Going back to the basics: Paint it black!

If you have been with me for a while, you already know that I am a goth.  Well, lately this aspect of my personality is coming back, slowly but surely.

Some months ago I stumble across, totally by chance, Aurelio Voltaire's YouTube channel. The first time I heard about Voltaire (many years ago, when I still lived in the US) it was regarding some books that he had written: What is goth, and Paint it Black.  I absolutely loved them!  They were written with charm, wit, and they were so much fun!  I actually learnt some things that would help my house had a gothic flair.  Some of them I still use to this day.

In any case, he has a series of videos about how to enhance your house to have a more gothic appearance in his channel.  He teaches with tutorials, gives references and ideas for you to make your own projects.  Well, since I do not live alone, I cannot actually transform the whole house, but there is a room that I could change slightly because I am its main user.   It was one of our bathrooms.  He has several videos showcasing how he transformed and decorated the bathroom in his apartment, and I made good use of them.  Since I am renting, there is limited things that I can do, but for very little money I gave the bathroom a more gothic flair.

I started by changing the pictures on the wall.  Up until now, there had been many themes.  It started with some marine drawings (a whale, a lighthouse, a boat, and a quote about the beach); then I switched to ballet pictures, both color, and black and white.  And then, 2 pairs of pictures of Monstera leaves - to give the room a spa feeling.  

But obviously, these would not do.  So I started by buying some more adecuate posters to showcase.  I got them all from Artis Mortis Gallery, which has a fantastic selection of downloadable decor:

 

Love them!

But upon installing them, I realized that the frames were not good.  Very, very simple, we needed more of a black accent against the wall, which is off-white.  So I purchased locally 4 frames, and this was the result:

Much, much better!

Then, I rescued a floral arrangement that I made long ago, and placed it in a small vase on the sink:

 

Then, some more decorations.  I followed one of Voltaire's videos to make some nice ApotheScary bottles. If you want to have some of the labels that appear in the video you can get them here (just scroll down and you will see them).  Also, I purchased a black soap pump and a 3D printed coffin incense burner.  Voltaire also sells coffin incense burners in his store.

The label in the bottle you can get here.  I changed the letters though

But you cannot have a gothic bathroom without some coffin shaped shelf.  So I went ahead and bought one that measures 50 cm high, so it's quite big!  I installed it on the wall just this morning:

For the decorations, I made a bunch of bottles following Voltaire's tutorial.  You can watch a video on how to make cool matchboxes here.  I am working on a coffin-shaped box right now.

 

And of course, we could not forget some very special duckies!  These have been with me for years:

Say hello to Joe, Lord Ruthven and Agatha

I am still waiting on some more decorations for home; I will update as soon as they arrive.  I still have to buy a couple of black towels, but that will be next week.  But I am so happy with the results so far!

Miniature soap box display available in my shop

I love tiny toiletries!  Even though my dollhouse does not have a bathroom, I love to peruse for them and create my own - and then gift them to my mother, who do has a bathroom.  

This miniature is very special, because it has a real vintage label from Ivory soap:

It is a display box that holds 12 tiny soap boxes, all of them with the Ivory soap label on both sides.  Boxes can be opened, and they come in 2 designs, white and blue.  They would look wonderful on a shop, spa, drugstore or pharmacy counter.

If you want more fun, why not make your own?  This design is also available as a printable for you to download and assemble.  Come and take a look!

Absinthe Soap for your miniature scene

Remember that post about my crafting of anise-scented soap? Well, I thought it would be nice if the mini people could have their own boxes of Absinthe soap, so I made them reality:

The box reminds me of the After Eight chocolates - they have been my favorites for a long time... I wanted to give them a decadence/luxurious feeling, just as the mint-flavored chocolate. And the color of the soaps is milky green, like real Absinthe after the louche. It was not intentional, but it is a happy coincidence. They are up for sale in my shop!

Working on something new

Since I loved so much the idea of Apothecary cabinets, I began to think about other stuff to fill them up, and then it occurred to me that there are other things in Apothecaries and pharmacies, apart from glass bottles - even though they are awesome with their tiny labels!

The idea of making tiny boxes of medicine was obvious with a visit to my bathroom, so I began the search for antique drug labels. And thus, the sets of Apothecary boxes were born!


The first set is already for sale in the Apothecary section of my Etsy shop. The second set will be up in a couple of days. The great thing about them is that you don't need to have a miniature pharmacy to display them. They will fit in any bathroom, drugstore or doctor's office!

By the way, if you like Apothecary labels as much as I do, you will love what Cathe Holden has made to her towels!

So proud of my mom!

My mom is one of those people that is not crafty at all. She can sew a bit just to mend or adjust her clothes, but that's it. With her miniature hobby, she buys anything she likes, or relies on me to make it for her.

Today she called me to talk about some miniatures she wanted to buy, and suddenly told me, "I've got something to show you!" And she sent me this pic of this bathrobe:


I told her that I liked it, and asked when did she buy it. And then she said "I didn't buy it, I made it!". She saw a picture of a bathrobe on an online-shop and thought what we do-it-ourselves people tend to think frequently: "I can do that". She used an old towel, and it took her about an hour, with pattern and all. She was so happy with her accomplishment, and she asked if I really believed it was bought. I really did think so.

Parents tend to be proud of their offspring. Today is my moment to be proud of my mom!