Old-School Gothic Lolita Headdress

I swear it isn't green in real life. 

Back in April, I tried my hand at sewing a Gothic Lolita/kuro Lolita headband in the old-school style. These are the fabric head-dresses with lace that were an iconic part of the Lolita style about 10 years ago, but which have since gone out of popularity in favour of bows and bonnets, then more recently, floral crowns and headdresses. I quite like the old-school Kuro and Gothic Lolita styles, so when I finally got my sewing machine running again, I made this.

I hadn't sewn in ages, so it isn't perfect and I know there's several things that could have been tidier (the ribbon criss-crossing it is too loose, for a start, and the whole thing's been worn a few times before this photo was taken so it could have done with ironing flat again, the corners of the crochet lace weren't sewn the flattest, the bows at either end need to be more secure because they keep pivoting, etc.) I had to boost the photograph to make the headdress visible as it's all black-on-black; the blacks match better in real life! Other than that, I am quite happy with it. I hope to make a second one at some point, and improve on this.

Sewing, D.I.Y And Alternative Fashion

I think one of the key skills any lover of alternative fashion should posses is a basic ability to sew.

However brilliant one's bargain hunting skills, thrifting abilities, and eye for style when shopping, you are ultimately limited by what other people produce. 

Even thrift, secondhand, and vintage shopping has its limitations. Someone, somewhere, bought all those secondhand clothes originally, often from a mass-producing retailer. Yes, buying secondhand clothes helps reduce waste by re-homing perfectly good, or slightly damaged clothes so they don't end up in landfill, or being recycled (the process of which consumes energy, remember), and so there is plenty of good in buying secondhand, but it does have its limitations, especially if you are trying to get hold of a specific type of item in a specific size; sewing broadens these limitations - you can buy a shirt in nice material that is too small, but with puffy sleeves, re-shape the sleeves and use the extra material to put side-panels into the shirt, and thus have something that fits nicely, or buy a skirt that is too long and take it up, or something that is very cheap because it is damaged, and mend it, etc. Being able to mend your own clothes is a good skill in general; if you have something you love, and a seam is torn, that should not be its death, or reason to pay someone else to fix it when it can be easily repaired at home.

A lot of retailers, for mostly economic reasons, tend to stock only a certain range of sizes based around average shapes that will fit the maximum number of people each, but will not fit everyone. I have the problem that I have quite dramatic curves, and if I find a top that fits my waist, it will often not fit over my bust, but if I find a top that fits my bust, it will rarely be anything other than baggy at the waist; with actually fairly basic sewing skills, I have learnt to take things in so that they have a more flattering fit. There are many things, that because of my height, I have trouble shopping for - especially skirts! Getting things at a suitable length is hard, and finding things that are actually floor-lenghth on me, especially from deliberately Goth/Alternative retailers, nigh on impossible unless I order made-to-order and custom sizes. Other people of statistical outlier sizes (the very petite, the larger, the very tall, the very short, etc.) have similar issues - if you can sew you can make alterations to improve fit; from adding inserts to taking things in, from adding ruffles to the bottom of a skirt to raising the hem, there are a lot of possibilities. 

Once you get confident, you can start making things from patterns, either bought or self-drafted and designing your own clothes! That there is the start of limitless possibilities bounded only by your imagination.

A lot of people are daunted by the prospect of sewing; it looks like a difficult art-form, and one that is quite dull to practice. First of all, sewing is primarily a set of practical skills; it is an understanding of fabric and thread, and the various ways these can be combined. I think for those who are less artistic it might be better to think of it as a form of practical problem solving rather than as a craft, because the artistic part is secondary to making or mending in a functional way. Secondly, basic sewing isn't actually very difficult, especially if you have a sewing machine (although learning how to hand-stitch neatly is pretty useful). Sewing can become difficult and challenging as you set yourself ever more ambitious projects (sleeves and attaching them straight...), but the basic skills are actually quite simple. 

