LAN Party 2020 - Favor Ideas

Every year, my husband and I throw a big LAN party for our friends. They come in from Washington and Colorado and Missouri and our own back yard in Oklahoma, set up their computers and consoles, and we play lots and lots of games and eat lots and lots of local food. I even run a one-shot D&D game for them!

Next year is our 5th LAN, and also the year 2020. The number 20 being significant in the gamer community, and a 5th anniversary being a milestone for anything, I figure we have to go big.

My favorite thing to do for everyone is to come up with a unique favor. Last year it was d20-shaped tokens. This year it was laser-engraved d20-shaped coasters made by my father.

Next year, though... what about next year? What can we do for 16+ people that won't break the bank but will be more memorable that some burned wood? I've already got the plan. This post is part my-thought-process-and-how-we-got-here and part keeping space.

The 5th anniversary colors are blue and pink. I personally don't care for pink, and I'm doing most of this. Blue it is.



How about dice? These look cool.





But 16 people in a pile for 5-6 days, won't they get lost? I can make a bag for them! Chainmaille is the obvious choice, but the cost of materials for 16 bags, not to mention the time... Fabric it is. My mom has an adorable little pattern I can use. And what if I use fabric that matches the dice? ice-dye the fabric? IN BLUE AND GREY! Yes!
Dharma Fiber Reactive Dyes
- PR175 - Neutral Grey
- PR180 - Glacier Blue



Speaking of Dharma, I have a bunch of cotton and linen from their scrap-bag deal. I can just prep and dye some of that. And line it with white silk because... silk. No additional purchase necessary.

One step further? SNOW-dye in Colorado! They all love Colorado. Who doesn't, really? That would be fun to do with my mom and mom-in-law when we go out there in a couple months, too. I can take more colors and we can just go crazy with it. Bah. Rabbit hole. That's another post.

There's nothing here that says why they have the dice and the bag. I don't want to pay to have the bags embroidered, and I don't know how to design my own file to borrow my parents' embroidery machine... Parents'... machine...

LAZERS!

What can my dad engrave? Wood, glass, leather, etc.

Leather.

My husband can work with leather. He can help with this! His best friend offered us some leather, too! What's a leather thing we can do?

Research parameters:
1. Gift has to travel well
2. Gift can't be too labor-intensive
3. Gift shouldn't take too much leather
4. Gift should have space for engraving somewhere

With those four things in mind, I found this! https://www.etsy.com/listing/623653205/pattern-collapsible-leather-dice-tray-in?ref=yr_purchases

Dice trays that fold down flat. You can pack them ANYWHERE!

A square of leather, four sets of snaps. Cut it out, burnish the edges, install the snaps, give to my dad for engraving. One of us should be able to design something suitably epic for the design, right?

That should do it. Dice, special dice bag, and custom dice-rolling surface.

I like this plan.

Feather Quill Pens

I love primitive things, and I love writing. What better primitive writing thing than a quill made from a feather?

I've fiddled with the cut of a quill pen before, and I think I've got that part down. Now I just need to temper some feathers...

But first I have to acquire and clean some feathers. I'm almost out of goose feathers and I never made it to a lake this summer.

A friend of mine has a son that loves to hunt, and Turkey Season is coming up. He has agreed to save me the wing feathers so that I can try this out.

Now, the thing about found feathers is that they are disgusting. Seriously. Mites and lice and disease. Birds are gross. I found this super-in-depth (and probably overkill but that's even better!) article about how to properly clean found feathers: https://daragallery.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/sanitizing-feathers-for-crafts/

Update 12/7/20 - I have a friend who has a son that hunts. He saved me the wing of one of his turkeys this year, but all the feathers are stuck together. Here's a video on how to separate them: https://www.customfeathers.com/ProcessWholeWing.htm 

Leaving that there for future reference.

