So, now that we're 54 days out...

who's entering this year?


And who is doing someone other than Dawn?

Hi all! Please let me know if this is out-of-line, I didn't see anything forbidding Sales Posts, and I'd seen others in the past, don't know if the rule has changed.....

In any case, I have some fabrics I'm trying to unload for cheap, and under the cut I thought I'd post the ones that any of you getting your Dawn costumes together might be able to use. There's nothing under the cut that I didn't realistically think someone could use in a Dawn costume - there's some rose velvet, some pleathers and suedes and stretchy things, brocades and decorator fabrics. Anyway - mostly I just hope it can help someone else put together their Dawn costume! 

- I'll ship anywhere, just give me your Zip and i'll calculate it! (Shipping should be pretty cheap, most of this stuff is light and crammable)
- Feel free to ask if you have any other questions about the fabric!
- Thank you! 


( Dress-your-Dawn! )
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(x-posted a few places....sorry if you've seen it!)

G'day, goddesses! 

So I was thinking, since the point of this community is to be supportive, how awesome would it be to share progress? I unfortunately don't have any yet (OH NOES...:( ) but I would love to know if anyone else is interested in posting costume progress? I also know like a weekly progress post would get me off my butt to work on it, if I had you guys holding me accountable! I know a lot of us like to keep our ideas a surprise, which is fine with me - half-shots, teasers, MS Painted faces and details to hide certain things are OK with me - I know the Big Reveal is really special to a lot of costumers! That being said - how's it coming?

Also - anyone know what music you're using yet? In the name of fun, encouragement, and maybe still having time to pick something new if I find out ten other people like the song I was thinking of using! :D I'm doing "Spectre in the Fog," from the Last Samurai - gorgeous song, mixed in with a few other effects and things, my fiance is pretty good with audio/video tech stuff.

What about you ladies? :D

So, for giggles, here's something totally unrelated to this year's contest:

If Dawn the Mother Goddess cloth diapered her girl-children, she would totally put them in this print.

(Yeah, yeah, I know Dawn told us that she can't have kids in one of the comics. But there is still the whole maiden/mother/crone trichotomy she's got going on.)

Well there is less than a 100 days to go til Dragon*con, and my sewing machine is working very hard. I just wanted to find out how the rest of you ladies are doing on your costumes and how do you stop yourself from stressing too much? Hopefully my sewing will get itself together and get it finished on time.

Hello lovely ones!

I am entering the contest for this year and I'm horribly excited and slightly nervous. I wish to know how everyone else has done the skull print on Dawn's clothing. Fabric paint? Embroider? Or have you all been lucky enough to find the right kind of fabric?

Hey-

Has anyone had any workings with Wonderflex/Friendly Plastic? I can't quite get the FP to get smooth/thin. I've followed Amethyst Angel's tutorial but am not having much luck. Every time I put the armor in hot water it not only melts the FP but the WF as well.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Hurm!

Kate/Ayla

Hey Goddeses!!! It's tax return season, spring is in the air, and it's time again to plan for the upcoming cons. I miss you guys. It's been awhile. Over the last few months I have talked to a few people who are interested in entering Dawn this year and some of them are begginers in sewing and propmaking. So I told them I know a few sites and places where you can get your supplies for your Dawn and learn tips and techniques for the creation for you Dawn.

Here are a few Construction tutorials:

Wing Tutorials:

http://jiajem.com/wings.html


http://www.paper-wings.org/tutorials/wings/wings.html


http://www.whatishcc.com/tutorials/wingharness.php
http://www.whatishcc.com/tutorials/angelwings.php



Tights, wigs, wings, cosplay suppiles, and shoes:

http://www.welovecolors.com/Default.aspx

http://www.riversedgedancewear.com/

http://www.cosworx.com/home.php ( Number one for cosplayers, they even have shoes and tights)

http://www.cosplaysupplies.com/

http://www.wowwigs.com/

http://www.mydivascloset.com/

I hope these sites help and I'll try and find more in the future if anyone need any. See ya soon. ^-^

http://ibelieveinfairies.com/ ( great wing site and thye even do crowns)

http://www.ebay.com/ ( we all know this one!!!)

http://www.specter-studios.com/ ( I love this one bcause of the "Bat Bra" they have)

http://www.gypsyrose.com/ ( great site for horns!!!)