There are a LOT of very good and easy-to-follow sewing and dress-making tutorials and lessons on the internet, starting with some very basic skills, and going all the way through into detailed and elaborate projects (make your own period-accurate Victorian ensemble, including underwear!). Evening classes are available in many towns and cities, most libraries have instructional and project books. The learning material is out there. Yes, it takes time and some patience, but even the basic projects can look very effective, or be vital to saving your favourite garments. Start with simple things to learn and practice skills, and then apply those skills to more ambitious projects, and then acquire more skills and attempt even more ambitious projects, and so on... it's a lot less daunting when done in small steps. 

If you don't want to pursue sewing as a hobby, that is fine, but it is still a useful skill for the repair of the garments you buy, and can save you the cost of taking it to someone else to be repaired. 

Romanticism, Mysticism and Witchcraft

As I may have mentioned before, I am Neo-Pagan. For a while I was Wiccan, but these days I don't follow that path. I see my faith as more of a spiritual extension of my Romantic outlook than as religion, and the two are certainly intertwined in my thinking. First and foremost I am a pantheist with a strong regard for what I see as the intrinsic divinity of the Universe. I am not the sort to anthropomorphise my view of the divine - I don't believe in the personifications of the divine as various Gods and Goddesses, nor as a humanoid single God. To me the Earth, the sky, the sun, the moon the vastness of space - the universe, really - ARE God. To me the Divine is intrinsic, immanent, omnipresent in a literal way, not some transcendental being. 

The rocks providing a natural wall. Craig Phadrig, Inverness

I am not entirely sure on the consciousness of the Divine - the idea of one set of monolithic governing thought seems strange to me. I prefer the idea of the Universe being conscious of itself through its denizens rather than having its own separate consciousness. I think this belief in a sanctity of everything rather than a 'spirit' of everything is what differentiates me from an animist. 

Looking ponderous in the late evening.

These days I do still celebrate the eight major Neo-Pagan holidays, but I don't do so as a group. Sometimes I celebrate with a few friends, but I am not part of a Coven or anything similar. I go to the Pagan moots when I can though. To me, faith is mostly a private thing, which is why I am not really writing about it in any depth here. I have been asked before, so this post exists. I have never really felt the inclination to join a 'working group' or any Pagan equivalent to a Church. I'd much rather commune quietly in the forest. 

Lurking amongst the ferns.

I am not really into mythologising the world around me, hence my rejection of God and Goddess characters, and this extends into mythological creatures. While I do believe in the existence of beings that people might consider 'supernatural' and have encountered things that would commonly be termed ghosts, I don't like categorising any such encounters and experiences into the usual mythological taxonomy of angels, fae, demons and suchlike. Partly this is because I like to keep an open mind about what happened, and while I like the 'supernatural' explanations, I know I have no definitive proof of that or any other explanation, and not categorising what happened is part of how I try not pigeon-hole and look upon these experiences narrowly. 

Hiding behind a tree.

I get categorised as a Witch, but I don't like the word - it has too many fantasy-world connotations of flying brooms and turning people into frogs and talking animals and suchlike. I also don't like being called a psychic, as I am no good at 'seeing' the future or any form of pre-cognition, and am also no medium. I do practice what gets termed 'magic' or 'magick' but it is more like a prayer to the universe or or a very exacting wishing than pointing a wand and expecting pyrotechnics and miraculous instantaneous change. I have no idea how magick works, but in my experience I consistently get what I try for, so I will continue to believe in its existence. Don't try requesting spells from me - I won't do them. I know I might be wrong about the existence of magick and that a lot of people think it's hooey, but really, if it doesn't exist all I've done is waste a few moments of time and the cost of a few coloured candles that I'd have probably bought anyway because I like decorating with candles. 

Watching birds above.

The only thing that bugs me is people who assume I am a Witch because as a Romantic Goth I look a LOT like a stereotypical witch, just minus the pointy hat. I even have a lot of silver 'occult' jewellery and a black cat, and I am a walking cliche, but there are a lot of other Goths who look a lot like me who are Christians, Atheists, Agnostics, Jews, Muslims, etc. etc. and while that assumption might be right with me, the version of 'Witch' they are assuming is going to have a lot more to do with Harry Potter or Charmed than Wicca or Neo-Paganism. 

