (check out his awesome artwork HERE), Rebel Rouser Relics, and the lovely young ladies of I Luv Steampunk. We were mesmerized by the offerings and feel there was an excellent array of goods to be had in the vendor halls. Megan Maude, Steampunk Funk Bizarre, Wolfhome Adventuring Outfitters, Pendragon Costumes, and several others made the weekend a sure bet for anyone looking to part with their cash.

We met Dr. Q who gave us the great news that our good friends Nick Valentino (author of Thomas Riley Steampunk Novels) and Liz Darvill (author of Bound by Blood, Love in the Time of Steam, and many others) would soon be arriving! Yeah, Detroit!! We made a late night run to Waffle House with them on Friday and a lovely dinner of pancakes, burgers, and homefries 4 different ways. Then we caught up with Thomas Willeford of Brute Force Studios who owed us a drink from November. It was lovely catching up with him again, he always has an entertaining story or two. (Dr. Q is hosting the Clockwork Carnival in Atlanta on Saturday, April 16. If you will be in the Atlanta area, we highly recommend you check it out!)

Saturday night was fun with everyone dressed in their finery for the Costume Contest and Fashion Showcase. Unfortunately the Showcase got sidelined by the Tesla coil crowd in the lobby, but that was fun too! M got close during the shocking events (hehe!) and managed to capture the spark jumping between the guy running the coil and Thomas Willeford.

Sunday was a slow day, as everyone had stayed up way late having fun the night before. The vendor hall was hopping though as we all just got goofy and started imagining strange Steampunk mash-ups like Steampunk Disco, Steampunk Jersey Shore, and Mythical Monster Christmas Carols. Tear down went fairly smoothly and we prepared to head straight for Tucson and Wild Wild West Con the following weekend.

A few quick shout outs to people we don’t want to forget:

Gretchen (a.k.a. Wilhelmina Frame) – you were, as always, lovely and entertaining. M still occasionally giggles about that seagull story and we are so going to Circus World and the House on the Rock the next time we are in Wisconsin.

Matt Pettefer – our new friend who had his initiation into the world of Steampunk punctuated by the theft of his camera. We are sorry that happened, but hope you had fun nonetheless. Check out his blog on the event HERE.

Aberrant Radio – those folks were fun and did some seriously in-depth coverage of AnachroCon! Check out their website for more awesomenosity!

Circus-a-Day Project Recap of Week 8

Day 50: Steampunk and Circus Dice

Wow, Day 50! Okay, so we didn’t make today’s circus, but we did make the drive to Toledo and found these dice and bought them. That counts for something, right? Right? We also got to hang out with the lovely art freaks of Steeleworks and Frank & Steele. We picked up some of the awesome gears those folks make with their 3D printer. We also found Steampunk Dice and are already working on the Fortune Teller outfit that will go with them!

Day 51: Circus Signs (K) & Circus Wardrobe (M)

Today, K started to panic about leaving for 3 weeks on the road and had 2 very important things on the To Do List: make signage for the booth and make a circus. So, I combined those two tasks and pulled out lots of pretty papers and my fave circus letter stamps. I did not realize that I do not have any numbers in my stamping repertoire, which I will have to remedy, stat! I have lots more signage to make tomorrow, so don’t be surprised to see more as tomorrow’s circus, too!

M was trying to pack for the upcoming trip and decided as she was pulling clothes out of her closet she would put together a crazy outfit with some of her favorite things. It is not very steampunk because all my Steampunk accessories are already down at the workshop to be packed for the trip. I thought it was funny putting it together but the more I look at it the more I can’t wait until the weather is warm enough to actually wear it!

Day 52: Web Tutorials (K) & Horseback Stuntwoman Skirt

K is counting the three web tutorials she wrote up and posted as her circus for the day. I spend the day editing photos and writing up step-by-step instructions for the Military Medals and Copper Walking Sticks tutorials.

M finally finished the Horseback Stuntwoman Skirt she started over a month ago! It really did not want to be made as I managed to jam the machine twice and lost a needle during today’s process, as well as ran out of thread on the bobbin and the spool (at different times, of course). Had just enough ribbon to make the waist tie. It is so pretty though!

Day 53: Circus Bustle Skirt with Flocking

In the midst of the chaos of preparing for our first two big conventions of 2011, we made the time to mod this double-corset waisted skirt. It was white, but we dyed it, and then we added the great flocked gears by ironing them on. We think it’s super adorable! We’re also very excited to offer the flocked gears in a variety of sizes and colors at a convention near you soon!

Day 54: Mechanical Tiger

Circus on the road is HARD! Here is a photo K managed to get of a crazy drilling mechanism on the back of a semi that we both decided looked kind of like a Bengal tiger to our sleep-deprived, road-weary eyes. M had to do some crazy stunt driving to keep K close enough in the dark but not get too close and freak out the driver.

Day 55: Food Lion & Circus Billboard

Okay, so we didn’t “make” the circus the last two days, but we have made an effort to think about it and try to find circus things to see along the route to Atlanta. Today we give you a Food Lion truck and a Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey billboard.

