Frock Chick

Tomorrow I get to do my tests again, I hope, and email my specialist with an update and maybe hopefully get the injections sorted for once a week. I'm tolerating them so much better and there is a definite massive upswing 24 hours after them but a downswing about 5 days later. So they work and work directly and brilliantly but it's just not for long enough.


Anyway, so today I am not really going to be able to do much but luckily I have 120 or 150 odd tiny sequined pieces to glue to my Really Not At all Secret if You Know Me but Secret Costume for D*C. I should be able to manage that at least :) And maybe some sewing of a trim (by machine). Then more gluing of sequins.

I have my Shae Vizla display template and I really want to get that started soon. I will need to take the heat gun to the back of my gauntlets to stretch them a bit to fit the dsiplay in of course...

Ah yes, now I know what I need to get today. Shot glasses to measure out resin. And gloves. Though I managed to spread the resin/fliller mix without them last time. Yay antihistamines.

So.


Guess who had a brain fart and was in so much pain she was sure it must have been two weeks since her last injection of antibodies?


So I quickly checked online to see about overdosing, I figured I'd be safe as if I was in pain then the antibodies had all done their thing and been cleared away. And sure enough some patients need to have weekly dosing. So I am going to see how I go for the next half week and update my specialist on Tuesday (Queen's Birthday Weekend so not Monday).

What has this meant though? The improvement between me now and me on Monday/Tuesday is so incredible. I was able to walk down the stairs.



Stairs! No shuffling sidewides with arms pressed against the wall. Stairs!!!!!!!!!!


And OMG! Yesterday I scrubbed a mold! And I laid down some resin and filler (antihistamine loading dose) and I was able to move costume supplies today!!!!



I am a little loopy frm the freedom of you know.. moving!





I have also been far more proactive about getting help sooner. On Monday I was feeling so bad I thought about seeing my GP. And then my usual "don't be a bother" filter kicked in as well as my "put it off, you can cope" expectation of normal. Because you know not being able to brush your teeth is totally acceptable for weeks on end, yeah?

But I got on the phone, got a booking for the next day and saw my GP. ANd have been emailing my specialist to get the extra MTX and maybe soon the extra Humira.


I can't get too excited though as I will eventually build up a tolerance or intolerance to it. The mean time for effecacy is about 2 years? And given there is a resistance to funding more Biologics* by the FDA (which does affect decisions here in NZ) I need to try and still be careful to not push it.








Oh, the brand of MTX I have is Methoblastin**. Methoblastin..... I kind of get where they were going, but it really does not promote cell growth (in fact it stops fast growing cells) but it really does sound like it belongs in a comic from the 50s.


Methoblastin, blastin' evil.... pew pew.







*They are not all the same and no one drug has greater impact than another on patient outcomes. Honestly there needs to be a greater variety due to physiological diversity in patients. I cannot have Enbrel, others can. It's not a matter of annoying side effects it's a matter of it not working and causing the side effect of never ever being allowed in the sun.
**Scary reading, not sure why that info sheet doesn't include use for Autoimune disorders though. I was on it in 2002-04ish, so before the printing date and that was not a novel use.

Ooooh, so the little bit of filler did help! But so did having the heater on high and a lot of metal (ie non burning and melting) struts to keep the pieces close.

The 200gm cloth does not gel as easily as the matt, so I'm hoping the 100gm does. That is what is getting applied today.



I have my belt pieces marked on the new leather :) I have heaps left over, thank goodness, as it was half of my refund :(


Okay so before the cunning plan for D*C and C6 there was a big plan for SDCC. Yes. That one. The biiiig one. In fact R. very kindly managed to wrangle an extra membership for me at the last show which were very hard to get and there was a plan for a big group to go. It sort of didn't happen sadly and all things considered I think it may have wound up too early for my current health f*&%ery to resolve enough to have a good time. R. will have a fabboo time though and I am going to hope for twitter updates of much joy XD

Due to card and banking issues we only just managed to swap the moolah on Monday. I was going to put it straight in my savings but ummm.. it went back on my leather and a viewing of The Avengers and rent!


