Rhinestones, Sequins, and Pasties...Oh My!

It's been go go go here at Ft. McAwesome.

Cabaret Noir is tomorrow night, and I have been doing little else besides setting rhinestones, sewing sequins, and knitting pasties!

I tried out Brittany Wilson's Burlesque Fan Pasties:

S/M/L, I think the M size will fit me just fine.
Still need to add feathers.

I also took a plain red slip and added rhinestones and sequins until it became something special. You should see this baby under the stage lights, it dazzles!

I got to preview some of the other acts at rehearsal this week, and they are phenomenal!

I'm in a few acts, but my main act is an homage to American Horror Story: Asylum.

Specifically, a certain scene from the episode "The Name Game".

I am also the luckiest burlesque dancer alive, my amazing husband hand made me a pair of black ostrich feather fans! He even cut the glitter acrylic staves himself! I can't wait to take them out for a spin on Saturday!

525,600 Minutes

A lot has changed in the past year. On October 15th, 2012, our four hens hatched! Happy Birthday, girls!

We continue to miss Rosie, and Sally and Hennie, the other two RIRs who were taken from us by the same predator after having them for only a few weeks. I never even got the chance to introduce them on the blog.

October 15th was also the day we conceived Juniper, though we didn't know it. Last year on November 2nd, I performed in a Halloween Show with my burlesque troop, unaware that I was already pregnant!

 There's an Iron Baby in there!

This show was exhausting to prepare for, now I know why!

We found out we were expecting two days later, but didn't announce it until Thanksgiving.

In the months that followed we prepped the nursery...

Made jokes about shotgun weddings...

I had fun dressing my growing belly.

And grow it did!

We spent our last few months as a childless couple enjoying our friends.

Mr. Bear stood up as the Best Man at the wedding of the friends who introduced us, while I played the processional.

In my toast, I thanked them for helping me create my family, and for being a part of it.

Then we celebrated with a Burlesque Show!

Because that's how we roll.

For our anniversary, we took one last weekend to really indulge ourselves and relax.

Ponyo got a bath in preparation for meeting the baby.

And on July 4th, we enjoyed the summer sun with friends.

Juniper must have been excited by the boat ride and fireworks, because I went in to labor in the wee hours of the morning, and she made her debut on July 5th!

So here we are, one year on, prepping for another show, but with our lives completely and wonderfully changed forever.
Good family, good friends, a good life.

Cabaret Noir, coming November 2nd!

Rouge your knees, roll your stockings down, and get ready for a dark and smoky show!

The guys and dolls of Pasties and Paddles are back with a speakeasy-themed Halloween cabaret and burlesque show. Expect high-energy group numbers, sultry solos, homages to your favorite horror stories(American and otherwise), and more garter stockings than you can imagine!

Do me a favor, lovelies, and go like my performer page, Knitty van Tassle so you can stay current on my burlesque activities and modelling.

I have a very special act in the works for this show, and I'll give you some clues:

 What do a red finger-wave wig...

 Some glitter acrylic sheeting...

And black tassel pasties have in common?

Pregnant Burlesque

(Warning, this post has me in a bra and underwear...and that's pretty much it)

We had a wildly successful show this past weekend, the club was packed and the crowd was very enthusiastic and responsive, which was fantastic.

I'd spent the last month wavering between being very excited about my two solos, and being very scared about how exposed I was going to be up there. Normally when I perform, I leave a waist cincher on because body issues.

There's no cinching in a seven-and-a-half months pregnant belly.

 Seriously, you try to reign that in.

There have been other women in our troupe who have performed while pregnant, and I consulted with pregnant performers from other troupes, like Eva Mae Garnet from Drop Dead Dames in San Diego, who had some wonderful advice.

So I went out there, on stage, in all my pregnant belly glory.

Belly belly belly, rockin' everywhere!

I was worried that the crowd wouldn't be receptive to a heavily pregnant woman on stage, so I pretty much locked eyes with Jewels in the front row and performed just for her(it was her wedding/birthday show, after all).

Start wearin' purple, wearin' purple...

I needn't have worried. The crowd went just as wild for me as it did for the other women and men in the show. Apparently, during my first solo, Mr. Bear(who runs sound and lights for the show) was pointing at me and excitedly telling the audience "That's my wife! That's my wife!" Which is adorable. I love him.

Knitty van Tassle on Facebook

I'm very glad I decided to perform at this stage in my pregnancy, though it was incredibly exhausting for me. Being pregnant has been a very humbling experience for me. The body I used to have, and had all sorts of body image issues with, is gone, and it's not coming back. Which is freeing, as all those issues are now a moot point. I have a new body now, and after I have this baby, I'll have other issues to contend with. It's like getting a fresh start, and I'm taking advantage of it by getting used to my new skin and celebrating it.

The Washington Post recently ran a story on the new burlesque movement, and how it includes all body types and genders.

Photos by Jessica Turner

Pin-up Preview!

Recently, I had the pleasure of doing a little pregnancy pin-up shoot with the incomparable Stina Rae.

My cheesecake expression reads more like abject terror...

I haven't done pin-up like this before, so I was nervous, but it was a lot of fun, and I hope to do more.

Displaying Your Pasties

My friend Crystal is hosting a burlesque art show at the bar she works at, and while others in the troupe have done actual paintings inspired by their performance art, I went a different route.

After a show, all my pasties tend to just get tossed into a ziploc and end up on the closet shelf. Very occasionally I'll reuse a pair for another act, but since I usually make a new pair for each act I do, I've ended up accumulating quite a collection. I think they're quite pretty, what with all the rhinestones and glitter, and it seems a shame to hide them away. Much better to put them on the walls!

To make my display, I first assembled the burlesque paraphernalia I wanted to show off. In this case, a stack of pasties and a novelty ticket from the last show.

 I bought four frames from the dollar store and used a matte black spray paint we already had to paint them.

 Next, I took some sticky-back foam, which I also already had, and cut it down to fit inside the three smaller frames.

 I peeled off the backing and stuck them to the cardboard backs of the frames.

 Then I played with the arrangement of the pasties inside the frames, making sure they would fit how I wanted them.

 I used hot glue to place them, removing one pasty at a time and using the remaining pasty as a gauge for placement. Once they were set, I popped the back into the frame and secured it with the little metal tabs built into the frame.

 The ticket I simply folded to fit the frame and popped it in. Easy peasy!

After the art show is taken down at the end of September, I'll be hanging these on my wall, along with a selection of other large props and photographs from the shows. Burlesque pride!

Volume!

PnP performed at Volume this past week. Volume is an annual showcase of local music and performers put on by local weekly paper, The Inlander. We did three numbers and it was a blast! As usual, we left in our wake a trail of rainbow carnage. Of glitter.



Here's The Inlander's take on the evening.

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