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dragonlady7Z and I went to the Sterling Renaissance Festival today, and it was a gay lark indeed. I decided against going in farby costume, and opted for a light skirt and a pair of Tevas instead. Still got complimented on my appearance.
Watched Jugglers On Fire. They were awesome, and also, gay, as in, made almost nonstop jokes about their own gayness, Highly amusing. (London Broil, if you've heard of them. Should find their website. They said they had one.)
Then we wandered, did some shopping, looked at stuff.
Then we watched some thing in mud. It was amusing, mostly because we were clever enough not to have sat right up front near the mudpit, where the audience was getting splashed.
Then we shopped around some more. Went into a place, Wolfstone Kilts I think they were called, and found not only a reasonable selection of actual boned corsets that didn't actually say "FARB!" in gold lamé or sparkle velvet, but also a woman (Virginia, the corset maker herself) who knowledgeably sized me and tightlaced me, while swapping knowledgeable banter about historic reenactment and costuming as well as the merits of sprung steel boning. (The pattern, she informed me, dated from the 1550s and would be made for an aristocratic lady, as it needed a second person to do the lacing.)
Also, her corsets all laced with rawhide, which holds knots much better than the shoelaces or ribbons other garments I've had relied on. She also was knowledgeable about the issues facing the full-busted-- she was at least a C or D herself. (Also she eyeballed me and said, "You wear size ten jeans, right?" I laughed and said, "Fourteen. Tens haven't fit since grade school", and she was genuinely astonished. I don't mean to be easily flattered, but her genuine astonishment amused me. I do look smaller than I am, though, and it's not just salesladies who say that.)
So I tried on two corsets there, and bought the first one. It's a sleeveless design, just basically a tube, boned all the way around, straight at the top, and with tabs in the back where it laces. It's supportive, doesn't pinch my hips, and suits me. It's reversible, one side a rich black brocade, the other side black with a pattern of fine white leafy vines on it. (She said they got their fabrics from "waverley". Shrug.)
Looked at another corset place, the one I got my old one I think. That place was farby on wheels, but cute-- quality boning, decent construction, but nothing whatsoever by way of any kind of authenticity. Durable, though, and I couldn't ask for more. Gold foil patterns, corduroy with spangles, metal snap fasteners, cuteness itself. Didn't try or buy, however, being rather put off by the saleslady's ludicrous fake accent and the crowd of teenage teenyboppers squeeing about tinfoil.
Saw lots of festivalgoers in exceedingly poor-fitting costumes. Enjoyed it nonetheless.
And then, on corset lady's recommendation, we went to see Don Juan And Miguel's Weird Show, which consisted of a little swordplay and stunt whipping, a whole lot of gay innuendo (dude was deep-throating a pickle), and a metric tonne of the two of them just laughing at each other. It was obviously nearing the end of a long but fun run for them (this was their nineteenth year at the Ren Faire), and mostly they were just trying to crack each other up, and letting the audience make them laugh. I liked it a lot, especially when (they were both ostensibly Spaniards) Don Juan called Miguel a "Polack from Chicago pretending to be Spanish," Miguel answered, "Dude, you're Mexican," and promptly made up a song to the tune of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" that featured a bunch of jokes about pierogis. Don Juan responded that he was a Mexican Renaissance Ninja.Hilarity, of course, ensued.
So we liked that a lot, and then went skipping down to see the jousting. Which was holy crap! Way better choreographed than I remembered from last time! They were breaking lances on each other left and right, and the horses were getting way more into it than they strictly ought to have been. Five horses in this thing, all beautiful animals. And then there was an awesome WWF-style free-for-all, featuring a dude leaping off his horse's back onto the other one, and a shield being used as a stand-in for the usual folding metal chair schtick of classic WWF days. Also, armor-clad mud-wrestling. How can you go wrong?
I think there was some kind of overarching storyline to the whole thing, but you know, I never bother keeping up with that sort of thing.