Armor Tutorials:

http://amethyst-angel.com/armormaking.html ( The armor goddess!!!)
http://proplady.livejournal.com/

http://jiajem.com/armor.html (Realy great tutorial using paperclay)

http://aleathiaburns.livejournal.com/36466.html ( my Dawn armor tutorial)

http://aleathiaburns.livejournal.com/32935.html (paper mache )

http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/ ( great patterns for Dawn & Cenunnos armor)

I need helping finding an issue. I'm not sure which one it is.... some of you may recall threemuses as that INCREDIBLE Spanish Rose Dawn a couple of years ago (2005? 2005?). I was talking to her this weekend, and Rob brought up that a photo of her was in one of the Dawn issues. She has NO idea, and now she's super stoked. I promised I'd scan it in when I got home. I've been scouring through my Dawns and I'm not finding it. Am I imaging things? Anyone else know what I'm talking about? Anyone know which issue it was???

How awesome would it be since Leonard Nimoy is on the guest list if he Emceed the Dawn Contest? Not the Voltaire doesn't do and awesome, outstanding job every year and I'm very comfortable with him, but Nimoy would be so perfect. NOT because he played Spock but because of his photography. If you are not familiar with it here is a link: (tasteful nude art, but maybe NSFW)

http://www.leonardnimoyphotography.com/2photo.htm

Nimoy has an great appreciation for the beauty of the female form in all it's shapes and sizes as does Joe. Of course it would probably make it damn near impossible to get a seat to the show if he did. I know whoever it is will do an outstanding job. Team Linsner never lets us down...it was just a passing thought that I had and it's my secret DragonCon wish.

My name is Diana, and I'm seriously doing this this year.
I'm sorry if this is spam, but I'm crazed trying to find the seamstress I was on contact with last year.

If you had your costume made by someone online can you recommend someone, I've been searching in vain for costume houses that seemed to be everywhere last year. Economy?

Thanks for all your help in advance, sorry for the request, I know there must be tons.

Thanks again,
DCM

Greetings all.  This is my first post, so please bear with me.  :)

I am planning on entering the Dawn costume contest at D*Con for the first time this year.  I've been working on an original design, but I am going to wait until next year to do it, both because of the cost factor and because I want to lose some weight.  So I've decided to do an outfit based off an artwork, and find one I like that is also flattering to my figure.  I was going through the 2005 trading cards for ideas, and found a design I REALLY like.  However, I noticed on the back that it was a commissioned piece of art.

Hence my question.  Can you do a costume based off a piece that was commissioned by a private party?  If so, what is the proper way of going about it?  Do I need to contact the buyers to get their permission?  Or would I be okay with doing it since the artwork was in a set of trading cards that are freely available to the public?

I appreciate any help you all can offer.  Thanks in advance!

Last year I started compiling galleries of separate Dawn traits. I figured it could help when putting together an original outfit or in completing the unseen parts of a recreation to have a listing of Dawn parts that have been seen in the past. After all, how many times have I gone shoe shopping and wondered "are these shoes more Dawn, or these?" So I compiled galleries of some common Dawn traits:

Shoes
Weapons
Wings
Hair (concentrates on colors, not styles)

Which brings me to my question: I've found tons of colors of hair for Dawn, including many shades of natural blonde, red, and black, but no brown. Does anyone know of any Dawns with brown hair?


Also, as an aside, any other groups you feel would be helpful? I can keep going, I just don't know where to go from here.

The DAWN contest aspect @ NYCC is 100% off.

There now *may* be an official event. I'm waiting to hear back some availability on the room size we need. Might not happen due to technical complications. That is the way of real estate in NY at a packed to capacity convention center.

But Linsner.com/we'll be there for sure - booth 1715, all weekend; lots of original art to sell; some new goodies & hopefully hot off the presses Dark Ivory #4, making this the first show where we will have the entire run of Dark Ivory. There will be LOTS of Dawn stuff as both Zeke & I will be driving in from the North Jersey area direct from our mini-warehouse. And whatever signing, auction art or other event winds up happening w/ either the CBLDF or the show, we'll keep you posted.

Sorry for the mixup, gang, this is our first time doing NYC - apparently it's just a little big..please bear with us. :)

Either way, NYC is the place to kick off Dawn's 20th & I want to see some Dawn fans dressed up as the Goddess for her birthday! I hope that happens at the very least. Dawnfans - I am buying a new charger for my camera battery as a gesture of my faith in you! If the [pictures are good enough we might publish them. You never know.

So that's the official update. We're just waiting to hear back from the tech ops people at NYCC about whether the event is even possible. If it is, yay, info tomorrow. If it isn't that would be too bad but we're still very grateful & happy to be guests of the show & to finally be coming back to NYC. We hope you all are too!

