DIY: gothing-up a bag

This post is inspired by Trystan from This Is CorpGoth, because her last Mid-Month Status Report was about the bags one uses everyday. I wanted to participate, but the bag I have been using is so ugly an un-goth that I just could not show it! :)

I used to use this bag, but then one ugly winter day I slipped, the bag fell on the ground and a vine bottle inside the bag broke. Even after three washes it still smells of old booze.

Back to the DIY. To make my everyday-life more gothy, I went and bought a bag from a flea market (5,85 euro). In the photo below, the bag is as it was bought, no alterations made yet.

Then I tried to find some metal spikes from local alternative shops, but only one used to sell them. So, I ordered them online. one small spike was 0,50cent and a skull 2,45 euro and post costs were 2,95 euro. The total amount of cost for the gothier bag was 19,25 euro.

First, I was thinking of putting the spikes on the shiny fake leather parts, two roads on both sides of the metal decorations. Sadly, that could not be done, because the material was so thick and multiple layers. I could not get through it with a needle. So, I put the first ones to the thinner parts of the shiny leather-like fabric. I can honestly say, that it was really tricky to get the back part of the spikes inside the little bounds.

I do not do things like this that often, even though I definitely should. That is why I did not have any special equipment to make the process easier. After four spikes I was totally fed up with the slow process, so I took a little knife to poke the holes into the fabric. It still took a hideously long time, but I must say I am quite proud with what I have accomplished.

Reading tips: 4 books for twisted minds

Now, this is going to be a short post about the books I last bought. Two of them is fiction and two of them are about art. I bought all of these in Oslo, in a bookstore that had a massive sale going on and I was thrilled.

First, the fiction, which is usually so dear to me. To be frank I must confess, that I could not finish the novel of Terry Prattchett. Snuff was repeating a same monologue over and over again and I lost interest. Maybe I'll read it during the summer and I hope it gets a bit better.  I shall not say any more of it, hoping my perspective will change during time. One has to be twisted to enjoy a book called Snuff. just for the sake of it , I shall introduce another novel called snuff in near future. No worries, it is good literature, my dear readers!

The other fictitious story is Forgotten by Cat Patrick. The beginning is intriguing: a girl who can remember the future, but not what she ate yesterday. At the same time there is supernatural stuff and a teenage crush and a first kiss and the whole package. Unfortunately  the story doesn't go anywhere. There is no closure and the parts that are made to fit the "classical chick lit genre meets teenage raging" are sometimes a bit dull. I guess you have to be more twisted than I, in some sense, to enjoy it with a full heart.

Then I shall move on, like a bullet train, to art books. The other one is not that goth-y, but it is about street art and some of the pictures in there would certainly fit to the darker aesthetics. ;)  I did not start to take pics of the pages, so you just have to believe me and start to check out your every-day surroundings for cool contemporary art. Honestly, I have seen in my home town some pretty amazing and twisted graffiti and I have started to carry my camera around, just in case I see a great graffiti again!

Last but definitely not the least: Erotique - Masterpieces of erotic art. First of all, many of the themes in those pages fit the category of Goth or dark aesthetics. Secondly, this is a really great book that demonstrates why Zeus as a Swan making love to a human called Leda is "art" and why bestiality in manga is "not art". Whether we like it or not, there are categories and gatekeepers saying this and that and they exists. Erotique shows how different pieces of art can change their status during time, and many other things too.

Gothic Artwork in Spotlight: Grotesque dogs

Today, I am going to present a Norwegian artist, Ole Martin Skaug. He does not have a homepage and he is not easily contacted. I do know, that he is a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, and that he also makes art using photos. To be honest, he is quite a mystery to me, but I'd like to present his marvelous statues. He makes these ceramic grotesque animals and humans, though I prefer the ones that are not so human. Each statue is made individually, so they are all unique. Though Skaug does make the same statue many times, but none are completely identical.

The dogs in the pictures are purchased by my mother. She is the one who introduced me to this fine statues! Luck for me, she said it would be okay to take the pics and post them. She also has a third dog, a hideous and deformed but yet so heartwarmingly cute dog with wings. It hangs from the sealing in the study room of their house. Unfortunately I didn't remember to take a photo of it too.

I really like the expressions they are making, and how the body language gives the illusion the statues have personalities. These were bought from a store in Oslo, NorweyDesigns. Skaug's work is brought there and there is also much more art and desing from all the Scandinavian countries.

Gothic Artwork in Spotlight: the Macabre Lamb

This post is a first in series of posts about artworks that somehow hit the spot of gothic aesthetics inside me. Basically this means I present a statue, an installation, a painting, a book, etc. or an artist whose work made me sigh of admiration. This time I am presenting something macabre, next time it is time for a little doze of grotesque!

So, this short post is about a piece of art I saw this week. I was on a brief trip to Oslo, the capital of Norway, and visited the new facility of Astrup Fearnley Museum. This wonderful museum presents contemporary art, you can read more about their future exhibitions from their website.

Instead of talking about the whole exhibition I saw, I'm just going to concentrate on one artist, Damien Hirst from United Kingdom. Or more precisely to one artwork. I fell in love with the piece (which was actually made of three parts, or should I say tanks). It was made 2007 and the name of it is God Alone Knows. Due to the shape of the room it was shown, I only took a close-up of the middle tank, wanting to demonstrate the reason of my infatuation.

