sihayadesigns | Entries tagged with spoutwood

First up, BIDNESS.

Arcana Perfumes & Soaps will contribute an exclusive 5ml perfume oil.

Cherie Anne Designs will contribute a 2 oz package of her famous glittering tea! She creates teas that actually glitter in your cup using special sugars. Truly magical!

Dreaming Tree Soapworks will contribute a duo of moisturizing delights. The first will be a 2oz lotion in one of her best-selling scents, and the other an exclusive tinted lip shimmer balm!

Leesha's Lacquer will contribute an exclusive full size thermal color-changing nail polish! Themals are like mood rings for your nails!

Merle Pace Arts will contribute a trio of art cards (with envelopes) for all of your note-writing needs!

Sihaya Designs Jewelry will contribute a piece of magically-inspired hair jewelry.

I'm also releasing SEVEN candles for pre-order, which can be ordered individually, or added to a box purchase. ( Scent description under the cut. )

In other news, I just got back from Spoutwood. Three days of intense vending work, dancing in the rain with Transcendence, being damp and cold, and hanging out with Charles Vess, Twig the Faery, and the Faerie Mag crew.

Twig the Fairy in her Sihaya Designs Faery Wing Earrings

Twig in her Sihaya Designs wing earrings.
She's fan. SQUEE.

The inimitable Charles Vess and Stardust.
( Pics of me/ my makeup / my outfits under the cut. )

As for the festival itself, I was so busy, I didn't see too much of it this year. The weather was damp and cold, so I was swathed in many layers of wool by the end of it. I danced Transcendence's sets barefoot, midriff out, on two days where my breath fogged. I was very grateful to not have camped for the weekend, and for the small mercies of a hot shower and a warm bed at the end of the day. This year's roommate was Lisa/Trinket, and it was good fun getting to know her better.

As for purchases, I kept them spare, because mama is on a financial planning budget. I got a small rune pendant and two growlers of ginger beer.

Favorite food addition: hands down the grilled cheese place. They had one called the Mad Dash that was AMAZING. Cheese + ham + apple butter + mustard. It doesn't sound like it'd work, but it worked SO WELL. I also got my annual Busy Bee glittery cupcake.

This was definitely a year that it felt more like work than fun for me, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I made money. That's good. I strengthened friendships and business contacts. I tried to handle frustrations gracefully, with varying degrees of success, but that's a post for another day.

Overall, it was what it was, and it wasn't bad. Just-- some what dampened.

This week going forward is custom orders & getting unsold talismans on the site. And then making more!

-- LAVENDER CUPCAKES from The Busy Bee. I had one. It was amazing. I want to write it sonnets.
-- I got an amazing sari-fabric bag from Father Dunn for $20. I also bought some soapy things that smell great and tea (Lavender Caramel, Faerie Dust (with edible glitter pearl), Creme de la Earl Grey, and Lemongrass Mint. Because yum. Resisted an elven pottery mug. Might have it shipped at a later date.
-- I also bought a parasol because I had left mine at home and it got bright and sunny and hot for approximately 15 minutes-- which was just enough time for Ann to convince me to buy a parisol because it was Christina Pink with gold filigree painted on it. The minute I paid? Overcast for the rest of the day. Figures.
-- That awful grass from yesterday? Well, a stickly prickly thing in the grass wrapped itself around my ankle and stuck me. Drew blood. I have made my ritual sacrifice to that damn grass, and now it shall plague me no more.
-- I sucessfully used a port-a-john twice, with over 40 yards of fabric on my lower half. There needs to be a merit badge for that.
-- Caught Telesma's set and watched Miss Layla Fahada dance with them. Prettiest natural smile, that lady. So jealous. Also caught

pictsy dancing in the air in her silks. The little kids were so wide-eyed watching her flap her "wings" far above their heads.
-- Our set ROCKED. It just flowed so well. The crowd was giving us such great energy, and it just worked. (Also Eugenia's flamenco fusion piece with fan veil? BE MY YODA, EUGENIA FIERCE.) I duetted with Amy, which I have never done before, and it was spinny spinny spinny and though I think at times a trained eye could tell we were negotiating lead, etc, it just reinforced just how very awesome improv is. Overall, everybody brought their A game and the solos were great and and and if I keep going I'm just going to start word-vomiting love for my troupies.
-- Hi Carmen!
-- SO GUYS. THE LITTLE GIRLS MULTIPLIED. We were SWAAAAARMED with little girls after the set during the "free dance" songs. Meredith and I led a shimmy circle with all sorts of fun arms, like so:

