Sunday 29 April 2012

Interview - Lucy from Lucy's Corsetry



A little while ago, drunk on my own power, I finally worked up the courage to ask Lucy, one of my all-around favourite youtubers, for an interview. She obliged (yeah, I don't know why either!) and I am ever so excited to finally get around to posting it up!


Kitty: To satisfy my own curiousity, I would love to know your ethnicity - you are just so lovely-looking and unique, I can't pin it down for the life of me. That probably sounds really creepy.

Lucy: In order of largest percentage to smallest, I have the following ancestry: African (I guess you can say "black", like from Ghana), Caucasian (western Europe including English, Scottish, German, French), East Indian, Chinese, and Native South American (Aztec). Since there are some adoptions and some lost papers, there is a small percentage of unknown lineage. All my ancestors ended up in the Caribbean for one reason or another, and I was born in Canada. I identify myself as Jamaican-Canadian. 
 
Kitty: Tell me about your corset experiences - best, worst, favourite, and your first.
 
Lucy: My first corset experience was when I was about 15. My mother made me a black Victorian gown for Halloween and also a makeshift corset (a modified longline bra) and petticoat to go underneath. Since I was a stick figure at that age, I was thrilled by my new hourglass figure from the corset, and I loved the feeling of being held. I thought it was the coolest feeling to relax and "lean back" in the corset, and still be sitting ramrod straight. :D
Tibby, Lucy's
self-appointed "helper"
My worst corset experience was probably early on in my daily waist training about two years ago, and I was boarding the bus home from university. The bus took off before I was able to sit down and the inertia knocked me off balance - I engaged my core muscles reflexively to regain it, but since I was in my corset I ended up pulling a side muscle pretty badly. I had to take a week or two off training for my oblique muscle to heal.
My favourite corset experience... I'm not entirely sure I have a favourite! Wearing a corset to a formal event and having some ladies gasp and fawn over my outfit is always fun. (Men never really comment on my attire but I sometimes receive buggy eyes.) My first corset photoshoot was also a great experience! However I'm sure I will have even greater corset experiences in the future, so I'm holding out on that "favourite" moment. ;)
 
Kitty: Going off that question, the corset that you wear the most? I haven't gotten around to watching your collection video yet, but I want to bet you have over 9000! Is it ever hard to pick just one?

I just thought this was a lovely
photo.
Lucy: Haha, not quite over 9000 Vegeta, but somewhere between 30-40. The plan WAS to have a different corset to wear every day of the month, but not all corsets are that practical to wear. It's very difficult to pick just one at times! Of course, I have some that I wear more often than others. 
At this time, I wear my waist training underbust from Heavenly Corsets or my Josephine underbust from Isabella Corsetry a lot in the daytime, and my WKD Baby cincher at night (if I choose to corset at night). On the days that I focus on getting a lot of sewing done, I don't corset at all. Therein lies the irony - I can't wear corsets while I'm making corsets.
 
Kitty: Do you have any corsets that you just feel are too precious to wear? Like the antique one I linked you to a little while ago. How about ones that look pretty on display, but terrible on?
 
Lucy: I have a few corsets like that - although I don't have any antique corsets, my "couture" overbusts are precious to me - these are the overbusts by Electra Designs, Puimond and Sparklewren. Sometimes I feel that I don't quite do them justice when I wear them, or that I need a special occasion to wear them. 
Some of them have an extremely deep plunge and as such they're not suitable for casual attire and wearing a shirt underneath some of them just looks ridiculous. I also rarely wear them because I'm absolutely paranoid about spilling drinks/food on them, wearing them on a day where there's a chance of rain, etc.
An afforementioned Electra Designs corset


Kitty: Corset regrets - do you have any? The one that cost way too much for bad quality, youthful over-keen purchases where you bought a plastic boned one and thought you were just the coolest thing (you are)?

Lucy: Oh God, too many regrets to count. What I thought was my first "official" purchased tightlacing corset so many years ago ended up being a cheap plastic-boned thing from Burleska.
I still have regrets about some of my recent purchases though, such as my hasty bulk order from CorsetDeal when they came out with their new collection. I'm now out by several hundred dollars and own several relatively ill-fitting corsets.I have also purchased corsets from some companies like Orchard Corset or Gallery Serpentine solely on the requests of some viewers - I wouldn't have made the purchases if I hadn't been pressured by so many to do reviews on them, and I had severe buyer's remorse. 
Some people don't realize how much of my savings I've spent just on filling requests on my Youtube channel. However, by doing reviews on those corsets, I've been told I've saved hundreds of other people from making the same expensive mistakes, so I try to think altruistically and say that it wasn't a total waste.


Kitty: How did you get into corsetry, and could you explain the tightlacing method you use? Are there any mistakes you made that you would like to share, or things that seemed a great idea at the time but were really quite terrible in retrospect?

