Pretty Pretty Bang Bang

Happy Halloween everyone! This holiday got me thinking about the best costumes I ever had. When I was a kid, I loved dressing up. When I got older, I made some of my costumes. So I thought I’d share some of my favorites with you. When I was 5, I was an angel and my little sister was a devil. My costume was made out of a sheet with gold rick-rack trim and gold cardboard wings. I went trick-or-treating with my best friend, Cindy Garfit who dressed as a goldfish. My sister was really small and kept losing her plastic pitchfork along the way. We had to backtrack to find it.

One year, I decided to dress as a bunch of grapes. I dyed a sheet purple, then cut out cardboard circles, glued wadded up newspaper to the front of them, and covered them with pieces of the purple sheet. All of this was stapled together to form a sandwich board-type costume that rested on my shoulders. Apparently, I thought balloons were too easy.

Then there’s the pumpkin costume my mom made me, again from a dyed sheet. I remember the body was stuffed with newspaper, I wore orange tights and had a green posterboard stem hat. I sense a sheet theme here. Guess all my costumes were really sheet-y! Sorry, couldn’t resist.

When I was a senior in high school we all dressed up and paraded around the gym. I was a gangster. I found an old pinstriped suit of my dad’s, wore a hat, and carried a violin case. Not terribly hard, but it was comfortable. In college I was dracula one year. I got a floor-length cape from the theatre department, wore a white tuxedo shirt, black pants and a red scarf around my waist. My hair was really short so I slicked it back and painted it black with this hairspray paint. It was so messy! It took forever to get that crap out of my hair, ears, clothes, room. Still, it was a great costume.

So, what were your favorite costumes? What are you (or your kids) going as this year?

Ever wondered how to keep a pumpkin from rotting? The best way to keep a beer cold? Or maybe you wondered just how many condoms could be worn at once. Well, wonder no more. The good people at My Science Project are here to help. Now, get out there and learn something today!

Recently, my friend Cindy was helping her daughter dress for 80s Day at school. Amazingly, Cindy had kept many items of clothing from her high school days, which got me to thinking about the oldest piece of clothing I still had. I try not to keep things forever, but I think the oldest thing I have is a floor length denim coat my mom bought me for Christmas in 1987 (I think). I was working at Town and County, an upscale clothing store, and fell in love with this coat. I wore it until the sleeves were ragged, then kept it thinking I would one day tear it apart and use it for a pattern to make a new one. That’s how much I loved this coat. This morning I found it in one of my storage closets downstairs. For some reason, I just can’t bear to throw it away even though I haven’t worn it for probably 10 years.

So, what’s the oldest piece of clothing in your closet? Shoes count!

Mmmmm, it’s time for another delicious recipe of the week. This week, we pay tribute to ham. Just look at the delicious, glazed ham below, glistening with all that goodness. Let’s not forget our side dishes. The nut-crusted Sweet Potato Balls are more than just a southern porno, they’re a delicious side dish too. Spice Peaches round out our yellow/beige/brown/tan meal with a hint of clove for a spicy sweet finish. Don’t forget to top your ham with a marmalade glaze - just take the syrup from your Spiced Peaches, combine with orange marmalade and you have a sticky mess to pour over your roll of pork and fat. All you need is something with gelatin and you’ve got yourself a party here.

Shown here: Glazed Rolled Ham, Sweet Potato Balls and Spiced Peaches

My investments came out! Hooray! I did learn that I need to knead my plaster longer because I got some air bubbles. So here’s what came out: Below on top (the brown thing) is the wax impression of my fist, on the left is the silver casting of my wrist (with lots of air bubbles that look like warts), next to it is the alginate original (the pinky thing), then the casting of my dimples (fewer bubbles of warts) and the alginate original. Next up, I’m casting a plastic monkey!

Welcome to the latest episode of “In The Studio” starring me, Tammy Kirks, as the metalsmith of the semester. This week’s episode is Investment Casting. This takes casting to a whole new level. It’s much more intricate, takes longer, is really messy, but produces very detailed results.

We started by using dental alginate (the strawberry-flavored crap they use for impressions) to make molds of whatever we chose. I molded my dimples (I had to smile for a full minute while it hardened) and my bent wrist. Once the alginate has cured, you dip it in hot injection wax, peel it off and you have a wax model of whatever you want to cast. Then there’s a bunch of other stuff you do (I’ll let you read about it on Wikipedia) to get it ready for the plaster. Investment plaster is interesting. You mix it in a rubber bowl by hand. And by that I mean, with your hands. So you dunk your hands into this cold, creamy mess and mix for about 4 minutes. Once you remove all the air bubbles from the plaster (another intricate method) you pour it around your wax piece that’s in a flask. When it hardens, you fire it in a kiln for 5-8 hours, then it’s ready for casting. I did two molds today and they will be fired tomorrow. I hope to be able to actually cast them before the end of class.

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures in casting!

