That Day I Went to a Renaissance Faire

Over a month ago, on Saturday, April 18th, a few friends (recognize them from my Captain America photo shoot??) and I went to a Ren Faire for the very first time. And it was awesome. :D

We drove three hours to get to the faire (which was well worth it;), and to pass the time, we took selfies, played brain games on Karis' ipad, and talked about lots of stuff -- mostly stuff pertaining to our favorite fandoms. ;D

Then, after arriving at the festival at about 12:00, we spent the rest of the day doing lots of walking, laughing, picture-taking, window shopping, etc... :D

Walking and taking pictures around the extremely extensive grounds...

We met a brave knight.

Karis and I got locked up in the stocks -- I was arrested for being an outlaw, and Karis for fraternizing with the outlaw.

Visiting tons of the little shops...

Amber and I parry with LARP swords in one of the "armory" shops. My favorites were the leather shops, which ranged from selling epic leather dresses, tunics, coats, to books, bracers, boots, etc etc.

Going through the "haunted pirate ship," and scaring ourselves silly...

The thing was so cheesy, but it was 3 bucks and we couldn't resist. It was the inside of a "pirate ship," pitch black, filled with things like skeletons and treasure hoards, strobe lights, randomly [loudly] falling items, and antics by workers, who would bang super loudly on the walls, run at us in the dark, yell, etc...

P.S. A huge thank you to the guy banging on the wall right after Karis jumped me -- that basically gave me a heart attack. xD

Meeting some orcs...

When we saw these guys, we knew we absolutely had to get a picture with them.  I mean, look at that guy's costume -- convincing, much??? :O Probably my favorite costume of all that we saw throughout the day.

Oh, and, no, I did not know the other orc behind me was there -- the next frame was me screaming. xD

We definitely should look much more scared than we do... xD

And watching a few shows, the favorite of which was the live jousting...

It was set up like a play, with the three shows throughout the day furthering the story of two knights jousting to win the hand of the princess.  It was quite a hilarious spectacle, with the evil knight getting drug through the mud behind a chariot, a guys' eye getting "ripped out," and men getting killed right and left at the climax battle.  Plus, Karis, Amber, and I totally hammed it up cheering for our team's knight -- who ended up being the winner, of coooouuuurse! :D

It was so fun to witness. Quite amsuing. ;D

And of course we had to get costume pictures in front of the arena while we waited for the joust to start...

Totally foreshadowing our next costumes (superheroes for Avengers: Age of Ultron):

Scarlet Witch, Captain America, and Peggy Carter go to a renaissance festival???

And lastly, a few details on my costume I whipped up for the faire... because you know I'm all about the costumes. ;D

It was inspired by elven archers, Tauriel, Legolas, a little bit of Hawkeye -- you know, that sort of thing. ;)  You probably recognize the bracers and boots from my Tauriel cosplay. ;D

I whipped up the dress/tunic from an ugly, awkward length skirt I found at the thrift for $2.50. I was only looking for fabric, since I knew I'd be completely changing the style, and the fabric of it was perfect -- forest/olive suede with a gentle drape, and just enough of it for a tunic. :D

As for making the dress, it was about a day's worth of time, ripping/cutting old seams, fitting new seams for the neckline, arms, princess-style bodice, waist, and skirt. It was a really fun project -- just the right amount of difficulty and need for creativity to be a challenge, without being overwhelming.  Because the fabric has some stretch to it, I didn't have to put in any zippers, buttons, etc, which made the build even simpler. At the suggestion of my oldest sister, Alissa, I ended up not hemming the neckline and hem, and just left the raw edge, which helped the time crunch I was under (about a week, from getting the idea to going to the faire). Since the suede frays minimally, I just used my shears to keep all fraying at bay, and there was no problem.  This look also lent a bit of ruggedness to the dress, which was kind of fun. ;)

As for all the accessories: as I already said, the bracers and boots were the same I used for my Tauriel cosplay -- the boots I bought online, and the bracers I made from upholstery leather, dyed darker with shoe polish, embellished with an elvish design with a Sharpie marker (bahahha), and laced with suede string through brass grommets embedded in the bracers. I already had the braided belt, and I picked up the belt around my waist from a thrift store for 50 cents. And lastly, the leather pouches were the same upholstery leather, darkened with shoe polish, which I originally made for the first draft of my Captain America cosplay, but didn't end up using. They ended up working perfectly for the costume -- plus, removed the need for a bag: I kept my phone in the larger pouch, and money in the smaller one. Perfect, right?? xD

Overall, it was an absolutely *smashing* day, and I can't wait to go to another renaissance faire soon! ^_^