November 05, 2008 @ 07:11

The costumes are delivered.  Praise was recieved for them.  If I had known everything that was going to happen, I never would have taken the contract.  I lost just shy of a full month of production time because of the lumbering university’s financial system.  They did not pay the advance until 30 days after having recieved my estimate.  And I don’t know about you, but I don’t have thousands lying around in case of brocade emergencies.  Oh, how nice that would be, right fellow SCA folks?  So, by the time the university wheels ground out the advance, it was too late for me to say hey, you guys, I can’t do this.  I was not the original costume builder.  The first was forced to leave the project when her grandchild was diagnosed with cancer.  How horrific.  And I hope her family is making it through such a terrible time.  The director searched for weeks with no luck finding a person crazy enough to think they could pull off the project.  So it came to me late already.  And anybody who knows me will tell you what a sucker I am for a sob story.  I’ll give away the farm.  So, I could not in my version of good conscious leave them hanging in the wind like that.  The set design was already scrapped for the same reasons.  The company said no check, no set.  And who could blame them?  A minimalist design was chosen in the original plans stead.  Just a scaffold on the set.  That’s a lot of pressure on the costumes to carry the visual theme, no?  So what did I do?  I spent every waking moment outside of my boys’ needs and my job in front of the sewing machine for the last six weeks.  Plus a couple of vacation days.  My fingers bled.  My back ached.  My eyes blurred.  And I enlisted the aid of some family and friends that saved me.  Baby Sis and Stephie in particular.  They were delivered on Sunday.  And Thursday is the opening night.  There are things about them that I hate.  Shortcuts that could not be avoided.  A shocking level of skimping in some areas.  I hope that no serious costumer is present.  They’re fine for everyday.  Not fine enough for Sunday, that’s all I’m saying.  I’ll post more pictures if I can get them. 

Not too bad for 30 costumes in 27 days, I suppose . . . 

And I’m happy that the election is done.  And happy for the results.  I think McCain is a good man.  I personally am a mostly liberal / sometimes conservative Christian.  Even a registered Republican, if you can believe it.  But I can’t remember the last time I voted for one.  Each year it seems the gap between what I believe and what the Republicans deliver widens further and further.  I am absolutely sure that the Republican Party has abandoned all but lip service to the matters that I believe in.  Caring for people above corporations, our evironment, and the list goes on and on.  I am sorry for those within it that still struggle to do what is right.  However few they may be.  So I voted for hope.  And thank god, hope won. 

So despite my one very bitter disappointment with the banning of some very qualified families from being able to foster children in need, I’m happy.  Hope you have a happy day today, too . . . 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 8:11 am and is filed under Art Projects, Thank You Sunday, Real life . . . no, really . . ., What was I thinking?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.