It’s a bit past the “official two year anniversary” point of my dance journey. It’s become so intense and amazing that i find it hard to articulate my feelings. I’ve gone to TribalCon (Oh my GOD, Donna Majia…life changing) and also had a Zoe Jakes, a Tempest and an Asharah workshop. I had my brain scrambled by beginning some Suhaila format drilling on top of my ongoing struggle to gain proficiency in ATS working with Natalie Brown, all the while still trying to take some time to have a few glasses of wine to cut loose and dance just for the joy of it.  Technique? All bets are off! Hahaha! All the while getting closer to my classmates, my instructor, the fantastic ladies of Delirium Tribal. Becoming part of a community of women that i respect, admire, and just plain enjoy spending time with. Becoming part of a TRIBE. I’ve played with fire and had my imagination captured by the beautiful possibilities of adding flame to my dance.

I’ve worked with Columbia Alternacirque for four incredible shows….i’ve come to love my fellow performers so much, I’ve rocked out on an imaginary violin, i’ve worn dazzling mirror-bird masks, helped a mad scientist bring creepy dollies to life, i have cursed, sweated and laughed uncontrollably and felt like part of something truly magical. And now, i’ve even gotten to be part of an epic Bollywood inspired piece of madness…as an apprentice Delirium Dancer. I’ve come INCREDIBLY far….so much farther than i have ever dreamed possible for myself. I have a LONG LONG way to go…but the journey is so fun that i can’t even imagine what the destination must be like.
I am so VERY grateful for every moment of it……

What an amazing group of artists….i am so happy and privileged to be a part of the magic….i am still reeling from it all!

Click HERE to see tons more photos from last Friday’s Columbia Alternacirque show. Thanks to Joshua Beard for the beautiful photography!

xoxoxo

So a Doll maker, a Mad Scientist and his Igor team up to make life sized dolls…..shenanigans ensue….

Just popping in to to share a couple  shots from the March Alternacirque Steampunk show…..they make me giggle! I love working with this crew. Next show is coming up soon, hooray!!!!

xoxoxo

They say you never forget how to ride a bike once you learn…maybe that is true. The same CANNOT be said of blogging, however! I was reading back over past post and marveling at how once upon a time i had so much to write about each and every day!  After my blog-break, i just never could get back into the swing of it…and that makes me sad! I know i always say i will do better this time, but THIS time, i really mean it!

It’s not as tho’ i don’t have plenty of things going on…i am still making stuff and having a fantastic time working with the Columbia Alternacirque…still bellydancing and  having wonderful little adventures like attending TribalCon and taking a fabulous workshop with Zoe Jakes, still having the occasional catastrophe (Buying our house! Termites! Shingles! Life-Changes Galore! Wheeee!) I guess i just closed myself up in my little bubble and stopped communicating. Will try harder.  I swear! So here we go…today is the first post of the rest of my life. Har.

First of all, the Alternacirque opening performance was awesome and we persevered in spite of bad weather, a nasty case of Shingles and Scarlet Fever. I so wish i had photos to share, but i went alone,  so i did not have anyone to be my photography bitch for the evening. Next show i promise to have photos, because the costumes are amazing and it’s SUCH a cool act. We went with a steampunk theme, very creepy and amazing. I play a dollmaker that teams up with a mad scientist to create life-sized living, dancing dolls. So fun! My character has to carry around a basket of dollies that i am trying, constantly and with NO success, to sell to my castmates. So, i had to make some little dead girls for the show, of course!

This is Miss Scarlette Fever….so named when we discovered that our director did indeed have a case of scarlet fever, and i just had to do it.  My sick sense of humor remains intact. Everyone keeps asking me if i’ll make one to commemorate my super-awesome bout with shingles, but frankly i’d like to forget all about that unpleasant experience, thankyouverymuch!

And here is little Molly Malaria…so many mosquitoes  tend to bite a girl when one hangs around in the swamp too long, and you certainly can be sucked nearly completely dry……  and eventually Molly succumbed to the terrible fever and massive bloodloss. RIP, Molly!

There are a few others, but i am saving them another post

I am also still in love with slips….

Fun with freezer paper stencils again, using that wonderful bird woman image! It is killing me that i am not sure who the original artist of the papercut is…i thought it came from Ulla, but it turns out that it’s not…. I want to credit the proper person but my attempts to find out who it is have been unsuccessful. I do so love it, tho’!

I sewed on tons of extra lace trims and embellished it with an antique skeleton key and a  faux pearl from a vintage necklace…fancy!

Of course, i am still crankin’ out the old standards, too….soaps and candles make me happy!

So there you have it…..my first wobbling attempt to get back on the old bike, ummm, i mean BLOG.  I did miss it, and i hope everyone in blog-land is well and wonderful, as always!

xoxoxo

I’m packing up for a marvelous adventure,

A place full of beautiful exotic creatures,

They will be dressed in all sorts of lovely costumes, adorned with sparking, jingling gems and baubles, with flowers in their hair…

I will shimmy and undulate with them, laugh with them, spin and learn and play…

I am leaving for TribalCon today! Hooray!

