Fabric Fair Happiness

The Salvation Army has an interesting little fund raiser known as the Fabric Fair. This iswhen a bunch of donation of fabric and other craft related items are sold off.

The Clown Brigade picked up a sewing machine and 4 bolt of fabric.

One of the bolts of fabric will reupholster the couch in the Clown Cave. The other will be clown clothes and the like.

The read deal was the sewing machine. WE picked that up for five buck. it is a Kenmore machine that was probably pretty run of the mill back when it was made. By today's standards it is a great machine. It is next to indestructable and works like a champ. I really found it hard to believe that such a great machine was just sitting around.

In addition to being a great little machine it goes through everything that we have in our inventory including leather. I am really pleased with it.

The black fabric we picked up is a great lamay that will do nicely on the couch. The couch we currently have it bearly holding together as far as it's covering is going. WE were going to just make a couch cover. Now that we have the stuff we should do a proper job making it look nice. We made a cover for another couch in the corps and it does not look wonderful. This could look wonderful if we do it correctly.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

I had to Kill Prince Rue

The thing I am doing most on the book these days is trying to close up the plot hole and making sure that everything is set up for the rest of the series.

To that end there was one nagging problem, Prince Rue. Prince Rue is a royal that was saved in the first book of the third series. This series actually begins after the first book in the third series for Mason and the crew of the Tojo Maru. Most of the rest of the character in the book this is the beginning of their part in the over all story arch of all the series.

It really does not make much sense to talk about it out of context. Still, in order for the first series to work out the focus has to be only the interaction between Mason, Yuin and their relationship with General Damon Booth {He is a future ficticous General of The Savlation Army}. If Prince Rue is there is make everything much to messy. In reality the story between these three character is not the main story in the first series. So I killed him today.

It was the easist way to deal with the issue that arise from him being aorund. Of course being sci fi you can always bring dead people bcak wehn you need them with some phoney balony story.

On the up side I did find the Jpop song Dr. my Nani Amuro. It is a song that Mason is listening to int he first book somewhere. At one point I wanted her to use the name from the Dr in the song as an assumed identity. The song is about a Dr. that is fixing the future by sending a super warrior into the past. It is not really like my story. Still there are people going into the past trying to fix the future. And really how many song are about that sort of thing.

As far as I can tell there are only three. And of the three I have found it is the only one with a mefale time lord type character. As far as I can tell the super warrior's main power is turning evil into clowers. So it is not a direct corelation. Still, it is closer than anyone else.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Leatherman

Last Monday at our knitting group we were looking at some material other than yarn. Walt picked up a peice of leather to make seat for his motocycle. It is red and pretty.

On the leather front this is known as a full hide. That means that it is the better part of a cow hide. picture to the left is Walt with his new acquisition.

Currently his bike has pleather seats that have seen better days.

He just had the bike painted and this leather is a nice match for it.

It had bee a long time since I actually appolstered something. The neat this about this project is that it is a collection of relatively small pillows. So it is a great deal easier than doing a couch.

This is the piece of leather stretched out on a table. I will keep you posted. Be safe out there.

More Clown Practice

pictured here are three of our brave clown reading through a script for an upcoming skit. All of the kid here are Brimages.

This was fun and we will see how it goes together.

On other fronts we had a session of monday knitting. tis Monday we went trough the Brigade's Yarn Stash. This was not as much fun as knitting, still, it was something that needed to be done.

On the book front the book continues to hover around 400 pages. I am going to go from here and work on the book some more as i do in all my spave time.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Knitting Stuff - The Marley

The Monday Night Knitting group continued to meet in Homestead. Walt continues to work on his knitting Proficiency. He is almost done with that. It awesome to give out a knitting proficiency. 

 

This is Apprentice Brimage working on the Marley. The Marley is a long scarf project that got put on the back burner for building our set and training a whole bunch of new clowns. On the up side of having a bunch of new clowns we should be able to work on the Marley some.

  

Sergeant Thurman is working on the Marley over the edge of our stair case. It is nice being somewhere that has a staircase. It makes this kind of odd knitting maneuver easier.  

Also on the clowning front we had some promotions in the last week. Apprentices Thurman and Stewart are now Junior Clowns. We also have a new Cadet, Cadet Gable. She is thrilled, really she is. 

Also promoted was Walt. This is the first time that we have trained a Standard Clown from the ground up in the Brigade. As a matter of fact my wife is a Standard Clown. She has been clowning for years and already knew a bunch of stuff when she joined.  This is special time for someone like me. It is not every day that some gets to these loft heights in clowning. It makes me proud to be a part of his training. He is keeping the old ways going. 

