Category: General

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General Publications

Top Business Reads: Part 1

Running a tiny, but profitable, business takes a lot of work. For me, it’s all about good time management, and having a pretty good understanding of all the different aspects of effectively running a business. When you’re an independent business person, you wind up, to use an old adage, “Wear all the hats.”

I frequently find myself talking to my fellow entrepreneurs and recommending a small collection of books that have really helped me keep my business profitable and on target. These are part of my essential reference collection that I keep on hand to reread when I need the info. 

Note: I’ve included links to these books in both print and Kindle form.  If you use these click-through links, I get a tiny commission from Amazon that supports this website.  However, many of these books are business mainstays are widely available on the used book market so be sure to check out your local used bookstores.

Essential Reads (for every independent business owner)

Getting Things Done by David Allen

This book has been in my collection so long, that I just purchased the Kindle version update to give it a re-read and see if there are new tips and techniques for the new technologies. I’m not going to kid ya, this book is a bit dry. But for the patient, it has so many excellent ideas about mental organizations and productivity techniques that I consider this an essential read for everyone!  Available as Book & Kindle

 

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt

Although this book is starting to feel slightly dated in this era of social media changes, the concepts included in this book are fundamental. I find myself quoting this book frequently in conversations about digital marketing. For me the key takeaway was thinking of your website as your personal domain or “country,” and each social media outlet as an “embassy.” At any moment, a social media platform could fold, like an insolvent country and there will be no one there to airlift you out! (Note: He’s a religious man and references his Christianity, and that might bug some folks.)  Available as Book & Kindle

Book Design and Layout

Of course, one of the major components of my business is creating books, magazines, and printable .pdf publications. Although I’m using an ancient version of InDesign for my document layout program, I’m always looking for inspirations for new page designs. For inspiration, I frequently flip through the hundreds of free magazines on the issuu.com website, where I’m housing my new magazine, Amabella. But there are times when I just want to go back to basics and I refer to these two books.

Editing by Design by Jan V. White

This book is a CLASSIC! I think I used the second edition when I was in college, and the copy I currently own is the third edition. This was the single most important book on page layout and design that I ever used. Now you can get it on Kindle and there are numerous used copies online and probably in your favorite local used bookstore. Available as Book & Kindle 

Best Practices for Graphic Designers, Grids, and Page Layouts: An Essential Guide for Understanding and Applying Page Design Principles by Amy Graver & Ben Jura

I consider this the modern sister of my Editing by Design book. The information, quite frankly, is similar, but this book is simply smaller and doesn’t have the depth and breadth. That said, this book uses images and examples that reflect our modern design aesthetic. It’s a good read, and I seem to be in the habit of flipping through it casually before each publication design session.  Available as a Book

VIDEO Production

The latest news in the world of marketing is the rallying cry, “Use More Video.” In our brave new world of video everything, there are literally dozens of places to put videos. From Instagram and Facebook to Vimeo and YouTube, the ability to make a video is essential in our modern age.

Vlog Like a Boss by Amy Schmittauer

This book has an upbeat infectious optimism and “you can do it” attitude! It’s filled with tips on all facets of video making. Although it says “Vlog” like boss, don’t let the title fool you. Much of the information would be useful for folks making any kind of video content from DIY’s and tutorials, to behind the scenes “day in the life” style vlogs. Available as Book & Kindle

IMovie: The Missing Manual by David Pogue & Aaron Miller

As a business person, who uses a Mac, I have turned to the free software, iMovie to edit my video content. This is the software I used when I made the Kickstarter Pitch video for my collaborative book release, “Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage.” Reading online manuals are not always the most time effective method for me. I like having a book sitting open beside me as I work, that I can turn to and quickly flip to the information I need without leaving the iMovie software to look up YouTube tutorials or to read the online manual.  Available as Book & Kindle 

This small collection of resources will get you started.  I’ll be sharing another batch of my most essential business books in the coming weeks. And now, I’m off to spend some quality time on my couch reading the updated edition of Getting Things Done!