Feelin' sheepish about putting my foot so far in my mouth, but hey, this is business, you have to roll with these things.

I have newfound respect for the complex production that is the Dawn Look-a-Like Contest in Atlanta, GA. Those guys apparently have a unique setup that makes the contest ideal there that might be too hard to pull off at other cons. I mean, did you know what the difference between a light nuetral lighting wash, & house lighting, is? 'casue I sure didn't! Those guys at Dragon*con figured it out for me.

So people, don't be mad at the show or at the CBLDF. You may feel free to point your finger at me. This turned out to be way more complicated than I accurately represented, I think. All apologies, to quote Nirvana.

I'll let you all know the moment I hear anything. In the meantime..even if it's just for the cameras, adoring fans & Joe - please dress up as Dawn @ NYCC for the hell of it. It's..patriotic, yeah, that's it. I definitely will ask Joe if we can apply a discount for folks dressed as Dawn or Dawn characters @ the Linsner.com table.

Mea culpa





-- Eva

OK, much to do, much to do.

This year, as you may or may not recall, is the TWENTIETH anniversary of JML's Dawn. I have high hopes that despite all of us getting our asses kicked by this @#$%^in'!! economy, that somehow we'll all make it back to Dragon*Con this year to celebrate Joe's big anniversary in style.

Plus, there's the Dawn contest event at the NYCC. More on that tomorrow, I'm getting the finalized details soon!

Ladies: Many of you speak to one another. I have a goal for this year. I likely can't make the goal wholesale - I think some people mighta drifted out of touch..but I was wondering: how hard would it be to get an Email list of ALL previous Dawn contest winners? I don't necessarily mean the many talented ladies who have won other categories such as Best Armor & Most Theatrical, etc, as they can compete in the contest again. I mean the grand prize winners, as pictured HERE.

Lemme think..

Belle Chere - can hit up on MySpace; Ruby, ditto; Dany; Greg can get it if I don't have it; Amanda (have it); Sarah (don't have it); Valerie (don't have it); Kellie (could maybe get if I researched but don't have it); Milicent, no; Traci, MySpace; Cyndee, we talk alla time & Shannon/Judith, no, I don't have her info. Hmmm.

Did anyone stay in touch with these ladies? They still around?

BTW, anyone reading this post, PLEASE respon w/ some kinda answer below, even if it's just w/ a "yo" or "present". I want to make sure I have everybody added to my dawngirls flist!

Yes, I know we're women..*pats hips* I know. But girls is shorter.

BTW. I am sure since you all are clever you can tell my query is connected to this year's contest. Indeed, I am working on a surprise for Joe. So NO TALKING ABOUT THIS anywhere but here. Okay? Okay.

Very excited.


:)

Happy new year! I wonder if I will see any of you in brr-cold NYC?

EDIT: You know, I haven't heard from a single Dawngirl that they're gonna be able to go, AND NYCC might not have the tech requirements for this event..it might not happen! Me & my big mouth, right? I mean NYCC, obviously, NOT D-con. How about that, I thought basic lighting & sound was..well, basic.

More as I hear it. Again, this stays here ladies! OK? :) Everything in comics is political.

But weird that they tell me this now, you know?

EDIT #2 (long, please read if you are attending the NYCC in a coupla weeks):

No. The contest aspect @ NYCC is 100% off.

There now *may* be an official event. I'm waiting to hear back some availability on the room size we need. Might not happen due to technical complications. That is the way of real estate in NY.

But Linsner.com/we'll be there for sure - booth 1715, all weekend; lots of original art to sell; some new goodies & hopefully hot off the presses Dark Ivory #4, making this the first show where we will have the entire run of Dark Ivory. There will be LOTS of Dawn stuff as both Zeke & I will be driving in from the North Jersey area direct from our mini-warehouse. And whatever signing, auction art or other event winds up happening w/ either the CBLDF or the show, we'll keep you posted.

Sorry for the mixup, gang, this is our first time doing NYC - apparently it's just a little big..please bear with us. :)

Either way, NYC is the place to kick off Dawn's 20th & I want to see some Dawn fans dressed up as the Goddess for her birthday! I hope that happens at the very least. Dawnfans - I am buying a new charger for my camera battery as a gesture of my faith in you! If the [pictures are good enough we might publish them. You never know.

