What happens when you don't sleep...

Well, sorta, anyway.  After a few years of doing WAY TOO MUCH CRAP FOR OTHER PEOPLE (and not getting paid except for a couple yards here and there of fabric, in return for doing...um, WAY TOO MUCH CRAP...can you tell I'm annoyed)

I finally have had time to work on my website, which has been down for 2 years now.  After having someone else do it (who said they knew about websites, but it turns out , knew less than me) and it looking horrible, and not my taste at all, I took the thing down.  I would work on it here and there when I wasn't doing stuff (which wasn't that often) and now that I've said, "No, I will NOT make your garb for you for (practically, almost) free anymore...do it yourself!"  (in a nutshell...anyway) I've suddenly got a lot more time!!

A lot of the links don't work, but at least there's something up.  I will be working on it more this week, and once we get back from a long, well-deserved vacation to "someplace other than Pennsic" (tee hee hee) I'll be finishing it.

So check it out if you're interested: www. willofyre.com

You will notice, for those that have followed my website over the years, that it looks like "me" again, after having been on a VERY long identity crisis, and then hiatus.

Now...I'm actually either going to bed or working on gothic raggedy ann dolls...haven't decided yet...

Some of my work is now for sale on Etsy, after the bullying coaxing of many people to get it out there again where people can see/buy/etc.   No sales yet, but at least a sale can be a slight possibility now.

There's not a ton of stuff up yet, but feel free to check it out if you like handmade art kind of stuff.

http://willofyre.etsy.com

I went away for a while to take a breather and now I'm back.

This has just not been the greatest summer in the world for me.  Hopefully things will get a little bit better as time goes on, taking it slow, trying to keep my health in check, that kind of thing.

I have a couple appointments at the dr this week and I'm hoping that I might start feeling better somewhere down the road, maybe some of my meds can get adjusted, etc...because feeling icky just plain out sux.

My husband has promised me a nice vacation, something we haven't done...well, ever.  I am sooo looking forward to that. 

Now, if I can just get over this horrible sunburn I got on Saturday...

I'm taking a minute (perhaps just a bit more) to ponder on a wonderful friend who we tragically just lost, too young, too soon, and too sudden to even bear...

How can we ever forget you...Don, "Big Don," "Donwald," "Don the Pirate" ???

(Thanks to all for the photos that I've found on the internet, plus a few of my own...some from long ago...)










Our very dear friend named Don (Donwald in the SCA, or just "Don the Pirate"), who was the best man at our wedding, passed away after a brief illness on Wednesday, June 18.   He was my husband's oldest friend, and was responsible for introducing the two of us back in May of 1999, playing D&D over at another friend's house.   He was only 28 years old.

For his friendship, love, laughter, crazy adventures, and that special uniqueness that could only be "Don,"  we will never forget him, and he will be missed forever. 

Don was an amazing guy.  There was and will never be anyone quite like him.  For the 9 short years I knew him, I admired his honest, "take-it-or-leave-it," "that's the way it is," determined way of thinking and living.  He was a Pioneer Artist of the Glasstown Arts District in Millville, NJ.  And pioneering he was!  Only Don would make jewelry out of the trash, including chicken bones, left outside of his art-jewelry store...to not only make a statement about the littering of the city, but to be "resourceful," as he would say with a wink.  Only Don would show up to a city council meeting with a sledge hammer to make a point about tearing down a local deteriorated building!   And only Don, our "Don the Pirate," would try luring shoppers into his store by swinging a hammer at his forge, and singing "A Pirate's Life for Me!"

I can't believe he's gone, and I can't stop crying.  I keep expecting to hear his big fist pounding on our door (which he often did, either that, or write a note directly on the door in chalk!) laughing "Hahaha!!  Fooled ya, didn't I?"   I long for one last bear hug from my good ol' buddy "Big Don".... fellow artist and metalsmith...my soul-brother and confidante.   I will miss our private talks about life on the balcony/deck/porch after a few (or more) beers...

No one lived life fuller, and loved living more than you! 