The photographs have nothing to do with me being Neo-Pagan or witchy other than I'm wandering around a forest and wearing a zodiac necklace and pentagram rings; I just wanted an excuse to use them for something. I guess in some ways they reinforce that stereotypical image of the witch - and yes, they were inspired by Morgan La Fey - but this is also a lot of just how I am and how I look like on a day-to-day basis; I wear that medieval-fantasy dress as a summer dress, that is my favourite wig and I love wearing lots of jewellery. Yes, I do like the aesthetic of the stereotypical witches and sorceresses, that fantasy archetype that gets oft recycled, but that's more part of me being Goth than of me being a Witch. I know more earthy nature-loving Hippy Witches than Goth ones, and I know as many male Witches as female, too. 

All photographs are by Raven, although he doesn't think they are his best. The low light levels were tricky, but trying to do this shoot was an educational experience. Spooky colour-changes and other such post-production was done by me as an exercise in being more artistic with Photoshop. 

Project: Step-By-Step Halloween Cards 1

This one of the styles of Halloween cards I will be making this year. I don't see many Halloween (and certainly no Samhain) cards for sale in the high-street card shops in the UK. I know it is possible to buy some very lovely cards online, and have custom cards printed, but I quite enjoy paper-crafts of various sorts, so I will be making my own.

Components for card making:
Card blank, sprayed card blank, black paper, "lightning bolts",
marbled paper, drawing of a Devil-skull.

To save a bit of time, I have bought some plain black card blanks and matching envelopes (from The Works for £1.49). I would have had to have bought sheets of black card and black paper anyway and this actually worked out cheaper than buying the card and paper! The first thing I did was mist the cards and envelopes with Magical Shimmer Mist, which is a suspension of shimmery metallic particles in an adhesive spray. It comes in a variety of colours, but for this project I have used silver. You can get similar effects with water-based silver paint and splattering, but it is more time-consuming to achieve. 

Shimmery shimmery shimmery...

As the card blanks were drying, I set about drawing the pictures for the front of the cards. Each person will be receiving a different image on their card. For the purposes of this blog, I have photographed the making of a particular card  with a Devil-skull as the image. I drew it in cheap black biro on ordinary utility white paper - no fancy materials. 

Close-up of fanged skull

I cut the drawing out, then traced around the drawing onto marbled paper (HobbyCraft, less than 50p per sheet) and drew a slightly larger rectangle around that, and cut out the piece of marbled paper. I then took a sheet of black paper and drew around the marbled paper onto it with a white pencil, and then drew a larger rectangle around that. I put the drawing, rectangle of marbled paper, and the rectangle of black paper aside (into my crafting tray). 

Lightning bolts

The next step was to cut out the jagged lightning-bolts. I cut these out of more white utility paper, laying them out on the now-dry card blank to see what size they needed to be, using the two paper rectangles as a guide, and how many I wanted, and also to get a better idea on design. They are quite finicky to cut out, and easy to tear, so once each was cut out, it went straight into the crafting tray for safe keeping.

Layered papers

The last step was gluing it all together in order. I started with gluing on the black rectangle, then arranging all the lightning bolts, then the marbled paper, and finally the drawing.

Finished card

I decorated the envelope in the same way, with the same layers, papers and materials, and with a similar design (with lightning) except with an address label instead of a drawing, but because it is an address label, I am not posting a picture of it up on the internet. 

Solstice, Christmas and Decorations

This is a blog, with lots of pictures,about how my partner and I have decorated our apartment for the season. I'm going to do a separate blog about the food. That blog will hopefully also have lots of pictures.

This is our very first Solstice living together in Scotland! This is very exciting!

My partner is very traditional about Christmas. He comes from an Irish Catholic background, but was brought up in rural Wales, and to a much larger family than mine. His Christmas vision is that of a family gathering, of traditional foliage and red-green-gold, and his favourite part of the Christmas tradition is the food. To him, Christmas dinner is a gift to the family, the best gift of them all. My partner cooks to share.

