I Love Pinterest!

Whew, I’m so glad I got that off my chest! 

Since discovering the Pinterest website during its “beta testing” back in 2010, I knew it was love at first “site.”  As a costume designer and textile historian, collecting visual data have been a part of my process since my first fashion class way back before the turn of the century.

For designers, visual research is an ongoing activity. The goal is to gather images that stimulate and excite, that spark creative thought, and capture a mood, color or texture. The real trick is finding ways to organize and store our personal hoard of pictures.

Design Inspirations

Back in the 80’s, this was about chopping up magazines, catalogs, and brochures and storing them in folders, albums, or boxes.  In the 90’s, with the rise of affordable photography via digital media, it became easy to snap an endless, and hard-drive filling, stream of inspirational photos.

Today, the internet is a vast sea of imagery from around the globe.  We don’t have to wait for the next magazine to arrive in the mail, or for daylight to explore a garden.  Today, we can seek out images 24/7.

Pinterest – Organization for Visual Thinkers

Pinterest allows users to save images that link to sites around the globe.  You get to organize collected images into categories that you place on boards. At right, you can see a small selection of the numerous boards I’ve made over the past 8 years.  Each board is devoted to a theme, mood, or style.  (If you want to see the whole kit-and-caboodle, you can click through to my Pinterest profile.

New Section Feature

In fall of 2017, Pinterest released a new feature that is a boon for people who are seeking to streamline their profile page.  The new “Section” feature allows the user to break up a board by type. If you look at the image above, you can see that I’ve devoted several pages to an ever-growing collection of images about my favorite fabric, Assiut.  Now, with the new “Section” feature, I can collect all my images into one board, and then within the board, add subdivisions so it’s easier for me locate a specific image again.

I think the home decorating analogy works best.  Imagine that you are planning a roof to basement remodel of your home.  In the past, you might have a board to devoted to kitchens, and another to living room, and another for the bathroom.  Now, with the new section features, you can have a board called “Home” with each room becoming its own section.

Cue the YouTube Demo

Rather than tell you about it, I took a moment to put together this demo of how I’m using the new feature to organize my own boards.

I hope this demo has helped give you a little peek into the power of this new Pinterest feature. If you have a Pinterest account and a board you would like to share, send me a link via email or come and join the conversation on the Studio Davina facebook group.

Best of luck with your Pinning adventures!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Jan. 11, 2018

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!  I’m ending the year with a bang!

Belly Dance Geek Podcast
Self Publishing for Dancers
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017
8 pm Eastern – 5 pm Pacific

I’m so pleased to have been invited to join the amazing hostess Nadira Jamal on her Belly Geek podcast. This is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to, and my second time joining Nadira.  For this podcast, we’re going to have a geeky discussion about making books. Listeners who join us live will be able to join a Q&A.  So if you see writing a book in your future, bring your questions and a pad for notes and we will take a dive into the art of self-publishing.

If you feel like you have a book inside of you, or just want an inside peek at my process and methods of book production, join us!

Join us for the Podcast Live
Or listen to the recording at your convenience

Of course, once we’re done, the podcast will be available through your favorite podcast service. I subscribe via iTunes.  I was on the show in the spring, episode #48,  talking about finger cymbals in conjunction with the release of my last book, “Zills: Music on Your Finger Tips.”

If you like podcasts, and love belly dance, be sure to sign up for Nadira’s Belly Geek Clubhouse and never miss another episode!

Can’t wait to chat with everyone!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
December 27, 2017

 

 

As I work on my year-end review, I’m taking a moment today to reflect on my recent publishing projects. Unbelievably, I’ve released 3 books and a magazine in the last 14 months! The small changes I made to my schedule early in the year translated into increased productivity.  When paired my strong team of collaborators, 2017 was my most prolific year of publishing.

Read about my 3 Productivity Tweaks

Collaboration

I’m so grateful for the wonderful team of writers, photographers, and artists I’ve worked with during 2017.  Without this talented group of collaborators, I could not have produced such a large and diverse collection of publishing projects.

