there's nothing like a deadline

so, today i ran into Danielle Miller, of Royal Peasantry. our conversations included an opportunity for some nude art modelling, my prospective career as a muse, and attending TribeO.

we decided to go in together as vendors at TribeO. seeing as how i had already decided i wanted to vend, this was an amazing opportunity.

Danielle has a strong, local following and her designs are very belly-dancer friendly. she designs much (if not all) of the fabulous costuming for Onca O'Leary, the colorful mistress of so many perfomance art and production projects, they are too various to name here.

though i had already decided to go to TribeO as both an attendee and vendor, this decision was still a bit soft until i realized what a great idea it would be to partner with Danielle for the purpose of debuting my designs.

shall we say i rushed home and got started on the hand beading of my first head piece?

considering the fact that i have not sewn in oh, 6 months, it went quite well.

the beads are from craft stores, and reclaimed/antique jewlery. the flower is a little something i put together last year in Fashionado's Vincent Martinez's class at Penland School of Crafts.

i burnt the edges to achieve some of the texture and hand sculpted the flowers. ahh, that sounds so skillful but honestly, it's quite easy. i wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't. at any rate, i do like the effect of the burnt edging and plan to make more for this piece.

last year, when i took Vincent's class, i gathered bits and pieces of metals finery, mostly out of the garbage or loot bins. i had all kinds of designs in mind, particularly masks and manga-inspired head pieces. however, i could not bring myself to actually make one as i could not place it in a real context.

after all, where the heck would i have worn that post-modern geisha piece made out of pink millenery flowers, bone-white shell falls, and found twigs???

seriously folks, gone are the days of all night and day raves for this lady.

dance, however, gives me a perfect stage for my obsession for glamour, drama, and head adornment.

in other words, i think i am a drag queen, tragically misplaced in a woman's body.

and if you ever scare the shit out of yourself because you suddenly have to create a bunch of handmade stock to sell beside an amazing designer and artist at a well-known event . . . well, i highly recommend this musical score to keep your sweet, anxious fingers moving and your soul soothed.