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.

more insight into the textile industry

why was i so afraid of calling reps and mills? you can read about my phone fright in an earlier post.

so far, I've talked to 3 reps and they have been helpful, informative, and all-around wonderful.

i have many, many samples on the way. they should be here next week.

they are coming from envirotextiles, kendor, pickering, and sextet.

i also still need to put a phone call into a rep i met at a local soiree. he and his wife own four lines, as well as a brick and mortar here in Asheville. they do all their design, product development, manufacturing, and selling (both wholesale and retail).

basically, they are living my dream life.

his wife covers most of the design work while he covers the sourcing and manufacturing aspects. he offered me a 15-minute free consultation at the party -- probably the serendipitous result of too much champagne and a very naughty burlesque performance from the lovely Queen April.

i came away with a solid figure to get through the product development phase, a strong local contact with over 30 years in the industry, and a potential partnership. he asked me to wait until july to call, and here we are -- july.

i am learning all kinds of fascinating things, among them some basic vocabulary:

PFD (prepare for dye)
PFP (prepare for print)
lab dip
asking dye facilities to reframe into a roll after applications
asking facilties for whole package quotes and CMT quotes

i am also wrapping up the preliminary market research with a final push for respondants going out next week. provided my dance teacher samiTe' agrees to helping out via her facebook page, i could expect between 15 and 20 more of those. another of my teachers, the fabulous Lisa Zahiya asked her followers to take my survey and many of them did so i know this is a successful approach.

i would be interested to know from any readers who are into marketing what a good ballpark number is in terms of marketing survey responces.

it will be a pleasure to wrap the survey research up, finally choose my line ambassadors, and give an IPOD gift certificate away.

it will also be a real joy to get into the actual design and sampling work once i have chosen my fabrics. i learned about this practice at Kathleen Fasanella's Fashion Incubator site.

this is a great resource for people who want to design and profit from their designs. this is all the stuff fashion schools probably don't teach you.

you may exit with a strong foundation in design, an introduction to retail and marketing, and intermediate sewing and construction skills after leaving a fashion design program. but Kathleen's site is a wealth of information as to how to translate that to the entrepreneurial and manufacturing worlds.

well, it's time for me to practice my choreography and work on the head piece, which i am also exploring as a one-of-a-kind couture product for dancers. in that vein, i need to purchase some display heads and vintage saris in the very near future.