Can't Stop the Shiny!

It was another good year for the Toronto Can't Stop the Serenity crew even with the horribleness that was going on just blocks away at the same time. The turnout was very good and the auction bidders brought their cashy money. Naturally, the final donation total won't be in for a while yet, but I know there were several items that went into triple digits. I'm please to say that the parasol I donated (and a crew member got Jewel Staite to autograph) brought in $140.00 for Equality Now . Here it is being modeled by a lovely runner:


All in all, another good year for the local crew.

Until next time:
"We're just happy to be doin' good works."

But Who's Counting?

I am in the midst of painting the most current batch of Kaylee-Esque parasols (the yellow is drying now) and it has occurred to me that I may be hitting a milestone. I never numbered the finished ones as I went along, but boy, do I wish I had done that now! I think after I finish this batch - 6 in total, for I have found that doing 6 at a time is a good amount for me- I will have hand painted over 100 Kaylee Parasols! By my math with the quantity and number of time I've ordered it's got to be around there. I do have a tabulation of all that sold through the website, but then there are the ones sold at shows, or donated to charity auctions and such. So I really don't know for sure, but I've got to be close, if not over the triple digits.

When I first started making them I was so uptight about it. We had a computer printed spiral as a template. Too mathematical. I ended up pausing the dvd and tracing the pattern off the still image on the screen! Then I had to transfer it to the parasol and paint over the lines so they wouldn't show. One parasol took me hours to do and I was never happy with the results. Some of those first ones were a lot different looking!

It was during this frustration that I finally hit the simple answer that was in front of me all the time. I was griping that I was putting all this work into replicating something that some prop person probably just whipped out fast without thinking much about it. Yep, that simple- Kaylee *would* have done her parasol freehand and with a light attitude. So I put myself in a Keylee frame of mind and have been much happier with the parasol results ever since.

I also remember the first time I ordered the supplies- I thought getting enough for 12 parasols was going to be too much. I'd never sell 12 of them after all! Hee!

So, here's to the next 100!

Until next time:
"Everything's shiny Captain!"