Category: General

Hello my friends in belly dance and costume. Welcome to the Studio Davina November Patreon Classes, Demos and Workshops.

I’m almost entirely back on my feet after struggling through an illness.  I’m a one-woman shop here at Studio Davina. I really appreciate all my friends, fans, and followers on Patreon for giving me the grace to heal.

My classes, demos, and workshops are all located over on Patreon. I offer three monthly informational and instructional demos/talks along with a free informal coffee chat

Subscribing is like buying a monthly class card to study with me. Best part, for less the cost of three cups of coffee, you can gain access to everything.

November Patreon Offerings:

• Free Coffee Chat – Click the Video Above to Watch!
• Show and Tell $3 – Level Özel’s “The Belly Dancer in You” Book flip and biographical information about this legendary Turkish belly dance star.
• Sewing and Design Demo $7 – Shalimar’s “Blue Mermaid” part 1 – The origin story, planning, and the costume in motion.
• History Talks $15 – “Recent Research” – Check out some of my latest finds and historical connections.

If you are reading this in the future, all of these presentations are available in the Patreon archive.  Just click through and flip through the collections or use a quick search by title or keywords to find the video you want.

Patreon: What’s up Next?  December 2024

Patreon classes are released during the last week of the month.  In December, this is sometime between Christmas and New Years.  Watch for topics:

• Coffee Chat – Studio reorganization, destashing project, and plans for 2025
• Book Flip – “Style File” a breakdown of what is moving to “Costuming from the Hip: 30” and what is not making the cut.
• Sewing Demo – Shalimar’s “Blue Mermaid” – Building the master to:do list, order of construction, shopping my stash, appliqué design and planning.
• Belly Dance History Talk – New Series Starting “Dancing Down the Midway: 1893” – In Part 1 we are setting the stage, discussing the venues where patrons of the fair could see cultural performances.

I’m very happy to be back on my feet!
But I’m simply over the moon to be back at my desk working.

Thank you for your continued support of my work in belly dance costuming and history.  Happy holidays!

Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Dec. 2024

 

 

My favorite free digital tool for belly dance costume design and historical research is Pinterest.  I think of Pinterest as the younger, cuter, but a little ditzier cousin of Google search. If you haven’t visited Pinterest recently, I recommend you consider it. It’s a great tool for planning, making, or purchasing items for your belly dance wardrobe.

With Pinterest, you can search a tremendous visual database for ideas and inspirations.  But even better than the search features, are the free tools and storage space. Use Pinterest to store your favorite images in an organization system that works for you.

But Pinterest for belly dancers goes beyond costume design. Here’s how I use Pinterest as a multi-purpose from my belly dance business.

Using Pinterest Boards for Design

When I’m working on a costume, I will create a private board and share it with my clients and collaborators so we can discuss the design elements and features that we’re integrating into the overall design.

If you are designing garments for yourself, you can use these same tools to plot and plan, finding out what fabrics, materials and supplies are available. As I “shop the web” I pin images and links to the supplies I might choose to purchase to complete my project.  This makes it very easy to do side-by-side comparison shopping for both quality and price.
Read my past blog “Using Pinterest Sections” for more organizational tips.

Using Pinterest as Shopping Aid

I’ve installed a widget to my Google Search Bar that lets me effortlessly send pictures and links to my Pinterest boards. In the example below, I’ve visited BellyDance.com, an internet store that I trust, to look for fabrics and design elements for this “Blue Mermaid” ensemble.

When I find a costume piece I want to consider for future purchase, I click on the Pinterest icon at the top left corner of the image. Then, using the drop-down feature, I select the board to save the image.

Building a Belly Dance Costume Design Portfolio on Pinterest

Of course if you, like me, make your own costumes and want a totally free and accessible location building your design portfolio, Pinterest is the perfect place!

In fact, though I have this blog where I share loads of design tips and tricks, works-in-progress shots, and finished garments, I have boards dedicated to sharing my work on Pinterest.

There are two ways you can add to your portfolio.  You can drag and drop your images directly to the site. If this is your primary portfolio location, I recommend using links to your favorite social media outlet. This is a great way to gain new followers on your Instagram, YouTube, or any popular platform.

If you have an established blog or YouTube channel, link from your posts and videos directly to Pinterest to share your content. I have found that over the years, Pinterest generates the most organic inbound links to my blog.

Pinterest for Belly Dance Publicity

If you’re a professional dancer, building out a Pinterest page is a great way to share your content. Since accounts are free, it’s a great way to share your content when you’re operating on a limited budget.

Use your publicity shots, event flyers, videos of past performances, to build a record of your body of work as a dancer. When potential students, or booking agents want to see what you’ve done, this is a great place to send them.

Bottom line, since Pinterest is a free and searchable platform where people go for ideas, inspirations, and information, it’s a great place to share your work.  It’s free, it’s not behind a membership or paywall, and is a tool I use weekly, if not daily.

Streamline your Belly Dance Content Sharing using Pinterest

Collect your content from around the web and store links on Pinterest boards. I love having links all in one convenient storage place.  If I need to send someone a video, I simply come here and snag the link. This page works like an index of my digital work. On this board I store links to websites with podcast interviews, dance performances, and more.

Basically, anywhere I might have appeared on sites around the web. And unlike a boring spreadsheet, I can use visual clues to find the links fast!

I hope have a festive and merry holiday season!
~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina

 

 

Belly Dance Mermaid Costume Redux

2024 was the year I closed my sewing business.  As my hands have aged, I’ve had to acknowledge my capacity to hold and pull a needle is greatly reduced. I’ve become unreliable and as such, have stepped back from big projects.

