Magazine project finished... and more

My vampire tenant had a lot of stuff to show me today.

She said she finally finished organizing her magazines (I would have never thought that she liked reading magazines, but she is full of surprises).  She was very happy with the holders I made for her, and she made very good use of them:

She has quite a collection of magazines, from very different subjects.

Dark Realms is a magazine that is no longer made.  It featured gothic artwork, which she says she very much enjoyed.  Besides them, cinema and TV magazines featuring vampires and werewolves programming.  My tenant says Eric from True Blood, and Damon from The Vampire Diaries are yummy (!).  

 

Besides, a collection of magazines that belongs to her goddaughter Claudia - my tenant says she loves mermaids.  Besides, a collection of National Geographic isssues, featuring animals for Claudia and an issue about the sinking of the Titanic - my tenant says she was on the ship's maiden voyage and that she survived miraculously.  And finally, some issues of Gothic Beauty - she very much enjoys the pictures of the pretty clothing.

The Darkness Magazine is a non-existent publication that I made up some time ago with my picture on the cover.  If you want to make your own magazine you can do so here.

As a fun addition, the National Geographic magazines have an ad on the back:

They are all now neatly organized in her room and her parlor:

Also, she went shopping and bought a gift for her beloved:

The lovely pocket watch was made by Tj Miniatures.  I made the box and the bag with the label.  Now it is waiting besides the chatelaine for Selma.

I am working now on some magazines for my Etsy shop.  I am sure when I finish them my tenant will want some issues for herself.  More on that very soon!

Review of the Steampunk corset and skirt

About time!  I know, I'm sorry, I should have done this a long time ago, but alas, better late than never.

Well, like I mentioned in this post, this ensemble comes from Corsets UK.  They have expanded a lot their Steampunk line (which I absolutely adore!), but as of today, I only have 3 of their pieces, two of which I am going to review today.  

So, we will begin with the corset, which you can find here:

Picture from the Corsets UK website

For technical details, I will refer you to their description.  These are some of my own observations:

The zipper.  The pull tab looks like a spring, which is a fun addition.  Even though the zipper goes up to the edge of the corset, it won't close that far, since the design of the corset won't allow it; you have one of the stays in the middle, as well as one of your breasts.  In my case, it won't go up more than an inch or two, and occasionally it goes down a little by itself, but you cannot tell looking from the outside that it is not in the correct place.

The pocket and leather part.  As it is advertised in the website, the corset DOES NOT come with a pocket watch.  I knew that when I bought it, and I keep on it my pocket compass.  The pocket slot measures 3 1/8 inches (8 cm), but you won't be able to fit something that big inside, as the fabric itself takes up some space.  My compass measures 1 3/4 inches (4.5 cm), and it fits inside perfectly well and with some extra room.  The inside of the pocket is faux leather too.

The faux leather is flexible, and I have had no tears, discoloration or scratches on it.

The side ornaments.  As you can see there are two snap buttons on the low edge of each side of the corset.  They are there mostly for decoration, because they cannot be used to adjust the corset to your size (they cannot be unbottoned, because there are no other snap buttons underneath to adjust the size).  There is a buckle-like thingy in each of the straps.  The commercial pic shows the watch chain over there to add visual interest.  Some time ago there used to be this pic in the corset listing; it is not there anymore, but it is still on the Amazon page for this corset:

Picture from the Amazon listing for the corset

The tab to which the chain is attached is NOT there, so I attached my compass chain to the buckle of the strap so there is no risk of me losing it if it comes out of the pocket (which has never happened).

The skirt, which you can find here:

Picture from the Corsets UK website

Once again, for technical details I will refer you to their description.  These are some of my own observations:

First and foremost, it is a thin skirt.  Very very thin.  The fabric does not have any weight, and if you are going to use it in Winter, you need leggins or a thick pantyhose underneath, or you will get cold.  On the other hand, is perfect to use in Summer.

It closes with a zipper on the left side, and it has a nice corset-style lacing in the back of the waistband, which is fully adjustable.  The belt straps on the waistband front are adjustable too, but they only have one extra hole.

That is all I can think about.  If there are any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.  I hope I can put up a review for the other steampunk corset I have very soon.

Long live Steampunk!

Little could I suspect that I would fall for the Steampunk craze... I am not tech-savvy, and machines do not particularly interest me.  But I love the aesthetic, and since it is Victorian-inspired I guess it was just a matter of time.

In any case, my friend Esther is to blame for the ignition spark.  Last month was my birthday, and she said she had "an absolutely useless gift" for me.  Imagine my surprise when she gave me a beautiful pocket compass.  The exterior is aged brass, the compass is hidden under a bronze rib cage lid that can be opened and closed, and it hangs from a matching bronze chain.  Just gorgeous!  She was lying though: a compass is something very, very useful.

Thinking about what could I pair it with, I remembered I had seen a lovely Steampunk corset that had a little pocket to store a pocket watch in the Corsets UK website.  So I decided to purchase my first Steampunk ensemble.

Here are the links to the corset and the skirt I bought.

And here is my pic, wearing the ensemble (my mom took it):

The skirt was a bit wrinkled; this was taken a few minutes after unwrapping the clothes

A review of the corset and the skirt will be up in a few days.