The Art of Darkness

For That “Sexy Librarian” Look

June 30th, 2009 by Cobwebs

GlassesDesigner Chantal Thomass, perhaps best known for her lingerie, recently released a line of glasses. The collection includes 13 glasses frames and 11 sunglasses, each in two colors. You can see a couple of them at her site (borderline NSFW, as her models are also wearing her lingerie), and they’re apparently available from Opticiens REV. I say “apparently” because the site has a Flash interface and is all in French, either one of which is likely to make me despair of ever navigating anywhere.

Still, if you have a higher tolerance for Flash and/or French than I do, it might be worth digging around to find a source. I love the little wrought iron-looking details on the earpiece of this one.

(via Haute Macabre)

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Exactly.

June 29th, 2009 by Cobwebs

(This has been all over the blogosphere already, but I don’t care.)

(via Topless Robot)

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Yet Another Link Dump

June 26th, 2009 by Cobwebs

Infrared Fun – Gibberish posted a pretty infrared photo taken in a cemetery. I didn’t realize how neat and ghostly this photography technique makes everything look. Wikipedia has an overview of how to do it.

Super Skull Roundupalooza – MAKE lists a bunch of neat skully craft ideas.

A post series from Associated Content (I’m posting each section because their TOC scheme is very strange): How to Decorate with a Goth Theme – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Another Associated Content group: Goth Home Decorating Themes – Cemetery, Medieval, Fairy. Techno-Modern, Asian, Decorating with Lace

Skeleton Finger – Possibly NSFW, I guess, if your workplace is unfriendly to obscene skeletal gestures. I have no idea where this came from; I found it on my hard drive under “embroidery.” It would make an amusing stitched detail on a tote bag or piece of clothing.

Unique Gravestones – Some interesting and amusing designs.

Create Your Own Ring – Amazon has just launched a neat interactive feature that lets you design your own diamond ring.

Columbine Cross Stitch – An amazingly intricate and thought-provoking piece by Noelle Mason.

Bubble Wrapping Death Masks – One of the guest bloggers over at BoingBoing talks about his collection of death masks. A display like his would be an awesome focal point for a room.

You Know…for Christmas – The Bloggess routinely makes me shoot coffee out my nose. This is no exception. (Hat tip to xJane for the suggestion)

Posted in Link Dump | 2 Comments »

Come Visit Angstylvania

June 25th, 2009 by Cobwebs

Zabet over at the Anticraft blog recently joined Kiva, a site which makes microloans to disadvantaged businesspeople who couldn’t qualify for a loan otherwise. She posted about the lady she’s sponsoring here, and said:

Would anyone be interested in having an Angstylvanian lending team?

“Because the best way to fix a problem is to throw money at it.”
–Svetlana Vyalostova, Team Angstylvania Olympic coach

Who could refuse that?

I joined, and my first loan has gone to a lady in Azerbaijan who raises cows. (Shadow Jack steadfastly refuses to let me raise livestock, so now I can do it vicariously.) You’re not on the hook for a large amount: They have a $25 minimum, but you can add small amounts to your account over time until you have enough to lend.

I sort of love the idea of an entire team of goths on the same community-service bandwagon, so if you’d like to play along register at Kiva and then go join Team Angstylvania.

Think of it as feeding the karma meter.

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Gothy Kids’ Books

June 24th, 2009 by Cobwebs

BunniculaI recently ran across the Romanti-Goth Coloring Book (A is for Absinthe, F is for Fishnets…) and Baby’s First Mythos and was inspired to put together a list of amusingly gothy books that might appeal to children. (I can vouch for most of these personally, as they’ve already been run past the Shadowspawn.)

For very young kids, try:

Halloween Countdown – A great way to teach small children their numbers: A boy with a houseful of whimsical ghosts counts them down from 10 to 1.

Mommy? – A little boy wanders through a haunted house, looking for his mommy. Rather than being frightened by the monsters he encounters, he bests them all in amusing ways.

Bats at the Beach and its sequel Bats at the Library – Cute little bats cavort in the moonlight and engage in human activities that will tickle small kids.

Beneath the Ghost Moon – A beautifully illustrated poem by SF/fantasy author Jane Yolen about mice whose costume ball is disrupted by “Crawlies.”

Goodnight Goon – A parody of the old standard “Goodnight Moon,” this involves a little werewolf getting ready for bed in his haunted castle.

There’s a Nightmare in my Closet – A little boy decides to stand up to the thing in his closet, which turns out to be frightened of him.

Bunnicula – Slightly longer than the ones mentioned above (and a proper story instead of a picture book), this classic involves a dog and cat’s quest to unmask the family’s new pet bunny as a vampire.

The slightly older set might enjoy:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Photos of Burton’s “Wonderland”

June 23rd, 2009 by Cobwebs

Mad Hatter

Slice of SciFi has just posted several promotional photos from the upcoming Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland. You can also see a couple of images of the sets at SciFi Wire.

I may not be able to sleep tonight.

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Coffin Sofa

June 22nd, 2009 by Cobwebs

Coffin SofaYou will pardon me whilst I pick my jaw up off the ground. Etsy seller VonErickson offers this unbelievably gorgeous velvet-upholstered sofa in red, black, or purple. The lid even closes.

It’s $3,500 plus a variable (and presumably fairly large) amount of shipping. Sure, that’s more expensive than Ikea, but the Swedes know nothing about this kind of awesome stylishness. I’d love to make this the focal point of a dark living room.

I’ll go get a mop for my drool now.

Link (via BoingBoing)

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Another Link Dump

June 19th, 2009 by Cobwebs

More links from the vault…

Criminal Crafts – Etsy seller who specializes in items like shiv cozies and ransom note kits. I like their paper funeral diorama.