This article talks about how to temper the feathers to get the best quills. https://ourpastimes.com/how-to-make-a-quill-pen-12112198.html

Here's the cutting process for the nib.

I'd also love to make some ink to go with it. I've made Black Walnut ink in the past and it is GORGEOUS! Deep reddish-brown. Easy to do, but it reeks to high heaven so do it outside for sure. Here's the tutorial I followed for that ages ago: https://freeplaycraft.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/how-to-make-black-walnut-ink-a-photo-tutorial/

Craft Adventure - Wet Felting

I recently had the pleasure of taking a Wet Felting class with my mom at a local shop here in Tulsa, and it was an absolute blast! Six hours of soapy water, wet wool roving, sloshing sounds, and total exhaustion from the felting and fulling processes.

Yeah, that doesn't sound fun, does it?

Wet felting honestly is great, and I did have a ton of fun and learned a lot, but it's not a hobby that I feel like I'm going to pick up any time soon for two reasons.

1. I'm just not that into felt. It makes great hats, but I live in Oklahoma and the time I'm going to wear fantastical hats is usually in the spring, summer, and early fall when it's stupid-hot outside.

2. The Space Commitment. I don't have room for that. Larger projects will require a place to lay out the roving, which should be 2-3 times the size of the finished project... Not gonna happen.

Notice that "equipment" and "cost" don't enter the picture. Roving isn't that expensive. A number of Etsy shops have dyed wool roving for sale at very reasonable prices. And the equipment? Cheap, rolling foot massage things, bubble wrap, dish soap, and a plastic drop-cloth to protect your work surface.

If I need a felted piece for a costume, rest assured I'll be finding a way to do that. It's not a difficult process, although it is time-consuming and labor intensive.

Wanna see what I made?

Collapsible witch hat! It's going to be my Apothecary hat for Festival... when I finally get the Apothecary costume made. Look for a post about that one eventually.

My mom made an awesome hood.

Leigh Abernathy was our INCREDIBLE instructor. Check out her fiber gallery here: https://www.twiningvinedesigns.com/#/felt-and-fiber

Upcoming Projects

There are some things I need to do in the sewing room, and a couple of them have deadlines.

By October 30: Bombshell Ursula!
By Thanksgiving: Finish cross-stitch pincushion for Hubby's grandma. Then write about it!
By December 13: Finish cross-stitch wall hanging for mother-in-law.

At some point:
- Make belt-pouches, bracers, & bodices (?) like a crazy person. De-stash the sewing room and build up a small inventory of something at the same time!
- Embroider pirate-bodice back. (also, write a post about the pirate costume to organize the process)
- Apothecary costume (also, write a post about this one to organize the processs)
- Stitch up & apply snap to Wet Felt Experiment
- Add elastic to Viking Pants
- Fix necks of viking dress & shirt
- Embroider viking garb
- Make a backpack - Spoonflower Bee fabric
- Write a summary of Wet Felt Experience
- Make Tudoro! (also, write a post to organize the process)
- Make a wardrobe. Long term goal. Do some serious planning on this one.
- Tailor's Ham & Sausage

Exhausted

I am sick to death of my sewing room.

Eight silk Jedi robes from the ground up, all with French-seams, in three weeks was too much.

What do those words mean?

Jedi robes take 6+ yards of fabric a piece.
From the ground up - pre-wash the fabric, cut the pattern, cut the fabric, sew the seams, trim the seams, press the seams, sew the seams again, hem, wash, dye*, wash... except that eight robes won't fit in the dye vat, and four robes is still too many...
French Seams - Where you sew your pieces WRONG-sides together, trim down the seam allowance, press the seams, fold your pieces so that the RIGHT-sides are together, and sew again, encasing the first seam's edges inside a nice little tube. Essentially, you're sewing the garment twice.
Three weeks - Twenty one days. Five hundred and four hours. Not a reasonable amount of time to sew and dye eight monstrous Jedi robes.

*Silk dying process. Click here for instructions.