Event Recap: Con Kasterborous 2015

This year's Con Kasterborous was this past weekend, and it was bigger than ever this year!

My Con Kasterborous setup for 2015.

July in Alabama is always hot, and this weekend was no exception. How all the cosplayers managed it in so many layers when outside the cooler confines of the hotel, I have no idea, but let me tell you, they were there and just as magnificent as always. Sadly, I'm kind of a chicken when it comes to asking folks for photos, and my camera gave up the ghost after overheating sometime last spring. So the only photo I have is the kinda sad set up shot above, which is the best my phone camera can muster.

Opening ceremonies was as fun and entertaining as ever. The guests were great this year and all seemed kind and charming. Unfortunately, thanks to it still being the middle of summer semester for Chris' students and his taking over the school's website and social media maintenance for the upcoming year, he was busy with grading and communicating with parents most of the weekend. So as much as both of us would have liked to take turns attending what we heard were wonderful panels, we really only got to see and hear as much as went on in the dealer's room.

We did get the chance to catch up with friends we haven't gotten to see in a long while and meet a bunch of new folks. We got a kick out of seeing all the beautiful cosplays as well as seeing Dalek Braun and R2-D2 rolling around the lobby.

There were a couple of disappointed mentions of lotions missing from our table this year. We've discontinued those and the guest sets from our usual line up. Unfortunately, the smallest possible batch of lotion makes four bottles, and the majority of the time only one or two would sell within the ten months before they became too close to their expiration dates to sell. If someone wants to order a minimum of two or three bottles, I can make a custom order for them, but otherwise the lotions just seem wasteful.

Also, discontinuing the lotions and guest sets has allowed us to keep more fragrances this year than we would have been able otherwise. My inventory closet is just a teeny tiny linen closet, so space is at a premium. The trim down freed up an entire shelf for new fragrances, meaning only one old scent had to be discontinued this year and room is still left for seasonal items and next year's line.

There is one thing I love about the new Westin location. The tables are large and sturdy, and the tablecloths provided are amazing. They don't slide around on the tables, and they provide enough friction to keep stuff from wobbling. We missed being as near the action as we were last year, but the new dealer's room was large enough that they could scoot the tables farther away from the wall than we've ever been able to before. Between that and having a parred down selection, it was a lot easier to manage the busiest times because Chris and I could slide by one another without tripping over chairs and open the cash box without knocking a shelf over.

All in all, Con Kasterborous 2015 was yet another good year, and we're looking forward to going back June 25 and 26 next year.

Fragrance Introduction: Summer Reading

Today's fragrance is the last one for 2015, and it was inspired by the notion of reading on the beach during a summer vacation.

Summer Reading Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The soaps are goat milk and glycerin, and you'll find some of the things you might see at the beach in the design: sea shells, tropical flowers, the sun, glistening sand, and clear blue sky. The fragrance is a fresh and welcoming blend of sea spray, coconut, old books, orange, hyacinth, heather, and leafy greens.

This is another design which may be subject to change. My insert molds turned out to be a good deal bigger than expected and curved, so bubbling was more of a problem than anticipated. It just plain didn't come out the way I'd envisioned, and you know me, I can't leave anything alone until I've gotten it down.

Fragrance Introduction: Magic Time

Here we have the last of the Doctor Who inspired fragrances for now. Magic Time was inspired by Peter Capaldi's current version of The Doctor.

Magic Time Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The soaps are goat milk and glycerin patterned to resemble the 12th Doctor's outfit, which he refers to as "looking like a magician." The fragrance is a warm blend of marine, ozone, juniper, sage, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, fresh cut grass, orange blossoms, citrus, French lavender, and musk.

Fragrance Introduction: "No More!"

Now we're on to the incarnation of The Doctor who refused the name. Inspired by John Hurt's "War Doctor," No More is a deep but still fresh blend of sea spray, cedar wood, sandalwood, leather, amber, cashmere musk, rose, tobacco blossom, caramel, mandarin, honey, grape, peach, and plum.

"No More!" Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The soaps are made of goat milk and glycerin. The design is comprised of two marbled sections: black and gray to represent the worn leather jacket and burgundy and cream for the scarf he wears. These sections are separated by an abstract bandolier, a stark contrast that separates the War Doctor from his other twelve incarnations.

This separation is also marked by substituting sea spray for the marine and ozone that ties all the other Doctor fragrances together. It's similar, but also notedly different. And, of course, I had to include a heart note of rose considering Bad Wolf's role in his story.

