Dearests,
Like a fair-weather friend I am back again after promising my blogs would get more regular and then getting distracted as life got in the way. Over the last few weeks many occasions have arisen where I have found myself exclaiming – ‘I must blog about this!’ but between issues with internet access and busy times at home and at work it just hasn’t happened. Now I have so much stuff to blog about that I figured I had better get my act together and make a start – even if I don’t get it all down. So – here goes!
So, the first thing of note worth mentioning is that I have now completed the new act I was working on in the last-but-one blog (and it’s available to book – hint hint!). Incase you can’t be bothered to go back and read the past post, the idea for this act (or at least its working process) was to rest all the areas that had been stretched (almost to breaking) when I worked on the Jackalope and stretch different areas instead. The focuses of this act were: using music to convey emotion; physical performance and comedy; conveying mood through mime/clowning techniques; and in the costuming area – improving my grasp of colour theory and working quickly and simply without getting too bogged down. It was always meant to be a quick project and the goal was to finish it (once I got into the actual working stage) in a month. In reality I probably took a little longer than that but not much!
The outcome of this little experiment is my new act ‘The Emotional Strip’. I trialled it out at an event about a week and a half ago and I can safely say that it looks like it is going to be one of my favourites to perform. I didn’t allow myself to get bogged down or stressed out by it and I really feel that shows in the final product. It’s not the deepest or most complicated narrative or character work but it still feels like it fits within my repertoire and has an essential me-ness that I wouldn’t have expected with something that came together so quickly. Also, although I did not in any way want to be slapdash with the costume, I tried just to make it look fun and pretty but not to be too precious, it seemed that I didn’t make too bad a job as more than one person complimented me on it. I was most flattered that my friend and fellow performer (and photographer, and costumier, and all round busy boots!) Cherryfox said she felt that my costuming skills are showing improvement! Coming from someone who makes all their own costumes that made me feel quite chuffed!
I imagine that over time the act will probably need the odd tweak here and there, and I already have a good idea for another joke I can add to a certain part of it but over all I am really pleasantly surpised by how quickly and easily it has happened. I think in future I may try and reuse this quick and simple technique from time to time, especially if I find myself coming to the end of another act with a heavy workload and feel I need a break but still want to keep working.
In other news – I was going to blog about a very peculiar gig that I had recently but I think that it might tie in better with some other general stuff I planned to write about when I had the time so I think I will save that for my next entry. In the meantime, if you see me ask me about my interesting gig!
Next thing I couldn’t blog without giving a mention to is the adventure for the senses that was Delicious Burlesque in Derby. For anyone (or at least anyone who likes burlesque enough to bother with my blog) who has been living under a stone for the past couple of months, Delicious Burlesque is an absolutely huge burlesque all dayer with market stalls, workshops, a newcomer’s competition and a big evening show. It was held on Saturday 31st July and word on the grapevine is that it may well be becoming an annual event. Well, with an event this exciting practically on my doorstep I just had to go so my sister and I made plans to attend (and she event generously shelled out the extra tenner for VIP tickets so that we’d have a great view of the show!).
We went and we were not disappointed! The market had loads of exciting things to buy from the many talented makers and charming purveyors of glamorous goodies. My wallet forbade me from partaking but my sister bought a very fetching hat. I think we both could have easily spent a small fortune on all the lovely things. After perusing the market and popping out to one of the local pubs for a spot of lunch we went back to the hotel to get gussied up for the evening section of the event. I went for a silent Movie Era starlet, meets black and white Minnie Mouse, in black hotpants and braces, a white wife beater, a huge black hair bow and heavy black eye makeup and black lipstick with a pronounced cupid’s bow. Sis also went for a 20s inspired look including a gorgeous finger-wave hairstyle.
When we got back to the venue I went to a workshop I had pre-booked (more on that in a moment) and Alex went and got her portrait drawn by one of the talented bods representing Dr Sketchy’s Nottingham (it wasn’t Charlotte, not sure of the chap’s name!).
After that it was time for the seated entertainment. First came the newcomer’s competition. I have to say, I was amazed that the performers being showcased had only been performing a year. The costumes were gorgeous and clever, the dancing was incredibly accomplished (mind you, all dancing looks accomplished to me, but these were particularly good!) and the concepts were sophisticated. I don’t know how the judges came to a decision as there were so many acts that charmed me! I particularly enjoyed the quirky fun dance moves in Elle Amour’s cupcake act, the hilarious facial expressions in Jeu Jeu la Foille’s Mary Poppins, Peski DeVille’s innovative magic flowers and skilful fan throwing and Nix Le Noir’s gorgeous costume (especially the headdress!). All the performers were super and I don’t feel I could have competed with most of them despite having been on the scene somewhat longer.
The main show was nothing short of spectacular, and jam-packed with fantastic performances. Not that I’m a critic by my personal faves are as follows: Joe Black’s cabaret set had me laughing throughout and clapping, stamping my feet and generally behaving like a burlesque lager-lout and his Defying Gravity act was a treat. I have seen Joe on Youtube so much that I almost felt I had seen him live already but it turned out I had seen nothing yet. As much as I enjoy Joe’s videos it is no patch on seeing him live – his energy, inventiveness and charisma cannot be matched.
Vicky Butterfly performed two acts I had never seen before and reaffirmed her place in my heart as one of my absolute favourites. I was mesmerised by her graceful movements, innovative costuming techniques (I can’t really describe what she did costume wise as I don’t have the technical knowledge, suffice to say that it was really amazing!) and beautifully odd music selection. Vicky’s performances inspire me so much and make me wish I was more dancerly in my acts. Kittie Klaw from Ministry of Burlesque did a fantastic Rule Britannia performance that had me laughing one moment and feeling a little lump in my throat and a patriotic tear in my eye (and I never get patriotic, ever) the next. Finally, my other fave of the night was Beatrix von Bourbon. I have been a fan of hers for some time and watching her performances I was genuinely moved. I love the way her performances register emotion so clearly and really admire the fluidity and economy of movement she uses. Her Winter act I especially enjoyed and the audience was delighted at the finale of the act when it began to snow onstage!
