Photo Above: A Photo from the fireworks show, a photo of our tent, and photos of Jenny on the first and second day of our visit.
DATES;
11/14-15/13: Making the costumes (Not including the time in October to plan for the costumes)
11/16-17/13: Attending RenFest twice (Once with costumes, once without) while camping overnight
DATES;
11/14-15/13: Making the costumes (Not including the time in October to plan for the costumes)
11/16-17/13: Attending RenFest twice (Once with costumes, once without) while camping overnight
"Last year, I went twice. This year, I went thrice!"
In the Fall of 2012, I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival twice;
1) Once while wearing a costume as shown in the blog in the button below:
1) Once while wearing a costume as shown in the blog in the button below:
2) Once without a costume after I got free tickets from class as shown in the blow from this second button:
This year, I went to the Festival three times: Once for School Days, and twice in one weekend when I camped over.
Attending RenFest twice (Once in a costume, once without)
Here are some photos of us at the Festival:
Angela wasn't in any of the photos this year because she was the person taking photos while we were all together. My hands were busy holding a bow when I was in my fancy huntress costume.
Here's a random video of Jenny (An animal-lover but a I-really-really-love-ducks person) trying to touch and pat ducks:
Camping at RenFest
Camping at RenFest was a fascinating experience because there was only one other person camping with me. Normally, when I set up a tent, there would be three or four people doing it together. Instead, it was only me and Jenny... and Jenny never saw a tent in person before...
So here is a photo of Jenny trying to learn how to set up a tent:
So here is a photo of Jenny trying to learn how to set up a tent:
During the fireworks, I realized that even though we packed our flashlights, we left them in the car so we didn't had any source of light for us to use in the dark.
I ended up buying two light sabers with blue lights solely to use them as a source of light.
When we first came to RenFest, Jenny and I parked at the public parking lot on Row 19. I paid a nice man to pull us over to our spot so Jenny can experience how it's like to have a status of NOBILITY where people move aside for you while you have no need to walk... lol.
As we were walking to our car in the dark, Jenny waved the light saber around fearing that someone might hit her with a car. These light sabers became our light source in our tent since the lantern light I brought with us was not as bright as these:
I ended up buying two light sabers with blue lights solely to use them as a source of light.
When we first came to RenFest, Jenny and I parked at the public parking lot on Row 19. I paid a nice man to pull us over to our spot so Jenny can experience how it's like to have a status of NOBILITY where people move aside for you while you have no need to walk... lol.
As we were walking to our car in the dark, Jenny waved the light saber around fearing that someone might hit her with a car. These light sabers became our light source in our tent since the lantern light I brought with us was not as bright as these:
Here's a photo of our tent:
Here are the things we brought with us:
Here's Jenny staring at her Twinkies:
A side story is that the temperature in the tent got really high, so I decided to leave the door wide open. We ended up having two bug-intruders: a bee and a locust. I was able to catch the bee by hitting it and throwing it out with the Twinkies box... and as I was going to get rid of the locust, it decided to leave the tent on its own.
The Fireworks Show
Finally, the FIREWORKS. Jenny and I stayed back on Saturday and Sunday night just to watch the fireworks show while listening to my favorite band with men dressed in kilts at RenFair: Tartanic!
This was the first time I got to watch a firework show that included more elements than just sparks in the skies. All I can say is that it was an amazing show to see and if people have been to RenFest numerous times but have never stayed back for the fireworks... they've been missing out.
The Costumes and Props.
Jenny and I ran into some issues when putting our costumes together. First of all, before issues in the History class happened, we were way too excited to work on the costumes, so each of us spent $150 for our costumes and props (Like... really? -___-). So here's how everything was put together:
1) Jenny and I spent hours to look at costumes we could buy. I wanted to have a bow with me (like a hunter or huntress) and Jenny wanted to be an elf-warrior. We found our stuff all around the internet (Amazon, Walmart, eBay, etc.) so we ordered them and had them sent to my house.
2) I couldn't find any arrow holders that were similar to the one I wanted, so I bought a yard of faux leather and some nylon straps, then grabbed a cardboard tube from the Christmas wrappers. With these and the help from my mom, I was able to say, "Mommy... you made me a great toy..."
