Rachel E. Pollock's Blog: La Bricoleuse aggregate and more..., page 34

On participating in "Nano in February"

A group of us on the Goodreads Author Feedback Group decided to do a modified National Novel Writing Month this February.

I've done "actual Nano" four times, in which you write a 50,000 word draft in 30 days, and won it twice. (Of course, "winning" means that you've got 50,000 words on the page; for me it has never generated a complete story arc of a draft.) I've loved the cameraderie of it, the goal-setting and accountability and cheerleading and all that, but i've also accepted that it's not an effective way for me to write a meaningful draft.

The month of November is typically one of the busiest months of the year at work, and the pace of it has resulted in me writing a lot of dreck just to keep up, words which I *know* are being written just to stay on track. And that's been problematic for me, because i've always known that, if i just spent a day or two thinking or researching, i wouldn't be writing useless words.

Point being, NaNoWriMo is great, but for a number of reasons, it's not for me. But i do love the community aspect of it, so when P.D. Workman suggested on the Authors Feedback Group that a bunch of us band together to do "Nano in February," I was on board because in this case, she ran it more like Camp NaNoWriMo, where we set our own goals for the month instead of the predetermined 50,000 words of NaNoWriMo.

I joined because i have been doing a lot of preliminary work on a novel idea that grabbed me a few months back--a work of historical fiction concerning the interpersonal dramas among a circle of artists and musicians in the Latin Quarter of 1850s Paris. I'd gotten a lot of research done and had my basic plot concept and characters, and P.D.'s idea was exactly the boost i needed to stop pinning stuff to a Pinterest moodboard and start writing.

I knew i had a couple of big projects at work coming due and a grant application to write in February, so i set a very modest goal: 500 words a day, or 15,000 words by month's end.

Well, 28 days later, I ended up with a draft-in-progress of 22,058 words, probably a quarter of the story told. I also ended up with an excellent concept of what a meaningful, sustainable drafting pace could be for me even in the midst of a majorly busy (and blizzard-ridden!) month. It's exciting to know that i could sustain this past month's pace and have my first draft ready to revise by mid-May, or i could push myself harder and be revising sooner.

And because i used a progress-tracking spreadsheet which included a "morale" rating, i can see that i sustained a pretty high level of positivity about the project, whereas in a traditional Nano month, i often got discouraged when i inevitably fell behind.

Funny, it's taken me five novels to figure out what works for me. I'd have thought the masters thesis might have done it, but no, it was a serendipitous exercise on Goodreads.

And now, back to that draft. :D

Reversible aging with Schmere products

We're working on a production of Ibsen's Enemy of the People right now at Playmakers Repertory Company, and i've had the occasion to do a distressing/aging project that some of y'all might enjoy.

Our production is set in the 1950s, and we've got a character whose very nice, new wool suit actually needs to look old and decrepit. The actor playing this character is one of our company actors, which means he's cast several times a year, and we have some go-to items for him...

Historical reproduction: 1890s bodice by Denise Chukhina

In the third year of graduate study, our students complete several capstone projects, one of which is the historical reproduction. For this project, they choose a garment from our collection of antique garments, the Costar Archive. They must study the garment closely and then reproduce it as closely as possible. Often the source garment is very fragile, oddly-sized, and not a garment which could or would be worn onstage. Our students reproduce the pattern of the source garment, but adjusted/a...

Dye class: Shibori projects

We've finished the first part of the graduate level dye class i teach, in which we cover the science portion of the subject (different classes of dyes and which fibers they work on, how the processes differ, how to discharge dyes/"color remove," etc.). We're now moving into the section that students usually find more fun, because it covers the application of that knowledge base in the creation of artistically conceived surface design effects. The first project of this sectio...

Interview: Leah Pelz, First Hand at Tricorne, NYC

Super thrilled to return to my (very sporadic) interview series with this fantastic email-chat I recently conducted with costumer Leah Pelz.

In addition to being a recent alumna of the UNC-Chapel Hill Costume Production MFA program (in which i teach) and the inaugural winner of the Barbara Matera Award for Costume Making, Leah is now based in NYC where she works as a first hand for the renowned production house Tricorne LLC, as well as working as a wardrobe swing for the long-running Broadway...

Millinery Trim Giveaway winners announced!

The millinery trim giveaway has closed, and winners have been chosen by the magic randomizer! (By which i mean, the computerized randomizer.)

I have to admit, it has been so exciting this past week seeing all the new "likes" coming in from milliners and craftspeople whose work is new to me! So many interesting Etsy shops and blogs and retailers and designers and costume students and....i could just keep going.

But, without further ado, our four winners are:

Kelly Formaldehyde of MsForm...

Vintage hats from the hatboxes...

First up, a reminder that there are two more days to enter the giveaway for millinery trims! February 2nd is the last day you can enter, and i'll announce winners ASAP. But for now, hats and more hats...

So, per my post the other day about the donation of hatboxes and hats that our loan supervisor brought by my office, here are a few images of the hats that were in those fantastic packages!
Glamorous flat felt 1940s hat by Vogue Hats--this is the one that was in that black floral box.


Side v...

Hat donation! Beautiful hatboxes...

One of the perks of working for the Costume Production MFA program here is the access to the Costar Archive. Not only do we have access to a wide range of surviving antique garments and accessories in the collection, but we also sometimes luck out and get to see something when it arrives in a donation.

Just yesterday, our head of loans and acquisitions, Sam-Kate Toney, dropped by my office with an armload of hatboxes...




Three lovely boxes for womens hats...


...and these two fantastic-shaped boxe...

period pattern class starts way back in the gothic...

First up, a warm welcome to all my new followers! It seems that my millinery trim giveaway is really popular! I thought it might be a fun idea for paying-it-forward in terms of streamlining things in the studio, and it appears i wasn't alone in that. Very exciting to have so many new readers, and for those who are here with a strictly-millinery interest, i'm sorry to start off with a post that has absolutely no hats in it. Hopefully the secret codpiece at the end will make up for the...

Millinery Trim Giveaway!

Calling all milliners and craftspeople, fiber and textile artists, and really anyone who's interested in high-end and antique ribbons and trims!

I'm overhauling my millinery studio and clearing out a few things, and i thought it would be fun to share the wealth!

I'll be giving away four grab-bags of millinery trims--largely stylish ribbons both vintage and modern, but each grab bag will also include a few more decorative bits and bobs like crystal sprays, vintage buttons, and so for...