Savonarola costume, part II

I finished my Savonarola costume for Venezia this past Saturday. After finishing the vest, I just had to attach the hood. That turned out to be tougher than I thought it would be. In the end I used a tutorial on the Internet for making a hood on a Jedi robe. I cut a large rectangle, folded it in half to make a square, and sewed up one of the sides adjacent to the fold. It needed to be attached to the vest on the side opposite the fold. I pinned it along the neckline, but that left a lot of loose fabric just hanging. Unfortunately I never did figure out how to make the neck fitted while keeping the volume of the rest of the hood, so I just gathered it and attached it a little ways down the vest front. It came out looking pretty decent, even though the hood had a tendency to slide back down my head. I put it on over a black poet shirt, black leggings, black leather belt, and Renaissance boots. My hematite rosary hanging off the belt completed the look. Here is the final ensemble, from the front and from the back, and I am pretty pleased with it.

Second cheddar update

I finally remembered to ask my dad to take a picture of the cheddar we made now that it's been waxed. It had to dry for several days before the waxing could happen, and by that time I'd already returned to Waltham, so Dad had to do it on his own. He mentioned to me that the cheese seemed to be coming along, requiring just a little bathing in vinegar in order to prevent the growth of mold. So I asked him to take a snapshot of the wheels so I could see what they looked like. He said the wax was called yellow on the package but it came out white, in strong contrast to how yellow the cheese itself looked after it dried. He laid it out very prettily, on the island in their kitchen on top of the cheese board Mom got him for Christmas and the end-grain cutting board I gave Mom for her birthday. Very lovely, no?