Thread: Where is a good source to by (not super expensive) silk veil fans?

I am wary of the quality of the silk fan veils I am seeing all over ebay. On the other hand,
I don't want to pay $65 for a set until I am sure I will use this prop regularly.
They may be fine though for just starting out. How do they hold up?
Do you have any favorite vendors?

(PS I am looking for color combos with black or red in them) Thanks

I had a pair of red and black fan veils from this eBay vendor: BellyDanceFans, BellyDanceDress items in UNIVERSAL CURIO store on eBay!

I thought the quality was reasonable. I used them several times, then sold them as I was losing interest in dancing with them. The staves were probably not the very best for opening and closing sharply, but for a starter pair I thought they were fine.

I will have to agree with Dunyah on this..I bought a cheapie pair from same vendor when they started getting popular..for all reasonable dance purposes they were just fine. I'm certain there are other stave options out there that may open and close easier but as far as something to practice with that is attractive, they were fine.

here's a photo using the cheapies...see just as effective visually :)

here's more photos of fan veils and also the wings

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1895001&type=1

If I'm shopping for something and going to have to pay a lot of money for it, it better last a LONG time. Instructors may disagree but my experience with silk, especially the light silk, is that opening and closing the staves with silk attached is eventually going to create some wear on them. So if something is going to wear out quickly from frequent use, buy cheap.

If you are looking for specific colors or special colors, why not order the silk and then find your own staves that you like? (I do this with my dancers, I sell the silk dyed in akai colors and they have the choice of adding staves or they can be used as poi A'Kai Silks belly dance silk veils skirts gypsy wear by akaisilks ) .

You can probably find some basic colors like black/red on ebay. And some simple two tones. If you want something special I can customize them to your size/wishes. My Russian friend is ordering some silks in 45 inch wide to use for super fans. Can't wait to see photos.

Why not pick up a cheap pair off ebay for practice to see if you like them enough to buy a more expensive pair ? But beware of what you are buying I can't for the life of me understand why some folks sell fan veil pairs for over a $100. As cheap as supplies are, and there's not much fabric to them..they really don't cost much to make especially if you buy the silk and staves separate and glue them on .

ps i love the acrylic staves with the fabric in them, the fabric seemed to wave the silk and make it ripple beautifully

If you do decide on buying cheapies, I've been happy with the fan veils from chinaren139 on eBay, as they are 100% silk (some on eBay are not and don't float as well). Note they are not super long - I've bought a more expensive pair that were longer - but I think they're fine.

I don't think any of these props last for very long, though so far I've got a year's practice out of them, including loaning them out in class. The silk is now starting to show some signs of wear.