photo by Pixie Vision Productions

In my recent trip to Las Vegas in September I got the chance to hang out with my good friend Virginie. If you don't know already this lovely gal is one member of the fabulous trio Tabu from LV. Usually we get to nosh it out at the Thai Pot at Tribal Fest in Sebastapol, California. But its never enough!!!

Backstage at TF11

So it was really great for me to have the chance to come to her hood, and spend some time chilling out with Virginie and her family in Las Vegas!

So as with most hanging out time and much wine....inspiration does start to flow. And because I'm snoopy....I started digging threw her costume bits and bobs gear. Well it wasn't to long until I found enough bits and bobs to put together some type of costume piece for Virginie....

ohhhhhh sparkles.....

so I squirreled all her items into my car to get working on this project.....I usually can't wait...I always get inspired by making costumes....

It almost seems a shame to cover up that pretty polka dot bra!!

Keeping myself entertained while I sew alllllllll those little teeny tiny beads!!

ok here's the end result!!

 Ohhh....I'm so happy how it turned out!

 Lots of hand beading!!

 A little delicate bellydrape action!

 Top view of the point beads

whoooooooosh!!

Thats alot of teeny teeny beads...

But YEAH for me!! There were extra supplies...so I'm putting together at belt for Virginie too!!

Violet Sparkle Love...

I hope she loves it:))

and if you have not seen this talented gal dance yet...

check her out

here

LOVE her!

xoxooxoxox

Pretty Shalee Denver....her troupe killed there piece!

Paige and Sherri

group squish!

It was super great to meet Kaeshi in person...really nice lady!

Sorry Paige, for crashing your boy only dressing room.....

A little post show love with Virginie and the luscious Nisha of LV

It was a super short visit!! Hopefully next time I go I can stay for a bit longer!! Just would like to say thankyou to Samira and her awesome team. Everyone was so friendly and professional!

ohhhhhh and here's my clip from the show.....go give it some love:))

 The whole area was a giant artist collective....LOVE that!

The whole evening was really great!! All the dancers were amazing! Sometimes with themed shows you wonder if everyone is going to go for 100%....just due to time and energy of artists. Sometimes its hard to put together a whole piece that will be a one time deal. But all the performers last night gave 110%, such a magical evening!

And as you know....I chose the character Sally from the Nightmare before Christmas....

you can see my Sally costume post here...

Sally , The Nightmare Before Christmas Costume

Here it is.....

hanging with Khani Zulu....creepy ladies we make:)

It was long process of ALOT of makeup...but it made for a great visual...
ok more pics!!

Backstage with Roxy

some of the beautiful gals from Mandala DanceWorks

trying not to schmush the lovely Heather Shoopman blue!

sleeping beauties, Heather and Aubre

Khani Zulu, as the Bride of Frankenstein

some Sweet Transvestite...with Mark Bissel.

Heather Shoopman, "Eyes without a Face"

After the show with Elizabeth Mahina

loved this piece with Lumina!

Mandala Danceworks wowing the crowd!!

 Everyone loves Elvira!!

Aubre...as "The Birds"

Such a great night!!! yeahhhhhhhh huge congrats BFLA!! great job....thankyou so much for having me!

So this weekend I get the lucky opportunity to perform in this super cool show. The idea being the dancers had to pic out a horror cinema classic and create some type of dance piece to their chosen them. I was super excited at first, but then I got stumped!! If you know me well, I don't do horror films. I think I was had a horrible experience as a child watching the Alfred Hitchcock classic The Birds on TV, in my gramma's house in rural Manitoba. Funny thing, I have heard other folks around my age group having a very similar experience. weird. Anyways, now that I'm all grown up (questionable) I'm not such a huge scaredy cat...buts its a genre I have never gotten into. Yes I know.....poo poo. 

So now what???? I checked out the list again....and all the obvious and great classics are already taken. I did not want to do something really obscure....so yes I decided to deal a card that I do know. Animation.

Yes, I am aware that many an animation has classic scary parts....But for some reason growing up...my fear factor could handle Disney scared. (yes, you are assuming correct....not even fun houses at the fair.Still.) 

Soooooo which character.....without being ridiculous, because in the end I got to dance to this creation.....So I went through my memory of soundtracks. Being a dancer...you tend to have a strong memory to soundtracks. And yes.......Bingo.

I don't plan to use this version....but you have to wait and see what I do use:)))

 I have my music.....working on my choreography. I got to pull the look together. Can't dance naked....well you can, but this is not that type of show.....

Looking online for Sally costumes you come across your run of the mill made in China Walmart reproduction quality costumes. Um yuck. Foamy polyester...double yuck. 

 Off to my closest!!!

And this is what I find.

Okay, so I have some type of base. Now what? Well I did not wish to create the exact same version of the Sally dress....I wanted something a bit more stage ready....updated and something that will catch the lights.

So I dug through my sewing bits and bobs and found some potential items.

Lace remnants.....

I pulled the two main colors from the Sally costume that I felt were the most eye catching, yellow and purple....

Handy Dandy Rit Dye from your local grocery store.

I also grab some brown to help mellow the purple out.

Now the fun starts!!!

Be sure to follow the directions on the box!! Boil your water first then mix the dye in slowly...you don't need much!

Tip: Use stainless steel bowls and utensils as your tools!! Plastics will dye!

 Let that sit in there for about 25 minutes. The more vibrant you want your garments the longer you have it sit.

If you noticed I have the ends tied off and hanging over the edge.

I'm going to dye to end a purple color!

While I have the yellow sitting, I make another batch for the purple and another to make a brown wash....to mellow the purple.

 In goes all the lace bits and bobs into the purple.....

Once I have those dyed....I actually place all the lace into my brown wash to mellow out the brightness of the purple. I do like purple...just not Barney purple.

Now, in goes the end of my dress. As you can see I'm leaving the yellow in its dye bowl. This is not an exact science. I'm trying to create a slight ombre fade into the yellow...so I want the purple to "bleed" slightly. To make that happen, once I got all the purple complete...I spooned, with a spoon, the purple dye slightly into the yellow to blend both sections.

Ok hangs to dry!!! the color is gonna drip down...so outside in the sunshine was the best place for me to have this dry. Once dry, you will need to hand wash gently the garment and hang to dry again. This helps sets the color from bleeding out.

ohhh looky my cookie sheets multitasking......

 Now the enjoyable part for me.....putting it all together. I like to use a dress form and straight pins to "play" with my piece. Its an experiment...so you never know what your gonna end up with.....

(ohhhhhhhh an EVIL experiment)

:::::lifts small pinky up:::::

(nerd alert)

 Here's my end result!!

Some hand sewing around the bust.

Lace detailing down the front.

Using up some old buttons.

A little faux bustle bum.

 Yeahhhhh!!! I love how it all turned out. Its gonna be fun to put the whole character together!

I'll post pics later:)

Let me know what you think!! Better yet, come to the show and tell me what you think:)))

 Here is the link for the show!! If your in the LA area come check it out!! Its a perfect way to get all warmed up for the Halloween season!!

Horror Cinema Classics tickets!

xoxoxooxox