Ever have one of those days when you felt a little tough? Well, today was one of those days for me. I wanted an edge; to feel a little daring. I donned my favorite jeans, my super-fab Frye boots, a black velvet blazer, and, the coups de grace, my skull-print scarf. I felt so rock and roll. That is, until my first destination. “Oh, what a cute scarf. Perfect for the season,” the woman said. Dammit! I didn’t think about it being related to Halloween! No, I was being edgy and tough. By the third comment I was ready to rip the damned thing off. When my buddies at the MAC counter commented on it (they loved it) I told them I was a pirate and if they pissed me off, I’d take their ship.

Think I’ll wait until after the 31st to wear it again.

Mmm, mmm, nothing says “cold weather” like a nice chafing dish full of meat and cream! This week’s recipe is Meat Balls with French Cream. Ground beef, green olives, flour and butter combine to make tasty meatballs. Mix Worcestershire sauce, onion juice, cream and lemon juice to make a lovely cream sauce. Serve atop pilaf and you’re ready for a sophisticated dinner for four.

Personally, this might taste good, but it looks like something barfed up after an all night kegger. Am I wrong here? Serving it in a silver chafing dish just makes it sophisticated crap rather than regular crap.

I have an amazing sense of smell, so it’s no wonder perfumes and colognes ingrain themselves into my memory and take me back to times in my life. For example, I distinctly remember the Christmas my Nana and Papa gave me my first grown-up perfume. It was Babe by Faberge. I wanted Love’s Baby Soft, but my sister got it instead and I was insanely jealous. I think I was 12 or 13 at the time. I remember throwing a fit and apologizing to my grandparents for being an ungrateful brat. Of course, they forgave me! I thought it would be fun to take a scented trip down memory lane so here’s a sample of my fragrance history.

In high school, I wore Vanderbilt by Gloria Vanderbilt, Ralph Lauren’s Tuxedo, Anais Anais by Cacharel, Halston and Tatiana. I also had a small bottle of Enjoli which my good friend, Dan Boone (his real name) loved. It was the early 80s when I was in HS so all the guys wore Polo by Ralph Lauren. Every time I smell it, I’m transported back to HS. Great memories.

When I got to college, my fragrances became more heavy. By now it was the mid to late 80s when it seemed like everyone was wearing Dior’s Poison. I wore Paloma Picasso and Opium. Both make me gag to smell them today.

After college, I got caught up in the body lotion/body spray craze of the early 90s. I wore Victoria’s Secret Sparkling Cassis for years until they (thankfully) discontinued it. I tried Ralph Lauren’s Safari for a while, then I graduated to Elizabeth Arden’s Sunflowers, which I was wearing when I met Steve, who wore Ralph Lauren’s Polo Crest at the time.

Shortly after Steve and I were married, I wore Romance by Ralph Lauren and RL discontinued Polo Crest so Steve started wearing Polo Blue which he still wears. Two years ago, I discovered Stella Sheer and the fragrance story ends today with my addition of Stella In Two to my collection.

What fragrances do you wear? What did you wear when you were younger?

Ah, Nordstrom. The place where dreams come true. Such was the case last night when Suzanne and I ventured into the Fragrance Department. Enter Pat Mullins, certified fragrance sales specialist. This woman knows her stuff! She’s like a walking encyclopedia of fragrance knowledge. I told her I was looking for something new, but wasn’t having any luck. I wanted a special fragrance that wasn’t sold in Dillard’s or Macy’s. She immediately showed me the new scent from Badgley Mischka. It was lovely. I told her I wore Stella Sheer by Stella McCartney and she introduced me to Stella In Two, the latest fragrance from the designer which is meant to be layered with her other scents. Bingo! Since I’d just purchased a new bottle of Stella Sheer in late summer, this seemed like the perfect addition. On one hand, she layered Stella In Two with Stella and on the other hand, she sprayed the Badgley Mischka. She told me to walk around for 20 minutes and let it set.

In the meantime, Suzanne had discovered Miss Dior Cherie which was an interesting combination of strawberries, caramel popcorn, green tangerine, strawberry leaves, violette, pink jasmine, patchouli and musk. It wasn’t a favorite of mine, but it was interesting on Suzanne. As it wore on, the strawberry really came through but not in a sticky, sweet way, more subtle and adult.

I was sniffing each hand trying to figure out what I liked. Steve immediately liked the Stella layers and the Badgley Mischka was turning fruity so I decided against it. Another trip into Nordstrom and Pat demanded to smell each hand. She declared the BM to be “wrong” for me, but said the Stella was perfect. I bought the Stella In Two and Pat then gave me a talk on layering my fragrances. I said I didn’t have the lotion, but used an unscented lotion instead. She said that was ok, but I should be layering for the best effect. She gave me a very generous sample of the In Two lotion and sent me on my way. Suzanne was still debating the Miss Dior Cherie so she didn’t purchase anything.

Today, I debut the new “Tammy” fragrances. I’ll be layering Stella Absolute Rose (another sample I received) with Stella In Two. I’ll let you know how I smell.