Well I have to go the cat is having kittens. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Balloon Madness & The Radioactive Weasle

 

Sunday was yet another practice. And this practice we spent most of our time working on Balloon Animals.  This is Apprentice Brimage well one of them. This is a picture from our Balloon text books. Actually it is one of the pictures that we are not using. I told her to look like she was happy to be making the balloons for the handbook. She like most clowns and seven years olds can be a smart alec at times. Saracasim is one of the corner stones of our training programs.

 

 This is a bear on a heart sitting on my messy desk. I took the pictures from the practice so most of them are blurry. I should have let one of the young people take the pictures. You would be able to tell what they are. I am not sure who made this one. It was either me or Sergeant Thurman.

  

 This is Apprentice Wilson and Balloon Sergeant Arasin. Wilson is the one standing on the chair. They are showing off our new bulliten board. We decided to do all the board in the Brigade colors. The board behind them is the one we use for stats. It had the chart with all the earn Proficciencies, monthly stats and lists of the Prociencies requirements and such. It is exciting stuff if you are in the Brigade. Actually it is not that exciting even if you are in the Brigade.

  

 This is a Radio Active Weasel. This is an inside joke within the Brigade. When one is making a balloon animal and it goes terribly wrong we call it a radioactice weasel. For some reason when a ballloon goes wrong it often looks like a weasel that has been in a nuclear accident. This one was maded by Sergeant Thurman.

 

 I have made quite a few of these in my time.

Murdering Fake People & New Soldiers

I have never really wanted to do away with someone. Ever since I have been writing these books I have had the urge to wipe out entire civilizations. There is nothing more annoying that trying to get people that you created to try and something. It is like herding kittens.

The book is over three hundred pages and continues to grow. This craziness will have to stop at some point or I will have a one thousand page book. Well I figure I am going to keep writing and pick a place to end it.

On other fronts there are a couple pictures that I have not posted through sheer forgetfulness.

This is Walt and a couple other folks that have been enrolled as soldiers at our Corps. This is our divisional commander and officers. Yes we all dress alike. This is the fun part of being in an army.

This is a picture of the Children that were enrolled as Jr. Soldiers at the corps. This class of Soldier and Jr. Soldier is twice the size of the congregation when Carol and I first joined the Church. So this is very encouraging.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Kettles Again

 

We were out on the Kettle again this week end. One again back to the Century III Mall. Here I am juggling on the kettle. One of the kids figured out how to get the samera to take action pictures. You will note that the picture is clear and crisp. That mean that someone who knows how to take pictures was using the Camera. It was Apprentice Brimage. She is Seven. 

  

Here is Walt. He was making inflatible wildlife. At least that is the politically correct way to refer to balloon animals these day. They got a lawyer and you know the rest of the story. 

Here was the rest of our crew thsi week end. Sergesnt Thurman is in the back. She is doing wicked stuff with scarves these days. She has only been at them a couple weeks and her routines are pretty impressive. In fron are Apprentice Brimage and Apprentice Brimage. They are sisters hence the same last name. Being that I don't like using you people first names on the old blog the five Aprentice Brimigaes that are in the Brigade is going to be confussing as time goes on. Actually now that I think of it one of them is still a Cadet.

This is Apprentice Brigade trying on a coat. We are starting to think about getting a real uniform for the Brigade. So we will need a coat. Being that we are supposed to be on a boat during out shows this may be the way that we go. By the way this is the Apprentice Brimage that knows how to use my camera better than I do.

And the cyber kettle is up to fourty bucks. That is fourty bucks more than I thought i was going to make the Corps on the Cyber Kettle. Cool Beans.

We will be out there this weekend if you still want to catch the dog and pony show. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Walt is no Lady

At practice today we were tumbling. this is when we throw ourselves on the ground. Since it is not funny for an adult to punch a kid we do it the other way around. So the kids were pushing me over for a good por5tion of the evening. The young folks find this to a very cathartic time.

Anyway during this time one of the young Apprentices said this sentance. "Walt is not a Lady." It was entirely out of left field and I had to menion it here.

But the way I am sorry to suggest that Walt is unlady like. Still, this was the funniest thing I have heard all month. And when I asked the kid why she said this she simply shrugged as if it was obvious. Well I had to bring this to you for no good reason.

Oh an my Kettle is still empty, please fill. My Captain hits me with a switch every time I walk past him because my kettle is empty. I am getting chaffed.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Fun with a Tank

Here we see a picture of a knitted clown hat in action. This is kiddo after a show we had in Tarentum a month or so ago. I was busy with the book so I did not post it.