Lucy: How exactly I got into corsetry is a very long complicated story, but basically I started getting serious about corsetry around the age of 18 or 19 when I was getting more into anime, manga and cosplay. It was at that point that I made my first Victorian corset and started "waist training" in a sense. My naturally ridiculously long hair and small waist made accurate cosplay very easy for me.
This photograph was accompanied with the following text:
"I unfortunately haven't been figured out how to make a
sarcastic face and a duck face simultaneously."
Once I purchased my first custom-fit waist training corset around 2 years ago, very early on in my training, I was impatient and I tried to tighten the corset as much as I could and wear it as long as I possibly good, simply trying to "bear up" when it became painful. That was a terrible idea - not only did it cause discomfort that prevented me from training for weeks after that incident, but I also became discouraged and formed a negative attitude around corseting.
After that, I purchased the book "Corset Magic" by Ann Grogan and followed the "rollercoaster method" explained in that book - the basic outline for that training process is to pick an initial reduction (say a corseted measurement of 24") and over a number of weeks, staying at that measurement but slowly working up the number of hours until you're comfortably able to wear your corset at that reduction all day. Once that occurs, then you may further reduce your waist (say, to 23.5") but then drop the number of hours worn at that reduction, once again working your way up to wearing it all day. I've found this method makes the most sense to me.

Kitty: One last question, and I'm desperate to know the answer: Your HAIR. How do you manage to look after so much lovely hair - or end up with that much of it?! I have a thick head of hair, but I've taken the "I can do what I want with it, I'll just wear a wig if it falls out" approach.

Please, PLEASE click to view larger.
Lucy: Being able to grow long hair is very easy for both women and men in my family - even my cousins with extremely curly hair (remember the African lineage) have been able to grow their hair easily halfway down their backs and longer. I'm very fortunate to have loose curls in my hair so I haven't had to chemically straighten my hair and I very rarely use heat on it (I'll flat-iron it maybe a couple times a year) - I simply put it up in a protective hairstyle like a bun or a braid, and it keeps my hair out of the way. When I take my hair down, it will end up fairly straight or with some nice waves.
People ask me all the time what kinds of products I use for my hair, but I will always say the same thing - which shampoo you use will be absolutely useless if you don't first START with healthy hair, and that comes from eating healthy and taking care of your body. There are no shortcuts in this respect.
Tibby, helping with, and not at all hindering, corset surgery.




And there we have it! Thanks so much to Lucy for letting me interview her. She is honestly one of the greatest and most lovely people, and I can't resist trying to spread her knowledge around the place. Her youtube is here, facebook here and her blog is here. She does make corsets, too, the info is on her blog. Her beautiful photographs were used with permission!


Much love,
Kitty<3 

PS: the batcats are go

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Househunting - Moar Makeup and General Life Update

The pics on this post are pretty dodgy, so let's just start with a lovely one of Sunday.

awwww. :3
 Anyway, today we went to look at an apartment up the road. It's small but nice, I really like it. Hopefully we'll be able to get it. Here's what my face looked like. My webcam dislikes unnatural light, so it just sort of went "no". Shaun had to hold the lamp up to me. :P

Foundation - Illamasqua Skin Base SB002 and Illamasqua Pressed Powder in PF002

Eyes and brows - Manic Panic Cream and Shadow duo. Yeah, for once I actually did that black eyeshadow thing you young whipper-snappers are always on about.

Cheeks - Nabi blush in "Lilac".

Lips - Manic Panic "Blood Red".

I also actually did something with my hair, as I was too shakey and running late to tie my headscarf. I just sort of put it in a bun and wave-efied some of the side bits. :D

Observant readers would notice that there's something new on the bell on my neck - it's a gold ring with cat ears, sent to me by the darling Dani Deathbiscuit of Confessions of an Australian Goth. She saw it and just KNEW I had to have it.

As for my back pain, things seem okay. The pain pills seem to be working although they have done nothing for this migrain! The weather seems to, though, as it has gone from "a bit sunny, occasionally" to dreary and wonderful. I've been able to walk around for longer, and with less pain. Shaun says I'm less moody too, but what does he know?!

Using my phone as a lamp, yay! XD
We're getting along fine, though. Things are better this week, although we still have nowhere to move. XD

I wish I could post something more interesting! Blar.

I was thinking about putting a "donate" button up on the sidebar and setting that up. I might still do, if we need it. All blog money will of course go towards cats, our own and street cats, and if we manage to get our own place, it will also go towards foster kittens.

Anyway, my darlings, that was our day. How are you all? Do check in with me every once in a while, you are all always on my mind.

Much love.

-Kitty

PS: That jacket? Y'see that jacket? That's the jacket Jillian Venters AND Amy both wanted. It's mine, bitches, do you hear? MINE.

Saturday 21 April 2012

Makeup Post + Trip to the Doctor's

I boredly took some photos of myself yesterday because I liked the way my makeup looked. I did record a vlog but my computer ate it. 8c

 Foundation: Illamasqua Skin Base SB 002, Illamasqua Pressed Powder PF 002

Eyebrows: Shiro Cosmetics "Rattata" (now "Team Rocket")

Eyes: Manic Panic Creme Liner+Shadow duo, Illamasqua liquid liner in "abyss".

