Tag: Creativity

Quick & Easy Ren Faire costumes – Last Minute Quality Edition

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Back with the costumes! This time a quick and easy go on the complicated look of Ren Faire costumes. Either way, you could also use these costume hacks for conventions, cosplays and even Halloween if you want to give your look a renaissance and fantasy flick. The looks are Scottish inspired, fairy inspired and strider / archer / badass / cloak inspired. And of course: super easy and quick to beat that last minute stress! Because.. We have all been there before ;).

takingarrowsYou might have noticed I’ve been away for a bit. With pain I have had to let go of my post-every-month resolution because of busy life outside and inside Baytree world. But now we are back with a very fresh post! Also, I do really want to thank Costume Yeti for featuring my Ygritte post on their site and giving it some love <3. I also want to thank the Guardian for featuring my Outlander tutorials. And I want to thank a certain customer for whom I am designing a custom costume (aha!). You are so lovely. Oh and: welcome to baytreecostumes.com!! So much excitement and new stuffs.

But now: This post highlights the problem of a lifetime. A cosplay / costumer lifetime of course ;). What do you wear when you are going to a ren(aissance) fair last minute? I’ll teach you how to make a Legolas or elf inspired costume, a strider or Aragorn inspired costume, an Elf or mage or witch inspired costume, a fairy inspired costume and how to go Scot with as little materials and time as possible! Excited yet? 😉

Fast forward to:

  1. Scot: Great Kilt / Arisaid
  2. Ren Fairey
  3. Badass cloak style (archer, elf, mage)

Continue reading →

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DIY Honey Apple Iced Tea | Healthy

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It’s time for a first DIY food related post.. And I’m so excited for this one because it just tastes amazing and doesn’t require much work at all.

Round2Hello everybody ☀️,

A few days ago I bought my first mason jar after seeing so many people blog and post videos about mason jar smoothies and iced teas and other delicious and Instagrammable juices and foods. And I looked over to the fruit basket and wondered if I could brew something with tea and pieces of over-ripe apple. And after making it – it just looked and tasted amazing. If you are interested – read on! *Or: watch the video I made with it:*

You will need, for one person: Continue reading →

The Musketeers – An Introduction

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From Game of Thrones, to Outlander.. and now I’m delving into another super-interesting era and world. The world of the Musketeers! And not just the BBC Musketeers or the book or the movies, but the real Musketeers. Ok, ok: and of course the BBC series ;). Who are we kidding.

I’ve got a problem making this new project. Do you want to see a full-on Musketeer tutorial? Than perhaps you can help me. Scroll down to the end of this article or click here. Thank you ❤

Be aware of some BBC Musketeer spoilers!

Costumes

What do the BBC Musketeers look like again..? Watch this:

Continue reading →

TV Shows on my list

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The Walking Dead, Outlander, Game of Thrones! All TV show pearls I have been following for the last few weeks. The Walking Dead has ended its 6th season, Outlander has just begun its 2nd season, and Game of Thrones is at the very start of the most entisipated season 6!

Beware: this article contains spoilers for all three TV shows! If you are not up to date with any of these, please click away now. Thank you 🙂

You guys know I am a fan of Outlander (obviously!) and Game of Thrones.

Ygritte Left Side  Arisaid 2 Back Collage Wool

Obviously…
Click on one of the photos for a tutorial on Ygritte, Jon or Claire / Jamie 

And if you have been following my Pinterest you might also know I love The Walking Dead. Although, love is of course a strong word considering the violence and gore of the show. But excuse me for saying: damn this season! The story was more violent than ever, which made it even more explosive. A lot of people I have talked to about The Walking Dead say that they have stopped watching at some point along one of the previous seasons (or even after a few episodes) because they thought the story stayed the same the entire time. Which is true. That is why I didn’t like last season.

But even though it’s always zombies *excuse me: walkers*, disease or the eternal kidnapping, the story still leaves me extremely curious about every next episode. The story has this core of extremeness – of survival, which feels sort of reassuring to watch because humans are seemingly capable of keeping themselves standing in such a situation. And yes, I do sigh whenever somebody gets kidnapped by other people AGAIN or when they announce another group of bad people or another villain.. But I must say they kind of laughed at their own loop this season, I mean: the way Daryl was able to exterminate that group of ‘saviours’ in episode 9.

An amazing out of action shot with the walkers and two of my favourite characters ❤
Courtesy of AMC

Continue reading →

Podcast #1

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Hello everybody!!

I’ve uploaded the first Ava Session to my Youtube channel Ava Baytree – and I’m so excited to be adding this new dimensional layer to this ever growing universe.

