veils again what else

just an excerpt from a passing thought posted elsewhere, it keeps the world in balance for me. there's nursing and financial means and there's akai

My work and dance with veils was heavily influenced by Loie Fuller, Eva Cernik, and Adnan Sarhan. I believe in the veil as a meditative dance partner and an extension of the human energy (an aura field) ..not just an accessory. Veil dance has been hugely influential on life, I love to make silk veils for dancers of all types but also make some for practioners of healing work and therapy. I donated veils to a nursing home once, and they used the veils with a group of people who were still ambulatory and you should have seen them light up. I have always believed that Adnan Sarhan, one of my mentors, has instructed me not only to dye and color the veils but to move into instruction and teaching with them. Production has taken up 75% of work time over the past 8 years and if I can afford to cut back now , to travel and teach using some of the bellydance teaching and also Adnan's teaching, I would love to do so.

Thank you, Dina, and others, for reminding me why I do this. It's not about the next color pattern or how many wholesale accounts or being the fastest distributor. This 'business' has been so much a heart and soul project since the very first veil.

request to see more

request to see more of yesterday's photos..here's three new veils and more pics of the kimono/sarong set, silk knit/sarong set, crepe ruana

back to beach stuff

had enough free? time today to dash off to one of my favorite hotels in waikiki..i love the old colonial style of this hotel..wish i could tell you the name but i forget it all the time :) Surfrider?

here's just a few shots, we are practicing with a camera again..i've always been curious if the light in these hallways would be good, and i love it. the colors show up really nice.

this is stuff i don't normally feature online..it's more an island obsession. what you are seeing are outfits made of: silk chiffon kimono top over a scarf tied bandeau style, with a sarong, then one with a crepe de chine ruana, then the aqua and purple set is a silk knit top with a sarong, their is one photo taken with a cape which i rarely do anymore but i kept this one

one of these days they may make it to the website or etsy store..for now they are for sale in waikiki

i want to dye

finding that balance again between ordering more supplies than i can possibly go thru before heading back to hawaii ...just to dye something... and knocking out a few more CEU's for nursing again. both have an arm and are pulling me and i know i can move forward with both of them, after all geminis like challenges and we are all about balance of some sort.

am feeling a bit of angst for not being out in the hawaiian water..a quick morning surf would cure the jitters. or another rigorous vortex hike in sedona. oh i promised to come back to vortex. it's sort of like a gemini mind and you have to breathe in the moment then release it so that more info can swirl by. mmm i like swirl. colors, coffee, wind tunnels, anything that spins.

promised self to get on BART today and learn a few stops with the Z man but it's weather permitting. not completely sure how i feel about the grayness here yet (bay area) but it's only been a short time .

i think i need a good long day break from Zack..love him so much but need to spread the wings and fly around and exhaust self from looking in windows at Haight Ashbury and get a map going of the current POA ...website updates, registration for next nurse class, and if i can sit still long enough, determine exactly what it is i need to live on and work towards that. awfully tempting to go get a well paid agency job in bay area but whats the sense of making good money if no free time to spend it ? yes, the return to bay area is a return to a lifestyle i long ago ran from. but can one be a silk dyeing beach bum for life?

i need a warm, quiet rock with no distraction to figure this all out.

me likey

i wouldnt dare cut this one up to make a skirt from it but it's fueling an idea for a really bitchen panel skirt. me keepie. its hanging next to the last few.

it has a matching crepe de chine scarf (that i'm keeping)

these will come in small doses

did some pics of a few different ruanas, as you might expect there's one i'm holding back and i'll show it off later..

this one started as a complete muddy flub but magically i was able to dye over it again and paint some bitchen gold streaks in it. i'm obviously very drawn to the desert and all its magical copper and earthy colors.

the universe works in peculiar ways

I'm within weeks of holding a nurse license again yet as I step closer to that 'back up' plan , akai pulls me back in. I did not decide to go back to nursing because sales are suffering. They are down from last year but not enough to affect us financially..and last years I was still actively running auctions on ebay so even though I'm only mostly on etsy now, the drop in sales has been minimal. I think partly due to the growing demand for the clothing pieces.

Just had two inquiries this past week that should make life very interesting. One order is enough to provide residual income for the entire summer. It's a store in Italy. They like the uniqueness of the items. I suppose that is why I am such a bitch about maintaining originality and politely knocking someone in the head if they are making items that closely resemble my own. Go find your own coconut tree.

Nah the interest in returning to nursing has been purely challenge based. I love managing a company and really love that I know enough about dance to have intelligent helpful conversations with full time dancers about it. But there is an academic challenge to nursing that I crave. And of course the pay is excellent.

We'll be analyzing if it's more cost effective for me to stay home with JR and save the cost of daycare, gas, car expense and wardrobe or work pt as a nurse which is pretty consistent pay but will require daycare a couple days a week. Preschool is coming soon, I want to enjoy what time is left.

