Massive news: Oshun is changing name! Welcome to Threads of a Fairytale

Gold Oshun chiffon dressFrom now on we’re called ‘Threads of a Fairytale’. I just thought I would make my life a little more complicated than necessary and decide to change the name of my clothing business, which has been called Oshun for so many years, I can’t even remember since when! I think I began late nineties / early noughties, so this is going to take a while to get used to!

Please bare with me for a little while as it’s obviously going to take a bit of time to change everything. At the moment I’m having to appeal the change of name of the Facebook page, so that’s why that is still saying Oshun. However the transition on Etsy was Snow white cosplay costumefortunately much simpler and my original Oshun Creations shop on there is now called Threads of a Fairytale. I hope it’s not all too confusing! Also, of course, you may be wondering why the title here is still saying Oshun – well my programmer tells me that it’s not as simple as just changing the wording of the title; it’s made up as a whole picture. Therefore, if we’re making a new picture for the title, now is the time to figure out logos and branding and all that sort of thing. This isn’t something I want to rush, so look out for gradual changes. It is of course, lots of fun doing this bit!

One of the changes I’m looking forward to the most is dropping all the other Oshun Etsy shops (along with Oshun Creations, there’s currently also Oshun Occasions, Oshun Costumes and Oshun Kids.) I think I’ve mentioned before how I’d planned on closing Oshun Kids anyway. All the handmade children’s clothes will eventually be listed on the Facebook page. The vintage items from Oshun Costumes are on my depop shop, (soon to be sold off as a job lot) and the handmade items moved to the new Threads of a Fairytale (formerly Oshun Creations). Also, all the clothing and accessories on Oshun Occasions will move to the same shop on Etsy as well, under the category of Occasion wear. It will make it a lot easier for me to keep on top of updates and news; and a lot easier for you to see everything I make. I’ve honed my style of clothing over recent years and I think the shops will blend nicely together now.

Beyonce at Grammys as OshunSo, the reason why I’m changing the name? Well, there is one big thing that has bothered me right from the start of the existence of our Oshun business, and that is, very few people know how to pronounce it! It’s simple matter, but a very annoying one! (So if you are thinking about naming a business, keep that in mind!) Even we pronounced it wrong for many years, saying it like ‘Ocean.’ You Tube didn’t exist back then, so there was no way of hearing other people say it. It is in fact, pronounced Oshoon, if you were wondering! However since Beyonce played homage to the goddess Oshun in her Hold Up, Lemonade music video, and then again at the 2017 Grammy Award show performance, the name is better known. The flip side is, it has suddenly become massively popular and whereas we were originally the only ones with a shop in the world called Oshun, in the last few months, suddenly shops called Oshun this and Oshun that have popped up all over the place. I recently had to deal with someone who was blatantly copying the name along with materials and style of clothing, and although most of the other new Oshun shops are selling beauty products or jewellery, I can see how there might be confusion with us. I’ve talked more about this on my latest weekly vlog on You Tube.

So I thought, if ever was the right time to change the name of our clothing business, now is the time to do it. I’ve recently made a new collection of velvet cloaks which are about to be listed; a fairytale wedding dress; and have started a collection of raggedy pastel goth Cinderella-type dresses. I’ve got so many ideas in my head for fairytale clothes I want to make this year and I’m very excited to take my business forward with its new name, Threads of a Fairytale.

Velvet cloaks – sneak preview

I hope you all had a beautiful sunny weekend! Yesterday I made the most of the good weather forecast and scheduled a photo-shoot for the new products I’ve made for Oshun recently. I’ve had a stack of the most beautiful lush vintage cotton velvets calling me to use them from the corner of my work room. So I’ve finally decided to turn them into velvet cloaks perfect for weddings, handfastings, LARP, re-enactments, cosplay or just wrapping up in to keep warm! So far I’ve made three (they take a lot longer to make than you might think due to the thickness of the fabrics I’m dealing with!), but I’ll be continuing to sew more over the next couple of weeks. We’re hoping to go to the cliffs of Cornwall to shoot the next bundle, but that’s reliant on the campervan and the weather co-ordinating with each other, so we’ll see!

The first three were modelled at Exmoor National Park and although I’ve only had a brief look at the fashion photos, I’m very pleased and can’t wait to edit them and show them to you. Here’s a sneak peak of me having a sneak peak!

Navy blue velvet cloak
Navy blue velvet cloak

Happy New Year! Oshun plans for 2007 & clothing discount news

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have an amazing 2017! I’ve got loads of plans as usual, but will probably only have time for half of them! If you’d like to know what items I’m planning on making this year, I’m going to start with a couple of velvet cloaks as I’ve had a few requests for these for weddings. Then I’m going to focus on a Pastel Goth collection which I’m aiming to have completed by late spring. For summer, I’ll be adding to the silk chiffon goddess dresses as the lovely ladies I met at the New Forest Fairy Festival have asked for some. More velvet cloaks and capes in autumn and then I’ll be starting a Steampunk Collection in winter. All the while I’ll be developing my made-to-order wedding and special occasion dress samples and working on those orders as they come in. It’s good to have goals isn’t it?!

On the admin side of things I’m going to finally set up a newsletter. Watch out for that because I’ll be giving you exclusive discount codes. Speaking of which, keep an eye on the Oshun Costumes shop and the Oshun Kids shop as I”m going to be heavily discounting old stock to make some space in my house! And please follow me on Instagram as I’ve been working on post-processing some Oshun photography and posting the photos there if you’d like to see them.

Thank you to all my customers – I really hope you had a peaceful and happy holiday and may your year be filled with creative prettiness!

The New Forest Fairy Festival

It’s a wonderful little festival in the witchy town of Burley in the heart of the New Forest, Hampshire. If you’re facing the main stage, my stall is going to be the second to the right of the stage. Do come and say hello if you’re going to be there this weekend. I’m nearly packed! It’s the only festival I’m doing this year, so I hope it’s going to be a sunny one!

If you’d like to know a bit more about some of the other exhibitors, I’ve been interviewing them for my blog, here.

Holiday & Festival dates

I’m just about recovered from an exhausting Glastonbury Festival, but now I’m  giving you advanced notice that all Oshun shops (and wickedfaeriegifts) will be closed from the evening of 4th of July until 28th of July. Not long after that, from 13th – 14th August, all my stock will be coming with me to the New Forest Fairy Festival, so if you’ve had your eye on anything, now’s the time to get it!

Cup Carriers & Bottle Bags at Glastonbury Festival

I’m really excited to announce that my bottle bags and cup carriers are going to be for sale at the WaterAid stands in The Park and next to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival. Yesterday I delivered 275 of them altogether! So that it why you haven’t seen many new items of clothing in my shops recently! They’re perfect for carrying around your bottle of water (or wine); and the cup carriers are designed to fit the new steel pint cups that are trialling this year. You can clip it to your belt loop or bag between trips to the bar!

bottlebagsGlasto-2 bottlebagsGlasto-1 cupcarriers-2 caupcarriers-1

The Oshun Dress

Have you seen Beyonce’s video album, Lemonade? She wears a beautiful yellow dress inspired by the goddess Oshun, and I’ve been inspired to make my own! If you’d like to read a bit more about how I chose Oshun to be the name of my clothing brand; and how I made this particular dress, then please take a look at my blog post all about it!

Yellow Oshun Dress inspired by Beyonce in Lemonade
Yellow Oshun Dress inspired by Beyonce in Lemonade