I also had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Beatrix von Bourbon. On the subject of Burlesque Branding. I enjoyed the workshop very much found it left me with lots to mull on and also some practical goals to start tackling. I would recommend the workshop highly to any performer but especially if you feel you need a little help pinpointing where you are or where you or your acts fit. Beatrix was warm and friendly and allayed a lot of the worries I had about talking frankly about burlesque with someone I admire, and the whole experience left me with a different perspective on what I do and renewed enthusiasm to do it better.
So what am I up to now? Well, in the wake of my consultation with Beatrix I have decided to bite the bullet and do something I have wanted to do for a while. I am going to retire my Rubber Ducky act for re-working. I have always been very pleased with the costume for that act but less happy about the act itself. I always felt it had neither a strong narrative nor a strong sense of character, and those are the parts of an act I enjoy most. The plan is to take the act off and work on completely re-writing it, but I wouldn’t like to say how long that will take as I am not sure yet which direction I want to take it in.
The other thing I am working on is making the first initial changes to my Jackalope. In light of its debut performances there were some things about the costume and choreography that I wanted to change. I have finally got my perfect trunk (thank you Colwick car boot sale!) and I now just need to get the rest of the tweaks and small changes finished. I have a couple of fairly big engagements coming up over the next few months and I hope that the act will be ready in it’s 1.1 version by then.
If you have read this far to the bottom, I commend you! It’s been another long blog. Hopefully, when I get my netbook back from the shop the blogs will get closer together and not quite as long!
‘Til next time,
X
Emerald
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Emerald the (hammy) actress
Dearests,
this is not a real long blog like the previous couple have been but I couldn't resist posting up this video of me flexing my dubious (and pretty hammy, despite my best efforts not to be) acting talent.
The sketch stars comedians Steve McNeil and Sam Pamphilon and is to promote their show at the Edinburgh Fringe. It's filmed by Loonatik and Drinks and also features, Emma Rain, Scarlett Daggers, Glorian Gray, Jody Capuano, Lily Valentine and Betty Jane. We had a really fun time filming it!
After watching this though, I'm sure it will be clear why I am a burlesquer rather than an actress!
Pop Ups Video
'Til next time
x
Emerald
this is not a real long blog like the previous couple have been but I couldn't resist posting up this video of me flexing my dubious (and pretty hammy, despite my best efforts not to be) acting talent.
The sketch stars comedians Steve McNeil and Sam Pamphilon and is to promote their show at the Edinburgh Fringe. It's filmed by Loonatik and Drinks and also features, Emma Rain, Scarlett Daggers, Glorian Gray, Jody Capuano, Lily Valentine and Betty Jane. We had a really fun time filming it!
After watching this though, I'm sure it will be clear why I am a burlesquer rather than an actress!
Pop Ups Video
'Til next time
x
Emerald
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Bright New Ideas - Literally!
Dearests,
Apparently my blogs are like busses, you wait around for ages and then two come at once! Seriously though, my reason for blogging twice in two days is that alongside the emotional rollercoaster that has been the Jackalope saga I have also had a couple of other interesting burlesque-y developments going on, but by the time I had blogged all the Jackalope stuff I felt shattered and thought I would leave the rest for anyther time.
To counteract all the serious stressing, thinking, difficult costuming and huge amounts of 'am I a hack?' type soul searching, I started working on another act. The idea was to pick something that would be the antithesis of the Jackalope. Something with a simple narrative, or even none at all. Something where the costume was not restricted to having to look like a particular thing, so that the chips could fall where they may a little more. Something fun and upbeat so that, whilst really breaking out of my comfort zone with the Jackalope, I could also have the pleasure of working on an area I am more familiar with in this new act. It was my other half's suggestion and working on this really did help in these last few weeks when the work on the Jackalope was making me feel really grim. The hope being that because the costume and concept were more simple, the execution could be better and more refined. I could take more time to focus on the performance and less on complicated costuming, shoehorning a difficult narrative into something complex and generally tying myself into knots over non-performance related things.
So, the idea I came up with was (very) loosely inspired by a a performance by a stand up comedian called Kevin James. If you don't watch a lot of stand up you may also have seen him on the sitcom 'King of Queens'. My partner showed me one of his stand up acts and the act finished with a performance that was essentially mime to music on the theme of a woman buying a greeting card (here's the link if you want to watch it). When watching this I got one of those 'I wish I had thought of that' moments. The mime work is simple but really perfectly matched to the music. Compared to burlesque it is very pared down. He doesn't use costume or big production values, just his own skills of conveying emotion and a suitable (probably custome made soundtrack).
I decided to use this idea of conveying emotions in a humorous way, using appropriate music as my starting point for this act. Obviously, I am neither a mime nor a stand-up, so doing it in the pared down way that he works is not for me. I still wanted to include more burlesque-y elements like striptease and a ritzy costume but for the main focus to be a funny act where I play out some sort of emotional transition, hopefully honing my skills of physical and facial mime and humour in the process.
This idea evolved into the concept for my new act. I don't want to say too much and give away the element of suprise but suffice to say it has now moved sufficiently far from my original starting point that I don't have to worry that they are in any way similar, but it still retains the spirit of what I really liked about that act. So while I beavered away working on my Jackalope costume I was also researching tracks for this new act which I have named 'The Emotional Strip'. Usually track searching is a long and laboured process for me but I had promised myself that I would try to not obsess or nit pick on none-performance related stuff for this act. Not that I wanted to be slapdash about it, but I wanted to keep my eye on the main focus - the performance skills - and not allow myself to be overly sidetracked with the other pieces of the puzzle. I had a few sticky points searching but all in all I found the music came together quite comfortably.
