TANYA IS A TERRIBLE PERSON AND NEVER UPDATES HER BLOG

tue, nov 11 08 at 08:06

Will have internets hopefully by the end of the week.

And in case you don’t know, am now an awesome make up artist. So like, tell your friends. I’ll stick up a selection of my photos on here soon. By soon, I of course mean in about 3 months time.

x

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NEWSFLASH

mon, sep 15 08 at 13:30

Proper update soon.

Just received gem from my mother:

“Don’t think of these 2 years as a “working holiday”. Take it seriously. You’ll blink and be 30 and no one wants to hire an inexperienced 30 year old. I think.”

I think my fear of failure complex has reached new heights.

Fuck.

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GREASEPAINT

wed, jul 30 08 at 19:09

If I haven’t told you already, I’m enrolled in an exciting sounding course in London, called greasepaint.

It was a bit of a whim, but I’m very excited about it, even though I kind of avoided looking up what I’d be doing, exactly. So, for your benefit and mine, here’s a list of the awesome stuff I’ll be ace at when I get back.

* Straight corrective make-up - male and female

* Ageing - face, neck and hands including use of ageing latex and green marble

* Period make-ups and hair - including 1920s, Victorian and Edwardian, 1940s, 1960s

* Special effects - including bruising, open wounds, bullet wounds, cauliflower ears, track marks, scratches, burns, stitched wounds, nose in wax and eyebrow alteration using wax and soap, scar moulding material, gelatine and latex

* Oriental - make-up and wig

* Special projects - including clowns and animals, period work, editorial and bridal, which are photographed for students’ records

* Hairdressing - heated rollers and hot tongs, roller wet setting and period styles

* Attaching hair pieces - including clusters, switches, wefts and backpieces

* Hair lace wigs - preparation, care and application

* Knotting & tonging - moustache, side-burns or beard; care and application of facial hair and laying on hair

* Bald caps - application of vinyl bald caps

* Tattoo - techniques

* Airbrushing - demonstration of airbrushed make-up and stencilling

Module B. Prosthetics: 4 weeks

1. Introduction to basic techniques and materials used
2. Demonstration of face casting
3. Face cast for each student done by tutors
4. Demonstration casting ears, nose, eyes and hand
5. Stuents cast ears, nose and eyes and make positive moulds in plaster
6. Students sculpt and cast all modelled work to create:

a. two-part nose mould for hot foam latex
b. two-part eye mould for gelatine eye swelling
c. negative casts for making plastic pieces
d. fantasy/animal latex mask
e. silicone mould for gelatine scars and wounds
f. silicone pieces eg eye bags/wound

Module C. Hair: 3 weeks

Week 1: Period wig+facial hair dressing+applying

1. Wig blocking hair lace and hard front wigs
2. Period wig dressing including 1600s, 1700s tie-backs, early Victorian, 1900s Edwardian & 1920s
3. Marcel waving and ringlets with hot irons

Weeks 2 and 3: Theory and practice of basic modern ladies’ styling and men’s barbering

1. Theory and practice of all basic barbering, including scissors over comb and clipper work
2. Beard trimming
3. Discussion on hair types and products, techniques and face shapes
4. Blow drying, diffusing, hot roller set and hot rods, tonging, straightening, crimpling and velcro roller set
5. Finger-waving, Rik-Rak waving and pincurl set
6. Demonstration and practical of men’s styling
7. Preparation of hair for application of wig and hairpiece including single stem and diamond mesh clusters and switches
8. Bridal hair styles
9. 1950s French pleat
10. 1960s Beehive, including back combing techniques
11. Demonstration of braiding, hair extension and weaving techniques

Throw in a bit of fashion and theatre stuff, and that’s about it.

Have been (attempting) to pack the last few days. The problem with having so much stuff is that it doesn’t feel like you’ve made any progress, even after packing 6 boxes all from the bedroom. Gah!

