artemisia_danst is here and last night we were talking all about our various trips to Cairo. I cannot express just how much I want to go back there right now. It's such a wonderful place to be. *sigh*

So we're talking about the possibility of going back doing a "teachers" holiday- just four or five of us, staying at Yasmina's, having a load of dancers coming in to teach us, going to shows, going costume shopping (because of course what I need is a LOAD MOAR COSTUMES).

It's a fabulous idea, I just cannot justify it now, because I'm not earning enough. I need to conserve my capital, and spending two months living expensed on a holiday is not on the cards. I need to get a job.

It was a bit weird teaching the Intermediates class last night. They're a bunch of crocks! I had four sick- but two of them came in to the class even though they weren't actually up to dancing. So they were sitting & taking notes. Which is fine for the technique stuff, I just wasn't too sure how the rest of the class would take it, when it came to the Improv section. Fortunately, this is a good friendly class, no-one seemed to be phased by it, and they were able to dance in a reasonably uninhibited way. We've been working on one song for quite a long time, and I think we're getting close to people being able to let go and dance expressively. I only wish we could work on it more intensively, then it wouldn't have taken the best part of one term to get to this stage. But we're stymied by only having one class a week and having to do other stuff in the time I've got allocated.

But the ladies in the Sick Bay did actually learn a lot just from watching, and it made me think, perhaps everyone should get a chance, once in a while, to watch the rest of the class during the improv section... When you're doing improv in class you're always so engrossed in what you're doing that you have no idea what anyone else is doing. And I do think it's useful to see what others are doing.

Teaching the Beginners was fun, too- I started them on Veils. Veils are soooooo much fun with Beginners! All of a sudden they've got something to do with their hands! Last night was: Learning the important Safety Rule, of Not Treading On Your Veil, Nor Indeed On Anyone Else's Veil, and Learning How To Hold It, and Walking and Wafting About A Bit. In the next few weeks we'll do Twirling, and Tricks (I need to find a more professional name for tricks than "tricks"), and getting them to do it all while actually dancing.

Oh, I forgot to mention...

At Hipnotic last night, one of the troupes, Tribal Divas, were doing a piece that started with slow music, then segued into what I term Balkan Tribal Cancan music. This was a time when my Beginner students & I were waiting "backstage". As soon as the Balkan Tribal Cancan music started one of my students, who is Romanian, turned to me astonished and asked, in a puzzled tone: "Is that Egyptian music?". I replied no, and not being in a position to be more specific, I categorised it as *fingers doing the quotation marks, and shrugging to make it quite clear I'm no expert on this* "Gypsy".

"Romanian!" she declared in a very proprietorial tone!

And my mind flies off in the direction of Cultural Appropriation and Respecting Cultures...

Thankfully, I had no electricity emergencies today, and I was able to get to Hipnotic, which was fun, as it always is.

I had two student groups performing, and both did brilliantly (it was me that had a slight moment of fluffyheadedness in the Beginners' Scheherazade choreo, the students were fine). I was also doing a solo, to Kent Hebbak w Battalt, which is a new one for me to dance to, even though I've used it once or twice in teaching.

So me and my students were obviously Brilliant. How about everyone else? I haven't got a programme to refer to, so this is down to me remembering stuff, probably not in any order (other than order of impressedness). There were quite a few less familiar faces. No Raqs Scientology student troupes, no tribal from Nirzari/Usha Oseye as was/whatever they're calling themselves these days. It's always good to see different people.

There was a nice solo from one of the Shamooza girls. There was a *lovely* Sa'aidi solo from Jolene of the Just Dandys. I particularly love it when you see someone with blue hair, and facial piercings and tattoos doing lovely Egyptian, rather than the Tribal Fusion that you might assume would be more her bag!

The Just Dandys- up from Portsmouth way???- did a couple of nice group pieces, which were fun to watch (although if I never hear Jai Ho ever again, I wouldn't feel too badly about that) and there was an ATS/ITS trio- the Tribal Divas, I think.

