A Magician's Cloak

[Altair]

So my Xmas gift to myself arrived: meet Sid, my new black leather motorcycle jacket.


 
The special thing about Sid (as in “natal sidereal”) is the star chart emblazoned on the back, which is what you would have seen if you looked up at the exact moment when and where I was born.



(NOTE: I don’t know what the weather was then, so it might have been cloudy…and there was a full moon that night, so it might have washed out some of the stars…and since I was born only an hour or so before dawn, the sky would just have started lightening…but still.)
 
I’ve wanted to get this made since 1986, when I misinterpreted a line from the Paul Simon song “Under African Skies” as “his [back] was marked by the stars of the southern hemisphere”…and I thought, “Cool! I want my back marked on a leather jacket with the summer stars of the northern hemisphere,” to remind me of my favorite season in the chilly months when summer seems far away.


 
When I recently learned (described here) that the same star field rides the sky in the pre-dawn hours of early spring (when I was born) as in the prime of night in high summer, I knew it was time to make the jacket happen; 30 years’ deferred gratification was enough. I shipped my Schott Perfecto, along with star chart reference, off to California artist Jerri Bergen, whose VictoryGirl.com specializes in putting artwork on leather jackets, and she did a magnificent job with a difficult task, as this is not her usual type of artwork, and I was adamant about accuracy down to the fine details. Not cheap!--but true artistry rarely is, nor should it be.
 
I like to think of this as a modern interpretation of a sorcerer’s cloak; never mind that I have very little relationship to magic. When I put this on, I feel like I’m momentarily assuming a special place in the universe. The single rhinestone I added at one particular star (guess which one!) says where.

[Uneryx]

So my Xmas gift to myself arrived: meet Sid, my new black leather motorcycle jacket.


 
The special thing about Sid (as in “natal sidereal”) is the star chart emblazoned on the back, which is what you would have seen if you looked up at the exact moment when and where I was born.



(NOTE: I don’t know what the weather was then, so it might have been cloudy…and there was a full moon that night, so it might have washed out some of the stars…and since I was born only an hour or so before dawn, the sky would just have started lightening…but still.)
 
I’ve wanted to get this made since 1986, when I misinterpreted a line from the Paul Simon song “Under African Skies” as “his [back] was marked by the stars of the southern hemisphere”…and I thought, “Cool! I want my back marked on a leather jacket with the summer stars of the northern hemisphere,” to remind me of my favorite season in the chilly months when summer seems far away.


 
When I recently learned (described here) that the same star field rides the sky in the pre-dawn hours of early spring (when I was born) as in the prime of night in high summer, I knew it was time to make the jacket happen; 30 years’ deferred gratification was enough. I shipped my Schott Perfecto, along with star chart reference, off to California artist Jerri Bergen, whose VictoryGirl.com specializes in putting artwork on leather jackets, and she did a magnificent job with a difficult task, as this is not her usual type of artwork, and I was adamant about accuracy down to the fine details. Not cheap!--but true artistry rarely is, nor should it be.
 
I like to think of this as a modern interpretation of a sorcerer’s cloak; never mind that I have very little relationship to magic. When I put this on, I feel like I’m momentarily assuming a special place in the universe. The single rhinestone I added at one particular star (guess which one!) says where.

Badass! What a cool and special thing to get yourself.

[MadZealot]

meet Sid

Holy shit, dude. Wow.

That's one badassed magician's cloak.

The detail work reminds me of your book cover.

[ehbowen]

So my Xmas gift to myself arrived: meet Sid, my new black leather motorcycle jacket.


 
The special thing about Sid (as in “natal sidereal”) is the star chart emblazoned on the back, which is what you would have seen if you looked up at the exact moment when and where I was born.

I am impressed. Congratulations!

[SunflowerP]

I like to think of this as a modern interpretation of a sorcerer’s cloak; never mind that I have very little relationship to magic. When I put this on, I feel like I’m momentarily assuming a special place in the universe. The single rhinestone I added at one particular star (guess which one!) says where.

<puts on a mock-solemn face>I would never have guessed which star you'd single out.<cannot sustain mock-solemn; collapses in giggles>

Seriously, that's gorgeous, and so very you. And the slightly-but-distinctly altered state (Altaired state ?) induced when you put it on strikes me as magical by the definition I use, and the kind of magic that, IMO, you'd have the most affinity with, that of causing change in the self in accordance with your Will. A magician's cloak indeed!

