Where to start?

Hullo friends!

Everyone's heard the news. To some, it is just another headline. But for me? It is a shocking--nay, horrifying thing.

Lucasfilm was sold to Disney.

I guess I shouldn't be so shocked... What doesn't Disney own anymore?
Its not that I am like, a Disney hater or anything. Disney has come up with some great movies! However, I've always felt that Lucasfilm and Star Wars were off on their own--set apart from all other franchises. But now, all of that had changed. Disney not only OWNS Lucasfilm, no, that isn't enough--they are actually going to make MORE Star Wars movies! Now, more Star Wars is never a bad thing, but really--why mess with perfection? Why add to what is already the best series ever? There are so many things that could be ruined by this... Recasting Luke, Leia and Han would be an epic fail. I'm sorry, but Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford are irreplaceable. They ARE Luke and Han.
What really, really upsets me more than anything about all of this is the hate that is once again being lashed out against the prequels. Could Jar Jar be slightly annoying at times? Yes! But he was MEANT to be! He was the fun character, the comedy relief. Did Hayden Christensen seem to act overly dramatic at times? Yes! But that was exactly how the character was meant to act--Anakin was supposed to overreact, he had to act irrational--the whole point of the prequels, after all, was to highlight his path to the Dark Side. Mr. Christensen did an incredible job portraying Anakin's emotions. The prequels were, in my opinion, gems of movies and were exactly up to par with the original trilogy. I find it very irritating that some people keep implying --and in some cases out right saying-- that Disney will do a better job on making new Star Wars movies than Lucas did with the prequels. I am really hoping that Lucas will be involved in making sure that these new movies are still lined up with the rest of the Star Wars canon. I wish Disney would just up and tell us everything--it is awful having to hear all of this speculation and having absolutely no idea what is true and what is just rumor.

I will never, as long as I live, refer to Leia as a "Disney Princess."

Whew--I apologize for all of that. I had to vent somewhere! ;) How do you feel about the sale of Lucasfilm? Let me know in the comments!

May the Force be with you!
(As a side note, I hope I won't get sued for using a copyrighted Disney phrase like that...)

The Darkest Valley

Hullo, friends!

Today I felt like sharing a quote from the song "Darkest Valley" by Group 1 Crew. I think that it's message is really powerful: even in the darkest of times--don't give up. Trust in Jesus Christ and his grace WILL be there to save you. The song was inspired by Psalm 23:4:
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

What quotes/Bible verses inspire you?

Blessings! <3

Que la Force soit avec vous!

Hi Everyone!

You know that you've seen Star Wars: Attack of the Clones too many times when you decide to watch the movie in French just for fun.

Seriously, it is quite possibly the most entertaining thing ever--nothing is cooler than hearing Yoda speak French!

Que la Force soit avec vous!  (May the Force be with you!)

 

Have a great day! <3

...And Back Again

Hi Everyone!

There...and back again!  So sorry for neglecting the blog!

I've got a few things to share with all of you over the next few days though! :)  I'm going to start doing a slight breakdown of each of the dwarf costumes from The Hobbit, since the promo-pics have been released.  I am so excited for that movie!  I can't believe how close the release date is!

While I don't agree with all of Mr. Jackson's decisions for the movies, I do love, love, LOVE the costumes!  There seem to be lots of crochet/knit details in the dwarf costumes, which as I'm sure you all can understand, I am very, very happy about! :)  And the beards are absolutely hilarious! 

How has everything been going in your neck of the woods? :)

The Happenings Lately

Hullo everyone!

This post is just going to be a bit of a mix of all the things going on lately :)

~ Lots of fun with visiting family--it is always so sad/lonely when company has to leave!

~ Crocheting hats :)  Something is very satisfying about finishing a quick project! 

~ I watched all the Lord of the Rings movies again this last week--I really, really love those movies, they never get old!  Unfortunately, though, the phone felt the need to ring whenever I started crying.  (Come on, who doesn't cry for poor Frodo?)

~ Listening to the 90 second samples of tobyMac's next album Eye On It almost non-stop.  I don't know how I am going to stand waiting until the 28th for the album to be released! 


What have you been up to this week?
*That was not a rhetorical question!  You can answer in the comments! ;) *

Padme Travel Headdress

Hi Everyone!

My favorite Star Wars character ever is Padme Amidala. 
She is so cool.
...And I love her outfits...
As I often tell people; when I watch a movie, half of the time I pay attention to what is going on and the other half I focus on the costumes.  I guess that explains why I can watch Star Wars over and over and over again and it never gets old.   



Here is Padme in her Travel Costume from
Star Wars: Episode 2, Attack of the Clones.

I LOVE this costume!  It is so pretty.  And the Headdress is awesome!
I decided to try making a replica, and I love how it turned out!

