A Trip to the New York Renaissance Festival

Yesterday, I went to another Renaissance festival in Tuxedo, NY. This was my first time to this festival and aside from some terrible parking, it was a very enjoyable experience. There is a decent walk from the parking lot to the actual festival, but if you want, you can take the shuttle bus. We decided to walk it. I say we, but I really mean Travis, I wanted to take the shuttle because I was wearing my new shoes and didn't know whether or not they would be comfortable for the entire day. Luckily, they ended up being decent walking shoes.

I was surprised that at the entrance someone recognized my JSK immediately as lolita and asked me if it was Angelic Pretty. Another girl later correctly identified it as BTSSB. Usually when I meet someone who is familiar with lolita, they comment that they recognize the fashion. It was pleasant to hear people recognize that I was wearing an actual brand. We went from the entrance accidentally headed right to the joust. We had good timing as it was just about to start.

The joust itself seemed a lot less planned out than the ones I've seen at the Sterling Renaissance Faire. I'm not sure if this was for the better or not. Both shows are quite nice. I noticed that the commentary and the lines from the knights (whether scripted or unscripted) were a bit more adult oriented than the ones at Sterling. At one point, one of the knight's horses threw him, but the horse also fell backwards on top of him. I'm not entirely sure it was a part of the show, but the knight got right up and continued with the show like nothing had happened. What a champ either way, I can't imagine having a horse land on you is fun.

After the joust we wandered around a bit and just checked out the vendors. I liked that this festival had a very large number of vendors. It seemed to also help keep the prices down as well since there was more than one shop selling most wares. They also had a little pathway where there were a bunch of psychics to do tarot readings, palm readings, and other divination. The games section was also pretty large too. We stood and watched the tomato man for awhile. He was way better than the one at Sterling this year but the one that was at Sterling last year was the best.

After wandering for a bit we went to the food court area to get something to eat. I got a pickle and something to drink and then we did some more wandering. This place is huge. There are a lot of shops to see. After finishing my first pickle and wandering even more, I decided I wanted another pickle. We lucked out and ran into another pickle guy. He told me I had a pretty smile and should wrap it around a pickle. XD As creepy as this pickle dude was, the second pickle was just as awesome as the first. After some more window shopping, we found a shop that sold "dragons" which was kind of cute. They were actually geckos, since, you know, Dragons don't actually exist.

After we felt we had sufficiently wandered the faire, we decided we'd head out. We walked the hilly path back to the car and then found that the cars had been parked three deep. Luckily we were on the edge and were able to get out without much difficulty despite having a car parked next to us on all four sides. I really enjoyed this festival. I hope I can get back there next summer. It was well worth the 2 hour trip. I'd recommend you go!

Now for the quick outfit rundown!

JSK and Bag: BTSSB

Socks: Meta

Shoes: Montreal

Everything else: Offbrand

Another Renaissance Festival Coordinate

I have finally gotten to confirm my plans to go to the NY Renaissance Festival in Tuxedo, NY. I'm quite excited as this will not only be my first time there, but It'll also be my first opportunity to wear my new Marie Antoinette JSK. Sadly, I don't really have the time or money to run out and buy all new things to go with it, so I'm only working with what I already have for this coordinate.



While the socks and the bag aren't perfect matches, they match much better than a lot of my other socks and accessories would. I'm glad that I'll actually be able to make use of the Perfume Bottle socks from Meta since I received them in an LP and I kind have this thing where I don't like to sell socks new or used. The bunny bag is the only thing I'm not completely happy with though. I figure that a pink bunny bag will match a lot better than an AP Piano bag in pink or black, as those are really my only other options.

So what do you think? I'll be posting pictures when I blog about the festival of course. Please feel free to tell me what you think!

A Trip to the Sterling Renaissance Festival

Today I went to the Renaissance Festival in Sterling, New York. We had a great time. We got up early and got ready and by we I mostly mean I since I had my hair to do. I got my friend Charity to wear lolita clothes with me which meant for once I wasn't the only lolita walking around. We got to the festival a little early but made our way straight to the "stage" for the jousting match.

The jousting match was a little bit different from last years, but all in all it was pretty much the same show. I think I enjoyed it better this year since I wasn't sitting in the hot sun though unlike last year. We wandered around and found some really nice things. I really wanted to get one of these amazing eye patches made from real animal bones. I am a bit short on money at the moment but I will definitely be hitting their Etsy (Dry Bones Studios) up soon. I need to come up with a neat coordinate for it first though. ^ ^ After a bit of wandering we went and watched the tomato man for a bit. He was funny but I preferred the guy from last year since his insults and jokes were way better.