After I had edited my music I found that mapping out the simplest blocking and basic choreography (not that it's a particularly dancey piece, so I do use that term loosely) came relatively easily. Because I knew my goal was, rather than performing abstract dance moves, to try and perform literal emotional mimes it seemed to make the whole process a lot easier.
So, flash forward a couple of weeks and devising and rehearsing stages are going well and I have also started working on my costume. Because it is not me playing a particular thing (a cat, a badger, a can of coke ect) or a particular person (Michael Jackson, Captain Kirk, Marie Antoinette) there is a lot less pressure for the costume to 'look like' anything. I can just make it look good (or at least my interpretation of 'good'). I have set myself a target of trying to improve my grasp of colour theory (which I am awful at, but which is a particular passion of my abstract artist other half) while making the costume and hopefully this will be something I can improve upon over time and transfer any skills I might gain to future acts. As the title of this blog suggests though, the costume is going to be bright and fun!
So apart from this, just one more development to mention. I now have my own website.
It's pretty simple but on there you can see my list of current acts (with performance pics), upcoming show dates, acts in the works, modelling photos and all sorts of other tidbits. Please take a moment to have a visit there and please feel free to give me any feedback on it/how it could be improved.
Til next time
x
Emerald
Apparently my blogs are like busses, you wait around for ages and then two come at once! Seriously though, my reason for blogging twice in two days is that alongside the emotional rollercoaster that has been the Jackalope saga I have also had a couple of other interesting burlesque-y developments going on, but by the time I had blogged all the Jackalope stuff I felt shattered and thought I would leave the rest for anyther time.
To counteract all the serious stressing, thinking, difficult costuming and huge amounts of 'am I a hack?' type soul searching, I started working on another act. The idea was to pick something that would be the antithesis of the Jackalope. Something with a simple narrative, or even none at all. Something where the costume was not restricted to having to look like a particular thing, so that the chips could fall where they may a little more. Something fun and upbeat so that, whilst really breaking out of my comfort zone with the Jackalope, I could also have the pleasure of working on an area I am more familiar with in this new act. It was my other half's suggestion and working on this really did help in these last few weeks when the work on the Jackalope was making me feel really grim. The hope being that because the costume and concept were more simple, the execution could be better and more refined. I could take more time to focus on the performance and less on complicated costuming, shoehorning a difficult narrative into something complex and generally tying myself into knots over non-performance related things.
So, the idea I came up with was (very) loosely inspired by a a performance by a stand up comedian called Kevin James. If you don't watch a lot of stand up you may also have seen him on the sitcom 'King of Queens'. My partner showed me one of his stand up acts and the act finished with a performance that was essentially mime to music on the theme of a woman buying a greeting card (here's the link if you want to watch it). When watching this I got one of those 'I wish I had thought of that' moments. The mime work is simple but really perfectly matched to the music. Compared to burlesque it is very pared down. He doesn't use costume or big production values, just his own skills of conveying emotion and a suitable (probably custome made soundtrack).
I decided to use this idea of conveying emotions in a humorous way, using appropriate music as my starting point for this act. Obviously, I am neither a mime nor a stand-up, so doing it in the pared down way that he works is not for me. I still wanted to include more burlesque-y elements like striptease and a ritzy costume but for the main focus to be a funny act where I play out some sort of emotional transition, hopefully honing my skills of physical and facial mime and humour in the process.
This idea evolved into the concept for my new act. I don't want to say too much and give away the element of suprise but suffice to say it has now moved sufficiently far from my original starting point that I don't have to worry that they are in any way similar, but it still retains the spirit of what I really liked about that act. So while I beavered away working on my Jackalope costume I was also researching tracks for this new act which I have named 'The Emotional Strip'. Usually track searching is a long and laboured process for me but I had promised myself that I would try to not obsess or nit pick on none-performance related stuff for this act. Not that I wanted to be slapdash about it, but I wanted to keep my eye on the main focus - the performance skills - and not allow myself to be overly sidetracked with the other pieces of the puzzle. I had a few sticky points searching but all in all I found the music came together quite comfortably.
After I had edited my music I found that mapping out the simplest blocking and basic choreography (not that it's a particularly dancey piece, so I do use that term loosely) came relatively easily. Because I knew my goal was, rather than performing abstract dance moves, to try and perform literal emotional mimes it seemed to make the whole process a lot easier.
So, flash forward a couple of weeks and devising and rehearsing stages are going well and I have also started working on my costume. Because it is not me playing a particular thing (a cat, a badger, a can of coke ect) or a particular person (Michael Jackson, Captain Kirk, Marie Antoinette) there is a lot less pressure for the costume to 'look like' anything. I can just make it look good (or at least my interpretation of 'good'). I have set myself a target of trying to improve my grasp of colour theory (which I am awful at, but which is a particular passion of my abstract artist other half) while making the costume and hopefully this will be something I can improve upon over time and transfer any skills I might gain to future acts. As the title of this blog suggests though, the costume is going to be bright and fun!
So apart from this, just one more development to mention. I now have my own website.
It's pretty simple but on there you can see my list of current acts (with performance pics), upcoming show dates, acts in the works, modelling photos and all sorts of other tidbits. Please take a moment to have a visit there and please feel free to give me any feedback on it/how it could be improved.
Til next time
x
Emerald
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Back From Further Adrift
Image by Paul Wright (paulwrightphoto.co.uk)
Dearests,
It has been a long time since I last blogged and I have been further adrift in the world of burlesque than usual since my last contact.
In the past weeks and months I have attempted to blog on more than one occasion and found that my perspective on all things burlesque related had become so skewed that I didn't know up from down, let alone enough to write a blog worth reading!