Cheeks: Illamasqua powder blush in "Nymph"

Lips: I brushed on Illamasqua's "Box" lightly as a base, then added Manic Panic "Blood Red" over the top. I topped up throughout the day with MP and some Illamasqua Intense Gloss in "Besotted".

So anyway, yesterday I FINALLY made it to the doctor's about my crippling spine and leg pain. I was running late, and felt REALLY bad about it (I apologised over 9000 times) - and I proved to the girls over at the facebook group why I should never ever ever be allowed out in public.

I have a MASSIVE key chain. I own a total of three keys. The key chain is huge because it contains some Monster High bits and bobs, a TARDIS that lights up and wooshes, and a cyberman head that talks to you. The cyberman is a bit old, and was sent to me all the way from England, and so he goes off at the lightest touch. I was moving my bag so a family could move past me, and he went off. "You will be upgraded," he said. "Or you will be deleted."

The room fell dead silent. Sixty people stared at me. The most rational response was of course to say, "Cyberman, that is not how we talk to people! You can be so childish sometimes." BECAUSE THAT'S NOT WEIRD AT ALL GODDAMMIT.

Anyway, two prescriptions and a dozen x-rays later, I managed to worm my way into putting off getting a blood test until Monday. Hooray! I also have extremely strong pain killers to take, which seem to kill zero pain but instead make me not care about how much it hurts.

With my headscarf and traveller's cross, both of which I neglected today
out of lack of concentration. 

 Headscarf worn in memory of Shaima Alawadi, a murdered Iraqi-American woman who was beaten to death in her home for the crime of wearing her hijab. The facebook page, One Million Hijabs for Shaima Alawadi can be found here, and it's something I encourage everyone to try out just once.

That's all for now. Space cadet cat is out. XD

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Endangered Felidae - The Snow Leopard

Although this cat has yet to be featured on my blog other than zoo pictures, here is an interesting article on the importance and effects of saving the snow leopard. hopefully some food for thought!

Endangered Felidae Followup - the Iberian Lynx

Found this about an hour ago. Erroneously, SOS Iberian Lynx Man refers to the lynx as a big cat (it's not, it's felinae not pantherinae) but they are trying their best to save this precious cat.

Read it, watch it and spread the word.

Sunday 15 April 2012

Filty Victorians stuff + blog change again

Well it seems I just can't settle!

Anyway, this is really just some more Filthy Victorians stuff. I know. I've been a shit blogger and I am really upset I didn't get to go through with the plans for the year. It really upsets me that i didn't get that chance. With my health absolutely falling apart, having had to stay in bed for pretty much the last few weeks with chronic pain, fatigue and emotional stuff, and the fact that our housemates are crazy and we are getting evicted because we...are nice and tidy up after them apparently (sin of sins) i just haven't found the energy to dress up and be lovely and my usual self.

Honestly? I feel lonely. I feel like no one wants me around or wants to talk to me. It seems like people who were talking to me only a few weeks ago are avoiding me.

Having Heather down for all of last week was a nice break. She's moving down soon. But in the meantime I am just not coping.

I feel like I'm alone. All the time. I know I'm not, I know I'm never really alone but, still, everything seems to be getting away from me. I feel vague and on the outside of everything.


Do you all just want me to go away? Because I will, if I'm not wanted around anymore. It's okay. Please just someone tell me what I'm missing and what's going on.

Saturday 14 April 2012

YAY

Finally, a break from being sad and trying to find a new house, to tell you all. Heather, my bestestest friend in the world, who was down all last week hence the no-posting, is moving down with us!


Tuesday 3 April 2012

Holy New Blog Stuff, Batman! +why pastel goths why?

So yeah, I've just gone ahead and changed my entire blog to varying shades of pink.

With my eyes going on that downward slope I was having trouble reading my own fucking blog. So no more black backgrounds! Plus I like pink.

Now, this is going to take a turn for the worse. Pastel goth.

One of the items for sale on pastelgoth.com
 I think pastel goth should be, oh, I don't fucking know, goth but pastel? Not "goth with kawaii" (don't. even. go there) or "How about we just make a denim vest with a floral inverted cross on the back! Call it goth!"

There is nothing wrong with a lot of pastel goth fashion. A lot of it is cute. But that doesn't excuse the gallons and gallons of crap oozing from the subculture.

Real pastel goths, goths in pastel, stand the fuck up and just say no.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Let There Be Tumblog

So today I jumped on the tumblr bandwagon. Here it is. I will be using it to blog and reblog .gifs and pictures I am too lazy to upload here.

Don't worry. I'll still be blogging here, as regularly as usual.

Hopefully I will be overhauling this blog's layout.

Is the colour scheme in the tumblr grating to anyone? It isn't to me, but if it bothers anyone I will change it.

<3

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