Celebrating Two Holidays With One Date: Samhain and Halloween

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 This is my fourth year of celebrating both holidays and I've only done it semi-successfully once. If it was another time in my life it would perhaps be easier, but juggling both holidays and school hours never seems to go as planned.
To recap:
Year one worked, at the time my parents had given me the go ahead to explore religion, the month ended on a Friday so I celebrated Halloween and then on Saturday I did a simple ritual, researched about the holiday and made cookies, ect. I realized though in the later months that my parents didn't seem very comfortable with the religion change. They didn't want anything to do with it but they wouldn't limit my religious freedom.
I began to be more subtle about practicing and I think they decided that it was a phase that had passed. The second year, since I didn't really want to bring the religion back up and make them uncomfortable I celebrated Halloween only.
By the time October came along last year, I had a small group of people who I would do rituals with. We -of course- wanted to celebrate the holiday together. We planned to do it on Saturday, but last minute I cancelled. The plans were never really set in stone and I was going through a rough patch. Actually, I cancelled my Halloween plans as well, but then reset them very last minute.

This year I had big plans for Samhain. An all day Sunday celebration that I was planning with the same group from last year. We were going to meet around 11 in the morning, walk up to target and buy a dozen or two roses. We were then going to walk to a nearby cemetery and place them on the graves and have a picnic. Its something I do often with friends. I don't have any family graves nearby but I can at least respect others who might not get visited because they're so old. Then we were going to set up and do a ritual which tends to be a rather long process for us. We were going to end with one last event: a dumb supper.* Finally hanging out until everyone was able to get home for the night.
Lovely plans no?
Those plans aren't going to happen. For many different reasons, but mostly because we have no where to do it. When creating the plans I over looked the fact that most of the places we would originally do a ritual and such were destroyed or re-purposed because of the fire.
My parents also didn't want people over.
My Halloween plans on the other hand are the same as every year, hanging out with a very good friend of mine. We figured we'd watch movies and hand out candy. She's dressing up in costume where as I will just dress to my dark little hearts desire since I have to wear it to school.


In other news, 13 followers. <3 My favorite artfully imbalanced number.

*Completely silent, formal dinner to honor your ancestors.

DIY Jewelry

I've been meaning to do this post for a while. As pointed out in a previous post the one thing I can successfully DIY is jewelry. I made a bunch of jewelry to sell so I could get some money to put towards a new electric piano since the one I had growled at me and had a broken key...
The thing I love about jewelry is that it doesn't take much and you can use just about anything. It's also not very expensive and only need minimal sewing/tools/ect. I make things out of what I have so as of now I haven't needed to spend any money. Although I might buy clasps at some point.

I made this choker out of a dress that I never wore. The band comes from a corseted area of the dresses skirt. The cross was at the end of the chain and the chains were used as string to corset a different part of the dress. This was my first piece and I learned as I went along. Its actually fairly shabby work but I have a friend who fell in love with it so I sold it to her. I used thread and superglue to put things together.

This piece was my second attempt at a choker and was just as shabby. I didn't have white thread and had to use brown, which I stitched rather unevenly. But I've grown rather fond of the thing. It wears nicely. Its made from a silky black/silver rose print with spider web lace on top, white ribbon borders and a piece of petrified wood from a ring I had. The print is from an old shirt, the lace is from the previously mentioned dress, the ribbons are from an old flower girl dress. It hasn't been bought yet, and I'm sure I'll have a picture of me wearing it soon.

This is one of my favorite pieces. It was made from part of a broken necklace piece that I got from my aunt. The ring piece was filled in with black nail polish and super glue and the ring back itself was actually what held the petrified wood piece. This took me a long while to make and it was sold to another friend. I had to specially fit it to her hand but its complete with a clasp on the bracelet. Used metal/wire cutter and pliers.

This is another piece I am particularly fond of. It was given to a girl for her birthday. I got the watch from my aunt, who makes vintage jewelry and the ribbon was from the same flower girl dress as previously mentioned. It had a bunch of other half attached strings of pears or jewels that I took off and then cleaned off the glue. The clock didn't actually work but when I was using it I'd set the time of my next class so I could easily check to make sure I wouldn't be late.