Still no internet access at home, so updates will be limited (hoho).

later fools

tanya

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KEEPING AN EYE ON THE ARKHAM ASYLUM

wed, jul 23 08 at 19:19

List of things I have done instead of Packing/Preparing for the UK:

*Drink
*Drink two nights in a row
*See several NZFF films (Persepolis, Be Kind Rewind, A Complete History of My Sexual Failures, King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Animation Now!, Crazy Love, Dr Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson)
*Update blog semi-regularly for the first time in months
*Drink
*Stalk you on facebook
*Scan in photos I’ve been meaning to for ages, and even put them up on flickr
*Cry
*Plan a trip to the snow and then not go
*Think myself crazy- you know what I mean, with the cyclical business that never gets anywhere
*Get TWO dental crowns made in two days
*Watch that batman video
*Buy things I’ll only have to pack and then not use/see/wear for two years
*Hang out an internet cafes because the internet is STILL DOWN.

fuck those peas
tanya

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HICCUPS IN THE RAIN

mon, jul 14 08 at 16:03

Okay, so my last day at the costume shop was a bit of an anticlimax.

The original plan was to have a drunken shut in with a bunch of beers and dress up in ridiculous costumes whilst wasted. Unfortunately, one by one everyone bailed, and I was left with an armfull of beers and no one to dress up with.

Acquiring the beers was pretty hilarious though.

Saturday afternoon, Sophie and I saunter over to the liquor store next door. Sophie, in a 1930s butcher’s vest/apron combo, myself in a fabulous military-type hat thing. We walk in, and the clerk asks us,
“Do you work at the costume shop next door?”
“….Yes.”

Paying for the beers:
“You two finished for the day?”
“…No.”

I just realised I haven’t mentioned that I’ve been working at a costume hire place at all, let alone since March. I guess the only people who read this already knew that. It’s had it’s ups and downs, and for legal stalking purposes, I won’t mention which one. Instead, I’ll list a few choice moments. Some of which Sophie (my other half at the store) and I are planning to include in a screenplay about working there. Imagine a Empire Records and Clerks on ACID.

Choice moment one:

This guy comes in and asks for the fireman costume. No problems there. He tries it on and then comes up to the counter..
“Excuse me, but, do you have any trousers that can be removed…. quickly?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You know, like.. velcro? Velcro trousers?”
“I’m afraid we don’t have any of those..”

He proceeds to hire the fireman costume, sans trousers. Upon return (because we do the laundry as well), the outfit is covered in what smells and feels like oil. Gross.

Choice moment two:
(phone booking)

“Hi there, do you have any costumes that don’t have a shape?”
“..That don’t have a…shape?”
“Yes.”
“I’m afraid all our costumes have shapes.. that’s how we tell them apart.”
“Oh. (pause) What about jelly? Do you have anything like jelly?”
(pause)
“We’ve got… a dragon.. What about a dinosaur? Or Michael Jackson?”

Choice moment three:

Quiet unassuming asian fellow purchases a plastic muscley chest and red lipstick.

Choice moment four:
(this is more of an injoke and general shenanigans we get up to)

Michael showed me this video quite a while ago. I subsequently showed everyone at work, and we’ve been slowly learning the lyrics ever since.

If you can’t watch it, or aren’t convinced, this guy has brilliantly written amazing lyrics to the batman theme. The video is an entirely different story.

Okay, so one afternoon, it’s particularly quiet. I go to the international section to pick up something mexican for a customer. Now, above the international section, there’s this loft type area, which overlooks the entire back area, a kind of graveyard for old costumey crap.

All of a sudden, I hear “You shot my paaaaarents… I am the batman!”
I look up, and Sophie is wearing the batman costume, arms folded and standing over me.
I nearly fall over and wet my pants, its so hilarious.
What makes it even more hilarious is that she’d been waiting 20 minutes for me to walk over to this particular area.

There’ll be more choice moments once I remember them.

cheese and crackers,
tanya

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