As a child, I was always interested in the darker things of life. I can remember having seances with my friend and her sister, constantly hearing creepy stories about the house my aunt lived in, and convincing myself I had seen “something” that may or may not have been there. I suppose most of this stemmed from a book my now late uncle gave me, The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tale's. As a youth,having these very dark fairy tales read to me, really stirred something in my imagination. I found EdgarAllan Poe early on as well. There has been a serious love affair between the two of us ever since. From his engaging writing, to his very controversial life choices, he has just interested me more than most others.

For six years, Poe, his wife Virgina, and mother-in-law, lived on North 7^th St. He is said to have written several works while here including, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of Red Death, and Murders In The Morgue. It is also said that he started The Raven during that period.

You can actually take a tour of the house he called home. It sits at 532 North 7^th Street and can be visited Wednesday-Sunday from 9a-5p. The tour offers your information about his life and a look at several of his works on loan. I feel like this is something I am going to have to drag my dear friend Adelina to soon in the near future.

Death to All Traitors

Death/Traitors has a new Fall 10 line out now! We will be putting in our order in at JINXED very, very soon. If you are in Philly stop by within the next few weeks to purchase some tee's from the new line (or some from the previous line that we currently carry!) If you can't wait (I can't) you can order it directly through Death/Traitors shop.

At the helm of Death/Traitors is unholy printmaker Alexander Heir who founded this underground clothing line in 2007. He illustrates and hand prints the wicked designs seen on all Death/Traitors' merchandise in his Brooklyn apartment. If you check out his website you will find more ghastly prints, show flyers and cover art to admire.

More to admire is Alexis Gross' recent photo shoot with Death/Traitors new line (right and below). The sinister photo below is one of my favorites from the shoot --it captures Gross' and Death/Traitors' aesthetic: diabolical, supernatural and very metal!

AM

Blog Lovin'

I felt like I should look into blog lovin' to keep myself motivated.

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From Beyond the grave

Go check out the BloodMilk/AMictlan photo shoot on Bloodmilkjewelry.blogspot.com

AM

Barnyard Freak

Walter Potter (1835-1918) is know for his taxidermy dioramas of animals that have human like characteristics, such as "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin"(Detail Close Up on Left). The owl pictured on the right is a grave digger and the black bird on the left is a priest; perhaps "he" is saying a final prayer to comfort all those who are mourning the death of Cock Robin. Other dioramas can be even more humorous or ironic such as two squirrels sword fighting to the death ("The Death"), rats stealing barrels of wine, or two mice trying to aid another mouse out of a trap("A Friend in Need").

Not all of his works tell satirical tales illustrated through elaborate dioramas. My personal favorites of Potter's works come from an even more morbid collection of botched animal births. Below is a cat born with 8 legs and two tails that had lived several days and a cat born with two heads. Among his collection he had cured and stuffed a duck born with 4 legs that lived 13 years, siamese pigs, a two headed lamb and many more farm animals with obscure and monstrous birth defects.

I have come to understand that Potter did not purposefully kill any of the animals in his collection. All were obtained due to natural deaths or executions by a farm hand or wife due to the animals' pesky behavior.

Next Wednesday is the opening of a new exhibition that will feature works by Potter. Unfortunately, it will be in Primrose Hill, London at the Museum of Everything.

AM

further reading: dailymail, ravishing beasts, taxidermy4cash.

Deformed and Disfigured

A lot of the art and objects I own revolve around the obscure, monsterous, and strange from different local painters, friends, and a small collection obtained from what was once Lineage Gallery. My boyfriend owns a large collection of tattoo related art, which I never really thought of collecting until I met him. Right now I really would love to own a print from tattoo artist Jeremy Ross from Illinois. All of his flash and prints include some type of quaint disfigurement drawn in a traditional style.

AM

My private world of darkness

I recently made my first treasury on etsy, view it here.

Thanks to etsy I will soon be the proud owner of these three things:

Minxshop (bottom left and right images) makes beautiful vintage inspired clothing. She was recently a featured seller on etsy, which is how I found her and boldly ask her if she wanted to trade. I will probably never take either one of these items off, especially since these are my first clothing buy in years (YES YEARS.. sort of)

AdriLaw (top) sells some finds, such as boots and belts, as well as jewelry made with acrylic. I've always wanted to make a pair of silver dangling inverted cross earrings with multiple crosses, but she beat me to it with a material that is easier to reproduce. I'm very jealous!

Tomorrow Bloodmilk and I are going to do a photo-shoot together in Laurel Hill Cemetery. I'm hoping we catch some ghosties in our images!

AM

Short and Sweet

There is something that draws me to Northern European artists. It could be the vibrant, yet dark colors, the appearance of simple design in a complex drawing, the strange and intriguing subject matter, etc. I'm becoming more and more influenced by artists like: Angelique Houtkamp(Bottom), Lina Stigsson(Bottom Left), and Uncle Allan(Bottom Right).

AM