Tag Archives: Bhuz

Kanzashi & Dice Jewelry

13 Mar

Disclaimer: Taken from iPhone…

According to Wiki: “Kanzashi (簪) are hair ornaments used in traditional Japanese hairstyles. Some believe they may also have been used for defence in an emergency.

In the English-speaking world, the term “kanzashi” is sometimes applied to the folded cloth flowers that traditionally adorned tsumami kanzashi, or to the technique used to make those flowers.”

I actually found out about them at Otakon a few years ago in their artist ally (by another Penn State Alumni)- ever since I always wanted to make a 3-D cherry blossom belly dance costume.

With a deep bright pink (more like a fuchsia) base color, paring a brown chiffon underskirt would pop. I’d have a matching brown “Branch” running across one of the cups, along my stomach, and to my hips to create the belt; I think it could be made (without looking campy). They would have to be small, but white and lighter pink Kanzashi could be placed all along the costume (with crystals & gems as the center pieces!). Bhuz.com had an interesting discussion about Silk Flowers on Belly dance costumes- but I like Kanzashi more!

I thought about having the famous Turkish Costume Maker, Bella, make me one, but that would run- oh about 1000-1500 USD. O_O

This past weekend Ty-Ty & I decided to try an experiment, with using Cut-Out-And-Keep Tutorial

Her’s looks super nice… I accidentally made some of mine backwards… eh. So I will have to make more before I post my creations. >_< Patience is what I need to learn.  ^_^;;

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Also on a cool note, Sam has decided to try experimenting with Chain Mail and die/dice Jewelry Tyler & I wanted him to be crafty with us. Unless it involved some power tools, Sam wasn’t really biting. I mentioned I had a bunch of Dice (at home) and that I wanted to make a huge necklace to go with it- I bought the Costume inCairo2 years ago, with it already having D8’s on it. I needed to add in D20’s, D4’s, etc to make it complete! He had some extra dice lying around, and after a trip to Michaels, Home Depot, and the Pizza Parlor he came up with the earrings in a few mins.

When I got home from Connecticut he sent me a photo of his 1st necklace.


This is Sam’s first necklace that he made… AND DIDN’T COPY ANY ONE! O_O Just looked at standard Victorian Jewelry, but didn’t copy a single piece. Why can’t I make something that shiny!? I showed him a few techniques I picked up from Father Dunn’s when I did some website/Jewelry repair work for him- BUT HE TOOK THEM AND SPRINTED WITH IT!

I think he should open a store on ETSY- or become my personal smith. 😀 I’m sure all the LARP girls will want this.

Thanks for Reading.

Cheers,

AYLA

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FireFly Bellydance

26 Feb

Recently Tempest listed a Turquoise-Floral-Turkish-Vest, in a “Serenity” pattern. As soon as I saw it & heard the coincidence name, I immediately thought about Kaylee from Firefly/Serenity. After purchasing hte vest (Shiny!), it cause again the spark to do a Firefly/Serenity inspired BellyDance. Originally I discussed with a friend to do Inara, but I just had to go with this “Shiny” insparation. (Maybe Inara will make a guest appearance with Zoe and River!)

Kaylee’s “uniform” usually consist of coveralls & bright colored floral/Asian inspired shirt. In the pilot (see picture) Kaylee wears her signature turquoise/ Chinese floral jacket, flip flops, and  parasol.

In the TV show, Kaylee sometimes times ties her coveralls around her waist- making a hip belt. I actually already own a cosplay costume of Kaylee- parasol, coveralls, and all- yet the ones I own don’t have sleeves. This means there is not really a way to tie the top half around my waist- and I’m missing something for my hip accents.

Next idea- I searched Bhuz.com’s swap meet (where dancers sell their new/used costumes) for any inspiration. No dice- but I did see some choli’s that were kind of close to Kaylee’s patterns from sharifwear. I went to sharifwear.com and had some luck; found a pink/purple oriental floral choli, and army green tribal fusion pants (both on sale!).

The next (or last) step for the costume is adding Kaylee’s signature patches & Kanji writing either to the pants OR make a hip bell. The exact bear patch is sold on ebay, as well as I can standard turquoise flowers, and large red hearts- but do I want to make a belt and order a few extra? If I put the patches in their normal areas- only the bear one could be correct- it’s also huge and might make the pants lie on my leg awkward. :/

I also need to find what songs would I dance to? Of course the opening theme, but that’s only 52 seconds. There are a few other songs that I have in mind, but they will be a surprise 😉 I’m taking suggestions!

Thanks for for your time.

Cheers,

Ayla

*note I don’t own Firefly, Serenity, or the picture… but I do suggested that you watch the Joss Whedon Series! It’s for sale on DVD and now Blu-ray!

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Rakkasah Spring Caravan

25 Feb

With living in Upstate NY it’s hard to find other belly dancers in the areas- compared to say NYC. Trying to look for Workshops, and Hafla’s to meet other dancers while going through the Internet, Calling around, Bhuz websites… and once you find them it’s not so easy to hear back (still waiting for Club Bellydance and a few other possibilities 1-2hours away). I’d  like to find some one that can help me expand my dance talents, as well as maybe join a semi or professional troupe- I’m tempted to start taking monthly classes in NYC- that’s only a 2.5 hour train ride to Manhattan.

I enjoy performing at anime/ sci-fi/ gaming cons, but that’s a different story for a different blog entry 😉

One performance (and  set of workshops) that are always fun, is Rakkasah Spring Caravan.  It is the largest belly dance convention on the East coast. http://www.rakkasah.com/spring/

Rakkasah Spring Caravan had their call in for live music was today, tomorrow is call in for CD music. I offered to help the Penn State Belly Dance call in for them (even though I have no clue what they’d be dancing). I also voluntold Domo to help out too, haha.

Antipode will be performing 5:24pm Saturday evening- we will be doing a surprise! 😀 Deals with a pop-culture set of books and movies, reaching a wide audience. Last year we did Super Mario Belly Dance World.

I’m super excited for all the workshops. Anasma & Sera (whom I’ve taken workshops  before) will be there and many other new instructors! I really enjoy last Rakkasah’s workshop from Anasma- Wu Shu Belly Dance Fusion. Yes, it actually worked well. It put even more inspiration for me to do a Red XIII’s Theme fusion (Final Fantasy VII). I was going to do sword dancing, and add Tribal fusion elements- but I’d like to learn more & have more experience in tribal fusion. I’m more of a cabaret & folkloric dancer, but I’m still learning!

Thanks for your time.

Cheers,

Ayla

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