This is a very simple yet pretty piece. It was made completely from a belt that a friend gave that broke. The cross was sewed on to the ribbon. It was almost sold but hasn't been yet. I haven't worn it myself much since I don't like to wear crosses.

Another piece made from the belt previously mentioned. Very simple necklace, just required a metal/wire cutter and pliers. Sold it to a friend.

Ditto last post, made from the belt, easy tools. Sold to a friend. The only difference is that this actually got a 'formal' clasp.

Anyway, that is just a few things I've made. I always wear the things at least once just to see how they hold up so I am sure they wont fall apart where ever they end up. So...go forth and don't waste old broken jewelry and clothing and such.

Home Sick

As in I stayed home sick. I haven't been feeling well since Friday. Ironically enough tomorrow is the last day of school for the week. However I've been spending the day with mashed potatoes, rice, tea and pumpkin scones. I've also equipped myself with three movies thanks to a recent post on The Walrus Room of top ten favorite movies, (Thank you Sarah! ^^). I've chosen Harold and Maude, Gypsy 83 and Benny and Joon.

On a side note, for those blogs who've been mentioned in my mess of posts; I don't much have a habit of asking before I reference peoples blogs in my post unless the whole post is about someone's blog which would be really unlikely... I'll always link to the blogs I reference. If you don't like it, say something and I'll pull it off; otherwise if you prefer to be asked just tell me and I'll make sure to next time. I'm still new to blogging and feeling out the rules.

Goth Challenge Days 10-15

Not my picture, but I've had it for a while and don't remember where I've gotten it.

The fire and now school work is making me loose touch with my blog, so I'll be doing the goth challenge is large chunks so I get a chance to finish it. In other news, 11 followers! <3

Day 10: What do you hate and love about the subculture?
I love all the obvious, the music, the clothing, the art, ectect. I also love the sense of community that builds whether it be over the internet or in clubs or when you pass another goth on the street and they just get it. Well, I'm not sure about that last one since I know of no other goths around here, but I've heard lovely tales of such things.
I hate the things that come with being gothified; the insults, the attention, the people that glare at you awkwardly or the people who run up wanting to touch you and your clothes. However I also know that these things come when you dress to your dark little hearts content. But hate is a strong word. I'd much prefer "Dislike in a deep, dark and undying sort of way."

Day 11: Is goth a lifestyle for you?
Yes and no. I've heard a lot of people say that although they haven't always considered themselves goth they've had the traits ever since they were really little but then later they found the subculture and the world exploded in rainbows and unicorns, hurrah, hurrah. Since I fall into this group I feel it is a lifestyle. However right next to my goth world I've got my horsey world and I personally have trouble mixing the two. So it depends on the day.

Day 12: What's your gothic inspiration?
I get inspiration from books, movies, pictures, ideas and day to day things. But I'll tell you one story:
I was going through one of those depressed teenager phases a few years ago and I started getting called "that depressed goth girl" which turned into "why would anyone want to be goth if they have to be all depressed all the time?" I didn't understand why it was okay for a mainstream teenager to have a down time but not me and I was getting frustrated and tired of filling the old stereotype. However I had my reasons for being down and it took me a while to be ready to let them go. Then I started watching NCIS and I saw how happy Abby was and decided I wanted to be happy and cheerful too.
There you are, small inspiration moment.

Day 13: What was your first band t-shirt?
My very first band shirt was for Bullet for my Valentine which I listened to during my baby bat and just out of my baby bat days. When I quit listening to them I got rid of the shirts (yes, plural, I had three). I didn't get another band t-shirt until recently when I got a Dresden Dolls T-shirt and sweatshirt from my mother.

Day 14: Whats was your best and worst DIY disaster?
I'll keep this short. The only thing I can successfully DIY is jewelry. Anything else is a disaster.

Day 15: What is your favorite or most expensive item in your wardrobe?
It's probably a toss up between my petticoat from Fan+Friend Garden or my underbust corset from Iris Noir.

Now I have a question for any other equestrian goths out there. Do the worlds mix for you?