After getting some pickles and salt potatoes and wandering a bit, we went and saw the sword swallowing magician. It was an amazing show! We talked to the guy for a bit after too and he seemed like a pretty cool guy, as if swallowing swords and knives didn't already make you a cool guy.

As I said in a previous blog, I've been pretty excited to actually get to wear my AatP Gathers Frill jsk. It was a bit hot but I was really happy with how everything went together. I got a lot of compliments and quite a few people asked to take my picture! I also heard a lot of comments on my rocking horse boots. People can seem to understand how we manage to walk in them XD.

Coordinate Details:

JSK and Tote bag: Alice and the Pirates

Blouse: Rakuen

Socks and Ring: Metamorphose

Parasol: Baby the Stars Shine Bright

Necklace: Vivienne Westwood Replica

Shoes: Montreal

All in all, I had a great time this year! I can't wait to go again next year and I'm hoping I'll be able to make it to the show in Tuxedo as well later this summer.
Photos by Eric Maruscak

Renaissance Festival Coordinate

I've been quite excited for my trip to this year's Renaissance Festival in Sterling, NY. I've already got my whole coordinate planned out. I figured I would share it with you all.

For starters, I've picked out my Alice and the Pirates Gathers Frill JSK in ivory as the main part of this coordinate. I didn't want to wear it without a blouse but I wasn't really feeling wearing all white either so I'm pairing it with one of my favorite blouses from Rakuen. Lastly, I'm hoping that the black socks with the gold fleur-de-lis will go nicely with the gold buttons on the blouse and the gold chain and beading on the JSK.

I'm adding these "essential" pieces to this outfit. I thought about wearing my Dr. Martens with this outfit but I think that the rocking horse boots will fit in nicely with everything else so far. I'm going in July and therefore it's going to be quite hot out. I'm taking my BTSSB Vellsarie Parasol out on it's maiden voyage for this coordinate. I am kind of at a loss on what to do for a bag. I have chosen the Virgin Mary tote bag since I doubt I'll randomly come across the treasure chest purse for less than what it originally retailed when it was released.

Words cannot describe how badly I want this purse for this outfit. Considering that my studying abroad has left me in a bit of debt, I can't go throwing away 18,000 yen for a purse sadly.

Last but not least, this outfit needs some accessories and bloomers of course. I'm considering tea dying the bloomers since they are stark white in comparison to the rest of the coordinate and they probably are going to peak out just a little bit. If you scroll down to my previous blog, you'll see my review for that amazing tricorn hat that I am going to be wearing with this coordinate. As far as jewelry goes I'm going to be wearing my fake Vivienne Westwood choker and my pearl and metal flower bracelet. I'm hoping to maybe be able to get a hold of a few antique looking rings to cover my fingers with. I'm praying that we have some beautiful July weather like we did last year. I'd love to hear any comments or ideas anyone has to offer up for this coordinate.

Etsy Seller: Tea Time Inc. Review

Recently I've been trying to get together a nice pirate inspired coord for the Sterling Renaissance Festival and I decided that a tricorn hat would really pull the outfit together. After a little bit of tutorial searching and some relatively unsuccessful attempts at making my own from felt, I decided it would probably be better to let someone a little bit more crafty than myself make one. I found an amazing hat by Tea Time Inc. on Etsy.

The hats can be made in brown or black and there are two different styles available. I chose the black hat as pictured in the stock image. I placed my order and payed on June 7th. I received an email on June 9th letting me know that my hat had been shipped. I was shocked to come home and find the package on my doorstep on June 10th.

The hat was well packaged in a box and with plenty of tissue paper to keep it from banging around in there.

The hat itself is very well put together. The stitches are all even and well placed. The hat is made from real leather as stated in the item description. It is definitely sturdy. There is no hot glue here. Everything is strongly stitched together.

The hat has an elastic band that is meant to go under the neck. The band is not adjustable but is at a comfortable yet supportive length.

Overall:

Communication:5/5 Since our transaction was finished in like three days there wasn't much of a need for communication. I was informed when my item was shipped.

Shipping: 5/5 My hat was shipped quickly and arrived extremely fast (Washington-New York in 2 days)

Quality: 5/5 The craftsmanship was perfect. No complaints here.

So that's my review. I've got my eye on some of her other items for the future. I highly recommend her work!