DIY: Gothic Decor with Lights

I must admit, all my DIY tips are rather lame, it is not as if I am doing anything from the scratch. Anyways, I thought this is a pretty good idea, so I am sharing it. This was inspired by the fact that in January all Christmas lights are -50% or even more on sale and I bought this lovely blue light. In my family (if not in Finnish families in general) it is a custom to put some of those lights into a big glass bowl and use them inside the house as decorations.

Well, I did not have a glass bowl, but I did have a small black cage! More gothiness in one small detail.

This blue light is rather strong, since it could also be used outdoors. That's why it is not really a subtle night lamp or anything. :) It makes the whole room blue!

Freezing jewelery: Lapponia Jewelery from Finland

Today I am not going to introduce to you anything goth, or at least the necklace I am showing you is not goth straight away. Still, I think it is beautiful and I believe it fits my style. The necklace is made by Lapponia Jewelry, which is a Finnish brad that makes all kinds of jewelry but they are usually modern and represent cool, almost chilly design. The designers seek inspiration from Finnish nature, mythology and many other things too.

The specific necklace which hits my aesthetic spot is Winter Pearl by Mari Isopahkala, who made Winter Pearl as a guest designer for Lapponia, after winning the title Young Designer of the Year 2013.

I got this necklace as a graduation present from my parents when I became Bachelor of Arts last summer. I love this necklace, how it looks like ice pearls, but also like some chemical formula.

Gothic Art in Spotlight: Cabinets of wonder by Christine Davenne and Christine Fleurent

This post is about an art book, if one likes to call it that or a reference book. The book is Cabinets of wonder by Christine Davenne (text) and Christine Fleurent (photos). I got the version in English, but the original is in French. I bought it in Oslo, Norway a few months ago.

This book is about cabinets of curiosities and wonder, why people have started to make them, collect things and organize them. According to Christine Davenne, cabinets of curiosities are closely linked to the evolution and progress of arts and science. They reflect the ideas of Renaissance and are practically little museums.

The content of Cabinets of wonder is divided into six chapters and those chapters are of different themes the cabinets may have. The chapter named 'Exoticae: Monsters from Elswhere' is sure to interest a goth. Cabinets of Exoticae are filled with oddities, peculiar and grotesque items or individuals, for example deformed Siamese twins skull or a 'mermaid' which is unfortunately a forgery.

On left the Mermaid, on right a stuffed guitarfish.

It would be awesome to own a cabinet of curiosities, even though those little exhibitions tend to collect dust. This book is not a DIY manual, but it is a wide presentations of different cabinets of wonder from different periods of time and the final chapter is 'The Cabinet of Wonder Today' with a subtitle 'In which the cabinet of curiosities has become the model for contemporary art exhibition.' After reading this, one could very well start to collect and create her or his own cabinet.

These are from the Cabinets of scientific interests.

In summary, the photos in this book are beautiful and many of them are creepy too and the text is intelligent and provokes new thoughts about our culture and humanity.