There was Persia, who did a duet with (presumably) one of her students, as well as a solo. It was DULL!!!! Dull, dull, dull... Because a) she dances everything at the same funereal pace, and b) she hasn't got much in the way of technique and c) no stage presence.

There was Brutal Bellydance (go on, just guess how much I'm likely to have liked them, just from the name), who were the only ones doing any sort of fusion. Their first piece was skirtwork. Their second- I dunno, all I remember about it was that they seemed to be phoning it in. You'd have thought that if you're using thrash metal for the music, the dancing would have some energy to it, but nah... It was strangely passionless.

There was Shamooza. I don't know what Tracey/they were thinking when they agreed to come and dance, because both their group numbers (without Tracey) consisted of three women doing unconnected baladi noodling. There was no attempt to make their improv join up at any point, or have any kind of, yanno, structure. The only thing that made them look like they were actually dancing together was the fact that they were wearing identical costumes. Tracey herself did a lovely bit of Sirt el Hob (channelling Eman from the JoY workshop we both went to!). Unfortunately, I don't know that she's all that good with Baladi. And she needs to work out how to manage staging her group, if she wants to get away without bothering to choreograph for them, because frankly this was just taking the p***.

I loved Covert Bling's Russian Roulette final piece! You know it's truly improvised, when they've got no idea what music is going to come out of the speaker!

Fun classes tonight. Nothing brilliantly amazing, just good fun, and people enjoying themselves, while I make them do stuff that challenges them, physically or mentally. I'm not sure which sort of challenge I enjoy most!

I loved Ahwak so much that I had decided some time ago that this was going to be the next set choreography for the Intermediates class. I liked that we could use the turquoise costumes for it (although that now creates a couple of separate headaches...) and it could look good with some limited formation work.

So I kept having ideas of what I could do with it, choreographically, and I scribbled a few notes as they came to me.

Today I've put the notes together and I've got the first minute choreographed without even having to think about it.

I am going to have to edit it, though, because there's a long middle section with just too much repetition in it. That will be challenging, because I'm not used to chopping bits out of the middle of a song. But I've got till mid september to do it!

I'm just in from Arabesque Nights, Vintage Night, where I was reprising my Fifi Abdo act. I used the new white sparkly galabeya from Hannan, which isn't absolutely Fifi-ish, as the collar isn't her usual stand up collar, but is close enough, I'm doing an impersonation not a slavish carbon copy, and I did La La, by Omda. And I brought the Big Pink Fouffe out of retirement for a rendition of Lissa Fakr.

I was trying really hard to be Fifi rather than me. It's really quite difficult. It needs a lot more thought. Oobviously I find being *me* quite easy and it doesn't require a great deal of brainwork. Fortunately, I'd been teaching my Stars of the Seventies workshop at the weekend, and all the Fifi stuff was fresh in my mind. A couple of people were kind enough to say that watching me had been like watching Fifi, so I must have been doing something right, though I found that I was sneaking in extra stuff, becausce it's all very well for Fifi to do bugger all and still be a megastar, but I don't have the charisma that she does, and if I do bugger all, even when I'm impersonating her, it just looks like I'm doing bugger all.

Some nice acts- Alyah was doing Suhair and really did look the part. Shakira did a Samia Gamal Raqset Kahramana, and Eve Shade did a Nagua Fouad inspired piece, using this music and costume idea, which was brilliantly done! Kassandra did a Tamra Henna, and Louise did a Fifi baladi, but I didn't get to see those because I was changing, but I'm sure they were fine. And even those who weren't impersonating or being inspired by vintage Egyptian dancers made an effort to go vintage within their own styles- Eva did a very old-school Sufi Mevlevi style dervish, with old music, and Catherine did a Tribal Fusion piece to Cry me a river, with a very 30s style costume. So all in all, quite a lot of people put in a lot of effort to meet the theme.

