Skeleton Closet: Down to the Bone

A couple nights ago we had our first snowfall for the year.
It left me feeling awful nostalgic about the weather back North; remembering how the chill blew through my layers and how it reminded me that my veins flow with warm blood despite what others have insinuated about my essence.

True, the warmth is often impeded by an icy cluster of sharp peaks and a chilled demure, but where my actions lack comfort, the seemingly unabated beating of my heart cradles the core of me; bright with silent optimisms.

I remind myself often that others should be so lucky to have my life; to have a predictable relationship; to know that debt can be handled with no sacrifices to essentials such as food or shelter-- this simple acknowledgement inevitably coerces me into each day.
And yet, its become exponentially difficult to cope with the painful erosion of my quintessence due largely in part by apathy; like watching the mercurial ooze of lava down a mountainside; beautiful but profoundly destructive.

They say a quick remedy to such melancholia is to doll up, and that's exactly what I did today for no other reason than to abate my stubborn gloom.

What I am wearing:

• Glow in the dark ribcage t-shirt: Wal-mart
• Suit jacket: Thrifted
• Skirt: Thrifted
• Opaque tights
• Boots: K-mart
• New prescription sunglasses
• Bandana: Walmart
• Scarf: Self-made

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Hacked and Slashed

One of my lovely neighbors gave me a shirt some time ago, and for a time it sat in my project pile; not knowing what to do with it.

It hit me, as I was sketching a death head moth, that I don't have a single piece of clothing or jewelry that really shows my love for this critter. What better way then bleach art, I say! I could've easily just have used fabric paint and made a print... but I love the grungy rust-like look that bleaching lends.

I also found this as an opportunity to try a couple techniques that I've seen floating around youtube for t-shirt reconstruction: weaving, and skull cut out.

Here's the final result:

And here is how the shirt looked like before, and some in progress photos:

Before Reconstruction

Taking it in a couple notches

My sketch, and figuring out positioning

Chalking the skull to the back

Skeleton Closet: Corp Goth Look 2

My propensity towards extravagant outfits and a lack of imagination for minimal detail has not been in my favor during my current job search; it has become a priority to seek monetary exchange for my abundance of time.

Like any person heeding to an alternative fashion, the choice to look and feel the way we want does not often agree with how the corporate world wishes to see us: this is my second attempt at finding a marriage between the two worlds.

In my last creepy craft post, I was revamping a knit sweater my mother sent me. The dye didn't take as well as I would like. I sort of expected that to happen; I had a hunch it was a synthetic fiber.

I am not really in love with it just yet; I wanted to add some more, but my materials are limited at the moment, and nothing I have inspired use. So it'll have to do for now. It does look quite well with a brooch, though.

Now the outfit without the vest completely transforms the look into something much younger.

This is really the outfit I would've worn to a prospective interview; the vest was just a show of what it looks like, because it is now heading to the project pile (who knows when I'll feel like getting back to it).

What I am wearing:

• Top: thrifted
• Waist belt: Fairweather Co.
• Skirt: thrifted
• Vest: DIY revamp
• Brooch: self-made
• Shoes: thrifted

Do you ever get so enthusiastic about something, only to lose that feeling when you get to working on the item?

Heads up: I plan to amalgamate Hot Weather Goth into Skeleton Closet, and I have this worry that it'll spam everyone with that teeny update, so I'm very sorry for that.

Spooky Basket: Last Haul of the Year

It feels as though this October was a mere whisper of what it once was in the past years; maybe it is because less and less people are inclined to celebrate Halloween ... or maybe it is because I live in a substantially smaller area than previously...

Either way, most of the Halloween treats and awesomeness have almost disappeared off the shelves and been replaced by Christmas ornaments and wrapping paper.

I've managed to scratch away with a couple items from the halloween discount piles; other items were gifts, and items bought in the last haul before this.

