International Cosplay Day Part One - Vulcan Priestess

Yesterday, as many of you know, was International Cosplay Day. To celebrate, I made my way over to the park where I was to meet other cosplayers from the city. My boyfriend and I (after getting distracted by comic book stores) finally arrived at the designated spot, but there were no other cosplayers to be seen - yet.

We started walking, and noticed a small crowd coming towards us. One of the girls contorted her face in awe as she came face to face with a Vulcan Priestess.

To create my costume, I used fabric that I got at the thrift stores around my house - curtains, table cloths, etc. I used my fez (I miss my fez) to create the shape for the headdress. A lot of measuring, cutting and sewing later - I had my first ever costume.

Down the back (deviating from the norm - this script would normally appear on the chest)read "Rata Tafar Tapan". This outfit/costume was inspired by T'Lar.

It was really great meeting other trekkies and whovians my age in the city - I was beginning to think that they didn't exist. We spent our time talking about comics, trek/who episodes, sci-fi novels, and other cool stuff that I could hardly ever talk to anybody about before. Well, I do talk about it, they just end up telling me they don't care.

I found people who care.

A few people came up to me and asked what the occasion was, and while on our way to get some food some boys yelled "neeeeerrrrdddsss!" from their car. I spent the entire day in costume (on a hot summer day) doing everything from banking, to shopping, to eating.

We did so many things that day, that I am going to have to cover it in a few posts.

The girl I am pictured melding with above is absolutely amazing. I met her for the first time yesterday and we got along immediately - we are alike in almost every way. She also has a really cute blog, and wrote a post on our adventures on the Beach-Blog.

More on our adventures to come! Sochya eh dif.

S'chn T'Gai Spock and James Tiberius Kirk

I got a few free cards at a convention about half a year ago from Star Trek Master Series (Skybox). Because of this, I had some doubles when somebody else gave me the complete set.

I also had a few random encyclopedias from the fifties and sixties (Young People's Encyclopedia) that were laying around my room taking up space. So I did the only creatively logical thing - I made the encyclopedias into sketch/scrap books and duct taped the extra cards onto a painted surface. I added names, and some phrases that I felt fit the character, what they believed, and how they were seen by others.

Two of my favorites were Spock's and Kirk's pages, because of their contrast. Spock's logic and Kirk's intuition - these opposite approaches compliment each other perfectly in every way.

The quote on Spock's page is Surak's - "Can you return life to what you kill? Then be slow to take life." This is one of my favorite quotes, and I have used it before here. The script down the right side is found on most diplomatic Vulcan robes, as well as Spock's meditation robes. It has been suggested that Rata Tafar Tapan (Concept Discipline Process) appearing together as a trinity may have the poetic meaning ‘Branches entwined form the tree’. The symbol on the left is "ozhika" or "logic".

Spock's family name was given as "S'chn T'gai" in one of my favorite Star trek novels, "Ishmael".

 

For Kirk's page I wanted to use a quote that represented him in a significant way, but one that came from the show. I decided to use the quote "intuition, however illogical, is recognized as a command prerogative" from the episode "Obsession". I got kind of bored half way through doing this page, so it is very plain and uninspired compared to Spock's.

The art for these cards was done by the wonderful Keith Birdsong.

Ambassador Sarek Felt... Logical.

I finally went and got myself some felt sheets yesterday, and got to work on something I have been meaning to do for months now - making felt/plush Star Trek characters.

I am working on a couple right now, and already finished my first: Ambassador Sarek!

 

I couldn't find the exact color that I wanted for the skin - I didn't want to used peach (too human) and the only other options were too green, or white. As you can obviously see, I chose to go with white.

I also had a slight problem with the script (rata, tafar, tapan) down his robe, because it is practically impossible to cut tiny symbols out of felt with any amount accuracy.

As this was my first attempt at making anything felt-related, I am quite proud of the way it turned out. And just look at those button eyes! Adorable. If Mark Lenard was still alive, I would find a way to send this to him as a thanks for being so awesome.

Next up: an Andorian from engineering.

Ozhika, Rata, Tafar, Tapan and Malat - Vulcan Script

I don't usually wear any nail polish, but today I felt like doing something a little bit different - something that reflected what I have been into lately. I didn't paint them anything bold like black or red, but I did coat them with shine and draw on some Vulcan characters:

I have been learning my Vulcan script for a while now - at least as much as I possibly can with limited development and resources.

The finger-nails, from left to right, read "Rata" "Tafar" "Tapan" and "Malat" - meaning concept, discipline, process and nature. Rata, tafar, and tapan usually appear on Vulcan robes in a vertical column on the chest.

On my thumb nail is the symbol for "Ozhika", meaning "logic".

It was difficult to get the characters looking right because the brush I was using was frayed and bizarre. I did, however, write out a copy of the symbols I used along with their translation in English. And now you know what my writing looks like (not that anyone really cares). Click image to enlarge.

I initially wrote "malatong ozhikaong" because when saying "something and something" in Vulcan, one adds the ending "ong" to the end of each subject. There are also two different ways to write rata, tafar, and tapan. The version on the left is written in 23rd century Vulcan script, and the version on the right is that which we see on Vulcan robes.

I often pair ozhika and malat - nature and logic are very important to me, and always have been. I feel that they belong together.