Front of the headdress

A close-up of the side

Back of the headdress


I made the base using my usual method:  A plastic bag and duct tape.  I put a plastic bag over my styrofoam head and duct taped over it until it was fairly solid.  Next I cut out the back and front into the correct shape.  The large fan-like part is craft foam.  Have I mentioned how much I love that stuff?!  I also used craft foam on the sides, as you can see in picture 2.  The only part that was not so enjoyable was when I had to paper mache over everything.  That can be SO time consuming!
The raised design was done with hot glue.  And yes, that WAS extremely difficult.  You have absolutely no idea how many times I burned my fingertips! ;)

The paint I used is Folk Art Gold Enamel paint.  I love the way it looks!  And I tried really hard to weather the headdress, so that it would be darker like the original, but it didn't work out very well.  I am going to have to get some new shoe polish. 

This was SO much fun to make! 

I would love it if you leave a comment letting me know what you think!

Have a fabulous week!


 

Witch King of Angmar Glove

Hi Everyone!

I finally got some pictures of the Witch King of Angmar glove I made a few months ago.  It is made after the gloves the Nazgul, The Witch King of Angmar, wears in Lord of the Rings.   
I haven't made a match for it yet, but I plan to do so in the near future. 

This is one of my favorite projects yet!  And it is actually one of the easiest things I've ever made!  All I did was get a glove, cut shapes out of craft foam to fit over it and hot glued them on.  Then it was just a matter of painting and weathering the foam. 

What do you guys think?

The Hobbit--1, 2, AND now 3 movies!

Hi Everyone!

Some of you may have heard already, but I'll do a post on it anyway ;)

Peter Jackson announced today that he is splitting The Hobbit up into 3 movies instead of 2! 
 I have to admit, I'm excited there will be a third, if anything just so that I'll have something to look forward to.  I really just can't wait for the first part to come out.

I'm guessing the movies are going to have to be relatively short in comparison to the LOTR. But honestly, I have no idea how he is going to drag the story out for 3 movies.  It isn't nearly as complex as the trilogy.    
But Peter Jackson did do an amazing job on the Lord of the Rings movies, so I'll have faith that he won't stretch The Hobbit too far from how Tolkien wrote it!   

What do you guys think?

Take My Life And Let It Be

Hey Everyone!

I wanted to share the lyrics to one of the hymns we sung in church today--it is a really pretty one :)

The song is "Take My Life and Let it Be" and I found the lyrics to it here. 

This is my favorite part:

"Take my will, and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne."

I also really liked singing Amazing Grace.  What is your favorite hymn?

Have a great Sunday!

Dove Grey

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it has been a while!

Today I'm taking the color "Dove Grey" from the Arwen Chase Costume and I'm going to share some inspiration photos.  I really like the color Dove Grey.  And I think I like the name even better--"Grey" always makes me think "Grey Havens."   

 Found here.

 Found here.

 Found here.

 Found here.

Found here.

Found here.

I couldn't do a post on "Dove Grey" without including a picture of a grey dove ;)

I really like this color!  And I really want some of those boots! :)

Have a lovely day!



Arwen Chase Costume: Bodice

Hey Everyone!

I hope you are all having a great Friday! :) 
Today I'm going to take a look at the bodice on the Arwen Chase dress.
If you want a really in depth look at this costume, you can see this page at Alley Cat Scratch, which is personally one of my favorite websites ever!   

As mentioned before, the dress/overcoat is made of a dove grey suede. 

The bodice is princess seamed, and the princess seams have the baseball stitch done over them.  (Yeah, I know, "baseball stitch" does not sound nearly as pretty as "princess seam", but the stitch DOES look lovely!)  It you aren't aware of what princess seams are or how to make them, you may want to check out this great tutorial from The Blog for Better Sewing. 

Pic found here.

You can see the baseball stitch on the princess seam in the lower left hand corner of the above picture.  If you don't know how to do a baseball stitch yet, Star Dust Shoes has a GREAT picture tutorial here.  I highly recommend using this tutorial is you would like to learn the stitch.    

As you can also see in this picture, the collar has some lovely lace sewn onto it.  I really love how it adds some texture to the costume!  If you are looking to re-create this costume I will again redirect you to Alley Cat Scratch!  The collar has proved to be a challenge for almost everyone who has made this costume.  Alley Cat Scratch has a great pages on making the collar, here, here and here. 

From the pictures I've seen, it looks like the thread used for the baseball stitch may be something like embroidery floss and it appears to be white. 

Moving on the the front lacing!

Pic found here. 

Ok, the front lacing is not actually doing any shaping.  It is just there for decoration, and I have to say, it looks amazing!  The sash looks like a purple-ish/grey/blue and it made from light silk.  I extends pretty far down, about 2/3 of the way down the skirt part of the dress.  There are 3 little loops on each side that the sash is laced through.  It then laces through the pretty silver "buckle" on the front.  

