Went into Nippori today to go fabric shopping. Yay fabric shopping! Not so yay to getting turned around -- again. (I can't seem to help getting lost there, but I always eventually end up at the intended location. Eventually.) There's an Art/Sci meetup this weekend that I hope to attend, so I needed stuff to make garb. Yay SCA!

Was excited to see a 200 yen table at the first TOMATO store I went in, and got 6.5 meters of this lightweight shiny crepe-y pale pink fabric (think they call them 'silk solids' or whatever at Joann's -- have used similar for garb before) and 5 yards of thin white broadcloth.

Further wandering along the road led to finding a shop with decent prices on yukata-print cotton and flag fabric. I mean, like, a full meter of the Union Jack type flag fabric. I think I'll have to go back there if I ever get around to making that Jenny Sparks-inspired punk-loli outfit. Chee. Then came TOMATO II, an upholstery/interior store. Kept getting drawn to everything for steampunk/loli designs (if you aren't aware, Victorian fashion fabrics were taken directly from curtains and couches. It is that heavy.) Grabbed a 1.9m remnant of this pale green jacquard for Y470 -- the most expensive today. *g* There's also a second-hand kimono shop along this road -- stopped in there, but left fairly quickly as I could feel the temptation vines creeping towards me. Or are they tentacles? *g*

Came across a store that boasted good prices on good goods. :D In fact, they had a bolt of light royal blue cotton sateen for Y100/meter out front -- suffice it to say I bought it, all 6 meters that were left. Very Trimarian color, if I do say so myself.

Went looking for silk shops, and eventually found the one tucked away in an alley. Beautiful Thai silks, but at Y4000 a yard... even with the 10% discount, it's a bit too dear to purchase frivolously. Heading back towards the station on the other side of the street, I found some more shops selling fabric for Y100 a meter. Purchased six meters of red (only slightly darker than that Japanese red -- you know, the orangey color?) cotton broadcloth, and six meters of dark rose... something synthetic. Was probably meant to be a lining fabric, but is soft and drapey and not really sheer at all so it is becoming a new skirt thing.

At the third TOMATO store, they had 5 floors (didn't go past the first today, though) and a Y100 section, so I think I'll have to go back. Picked up thread, though.

So, in total, bought like, 30 meters of fabric. It is heavy. It is also in the process of washing, so I can use it. Whee~

SCA event today, daytripped. No pics, as my camera is dead, poo.

Ikan no ho sewing issues, copy and pasted from my email to the sca-jml

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Going to sleep and/or read Turn Coat now. Yay Dresden Files!

Tomorrow I need to work on curriculum project -- and find the paper that I had started drafting stuff out on. I have a syllabus kinda put together, and a rudimentary class period structure outlined, but I don't have a handle on the day to day content yet. I'm making a five-week (two 1 hr classes/wk) lesson plan for middle schoolers at an eikawa (English conversation/cram school), topic focus on travel and vacation. If anyone has any tips, they would be greatly appreciated.

So. Yeah. 430 AM and still not asleep. Was up to 3 sewing for SCA -- event's on Saturday.

So of course, on Tuesday night, I decide that sure, I can pull a high Heian male courtier's outfit out of my ass.

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Total sewing to do: 9 hours plus.

Probably sewed about (21-00, 10-15, 16-21, 22-00, 1-3) 17 or so hours already. Not so bad :P

Leaving about... seven-ish, means waking up around earlier (duh, lol). Hair needs to be done before leaving, make up could be done in the car, I suppose...

sorry for the ending babble, its 530 AM already, gah.

note: long, thick hair does not a good top-knot (chonmage) make. I tried.

Had a meeting with my Calligraphy teacher today to discuss the paper topic. I expressed undecided-ness, and (as the paper is on calligraphy's effect on some other cultural aspect, like related to the student's major interest) that my major was Chinese. She started going on about history of Calligraphy and its wonderful tradition, blah, blah. Then she started bulldozing towards modern calligraphers and I'm thinking, "Oh /heylllll/ no." So yeah. Thus began my slightly rude interrupting about Old Sinitic relations to Persian, or Tang civil service exams, pretty much anything to put her back on the track of ancient Chinese.

Apparently she's working on a thing for Tang calligraphy, and now I'm expected to write on it because she'll be so happy to be able to judge that I researched it properly. *headdesk*

At least it ties in with my SCA period?

And soooooo probably not going to do the broad overview throughout history if she actually wants any sort of depth, because that would mean 20 page paper, at least. gah.

