Late last year , I was contacted by the director of the Mausonian museum if I would be interested in a position in their bone washing department but I had to defer as I was still attempting to exhaust these creative urges that wash over me. He also mentioned that they had discovered a small draconian arboreal flyer which they have named the Leaf Tailed Dragon.
It is approximately 30 inches in length, discovered in a recently evolved volcanic rift east of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. This entire area at on time was a heavily forested swamp with giant trees along with the attending giant bugs and swamp creatures. Primarily an insectivore, it likely also fed on snails and small reptiles. The wide rudder like appendage on the tail served as a dynamic in-flight foil for rapid maneuvering and if draped over the creature while resting may have provided camouflage of a sort. It certainly would have been one of the smaller denizens in this environment.
For security reasons, the exact location is being kept a secret however in their usual method of operation when dealing with a find of any significance, they have once again uprooted their operations and simply moved the base museum and its staff to the site. Apparently, they have also undiscovered evidence of a possible aquatic species and are hoping to make a real discovery in that area. Anyway, he wondered if I would be interested in doing this replica at a third scale and the result is below.
As an authorized reseller of Mausonian museum replica specimens, it can be found in the Battleduck.com store or by clicking on the picture below.
Necon 29 has come and gone! The economy apparently kept the attending numbers a bit lower however it seems to me that this actually worked in favor of the convention as things seemed a little bit closer and more personal than usual. All in all, everything went pretty smoothly.
The art show was actually a little busier than I would’ve expected. The food was good and the company great. The roasting of Von and Wes was a heavy basting with a chewing of the meat while it was still on the spit…..Ouch! I hope those sweet people come back next year. Not sweet because they tasted good, sweet because they are nice people!!! Lars Grant-West, the artist guest of honor, made absolutely gorgeous medals for the Olympics. Weather was typical of late with some thunder storms at night but it left off for beautiful balmy days with cool ocean sea breezes.
Perhaps one of the oddest events that happened and only could happen at the event called Necon was the synchronized drowning event organized by John Skipp. This has been captured beautifully by Madelon Wilson and can be seen can be seen at this address:
Synchronized Drowning Event
The sharing of lots of wonderful pictures made me realize that there were many Necons all going on at the same time and I am wondering which one I attended. Check the links below to see the many different flavors of the wonder that is known as Necon.
Monica Orourke’s Necon
Tracy Carbone’s Necon
John McIlveen’s Necon
Spats! Those functionally decorative foot and ankle protectors from yesteryear. Why, even Scrooge McDuck wore a pair! They can still be seen about being used as protection in various industries and occasionally as a fashion statement.
A pair was needed for a dance routine with a ‘Putting on The Ritz’ flavor. Construction looked pretty deceiving as usual. The weirdness came in when doing measurements of the rapidly changing topography over the lower leg, ankle and foot. I preferred to try and make something that fit properly as opposed to just wrapping a sack about the ankle. As usual, a mock-up in linen turned the trick and after some adjustments we were ready to go. When I unzipped the mock-up, the pieces were so oddly shaped that I basted it all together again and refit to be sure. In the end, I had a three piece pattern.
The spats were made of a silvery brocade with a rose pattern. This lustrous material really is not adequately captured by the camera. Attachment was made with velcro inside while the buttons performed an ornamental touch outside. The inside layer is heavy interfacing to help keep material upright along with and elastic that the shoe is actually slipped through to keep it all in place while moving about. They looked great and worked just as well. Plans are in the works for a tall pair with a military feel to be made out duck cloth.
A couple of weeks ago, I was an artist guest at Star City Games Standard Open held at Holiday Inn in Boxborough, Massachusetts. This was my first experience with a Magic crowd and signing their cards and such. Turned out to be a great bunch of people who were there for only one thing : to game! When the card contest started, the hush that fell over the room was so noticeable it was as if everyone had suddenly disappeared from the hall.
In my rush to post the costume, I forgot to include the sketches. I only had two weeks to get this together so I opted to go for silly. The first sketch was just that and we were hunting through a used clothing store for possible materials when we came across a silk bathrobe with an obvious reptilian pattern. Suddenly, the first sketch vaporized and there in my mind eye shuffled Geisha Godzilla. I could see it as plain as day. So we got the robe and I did a second sketch. The robe went through some major alterations and I added the fuchsia cherry blossom brocade to the arms and trim on the edges. I created a sash and a small pack out of the same material. Then followed the hat, gloves, sandal feet, the o so obvious tail, and finally the panel dance skirt. A bit of work to say the least, ha!
The dance freak in my house has been keeping rat maze crazy the last few weeks with costume work. The newest effort turned out for a burlesque gig was what we call Geisha Godzilla. It was a fair bit of work but it got done. Not pictured are the collapsible buildings that I put together so she would have something to kick and stomp while on stage. Music was from Blue Oyster Cult and the Creatures both who have done a song called Godzilla. If you have questions about construction, I will be happy to respond. And now without further ado, I present………………..Geisha Godzilla.