I was brought up by my mad-scientist Dad, and after Mother left, Christmas was only ever vaguely traditional in our house and I, a batty Pagan and latterly a Goth, was left in charge of decorating, and had been from an early age (my Dad was a brave, brave man, letting me do the Christmas decorations as a kid. One year I made all the baubles out of K-Nex and tried to build a tree...) so my vision is of a quiet Christmas, outside playing in snow, or at home admiring the tree, with a silver-purple-blue-black and ice, snow, a winter theme and my favourite part of Christmas is decorating the tree and turning the lights on. Christmas was never really a true "family" thing as there was only my Dad and I involved, not the extended family. We were a family of sorts, but it wasn't exactly a gathering. To me, Christmas was a time to be creative, to decorate things and make presents.

These are pretty much opposites, they're even opposite colours, but we're trying to bring them together. There are similarities to our approaches; both of us are Pagan, and my partner had time off on the Solstice, but he is working on Christmas day, so that at least gives us a focus; we both like decorating the tree, we both think it is a brilliant occasion for candles. Together we have made our small but cosy apartment into a festive one.

The Solstice is the shortest day, and is about the changing seasons and the knowledge that the days are going to get longer, and while it might get worse before it gets better, Spring WILL come. One can celebrate a secular Solstice, which is simply a celebration of the celestial patterns and changing seasons, as well as a Pagan one, so if anyone wants a less sarcastic approach to an alternative to Christmas than Festivus, a secular Solstice is a possibility.

In the UK, the Solstice marks midwinter, but apparently in places with a continental climate (the USA, at least, maybe also in mainland Europe) the Solstice is actually considered the start of winter, because although the days are getting longer, there is a lag in the change in actual weather, meaning that the worst is still to come. As you may have noticed from my previous post, Scotland has winter already! We've had a few good coverings of snow, and I have seen the most beautiful sparkling white snow on the mountains. It will probably be worse in January, and maybe early February, but snow started falling in October in a light dust on the mountains, and was definitely around in November, and Samhain (Halloween) definitely makes more sense as the start of Winter here, and Imbolc (Candlemas) as the beginning of Spring. I haven't seen Spring in Scotland yet, but I've seen snowdrops in February when I lived in England. The UK being islands detached from mainland Europe, does not share the same climate as the majority of Europe (from what I remember of Brittany, northern France has a similar one, though) but has a maritime climate, and one also affected by the Gulf Stream.

Most Pagans see the natural world (and broader Universe) as Divine, with varying theologies from pantheism to polytheism, so each Pagan has a different way of seeing it in a religious sense. To me I celebrate the fact that I live in a Universe so wonderfully arranged, by perfect chance, that there are perpetual cycles, an order to existence, and remember that however bad life gets, it eventually does get better. I see the Divine as intrinsic to the Universe, so to me the geometry of the heavens is holy, the cycles of life are holy, the physics that means our universe sustains life is holy, the sun is holy, the moon is holy, the snow is holy, the trees are holy, the mountains are holy, etc. etc. etc. I don't ascribe to any literal interpretation of any mythology, or have an anthropomorphic vision of deity, but in Neo-Pagan mythology (which is basically poetry based on many older mythologies) the Solstice is when the Sun is reborn of the Dark Goddess. For lucky druids this can involve a battle (sometimes literal, staged with swords) between two men, one representing the Holly King and the other the Oak King.

Ah, Paganism, we have a festival of death (Samhain/Halloween) a festival of sex and fire (Beltane/May Day) and a festival where we get to have sword fights if we're Druids - we're so Metal :P

As the Solstice is a celebration of returning light, we're having a fiery solar theme to our celebrations. Borrowing from a Chinese New Year tradition, and adapting it for the solar new year, we're going to light a sky-lantern, and we're going to paint our wishes for the coming year on it first. We've bought a completely bio-degradable lantern with a bamboo frame because the paper disintegrates pretty quickly and if the metal-framed ones land on farm land, the metal-frames can pose a danger to livestock and wildlife. I don't want to honour the changes in nature by doing something that's going to harm nature. It's obviously important not to let them off near airports (I think we're far enough from the city airport) and and power-lines. They seem to be quite popular in the West now, and I think they're brilliant. I always find it quite moving to watch them float away until they're invisible, getting tinier and tinier as they go. The winds were actually too high to launch our lantern, so that will have to wait until it is calmer out, but we will launch it with our wishes!

