ATS Shoot

Out of the blue my daughter announced she wanted to take tribal belly dancing to get back in shape after the birth of her second child. So that inspired a tribal style photo shoot using just what we had on hand. I whipped up a floral headband, raided her jewelry stash, threw in some jewelry I brought on the train, and pulled out some costume stuff, and viola!

My digital camera is only showing you it's limitations. The ones I took with her professional camera are amazing, but I have to wait until she edits them and all. It's tricky doing hair and make-up with a 2 year old and a baby to care for at the same time. So I totally forgot the tribal tattoos until after the sun went down, and then I couldn't find my eyeliner. Even so we were both happy with the photos and we hope you are too. Her startled husband said something abour her looking like the goth queen of the damned, so maybe its good we didn't add the tribal markings.

Flowers in Your Hair

How to keep those fancy hair ornaments in your hair while you dance.

HIgh Pony Tail With Hair Extensions Tutorial

This high pony tail is a great look for belly dancing.

Knit Some Hair Decorations for Tribal Belly Dancing

Knitting hair ornamentation for tribal belly dance. They look a bit like faux dreads to me, and they are fun and fast to make if you already know how to knit. These are basic ones but it's easy enough to add beads, coins, bells, or shells.

Tribal Buns

Ever find a video that was exactly like a video you just wanted to make but never got around to? Here's how to make yarn hair falls and how to add them to the buns in your hair. I personally like the Homespun yarn for this but there are many exciting yarns that will work to make your hair look opulent and exotic. I just wish the internet would have been around when I was 22. Not so sure people want to see a fat old lady on youtube videos but I haven't let that stop me so far. Anyway, here is the ever so beautiful dancer from the gypsykiss site showing how to make and wear hair falls. Happy dancing.

Cowrie hair falls for tribal belly dancing

Today I sat myself down and decided to teach myself to make cowry hair falls for belly dancing. First I took inventory of things I already had in my bead box and in my jewelry box. At first I was going to make a matching pair but I scrapped that idea because I don't have enough cowry shells. With any luck I'll be able to make 2 solos instead of one pair.

I started with a 9 yard strand of black yarn and a 9 yard strand of fuzzy variegated white and blue yarn. I laid them together, evened up the ends, folded them in half and tied a 2" loop in the center. That gave me four working strands. I looped it over a nail so I could keep tension on it while doing the knotwork. Now I'm in the process of stringing and knotting various items. I'm hoping to make a fall 3 feet long. Right now I'm about 1 foot into it. But hope springs eternal. Some of the cowry shells have holes that are too small so I'll have to make the holes bigger...either with my needlenose pliers or the dremel or something. I'll keep you posted.

Update: I ended up using cowry shells, brass bells, pre-made tassels, bone beads, and a bone charm, and a cross section of seashell.
A bead reamer came in very handy for making the pre-drilled cowrie shell holes bigger. I made a needle threader out of wire and used it to pull the yarn through the holes. If you need to know anything else just ask. See the photos in the later post. Basically I used macrame' knots between everything. I didn't use any braiding because I'm working with four strands, not three and I didn't want to relearn four strand braiding when macrame' works perfectly well.