AM~Erica Giving a Proper Introduction

So anyway...

It's been a week since Planet Comicon...and I'm still thrilled we got to go & take it all in. And I'm still remembering our experience mostly fondly.

If you remember, I went to Planet Comicon in my long-awaited steampunk outfitted character. And she has been a two(ish)-year project in the making.

I wanted to take a moment to focus on how my brain works & where she came from. At least I'll try...

A couple of years ago, shortly after I discovered Pinterest for myself, I started following someone who had these amazing pins on a board called "Steampunk." I was so curious about it because the pins were intricate, beautiful, spectacular...and I was quite drawn in. So, I went straight to her board to see what other visuals she was providing for inspiration. And I, then, became inspired by this thing called "Steampunk."

As I looked into it (because you all know I research when I find something new to take in), I found it was really from a sci-fi genre of literature, mostly based on the Victorian/Old West times, where the machines & beyond ran off of steam power. And, there are several of the storylines that lean toward a post-apocalyptic time of steam power. There have been movies with the same type of visuals, even TV shows & cartoons...
And I was hooked.

When I read something, I have an idea in my head, but it's true visuals that spark my imagination. I'm a visual learner. So, I started going thru other pins on Pinterest based on this, even Google images. The things I found were awe-inspiring, beautiful, crazy, intricate, and so creative in how those who have created their own characters took the genre to another level.

I could do that.

At some point, I came across some artwork. That's pretty wild, too. But there was one particular body of work from an artist that kept standing out to me. It was from the hand & mind of Brian Kesinger. Not only is he an artist, but he's even worked on Disney productions! I found that out later. But I really discovered him because of Victoria & Otto...along with his Tea Girls. (check out his work HERE)

Here is Victoria & Otto.
Though Otto is depicted much larger in other artworks,
I loved how their coming together is shown...made me think of T'luluh & Carlow.

This is Brian Kesinger's "Earl Grey" Tea Girl.
He uses mixed media of ink and tea. Love it.
Also, I wanted to use Earl Grey for my Star Trek geekery reasons.

I was so taken with his lovely & precious idea of the companionship between the lady & her octopus (which has been made almost the Steampunk Mascot), and along with the lovely imaginings of the non-Victoria "Tea Girls", my mind began to swirl...the cogs were turning, and the steam machine of my brain was warming up & really got going!

More of the steampunk tie to tentacles have been to much of the cephalopod types, including the creatures of Cthulhu & the Kraken. Between all of these factors...my mind started trying to put things together.

I loved the tie to the octopus companionship, as shown by Brian, so I went with that. I also began looking at what it would take to start building a steampunk outfit. Holy Cannoli! The money that can go into some of this stuff is crazy!! I don't have that kind of money laying around to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to put together something even just beginner. So I had to make the cogs of brain-workings work harder as I flipped the lever to deliver more steam to the thinking process...

As I tried to find pieces, I was working on a name & a backstory. Her name, T'luluh, is a form "Cthulhu" that I found intriguing. And, it's my own spelling. I'm sure most of you are shocked. Her last name, Poulpe', is French for "octopus". Then I wanted to keep it kind of classy, so I gave her the title of "Lady." So, I started to put together "Lady T'luluh Poulpe'" for the steampunk universe.

Now, I don't remember exactly what order many of my pieces came into my possession, but if you remember, I had just enough things to do an early test run of my character. So, I unveiled a very rough first outing (although she looked quite put together) at our church's Trunk-or-Treat promotion table. (reminder HERE)

But she was definitely still a work in progress. It wasn't the hair I wanted for her. She needed to be more tentacle-y...and so I really wanted a dreadlock 'do for her. Plus...she still needed a companion! An octopus...DUH! So, I began finding T'luluh a companion. I was looking for the right adoption, and it needed a perfect name...

As I started researching names for her new pet, I finally came across the name "Carlow." I was pretty drawn to it, then found out it's an Irish name (well, that's fitting) for "quadruple lake." It's totally a water name! Perfect! Well...if he's Irish, he needs a type of Irish last name...because we all know I'm giving him a last name. Amm-i-rite? Still along the lines of tentacles, and since T'luluh was the Cthulhu portion, he got the Kraken.
If you ever see the word "craic" (pronounced much like "crack"), it's Irish for "fun." So, Carlow's last name would be "McKcraic'n."

And then I did a mail-order adoption thru (the) Amazon. I found him! And he's adorable!

Carlow's "adoption" pic

Plus, I found the perfect hair for T'luluh, I went to thrift stores & found the perfect skirt, I was gifted my jewelry & goggles, a halloween corset on clearance, gifted shoes, hand-me-over/down under skirt, thrifted blouse & over vest, and some clearance tights put together with the magic of modern safety pins. Oh! And the surge to get this all together when we found out we were going to Planet Comicon...on Pi Day!! (Reminder HERE for more photos, too) My entire outfit may have cost, including the adoption of Carlow, about $40.

