I have been slowly and steadily getting my mushroom cape done. The work is repetitive and tedious, which my brain likes to use to shut off. It'll be long stretches between updates, but one of the layers is at least at a stage where it looks like something.

I may have procrastinated paperwork to dig out all my old Transformers figures from college and try and start arranging them among the new ones. (Well hello hyperfixation from nearly 20 years ago. You have lots to catch up on 😅) #transformers #maccadam #tf

A class at my kids’ school put up little statements about the good they want to do in the world and I was over the moon about this one - then I learned they meant to say “teach people in jail” which is also good!

Makes me wonder/hope we'll have a renewed interest in people taking art classes... since these kind of lessons are definitely in the scope of all intro classes. Maybe art literacy classes?

Still on Hiatus as we're in thr mad dash until the end of the semester (and I get through a mountain of grading). But figured a little throwback to my year of the tiger. All that hand done silk embroidery took forever, but I was so happy with it! Photography by @amiephotos Design by @uekuraeku

happy EDS month again 🦓 check your joints

This little man is 15 years old (his sister behind him is 16) and just had a spa day. They gave him the most dapper tie!

Useful thing to use here

New costume? It'll be a few weeks before I can really dive into this one, but broke ground on a mushroom cosplay (Fly Agaric) for our Magfest Hannah Alexander group. I'm mostly focused on the cape, going to be doing lots of embroidery and beading over the next few weeks.

Being friends with me in a nutshell, perfectly summarized

Had an absolute blast at OzCon! First time ever in Missouri and the attendees and staff were super warm and awesome! It was a nice change of pace and I had a great time! (And huge shoutout to @gimmiemoorecosplay and @knightmage100, my amazing co-judges!)

A demon warlock dressed as a nun gets all kinds of strange looks at the National Cathedral. Up early for my shoot with the always spectacular @adoylible.bsky.social (extra early cause that body paint takes me forever to apply)

Oz-Con is almost here! Friday 4/24 6-7pm - Intro to Foam Armor - Walnut Room Saturday 10:30-11:30am - Embellishments Galore - Walnut Room 5pm-7pm - Cosplay Contest Other hours I'll be at my booth, stop by to browse through my build books, watch a goldwork embroidery demo, or just chat!

I may not have a lot of equipment. But I was able to get the Dragon framed up well and up on the wall. I do eventually plan on selling it, but want to see if it can get a few ribbons first.

The Trial of Soundwave('s patience)

Long time no see, how about a few fun pictures of Moissoneuse from #expedition33 ? I made the mask, combined two floral crowns I didn’t love into one I adore, and otherwise repurposed my Witcher 3 Whispess costume!

Took just shy of two months, but my dragon in goldwork and silk is done :) Gotta paste the back and then get it framed still. But pretty happy with the stitching.

Next cosplay.... gonna be a mushroom. Got materials either from stashbusting or on their way, planning to start in May

“Sir, are you aware that you are a cat, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani is standing right behind you?”

Reminder, it's totally fine to share your art again. I don't produce "fast" enough for content. And slowly coming to terms with that. Burnout be real. Derpy embroidery in Silk Painting I did last summer after watching Kpop Demon Hunters and feeling an overwhelming need to make this a reality.

Another day, and more incremental progress...

With just a few weeks to go, it’s time to officially announce my cosplay lineup for Ozcon! I’ll be bringing Chun-Li back and debuting a brand new cosplay: Soundwave. Sunday will be casual due to travel considerations. Panel announcements are coming soon, so stay tuned.

Buckled down and got a fair amount of work done on my Dragon embroidery this weekend. (I need the frame for cosplay, so I need to finish this piece before I can start on my next big build)

New cosplay? More likely than you think 🤔 I went offline for a bit to make this Soundwave Gijinka. It was nice to just buckle down and make a cosplay rather than have to stop every step to document and take photos. I won't be entirely abandoning the WIP posts. But I needed the social media break

@attie.ai, for those who wanna press the funny buttons too

I think we need to celebrate the death of Sora a bit more. This is a technology that, just MONTHS AGO, we were being told was going to literally destroy Hollywood and Disney was going to give them a BILLION DOLLARS and NONE OF THAT EVEN REMOTELY HAPPENED

Don't fake deaths, don't announce pregnancies, don't imply you've broken/sold someone's things and don't erase someone's save data. Be creative, not cruel. The prank is supposed to be funny for both sides. Otherwise it's bullying.