As you can see, the artwork consists of glass, mirror, aluminium, marble, sheep and formaldehyde solution. Also you can probably notice that I am there too, as a reflection. This is why I love it so much, because in a sense it is interactive, the reaction of the viewer changes the way it looks. Think about it, if there were faces of horrified people, staring at the dead creature, or if there were people smiling of admiration, or if among the disgusted people one was smiling, almost laughing. It would make a difference, wouldn't it?

Unfortunately there weren't that much people, so I could not cause any disapproval by making deranged facial expressions.

I warmly recommend to visit the museum God Alone Knows is shown, there were many other creepy installations too!

Gothic aesthetics in song lyrics

Now, I do not know a lot about music, but I started to wonder some things when I heard one particular pop-music song. I started to think about lyrics in songs made by artists who are considered goth or bands that make gothic music.

The music in itself can vary from ethereal 80's goth music to 2000's more faster beat. But there has to be something that makes it creepy, a touch of eerie. It is hard to describe, but you know how in a otherwise perfectly normal lullaby there is one note, that strikes wrong, or too late? Then it makes the whole song somehow wrong and agonizing. 

But how about lyrics? There is no strict guidelines of how many times there has to be mentioned for example 'blood' or 'fear' or another keyword that frequently appears in the work of old masters. I do not think you can measure the gothness of some song in the way linguistics try. But if there is some spooky things mentioned, it can hardly be a bad thing. Besides, 'blood' and 'fear' are frequent visitors in rap music and opera music too.

My point is that it all comes to the interpretation the listener does. In the same way with that example of a lullaby, there can be something almost hidden creepiness in the lyrics. Something that makes it break the normality, makes the interpretation twisted. Also, if the title of the song and the lyrics are in a contradiction, it makes the song twisted. For example if the lyrics start to describe a pretty normal afternoon about a couple called Peterson, and the title is 'Slaughter of Mrs. Peterson' it makes the listener expect something horrific is going to happen, right? It makes the whole song more creepy, especially if the end of the song is somehow metaphorical and can be interpreted in many ways, one of them being something violent.

So what have we learned of this babbling of mine? That constructing one's identity too strictly ('I listen only Goth bands!') is not that fruitful. A goth can find gothic aesthetics from places others might not, and therefore enjoy of them too. It doesn't make those things 'Goth', but it doesn't make the person who is enjoying of them a 'non-goth' either.

And last, some lyrics that I think have something in common.


I wanna taste you but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison I don't wanna break these chains

- Alice Cooper, Poison -



Kiss me, ki-ki-kiss me
Infect me with your love and
Fill me with your poison

Take me, ta-ta-take me
Wanna be a victim
Ready for abduction

- Katy Perry, E.T. -



You are the perfect drug the perfect drug 
The perfect drug
The perfect drug
The perfect drug

Take me with you 
Without you everything just falls apart 
It's not as much fun to pick up the pieces

- NIN, The Perfect Drug -



I don't know about others, but I think the one in the middle is almost as creepy as the others two.

The Professor's Monthly Homework Assignment: Spring

Our lovely professor has given the Monthly Assignment and this time it is Spring! What does it mean to us, what do we like about it? Go and check what other participants think of spring too!

I like spring, because then one doesn't have to wear endless layers off winter clothes and ugly but sensible boots. Instead one can wear lovely high heels. These green beauties are made of silk, so one can hardly wear them if it is even the smallest chance of rain.

I have waited so long to use these again!

Spring is also the time of rebirth, the season of finding a mate and everybody's got their hormones all wind up and I am not sure if I personally like it. Usually I have not been affected by it that badly, but now this spring I got this feeling I'm like a bloody high-school student, slave to one's hormones and way too easily infatuated. It is annoying, but at the same time quite nice. Of coarse I have a hard time admitting it publicly, it makes me feel so embarrassed. Yeah, I've been listening to this song a lot, because I am starting to feel a bit obsessed.

And last, a nice picture of flowers.

CorpGoth's Mid-Month Status Report: March forward!

It is once again time of CorpGoth's Mid-Month Status Report! This time the task is to show our work shoes, meaning the ones we use everyday due to the realities of walking long distances or dress code or other reasons. You can find other participants from here, go check their shoes too!

I live in a cold and bleak city, where is snow and hale and slush snow, and they can change from one to the other within a week. For the last six months I've been walking to the university or to the shops and other places, because it was just two kilometers from my old flat. This means that I walked from 4 to 8 kilometers daily, so the shoes had to be comfortable.

One can clearly see, that those shoes are used and the surface is slightly damaged. They have served me well, but I hope I find better ones before winter comes back and buries me into her cold whiteness again.

Now that I live 400 meters away from the university, I shall be able to use more high heals. Also, the spring is coming, so soon I do not need to worry about snow and icy roads anymore. These boots are lovely, but there is one slight problem. I found them at a flea market and they are one size too big for me. Therefore my ankles start to hurt, if I walk with them too long. I shall try to figure some way to make them more my size, so that I can wear them as "work shoes". I wonder if somewhere they sell some sort of ankle support thingies I could wear inside the shoe.