I had a lovely weekend, seeing friends (that's always the best bit about JoY!), picking up my fabulous new Liberty Leading the People costume, taking workshops and seeing the shows.

I took three dance workshops and a costuming workshop from Eman on bras. Although Eman can't really stop just at bras, and talks about other costume elements too, of course! She was talking about trying to make it a proper thing, some time, a two day costuming intensive, where you have to do homework on the saturday night, and bring it in for critique on the sunday. Actually, I'd really like that.

I told Eman about diva_c & my Cairo Job Plans. We decided in Cairo, that we'd really like to stay there because we both love it so, but obviously we'd need jobs to support ourselves. So I was going to be a beading homeworker for Eman, and C was going to be a tuktuk driver. Eman looked at me with a very understanding smile!

The first dance workshop I did was with Nesma, doing Oriental. I was taking a punt on this, because I hadn't investigated Nesma at all, I was trusting to Mandy's judgement. She always brings good teachers to JoY. I liked Nesma's approach, she was teaching the choreo in combinations. As ever, I would not perform or teach her choreography, but I really liked the elements of it, and will definitely be using these in some way. She puts moves together well, which is only to be expected, if she's Reda-trained. And seeing her in the show, I could really appreciate her use of the dance space.

On the Sunday, I had a workshop on Oum Khalsoum with Eman, which was a sheer joy! We learned a bit about Baligh Hamdi, and we worked on Sert el Hob. Eman gave us her translation, and her emotional interpretation of the song. The technique used wasn't the issue, although the technique she uses is interesting and deceptively simple. The main point, though, was to dance it with the feeling. Since that's becoming increasingly how I want to dance, this workshop was heavenly! I love how she's always so transported by the music.

I had booked myself onto the extra end-of-the-day Randa workshop. That was only possible because I had unexpectedly driven up (train booking cock-up, my own stupid fault) and because the lovely diva_c was putting me up overnight. I enjoyed the workshop and I took some nice technique and combinations away with me. I'm not really a Randa-style dancer. I have to take what I've learned from her and apply filters to it, to make it useful for me. So she's a more long-term benefit to me.

What I need to do now is assimilate all this new material by teaching it to my poor benighted students!

I managed to spend all of JoY avoiding spending money on anything. I was receiving my special flag dress from Eman Zaki, which I'd commissioned in Cairo, so that was like buying a costume, except that it was already paid for in February, so it's like a FREE costume! I kept saying to all and sundry, "I don't need any new costumes". I didn't see anything else I fancied buying, so I was doing really well on the spending front.

Until diva_c modelled an Eman galabeya in black & gold. And then I knew, beyond certainty I knew, I needed one of those, but in black & silver.

*hangs head in costume-lust shame*

It's being made for me & shipped over.

In other costume news, the Mum memorial French flag costume that Eman brought over for me, is sheer utter Magnificence. As soon as I put it on, I felt amazing and powerful. I wanted to sing the Marseilleise, I wanted to storm a Bastille, I wanted to perform the whole of Les Miserables... I know that evil_spice got a few photos of it, so I hope one or two of those will be showing up online somewhere. Possibly with Christine as a supporting artist!

The mesh gauntlets for it are back in Cairo, being made smaller, and will be sent with the galabeya.

I'm now thinking I need a tricolor silk veil!

I have much to write about JoY, but on this occasion, I will limit it to being outraged by a duet in the show tonight. It was introduced as "Gypsy with a twist... of vodka". It proceeded to be a dance by an American Tribal Style duet (but obviously choreographed rather than improvised), to Rom music, depicting the HILARIOUS gypsies and their drunken drinking.

Yeah, because the Rom people really need to be stereotyped as alcoholics.

I clapped politely at the end, because that's respectful, but really I have no respect for those performers. I found it totally objectionable, racist, politically incorrect, ignorant, and I was generally appalled by it. But clearly I was in the minority, because large sections of the audience found it VASTLY AMUSING, judging by the audience laughter and applause.