Thank You for Being on My Team

I have to start the shout-outs with photographer Alisha Westerfeld, with whom I’ve literally traveled the world.  She and I have produced dozens of belly dance shows and events in the past. She’s got a great eye, and I was so happy when she joined my publication team. So far, we’ve worked on five publications and have two more in the pipeline. 

I was thrilled to connect with my co-authors Sara Shrapnell and Poppy Maya, who invited Alisha and me to join the team for the seminal book, Becoming a Belly Dancer. This group also forms the core of the production team for our new project, Amabella Magazine. I also want to blast out a huge thank you to all of the ladies who joined us as models for the books and magazines that I’ve released and that are still in the pipeline.  Thank you all for bringing your beauty, style, and grace to all of our photoshoots!

In late 2016, teamed up with the talented illustrator George Goncalves and we collaborated on several images in Zills and we worked together on all the designs in our latest book, Color Theory with Pencils & Mandalas. I’ve also been fortunate to collaborate with celebrity belly dance photographer Michael Baxter and am looking forward to our next photo shoot.

I’m also grateful for the team members who work with me on more back-end projects. I have a posse of editors including Michael Hyde, Joe Engledow, Chris Schoedel, Nancy Hernandez, and of course, my mom! Without the help of these editors, I would sound like an utter and complete dork.  On the tech support front, I’m deeply indebted to Barry Brown and Jerry Case who keep this blog rolling and who rescue me out when I’m having technical difficulties.

Becoming a Belly Dancer:
From Student to Stage

As we celebrated New Years 2017, I was still tidying up the loose ends of my 2016 main project. I worked with a fabulous team including our lead author Sara Shrapnell, photographer Alisha Westerfeld, and super-glamorous international dance star and our cover girl, Poppy Maya. We were still making final tweaks early this year fixing typos and layout issues and making it as practically perfect as possible!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that our team worked for more than a year taking photos, writing, and editing this book. This was the biggest book I’ve ever laid out. At about 400 pages, this is a complete and comprehensive reference for belly dancers at all levels of their dance journey. It really has become a seminal book on the topic of belly dance. I am so flipping proud of this book!

Find out more about this book here. 

Zills: Music on Your Fingertips

Although we went a bit over our self-imposed deadline for Becoming a Belly Dancer, I still managed to squeeze out some time working on my own publication, Zills: Music on Your Fingertips.  Although I was hoping to have it completely finished by the end of 2016, we were still working on the edits at the start of the year.  Along with lots of info about the history, use, selection, and care of finger cymbals, there are great photos by Alisha Westerfeld and beautiful illustrations by George Goncalves.

This book was so much fun for me to write because I love the history, metallurgy, and construction of finger cymbals. This book gave me the opportunity to share information about the ancient origins of our favorite instruments. This is super-nerdy stuff, but I was pleased to have the opportunity to bring this arcane knowledge to the world. One of the highlights of the year was being interviewed on the Belly Geek podcast to talk about Zills.

Listen to the Belly Geek Podcast #48 about Zills here.
Find out more about this book here.

Amabella Magazine

I love belly dance magazines!  However, the entire landscape of the magazine industry has changed in the past few years. There are simply fewer publications due to the increased expenses of printing and shipping. Many of my favorite magazines have ended due to lower subscription rates and loss of advertiser revenue.

But new technology has created opportunities to produce projects digitally.  Many years ago, I made a one-off Costumer’s Notes magazine. This was a fun “behind the scenes” about the making of the book, The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut. So I knew I could create a magazine if I had a team to help put it together.

I wanted to create a woman’s publication style magazine with a general belly dance theme. Amabella means “Beautiful Woman” in Latin, and I choose the name to reflect the main mission of this publication to be entertaining, inspiring, and informative. This first slender issue, V0 was designed as a proof of concept publication to see if the community was interested in a new magazine. The results were astonishing!  We’re in the middle of setting up a comprehensive website, putting together our advertising specifications and editorial guidelines, and will be launching our first full-sized Volume 1 in late spring.  It’s so gratifying when dreams come true!