Day of the Dead Crafts – A neat book of craft projects for the Day of the Dead celebrations.

Creepy Candles – An easy way to make taper candles appear to be dripping blood. (via Creepy Cupcakes)

Zombie Gelatin Mold – A crawling zombie torso made of Jell-o is just the thing for a casual get-together, don’t you think?

Six Feet Over – A mobile featuring zombie silhouettes. Which they caution is not recommended for children. It’d still look awesome over a crib.

Build an Eco-Friendly Coffin – Mother Earth News article on green funerals and plans for DIY coffins. You could make them in advance and use them as storage boxes or, y’know, “end” tables. (Hat tip to Linda)

A Real “Corpse Bride” – Article about a rural Chinese practice of which I was previously unaware.

Atlas Obscura = “A Compendium of the This Age’s Wonders, Curiosities and Esoterica.” Neat site detailing odd locations around the world.

Rockabye Baby – I thought I’d mentioned this series before, but apparently was hallucinating. It’s lullaby renditions of rock music by bands like Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. (Shadowboy loves his Led Zeppelin CD from this series.)

Last year I mentioned Yankee Candle’s Boney Bunch” product line, which included a skeletal bride and groom and which sold out in about 30 seconds. Check out what the awesome wildeprose recently left in the comments on that post. Spooky weddings for everybody!

Posted in Link Dump | 2 Comments »

Seen Online

June 18th, 2009 by Cobwebs

Sometimes you have to invite your demons right through your front door and serve them tea and cookies, and before too long you’ll realize they aren’t giant ogres with sharp claws and blazing eyes, but frightened children that have tiny arms and feet.
Swirly Girl

My clumsy, sweatpants-clad seduction was timed to commence with his morning wood and a Rush song. I’m not a sex kitten, I’m a sex LOL cat.
AinsleyofAttack

Rainbows and cupcakes and dreams. All of these live in the magic world of Happy-Wonderful Land, but only one of them is edible: sugary, creamy, sinfully fudgy cupcakes. Technically, dreams would also count if you sauteed them long enough.
Squishable ad copy

Nobody ever thinks it’s their monster that’ll end up in a burning windmill.
hotdogsladies

The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on the list.
— Anonymous

If you like to get off by choking yourself with a rope or belt, at least have the decency to write up a “Not suicide, jerking off.” letter.
MoorishDignity

“Better late than never” is a great motto, but a terrible start to a eulogy.
aedison

My mother’s obsession with the good scissors always scared me a bit. It implied that somewhere in the house there lurked: the evil scissors.
— Tony Martin

What I love about the internet is if my leg fell off, I’d get a lot of messages going, “Poor you!” but at least one saying, “Can I have it?'”
shoesonwrong

Vampirates. This has to be something.
awryone

You know what’s funny? Kittens. Not so much funny ha-ha as funny tasting.
Aimee_B_Loved

Was reading Poe last night. It was, in fact, so raven.
dorsalstream

Posted in Funny Peculiar | 1 Comment »

Pumpkin Centerpieces

June 17th, 2009 by Cobwebs

I’m oh, about four months early for this post (at least in this hemisphere), but I’m on a draft-cleaning kick and I’m tired of looking at it. Think of this as giving yourself plenty of time to plan a pretty table centerpiece involving pumpkins.

You can actually keep this look year-round if you use Funkins instead of real pumpkins, so it’s not that premature. If you squint.

Anyway. Pumpkins.

  • Use a medium-to-large pumpkin as a vase: Cut the top off and scoop out the guts. Cut a piece of floral foam to fit inside, soak it in water, then put it in the bottom of the pumpkin and insert the stems of fresh flowers into the foam. Alternately, place a potted plant with trailing vines (like ivy) into the pumpkin and let the vines swirl down the middle of the table.
  • Use miniature pumpkins as candleholders: Cut off the top and scoop out the insides, then test for steadiness. If the pumpkins are a little wobbly, cut a thin slice off the bottom to level them. Group the pumpkins in the center of the table, using a variety of candle heights for added interest. (If you’re using the same size candles you can also vary the heights by stacking two pumpkins, securing the bottom one with florist’s pins.)
  • There’s always the standard jack-o-lantern. In addition to festive carving you could stencil on designs, hot-glue craft jewels all over it, or make Martha Stewart’s celestial pumpkins.
  • Arrange a variety of pillar candles or an unmatched collection of candlesticks in the middle of the table, tallest ones in the center. Scatter fall leaves, dried gourds, Indian corn, or miniature pumpkins randomly around the bases of the candles.
  • Place a large glass bowl or cylindrical vase in the center of the table and fill it with miniature pumpkins. For a little contrast, add apples or small gourds.
  • If you’re decorating a large table, make a whole pumpkin patch: Set a large pumpkin in the center of the table and place a medium-sized pumpkin on each side, about 8″ away. Space one or two small pumpkins the same distance from the medium ones, the continue down each end with three or four mini pumpkins. Fill in the spaces between pumpkins with silk leaves in fall colors.
  • Arrange a collection of bell jars along the table, each one displaying a single mini pumpkin or cluster of fall leaves.
  • Arrange a large pumpkin or assortment of fall fruits on a pedestal cake plate. Festoon with twigs of berries, ivy strands, and fall leaves.

Notes:

  • If you plan to have your centerpiece in place for more than a couple of hours, it’s a good idea to put something underneath the pumpkins and any other fresh decorations to protect your tabletop. You can use plastic and hide it, or choose something like pretty ceramic plates and make them part of the decoration.
  • Some species of ivy can be mildly toxic. Don’t use fresh ivy in any edible decorations (like bowls of fruit).

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