Friday, July 24, 2009

THE MERMAID'S PIRATE PARTY

THE MERMAID GODDESS


At one stage in the last few weeks, the thought of turning 36 was rather daunting..... in fact for even more than just ONE stage in that time! As well as the pressures of time and gravity that I already had way too much brain - food for, I went and added to my pressures, by deciding it was time for a party..... Best to have one QUICK before my fortieth sneaks up and scares me!
MER - RENAY


As usual I stressed myself out unecessarily, needing a whole heap of decorations and a most - stunning costume for myself.....
......but I seem to work well under pressure - I pulled through in an almighty fashion and outdid myself once again, with both an AWESOME (GOTHIC) MERMAID GODDESS COSTUME, the likes of which have never been seen before.... and some pretty wicked decorations..... not to mention a pretty rockin' party!! WOOHOOO!!



The theme for my party was "PIRATE" - fancy dress OF COURSE!! My invitations told everyone to dress in their "favrit pirate garb", and turn up or WALK THE PLANK!
HARR!!!
MER - THRONE

BUT! What I didn't tell most people, was that I was not going to dress as a pirate - my nickname has been THE MERMAID for almost ten years now - so I was / AM : THE MERMAID!
PIRATE BEN + THE MERMAID
I mean, really - if it weren't for pirates dreaming of mermaids on their rum - filled sea nights - would we even exist?
PETER PAN (PADDO) + THE MERMAID
The MERMAID COSTUME has been a works - in - progress (in my head at least) for several years now, and to finally have the fabrics, a pattern (also in my head) and the occasion ready to make it, was a very worthy reason to put myself under such pressure!

I used silver lycra for the main fabric of the costume - I imagined a shark or dolphin's body with a gorgeous goldfish tail and lots of fins - these i made using several colours of satins and lace and organza, buckram (stiffening) and the silver lycra.

THE MERMAID GODDESS COSTUME ended up being - and was always going to be - a five - piece costume, including skirt, bodice, separate sleeves and a headpiece.

I used a hot blue lycra edge to hide the elastic on the bikini top and skirt, both of which have small silver fins at the back - one just above my bum, and one on the centre of my back. I think these looked MAD!! And really completed the costume - I mean - mermaids have fins, right?

The sleeves are also edged in the hot blue lycra, and have fins on the underside - made out of some of the satins and organza used in the tail.

THE MER- DANCE
The headpiece is made using a long string of pearls wound around my head, and with scraps of the silks and lycra hanging from the pearls (imitating seaweed).

WENCHES KARA - LEE + JESS + THE MERMAID GODDESS
Although the tail is attatched to the skirt it is rather long, and designed to trail behind the skirt, but for safety (I had a fire in a tub onthe lawn....) and cleanliness purposes, I attached a loop of elastic to the very end of the tail, which I wore on my wrist.
Originally I had only planned for a "standard" MERMAID GODDESS costume - if there IS such a thing - but after the aquisition of a new pair of gothic / punk PLATFORM shoes.......


THE MERMAID + THE WENCH JESS
I just HAD to wear them, as one does with new shoes, so I "gothed - up" my costume a little on the night - a black choker collar (also made by me, of course), a couple of studded wrist bands, a black belt, and striped stocking - socks, lots of jewellery...... = GOTHIC MERMAID GODDESS!


I put my hair up in "twisties" the previous monday to my party - like rags, but without the rags.... (old fashioned way of curling hair). I had it pinned tightly to my head for five nights - it was a major relief to take the pins out on Saturday....

......by which time my curls were definately NOT going to fall out before I was ready to stop partying!!
PIRATE GERALD + THE MERMAID GODDESS
My ideal image of a mermaid goddess is one with golden curls.... and that's what I had! A little help from Jess on getting them to sit just right with my headpiece on, and I still even had curls the following day!!

Now, it would come as no surprise to hear me say that EVERY MERMAID GODDESS needs a THRONE.......
SO.... I made one!