(The “Little Dead Bellydancer” graciously posing for this post is  a portrait dolly that my wonderful instructor Natalie Brown commissioned. More on HER adventures later….for now, i must finish packing up my goodies and get to Atlanta! Wheeeeee!)

xoxoxo

More days fly by and i find myself in the thick of October already! It seems like there is always something going on that distracts me from bloglandia. Since my last visit, we have continued to rehearse with the Columbia Alternacirque. Alas, we got rained out for the September show, but we look forward to the October 24th performance with much excitement. My mister has been a really quick study, learning fire tricks…it’s been nonstop entertainment! i am still working hard with bellydance. I just took and amazing two-day ” tribal bootcamp” workshop with with the beautiful Moria Chappell.
I have never worked so hard at dance and it was fantasitc, even tho’ it nearly killed me

Meanwhile, i have been REALLY busy, stitching and making and working working working away at various projects. I’m vending at the Belladonna’s Halloween Festival in a few weeks and so i have been trying to make up a few simple things for that…..here are a few….

As well as a few not-so-simple…

I double-dyed a vintage half-slip with chai tea, and it  is very mottled and “Ancient” looking.  I added some black lace to the hem…

Then i embroidered on a couple of simple “juggling” skeletons….this took ages of course, and kept me entertained in the car while traveling to “boot camp”, and while sitting around waiting for the wee beastie to get out of school every afternoon.

I gave them button eyes, and  stitched on some lace roses and pearls for the skellies to “juggle” with. It’s silly, creepy and fun. I am extremely pleased with it.

Unbelievably, i have not gotten my Halloween decorations up!!!!  I might have to turn in my Ghoulie card! Planning to work on that over the weekend, as well as heaps more sewing that i’ve got going on! Head spinning…..not enough hours in the day to do everything i want to do! Eeeek!

Hoping everyone is having a lovely Autumn so far! I’ll be back soon!

xoxoxo

You should see me dance the Polka,
You should see me cover the ground,
You should see my petticoats flying,
As I jump my partner round;

When the band commences playing,
My feet begin to go,
For a rollicking romping Polka
Is the jolliest fun I know.

Too much gin and Polka Dancing and time spent with VERY bad company…what more can be said?

Polly had many inspirations. First of all was the fabric, of course. Wild crazy polkadots! I had to use it! While i was working on her, i had “You Should See Me Dance The Polka” from Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde playing creepily in my head non-stop. I loved Ingrid Bergman and Spencer Tracy in that film. Old Spencer scares the hell out me with that slimy leering portrayal of Hyde. I recently re-watched it and it really stuck with me this time. Love it! Miss Polka Polly is ready for adoption and you can find her here!
In other non-craft news….last night my mister made himself some torches.

Fire-eating is HOT!

Looks like the circus is a permanent part of the buttonbox household. I love that my family is enjoying this so much and finding new ways to be creative. It’s wonderful!
Hoping that you are all having a lovely Wednesday!

xoxoxo

Hello, long lost lovies!

I am sure by now my long stretches of silence are what you’ve come to expect. Tiresome, i know. Hopefully some of you are still out there reading this on the occasions i DO finally manage to get something new up here and forgiving me for my constant truancy!

I am finally starting to adjust to my new routine….the beastie has officially begun kindergarten. It was rough at first….we are just not used to that much structure here in the buttonbox! I am happy to say that we have started to get into the swing of it tho’, and while we are still perpetually exhausted, it’s not as harrowing as it was at first. I am still getting used to having these long days of no-kid, and missing him alot, but now that i am adjusting to waking up early, i am become more productive again and i’ve been making lots of things and doing groovy stuff like scrubbing the bathrooms and folding laundry. Wow! It’s astonishing what you can accomplish with you are not wrangling a little monster all day!

I am also still very involved with bellydancing (i have really immersed myself in American Tribal Style, as well as Fusion) as well as working with the Columbia Alternacirque. I love it so much, and the cast is a flock of the most outrageously creative and awesome people who i am really enjoying getting to know and spend time with. It’s been great, espcially since my mister has gotten so into it all too….seeing him on stilts was scary at first, but now it’s just a normal day in the buttonbox…he’s learning fire tricks now….poi and fire eating and such. Madness!!!! Our August “Dreams” set was amazing, in spite of the Very Bad Weather we had to work around. We are repeating “We’re All Mad” and “Dreams” for the rest of the season, tho’, and i expect it will evolve and get more magical as we rework and continue to rehearse and re-imagine. If you want to see a little teaser, check it out here.

The crazy costumes and stilts and fire and dancing and bubbles and glitter were incredible…if a bit uncomfortable. The “bird people” all wore huge black cloaks and insane masks that we made…we constructed big beaks and attached them to a mask-form, covered the whole thing in shards of broken mirror and grouted it. It’s heavy and hot and really challenging to wear, but the effect onstage is creepy and beautiful!