Best of luck in your business!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
November 4, 2017

Categories
General

Belly Dance Sleeves

One of my favorite costume accessories here at Studio Davina is a pair of dance sleeves or gauntlets.  During the summer, I made this rhinestone encrusted candy-pink bedlah set with a matching skirt and set of sleeves.

Left: San Francisco/Bay Area dancer Shalimar in custom bedlah set, skirt, and sleeves from Studio Davina.

Sleeves are a super easy sewing project that can be completed in about two hours from start to finish.  They work best with 4-way stretch fabric, but you can make them from the 2-way stretch as long as you lay the direction of the greatest stretch across the sleeve so it stretches around the wrist and biceps.

Although I custom-made the pattern for this Goblet skirt, to speed up the production I pulled out my Glove and Gauntlet pattern for the sleeves. When I purchased the fabric for this skirt, I simply added 3/4 of a yard to have enough fabric to make the full-length sleeves.

Making the Sleeves

I use my standard sewing machine, using a medium stitch length with a narrow zig-zag.  Although using a serger is nice, and will give you the best finish inside the garment.

These sleeves are designed to visually lengthen the arm by coming down to a point over the back of the hand.  The tip is held down with a loop of elastic that wraps around the middle finger of the hand to hold them in place. The upper edge has a narrow casing for 1/4″ elastic.  I run the elastic through the casing and safety pin them until fitting.  Once the size is perfect, I stitch the elastic together, forming a ring, and then seal the casing.

Custom Color Your Elastic with Sharpie

One of my tricks is to use a permanent marker to “color match” the finger loop.  I keep this narrow, 1/16″ elastic cord on hand in basic white and black. The white can be easily “colored in” with a marker.  I keep a set of fine-tipped Sharpie brand marker set on hand so I can pick a fairly close match.  I also keep a set of Tombo marker portrait set to turn the white into a flesh color.

Once I have customized the color of the elastic, I use my sewing machine to stitch the elastic on.  This is the place in the sleeves that have the greatest amount of strain and tension on it so I make sure to really nail the elastic down.

Gloves and Gauntlets Sewing Pattern

So if you’re interested in making a set of sleeves – give it a go.  If you would like to pick up a copy of my pattern, it’s available on my Etsy store for $5. It can be the accessory that you make to freshen up an old ensemble, or to add that over-the-top drama for a new look your making or buying for yourself.

Now it’s time to hit the sewing table and make a bedlah set!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Nov. 3, 2017

PS:  Shalimar loves these sleeves so much, even when she’s wearing different skirts, she will pop them on.  I recently caught her pairing them with a white two-tier skirt.

Categories
General

Who’s that Girl in Assiut? Vilma Banky

One of my favorite hobbies is collecting vintage ephemera. I focus on vintage images of that glorious cloth I’m obsessed with: assiut.  Recently, I landed a beautiful postcard of silent screen star Vilma Banky. Originally from Hungary, she took the name of her birth city, Vilma.  She began making films in Europe but was “discovered” in Austria in 1925.  She moved to the US and became a star in Hollywood.  Her natural beauty, luminous eyes, and a mobile, expressive face made her stand out during the silent picture era.

Vilma’s most famous role was opposite Rodolph Valentino in the film “Son of the Shiek.”  Although many of her 28 feature films have disappeared, you can watch “Son of the Shiek” on places like YouTube. (Right: still from “Son of the Shiek”)

Vilma Banky Postcards 

As a star, Vilma was professionally photographed by her studio for use as publicity stills for movie magazines, posters, and postcards.  During the 1920’s, postcards were sold at movie theaters at kiosks and out of vending machines.  The style of the moment was to shoot actresses in alluring poses with beautiful garments.  Often, you will find multiple photos from the same photo shoot used to create collections of postcards to catch different moods and views to appeal to different viewers.

In this series of postcards, Vilma wears a very fashionable assiut shawl tied as a turban around her head. This glamourous allusion to her fantasy, Orientalist films, without being a costume for a particular role, would lend itself to being used over and over through her film career.