Where to pick up? When last I left off, I was convinced that I was approaching the last push on my Jackalope act. That was early April. How wrong I was about that. Now, it is early July - so what happened? Did I take the blue pill and disappear down the rabbit hole for almost three months? Did I run off to Acapulco with a gigolo? Did I go to Paris to live as a penniless blind sitar player? What the hell did happen?
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself. Lets just say the final stages of my Jackalope act was much more painful that I had expected. This was probably naive of me, considering how fraught the whole process has been, but it was still a bit of a surpise. The skirt, that I had expected to take some time, ended up taking much, much longer than I had envisaged. I ended up covering the top section of the skirt in raw wool and then the rest in strips of calico, hand dyed with tea, coffee or a mixture of tea and a little red food dye. In the end I used over 20 metres of Calico and I sewed every strip on by hand. As I'm sure you can imagine, that took a while. Whilst making the skirt I kept asking myself 'How do you know if you are having a nervous breakdown?'. I felt as though my day to day life at my day job was getting bleaker and bleaker, my financial situation was not great, and burlesque, the thing that is normally my refuge of creativity and joy had somehow morphed into a behemoth of sewing needles, ravaged fingers and stiff necks that was going to swallow me alive.
It sounds melodramatic, I know. But I really felt that there was no end in sight with this costume and I just couldn't see myself finishing it. But I did, of course, finish it in the end and if I say so myself, it is the part of the costume I am most proud of (aside from the wig and antlers, although the antlers were not my own work). When I had finally finished the skirt, got through the first pair of gloves which were awful, tacky and wouldn't dye, bought a new pair of gloves that would dye and made my pasties I began to feel my spirits lift a little. NOW I was really on the last push. I made my ears from calico that I wired for shape and covered them with the same raw wool I used on my skirt and sewed them into my wig, which was starting to look rather finished as I had also dressed that with some calico for decoration.
Finally, I needed to work on my trunk. Cherryfox, burlesquer and photographer friend of mine, had got hold of a trunk for me but it was khaki green so I had to repaint it. I worked on this and the trunk is now a shabby-chic looking off white. It looks quite cute but as time went on it became clear that it was going to be too small to fit the costume items in (for me to unpack them onstage). I felt a bit disappointed as Cherry had gone to some trouble to get the trunk for me and I had taken the time and effort to paint it up all nice but there was just no getting round the size issue. As yet I still have my feelers out for the right kind of trunk but at the moment I am doing the act without rather than rushing into buying something unsuitable.
So esentially (all bar the trunk) the act was finished, and I decided to debut it at Dixie's Dollhouse in Newcastle. This was on Thursday just gone. (Incase you're interested I was on the bill with Fancy Chance, Missy Malone, Beau Rocks, Constance Peach, Miss Jasmine, Stephy Suicie and Daisy Chainsaw, with absolutely super compere Jez Hunt). The event was a high class, high end show in an opulent venue (with the best dressing room I have had so far in burlesque!).
So it was down to me to bring my Jackalope to life, this character that I had been building and shaping, dreaming of and obsessing over, that was almost more real than myself at times - it was time for me to take the act from a perfect image in my mind to a real stage infront of real people and to try and translate that image into a reality that the audience could experience. And that bloody terrified me!
In general I get excited before a performance but not usually nervous and never to this extent. I could hear my heart racing in my chest and when I got onstage my hands trembled a little involuntarily. There were some sound issues in the first act and the music sounded a little distorted and I had a paranoid moment, just as I came on where I worried that they had played the wrong track. But once I realised it was just a technical issue I focused on trying to convey the character as strongly as I could. I was so nervous about presenting this straight, serious, sad act (especially as I was the first performer of the night - I didn't know what the audience would be expecting).
Every moment felt long and extended and I felt like my movements were more clumsy and fumbled than usual. The audience were quiet, not whooping or cheering like they do for a raunchy, silly or upbeat act. As I came to the most tense point of the performance I heard a woman say quietly "It's all gone a bit emo" to her friend and it was all I could do to stop myself from innappropriately giggling. When the act came to the end the audience applauded and I left the stage (from the wrong side - such was my frazzlement!).
After I came off I had expected to feel this rush of relief and achievement, of finally having culminated the months and months of hard work. In reality, I didn't feel that. I felt a but numb. Unsure whether the performance had been a roaring success, a horrible failure or somewhere in the middle. While working on the act I felt that I had lost all perspective of whether it was good or not, whether I had created something beautiful or just something mundane with a pretty costume. I had thought that performing it onstage for an audience would give me some of that perspective back, but it didn't. I felt just as divorced from what my act looks like from the outside as ever.
At the end of the show, after performing my second act (The Octopus - one of my favourites to perform) I did get a little good feedback but in reality I think maybe I expected too much from this first performance. After seeing some photographs from the night and reflecting on the things I did take in from the feeling of performing it, I can see some things I should modify slightly in both costume and performance to improve the act. My bra was much too fiddly to fasten properly and I need to change the clasp to something simpler and larger. Also, from looking at the photos I can see that it didn't stay up very well and that it needs straps to be added to stop me from ending up with it round my waist! The choregraphy for the first section needs to be tighter and more polished and I need to ask for people's feedback on whether the last section runs on too long (it felt too long for me onstage but my OH watching it says it added to the tension and worked). Also, the wig (which stayed on and didn't wobble - yay!) makes me look pretty double chinned because of the way it hangs in my face so I think I will have to play with the styling a little to reduce that. I also painted on a little rabbit nose but I don't think I will be doing that again - it looked a bit too comical and also like I had a cold!
The more I look back on the performance, which was now almost a week ago, the more I feel I am gaining the perspective I had hoped to gain on the night. I wanted to feel this surge of joy and relief but in a way I think that because of the nature of this act, getting it to a standard I am happy with will be a slower process of trial and error than compared to other acts. My other half pointed out to me that, as your skill level rises, so do your standards. So in a way, although you are making progress - you don't always feel as though you are.
