Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Crafting Tornado: My Desk

Two weeks ago, this was my desk.
Let me start by defending myself because I know this photo is jarring. My home life encouraged creativity and activity, not organization to hide our projects.  I grew up in a cluttered house with a cluttered bedroom. Big family, busy people with no patience. We all preferred making new stuff to cleaning up the old stuff.

This was my desk in my craft room. We originally planned on using the room as a nursery when we moved into the house ten years ago, but biology dashed those plans and it became a home office. Of course, we're such social creatures that we moved the computer out of the office so we could be within ten feet of each other while we work at home.  Since this craft room is the only room that we can lock off from our rascally dogs during the day, it's become a catch-all room for things they can't have.

My college friend in Fayetteville, Arkansas, helped me organize my desk via Facebook.  You can see the desk has random papers, random costume bits, puppet foam, broken pasties, boxed supplies, teaching gloves, stray merch, my camera, and some things that could just be tossed.  Oh, and a giant handbag because that makes a lot of sense.

Here's my desk now.
Here is my desk two weeks later. All that shit from the photo above has been sorted, put away, or pitched. You can see the silamide I use all the time for hand sewing on the far left. I have a lovely MLP-themed piece of artwork gifted to me by June Gloom on the wall, along with original artwork by tattoo artist and burlesque dancer Doris Night of Hot Springs. My friend Sebastian did an awesome rendering of a statue I described one night in play rehearsal, and I have a sketch by T.J. Rappel from Dr. Sketchy's at Burlesque Hall of Fame a few years ago. Below all the artwork is my feather color card.

On the shelves above the desk are my Barbie from Richard Simmons and a Cruella doll I got from Lili vonSchtupp.  The second shelf holds labeled containers of lingerie supplies, fasteners, jewelry supplies, rhinestones, and bias tape & buttons. The bottom shelf holds my video camera and bra supplies.

The desk has become a cutting table so we can start to repurpose our ironing board, using it for its original intended purpose. The flower girl basket from the rewedding holds my shears, pattern weights, french curves, and rotary cutters. The cutting rulers are behind the serger. The serger rests on the corner of the desk. My serger instructions are on the desk as I learn to use the machine, then I'll rehome them.

I need to go through every shelf in my house and give it the same treatment as my desk.  The trick will be for me to keep the desk clean.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Topless Vlog #34


New topless vlog is here!
 
I talk about the Hollywood Burlesque Festival fundraiser, rewedding stuff, whip out a puppet, and Buster loses his shit.

LINKS:
Hollywood Burlesque Festival 
Blog 
Get some rewedding stickers (paypal $1 to msredsnapper at gmail)

Advanced Stockings and Sensuality With Stephanie Blake

I'm a huge fan of taking classes with burlesque legends.  You can learn so much from the people who came before.  Los Angeles is a tough place to connect with people because it's so spread out and so busy, so having access to Stephanie Blake for a workshop was a fantastic opportunity for me to learn more from one of our local legends.

Stephanie's perspective is unique among legends. She's a second generation stripper, actress in legit theatre and film, and her stripteasing experience bridges the gap between old burlesque and the burlesque revival.  It's always delightful to hear these women share tales of their own striptease experiences.

This is a class you must take if you have the opportunity.  One of the best lessons I got from her class was to be easy to work with. No one wants to deal with a bitchy diva. She's a very pleasant, go-with-the-flow performer, and I dig that about her.

I believe she'll be teaching this class at New Orleans Burlesque Festival this year.  Keep your eyes peeled and take her class if she's teaching when she comes to your town.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Topless Vlog #33

A quick hello in the afterglow of the rewedding, Red shows a special gift from June Gloom, shows her rewedding "yearbook," and talks money.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Snapper Rewedding: Domestic Bliss

Makeup & hair by Vivienne Vermuth, photo by Modern Noir Studios, body by Snapper
From our December photo shoot with Modern Noir Studios.  I like cupcakes, he likes pipes.  I like argyle, he likes me being domestic while nude.