Bindrune amulets

These are no longer for sale! 

I made a bunch of amulets with bindrunes and icelandic magical staves for some awesome people I met at a course about PTSD. I expected at least one of them to reject this kinda superstition, and was nearly reduced to tears when everyone loved them. (I’m such a tough viking!) 

If you wanna know more about bindrunes, click here. 

Left: Bindrune for divine energy.

Middle: Bindrune for promoting assertiveness.

Right: Bindrune for peace, tranquillity and unity.

Left: Bindrune for medical healing.

Middle: Bindrune for personal protective power.

Right: Bindrune for realisation of ambition.

Left: Icelandic magical stave meant to end strife.

Middle: Bindrune for personal protective power.

Right: Icelandic magical stave meant to end strife. 

Hela & Game of Thrones

Hela is the ruler of the Norse underworld, Helheim. She is described as half living, half dead and usually she's depicted half living/half skeleton. Luckily, as my makeup skills are still somewhat sub-par, the dead parts are sometimes described as rotting, not skeletal, and so that was what I went for. The makeup is just a few layers of liquid latex and tissue, with water based makeup on top.

Pictures taken by Malene Richter Lien.

It's a very simple, but incredibly comfortable costume. The blue linen dress is based on Simplicity 4940. The fur collar is borrowed from my daily wardrobe - I found a piece of fake fur at a second hand shop and made a linen backing for it. The crown, which sadly turned out too small and not as eye-catching as I could wish, is made from jewel beetle wings. (The beetle wings remind me of nails, and when Ragnarok happens Hela will come sailing to battle in Naglfar, a ship made from the nails of the dead. I liked the symbolism.) And the jewellery is borrowed from my viking wardrobe.

Queueing for a couple of hours. I'm almost tempted to dress up like this outside costuming escapades.

A few days after Banzaicon, me and my best friend (who dressed up as Qarth!Khaleesi) dropped by the GoT-Exhibition while it was in Oslo. We fangirled over costumes and props and a couple of awesome viking bloggers we met. We were stopped by HBO, who took our picture, which was awesome, and the 4D Climb the Wall Experience was scarily exciting.

But the best part was sitting on this chair... 

HSF Challenge #8: UFOs & PHDs (or, what I wore to Banzaicon)

This challenge might need some explaining. In sewing terms an UFO is an Un-Finished Object.

Apparently there are some lucky sods who don't have UFOs, because according to the challenge, you could choose a project you've put off. I was looking for a way to fit this into HSF, so I jumped at the chance. (This outfit has been on The List since early October.)

I didn't finish it completely for Banzaicon. (Skirt needs more trim, I'll need to make a bigger bustle and maybe redo the bodice?) So, as proof of some cosmic irony or whatever, I managed to make a UFO for this challenge. Go me.

Challenge: #8 - UFOs & PHDs
Fabric: Silk, polished cotton, linen.

Pattern: Truly Victorian, 1870s Ballgown Bodice (TV4I6) and 1875 Parisian Skirt (TV216).
Year: 1870-75.
Notions: Thread, eyelets, satin band, cotton ties, wired satin band, decorative bands, netting.
How historically accurate is it? Materials are period, except the polyester thread (silk one didn't arrive in time.)
Hours to complete: Worked on this for two weeks.
First worn: Banzaicon 2014.
Total cost: Not gonna tell, cause I don't wanna shock anyone with how expensive this hobby is when you live in Norway...

Photos (c) Malene Richter Lien.