3) When my bow came in, however, it had a HUGE brand name print on the front side of the bow... This was the big issue that I had to spend hours to try and fix. At first, I thought I could just take the bow apart, then scrub the paint off because the print was clearly just an upper layer of paint on the bow. However, when I scrubbed the name off, the bow paint was scrubbed off as well (OBVIOUSLY it would, Cici). I went to Walmart to buy some spray paint and I ended up getting three different spray paints (one was because of my stupidity for not looking for the word "plastic" on the bottle, the other two, one had to be a back-up in case it didn't work). Each time a paint session failed, I would have to re-sand the bow to get the paint off then re-clean the bow for the next painting session. I found out that spray painting the plastic bow was a lot more complicated than it seems because of how there was excess paint that dried up as it was on the bow, causing everything to look "water-drippy." In the end, I decided to just leave the bow as it is: worn-out grey-ish black with lots of scratches... just like an old, yet sturdy hunter-bow for a huntress. In addition to the paint problem (this is hard to explain and I don't have photos...), the bow had two spaces to place the arrow on when aiming to shoot. However, they had two individual pieces that were meant for one of the pieces to only occupy one space on the bow at a time (not both spaces at the same time). These spaces made the bow looked incomplete when one or both pieces are not attached, but when I bought the bow, they only provided two screws for one piece. I ended up having to ask my mom (since I didn't have time to go myself) to go to Home Depot to buy a set of Hex-L keys to unscrew the given screws for the pieces, and to buy four screws to attach both pieces onto the bow.
4) I was supposed to make a right-hand shooting glove for myself but because of how complicated it was to cut the leather piece based on the pattern on the paper, I gave up on it and decided to just leave my hands bare.
5) I also bought a hunting knife to wear on my thigh, but because of my costumes' accessories, I decided it was too much. So Jenny decided to take the knife and wear it on her thigh.
6) Jenny's costumes came in, they ended up being too big on her (Asian-problems). Because I ran out of time to actually fix the clothes via sewing, I ended up getting a bunch of safety pins for her costume (and mine). Jenny's outfit was full of adult-men clothes, so she had to shrink her pants and I had to pin her clothes. Because she wanted a Jerkin Vest, I took the shirt she bought and cut the sleeves off to make it look just like a Jerkin. She also wanted a bow-tie on her cloak since her cloak used a velcro strap to fasten the cloak around the neck, so I tied a little bow and hand-sewed them onto place. Jenny's shoes that she ordered from eBay did not arrive on time, so we went out to Academy's and bought a pair of working boots for her.Finally, Jenny used my gloves for her outfit, and because my gloves goes up to her lower arm, the gloves were able to help Jenny with her long-white-sleeves issues she was having. Jenny was supposed to wear a white wig and elf ears, but because of complications of putting those on her, she turned from a dark elf to a dark warlord. She also bought a plastic sword from Party City when she saw that she didn't have any weapons or actual props for herself. The little dragon around her sword in one of the photos was something she bought during School Day (a little over a week before this visit).
7) My outfit that included the shirt, belt, cloak, and were also too big, so I had to ask one of my sisters to help me pin everything. When I took my boots from its box, it had a strong smell of faux leather, so I had to let the boots air out in the garage for days. I also had to borrow my sister's black tights to wear with the outfit.
8) Jenny and I both agreed we needed bags for our phones, wallets, and water. Because I firmly believe that when you dress up as any role, everything has to match each other (including clothes, hair, shoes, and accessories... like bags), I took my black leather bags since I did not want to use regular backpacks. Jenny and I ended up calling our bags the "potion bag" and the "hunting bag" (respectively).
These were what we wore for the first day of the RenFest visit.
On the second day of the RenFest visit, Jenny and I did not want to go through the trouble of holding props with us, so we decided to wear simpler clothing. Jenny wore her Jerkin Vest with her pants and boots while wearing the dragon on her wrist. She also wore a fox-tail that she bought at RenFest from the previous day. I wore a plain tight tank top (warrior-looking-ish-not-really) with black tights and boots. For this day, we took Jenny's potion bag to keep our phones and wallet, while I took my backpack for drinks, food, and other things we brought or bought.
Below are photos of the costume-materials and our two outfits.
1) Jenny and I spent hours to look at costumes we could buy. I wanted to have a bow with me (like a hunter or huntress) and Jenny wanted to be an elf-warrior. We found our stuff all around the internet (Amazon, Walmart, eBay, etc.) so we ordered them and had them sent to my house.
2) I couldn't find any arrow holders that were similar to the one I wanted, so I bought a yard of faux leather and some nylon straps, then grabbed a cardboard tube from the Christmas wrappers. With these and the help from my mom, I was able to say, "Mommy... you made me a great toy..."