Recently, I was thrilled to pick up another view from the photoshoot with the assiut turban.  (See image below)  The card is in fantastic shape!  Vilma was shot in Austria by photographer Halasz, Budapest/Fanamet-Film and distributed by publisher Iris Verlag who was a major supplier of film star postcards.  Although undated, it’s likely that these postcards were produced before Vilma headed to Hollywood in 1925.

I’m looking forward to including these postcards in my next book on Assiut, “Assiut Belly Dance Costume” which we have begun work on and should be out late 2018 early 2019. Sign up for my newsletter to get updates about this and other projects.

I think it might be time to put on an assiut turban!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Nov. 2, 2017

PS – Check out the blog posts here and here for more of my “Who’s that Girl in Assiut” series.

Categories
General

Inktober 2017 Wrap Up

In a year full of monthly challenges to help, Inktober was probably the most fun and the most illuminating.  I learned so much about myself as an illustrator, that I thought I would take a moment to share with you my biggest takeaways from year’s Inktober challenge.  ((Read my “Half Way” post here))

I picked two subjects – Mandalas and Costume Illustration

Early in the month, I decided instead of doing the prompts, I would flip-flop between costume sketches and mandalas.  I’m in the final stages of completion of my next book, Color Theory with Pencils & Mandala.  This is the next entry into the “Workshop in a Book” series where I share how to select colors for costumes.  Understanding how colors work helps new designers as the experiment and play.  Using colored pencils and this affordable coloring book to learn how the color wheel works as a tool to identify color harmonies.  When October started, I needed just a few more images to round out the book.  This Inktober 2017 doodle wound up in the book on page 81.  (Of course, if you want to give it a go, just print it out and color it!)

The Costume Illustrations were Not Quite as Successful

On the costume illustration side of things, I was quite frankly, shocked and saddened that I had let my illustration skills slip so badly! I had to really think about the last time I had sat down to seriously sketch costumes, develop new croquis, or even drawn a bunch of flats.  The dark realization was that it had been an age.  I learned that in addition to my pens running dry, I had lost some of my hand-eye connection.  I had run dry too!   What an eye-opening moment.  

Inktober Rebooted My Drawing Habit

Along with the realization that my drawing skills had decayed, I noticed that I was gaining the skills back more quickly with the daily drawing.  So I’ve committed to making November a month of costume sketching in one of my old Bianfang Note Sketch notebook.  I’m taking the same chunk of time that I devoted to an Inktober drawing each day to fill up this notebook.  Oh – and as you can see by the sad drawing above, bottom left, I really need to invest in new markers, that streakiness is caused by a lack of solvent.  Bottom line, I need to invest time to get my drawing mojo back and new equipment to make it happen!

Inktober Made me Happy

By the middle of the month, I realized that I was really looking forward to my evening drawing.  I had initially added the Inktober challenge to my “end of day” routine. By the middle of the month, I was too eager to wait and moved it to the mornings.  As the month went on, I found myself devoting more time to the project, and so the mandalas were becoming more filled in with solid color and hatching.  I found myself very happy with the process.  Drawing is something I did daily for years, and I had simply forgotten how genuinely happy the act of putting pen to paper made me feel.

And so that is how the Inktober 2017 story ends.  I’m so glad I rediscovered this lost habit.  I’m looking forward to continuing daily drawing with renewed vigor!  But best of all, our upcoming book “Color Theory with Mandala & Colored Pencils” is with the editors and I look forward to the debut coming soon.

Now, I think I’m going to go do some research on new markers! 
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
November 1, 2017

PS – If you are interested in following my drawing journey, join me @davinadevine over on Instagram where I will be regularly posting daily drawings.

Categories
Costuming DIY General Makeup and Appearance

Troupe Costuming: The Design Brief

In my last post, I talked about an assemblage hamsa pendant I made for a recent performance by my dance ensemble Swirl.  I received an interesting question regarding our costuming.  “How did you decide on these costumes and how much did they cost?”  So I thought I would take a moment to share how I use a design brief as a tool when planning costumes for a troupe.  At left: Swirl post-performance at HaflAdira. Zemira is in purple, Vakasha is in black, redvelvet is in rust, and I’m in blue.

