Goth Mary Poppins' Creative Goth Summer Weeks: 8th task

 Goth cuteness: bats, fluffy babyowls, black cats, feathers, tutus, pink and black, muffins, smiley skulls, stripes, ribboned spiders, Tim Burton characters etc.and their role in your DIY. You don't have anything with those patterns? Make one!

I haven't got anything DIY made at the moment since I have had a lot of work shifts this week. Nevertheless, I'd like to introduce to you a book that had a great influence to my life. It is written by Malcom Bird 1984 and I stumbled on it in a library when I was 7-year-old. The title is "The witch's hadbook" and I loved it! Because of that book I thought that when I was to grow up, I'd become a witch instead of a vampire. (gosh, what a cliché-baby-goth I was!) Here is a link to the maker og the book: http://www.malcolm-bird.co.uk/2.html

The cover, book in Finnish.

Anyways, it has many recipes and instructions for knitting. I have been thinking about making some skull and bat decorated winter outfits but it is sommer now. So here are some pics of the book I have (my lovely friend gave it to me as a birthday present, since the one that library had went missing a decade ago but not by me). Those are some recipe pages, which I have tried and they were delicious!

The title of a chapter 2. called 'The witch's kitchen'.

A recipe for cookies. Taste very good, I've tried!

Some spooky appetizers. I have tried the death caps, made of boiled egg and tomato.

Sophisticated decor with gothic touch

I had been dreaming of a rococo sofa or a divan. So, I started to wander around flea markets and charity shops. As a student I can hardly pay hundreds of euros for a piece of furniture. And finally I found something suitable from Salvation Army's shop!

Don't know about you others from other countries but in my home country it is not considered poor or sad to shop second hand clothes or furniture. If you think about antique, which is so highly valuated, that was once owned by somebody too.


 The sofa and a new coffee table are situated at the balcony/terrace depending on how one looks at it. The old sofa is still in the apartment so it would be way too crowded if I tried to fit the new things to the living room also.

The sofa cost 90 euros and the coffee table 40 euros. Having two strong workes to bring them to the apartment cost 20 euros so not bad, I say!

At the left corner of the picture is seen a part of the older coffee table, which is so hideous that one has to cover it with velvet. So sad, in so many levels.

Actually it is quite nice now to sit there and read a good book with a glass of iced campari. Though I must admit that the sofa is a bit scruffy. The fabric is at some parts very time-worn and as in the first pic of the sofa is seen, the seam at the middle part is coming out. Or something, I have no idea what people call that thingy that is holding the pillow in form.

Goth Mary Poppins' Creative Goth Summer Weeks: 4th task

Today's task: Some project, that seems to be to big to start. Ask help and/or advice, or take it to a professional, but just start it! ^^


As I earlier showed, I have a custom made pistripe Chinese dress. I'll shortly tell it's story. My father had made a few business trips to China and he asked if I would like a custom made silk dress. I said yes and I emailed my measurements and next time he was home he brought a blue silk dress. It was almost perfect, but since I happen to have large breast area, the maker of the dress could not make it fit perfectly from thousands of miles a way. Since the dress is silk and with many layers, I'm not goint to do anything to it my self.

See that little gap?

How it would look like with a bit of stitching.

So, that was the tiny error in the first dress. Since that dress was so pretty I ordered a new one via my father. The next dress was to be made of oh-so-gothic-pistripe. It was the same firm and the measurements of my figure were exactly tha same, but something went terribly wrong. Apparently the tailor who was making the second dress could not believe the size difference between my bust and waist, so apparently he/she took the biggest measure and made a standard size dress.

This is how it is supposed to look like.

.

This is how baggy the pinstripe dress looks like.

The pinstripe dress has multiple layers and at the right side is the zipper so I have no idea how to make it smaller. Though thanks to summer delicacy I have gained a couple of kilos (as seen in the lower tummy area at the pic of blue dress), so I'm planning to go to a professional tailor when I got a bit slimmer figure.

Detail of the pinstripe dress.

Goth Mary Poppins' Creative Goth Summer Weeks: 3rd task

The third task'll be to tell about a DIY fail, (that you perhaps never really got over), what you've learnt from it. Just try to let it go. :)

I am making this a bit early, but I have work this evening and can't be on the computer much longer.