Fragrance Introduction: The Clown

Today we're moving on to the last of the Classic Doctor Who inspired fragrances, The Clown, inspired by Patrick Troughton's turn as the second incarnation of The Doctor.

The Clown Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The name comes from the first incarnation's comment toward the second in The Three Doctors. "So you're my replacements; a dandy and a clown?" The soaps are made up of both goat milk and glycerin soap in black and baby blue since Troughton was the first Doctor to make the transition to color. And as he was also the first incarnation to rock a bow tie, I had to carry over the motif amidst the swirls of black and blue.

The fragrance is a light and slightly fruity blend of marine, ozone, blueberry, Indonesian teakwood, falling leaves, citrus, patchouli, amber, bergamot, and white tea.

Fragrance Introduction: Doc Foreman

Those of you who have known about Contented Comfort for any length of time have probably come to expect these next few fragrance introductions. For the past three years, I've been working my way through the various incarnations of The Doctor from Doctor Who, and 2015 will bring this tradition to a close until the end of Capaldi's era.

Doc Foreman Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

Doc Foreman was inspired by William Hartnell's iconic turn as the original version of The Doctor. The name comes from his first human companions, Ian and Barbara's, confusion regarding his name after finding the TARDIS in Foreman's Junkyard. The design was inspired by the opening graphics of the day as well as this first incarnation's rather uptight nature.

Fragrance Introduction: Shinigami

Inspired by the "gods of death" from the anime series, Death Note, Shinigami manages to be both fruity and earthy.

Shinigami Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The design is an apple the Shinigami are so obsessed with surrounded by swirls of smoky black, electric blue, and white. The fragrance is a blend of fresh apple, blackberry, sage, tea, cedar wood, sandalwood, leather, amber, dirt, moss, and cashmere musk.

Fragrance Introduction: Amazon D

Today's fragrance was inspired by the famous Amazonian, Diana, otherwise known as Wonder Woman. This deep, complicated, and feminine scent is a blend of lily of the valley, strawberries, grapefruit, orange blossom, citrus, lavender, white sandalwood, cedar wood, patchouli, frankincense, rosemary, and musk.

Amazon D Goat Milk and Glycerin Soap

The soaps are largely glycerin with a couple of goat milk stars inserted into the blue. This was another experimental technique born out of attempts to use molds I already had on hand. I attempted to use an insert wedged into the mold and held in place by a thin layer of clear glycerin to separate the red and blue. Unfortunately, a slice long enough to suit this purpose will push up from the bottom of a silicone mold, and any even a millimeter too small allows color leak through. Additionally, my small star molds are rounded, which led to problems with small bubbles getting trapped in the rounded portion of the stars that couldn't be seen until the soaps were removed from the molds.

Fragrance Introduction: Through the Wardrobe

Today's fragrance is yet another request. It was for a scent honoring winter in Narnia.

Through the Wardrobe Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

A color pallet of cobalt and creamy white with golden flecks of sparkle entered my mind at the suggestion. The fragrance is a crisp, cool, and refreshing blend of white gardenia, evergreen, crackling firewood, and peppermint with just a hint of raspberry and vanilla.

I was afraid directly inserting the snowflake patterns into the goat milk would hide or distort them, so I experimented with using a thin top layer of clear glycerin. Unfortunately, displacement thickened the glycerin layer enough to create a seam between the insert's backing and the rest of the goat milk soap. I did insert one directly into a bar of extra goat milk soap to see if they turned out differently. That one, though undersized, turned out to be my favorite. The snowflake showed up almost perfectly, and there wasn't much of a seam between the insert and the rest of the bar at all. So, there will likely be a slight adjustment to the design next go around.

Fragrance Introduction: Solid Luck

Thanks to a month where one or the other of us were sick with one thing after another, I'm a lot later getting started producing the new line of fragrances this year. But now that I'm back in the grove, I'm working like mad to have them all ready to debut at Con Kasterborous here in a couple of weeks.

Solid Luck Glycerin Soaps

Today's fragrance is another request. I was asked to create something in honor of the Felix Felicis potion from the Harry Potter series. Solid Luck is the result.

The soaps are all glycerin and colored with a sparkling gold mica powder, so it looks like the Felix Felicis potion in solid form. The scent is a light and crisp blend of ginger, lime, basil, fresh greens, bergamot, and white tea.

Finding Balance Yet Again

There's been a lot of chatter in women's blogs and magazines about establishing a work/life balance over the past several years. Funny how most of those articles and discussions make it seem like something you set up and that just keeps on going on its own. Yet it always seems I'm having to take stock of what's going on in our lives and striving to find a way to "balance" it out every few months. Am I alone in this?

