A few updates for the bicycle!

A few changes to show on the bicycle since last time... (And better photos than usual because my brother lent me his fancy DSLR rather than my usual iphone method!)

To begin with here is a picture of the chain fitted onto the bicycle- making it rather more of a bicycle than it was previously!

Here is a picture of the new gorgeous delta cruiser tyres fitted on. I love the cream so much better than the black tires.

There is also a lightweight rack now fitted onto the bicycle which will hopefully one day be able to ferry around picnics whilst I go on rides. (In my wishful thinking at least!) I am still super happy about the brooks saddle! Looks so stunning on.

Here is a closeup of where my dad has tied the cables- looking a lot neater than when it was tied up with rags the other day. Just look at that gorgeous yellow!

Here is a photo of the whole thing- as it is looking so far! Kickstand can be seen to be doing a lovely job...

One last photo for luck! Showing off those gorgeous tyres and saddle!

We managed to find a chainguard on ebay, so here's hoping that it will arrive and fit nicely! It will then need to be sprayed yellow to match with the rest of the bicycle.

So another stage along here, my dad has some ideas in terms of making some hand grips- as the brooks ones at 50 odd pounds was rather too much.

We will see how they go.

Until next time!

Wheels, pedals and more!

Quite a bit to share in this post!

First off, as promised quite a while ago here is a photo of the gorgeous brooks saddle I bought- even fixed onto the bicycle now! I love the way that the brown looks against that bright mustard yellow.

You can also see that the white lyotard pedals that I bought specially have now been fixed on! I am happy that they look as good compared to the yellow as I thought they would.

One of the most difficult parts to find for the bicycle has now also been located- that being the wheels! They were harvested off another bicycle that my father bought for parts.

Initially we were not sure whether they would work well as the final wheels for the bicycle- as we were not sure how deep the rust on the wheels was- luckily expect for a couple of parts it was only surface rust and dirt that cleaned off with a bit of polish/ a old toothbrush and wire wool- as I can be seen doing here.

Although having polarised lenses is great, I have to say that I could not always tell the difference between where I had cleaned or not- which meant some areas got multiple cleaning sessions! Probably not a bad thing however.

Above is a lovely photo of the whole bicycle. Since this photo was taken my dad also has fixed on the chain and put new longer brake cables on. There is also now a kickstand- So it can stand without having to be leaned on a table! There is also now a rack fitted onto the back of the bicycle. (Will try share a photo soon)

Feels like the bicycle is a lot closer than it was- good thing as the weather is starting to have some sunny warm spells!

I have also just purchased a set of Schwalbe Delta Cruiser tyres in cream- as they look stunning on just about every bicycle I have seen them on. I also always wanted either cream or brown tyres and cream was easier to find. As can be seen in the picture above black doesn't look quite right with the yellow of the bike and brown of the saddle.

Need to get hold of some nice handlebar grips now! And still looking for a chainguard that fits...

Looking pretty darn good though!

MCM Expo October! (And weekend in London)

Just wanted to share a picture of the finished and put together cosplay that I mentioned back in this post!

Here is my boyfriend and I in cosplay as Marshall Lee and Fionna! I painted the makeup and styled the wig for Marshall Lee- Along with the fun task of attaching and painting ears early in the morning...

I also styled the yellow wig that I can be seen wearing and made the Fionna hat from cream fleece! (It is surprisingly warm.

Here is my beloved Hambo looking delightfully matchy with the bedding in the hotel where we stayed. I also whipped up a little felt Cake (A cat character in Adventure Time) to attach to my shirt.

We had a great time in London, the MCM Expo was lots of fun!

As we stayed for the weekend I also got to do a couple of very enjoyable London activities! I went to my first arcade... Managed to buy a couple of lollipops with my tickets hehe.

I also went to the London Aquarium for the first time in nearly ten years and went to the London zoo for the first time ever! I had a great time looking at all the animals.

Here are a couple of my favourite pictures from the Aquarium! I loved all the fish, such interesting patterns and colours. This little guy above had such a cool face. The turtles were cute as well.

We got some awesome pressed coins from the Aquarium as well, along with some cool sealife coins!

Will have to work out how to display them at some point! I also picked up some pressed coins at the zoo... Sadly I still don't have pictures of them.

Was an amazing weekend- have been missing the hotel since we left!

Primer time! And a bit of colour...

A lot quicker an update this time around...The bicycle has had more work done to it. It has now had the frame/ wheel guards etc primed! 

But that is not all for this time!

My father has been spraying the bicycle for me, and has even been able to get some colour on it! An extra impressive feat in winter when the spray gun doesn't necessarily want to get going.

The first coat is on and looking gorgeous. The colour we chose is RAL 1037 Sun Yellow, which seems to be the perfect warm and mustardy yellow that I wanted! Lucky when choosing a colour based on a picture online.