Phew!  This has been a LOT to think about! :)  I'll save the sleeves and buckle for my next post, because they have quite a few things to make note of. 

Have a wonderful day!

Arwen's Chase Costume: Overview

Hi Everyone!

Woohoo!  July is here! :)

So, today I'm going to start out with an overview of the Arwen Chase Costume, which I'll be posting about this month. 

(Picture found here)

• The main dress piece is made of dove-grey suede
• Undersleeves are made of cream/silver crinkled silk
• Underskirt is a light-grey silk
• Silver Buckle is laced onto front
• The sashes are made of a grey/purple silk

This month I'll be looking into some of the interesting details about the Arwen Chase Costume--This should be FUN! :)

Have an amazing day!

Eomer Costume

Hi Everyone!

My latest project has been an Eomer Costume, and I must say I am having a LOT of fun with it! 
The main page that I am using for research is from here at Alley Cat Scratch. 

There are so many amazing details on the armor!  I really love the weathered look that it has. 

Unsurprisingly, I am making the armor out of foam.  I has totally fallen in love with craft foam--I used to think that it was just... well, for the kind of projects you can buy in bulk for toddlers to make.  But there are actually SO many possibilities, it is just awesome! 
The amazing Jedi Elf Queen has a fabulous tutorial on making Eomer's armor from foam/fabric, which can be found here. 

Here is a progress pic (SO sorry that the picture is low quality!):



Here is a picture of the real armor:

I think once I get a good coat of metallic paint of the silver details, it should look about 10 times better!  I LOVE metallic paint!

It still needs a lot of work, but I really like how it is turning out! :)

Have a great day!


An Update!

Hey Everyone!


Wow, can you believe that another week has passed already?  July is right around the corner!  I can't wait--I love July, it is by far one of my favorite months. 


And, awesomely enough, I'll be starting some regular posts in July--which should be really fun.


I'll also be posting some pictures in the near future of some LOTR projects... I made an Arwen Coronation Headpiece that I have yet to get pics of, but I'll get some here as soon as possible!
I also finished a Elvish shawl/cape that I need to get some pictures of--I'm so happy with how it turned out!  I'll give some more details when I post pics.


As usual, the never-ending (at least for me!) quest to create Elf ears continues on.  I've managed to figure out a way that is cheap and easy (compared to my other ideas, at least) but you would have to be quite good with makeup to get a realistic look.  Please, don't even ask why I want Elf ears... I'm not exactly sure myself.


...And, that is about it! :)  I can't wait to get started with some posts on Arwen's Chase Costume--I'm pretty sure it must be her most complicated costume, upon looking at the others I've found that many of them have almost exactly the same shaping, the fabric seems to be the biggest difference between the dresses. 


By the way, a HUGE thanks to Kaitlin, Would You Like Yarn with That, and Andromeda for being the first 3 followers on The World of Woven Trees!   You guys are awesome! :)


Have a wonderful day!

*Sorry if the text is weird!  The settings seem to be a bit messed up right now--I'm working on it!*

Legolas Knife Replica

Hi Everyone!

I've been trying to recreate some props from LOTR.  Legolas, one of the elves, has a really awesome knife that I thought I could try to make a replica of.

Here is the knife I made, using this tutorial for a starting point.

I made the little sheath to match as well.  No worries--the knife is really, really dull and thin metal. 
The designs on the blade and handle were painted on with some gold stencil paint I had on hand.  The paint is beautiful, however I ran into quite a few problems with it.  I painted it on one morning and then left it to dry.  Next morning:  Still wet.  It refused to dry, it rubbed off if anything touched it--it was SUCH a pain!  Thankfully, mod podge came to the rescue.  A thin layer over everything and it was fine!  Phew! 

Have a fabulous day!

Monthly Costume Focus

Hi Everyone!

I forgot how weird it is starting a new blog--I feel like I'm talking to myself...

I was thinking that something I would like to do is have a costume for each month to focus on--to make crafts inspired by, find inspiration photos and do some research on.  Since June is halfway over, I thought I should wait until July to start it up. 

Which costume do you think would be interesting to look at throughout July? 
I was thinking maybe I should start off with the Arwen Chase costume. 
Here is a pic, found here:

I think there are TONS of really interesting details on this that would be fun to look into.  Any thoughts? 

Have a great day!

The World of Woven Trees

Hello everyone!


So, I finally decided to make a blog just for Lord of the Rings, costuming and such.  For those of you who follow my other blog, Stitching up a Storm--no worries, I will still be posting there, I just want to focus more on actual stitching there and LOTR things here. 


The title "The World of Woven Trees" is part of a line in a song that some elves sing in The Fellowship of the Ring. 


I'll be working on transferring all of my LOTR posts from Stitching up a Storm here, and I will continue to post any craft/crochet tutorials/patterns on Stitching up a Storm.  

Any suggestions are welcome! :)