Even though it has mistakes, tongue twists, and highly irritating voice clicks sometimes, it is very much a portrait of human kind and moreover of the autodidact. And because of that I am very proud to present an almost true rendition of a live talk; what the session is, in its core, about.

It has talking, a little anekdote, philosophy and singing and guitar playing! Start listening wherever, whenever you want and in as many parts as you prefer. Enjoy:

 

Wearing the Great Kilt – A Retrospective

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It has been a while since I posted my “How to make an Outlander costume – Part 1” article. It covered all the basics of Great Kilt folding and Arisaid folding, and it was just so much fun to make, to fold and to write.

But here’s the catch: I never really finished the section of Kilt Types! The slightly irritating “will soon be updated” marred the decor that the Great Kilts flair had created. Soon became months quite quickly.. But hey – yes yes – it has been updated at last! Quickly visit the article and find out what new Kilt and Arisaid types have arrived in Baytree land.

Fun

Don’t mind me…

Since every photoshoot process takes about six to more than ten hours to do, to process and to touch up, it is always a shame when great photos are not good enough to be shown in the main article. And because some are just to precious or to cool to leave behind, I thought I would make a little behind the scenes article to give you an impression of the entire process behind a photoshoot like that. And just as this garments is awesome to alter and to re-create, it is also as much fun behind the scenes to wear and to mess around with, which sometimes results in quirky and funny photos. Continue reading →

2015 in review

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Perhaps a little late – but I found this jewel in my mailbox and I really wanted to share with you – and relive – the excitement of 2015.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for my blog.. It amazes me that people actually read what I write and find joy in my projects. It makes my day, everyday!

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,200 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Cheers!

TV Show phenomena

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I thought I’d make this little post to balance all the costuming out a bit ;).

I am very interested in seeing that TV shows are getting more appreciation over the years. Everybody is watching them! I bet that if you ask someone if they watch one, the chance is bigger that they watch more than two then none. What is it that makes TV shows awesome?

Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp in Starz’ Outlander

For me, it really is the chance to get involved in a world that is not of real existence. It is weird to comprehend how a piece of imagination can become such a phenomenon across the world. Take for instance Outlander, books written by Diana Gabaldon. In her mind she has created this world that everyone can visit through reading her words. And now even an entire group of people are taking her scenes and characters and bringing them to life in already a second season on Starz.

The coming together of creation, fantasy, history, reality and above all the length in which it comes is what, for me, makes TV shows such an addictive perception. You don’t have to stop wandering around that world after an hour, but the story just keeps coming. Of course the unhealthy part is the binge watching, but that has to do with a little responsibility ;).

Now I would love to know what your favourite shows are..! Why do you like them? What genre makes the top of your list?

As you guys know by now, the combination of reality and fantasy is the best it can get, and thus I, someday, would love to walk around a film set once. Just seeing all that creation come together – It’s awesome.

I’ll talk to you soon! Have a good one.

How to make an Outlander costume – Part 2: Claire’s jacket / bodice

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An Outlander Claire’s jacket tutorial for you! In season one from Starz’ Outlander, Claire mostly wears these warm wool blend jackets above a tartan skirt that look so Outlandish, I had to make one myself. I hope you’ll be inspired by my own process.

Still I can’t seem to keep my tutorials short and to the point – Oops

I loved doing this project, it was very insightful. If you’ve seen Part 1 of my Outlander costume, you’ll know that the traditional great kilt / Arisaid was actually really easy to make. Pleating was basically all you had to do. Of course my Arisaid is not true to Outlander, because they wear nicely tailored petticoats in the show. But I thought pleating a Scottish Arisaid would get me a bit more into that traditional and historical part of Scotland and its practicality in clothing. I just really wanted to learn how to pleat a great kilt (and it is also so much easier!).

These photos show on which design I have based my Claire inspired bodice: 1, 2, 3.

The finished costume

Click here to fast forward to the actual sewing how-to. Continue reading →

Game of Thrones season 5 concluded – Une Vision par Derrière

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Spoiler-free!

It has been a while since Game of Thrones concluded its fifth season. From the first to the last episode, it was again, and as always: a rollercoaster.

I was blown away by the amount of new and refreshed creativity portrayed on the screen. Not only in the cinematography from for instance S05E01’s very first scene, but also in the changes that were made. The series’s changes were key, inevitable and necessary throughout all the plots, storylines and morals but also in its scenery, acting portrayals and of course the costumes!

Before I get into some costume details (because I should!) I want to get into something else. Across the internet and mostly throughout Pinterest, I saw people labelling this season as the worst so far. And the first question that raised in my head was: Why? This season had the most evolved continuity yet. The entire season was one huge metamorphose. Characters have changed to such an extent as unimaginable as vital. Continue reading →