So next step is to even the curve of the belt pieces and then start putting in the detail lines and textures. I may need to find a wide tool with a nice canvas texture. No I do need to find one ;)


The new leather is 2.25.. or 2.5 I forget which but it is definitely going to be nice and rigid once worked (and I may give it a wet set over a form to keep the curve and make sure the paint/dye doesn't crack too much).



Starting to work out my options for lighting everything up :) I'll probably wind up with lots of little 3V battery packs as I know I 'll need them in the ear buds (rangefinder and shortness of the back of the neck means there is nowhere to hide a wire to the jetpack). This means shorter wires and less likely hod of TSA seeing them and going "hrrmmmmm".


Please remind me that I do not need two sets of the same arour in two colour schemes? I still haven't shared piccies here have I?


So that is my current in game armour :) As soon as 1.3 launches i'll be ale to add augments to those pieces and actually be able to do the stuff on Ilum I need ;)

But isn't that just so pretty? I have only seen this scheme used once, and that was in the latest 1.3 trailer update. Okay also in one of the BH armour progression sheets.




okay so I think the antihistamines will have kicked in, and the resin is actually pretty easy to work with at this stage- it's the sanding and cutting that makes me cry.

My cloth and filler arrived today (the less said about the attitude of the courier the better....) and I didn't realise I ordered the microlight filler.

Woo! so light and I love sanding this stuff :) It stinks like only West Systems can stink (it's even worse than Ados which smells like mice wee as it is) but it sets up pretty fast so is ideal for this crappy weather :)

I'll lay the first layer of cloth down tomorrow, hopefully, then the second. I am going to need the filler anyway as I'm working on some brooches and will need the filler to cast some super light pieces.

4L of fairing powder weighs maybe 50gm? So you can possibly see why I am happy :) My greaves look great, so I hope the matting will stick nicely (may mix a tiny bit of filler in to help it set up faster and so stick faster). The cloth is 200gm and 100gm respectively, not quite what I was expecting but the 200gm I think will be ideal. I need to see if I can cast my helmet again. Definitely need to try for some greeblies anyway.


Speaking of I have the magically swivelling arm display plotted and printed ready to cut in plastic. The screens are much smaller than I thought so I may be trying something else for them than I expected. Yay for orginal plans being more likely!


I am going to make my in game armour at some stage. Nothing says adass than high powered blasters and a pastel colour scheme.


Oh and I have some russet :) Shae belt redo with all the tooling :)

Hey girl why you so sad, you gots your ambulatory on, yeah girl.



So it's a bit of a bastardisation of what Carol (2 broke Girls) would say but it's far closer to the truth than having my glam or whatever on ;)


I counted how many appliques I have yet to cut and apply to my skirt and bodice.... it involves unpicking an S swirl of sequins each, clipping, fraychecking and curing over night then clipping to actul shape before gluing. Sewing is not appropriate for this element. There is a lot of machine and a fair bit of approprite hand sewing to go too.

Ummmm 204 five leaf appliques in this way. It is the blingy skirt of blingy doom. The sequins though are those tiny flats and I need some anywhay to replace the sequins on my stickelsche as seen in my icon here :)



Hmmmmm... 10 years of stalling on the darn thing. So glad the quality of fray check and glue has increased exponentially. Or at least ease of access to it in NZ. And glass stones vs plastic has also changed in price. Still going to sneak some plastic ones in as they were bought when I was 16 and experimenting with the whole design.

I should be asleep. My plan was to go to bed ridiculously early not just normal early. But then food was forced upon me and now I can't sleep. I have been in bed at about 6pm for the last few nights and awake at 11am. That is how active the disease is. No activity during the day but all my resources going in to essentially self destruction.