Sunflower

[Jenett]

So my Xmas gift to myself arrived: meet Sid, my new black leather motorcycle jacket.

Oh, that's awesome. Including the name.

(And this has me thinking of variants for the Celestarium shawl that I'm knitting, now, if I ever manage to finish it and want to knit another one.)

[Sefiru]

So my Xmas gift to myself arrived: meet Sid, my new black leather motorcycle jacket.

With this and your swords, you're like a real-life Blade ... only cooler.

[Altair]

With this and your swords, you're like a real-life Blade ... only cooler.

Don't encourage me!

[Altair]

Seriously, that's gorgeous, and so very you. And the slightly-but-distinctly altered state (Altaired state ?) induced when you put it on strikes me as magical by the definition I use, and the kind of magic that, IMO, you'd have the most affinity with, that of causing change in the self in accordance with your Will. A magician's cloak indeed!

You have an uncanny ability to zero in on how things work for me--often before I've consciously done so myself!

[Altair]

Celestarium shawl

I'm officially intrigued. What's a Celestarium shawl? Can you describe it? Or better yet, share pictures?

[Jenett]

I'm officially intrigued. What's a Celestarium shawl? Can you describe it? Or better yet, share pictures?

It's a knitting pattern designed by Audry Nicklin (here's the pattern page on Ravelry, and I think you should be able to click through to other people's projects even if you don't have a Ravelry account) that maps the constellations of the northern hemisphere onto a circular shawl - the original pattern has beads for the stars and also yarnovers, a kind of stitch that makes a little hole in the fabric. A lot of people (me included) have done just one or the other - I'm just doing beads, with three sizes to represent the magnitudes by range (so very bright stars have bigger beads, less bright stars have smaller beads.)

I'm only about a third of the way through, so photos are not very easy (or interesting) yet, but I'm planning on putting in some quality time with it next week and over the holidays. (The way I have it set up, knitting it requires a spreadsheet open on my computer, and a sturdy place to put a box of beads.

She's also done patterns for the southern hemisphere and around the equator, for people who want those.

Mine is being done in a sort of twilight blue silk yarn, with a lighter blue for the edging, sort of like the edging of the sun going down over the horizon at sunset. (I was sort of hoping for darker blue yarn when I went shopping for it, but I really love what I'm using, and it's glorious to knit with.) 

[Altair]

It's a knitting pattern designed by Audry Nicklin (here's the pattern page on Ravelry, and I think you should be able to click through to other people's projects even if you don't have a Ravelry account) that maps the constellations of the northern hemisphere onto a circular shawl - the original pattern has beads for the stars and also yarnovers, a kind of stitch that makes a little hole in the fabric. A lot of people (me included) have done just one or the other - I'm just doing beads, with three sizes to represent the magnitudes by range (so very bright stars have bigger beads, less bright stars have smaller beads.)

I'm only about a third of the way through, so photos are not very easy (or interesting) yet, but I'm planning on putting in some quality time with it next week and over the holidays. (The way I have it set up, knitting it requires a spreadsheet open on my computer, and a sturdy place to put a box of beads.

She's also done patterns for the southern hemisphere and around the equator, for people who want those.

Mine is being done in a sort of twilight blue silk yarn, with a lighter blue for the edging, sort of like the edging of the sun going down over the horizon at sunset. (I was sort of hoping for darker blue yarn when I went shopping for it, but I really love what I'm using, and it's glorious to knit with.)

This sounds absolutely glorious! Photos, please, when it's done.

[Emma Eldritch]

So my Xmas gift to myself arrived: meet Sid, my new black leather motorcycle jacket.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! That is badASS! I love it!

[SunflowerP]

It's a knitting pattern designed by Audry Nicklin (here's the pattern page on Ravelry, and I think you should be able to click through to other people's projects even if you don't have a Ravelry account) that maps the constellations of the northern hemisphere onto a circular shawl

<lusts> <adds to favorites> A little more incentive for me to actually do my learn-to-knitting.

I'll note that I did have to sign in to Ravelry to see it.

Sunflower

[Altair]

I'll note that I did have to sign in to Ravelry to see it.

Yeah, I didn't sign in to Ravelry, and so I couldn't see it. I was going by Jenett's description...which is salivatory. (I just made that word up. As in: worthy of drool)