Ah, viagra sale the carnival. For ages children and old folks alike have yearned to see a show that traditionally involves skilled artists stapling money to their torsos or lifting bowling balls from their ears or other dangling appendages. I do have pictures of that, see and worse, but I’ll spare you. Unless you ask nicely.

Carnivolution is one of my favorite events in Philly, taking place the second Friday of every month. It has a loose, ongoing storyline revolving around obscene outer space puppets as a means of tying one sideshow act to the next. June’s event was burlesque heavy and storyline-lite, though we did see some amazing trapeze and fire juggling/breathing.

At one point, Helios, the master of fire, lost his fire mastery and a flaming club landed extremely close to a girl in the crowd. He picked it up quickly, quickly enough that the girl was entirely unconcerned and immediately went back to playing with her iPhone and ignoring the pyrowielding display. I don’t have a picture of that in particular and I’m sorry, since I wish everyone could see it.

It made me fear for my own life because I had a shit-ton of hairspray holding my locks up.

The dress is from the Chinese brand Rose Melody, custom-ordered from Qutieland to my measurements. The fit is ok. It definitely fits my body but I don’t like where the bodice ends in relation to where a normal petticoat starts. The boots are from Bodyline. The fascinator I bought on my most recent trip to Re/Dress NYC.

The tights are one of my favorite items in my closet. They are by Teja Jamilla, a UK crafter, and I can’t recommend them enough. I bought them in her plus size listings in two colorways, purple/gold and grey/silver. The fit is amazing. They have not developed any runs or holes and I’ve worn and washed them maybe 3 or 4 times each.

I was actually proud of my hair this time and it was pretty simple. I took half the hair on either side of my head and put them into little ponytails, as tight as I could make them. Then I curled them, sprayed them with hairspray and teased them. I put a big octopus clip in the back holding both sections together and pinning up any pieces that looked out of place. Then I curled the hair that I left lying loose and sprayed it.

This is the first time I have ever tried putting fake eyelashes in and…uh.. it was easier then I expected but didn’t EXACTLY produce the effect I wanted. People always warn you to trim them before you use them but I thought they really weren’t wide enough for my eyes. I think in the future I’ll have to use two sets and a lot more glue. When it comes to putting things near your eye it seems like you can never get enough practice.

My best friend was there and we became ghosts so as it to more easily procure her illegal alcohol!

Carnivolution is held at the Ellen Tiberino Powell museum in West Philly, and it’s a really interesting venue. It’s small, and the outdoors is simply plastered with murals all done in the same style. None of the events really took place in the small townhouse as much as the adjacent garden, but if you need to get to the ladies bathroom (which we did), this is the first thing you see:

I thought it was really beautiful, but wondered if it was because the house-owner was really religious, was doing it ironically, or just had an aesthetic appreciation of Christian iconography. I had hymns on my dress and someone kept pointing out I looked exactly like a painting of a red-haired Mary. I guess that is what I am!