Gone, but not forgotten...

Donald J. Cossaboon-DeGregorio
December 14, 1979 - June 18, 2008
Rest in Peace, I love you my friend

Hmmm...

I don't even know how to word this without sounding like a jerk, but I gotta vent.  I don't know any other place to do it, so I gotta say something here I guess. 

Is it just me, or doesn't sound like a normal, reasonable, rational idea to meet the obligations one has for a project their working on, before starting on another?  (or find a way to juggle both...and keep all your promises) I'm just a little miffed, because it's kinda hard, when you're in the middle of working on something rather important, to have some of the people helping you with said project run off and start something else (with equal obligations for time, etc)  when they haven't even meet their commitments for the first. 

It's even worse when it's been something that you've worked on for a while, and you've witnessed non-committal behavior out of said individuals time and again. Trying to be harmonious, nice, and whatnot, I haven't said anything up until now.  But I think I'm going to this time...especially considering that the time spent on the new project seems to be taking even more time away from the first.

Maybe I'm just being crabby...grrr...but I had to vent.  Not sure if I feel that much better.  Maybe I will when I figure out how to take care of this.

Well my roses are in bloom...not quite in full bloom, but they are fun to enjoy, none the less.   It certainly has been making me feel better just to go outside and look at them, (not to mention actually SMELL them this year since I've quit smoking) because my health condition has really been kicking me in the butt the last couple weeks.  I treasure those moments when I'm reminded that I'm a mere mortal. (not!)  Anyway, I've just been feeling so overwhelmed...that's why it's been about 5 weeks since I've written in this thing.

Here are a few pics...hope you enjoy them too. :o)

             
                                                                      

   
                                                                            


                                                                                      

 
                                                                         

 
                                                                                       

Today I'm working on making cotton undershirts to wear with my short coats for the summer months.  I've had this fabric for quite a while and now I'm actually going to be able to do something with it!  (cause I was a good girl and got some things done for a change...)

Then I'm going to finish sewing together all the short coats that I (again) cut out a long time ago and am just now getting to.  But I love these things!  They are nice and cool (which isn't easy for Persian garb, believe it or not) and if I'm at Pennsic and hanging around camp, I can easily take the coat off and just wear the undershirt with my libas (underwear that looks like braies or shorts, whichever makes sense to you) and lounge around.  *And* I still look like some of the images you see in Persian minatures, to boot - even though I'm in my underwear, at that point. 

Tomorrow I'm going with the director from the theatre company, and a few other singers to a corporate luncheon to provide some entertainment.  I'll be singing, "I Still Believe in Love" from They're Playing Our Song, which I'll be starring as the lead in this September, and "I Don't Know How to Love Him," from Jesus Christ Superstar.  I love every chance I get to sing, not to mention I'll be getting out of the house which is a rare occurrence anymore with my health issues.  I wonder if I still know how to drive...

Next few days after that I'll be getting back into the studio to finish up some stuff for the Regalia.  When I get done with it, I'll post some pics!!

Once again, I am honored to be the Coordinator for the Pennsic Youth A&S Exhibition.  This will be our 3rd year, and I'm sooooooo excited!!  The kids do an absolutely AMAZING job every year, and I can't wait to once again get BLOWN AWAY by their incredible work!!

If you're coming to Pennsic,  make sure not to miss it!  This event personally inspires me more as an artist than anything else in the SCA, and I guarantee that you will feel the same!   Socks, prepare to be knocked off!!!

The exhibition will take place on Monday, August 4th, at Youth Point.  Information and  pre-registration available here:

                                                http://www.pennsicwar.org/penn37/AANDS/DISPLAY/youthas.html

Please help us get the word out to others!!!  This wonderful display should not be missed by anyone!!

Thanks!

Wheww!! 

After working on the Blue Tyger Crowns non-stop for quite a while, I'm taking a bit of a break.  I do have to remind myself on occasion that I have health limitations that I must keep in check, and, as Roxane put it once, I've only got so many energy dollars to spend in one day.  I think I've been taking out extra dollars on loan that I've gotta pay back now.

