|
 |
|
|
|
|
About Lisa
|
|
|
|
Lisa grew up in Northern California to a family strong in their belief in God and Southern traditions. From birth, she suffered through several prevalent childhood illnesses which compromised her immune system and made her unable to play outside with other children for fear she would contract another illness. So, how do you keep a young pre-school child occupied while kept indoors without a playmate? For Lisa, the answer was seemingly easy. She was given some scrap material, a needle, a spool of thread, a pair of scissors and some basic instructions on how to sew and away she went. By the time Lisa was in 5th Grade, she was creating patterns out of the Sunday funny papers and making her own clothes. By 7th Grade, Lisa surprised her sewing teacher when she constructed a fully-tailored double-breasted jacket with tailored buttonholes. 9th grade brought an interest in making jewelry in addition to an interest in theatrical costuming.
In 1995, Lisa began taking an interest in attending Renaissance Faires … going because she simply enjoyed the ambiance. In 1999, Lisa decided she wanted to attend Faire in full costume and began her seven (7) year costume building project as is depicted in the photographs contained throughout this website. In 2002, Lisa temporarily halted work on her Renaissance costume in order to build fourteen (14) “Munchkin” costumes for a Tokay High School “Wizard of Oz” theatrical play. During 2004, she was requested to take on a restoration project consisting of a well-loved antique patchwork quilt containing the hand-embroidered date of 1906-1919. In 2006, Lisa completed an Italian costume for her daughter and a costume similar to her own for her husband.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Periodically, you can find Lisa with paint-brush in hand painting walls or happily in a pile of silk flowers making some beautiful floral arrangement. And … although she has put away her toolbox, and no longer races ¼-mile, Lisa still gets a thrill from attending NHRA events and still loves to check out any available hot-rod or OCC style Harley. Oh, and yes, Lisa is able to build her own hot-rod engine.
Needless to say, Lisa is rather diversified … to put it mildly. I think you can safely say, whenever Lisa becomes interested in something, she doesn't know how to do anything half-hearted. It is always ... all or nothing from beginning to end.
|
|
|
|
About the seven (7) year project. Lisa's dress was inspired by re-occurring dreams of a different time. Her motivation … to honour her deceased parents. According to family genealogy research, Lisa's mother was a descendant of Mary, Queen of Scots and her father, from the Imperial House of Austria. Hence, Lisa's Renaissance Faire character / persona: Elezabeth of Austria ... and the dress, fit for Royalty. The dress is technically not a costume, it is a reproduction gown.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighing nearly 50#’s, it consists of 4 individual skirts and 3 top pieces all worn together at the same time. The gown was created from multiple yards of high-grade black velvet, elaborate ribbon, fine lace, white silk, olive-green taffeta, ornate tapestry and embellished with thousands of hand-sewn 24kt gold seed beads, various sizes of pearls, red glass seed beads, and hand-embroidered gold-metal thread leaves, and green silk-thread scrolls. Most of the embellishments were completed while she sat content at "front of house", "monitor world" or on the Tour bus with her "toy-box" all the while her husband, "the Audio Butler", worked at various concerts doing sound engineering for well- known bands. But ... that is another story.
|
|
|
|
From the intricate details of her crafts or sewing projects, to the way she decorates her home or organizes her office. Lisa is a detail fanatic. Her spice rack is alphabetized, as are her 600 + videos, she keeps her clothes organized by style/color and gives everything around her a place and manages to keep things in their place. Everyone knows, anything to do with Lisa means it's "All About the Details" ... no matter how big or how small.
|
|
|
|
|
|
