by Carla Louise | Jun 10, 2012 | Creating |
I have a boudoir photoshoot coming up in a couple of weeks, and as one of the things I’ve always wanted is a photo of me on pointe, I decided this would be a good opportunity.
However, none of my corsets are ballet pink. So I embarked upon a project (see how I get craft into everything?!)
First, you make sure you have all the necessary bits and pieces in one room… ballet shoes, dye, salt, sponge brush and a waterproof covering for your table. And GLOVES. Rubber gloves.
Then you mix your dye – this was the scary part, black is quite drastic…
Then stuff your shoes with newspaper or plastic bags to protect the inside and brush the dye on, being careful to cover all the folds of satin, but not to get the shoes too wet. 
They should then look like this and you can leave them to dry.
What I had not foreseen (and after I threw the dye away, of course) was that the colour would soak in and lighten while drying. So now I have this rather lovely blueish grey colour pair of pointes, and I can’t decide whether to re-dye black, or leave them like this. Thoughts, please? (on the basis they’ll be paired with dark burgundy and turquoise/black striped corsets…)
by Carla Louise | Jun 4, 2012 | Creating, Personal Development, Photography |
Rediscovering my pointe shoes…
Makeup trial for the wedding (done by me) – this is look one, neutral eyes with sheer-ish red lips. Shocking phone photo and my glasses obscure my eyelids, I know. More of these to come before the actual wedding. Skin’s looking clearer though – Nars illuminator is magical stuff!
Challenging myself to sew something for the Popular Crafts Union Jack swap… here’s my finished needle book 🙂 Will be posted with a treat and a cross stitched card!
Munching the cake I bought for a friend’s BBQ that was abandoned due to rain. I suspect the diet will be back on when I’m back at work, I’m maintaining weight but there’s so much yummy food involved in this week… lol! These cakes, stocked in our local Wyevale (Colchester Stanway and Braintree) are my favourite fallbacks if I don’t have time to bake, they taste homemade!
Sorting bookshelves and installing a ballet barre *cough perfect height clothes rail cough* in my living room – if I’m going to be ready for this burlesque cabaret in October, I need to strengthen my long-neglected dance muscles and improve my flexibility. Removing my glove with my foot is, as expected, somewhat trickier than it looks on stage! My intention is to try to do 10-15 mins of stretches and barre work each day even if I manage no other exercise. Combined with burlesque each week and hopefully cycling when my bike eventually arrives, plus skating which I do whenever I can but usually once a week, I should be trimmer, fitter and more flexible in no time. Yeah. I live in hope. But I’ll at least enjoy myself in the process!
Also managed to paint my toenails (my feet are not fit for photographing so here are the colours I used) and ogling the Pashley Poppy on the front of this month’s Homes and Antiques. Cannot WAIT for mine (it’s the blue, rather than the pink, version) to arrive – hopefully in a little over a month. Squee!
Footnote: I’m aware that wearing pointe shoes while not a trained dancer can damage your feet; I’m also aware mine should have ribbons attached for support. They’re mostly decorative and I intend to wear them for a photoshoot. I doubt I will ever again dance that level of ballet!