My biggest DIY fail was 2005 when I decided to make a beautiful green velvet skirt with a huge hem. I haven't got it anymore and have no photos so here is a scruffy pic.

It was a circle made of 8 parts and it was other way fine but when I measured the waist I divided it by four not eight (so that I would cut the 8 parts of the fabric). Therefore the waist was twice my size and I was too lazy to try to make it smaller and the sewing machine was allready then having it's last days and was making it really hard to sew.

I guess I'm getting over it, the loss of money and time.  ^_^

Goth Mary Poppins' Creative Goth Summer Weeks: 2nd task

Todays task is to take pictures from ALL your unfinished projects, tell why are they unfinished, and what do you plan to do with them. The challange-part is to finish at least one of them. The BIG challange-part is to finish all of them till the end of summer.

Unfinished task number one:

I bought today new buttons for my coat, but have not stitched them. The coat is white, which many think is not that gothic color but I disagree. White and black make an intriguing contrast. In this pic the buttons look all most brown, but in real life they are much more red, like wine red. There is some stitching to do this evening!






Unfinished task number two:
Voodoo-doll of Ron Weasley to be a prop in my student association's pin up calender. The theme is popular culture and one of the ladies is the Harry Potter character Hermione, doing some love magic via the voodoo doll. I have made Ron out of an old pillow (the stuffing) and of two old T-shirts (one white, the other is his hair) and at the moment he is still missing a little woollen scarf with gryffindor colors. I am not going to do it, since on of my fellow students is a maniac with knitting.

Unfinished task number three:
A white dress I bought form a flea market with 3 euros. It is about  a size or two too big so I should get my sewing machine to work and take in a bit.


Unfinished task number four:
A custom made Chinese dress, which is made of pinstripe. I'm goint to explain about it more when Creative Goth Summer Weeks comes to the part where one tells about projects that are too massive for the participant. :) Still, here is a little pic of the dress.

Goth Mary Poppins' Creative Goth Summer Weeks: 1st task

The first task:

 Take a picture of the area in wich you usually work, and all the things you use.  Do you have something to protect your dressess, or you just wear a "creative outfit?"

My primary work area is here. I don't do crafty things that often, but I get a lot of ideas and sometimes even do them. Usually I get ideas when I am out, and I do not have anything to write down my thoughts.

The 1st area of creativity

Secondary work area is my desktop. I keep my few craft materials in the drawers. Now they are shown on the table and there is no more than two skeins and some buttons that I have taken off my clothes and replaced with prettier buttons to chear up my appearence.

The second place of creativity

The actual work place where the magic happens is the sofa, because I like to watch a movie or something at the same time I fiddle with the buttons. 

The final place of crafty things

I really have not done crafty things for allmost a year, if one doea not count changing buttons of a coat. Last time was February 2011 when I made fake fur armwarmers. The biggest problem is that my sewing machine is broken and it is costly to get fixed. Therefore I do not have that much of material (fabric, glitter so on) to make crafty things. But I am trying to become more crafty and that is the reason why I participate to Goth Mary Poppins' challenge. :)

Oh, and I have no special clothes for crafting, since what I do is usually not that messy. 

Kitchenware with a little gothic style

As stated earlier, rental apartments are not usually that gothic and especially bathrooms and kitchens can be awfully pastel. So kitchenware is the only salvation for a person who wishes to make home look more fashionable.

I found these lovely wine glasses from a flea market and sadly have no idea where or whom by the are manufactured.

Another product I have grown very fond of is this cutting board. Actually I have three of them, two small (about the size of an A4 paper) and one bigger. I bought them from a shop called Espan Enkelit (http://www.espanenkelit.fi/) But below the picture is a straight link to the manufacturing company. These cutting boarrds are made of glass and are much hygienic than the ones made of plastic or wood.

http://www.jasonproducts.com/

Bathroom of a modern psyko. Or a vampire.

This is from our bathroom

I can imagine that a lot of goths live in rented apartments, and the landlord is not too keen about a thought of purple wallpaper or black paint. I myself felt allmost depressed with the bathroom, untill my significant other bought us a lovely shower curtain.

That was over a years ago, and I today saw something at Sourpuss (I feel obligated to say that I do not get paid for advertisement, nor have I ever bought anything from them). :)

It is a blood bag filled with red fluid, though it is said to be cherry scented shower gel. Too bad my skin is so sensitive I can not use shower gels and my spouse does not like cherries in any form.

