Amateur Bard

Or: Holy Shit, Two Cakes Hats!

I survived another trip to the Ren faire this weekend. On the plus side, the weather was perfect for it, uppers 70s and survivable humidity, and I went with some friends; on the downside, it was a very busy theme weekend and Grief Brain was in full swing (forgot the tickets, forgot my makeup, forgot my cash, forgot my shopping list, plus Overwhelming Guilt!)

But I shan’t dwell on the negative aspects too much, but I did have a genuinely lovely time: I got to see one of my favorite shows, I chatted with some friendly strangers, I tried the calzone (would recommend!), and just generally got to spend a nice day outside, looking at interesting stuff, while wearing a silly outfit.

I’ve always been bad at project/deadline management. It’s very easy for me to dream up very elaborate costumes, procrastinate or spend too much time researching, panic when I realize I’m going to be horribly crunched to finish, try to half-ass it, and end up angry at myself and disappointed in my handiwork. So I deliberately decided when I started working on Rabbit’s outfit that it would be a long-term project that would be finished in phases: Phase one would be sewing the base pieces of clothing, phase two would be finessing the fit and structural details after wearing it a few times, phase three would be embellishing the pieces with embroidery and beading and trim…

It’s a system that has worked surprisingly well. I managed to get the major pieces to a wearable state last summer with only a minor amount of crunch. (I do still need the pressure of an impending deadline sometimes!) I’ve been futzing around with the breeches to try out different waistband and closure styles to see what works best. I even decided to make a completely new doublet, but when that wasn’t anywhere near finished for C2E2, I could step back and make the choice that not piling additional stress on myself at the time was worth more than Looking Better. Honestly, it’s probably the healthiest thing I’ve done for myself in ages!

(Psst, what does this have to do with hats?)

Not much, honestly. My first impulse this morning upon waking up after three long, physically and mentally taxing days, was to write something snarky and rude about non-costumers. Then I decided to, uh, flip that impulse upside down and write something nice about myself instead.

Also, I wanted to show off my new hats a little! The yellow one was purchased at Bristol from La Gazza Pazza. Absolutely lovely folks at that booth! It’s a nice flat cap made out of some gorgeous silk; I just could not resist the yellows~ Now, of course, the yellows do coordinate with the yellow trim on Rabbit… but I spent most of my drive yesterday concocting a new character to go with the hat.

The blue hat is the one I spent last week making. It’s an attempt at a split brim barett that was popular in the first quarter/half of the 1500s. As I understand it, they were originally made out of wool but I neither had wool fabric to hand nor did I have the desire to knit and felt a hat in a week. I did have a piece of cotton corduroy in the stash… There’s many things I would change about it, but I’m also extremely pleased with how it turned out anyway. Seriously, look how happy I am:

(Happy because I finished the hat, loopy because I finished the hat at like 10pm, disheveled because I decided to throw on Ye Olde Shirt for a picture at like 10pm…)

My goal this week, costumewise at least, is to bribe my dad to take a couple of pictures of me in full garb, and to start writing up some entries about the various parts of the costume. Just gotta let the coffee kick in first.

(Oops, negative again: I did realize that I hadn’t encountered one of my least favorite ‘bits’ from Ren faires, and to an extent, other festivals: “Your [hat/belt/pouch/shirt/whatever] sucks, buy one of mine!” Listen, I understand that the hat/belt/pouch/shirt/whatever guy really wants you to buy a new hat/belt/pouch/shirt/whatever from him. It’s his business, I get it. I’m just absolutely the wrong target for that type of sales pitch and because I am part of the No Fun Brigade (that’s sarcasm, kids), I genuinely hope that the pitch is going extinct. )