Busy year.

Jewellery work

I've been learning to dance ATS® belly dance. As a queer-gender person, I'm not overly fond of the coin bras, so I'd been thinking about another way to 'bling up' the choli. My mind had been mulling over it for probably a year or so; before I saw Kae's choli decos. I have done jewellery work off-and-on since I was a child. I come back to it at various intervals as another of my creative expressions. So when I saw one of Kae's choli decos worn by Jesse, at a dance residential, I thought 'I could do something like that'. When I saw Jesse's choli deco, I had no idea about Kae's choli decos.

Anyway, fast forward a few months. I had a Hafla we were performing at; I created this 24hrs or so before the performance. I wanted to come up with my own idea and my own method of execution, so while Kae's choli deco is an inspiration, I tried to go my own way, so I wouldn't be plagiarising her work.

I had all these chains, bits and bobs and decided, it's time to start using them. I did the performance without the two coins on the front. The back is a little too heavy for the front, even with the big circle piece, so I added the two coins to add a little more weight to the front. I've danced in classes whilst wearing it, it's still too heavy in the back, so I may end up removing the long kuchi piece and replacing it with something else. Overall, I'm very pleased with my creation.

Oh, and people are telling me I should create more of these, I might, if I can get more chain... that's my difficulty, is finding different costume jewellery chains in 2m lengths that don't look tacky or excessively cheap. I'll make more of these choli chains, if people want to supply me little bits and bobs to decorate their choli chains. My supply of objects is limited. The little gilet silver poppy seed heads are one of those limited items; I don't have anymore of them. If someone has kuchi bits and bobs they want repurposed, I'll try to use those in a design. I still have several of the tiny Chinese luck/felicity tokens, so those are an option I can use in other choli chain designs.

Again, I would find my own way to do these, I will not copy Kae's designs.

Choli Chain Front

Choli Chain Back

I might replace the current kuchi piece on the back with this:

Lapis and silver asyk pendant

Sewing

I've also done some sewing; in the past week, I've started on two pairs of pantaloons and I've finished one pair. I realise I need to tweak some of my process for the pantaloons as well, so the second pair is 'on hold' until I have more thinking done.

Olive crepe back satin pantaloons

I used the official FCBD® Folkwear® pattern as my guide/direction for making the 'loons, with a few of my ideas. Tuesday night, I finished the olive 'loons and got to dance in class with them. No serious issues, though they're quite long and drape over my feet; I need to open the waistband and remove about 5-10cm from the elastic, as the waistband is looser than I thought. I'm otherwise satisfied with my first pair of handmade 'loons.

Second pair of 'loons in progress

Close up of the wrong side of the 'loon fabric; it's very shiny and slippery.

I'm very much looking forward to finishing the second pair of 'loons, I rather like the pattern printed on the fabric. I think instead of gathering to the waistband this time, I'm going to try pleating. This crepe satin is as thin, or thinner, than the olive green fabric. Like the olive fabric, it frays like mad. I'm so glad I have the overlocker to control the raw edges. I may have to curve the bottom half of the legs, as trying to cram 45" wide fabric around a 7" ankle is difficult.

Hair Gardens

Right now is the season to get hair flowers from the shops such as Claire's. It's late Spring/early Summer here, so there is a huge assortment of colours and flower-types.

Flower hoard from Claire's.

I was overjoyed to see large sunflower and daisy hair flowers; a year or three or more ago, I bought two small sunflower clips. I did buy another two small ones, as well as the larger ones. I went back and bought more hair flowers, so now I should be set for the next several years of dancing. "Hair gardens" are typical of ATS® costuming.

Dancing in a park.

This is me, dancing for a photo shoot. Banjara skirt atop two 25yd tiered skirts; and a black velvet and lace choli. I have some vintage tassels tied to my plain black headband. I did the shoot before I made the choli chain.

Bobbin Lace 

I did say it's been a busy year. The lace butterfly is the 2013-2014 Easter class project. My tallies are still ropy -.-

Butterfly in bobbin lace.

I'll try to update/blog a little more frequently. I'm mostly writing and focusing on lace, dance, lace, dance... oh and I just started learning British Sign Language.

a steampunk - gaslight fantasy costume

So my elder asked me what character I might build my costume around for conventions and events, one based on Steampunk or Gaslight Fantasy.

(This ties in with the chain belt I'm still working on.)

And this is what I came up with. I'll see about some photos tomorrow of the 'rough beginnings' of a costume for this character.

"travelling companion, holder of packages, little voice of caution or incaution... sometimes damsel in distress, sometimes the one doing the rescuing..."

- I have a black hat that is undecorated, wide-brimmed and lovely wool. I have some crow and raven feathers that the birds have freely gifted me on their own, moulted feathers collected from the ground. I have some quartz crystals and copper wire. I think I will wrap the crystal and the feathers to create a centrepiece for the hat and some black or some suitable colour of grosgrain ribbon for the hatband. -- Need to check on what ribbons I have.

- I have a purple-plum long skirt that is 'distressed' and 'frayed' at the hem, it's long but not floor legth, it ends around the lower calf. Made of cotton.

- I have some black and purple Bald Mountain custom made boots. Leather.

- I have a teal and purple plaid neckerchief. Cotton.

- I have a black jacket with brass buttons. Cotton and brass.

- I have a white voile shirt. Cotton.

- I have black gloves. Leather.

- I have some coptic-style bound books that I can use for a prop. I did build and bind them myself, but they're empty and require some 'filling' to gain more function, perhaps adding a small travelling bottle of in and well.

I can likely get some suitably loud or complimentary coloured tights/leggings for the wintertime.

I think bracers for optional costume changes or seasonal options would be useful.

The copper belt I'm working on. I also have glass bottles and some ready-made chain that I can hook together for the fantasy elements. I think hawk bells and one of the Kwan-Yin bells would add some movement.

I am looking at building a set of prayer beads, I think the end token, instead of a cross will be either one of the St Christopher medals or perhaps my comedy/tragedy charms or perhaps a Goddess charm.

I'm still working on that lucet cord for costuming.

I now have some clock parts and watch pieces, would like to find a suitable locket of brass to go on the chain.

jewellery work - the belt for the costume

I'm starting to work on a convention/gamer/larp/fantasy/whatever costume for my own gratification.

I bought plenty of copper wire because I wanted to do something steampunk, but then I saw the goth belly dancers and that kinda sent me in a different direction.

Combine this with a request from a friend to make some ankle wear for their lovers and I found I really needed to reaquaint myself with the wrapped loop.

So, as a way to reaquire a skill I haven't used in ages, I'm working in the copper. If I don't do the wrapped loops quite so perfect or bodge remembering how to do chainmail it's no disaster, this is my costume, it'll be undergoing constant revisions.



These are the first pieces, the knitting needle is a 4mm needle, if you want a reference point.

jewellery work: the wrapped loop aka rosary turn

Finally, Wrapped Loop Technique in a video that's pretty clearly demonstrated.

I know how to do this, but it's been a while, so having a reminder is just brilliant.

Step-by-step photos:
How to make beaded jewelry's wrapped loop the pictures are clear, which is a nice step forward, too often the images are fuzzy and useless.