We've got lots of solar themed decorations, including a sun topping our tree. The "sun" is actually a gold and orange 'star' with many points and a circular design, but as out sun IS a star, astronomically speaking, that is fine by me. I picked it up in Pound Stretcher reduced down to 99p. I thought that was a real bargain, cheaper than making one, which was my original idea. The round sun mirror is one I bought in a charity shop really cheaply a couple of years ago, but the gilt on the edges of the flames really catch the light and as we live in quite a small flat, it is nice to have a mirror, it makes the space feel a small bit lighter. Our living room has a a reasonable size window, but daylight is scarce at this time of the year, so the mirror's main duty is reflecting the candles and lights back into the room. The jar candles are really useful, but I can't remember where I bought them, I think Cargo in Henley-on-Thames. They were originally lanterns, but I took the wire loops off and have been using them ever since. I've taken them on night-time candle-lit picnics, I've had them light up home-made oriental dinners, and now I've got them lighting up my Solstice decor. Those jars carry lots of warm, romantic memories of lovely evenings with my partner, so it is quite important to me to have them up at this time of the year. The sun candle-holder is being lit by a tea-light in another, horizontal candle-holder. The tea-light holder was a gift from my wonderful friend Dawn, back when I was still at school, and the vertical sun candle-stick is one I've had so long that I have forgotten where I got it from, but my guess is going to be a charity shop. I got back in touch with Dawn a couple of years ago, and we're pen pals/internet friends now. She has a blog about being a writer.

Solstice Decor (Photographs by the ::Other Half::, editing by me)

In order for me to satiate my desire to have a few festive trimmings in Gothic style, I have a second Christmas tree. This tree is has no warm reds, no gold at all, and lots of black and silver. It is synthetic, only three feet tall, and the tree itself is black. Hanging on its boughs are purple, silver and black baubles, a silver bead chain, and purple star-shaped battery LED lights. I painted my own designs, in metallic purple and silver nail-polish, on the larger black gloss baubles. I am on a budget, so my baubles were from Poundland, Pound Stretcher and Tesco, and the tree itself, as well as the bead-chain and lights, were also from Tesco. The tree was £5 and I spent about £12 in total on decorations for it, most of that spent on the lights. The lights I am planning to use after Christmas as decor for our room, as it is in a purple, black and silver theme, and I like fairy-lights. I found some real glass mini-baubles (the perfect size for such a small tree!) in Pound Stretcher for £1.99, and they had lots of nice budget baubles. If I were rich, I would only have glass baubles and wooden ornaments, but I am unemployed and we're not a wealthy household, so I have mostly plastic baubles and am slowly (very slowly) accumulating better quality baubles. Not all the baubles are yet as I would like; the small glittery purple baubles from Tesco, for example, are a little too close to pink for my liking, while the metallic ones from the same tub are a much cooler shade. £17 is quite a large chunk of my budget, but as this is all from scratch, and will be used for years and years from now, hopefully a recurring Yuletide feature of my gothic boudoir (well, attempted boudoir), I don't mind it so much, especially as a large chunk of that is on the lights, which will be used year-round until the bulbs go, and as they are LEDs, that might take a while.

The "Gothmas" Tree (Photographed by The HouseCat)

On the main tree are some rather fancy black decorations, in onion and teardrop shapes, but these will also be turned into house decorations after Christmas. I am planning on tying them into two matching bunches with some broad black ribbon and tying them at either end of the curtain pole in our room. I also bought some beautiful LV lights from Tesco, which are just white, but each bulb has a punched metal orb around it, and these were only £6, so a real bargain. The other half, being a little bit taller than me, strung them up around the curtain pole in our room, and I think they look rather nice. If I buy something a bit dearer, I want it to have a life that's more than just for Christmas time. I know at £1.50 each, the baubles might not be considered that dear to some, but I'm on quite a limited budget. Anyway, the baubles look more expensive than they are, and I think combined with some broad ribbon and possibly a few beaded details that they would add a bit of classy fanciness to our bedroom rather than look like tacky Christmas decorations at the wrong time of the year. Once I've actually got everything done in our bedroom, I will take pictures of the new lights and the curtain-pole decorations made from baubles.