We've come a long way since 2012!

Perhaps it's simply a matter of the type of jobs Hubby and I have. Upheaval's to be expected for a teacher without tenure, owning a small business, and a failed attempt at career change. Somehow I doubt that's it though. Even when Hubby stuck with the same school for several years in a row and I was simply staying home and schooling our then preschoolers, this was going on.

Annual Christmas Sale

If you missed the annual Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale, don't feel bad. There are still some great deals to be found in my annual Christmas sale.

Set up for the open house Friday.

Yes, the discounts might not be as high on some items, but everything in the store is still anywhere from 10-75% off now through December 12. I always end the sale on that date to ensure everyone who orders receives their packages before the holiday.

Fragrance Introduction: Eclectic and Intuitive

I don't normally introduce new fragrances this time of year, but I'm going to make an exception for these two. Once again, I've had the wonderful opportunity of working with an author to create fragrances and soaps inspired by their characters. In this instance, two characters from Ellie Collin's upcoming Empire Valley series.

First up is Intuitive, a light, fresh, and slightly sweet blend of abalone, sea, coffee, coconut, lavender, and chocolate. It was inspired by the main protagonist, Sophia.

Intuitive Glycerin Soaps

Fall Show Review

These past couple of weeks have been busy ones. The last two-thirds of our fall show season happened back-to-back, so there wasn't time really to comment on each of them in turn.

First we had Rocket City NerdCon in Huntsville on October 24-25. It was a first year event, so we weren't sure what exactly to expect. However, we thought chances were good it might be a fairly laid back affair, so we decided it would be a good convention to be the girls' first.

The girls were proud of their homemade costumes.

Both girls wanted to cosplay, especially since it was the week before Halloween. I, of course, waited far too long to get started on their costumes. I'd never made a full costume before, let alone two, so I was probably procrastinating out of subconscious fear. Anyway, with two full days of intensive sewing, their Batgirl and Supergirl costumes got done about 9:30 Thursday night.

Friday was eventful and interesting because neither Hubby nor I were able to get the day off work, and the convention started just half an hour after I usually get off work. Thankfully, the Huntsville City Library is just a block or so from the station and basically across the road from where Hubby works. We got set up just in time to catch our breath before attendees started coming in.

Saturday was also a learning experience. As I said before, we'd never carried our girls to a convention before, so we ended up overestimating how engaged they would be by it all. Although they liked seeing the costumes and looking at everything, they got bored fairly quickly. It probably didn't help that between the excitement of spending the night at Granny D's and knowing they were going to get to go somewhere special the next day, neither girl slept much the night before. So, we had two sleepy girls on our hands well before lunch.

Still, we all enjoyed the show overall, and it went well for a first year event.

This past weekend was our third year at Hilltop Arts Festival.

A cold front came through the night before, so it was bitterly cold and windy early Saturday morning when we were setting up. Still, the girls had gotten a good night's sleep, or so I thought, and I'd gotten everyone hats and gloves the night before. So, we thought nothing of taking the girls with us.

We got there and began setting up. The girls ran up and down a small hill behind where we were setting up our tent to keep warm and busy. Hubby and I got the tent up with a lot less fuss than the year before, which considering we only use the thing once a year, is pretty good. We probably should have taken it as a sign to just take it back down when it tried to blow away three times in the process of trying to get it weighted down.

Anyway, we got the tent set up, and I was setting up the tables when the girls really started complaining about being cold. So Hubby took them home to get some blankets while I finished setting up the tables. I was done and had made a partial round to see the other venders when they returned. They got cuddled up under their blankets, and things seemed fine for a bit until the wind started picking up as the air warmed a few degrees. It was strong enough that Hubby and I were still obliged to hold onto the tent, even with center blocks weighting the tent down. This frightened Boo Bear so badly, she began crying in a panic.

Eventually we ended up calling Granny D to come get the girls, and then Hubby and I took the tent down once the wind died down enough for us to attempt it. That made things feel a tad warmer with access to direct sun, and we didn't have to sprint to grab the tent every few minutes.

Like NerdCon the week before, business was slow but steady throughout the day. We heard some great music, ate some good food, and met some very nice people.

I'm not entirely sure if we will be vending at Hilltop again next year, but I'm sure we'll go. It has nothing to do with the show itself. It's a wonderful event. But, the weather seems to be getting colder earlier each year these past three or four years, and other festivals in the area make moving the event date impractical.