Picture is from Sourpuss

This picture is from Sourpuss' site and I think it is a fabulous product idea. But I must say I would prefere some other scent than cherry. What about others, do people like cherry more than strawberry scent for example?

Or more importantly, do you have some easy trick to make your home more gothic or prettier?











http://www.sourpussclothing.com/index.asp?cat=Bathroom&prod=BLOOD+BAG+SHOWER+GEL&start=1

Living next to a mansion

Come and meet my next door neighbours! I live in a block of flats, 2 kilometers form the centrum square, but next to my apartment is actually an arboretum and two manor houses. Those mansions are quite next to each other, so the city has decided to make it an outing area for common folk. This is the first manor house, if I have understood correctly, one can rent it for special occasions.






The day I went to the garden was a bit chilly and when I was leaving it started to rain. I was wearing a hat with one of those "Skeleton Bride" camees. The blue scarf is cashmere and it was a present from my father. The shirt underneath is just plain ordinary shirt, from H&M.

I am one of those people whom have large breasts, so most of the shirts made by gothic designers do not fit me well. The prints get stretched and if the fabric is not elastic, then my bosom is going to be crushed, or the cloth is way too big from waist. Also, I am not crafty with my hands and it is rather expencive for a student to buy custom made clothes.

The other pictures show how wonderfully this garden is decayed. It is taken good care, of course, but the old structures are left in the state they are, with no restoration.


Unfortunately the weather has been quite cold, so the arboretum and all those beautiful flowers and roses and  plants weren't in a very picturesque state, but here are couple pictures of more prettier sights. The mansions are situated at a lake, actually the whole town where I live is surrounded by water.

Finally, the last mansion. There were many cars in front of it and around it, so I did not go too close. I did not want to interfere, if somebody was having a meeting or a wedding reception. Still, it looks very pretty and those stairs just scream after a fair gothic lady to walk down in a gorgeous evening dress. 

 

Red and black week: basic wear for grocery

I was in a bit of a hurry, so I didn't have time to actually find a good angle to make my face look pretty. I do not normally have that weird chin. But, this is a casual look, I'm off to the super market.

 


Honestly, my face and hair looked so weird, that I had to cut it out of the other picture. :( I really should get a proper place to take pictures.

In the picture(s):
Jacket Vero Moda
Top H&M
Skirt Bazar collection
Shoes Bata

Tattoo, body and soul

I had a tattoo made. It took three sessions, but I think it was worth it. It is good to get a little time in the process. Now it is finally healed, so I have a chance to show it. It is situated in the upper part of my leg, not in a buttock, so don't be alarmed by the picture, it is not meant to be any way rude! It is about the same place where My Little Ponys have their rainbows and other branding iron marks.


It is a sort of fantasy flower, and first it may seem quite ordinary and conventional tattoo of flora. When one looks at it more closely, one starts to see all those little oddities. It is scattered and weird, possibly little repulsive.

In a way, it is a picture of my soul, because like that flower I too seem normal, pretty and nice, but under the surface I can be ugly and petty. Many years I had thought about getting a tattoo, but I thought it should really tell something about me and past few years have been a turmoil for me, more for my personality and the way I see the world, not so much as huge concrete shifts of space and substance. Now, finally I have found something true in myself, so I decided to ink it to my skin for all to see.

I would be really interested to hear about other peoples experiences or about their dearest tattoo. Doesn't matter if that answer comes after months, it would still be delightful to read. So please, stranger, tell me about yourself, if you feel comfortable!

Wine for gothic dinner table

While I was visiting my family, I noticed they had purchased some wines, that had somewhat gothic allure.

The other one is more like rocky tattoo-artist's wine and the other one is more sinister. Those were emptied long ago, so I can not tell truthfully were they any good. Those were purchased from airport who knows from what country and my lovely relative confessed she bought them simply for the looks. According to her those wines were no especially tasty.

This is what it says at the back of the black bottle:
"Designer visionary Christian Audigier and legendary Montpeyroux estates collaborated to create a cool, young wine..."
And then it tells it goes well with lamb and other praises about the youthfullness of the content. So, it is from France and I imagine possible to order online, if one chooses to.