The summer appears to be a choice between beachgoing with Zachary and dabbling away at dyeing or putting in some time at the agency. I do think the first one sounds more appealing but we'll see. Maybe i can do both.

filled to capacity with veils!

despite the 100 days of rain we are experiencing on big island, i am filled to capacity with veils and more orders..this is the busy time of year with Rakkasah right around the corner. I normally get clobbered in Feb and Mar with wholesale (and retail) orders

Every piece of real estate that i have is filled with a silk either marinating, or slowly SLOWLY drying in this humid environment. takes forever. if i had a blast of 20 minute sunshine i could really get the conveyor belt moving again but looks like we are under a gray blanket for some time. shit. the only thing that's keeping me going with all this rain is knowing we'll be back on the sunny shores of oahu soon. well..i hear it's raining there right now too but i'll go in the water over there when it rains. big island beaches are a different story. and cold. so i may as well work. still waiting on the processing of my nursing license application. they take their time. still looking at part time jobs in oahu. still thinking i'll just use the summer to take the kid to the water and show him the fish. Moki should be with us too so i'm likely to be the beach escort. fine by me. good opportunity to work on getting that lean brown body back. no sense having playboy boobies if i dont have the stomach to match.

above is a photo of Elise from Montreal, Canada . Her site is . Photo was taken by JS Cossette. This is one of many photos forwarded to me by dancers who wish to be part of my costume cheat sheet.

Elise is also a long time vendor for A'Kai veils and her store site is http://www.cicekpasaj.com/

The costume cheat sheet will be a gallery on my site featuring dancers in all different colored costumes. What I'm wanting to do is link the pictures of the dancer with some akai veil choices so that shoppers can help determine which color veil will work with their costume.
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As so many of you already know I am a budget minded dancer and when I started working with colors for akai veils, i wanted to make veils with colors that would match up with multiple costumes. So it's common to see a veil that for example has turquoise, pink, and orange in it..so you guessed it, that veil can go with a costume that is turquoise, pink, or orange. (also they are pretty flashy)

So, most of the veils you see at offer multiple choices on how they are used.

well. it's something to do on a rainy day..doesn't look like the sun will come out any time soon. yes i'm starting to lose my marbles over it.

dance costume 101

note to self:

dear self, please make time to dance every morning. you make better veils when you dance with them. you need to understand the beast to properly feed the beast. please also feel free to purchase used costumes to wear for photos and for future haflas. you know darn well you want to dance again.

also how about getting off your butt and finishing up that costume page? the quick guide to what akai veils go with what color costumes. it's halfway done you know.

crepe de chine wrap for international person FREE if you pay shipping

would love to see this go to someone 'international' which i guess could mean anywhere from hawaii (but I'm hoping someone truly overseas from the US sees it first ..if you pay shipping it's FREE

brand new without tags crepe de chine wrap, here's a pic of how one is WORN

this specific wrap does not have a pic but its similar to this one but with more raspberry and salmon clusters of color. it has raspberry, red, chocolate, and copper colors mixed throughout. and it's silk crepe de chine.

FREE (you pay shipping) to first person to EMAIL akaisilksinfo@yahoo.com

lotsa photos coming

oh lovely sun, thank you for today. was able to just flow with the dyes, dried a lot of silk, took pictures of soaps, watched the trees dance..thank you thank you see it's not so hard to be sunny

here's some unlabeled photos of stuff coming up..will soon have custom made spa packages that include what you see or combos of..

maybe things are meant to be

looked over the sales report for Jan 2009 and i'm shocked that despite a crappy economy i can still say its worth doing this job. just to save on daycare and do something enjoyable its worth it of course. to not have to fight traffic or be told when to work. i'm very pleased and surprised at Jan. report..seriously expected it to be about half of what it was. and that was just thru paypal, not checks received and not earnings from the craft fair here in hilo. akai, when i doubt you, you continue to persevere. (akai laughs at me and says hey stupid remember when you moved to hawaii and you were dyeing veils on the fourth story of a high rise in waikiki? if we can survive THAT we aint swayed by some silly economy).

it persists against the odds. akai is the wiser sage than the jes is.

(am still reading a chapter or so a night on nursing and procedure)

new info about etsy store , etc

NEW IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT ETSY STORE, PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO READ:

Aloha, there will be some changes to A'Kai Silks re: email and shipping times. We are currently in the process of buying a house and I am also working on reinstating my nursing license. I will be cutting A'Kai Silks operation hours. Just like a normal store there will be hours the etsy store is open and hours that it is closed.

For now CUSTOM ORDERS will NOT be available. Due to time constraints if you email about a custom order and do not get a reply, it is because an announcement has already been made about custom order availability. I mean this in a really nice way, but customers need to take a look at the announcement page and please understand if I do not email back, it's because it's already been stated that custom items are not available. I will be on a very tight schedule.

Wholesale orders MAY be available to those who know what they wish to order ..wholesale orders are ASSORTED COLORS not custom choice.

If your wholesale order requires minimal email communication, or you know exactly what you want and are ready to submit and confirm, I MAY be able to do it. If you are undecided or fail to reply to me asap, your order space may be forfeited.

The shop will remain open at www.akaisilks.etsy.com . If it is not listed in the store, it is not available at the moment.

SHIPPING DAYS will be on Monday and Thursday, and that is all.

No rush orders or rush shipping is available at this time.

Mahalo to everyone..

Macabre is staying with me

just a looksie blog post to show the one i'm keeping at least until i make something else that will take her place

shades of fire in all it's burning stages ..very characteristic images of the Vorpal bunny on each 'sleeve' area. only students from my tenth grade computer class would know what a vorpal bunny is .