Spent the morning outside tending to my beloved roses.  I can't believe how quickly they are leafing out this year...so much faster than last year!  There are already some flower buds on some of the climbers..."Dreamweaver" and "Fourth of July" for those who like roses.   I sprayed them for aphids today, which could have become a problem in another week had I not taken care of it.  Yesterday I gave all the roses their monthly fertilizer which is my own blend of stuff.  Little D calls me a mad scientist when I get out all of the different things and start mixing them together.  Then every week in between I give them supplemental food, and spray them for bugs and disease.  Roses can be a lot of work, depending on how you want them to look.  They actually can do okay without a lot of extras, but if you do have the time, the result is well worth it.  That, and every bee in the neighborhood will be in your yard.

Little D and I moved "Veteran's Honor" on Sunday because people kept reaching over our wrought iron fence and picking the roses off it.  That bush makes the most perfect long-stem type red roses, and people just get too tempted.  So we moved it away from the fence and up next to the porch.  I've ordered a "Rainbow Knock-Out" to go in its place.  I already have a regular "Knock-Out" right at the gate, which is so beautiful with its cherry red 5-petal roses.  I love it because they are shaped like a heraldic rose.  It also is a shrub rose and has a similar effect to an azalea, except that it is in bloom constantly, rather than only once a year.  The Rainbow one will be the same as my first Knock-Out, except peach, orange, and yellow colored.  I also ordered an "Oranges n Lemons" which looks like an orange rose that has had yellow paint splattered on it, and "Hot Cocoa," which is an unusual color, kind of a toasted dark orange.

I'm going to do some sewing today I think, some mundane sewing, maybe work on a corset top I cut out for myself a few months ago...LOL.  I'd also like to make some roman shades for our bedroom, plus some other things...but again, it's important to pace myself...energy dollars and all...

I've been REALLY busy lately...practically living in my studio...I even had dinner at my bench tonight which Little D brought down to me after several hours of not hearing from me.  That has been a common thing as of late.

Here are some pics of things I've been doing:
The new Blue Tygers!  All cast, polished, enameled, etc, and ready to go into the Crowns that I restored and got years of gook off of as well.  These are so much shinier and more "sparkly" than the old ones!  Yay!

  A friend of mine's coronet...yes, it is REALLY dirty in this picture, but this is right after all of the soldering, pickling, etc.  Now it needs a good polish and the stones set in it (amethysts and mother of pearl) and it will be all set!

Links for new K&Q Blue Tyger collars that I'm making to go with the Crowns.  (not finished...the "tabs" at the top will be sanded off, and they will be much more polished.  The stones are just placed in there for now.)  These are made from a single piece that I carved out of wax, based on a 14th century pendant.  They will be done by the end of the month.  The Crowns were just soooo much work I couldn't get them done too like I wanted to.  But I did the best I could.  The Crowns look good tho!   But I'll leave the "big picture" as a surprise for this weekend!

I'm not much of an lj user so you'll have to forgive me.  I'm still learning how to use stuff on it.  So here is a pic of the central painting on Darius' scroll, for those who were interested, and for those who want a pic of the whole thing, well, I still don't have that, you'll have to wait...sorry.



And the EK crowns look great!  Little D drilled the holes for me because he's actually a lot more precise than I am due to his job.  I wish there was another way to do this, because you can sort of see the screws, but you could on the original ones too.  Nothing I can do about that, really, not my design.  Anyway, they will be completely done tonight...Woo Hoo!!

Hopefully somebody will read this and will know what the heck I'm talking about.

I just did a full CSS website (look ma, no tables!) with a nav menu that runs on the stylesheet along with everything else, and I've got a problem...

I checked it in Firefox and IE 7 and it works fine, albiet a problem with some divs if you use HUGE screen res.  (I got a complaint from an older lady...blah, blah) Right now those particular divs are having problems in that situation because dummy me, I set a width.  RRRR.