Having discovered the scanners in the library, on a slightly related note, I'm making copies of the research books I end up lugging around and getting late fees on. I figure that I might be able to get some done before my calligraphy today, if I don't get lazy. Actually... I'm going to post what I have so far on photobucket. Or does anyone recommend flickr or an alternative host?

Had a pirate picnic/teaparty today. We went to a park named after squirrels, which had swings and tables and a dog park. Since my camera has no batteries, we have no pictures, which is sad. I'll be reusing the outfit though, because it was fun and better than my current steamy outfits :D And I only had to borrow/trade the corset! I was surprised at what my closet and jewelry box produced.

So. Did:
Swung on swings.
Ate nommys.
Played tag.
Chatted.

Need to do:
Calligraphy hw.
Classical Chinese hw.
TESL hw.
Sewing Ottoman Turkish clothing for Hoggetowne (medieval/renfaire/open event sca puts on).

Ugh. Sick right now. But yeah, daytripped Saturday to another SCA event. Some pics below, rest can be found here: http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj136/feikoi/SCA%202008/

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Just got back from the SCA event -- it was a ton of fun. Worked in the kitchen a lot, but still went to a couple classes (a newbie's introduction to the SCA, and a calligraphy class), and we performed Hotaru Koi a couple of times. With Laur. Who I only started teaching it to the night before. She's awesome. :D (That was why I called hannah at 11 at night -- to get a couple of the lyrics i had forgotten)

So we stayed in cabins with bunk beds -- first night didn't sleep much, cuz of snorers. Slept better last night, but I went to bed before most ppl because I skipped the bardic circle. Oh well.

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I didn't get any good pictures of the make-up or the actual fit of the outfit -- which I like a lot. So I'll do it sometime again, anyway.

Went to my first SCA event yesterday, and didn't get back until 4:30 this morning. It was... interesting. Was a little irritated at the girl driving us by 1:30, 2:00 in the morning, but that could have been my lack of sleep kicking me hard.

So, we got there, paid, wandered a lot... shopping, watching fighting, looking at the cranes by the lake... then we actually (or I did) chatted with people. I think I'm getting a little better with the whole socializing thing. Plus, info and inclusion. We were volunteered to serve feast, so I kinda hung around the kitchens for two or so hours instead of standing at the court meeting, which had already been postponed twice at that point. More chatting. And then serving. Gah. I only had two tables, and it wasn't like I had to take orders or anything, but still. It wasn't bad at all, I'm just thinking I don't want to have that sort of job fulltime. But! I had three people come up to me later that night and thank me profusely (seriously, it was weird) for doing such a great job as a server. Huh.

Main part of this? Costume!!! I made a Tang dynasty-esque (fewer layers than typical aristocracy, but whatever) outfit, twas fun, and fairly comfortable, too. However, its one of the styles with the skirt-above-bust, so I was mistaken for Korean, by those slightly familiar with asian stuff, and Japanese by people with no clue whatsoever. One woman placed it as Song dynasty, which, yanno, is about right anyway. I... didn't have a camera, so I'll dress up in it again (minus the spiffy hair) and post a picture. Or not, considering the state of my promises in the past regarding photos.

anyway, dead now. After a presentation monday, a chinese resume tuesday, and two presentations thursday (one of which involved the making and filming of a sock puppet show)... I was pretty dead. Then Thursday I started on the costume, finished the top during classes on Friday, and then sewed until 11:30 pm at Lauren's (oh she with the rufflefoot)...yeah. This past week, I think I've only gotten about three to six hours of sleep a night, when I should be getting at least seven to eight. Completely crashed when I got home this morning, woke at 2pm, and still want sleep, in that my-eyes-are-not-focusing sort of way.

Society for Creative Anachronisms. Lauren has infected me with her enthusiasm. Since she's working on a Heian period persona, I thought I'd work with the same time period, specifically Tang Dynasty (or Five Dynasties, Ten Kingdoms) China.

30-40 hours of web research later, I've come to the conclusion that the English language forums suck, and I only know enough Chinese to insert search terms and just barely comb through the results. I've come to some conclusions about the construction of Tang-era garments (specifically, female) from the combination of extant artwork, vague descriptions of the evolution of hanfu, and some semi-accurate historical drama costuming.

Also, searching in Chinese just now made me feel like I was back in China, spending far too much time in my dorm room on the internet, and understanding barely enough of the miles of simplified text around me to get by. And its quiet. And most likely a little bit dusty, accounting for the sensory association I'm getting.

Dammit, I miss China all over again.

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Edit: Another three hours of searching on baidu and google images, finally found this: http://qianruo.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!7F14975258510A34!193/

Helps a bit!