So that's the official update. We're just waiting to hear back from the tech ops people at NYCC about whether the event is even possible. If it is, yay, info tomorrow. If it isn't that would be too bad but we're still very grateful & happy to be guests of the show & to finally be coming back to NYC. We hope you all are too!

Feelin' sheepish about putting my foot so far in my mouth, but hey, this is business, you have to roll with these things.

I have newfound respect for the complex production that is the Dawn Look-a-Like Contest in Atlanta, GA. Those guys apparently have a unique setup that makes the contest ideal there that might be too hard to pull off at other cons. I mean, did you know what the difference between a light nuetral lighting wash, & house lighting, is? 'casue I sure didn't! Those guys at Dragon*con figured it out for me.

So people, don't be mad at the show or at the CBLDF. You may feel free to point your finger at me. This turned out to be way more complicated than I accurately represented, I think. All apologies, to quote Nirvana.

I'll let you all know the moment I hear anything. In the meantime..even if it's just for the cameras, adoring fans & Joe - please dress up as Dawn @ NYCC for the hell of it. It's..patriotic, yeah, that's it. I definitely will ask Joe if we can apply a discount for folks dressed as Dawn or Dawn characters @ the Linsner.com table.

Mea culpa





-- Eva

This is being reposted in LJ for those of you who don't read the Cosplay.com boards;
Please PM John (Hithrome at cosplay.com) & leave your comments, this one's important. Thanks!

Hi folks.

My name is John Ruff and I am the assistant coordinator for the San Diego Comic Con Masquerade. I have been helping Martin (the actual coordinator) run this masquerade for years and we'd like to get some feedback from those of you who have participated in our masquerade or if you've participated in masquerades at other big cons.

The programming department would like to use Ballroom 20, the normal venue for our event, on Saturday night for more programming. Normally they have to turn over the hall to us at 6PM in order for the crew to have it ready for an 8PM show. So this 4000+ seat auditorium is unused from 6 to 8 PM and then only has the masquerade in it for the rest of the evening. Obviously, Saturday is prime time at the con and if Hall 20 was available, the con could put 2 or 3 more big media panels in it.

This debate has been going on for a while. However, new information tells us that Hall H goes pretty empty on Sunday. So one idea that's been put to us is to move the masquerade to Sunday in Hall H. This would have a number of effects, positive and negative.

Positive things:
Easier access. Hall H is on the bottom floor.
Earlier event. The con closes at 6pm on Sunday, so we'd have to be done by then. Some people currently don't get out of the con until 2AM following the masquerade.
More fun Saturday night. No masquerade means costumers are free to take part in more of the big events.
Bigger Hall. Even re-fitted to contain the masquerade, Hall H would seat about a thousand more people than Ballroom 20.
All-day event. Basically participants in the masquerade would be doing that all day long.

Negative things:
No dressing rooms. Hall H doesn't have any backstage, so we'd either have to put up a tent outside or make some other unknown arrangements.
Sunday completely shot. Because the masquerade takes so long, costumers would be less able to get those last-minute deals on Sunday in the dealers room, nor would they be able to see Sunday programming.
No play-back/talk-back. You wouldn't have the opportunity to tell us how much you hated it after the fact. (Seriously, we do love the talk-back because we get lots of feedback about what went well and what we can improve.)

Other things:
Basically with the masquerade on Sunday, we would roll from the orientation straight into check-in and dressing. We'd probably want to get everybody confirmed and an order set on Saturday night. We'd also want to make sure that we had all the music on Saturday night as well.

We see both good and bad possibilities here, but we want to know what those of you who have been to our event think. Please respond to this email or PM me if you wish.

It's important for people to understand that no decision has been made on this yet. Martin and I are looking for feedback from you guys so we know whether there's a huge opinion out there one way or the other. We're in the middle on this one, but if every response comes back very one-sided, Martin will give that a lot of consideration when dealing with the board of directors.

Thanks for your help,

John Ruff
Assistant Masquerade Coordinator
Comic Con International

the official pics are up (thanks joannie for posting on the linsner boards)

the pics are beautiful. Ive snagged a few :)

dragoncon.org

Started a group for all the ladies with Facebooks.

-<3 the Samurai

The oh so fabulous Patcave has posted his pics of us lovely ladies on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patcave/sets/

*heart*

(x-posted on linsner.com)

This is the tale of how the Dawn Contest brought together two Goddesses.

My husband and I were brought together by Dawn. We met at a Goth bar, he had on the original Dawn t-shirt and I fell in love with the man and the Goddess at first sight. The poor man had no chance. He describes me as his own ‘goddess in flesh’. Imagine your own walking, talking red haired goddess walking up to you through a haze of smoke and saying ‘hello’.