Flare continues, nasty nasty one that it is. I had Methotrexate on Saturday and so far no wanting to hurl up a lung and no hangover headache. This is good. Very bad not good tummy cramps but it's far from the worst side effect (prednisone and tramadol I am looking at both of you. Enbrel is dead to me, even prednisone didn't have me combusting in the sun).


I have maybe half an hour a week where I can go shopping or make stuff. And it is never predictable. No one really gets that, it's just a phrase until it becomes inconvenient. Tomorrow could be worse than today, I'm hoping it's better as I haven't had my extra steroids for a few days, but the Humira is being weird.

My first shot I felt relief in a few hours and it lasted for 10 days. Then the next shot took another two days to take effect and I have had a slow rise and fall, faaaaaalll and little rise of effect.


Anyway, so if I can get help at D*C and C6 in getting dressed (and I am at the moment being helped to get socks and shoes on- I have avoided getting a carer so far only due to the aforementioned unpredictability) I will be able to at least have Shae. At this rate I will not be able to get the repairs done I wanted, or needed done. If it was just this it might be okay, but there are several costumes I have been working on for more than a few years that have already been put on hold as I can't complete the last 10%.

I have been assured that people just care that I am going at all, but I am not sure why. It's lovely to hear, but experience has so far been me being a wallflower.

Wheeeeeee... I am high! legal, let's be clear about this.


My autoimmune disease is so active right now that I am currently on a Biologic (antibodies- as in cells created in Vitro- luckily not in mice though there are still some made that way) a Non Steroidal Antiinflamatory (1000mg of Naprosyn) steroidal Antiinflammatory (today 15mg prednisone) a pain killer (tramadol- hense the high) sleeping pills to actually sleep and pretty soon I will have to have a drug used in chemotherapy (again, had it before) just so i can sit and type.

I wish that was overkill. It's just barely on target. But it is working. Just scary that I need all of it.

Trust me, if there was an alternative therapy that worked I'd be doing it. But unless it works on the immune system directly then there is not much point. And by the way Accupuncture makes me worse. It stimulates nerves too much and there is nerve involvement in the disease (possibly why it is symmetric- there seems to be some signal pathway linked with the nervous system). But there was recently a study that explained the actual physiological effect and it is a fascinating read. Given different body chemistry from person to person it may explain why it works for some and not for others :) It was a Nature article, it may still be available online :)

So I am just going to be napping and then maybe working on some gluing and scanning later. I have some images for embroidery and armour making set up for printing off and making proper hand drawn templates.

So actual contest content :)

Shae Vizla is having a break, I have no big events to wear her too until C6 so I am able to take my time and rework the problem areas and get the whizzbang stuff sorted as well.

So far:

Jetpack:
Half an inch taken off the top and ditto the sides, this has considerably reduced the weight but also made the piece look more like in game. Proportion wise I was pretty close- this should not be oversized or it looks like a backpack.

Arm displays:
Removed, sanded back to resin and the light up areas cut out. Just debating exactly how I am going to work them (insert clear acrylic or pour clear acrylic. I am going to dremel out some more of the back too for wires and leds. I have a whole heap of brilliantly functional lights from Xmas tree decorations and I can probably cut them down to fit :)

Ammunition armbands:
Tubing procured! Woo! I suspect it was junk (in a bin) but for the price I was quoted I don't care. Also the shop is in receivership so again a hand ful of dollars is fine. It is about the width of curtain tubing, the stuff usually reserved for net curtains, but is plastic so they will be light but also won't trigger any alarms!

Pouches:
Forms made from sheets of sintra lamenated together. Made the form the same size as my phone to allow the leather to fit exactly. Over time the pouch should ease a little and soften a tad. Not much! I have just enough leather left over to start forming it :)

Greaves:
Template in card is not working. Partly because the humidity in Auckland means card goes wobbly all too quickly, partly because I am way too impatient. So I have started what I hope to be my final pass at a form to reisn over (I want to get cloth and need filler so I need to save up for that). Love the shape of my pattern it's just a matter of getting the method down.

