Thank God it's Friday!

Sitting here in front of a public computer after coming out of my day job in a gym, I must admit I look a proper "stunner". Bad hair day ain't the word! Poles apart from my stage persona, I'll be returning home to wash the gym off and hopefully style my hair in a suitable ladylike manner, as glam as possible, in fact!

I've been looking at lovely vintage hairstyles inspired by the time when a woman's hair was her crowning glory. Will I ever achieve one of those gloriously sculpted styles?
As my next appearance on stage will be coming up in august, there's not much time left, what with rehearsing and a costume revamp, borne of necessity as my last act completely blew an already non-existent budget!
Learning some thing new every day, I've found out what a cage bra is, and I am part way through making one for my fortune teller act that I'm planning on relaunching in august.
So what hairstyles could I have? Perhaps I should have it quite curly and wavy, or even a head dress? I found a couple of images to inspire me.








Now I need to go back and have a practice at hair do's and head dresses. I'm also covered in tan lines from this weekend's trip to Wales. I think a spray tan is in order as the weather is doing not much else except rain! Aaaargh!
See you next time with pics of my revamped fortune teller costume.
Later, my pretties! xx

What a great weekend.....!

Monday always rolls round all too soon, making me NOT want to go to my day job as a fitness instructor, especially when I have had such a fantastic weekend. I am now skint but happy thanks to Heresy and Heelz' fabulous Alternative and Burlesque Fair Held in Birmingham on Saturday. The first one to be held in Birmingham, approximately 600 people came through the door, which I guess you could call a success. Here is the link to the website, go see for your self!

http://thealternativeandburlesquefair.com/

During the previous week, I went shoe shopping for some suitable summer footwear. I'm not a sandals type of girl, so it was either wedges or ballet pumps for me. Actually, it ended up being BOTH.

Both pairs from Peacock's, wedges were £18, and the ballet pumps were just £10.

I ended up wearing the pumps as my outfit which you can see further down was black and white for the most part. BUT there were a few too many black and white spotted dresses being worn! We could have formed a burlesque troupe, I think it would have looked good on stage!

Above you can see my purchases from the day: 3 superb pairs of lashes, a gorgeous large green hair flower clip, a skull and cross necklace and standard issue flesh tone fishnet tights also a pair of contrast seamed stockings. Essentials I think you will agree. That's how I spent my pocket money!

.....my outfit for the day. Spotted dress decorated with a white corsage flower. My necklace was custom made for me by Rockabilly Baby who I found on Facebook. It looks like a chest tattoo from a distance, but is much less permanent, also pain free!

Well that's part one of my account of the day spent in Birmingham. I'll be back next time with more about the Alternative and Burlesque Fair.

See you soon, my pretties xx

It's good to be BACH.....

It's been a long time. Too long in fact, so I've made a huge effort and sat down in front of a computer to write a nice slice of blog.

 Apart from being wrapped up in my day job, I've been busy making customer orders, so much so that I had to restock red white and blue sequins because of the Queen's jubilee and the rash of shows it inspired.Of course there's still the olympics to look forward to and I'm able to make other national flags as well! We won't mention the football, though!

 I made these white and red heart tassels for the lovely Delilah Dufoe to do her "Bad Medicine"act. It was a rush job due to her having lost the originals... I just wish I could have been there. It always makes me proud to see my products in action, I can't quite seem to get over it!

 I started experimenting with different materials as well. These pasties are made from acetate covered in lace and crystals. Yes, they look see thru here, but once they are stuck on, there is no show-through as there is no light behind them. I've also made some with no lace, but the centre is obscured by a layer of glitter and crystals which dissipate toward the edges.

 Below you can see another experiment with different materials. I've used fun foam as I like the colours. Its also light, flexible and non fraying. These are my "Boy meets Girl" pasties. You can have them facing each other or back to back - heartache or romance? you decide!  Hehehe.... the glue isn't even dry on these, but don't worry, it does dry CLEAR!Other silhouettes are in my secret sketchbook of designs...

 These are made from foam too. Tiger stripes in sequins and glitter with a tattoo style scroll. grrrrrrr!!!

Actually, I have a bit of an ulterior motive, taking up the blog again. Just while my website is down. I'm hoping to get enough time to get it up and running again!

Here's a cheeky pic of me performing at Secret Fridae back in April....something else I am trying to get up and running again. It's always difficult to devote enough time to practising and costuming when I am so busy with my job.....I'll be treading the boards again in august so look out for me!

Picture credit: Robin Lowe of Burning ambition photography

 A few more pictures of recent designs. Foam kisses, an "odd pair" and below, sequinned yin/yang symbols also with a foam base.