Welp, a week long hyperfixation and I have not one but two #Soundwave figures for my studio. 1st is PLA and a statue, 2nd was resin and a big poseable Boi. It's still a gorgeous design. Printed super smooth, 6 plates over 35 hours. Model by SolidAnimation. Design is the Transformers Prime version.

Thanks @swordlilycosplay.bsky.social for the vidoe of my walk! (Can you tell I timed it for the rehearsal length and not how long the actual reading took?)

Had a blast at AwesomeCon. Tyranny was so much fun to wear and people liked her! Was a great chance to recharge my creative Battery (though now time to recharge my actual battery and sleep!)

And we're all done! This was a whirlwind of a build but I'm pretty happy with it. It's one of my cleaner sewing builds (with everything fully finished and proper) and I hope to have her in rotation for cons this year. I'll be at #AwesomeCon with her this weekend, so see y'all then!

Last little detail before we're done is the arms! I've done gloves before but never armsocks. But I didnt want to have to worry about makeup, so I did a very careful ombre dye before attaching nails. These gloves went through several trial and error experiments before we landed on the final glove.

Last few hand finishing steps for the cloak. Doing some slip stitching for the backside of the bias tape, but also catch stitching in a piece of twill on the inside of the collar. As a removable makeup guard, since I'll be painting my whole face hot pick for the cosplay.

For the armholes, I did a bias bound facing for them. It creates a very nice neat look while also increasing how durable the costume is. I love taking my time to do all the steps with this costume. So lots of pressing and basting over the course of these, just to make everything lay nice and neat.

The tabard looks a little short, but that's because I'm pretty short XD I wanted it to be proportional to me. I machine couched down the little braided trims before lining it and stitched the belt to the front. I also added sewable magnets to the back and to the dress.

Apparently welovecolors is using AI now.... Highly disappointed, especially as they market to cosplayers. Granted, the body sock I bought from them recently will be the last thing I think I ever get from them. The quality was terrible, and it snagged worse than pantyhose. But AI is a last straw.

Our Pirate Eevee group made it out of group chat! We got the photos back from our Sunsetdragon pirate group at MAGfest and look how cute we all look! Photography by @bradbehlesphoto.bsky.social Designs by @sunsetdragon.bsky.social (cosplayer credits nested!)

Now for the big monster, Tyranny's dress. The only visible part of the costume is the two side 'swoops' but I wanted to use it as a chance to make an anchor piece that could be used to support various other parts of the costume. Oh, and have pockets. Lots of pockets.

Cat's out of the bag! I'll be heading to my very first Oz-Con this April. I'll be presenting panels on embroidery and foam armor, and can't wait to see folks there! Photographer Credits: @amiephotos.bsky.social , @bradbehlesphoto.bsky.social @munchkin_photos_by_heather

Love taking a wig that's usually considered low quality/cheap and upscaling. $10 dollar wig looks pretty good with a lot of crimping and some conditioner!

This may be a bit of a niche but..... I get really dry hands in the winter, but also calluses from all the hand stitching I do (no matter how many years I've been doing it). How do I know? The raw silk will ALWAYS catch on my middle finger just when I'm at a crucial part of an embroidery 😭

My number one tip for costumes (when you want things to look neat) is to do finishing by hand. There's just a level of control you can get with good hand stitching that can be hard to replicate on a machine, especially when it comes to slip stitching.

We're making progress! I had to take a step back and check how the proportions are working out and for the most part I'm generally happy. However, I think the front is a little too full (even if I'm more endowed than my dress form). I'll need to set aside some time to go back and rework it.

I'm trying a couple little tricks with this costume, to make it something that will stand the test of time. So while the costume is fully lined, I'm putting in a back panel on both the facing and lining that can ripped out for adjustments. And then pressing everything open and top stitching too.

The tabard has been a big patterning project. It took several tries with paper then fabric to work out the chevron pleating in the front before finalizing. And of course, more slip stitching bias tape.

Making slow and steady progress on the cloak. The cape is ending up being one giant experiment. I knew I wanted to continue the gold/silverwork theme, so the moons became silver chip work with rough purl, edged in braid and complimented by kid leather to break up the design. .

For the skirt, I used Rayon Challis, cut as a simple circle skirt, hemmed in a rolled hem. I then cut, serged, and hemmed about 15 yards of Matte Satin to make the ruffles. Still need to sew the silver trim set along the gather line. I’m using a pair of suspenders, also helps with the tail!

#wipwednesday This time, we're moving on to the chipwork for the cloak. I'm using silver purl in cut chipwork with a silver braid border. I was worried the design would read too heavy, so the larger moons are offset by silver kid leather sections. Overall, I'm happy with the balance in the design.