World Record Pirate Festival

From Left- Ben: Captain, Heather: Gunner, Me: Navigator, Kelly: Mechanic, Jon: Hired gun

Hello All,
So Saturday was the NorCal Pirate Festival. I have to say, it was the best one yet! We had such a great time. It seemed like our costumes went over very well. Every 5 minutes or so we were asked to stop and pose for pictures or get questioned about the construction of our costumes. Though I may come off sounding narcissistic, I have to say I like the attention and the props for all our hard work that we put in to these things. Everyone looked amazing!

Here is a solo shot of Benjain our captain and his sniper rifle "Sasha". That gun was the star of the festival. More people came up to him to ask about how it was make.

It is constructed out of a nerf long shot, a additional sight, and may pieces of copper wire, tubing, craft store bottles, and scrap-booking embellishments. I will try and find a close up and details shot of the gun when I get a chance.


















Here is Howard our prisoner/ captive. His costume consists of a vest made by me, see earlier post for details. A pair of Japanese construction pants, and various belts and chains thanks to his marvelous girly. She must have known that he would be a pirate some day. Also on his feet are Japanese wooden sandals (please comment if you know the official name for them.) I must give the boy credit, he walked all day in those things. It must have killed him.

















Miss Kelly, she was one of the hottest airship mechanics I have ever seen. Unlike most the other costumes, she wasn't able to make hers. She actually had most of this stuff just laying around her apartment. Guess she is really just a steam pirate at heart. You really can't tell that this was just pieced together!

Her skirts are layer prairie skirts of different lengths. I have to say I am in love with the tan one, it buttons all the way up from the floor. A purple ankle length skirt we cut up the middle ( very nervously I might add.)

She also had, spiderweb fishnets, a tool pouch, channel locks and a heavy dose of face paint to look like engine grease.

Her hair is also all in braid, this was done by myself, heather and my mom. Only took about an hour too.





Ahh, Heather, our gunner. She will seduce you with her curves and then bam! she's gotch ya! She made her corsett and skirt her self. The skir is actually made from an old coat! nothing like being inventive with your materials. She too modified a nerf gun! I has been made in to a crystal powered vaporizer. She also has various other weapons around her waist. Her hair is a mess of tiny curls, a mini top hat and corn rows down each side!
She was the one of us girls that got the most attention. I mean, how can you not love a hot chick that's packin'!

















Jon, our hired gun. His costume was made by Kelly. She did an amazing job on it too. He had a floor length matrix style coat out of black chunky weave fabric. A gray patterned shirt underneath. His beloved V for Vendetta had, and his true love his gun. The most amazing thing about this gun and unfortunately you can see it, is that it glows. The very tip has a pulsating, wave glow stick in it. It looks like it has a reactor of some sort in it.


















Vince was our trusty deck hand. His costume was more traditional steam punk, reflecting a lot of the Victorian era, yet it was a wonderful addition to the crew.

Like Kelly, he pieced together his costume. The vest and goggles I believe were from the army surplus store (Vince correct me if I am wrong). His boots were sky captain boots he ordered online. His shirt was made by a family member, and wonderful seamstress. I like how it all came together.

















Last but not least is my costume. I was the navigator. My costume was almost completely hand made. I think they only things I didn't make were my boots and under shirt. My crop captains jacket, bloomers, over-skirt, hair piece, guns ect. were made by me. Most was from last years but the hair piece and goggles were this year.
I had a blast wearing this costume. I felt so powerful in it. Every where we went we were getting whispers and heard people explaining that we were steam-punk and what that meant.















Not only was this a record breaking year for us, having gotten the most attention for costumes then we have ever. It was also a record breaking day for pirates. We were able to participate in the break of the Guinness book record for most people dressed as pirates in one place. The record before us was 1700, we tenativly beat it with 2700 people dressed as pirates in one place. I guess I can cross that off my bucket list!

Well that is all for now. I will try and have more detail shots of the guns and accessories at a later time. Until then check out Kelly's and Heather's Deviant Art pages to see some of their other works:
Kelly: http://jshei.deviantart.com/
Heather: http://technicolordreamsz.deviantart.com/

Happy Sewing!
Nikki

**EDIT**
Vince emailed me and gave me a few correction about his costume. His vest was handmade by his family member, not the shirt. And the buttons were official steam punk buttons. The hat and the goggles were purchased at the army surplus store.