Benson

A decade or more ago I was on LiveJournal. It was the blogging place to be and I was very active. I met a designer named Benson. Benson was a cheerful, inspiring guy that made me push through into fashion. He always made me smile and we had the most silly and lovely conversations. I knew he was sick, but that never stopped him.

I lost track of him when I stopped at LiveJournal. Lately I've been thinking about him a lot due to the start of a sewing-competition here in the Netherlands. We used to talk about both joining up for Project Runway.

Today I read how things went for him the last 10 years. He fought, he won, but now has other battles. The worst battle is that he lost his gorgeous smile.

There is a fundraiser happening to get his smile back. Benson being Benson and not agreeing on charity for him lost this battle to his friends. We are getting your smile back! You, of all people, deserve that!

Sadly, GoFundMe asks me for a credit card. Which I don't have. So hereby I do what I can and share this fundraise.

Help Benson Smile Fundraising

There. Hate me all you like, Benson. I still love you.

Kisses from Sam.

Nala

About 4 weeks ago Nala had difficulty with walking properly. It looked like she had an infected toe and after a vet visit it was cleaned up. They gave me an antibiotics to clear out the infection and I hoped that was that. But a week later she still wasn't ok and the vet took a swap for the lab. Last week I heard she had cancer. To be sure if it was just her toe or not, we made one x-ray and found a tumor in her lungs. At this point she didn't eat, drink or wash herself anymore. Options to keep her alive were more like options to keep her suffering. On Monday I had to say goodbye to one of my kitty-children.

I saw Nala be born. I nursed her, because her own mommy didn't know what to do with her children. I took her and her brothers in when they were 2 years old, because it got too crowded with kitties at my friends house where they were staying. I know her for 16 years. She was a diva, ninja and my little ball of fluff. She snuck into my workshop without a sound to crawl on my chair or in a box, just to be near me. She never cared for catfights in the backyard, she just smacked the intruding cat right in the face to make them bugger off. She played with her nails out, making me have to take care of small wounds on her brothers. Everybody loved her at first sight, for she had this pretty long hair and adorable look. But she could be very mean and had the stare of death if a stranger was left alone in the room with her. And I loved every part of her.

I miss her a lot, but little kitties grow old. I'm still checking if she's in her chair and still see her sneaking around in the corner of my eye.

I'm getting a lot of support from friends and family, because they know how crazy I was about her. I'm very grateful. I'm glad I had the chance to say goodbye for a full weekend with cuddles and kisses. Slowly picking up my work again.

I'm running a bit behind with everything. I'm sorry, but I'll think you'll understand.

Costume review: Aquaman (2016 Concept art)

So this picture of Jason Momoa has hit the internet. It's a concept art for Aquaman and people are indifferent about it. It doesn't show a blond and blue eyes californian beach boy, but a gritty and rough Poseidon.

I'm loving it. I've never been a fan of that blonde twat. This is what a man of the sea looks like. But where did that blondie came from anyways? Why did they choose for that appearance in the first place?

I did some research on Aquaman. When was he introduced and what did he look like and cross referenced it with the meaning of certain looks of that age. He first appeared in Fun Comics #73 in 1941. This is an American comic. Americans held the blond hair and blue eyes high in standards of perfect beauty. Aquaman was a mysterious man from the sea, and no wonder he had to look just perfect. The haircut is a superman haircut in blond. This is what the girls dreamed about and the men wanted to be.

If that blond hero would rise from the sea in this time period, we would see him as a slick politician. Or a dweep in a funky leotard. No one would bat an eye. Think for a second what a man of the sea with such passion for it would feel like. We're polluting his home, we're killing his palls and after all this time having a chat about it is too late. I would be pissed. And taking in consideration that the old fashioned Californian beach boys hold no leverage anymore against the rough manly man about what is best for nature and sea life, here comes Jason Momoa. Bad ass, rough cut, Poseidon inspired motherfucker. If he would rise up on the beaches with that look in his eyes... people would think twice before taking a selfie with this dude and post it on instagram.

I absolutely see what Zack Snyder did there. I praise him for it. New era, new ideals. I'm a big fan of the gritty approach. If people still want that blond twat, go back to the comics or the cartoons.

Feth

the one and only Feth

A long time ago, A dear friend of mine had a familiar on a LARP event called Feth. It was a leprechaun with a big mouth and an annoying voice. He was feared and loved. He had two handdolls to play Feth (and sometimes more then one of the creepy leprechauns... one was usually enough, two made you run like hell). He once told me he wanted to change one into a drow-leprechaun (because we all need an annoying little guy with an even more evil twitch).

Sadly, he lost one of the dolls in the woods. We thought it was lost forever, but after a few years we found his head back. His hair and body (which was cloth) was all gone, but his head (wood) was intact.

Fet and his new Brother

Now the other doll already got a new outfit from me. A bit of a classy wizardly outfit for Feth to show off. How come I got the doll? Long story. I once played a character as backup from the same homeworld and asked if I could take Feth along. It was funny how people that knew him were semi happy to see him (and then held on to their gold-pouch and excused themselves to get away from him). I have the head too and I wanted to make my friends wish come true. I used it to make a Feth-drow.