I will happily admit that I am a great big wet Liberal, but I actually see that as a positive thing, that I think is the right way to be.

I can't believe anyone could think that was a clever idea.

I'm off to JoY... See you beautiful people there!

I was so happy to be back in class last night! The last three/four weeks have been a bit meh in terms of dancing, and I've felt a distinct lack of dance mojo.

I've got two new Beginners, which is good! And I've one of the Improver/Intermediates who skipped last term is back, so that's good too! It leads to continuity problems, because in both classes I'm continuing last term's choreography, because we'll be performing it at Hipnotic (I haven't got definite names from the Beginners yet, but I'm confident that they'll do it).

I'm looking forward to this term. I get to teach the Beginners some Veilwork, which is always fun! And I think the Improver/Intermediates are going to enjoy the range of music I've picked out for improvisation. I've picked music I love, so hopefully I can put that love across and make them love it too.

Well that was an interesting experience! I was at the Victoria & Albert Museum tonight, for a Members Only event, a talk by Vicky Gill, who's a dance costume designer, and is in charge of costuming for Strictly Come Dancing. I'm not a member of the V&A, but M is, and she gave me the ticket because she couldn't go.

I got there and the ticket said to use the Science Gate entrance, on Exhibition Road, so it was like getting into the museum by the tradesman's entrance- we were sent down a little alleyway, past the Royal College of Art and up some stairs that led us past a gilded statue entitled the Spirit of Gaiety.

Then on through some rooms filled with paintings, and a Burne Jones piano. Then into the Silver room, where we were greeted by three life-sized silver-plated lions, and I was bedazzled by *masses* of silver, and then up to the Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre. The Lecture Theatre is very pretty with Arts & Crafts style decor, and a masssive half dome. Being a singleton, I was able to sneak into a spare seat close to the front.

Vicky was a very interesting speaker (though she was a bit nervous, I get the feeling. It sounds like public speaking was outside her comfort zone!). Her background was in both Fashion and Dance Costuming. Her clients have included Girls Aloud, Cheryl Cole, Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue. But in the last ten years she's been involved in the costuming for Strictly, which takes her through from August to December each year! It all sounds totally Full-On once the show is under way- up to 14 new sets of costumes per week, with no time for mucking around with toiles, and only one fitting on the Friday before the show. I loved the image she gave us of creating a manequin for each dancer, padded up with layers of bubble wrap, to recreate each person's particular figure. And having to unwrap the layers, as they lose weight/change body shape as a result of so many weeks and months of intensive dance training! I wish I'd dared ask about the experience of dressing Anne Widdecombe in the Q&As!







What hit me was how much wear and tear dance costumes are subjected to. I tend not to think about it that much, because my own costumes are all in a reasonable rotation, and don't get that much wear, and if they do, I can do whatever fettling may be needed to keep them looking good. But that's because I treat my costumes as an investment, and I treat them well. For pop princesses, a costume is just another stage prop, and they don't look after them themselves. They pay a wardrobe mistress to do all that. So they get old pretty damn quick. The ballroom dress on display was looking a bit tired, and Vicky said it had been worn maybe 50 times. That's not many wears, really, but crystals get pinged off, fringe starts fraying...

Then there was the Q&A, which was fun- finding out about the feathers they use for costuming, and how they work them, to create a feathered wing effect. And the palette of colours they have available (she always tries to persuade the celebs out of wanting black costumes! I love love love her for that!). Then we got the chance to look at the three costumes she'd brought along, though the rule was No Touching, which is totally understandable, but sooo frustrating! She'd also displayed a load of design sketches and photos of her costumes. There was also a crowd of people around Vicky, asking supplementary questions.

And the V&A is terribly civilised: when that was all done, it was downstairs to the silver gallery, for a glass of wine. My head was spinning with the sheer shinyness of all that silver!