My husband, David spent the last year (June 07- June 08) in Korea courtesy of the US ARMY. I ordered him a copy of Girls and Goddesses Remarque edition for Yule. I asked Miss Eva for “Dawn with a soldier or something patriotic”. To my delight on Christmas eve the post man delivered my stunning ‘military’ Remarque which I dubbed “Red, White & Green”. I opened it on web cam and my husband was blown away! It would be 6 more months until he saw in irl!

I knew I had to make my Remarque for the Dawn Contest. (heah, foreshadowing here!)

Fast forward to June. I received an email from lanofaylin. Turns out she had found my Remarque online and had made a costume based on the pic for the Lookalike Contest. My Remarque had spoken to her and helped her through a very tough time. Her father, a Vietnam Vet had passed about the same time she found my Remarque. Making the costume helped her through his passing.

I will be honest. I saw red. The anger, rage and jealously bubbled up inside of me. How dare someone one take my art work? And enter the contest no less! It took me awhile to see clearly. Through my whole emotional vomiting process Lanofaylin was so gracious. As she explained how Joe’s artwork helped her and why it spoke to her it softened the burn under my skin.

There is something to be said about the Army. That institution of death and guns bonds men and women together in ways I can’t explain. Anyone who has had contact with any military branch- be it an Army Wife, or an Army Brat- we all know. We all understand. We all sacrifice.

I knew that Lanofaylin had put so much soul into her costume I knew she needed her moment of glory as a Goddess on stage. There was no way I could take that away from her, so I changed my Lookalike costume. Through out the next months she supported me as I struggled to make my new contest costume. And then she did something that blew me away. Lanofaylin wanted me to have the hat from her costume- a hat of her fathers. I was overcome with her kindness.

So through Joe’s work I have made a great friend. Thank you Joe and thank you Wendy. You are truly a Goddess.

You can see a photo of Wendy from the contest, and you can see my vision of the Remarque I wore for the DC parade at http://www.myspace.com/aysel_fox

glass_ayla/doria_angeline/aysel_fox

We all nitpick after our performances. All of us. So if you had a chance to go back, what would you adjust/change/whatever about your costume and/or performance?

Am I the only one who got a bit curious about what music the various Dawns used during the show? I know the music shouldn't be the main focus, but there were a few times I was like "Oooo...what's that song?" or "DAMMIT! I know this song! But what the hell is it called again?!"

Can we clarify for anyone who is just a bit curious about the music choices like I am?

Mine was 'Alicia Amnesia' by Butch Walker. It has such a kickass opening riff and I preferred to use it over any songs that actually showed up in Guitar Hero games.

And this is why we pay homage to the great Cyndee!!!

now that there are pics up all over the place.. go ahead and post who you were??! Itd be nice to match a face to the Lj!

this was me :)
( pics! )

OK ladies, here are your pictures. I would have had them up last night, but I had to brighten them up a bit and my laptop decided to be annoying.

I do warn you though, the page has 216 thumbnails on it, so it might take a while on slower connections...

http://www.pbase.com/canfieldfarm/dawn2008&page=all

enjoy if youre on here!!!

I had so much fun!!!! However I got a slight con cold so I hope you goddesses are not getting it. I wanna thank Team Linser for the print and party and that Dawn is now officaly a drug that I can't get off of. Also the parade was worth getting up early for and I love eery minute of it. For now I'm off to recover, but I leave you all with a pic from the parade.


This time I did'nt sneak any candy. I was being good.....well ya know some of the candy was eaten..but I left enough.

(In case you missed my announcement during the Dawn show:)

More about this manyana, I promise: Dragon*con has left me weary. But folks have been Emailing me nonstop, & I can't torture the people who didn't go to Dragon-con* any longer.

In brief, there will be a 20th Anniversary Dawn Party/Dopplegänger Dawn Contest (the event name may change) at the fabulous NEW YORK COMIC CON on the night of Friday, February 6th.

That's right - Joe & Eva, New Yorkers to the core, will return to the Big Apple to kick off a yearlong celebration of Dawn's 20th Anniversary - The Year of the Goddess. This will be our first appearance in NYC in 3 years, y'all.

The event will have a ticket price - $20, to benefit the COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND. I *believe* that the seating will be limited to 1000. I haven't worked out all the kinks yet in terms of prizes, some kinda limited item for the event, etc, but the main things I can tell you are:

- The party is being co-sponsored by the CLBDF & IMAGE COMICS; thanks guys!