I know I have a long way to go before the Jackalope onstage becomes an acceptable representation of the Jackalope in my imagination, and I know for a fact one will never exactly replicate the other, but I feel as though I have made the first step to realising my concept into something tangible. Hopefully there will come a time when this act feels as natural to me as I want it to, but until then I'll just have to keep trying.
'Til next time
x
Emerald
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
The Last Push
Dearests,
Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks and between day job dramas, family commitments and extensive watching of King of the Hill I haven’t found a minute to blog until now.
I do however, have plenty to be cheerful about as I am now approaching the last push on my Jackalope act. When last I wrote I had finally faced my fears about dying my corset. Since then, costuming has come on steadily. I have finished my bra, which turned out to be no mean feat. I wanted to exchange the standard back clasp for a front fastening closure (I probably should have done that before I covered the cups of the bra – just incase I botched it up and put my hard work to waste). I began with this just being fastened by ribbon but I soon realised that my mighty bosom was not going to be contained by something as flimsy as a pretty bow. So I ended up adding a small hook and eye closure to the bra and using the ribbon to hide it. I then covered the back strap and I have to say I am delighted with the results. I am still hoping to add a halter strap to the bra for a little extra support but haven’t yet found any ribbon or other material that would be suitable so I am going to wait and see how that pans out.
My music is also now finished and edited. Music selection for me is always a relatively complex process. Unless the music was the original starting point or inspiration for the act I often find I am choosy to the point of being pedantic. Originally, back many, many months ago I had about a week where all I did in my spare time was listen to and compare potential tracks for this act. I probably listened to a couple of hundred easily (no exaggerating) and made shortlists and pared those lists down and re-listened again. Back in November I finally chose a track which I really liked and another track which I cut into a one minute section to precede it. However, I found that, although I liked the track and the overall mood was appropriate, I just couldn’t make the choreography and narrative fit to it. A couple of months ago I resigned myself to search for another track and perhaps cut down my main track and still have a little of it at the end. I found something that worked really nicely but it fit better at the end of the act, much better than my original selection. So this left me in a position of having a little short intro bit that worked and an end bit that worked but no middle! Finally, about six weeks ago I found the perfect track for the middle part of my act. The music describes the action so perfectly that the choreography for that part of the act has almost written itself as the music holds all the cues. So, after running my final line up past a couple of people whose opinion I value I went ahead and edited the three together. What music did I pick? Well, you’ll have to wait ‘til the act is debuted to find that out but lets just say it has been a labour of love choosing!
As well as getting the work done on my bra, on Saturday I also received my finished antlers from Haus of Emerald (aka my sister). Unlike the last pair (the less said about them the better – I’m going to wait till December and then try to ebay them for Christmas purposes) these are light as a cloud and they look superb. I spent some time on Sunday mounting them into my wig (to my delight I didn’t have to cut the wig after all as they just threaded in the gaps between wefts– one less thing to worry about) and then moulded the base inside the wig to hold them steady. They look great although they still need a little tweaking to get the angle right – it’s hard mounting two tall antlers into a wig when you only have two pairs of hands and a limited time before the plastic sets!
So… just the last push left to go now. I am waiting on my gloves which are on order and will need tea dying when they arrive. I need to get hold of an old chest or trunk. My local car boot has stuff like this all the time but it would be just my luck that they won’t have one now for ages as now I need one! I still need to work on my choreography but that is getting there steadily. The last real making jobs are making my pasties, doing my ears, which I want to look aged and ratty and not ‘party costume’ looking, and covering my skirt. This one is going to be a pretty big job due to the size of the skirt and the fact that I want to cover at least some of it with home felted raw wool. I’ll let you into a secret: The people who say that felting is a fun hobby are fibbing! Felting is a big pain in the butt and it takes ages and your hands go all pruney in the process. So the skirt is probably going to take a while longer yet, but I am trying to do a bit at a time to make a dent in it.
So I am hoping that my Jackalope might be in the finishing stages sometime in June at which point I hope to get some promo photos done and then start pimping it out. Keep your eyes peeled because no doubt any Jackalope news will be here first!
‘Til next time
X
Emerald
Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks and between day job dramas, family commitments and extensive watching of King of the Hill I haven’t found a minute to blog until now.
I do however, have plenty to be cheerful about as I am now approaching the last push on my Jackalope act. When last I wrote I had finally faced my fears about dying my corset. Since then, costuming has come on steadily. I have finished my bra, which turned out to be no mean feat. I wanted to exchange the standard back clasp for a front fastening closure (I probably should have done that before I covered the cups of the bra – just incase I botched it up and put my hard work to waste). I began with this just being fastened by ribbon but I soon realised that my mighty bosom was not going to be contained by something as flimsy as a pretty bow. So I ended up adding a small hook and eye closure to the bra and using the ribbon to hide it. I then covered the back strap and I have to say I am delighted with the results. I am still hoping to add a halter strap to the bra for a little extra support but haven’t yet found any ribbon or other material that would be suitable so I am going to wait and see how that pans out.
My music is also now finished and edited. Music selection for me is always a relatively complex process. Unless the music was the original starting point or inspiration for the act I often find I am choosy to the point of being pedantic. Originally, back many, many months ago I had about a week where all I did in my spare time was listen to and compare potential tracks for this act. I probably listened to a couple of hundred easily (no exaggerating) and made shortlists and pared those lists down and re-listened again. Back in November I finally chose a track which I really liked and another track which I cut into a one minute section to precede it. However, I found that, although I liked the track and the overall mood was appropriate, I just couldn’t make the choreography and narrative fit to it. A couple of months ago I resigned myself to search for another track and perhaps cut down my main track and still have a little of it at the end. I found something that worked really nicely but it fit better at the end of the act, much better than my original selection. So this left me in a position of having a little short intro bit that worked and an end bit that worked but no middle! Finally, about six weeks ago I found the perfect track for the middle part of my act. The music describes the action so perfectly that the choreography for that part of the act has almost written itself as the music holds all the cues. So, after running my final line up past a couple of people whose opinion I value I went ahead and edited the three together. What music did I pick? Well, you’ll have to wait ‘til the act is debuted to find that out but lets just say it has been a labour of love choosing!