3) When my bow came in, however, it had a HUGE brand name print on the front side of the bow... This was the big issue that I had to spend hours to try and fix. At first, I thought I could just take the bow apart, then scrub the paint off because the print was clearly just an upper layer of paint on the bow. However, when I scrubbed the name off, the bow paint was scrubbed off as well (OBVIOUSLY it would, Cici). I went to Walmart to buy some spray paint and I ended up getting three different spray paints (one was because of my stupidity for not looking for the word "plastic" on the bottle, the other two, one had to be a back-up in case it didn't work). Each time a paint session failed, I would have to re-sand the bow to get the paint off then re-clean the bow for the next painting session. I found out that spray painting the plastic bow was a lot more complicated than it seems because of how there was excess paint that dried up as it was on the bow, causing everything to look "water-drippy." In the end, I decided to just leave the bow as it is: worn-out grey-ish black with lots of scratches... just like an old, yet sturdy hunter-bow for a huntress. In addition to the paint problem (this is hard to explain and I don't have photos...), the bow had two spaces to place the arrow on when aiming to shoot. However, they had two individual pieces that were meant for one of the pieces to only occupy one space on the bow at a time (not both spaces at the same time). These spaces made the bow looked incomplete when one or both pieces are not attached, but when I bought the bow, they only provided two screws for one piece. I ended up having to ask my mom (since I didn't have time to go myself) to go to Home Depot to buy a set of Hex-L keys to unscrew the given screws for the pieces, and to buy four screws to attach both pieces onto the bow.
4) I was supposed to make a right-hand shooting glove for myself but because of how complicated it was to cut the leather piece based on the pattern on the paper, I gave up on it and decided to just leave my hands bare.
5) I also bought a hunting knife to wear on my thigh, but because of my costumes' accessories, I decided it was too much. So Jenny decided to take the knife and wear it on her thigh.
6) Jenny's costumes came in, they ended up being too big on her (Asian-problems). Because I ran out of time to actually fix the clothes via sewing, I ended up getting a bunch of safety pins for her costume (and mine). Jenny's outfit was full of adult-men clothes, so she had to shrink her pants and I had to pin her clothes. Because she wanted a Jerkin Vest, I took the shirt she bought and cut the sleeves off to make it look just like a Jerkin. She also wanted a bow-tie on her cloak since her cloak used a velcro strap to fasten the cloak around the neck, so I tied a little bow and hand-sewed them onto place. Jenny's shoes that she ordered from eBay did not arrive on time, so we went out to Academy's and bought a pair of working boots for her.Finally, Jenny used my gloves for her outfit, and because my gloves goes up to her lower arm, the gloves were able to help Jenny with her long-white-sleeves issues she was having. Jenny was supposed to wear a white wig and elf ears, but because of complications of putting those on her, she turned from a dark elf to a dark warlord. She also bought a plastic sword from Party City when she saw that she didn't have any weapons or actual props for herself. The little dragon around her sword in one of the photos was something she bought during School Day (a little over a week before this visit).
7) My outfit that included the shirt, belt, cloak, and were also too big, so I had to ask one of my sisters to help me pin everything. When I took my boots from its box, it had a strong smell of faux leather, so I had to let the boots air out in the garage for days. I also had to borrow my sister's black tights to wear with the outfit.
8) Jenny and I both agreed we needed bags for our phones, wallets, and water. Because I firmly believe that when you dress up as any role, everything has to match each other (including clothes, hair, shoes, and accessories... like bags), I took my black leather bags since I did not want to use regular backpacks. Jenny and I ended up calling our bags the "potion bag" and the "hunting bag" (respectively).
These were what we wore for the first day of the RenFest visit.
On the second day of the RenFest visit, Jenny and I did not want to go through the trouble of holding props with us, so we decided to wear simpler clothing. Jenny wore her Jerkin Vest with her pants and boots while wearing the dragon on her wrist. She also wore a fox-tail that she bought at RenFest from the previous day. I wore a plain tight tank top (warrior-looking-ish-not-really) with black tights and boots. For this day, we took Jenny's potion bag to keep our phones and wallet, while I took my backpack for drinks, food, and other things we brought or bought.
Below are photos of the costume-materials and our two outfits.
The Differences between 2012 and 2013
Once again, here are the two links to my 2012 Texas Renaissance Festival blog entries:
Last year's visits and this year's visits were very, very different experiences. The shows we watched last year had more twists this year. Also, I got to do more at RenFest this year by staying back for fireworks and by camping at the campgrounds. My sisters got to buy their dragons that they wanted from last year and I got to see Jenny (someone who's never been to any festival that's like this) come to the Renaissance Festival for the first time!