Stupid Adulthood

I had to bribe myself to get things done today. But now that the house has propane again, the car is gassed and had the oil changed, and I have ability to mow the pastures again, I allowed myself a trip to the Dollar Tree to pick up a bottle brush to clean my new drinking horn.

Is so pretty

Once it's cleaned and cured, I'll make a leather holster as use it at the upcoming Renn Faire. I was going to coat the interior with beeswax, but considering it can be over 80 degrees F indoors I thought it better not to waste time on something that won't work in the long run. Most guides use ale to cure it, but I wonder if vodka is okay. I like ale, but I have a big thing of vodka gathering dust in the cupboard. And wasting beer always seems like a crime. I plan to do more to it, but there is talk of going to the Renn Faire on Easter, so I doubt I'll have time.

I also picked up a selection of bamboo place-mats to use for boning in my 18th century stays. When I get to work on them (which will probably be during my vacation next week), I'll be using this tutorial, along with information in Norah Waugh's Corsets and Crinolines.

The pale ones in front have pieces 1cm wide; they're also the longest at 14 inches. They were the most expensive, a whole $2 each at Anna's Linens. Behind it, the next one has white pieces 2mm wide and blue pieces 5mm wide, but only 12 inches long. It was the only one I could find at the Dollar Tree. The two rainbow and two greenish ones at the top of the picture have pieces 3mm wide and 13 inches long. Those were $1 each from Big Lots. I have the width in metric because most articles I've read talk about stay bones in millimeters. 2-4 mm is more period for fully boned stays, but I'm not sure 13 inches will be long enough. But these will be my 'cane' boning for any lightweight stays or corsets I make for a while.

In the upper left corner of the picture are the silk pieces for Gabriel's corset, which I will be basting to the coutil by hand. Luckily, I found The Dark Knight for $5 at Big Lots, so at least I'll have entertainment.

Want to see the Disappearing Pencil trick?