So you wanna be a stripper...

OK, so the title might be misleading... this week Wren and I stripped a log for his ever-closer-to-being-done cobblestone castle, or stone mansion, or rubble ridge (the name is also still in the making). It was a beautiful quarry day and super fun do be completing projects, hooray!

Our other stripping project was this coat rack we named "Meathooks". Cut it, strip it, sand it, then screw it in place and tada! Meathooks for the clownpod! (Note: there was no actual meat used in said rack).

Other fun additions we've made for said homes is the ladder Wren built (then I helped on the rubber ends).

This weekend it was time to label my chairs (I bought a bunch so we could use them every month for Vaudevillingham!). It turned out to be another great project at the awesomely spacious quarry... Where else could I lay out 50 chairs for moustache spray-painting?

Yup, stripped off all the stickers and gum and random stuff on the underside and slapped on some golden 'staches! Added some red paint to make 'em pop... will add some black outline and my name once they're dry. I love summer for outdoor projects and strippin' down for a dip in the quarry!

What a beautiful place! (Photo by bootstrapjuicebox)

Moustaches are Faux Real!

So as my pseudonym suggests... I've gotta thing for moustaches. One of the things about them that I find so charming is their amazing ability to change ones face. Donning a moustache not only changes your face, but can potentially change your personality and the actions of those around you. They are the perfect portable disguise, and I have had many a good time with the little buggers. Here is a most recent good time.

This is River. He has quite the handsome moustache as you might agree. In this photo he is making a chocolate chip donut... for me! He recently started a curly-fry business... called Kurlys (Kurlyskart.com)!

Yes, he also makes donuts and other yummy deep-fried treats in the mobile cart he made. Ok, so River and I have been in cahoots making his moustaces into Faux-Real moustaches (I just made that up)! We've made a few together... he even gave me one for my birthday... my own personal River-grown stache... who's a luck girl!?! Ok, here's what we do...

First River grows a sweeeet stache... (great job River!)

Then we snip the stache, hot glue it to some mesh fabric,

then tidy it up with a little black color.

 

River cleans up the parts we snipped...

And viola! River has a teeny partial-faux-stache that he can add or subtract from his face! We did this in a jiffy right before the renegade show after Circus Campout so he could surprise people during his act... it was awesome.

So thanks River! And hip-hip hair-ay faux moustaches... they're faux real! 

Summer Sewing

So I'm moving into a Clown Pod at the Quarry! I'm super stoked because of many reasons. One of those reasons is sewing... I guess I love it.  And though living in a van has been an amazing and liberating adventure, it is not the most conducive for sewing machine desires. Ok, I will share more info about the quarry and my new residency soon, but for now... here are photos of my first project in the  Pod... Chaps!

First I cut up a pair of old torn Carharts (thanks Liam!) for a pattern. I had the darndest time trying to see how to make chaps online, so decided just cuttin' up a some pants would be the best idea.

Then picked the fabric from one of my (too) many fabric bins, cut out enough for two pair, drew a fun design for the sides (the black fabric), and decided on elastic for the back. This is just the preliminary phase... soon I will fringe, trim and bedazzle the heck out of these!

Here is a photo of them in action... Wren and I have a rope act we've been working on. He found this super awesome song (Egyptian Regge by Johnathan Richman & Modern Lovers) that had us thinking cowboys, so that was the motivation for this project, and we had an amazing place to perform... on a flatbed truck at the annual summer potluck at the Happy Little Farm in Conway (awesome folks, food and best vegetarian gravy in the morning!).

Here we are as Yippee and Ki-yay (with the just-sewn chaps, vests and buckles), two of the Happy Little Circus crew (Justincredible, Miles, Zach, Tasche, Kai, Clay, Jules, Chipps and Jasper)...

and we were just part of the ongoing entertainment of the day/night, as Lucas called some square-dancing, there was a paper-rock-scissors tournament, Smoke Wagon played some rockin set into the night, and there was midnight naked slip-and-sliding! What!?! Hooray for summertime, circus and sewing!