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9.10.2009
8.27.2009
Everything that Creeps: Elizabeth McGrath
I've long been an ardent admirer of Liz "Bloodbath" McGrath ~ woman of innumerable talents and one of my aesthetic heroines. Equally comfortable in a gallery, on a stage, or wearing a dress made of candy wrappers.
You see, as if it weren't enough to be an auspiciously brilliant pop surrealist sculptress and artist, she also fronts the theatrical L.A. outlaw rock band Miss Derringer, along with her husband, Morgan Slade. Liz creates all of the album cover designs, naturally.
She sings, she paints, she draws, and she sculpts. But my true love is for her compelling dioramas. Like so many artists I'm drawn to, she finds the loveliness in the grotesque, the magic in the wicked, and binds it all together to craft dark and whimsical little worlds for us.
I'm mad about McGrath's meticulous attention to detail and her penchant for the macabre ~ the unlikely bedfellows of preciousness and freakish oddity. Many of the pieces have a carnival side-show feel, like she's built a tiny stage for a character with a story to unfold...
I'm fortunate enough to own a copy of her lovely and sadly now out-of-print book called Everything That Creeps, which contains gorgeous full-color images of her work, so one can get close to the haunting creatures she's created.
Wide-eyed blue-lipped waifs and mournful two-headed fawns, winsome skeleton birds and tutu-wearing insect girls, they're all in here.
I hope to see her work in person, someday, to peer into the vast reaches of the twisted universe of her imagination. 
Until that day, I'll content myself by reading about her adventures on her new blog at my favorite underground art mag, Juxtapoz.
8.17.2009
Don't Let Long Sleeves...
...get in the way of your adventures. New in the Adornments for Tarts shop - Zephyr Sleeve Garters.
The inventor tinkers away in his dusty workshop, deep into the night, sculpting fine wood, gleaming brass and supple leather into arcane treasures for amusement and edification. With nimble fingers and piercing eyes he sees the potential in a pile of mismatched parts, senses the adventures that await if he can just craft that perfect apparatus to help unfold his fortunes....
Suitable for both dashing gents and audacious ladies, Zephyr Sleeve Garters are made of dupioni silk, and there are five colors of garters available to match any ensemble - scarlet red, pewter silver, bronze gold, mahogany brown, and ebony black. 
And yes, that's my much-adored and dapper husband Stache above, by his kinetic contraption, the Hennepin Crawler, at the Maker Faire. Thanks to fellow Steam Teamer and brilliant goggle-maker BoilerGoth for inspiring the title of this dispatch.
8.11.2009
Giveaway at the Wunderkammer!
Most of my dear readers will be familiar with the lovely TotusMel's addictive daily Etsy finds blog the Wunderkammer ~ finds for those of us with dark and decadent tendencies, that is. 
TotusMel covers a spectrum of drool-worthy goodies, with a new batch of four every day. Past favorite collections include Necking, Top Hats, and the intoxicatingly odd Gas. 
But the glorious news is this - just yesterday, she started a giveaway contest to celebrate a new blog design by the multi-talented Industrial Fairytale, with incredible prizes contributed by past featurees on the blog. A gift certificate to Adornments for Tarts is included with grand company like Tom Banwell, WinonaCookie, and ZKitten. The more people enter the contest, the more wonderful goodies are unlocked, so start spreading the news. If we get up to 175 entrants, this amazing custom bustle-skirt by CrescentWench will be added to the treasure-pile.
You like free goodies, don't you? Tally ho! Rules are here.
8.07.2009
Things That Please Me: Pie
Though one wouldn't guess it, considering how rarely I write about epicurean delights here, I am actually something of a foodie. So a brief interlude from our regularly scheduled shameless debauchery and costume lust for an ode to the humble pie, one of my most favorite desserts. 
I had a most sublime pie-eating experience last weekend at a coffeeshop ~ house-made blackberry-rhubarb pie, and it was perfect. Buttery flaky light crust, tangy sweet fruit, and a big dollop of very lightly sweetened handmade whipped cream ~ heaven on a plate.
And I'd choose pie over cake any day. My love for pie is so strong that when Stache and I got married, we refused to have cake for our wedding feast. Instead we requested a pie potluck, which resulted in the delight of dozens of varieties of pie, all spread out on a long table as far as the eye could see.
Amazingly, we were not eating processed sugar or white flour in those days, and a family friend who owns a bakery made us a rather glorious whole-wheat-crust, honey-sweetened, triple-decker ginger pear pie for our very own. 
Who can deny that home-made pie makes everything better?
7.31.2009
CoutureLust: VECONA
I nearly wept the first time I saw a VECONA creation. It was the now-legendary tentacled corset, featured on BoingBoing, that brought me tearfully to my knees. Upon visiting the Web site of VECONA creator Janet, who lives and works in Germany, I felt I had fallen down the rabbit-hole of brilliant costuming. Every image is a fantastical wonderland of beauty and intrigue, every model tells a tale of scintillating decadence. 
Janet collaborates with amazing talents like Shien Lee and Lucas Lanthier, the masterminds behind Dances of Vice, and she traveled with Emilie Autumn on her Asylum tours for a few years, performing as a Bloody Crumpet and doing all the costume design. I'm ever so delighted to feature VECONA. Be sure to check out her beautiful new Web site!
How would you describe yourself and your style of work?
I'm a wanderer between genres, eras and worlds, and this is how my styles look like. I love picking particular parts from different influences and mixing them together to create my very own universe. I love inviting guests to be part of it and bring their personal taste to make it even more colorful and unique. This is why I started working with other artists like musicians and photographers. My work shouldn't necessarily meet the requirements of a certain scene, but for sure I'm glad when people can identify with my creations. And in the end I just do what I love. ;-)
How did you get your start making clothes?