As well as getting the work done on my bra, on Saturday I also received my finished antlers from Haus of Emerald (aka my sister). Unlike the last pair (the less said about them the better – I’m going to wait till December and then try to ebay them for Christmas purposes) these are light as a cloud and they look superb. I spent some time on Sunday mounting them into my wig (to my delight I didn’t have to cut the wig after all as they just threaded in the gaps between wefts– one less thing to worry about) and then moulded the base inside the wig to hold them steady. They look great although they still need a little tweaking to get the angle right – it’s hard mounting two tall antlers into a wig when you only have two pairs of hands and a limited time before the plastic sets!
So… just the last push left to go now. I am waiting on my gloves which are on order and will need tea dying when they arrive. I need to get hold of an old chest or trunk. My local car boot has stuff like this all the time but it would be just my luck that they won’t have one now for ages as now I need one! I still need to work on my choreography but that is getting there steadily. The last real making jobs are making my pasties, doing my ears, which I want to look aged and ratty and not ‘party costume’ looking, and covering my skirt. This one is going to be a pretty big job due to the size of the skirt and the fact that I want to cover at least some of it with home felted raw wool. I’ll let you into a secret: The people who say that felting is a fun hobby are fibbing! Felting is a big pain in the butt and it takes ages and your hands go all pruney in the process. So the skirt is probably going to take a while longer yet, but I am trying to do a bit at a time to make a dent in it.
So I am hoping that my Jackalope might be in the finishing stages sometime in June at which point I hope to get some promo photos done and then start pimping it out. Keep your eyes peeled because no doubt any Jackalope news will be here first!
‘Til next time
X
Emerald
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Corsets, Tea-Dying and More Fetish Thoughts
This week has been a fairly quiet one day job wise so I have managed to get a little more done burlesque-wise than usual.
The biggest achievement for me this week has been facing my fears, biting the bullet and working on my Jackalope corset. I bought a gorgeous ‘Morticia’ underbust corset some time ago now from What Katie Did (see older posts for the fun and games that I had obtaining it!). WKD are my corset people of choice as they make such gorgeous stuff (not to mention their bras, undies and what have you!) at really reasonable prices. The Morticia style is perfect for my figure as it has gored hips – I find when I wear corsets without the goring that there is not much room as I have a 28” waist to 37” hips.
Originally, I had considered getting a custom corset made as I wanted something in a yellowed out white, so that it looked aged, and most of the off the peg corsets I found came in white or ivory. However, I know and trust What Katie Did and know their corsets fit my body shape well so I decided to go with them and if need be dye the corset (NB – Disclaimer – What Katie Did do not recommend dying any of their corsets except for their ‘Music Hall’ range. I dyed mine totally off my own steam and cannot guarantee that the results I had would be the same for anyone else).
When I received the corset it was so beautiful that I didn’t dare risk dying it. I was so worried that I would accidentally shrink it, cause it to rust or do it some other sort of damage. I decided instead to embellish the corset using lace appliqués. I spent hours trawling the web looking for something that would be the right shape, size and colour and come in two symmetrical parts (as the corset is in two parts) but nothing was quite right. Then I had a light bulb moment – why buy pre-made appliqués that aren’t quite right when you can make your own? I found instructions on Google for making appliqués at home and was pleasantly surprised by how simple it was. So I ended up going to the fabric market and buying beautiful beaded bridal lace, in a light tea colour – I bought a half metre, the fabric was £120 for a whole one!!! After I had made the appliqués and sewed them on, a painstaking process that shredded the skin on my thumbs and fingers, I was delighted with the result.
So why didn’t I leave it at that? Well, I’ve never been the kind of girl to leave well enough alone. After a long conversation with my other half, he told me that in his minds eye the costume would not be white at all and that the whole thing would be a yellowish, brownish cream again aged looking but still beautiful. I agreed that that was what I had wanted to do, but that WKD had advised against dying their corset as they couldn’t predict the results. I didn’t dare bugger it up, especially as I had gone to all the work and expense with the appliqués. But the more I thought about it, the more the thought wouldn’t go away. So I decided to take the plunge and risk it in the hope of getting closer to my original vision of what the costume should look like.
I dyed the corset, and also my bloomers and bra in a tea bath. Nothing scary happened during the dying process but I was like a broody bantam fussing and checking and turning the two halves of the corset as it dried. Reputable sources had told me that if you absolutely must dye a corset you should leave it to dry flat and try and get it dry as quickly as possible. Leaving it flat was a bit of an issue because of the goring in the hips – it just isn’t cut to sit in one flat piece, but I did my best. I put it near the radiator on a drying rack and hoped for the best.
In the end I was absolutely delighted with the results for the corset. It has come out a light brownish cream and does look as though it was something that used to be white but is very old. There is a little inconsistency in the colour in a couple of places but it kind of adds to the flawed, aged effect and I don’t regret taking the risk (NB another disclaimer! I am not suggesting anyone else follow my lead and dye their own corset – mine turned out great but I can’t guarantee whether other people’s would.).
