River Song Final

So, yup. Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, my full River Song costume with some Photoshop assistance. Yesterday, I totally got to rock out this costume at madrigal practice, meaning that I showed up for my first practice wearing this and was ushered into a tiny living room crammed with people and much too hot considering all that I was wearing. I happily stumbled through the Latin phrases, trying desperately to remember singing lessons of long ago and leaning heavily into the soprano on my left to try to gain a sense for what notes I was supposed to be singing. After practice, I hied down to a set of apartments to join three other steampunk ladies for a fun photoshoot.

My amazing friend Barb, who is a whiz with both picture taking and photoshop, pulled this image together. We did some shoots in a room with white walls, and I had fun doing some flops and rolls. Photoshop added the other effects and I admit freely, this is the most epic picture I have ever had of myself. I am cherishing this sucker for the rest of my life so that when I am 57 and my knees are shot, I can entertain my grandkids with stories about how Grandma used to be a secret time-traveling agent.

My finished goggles ended up looking like this:

The one trouble spot is that I ended up with a bit of silver Rub N Buff on my forehead even though I had sprayed the rims repeatedly with acrylic coating. I surmise that my body heat warmed up the Rub N Buff (which is wax based) and it leaked through the coating. I need to fix this problem because I was actually considering making more of these goggles and seeing if I could sell them on Ebay. 

My gun was looking like this before I added a clear coat of acrylic:

However, the acrylic coating ate away some of the acrylic paint and you can see definite blue under the white. Also, using the gun yesterday for show caused some paint chips on it. I am not really sure what to do about this: I guess I need to research more steps for having a better paint finish on a steampunk modified gun.

On my left hip, I have a little bag I made out of leftover fabric that I used for my gaiters and a sheet of that sticky foam. I think the bag will work well to hold my cards and information about my Indiegogo fundraiser so I can hand them out during Emerald City Steampunk Expo.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the final results of my River Song costume. Here are some other pictures.

I need to make a few modifications and shore up a few loose parts, but overall, I think I am ready for the costume contest for Emerald City!

Today I am at work on Chapter 22 - things are rushing towards the Charge of the Light Brigade on October 25th, 1854. It only lasted 25 minutes but the British presented themselves with stupendous bravery and unmitigated disregard for the suicide charge they were rushing into. Yesterday, the friend I do madrigal singing with said to me after practice, "Shall we grab the Tardis and go?" I responded brightly, "Yes, let's go to the Crimea and watch the Charge of the Light Brigade!" He blinked and said, "From a safe distance, right?"  Well, writing about it is about the safest distance I can think of.

I've gotten some funds in through Indiegogo: thanks, everyone! I still need to get about 90% of my funding by November 14th, and I would be extremely appreciative of any further donations, plus you get prizes for donating!