Read Amabella Magazine on the Issuu website here.
Read Costumers Notes Magazine on the Issuu website here.

Color Theory with Pencils & Mandalas

In preparation for releasing a new digital costume design course in 2018, I decided to turn my rather substantial handout on color harmony into a full-sized printed publication. Color Theory with Pencils & Mandalas is one part workbook and two parts coloring book.

For many years I’ve been teaching a course entitled “Think Like a Designer.”  This class began life years ago when I was teaching at the junior college level. This dully named,  “Introduction to Fashion Design,”  evolved into a series of workshops that focus specifically on belly dance costuming.

Because I had so much fun working with illustrator George Goncalves on the Zills book that I invited him to join me on this project. Over the summer, we worked together to create a collection of mandalas, hamsas, and circular design motifs from around the globe. Our mission was to present the reader with the basic info about color theory and then offer them opportunities to experiment color on paper. I’m currently working on some demo videos for my YouTube channel, so stay tuned for more info!

Find out more about Color Theory with Pencils & Mandalas here.

Wow!  What a hugely productive publishing year I’ve had!  This process of end of year review is such a help in evaluating what worked and what didn’t so I can effectively plan for next year.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another post! 
Until then, have dance well, be well, live well,
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Dec. 18, 2017

2017 Year End Review:
Read #1 – Productivity Strategies: What Worked in 2017
Read #2 – Publications: 3 Books and 1 Magazine

As I work through my annual end of year business review, a process that takes a few weeks each December, I analyze my profitability and productivity. This year, I realized that several small changes I made last January, yielded the biggest impact on my efficiency.

One of the many challenges of an independent business owner is finding the time to get everything done. My mission for 2017 was simply to become more productive. Now, looking back on the year, I can see which small scheduling tweaks worked. Here are the three changes that made the biggest impact.

Block Scheduling My Week

Perhaps the most obvious change I made was establishing a weekly routine using block scheduling. I’ve always been a list-maker and am happiest when I’m working on projects that have a detailed list of actionable tasks.  I take supreme pleasure in crossing off finished items from my list.

During 2017, I decided to use the scheduling method I used back when I was in graduate school. In college, I would plan my week and individual days by blocking out my time based on projects. Back then, I would list the name of a particular class, color code it, and then schedule the work in chunks time.  Now, years later, I tried this system again, only now I’m dividing my business tasks into three main categories; admin, writing, and design. 

I’ve been a long-time user of the David Allen system of using a catch book. (His method is described in his book “Getting Things Done The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.”) I carry around a journal at all times, ready to jot notes about everything from projects to recipes, tv shows I want to catch, and podcasts I want to listen to.  When I decided to block schedule my time, I printed out a calendar and taped it to my journal. Each Sunday night when I’m preparing for my week I refer back to this schedule to remind myself of the plan. Now, 12 months later, I’m so pleased with the outcome that I will keep this system in place during 2018.

Tending My Garden – Daily Admin Work

Somedays I feel like I have a spoon in every pot, but not enough arms to stir them all.  So this year, I decided to develop a daily business administration habit that involves grabbing each spoon, daily or weekly and giving them a stir. Each morning and afternoon I spend about an hour working on the administrative tasks that simply need to be done!

To accomplish this, I use a modified version of The Pomodoro Method, using the timer feature on my phone to start and stop my task bundles.  I break the hour into 4, 10-minute sections separated by 5-minute gaps. Adding this planned administrative work session to my day upped my productivity. Some days I choose to put more time for Admin at the front of my day, while on other days, I split the work into two chunks, a morning and evening session.

The Pomodoro Technique
for Movement Management

I started to regularly use the Pomodoro Technique when working on all of my projects. This system for time management was developed by Francesco Cirillo. The official system breaks time in20-minute intervals with either a short or long break in between. I’ve found that using this productivity system has really helped me not only get more things done but also, to feel better physically.