Blasters:
I have cut up two freebie toy guns as I am not risking any prop I work on getting confiscated by airport security. These look really good and in world. In fact they remind me of early weapons I used in the game. Also I found blasters offer far more easy posing opportunities. I love my big gun but it requires two hands to hold. I Will probably use magnets and hooks to secure them to my belt. there will be wires going through the belt anyway so hiding some magnets between layers will be fine. I de-sparkified the trigger mechanism. Though am also tempted to just rip that out. I'll see how the glue has held up and if I can gut them I will.

So next on the agenda:

Belt
I will need more leather sadly :( But I should be able to find other uses for the rest of the leather. Heck my SCA kit could do with a few bits and pieces :) Belt grade leather should be easy to use up :) Same shape as my current belt but it will be tooled and properly dyed and polished.


Thigh pieces
Might be the same method as the greaves, given how the armour looks in game :)


Gas cylinder and belt cannister:
Both tubes, both getting resized to be smaller and lighter and be functional.


Sanding chest guard and back plate to crispness. I was doing this already but I spent way too long trying to get the size right so now I can cut out the back and smooth the top.

Widening the tidying the guantlets.

I also need to decide if I want to keep the current non-roll elastic or try for another fastening method. There are not buckles anywhere yet there are straps. This only works with magnets and hidden snaps/velcro. It works but seems a bit fancy pants for a bounty huter ;) That said she is lit up light an Xmas tree anyway...

I do also want to crisp up the helmet details and I have to make a new rangefinder. With proper pvc this time. I swear I have styrene not pvc.... if it glues with shoe goo but not with pvc weld......

So uhhh.. long time no write?

There are reasons...

1) This computer has been out of commisson for a while- the date/time won't stay stable and it keeps reverting back to factory date/time.. umm.. April 2007... Not really a month I want reminded of every day...
Also I have been trying to get data off another computer with the mouse and keyboard.... gave up so this computer is fired up :)

2) So I have my netbook but typing on it is very painful. Very. Especially atm as my RA is flaring quite badly. I can barely get my hand up to brush my teeth or get out of a top to shower. My shoulders and elbow have very little range right now.

3) The pain and post event wipe out knocked me sideways and I had a very bad not good depressive stage. I am not in need of head pills, I am very much in need of iron and B12. When they are both at nearly zero levels they play hell on your brain. I know it was the root cause becasue my face was also quite numb and tingly. Also drinking 3x the daily limit of berrocca (all the B vitamins but esp. 12) helped.
And no, this is not self diagnosis my B12 and Iron issues are at the inject nearly every month stage. I am kind of hoping this last episode will push the local health board into letting me be infused with iron ratehr than have the injections which I will not be able to deal with on top of my curren thip pain.

4) I am stressing out like woah in regards to D*C and CElebration. I keep reading stuff about how perfect I need to be and there is no way I am going to live up to it. Not physically and not in terms of my work and definitely not in terms of health. I'm going to be a mess. To this end I want to bring my best work but I also really do not because I know what the stats are for missing luggage.


Anyway, angst post out of the way I will have a cup of tea and rest for a bit and hopefully come back with a bit more of an actual update ;)


Oh yeah and:
5) I have leveled my Bounty Hunter to 50 and am very near her end of story. I'm on the mast mission, I think second to last big story fight. And an NPC on the fleet spoiled me!!!!! Not that the Trials on Voss didn't already give me a heads up.....

So I treated myself to some really pretty gear. It's Shae Vizla but in pale grey, old gold and metallic lilac.

Okay, so I am testing my suitcase, I am so easily going to travel with Shae XD I can even get her gun in the case!!!! However I may do her two little blasters so I can hook them to my belt :)

So this makes me think I can do the maybe possibly costumes.



So anyway, comments are screened as I'd be interested to know what people might think I should bring of costume I already have. Comments won't be unscreened, I'll reply and hide my reply if it is anything beyond "yes" "no" "it needs repair" kind of replies in case it would spoil your surprise plans :)


And I can get my Shae jetpack in my suitcase!!! This is amazing!