Wow! In the last month, I’ve had so many emails and messages about my centaur costume.
Thanks to all my friends on WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter, word has spread about my centaur costume. I appreciate the complements and questions. I love to talk about projects I’ve worked on, especially the process, so I am delighted that so many people want to use my design and instructions to make their own.
Imitation is the best form of flattery.
There are other centaur costumes online, and some rather scanty or incomplete tutorials, but I am very flattered that people are choosing mine because they say it is the most detailed or even, the most practical or best looking design.
I will say this, mine is doable, especially for novices. After all, I was no master builder or seamstress when I made it–still not. But I learned as I went, and I am so happy to share with you all the steps, tips, and tricks necessary to complete your own project.
While I am happy to give one-on-one advice via email, I know this may not be enough help for those of you who would like pictures and the step by step process of making the harness and assembling the final touches, so I will get part 3 out this week. That means I will dig my costume and all its parts out of my closet and take pictures during the assembly project.
If you haven’t read part 1 and 2, they can be found on my blog.
If you are making your own, please send me pictures. Let me know if the tutorial helped, or even where you deviated from my design.
My sister and I were in our first film together (Aunteler). I’m not sure when the release date is, but I encourage you to see it. A lot of good talent in this one. It was an honor to work with the director, crew, and other actors. Catch the teaser trailer 
We filmed out in the middle of nowhere (literally the town is so small it’s considered a village). It was fun filming in the cabin in the woods. This was a great cast to work with: a combination of seasoned actors and fresh faces. Our director was a lot of fun to work with as well. He got down in the dirt, played a dead body, and flung blood on the actors. He’s really not afraid to dive in. I don’t want to give anything away–I’m really not supposed to. It should be available on iTunes, DVD, and Netflix in 2018. Keep following me for updates. In the meantime, please enjoy these pictures from production. Just some behind-the-scenes footage so you can see how awesome everyone looked. First pic is an actor with Director. The others are of the bandits. Feel free to like and follow on facebook.
So now for the big one: Cersei Lannister. From the get-go people hated her. As with all morally grey characters, she isn’t without her reasons and her redeeming qualities. She is introduced as a woman who loved a husband who would never love her back because of a fierce and stubborn hangup for an old flame. How frustrating is that. She loved her brother because he was the only one she felt she had a place with. She hated Tyrion because her mother died. She lies, conspires, and manipulates to keep her children’s secrets unknown and their butts on the thrown. Little finger schemes only for himself and people LOVE him? People think she is power hungry, but she only took the thrown after her youngest son fell to his death. She would have never killed him to have the thrown. Even though he was soft, weak, and unfit to rule, she still supported him. It wasn’t until after she’d lost all of her children that she assumed the throne, and even now, her motivation is to use that power to avenge her children’s deaths from the Tyrels, the Martels, and the Starks.
One of my favorite characters is Rollo. He is the brother of Ragnar. During the show he constantly alternates between fighting with or against his brother. Basically what other fans see is a villain. I see a man who is tired of living in his brother’s shadow who is struggling to find out what his own destiny is. Some of the fan hate is legit and brought on by Rollo’s relationship with women. Relationship being a generous word. He worships his brother’s wife, but treats women badly, especially Sigi who does what she can to support him and his ambitions. He realizes he treated her badly when she dies and tries to drink himself to death. After this eye opening experience, he meets Gisla and we see a reformed Rollo. He changes his clothes, cuts his hair, denounces his faith, and removes his warrior arm band to gain her acceptance.
You’d think the backstabbing, woman-abusing killer would be the most hated character on the show. You’d be wrong. Aslaug, Ragnar’s second wife is the most despised character to date. Why is this? I see Aslaug as the discount Cersei of Vikings. Basically, he met her on his journeys and gets her pregnant. All she wants it for him to take responsibility and help care for her child. His current wife becomes outraged (rightfully so) and leaves. He stays married to Aslaug for some time before they eventually become distant. It is clear he still loves his former wife and blames Aslaug for her leaving. Their marriage really falls apart after the birth of their son Ivar. Ragnar wants to leave him in the wilderness to die, but Aslaug wants to take care of him regardless of his deformity. Feeling unloved and betrayed, she does end up having an affair with another man. She doesn’t start scheming against her husband until he starts proving that he might be an incompetent King. His friendship with a priest makes not only Aslaug question his faith in the Norse gods and his loyalty. She doesn’t actually assume the throne until he dies. She doesn’t try to kill him. She literally waits until he is killed. Ragnar even apologizes to her before the end for the way he treated her. So, if the main character admits he’s wrong, why do fans hate her?
Lastly, I’d like to talk about Porunn. She was introduced in season two or three as a love interest for Bjorn. I appreciated that she had an arc outside of him. She was a slave who was freed by Aslaug (you know, evil Aslaug) and wanted to become a viking. Fans hated her. They blamed her for Bjorn not being in plot. She’s been gone for two seasons and he’s yet to really rejoin plot. That is the problem of the writers, not a character. I really welcomed Poroun as a character. There wasn’t a lot of women representation at the time, and none from the slave class. I thought she offered an interesting perspective. Also, it was good conflict to have her fighting alongside Bjorn. She was inexperienced and hasty to become a warrior, which resulted in her becoming maimed in battle. Now when I say maimed, they gave her some cool face scars. But the character fell into depression because she viewed them as a mark of shame. She was so depressed she even pushed her husband, Bjorn, away and struggled to love her daughter. That last sentence is why they really hated her. What kind of mother abandons her daughter? Why is she so whiney? Sound familiar? Sounds like she might have had depression and post par-tum. Again, this was great conflict for the character and for Bjorn. I think it was interesting having a character struggle with her relationships, especially with a child. There are many women who struggle with or without depression, and like this character, they are demonized. I thought Porunn offered a lot of refreshing perspective and conflict that they lost when they wrote her off.
Ok, I put it off. Let’s tackle Lori. Ok, while I don’t love Lori, I don’t hate her for the reasons other fans do. She was created to be the voice of reason for Rick who struggles to maintain his humanity and ideals in a apocalyptic world. Sadly, the fans hated her by episode one, despite the fact that she … hadn’t really done anything despicable. She wasn’t technically having an affair. The set up showed that their marriage was suffering, so it makes since that after she thought he died, she would move on. That’s her right. Women get to have relationships after their husbands die. While audiences had context that he was alive, they forget she does not have this context. She ends the affair with Shane after finding out her husband is alive. It’s Shane that tries to keep it going. The result: a tired love triangle that carries on long past it’s expiration date.
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Write of Passage 