Thread: Tribal dancers: your favorite vendors? For my book!

Hi,
As you may know I am working feverishly on my Tribal Costume 09 Costume Goddess book.

In all my books, I encourage dancers to be creative and make their own costume pieces, with instructions and suggestions. BUT some popular pieces are specialty items and can't be made well by anyone but skilled crafters.

Plus, it's beyond the scope of the book to include a complete course in these specialty crafts, even if I had expertise myself.

My expertise is working with fabrics and fabric-like materials; I dabble in many other crafts, a true dilettante.

But most of my readers are not going to be learning a time-consuming skilled craft. So I know I will be deluged with dancers asking: "Where-where-where do I get XYZ?" To answer that, I need a list of reliable, quality suppliers (who will likely be around for awhile). That is where you can help me.

By the way, I do not accept paid advertisements in my books.
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What vendors HAVE YOU PURCHASED FROM and would recommend for:

1. Metal craft: custom or handmade metal costume pieces like coin bras/belts, chain mail, intricate headpieces, goth items

2. Metal supplies: coins, chains, links, etc.

3. Ethnic jewelry like Kuchi, Tibetan, East Indian, etc.

3. Leather craft: Renfair type items, or modern tough stuff

4. Bold beads and beaded pieces: gemstone beads, African beads, fun costume beads

5. Anything else you can think of

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I know I could find some of these by searching through hundreds of threads (Bhuz, Tribes.net, etc) and researching those vendors individually, but honestly I don't have that kinda time at this point!!

THANK YOU! in advance. This really helps me write a useful book.

Will you let us know when the book is finalized and available for purchase?

Originally Posted by TheGreatKathyLori

Will you let us know when the book is finalized and available for purchase?

(After collapsing for 14 hours) I'll be announcing, advertising, doing wheelies, and hopefully not getting too obnoxious. ,r:;

It's all good stuff, even the wheelies.

For supplies (both in the metal bits and pieces and in the textiles department) and and for jewelry, I would like to recommend

Tribal Bazaar - Tribal Bazaar
Tribal Souk - Tribal Bellydance Marketplace:: TribalSouk.com :: Tribal Belly Dance Costume Accessories
Red Camel - The Red Camel Home

All three are established vendors who have been around for a while and have an excellent reputation. I have repeatedly shopped at the first two, and have always enjoyed very good customer service and really lovely things. I have not gotten around to shop at Red Camel, but that's mostly because what they have does not line up as well with my taste and needs as the other two.

eBay My World - **sirik**tribal**

Sirik Tribal is where I've gotten jewelry, coins, and ME/Indian textiles. My favorite things from them are the coins with loops pre-welded on, they are worn, which means the welds are smooth and don't catch on silk veils or other costume pieces.

Love Deb @ Red Camel, she's awesome. Lovely person to deal with and she doesn't mind answering any/every question you have.

Thanks everyone, keep it coming!

Another vote for both Sirik and Red Camel. I have bought from them both, and they are great!

Other vendors that I just LOVE. They are mostly clothing designers, but sometimes you need that premade specialty piece to complete your look!
Flying Skirts - Flying Skirts Tribal BellyDance Costumes: Welcome to Flying Skirts Tribal Belly Dance Costumes
Geisha Moth - Welcome to Geisha Moth Online
Kathleen Crowley - KathleenCrowleyCostumeCouture by KathleenCrowley on Etsy
Tempest - Med'Devi Ink Boutique
Melodia Designs - Melodia Designs, The Original Source For Women's Belly Dance, Yoga & Everyday Wear

I second Flying Skirts and Sirek on ebay!

Stores that haven't been mentioned so far:
http://www.shimmybliss.com/
http://uberkuchi.com/
http://www.organicjewelry.com/ - sometimes has a nice selection of ethnic jewelry, mostly earrings


For leather craft supplies (I'm actually a leather crafter) I would recommend: Tandy Leather Factory for supplies. They also stock a good selection of large D and O rings which are great for making belts and bras in addition to kits for setting eyelets/grommets, snaps, and rivets.

Thanks Desiree!