Oh! and here are those CLEAR pasties I told you about earlier! They are not completely see through as the centre is painted with glitter. Bit more daring though......I got a buyer for this pair almost straight away.

I also think it's a good idea to tell you how you can see more of my designs and even contact me to order while my websites down.....

www.facebook.com/helenebachburlesquestyle

That is my page where you can see my designs, leave comments and questions, or ask about ordering. Custom orders welcome if you have an idea, just ask me.I keep my prices reasonable so why not take a look?

THE VELVET BURLESQUE

My friend Lara Gothique is promoting these wonderful shows, so I heartily recommend you go along and see how burlesque should be done! They are very classy shows, entertaining from start to finish with accomplished performers who will absolutely dazzle you!
Here is a link to the website for THE VELVET BURLESQUE:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.velvetburlesque.co.uk%2Fid5.htm&h=dAQHCsr-8

http://www.velvetburlesque.co.uk/

Picture of the gorgeously gothic Lara Gothique performing at The Velvet Burlesque Hallowe'en Horror Cabaret show in Oct 2010

Another year over, and what have you done?

It's that time of year when I always start evaluating what I've achieved this year... some things are a bit disappointing, yet others I am extremely happy about! For example, this year I have done no burlesque performing whatsoever. This disappoints me. BUT what I have achieved is the set up of my fitness business, Miss B's Fitness. After all, you can only do so much in a given time. I found I was getting overtired with extra activities, being charitable and helping others out, so I've had to downsize these activities for the sake of my health and business - which I hope to grow during the next year.
During 2012, I hope to be back with a bang on the local burlesque scene. It's been far too long since my last appearance at THE PUBLIC. However I have been making your pasties and tassels in the spare time I DO have.... and one thing that has deighted me this year is that my products have sold quite well in both Burlesque Salon, Birmingham and Lady K's, Bedford. It was quite exciting to find that people liked my products enough to buy them, I don't think I'll ever lose that feeling. I am so fortunate to be doing work which I enjoy, all I need to do now is grow both my businesses to a point where I can say I am financially successful. I don't even want to be rich...... just to make a nice living would be satisfactory.
And I guess thats my christmas wish. Thanks to everyone who has bought my products, visited my website, liked my pages, or read this blog.
Bring on 2012.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all xxx      (photo courtesy of Lady K's)

Useful links:

My website: http://www.helenebachburlesquestyle.co.uk/

Like my facebook page: www.facebook.com/helenebachburlesquestyle

also: www.facebook.com/missbsfitness

Tweet me up on TWITTER: @MissHeleneBach

Myspace: www.myspace.com/textilesbytheresa

(check out my early designs and my MA textiles show)

Out shopping for Burlesque Bits and Bobs!

I have promised a shopping blog post for a while now, and although I'm always short of time, here's some photos of some stuff I saw that I'd love to have in my house. Spotted in various shops in Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

I spotted this lovely furniture in The Old Mill Antiques Centre and thought it would be perfect for a burlesque bedroom like my spare room I am creating at the moment. My decorating is done, but this small scale furniture would fit perfectly into a small modern house. I love the craquelure finish and the leopard print tall boy!

Then I saw this lovely lamp, but it gave me the idea for customising one that I've already got in my spare room. There are lots of lovely things in this shop and I'd recommend a look round if you are ever in Bridgnorth.

Another shop we visited was called "Gin and Teacups" now this sounds a bit mad, but there were some great things in there which would make great props, modern and vintage mixed really.

Next time I will show you some more lovely stuff that I wish I could afford, as I've spotted some lovely SHOES!!!!!
Short, but sweet xxxx



Review of the year.....

Well it's hard to believe that it's been practically a whole year since my last official birthday! I say official because like all burlesque performers I have two birthdays, my official one being my real date of birth, and a burlesque birthday - the date of my first performance. Well let's just say I will be one year old on august 22nd! Should I tell you my age on the 10th july? Didn't anyone tell you a lady never tells her age?



I had such a great official birthday last year. It was filled with burlesque. I was eagerly anticipating my first performance, and I even enjoyed a performance by the fabulous Coco Malone at a burlesque show which I attended.



I'm shocked at how much I have done in the last 12 months, becoming a burlesque performer, making lots of tassels and pasties for other wonderful performers, and now I am entering the world of fitness! No wonder it feels like my feet haven't touched the floor. I sometimes wish I had done some of it 20 years ago.....but I'm glad I have tried stuff now before old age and regret set in.



It's time like these that you start to evaluate the future. Where do I go from here? I definitely want to do more performing but for the next 12months, I will also concentrate on combining burlesque with a fitness career where time allows. Life is certainly making a turn for the more exciting......


http://www.helenebachburlesquestyle.co.uk/


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