But that's not the problem.  The problem is, there are people STILL using IE 5, 6, (and maybe even 4...ugg...actually, I don't know why they are using IE at ALL personally...) and the CSS menu links are NOT working.   And one of the people in the organization I am doing this site for is a bit of a thorn in my side at the moment and is complaining about it.  (never mind it's actually their fault in a way...update your browser, and everything will work!)  But still...

It wasn't working in IE 7, and I found out that what I needed to do was set  "position: relative;" in the stylesheet under the menu instance. 
So does anybody know how the hell to get CSS menu links to work in IE 6, or even 5?  (or worse?)  I am really annoyed right now!

So, as usual, it's been a while since I've written in this thing.  I just don't seem to ever have the time.  Anyway...

Finally finished Darius' scroll about 3 weeks ago, got Sarra to do the calligraphy, etc.  Darius had to work, so he wasn't at Mudthaw to get the scroll in court, but Roxane and I took it home that evening (I stayed with them that weekend) and he got to see it when he woke up in the morning.  We went and got it framed the next day.  So big sigh of relief that's overwith. 

Do I have a picture of it?  No, of course not!  Muhahaha!  You're confusing me with an artist who actually has a brain and *thinks.*   And since I have not a brain, there is no picture.  LOL

(to tell you the truth, the thing is so huge, 18 x24, I would have had to have taken a picture of it, and to do that, I would have needed to go outside with it where there was good light.  At the time, it had been raining for days, so no dice.  Hopefully I will get a pic later in its frame)

I'm almost done restoring the Blue Tyger Crowns, and they look awesome, better than I ever remember them looking, if I do say so myself.  I cast all new tygers in bronze, replacing all of the old ones, and redoing all of the enamel.  This matches the red brass edging that outlines the nickel silver bands of the crowns.   They were originally made in pewter which meant if a stiff breeze came along they would get broken, and has THAT ever been the case.  Those crowns have been broken more times than not.  *Now* if somebody sits on these things all I can say is a rude awakening is coming for them, straight up their you-know-what.  And the bronze is so much nicer looking than the pewter colored with gold paint marker.  YES, you read that correctly, our crowns were made from pewter colored with gold paint marker.  I think a few of the replaced ones over the years were actually painted pewter * with paint* (oh boy) but the originals were colored with marker, as I've been told by several people, and was easy to figure out as I was making the mold.  (the crusty remains of marker was coming off in the rubber, and I had to scrub it out...yuck!  Paint would have melted...long story, anyway...)

For the life of me I have never understood the SCA obsession of pewter used in jewelry making.  It just wasn't done!!  Especially for crowns and coronets!!  What you do see are the pilgrim badges and some utensils, but not jewelry!   So it's appropriate for site tokens (kinda like a pilgrim badge per se)  And I understand why it was used earlier on in our Society's history, maybe folks didn't have access to the equipment, etc.  But I'm uber glad that we can get these things made correctly now so hopefully they won't break...as easily, anyway.  (I've found that ALL HATS are breakable...and just when you think it can't be done...boom, somebody figures it out)

Anyway, for everybody coming to Coronation...check out the restored Crowns...they're perty!!! 

And YES...I promise I will get some pics up tonight.  I'll take some shots of the shiny new tygers, etc.  They don't have the enamel in them yet...doing that tonight...  

I just haven't had any time to write in this thing!  Sorry about that! 

So...what am I am to?  Well, let's see...I'm repairing and restoring the Blue Tyger EK crowns at the moment, so that Konrad and Brenwen can be crowned in them, I'm going to be doing some minor repairs on the ones I made (K&B will wear them too) I'm finishing up a coronet for a good friend who ordered one from me, and eventually I will be able to finish the collars of state that I've started on.  Not sure who is going to get them, champions or the K&Q, but they are going to be purty none the less!

Oh yes, and finishing up Darius' scroll.  LOL.  I actually took about a 2.5 week hiatus from it after the central painting.  Honestly, I just got sick of the thing. LOL!