The bloomers, being made of cotton, took the colour a little darker and have come out slightly more yellow in tone which gives a nice contrast to the corset but the bra – made from mainly synthetic stuff – didn’t take the colour as strongly. It came out more like a pale brownish peach. This wasn’t a big problem though as I only wanted it dyed as a base so there would be no bright white peeking through when I covered it. I have started covering the cups of the bra with vintage lace fabric bought from my local car boot sale and then trimmed it with a cream and brown lace edging. I still need to work on the side sections and add a little more trimming and then the bra will be done.
Here’s a snapshot of my bra-in-progress and my finished corset – apologies for the rubbish phone photo.
So the Jackalope costume is now coming on in leaps and bounds. There is still lots more work to do before I can put costuming to bed, the skirt alone is going to be a mammoth task, not to mention I still need to get myself my prop and finish music editing and choreography. It looks like I will not meet my self imposed deadline I had hoped for but I think the extra time I have spent on it will pay off in the end.
In other developments – I have been thinking more about my fetish idea (see the previous post) and have decided to produce a simple version of my idea and trial it at a few burlesque events. If people seem to respond to it I’ll keep it and upgrade the costume etc (I have some very exciting – very complex ideas) to bring it in line production-wise with my other acts. If people hate it or don’t get it I’ll retire it knowing I didn’t break my back (or the bank!). It will be good, after working on my Jackalope, to do something with a quicker turnaround time and with less of my heart and soul invested. Not that I plan to just slapdash this idea out, but it would be nice to produce an act that doesn’t involve too much over-thinking, and that can be done as a bit of fun. My other half (who among his many talents, paint beautiful abstract canvasses) talked to me at great length about letting the chips fall where they may, playing, experimenting and not being too precious and trying to control everything so I am going to try and take that approach with this new piece. And apparently the universe or what have you agrees because this Sunday at the car boot (my own personal treasure trove of amazing finds) I stumbled upon something (or should I say two matching somethings?) that were exactly what I needed for a part of this new act’s costume.
I now have a couple of busy weeks vanilla life-wise but hopefully I will still be able to make time to get some burlesquey stuff done. Also, ballet starts again tomorrow after the Easter break – I feel rusty just thinking about it!
‘Til next time
X
Emerald
The biggest achievement for me this week has been facing my fears, biting the bullet and working on my Jackalope corset. I bought a gorgeous ‘Morticia’ underbust corset some time ago now from What Katie Did (see older posts for the fun and games that I had obtaining it!). WKD are my corset people of choice as they make such gorgeous stuff (not to mention their bras, undies and what have you!) at really reasonable prices. The Morticia style is perfect for my figure as it has gored hips – I find when I wear corsets without the goring that there is not much room as I have a 28” waist to 37” hips.
Originally, I had considered getting a custom corset made as I wanted something in a yellowed out white, so that it looked aged, and most of the off the peg corsets I found came in white or ivory. However, I know and trust What Katie Did and know their corsets fit my body shape well so I decided to go with them and if need be dye the corset (NB – Disclaimer – What Katie Did do not recommend dying any of their corsets except for their ‘Music Hall’ range. I dyed mine totally off my own steam and cannot guarantee that the results I had would be the same for anyone else).
When I received the corset it was so beautiful that I didn’t dare risk dying it. I was so worried that I would accidentally shrink it, cause it to rust or do it some other sort of damage. I decided instead to embellish the corset using lace appliqués. I spent hours trawling the web looking for something that would be the right shape, size and colour and come in two symmetrical parts (as the corset is in two parts) but nothing was quite right. Then I had a light bulb moment – why buy pre-made appliqués that aren’t quite right when you can make your own? I found instructions on Google for making appliqués at home and was pleasantly surprised by how simple it was. So I ended up going to the fabric market and buying beautiful beaded bridal lace, in a light tea colour – I bought a half metre, the fabric was £120 for a whole one!!! After I had made the appliqués and sewed them on, a painstaking process that shredded the skin on my thumbs and fingers, I was delighted with the result.
So why didn’t I leave it at that? Well, I’ve never been the kind of girl to leave well enough alone. After a long conversation with my other half, he told me that in his minds eye the costume would not be white at all and that the whole thing would be a yellowish, brownish cream again aged looking but still beautiful. I agreed that that was what I had wanted to do, but that WKD had advised against dying their corset as they couldn’t predict the results. I didn’t dare bugger it up, especially as I had gone to all the work and expense with the appliqués. But the more I thought about it, the more the thought wouldn’t go away. So I decided to take the plunge and risk it in the hope of getting closer to my original vision of what the costume should look like.
I dyed the corset, and also my bloomers and bra in a tea bath. Nothing scary happened during the dying process but I was like a broody bantam fussing and checking and turning the two halves of the corset as it dried. Reputable sources had told me that if you absolutely must dye a corset you should leave it to dry flat and try and get it dry as quickly as possible. Leaving it flat was a bit of an issue because of the goring in the hips – it just isn’t cut to sit in one flat piece, but I did my best. I put it near the radiator on a drying rack and hoped for the best.
In the end I was absolutely delighted with the results for the corset. It has come out a light brownish cream and does look as though it was something that used to be white but is very old. There is a little inconsistency in the colour in a couple of places but it kind of adds to the flawed, aged effect and I don’t regret taking the risk (NB another disclaimer! I am not suggesting anyone else follow my lead and dye their own corset – mine turned out great but I can’t guarantee whether other people’s would.).
The bloomers, being made of cotton, took the colour a little darker and have come out slightly more yellow in tone which gives a nice contrast to the corset but the bra – made from mainly synthetic stuff – didn’t take the colour as strongly. It came out more like a pale brownish peach. This wasn’t a big problem though as I only wanted it dyed as a base so there would be no bright white peeking through when I covered it. I have started covering the cups of the bra with vintage lace fabric bought from my local car boot sale and then trimmed it with a cream and brown lace edging. I still need to work on the side sections and add a little more trimming and then the bra will be done.