Day 56: Stamped Circus Signage

We got up very early and finished making our stamped signage for the booth before the vendor hall opened at AnachroCon. K had made several of the signs earlier, but we still had a lot of stuff to label. Working together we were able to crank out the rest of the signage pretty quickly and we think our booth looks pretty flippin’ sweet!

Circus-a-Day Recap of Week 7

Day 43: Lion Head Necklace (K) & Skirt Apron (M)

K’s creative day did not go to plan. I got started out with a plan to solder those fortune cookie charms, but the jumprings were not cooperating. After several aggravated attempts, I realized that I was using aluminum jumprings, so the solder wouldn’t stick. I couldn’t find my steel or silver-plated brass jumprings, so that plan had to be put on hold. I ended up using some heavy chain I had lying around and this great lion pendant to make the brass lion necklace.

M finally got around to finishing the Apron Front for the Striped Bustle Skirt she made several weeks ago. I am not pleased with the way it turned out and think I know where I need to adjust the pattern. I also believe part of why I am not happy with it is the cotton fabric doesn’t drape well and if it were made of a silkier or more fluid fabric I might be more pleased. Here’s to learning through trial and error!

Day 44: Mini CroBot (M) & Pencil Drawings (K)

M decided to get out her crochet hooks and dig through her yarn stash today. I made this little guy from a pale blue yarn and a brown sparkly yarn. The two yarns were a different weight so it made it kind of awkward when using the same hook. His mouth is a hook and eye slot, his legs are some old lock nuts, his arms are bobby pins, and his antenna is a curly hair pin. He isn’t very circus, but he is darn cute!

K got started on two separate drawings, but decided she wasn’t entirely happy with either one. The proportions on the circus performer looked all wrong to me. The other drawing is not exactly steampunk or circus, but here’s the story I made up to go with it: She’s a young, Victorian lady with contacts and prospects, but her heart is with the circus, and in this photo, she is stealing away to join the merry band of carnies passing through her town.

Day 45: Colorizing (K) & Narwhal Drawing (M)

So, K decided to finish something she started (sort of). I decided that some color would go a long way to making me feel better about yesterday’s unfinished pencil sketch. I have to say, I’m pretty proud of it. A while ago, M asked several of our male artist friends why they draw so many naked women, and if clothing was just hard to draw. Many of the men commented that a) drawing clothes IS hard, but that b) men like naked chicks. I have to concur with both points: drawing clothes is very hard. But I think women may be better at it because we spend so much time thinking about clothes. Or, I could just be a nutter”¦

M decided to try her hand at a little drawing while watching back episodes of “Castle” . My obsession with narwhals is reaching new heights as I feel the need to create my own! I am not too terribly embarrassed by this one, which is rare. I drew it in pencil and then photographed it and imported it into the Adobe Photoshop App on my iPad. This was my first go at the program and there is definitely a learning curve when using the Pogo stick to color. I gave up before completing it as it got very late and I was doing more erasing than coloring.

Day 46: Carnivale Earrings (K) & Circus Haiku (M)

K went less “circus” and more “carnivale” today with these turquoise and brass earrings. For whatever reason, I was feeling the color combination and the skulls today.  My inner punk winning out, I guess.

M wrote a Circus Haiku very very late at night and thought it was brilliant! I put it to this pretty paper the next morning to jazz it up a bit as it turned out to not be brilliant after all. Please excuse my sleepy ego and terrible handwriting.

Day 47: K IS the Circus & Circus Bustle Skirt (M)

K IS the Circus – I was dancing around the fool when M said “we should film that and then you could BE the circus today!” So I put on all the crazy clothes I could find just lying around the workshop and used a rolling stool to “dance” on. If you want to see the video, click HERE –it is so worth the chuckle!

Today M decided to make a prototype of something she had been talking about for months. I chose to use some crazy awesome fabric and turn it into my circus for the day (2 birds + 1 stone = genius!). I made the pattern out of tissue paper, cut the pieces and then sewed like a fiend. It helped that the lovely Kara Markley was in the workshop and was excited about modeling the finished item. Future options will have trimming and elastic waistbands!

Day 48: Miniature Collages for Resin Pendants

M and K both worked on making some miniature collages so that when we’re ready to cast resin we have some items ready to set. M is very proud of her first miniature collage (shown to the far left of the photo) and has a newfound respect for K’s abilities to cut out tiny people. K is also counting the walking stick and medal she made today as we took photos for our walking stick and medal tutorials, but we didn’t edit those photos yet, and they are not particularly circusy.

Day 49: Crayon Drawings

It was a very long day in the Frenzy Universe today. Both K & M decided they were both really tired and didn’t want to have to be serious, so we cracked out the crayons and pencils and made silly circus drawings. M made a Steam Elephant and Snazzy Monkey using only crayons. K (who is infinitely more talented in the drawing field than M) drew a Steampunk Carousel Horse after rejecting about five other drawings she felt were either not Steampunk or not Circus.

M’s Insights for Week 7: Things always take at least twice as long as expected, sometimes even longer. It will be very difficult to stay on task and energetic while we are traveling over the next few weeks. Working in miniature is still hard. Crocheting is fun, but time-consuming. I should leave drawing and the like to the professionals. If I can call myself an artist, I definitely must clarify that I am a fiber artist.