SE3EP4: Happy New Year, Humans of Earth!

"Ship's Log, Stardate 94609.17:

Since the last report, I have slightly updated two old items: a hat and my favorite old beat-up rocking horse shoes.

First up, this hat:

It turned out lovely for a few lolita looks, but I found myself wearing it less and less frequently because it was, well, a little too frilly.  I know it sounds crazy, but I wanted something a little less Sunday hat, and a little more masculine.

So I seam ripped the second row of stitching that holds the lace pointing outwards, and instead, tacked all of the lace points down facing inward, using hidden stitches.  Now it's a lot less like a bonnet, and a lot more like a halo hat.

I also have been playing around with a few other embellishment ideas.  Here is one featuring some faux barbed wire I made (please excuse my dog's hair...).

The "barbed wire" isn't actually sharp at all, since the cut ends of the wire barbs are coated with black paint.  It is a combination of wired woven cord, leather cord, and jewelry wire.  I pushed it through a detachable velvet bow.  This was the way I wore it to the Yule Ball event, too.

I also dug out my old rocking horse shoes from Bodyline, which have seen better days.  I sort of don't mind though, as I tend to wear them with more punk inspired looks, so the rough look adds a bit of character.  Still, from time to time, I like to clean them up and try to put a new spin on them so I really enjoy wearing them again.

This time, I did a little fabric patch and rubber cement filling in the toe area, a serious scrub of the faux-wood foam soles, and resealing the edges of the sole in the front of the toe area where it tends to begin to separate.

Then I added a black velvet strip down the center that I can easily clip shoe clips to (like huge, black, fur pom poms!) and the laces after giving them a good wash in soap and water.  I decided to lace them in a star pattern this time, and added a star shaped bead to help hold the shape and continue the theme.

And the stars are right-side-up, so hopefully strangers don't get the wrong idea... ha!  I found passing the straps under the lacing before going through the star bead is the best way.


This report is a light one, but here's a couple extra pictures with a coord rundown, and a brief explanation of wtf I have done to my hair this time:

Electric Circus - Alice and the Pirates, and a jacket from etsy.  Chocolate, pastel salmon, and mint is my new favorite color combination.  I have a pale salmon shawl that may work with this, and the tights I wore under OTK chocolate boots were sheer salmon with dots.  Up top is my super old chocolate silk blouse (also from etsy!).  No jewelry, the neck bow is enough, and a simple brown beret topped it off.

And as to what is going on with my hair (relevant, I guess, now that I'm trying to work it into my coords more often):  I changed colors again, and this time I'm mint and dusty lavender (used one of those smokey pastel box kits on the bottom).

The downside is that I feel some of my coords are now definitely more suited to being worn with a wig. The upside, is that as I gravitate towards darker, more desaturated, and fewer colors in my lolita wardrobe (it hasn't been an issue with my regular wardrobe), the color is more welcome and less of a clash with the outfit.

And while we're on the topic of capsule wardrobes, I have updated mine for 2017, and am currently working on updating my lolita wardrobe as well.  Both seem to have gotten smaller, and easier to manage, and I am wearing nice outfits more, rather than throwing the same old "uniform" on in a pinch.

When the lolita one is complete (I'm still using the Stylebook app), I'll share that one in full, with photos and planned outfit collages.  Then, hopefully I'll get around to wearing them and I can share worn photos.

How were the first 48 hours of your New Year?  Did you get new presents or do any closet cleaning? 

 2016 has finally died.  Cheers.  Bear signing off!"

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