Zills are a staple in belly dance, and often one of the first things that are tossed into a bag. These brass beauties need some TLC every once in a while, and what’s more, there are fun ways to decorate them and add some spunk to these tiny treasures. Here are some tips for extending the life of your zills, and making them more attractive for the belly dance diva in you 🙂

Step 1: Decorating your Zills

1. Something I do personally is add hotfix stones to “blingify” my zills. This not only makes it look pretty and sparkly, but I add stones in different patterns so I know easily which pair is for my thumbs and which for my middle fingers as you can see by the photograph.

2. Another cool and fun way to perk up your zills is to add patterned specialty elastic. There are some fun elastics online that you can purchase, just make sure that they are strong elastics not the cheap elastics that wear quickly. Some places that sell patterned elastics are companies such as Strapworks.

To the left is an example of some pretty patterned elastic Strapworks sells. There are many more companies that offer this as well, just do a simple Google search.  🙂

Step 2: Setting up your ZillLs Correctly so they LAST

1. Double up your elastic! Take a long enough strip of elastic, fold it in half and pass both layers through your zill holes (will require some muscle lol). Doubling up will not make your elastic wear as quickly.

2. Measure elastic around finger and add a 1/4″ to the length. This extra 1/4″ is what you will decorate or placep bling onto if you desire.

3. Once you cut the excess, burn the edges of your elastic so they do not ever unravel. This makes them look crisp, clean, and professional.

4. Decorate the excess elastic with hotfix stones, beads, or bits of lace.

5. Shine up your Zills with BRASSO so they always look clean and shiny.

6. Enjoy!

Hope this inspires a little creativity and tlc with your Zills. If you have any more ideas or any comments, please submit them below. I would love to hear them!!