Oh boy! It really is a shame I'm not making costumes any more, because I found the shiny sparkly costume fabric motherlode today! I went up to that London today, to meet with M, and decided to go shopping for dressmaking fabric. Having done my online research, I hit Goldhawk Road, Shepherds Bush, hard. It's wall to wall Indian fabric shops, which include lots of *very* sparkly shiny stuff. Including that sequinned fabric used by Sahar for those sequinned-all-over-except-the-bits-that-aren't dresses. Including that sequinned fabric used by Eman for those sequinned-all-over galabeyas.

But I'm not buying costume fabric now... I am strong, and I only bought dress fabric.

Admittedly I bought rather more of it than I strictly need right now.

So I suppose I'd best get on with some dressmaking.

At the end of term, my beginner students asked whether we were going to have a video night, as part of the course, and I said that no, I usually only do them at the end of Summer term and Winter term. Since they seemed kind of disappointed, I suggested that if anyone was willing to host us, I could do a video evening during the hols. One of them offered, and we agreed a date. Which was today.

What was lovely was that they were recognising the moves that we do in class, and actually saying, "we could do that..." and realising for themselves that actually it's nice to be able to dance quite simply and not overdo things.

What was also lovely is that a couple of the ladies brought a friend of theirs who might be joining up next term (which is only a week away- eep!).

As usual, I tried not to go overboard on my favourite Egyptian dancers. So we had some American stuff (courtesy of IAMED), including some FCBD ATS, and some Turkish (courtesy of Asena, who is my favourite Turkish dancer). But we did have a load of Suhair Zaki (including gropey Adaweya), Fifi Abdou, Mona Said and Hala el Safy.

I *do* have enough costumes. I know we all know the "How many costumes do you need? Just one more..." thing, but honestly and brutally, I have enough costumes for all the performing I do.

So I've decided I'm going on a costume-making hiatus. I've got the Fab Crazy Floral that's under way, and the SPACE! costume on the shelf, and once those are done, I'm going to leave it right there for the while. I will still have my fabric and bead stashes. I'm going to have to mull over what I do about those.

This leaves me with a sewing vacuum. I've decided I'm going to fill that with ordinary dress-making, i.e. making clothes for myself. I used to do this, a long time ago, and I'm jolly-well going to get back to it, and do it better. I've booked myself on a workshop in June, to boost my confidence and hopefully gain some new fitting skills. I'm really looking forward to it!

You comment, I give you an age (please tell me how old you currently are so I don't inadvertently move you into the future) and you respond to the meme questions with what applied to you back then, and what's true now.

replyhazy gave me 28. Which is kind of beautiful, because that's when I started Bellydance classes!

And the main comment that comes to mind on reading through this entry is: Everything in my life has changed[*].

I lived in:
Woodley near Reading, with my ex (who wasn't my ex yet). It was a 3 story townhouse, with a beautiful silver birch tree in the front, which triggered all sorts of allergic reactions for me. I spent the whole time I was living there being runnynosed and sneezy, I developped hayfever, and I became allergic to cats (which is a big shame because I *love* cats).
Now, I live in Guildford, which is closer to "home", i.e. where I grew up. In the intervening years I've lived in Eton Wick (near Windsor), and Farnham. I'm in a tiny flat now, my whole flat would fit into one floor of my Woodley house! But it's cosy and it's got everything I need, and makes me limit the acquisition of Stuff. This is a good thing.

I drove:
My first ever car, a red Citroën AX, which was the smallest of the Citroën range at that time. I'd only been driving three years. I was a late starter!
Now, I drive an old-lady-car, a silver Nissan Almera. It's a bit bigger, and I think I'm better at looking after it now.

I was in a relationship with:
I was married to Mark Hobbs. We'd been married three years earlier, and we'd be separated a year later, for really not good reasons at all. But at the time, I did not know that was on the cards and I was pretty much blissfully in love. I wasn't a grown up all the time I was with Mark, and actually I don't think we were very good for each other.
Now, I'm in a relationship with the Gentleman Friend[**], and I'm a bit more grown up. We don't live together or anything, and I always balk when he calls us partners, because I think that's a far more permanent and quasi-marital relationship than what we've got. But we're nearly 50 for heaven's sake, it's ridiculous for us to be boyfriend and girlfriend!

