My eyeballs hurt.

[gurdymonkey]

I was going to do some editing in FrontPage this evening, but I can't. I spent most of today staring at blue screen with white letters on a system that was the latest thing in 1985 and crossing out things on a print-out because we have two databases that don't talk to each other. (Why? Because my company is owned by a Luddite who won't Get Into Bed With Microsoft. Seriously.) Once all the closed jobs are crossed off that list, I get to delete them from the database that report came from. I had five pages left of the forty four I started with this morning when I left work.

The good news is the latest iteration of Samurai For The SCA Guy has been updated with new pictures of Honda Saburou Taremitsu's new daimon no hitatare, and Date Saburou (Heartless Bastard Who Never Writes Me Poems Any More) Yukiie's suikan kamishimo.

""Samurai" was a wild hair I got in the summer of 2005. Sure, there were the usual raft of "Look at my armor" posts going up on the Tousando. It was when I was corresponding with a newcomer who had dismissed my kosode webpage as "all girl clothes", not realizing that kosode is a unisex garment, that I put out the call. And did my friends respond or what?

I am so proud of my contributors. We have a wide range of physical types and every last one looks amazing, in a glowering, Toshiro Mifune, aggressive-threat-displayin' kind of way. Except for Ii-dono who is obviously secure enough to grin charmingly. And of course, our lovely ladies.

Comments

[joycebre.livejournal.com]

I love that page. Every time I look at it I tell myself I should make something Japanese. Then I go into the sewing room and look at all the other projects I haven't finished.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Fortunately for me (or unfortunately) all my unfinished projects are Japanese...

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

The guys are looking good!

[spearweasel.livejournal.com]

They certainly are pretty enough to make me contemplate hiding the one feeble kosode/hakama/kamishimo-ish thing combo I have... I made it for a LARP using a legit pattern, but it's just not very pretty compared to your boys. The kamishimo is green, and the hakama are black. I'll just have to hide it under a grey Buddhist monk's robe.

Sadness.

I'll make proper wafuku this summer. Till then, there's always "Blanton", my European traveling companion with his wide assortment of T-tunics!

;D

[spearweasel.livejournal.com]

OTOH, if I remove the inappropriate trim from the black side of the kamishimo, it matches, and looks alright. Perhaps I won't hide my head in shame after all!

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't know until and unless you divulge photographic evidence. Besides, your fighting kit shows evidence of decent taste.

Evidence

[spearweasel.livejournal.com]

http://www.amtgard-ck.org/gallery/Fall02Coronation/Kansuke2002.jpg

Background on this image - this was taken in 2002, on my coronation as monarch of the regional Amtgard kingdom (Central TX, smack in the middle of Ansteorra). As such, the outfit I am wearing is probably not historically accurate in color, and the trim I stuck on it to fancy it up a bit is definitely anachronistic. There are very different aesthetics at play in that world. This ensemble was my first major garbing project - I really don't like sewing very much, unfortunately.

Some quality time with a seam ripper will take the trim off, leaving me with a simple, serviceable outfit - black hakama and kataginu, green diamond kosode. I don't recall where I found the pattern, but it was a legit one. Since this was court garb, and I have been out since 2004, it has seen little wear and tear in storage. This should get me through Gulf Wars, at the very least.

Re: Evidence

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Lose the trim and it'll be fine. The green jacquard is actually rather nice.

Re: Evidence

[spearweasel.livejournal.com]

I examined the kataginu more closely... that trim ain't coming off. It's double stitched on, and it is an integral part of that garment. Removing it would essentially mangle the outside edge.

Maybe I can hire my local seamstress to bust me out a quick kataginu before I leave for Gulf Wars - same pattern, no trim. It's a big rectangle, after all.

Re: Evidence

[spearweasel.livejournal.com]

And oh yeah, thank you for acting as a sounding board for this sort of thing. I don't know if enough people thank you for that.