Because bellydance makes you strong.
They were just SO AMAZED and OMG SO MANY HUGS. There was one little girl who also saw us dance yesterday that just kept running up to me for hugs. Like, I was in line for food, talking to someone and felt a WHOMP and it it was this little girl, hugging my butt. FREAKING ADORABLE. They were ahead of us on our way out, and WHOMP, hugged again. She got something like six or seven hugs over the course of the day.
-- Best question from an extremely inquisitive munchkin: "Do bellydancers have a queen?" Almost replied "yes, and her name is Carolena."
-- HOW MUCH DO I LOVE MY TROUPIES, LET ME COUNT THE WAYS. Seriously, dance sisters, I love you all.
-- Showered. So tired. So sore. But Olive gave me a billion kisses when I got home (even grabbing my face in her paws because I had the audacity to try to pull back), and I have lavender caramel tea and comfy stretchy pants and a new ep of Game of Thrones tonight. Tomorrow is a trip to the post office, then it will be bath time with epsom salts, doing a load of dance laundry, un-fucking my habitat (my office looks like a sparkly bomb went off in there), and giving myself a proper manicure. Yep.

In bullet point form so I don't forget.

-- No, I did not take pictures, but plenty of other people did. They'll show up eventually.
-- Lavender ice cream. OH MAN. So good.
-- Saw bits of Telesma's set (as we were scheduled overlapping), and bought the new cd to support Ian's recovery fund.
-- Blissfully was safe from most things at Father Dunn's. Found a great belt for $60 but was able to talk myself down. It was a want, not a need.
-- First set was the grass set. I HATE THAT GRASS. Not only is it uneven and hilly (and hard to dance on), but there are hard stalks growing out of the ground that catch on your skirts and shoes. No one lost a skirt like last year, but this year, in the middle of my duet with Flissy, I lost a shoe mid-spin. So if you're wondering why I almost collided with Flissy and then made my "dude, I gotta GTFO" face at her, it's because I was holding onto my shoe with my toes.
-- So. Humid. I was sweating through my TEETH, I swear it.
-- Hi

ladycoldfire! Hi

mizjawnson! Hi Greylen!
-- Second set was stage set. Great crowd! Music cut out halfway through the last song, so we got the crowd clapping and kept zilling and then I led the ending anyway, a-capella. It was pretty great, actually.
-- People LOVED our costumes. We must have gotten stopped for pictures at least 20 times.
-- THE LITTLE GIRLS, OMG. The little girls after our sets who wanted to dance were SOOOOO cute. Most were so shy, but then once we got them up were like OMG I AM DANCING WITH FAIRY LADIES IT IS THE BEST. One little girl was too shy, but her mom brought her over after we were done and she wanted hugs from us and it was THE CUTEST.
-- I sweated my bindi off and my costume had turned me green by 6pm.
-- Jason got an amazing hat. It makes him look like Raiden.
-- Was told that I am River Tribe and have no choice in the matter, as I was baptized in mud last year.
-- You know what I love about Spoutwood? All body types and ability levels and gender presentations are accepted, no questions asked. It's such a warm, happy, inclusive place.
--

mermaiden and I decided that next year, there will be a joint Fable Tribe / Sihaya Designs vending table. Your monies will not be safe, and we will have pink hair and the shinies will be multitudinous.
-- NOTHING compares to a post-Spoutwood shower. I do not know how those of you who camp all weekend do it.
-- Today was my day of rushing to and fro and trying to feed and hydrate myself in between. Aside from restocking tea from Cherie Ann, I did not do much vendor-browsing or show watching. Tomorrow, we should arrive around noonish and then we only have one set at 4, so I am looking to see what shines are for sale and seeing

pictsy perform and maybe seeing if I can spot Twig.