T'luluh & Carlow made some Steampunk friends at Planet Comicon.
Could have found so many more! Next time!!!

And I had to share that I put only one picture, at first, onto Instagram with a headshot of T'luluh & Carlow. I did tag it with #PlanetComicon. It was crazy that I got one of the artists with a booth there find it & say she saw me there & loved the outfit! WHAT?? I was so blown away. And then several other artists found it & liked it, too. So awesome! (I did add more pics on Instagram later.)
Of course I tagged Brian Kesinger in it...he's one of the biggest inspirations for the whole thing.

I did share a collage on Brian's PUBLIC FACEBOOK PAGE (and tagged him on Twitter: @briankesinger). There have been other steampunk pages share the photo from there, too!
Holy Cannoli!

Even with all of that, T'luluh & her story are still a work in progress. I hope to do something with it in the future, but unsure how that looks at the moment. But when it involves continuing her father's work, how her mother passed, and the search for a sunken airship...and maybe even pirates...you know it's gotta be good!

Then, I hope to meet Brian Kesinger one of these days...well I hope T'luluh & Carlow get to meet him. He inspired their existence.

And I'm looking forward to another chance for T'luluh & Carlow to show up somewhere.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Takes a Slice of Ultimate Pi Day

So anyway...

Today is kind of amazing.

Fo realz, yo!

It's pretty ultimate!

Today we begin a whole new round of celebrating! And even though this one involves maths & stuffs...I still found a way to celebrate.

Today is a day that can be celebrated in the States since we have our date format set up weird. Because of our format of [month/day/year] (instead of the rest of the world that has it set up [day/month/year]), we are able to celebrate March 14th. For most of the rest of the world, it is 14/3/15. Here, in the U.S., we have it set up as 3/14/15. People! In all that confusing mess I just went thru...I'm trying to say that we can use 3/14 as Pi Day!

Are you still with me?? OK...well, today is not just Pi Day...but we are in 2015, so today is ULTIMATE Pi Day!! With Pi being 3.141592653, on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53, we have achieved Ultimate Pi! BOOM!!
*CONFETTI CANNON*

Well, since I'm not so big on the mathical smarticle parts of being smart, I would find another way! Like...going to Planet Comicon!! FINALLY!!

The whole family went, and even though Teen Boy threw something together in very short time (like right before we left), only Teen Girl & I dressed full-on for the occasion. The boys donned geeky t-shirts, but the girl & I had costumes!! I'm sure many of you are surprised by this. *cough-cough*
(My other costume stuff I've done HERE)

Remember when I unveiled my STEAMPUNK CHARACTER, Lady T'luluh Poulpe', at our church's trunk-or-treat promo table? Well, that's the direction I went! But this time, I got much more of what I'd hoped for T'luluh to look like!

Long auburn hair with blonde & brown dreadlocks & braids, all in one wig, gave my character the perfect cephalopod-type edge I'd hoped to achieve. Plus, I needed a sidekick with 8 arms. So, I adopted one from Amazon & named him Carlow McKcraic'n!

OK, part of the steampunk world has a draw to octopi. Between that & C'thulhu...it was a perfect match to work with! So, everything from my character's name, to her look, to her sidekick, even her sidekick's name, all has a tie in with c'thulhu/kraken references. Also, a couple of years ago, I discovered the magic of Brian Kensinger's Tea Girls, as well as his best known characters, Victoria & Otto (check his stuff out HERE). That's what sparked the inspiration for an tentacle-involved steampunk character. She is still a work in progress, but I was SO excited with how T'luluh & Carlow worked for Comicon!!

And? Some people GOT it! I was so excited when a guy got really excited about the c'thulhu reference...then later a kid (he was maybe about 8 or 9) yelled from quite a distance away, "C'THULHU! I LOVE C'THULUH!" It was AWESOME!!

And so many other steampunk folks there, too!!

I didn't even get all of them! However, I did find this guy right here:

Yes. This guy was an amazing Captain Jack Sparrow!! And, not only did he love the women, but he really wanted to use Carlow for his pic with Teen Girl (who went as Ariel):

He even asked if she sang & made her sing for him:

He was trying to be Ursula while she sang. He was hilarious, on-point, and awesome!!

We did have a lot of fun today:

There was so much to see!! Our only disappointment was how much it was to get pictures/autographs with the celebrity guests there...and the greatest disappointment of that was that Cary Elwes camped out behind a curtain. Ugh. So we saw the back of his head thru a slit between two curtains. Did see a few other celebrity guests from afar: Michael Rooker, Meng-Na Wen, Karen Gillian...to name a few.

But it was an amazing experience to spend Pi Day with thousands of other weird peeps. The overall respect & appreciativeness of other's effort in costuming & and overall love for the geekiness out there in so many forms. It felt like home amongst those of us weirdos. And it was wonderful!

After all of that excitement, of course we had to focus on eating for the occasion! So...PIE!