Here’s a snapshot of my bra-in-progress and my finished corset – apologies for the rubbish phone photo.
So the Jackalope costume is now coming on in leaps and bounds. There is still lots more work to do before I can put costuming to bed, the skirt alone is going to be a mammoth task, not to mention I still need to get myself my prop and finish music editing and choreography. It looks like I will not meet my self imposed deadline I had hoped for but I think the extra time I have spent on it will pay off in the end.
In other developments – I have been thinking more about my fetish idea (see the previous post) and have decided to produce a simple version of my idea and trial it at a few burlesque events. If people seem to respond to it I’ll keep it and upgrade the costume etc (I have some very exciting – very complex ideas) to bring it in line production-wise with my other acts. If people hate it or don’t get it I’ll retire it knowing I didn’t break my back (or the bank!). It will be good, after working on my Jackalope, to do something with a quicker turnaround time and with less of my heart and soul invested. Not that I plan to just slapdash this idea out, but it would be nice to produce an act that doesn’t involve too much over-thinking, and that can be done as a bit of fun. My other half (who among his many talents, paint beautiful abstract canvasses) talked to me at great length about letting the chips fall where they may, playing, experimenting and not being too precious and trying to control everything so I am going to try and take that approach with this new piece. And apparently the universe or what have you agrees because this Sunday at the car boot (my own personal treasure trove of amazing finds) I stumbled upon something (or should I say two matching somethings?) that were exactly what I needed for a part of this new act’s costume.
I now have a couple of busy weeks vanilla life-wise but hopefully I will still be able to make time to get some burlesquey stuff done. Also, ballet starts again tomorrow after the Easter break – I feel rusty just thinking about it!
‘Til next time
X
Emerald
Monday, 5 April 2010
Fetish Thoughts
Dearests,
It seems an idea has dropped into my lap - and quite neatly formed at that - for a new act. Something a hundred miles from my Jackalope (which is exactly what I will need by the time this is over).
The question is, is it workable? The concept I have in mind is downright fetishistic and fetish is absolutley not my area of expertise.
I have seen quite a few acts over the years that the artiste has described as 'fetish' but which, to me, looked like a straight down the middle burlesque/cabaret or performance art act that simply borrowed from fetish with either leather/latex/bondage clothing or a quite alty soundtrack. But, as fetish is not something I am overly familiar with, it's hard to know whether a fetish audience would view these acts as fetish or not. I'm not sure where the line is. I wouldn't want to go around doing an act that I though was fetishistic but audiences just felt was creepy or worse, crappy.
The other question is, how sexual does a fetish act have to be? By its very nature fetish is related to sexuality in a way that my burlesque performances never are. Yes, I may wear skimpy costumes and show bosoms but sexual thoughts are the last thing I hope to inspire in my audience. Does a fetish act have to be arousing? Or, because it is performed in a burlesque context does it become more about studying and questioning the particular fetish - even burlesquing it? And if it is about burlesquing it, parodying it - is it appropriate for one to perform an act about a fetish one doesn't personally hold?
Finally, in the performances I currently do my body type is not a hinderance. It adds to the humour in a couple of my acts and is often disguised by a corset in the ones where it doesn't. I associate fetish performance with women of a traditionally desirable body type, unless of course the fetish is related to the body directly. Would a non-body related fetish performance be more coherent from someone with a more conventionally attractive body? Would a less conventionally attractive body distract from the theme and mix messages? (NB - I have not mentioned the body part to ask for anyone to validate me or compliment my figure. I am what I am and I only worry [usually] about my body in a burlesque context in relation to whether it would detract from what I am trying to say in my narrative.)
Anyway, these are all things I am wondering as an outsider looking into fetish and wondering whether to dip a toe in the water for the sake of a fun act idea. Any thoughts on the subject would be greatfully received...
'Til next time
x
Emerald
It seems an idea has dropped into my lap - and quite neatly formed at that - for a new act. Something a hundred miles from my Jackalope (which is exactly what I will need by the time this is over).
The question is, is it workable? The concept I have in mind is downright fetishistic and fetish is absolutley not my area of expertise.
I have seen quite a few acts over the years that the artiste has described as 'fetish' but which, to me, looked like a straight down the middle burlesque/cabaret or performance art act that simply borrowed from fetish with either leather/latex/bondage clothing or a quite alty soundtrack. But, as fetish is not something I am overly familiar with, it's hard to know whether a fetish audience would view these acts as fetish or not. I'm not sure where the line is. I wouldn't want to go around doing an act that I though was fetishistic but audiences just felt was creepy or worse, crappy.
The other question is, how sexual does a fetish act have to be? By its very nature fetish is related to sexuality in a way that my burlesque performances never are. Yes, I may wear skimpy costumes and show bosoms but sexual thoughts are the last thing I hope to inspire in my audience. Does a fetish act have to be arousing? Or, because it is performed in a burlesque context does it become more about studying and questioning the particular fetish - even burlesquing it? And if it is about burlesquing it, parodying it - is it appropriate for one to perform an act about a fetish one doesn't personally hold?
Finally, in the performances I currently do my body type is not a hinderance. It adds to the humour in a couple of my acts and is often disguised by a corset in the ones where it doesn't. I associate fetish performance with women of a traditionally desirable body type, unless of course the fetish is related to the body directly. Would a non-body related fetish performance be more coherent from someone with a more conventionally attractive body? Would a less conventionally attractive body distract from the theme and mix messages? (NB - I have not mentioned the body part to ask for anyone to validate me or compliment my figure. I am what I am and I only worry [usually] about my body in a burlesque context in relation to whether it would detract from what I am trying to say in my narrative.)
Anyway, these are all things I am wondering as an outsider looking into fetish and wondering whether to dip a toe in the water for the sake of a fun act idea. Any thoughts on the subject would be greatfully received...
'Til next time
x
Emerald
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