Headdresses

Expect some new posts soon - Mardi Gras is a month away, which means there's lots of projects up in the air!

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: 

Cat's Claw

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

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. 

Mermaid Gras and Soggy Gras

I mentioned in a previous post that I would be decorating a wedding cake for a couple getting married on Mardi Gras dressed as merpeople. I'm pretty happy with the results, especially considering the whirlwind that was Lundi Gras.

The mercouple and fish are made out of gumpaste, painted with luster dust and food coloring:

 

I poured white chocolate into seashell candy molds, then dusted them in edible gold pearl dust.

Here's a few photos of the happy couple on Mardi Gras day, complete with their own float and legion of fish folk:

As far as my own Mardi Gras festivities, this was one of the coldest and wettest Carnivals on record. It stayed in the 20's and 30's all day and never. stopped. raining. I got a few pictures of me before leaving the house, but not much past that, because I pooped out early. In no time I was sopping wet and shivering uncontrollably, and my costume was meeeelting.  Mardi Gras is about enjoying yourself, not forcing an outdoor activity when it's just miserable. So instead it because a sazeracs in the hot tub sort of day. Sometimes nature wins. Though it does further inspire me to make a hardcore waterproof nobody's-raining-on-MY-parade costume some time in the future, just to have in the back of my closet for these sort of occasions.

Nagin Showing Some Muffin Top

Ray Nagin's conviction meant some last minute additions to the Chaos parade:

A guess it puts a new twist on the whole "Chocolate City" controversy... What? This is Mardi Gras. We ain't about being classy here.

 Also, The Advocate published a lovely article on the owner of Royal Artists, Richard Valadie, and his fiance, Scarlett Torrence. I'm glad to see The Advocate giving some recognition to the talent and passion that goes into making Mardi Gras right.

The Carnival power couple that is Richard and Scarlett in their home studio.

I was stoked to see a painting I did for a 2012 Proteus float (which Richard salvaged at the end of the season to hang in his house) made it into the slideshow:

I'm famous!

Bare Bones

Started my Mardi Gras costume. The basic frame is cardboard, reinforced with wire, and zip ties. My goal this year it to have a costume that shakes and sways in amazing ways when I dance, hence the zip ties and their uniquely buoyant qualities. I'll be eventually covering them with glitter and rhinestones and stars, so that as they bounce up a down, everything sparkles, and the world becomes a better place for a brief moment. 

It's Carnival Time...

I'm heading over to Fifi Mahony's on Monday with a fresh batch of feather headdresses to sell. I'm really proud of these! I feel like I tried a bunch of different techniques - even made my own silk flowers, as seen in the very last piece.

I'm spending the weekend blasting out the studio, and then on to my Mardi Gras day costume. Pictures to follow soon...