Archive for December, 2023

2023 is almost over and as usual, I’m late on all my projects… Oh well, what else is new?

I will be away tomorrow to spend a couple of days with my family. I already want to return to all my friends as quickly as possible, and I’m not even gone yet.

See you soon and happy holidays everyone.

Some good and somewhat unexpected additions to the maid dress today:

• Fixed the front of the skirt, it separates from the legs a bit more now.
• Finished up the corset lacing, the bow specifically.
• I’ve redone all the pleats and trims to be more consistent, with some variations too and made sure they all fold with the right side out.
• Built a bib for the tea apron, it looks pretty good, but it doesn’t work well combined with the tie at the moment.

Those black trims on the apron are just great.

Steady progress on the maid dress over the past two days, I’ve redone the back of the corset once more, tightened it and made all the trims a bit more even. I also got in a few attempts at making the tea apron which I think really “ties” the outfit together (no put intended).

I did try a 4-hook version of the corset, but 3 appears to be plenty.

I might just reuse the lace knot I made a long time ago for the corseted suit because I had another look at it, and I’m not re-making one of these from scratch, absolutely not.

The skirt needs a bit of reshaping in the front in order to move it away from the body and legs, a lot of parts still need to be creased up, and the apron is going to need a nice fancy bow…

Debating on whether I should start on the alternate pieces (sleeves, bib apron, a longer skirt?) after I’m done with this variant or if I should get onto the low-polygon model and discover whatever problems this outfit may have, right away.

Back to work on the latex maid dress.

I had an attempt at trying to get fuller folds in the skirt until I eventually realized that what I was trying to do didn’t look that good. Sometimes the first attempt is the best one you’ll get I suppose.

Shape wise, the skirt still need some tweaking and, maybe more volume? I’m always a bit wary with skirts, they tend to clip through the legs or the butt really easily if I don’t give them enough room, and this one is short enough that I’d rather not end up hiding the body under it, if I can.

I’ve added the rear zip, nothing really special there, it looks just like the front one.

The corset is in a very good place at this point, I’ve refined it a lot and added boning, edge piping, paneling and a first attempt at lacing it. I don’t really want to have fully modeled laces, and with those flat ones, I might be able to get away with a normal-mapped flat polygon strip. I’m not 100% sure there. There is also enough space on the front to have two corset bones really, it looks a bit bare compared to the backside.

Next step is going to be the apron I assume, before tying up the corset, I need to check how the apron’s is going to fill the space.

With all the detailing on the sleeves, corset and skirt, the top is starting to look a bit bare. I’ve added a decorative groove into the tie, I still want it to be a little leather “strap” but it doesn’t look quite like that yet.

I wish I had been more present for You.
By the time it was too late there was no way to really exchange any last words, or wrap up any loose ends.
But at the same time, I don’t know if you can just “conclude” a relationship with someone who pretty much raised you alongside of your parents, just like that, with a few good words and kind gestures.
I’m also not sure if You’d have cared to listen anyway.
I feel awful because part of me is relieved that this is all over: fewer obligations, less guilt, less pain of seeing you slowly but surely going away. I also feel awful because I do not feel as sad as I thought I should be.
Furthermore, I know that I’ve seen much worse departures before, but this is fresh, raw and new. I know this, and I know it will take time.
I don’t believe in god, but I know you did, I guess you’re all reunited together now, we tried to accommodate with your (somewhat) conflicting desires on how to handle your funerals, I hope we made the right choice, but it also feels like we leaned on what was the most “convenient” option.
This clumsy goodbye will never reach you, and I’m writing it more for myself and who care to join my little pity party than anything else.

The past week has been both easy, and difficult mentally…

I’ve been extremely restless, and haven’t really done anything of value, I feel “fine” 99% of the time, but I am having a really hard time focusing on creative work.

It is already mid-December and things are only going to get busier from this point, but I’ll do my best to show some progress on current projects.