I discovered Saturday night and in through Sunday evening, that I can't handle being in the cold for that long. A soak in hot water and some "Ow, My Aching Everything," relieved much of the aches and pains from the day, but the bones themselves in my hips, legs, and feet ached throughout the night. And those are areas I usually don't feel RA related pain!

Of course, this may change with continued treatment. It's possible my rheumatoid disease isn't as in remission as I thought, and it's just going to take longer adhering to the anti-inflammatory diet, exercise, and judicious use of medicines when needed to heal. I don't want to make any firm decisions until I know more.

Product Introduction: Ow, My Aching Everything!

A couple weeks ago, I talked about the process of formulating this newest item. The formula was finalized Monday evening, and I'm currently working on getting the first dozen or so jars listed in the store or delivered to U. G. White Mercantile in Athens.

Ow, My Aching Everything Therapeutic Ointment

I have to list all the ingredients by their scientific names on the back label, so I thought I would break them down by their more recognizable names here. The active ingredients include castor oil, rose hip seed oil, lemongrass oil, cinnamon leaf oil, clove oil, eucalyptus oil, wintergreen oil, and rosemary oil. Coconut oil is used as a carrier and adds a moisturizing element to the ointment.

Upcoming Products: Formulating a Therapeutic Ointment

Back in late August and early September I had yet another flair up of carpal tunnel and what I now know to be the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis. I tried the usual over-the-counter creams and found them lacking. They helped, sure, but they burned, produced an exceedingly weird "cold burn" sensation, and left the skin feeling dried out and sticky.

Virtually all of them used menthol or capsasin as their active ingredients. Menthol is an anti-inflammatory agent found in members of the mint family such as wintergreen, spearmint, eucalyptus, and peppermint just to name a few. Capsasin is found in peppers and more of less just overrides the pain by producing a burning sensation. Knowing this, I decided to try and make a better anti-inflammatory cream.

Hubby demonstrating the texture of our lotion formula once we'd perfected it.

I studied up on different essential oils. I found several which are known to be powerful anti-inflammatories and then began experimenting with them. The first attempt worked, but the smell was like someone doused you in lemon Pledge. Plus the ointment left a greasy film behind, which I wasn't happy with either. Still, after three days of applying the ointment three times a day, my hands were back to their normal size and functionality. Since then, that first batch proved effective at relieving strained muscles, inflamed tendons, tension headaches, migraine, and dampening sinus pain long enough for decongestants to kick in.

Fall Season Kickoff: The Geek Gathering

Our fall event season got started this past weekend with The Geek Gathering in Sheffield, Alabama.

All in all, it was a good convention. Turnout was high, and the costumes were amazing. They had some good guests, especially considering they are a young convention. Oh, and Hubby finally got his picture taken with the TARDIS. There were so many other photos we wanted to take, but idiot me forgot to pack the camera.

Hubby posed with the TARDIS and baby Adipose.

Upcoming Interview - The Will Anderson Show

I will be joining local talk show host, Will Anderson on air during his show on Wednesday, July 23. The show airs on WTKI and WEKI weekdays from 4 to 6 p.m. central standard time.

We will be discussing my debut novel, Right of Succession.

Working Behind the Scenes

I know it looks like nothing has been going on since Con Kasterborous the last weekend in June, but there has been a lot happening "behind the scenes" so to speak.

Hubby and I both came down with con crud, and both girls had a bad case of hay fever that weekend. So the whole first week of July, we were all miserable. I'm thankful Hubby and the girls are back to feeling at 100%. I've had a cough and sinus issues that refuse to go away, and I woke up on July 4th almost completely deaf in one ear. Because of this, I have avoided any and all crafting, but that doesn't mean I've been idle.

My booth at last year's Homespun.

Fragrance Introductions: The Physicist and Master Detective

Calling fans of Stephanie Osborne's Displaced Detective series. Here are two fragrances inspired by Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Skye Chadwick-Holmes requested and licensed by the author.

Master Detective Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

First up is Master Detective, a complex and spicy blend of tobacco blossom, caramel, honey, mandarin, rose, black amber, clove, nutmeg, musk, coffee, cinnamon, and evergreen. The soaps are largely glycerin with a swirl of goat milk.

The Physicist Goat Milk Soaps

Next we have The Physicist, a green and warm blend of oakmoss, sandalwood, tonka bean, cedar wood, lemon, petitgrain, black amber, clove, nutmeg, musk, fresh cut grass, and evergreen.