Highly dangerous should i ever decide to peck anyone tho’! teehee!!!

I’ve been working on so many things and i want to write about it all…but i thought that perhaps if i just blog about one project at a time then it will encourge me to start writing everyday again. So the project for today is the “Poisoner’s Cami”….

This is cut down from an old slip…the bottom half was not in great shape, but the top was fine, so i hacked it off and went crazy on it. Dyed with Earl Grey as usual, and completely handstitched. I trimmed all the edges with black lace….

Ahh….the ubiquitous “arsenic” embroidery! I can’t help myself. I feel Halloween reaching out to me in the distance and feel myself shifting into creepy-mode. I embroidered my poison of choice onto a piece of black cotton and ripped it so the edges would be rough and frayed, and layered it with a scrap of black lace from an old dress. Then i made up a bunch of lace “roses” and added them, as well as some pretty, ladylike pearls to distract from the danger.

Because of course, there is danger lurking…

But i suppose it’s only fair to give one a LITTLE warning, so i sewed on a skull and crossbones charm. I am nothing if not SUBTLE, yes? (giggle)

More lace and pearls for the back so that one can look just as lovely leaving as coming. And since someone complained to me about my making everything so small all the time, this cami is NOT for tiny waifs. Poisoners have CURVES, right?

I am really pleased with this piece, and really really enjoyed making it. I’ve been all about handsewing lately, and there is something that is really pleasing to me in all those imperfect little stitches. Meditative.

So there we have it. All is well here, just learning how to live with all this change and excitement….i really want to get back to regular blogging and catch up with you all. Renata…Kim…..Bethany…..Carolina……Vanessa…..Angelina…..Gypsy…and so many more of you that i have missed so much. i hope you are all well and wonderful, and that you know i think of you all so often. Let’s play catch-up!

Have a a magical day, lovies!!!!

xoxoxo

Well, it took me forever to get back to you all about the show and how it went. It was an absolute blast and we all had a great time…none of us can wait to perform it again on the 22nd. I am also getting the chance to perform in the NEW set as well…as a creepy bird person (more on that as it develops!) The Mister will also be joining the cast as a stilt walker…i am scared to death, but how can i deny him the fun of being part of the Alternacirque!

So i have been busily being a circus girl, visiting with out-of-town pals, and getting the wee Beastie ready for school…i’ve been doing some crafting but nothing major. I finished up a new camisole….

It’s done the usual way…tea dyed a secondhand cami, and then loaded it up with embellishments. I am really loving working with all these old “unmentionables” and can’t seem to quit doing them…i’ve got yet ANOTHER in progress as we speak. My lovely sister in law grabbed a HUUGE box of lace trims and vintage buttons for me at an auction, so i have so much goodness to play in that i seem to even DREAM in lace lately.

Anyway! That’s what’s shakin’ in the buttonbox….i can’t wait to tell you all more about the “Nightmares and Dreamscapes” Alterncirque performance….will be making claoks and crazy bird masks…hopefully i’ll have nifty photos soon…meanwhile, “We’re All Mad” is up on youtube if you want to check out the show.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine

Part Ten

Part Eleven

Hoping you are all having a lovely Friday!

xoxoxo

Well…the time is drawing ever closer to my Vaudeville debut! Tonight is the final dress rehearsal before the show on friday. My nerves are strung up about as tight as my fiddle strings!

Here’s my fancy violin that i will be totally “rocking out” with in the Cirque show. My mister made her and i painted her and tarted her up with some ribbons and lace….and i named her “Fiddle DeeDee”. She’s a hefty wooden wonder and love her.

I’ve also finished up the last embellished slip for the dancers. “La perle du Cirque”…..

The dancer that this one is for is playing a character that is a bit of a “Diva” so i kind of ran with that idea….”The Pearl of the Circus”.

Lots of lace “roses” and pearls handsewn on. Layers of lace trims at the hem.

i removed the original straps and made new ones from strips of layers lace, and trimmed out the bodice with more lace and pretty trims as well as a “rose corsage”made of, you guessed it, LACE!

Now i am putting the finishing touches on my own costume….I don’t a photo of the whole enchilada yet, but as soon as i do, i’ll share. i CAN tell you it involves this:

It’s a skirt made of a vintage sheer curtain panel that i tea dyed, various layers of lace and teadyed eyelet from a thrifted pillow sham. This will be gathered up into a bustle and worn over a black vintage slip and some fantastic “jailhouse striped” stockings and vintage tap pants. Corset and tea-dyed lace camisole on the top. And best of all, the crowing glory…..

My utterly amazing mini topper that Christa over at Gypsy Junk Knits made for me! I am THRILLED to have such a grand reason to pop open the magic hatbox and unveil this little lovely again .

Well….i suppose i should get busy……hoping i can pop in just one more time before the big night. Until then, i hope you are all well and wonderful!!!

xoxoxox