Now Feth and his new brother are home. I'm glad he was so happy to have Feth back. Things will be a lot less chaotic without the two crazy leprechauns running around the house.

Happy Birthday Sebas.

Pictures made by Sebastiaan.

COSplay: The thin line between copyright abuse and fanart

As the title explains, there is a very thin line between copyright abuse and fan art when it comes down to selling my own handmade cosplay outfits. You can make everything for yourself or your friends and show it to the world, but selling it as a company can be very tricky. There are some licensing companies that have the 'dips' on creating and commercially selling costumes or parts of costumes. No license means your bootlegging and actually you are not helping the fandom. Licensed products means a part of the money you spend on them goes directly to the company that made your hero happen and feeds it so it can go on and on. Giving into bootleg means your money doesn't go to what you want to support.

But I really like to make cosplay!

Now truth be told I do twist and turn it into my own creation and mix it with periodic clothing. But what if I want to use logo's and such? I can't sell that, but I can recreate the outfit without logo's. Or I find the licensed versions to use in the clothing. I want to support the fandom and yes there are big and very rich companies behind them that probably already have enough money, but they also check the popularity by looking at their sales. They can't check bootleg. Next to that, bootleg can be punished severely. If I'd have to calculate a lawsuit into my items, it would become un-affordable.

So what should I do?

I, personally, am not going to stop making costumes for myself. I will go all the way. What I can sell from that costume as made to fit, will be the blank parts. Everything that does not immediately links to something that could be licensed. Next to that, with every character I create, I will sell licensed items.

I am a fan, I support the fans, I want to help the fandom grow.

Licensed Merchandise on Samalla.nl 

Restless

I slept horribly.

Now that is not really something I would write about here, it's more a little tweet or facebook announcement for my friends. But now it's here, because of the reason why I kept twisting and turning in my sleep.

I miss designing. Now I do design a lot of things and that is not really the problem. The problem is that I have so many ideas, drafts and outrages things on paper and in my head that don't see the light of day due to several factors:

1. Commission overload. I'm making to the costumers wishes withing the costumers budget. With a 100 euro more I could really put my signature in the designs, but that's not what the commission demands.
2. Lack of budget. I see so many beautiful materials I'd love to cut but cannot afford.
3. Lack of time. When there is an event I'd love to show one of my designs, I don't really have the time to get it as I wish to make it.
4. My downgrading mindset. There is this marketing voice in my head that I need to make it sell-able.

Due to this I cannot really say what distinguishes me from other corset designers and historical sewing companies, other then my great personality.

So some limitations that doesn't make me cross the line from comfort base to signature base kept me awake at night. I like doing the straight on historical sewing. I even learned a lot from it and I'm still learning, but there is a monster inside of me that wants to get out.

The monster needs a plan.

I'm going to hold off any new big commissions. I'll do the corsets and I'll do the commissions I already said I would do, but the rest of my sewing time goes straight into my monster. I'm letting go of the 'wouldn't prices scare them off' or 'is it sell-able as it is'. From everything I have designed, most want it a bit different anyway.

Now the budget issue. I will have to start on the materials I have now (which is a lot) and since a month or so I retail licensed merchandise. It will have to do.


Back to what I was and felt comfortable with. That girl in fashion academy that never went into the mainstream of the class.

Let's see how well I sleep tonight.

Art for Art: 17th century weddingdress

I personally don't give to charity. Donating money that is. The problem with donating money to charity, is that only a fraction of that money goes where it's supposed to be. Or they have no clue on what to spend it and buy promotional shirts. That bugs me, because I want to give to the people in need, and not to the bosses that run the show. Because it is a show. A charity fund is a company. It has an office and employees. Some volunteers. Promoting your charity costs money, employees cost money and, what has been hot topic around here a lot, the bosses cost a crazy lot of money. I won't pay for his villa, I want the full 100% to go where you promised me it would go.

So, I'm not a greedy little bastard that doesn't want to give. I just look around to see where I can actually help and see the result. Now I'm not the type that jumps on a plane and help protesters, nurse babies or builds new homes. But what I can do is help something close to my heart and home what is in dire need.

There was this call for help I saw via via on FaceBook: Wanted: A dress somewhat like this for a theater performance. Looking at the dress, I wanted to make it. And I could make it. So I contacted them. I'll make the dress and just want it back after the performances are over. This is my charity this year. Art and theater are very much down on funds and we need to help each other. They have the dress they need, I got a bit of promo.

Now I don't have a lot of money to go around myself, so the dress wouldn't be in historical correct fabrics. That would cost a fortune. But for a stage dress I could use modern fabrics. I went for aqua satin and black taft silk. Looking for the gold details is hard outside of Christmas season for a reasonable price. I found something similar in shape, just not as grotesque. The lace/embroided collar and cuffs were a challenge too, but I got some embroided finish and voile.

Report on Grachtenfestival Amsterdam 2013

This dress could be viewed on the Theater over het Ij festival and Grachtenfestival
The play is called 'Lege Dagen' and is directed by Kasper Kapteijn.
Performing actress is Nadia van Vuuren

The dress was sold after the performances.