Hello lovelies,

on Saturday 23rd of September, I attended a Viennese queer art market called "Slay Market #5".

The market was organized by @ Ivo_Lederer on Instagram and it took place at "Blauer Salon" near Pilgramgasse in Vienna. I had a cute round table next to the window and it was perfect for displaying my items. It doesn't look like a lot in the pictures, but remember that every piece is handmade in about 10min (bracelets) to 4 hours (the sailor moon brooches). A lot of my life time is on that table. lol

 

The booth was located near the kitchen on a round table, next to Lisa's munchies (very bad decision, we ate about 3-4 cookies each) and Erik Pekny @zebrakrebs on Instagram. 

Here are two of the delicious cookies we had: Poppyseed and apricot. Yum, yum!

All cookies are made by Lisa herself and they are vegan and cost 3,20€ per piece.

I forgot to take more pictures and most of the time, there where people at my booth and I couldn't leave anyway. 

One aspect I loved about the art market was the sense of community and overall queerness. We immediately chatted with the people around us and it was so easy, to get to know each other. 

In the end, I had a really nice event and I want to thank all of my friends and customer who came and  bought something. Your support means a lot! 

All the best,

Auris Lothol

 

 

Hello lovelies, 

it's been while since I posted about the medieval festival in Eggenburg. The town is nestled in Lower Austria and going to the festival always feels like a small time travel. And after a corona break, we went to the festival again last year. It was cool and there were a few drizzles throughout the day, but not this year. This year we had 30°c and I was sweating so much in my woolen dress. 

But that's the perfect moment to recap two years of Eggenburg: 

2022

Last year my so and I went for a more casual viking look. The medieval festival was between two of my Interrail travels and I didn't have time for a new dress. I took the one I made back in 2019 (look here) and pimped it up a bit by adding an embroidered wave near the hem. 

We drove by car to the festival and there were so many people. I dislike huge crowds even before covid but after covid I feel even more uneasy and weary about them. We watched the medieval dance and the presentation of medieval dress from the reenactment group "Eulenspiel". I've been to a sewing meetup but I can't say anything good about it, so I won't.

This was the presentation of  the medieval garb. It was held in the main square of Eggenburg, just before it started to rain heavily for about 10 mins.

And here are pictures of the dance.

As mentioned before, it was drizzling a few times but it was nothing drastic. 

Look at those heavy clouds!

I didn't get a langos (boo) but instead got Blunzgröstl*, candied nuts, caramel, and turkish honey. I only ate a few of the sweet treats because I was already exploding from all the food. (*Blunzgröstl is a dish with blood pudding and potatos)

As for the things I bought, this time I only got a circlet from Orniello, the one I'm wearing in the pictures. She is a wonderful goldsmith and specialized in recreating jewelry from the past. Plus, she is from Austria, which is great for cheaper shipping. At least for me, hehe.

And here is the full look of my outfit - it's not ha but I think I looked great. 

You can still see a few pink strands of my hair as I didn't really manage to cover them all the way. Lucky for me, my black hairline was already super visible and it at least looks like I have black hair all the way.

2023

This year I wanted to sew something else and decided to go for another Burgundian V-gown. I made one back in 2015 (see here) including a black kirtle. The new gown is made out of blue wool and embroidered with gold folien and real pearls. It was super hot and the day before, I made a quick fan which I also used as a mini parasol.

It's not the prettiest but it gave me a bit of air and that was enough.

This year we brought a friend along and he was sometimes playing music which was great for a mental rest as the heat and the masses got to me. 

There were a lot of nice shops again and artists showing off their medieval skills. 

My partner loved the hat.

I have a really soft spot for spinning, I wanted to learn it since I was a small but never got to it. :( But there are classes in Vienna, maybe I can finally take one this year or the next year.
 

Orniello was at the festival again too and we had a nice chat. I asked her if I could commission a 18th century brooch and she was all up for it. Hooray. Now I only need the money for it. 

M. bought a ring and it was a bit too big, so she will make it smaller and send it to him via the postal service. I didn't have any money but really wanted to buy something as she had those wonderful 18th century glittering necklaces on display again. 

