Balls and Weddings

My boss (the owner of the Mardi Gras float production company Royal Artists) got married over the weekend, and my gift to the couple was making their wedding cake. His only request is that it be inspired by the late 19th/early 20th century Mardi Gras style Mardi Gras floats. So, 12 pounds of butter and 6 dozen eggs later:

The highlight, in my opinion, of those older floats is the incredible use of flower cut outs, so I went to work making gumpaste flowers in that style. Yes, all the flowers are edible.

The shell design is from a silicone mold I found on etsy. I made little chocolates with it, and dusted them with edible gold dust. The pearls hanging beneath each shell are cake pulls, a Southern tradition in which charm bracelets are embedded in bottom layer of the cake, and prior to the cutting of said cake, the bride's single friends take turns pulling them out to reveal their good fortune.

On an unrelated note, I also did the artwork for MOM's Halloween Ball this year. MOM (short for Krewe of Misfits, Orphans, and Mystics) is best known for their all-night costume ball the Saturday before Mardi Gras, infamous for its debauchery on every level, as well as some of the best costuming in New Orleans. But they also do a great Halloween blow out. This year, I illustrated the invitation, as well as a 10 foot banner that greeted the guests at the entrance to the party.  The captain's request was that it be in the vein of a macabre circus (which, with American Horror Story filming here in town, was an easy theme to slip right into) and that it have specific members of the MOM's royal court represented. All the krewe members seemed really pleased, and the banner is currently hanging in the jester's living room.

I'm particularly proud of the resting bitch face on my Pony Girls: 

That's all for now. I have a new batch of headdresses to post up here soon, so stay tuned!

New Headdresses

Here's a new round of headdresses, just in time for Southern Decadence!

This last one I wore last weekend to Midsummer Mardi Gras. I like to take them for test runs ever so often, to see how they hold up, how people respond to them, etc. Overall, a great success, and I even ended up in the Times Picayune. Here's some detail shots of my makeup for the event: 

Christmas in July

I apologize for the long hiatus - I've been deep in work for the Krewe of Proteus, and, unfortunately, I can't post any of it until after Mardi Gras. I am excited to announce that I will be illustrating the invitation for their ball this year, which, for those not familiar with the opulent works of art that Mardi Gras ball invitations can be, is a huge honor. Here is an old scrapbook that I found over at LSU's digital Mardi Gras collection that gives some mighty fine examples of the type of shoes I'm trying to fill.

Anyway, my birthday was the other day, and because I live in a house with a bunch of avid costumers, we decided to have a bike parade. The theme was "Christmas in July", and I spent the last couple weeks making headpieces and collecting old Christmas decorations for everyone. I made a big pot of red beans and rice and had people over in the late afternoon to decorate their bikes, play dress up, and generally pregame for the big ride. My friend Robin dressed as Santa (in a red and white bikini of course) and handed out presents to strangers. The wonderfully talented Kentucky Sisters brought along their ukuleles, and sang Christmas carols and various stops along the way. My friend Richard brought his portable speaker box, so when they were taking a rest from performing, we blasted the cheesiest of Christmas songs for all the French Quarter to hear. A good time was had by all, and judging by the reactions, we brought a lot of cheer to the strangers we encountered along the way.

I photographed some of my headdresses the day before the ride:

And here's some pics from the parade itself:

Cat's Claw

A costume inspired by the region's prettiest of invasive species:

Satanic Chic

 I've recently realized that I have more ideas for costumes than I could ever physically produce, much less find room to store in my tiny apartment. One day maybe I will have the costume walk-in closet of my dreams, but until then, I thought that maybe it was time to start getting the designs down on paper. While watching Krewe D'Etat this year, a guy on his bike rode by in curly goat horns and a sparkly pentagram cape, and the idea of a Satanist Mardi Gras queen just stuck with me. Voila.

New Headdresses!

While the rest of New Orleans was busy deglittering their apartments as part of the annual Lenten purge, I was determined to make one last costume run. Mardi Gras might be over, but festival season is just around the corner, which means it won't be long before people start shopping for their next bedazzled get up. Hopefully I'll be sending these off to Fifi Mahony's in the next week or so.