Sitting sucks!  Stretching is Fun!  One of my favorite byproducts of this method is making the time to stand up and stretch.  Both sewing and writing involve a lot of sitting, so using the Pomodoro method has helped me stay limber. Truth is, I’ve done some repetitive motion damage during the course of my long dance career. The Pomodoro system has helped remind me to take breaks and get more movement back into my life.  I now regularly take the time for stretching breaks and dance parties for one!

I’m continuing on with my year-end review this week,
so stay tuned for more productivity tips.
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Dec. 17, 2017  

2017 Year End Review:
Read #1 – Productivity Strategies: What Worked in 2017
Read #2 – Publications: 3 Books and 1 Magazine

 

Last weekend I was attending a belly dance show and had a couple of proofs of my latest book, Color Theory with Pencils & Mandalas.  This is the second book that I’ve teamed up with the talented graphic illustrator George Goncalves.  We began this project in June with a mission of developing a workbook that would accompany several sections of my “Think Like A Designer” course.

All of the costuming books in my collection have been crafted to accompany a series of classes or a specific workshop. With the development of digital course platforms, I’ll be spending a lot of time in 2018 porting over all of my most popular workshops onto the web so anyone, anywhere can take a class with me at their own convenience.

Idea and Mission for the Color Theory Book

When I was teaching fashion at the community college, color theory took up several days of lecture. Some of us intuitively know what looks good together. For most of us, understanding the basic principles of color theory can help them think strategically.  Color theory is a huge subject and there have been many books written on the topic.  This workbook includes a brief 20-page overview of the subject of color theory and techniques for working with colored pencils.   This is followed by 50+ designs to color with pencils. The goal is to have lots of opportunities to practice and play with color combinations, to really “Think Like a Designer.”

Designing Coloring Pages

I worked closely with George to develop some beautifully finished illustrations.  From a brainstormed list of illustration themes, I picked my favorites to turn into coloring pages.

Inspired by the color and pattern of the classic kaleidoscope, I decided to try my hand at designing an image that really looks like a kaleidoscope.

Once I had the research down, and the symmetry worked out, I started drawing the types of shapes you would see in a kaleidoscope made of triangular pieces.  You can see my little “L’s” at the top of this sketch to help me stay focused on the unique symmetry.

My process is to make my initial sketch using a #3 mechanical pencil to keep the lines very light and easy to erase.  Once I have the initial sketch perfected, I use a .1 liner pen to darken the lines.  Then I snapped a cell-phone photo and sent it to George.

Crafting the Coloring Image

George took my rough fragment and used professional illustration tools to craft a complete design.  He cleaned up my lines making them a uniform weight.  In this illustration, George also added a double boundary line to enhance the kaleidoscope experience.

Working with a pro means that the final results look super smooth and clean and he completed the transformation from sketch to finished illustration far faster and with less struggle than I could have managed.

Once I get the image back, I print out several copies. This one went into the book planning binder and ultimately became page 49.

Testing Coloring Pages

On another printout, I took a moment to quickly test the illustration.  I grabbed a set of pencils and quickly colored parts of it in.  For this test, I used an affordable set of student-grade colored pencils from Staedtler Noris Club.

At this point, I ask myself a few questions.  Was this enjoyable to color?  Does it actually look like a kaleidoscope? Is it publishable as is, or does it need any tweaks?   This design was fine and it went into the book.

Our Color Theory Book is Almost Ready

Of course, there are many more steps involved in putting a book together.  Every writer and illustrator has their own workflow and process.  Working with a professional illustrator shortened my production time, and has allowed me to get this book together in a matter of months.

Currently, the manuscript is being processed prior to release on Amazon.  As soon as it’s finished through all these steps, it will be ready for purchase!  I’m so very excited and look forward to seeing the final product within the next week!  Tom Petty said it best, The waiting is the hardest part!

I can’t wait till it’s ready to share it with all of you!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Tuesday, November 21, 2017

PS: How close are we?  Here I am unboxing the final print proof!   Just so exciting to see an idea turned into a completed project!