Gothic Valentine Treats

The holidays were a busy whirlwind this year I didn't get a chance to post this Christmas decoration I made. It's a very Poe Christmas.

Since it is nearly February I've been getting ready for the next holiday, Valentine's Day.  I made a few new pieces this year.

This is more an anti-valentine piece. I call it the death of love.

I used clay to make this anatomical heart with a key hole that I added to a heart box I painted and added trim to. Next to the heart is the skeleton key that matches it. 

I'm working on a new shadow box that features a doll I'm in the process of making. I sculpted a raven's head over a small porcelain doll to create Miss Ravensworth. Here's a sneak peek.  I'll be working on her clothes and home interior next.

 For my next doll project, I'm going to try making the entire doll. I have some ideas I've been wanting to try out.

She Lives!

I love old monster movies, Dracula, of course, being my favorite, but I've always had a soft spot for Frankenstein and his bride.  It's probably no coincidence that the two I love the most also have corresponding books.  If only there had been a classic Wolfman novel it would be a perfect trinity.   Someone suggested I may want to do a Bride of Frankenstein shadow box and the idea took hold.  The thought of sculpting that iconic hair was too much to resist.  So I created this beauty.

I tried a new technique to create the stone wall and floor.  I like how it turned out, but it's a bit time consuming.  She sold the same day she was listed.  I've had a request for a custom shadow box with another Bride.  This one is going to be humorous which will be different for me.

I've been doing some Spring cleaning in the workshop this week.  When it comes to items that I may use in my artwork I am a total hoarder.  I will keep the most random things because some day I may need it to fabricate something in one of my miniature dioramas or use it to decorate a box.  I bought a new storage bin with lots of small clear drawers so I can see what I have now.  So now I'm inspired to start using pieces in new creations.  Plus I found the most amazing yard sale.  The woman was a doll collector and she was selling off extra stuff.  I got a victorian reproduction doll from the 60's, a German doll with unstuffed body and porcelain arms and head from the 1800's, random doll heads and legs, and all kinds of miniature teacups and saucers.  There is definitely going to be some creepy doll projects happening.  Here's a picture of my haul.

I did get some actual work done last week.  I finished a new jewelry box with this great paper I found recently, funeral coaches and distressed lace.

I also finished a Poe shadow box I've been working on.  I found a new technique to make my clay candles look like the are bleeding but also keep that melted wax look.  

This week I'm working on a miniature cemetery for a tiny shadow box frame I found recently.  Time to bust out the clay and start making teeny tiny gravestones. 

I started a new shadow box thinking I was going to do something along the lines of a Victorian parlor with a mourning skeleton.  But midway through making the skeleton's dress she decided she was a witch.  So I switched gears and went with Miss Witch's parlor.

 So here she is all ready to be a proper Victorian lady in mourning when the compulsion hits and this happens

Once she went there I had to create a creepy home for her.  

Need a love spell, your fortune told?  Step right in she's just waiting to welcome you.

While most of the country is still blanketed in snow we are in the midst of an early Spring.  Or maybe that's an early summer it is in the mid to high 80's in most places around here.  I've been enjoying all the random flowers that are popping up.  There must be all kinds of bulbs buried in the flower beds here that have waited a year to appear.  Like these beauties.

I've been busy in the studio working on some new pieces.  I finished the skull jewelry box I was talking about in my last post.  The technique worked great.  I want to try it on something else soon.  This jewelry box was a great thrift store find.  Here's what it started out as just a boring wood jewelry box a bit scuffed.  But I loved the inside I haven't run across any like this before.

So with a little love and Gothic magic it's now this!   He's so creepy looking staring at you with that one eye looking as if he's rising from a black pool of water.  

This week I finished a new shadow box.  I've been wanting to do a Little Red Riding Hood shadow box for some time.  I wanted Red to be standing over the wolf that she killed.  But I had no clue how to find a wolf that would work.  I thought of trying to alter one of the plastic animals that Michaels sell, but it wouldn't look right.  So I decided to try and make one out of paper clay.  I've made small miniatures for my cupboards and a few larger but simple pieces.  I hadn't tried anything like this before.  But I went for it and sculpted my first animal.  Here he is in his raw state.  

 He's a bit rough and definitely primitive looking, but I think I captured dead wolf.  Here's the finished piece.

I also made the intestines, mushrooms, the basket and it's contents (except the bottle) and the knife handle from Paperclay.  I love the idea of the fairytale twisted around so that Red is the scariest thing in the forest.

I've been getting in the holiday spirit working like a demon elf these past few weeks.  I created a some new Holiday ornaments and other goodies.  I love adding a bit of Gothic charm to my Christmas decor. Here's a few of this years creations.

Nothing says Happy Holidays like the anti Santa, Krampus!

I made this fellow from paperclay along with the gravestones beside him.

Poe isn't just for Halloween anymore, or is that Nevermore.  Sorry I couldn't resist. :)

This pretty lady is my winter fairy skeleton and her sleigh.

Still Waiting for Fall!

It's 102 degrees today which means there is not even a hint of Fall in the air.  So I'm left to create my own hints of Fall.  First I made a Haunted House diorama.  Inside is the ghost of Annabelle and her very creepy doll.  In the front yard are the graves of Annabelle and her parents.

Then I went with the classic skull and added a spider sitting in his eye socket mounted on wood planks.  

And this week I went traditional Halloween with a Witch diorama piece.  I was all about the #CreativePaperclay for this piece.  I made the hat, pumpkins, cauldron, broom and book from the clay.  Here's a picture before I painted everything and the finished piece.

I'm feeling the chill in the air already, okay, it's really just the air conditioner but a girl can dream. :)

Playing with clay and miniatures

I've been working on a Snow White shadow box.  The original Grimm version is so dark with a cannibalistic step mom who is forced to dance to death in burning iron shoes.  Of course. whenever I take on a fairy tale I have to take over the story as well.  In my version, the hunter while sparing Snow White knows better than to bring an animal heart to the Queen so he kills another girl in her place.  Which means heart and knife are part of the shadow box.  And that leads me to my latest obsession clay.  I started using #CreativePaperclay a couple of years ago and I love all the things I'm able to create.  Somehow working with clay led to another new passion and that's miniatures.  There are so many things I need for my shadow box dioramas and most of the pieces I find are out of my price range plus, I don't feel like the work is mine if I'm using other people's creations.  So here's a few of my recent pieces

I made the cauldron, candy canes, cake, cookies, bowl, and books from #CreativePaperclay for this Christmas Witch diorama.

I made this miniature graveyard and tree.

This was for an Edgar Allan Poe shadow box, I made the parchment paper, inkwell, quill and book from #CreativePaperclay.

And this is from a magic diorama.  I made the cauldron, the herb bag with the pentagram, the mushrooms, cutting board and knife, and the tombstone.