In our living room we have the seasonal spectacular itself, the Solstice Tree. As you can see on the full length picture, our tree is over six feet and festooned with baubles. The tree is always my favourite part of the seasonal festivities, and has been since the Christmas trees of my childhood. I absolutely adore decorating the tree and try my best to keep it up as long as possible. My partner wanted a more traditional colour scheme, and I did my best not to drown the tree in black baubles (my favourite sort of baubles ;-) ). The Other Half kept jesting that I'd not be able to get ALL the baubles onto the tree, but lo, I managed it.

Solstice Tree (Photographed by the ::Other Half::)

The pine-cones are my partner's favourite decoration on the tree. I've got to admit these ones my partner bought, but it's easy enough to make them if you find some suitable sized pine cones, spray them/paint them gold (I prefer paint to spray; no aerosol) and then tie some gold ribbon around the top. Next year, if I am less stressed and busy, I shall make some extra special pine-cones for the tree. The clear baubles with snowflakes on are my favourite not-black baubles and they used to hang on my Dad's tree. They remind me of home. My Dad sent me a box of baubles from home, and it is nice having a few things on the tree to remind me of Dad. I used to have more clear snowflake baubles, but Kuro, my cat, knocked the entire tree over last year and a few baubles met a premature demise.My partner really likes the red baubles, and I bought him some gold lantern baubles, to him the tree should be warm, in colours and in light.

The red drop bauble was painted by myself, with nail-polish. The fixing at the top where the string goes through is also painted green, and the bottom tip is dipped in green. I did 12 of these in total. I use nail-polish because it is durable and gives a good metallic finish and I have it in the house anyway, so don't have to go out and buy paint especially. I like painting things somewhere between tribal patterns and canal-boat brush-stroke designs. I did these the same way as I did the baubles on my goth tree. Re-painting cheap baubles is a good way of having unique baubles.

Solstice Tree (Photographs by the ::Other Half::)

In our living room we don't have much counter space, and having no fire, no mantlepiece to hang stockings or cards on, so I have strung the cards up above two door-frames, and currently two strands of cotton thread, adding more as we get more cards. I decided it would save space and if I just doubled up the thread, putting another string below the first, rather than put more across the room. It's a corner of the room between the boiler cupboard door and the hallway door, so it's not a very used area, and so we're not likely to catch our heads on the cards. Talking of cards, cards from previous years with the pictures cut out make cheap and green gift tags. If it's a scenic card, you can cut several small sections of the scene for quite a few tags from one card.

I'd really like to see pictures of other people's Christmas, Solstice, Hannukah, etc. decorations, especially that of other goths. Has anyone else got a "gothmas tree"? Have you put your decorations up yet? What are your family traditions for this time of year? Does anyone celebrate a religious Christian Christmas? Does anyone else celebrate a Pagan Solstice? Please comment and tell me what you'll be doing, even if you're completely un-festive and just want peace and quiet. I can empathise with being un-festive, after working in retail several Christmases running, finding Christmas a miserable time of the year for past family reasons, and generally being grouchy, I ended up with a black Santa hat with "Bah Humbug" embroidered on its fluffy white brim, and mutating into the unholy product of Scrooge and the Grinch, but my partner seems to have cured this. What music will you be playing this Christmas? Until I was 20 I was heavily involved in church and cathedral choirs, and still love the traditional carols and anthems. Please do comment!

Bane, at Goth It Yourself, the Gothic home decor and project blog, has some really lovely pictures of her ::snowy solstice::. It wasn't snowy here in the Highlands - our lovely snow got washed away a few days ago.