Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! Here’s your tip!
The seasons are changing. Time to change your skin care products.
During the hot, sweaty summer, we often need a lighter moisturizer. As the days turn colder and drier, you’ll want a richer version.
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Dear Constant Reader,
Here we are, Friday again. How’s everyone holding up?
I’ve been trying to come up with a Iight-hearted tip, but my mind keeps going blank, so I’ll just say
Get away from your screens for a while. Go outside. Spend some time with your pets or your kids or your friends.
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! I’ve recommended using Sharpies to make costume touch-ups, but what do you when the pen slips?
Alcohol can help get out ink stains.
Don’t have any? Hairspray can work, as can shaving cream. Rinse, let air dry, and repeat until the stain is gone. The important thing is not expose the stain to high heat (like a dryer or iron) until you’ve gotten it out.
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Dear Constant Reader,
It’s September! Anyone have exciting plans for the fall?
This tip is for audience members. Not you, Dear Reader, you would never even think of this.
That is their real name.
Sometime an audience member will ask a performer, “So, what’s your real name?”. There’s no need to know that. Performers use stage names for all sorts of reasons, but names have power. Just having bought a ticket does not give someone the right to know a secret name. For some, it’s a matter of keeping their job or themselves safe to conceal their “real world” identity. Others, just want to preserve the mystique — that’s why they want to know — you’re keeping a secret and that makes you interesting.
If you’re a performer and someone asks for your “real name” and isn’t dissuaded with a “that’s private” or something similar, just thank them for coming to the show and walk away. Don’t be cute or coy, because that can encouraging. If they get belligerent, get security.
Fortunately, most folks aren’t like this and instead think stage names are creative and fun — and will respect performers’ off-stage privacy
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Dear Constant Reader,
Can you believe it’s the last Friday of August already? Are you frantically trying to finish (or start) your summer projects? This tip is for my fellow procrastinators:
What is keeping you from working on your project? Really think about the root of your reluctance. What can you do to get beyond it?
Sometimes just bringing it to light can help give you the boost you need to get to work.
For my Patrons, I wrote about one of my own costuming projects that’s been sitting for a while and why I had a hard time getting started. How about you?
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Dear Constant Reader,
These tips are always for you, but sometimes they are for me too.
Keep your eye on deadlines.
Sometimes you think you have so much time to get something done and before you know it, it’s almost the end of August and you need to rush to get your autumn classes on the schedule…
That said, the September and October classes at BABE are open for registration! As always, we’re offering Introduction to Burlesque, but we also have intermediate classes — fan dance technique in September and a Halloween fan dance in October — and our act creation course for advanced students, which culminates in a student showcase.
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! After several miserably hot and humid days, I’m enjoying today’s very pleasant summer weather. I hope it’s nice where you are too.
Here’s your tip:
Use beading thread for beadwork.
I know that sounds obvious, but you would be surprised.
No matter how smooth beads look, they’re still made of glass and a tiny nick or chip can cut right through regular sewing thread. Beading thread is made to resist that. In a pinch you can use dental floss. However, if you’re going to go through all the painstaking work of hand beading, I recommend using the right equipment.
My Patrons can learn more about beadwork by watching this tutorial.
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! I had a different tip for you and then I read an editorial in the NY Times, by David French and this part of it really resonated with me.
Stand up for good people under fire. Private messages are important, but even the simple act of posting public support (or offering other forms of public aid) can help mitigate the damage. It tells a person that he or she is not alone and that decency is not dead.
Now, he was specifically talking about judges who were being personally threatened because of their rulings, but I think it applies more widely. People can be vicious and loud and leave others who disagree feeling like they need to keep their heads down lest the mob turn on them as well.
Don’t let the bullies win.
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Dear Constant Reader,
Your faithful corespondent has been laid up in bed this week, unable to do much more than cough delicately into a handkerchief and look wanly fetching in a lacy nightgown. Despite that, I am still able to send out a tip, suggested by Scratch, who has been making sure I am well supplied with soothing cups of tea.
Get some rest. If you haven’t got your health, then you haven’t got anything.
–Count Rugen
Excellent advice. I think I’ll take it now.
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday!
This week’s tip is a continuation of the one about working with food — about a very specific category of food: milk.
Avoid using actual dairy on stage.
Just stay away from milk. It spoils easily and then it smells bad. It’s really hard to get that odor out of your costume and off your skin. And you don’t want the lingering aroma of spoiled milk to be the reason the venue remembers you.
If you want whipped cream, substitute shaving cream. This works really well for pie fights as well as sexier stuff.
If you’re doing a milk pour, diluted white tempera paint makes a decent substitute.
Both wash off well, but they’re absolutely not edible, so don’t let anyone lick you until after your shower!
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 18 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.
Oh, The Glamourous Life! 