I feared:
Nothing! I didn't really have a clue!
Now, I mostly fear old age without children to look out for my interests. I see how my mother spent her last few years and I wonder how she could have managed if my sisters and I weren't always around, and getting things done for her. I know I have nieces and nephews, but I don't see that they would have anything like the sense of obligation to me as they do for their parents.

I worked at:
Lovegrove & Elliott, solicitors in Windsor. They're gone now. I suspect they went bust, possibly because they were too top-heavy. The 4 main partners were all loaded, and when they retired in turn, they would have taken their wealth out of the partnership. They'd not really considered the succession, and had a series of junior partners who kept leaving (myself included), so at some point, it would have all fallen down because there was no-one who could put in the money that the senior partners were taking out.
Now, I am happily no longer a solicitor. I've got some part time work for Surrey Adult & Community Learning, but it's only very part time, and I'm mostly unemployed and living on capital. I'd like to be more involved in Adult Ed, and one of these days I'm going to have to get a proper job, but there aren't many jobs going in ACL, and I still don't know what else I would like to do.

I wanted to be:
I wanted to be a mother. There was a brief time when Mark & I agreed that I'd come off the pill, but in my heart I knew Mark wasn't ready, would not be as happy as I would be if I were to tell him I was pregnant. I'm not the sort to trick a man into unwilling fatherhood. So I went back to taking my pills, and hoped that things would change (remember what I said up there about not being a grown-up). Things did change, but not the way I hoped.
Now, I want to be happy. I've struggled with Depression in the last few years, and I've been off anti-depressants now for nearly 2 years. I think I'm doing OK, and I know now what to be aware of and how to protect myself. So I just want to carry on being happy and relatively normal.


[*] Except for Bellydance!
[**] Whose privacy I clearly value more highly than I do Mark's!

I'm going over my ILPs (Individual Learning Plans- one of the innumerable bits of documentation we have to create and complete each term) from my students this term. It's not just a learning plan, it includes a space for student reflection, and feedback from me, after each lesson. I also have to fill in whether each student has achieved the Course Objectives. And it has a course evaluation section for completion at the end of term.

Without exception, all my students' course evaluations show up as "Excellent".

Yay me!

Having gone round the houses to find a Google Reader replacement, I am now reading all my blog faves on Bloglovin. And since I am pretty much loving it, I'm connecting this LJ to it. Hence I have to post this link. Don't all feel obligated!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I attacked the website today. I didn't realise how HORRIBLY neglected it had been. It's now gleamingly updated. There are still a few things I'd like to bring up to speed, but nothing looking terrible.

I'm going to need to work out what the heck I'm going to do with it in the longer term. It's a very old-fashioned looking site. It needs streamlining and cleaning up. I don't have the skills to make a nice modern site, I know that. I can maintain one that's been set up for me, but I have struggled with CSS and I can't make it work for me. I could manage if someone made the basic site for me, but I can't do it myself.

So then I thought about using WP, as several of my flisties have WP-based sites. I had a session with misspotsitt last night, where she kindly showed me the basics of using WP to make a site. I've been trying to have a play with it. I suspect the trick lies in finding a decent template/theme. This does seem to be where I'm stumbling at the moment.

I've got a sort-of timeframe/deadline to work towards. My hosting is due for renewal on 21st June, and if I want to go with a WP site, then I'd need to upgrade, and it makes sense to go for the upgrade when I renew. Which would mean getting a WP site prepped and ready by then (because it doesn't make sense to pay for the extra upgradey stuff unless I actually need it).

Though I may still stick with the old-fashioned methods I've been using to make my existing site and upload it...

The student costumes have arrived!!!! My living room floor is now a sea of turquoise!

