Lisa Ashton's Page

One of my earliest costumes.  It was a re-creation of a book cover by artist Hannah Shapero (who is also known as "Pyracantha"), for the book "Hawkmistress" by Marion Zimmer Bradley.  It won BIS at a Darkover con, I think that year, and I actually got to meet the author.  I was very interested in the Darkover books at that time, so that was a thrill.  I chose the character of Romilly because I felt a real bond with her--she was misunderstood by her family and wanted an entirely different life.  She also had a special bond with animals, especially birds of prey.  I made a hawk out of foam and hot glue and feathers, with wings of cardboard and feathers--the wings were able to flap with my hand inside the body, moving wires, while the gloved hand holding the hawk was a fake hand.  The trim on the tunic is all hand cross-stitch to match the painting, and I looked for fabrics that had real-life textures.

I did a version of it at a long-ago Balticon with Laurel Hill, but this one is completely my version and was presented at Con Francisco in the Novice Division, it won Judges Choice.  Made of a greatly modified wedding gown, with tentacles, lots of glitter and lame, and beadwork, it was also my first time working in foam and spray paint for the mask and head.

This was presented in the Historical Masquerade at CC23 in Utah.  It is a reproduction of the dress my great-grandmother is wearing in one of the very few family photos I have, and I dated it through research to about 1895-96.  I believe it is a "first-day" dress--worn by the bride the day after the wedding, when photos were traditionally taken in Odessa, Ukraine (no photos allowed in synagogue of course).  I used patterns from Truly Victorian to start, then modified the bodice to be a front closure, with hook and eye tapes for the smoothest closure.  The soutache-work "appliques" were made by me with a machine on two layers of fine tulle and then hand applied onto the skirt--the soutach braid on the bodice was patterned out to match the photo and then hand-sewn.  I am very proud of this outfit, because it represents how far I"ve come with my costuming.