I also met P. again, my new bobbin lace teacher and she had a wonderful idea on how I can make more progress in the art of lace making as my current progress is too slow for me. Plus, she was so excited to meet my so and even remembered that he was doing tatting! That was so kind of her. 

We left around 5-6pm with a sense of accomplishment but also felt tired and we were completely drenched in sweat. And that wraps up this year's medieval festival in Eggenburg. 

Here are more pictures of my blue dress -  I will go into more depth on what my inspiration was when I finally finish the video. In maybe a year. 

Have a great weekend and see you again next year at the medieval festival,

Auris Lothol

 

Hello lovelies, 

it has been a bit quiet around my small business but that's only because I was not picked or drawn to sell at three of the conventions I applied to. At least I got a place at Slay Market on the 23rd of September and at Animarket again on the 28th of October. 

So, what's new? I ventured into the cross stitch design as it's a lot easier to make and also looks great. Remember when I had a cross-stitching class back in 2020? It really helped me learn the techniques and now even thebackside looks great.

Once again my first idea was to make hearts in the pride colours.

 

And here is an Asexual & Binary flag. They are so easy to make and I love to sit on the sofa and watch some true crime or mountaineering disaster and just stitch away.

 

I tried incorporating the word Bi in the Bi flag and it's not really visible. Maybe white would work better. The other heart has the trans flag colours and is actually my favourite to make as I can use pastels.

As halloween is closing in again, I also made a cute little pumpkin and a ghost. The ghost has some silver thread stitched into it to create folds but it doesn't really look that great - more like dirty white instead of ethereal silver.

The rose at the bottom was a small test but it didn't really come out great.

And lastly, I have this cute little mushroom. I made it into a necklace and it looks simply adorable. 

And then, as I am also selling at Austrian Comiccon, I'm designing characters and logos from game, comic, and anime designs. My first successful project was this Super Mario mushroom. I cut out the form and holes with the laser cutter and then stitched the pattern onto it. 

 

It worked out pretty well and I love how it turned out.

I'm selling the heart brooches for 25€ and the Anime/Gaming/Comic related ones for 30€ as they require much more effort and counting and thus I'm a bit slower.

Which item would you buy?

All the best,

Auris Lothol

 

Hello lovelies,

the story is actually takes part right after Area53. After the festival on Saturday, we slept early. We got up early on Sunday, ate breakfast in the hotel, checked out and then drove 14 hours to reach Brunsbüttel in Northern Germany. On our way we made several stops and only ate mcdonalds food. The avocado burger they had in Germany was really good but afterwards, I didn't want to eat anymore fast food.

Brunsbüttel is a sleepy little town, quite famous for its watergate. Alas, it was not a happy visit - we came to organize a funeral and fight with German burocracy. As the notary, banks, funeral homes etc only have a very short "Parteienverkehr" - German word for, they only see their clients for a few hours a day, we had the afternoon to ourselves. 

On Monday we went to Haithabu/Hedeby, a reconstructed viking settlement from the 9th century. For 9€ you could go to the museum and to the settlement, which was a 10 mins walk from the museum. The former had nice exhibits and lots of information, including a reconstructed viking boat. I was fascinated by all the beads they had found. They had a lot of differnt colours, shapes and sizes and materials - the lady standing in front of me couldn't believe that Vikings could already fashion beads out of glass.

Between the museum and the settlement were sheep and cows, "Urschafe" and "Urrinder" in German. They are both small in size, much smaller than sheep and cattle today, and said to be about the size of sheep and cows from the Viking age. 

At the settlement, they had reconstructed a 7 houses; house of the combmaker, cloth dealer, merchant,  artisan, shoe maker, meeting house and an inn. They also reconstructed a small wooden pier. During our stay, there were some artists selling their handmade viking goods like bags, wool and scarf. I almost bought myself a ring but remembered that I had no money and put it back :(. In the museum shop I found a small fork like tool - the lucet - which was used for knitting narrow cords. I haven't tried it yet but the youtube tutorial I watched for it, made it look pretty easy.