- Cheers to the New York Comic Con, for rolling out the red carpet for the Queens guy & the uptown girl, & welcoming them home!

- This event DOES NOT in ANY way supplant or transplant the wonderful DAWN LOOK-A-LIKE CONTEST at DRAGON*CON!! This is being held w/ Dragon*Con's full blessing & support. (Thanks guys! You are Linsner.com's favorite convention!)

- There will be some kinda special goodie for sale there.

- Format is not too different from the Dawn Look-a-Like - & best of all, we have goth gypsy-man & emcee extraordinaire VOLTAIRE to host! Gracias, Voltaire! Guys, he puts on a great show!

- Lastly, because this is a 100% different event than DragonC*on's, former winners of the Dawn show there are eligible to enter. Why not? How often does a 20th Anniversary come around, anyhow? There's lots of Dawns who might not have been able to make it down to Atlanta, too. NYC is home to some of the most beautiful women in the whole world. S'true.

If you really need to wonder why you should go to the kickoff celebration of 2009: The Year of the Goddess - CLICKIE HERE.

BTW, if anyone who went this year can shoot me a good picture of this year's winner, Belle Chere, I'll add her to the site ASAP. Gracias!

More tomorrow, including Dragon*Con 2008's thank-you's, reviews, pix & wrap-up -

A very sleepy,


Ms. Eva

* = or those who couldn't hear backstage..!

You ladies rocked it OUT! So awesome! So hard to judge!

Hello you great and beautiful goddesses!

I just wanted to post and thank you all for the great experience I had on Saturday night! It was my first year doing the contest and I had the best time! Everyone looked so great and were so nice that I hardly felt nervous until I went on stage. And funny enough, once I ran on because my music was early, I completely forgot about my nerves!

I'm sad I didn't get to see Bellechere's big reveal because they were still doing pictures when I got off stage and she went right after me, but other than that, seeing all the details on some of those costumes was astounding! I remember the helping experience from last year, but this felt so different.

I'd just like to thank the tech guys for helping me out with all the intro and music stuff, Team Linsner for helping put everything together, Voltaire for being an amazing host and actually saying my last name right, and all the ladies backstage for being amazing and making me feel at ease. I can't wait to do it all again next year!

♥
Ashley (Guitar Hero Dawn)

Dear ladies & gents,

I am writing to you from the immediate aftermath of the 2008 Dawn Look-a-Like Contest. EVERY SINGLE YEAR this thing gets harder to judge. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for all your effort, courage & creativity. I seriously hope that you all are entering it for the experience of being adored, because that I can guarantee you. Thank you girls! Thank you guys! Thank you Voltaire for hosting! Thank you backstage techs, who work so hard to make this good for the girls! Thank you Virginia Hey for judging! Thanks Dragon*Con for hosting! Wow. *whew*

After the show, we asked for a final walk-through for all the contestants. Most people seemed to enjoy getting one more round of applause from a wildly appreciative audience. On a few faces there were the unmistakable signs of disappointment. Oh, I just wanted to run up & hug people! I promise you, there were at least 6..7..12..more of you all I wish we had prizes for. It always kills me to see anyone sad after the show.

Just a friendly reminder: The Dawn contest is a very generous one. We give out 9 prizes: 2 paintings, about $700 worth of Dawny merchandise, there's a $1,000.00 grand prize and every single one of you ladies & gents gets an exclusive limited signed Dawn print you can't get anywhere else. Plus there's the coveted invite to the after-party..you gods & goddesses can hold your liquor! ;)

You know what you get from the Masquerade? Lookie:

Taken from Dragon*Con's FAQ about the Masquerade:

"Q: What do the winners win?
A: There are plaques for "Best in Show: Master", "Best in Show", "Best in Show: Children", "Best in Show: Journeyman", and "Best in Show: Novice"; the rest of the category winners get a nice certificate suitable for framing. Winners may receive dealer bucks. Dealer bucks are tokens accepted in the dealers' room for merchandise. Dollar amounts have not been announced for this year. In years past, it was $50 for "Best in Show: Masters", and "Best in Show"; other winners received $25."

Plaques, $50, $25. That's it!

Next year is Dawn's 20th, y'all. I'm gonna publicize it at a level you all haven't seen. Voltaire says he's gonna dress up as Dawn or some Dawn-inspired character. Plus there's also a NEW YORK COMIC CON Dawn contest, which previous Dawn winners can enter.