On the whole, a fun day. And I have a shiny corset! And the only thing preventing me from wearing it EVERYWHERE is the fact that, uh, I have to have Z lace me into it.
Watched Jugglers On Fire. They were awesome, and also, gay, as in, made almost nonstop jokes about their own gayness, Highly amusing. (London Broil, if you've heard of them. Should find their website. They said they had one.)
Then we wandered, did some shopping, looked at stuff.
Then we watched some thing in mud. It was amusing, mostly because we were clever enough not to have sat right up front near the mudpit, where the audience was getting splashed.
Then we shopped around some more. Went into a place, Wolfstone Kilts I think they were called, and found not only a reasonable selection of actual boned corsets that didn't actually say "FARB!" in gold lamé or sparkle velvet, but also a woman (Virginia, the corset maker herself) who knowledgeably sized me and tightlaced me, while swapping knowledgeable banter about historic reenactment and costuming as well as the merits of sprung steel boning. (The pattern, she informed me, dated from the 1550s and would be made for an aristocratic lady, as it needed a second person to do the lacing.)
Also, her corsets all laced with rawhide, which holds knots much better than the shoelaces or ribbons other garments I've had relied on. She also was knowledgeable about the issues facing the full-busted-- she was at least a C or D herself. (Also she eyeballed me and said, "You wear size ten jeans, right?" I laughed and said, "Fourteen. Tens haven't fit since grade school", and she was genuinely astonished. I don't mean to be easily flattered, but her genuine astonishment amused me. I do look smaller than I am, though, and it's not just salesladies who say that.)
So I tried on two corsets there, and bought the first one. It's a sleeveless design, just basically a tube, boned all the way around, straight at the top, and with tabs in the back where it laces. It's supportive, doesn't pinch my hips, and suits me. It's reversible, one side a rich black brocade, the other side black with a pattern of fine white leafy vines on it. (She said they got their fabrics from "waverley". Shrug.)
Looked at another corset place, the one I got my old one I think. That place was farby on wheels, but cute-- quality boning, decent construction, but nothing whatsoever by way of any kind of authenticity. Durable, though, and I couldn't ask for more. Gold foil patterns, corduroy with spangles, metal snap fasteners, cuteness itself. Didn't try or buy, however, being rather put off by the saleslady's ludicrous fake accent and the crowd of teenage teenyboppers squeeing about tinfoil.
Saw lots of festivalgoers in exceedingly poor-fitting costumes. Enjoyed it nonetheless.
And then, on corset lady's recommendation, we went to see Don Juan And Miguel's Weird Show, which consisted of a little swordplay and stunt whipping, a whole lot of gay innuendo (dude was deep-throating a pickle), and a metric tonne of the two of them just laughing at each other. It was obviously nearing the end of a long but fun run for them (this was their nineteenth year at the Ren Faire), and mostly they were just trying to crack each other up, and letting the audience make them laugh. I liked it a lot, especially when (they were both ostensibly Spaniards) Don Juan called Miguel a "Polack from Chicago pretending to be Spanish," Miguel answered, "Dude, you're Mexican," and promptly made up a song to the tune of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" that featured a bunch of jokes about pierogis. Don Juan responded that he was a Mexican Renaissance Ninja.Hilarity, of course, ensued.
So we liked that a lot, and then went skipping down to see the jousting. Which was holy crap! Way better choreographed than I remembered from last time! They were breaking lances on each other left and right, and the horses were getting way more into it than they strictly ought to have been. Five horses in this thing, all beautiful animals. And then there was an awesome WWF-style free-for-all, featuring a dude leaping off his horse's back onto the other one, and a shield being used as a stand-in for the usual folding metal chair schtick of classic WWF days. Also, armor-clad mud-wrestling. How can you go wrong?
I think there was some kind of overarching storyline to the whole thing, but you know, I never bother keeping up with that sort of thing.
On the whole, a fun day. And I have a shiny corset! And the only thing preventing me from wearing it EVERYWHERE is the fact that, uh, I have to have Z lace me into it.