What I bought:

• Glow in the dark ribcage shirt
• Bat window decals
• Spider inside purple goo in a coffin box
• Bat bandana
• Spider web and candy corn fabric
• (Not shown) jack o' lantern socks

What was gifted:

• Skeleton couple
• Owl with dead tree glass ornament
• Spider floating candles

My hubby passed the gifted items to me, which were anonymously gifted to him at work: we have yet to be able to thank who gave him the gifts. I plan on having the decals on my craft room window all year long; they're corny, I know, but I fell in love with them.

I bought the fabric intending on making a tie on bustle, but then the idea of knee length bloomers popped into my head... now I'm not so sure which I should do first; I have four yards so I'm assuming I have enough for both!

 I wanted to wait till I have tried these out sufficiently, but I bought a 120 eye shadow palette and a 16 piece brush set off Ebay for a rocking price. I was a bit wary of a purchase of this type from Ebay, but both ended up being well worth the risk! The pigment is true to what it shows-- in fact these are what I used to create my inner spooky child look.

The brushes are super wicked; the bristles are a purple gradient, the handles are deep sparkly purple, and the case is a shiny vinyl purple. They're very soft and feel of very decent quality considering the price.
Both totaled $21.05, with free shipping.

On its way is a beauty blender sponge that I also bought on Ebay for $1.89 with free shipping-- I'm just a tad bummed because they sold out of the purple color, but it's not like the color for this is hugely important, it just would've been nicer to have.
I'm really starting to love Ebay as much as Etsy.

Alas I think these are the last items I will be purchasing for the rest of the year... there's no point shopping when the things I love only come once a year for a very limited time. Clothes aren't as hugely "urgent" a buy as Halloween goodies since I can eventually make it if I don't end up buying it, in most cases.

Is Halloween in your area dying or absent? How do you cope with the loss of neat goodies?

11 more days left to enter my Halloween Giveaway!

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Fade Into Style

Ok, so I could've saved this post-- but fate looked kindly upon this project.

I've been inspired by bleach art for many years, but just didn't have the bravery to attempt it!
To be honest, the group Artisan Crafts @ Deviantart.com was having a monthly challenge with this as its theme-- I was debating contributing, and while acquiring the bleach from a neighbor I accidentally spilled a drop onto a black shirt I was wearing. I know I know, never wear black when handling bleach!
And suddenly I had a reason to try it, hehe.

The drop landed at such an awkward spot, right near my belly button. Luckily it didn't take long to decide what I was going to do, because I wanted two designs into shirts that allowed the spot to be hidden well.

One was a rib cage (that I have a shirt I will do this with soon), and the other a bird skull. I opted for the bird skull since many of the examples in the Journal page of the group were showing rib cages as examples.

I used a bird skull I own as a reference-- it was all free handed from that point.






I used chalk to sketch out the initial design over the stain. I inserted a piece of cardboard and taped down the area I was to draw on, so the fabric wouldn't scrunch as much as I drew.

Then it was a simple task of pouring some bleach into a cup, and loading the brush to paint along the lines.

I used a lavender scented no name bleach from walmart so I did not have to dilute it to darken lines; if you're using a stronger bleach I suggest diluting it  so it doesn't bleach as strongly.

Loading the brush thinly so it is not dripping or soaked allowed me to produce fine and dark lines; when I soaked the brush it gave me thick and strong bright lines. Never load the brush so that it drips-- it might screw up a design with a drop, unless that is what you were intending.
Also, if you are planing on a multi-shade piece, I suggest letting the design dry before the next applications, so that you gauge how much more brightening it'll need.

Remember, more layers equals brighter color.

Another interesting thing I noted is the color synthetic blend shirts give compared to the colors 100% cotton result with.
Synthetic blends give a more redish bronze with obvious whites. Cottons give ivory with yellows.


I totally urge anyone to try this-- it's fun, easy and completely inexpensive. Useful, too, if you don't want to give that stained black shirt away, hehe.