When my good friend Shalimar arrived for the Fabulous Fall Festival, she brought a costume she purchased from a friend.  She loves the color, the flow of the skirt, and the belly dance mermaid vibe.

However, the bra was a bit too small for comfortable support and coverage. In the two days leading up to the show, I made the necessary fitting adjustments and repairs and the costume made it onto stage.

Shalimar’s Belly Dance Wardrobe

Shalimar have collaborated on building a strong and versatile working wardrobe for her professional belly dance business in South Carolina. For a decade, she lived and worked near Silicon Valley, and long-time readers will recognize her from many past projects.

If this color looks familiar, I made a costume which we call “Blue Stripes.”  You can read this article here.  Fortunately, when we made that blue skirt, we saved all the fabric scraps and now I’m using them in this new ensemble.

I’m also shopping my stash for rhinestone and chain.  I’ve got some bits and pieces left after making her the pink “Line and Dot” style ensemble with matching sleeves.  Remember Shalimar’s “Pink Floral” costume?

Pro-Quality Bra – House-Made Belt

But the most striking problem was the mix between the old bra and the new belt. The pairing was a bit of a strange marriage. With a major design disconnect between the the bedlah pieces.

The color was reasonably harmonious. However there was very little embellishment added. From stage, the belt looked a bit home-made compared to the heavily rhinestoned and pearled professional quality bra.  As you can see from the video clip, and photo the belt looked quite pale and plain.

Over the next three months, I’m going to bring the bra and belt of this “Blue Mermaid” to a more balanced level of design and embellishment for the coming 2025 spring season.

It’s going to be a slow project to accommodate my new sewing pace and schedule limitations.  I’m looking forward to sharing this process!

Dawn Devine ~ Davina
December 2024

PS – Check out my Facebook Group for full project documentation, to ask questions, and join the conversation.

 

Fabulous Fall Belly Dance Festival 2024

Grant Park
Community Center
1575 Holt Ave. Los Altos

Sat. Nov. 16, 2024 – Noon – 8:30 pm
Adults $20 • Kids & Seniors $10

Buy now via PayPal: fabfallfestinfo@gmail.com
Or Pay At the Door: Cash or Card
A portion of proceeds goes to Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence Raffle Drawing • Snack Shop
www.babdama.org

Last year I joined the planning committee for the Fabulous Fall Festival.  Back in the old MECDA days, I was part of the crew that launched this event back in 2004.  If you’re local to me and want to drop in a say “Hi,” I’ll be there all day.  I’ll have a table set up with some books, jewelry, assiut and belly dance accessories.

Now I’m headed back into the studio to make a collection of vintage Saroyan Earrings for the show!  If you’re interested in getting a pair, I’ll be listing on Etsy in November.

Here’s to a happy autumn,
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Oct. 2024

 

 

 

Jewelry Season 2024

October is here and it’s the start of Jewelry Season 2024!  Each fall I create a collection of jewelry pieces from stone, glass, and metal components. Over the years, I’ve worked with vintage Saroyan coins, broken and abandoned components from ethnographic jewelry, and strung-stone designs.

These jewelry pieces I take to autumn and holiday sales, belly dance events, and on my Etsy store.

Blue and Silver

For the 2024 Jewelry Season, I’m working with a curated selection of components from my collection. Blue hues from lapis to turquoise combined are joining an array of mystery-metal coins, components, and spacers from across the globe.

This year, I’m crafting charm-style assemblage necklaces with talismanic pieces from Turkish eyes, Coptic Crosses, and Hamsas of various sizes and shapes.
Above Photo: Blue beads of stone and glass
Below Photo: “Assemblage Bar” ready for chain

New Styles & Old Faves

I’ve got five styles key styles I’m working on for this 2024 jewelry collection. This season, I’ve chosen to work in a more assemblage mode. I’m inspired by the colors of the sky and sea and scoured my collection for these blue pieces.  These colorful pieces are pairing up talismanic iconography and up-cycling broken jewelry parts to create unique pieces.

Assemblage Torques and Bibs
By request, I’ve made a couple of assemblage torques and bibs for several of my collectors. These are some of the most dramatic and detailed pieces I’ve ever created and I’m happy that I’ve got four torques to use with these

Assemblage Bars
For people interested in a style suitable for daywear, I’ve created a style made from up-cycled choker components with drops. In this collection of metal components are a dozen bars waiting for transformation.

Coordinated Earrings
Although I don’t have pierced ears myself, many of my patrons do so I’m crafting earrings made from the same selection of components to coordinate with these various necklace styles.

Jean Jinglers
This is my longest-running and most popular style of jewelry.  This style is made from a chain with coins and jewelry components with large swivel clasps on each end.  These clasps make it easy to clip these jewelry pieces to your jean loops, on a purse or handbag, and even to wear around the neck as a necklace.

Cluster Drops Bag Dangles
These are versatile pieces that can be added to a costume, clipped to your favorite bag, or suspended from a chain as a jewelry piece. Perfect as that gift for the dancer who has everything.

Interested in seeing the progress of this jewelry collection? I share my work in progress over in my creative group on Facebook.  Join my newsletter to receive links when these pieces are available on Etsy later in the season.

Of course, I’ll share some more pictures here when I have some finished pieces to share.

Now – Back to the workbench!
~ Dawn ~ Davina
Oct. 2024