Also it is not a hat a made. Walt made this one as part of his work on the knitting Proficiency. I do believe that this hat is made out of Comfort yarn. If it is not Walt will correct me in the comments.

He made the pom pom on the clover pom pom makers. They are a great little gizmo.

This hat is also an example of how artificial yarn is superior to natural yarns. You folks may have though I had forgotten about the war against natural fibers. No not me I still have the fight for a acrylic in my heart.

Also on the clowning from from that day is us visiting a part in Tarentum. It had this nice tank. So we thought we should climb on it and take a picture. Well that is what we think you should do when there is a tank sitting in your park.

They even had ropes set up around the tank. They kept everyone else off the tank so that it would be empty when we arrived. That was very considerate of them.

I have also noted that my on line kettle is not full. When I am standing kettle I usually juggle, do balloon animals or sing. This is hard to on the blog. I will take some vids of us standing kettle so you get the same experience. Normally my kettle is full in six or eight hours. It has been a day and there is nothing in my kettle. This makes me sad.

I have also noted that if I sing enough people fill my kettle faster. Well we will see. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Some Thoughts on Kettles

We have not completely given up on the Video thing. This is some stuff we shot on Kettle.

Practice Practice Practice.

It was another exciting evening of practice at The Steel Valley Corps in Homestead. You can't see it in all of the pictures but this is juggling practice. Since I am taking the pictures there are none of me juggling. I should probably take the video thing of people juggling. It would be more interesting than the pictures. Amazing that we are going into out third year and have no video of us juggling.

This is my wife juggling. You can't see the balls because they are over her head.
This is Sergeant K and he is blurry because I am a bad photographer.
Sergeant Chasko is doing very well at this. Cadet Harris was also doing very week at juggling. She has only been juggling for a week or so and she is up to three balls. This is impressive in the juggling world.

And just for it's random torture value here is my progress on the accordion. After this you will think I should have taken Juggling video and not the accordion. This is going to be last segment in the Army Clowns video.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Train Wreck Edition - Clowns and Jpop

Great fun has been had this week at the Vacation Bible School. Of course teaching all of the Children about Jesus was the main event this week. Still, on a personal level there is what some might think a smaller story. Never the less it is a terribly important day for two of the Apprentice Clowns of the brigade. Apprentice Kisielnicki and Prioleau had their first shows in make up today.

Here they are on a balloon detail in out parking lot. In the Brigade Kisielnicki is ranked third in ballon and Prioleau is ranked 4th. That is fairly impressive considering they have not even been in the Brigade a year yet.



Here is Apprentice Prioleau just after getting her makeup on. She still needs a nose but she is well on her way to having her face.

We are working on the second edition of Army Clowns. We have a lot more stuff this time around. It should be a better episode all around. The last of the stuff that is going to be filmed or taped or what every you do with a digital camera will be done this sunday.

Yeah there was no good reason for this. On the Punk Rock Knit Girls group in The Ravelry I mentioned something about the Cotton Candy Helmet and how to make one. Anyway sitting around after the Vacation Bible School Party we were filming some stuff for the next episode of Clown Army. And well this is what we like to call D roll. In television the stuff that rarely makes it on the air is B Roll. Since no one watches this stuff we figure it is C Roll. And this thing because it is so out there it should probably be D Roll.

I have been thinking that I need to learn Japanese. Long time viewer will know my musical tastes are strange to say the least. To be fair they are all over the map.

Oh and before I go on about Japaneese music I found this in the You Tube.

Ah that was wonderful and it is proof there are geekyeer people out there than me. Ah back to the Jpop. Morning Musume has had out some new songs. Here are a few with some random comments from me.

They always have really spiffy unforms and costumes. These silver jobs should be the next Salvation Army Uniform. I have better write the General right away.

They look a bit angry in this one. Maybe they are unhappy about the silly yellow outfits. It I had a nickel every time I was convinced to dance around with yellow feathers in my hair. I suppose they weren’t always yellow.

This one is the newer generation of the Morning Mussume with their pets. I suppose it was bring you dog to work day or something. You see if I spoke Japanese I would understand the dog thing.

And here they are with castanets. I can’t play the castanets. I am not even sure I can spell it. I can spell cowbell and bag pipe. To bad there is not Chris Walken Joke to be make here.

I haven’t the slightest clue what is happening here. This is definitely one of the songs where I need to find the version with subtitles. It is a catchy tune. Still, they have a star ship and creepy microphones. And try and find the space borne Buddha. And they stole a Miranda Class star ship from Star Trek. Wow that makes me the biggest nerd ever.

If Marki Mark can act then Morning Musume can rap. It is a bit scarry. This fighting style is also being taught to all Japanese girls living near foreign military installations. Sorry too soon, it have been a few years.