As almost everybody in that business, I started with sewing as a hobby and for a long time it was only that. It took me a while to find out that this is what I really love to do in my life.
In the meantime, I studied computer science and as my first project in that field I made the VECONA website to present the costumes and clothes I made in my free time. It turned out that many people were interested in what I showed in the gallery and in getting their very own VECONA piece. So after finishing my studies, I screwed up my courage and decided to follow this sewing passion. What can I say, since then every single day I enjoy this privilege to have a job that satisfies me and gives me the surety that finally I found my destination.
What do you do besides design amazing clothes?
At the moment I'm pretty much interested in the era "Weimar Berlin“ and do a lot of research about that. In this context I started swing dancing a while ago and I really enjoy it!
Where do you find inspiration?
Honestly, I find inspiration just everywhere. It comes to me seeing a fabric, watching a movie, reading a book and pretty often while driving my car. But - the best inspiration I do find just working, because with every single piece I start, I get ideas for three more.
What are three things that please you the most in the world?
My beloved family and friends, a warm day outside and coffee.
What piece of work are you most proud of?
Usually the last one I made. ;-)
Where can we find your line?
Since I do all pieces as custom orders you should just write me an email to janet(at)vecona(dot)de! Besides these special orders I also offer an accessory and jewelry line in my online shop. Besides the VECONA creations I just established a second label together with a friend, it's called VeconaVintage. Our collection for men and women will come out at the end of the year, so watch out and stay curious. :-)
Many thanks to Janet! I am most certainly staying curious ~ here's a little wish that one day she'll bring her brilliant imagination back to the States so I may be astounded by her work in person.
...Read the full interview...
7.26.2009
The Sinners' Circus
Sometimes you just have to run away with the circus, you know? Along with co-conspirators klown-fi band GOOFERMAN, the Sisters of Honk, Circus Metropolus, and a whole slew of other moderators of mayhem, my band Baby Seal Club hosted a 3-ring sinfest called the Sinners' Circus at a local brewery last weekend. 
Glorious moments were plentiful, but here are a few top ones: seeing my beloved Stache go-go-cage dancing in a vintage band jacket and a Lucha Libre clown mask... joined shortly thereafter by my brother in a bear suit. 
The stunning 10-cent Absolution Booth confessional hand-built by one of our dear friends and local mad genius Muir... you confessed your sins into an antique telephone inside, and they were broadcast out to the surrounding crowd.
My beloved band-mates getting theatrical for the Seven Deadly Sins theme... Wizzbang as a gorgeous and aloof Pride, 19 as the avaricious banker Greed, Doc as a terrifyingly wicked Lucifer, Fudo as a powerful preacher named Wrath, and your own Choklit, of course, as the harlot of harmonies ~ Lust. 
The brilliance of the wanted posters Stache made for us to put up around town and in the venue... See the full set here.
Once again, we pulled off a spectacle of epic proportions - complete with tent revival faith healing, fire-dancers, carnival games, stiltwalkers, jugglers, and an oversized bear. And plenty of klowns, of course.
We worked all day Saturday to transform the venue into a red velvet big-top, performed, stayed up being debaucherous with the clowns until dawn, and tore it all down the next day. More pictures are coming from the fabulous Miss M - check back here.Ah, sweet ephemeral events... so fleeting. And now we start the planning for the next one!
7.21.2009
Aural Goodness
I've been consumed with putting on a circus for the past few weeks ~ which I'll be writing about as soon as I have some good imagery. In the meantime, for your various and sundry entertainment needs, here are a few tidbits of aural goodness from my music world.
Three albums that have been garnering my attention as of late... first, My Maudlin Career, the new offering from the luscious Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura. Not unlike my other favorite Scottish band, they spin a lovely web of stories and sounds.
The shimmering, tambourine-rich, sixties candy-pop sound reminds me of the soundtrack of my early college years ~ that would be Mazzy Star ~ but with a horn section that gives it a more soulful flavor. The singer, Tracyanne Campbell, has an endearingly human voice - not seductive or terribly powerful, but lovely in a vulnerable way. If you're in the mood for perfect pop charm, listen to this.
On another end of the indie spectrum, NYC-based Grizzly Bear has been intriguing me with their much-lauded new album, Veckatimest. The band pushes the boundaries of indie rock with slightly dissonant harmonies and unexpected rhythmic changes, but somehow it all comes together in a surreal and mesmerizing stew of dense textured beauty. 
I find myself at a loss for words to describe this album well, and it keeps growing on me. There's nothing simple here; many of the songs disperse and regather like oil on water, moving you from folky chamber-pop to epic wall-of sound rock with ease. But if you have a soft spot for complicated artistry and risk-takers, like I do, you just might fall in love. 
The last album on my playlist is Dark Night of the Soul, the phenomenal and mysterious collaboration between renegade producer Danger Mouse and reclusive genius Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. This project is noteworthy for a variety of reasons - first, their third collaborator was David Lynch, who put together a collection of his photography based on the music. Even more intriguing was the unconventional release ~ because of a legal dispute with industry giant BMI, they were unable to release the album, and instead published the book of Lynch photos packaged with an art-printed but blank recordable CD-R.
Best of all, though, is the music itself, which is dark, lush and surreal, and varies as greatly as the all-star cast of guest vocalists, including James Mercer of The Shins, The Flaming Lips, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega, and more.
Read more of the story, and hear the whole album, on the NPR web site.
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