Here's another photo to show how gorgeous it looks close up! And it looks even better in person.

I also had the luck to find a barely used Brooks Honey B17 Saddle, with a tin of proofide for sale on Ebay and managed to get it for a great price so it has been a good week for the bicycle.

I will share a picture of the saddle when I have some better light to take a photo in!

Been a while... Couple of bicycle bits to show!

Hey guys, has been ages since the last update- life, Christmas and everything sort of butted in... But I have a few bits to share as to how the bicycle is doing.

First up, here are the brakes that we found on ebay- they look good as well as being fit for purpose so a win there!

These are my happiest find- surprisingly hard to find the right white pedals that I had in mind and these are in great looking condition even at I believe over 20 years old! They were from ebay! They are Lyotard pedals and were rather stressful to get, given that after purchasing them they were not sent out when scheduled to be, and we were then informed they had none in stock... And were offered black ones- which if I had wanted black would have been easy to find.Until finally they apparently found some and sent them out! It was a relief for the transaction to be over.

Sadly the wheel rims that we ordered from the same place were then also apparently out of stock so are still waiting to find some from elsewhere.

In the meantime my dad has ordered me some yellow paint and primer and is starting some more work on the bicycle- being lovely enough to go out and work on sanding it etc. in the cold! Here are some of the rusty spots on the bicycle after being treated and painted.

Still on the online hunt to find wheels, tyres, the right brooks saddle and a good basket!

Crafty Cosplay- It's Adventure Time!

 This post will be a bit of a diversion from the last few- nothing new has happened with my lovely bicycle aside from some parts arriving.

It is instead about one of my other interests- sewing. Geeky sewing to be precise.

My boyfriend and I are intending to cosplay Marshall Lee and Fionna from Adventure Time. And I wanted to make sure that we had something to hold in our hands!

Given that my skills are not really in woodworking, and I had no room in order to make a large prop I didn't want to make Marshall Lee's guitar...

Here is a clue as to what I made!

I was fairly confident after figuring out how to make a Fionna hat using a handy tutorial on DeviantArt and also making a tiny cake plush out of felt (Both of which I will share another time) that I could make this for my boyfriend.

 
 I decided to make the entirely adorable Hambo!

 Although so far only shown with Marceline in the Finn and Jake episodes, I felt that having a Hambo plush to carry around was too great an opportunity to pass up (And everybody has a beloved toy when they are younger, Marshall Lee surely included.)

Working with no pattern and just a couple of reference pictures did make my life tricky, given my lack of experience!

 Along with entirely sewing him by hand making me wish I had room to set up a sewing machine...

But he is now finished! And I am beyond proud heh. Yesterday I painted on his purple stain- see left hand side! Using fabric paint and a rough template I cut out.

His bandage on his leg was made by staining a thin regular blanket (brand new!) with chai tea- it smells pretty delicious.

His body is made of fleece and his patches of felt. Where it hopefully appears that his stuffing is coming out, it is in fact cream fleece that I stitched on and padded underneath to attempt to create the look without the potential mess and difficulty using actual stuffing would do.

Some how the body was one of the hardest parts to do, especially matching it in size with the head! At one point I had to rip his first body apart and re cut/ size it to make sure he looked more proportionate.


On his back I made sure to put his bum buttons! Even if not necessarily understanding their purpose...

In this picture you can also see photo bombing dog, my fabric paint and my sample fleece where I experimented with methods of application!

I'll end this post with a picture of his adorable smiling face. Such a cheerful dear despite having survived the apocalypse!

The Adventure Time Wiki has some great pictures of Hambo which I used as inspiration if you want to check out how Hambo is supposed to look! (Please don't judge mine too harshly heh.)

A couple of cool makeovers by some awesome bloggers...

One of the most impressive bicycle makeovers that I have seen was by a blogger who I have read for a few years.

The before and after look like completely different bikes- seriously unbelievable.

Check out the post here;

http://www.thedaintysquid.com/2012/07/bicycle-makeover.html

When I first read this post it gave me so much more confidence that if you can find the right frame shape you can make a bicycle look so amazing even if it doesn't look vintage or at all your style when you get it! Enough so that this post has been bookmarked on my computer since it was published- Great inspiration. 

Thanks so much for posting it Kaylah (The Dainty Squid)

I also found the D.I.Y. Bike makeover by A Beautiful Mess very inspiring back when it was posted nearly a year ago.

It is one of my most read blogs. (I may check it a couple of times a day just in case there is a new post!)

It really shows how a little bit of elbow grease, hard work and some new paint can reinvent a bicycle especially as many elements have stayed the same.

The post also has some great tips about supplies and methods to use for painting your own bicycle- some I am sure I will implement when it gets to it!

Please check out the post all about it here;
http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/09/how-to-paint-your-own-bike.html

If anyone knows any other great makeovers let me know! And if I find any more I will be sure to link them here or on my pinterest bicycle board.