A week and a half ago I went to Winter War in Canada with Konrad and Brenwen.  That was pretty cool, we had fun.  I didn't know them very well before the trip, and I have to say that they are extremely cool people.  I had a really good time!  While we were up there I apprenticed a lady from the MidRealm, THL Satine de la Coucer.   She's studying Persian with me.  Anyway, I'm glad I went...good times.

Well, I gotta get off this thing so I can get back to work...casting new tygers this week!!  Should be fun!!!

I finally finished the most difficult part of Darius scroll...that OOP painting that I had to turn into something that looked period-ish, put him in it, and lots of other folks, etc, etc...

Oh, I am soooooo glad that part is over!!!  It took me almost a month just to do that part...that's working on it EVERYDAY too.  OMG....you have no idea how relieved I am.  Not only was I worried that I wouldn't be able to get the right effect, I was also worried the thing was just going to flat out look like crap. 

Not to mention I was started to wonder if this was becoming this neverending thing that just would be, um, looming over my head forever.

And it actually looks pretty good too, which is an added bonus, yea me!

That's how long it's been since I've had a cigarette.  I quit the day I found out a dear friend and mentor was diagnosed with breast cancer.  

My last pack was one we got together, trekking out in the cold after running out of cigarettes at the Household holiday party, (before the diagnosis, of course.)  We used to go outside at events, at parties, or when we visited each other, to enjoy a smoke together.  It used to be a nice time with each other, or so I thought at the time.  After she bought the last pack of smokes I would ever have in my possession,  she jokingly said, as she handed them me, "Merry Christmas, have some cancer." 

At the time it was funny, and we both chuckled,  but WOW, is that SO not funny anymore.   It shouldn't have been funny to begin with, now that I think of it.  What an idiot we both were to laugh at that.  But the whole incident just made me go, "you know what?  I'm not smoking again...EVER." 

And it was that easy.

Except for the first couple days where I battled the ritual part of it (after meals, after finishing a section of a painting, stitches on some garb, etc) I haven't  had  any desire whatsoever to smoke. 

Honestly, I can think of thousands of things to do other than killing myself, and spending hundreds dollars a year to doing it boot. :o)

Well, I haven't gotten the house even close to straightened up from the holidays.  *Sigh*.  Oh well, I guess there's next week.

I'm still working on the scroll...that will be my main focus for a while, I think.   I'm doing the underpainting right now.  Darius wanted a scene from an oop OIL PAINTING in  the center, and  this is  going to take layers, and layers, and layers, etc, etc, etc, of washes.  Not sure how it's going to look.  I'll keep everyone posted.

The rest is a yellow ochre/gold leaf (which I'm doing the fake kind) type goldwork thing, so hopefully it won't take too long.  We'll see.  It is all drawn, like I said before, now I just have to paint.

And paint, and paint, and paint.

So back to...what else???  Painting. :o)

*Sigh*  I promise I will go get a few hours rest in a second.  LOL. 

I need to start taking down all of the holiday decorations and put them away.  Isn't it weird how incredibly messy your house gets when you are trying to clean it up in the midst of something like this?  It really drives me insane.  I don't think I'm going to accomplish it all today, but I think if I have a few goals set I'll get some of it done, and maybe complete it by next week.  I just can't stand the house being a wreck.  Not that it's really that bad, I'm just crazy, as we all know. :o)

So I think I'll tackle the one Christmas tree today (yes, I actually have two...I know I'm terrible) and then work on Darius' scroll I've been promising him for like, um, ever.  My goal is to get that done by Birka.    I think I can accomplish that if I can just stay focused.  Ha. That's the hard part.

Ok.  Tree and Scroll.  Oh yeah.  And vacuuming.  I think I can handle that.  The rest of the house will have to shut up until tomorrow, and then next week, as 12th Night weekend is fast approaching.

Now for bed.  Really, I'm going this time.

Okay, okay, okay.  I finally got myself on livejournal.  Now everyone can stop whining and I can go to bed.  Thanks a whole freakin lot.  I can see where this is going to be very addictive.  And it's all your fault.  You know who you are!  Good night.  I mean, Good Morning.