We ate lunch/dinner at Odin's Haithabu restaurant and got a viking sourdough pizza. It was delicious! I had a pulled beef bbq and cheese pizza. The cheese was a specialty from the region called Deichkäse and it had a strong aroma.

My partner had an appointment with the notary on Tuesday and I had to work in the morning. For lunch we went to an Asian restaurant and then and walked at Koogstreet, where all of the food and shops are located. We visited the cemetary and layed down some flowers.

On Wednesday my partner went to the bank. The bank teller wanted a certificate of interhitance (Erbschein) from him, which we had never heard of before. The notary, the day before told him, that his power of attorney would survice for the bank, but apparently not. It was a huge dispute an in the end, my partner had to leave and the account he wanted access to, was blocked. I hate German burocracy so much - heartless bastards. After my home office, we took a nap and then met an old family friend. I had never met him before but he and his wife were very kind and even they were shocked about how the bank treated him. At least it's not the norm. 

We went to the Jakobus kirche, an old church in the oldest part of town and it was pretty! It looked like a normal stone church from the outside but like a capsized ship from the inside! It also had a few beautiful angels painted on it, a remarkable church. I had never seen something liked that before. The church also had other pretty details like the organ, baptismal font and a large altar.

 

For dinner, we drove to three different restaurants, but they were all full or only had outside seatings which are a no-go for me, as I get cold so easily. I snapped some pictures on the way there as the clouds looked magnificent.

 

We decided to try out the pizza factory on the Koogstreet of Brunsbüttel, even though I was a bit sceptic because it looked so crusty. But to my surprise, the pizza was really good. My so had this vegan pinsa without cheese. It looks a bit dry but it was super tasty.

Back in the hotelroom we had a wonderful sunset from our room and the pictures don't really do it justice.

 

The next day we went to the restaurant again for lunch as their lunch menu was really affordable with 8,5€. I went back to work and my partner napped a bit and then we headed to the beach at st peter ording, which was a 90 min drive from the hotel. I fell asleep halfway through but only napped for about 10-15 mins. At the beach the parking and entry was actually quite price-y. We made our way to the beach and before we could see it, it started pouring. We didn't bring our rain coats and were soon wet to the bones. I was able to open my umbrella and catch up some of the wind and rain. 

 Luckily, the really harsh rain only fell for 5-10 mins until it drizzled out again and stopped. But the wind was so strong, I had to wear ear plugs because they started to hurt. The weather didn't stop us from going to the sea though and we went through the wet and slick tideland. Our shoes got muddy and there was water in them but we went on. 

 My partner, at one point, decided to go barefoot and it was probably the better alternative. There were a lot of people going around without shoes. And after about 20mins, we stood infront of the sea. Windsurfers were all surfing around the coast and it was a magnificent view of the ocean and the clouds and the sky.

 

The way back was shorter, in my opinion, but we almost slipped a few times on the dark and slimy sludge. But we came back in one piece and drove back to the hotel. 

On Friday we drove to Hamburg in the morning. I was working via my phone and constantly had an eye on new messages. It took us about 60-70mins to go to the city and we parked at the Europa garage. We had to be back in Brunsbüttel at half past 4 for a bank appointment and didn't want to waste a lot of time. As we came out of the parking garage, we saw an idee - a crafts shop and had to browse their wares at bit. Then we took the U1 to and went to the J-Store/Harajuku closet Hamburg. They had a really fine lolita fashion collection and I bought myself the new cherry dress from Angelic pretty "Charming cherry JSK" for 340€. 

The salesman was really kind and chatty and told us a bit about the history of the shop. 

Afterwards we went to Speicherstadt and roamed around there a bit, went to have some sushi for lunch and then decided to go to Uniqlo, get an ice-cream and that was it for the day. Too bad we couldn't stay longer but we decided to just come back and maybe watch a musical or something. 

 

 

 

In the evening we met my partner's friends again and went to dinner with them. Too bad I forgot to take a picture but I did enjoy the evening even though a small headache started at the back of my head which slowly travelled to the forehead. And 

The following day we drove back to Vienna with a sleepover in Prague. And that ends the journey of German bureaucracy and pain. 

All the best,

Auris Lothol