What is a Design Brief?

A design brief is a tool used by designers of all ilk to communicate the process and scope of a design project with a client.  As a dance ensemble leader, my role is to guide the decision process.  I really like to get input from all of the members, but ultimately, as the leader, I’m the “buck stops here” person who makes the final decision.  So when I’m working with Swirl, I’m both the designer and the client.

Design Brief Questions

I like a design brief that’s simply a loosely structured set of essential questions.  These answers form the framework for completing the design project.  When working with a troupe, you need to be exceptionally clear with each of the members of the group. To keep everyone on the same page, I like to document discussions via email, so that we have all the same details about budget, sources, and deadlines.

  1. What is the “Style” of the costume?
  2. What is the Budget?
  3. What is the timeline?
  4. Are we starting from scratch, or do we have items in our wardrobes?
  5. How many pieces do we need for the basic costume?
  6. What accessories do we need?
  7. What is on the “Do Not” list of exceptions?
  8. Who are our sources?

Swirl Design Brief Answered

To give you an idea of how a design brief works, I’m going to share the answers that our ensemble Swirl discussed and decided upon for our October show. When you start discussing costuming options, it is a good idea to have some photograph examples or samples of the garments and accessories you’re considering.

  1. Our style is Ethnographic fusion, based around the fabric Assiut
  2. Our budget is flexible, but pulling most pieces from our existing wardrobes.
  3. Timeline – We had two weeks to dress rehearsal, four weeks to performance.
  4. We pulled most of our pieces from our existing wardrobes, sharing pieces within our group when someone was short of an item. I lent Vakasha an assiut panel to use in her headdress and I lent Zemira a purple silk veil. Sharing keeps costs down!
  5. Our costume was composed of black pants and bra as our base layer.  An assiut robe in a unique color within the group.
  6. In addition, we each were tasked with putting together multiple necklaces with the word “Rich and Lush” as our guide, and a headdress that included assiut, jewelry, and a silk veil.  The note for makeup was “Go Extreme.”
  7. Our “do not” was simply – Do not match.  We each choose a unique color.  We also wanted to spend as little as possible.  Each of us already collects assiut costuming pieces and owns both a black robe and a colorful robe.  Pulling from our wardrobes meant keeping our costs minimal.
  8. Because we pulled from our own costume collections, we didn’t put together a source list.  One of the group bought a scarf to use as a headdress base, and I put together a new necklace.  Each troupe member was left up to their own devices to source the items they needed.

Design Brief in Action

When we had our initial conversation, everyone was keen on the coordinated look but unique color approach wearing assiut robes we already owned.  However, the complicated headdress required time together to master the art of putting it on, and then practice to get used to dancing with heavy turbans and jewelry on our heads.  We all brought our jewelry and to the group to admire and help choose the pieces for performance day.  At each rehearsal on the run-up to the show, we fine-tuned our costuming plans until we all had our complete head-to-toe together. At right – assiut and jewelry headdress first experiment.

Learn More: Troupe Costuming Class with Sara Shrapnell

My co-author Sara Shrapnell who lead the team who put together the book Becoming Belly Dancer: from Student to Stage has created a super-affordable class about picking costumes for a troupe.  If you are a member or a leader of a dance troupe, you will want to check the course out at the Belly Dance Business Academy.  Sara includes a wide variety of styles and themes in these troupe costumes and discusses how to strategically choose the right costume for your group. 

At left: Troupe KPS featuring Sara Shrapnell, Poppy Maya, and Ekatarina. I styled this troupe ensemble with the same overall look, but using a monochrome palette of colors.  Photo by Alisha Westerfeld for our book The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut.

Swirl – Costumes in Motion

Below is a little snippet of video shot of Swirl at our last performance. You can see how these costumes move and relate to each other.

It was a pleasure to dance with these ladies, all of whom have had private coaching sessions with me and I am proud to call them protegees and friends. If you have questions, or are interested in continuing this conversation, I have a vibrant and active group of costumers and dancers on Facebook called “Studio Davina: Behind the Seams“

Happy Costuming!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
October 30, 2017

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