And bless them (Mahmoud and Ilham), they've included the sizings on each of the tops and skirts, so I don't have to work that out for myself. My job is now to pair up the skirts and tops for each person, and stick them in labelled bags.

It's going to take 24 hours or so, but someone has worked out what the problem was and fixed it. Or at least that's what appears to be the case, I still can't see my up to date site by normal means, but when I searched for it on a proxy site, I could see it. I will give them the benefit of the doubt for the next 24 hours (see below), and if it's still not working, then I will give them more hell.

In case you are a boffin and know about these things, it was because of: "When updating this left a rogue C-Name record on your DNS settings. I have gone a long and now removed this for you. It can take up to 24 hours for the settings to fully propagate but through external viewing sites I can see a live up to date version of your site available."

I've been having a bit of trouble today with my website hosting. For some time they've been saying that my hosting contract is for an out of date package, and I should upgrade, so I can host my site on better servers, at the same price as my current contract. Since I've been thinking about upgrading anyway, because of the possibility of going for a WordPress based site, I agreed to the upgrade.

Well that was a big mistake! Or at least that's how it's looking now... I had to upload all my site files to the new server. Which was a bit confusing, because it's a slightly different system. And the key file to upload is the "front page", the index file. I decided that, to test the new system, I'd redate that file, so I could tell whether I was seeing the old one (dated 21st November 2012) or the new one (11th March 2013). I've uploaded that new file to the new server, apparently in the correct location, but all I can see is the old one. I've refreshed the page, I've cleared my cookies, my browser history and everything (at much inconvenience). I've tried it with different browsers. So far, I have not seen my new index file online.

Could I ask a favour? Can someone try to access www.BeatriceCurtis.co.uk, take a look at the date in the bottom left hand corner, and report back whether it's showing 2012, or 2013?

I finished the bra beading, I think, all except the swags. And I think they are going to be swags, rather than drops.

I've reinforced the centre join between the two cups, because what was already there was too limp. It's now got three layers of interfacing and should be fine for supporting the beading that's on there.

I've added a big pink crystal appliqué to the centre of the bra, and added a few more round crystals around the centre area, with the black edging. And I've added pale pink, hot pink and black crystal beads to boost the sparkle factor.

Here's the large appliqué. The centre crystal is a really pale baby pink, even if it doesn't look like it from the photo, and the outer beadwork matches the centre crystal in colour.



And this is the beaded up bra. I've tried to be symmetricallish in the placement of crystals and beads. It's not absolutely symmetrical, but I don't think anyone would notice, unless they were *really* staring at my chest!

The Fab Crazy Floral costume is off the shelf, and is back en route. Although now it's far less Crazy Floral-ish, and I think its name is going to have to shift to the Sevruga Special.

I started beading the bra. The big pink crystals were already glued in place. Thankfully, I haven't reconsidered the their positioning in the months since I put it on the shelf! But I wanted to add a load more crystals. I had some smaller pink crystals, and a load of different clear AB ones (thank you cheap Chinese Ebay vendors!). So they've been added. The crystals wouldn't show up against the busy-ness of the fabric, so I've been edging them. It looks a bit Roy Lichtenstein, which I kind of like! There will be more crystals on the centre of the bra, but I've got to do the big pink one with an appliqué, and until I've got that one nailed, I don't know how I want to do the rest of the crystals around it.

I've got big pink crystals glued to felt, to make some appliqués, because I thought I'd better make appliqués for the skirt crystals, because then they'd be more stable. It's fine for the bra, because that's a solid (albeit curvy) base, and it's pretty stable already, but the skirt is elasticated, and going to be pulled on & off, so getting heavier duty usage.

I've got to work out how I'm going to add dangly &/or swaggy beading, because I want this costume to have some movement. I've got a load of crystal beads in pale pink, black and hot pink for that purpose, with an option to add those beads to the bra & belt beading if there are any left over from the drops or swagging.

Anyway, here's today's work. The crystals aren't coming up very well in these photos. Dammit, I need a new camera!