That's right. We ordered some Minsky's Pizza pies & enjoyed a small Moon Pie for dessert! PERFECT!!

Does it help that we had pizza & dessert that were round for Pi Day?

I hope you all found a way to celebrate the Ultimate Pi Day, which happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday (fitting).

Now, I'm hoping to clean this up so I can get it posted at 9:26 this evening.

More celebrations coming this week...

Stay tuned...(tomorrow is the Ides of March...beware)

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Gives Treats from a Trunk

So anyway...

If you remember, this Halloween season started out crazy leading to this weekend. (read the lead-in post HERE) Well...the weekend continued...

It was time for taking charge of the last morning of the Trunk-or-Treat table. You know that meant I needed to attract attention like I have the previous 3 weeks. Amm-i-rite?

I decided to put together & try a costume about 2 years in the making. I got drawn to the striking visual of the steampunk genre. I did not start with it thru books like many have...probably because I'm a visual person & need to see it first.

I began to dig into research it a bit...and the more I looked & was trying to get a grip & understanding of it...you know I had ideas swirling in my brain. Amm-i-rite?

A character began to come to me. I was slowly working collecting pieces to actually WEAR a steampunk outfit. Now I just needed a time to unveil Lady T'luluh Poulpe' to the world. Trunk-or-Treat table, at church, seemed as fitting time as any...so...

Everything here was a gift, from thrift shops, hand-me-downs/overs, and clearance.
I even faked a bustle.

It's just the beginning as I am working on the backstory for her. I've got a start of her background. I can't wait to actually get it down there & get other necessary pieces to make the story work a bit more. But in the meantime...I so love this outfit!!
But it figures that it was 80 degrees this late October day in Missouri, so this outfit was making me melt! More than just the love of it...but it was so warm!

But once I got home...it was time to shift focus to Trunk-or-Treat that night. My hubby & I were both doing our cars just to help give numbers in cars. Since we decided on the extra car last minute, I had to do some quick thinking for decorating our other trunk. *THINK-THINK-THINK*

I decided to head out to pick up a couple of things to go with the costume I had planned for that night. (Yes...yet another costume. DUH!) I had a coupon for World Market, so I got a great "Book of Life" ukulele for nearly nothing, since it was also on sale! Yippee!! It would look awesome with the Mexican blanket that belonged to my grandmother, and also the sombrero I've had for quite sometime. See where this is going??
I also hit the dollar store to see if I could fill out a couple more pieces for my theme of Dios de los Muertos. (Did you guess it by now?)

I have dabbled in the beginning celebrations of Day of the Dead (reminder HERE), but I had hoped it would translate to doing a trunk.

I had the sombrero, the blankets, got the tiny guitar for less than $1...actually nearly free (seriously),
and found the skeleton, beads, buckets & battery candles at the dollar store.
I took sharpies to create sugar skull patterns on the faces of the buckets. Easy-peezy.

But, like I said, I wanted it to match my costume for the event. And, even though my hubby was doing his own car, our costumes coordinated! This is a big deal, y'all. I'll explain why after I show this:

How's our sugar skull makeup?? I did it all! Which is actually really fun & kind of meditative...

I want you to keep something in mind about this. Last year, I brought up to my hubby that we have a Day of the Dead get together. A fiesta that includes remembering our loved ones who have passed on before us. As I explained it to him, he was not so keen on the sugar skull thing & refused to do any makeup kind of thing! So the fact that I threw the idea out there this year totally expecting it to NOT stick...is the one that DID!! Wha-WHA??? I know, right?

As I explained this to our good friend, and associate pastor, Rob (our "YOO CAHN DOO EET!" guy from the Firecracker Flight - HERE), he laughed & said to me, "Well, if you can start running..."
Touche', Rob. I gave him a fist bump for that one.

We got our trunks up & decorated, along with almost 30 other vehicles.

It was WINDY!! And warm. But still a great turn out! The event was top heavy in the schedule with the crowds since our hometown team was playing in the World Series game that night. So there was a HUGE rush for the first 45-ish minutes. Calmed down a bit afterward, still greeting a few kiddos thru the rest of the time.

But maybe the coolest moment for me was this:
A few folks figured out my overall theme. On one hand I could count how many kids &/or adults brought up Day of the Dead or "Book of Life." But it was the sweet, and well-costumed, Mexican family that came thru. That's the moment I got a bit nervous as to whether or not I may have done them proud or not. Truly I try to do justice to these celebrations & hoped I had transformed my trunk into a resemblance of an oferenda-type altar. I got my answer when they were ready to leave, sought me out at my car, and asked if they all could get a picture with me & my trunk decor! It was a beautiful moment.

In the meantime...I am taking a few days to gear up for Halloween! I am so looking forward to it! I'm sure that doesn't surprise you...but thought I'd tell you anyway.

And you know you'll be hearing about how that goes down. Amm-i-rite?

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica