My family rocks!

Let's take a little break from talking about business to talk about how much fun last night's holiday gathering with my family was! It will also serve as an explanation as to why I won't be posting any new jewelry today. You see, my brother Joe and his girlfriend Michelle challenged us to a gift wrapping challenge. We lost mightily because I waited too long to start, but I did get props for hiding their present (a Groupon for an event they wanted to attend) inside last year's pocket calender, which had all the pockets stapled shut and decoy papers in most pockets. The calender was in turn covered in tape, wrapped, put inside a laptop box over-stuffed with bubblewrap, which was in turn wrapped twice.

But Joe and Michelle brought in a box larger than my washing machine, which had layers of boxes inside, including one in paper mache made of the paper leftover from her family's Christmas. And inside that, the best thing ever... a box wrapped in candy. Michelle did this for Joe last year. It was the first time we met her and needless to say, it made a great impression! We were very happy to be this year's recipient of the candy box :) It has sweet, fruity candy for Chris and chocolate for me, yay! Inside was about 7 more layers of wrapping (including two of tinfoil), and inside that, individually wrapped presents to make for the perfect game night -- a fun nerdy game, ginger beer and rum to make Dark and Stormies, hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows from Michelle's family's chocolate shop, caramel corn, and so much more!

What does this have to do with listing items? Well, all of those treats and the paper they're wrapped up in are covering the dining room table where I do all of my photography! Today is going to be mainly dedicated to cleaning up the post-holiday mess, although I will also work on making some jewelry, too.

In other news, my Mom is awesome. You might think that the above mask is leather, but no, Mom made it from polymer clay! It's the perfect blend of black with some iridescent green-gold clay in it, echoing the shimmer of raven feathers. It's so gorgeous! I'm already thinking of all the occasions I could wear it for -- a Gothic bellydance performance, masquerade at Wild Wild West Con (and any other conventions with masquerades), handing out candy on Halloween, etc etc. I really love masks and this one is extra special because it was handmade with love by my mother.

There were a lot of other cool handmade gifts. My brother has really gotten into leatherwork, so Dad and Chris both got awesome belts with lots of accessories for their steampunk costumes. Mom made Dad a sporran to go with his Utilikilts, and Michelle a black and red kitty hoodie. Michelle assembled and painted a Warhammer miniature for Joe (he was really touched, which made me exclaim "Nerd love!" I have joke immunity, after all, I was excited about the Goblins of the Labyrinth book that Chris gave me). And there was so much more! So many of this year's presents game from artists and crafters, whether made by one of us or purchased at Etsy or local conventions. I love how dedicated my family is to supporting artists!

Sneak Peek!

 I am so excited! Earlier this month I had a photo shoot with Liora K Photography! My dance friends Jen and Rachel served as my beautiful models, showcasing some of my tribal designs and some other jewelry that would also look great with dance costumes. All three women were so much fun to work with!

Soon I will be adding the images to my Etsy listings, and listing some new jewelry, but for now enjoy this cute picture of Jen and Rachel, and this sneak peek of the trays of necklaces!

Wowza!

I was wondering what to blog about today, and it's a good thing I waited instead of posting something boring, because look what the nice UPS man just brought for me! My husband's godmother cleaned out her jewelry box and sent everything she didn't want anymore to me! There's glass, crystals, metal, plastic, and even a set of cameos! And that's just what I noticed from digging around a little bit. Sorting through these treasures is going to take a while, and it's going to be fun :)

This is one of the awesome things about being a jewelry designer... My house is where old jewelry goes to be reborn! Will I leave the pieces as-is? Dismantle them and make them into new jewelry? Use them to decorate tribal bras, belts, and headgear? Only time will tell.

The most wonderful cameo ever

 One night while I was visiting my in-laws in New York last month, my mother-in-law said to me "You like cameos, right?" and she gave me this beautiful convertible brooch pendant. There are a few things that are very special about this piece of jewelry -- the most important is that it belonged to her mother, who sadly passed away when my husband Chris was very young. The other is that it's actually carved from shell, not molded from glass. The last is that unlike most cameos, it has a very raised, straight-on view of the woman's face instead of the usual slightly raised profile image. It's so unusual!

 (Don't mind the bit of red, I used a handy six-sided die to prop it up). Look how much the image is raised from the background. And how pretty it is!

 My mother-in-law had no idea how old it was or where her mother got it. I'm tempted to take it to an antique or jewelry store for an appraisal, not so much for the value (because the sentimental value is all that matters to me), but just to get an idea of its origins. The geek in me hates unanswered questions.

Oh, I forgot to mention the other cool part... the hanging loop is a tiny hinge that folds under to stay out of the way when it's worn as a brooch. How clever is that? The little flat part says "14K" and is the only mark I could find.

I probably won't work this into a piece of beaded jewelry, although I might make something to coordinate with it... maybe a choker, and I could wear the cameo on a chain below it or pinned on my blouse. In fact, with Autumn just around the corner, it seems like the perfect time to go out shopping for an outfit that begs for a vintage cameo accent.

PS: Thank you Marlyn, for the cameo, for the wonderful man I married, and for everything you do for the both of us and all of your family. You're the best! <3

Good News!

I am pleased and excited to announce that I am one of 12 designers chosen to be part of the brand-new Allegory Gallery Design Team! Allegory Gallery is the brick-and-mortar shop that Andrew Thornton and his partner are opening, and while I live just a little too far away to be there in person, I will be designing things to be featured on the blog and newsletter. It's going to be awesome!

Please check out my eleven talented teammates!

Peggy Li
Sally Russick
Penny Neville
Cindy Cima Edwards
Amy Cousin
Genea Crivello-Knable
Brenda Salzano
Shannon Chomanczuk
Charlene Sevier
Jess Prill
Rebecca Anderson

Frontage Road Shows

Why do I love the frontage road shows? Because that's where I score sweet tribal jewelry! Not only did I get two cute rings for $3 each today, but look at this amazing belt that was only $35! Yes, that back panel that spreads across my entire bum is in fact peyote-stitched seed beads (size 8ish) with a netted border. There are two smaller triangle panels at the front. And the bells make such a pretty chiming ring. And there are mirrors! Oh, I love it so much! In fact, I plan to wear it tomorrow when I perform in Tempe! My friend Jen and I will be doing a duet!

Anyway, we didn't have much time to spend at the shows today. We did check out a new show, on the east side of the I-10 and 22nd Street corner, which has free parking, clean restrooms, and some friendly vendors. I saw some cabs I wanted and OMG Liquid Fire Mantra was there and I saw the ear things in person and I WANT THEM SO BADLY! If only I hadn't just bought a new belly dance skirt on Thursday, those ear things would be MINE!

Remember, if you would like to support my debilitating tribal jewelry, 25 yard skirt and elf ear habit, you can go to Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs and give in to your addiction for unique beaded jewelry. Just saying... ;)

FAE Team Gift Swap!

Just like in 2009, in 2010 the participants of FAE Team's Etsy chat thread had a gift swap! This year I was fortunate enough to receive pretties from Lithia's Creations. Lith sent me three pieces of her great jewelry -- an adjustable black and purple ring with crystal accent, a cameo pin, and one of her brand new Gypsies Dragon Skin bottles! So cool! They all suit my Gothic steampunk sense of style and I am really happy that I will have them to accessorize with for Wild Wild West Con in March!

Plus she sent me the gorgeous absinthe mermaid by Jasmine Becket-Griffith, one of my favorite artists that I somehow never bought any prints from. This one is particularly cool because not only is it green, but I do enjoy the occasional glass of absinthe, and I love how delightfully creepy the mermaid is. She definitely looks like the sort to drown a few sailors, the little minx!

I bet you'd like a closer pic of the pretty jewelry...
Isn't it lovely?

SQUEEEEEE!

Why has my blog been so quiet these past two days? Because I've been out of the house for most of that time! I spent Thursday out and about with friends who were down from the Phoenix area, culminating in an absolutely amazing experience seeing Le Serpent Rouge.

If you'll remember, last month I drove up to Mesa to see Bellydance Super Stars, which was an amazing star-packed production. As much as I loved that show, Le Serpent Rouge was even more fun. It was a more intimate experience -- not only were we close enough to really enjoy the details of the dance and the costume, but afterwards, the performers were hanging out in the theater and we were able to meet them, thank them, and get photos, signatures, and even some hugs! Because Le Serpent Rouge is a vaudeville-themed show, it was also less serious. There were a lot of jokes, light-hearted numbers, and fun times.

But most importantly, ohmigoodness the dancing was amazing! Rachel Brice was my first belly dance idol and remains one of my favorites, so to not only see her dancing live, but to be so close that I can see every isolation, and every detail of her intricate costuming, was amazing. Likewise for Zoe Jakes and Mardi Love, who are more recent idols. The Indigo and its individual dancers sometimes get accused of going too far afield in their tribal fusion, to the point where some consider them to no longer be true belly dancers, but their belly dance roots were still very much apparent in this show. There was also a touch of burlesque -- nothing naughty, but the stylings and the HUGE ostrich plume fans gave it a bit of old-time sensuality.

The music was a mix of live numbers by The Crow Quill Night Owls and the Gallus Brothers, and pre-recorded tracks. The live music was ol-timey bluegrass and other related genres that I don't know the names of -- clearly I'm not a music expert ;) If you enjoyed the soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou? then you'd love both bands. The Gallus Brothers also blended a bit of acrobatic antics and juggling with their music, in keeping with the vaudeville style of the show.

The event was held at Solar Culture, a gallery full of art which I never would have visited if not for the show (I hate driving downtown so I never go anyplace cool). There was even a mosaic bathroom with a beautiful mirrored sun design in the tub *sigh* which prompted all of us to wonder why WE didn't have mosaic bathrooms.

All in all, it was an amazing night, and I hope the pictures of my friends and I with Zoe Jakes and Rachel Brice turn out, because I know the internet motto is "pics or it didn't happen" but I am telling you, these ladies were super nice about posing for pictures and hugging their fans! Really warm and welcoming dancers, and I am still floating on cloud 9 about meeting them and not saying anything dumb.

If you enjoy reading about my belly dance adventures and would like to support my endeavors, please take a moment to visit my shop Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs.

I feel like a winner!

I am pleased to announce that Beetles Are Lovely, Too won Second Place in the MZ Glass Design Challenge! If you'd like to see the other winners and read about the judging process, MZ blogged all about it. Spoiler alert: all of the winners used beetles! They must be MZ's most inspirational beads ;)

That was just one highlight of my awesome weekend... I'll post about the belly dance tomorrow!

Super fun belly dance week!

I've been focusing most of my talk lately on beads and jewelry, since this is technically a blog for my Erthe Fae Designs business and not a personal blog for all the silly things going on in my life... but hey! Belly dance is still awesome and I feel like talking about it.

This week is the start of about a month and a half of awesome belly dance events almost every week! Tonight, I'm off to Mesa to see Bellydance Superstars Presents: Bombay Bellywood. I wasn't going to go, because there are so many other events coming up and almost all of them are in Phoenix, which means a lot of driving. But then I realized, what the heck was I thinking? This is THE big bellydance show, should I really let a little drive discourage me? Especially when the tickets were half-off if you knew the right coupon code?

Of course, Phoenix is experiencing thunderstorms and hail and flash flood warnings, so it's going to be more than a little drive... but I've already got my ticket so there's no backing out now. Wish me luck!

Thursday is my usual class night, beginner and intermediate Anaya Tribal. We've been learning and practicing formations in intermediate, as well as constantly practicing and improving the moves we already know.

Friday and Saturday is the Plaza de Anaya Intensive. Friday is an awesome show, featuring the workshop instructors and many PdA teachers. Saturday I'll be taking workshops with Deb Rubin, Zafira, and Jill Parker. I'm pretty excited!

Back from an amazing weekend!

I am back from an incredible weekend up in Tempe! On Saturday and Sunday I spent 4 hours a day in class with Fat Chance Belly Dance, the founders of American Tribal Style Belly Dance! It pretty much rocked my world. I learned SO much and spent so much time dancing, with my friends and various people I know from the dance community and people who were new to me, but all of them were great.

There was also a performance on Saturday, with Fat Chance and a lot of great tribal troupes from the Phoenix area. I'm not sure if there was a single group performing where I hadn't either taken a class alongside or from at least one of the dancers, so it was a lot of fun to see them all dressed up and performing, and to cheer them all along.

Now I am back home and my head is swimming with inspiration to dance better, and harder, and more often, and to come up with more costumes and jewelry to go with.

Barely home!

Feels like I've been on the go for the past week... From my weekend in Phoenix, to the gym and errands, to taking my brother to the MVD, to starting my new job, to dance classes tonight and then my fun dancing birthday weekend coming up, I've barely been home at all. Housework and beading are both suffering, but should hopefully return to normal next week.

Tonight is a very exciting one for classes, the first evening of a new session in which I will not only be continuing my education in the Anaya Tribal style, but I will also learn tribal-style sword, and palm flames. Swords! And Fire! Two of my favorite things combined with dancing, which is one of my other favorite things. Add a beaded costume with some malachite and faeries and that's pretty much all of my favorite inanimate things.

Assuming we can get the music issue ironed out, my classmate Marlene and I will be performing the drum solo choreo that we learned on Friday, since we were unable to at the recital on Sunday. This means that I will probably be performing twice at the hafla*. I hope I'll be able to get to see a lot of the other performers as well, even if I have to peak out through the back-stage door ;)

I'll try to post a quick update tomorrow before I take off for Phoenix, to let you know how awesome tonight's classes are, then I'll be quiet all weekend again.

Recital Number Two

So, the recital this weekend was fun but crazy. The drum solo performance was canceled last-minute, so I only danced with two classes, which was actually better for me in a way because it meant one less costume change. We had several people just not show up, which threw off our formations, and there was some confusion on exactly what we were doing for zill class... but in the end, it all more or less came together, and if any mistakes were made, well, we all made the same mistake, so only we know that it wasn't supposed to be that way :)

Even though there was a bit of stress involved, I found myself feeling really refreshed as I drove home to Tucson. There's something about spending the entire weekend with my dancing friends and classmates that just makes me happy. I get a real sense of community, especially as we all help each other get ready and congratulate each other on a job well-done (and convince each other that the audience didn't notice that little misstep).

Video is forthcoming. My parents loaned us their nice camcorder, which should have taken some nice footage, it just needs to be transferred to the computer and such.

Bad week followed by a day of Pure Awesomeness!

Image shamelessly stolen from Levant al Sonora's Facebook page.

If you're wondering why I've been so quiet for the past week, it's because all I would have been able to blog about was the tedious list of annoying things that happened to me. None of it was truly awful on its own, just the little trials and tribulations that an adult must deal with in life, but they came all together in one week and piled on top of each other until I felt quite irritated by it all, paranoid about what would happen next.

But then I had two wonderful days. The first was Thursday, the blissful retreat of my evening full of belly dance classes. I delivered a custom octopus necklace to one of my classmates (unfortunately, I didn't have time to photograph it before I gave it to her), had a good time in all of my classes, and got some much needed ego-boosting compliments from my teachers.

The big blast of refreshing happiness was yesterday, however. Our local chapter of the Middle Eastern Culture and Dance Association (MECDA) brought workshops and a showcase down to Tucson (they're of course based in Phoenix, which has an unfairly high concentration of amazing dancers). The rundown:

Warning! Belly dance nerd content ahead!

I started the day learning American Tribal Style moves from Lenay of Kamalah (Arizona's only true ATS troupe), and then Shannon of Divine Chaos turned them into tribal fusion combos, complete with cues, so that any troupe could add them to their repertoire. I really liked the dual-teacher system here, and Shannon's combos were really cool.

What struck me as I thought about this class today is how different the belly dance world is from the beading world. At one point, Shannon said (I'm paraphrasing) "So, if you take this back to your troupe and teach it to them, you could do it this way or this way..." There was a clear expectation that dancers would want to share these moves with people who did not take the workshop, and that was OK. In the bead world, it's a big faux pas to take a class and then use the handout to teach your friends who didn't take the class... and that's just fine, I don't blame a teacher for wanting people to pay for the fruit of their labors.

Next was zill class with Mahin, a dancer that I admire very much because she sends out these great "belly dance quickie" e-mails every day, with a new tip or technique or inspirational video. I love people who give to their community like that. We learned three new-to-me zill rhythms, and she taught combinations to practice them with. I had some trouble with the moves and combos because they were pretty alien to my world of 4-count tribal moves, but I look forward to practicing the rhythms.

After a lunch break, Shannon came back and taught a short bonus workshop on double fans! This free class was actually my favorite, because I've always wanted to learn fans. Shannon taught us how to open and close paired fans with natural movements of the arm and wrist, and a few tribal-fusion style combos that look really pretty with paired fans. She even covered dramatic ways to come on stage with the fans. Afterwords, we all posed with our diverse fans for the photo above. Isn't it pretty?

Later in the evening was the Spring Showcase, featuring the teachers from the workshops and other talented Arizona dancers. It was being held at a shop called People's Imports, which seemed like an odd choice to me... dancing in a store? Would there be enough room for the dancers to move? Ample seating? Turns out it was awesome. The shop itself is old brick, decorated with imported rugs and furniture and cool stuff, and they even had a raised stage which the musicians occupied. The dancers performed in a wide open space, half-surrounded by low seats.

I loved seeing a lot of the tribal troupes that I know from the Phoenix area actually performing -- so far I'd only seen them on video, or in informal party-type settings. It was also fun to see some local Tucson dancers that I didn't know putting on some great shows! And Mahin gave a show-stopping glitzy cabaret-style performance in a costume that I'm pretty sure had aurum 2x Swarovski crystals all up in its fringe (there's a little something for my beaders!). After the performers, Divine Chaos's live band played a number for the audience to get up and dance, the perfect cap to the night.

The only bad part is knowing that this won't happen again until NEXT year! Oh sure, I can travel to workshops, but having MECDA bring the fun to me (and my fellow Tucson dancers) was a nice treat!

Unstoppable!

Yesterday was a really good day. Not only did we get the "all clean" on Daisy's mystery lump, but I then proceeded to go to the MVD and pass my road test. I'm a licensed driver! Armed with this license, I drove myself to the gym and lifted 115lbs, a new record for me.

Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty good about life right now. I'm in the perfect frame of mind for Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, as the proud owners of a large, sturdy dining room table, Chris and I get to host for the second year in a row. I spent today driving around town getting things for Thanksgiving, though I was thwarted in my quest for a few key ingredients, which means a trip to another grocery store later tonight.

Tomorrow I get to clean the house, and make some preparations for the little gift bazaar I'm doing on Sunday. Never a dull moment!

In all his hideous glory!

Yes, at long last, Cthulhu is complete! I stitched the last beads on early this afternoon, clipped all the stray threads, and basked in the afterglow of the largest, most involved project I've ever done. Just look at that malevolent glare!
All those beads! He's surprisingly heavy now -- I'd estimate he has at least 50 grams of seed beads stitched down to his body.
His back is only lightly embellished, and good thing, too. The closer I got to his head, the harder it was to manipulate the needle, and I managed to snap another one! His dorsal ridge is accented with the same bugle beads that outline the veins of his wings.

I'm really proud of myself for completing this. Yes, I had to scale back from my original plan, and yes, there are some goofs, and yes, I may go back someday and add more beads, but... I beaded Cthulhu! And completed him on time! And only lost 1d100 sanity points in the process.

Driving like a driving fool.

Just a quick update for those who are cheering along my driving progress... Though I'm not quite ready for rush hour yet, I'm at the point where I'm confident enough to drive on any road in Tucson now. I'm still having a little trouble getting the right speed for turns, and my parking skills are atrocious, but I can get around town. Chris is of course taking advantage of this ;)

In other news, we saw 9 today, and it was really awesome. Gorgeous graphics, engaging story, lots of suspenseful action. I'll save my full review for the e-zine I write for, but I do highly recommend it. Just bear in mind that it may be too intense for little kids! There's plenty of death and scary robot monsters.

Oh, to be full of win!

I've already told you before that TotusMel's Wunderkammer is one of my favorite blogs ever. It's a finds blog that features dark, steamy, and unusual finds, quite different from the cutesy cupcakes and indie fashion that other blogs focus on.

To celebrate the blog's beautiful new look, TotusMel is having a give-away, and that is why I wish I was full of win, or at the very least, one of those lucky people who wins drawings. All of the prizes are amazing, but I'd really love to have the custom bustle skirt pictured above! I know, I know, I already have a bustle skirt, but this one is a totally different style. These things are important.

Would you also like a chance to win fabulous steampunk prizes? If so, you should head on over to The Give-Away Post and read up on the rules. There are so many ways to enter, and the more people who enter, the more fantastic prizes are available. Jewelry! Crowns! Sexy bustle skirts! What more could you want?

A busy, busy day.

Well, first and foremost, I got a lot of work done on Locked Away today. After I posted last night, I went ahead and started the edging, because I was impatient. Then today I finished the edging. I really like how it looks, and I was going to take a picture and have another post about it, but I'm pretty tired from the rest of my day!

This evening my friend Alex took me and Chris out to a really cool place as a belated birthday treat. The place is called "Seven Cups" and it as an Asian-style tea house. They have a huge menu of all kinds of wonderful teas, and a small menu of Japanese and Chinese desserts -- you know, the kind you always see people eating in anime, and you wonder what they're like? Yeah, those. And by the way? They're delicious!

Seven Cups is nothing short of awesome. The tables are wood with beautiful shell inlay patterns. The teas are artfully presented. The waitress was very nice. And we got tiny little forks to eat our dessert with! So cute! Plus they sell all of their teas packaged up, and a nice assortment of tea sets and cups and pots and things. It's the sort of place where you can spend over an hour drinking tea and talking -- they provide you more hot water for your tea as long as you're there, and we never felt rushed. A very nice experience all around, and one we hope to repeat in the near future.

After that we went out for a Mexican dinner. Yeah, we had dessert first, we live on the edge :D All in all it was a fun night, lots of talk about life and gaming and movies and things.

Oh yes! The tea that I got was very cool! It was one of those flowering teas, you know, the ones that are tied in an artful bundle that unfolds as it steeps? I had to order it because it was called the "Faerie's Basket." It unfolded into a basket-y shape with a chrysanthemum flower in it, a handle formed of jasmine flowers, and a pretty pink flower at the apex of the handle. How neat is that? We all had fun watching it unfold :)