I'm kind of obsessed with all things vintage and antique.  I'm especially in love with the 20's and the Victorian era and giving them a Gothic twist.  My latest 20's / Gothic mash-up was inspired when I got this Art Deco style clock case.  I just knew it had to become a vampire flapper's boudoir complete with a skull chandelier.

 

This clock case seemed to call out for a Victorian vampire tea party.  I love the idea of the traditional lawn party being held at night in the cemetery by a very proper looking lady who just happens to be a vampire.  She's even carrying a black parasol in case those moonbeams become too bright.

Completed Projects and Fledgling Ideas

I created a lot of new pieces before the Black Market some of them sold, like a cabinet, which I wanted to keep, and some of them I didn't get a chance to display.  I didn't get pictures of everything I sold.  I don't know what I was thinking I had the camera with me should have taken pictures of the people with their purchases.  But here’re a few that I did have:

I've been listing the items that I have left on Etsy.  So the shop has a lot of new inventory in it if you haven't checked it out in awhile, including new necklaces I made.  Here's a peek at some:

I made a new Vampire Theater and a new Vampire’s Castle shadow boxes.  I used basically the same elements from the originals but I changed them up some so each one remains unique:

I have plans for a Dark Shadows inspired shadow box I just love the over the top gothic atmosphere of that series.  I'm also planning on a shadow box inspired by Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite movies the halway scene with the live hands holding the candelabras is amazing.  I’ve just started a little Frankenstein mini shrine. 

Freak Show

The first time I saw Tod Browning's Freaks I was mesmerized. I think the idea of people so completely outside of society’s norm coming together and forming their own family was especially appealing. I was one of those kids that got labeled “freak” early on in life. I just didn’t quite fit in. It took me many years to find my family of fellow weirdoes and even though most of them would blend seamlessly in your average American crowd I know their creative, chaotic, horror movie loving, inner freakiness make them almost as much of a curiosity to “normal” society as the side show freaks back in the day were.

I had this doll which was rescued from a thrift store missing arms and legs I gave her new arms but they didn’t exactly blend or are even that functional for her and with no legs I figured there was only one place for this girl to shine. So I created the Freak Show shadow box for her. At the same time it pays homage to all the strange and freaky girls out there who are working what they have and making the world they want.

Skulls and Castles

I've finished two new projects since I last posted.  The first is a wood box purse.  I've made a lot of these for myself and as gifts through the years but I haven't made any for my shop yet.  I love them but there is the drawback of every time I open one to get something out I have to make sure it's lying flat and I don't lose anything.  So I wanted to make one that was fully lined and opened like a traditional purse.  It took me more than a few days (read a week) and two trips to the fabric store before I figured it out.  But now that's it's done I love it!  I will be making some more if not to sell in my shop than definitely to sell at the Bats Day Black Market event.  If you want more information about this event here's a link to their website: Bats Day.  Enough of the chatty chatty, here's some pictures:

My other project is a new shadow box called The Vampire's Castle.  The idea started with a great castle graphic that I got from Altered Artifacts.  I used images from the 1931 Dracula for the vampire and his brides.  I also used a quote from Bram Stoker's Dracula on the back of the shadow box: "...the walls of my castle are broken.  The shadows are many, and the wind breaths through the broken battlements and casements."  This was a fun project and I'm trying to think of some other themes that I can use the castle front with.  I'm thinking dark fairy tale like maybe a gothic sleeping beauty.

This week I'm working on a carnival freak show shadow box.  Stay tuned for the research pictures for that project!

From Paris to Purgatory

My two most recent projects have taken me from the Moulin Rouge to the Catholic's purgatory with the anima sola. It's been a very split personality kind of a week. ;)

I created a mini theater featuring can-can dancers of the Moulin Rouge. I am fascinated by Paris when the Moulin Rouge first opened, the idea of the bohemian lifestyle and the mingling of the artists, the dancers/singers, philosophers, and poets. It's a romanticized vision I’m sure but I’m still enamored of it. Here are a few pictures I came across while researching:

 And here is my version of the theater:

My other project was a nicho style shadow box featuring an image of the anima sola. I was raised Catholic and even though I’m no longer a Christian I’m still drawn to religious images and stories of the Saints. The anima sola seems to be an image that started as a lost soul in purgatory but it also has stories linking it to different religions and cultures. In doing research the one story that struck me is its tie to lost love or unrequited love. That is something I can definitely identify with so I started the piece from there. Here’s the completed shadow box:

Dark Fairies, Nichos, and Love

I finally finished the clock case shadow box.  I created an enchanted forest with a skull fairy.  I love the idea of a fierce race of dark fairies creating chaos and mayhem wherever they go.  They are the Skull fairies because they collect skulls.  I think they are grave robbing fairies but I wouldn't want to wander into the woods alone at night while they were gathered there they will get their skulls anyway they can. ;)  Of course their revelries are bacchanalian and my little fairy has been caught the morning after holding her tiny acorn cup and still reeling from the night before.

I started a new project today I found a wooden box with a lid that holds a photo at a thrift store.  The shape reminds me of a nicho so I'm playing around with some ideas to figure out what would best suit it.

It's almost Valentine's Day to all the couples out there may your Love be Eternal.

                                                

Inspiration and Ideas

I just completed a custom order for a friend.  He wanted a gift for his Mom's birthday.  The style was not my usual style but it's fun to sometimes make something completely different and in doing so I got an idea for a box that is in my style.

I'm working on a project now that is another clock case shadow box.  I'm trying to figure out what will go inside the clock.  I want to do something new not another haunted house graveyard theme.  But it needs to be small enough to fit in the case.  Here's some pictures of the project so far.

Not to long ago I finished a Vampire Theater shadow box.  I love the idea of a Victorian theater in London just for vampires.  I think they would take the common drawing room plays of the day and give them a Vamp twist.  The graveyard replacing the drawing room and a vampire version of Oscar Wilde writing brilliant and witty dialog.  The scene I created in the shadow box was a bit of a comedy.  I envisioned the play where the woman vampire spurned her current lover for a new monster which is why the male vampire in the shadow box is holding a heart in his hand.  I think the vampires would go in for some really graphic props!   

Yesterday I listed a new item in my shop, a mixed media picture.  I was inspired to make the picture when I came across an old writing exercise I had done.  It was to tell a story in one sentence.  This was the sentence:  Standing in front of unblemished glass uncorrupted skin pure and smooth between the violence tracing the residue of kisses, the imprint of lips at the base of her throat, the taste of him melting like ash on her tongue as she longs to be the kind of girl love doesn’t bleed dry.  I found a vintage photo that went perfect with it and created the piece from there.

New Projects and Keeping Busy

I've been keeping myself extremely busy, I listed four new items last week.  Including these shadow boxes

Vampire Tea Party

Haunted House and Graveyard

That mantle clock shadow box came out even better than I had hoped.  I've always been charmed by tiny bits of art so I loved the chance to create that little vignette.  For this week I have four projects that I've half started.  I'm working on two totally new projects they will be flat pieces perfect for table decor or even Halloween centerpiece type decorating.  One of the new pieces is a hinged shadow box with a Lady Death goes to the Ball theme.  I was rereading Peter S. Beagle's "Come Lady Death" and I just had to try and capture that mood.  Here's a sneak peak at Lady Death: 

Hopefully I will have that projected completed and listed this week.