I hope you all had as much fun as you could. Thanks again for everything, we appreciate it like you can only imagine. I'm off to the after-party now. :)

Cheers,


Ms.Eva

I'm looking forward to hanging out backstage and meeting everyone - I'm determined not to stress out, so I'll probably be dancing around listening to my ipod and maybe even singing along. Feel free to come up and say hi!

As we get down to the wire, I just wanted to give everyone my best wishes and hugs all around for another great year of the contest!

Every year I meet new girls who are super fabulous, and see costumes that make me ooh and ahh.  Every year I am reminded how lucky I am to know you all, beautiful women inside and out, with inner strength and brains and a myriad of talents that just make me giddy by proximity.

For those of you coming back to the contest, I can't wait to see my family again!!!  I promise to stalk you to see how you made all the bits and pieces of your entries!  And some of you better be vying for Most Outrageous because I'm doing a *gasp* straight dramatic piece this year!

If it's your first time, come find me and I'll make you laugh and take the edge off your nerves (though there will be no ankles-over-head in this year's entry!).  Actually, just talk to any of us -- we're all super nice people!!  Go back there to relax, have fun, and show off your vision.  If you win something, fabulous.  If you don't, who cares?  (personally, I never go to win, I go to hang out with my fiends, because at Con?  Let's face it -- it's probably the longest we'll spend with each other, with as much running around that we all do)  Every contestant gets a limited piece of JML art, a ticket to the AfterParty (which is hella fun!) and the knowledge that all those people in the audience adored you for the moments you were on stage.  EVERYONE is somebody's favorite entry!

But mostly, I can't wait to be part of the collective Goddess unconscious for a few hours on Saturday, and revel in the fact that we are all there together in a single time and place sharing in a moment.

(Sheesh, that sounds New Age-y, but y'all know what I mean!)

See you in a few days!!!!

SMOOCHES!!!!

Anyone here still need a last-minute room? We have a last minute cancellation in our room at the Hyatt, reserved Thurs night-Sunday night. Open to females only, non-smoking, no drugs, alcohol, sex, or company in the room (whatever you do elsewhere, leave it there). Room is at DC rate, so it's less than $200 for the four nights. Email me at auroraceleste(at)gmail.com if you're interested, I'll put priority to someone who wants all four nights.

I'll be bringing the super-duper repair kit o' doom this year, complete with tear-fixing specialties. I'm working on restocking right now, and I'd like for everyone to help. Tell me what you'd expect to see in a backstage repair kit. I know I've got most of the basics covered, but a group brainstorm never hurts just to make sure I'm not overlooking anything.

So, what have you needed backstage in the past? Thinking especially about showing up with your tears on the wrong side, what would you need on hand to fix that? What do you always bring along with you that you'd rather not have to lug along?

I'll be bringing enough batteries and card along on Friday to record the Dawn panel, yay for online resources! If you're one of those super handler people who always floats, feel free to ask me for a list of what's in the repair kit so that you know what's available to people when you hear they have an issue. Also, chibieudial, if you can pm or email me sometime this week, I have a question about the panel.

Here it is! I laid it against some black fabric for the picture, but it is actually skull-shaped. It's 40 inches high by 39 wide, yet weighs next to nothing because it's made like fairy wings. I'm totally psyched...

Last year I walked out to the parade start with a few here so I could take photos before it got going. Much silliness ensued as everyone posed on or in front of the convertible. I can't promise anything right now, since I am finally going to march in the parade myself this year. (About damn time). But I am going to try and stop over there again if I can and the marchers would like me to. Just look for a member of the Cobra 21st with a big camera :)




For a look at last year, all the photos can be seen at: Dawn 2007

Hello, Dawn women & the occasional guy,

Before I rattle on any further, please CHECK OUT THIS THREAD ON THE LINSNER BOARD. I may repeat myself slightly below, but that thread brought up a lot of good points & questions. If you want to put yourself in an updated mindset for the show, you might want to revisit how folks felt about it just after, & some questions are addressed there as well.

Bet you forgot I read here from time to time. :) I try only to skim, so I don't know what anyone's doing for the show itself.

Yes, the wonderful Voltaire is returning to his duties as Dawn contest emcee. Although I have enjoyed lotsa folks who have done it, Voltaire is my personal fave. He's witty & edgy but he's still gracious to the goddesses. That is the most important thing. Perhaps we will mix it up a little in the future, but Voltaire is doing such an aces job. I wanna keep him!

