Jack Rabid

Thank you! I was literally in high school and would scrimp and save for months before every con to make sure we could pay a photographer to have nice photos of our cosplays, but it was definitely before that was the norm!

(Unrelated to Amphigory, man, it really is affirming sometimes to look at photos of me as a kid pre transition and just be like “hmm yeah that was always a boy” 🤣)

Behold:
The Henna Red Punky XXL that I used for my very first actually ambitious wig styling project back in 2009– Reno from FFVII.
Elena’s wig was also from Amphigory, I want to say her name was Deanna?
Now I work in wigs professionally.
And that wouldn’t have happened without Amphigory. RIP

Being someone with a trombone degree is reading this and thinking “romantic” like the art movement, and then going “yeah that’s just Ferdinand David’s Concertino for Trombone, we’ve all heard it.”

Viral infections are very often just the beginning of YEARS of chronic illness. Long covid is exactly that, but it really isn’t new. We could be preventing that pipeline, but won’t because able to because of thoroughly debunked conspiracy thought being allowed a platform.

It’s also why the “my strong immune system will just deal with it” crowd makes me so livid when it comes to anti-vax mentality.
My immune system “dealing with it” is why I’ve since been diagnosed with a list of autoimmune diseases the length of my arm.

This is absolutely heartbreaking.
I have a chronic fatigue syndrome I’ve dealt with my whole adult life that is a result of an EBV infection as a teen.
Believe me:
You don’t want it.

As someone who routinely puts wigs worth about as much as a used car on people’s heads, I think most laypeople just have no idea what a good wig looks or feels like. They’re designed to look like real hair! Also, the production for ROTS was half UK, and their wigmakers are some of the best.

lol my anesthesiologist made this exact joke before my top surgery! When he came in to talk to me before my surgery started, as he was leaving he was like *slaps thighs* “All right champ, let me get back there and get your margarita all mixed up!”

The shelter, even if it WEREN’T full, it was an inappropriate solution in all of these cases. And many of them could happen to anyone. Needing a place to stay while your tub is reglazed by your landlord is not a PSH specific problem. And my standard question: Why do you care that they’re homeless?

-CL was STABBED IN THE CHEST by his old roommate and his apartment was considered a crime scene still upon his release from the hospital
-CL’s entire apartment building was condemned and unfit for human habitation and we had insufficient notice to find them a new place.
And I could go on.

-CL accidentally issued trespassing order to their own address and they were too scared to go home and risk getting arrested while we tried to meet with the judge to fix it
-CL needed a place to stay for a single night between release from jail and court ordered substance use treatment

Other reasons why I placed people with a “local” address (both housed and unhoused) in a hotel while at this program:
-upstairs neighbor flooded CL’s apartment and it needed to be fixed
-CL’s tub needed to be reglazed to pass HUD inspection and those fumes are toxic
-CL escaping domestic violence

When I worked for a permanent supportive housing program, it was the standard course of action due to a specific grant to place clients in a hotel when they’d been enrolled in the program but were still waiting for their apartment app to finish processing. What a cruel and short sighted policy.

Wookiepedia once again proving their insistence on everything being in past tense is comedy gold. “Blood WAS a bodily fluid…”

I’ve reached the point in my unemployment where I’m considering going to a ren faire in Louisiana for a weekend come November because fuck it, maybe it’s time to lay down the groundwork for my dream retirement plan of playing the hurdy gurdy in motley.

This one is a bit more niche for my Terror girlies. 🤣

This one literally always gets me. “He smoked all the drugs to save us” is a forever part of my vocabulary.

Screenshot of a group chat entitled “Scrooge- Fuckers, Inc.” that has a theme of blue constellations and the chat bubbles are magenta on the right and navy on the left. Right side bubble at the top reads: “If I didn’t have cats I would cancel my flight back home and just stay in Europe, this is ridiculous.” First reply from “Stellar”: “I’m so sorry. Oh my god.” Second reply from “Zella”: “Oh my god. Sorry Jack.” Third reply from “Kelsey”: “Busty dragon.” Beneath is a link to a post from a group entitled “Artists against generative AI” which shows a screenshot of Palo’s busty dragon post with the caption “this tho fr. I’m tired of their bullshit “gotchas””

I just need you to know, I was recently laid off from my day job, and this busty dragoness was instrumental in providing me with much needed laugh in the immediate aftermath when a friend was so blinded by boobs he ran to share it before catching up with the group chat

Genuinely before testosterone cured my chronic anemia (weird unintended side effect 🤣), my nose would get freezing cold from the AC in my office, and one day I said out loud to myself “okay, I bet nose warmers exist and I bet they look ridiculous.” And I looked them up. And… yup. 😆

The Elrond costume mentioned in the post on a mannequin. It is comprised of a rust colored silk robe with gold toned brocade lining revealed on the turned back sleeves. Underneath is a beige silk tunic with a high collar, a buttoned yoke with silver embroidered details, and tied with a red silk sash. Behind the mannequin is an apartment wall and various furnishing, to the right of the mannequin a small calico cat is walking by.