So, Spoutwood was this weekend! Saturday, we had beaaaaaautiful weather. Sunny, breezy. Just lovely. Highlights:

-- Transcendence Tribal performed two sets. The grass set was well-received, though difficult. There were these spiky vine things hiding in the grass that were seriously trying to maim us. Eugenia was snaked by one her entire solo. Lyra lost part of her costuming to a rogue vine. The un-even hill made any sort of calibrated spin completely impossible. BUT. It was pretty, and the crowd totally picked up on our joy of dancing. The second set was on a stage, and went so well! The improv sword piece was well received, the soloists were fierce, and the group numbers looked so colorful and joyous. It is such a joy to be dancing with these ladies.

-- Rocked out a little to Telesma.

-- Bought shinies from Father Dunn.

-- Spotted Sihaya Designs in the wild! My friends often wear my jewelry, but it was the first time I'd spotted one of my pieces on a complete stranger. I was ecstatic.

-- LAVENDER CUPCAKES. THEY WERE DELICIOUS.

-- Got to hug

mermaiden,

willow_cabin, &

inkandrunes.

Sunday was... well, I knew it was going to be overcast, but it was not supposed to rain. HA. HA. HA.

By the time our set came up, it'd been drizzling and cold for hours, the real rain was starting, and there was a mass exodus. We ended up dancing in a tent for a small but dedicated audience, and by the end of the performance, we were basically dancing in a big puddle of mud. When I got home, I took the most glorious shower ever.

Jason got video, other troupe members got video, and pictures are pouring in. But for now, I leave you with a group pic of us doing an ATS chorus on Saturday: ( SNIP. )

I am actually taking a day off, today. Forcing myself to rest and not to work. Feels good. I have fic to read. Silly TV to watch.

Also, if you are not a weekend LJ-er, I posted an update to Sihaya Designs on Friday. Check it out!

Friday, J&I stayed in and fell asleep early on the couch like old married people. Saturday, we got up to go to the Spoutwood Farm Faerie Festival, which was, to my surprise, freakin' huge. Like, really. Big. Danced a solo to a Balkan song I've never before heard with DragonSong Band, and it went surprisingly well (I have a solo-block in my head, but I am working on it, I swear). Saw the Gypsy Nomads, ransacked Father Dunn's for an antique cowrie tassel pair that will be a part of an awesome headdress posthaste, and then met up with

marinatempest to dance again with DragonSong in their second set.

I missed

mermaiden &

willow_cabin, somehow, even though I was looking for them all day. Boo. :( I also forgot my camera, but a lot of people took pics of the dancing and asked for pics with me, so I assume some of them will show up on Flickr at some point.

Also, I got asked a bajillion times if my hot pink hair is a wig. It is not.

The best part of the day was the five year old girl who shyly came up to me and gave me a little glittery bag of "faerie dust." Adorable, and I have it in my purse as a little talisman.

By that time, my feet were killing me, owing to walking on gravel in thin shoes and also stubbing my toe pretty righteously during the last song in DragonSong's set. I should have known that putting on anything with a heel would be stupid, but I wore my SexyBoots (tm) down to DC for Kevin's birthday shenanigans, which began with a clusterf*ck of us going to the wrong restaurant because Liaa had to cancel and change the reservation, and no one was picking up their freakin' phones. But eventually all was well-- except for the fact that by the time we got to Black Cat for dancing, my feet, they were on fire. But I sucked it up and smiled and danced and hobbled my way back to the car while contemplating asking Jason to carry me. Y'all, it was bad. The balls of my feet are TORE UP.

Yesterday was the day of relaxation. Massages (oh, my aching feet-- this is a theme) and giving Dr. Who a second try, starting with Christopher Eccleston. I don't really know why it didn't take for me the first time. Probably the graphics. But we got through episode five last night, and I don't mind it so much. I still don't think it's my thing, but it's more watchable this time.

Evening ended with a pretty nasty anxiety attack followed by a night of nightmares, so boo to that.

Today: working on stuff, dinner with Abby.