I liked Traci Lords as host too! & Peter Jurassic was just a total doll.

Also..the very foxy VIRGINIA HEY will be our celebrity judge, I hear.

As we sit a week & two days away from the 11th ANNUAL DAWN LOOK-A-LIKE CONTEST, i just wanted to thank you all for your participation over the years. You are what makes the show go, & I know it thrills Joe all the way down to his toes to see all you lovelies hitting the stage dressed up as his goddess.

I am blown away every single time by people's effort, creativity, beauty & generally, how many of you get it. It defies the whole traditional "beauty contest" thing that you hang out after the show, you talk via lj, you help each other backstage & give each other tips on who to talk to, where to get bargain tights, making sure your tears are on the correct eye: you girls rock. Yes, there is the inevitable rare spoilsport who bitches when they don't place, but mostly people understand: ya can't win every year.

A word about that judging. It's soooooo hard. Seriously, I start biting my nails about a week beofre D-con & can't stop until the after-party is over. ;)

Thank you, thank you, o goddesses, for everything. You make a dream come to life, one night a year; you know we love you for it.

Can't wait to meet the faces of the goddess once more -


Ms. Eva

According to the pocket program our emcee this year is again, the every so fantabulous 

Voltaire 

I am so totally stoked about that....I like being in that kinda groove thang ya know!

Evening Ladies (and a few gents),

Was wondering if our MC will be someone different this year? My boyfriend jokingly suggest the old man (sorry should know his name but I don't at the moment) aka the Captain from BSG. LOL.
I'm sure once again it might be Voltaire, but I had really hoped for someone with a little something that was just as magical as Anthony D.

Also, My dawn is near complete. Right now I'm having issues with sleep and work due to my teaching exam this saturday. Agh, so much to do!!

Good luck ladies, btw you have a week.

Im having a hard time trying to find some chains for my costume. Does anyone know where I can get some light ones at??

http://www.linsner.com/sketch.asp?id=711 

from the looks of it- from the schedule

the dawn panel is 4pm Friday in the Marriot L508


everyone needs to attend if at all possible. for veterans its a good time to share. for new folks- its a time to ask those questions!

It will be headed by our fabulous Dawn 2007 that will pass along her title Saturday night : Manda! aka Ruby Rocket

10 days.
10 days to go. 12 days until that stage.

Cds done?
pre-writes of your intro done?
Armor drying?

Tears practiced?
Shoes broken in?
bandaids packed?
Hair spray selected?

Hair dyed?


SOOOO CLOSE!

DEADLINE for e-mailing me (azelana at AOL dot com) to get your parade ribbon is August 9th, because I must turn over my final headcount to DragonCon the next day!

So, so far I have:

Kate/Aysel/Glass_Ayla
Alethea + 2 (Please tell me your friends' names!)
Mark
Pattie

Wendy, is the gal you mentioned one of the ones listed above? If not, have her e-mail me right away!

Last year, we found we could fit 3 goddesses standing in Mark's very shmexy silver convertible, so let me know if you need to ride because you have hi heels or knee injuries, etc. Also, if you will be in a wheelchair, please let me know so I can arrange an assistant to help push you. The parade route is 1/2 mile each way.

Please bring wrapped candies to throw to the kiddies and/or those plastic skull rings from Party City -- both were a huge hit.

There will be over 50 vehicles and over 200 marchers in this year's parade! Don't forget to bring your cameras!

so like this is kinda a dumb question......my dawn costume this year is an original thing that i wanted to do and im already catching a lot of hell from ppl about and basically i just wanted your guys opinion on if you think this is a lame idea for a costume.

im pretty much doing an all b.d.u camo swat version of dawn.
i havent really decided if i want to do the contest yet or not.
but im pretty pissed that im already getting hell from ppl about how i want to do an original idea of a dawn.

lame or no lame?

With the contest getting closer and closer (and my amount of work left to do not shrinking in the least) I figured this might be a good time to ask this. How does the contest usually go? I've sadly only been to D*C once (for I do not count the time I got to come for less than a day) and didn't even know Dawn existed at the time, so I've not seen the contest before. Does anyone have any sage advice for a first-timer?

Anyone else working the wee hours trying to finish their Dawns? I know I'm still working and have been for awhile hopefully all this work will blow everyone away.

Also, I always thought it would be cool it there was some way to display Dawn costumes at Joe's table. I enjoying looking at costumes and I know other people would think it would be a neat attraction.

Well off to finish another costume. Later, ladies.