Vacation Bible School

Here is one of the classes of kids at out Vacation Bible School. I suppose they do not like to have their picture taken. I threatened to put them up on the internet. So if you see any of these children tell them you saw an embarrassing picture of them on the internet.

I am serious about that.

Tell the kids you saw it. They need to know I will follow through with my threats.

Be safe out there and and keep your stick on the ice.

Car Wash Today

We had a car wash today. We planned for everything except rain.
It rained. It rained the entire time.
The clowns got a bit on edge about the rain. We did have nice hats though. They matched out shirts.
It was a knit in public day though. So we did some knitting while we were sitting around int he rain. It did not stop raining though. So we got some knitting done at least. Well just wanted to check in since I had some pictures. Be safe out there everyone and keep your stick on the ice.

Hats, Clown Hats

I have some pictures of the hats that I have been playing around with. The first is the one for Cadet Wilson. This is Apprentice Stewart wearing it at the moment. We have a front side and rear view of it.

This is a very traditional clown hat. It is the sort that a classic wihte face might wear. Since Cadet Wilson looks as if she will be wearing a fairly traditional neat white face this is excellent hat for her.

This is the hat for Cadet Thurman. She looks as if she is going to have more grotesque auguste. So we had a bit more fun with her hat.


She has he sleeve rolled up for a makeup test. It is not a clown gang sign or something like that. A clown gang sign is so terrifying that we cannot use it publicly. It sends people into fits of terror.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

How Not to Move a Mountain

A fun day was had wandering around the South Hills with Walt. We hit the Jo Ann looking for hats which we eventually found at Micheals. We will have pictures of the Hats latter one. I have work to do on them before they are finished.

The last major thing that had to be put together for the shows is a mountain. It is not going to be that large. And it is going to be made from blue foam insulations. So Walt and I stopped by the Lowes in Homestead to get a peice. We did not think it would survive the trip to the Sorps strapped to the roof of his car.

So we decided to walk it to the corps. It is not that far from the lowes.
It was windy. So moving the peice of foam did not go that well. It was slow going.
And then it broke. Fortunately it was going to be cut up into peices anyway.

We did eventually get the peices there. We did not get much work done on it. Well we had some funny pictures so I wanted to post them. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Met a man named G Dub

A good couple of day witting and typing mostly typing. While I was out and about on the Bus someone asked me if I was witting. Since I was writing stuff in one of my red notebooks I had to agree with him. He asked what it was about and I told him.

We then asked if I would make him a character in the book. I have never had anyone ask that before. The guy said his name is G Dub. Being a black man we said that he did not want his Character killed off in the book. I suppose I can see that.

If it makes him feel any better one of the main Characters in the book is a black man. He is in at least seven of the books.

IN the book there are several pirate ships. They have larger rolls in the subsequent books. Still they need commanders. I don't think any of the Pirate Captains buy it in the books.

Well anyway. just wanted to replay this unique story to both of my readers. Bellow are some pictures of Cadet Thurman and Wilson juggling. They are moving along rather well.

BE safe out there everyone and keep you stick on the ice.

Brigade Practice With Pictures

Just for fun I took a bunch of pictures at the practice. We are beginning to take more pictures to keep track of what we have been doing.
First things first this is some of the junk that I need to run the practice. This is the blue binder with notes on things we are doing. In the binder is our calendar and the first couple sections of our manual. The red yellow and blue thing is just a plain old note book. I also have my Salvation Army Song Book. We don't sing much at practice. Still, it has the Bible in it and we usually have to use that.

We are also working on making uniform shirts for everyone. The red one is my wife's and the first yellow one is Apprentice Stewart's. You can see her wearing it inside out in the next picture. At the moment all of the uniforms are done with iron ons. The logo is from a kit you can get at a craft store. the stars were bought at various places.
The Cadets are moving on to the hard balls. Just as a precaution they start with softer stuffed bags. After a couple weeks they move onto lacrosse balls.
Lt. Stewart was working on balloon hats. Great fun as it were.
More balloons Sergeant Arasin is running the balloon practice at this session. The yellow shirt does not show his Sergeant rank very well. Fortunately he is being promoted to Junion Clown soon. It shows up much better on the blue shirts. Everyone is moving along quickly on the balloon thing.
This is Cadet Thurman and Apprentice Stewart doing a song and dance thing they are making up. We took a video os it we might put up on the Clown Blog.
Yes it was a bit scary. Cadet Wilson was hiding up the pool table while it was going on.

Well the wee early morning hours are creeping up on me. There is a James Bond moving going on. I have to see if he saves Fort Knox Again.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.