A man dressed as Elrond as he is depicted in the Lord of the Rings films in a rust colored silk velvet robe/houppelande, with the cuffs of the sleeves turned up to show the golden toned brocade and cream cotton lining, a beige toned silk tunic, and a cranberry red sash. He has long brown hair that has decorative braided details, pointed ears, and a silver circlet. He is taking a selfie in a mirror in front of a closed hotel room door.

It’s not finished, but I got it finished enough to wear on stage to present Hall awards and that’s pretty impressive for getting my fabric 7 days ago.
I still need to hem the robe correctly and do some tacks to make things sit right, and I want to bind the seams inside the tunic. So to be continued!

The sleeve pattern of a houppelande laid out on the silk velvet it is to be cut from on the brown tile floor of a slightly cluttered apartment. At the end of the yardage there is a fluff silver tabby cat lounging.

The front body pattern of a houppelande laid out on the rust silk velvet it’s going to be cut from, laid on a brown tile floor

A close up showing the interior lapels of the houppelande, which is a shawl collar. There is rust silk velvet sewn down to a pale yellow cotton lining that has a green, brown, and yellow printed repeating pattern of small plants

Now that I’m home and have taken a 4 hour nap, here are a few more construction photos for Elrond!
I got too busy to document progress well, but this shows the pattern I drafted. It’s a houppelande, so basically it’s a triangle from the armpits down, but I am proud of figuring out the HUGE sleeves.

A man with brown hair and pointy ears cosplaying as Elrond as he appears in the film Fellowship of the Ring, with a rust colored silk velvet houppelande with the large sleeves turned back to reveal the gold brocade lining over a champagne high collared silk tunic tied with a cranberry sash, taking a selfie in the mirror of a hotel room.

Same cosplayer in the same episode but instead of a mirror selfie it’s a waist up selfie.

*blacks out and when I awaken I have a fully made Elrond cosplay*

dracula

francis ford coppola's best movie is bram stoker's dracula. sorry, film dorks. he's drac, stacked and jacked. there are zero wolves than turn into rats in the godfather part II.

Cropped detail of a continuity photo taken for the wardrobe department of The Lord of the Rings depicting a slender man that is ostensibly Hugo Weaving from the side wearing his Elrond tunic, belt, and robe. The cropping is from beneath the chin the to waist, focused mainly his right shoulder and arm, on which a detailed design can be seen burned into the rust colored velvet of the robe.

Case in point, one of the main details I’ll be omitting is the burnouts on the sleeves and back of the robe. I have the type of velvet required to do them eventually (silk backing with rayon pile, thanks Sy Fabrics lol), but I can’t get the fiber etch anywhere that would deliver in time. So later.

I should say, “finished” as in “wearable omitting details no one besides me will care about”. I’m a judge, not a competitor, so while I prefer to wear costumes which showcase that my talents qualify me to judge, I’m not going to sweat things that simply physically cannot happen before San Japan.

An embroidery frame with a leaf vein pattern drawn onto grey silk fabric as guidelines for embroidery, which has just been started in the photo.

The embroidery of silver thread onto grey silk fabric in a leaf vein pattern but more completed.

A long haired silver tabby Siberian Forest cat being incredibly helpful in the patterning process by laying across the fabric in a very unbothered manner.

Silver embroidery on grey silk fabric in a red embroidery hoop.

I just spent a full day couching down silver thread onto the yoke of the tunic, which is far and away was always going to be the most time consuming part of making this outfit, so now that it’s finished I think by some miracle I am actually going to finish Elrond before San Japan.

A man with glasses and shoulder length dark hair taking a selfie in a mirror. He is wearing a maroon and gold doublet with bright aqua blue sleeves that have small white ruffles at the cuffs. On the shoulder there are rolls that are blue with black leather stripes, and the upper half of the sleeve has a panting detail using strips of navy blue ribbon with hot pink piping.

Since I needed to finish this up before SJ too:
My Witcher 3 Dandelion doublet has been sitting in my UFO pile since *LAST* San Japan and I finally got the sleeves on this mofo, and I am happy to report that even after looking at it for over a year, the color scheme is still just as obnoxious.

Also hilarious detail:
I discovered that the beads on the little ear locks are essential to keeping the square knots tidy, as they need the weight pulling down to keep them from distorting (explains why when I would tie them in my hair as kid it would never work lmfao)
Mine are fishing weights. 🤣🤣

The back of a heavily braided brown wig on a wig block.

The back of a heavily braided brown wig on a wig block from further away

The front of a long brown wig on a wig block, with twill tape pinned along the lace. It has two small braids separated in the ear sections. There is a circlet on the wig block across the “forehead”

Not perfect but it’ll do. Also this wig is impossible to photograph on the wig block lol
Ps, the circlet is kinda helter skelter, but only because I didn’t really pin it on well or precisely, I just wanted confirmation it would work. Still working on the charms for the back of the hair.