And it rocked!
WENCHES HAYLEY + JESS
I bought one of those kid's plastic wading pools shaped as a shell in two halves... you know the ones? Spray - painted silver, the top shell I propped open and draped some gorgeous sequined silver fabric over the top;
PIRATE DEAN + HIS WENCH HAYLEY
.....and the bottom I left blue, and placed several royal red, gold, and turquoise / purple cushions inside to sit upon.
The bottom of the shell I had a mass of white tulle "sea foam" flowing over the edge of the shell and covering the coffee table that it sat on.

It was perfect for a MERMAID GODDESS PRINCESS!
...... it also deemed perfect for a few pirates ...... a wench or two..... and at least one drunken sailor....!!!
DRUNKEN SAILOR GEROME


The SHELL THRONE proved to be a great success, and a well - needed rest - spot! What a thinker hey? On top of the coffee table it was just the perfect height to flop into and relax one's mer-feet (or pirate feet) for stolen moments during the big night.


My decorating skills didn't stop at myself or my throne, I decorated the garage and the front yard as well.

Originally the party was going to be held in the backyard, and Josh's trampoline might have been a pirate ship, and the flying fox a seaweed hangy line thing... the gate was gonna have a PIRATE FLAG on it......

But after New Zealand decided to go and have a tsunami a few days before the party I was unsure if the weather would hold, and indeed it didn't - it rained not two days before the party!
The rain did go away and the sun and the wind came out...... and the cold.
DRUNKEN SAILOR DARREN
So to be warmer and more protected from rain and or wind, I changed the party to the front yard and garage instead, which ended up being pretty easy to decorate and looked very effective.
Inside the garage I had my THRONE, lines of seaweed - left over fabrics from making my costume torn into strips and simply tied onto a thin rope; - a couple of PIRATE FLAGS and some pot plants made it look pretty awesome.
The tree in the front yard was covered in seaweed, as well as the ropes for the tarps, and another SKULL AND CROSSBONES flags on the fences.
I covered the esky and a basket in paper and painted them brown with gold bands - treasure chests, and painted another single shell silver as an ice bucket for drinks.
The pirate flags I made out of large pieces of black fabric, with fabric skull and crossbones glued on and painted with eyes and teeth. Simply folded over at the top and sewn they then threaded onto the ropes quite easily, and looked terribly cool!

At the garage door I had one last pirate flag that said "ENTER AT OWN RISK" and looked wicked with the garage roller door open and the light shining out from behind it.
As well as decorations and my glorious MER - COSTUME, I made a PETER PAN shirt for Josh to wear, but at the last minute josh decided to go and stay at a mate's house for the night, so Patrick looked unreal in the PETER PAN COSTUME instead!
Originally,before the MERMAID idea sturck me, I was going to dress PIRATE as well.... and started making myself an wicked tiny little PIRATE MINI SKIRT, and a TRICORN HAT.
Both of which I finished, and look UNREAL, and Kara wore to my party instead.
So I suppose about 20 peopl
e.... ahh I mean PIRATES turned up to party with me, most of whom put in a GALLANTeffort in the dressing up department! AND at least THREE out of the twenty (what's that as a percentage? 15% ???) of the party - goers WERE WEARING MY COSTUMES!!!
There's another party on next weekend that I will be making costumes for as well! And wait, it gets better too.... I was already asked to do one costume for this party .... her friend then asked me to do her costume, and now another friend is suggesting she'llpay more if I make her a costume as a priority over the second request! HOLEY MOLEY!
The -J-i-g-g-l-e- ship has set sail!
My costumes were a hit at my party - and are becoming a regular hit at other people's parties... My party was a hit!, And turning 36 wasn't so bad after all!
I had a selfish moment of upsetness that my coolest buddy Elise couldn't make it to my party due to transforming into a mermaid herself..... but as Elise said recently in an sms:
"HERE'S TO THE YEAR OF THE MERMAID!!!"













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